Annie Wood Besant

Esoteric Christianity, or the Lesser Mysteries Annie Wood Besant

Publisher Marketing: Given Annie Besant's activity in pursuing the rights of women, humanitarian causes, the mysteries and occult teachings, her interest in freemasonry and subsequent leadership and activism comes as no surprise. She pursued freemasonry with equal vigor when it was mentioned to her that there was a masonry that "accepted women as well as men." She saw freemasonry, in particular co-freemasonry, as an extension of her interest in the rights of women and the greater brotherhood of man and saw co-freemasonry as a "movement which practiced true brotherhood, in which women and men worked side by side for the perfecting of humanity. She immediately wanted to be admitted to this organization," known now as The International Order of Co-Freemasonry, Le Droit Humain. Besant was a prolific writer and a powerful orator. In 1889, she was asked to write a review for the Pall Mall Gazette [6] on The Secret Doctrine, a book by H. P. Blavatsky. After reading it, she sought an interview with its author, meeting Blavatsky in Paris. In this way she was converted to Theosophy. Annie's intellectual journey had always involved a spiritual dimension, a quest for transformation of the whole person. As her interest in Theosophy deepened, she allowed her membership of the Fabian Society to lapse (1890) and broke her links with the Marxists. When Blavatsky died in 1891, Annie was left as one of the leading figures in Theosophy. Her most important public commitment to the faith came in 1893, when she went to present it at the Chicago World Fair. Soon after becoming a member of the Theosophical Society she went to India for the first time (in 1893). After a dispute in which William Quan Judge, leader of the American section, was accused of falsifying letters from the Masters, the American section split away. The remainder of the Society was then led by Henry Steel Olcott and Besant and is today based in Chennai, India, and is known as the Theosophical Society Adyar. Thereafter she devoted much of her energy not only to the Society, but also to India's freedom and progress. Besant Nagar, a neighborhood near the Theosophical Society in Chennai, is named in her honor. Contributor Bio:  Besant, Annie Wood Annie Besant nee Wood, 1 October 1847 - 20 September 1933) was a prominent British Theosophist, women's rights activist, writer and orator and supporter of Irish and Indian self rule. She was married at 19 to Frank Besant but separated from him over religious differences. She then became a prominent speaker for the National Secular Society (NCS) and writer and a close friend of Charles Bradlaugh. In 1877 they were prosecuted for publishing a book by birth control campaigner Charles Knowlton. The scandal made them famous and Bradlaugh was elected Member of Parliament for Northampton in 1880. She became involved with Union organisers including the Bloody Sunday demonstration and the London matchgirls strike of 1888 and was a leading speaker for the Fabian Society and the Marxist Social Democratic Federation (SDF). She was elected to the London School Board for Tower Hamlets, topping the poll even though few women were qualified to vote at that time. In 1890 Besant met Helena Blavatsky and over the next few years her interest in Theosophy grew while her interest in secular matters waned. She became a member of the Society and a highly successful lecturer in Theosophy. As part of her Theosophy-related work, she travelled to India where in 1898 she helped establish the Central Hindu College, and in 1902 she established the first overseas Lodge of the International Order of Co-Freemasonry, Le Droit Humain in England. Over the next few years she established lodges in many parts of the British Empire. In 1907 she became President of the Theosophical Society.