On May 21, 1922, the
article above appeared in the Australian newspaper Truth and which
I transcribe below (and in purple I added my comments).
THEOSOPHICAL SCANDAL
DOINGS OF LEADBEATER AND COMPANY
What 'Truth' revealed about the “Bishop”
Shocking Recent Asseverations as to “Arhat” Leadbeater
The violent eruption in local occult envies during the week has
uncovered to disgusted public the fact that Leadbeater —so-called “Bishop”, who
has succeeded in fastening himself like a well whiskered barnacle on the local
Theosophical body— was in need of another white-washing, and Annie Besant her
come across the oceans to do it.
Amid a storm of fierce protest, that old styled patriarch of the
so-called “Liberal Catholic Church”, whose public life has been bounded by
loathsome sustention and public supervision, was metaphorically embraced by
Mrs. Besant. This charlatan surrounds himself always with young boys over whom he
exercises much influence. These acolytes become dumb under the influence with
which Leadbeater enwraps their boyish minds.
His pseudo-Christian-Theosophical sect
The pretentiously-named “Liberal Catholic Church”, possesses quite a
multitude of comic-opera-like dressed clergy —including two “Bishops”, Mazel, a
retired engineer, who practiced for many years in Java; and Leadbeater— to a mere
handful of adherents, Leadbeater rigs himself out like the Archbishop of Canterbury,
and surrounded by his ever present galaxy of boys. performs regularly in the
shabby interior of a tumble-down ex-church, in Redfern.
In 1920, the Lambeth Conference refused to recognize the “Liberal
Catholic Church”, though its two bishops are authorized officially to perform
marriages in this State.
Commenting upon the report of the conference, a monthly issued by St. Laurence
Church (Sydney) states:
« A.H. Mathew,
who obtained consecration through sacrilegious fraud, “consecrated” Frederick Samuel
Willoughby who was expelled in discreditable circumstances from the Church of
England. The ceremony took place in the banqueting hall of the Bull Inn,
Bromley. Church furniture being hired for the occasion.
This so-called “Bishop” was obliging enough to “consecrate” James Ingall
Wedgewood after he had been refused consecration by Bishop Mathew. While
“Bishop” Wedgewood was in Sydney he “consecrated” the Buddhist and Theosophist,
Charles Webster Leadbeater of Indian fame (?) as “Bishop of Australia”. »
That briefly is the history of the elevation to his “Bishopric” of
Leadbeater, elected from a line of so-called bishops of a bogus organization. Previously
Willoughby had been unfrocked by the Old Catholic Church (as he had previously
been unfrocked by the Anglican Church) because of alleged gross immorality in
his life, and was actually unfrocked when he “consecrated” J.I. Wedgewood.
The report goes on to say.
« While on the
question of the impudent assumption of this Leadbeater, so called “Bishop” and
proselytizer, an article printed in London Truth
in June, 1920, simmers with blood-boiling facts. It is entitled “Bastard
Bishops”, and includes:
“Recent references to Episcopal developments in connection with the
invasion of the Old Catholic Church by the Theosophical fraternity, has brought
a good deal of information concerning some of the parties to this attempt to pantheise
Christianity or Christianize Theosophy. Much of it is too unsavory to print,
and is chiefly instructive to the psychologist as providing examples of the curiously
intimate relationship occasionally found between sacerdotalism and perversion
of the ordinary moral instincts.
The remainder reveals an equally queer phase of mentality, supplying evidence
of the continued existence of a belief that some peculiar sanctity can be transmitted
by one person to another, altogether apart from the vehicle of transmission . . .
and for this reason the manner in which the Apostolic Succession has been
acquired by followers of Mrs. Besant Is of some public interest. What is of
still more importance from the public point of view is the possibility of persons
of doubtful reputation thus acquiring a quasi-ecclesiastical standing which they
may use to further their own ends. . . . The whole thing seems to be
nothing more than a particularly obnoxious piece of blasphemous humbug resulting
in the foundation of a bastard church by a bevy of illegitimate bishops.
What is the end in view one can only guess, but that any good end is
possible when a man with the reputation of Leadbeater is endowed with the
Episcopal rubes . . . seems much too incredible to be believed”. »
Leadbeater's pedophile practices
Thus Leadbeater, who by the way is a vegetarian, and a 'poseur' as a
believer in the simple life, as he lives like a king in the
Manor's mansion and though affording himself the luxury of being
shepherded to, and from his bath by a favored acolyte, has been exposed, but
bobs up again at the beck of Ancient Annie audaciously stepping into the
limelight, and accorded homage by intelligent and wealthy dupes, who firmly
ignore his tarnished past, treating him like a modern and repentant St. Augustine.
