Mythological and Real Race Issues in Theosophy

Abstract

The main focus of this chapter and indeed of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky's relevant work is the evolution of the races which dominated our planet through several cycles. It emphasizes the drafting of that imaginative racial history, which was enabled due to the postulated clairvoyant skills of Blavatsky, and of her protege , Annie Besant, as well as Blavatsky's self-appointed heir, Charles Webster Leadbeater. The chapter introduces the reader to the Theosophical racial mythology, points out some scientific sources of inspiration, analyzes its ideology, and finally, estimates the positions of Blavatsky, Besant, and Leadbeater in contemporary racial discourse. It focuses on the Theosophical race doctrine as can be extrapolated from the publication of Blavatsky's influential Isis Unveiled in 1877, until the publication of Besant and Leadbeater's perhaps less known Man: Whence, How and Whither in 1913. The chapter also elaborates on two crucial themes - orientalism and the Atlantis myth. Keywords:Annie Besant; Atlantis myth; Charles Webster Leadbeater; Helena Petrovna Blavatsky; Isis Unveiled ; mythology; orientalism; racial issues; Secret Doctrine ; Theosophy