Theos-Talk Archives (April 2006 Message tt00839)

Robert Crosbie stated:  "...Katherine Tingley...was appointed by 
William Q. Judge...."
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In the 1923 edition of the pamphlet titled "The United Lodge of 
Theosophists: Its Mission and its Future" and issued in Los Angeles, 
California by the Theosophy Company, the anonymous ULT writer tells 
his readers:

"During all the troublous period 1893-6 Mr. [Robert] Crosbie SHARED 
to an extend UNKNOWN and undreamt of by others in the burdens and 
the CONFIDENCE of Mr. [William Q.] Judge." p. 6.  Caps added.

In 1919 another anonymous ULT writer stated that:

"[Mr Crosbie]. . . was for many years the devoted and CLOSE 
Companion of William Q. Judge. . . ." Theosophy magazine, 1919, 
Volume 7, page 320.  Caps added.

IF the above Theosophy Company/ULT statements are historically true 
and correct, then was it this  SHARED CONFIDENCE and CLOSE 
COMPANIONSHIP with Mr. Judge that allowed Mr. Crosbie to state the 
following????

(1) ". . . Katherine Tingley . . . was appointed by William Q. Judge 
as his successor. . . ." Quoted from an April 1, 1901 Public Address 
by Robert Crosbie (reprinted in the pamphlet In Honor of William Q. 
Judge, 1901.)

(2) "We feel that he [William Q. Judge] knows of the self-
sacrificing efforts made by the faithful ones, and that those 
efforts have been called forth by his chosen successor [Katherine 
Tingley], of whom he [Judge] said [in his occult diary], 'she is 
true as steel, as clear as diamond, and as lasting as time.' "   May 
1902 Public Talk by Robert Crosbie

Let us compare Mr. Crosbie's testimony here with that of another 
trusted associate of William Judge. 
 
Julia Campbell Ver Planck (later Mrs. Archibald Keightley) was a 
well known Theosophical writer under her pen name "Jasper Niemand" 
and the compiler of the two volumes of W.Q. Judge's Letters That 
Have Helped Me. 

It can certainly be said of Julia that she also shared the 
confidence of Mr. Judge.

Below is what she wrote in 1896 about Mr. Judge and Mrs. Tingley: 

". . . It is well known to members of the Inner Council in America 
and Europe that the present Outer Head [Mrs. Katherine Tingley] has 
for two years past assisted Mr. Judge in the inner work of the 
School as his associate and equal.. . . . For myself, I may say that 
as early as June, 1894, Mr. Judge told me of the standing of the 
present Outer Head in the school, and spoke of her work at that time 
and for the future.  I am one among several to whom he so spoke 
himself.   Of his appointment of the present Outer Head [Mrs. 
Tingley] there is absolutely no doubt; and there is also no doubt of 
her entire ability to fill that appointment; or of her right to it; 
or that it came from and was directed by the Master. . . . " [The 
Search Light (New York), Volume I, May 1898, p. 30.]

One notices here that Julia, in effective, confirms Mr.Crosbie's 
statements quoted earlier.

In regards to Crosbie's statement about Tingley being Judge's 
successor and also Crosbie's quoting of Judge's comments from his 
occult diary --- one should compare Crosbie's statements with the 
following testimony by another  Theosophist:

". . . Robert Crosbie assured me that he [Judge] had [appointed 
Katherine Tingley as his successor] and [Crosbie] also told me he 
had seen Judge's occult diary in which it was so stated. 
 
". . . Later Crosbie came to me after he had left Point Loma [in 
1904] and said that she never had been appointed by Judge.  I 
recalled to him that he had said after Judge's death [in 1896] when 
he returned to Boston that he [Judge] had [appointed Tingley] and he 
denied it. . . ." 
C.F. Willard, The Canadian Theosophist, March 15, 1932, pp. 16-17.