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In the early days of the Findhorn Community much of the literature was couched in theosophically influenced esoteric terminology. This has become less commonplace, but an understanding of these influences is nonetheless important. It is for example no co-incidence that the Community’s founding took place on 17th November, as did the purchases of Cluny Hill and the Caravan Park. This date is also the anniversary of the creation of the Theosophical Society in 1875.

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831-91)
HPB as she was known to most of her associates, was the child of Russo-German nobility. Married young to a man much her senior – Nikofor Blavatsky – she escaped from an escort a few weeks after this unfortunate liaison and did not re-surface in a verifiable way until her arrival in the USA some 25 years later. By all accounts she travelled widely during this time in Europe, Asia, Russia, and perhaps Tibet, where she claimed to have lived for seven years.

Here she met some of the spiritual Masters who were to guide and direct her later life, which was to be dedicated to bringing a form of eastern esoteric knowledge to a dis-believing West. Not long after her arrival in the US she met up with Henry Olcott, a colonel with a distinguished career behind him, who became her partner in this ambitious scheme.

Much of Blavatsky’s work now seems obscure at best, and during her own life there was certainly no shortage of sceptics who scoffed at the idea of letters from the Masters precipitated out of thin air, and hidden sources of oriental wisdom. Nonetheless she amassed many powerful friends, and for over half a century there was genuine public interest, in both India and the West, in the Theosophical Society and the humanitarian and internationalist principles it espouses. The legacy of her work was primarily the popularisation of a genuinely world-embracing esoteric system. This remains of considerable significance, even if the Society she founded to promote it has failed to achieve the mass audience it once promised to reach.

The linchpin of Theosophical teachings is the brotherhood of adepts and Masters who work behind the scenes controlling world affairs and guiding humanity towards its spiritual destiny. These Masters include Koot Hoomi, Maitreya, St. Germain and The Buddha. The head of the hierarchy is known as the Lord of the World, and his HQ is located at Shamballa in the Gobi desert. Much of Blavatsky’s writings are quasi-scientific attempts to describe a spiritual history of the world, and the workings of the principles, dynamics and artefacts the Masters use.

During its heyday the Theosophical Society had over 45,000 members world-wide, and it retains an International HQ in India and centres in almost every western country. Her main successors were Charles Leadbetter, and Annie Besant. The former’s life was dogged by sexual scandal, while under Besant’s benign but somewhat costume and ceremony-oriented control the Society reached its peak membership in the late nineteen-twenties.

Krishnamurthi (1895-1986)
The career of Jiddu Krishnamurthi began on a beach near Adyar in India when Charles Leadbetter stopped to watch some young boys at play in the sand one evening in 1909. Observing the aura of one of the children he was convinced that he had happened upon a great teacher. One of his assistants already knew the lad and had pronounced him a dunce, but Leadbetter was insistent.

Taking Krishnamurthi in hand he informed Annie Besant of his find and set about instructing this semi-educated Brahmin youth in the wisdoms of Theosophy. At the age of sixteen he produced a short book called ‘At the Feet of the Master’, and although clearly ghost-written in part if not in whole by Leadbetter, it sold well. In 1911 Besant received his father’s permission to take Jiddu and his brother Nitya to England. He was eventually to spend some time there, completing his education in a rarefied upper-class environment.

Soon after his discovery Krishnamurthi had been proclaimed by the Society as the World Teacher – the theosophical messiah. At first he seemed happy enough with his task. His ability to inspire individuals by the steady intensity of his discourse on spiritual matters convinced many who met him that his destiny in this role was assured. He never used notes and the constantly recurring themes of his talks – compassion, honesty, personal responsibility and so on were in accord with Theosophy’s own teachings. There is little doubt that his personal charisma was a major reason for the growing membership of the Society at this time.

However, after a long apprenticeship, Krishnamurthi broke with Theosophy in 1929, setting up his own base at Ojai, California two years later. His rejection of Theosophy in favour of an individually based spirituality without recourse to the trappings of esoteric terminology, religion, or gurus would be his consistent message for he rest of his life.

Despite the inherent paradox of a spiritual teacher telling the faithful to reject leaders he remained a compelling figure for a wide audience until his death in 1986. Although his teachings remain influential, as might be supposed from his insistence on individual spiritual inquiry, there has never been a recognisable group of Krishnamurthi disciples in our Community.

Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925)
Although Rudolf Steiner’s parents were Austrian he was born in Kraljevec on the border of Hungary and Croatia, his father having been stationed there for a period whilst in the employ of the Southern Austrian Railway.

A somewhat solitary and serious minded individual, Steiner discovered a psychic gift whilst very young, and as maturity dawned and he realised not everyone was blessed with his capacities, he decided to devote his life to enabling others to discover and use similar faculties. These, he imagined, were latent in most humans.

He entered the Technical University of Vienna in 1879, where he was much influenced by Goethe’s ideas of man’s spiritual role and the place of science within the sphere of human achievement. During the 1880’s he came across the theosophical writings of Blavatsky which gave him a partial explanation of his own psychic abilities.