This Leadbeater has vied with Annie in turning out with amazing
frequency Theosophical books read with the greatest avidity by the followers of
the Sect.
When Leadbeater from his lair in Adyar, Madras, India, began to flood the
world with the vapors of his mind, eighteen years ago, the popular conception
in the minds of the “spiritual universe” was that he was the man to step into
Annie Besant's shoes when that lady had winged her way join the departed after
a lifetime wasted effort in trying to get in touch with them.
It was in the beginning of 1906 that was discovered by some of the American
Theosophists to their horror that Leadbeater was teaching boys to a manner most
improper. He was subsequently proceeded against by the Society. The charges preferred
against Leadbeater by the American Section were:
1)
That he is teaching
young boys given into his care habits of ____; and demoralizing personal
practices.
2)
That he does this
with deliberate intent and under the guise of occult training, or with the
promise the increase of physical manhood.
3)
That he has demanded,
at least in one case, promises of the utmost secrecy.
We here give excerpts from the official shorthand report of the
Theosophical Tribunal that tried Leadbeater, and by which he was, upon his own confession
found guilty. There are, of course, some omissions, in order to make the matter
at for publication.
« A meeting was
called by Colonel Olcott; to discuss certain charges against Mr. C.W. Leadbeater,
Held at Grosvenor Hotel, London, May 16, 1906, at 5 pm.
Colonel Olcott: I have called you together to act as an Advisory Board
in the matter before us. It is to listen a charge against Mr. Leadbeater of having
systematically taught boys a certain practice. You have read the documents.
Among them is a partial confession by Mr. Leadbeater, and rebutting evidence.
The Executive Committee of the American Section would have expelled the
accused, but he is not a member of the Section, the accused being a member of the
London Lodge of the British Section, and holding the office of Presidential
Delegate.
Leadbeater was then examined as follows:
Olcott: Mr. Leadbeater, you admit that it was your practice to teach boys
certain things?
Leadbeater: (No answer)
Olcott: You admit giving advice to more than two boys? You are to take it that
the same advice was given to several. How many? Twenty altogether?
Leadbeater: No, not so many.
Committee member: The second charge reads: “That he does this with deliberate intent and under
the guise of occult training; or with the promise of increased physical
manhood”, The evidence of these boys says nothing about applying to him for help.
I want to ask whether this advice was given on appeal or not.
Leadbeater: Sometimes without,
some times with I advised it at times as a prophylactic.
Olcott: Since he did not want the boys to tell the mothers, he would, I should
think, shrink from telling Mrs. Besant.
Committee member: I would like to ask Mr. Leadbeater in view of the fact that he is “Compos
Mentis”, why he did not inform the fathers before he took any of these boys,
what his practices were, that the fathers might have had the opportunity of
consulting with the mothers, it has been said to me by every mother, and
mothers not in these charges, that If they had known he had taught these
practices, he would never have had the boys?
Leadbeater: I don't understand
all this talk about concealment. If asked about the thing I should not have
hesitated in speaking.
Committee member: The talk is because all the world condemns it except you Mr. Leadbeater
so far as I know.
Another committee member: Since Mr. Leadbeater advised this to help them in case of need, considering
that men may be in, the same difficulty, has he ever taught into any grown-up
men? Has he taught the same thing in the same personal way to grown-up men as
to children?
Leadbeater: I believe that on two
occasions in my life I have given that advice to young men as better than the
one generally adopted.
Committee member: Since you came into the Theosophical Society?
Leadbeater: I think not, but one case might have been. »
(Note:
what Leadbeater taught the boys was to masturbate, but that was just a pretext
to see which ones he could deepen his pedophile activities with them.)
Here Leadbeater actually, in order to try to lessen his own guilt, had the
effrontery to assert that the vicious acts that he had taught to the boys under
his charge were also taught in an organization of a secret character in the
Church of England. He also said that he supposed it was taught in the Catholic Church.
He refused to give the name of the organization, and was probably lying. He
shuffled out of further questions as to how he had obtained the information, as
the organization, so he alleged, was pledged to secrecy.
Six of those present voted for Leadbeater's expulsion from the
Theosophical Society, and six voted for the acceptance of his resignation. On
Olcott's casting vote it was agreed to let him resign.
Leadbeater's resignation was followed by a letter from Mrs. Besant, in
which she strongly condemned Leadbeater's conduct. In spite of all this,
Leadbeater received a benediction from Mrs. Besant on her arrival, and has been
photographed and fawned on by him.
