Quest Magazine

Printed in the Winter 2026  issue of Quest magazine. 
Citation: Altman, Nathaniel "Geoffrey Hodson: Reminiscences"   Quest 114:1, pg 34-39

By Nathaniel Altman

I joined the Theosophical Society in November 1970 while studying at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. After graduating the following June, I began working as a groundskeeper at Olcott. Although I was already a vegetarian, I had visited the kill floor at a large Madison slaughterhouse on a dare. The experience upset me so much that I decided to write a book about vegetarianism, which I began writing at Olcott.

Quest Books agreed to publish the book, and I believe that Helen Zahara, the coordinator of the Quest Books program at the time, asked Geoffrey Hodson—who was a vice president of the International Vegetarian Union and a guest at the Society’s annual convention in 1971—to write the foreword, which he kindly agreed to do. The book was eventually published as Eating for Life, and eventually sold more than 75,000 copies.

I had the pleasure of meeting with Geoffrey Hodson and his wife, Sandra, several times during their stay at Olcott, and reconnected with them when I began studying at the Krotona Institute School of Theosophy in 1972. Geoffrey became my mentor, and I met privately with him on numerous occasions. I also drove him and Sandra to visits and appointments.

During a meeting with him, I lamented that I was a poor student of Theosophy because I had difficulty understanding H.P. Blavatsky’s magnum opus, The Secret Doctrine, and found esoteric concepts like the human monad, chains, rounds, and root races beyond my comprehension.

Geoffrey stopped me short and said, “Nathaniel, ahimsa is the essence of Theosophy. The primary goal of students of Theosophy is to develop ahimsa!” (Ahimsa has been translated from the Sanskrit into English as active nonviolence and dynamic compassion.) He also stated that the main spiritual concept we need to realize on a deep level is that “All life is One.”

During the Hodsons’ stay at Krotona, I was able to attend many of Geoffrey’s lectures. He would sit in a large, blue, high-backed chair that reminded me of a throne. His talks at Krotona Hall were profound, well-prepared, and practical, but they were not devoid of humor.

Knowing that Krotona was a hotbed of gossip at that time, Geoffrey announced during a lecture that he was establishing an “antigossip” society. He then told the audience, “All of you are members!” He later told me, “Nathaniel, the only thing we should do behind someone’s back is to pat it.”

Geoffrey Hodson was a noted clairvoyant. His life work was breathtakingly multifaceted and involved healing, education, mysticism, religion, Masonry, spiritual unfoldment, the angelic hierarchy, peace, humaneness, planetary and solar evolution, art and beauty, the subtle bodies of humans, life after death, the pathway to hastened spiritual attainment, and much more. In his more than seven decades as a writer, lecturer, healer, and counselor, Geoffrey Hodson affected the lives of thousands of people in many different ways.

In my particular case, I feel that he inspired my future contact with members of the devic kingdom, my interest in ahimsa, and the practical application of Theosophical principles. His interest in a wide range of subjects gave me confidence to follow my own varied interests in life.

Geoffrey avoided the limelight and firmly discouraged the guru adoration syndrome that has befallen many spiritual teachers. He never made claim to spiritual status, nor did he reveal any direct contact with Masters of the Wisdom, who are believed to stand behind the founding of the Theosophical Society.

Nevertheless, as we’ll see later on, his personal diary, edited by his wife and published as Light of the Sanctuary after his passing, revealed that during his lifetime he was guided by several adepts, who facilitated his spiritual studies, helped him prepare his talks, articles, and books, and supported his extensive healing and counseling work. 

Early Life

Geoffrey Hodson’s amazing life of ninety-six years reads like an adventure story. He was born March 12, 1886, to a family of landowners and gentleman farmers in Lincolnshire, England. He described his life growing up as “ideal,” in a quiet rural area with horses, dogs, birds, and small animals. His family life was stable and loving and included close relationships with parents and grandparents along with four siblings. His mother was active in the local church as both an organist and choirmaster.

According to his account in Light of the Sanctuary, Geoffrey became aware at an early age (during what he called “daydreams”) of “a secret brotherhood of perfected beings with a hidden headquarters from which the members went out into the world to perform deeds of mercy.” He also began having visions involving light and angelic beings in his childhood and teenage years. He wrote:

I was perhaps only five or six years old . . . It seemed that from within the sun itself, a huge birdlike figure of fire, with a long tail shaped like that of a lyre bird, descended and entered my whole body through the crown of my head, almost setting up a blazing fire within me. (Hodson, Sanctuary, 1) 

He believed that on more than one occasion, he was saved by unseen beings from accidents and even death.

In his youth, Geoffrey considered himself a devout Christian who believed that everything in the Bible was literally true. After his religious beliefs were confronted by his landlord while he was working at a Liverpool trading company at age twenty-four, he experienced a crisis which, he said, “shattered my treasured faith in the Bible and left me a very, very miserable young man” (Hodson, Sanctuary, 5).

A Quaker colleague at work introduced him to Esoteric Christianity by Annie Besant, which restored Geoffrey’s faith in Christianity by understanding scripture to be a combination of history, allegory, and symbolism.

In March 1912 he attended one of Dr. Besant’s lectures in Manchester. Aside from being deeply inspired by her presentation, he observed her aura, which he reported extended from the lecture hall into the street. As a result, he immediately joined the Theosophical Society and became a member of the Manchester Lodge. He soon became a “visiting teacher” and lecturer for the Theosophical Society in England. 

World War I

As a firm believer in the oneness of life, Geoffrey was initially torn between following a life of compassion and becoming a soldier upon the outbreak of World War I in 1914. But one night he had a vision of a Master, holding a sword and extending his hand to him. Geoffrey decided that it was his duty to participate in what he termed a “defensive war” and joined a cavalry regiment and later the Royal Tank Corps, in which he became an officer. While serving in France, he received visions that helped keep him safe from injury and death. He also clairvoyantly saw his brother Stanley, who had recently died in battle. It is likely that Geoffrey’s war experience led him to clairvoyantly study what happens to people when (and after) they die. He also became a strong advocate for world peace, humaneness, and a supporter of both the League of Nations and the United Nations. 

Postwar Years

After his discharge, Geoffrey Hodson found work at an interior design firm in Manchester, a job which held no interest. He was soon offered a position with the YMCA working with young people, which involved a move to London. During this time, he met his first wife, Jane (née Carter). He began to have visions of fairies and nature spirits at home, and the new couple often took motorcycle drives to the countryside, where Geoffrey would observe nature spirits. Jane  not only supported him personally but assisted in all of his books on the subject of angels and the devic kingdom. He wrote, “I was very indebted to Jane for from the first moment when I began to speak of occult awakenings, visions and experiences, she unfailingly both responded and recorded every single one of them” (Hodson, Sanctuary, 12).

In 1926 or 1927, while Geoffrey was resting in a meditative state on a hillside overlooking a beech forest near the village of Sheepscombe in Gloucestershire, his angelic teacher appeared and communicated with him.

