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The Friends of Theosophical Archives

FOTA (The Friends of Theosophical Archives) is an organisation being formed to promote knowledge of, and support for, the Theosophical archives across the world. For this purpose, “Theosophy” is defined in the same way as in the editorial pages of Theosophical History, and is not restricted to any one tradition or country.

In order to avoid confusion between what I perceive as two separate categories of "Theosophical" and associated terms, the journal will henceforth employ "Theosophical", "Theosophist", and "Theosophy"--all with capital 'T'--to refer to the societies, individuals, and literature that derive their teachings directly from the writings of H.P. Blavatsky. Conversely, 'theosophy', 'theosophical', and 'theosopher' or 'theosophist'--all with lower case 't'--include all teachings, organizations and individuals that may either predate those of H.P.Blavatsky or that possess only an indirect or superficial relationship to modern Theosophical teachings. Thus, 'Theosophical' would refer to all the various Theosophical societies (Adyar, Pasadena, U.L.T., and other organizations that are direct descendants of the 1875 T.S.), 'Theosophist' to members of such organizations, and 'Theosophy' specifically to the teachings discussed in the writings of H.P.B. and all publications directly derived therefrom. These writings include those of W.Q. Judge, Annie Besant, C.W. Leadbeater, G. de Purucker, B. P. Wadia, Robert Crosbie, and others who belong to the various Theosophical societies. Organizations such as AMORC, the Rosicrucian Fellowship, the Arcane School, the Anthroposophical Society, more recent movements such as Eckankar, the Church Universal and Triumphant, Morningland, the Aetherius Society, and individuals such as Alice Bailey, Rudolf Steiner, Max Heindel, Manly Hall, may all be considered 'theosophical' or 'theosophers' respectively.

This is a reprint of an editorial given in Theosophical History April 1992, vol. 4 no. 2.