Pat Macpherson and Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wikipedia edit
Theosophy is not Buddhism. It is a newer Western religion based on ancient Eastern philosophies that include Buddhism, a belief system given to Russian writer, clairvoyant, and mystic Madame Blavatsky (1831-1891) by a consortium of unseen beings.
American Buddhist Col. Henry Steel Olcott (1832-1907) was an officer, lawyer, journalist, and co-founder of the Theosophical Society and its first president. He was the first well-known American of European ancestry to make a formal conversion to Buddhism.
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| Col. Olcott drawn by Blavatsky |
His subsequent actions helped create a renaissance in the study of Buddhism. He is considered a Buddhist modernist for his efforts at interpreting Buddhism through a Western lens and was a major revivalist of Buddhism in Sri Lanka, where he is still honored for his efforts.
He was important to the new movement; he is famous for reviving indigenous Theravada Buddhism in Sri Lanka. Moreover, Theosophy helped revitalize the West's interest in spirituality. One interesting aspect of Theosophical study we now take for granted is "color mysticism" in the aura or astral body of a person.
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