Jane and I were lying on a hillside at the edge of what remained of the beech forest . . . Quite suddenly, and entirely unsought, I had a tremendous expansion of consciousness. It seemed that the whole heavens opened and became filled with light, and I was caught up into a height which I had never hitherto attained. All was radiant with “the light that never was on sea or land”. Gradually, as I tried to adjust myself to this new experience in the higher consciousness (the Causal level, at least, I believe it to have been), I became aware of the presence of a great angelic Being from Whose consciousness to mine there began to flow a stream of ideas concerning the life, the forces, and the consciousness of the universe as these realities express themselves in both angels and human beings. So far as I was able to discern in the brilliant light, He was supernally beautiful—is supernally beautiful, I should say, for the link with Him has never been broken. (I use the masculine pronoun for convenience only.) He was majestic, godlike, impassive, and utterly impersonal. Eventually, He communicated to me that He might be known by the name of Bethelda. A Hebrew friend, an expert in the Kabbalah, later gave me the meaning of this name as “the Angel of the House of God.” (Hodson, Sanctuary, 16)

The information Geoffrey received from Bethelda and other members of the angelic kingdom generated a total of six books, including The Brotherhood of Angels and of Men, Be Ye Perfect, and The Angelic Hosts. These three books have become occult classics, offering advice about how the devas are prepared to cooperate with human beings, providing we play our part.

Geoffrey’s most famous book about devas—The Kingdom of the Gods—was published by the Theosophical Publishing House in Adyar in 1952. It remains in print and is known for its beautiful color renderings of angels and devas painted by Ethelwynn M. Quail under Geoffrey’s direction. An illustrated book, Clairvoyant Investigations, was published by Quest Books in 1984, a year after his passing.

Geoffrey believed that he was the devas’ “human ambassador.” He communicated with them and received wisdom from them in all the places in the world that he visited, including Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Indonesia, and the Philippines. 

LCC and Co-Masonry

Geoffrey was ordained as a priest in the Liberal Catholic Church (LCC) and wrote several Christian-themed books based on his clairvoyant observations, including The Inner Side of Church Worship (1940), and his magnum opus, The Hidden Wisdom in the Holy Bible, in four volumes. 

Geoffrey was a close associate of J.I. Wedgwood, first presiding bishop of the LCC, and appeared to have a good relationship with another LCC bishop, C.W. Leadbeater, a noted clairvoyant and teacher and close associate of Annie Besant. Although I am not aware of any collaboration on clairvoyant investigations between the two men, Geoffrey Hodson vigorously defended Leadbeater after the reliability of his seership was challenged by E.L. Gardner in the 1960s. In An Appreciation of C.W. Leadbeater, Geoffrey supported Leadbeater’s claim to have been in contact with the Masters, his clairvoyant teachings on the aura and the serpent fire (kundalini), his reports of invisible helpers, and teachings about the akashic records.

Geoffrey Hodson was a 32nd degree member of Co-Freemasonry, a Masonic order that admits women equally with men. He wrote two books about Freemasonry, including At the Sign of the Square and Compasses and The Occult Philosophy Concealed within Freemasonry. 

Travels and New Zealand

In 1929, Geoffrey visited the United States for the first time to attend the Theosophical World Congress in Chicago and spent the next four years lecturing around the United States and Canada. He also lectured in South Africa, the Philippines, Australia, and New Zealand.

He also gave many radio broadcasts in various places in the world, especially in Australia when the Sydney radio station 2GB was under Theosophical control. It was broadcast from The Manor, a center for spiritual retreat and the teaching of Theosophy. Leadbeater was the head of the Manor and was among its first residents. Seminars, study groups, and retreats are conducted there as well as other activities, such as meetings of the LCC and the International Order of the Round Table, an organization rooted in Theosophy that focuses on elevating young people. After Leadbeater’s passing in 1934, Geoffrey, writing in Theosophy in Australia, reported that Leadbeater continued to reside at The Manor, where he oversaw the work, assisted by the Manor Angel (Tillett, 255).

During this time, Jane Hodson began to develop symptoms of multiple sclerosis, which drastically limited her mobility. A young Australian Theosophist, Sandra Chase, offered to care for her, which continued until Jane’s passing in 1962. This enabled Geoffrey to travel more. He, Jane, and Sandra eventually settled in New Zealand, which Geoffrey believed was a future center of a new race of human beings. After establishing himself in his new country, Geoffrey became involved in the vegetarian and animal rights movements in addition to his association with the New Zealand Theosophical Society. 

Polidorus Isuranus

In 1988, five years after his death, Geoffrey Hodson’s private diaries were published under the title Light of the Sanctuary, compiled by Sandra, who became Geoffrey’s second wife after Jane’s death in 1962. During his lifetime, most of his rich inner life was unknown to those outside of his immediate family and possibly a few close friends and collaborators. This book revealed for the first time that beginning in 1945, he often communicated with Masters of the Wisdom, especially an adept teacher known to him as Polidorus Isuranus, “a Recorder of the Luxor Brotherhood” from Egypt. He regularly communicated with this Master, who often gave him both instruction and advice when preparing his lectures, conducting healing and counseling work, and writing books. Geoffrey’s contact with his Master continued until his passing in 1983. Many of these communications are included in Light of the Sanctuary and make fascinating reading.

Although Geoffrey Hodson was best known by members of the TS as an authority on Theosophical philosophy, he devoted much of his life to other, less-known areas of teaching and activity.

Humaneness

As I mentioned earlier, Geoffrey’s experience during World War I taught him to become a strong advocate for peace and nonviolence. In addition to experiencing the horrors of war with his expanded faculties of clairvoyant sight, he also became more aware of the harm humans inflict on other living beings, especially with vivisection and meat eating. He became a staunch animal activist and was the founder and president of the New Zealand Vegetarian Society and the Combined Animal Welfare Organizations in New Zealand; he was also a vice president of the International Vegetarian Union. Many of his writings on humaneness and vegetarianism were published in both Sharing the Light (Theosophical Publishing House) and The Call to Humaneness (Gaupo Publishing).

During one of our meetings at Krotona, Geoffrey related his experience of observing a large slaughterhouse near Chicago with clairvoyant sight. I described his reactions in an article published in Vegetarian World in 1973:

Although Mr. Hodson normally comes across as the typical reserved English gentleman which he is, he became very emotional, describing the scene as “the most ghastly horror imaginable.” He spoke movingly of the intense fear, rage and pain experienced by the slaughtered creatures, which takes powerful form around the slaughterhouse, permeating the atmosphere with a “giant tormented storm cloud” of red color (from rage and pain) with vivid blotches of dark grey (from fear). He expressed deep concern about the effect of this psychic pollution on the community, and the pronounced effect it could have on children, who are most sensitive to outside influences such as this. (Altman, Vegetarian World, 5) 

Geoffrey strongly believed that human cruelty was intimately connected to human unhappiness, war, and disease. In an article appearing in The Humanitarian in 1958, he described how to relieve human sorrow:

That way is to outlaw cruelty—the unnecessary infliction of pain—on Earth as humans are now seeking to outlaw war. Abolish torture and needless killing; replace them with humaneness in every department of life, especially the choice of recreation, food, clothing and in the practice of medicine. Then, with right thinking, the reverent use of the soil, correct nutrition and hygiene, by preventing the problem of disease will be solved. (Hodson, Humaneness, 40)

