Katherine Tingley: Mad, Bad or Goddess?

"The Mysteries of the Heart Doctrine" is a book published in 1902 by the Universal Brotherhood and Theosophical Society, a group often nicknamed "Theosophical Society Pasadena". This branch of Theosophy was led by William Quan Judge and, after his death, by Katherine Tingley. The book is an introduction to Tingley's ideas. It's extremely long-winding, boring, and not particularly informative. Except on one point: the Tingley-ite Theosophists turn out to be American imperialists with cultic tendencies. I always assumed that the Adyar Theosophists were the unwieldy guys with all the scandals, but it seems the "Pasadena" group (based at Point Loma during this period) had their own share of idiosyncracies...

Tingley claims that America is the oldest civilization in the world, far older than both Egypt and India. The book implies that California may have been part of Lemuria, and that the location at which Point Loma stands today was particularly important, with its own temple and a female high priestess. Tingley ties this to the manifest destiny of the modern United States, the future leader of mankind. She boasts having contacts with President McKinley and one Emilio Bacardi, appointed mayor of Santiago by the U.S. military administration of Cuba in the wake of the Spanish-American war. Tingley's supporters had founded a hospital for American troops at Long Island, and carried out philanthropic work among poor Cubans. Or, to be less charitable, Tingley supported American colonialism. Tingley even flashes a letter of recommendation from an U.S. under-secretary, giving her supporters the right to carry out "philanthropic" work among U.S. troops in the Philippines, Guam and elsewhere.

Tingley promoted a personality cult around herself, her deceased predecessor Judge, and Theosophy founder Blavatsky. "The Universal Brotherhood and Theosophical Society" was clearly non-democratic. Judge had been elected president for life. After his death, Tingley styled herself Leader, Official Head and Autocrat, with exclusive powers to govern the organization, even to the point of approving or expelling new members. Tingley claims to be a World Teacher, putting herself on the same level as Zoroaster, Buddha, Jesus and Confucius. As a Leader, she works in the traditions of Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar and Napoleon. Bizarrely, everyone who challenges Tingley is a vain careerist full of pride, or perhaps a degenerate. Et tu, Katherine? Somebody is having a problem with shadow projection... More ominously, the Autocrat declares that the form of government of her society will one day become the form of government of all nations, as Theosophy will become a world religion with millions of adherents.

With this cultish attitude, it's hardly surprising that a large portion of "The Mysteries of the Heart Doctrine" is devoted to attacks on perceived enemies of Theosophy, including factional opponents of Judge and Tingley. The most prominent one was Annie Besant, but Tingley mentions her by name only once, as "one Mrs. Besant". The Universal Brotherhood is surrounded by dark, crypto-demonic forces hell bent on destroying it. This obsession with your own little group, its world-historic importance and its frankly irrelevant factional squabbles seems to be typical of highly sectarian organizations, both political and religious. Attempts to establish contacts with high-ranking politicians are also typical of certain cults. In Tingley's case, President McKinley and King Oscar II of Sweden and Norway.

While Besant's branch of Theosophy, the Theosophical Society Adyar, emphasized India and Tibet, Tingley's group preferred Egypt and Classical Greece. Most illustrations in "The Mysteries" are Egyptian or Egyptian-inspired. Tingley admired Aeschylus, built an amphitheatre and a Greek temple at Point Loma, and staged "mystery plays" with actors in Greek and Egyptian costumes. Of course, as heir to Blavatsky, Tingley's spiritual message was to a large extent based on HPB's peculiar interpretations of Hinduism and Buddhism, which may explain her insistence that the secret doctrine really came from ancient America-Lemuria, rather than from Vedic India. In this way, the Tingleyites could both eat their cake and have it too. "The Mysteries" contain extensive quotations from Blavatsky's "Key to Theosophy" and "The Voice of the Silence", but whatever Oriental feel this might give rise to is tempered by the anti-Indian slant.

I can't say I like Katherine Tingley, the Autocrat. Her society may not have been an outright cult, but it sure gives that impression. It seems that Tingley's movement became more normal after her death, when G. de Purucker took over the reigns. My guess is that he transformed the "Pasadena" society to the guardian of intellectual Blavatsky-super-orthodoxy it is today. The dreams of world conquest are gone. Just as good, in my opinion.