2 The Problem of the “Western” in “Western Esotericism” and in Research on the Theosophical Society

Abstract

Often these are only available, if at all, in India, at the Adyar Library and Research Centre of the headquarters of the Theosophical Society.As a result, scholars have often based their research on one or two major publications, mostly late editions of Isis Unveiled and The Secret Doctrine.Although it has not been possible in writing the present book to carry out foundational research concerning editions, publishing houses, or questions of authorship, I have tried to base my accounts on a representative corpus of publications.10 In the following, I will discuss in more detail a wide range of publications on "Western esotericism" in general and Theosophy in particular.In the field of "the study of the Theosophical Society"often viewed as a subfield of the study of ("Western") esotericismtwo major approaches exist, although one currently seems to be losing ground to the other.The former, increasingly challenged, approach claims that "modern Theosophy" is a purely, or at least largely, "Western" construct; the latter, increasingly dominant, contests this notion. The Problem of "Western Esotericism"Wouter Hanegraaff is one of the most eminent scholars in the field of "Western esotericism."His chair in the History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents at the University of Amsterdam is one of the most important positions in the field, while the institute in which he holds his position is the only institution to provide a complete course in "Western Esotericism" from the B.A. level through to the Ph.D. 11 Hanegraaff conceptualizes "Western esotericism" as a wide range of currents which belong to what he calls "'rejected knowledge' since the age of Enlightenment." 12 These currents include highly diverse traditions, ranging from Hermetism,  The most important source for scans of some of the major and smaller Theosophical journals is the website of the International Association for the Preservation of Spiritualist and Occult Periodicals (cf."International Association for the Preservation of Spiritualist and Occult Periodicals," accessed December 17, 2019, http://www.iapsop.com/). This is certainly true for Annie Besant's writings in her early Theosophical period and also for T. Subba Row's and Manilal Dvivedi's oeuvre.I do not refer to a large corpus of Blavatsky's writings because I am particularly interested in The Voice of the Silence as a book of initiation and I do not want to perpetuate the narrative that Theosophy equals Blavatsky. Amsterdamhermetica.nl,"About HHP -Western Esotericism in Amsterdam," accessed September 30, 2019, https://www.amsterdamhermetica.nl/esotericism-in-the-academy/esoteri cism-in-amsterdam.