Writing in The American Theosophist in 1944, he also spoke passionately about the dangers of materialism and how they contribute to the unhappiness of the world:

How can the child perceive this shining peak of human attainment when from birth to death it is surrounded by commercialized adult humanity, absorbed with self-advertising, with gaining possessions and living self-centered lives? The child is brought up and trained amidst all this, receives an education which is eighty percent materialistic, in which true religion only has a minute part. The student is taught to memorize facts and ideas in order that, by repeating them correctly at examination, they will win educational rewards, defeat their fellow pupils, shine over them, and then sell to the highest bidder the whole result of education in the marketplace. All this, I submit, is a crime against the child; it is therefore a crime against adults and against humanity as a whole. (Hodson, Humaneness, 27)  

Healing

Geoffrey Hodson was a noted healer and taught that many health problems originate beyond the physical realm. He utilized his clairvoyant abilities to understand the deeper causes of disease and ways of supporting the healing process. He strongly believed that a major cause of disease was cruelty, especially towards animals. He wrote numerous articles about health and healing, as well as An Occult View of Health and Disease. He also created a healing invocation that he received from angels, which the Theosophical Order of Service uses in spiritual healing work. Other healing rituals were received from his adept teacher. Today dozens of healing circles regularly meet to perform healing rituals based on that invocation. Here is a sample of one healing invocation, adapted for the aftermath of the wildfires on Maui in 2023:

 

Hail! Devas of the healing art! Come to our aid.
Pour forth your healing life into the people, animals and ecology of Maui.
Let every cell, every molecule, be charged anew with vital force.
To every nerve give peace.
Let tortured sense be soothed.
May the rising tide of healing life set every limb aglow
As by your healing power both soul and body are restored.
May each person, animal and plant affected by the fires in Maui be left with an angel watcher to comfort and protect them
Until health returns, or life departs from physical form.
May the angel watchers ward away all ill,
hasten the returning strength,
or lead to peace when life is done.

Other Activities

Geoffrey Hodson served as director of the School of the Wisdom at the Theosophical Society’s international headquarters in Adyar in 1953‒54 and again in 1954‒55, 1961, and 1972‒73.

After Jane Hodson died in 1962, Sandra Chase became the next Mrs. Hodson. The couple was very devoted to each other and enjoyed a very close and loving relationship. Sandra not only took care of her husband (making sure that he would not get overtired) but edited all of his later writings. A former general secretary of the Theosophical Society in New Zealand, Sandra Hodson was a respected Theosophical teacher and author in her own right.

During the 1960s and 1970s, Geoffrey continued to travel and lecture around the world. He visited Olcott in 1971 and spent several months giving classes and lectures at Krotona in 1971‒72, before serving as director of the School of the Wisdom at Adyar. He also spent time lecturing and teaching in the Philippines, where a scholarship fund was established in his honor to support students at the Golden Link School, a learning center for elementary and high-school students near Manila, as well as a college based on Theosophical principles. 

A Developing Legacy

Because he lived such a multifaceted and fascinating life spanning ninety-six years, I believe that Geoffrey Hodson’s legacy is still being established. The most prolific Theosophical writer of the twentieth century, Geoffrey wrote more than forty-six books and more than 700 articles on an extensive range of subjects, including yoga, clairvoyance, healing, education, mysticism, esoteric Christianity, spiritual unfoldment, the angelic hierarchy, peace, humaneness, planetary and solar evolution, art and beauty, the subtle bodies of humans, world religions, life after death, the pathway to hastened spiritual attainment and much more.

In addition, Geoffrey presented hundreds of public lectures and classes. A major source of his course material can be found in his two-volume Lecture Notes, and more than forty of his talks can be heard as audio files available online from the Theosophical Society in America.

Geoffrey conducted spiritual counseling and healing sessions for thousands of individuals over more than sixty years. He collaborated extensively with physicians and scientists, using his clairvoyant abilities in such fields as healing, chemistry, biology, anthropology, archaeology, embryology, physics, and astronomy.

He left his mark as an early and powerful advocate for childhood education, antimaterialism, diet reform, world peace, vegetarianism, and animal rights. He was awarded the Theosophical Society’s Subba Row Medal for his contributions to Theosophy.

Although he was physically frail as he moved through his eighties, Geoffrey’s mental faculties remained intact until his death. At the age of ninety-six, he gave his last public lecture on May 4^,,1982, at H.P.B. Lodge in Auckland to a packed hall. Eight months later he passed away in Auckland, on January 23, 1983, after an amazing life as a dedicated server of the Masters and humanity.

Geoffrey Hodson died in full consciousness, with his last words to Sandra being: “I am leaving now. Please don’t try to stop me.” Sandra Hodson wrote:

Geoffrey left us peacefully in the early morning of 23 January 1983. Our home seemed to me then, to be steeped in a blessed stillness and silence that nothing could disturb. Upon Geoffrey’s face there was an expression of utter peace and joyous serenity—beyond any words. It was as though the Masters were so very close at this time. In looking back over our life together and before the world, I can testify that never once has he ever made any claim to greatness or to the superior powers which he most truly possessed. He was the most humble of men, living his whole occult and spiritual life in secrecy and anonymity. (Hodson, Sanctuary, 546) 

Robert Ellwood, emeritus professor of religion at the University of Southern California and vice president of the TSA from 2002 to 2005, described Geoffrey as “worthy of compare with the greatest seers and mystics of any land or time.”

Sources

Altman, Nathaniel, “The Theosophical Basis of Vegetarianism,” Vegetarian World, 1973.

Hodson, Geoffrey. “An Appreciation of C.W. Leadbeater.” Available online.

———. The Call to Humaneness. Brooklyn, N.Y.: Gaupo Publishing, 2024.

———. Lecture Notes. Adyar: Theosophical Publishing House, 1955.

Hodson, Sandra, ed. Light of the Sanctuary: The Occult Diary of Geoffrey Hodson. Manila: Theosophical Publishers, 1988.

Tillett, Gregory. The Elder Brother. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1982.

Nathaniel Altman has been a member of the Theosophical Society in America since 1970. He was a student of Geoffrey Hodson at Krotona and has published several of Mr. Hodson’s out-of-print books through Gaupo Publishing (https://www.gaupo.net), a publishing venture he began in 2017. (For an excerpt, see Quest, spring 2025.) He has also authored more than twenty books on diet, palmistry, health and healing, nonviolence, and our relationship with the natural world. Nathaniel lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. His web page is https://www.nathanielaltman.com.

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Printed in the   Fall 2025  issue of Quest magazine. 
Citation: Koot Hoomi   "The Cant about “Masters”:  Koot Hoomi’s Last Letter to Annie Besant"   Quest 113:4, pg 36-37 

In 1900 one B.W. Mantri of India wrote a letter to Annie Besant, dated August 22. When she opened it, she found on the back a letter written in blue pencil and in the handwriting of the Master Koot Hoomi. This is K.H.’s last letter.