He left University in 1884 and became a tutor to a family with four young sons. One of the boys suffered from water on the brain, and in the course of the next six years Steiner’s relationship with the child became the bedrock of his later theories for curative education.

In 1890 he moved to Weimar in Germany to work on the Goethe archive there, and in 1891 he received a Ph.D. from the University of Rostock. Whilst at Weimar he published several books, including ‘The Philosophy of Spiritual Activity” and began lecturing on spiritual matters. In 1897 he moved on to Berlin, where, two years later he married Anna Eunicke. In 1902 he attended a Theosophical congress in London and shortly thereafter he took over the leadership of the Society’s German Section. He remained associated with mainstream theosophy for the next ten years.

During his time as a Theosophist he became increasingly uncomfortable with the allegations of sexual misconduct levelled at Leadbetter, Annie Besant’s fascination with the orient, and above all Leadbetter’s claims that Krishnamurthi was the re-incarnation of the Lord Maitreya/Jesus Christ. Steiner had little time for hierarchies of which the Christ was but a part, and less for the notion of Krishnamurthi’s messianic identity. For Steiner the life and work of Jesus was always a matter of vital and unique significance. He was also increasingly unhappy with both the lack of rigour in the teaching of Theosophy and its rejection of most of European mainstream thought.

In February 1913 he broke with the Theosophical Society, (an action which coincided with separation from his wife) and formed his own Anthroposophical Society based in Dornach, near Basle, in Switzerland. The headquarters of the new organisation was a specially constructed wooden structure of heroic proportions called the Goetheanum. This splendid building was completely destroyed by fire only nine years later but it was quickly replaced by a concrete one of similar design which exists to this day. Although the anthroposophical movement continued to prosper, the fire seems to have had a serious effect on Steiner himself. By the time of the inauguration of the new building on Christmas Day 1923 he was already ill with the sickness that took his life fifteen months later, age 64.

Steiner’s legacy is a tour de force. His written work covers an amazing array of subjects including the relationship of religion to ecology, agriculture, children’s education, alternative medicine, economics, the nature of mankind and the cosmos. The continuing success of Anthroposophy is in large measure due to his ability to link his theoretical ideas with eminently practical activities, the Moray Steiner School being the most visible example of this influence in the Community today. Trained in the German academic tradition Steiner’s written style is not particularly accessible to everyone, but of all the elements of the theosophical movement, his work has been the most enduring.

Alice Bailey (1880-1949)
Unlike Steiner, Alice Bailey made no attempt to credit her own spiritual perceptions for the equally voluminous material she published during her lifetime. Rather she believed herself to be simply a channel for the teachings of a Master who intended to bring spiritual teaching to the West and used her as a vehicle.

She was born in Manchester, England in June 1880 and her early life was one of a typical upper class Victorian child – a mixture of luxury and discipline. Although outwardly fortunate by birth she suffered the tragedy of both of her parents dying before she was nine years old. Brought up by a series of relatives and governesses, as a youth she claimed to be “morbid, full of self pity through loneliness, exceedingly introspective and convinced that no one liked me,” having twice attempted suicide by the time she was 15.

By this time she had become an active orthodox Christian with a firm belief in the power of Christ. When the opportunity arose she would go to lonely moors and try to feel the presence of God and listen for his ‘Voice’. It was therefore perhaps less surprising to her than it would have been to many of her contemporaries when, whilst staying in Kirkcudbrightshire in southern Scotland, a tall man dressed in European clothes with a turban on his head, came to visit her. He explained she had an important spiritual mission and that he would be in touch with her again. Quite naturally she assumed she had met her Master, Jesus.

As an adult she commenced a career as an evangelist amongst British troops in Ireland, a task which suited her profoundly fundamentalist approach to religion. Aged 22 she was posted to India where she served in a number of Soldier’s Homes. A life of excitement perhaps, but also one of considerable privation and loneliness.

One night in Lucknow she again heard the voice of her Master who simply encouraged her, and said that the ideas he had earlier outlined were still planned, but in a way which she might not recognise. However the burden of her work began to tell and she was eventually invalided back to England. There she married Walter Evans, a soldier she had met in India who was studying to be a preacher in Ohio. She followed him to America, and although he found employment in California, and they had three daughters in quick succession, they were not well matched. He developed a violent temper and left her in poverty when he found work in Montana. She never saw him again.

The next period was one of desperate poverty. She worked in a sardine canning factory and struggled to bring up her young family as best she could. It was at this time that she first contacted Theosophy, having met two elderly ladies who had been personal pupils of HPB. Convinced of the authenticity of the Divine Plan, the Masters, and the laws of karma and re-incarnation, she joined the local Lodge and started to teach and hold classes.

For her this new philosophy was a kind of sophisticated version of Christianity, with Christ as the head of the Masters. She moved near to the American Theosophical HQ at Krotona in Hollywood, and when she joined the Esoteric Section in 1918 she was admitted to a certain lodge. There she saw a picture of the man who had visited her over twenty years before and was astounded to discover that this was apparently Koot Hoomi and not Jesus!