Leadbeater's perversities
Coming to more recent times, last year the following letter to Mrs.
Besant, written by a well known and leading Theosophist of Sydney, and for thirty
years a member of the Theosophical Society, and close associate of Leadbeater and
Besant is pregnant with meaning:
« (Private and Confidential)
May 20th, 1921.
Dear Mrs. Besant.
Yours of April 4 duly received. This is what I want to tell you.
In 1906 I was in London, fighting your cause and Leadbeater's. Police
court proceedings against the latter were seriously threatened. One of his
boys, in desperate trouble, urged me to try and prevent them being proceeded with,
and admitting that the only evidence he could give confirmed Leadbeater's
immoral practices. The police proceedings did not eventuate. I went away to
Africa soon after, and on returning I tried to forget what this confession
involved, to explain it away, and succeeded.
In 1914, Leadbeater came to live with us in Sydney. I took him at his
own valuation and yours, regarding him as an Arhat: permitted myself to come sympathetically
under his influence, and gladly made effective all his plans. As time went on I
certainly got many little shocks. He would, for instance, explain in private
that you were deluded about your Indian work, and the belief that it was at the
wish of the Hierarchy that you should work for Home Rule. He did not hesitate
to hint that your actions in India and advice to Indians were disloyal to the
Empire, that puzzled us, though always everything said in public was loyal and
flattering to you.
Meanwhile I was personally favored and I suppose, felt flattered. For
many years I had followed your Esoteric School training conscientiously, and
results had followed. When you gave concrete expression to my experiences, I
tried to live up to a still higher standard; but later on, the casual way in
which these over-night ceremonies were regarded after the first occasion or two
became very marked. As an instance, on a certain date in July, 1917, five of us
were told we had taken certain initiations. No one remembered anything — in the
morning some had hardly slept, feeling rather excited. I do not remember at any
time anyone remembering any real experience or anything of what happened on any
of these occasions. All the same I took all that quite seriously.
(These
"initiations" were pure inventions by Besant and Leadbeater to
continue to manipulate their followers.)
By this time (1917) had become intensely unhappy about C.W. Leadbeater
in the house. Naked boys were seen in his bed. Other facts had come to my knowledge.
I refused to sympathize with these views, and for my sake I kept peace, and I
held things together.
In 1919 I went to America. Young Van Hook was in New York. He talked freely
of C.W. Leadbeater's immorality and about fixing the “lives” of people. In your
reviews of some letters sent you by Raja, which reached him from America, things
which Van Hook says about the “lives” you credit me with — by the way.
Now here is the evidence of two Leadbeater boys (my 1906 experience I
can give you the name if you want it — and young Van Hook) both subsequent to the
1906 inquiry and subsequent both to the confessions of all the American boys
and to C.W. Leadbeater's admissions at the inquiry of 1906.
(Which
shows that Leabdeater had not been chastened and was continuing with his
pedophile activities.)
I have put these pieces of evidence together and add to them the compromising
facts of life in my house (I am only touching on the fringe of this in this
letter), and find staring me in the face the conclusion that Leadbeater is a
sex pervert, his mania taking a particular form which I have though only lately
— discovered, is a form well known and quite common in the annals of sex criminology.
There are some, I know, who think C.W. Leadbeater may have brought over old sex
weak nesses and still be chosen by the Masters to do certain work for them. I
have found comfort in the possibility up to the time of my last interview with
you in London.
(That
is absurd that the masters would have chosen a sexual pervert to be their
agent, because the masters always specified that one of the requirements for
discipleship is chastity. In reality no one wanted to confront the fact that
Leadbeater was a charlatan manipulator.)
This brings me to 1919 and my visit to London. A week before you sent for
me and gave me your message In October, 1919, I called on a certain lady. She
was in great trouble because the police were taking action (so she told me)
against four L.C.C. priests. She wanted to warn one in Australia, and did not
.know how to do so without incriminating herself by compounding a felony. Another,
she told me, she had got out of the country, and she was sure the police would not
find him. Another had decided to remain in London and see it out, as one of his
companions was out of the way, etc. This lady told me that though one of them seemed
to be compromised she herself did not believe him guilty of the charges.
(Leadbeater's
"church" was also tainted with sex scandals by its pedophile
"bishops.")
Of course, while in London, I heard of certain charges being made
against Wedgewood (by Major Adams and others) and reports about him had also
reached me from Sydney. . . . To me you have committed a distinct
breach by displaying blind subservience to Leadbeater's every word. . . .
When I reached Sydney Raja accepted the message with evident reluctance. . . .