The letter has been reprinted in part in C. Jinarajadasa’s Letters from the Masters of Wisdom, first series (Adyar: Theosophical Publishing House, 1919), pp. 123–24. But Jinarajadasa published the letter in an abridged form, leaving out some of the more strongly worded passages. He claimed, somewhat incorrectly, that these parts “refer to the occult life of Dr. Besant which only the Master could have known.”

The letter was reprinted unabridged in The Eclectic Theosophist (Sept.-Oct. 1987), page 1. We are reproducing it in full below, including the passages omitted in Jinarajadasa’s edition. Spelling and punctuation follow the original.

The letter is noteworthy for several reasons. In the first place, it dates from 1900, nine years after the death of H.P. Blavatsky, which strongly suggests that Blavatsky could not have been the author of the Mahatma Letters, as current academic scholars argue. It also warns against worship of the Masters, credulity in spiritual matters, and outmoded forms of religious observance. The disparaging opening reference to the writer of the original letter is rather amusing.

This letter was originally published in Quest, summer 2011.

A psychic and a pranayamist¹ who has got confused by the vagaries of the members. The TS and its members are slowly manufacturing a creed. Says a Thibetan proverb ‘credulity breeds credulity and ends in hypocrisy’. How few they are who know anything about us. Are we to be propitiated and made idols of. Is the worship of a new Trinity made up of the Blessed M. Upasika and yourself to take the place of exploded creeds.² We ask not for the worship of ourselves. The disciple should in no way be fettered. Beware of Esoteric Popery. The intense desire to see Upasika reincarnate at once has raised a misleading Mayavic³ ideation. Upasika has useful work to do on higher planes and cannot come again so soon. The T.S. must safely be ushered into the new century. You have for some time been under deluding influences. Shun pride, vanity and love of power. Be not guided by emotion but learn to stand alone. Be accurate and critical rather than credulous. The mistakes of the past in the old religions must not be glossed over with imaginary explanations. The E.S.T.⁴ must be reformed so as to be as unsectarian and creedless as the T.S. The rules must be few and simple and acceptable to all. No one has a right to claim authority over a pupil or his conscience. Ask him not what he believes. All who are sincere and pure minded must have admittance. The crest wave of intellectual advancement must be taken hold of and guided into spirituality. It cannot be forced into beliefs and emotional worship. The essence of the higher thoughts of the members in their collectivity must guide all action in the T.S. and E.S. We never try to subject to ourselves the will of another. At favourable times we let loose elevating influences which strike various persons in various ways. It is the collective aspect of many such thoughts that can give the correct note of action. We show no favours. The best corrective of error is an honest and open-minded examination of all facts subjective and objective. Misleading secrecy has given the death blow to numerous organizations. The cant about “Masters” must be silently but firmly put down. Let the devotion and service be to that Supreme Spirit alone of which one is a part. Namelessly and silently we work and the continual references to ourselves and the repetition of our names raises up a confused aura that hinders our work. You will have to leave a good deal of your emotions and credulity before you become a safe guide among the influences that will commence to work in the new cycle. The T.S. was meant to be the cornerstone of the future religions of humanity. To accomplish this object those who lead must leave aside their weak predilections for the forms and ceremonies of any particular creed and show themselves to be true Theosophists both in inner thought and outward obedience. The greatest of your trials is yet to come. We watch over you but you must put forth all your strength.

K.H.

Notes

1. A practitioner of pranayama, a regimen of yogic breathing practices.

2. “M.” refers to Morya, Koot Hoomi’s fellow adept. Upasika, a Sanskrit word meaning “female disciple,” refers to H.P. Blavatsky.

3. Illusory; from the Sanskrit maya, “illusion.”

4. The Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society; today the Esoteric School of Theosophy.

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Printed in the Winter 2026  issue of Quest magazine. 
Citation: Banerjee, Yajnavalka "Threads of Unity: Theosophy and the Science of Strings"   Quest 114:1, pg 31-33

By Yajnavalka Banerjee 

Across the ages, humanity has sought a fundamental unity underlying the diverse phenomena of nature. The ancient seers gazed at the heavens and intuited hidden harmonies. The Greek mystic Pythagoras, whose philosophy interwove mathematics with music, famously declared, “There is geometry in the humming of the strings. There is music in the spacing of the spheres.” Such reflections suggest that the cosmos itself may be structured by principles akin to those of harmony and vibration. Centuries later, Albert Einstein voiced this same yearning in the language of modern physics: “I want to know how God created this world . . . I want to know His thoughts; the rest are just details.”

This timeless pursuit—to discern the one law, the one rhythm, the one meaning—has animated both mystics and scientists. The conviction that nature, at its core, is one has inspired quests as varied as the alchemical search for the prima materia and the physicist’s search for a theory of everything.

While modern science and ancient wisdom are often portrayed as antagonistic, they converge in this shared aspiration. Indeed, the founders of the Theosophical Society in the nineteenth century argued that science, religion, and philosophy are not separate but complementary avenues to truth. H.P. Blavatsky, the principal architect of modern Theosophy, subtitled her magnum opus The Secret Doctrine as The Synthesis of Science, Religion, and Philosophy, thereby affirming, with characteristic boldness, that these realms of knowledge are intrinsically interwoven.

HPB’s plea was that modern science and ancient spiritual philosophy should join hands in unveiling “the reality of the occult in nature” and demonstrating that the laws of physics and the truths of the soul ultimately spring from a common source. As HPB’s biographer Sylvia Cranston notes: “What has fascinated scientists who have studied The Secret Doctrine is that the author anticipated many later discoveries in their own fields. When physicists and chemists of her day were convinced that the atom was the ultimate building block of the universe, she affirmed its infinite divisibility.”

Einstein’s own engagement with Blavatsky’s writings was not merely incidental: as Cranston recounts, “A niece of Einstein reported that a copy of The Secret Doctrine was always on his desk” (Cranston, xx).

In this spirit of synthesis, we explore the conceptual bridge from strings to the Logos, from one of the boldest theories of modern physics to the ageless insights of Theosophy, seeking resonances that might harmonize material knowledge with spiritual understanding.

String Theory as a Cosmic Symphony

Modern physics, in its relentless pursuit of unification, has developed string theory, a framework attempting to reconcile Einstein’s general relativity with quantum mechanics. At its heart, string theory proposes that the most fundamental units of reality are not point-like particles but unimaginably tiny strings of energy vibrating at specific frequencies (Greene, Morrison, and Polchinski).

To envision this, one might liken each fundamental string to the string of a violin. Just as a single violin string produces different notes depending on how it vibrates, a cosmic string’s vibrational mode determines the type of fundamental particle it appears to be. An electron, a photon, or a quark are thus different “notes” played by the same cosmic instrument. In this framework, all forces and particles are unified as variations of the same basic theme, the “music of the strings.”

The simplicity of this idea lies in its power. It suggests that the immense complexity of physical reality emerges from one fundamental principle: vibration. This aligns curiously with the philosophia perennis, which has long asserted that behind all forms lies one underlying unity.

