Theos-Talk Archives (October 2006 Message tt00528)

Greg -

Actually John Cooper told me that Mrs. Griscom was their ES Head. He 
also identified her as the writer who used the pseudonym " Cave' " 
in the small booklets entitled 'Fragments'. One can see this name 
used in 'The Theosophical Quarterly'. I do not have any reference 
for this, nor remember if John gave me some idea of reference at the 
time but it certainly made sense. I had been interested in finding 
out who " Cave' " was and asked him one day during a vist in the 
late 1980's I think, while we were searching through Point Loma 
archives for various historical documents. With some investigation 
it should become more clear.

Regarding Point Loma esoteric groups. Regarding the Esoteric Section 
with its three degrees under dePurucker:

Though Col. Arthur Conger is alleged to have written the letter 
closing it and it is typed by someone and has his signature. It was 
written less than a couple of weeks before his death when he could 
neither speak nor sign his name from the effects of severe 
Parkinson's (so the question is who actually wrote this 
letter ?.....)and also did he or others have any authority to do 
so ? Certainly from the point of view of the respective secretaries 
and officers of the three groups appointed by dePurucker, Boris de 
Zirkoff, Henry T. Edge, Emmett Small and Helen Harris, Col. Conger 
did not have any such authority nor did James Long, as these 
individuals were entrusted with their responsibilities by de 
Purucker. So now so many years later it can be said truthfully that 
these original Point Loma esoteric groups did not close then, but 
paradoxically continued though not explicitly as a formal 
organization...

Regarding other esoteric groups from the lineage that went from 
Conger to William Hartley and then in Holland to D.J.P. Kok and now 
to Herman Vermeulen or in Germany from Hartley to Herman Knobloch to 
Ms. Ackerman I do not know directly if they have  any Esoteric 
groups, but I would say it is unlikely. They do consider themselves 
to be 'esoteric lineages' going back through Point Loma to Blavatsky 
but I have not heard that they have any formal esoteric or secret 
grops or teachings.

About Crosbie leaving Point Loma

I did find last year and passed on to a few 'ULT associates' some 
documentation Iverson Harris put together about Crosbie leaving 
Point Loma. (now of course it is packed away in my 'attic' and I 
cannot immediately access it as like yourself I DO need to have some 
space to walk between while working on different studies and 
projects....and sorry to say ULT history is hardly my favorite 
exciting passtime !) If I remember correctly the results were quite 
mundane. Crosbie was having monetary difficulties and was one of the 
very few at Point Loma who received a small monetary stipend for the 
work he did. This was not sufficient for the needs of he, his wife 
and very young child, so he elected to leave. This Crosbie had 
already decided and when Tingley found out she wished he would stay, 
but did not attempt to change his mind. It is quite probable that 
all the stories about a conflict between Tingley and Crosbie evolved 
AFTER Crosbie initiated the ULT, though even in this I have never 
seen anything written from Tingley or any Point Loma Theosophist at 
the time nor even heard anything anecdotal said about Robert 
Crosbie ! From the Point Loma side as far as I know, nothing was 
even written or said when the ULT published "The Theosophical 
Movement: 1875 -1925"  which contains much that is factually 
incorrect regarding Point Loma and the Judge - Tingely - Crosbie 
history. ( Daniel having posted the documents for all to view 
certainly helps clarify this historical era )...now  with the 
history clarified it would really be a step forward if the 'ULT-
Theosophy Company' would really withdraw and re-write their 
embarrassing so-called 'history' which only makes them look 
backward, cultish and ignorant !

more later......

Ken Small - Point Loma Publcations





--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, gregory@... wrote:
>
> I do not know if Julia Keightley was the OH - as far as I know, 
his/her
> identity was not disclosed. But I can provide a little background 
on
> Hargrove's ES.
> 
> Following the death of W.Q. Judge on March 21, 1896, Ernest temple
> Hargrove appeared to lead the campaign to bring Katherine Tingley 
in as
> his successor, but shortly afterwards broke with Tingley, and 
resigned as
> President of the Theosophical Society in America in 1898, and led a
> breakaway of some two hundred members from the Society which Mrs 
Tingley
> then headed.
> 
> The Society which Hargrove established, and then led, had its own 
ES, and
> he wrote to Mrs Tingley telling her "by Order of the master you 
have
> ceased to be the outer Head of the E.S.T. in the interior and true 
sense. 
> The Outer Head to follow you has already been appointed by the 
Master."
> 
> In 1908 this Society became "The Theosophical Society with Its
> Headquarters Based in New York", and published "The Theosophical 
Forum"
> and "The Theosophical Quarterly".  The Society remained active 
until it
> underwent "indrawal" in 1935.
> 
> The ES was administered from December, 1898, by a Reference 
Committee
> consisting of A.P. Buchman, J.D. Buck, George Coffin, C.A. Griscom,
> Charles Johnston, Archibald Keightley and William Ludlow.  The 
identity of
> the OH was never made known to the members, although ES documents 
prepared
> by him or her were distributed to them.  These included Aids and
> Suggestions (following the 7 papers previously issued by Judge) and
> Subsidiary Paper D (follow Judge's Subsidiary Papers A, B and C).
> 
> In September, 1900, the Reference Committee proposed four courses 
of study
> for members: "The First Course provided a comprehensive knowledge 
of
> Theosophical philosophy by means of studying the exoteric 
Theosophic works
> in the light of E.S.T. Instructions 1, 2 and 3. The Second Course 
taught a
> more advanced philosophy based upon "The Secret Doctrine" and other
> metaphysical work with the study 	being based upon the E.S.T. 
Aids and
> Suggestions. The Third Course will use Instructions 4, 5 and 6 of 
the
> E.T.S. plus other papers to be issued to the School plus some 
unpublished
> letters of the Master K.H. The emphasis in this course 	was 
to the above
> with the Upanishads, Veda, Puranas, Bible and other sacred texts. 
The
> fourth Course was to be based upon the devotional side of 
	Theosophy and
> was to study "Light on the Path", "The Voice of the 
Silence", "Letters
> That Have Helped Me", "Through the Gates of Gold" and other 
devotional
> texts.  This course was intended to lead to the development of the 
Inner
> Man."
> 
> An examining Board sent examination papers to members, and 
assessed the
> results.
> 
> At the Theosophical Society Convention held on April 30, 1905, it 
was
> reported that the School  had moved from the phase of Instruction 
under
> HPB and WQJ to that of Discipline under the present OH. The School 
appears
> to have followed the Society into its period of "indrawal" in 1935.
> 
> 
> Dr Gregory Tillett
>