The bare bones of Theosophy

"Theosophy" is a magazine published by the United Lodge of Theosophists (ULT), representing a third stream of Theosophy alongside the main branches led by Besant and Tingley, respectively. The ULT's founder, Robert Crosbie, was a close collaborator of William Quan Judge, but later rejected the leadership of Katherine Tingley. He then formed his own group, which focuses exclusively on the writings of Blavatsky and Judge.

This volume contains issues of "Theosophy" published between November 1919 and October 1920. It looks like an ongoing Blavatsky-Judge study circle, and is presumably meant to look that way. Innovations of the Theosophical message are rejected. All answers are to be found in "The Secret Doctrine", "The Ocean of Theosophy" and other writings by "HPB" or "WQJ". Many of the articles are excerpts from Blavatsky's and Judge's writings, reprints of their articles, or transcripts of speeches by Corbie expounding the Founders' message. The most popular non-Theosophical work quoted is the Bhagavad-Gita, presumably because Judge published a commentary on it.

The articles usually focus on the (relatively speaking) basic concepts of Theosophy: karma, reincarnation and cycles. In the issues I've looked through, there are few discussions about the seven-fold constitution of man, planetary chains or root-races. One recurring theme is the strong repudiation of Spiritualism. "Theosophy" contains many articles quoting main stream newspapers about the dangers of "psychism" and mediumship, which is said to drive people literally insane. Sir Oliver Lodge is seen as the main intellectual proponent of Spiritualism, and is often mentioned in a critical vein. The magazine doesn't seem to contain any political material. Quite unlike Tingley's branch of Theosophy, the ULT apparently didn't cultivate relations with establishment figures. Nor did they express support for more progressive political causes á la Besant's society at Adyar.

I'm not entirely sure how to rate a publication like this, but three stars sound like a suitable compromise solution...