Another remarkable feature of string theory is its insistence on extra dimensions beyond the familiar three of space and one of time. Most versions of string theory require at least ten dimensions, while M-theory proposes eleven. These additional dimensions are thought to be compactified or hidden from everyday perception.

Although abstract, this vision of a multilayered cosmos resonates with ancient metaphysical teachings that speak of planes of existence beyond the physical (Penrose, 15).

For now, string theory remains a mathematical hypothesis rather than an experimentally confirmed fact. Yet its appeal lies in its ability to harmonize concepts once thought irreconcilable: gravity, quantum phenomena, and the very fabric of space and time. Its vision of unity through vibration echoes age-old spiritual philosophies and sets the stage for a dialogue with Theosophy. 

Theosophy and the Creative Vibration

Theosophy, as presented by HPB and the Mahatmas, is a modern expression of an ancient wisdom tradition. It teaches that the universe is fundamentally one, a living, conscious whole. in this view, the material world is but the outer garment of a spiritual reality, and every physical law reflects a deeper cosmic principle.

One of the strongest parallels between Theosophy and string theory lies in their shared emphasis on vibration as the foundation of existence. In Theosophy, the concept of the Logos or the Divine Word signifies the creative sound or vibration that brings the cosmos into manifestation. This notion is deeply rooted in ancient traditions, from the Om of Hinduism to the opening of the Gospel of John: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).

HPB speaks of Fohat, the dynamic energy of cosmic ideation, as “the bridge by which the ‘Ideas’ existing in the Divine Thought are impressed on Cosmic substance as the ‘laws of Nature’” (Mills, 2009). This is strikingly reminiscent of string theory’s claim that vibration, the mode of a string, gives rise to all forms of matter and force. Both perspectives see reality as fundamentally vibrational, as a symphony of frequencies woven into the fabric of being.

A Comparative View: Strings and Theosophy

To illustrate the conceptual resonances between these two worldviews, the following table highlights key areas of similarity:

 

Aspect	String Theory (Physics)	Theosophical Principles: The Secret Doctrine)	Interpretational Similarity
Fundamental building blocks	Reality arises from one-dimensional vibrating strings.	All forms emerge from the One Reality (Parabrahman), the root of existence.	Both posit a unified foundation of all phenomena.
Vibration as foundation	Particle types depend on the vibration of strings.	Fohat manifests the “ideas” of the Divine through vibration.	Vibration is the creative principle in both views.
Extra dimensions	Requires 10 or 11 dimensions beyond the visible 3 dimensions.	Describes planes of existence beyond the physical (astral, mental, spiritual).	Both propose unseen realms that are integral to reality.
Unity of forces	Seeks to unify gravity, electromagnetism, and nuclear forces.	Asserts that all natural forces are expressions of the One Life.	Both aim for an overarching unity.
Infinite divisibility	Suggests substructures beyond particles.	HPB rejected the atom as indivisible, affirming infinite divisibility.	Both view matter as emergent, not fundamental.
Cosmic symmetry	Relies on mathematical symmetries (supersymmetry).	Speaks of universal harmony and balance.	Symmetry is seen as a core principle of order.
Origins of the universe	Proposes quantum fluctuations or brane [sic] collisions.	Teaches cyclical manifestation (Manvantaras and Pralayas).	Both explore creation from the viewpoint of subtle potentialities.
Consciousness and observation	Quantum theory hints at observer roles.	Consciousness is fundamental; matter is its vehicle.	Both acknowledge deep interconnectedness.
Goal of knowledge	A unified theory explaining all phenomena.	A synthesis of science, religion, and philosophy.	Both strive for holistic understanding.

These parallels do not suggest that Theosophy predicted string theory in scientific detail. Rather, they show that both systems, in different languages, point to a reality that is vibrational, unified, and multilayered. Although not predictive in the strict scientific sense, Theosophy, as we noted earlier, anticipated key scientific ideas: for example, HPB posited principles such as the infinite divisibility of matter long before they entered modern scientific discourse.

Multidimensional Reality

String theory’s insistence on hidden dimensions resonates with Theosophy’s teaching of a sevenfold cosmos. Beyond the physical plane lie astral, mental, and spiritual realms, each more subtle than the last. William Q. Judge, a cofounder of the Theosophical Society, described this layered universe as “the Absolute, Spirit, Mind, Matter, Will, Akasha or Aether, and Life” (Judge, 15).

Similarly, string theory’s extra dimensions are unseen yet essential to its structure. Though the mathematics differs from Theosophy’s metaphysical map, both assert that what we perceive is only a fraction of a much greater reality.

Unity of Matter and Force

String theory seeks to unify all physical forces. Theosophy anticipated such a unity, teaching that “matter is crystallized spirit” and that all forces—electricity, magnetism, heat—are manifestations of one primordial energy: Fohat (Mills). Blavatsky’s Theosophical Glossary describes this energy as “the universal propelling Vital Force” (Blavatsky, Glossary, 121), a principle not merely mechanical but imbued with intelligence. Einstein’s equation, E = mc², revealing the interchangeability of mass and energy, echoes Theosophy’s assertion that matter and energy are two faces of the same coin. Both perspectives see diversity emerging from a single underlying principle.

Cyclic Evolution and Rhythms of the Cosmos

String cosmology has inspired models of a cyclic universe, expansions and contractions, big bangs and big crunches. Theosophy similarly speaks of Manvantaras (periods of manifestation) and Pralayas (periods of dissolution), envisioning the universe as the “Great Breath,” inhaling and exhaling worlds across vast spans of time. HPB wrote: “The appearance and disappearance of worlds is like a regular tidal ebb of flux and reflux” (Secret Doctrine, 1:13‒17). This mirrors modern theories suggesting that time itself may be cyclic rather than linear.

Thought-Forms and Vibrational Mind

A fascinating Theosophical concept is that thoughts themselves are vibrations capable of shaping subtle matter. Annie Besant and C.W. Leadbeater explored this in their classic work Thought-Forms, arguing that each emotion or idea radiates a distinct vibrational pattern. Modern science, though using a different vocabulary, is beginning to appreciate the vibrational nature of thought and perception. Neuroscience, for example, maps brain activity in terms of oscillatory patterns, while physics and information theory increasingly view reality as a web of interwoven signals.

Dr. Hippolyte Baraduc’s experiments with photographing thought-energy further illustrate this principle (Besant and Leadbeater, 4). Just as string theory reduces matter to vibration, Theosophy extends the same principle to consciousness. In this view, the human mind is both a receiver and transmitter of subtle waves, linking microcosm and macrocosm.

Strings and Logos in Harmony

At its highest level, string theory aspires to a theory of everything, a framework that unites all particles, forces, and interactions. Theosophy too is a philosophy of unity, teaching that there is no dead matter, only the one Life manifesting through countless forms. The Logos, in Theosophy, is the cosmic musician whose song shapes the universe. String theory, in its most poetic interpretation, imagines the universe as a vibrating symphony. Both perspectives affirm that the universe is neither random nor inert, but ordered and alive.