In 1919 she was divorced and came into contact with the two men who would dominate the rest of her life. Foster Bailey, her husband and partner-to-be was an ex-lawyer and the National Secretary of the Theosophical Society who was living in a tent at Krotona when they first met. Secondly, in November of that year she first clairaudiently heard from ‘the Tibetan’ whose channelled ideas were soon to bring her to international prominence.

At first she rejected the entire notion of working in this way, but convinced by Koot Hoomi, she began writing down what she heard. The first few chapters were printed in ‘The Theosophist’. However, this was a time of trouble for the Society. First of all Bailey discovered that she could not be a disciple of the Masters unless officially informed of her position by Annie Besant – something of a problem as she had felt herself to be just that for more than two decades. Secondly, the Esoteric Section was at loggerheads with the main movement, and the Baileys were firmly on the side of the latter, more democratic body. After various internal wrangles, during which they found themselves on the losing side, she and Foster left for New York in 1920, and ultimately founded the Arcane School based on her channelled writings.

At first the identity of this Master remained hidden, but the authority and scope of the teachings gave rise to considerable speculation and at length it was revealed that the deus ex machina was Djwhal Kul, otherwise known as D.K.

Although her/his works are in some ways at odds with the teachings of the Theosophical Society, the Tibetan’s cosmology has a striking resemblance to Mme Blavatsky’s. The congruencies include the identification of Shamballa as the seat of the Lord of the World; the existence of a secret brotherhood of wise Masters, adepts and chelas; a history of humanity based on the development of root races, and the existence of Lemuria and Atlantis; the existence of divine Rays etc.

The scope of this work is too great to be covered here, but its influence on the Community should not be underestimated. Possession of at least one book by Bailey – published by the Lucis Trust – was de rigeur in the Community of the seventies and early eighties, and a working knowledge of the Rays, Masters, and techniques described therein, a pre-requisite for any serious candidate for high office.

These works still command considerable respect, but such views are however less prominent than they once were. The reasons for this are not wholly clear but it should be remembered that at the time of their writing and for many years thereafter the Lucis Trust publications formed a significant part of a relatively small corpus of teachings about the New Age. Today they are just another set of books on the groaning shelves of New Age bookshops, with an archaic written style, and a claim to authority based on an alleged channelling rather than a documented history and living presence. A generation with access to the visible masters and teachers of the east perhaps has less time for a discorporate and (possibly) long since silent Master, however erudite his message. On the other hand, popularity is not the same as authenticity, and for many people the work of Alice Bailey remains the apogee of Western esoteric thought.

Reading List

Alice Bailey; Various; Lucis Trust. There are many volumes of channelled material of which the most accessible are Initiation Human and Solar, and Letters on Occult Meditation. In the latter, Letter IX on ‘Future Schools of Meditation’ is particularly tantalising. Also of interest, The Unfinished Autobiography; Lucis Trust; 1951
Michael Baigent & Richard Leigh; The Temple and the Lodge; Jonathan Cape; 1989. A somewhat disappointing follow up to the outrageous but compelling The Holy Blood and the Holy Grai‘, but certainly of interest to those wishing to know more about the Western Mystery Tradition in general, and Scotland’s role in it in particular.
Anne Bancroft; Modern Mystics and Sages; Paladin; 1978. Brief summaries of the lives and work of  several prominent influences of the New Age including Steiner, Gurdjieff , Alan Watts, Pak Subuh, and Krishnamurthi.
H. P. Blavatsky; Isis Unveiled: 2 volumes; The Secret Doctrine: 3 volumes; Theosophical University Press; 1888. The latter is somewhat opaque, although highly regarded by Steiner. The former is rather more speculative.
L. Francis Edmunds; Rudolf Steiner Education; Steiner Press; 1992
Stuart Holroyd; Krishnamurthi: The Man, The Mystery and the Message; Element; 1991
Satish Kumar; No Destination: An Autobiography; Green Books; 1992. This includes a brief but delightful account of a visit to Erraid and Iona.
Mary Lutyens (editor); The Krishnamurthi Reader; Penguin; 1970
Charles J. Ryan; H.P. Blavatsky and the Theosophical Movement; Theosophical University Press; 1975
A.P. Shepherd; Rudolf Steiner: Scientist of the Invisible; Floris Books; 1983
Rudolf Steiner; Various; There are many volumes of his work covering a huge range of subjects including for example: The Restoration of Man; Anthroposophic Press; 1971. An Autobiography; Steiner Publications; 1977. This work was unfinished at the time of his death.
Peter Washington; Madame Blavatsky’s Baboon; Secker 1993. A harsh but highly readable critique of the Theosophical influence. The ground covered includes Gurdjieff, Steiner and Krishnamurthi, but for unexplained reasons the Lucis Trust is not even mentioned.
The Story of the White Eagle Lodge; White Eagle Publishing Trust; 1986
Colin Wilson; Rudolf Steiner: The Man  and His Vision; Aquarian Press 1984

Alex Walker