Conclusion

The journey from strings to Logos is not a leap from science to mysticism but an exploration of the common ground where they meet. String theory, with its vision of vibrating energy as the source of all things, and Theosophy, with its doctrine of the creative Word, both affirm that unity and vibration lie at the heart of existence. As Einstein sought “God’s thoughts,” Theosophy reminds us that these thoughts are not merely equations but expressions of meaning and consciousness. To see the cosmos as both a mathematical structure and a spiritual symphony is to glimpse a richer truth, one in which science and Theosophy are partners in the same quest.

 

Sources

Besant, Annie, and C.W. Leadbeater. Thought-Forms. Wheaton: Theosophical Publishing House, 2015 [1905].

Blavatsky, H.P. The Secret Doctrine: The Synthesis of Science, Religion, and Philosophy. Three volumes. Wheaton: Quest, 1993 [1888].

———. The Theosophical Glossary. London: Theosophical Publishing Society, 1892.

Chin, Vicente Hao, Jr., ed. The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett in Chronological Sequence. Quezon City, Philippines: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993.

Cranston, Sylvia. H.P.B.: The Extraordinary Life and Influence of Helena Blavatsky: Founder of the Modern Theosophical Movement. New York: Putnam, 1993.

Greene, B.R., D.R. Morrison, and J. Polchinski. “String Theory.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 95, no. 19 (1998): 11039–11040.

Judge, W.Q. The Ocean of Theosophy. New York: The Path, 1893. Reprint, Wheaton: Theosophical Publishing House, 2003.

Mills, Joy. “On Fohat.” Quest 97, no. 1 (fall 2009): 17–19, 29.

Penrose, Roger. Fashion, Faith, and Fantasy in the New Physics of the Universe. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2016.

Yajnavalka Banerjee is a professor of biochemistry whose research in cancer biology and biophysical chemistry has been widely published in international peer-reviewed journals. A passionate teacher of physics and biochemistry, he brings a reflective curiosity to the intersection of science and spirituality. An avid reader of Theosophical literature, he is particularly interested in how modern scientific insights resonate with the timeless wisdom of the esoteric traditions.

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Printed in the   Fall 2025  issue of Quest magazine. 
Citation: Smoley, Richard  "Who Are the Masters? An Interview with Joy Mills"   Quest 113:4, pg 29-34

By Richard Smoley 

Joy Mills (1920‒2015) is one of the most admired and beloved figures in the Theosophical Society. She dedicated her life and career to the Society in a way that few others have. She joined the Milwaukee Lodge at the age of twenty, and from that time on was active in innumerable aspects of the TS.

In 1960, she became vice president of the American Section under president Henry Smith, and in 1965 she became president of the American Section herself, serving until 1974. In that year she became vice-president of the international Society and served in that role until 1980. Starting in 1980, she worked as director of the Krotona School of Theosophy in Ojai, California, a post she held until 1993, when she became president of the Theosophical Society in Australia for nearly three years. In 1996, she returned to Krotona, where she lived and taught until her death in 2015.

In addition, Joy wrote many lectures and articles on Theosophy and is the author of a number of works, including One Hundred Years of Theosophy: A History of the Theosophical Society in America; The One True Adventure: Theosophy and the Quest for Meaning; and Reflections on an Ageless Wisdom: A Commentary on the Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett.

Joy’s last work, published posthumously by Quest Books in 2017, is For a Wayfarer: Poems by Joy Mills. It is collected from poems discovered after Joy’s death by her friend Nelda Samarel. Excerpts appeared in Quest, winter 2018.

I conducted an e-mail interview with Joy about the Masters in the fall of 2010. It appeared in Quest, summer 2011.

           

Richard Smoley: The idea of the Masters is one of the most influential and most controversial concepts to have come out of Theosophy. How do you see the Masters of The Mahatma Letters? Do you regard them as living human beings who communicated directly with H.P. Blavatsky, A.P. Sinnett, and the others?

Joy Mills: First of all, the concept of Mahatmas or Masters needs to be seen as an integral part of the whole Theosophical worldview. It cannot be treated in isolation. One has to see the whole before one looks at the parts.

If we postulate an evolutionary journey by means of which humanity grows in consciousness toward full self-realization or enlightenment, as it’s called in the Buddhist tradition, then we have to acknowledge that there are individuals, whatever you may call them—saints, seers, bodhisattvas, liberated ones, great souls, Mahatmas—who have moved beyond our present stage of understanding toward a wider or deeper knowledge. It’s not knowledge in the ordinary sense but a knowledge of the principles or laws that underlie existence.

You say this is a controversial idea, but in every sacred or religious tradition this concept of the Masters—by whatever name they may be called—is present. They may be revered as founders of a particular religion: Jesus, Buddha, Muhammad, and so on. Even the indigenous religious traditions acknowledge that there are elders, wise ones, who embody the knowledge, the wisdom. They may be called shamans, or some other name may be given to them. But they embody this wisdom of the clan, of the group, of the ages in their lives. Their lives therefore reflect a purity. One has to see that this idea, while it’s been influential in many directions, is an ancient one.

There’s another point that I would make. According to Theosophy, the evolutionary journey upon which we’re embarked is not just a biological, physical evolution, but a moral evolution. There’s an evolution in consciousness. There is a spiritual evolution. To understand this fully, one has to recognize that the human being is multidimensional. He is more than the physical body. We have emotions, we have a mind that thinks, and there is a spiritual aspect to our being. The Theosophical philosophy posits a human constitution composed of various aspects: spiritual, intellectual, moral, as well as physical. It also posits that we live successive lives—the concept of reincarnation. There is a lawfulness in this whole process. You can’t take just the concept of the Masters, or the Mahatmas, without seeing it in its context in the entire Theosophical philosophy.

People may wonder if the Mahatmas introduced by the TS were living human beings. Of course they were living human beings. They themselves wrote, “We are men, not Gods.” But they are wiser, they have come to a deeper knowledge. From that period we have a number of testimonies of individuals who saw these Mahatmas and had direct intercourse with them—Colonel H.S. Olcott, for example, the founding president of the Society. He testified to their existence, to seeing them. And there are many others. At least twenty-five people in those early days received some kind of communication, a letter, or direct visits from them, as Blavatsky did.

Mr. Sinnett, to whom the bulk of The Mahatma Letters were written, did not see them physically. He longed to but never did. He certainly accepted their existence. Certainly I do. The Letters to me breathe of another world. They have an aura and a wisdom in them, a knowledge that is to me a wonderful understanding of many aspects with which the Letters treat.

Smoley: The historian of esotericism K. Paul Johnson, in The Masters Revealed and other works, described historical figures who, he believed, were the figures behind the Mahatmas. What do you think of Johnson’s views?

Mills: I knew Paul. I read his book many years ago. Many years ago, I had a little correspondence with Paul. I knew that he made every effort to identify those individuals we know as the Mahatma Morya and the Mahatma Koot Hoomi. Of course there are others: Djual Kool, Hilarion, and various others have been identified by name. I’m not sure that Paul really did identify them as individuals in an historical way. As I recall, there were a number of gaps and flaws, and he sometimes stretched things to make them fit his hypothesis rather than taking what evidence there might be. But the point is they were or are living human beings. They made no bones about that. They were seen by a number of individuals at various times and in various places.

From my point of view, the important thing is not who they were, historically speaking, but the teaching that they gave. That is really the essential part of The Mahatma Letters—the teaching, not who gave it or where it derives from.

I prefer not to go into any analysis of Paul’s work. I read it when it first came out. He made his contribution, and there it stands. If people want to know who these individuals were, maybe Paul had something, maybe not.

Smoley: Do you believe that the Masters who were alive in HPB’s time are likely to be alive in any physical form today?

Mills: There’s a very interesting article in volume 8 of HPB’s Collected Writings, titled simply “Helena Petrovna Blavatsky.” It’s quite a long article, and is actually an account of a conversation she had with Charles Johnston, who married one of her nieces. One of the questions Johnston asks about the Mahatmas is whether they have discovered the elixir of life. HPB responds that that’s not a fable, that it’s a veil hiding a real occult process that wards off age and dissolution for periods which would seem to us to be quite amazing. She goes into it in some detail.

That much said, it is quite likely that the Mahatmas are not in the same physical vehicles they were in the 1880s. It doesn’t mean that they may not be in physical incarnation or have taken or constructed vehicles that are similar in appearance.

There’s an interesting episode that’s recorded in The Mahatma Letters where the Mahatma KH appears to the English medium William Eglinton on board ship. How did he get there? How did he appear in the form that Eglinton would recognize from having seen a picture of the Mahatma KH? One of the occult powers, it is said, is that the Mahatma can create a vehicle, a mayavi-rupa, an illusory form that is recognizable by the individual seeing it. I don’t want to go into a lengthy description of that process, but I would say that it’s possible that they would use a physical form if necessary—that they might have incarnated, taken another physical form today.

Smoley: What role do the Masters play in the current Theosophical movement?

Mills: They play no role whatsoever in the Society. They never did other than to suggest certain directions, certain modes of action, to Olcott. They themselves say that they do not guide the Society.

Many members today accept their existence and feel that they may be inspired by them. For example, I have often felt that I dedicated my work in the Society to the Masters and to the work that they did in inspiring the formation of the Society. But that’s a personal matter. One can accept their existence or not. There are many members who probably don’t even think about them. There are other members who are deeply committed to the ideals that the Mahatmas expressed in their letters, even though these letters were written over a century ago.

But as to any role, no. Every member is free to accept their existence, free to deny it, free to accept any of the concepts that are presented, to interpret those ideas in their own way. There is complete freedom of thought in the Society.

Smoley: Do you agree with the idea that the Masters communicate with living people from the inner planes? If so, how are the living people likely to experience this?

Mills: Yes, I think this is quite possible. One has to be very cautious, however. I know there are individuals who claim to be in touch with the Mahatmas or with high spiritual beings of one kind or another. But I think it’s easy to delude oneself that you’re in touch with some high spiritual entity when it may be only your own wishful thinking.

It is possible, of course, to be in contact inwardly if one is quiet. I think there are certain ways in which you can determine whether you are receiving an authentic inner message. One very important way is that the communication is completely impersonal. If it is personal, if it plays on your vanity, your ego, your sense of importance, if it makes you feel you’ve been designated as unique to receive this, beware, because that’s building up the personal ego. The Mahatmas do not do that. Their communications are impersonal in that sense.

There are individuals who have been inspired in some way, who report an incident in their lives when they felt a tremendous inspiration, when they were helped. I can only say for myself that in some of my writing and in some of my lecture tours around the world, there have been moments when something seemed to inspire me beyond my own knowing. I can vouch for that. I’m not attributing it to one or another of the Mahatmas, because I really don’t know. It may be my own higher self coming through, my own interior self or spirit or whatever you want to call it.

But if you’re quiet, if you are really seeking understanding, if you’re really wanting to know the truths of life, you may have an experience when something seems to break through.

I think that everyone is capable of having that kind of experience. I’m no authority on this, but I do think that one sees it in what results. There’s a lot of self-help books out there that claim to be from some divine source. Maybe yes, maybe no. You have to judge it for yourself. You have to judge the experience for yourself. Does it make you feel inflated, important, significant, or did it inspire you to live a better life? I think that is the key question. Am I better for the experience? Do I live a better life? Am I kinder, gentler, more understanding? Ask yourself that question.

Smoley: What can a person today expect to learn from The Mahatma Letters?

Mills: To understand The Mahatma Letters one needs to know a little bit about their background. The majority of them were written to Mr. Sinnett; about his life one can read very easily. Some of them were to his colleague, A.O. Hume.

The letters weren’t always dated, and consequently when they came into the possession of Mr. Sinnett’s executrix, Maud Hoffman, after Sinnett’s death, she turned them over to a man by the name of A.T. Barker for possible publication.

They were in a rather mixed-up condition, many of them not dated, as I said. Barker decided to organize them in accordance with the subject matter, but that wasn’t always easy, because some letters contained comments on more than one subject. Many of the letters seemed a little bit chatty, perhaps even gossipy. I’ve had friends say to me that they felt that the Masters seemed very personal at times, very sort of picky about flaws in individuals, very un-Mahatma-like.

The first editions of The Mahatma Letters were therefore arranged according to the way in which Barker had organized them. It didn’t always make sense. It was a bit confusing because you would read in one letter something that wasn’t explained; the background wasn’t explained until a later letter.

Various people tried to develop a chronology of the letters. Several chronologies were published: one by Mary K. Neff, another by Margaret Conger. There were other chronologies, or attempts at them. Finally a colleague of mine, Virginia Hanson, began working with George Linton and others. She looked at the various events referred to as well as doing a tremendous amount of research into the journals of that period, such as The Theosophist. Virginia developed a chronology that is generally considered the most accurate to date. She consulted all the published chronologies as well as others that were supplied to her that had not been published. Comparing them all, she developed a chronology which the majority of the students felt was accurate. That chronology was used in the edition published by the president of the Society in the Philippines, Vicente Hao Chin. Vic, as we know him, used the chronology developed by Virginia.

My work on the letters follows that chronology. I think it makes it much more logical to use the chronological edition, because while some of the letters are diffuse and some of the events are hard to follow, in the chronological edition there are explanatory notes about various events that occurred during the period when the letters were being received.

What can a person reading them today expect to learn? You can learn the history of the Society during that amazing period when the Society was establishing its headquarters in India. It mainly concerns the work that was being done in India at that time. So you can read them simply for history.

There are also a great number of passages in them about the life of a pupil, a student, known as a chela, a pupil of one of the Masters, someone who is determined to live the spiritual life and to be of service to humanity. You can learn a great deal about what is involved in becoming a student or a chela, as it was called in those days. We don’t speak of chelaship much any more. If you are a student of the teachings, there is a great deal that can be learned about the kind of life that is necessary to be lived in order to come to the state of the Mahatma himself.

One can also learn a great deal about the Theosophical philosophy as it was presented in that period. The letters were received during the period before HPB had written The Secret Doctrine. There are a great number of teachings with regard to the philosophy. So there’s much that can be learned.

You can also learn a great deal about the Mahatmas themselves, at least about the two who indulged in the correspondence, KH and Morya. For example, you can learn that Morya really didn’t like to write letters, whereas KH seemed to enjoy it and wrote at great length.

Smoley: Figures like Morya and Koot Hoomi are now invoked in a wide number of contexts, including, for example, the Church Universal and Triumphant of Elizabeth Clare Prophet. How do you see this use of the Masters? What relation, if any, do they have to the Theosophical figures?

Mills: There are many books out there that claim to have messages or even to have been written by individuals such as Morya and Koot Hoomi and others—Hilarion, St. Germain. Certainly there’s been a use and abuse of the Mahatmas’ names, often for very selfish ends, to glorify the individual, who feels very unique in having received some special message.

I don’t really want to comment on any of these. I think that using the idea of the Masters for selfish purposes is very sad, because it leads people astray. Sometimes some of these works are what I call pabulum. I don’t think any Mahatma would speak that way. Then that’s a judgment that I’m making myself.

I think every individual has to decide for themselves whether the message is inspiring, whether it is helpful. Does it make you a better person, a kinder person, more brotherly, more understanding, more open and generous? Does the message give you some kind of inner peace and understanding? Or does it just make you feel special? You have to judge it for yourself.

So far as I’m concerned, the majority of these so-called channeled messages today have nothing to do with the teachings that were given by the Mahatmas to Mr. Sinnett and Mr. Hume. It’s very easy to say, “I received a message from Koot Hoomi and he said, ‘You must learn to be good.’” Now that’s really nonsense; the Master has more important things to do than telling me to be good.

Judge it by the teaching, not by the source. If there is something that expands on your understanding, that gives a new insight, a new way of interpreting the teaching, if it is a new teaching, then perhaps it comes from a Mahatma. Don’t be concerned with the source; be concerned with the teaching. This, I think, is the way in which to judge these various outpourings that are coming through many different individuals.

Smoley: Some contend that the Theosophical Society has passed its prime, with an aging, dwindling membership. How, in your opinion, does this jibe with the esoteric function of the TS as a nucleus for a new world religion? Is the TS succeeding or failing?

Mills: It is true that the membership in the Society right now has unfortunately dipped to a rather low level. I’m not sure it’s an aging membership, because we really have no specific figures. Certainly there are some national Sections of the Society where there are a great number of young people and certainly very active young people. I think this is encouraging. And there are some Sections that are actually growing in membership, because younger people are coming in at a faster rate than the older people are dying off.

Overall the Society has dwindled, mainly, I think, because the ideas that it presented were new and startling over a century ago but are generally accepted today. There’s a much wider acceptance of the ideals for which the Society stands. That doesn’t mean that the Society doesn’t still have a mission to perform or work to do—I think it does—but that’s another question.

I don’t think it’s past its prime. I personally think the Society has a wonderful future. I don’t think it will change its teachings, because the teaching is essentially the same in all ages; it is an ageless philosophy, but it may need to change its methods. It may need to be put in a new language and use new techniques, but that’s for the Society’s officers and administration to determine.

When you speak of its esoteric function, I presume you are referring to a statement in one of the letters in which the Mahatma says that the Society was intended to be the foundation of a future religion of humanity. It’s not a new world religion but a future religion of humanity. I think that future religion is the message that is at heart of the work of the Society. It’s a message of brotherhood; it’s a message of true understanding of each other and of real brotherhood, which alone brings about peace while still permitting every individual to seek the highest in accordance with his own or her own path.

I don’t think the Society has failed by any means, but then I am an optimist. I think the Society may be struggling, neither succeeding or failing. It may be struggling to find the best way to get the message out. For example, in regard to this debate that is going on now in New York City over a Muslim center close to the site of the destruction of the World Trade Center: to immediately say that an Islamic center should or shouldn’t be there is based on personal prejudice, personal views, personal concerns, not on understanding what Islam is all about or its relation to Christianity and Judaism. These are the three religions of the book, as they’re called. Do we really understand how they’re interconnected? How can we have brotherhood if we shut our eyes to the paths that may be taken by others who are our brothers?

It’s not a new world religion, but it’s the future religion of humanity, which is the religion of brotherhood, I suggest. We may struggle to discover how best to present it using modern technology, such as the World Wide Web. But there is an inner web that unites us all, and that is what we have to come to realize.

Smoley: One idea that has fascinated seekers in the West for centuries is that of the secret Brotherhood. Could you give your thoughts on this Brotherhood, whether it exists, and if so, what it is and does?

Mills: Yes I’m convinced there are such Brotherhoods. There may be several so-called secret Brotherhoods. There are the Rosicrucians of the seventeenth-century Rosicrucian manifestos; there is the Masonic order. There are a number of so-called Brotherhoods, secret or at least private; I prefer that word. Yes, they may have secrets by which you recognize them. There may be signs and symbols by which you recognize the members of such a fraternity.

As for me, I do feel there is a Brotherhood of adepts, a Brotherhood of Mahatmas, a fraternity. In their letters they speak of such a Brotherhood. They perform different functions. Not all of them are teachers, as I think KH was preeminently. Certainly Morya took on that role in terms of the letters. But not all of them are teachers. They may be involved in other aspects of service to the world, helping the world, inspiring individuals who are open to their influence.

Yes, there is a Brotherhood of adepts, a Brotherhood of Mahatmas. They themselves speak of it. There are other Brotherhoods, as I say. A Brotherhood of adepts serves to preserve the teachings, the ageless wisdom, keep it alive at inner levels even when it is obscured in the world about us. I think that’s one of its functions. It is always alert to any seeker who genuinely desires to be of service to humanity and so inspires, and it helps that seeker in some way. They may be involved in healing services.

I think they have various functions within the Brotherhood. Not all of those functions can be named in a sense that we’re accustomed to—labeling what people do. Their main purpose is to be of service; to aid the awakening of humanity; to give encouragement to those individuals who are struggling towards deeper understanding, deeper service. I think that’s their keyword.

Smoley: There is a certain amount of interest in the Esoteric Section of the TS, although there is comparatively little said about it publicly. Could you talk about the ES and its current state and role?

Mills: In 1888, HPB was living in London and published The Secret Doctrine there. Many of the individuals around her pressed her for a way in which they could come together for a deeper study. It was at that time that she established what is today called the Esoteric School of Theosophy, the ES. It has been in existence since HPB’s time. It is open to any member of the Society who has been a member for at least two years and follows a certain discipline in one’s life. In one sense it is quite independent of the Society, but to belong to it one must be a member of the Society. Its headquarters in the United States are at Krotona in Ojai, California. It is not so much a secret school as a private one. We meet together and study some of the Theosophical books.

It’s a body of seekers who meet together on a regular basis and live a certain mode of life that is in harmony with their spiritual aspirations. While I am a member, there is very little I can say about it, but if anyone is interested, they can always write to the headquarters of the Esoteric School here in Ojai. There is literature, there are brochures that explain the function. Each member is free to determine if that’s the way they wish to go.

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