The central point with Raja became your denial of Wedgewood's initiation, and I
soon saw that the breakdown of Wedgewood involved to him nothing short of the collapse
of Leadbeater as an Arhat. . . . I afterwards found that Raja is an
echo of C.W. Leadbeater, and that he takes his occultism directly from what the
latter says without question. . . . As it is. I have been forced by
mere pressure of circumstances to certain conclusions:
1)
That Leadbeater is not
always reliable.
2)
That you have been relying
on C.W. Leadbeater, as sole intermediary between the Hierarchy and yourself for
many years.
3)
That you have not been
kept fully acquainted by Leadbeater with what the
Hierarchy is doing.
4)
That C.W. Leadbeater's
word is final, and his seership infallible to you.
The letter concludes saying:
Finally, please, my dear friend, do not be so unjust to me as to believe
want to make trouble between you and Leadbeater. You hint at some thing of this
sort in your Disciple talk. I have no grudge against Leadbeater, nor against
Wedgewood, nor against Raja, nor any other person mentioned in this letter: on
the other hand I want to believe in them all if the facts will permit me.
We have been, told over and over again that occultism is common-sense, and
that Buddha taught his disciples to believe nothing because HE said it. My
difficulties' summed up seem to arise because I am asked to put all evidence
and all reason on one side and believe because someone does say it. So I leave it
to you in your wisdom to show me the way out of the tangle, and I will be everlastingly
grateful to you if you can it is not easy to go back on the grooves formed by
30 years of thinking and working.
Thanking you, etc.
Yours very sincerely. »
(This letter was
written by Mr. T.H. Martyn and originally published by H.N. Stokes, Washington
DC 1921, pp. 1-2)
Theosophists seek to oust Leadbeater again
From the foregoing facts, it is easy to grasp the internal dissensions that
have shaken Local Theosophy in its very foundations. The reason is clearly get out
in the above letter, and Leadbeater, even grasping his crosier and wearing the
richest of vestment stands a menacing, clever charlatan, still with his
acolytes, and all the pomp and flummery of a real Prelate.
Is Sydney to leave itself open to the antics of the Occult at the hands
of Leadbeater and Co., and so risk its youth imbibing the strange doctrines brought
from the Mystic East?
Mr. Leadbeater may be sheltering be hind the ramparts of wealth and
influence; there are stronger forces of Chastity and Indignation that will hurt
him and his kind back to the squalor of the East.
“IDOLS OF CLAY”
'THEIR FEET ARE GOLD, SILVER AND COPPER'
ANNIE BESANT AND MR. LEADBEATER
At the King's Hall, Hunter-street, Sydney, on the night of the 17th of
May, a meeting of members of the Theosophical Society gathered to decide
whether Mr. Leadbeater was a fit and proper person to remain a member of the
Theosophical Society. As the main tenet of the society is, “There is no
religion higher than Truth”, the scribe from 'Truth' wended his way to the King's
Hall. At the door he was in formed that only members would be admitted, so he
used his occult powers, made himself invisible to the scrutineers, doorkeepers,
and the keen eyes of the budding Mahatmas, and passed I into the meeting
unobserved.
I Assuming then his physical shape and form in the packed audience of
members of the Theosophical Society, he felt the gathering forces of the occult
world (a word, by the way, that carries a wonderful depth of meaning to some
individuals). Upon the plat form wore several gentlemen, including three
Indians, Senator Reid, Mr. Macroe, the president of the Sydney Lodge. Dr. Bean and
Annie Besant.
The scribe of 'Truth' unrolled the etheric records, and a scene in India
was shown to his .astral eyes. He clearly recognized that one of the Indians
seated on the platform was identical and the same person who was heralded in
India some years ago, at a special meeting as the great world teacher, by Mrs.
Besant and Mr. Leadbeater. Many people present on that occasion fell down upon
their knees and worshipped him. Mr. Mackay, the chairman, in opening the
meeting, said that he had been very closely associated with Bishop Leadbeater
and other priests and bishops of the Liberal Catholic Church. They had stayed
at his home, and he had al ways found them loving and kind, and in every way
above suspicion. He then called upon Annie Besant to address the meeting. Calm
and dignified-looking, the gentle Annie stood and faced her vast audience,
knowing full well in her very self that, in that vast gathering,, were men and
women of integrity and truth.
She also knew there were men and women also present who were subject to
the pernicious influence of superstition, form and ceremony, and all the
Illusory factors in nature expounded, upheld and taught by Mr. Leadbeater and
those associated with him in the Liberal Catholic Church. In all the
experiences of Mrs. Besant, in life's battles, she never stood in such a position
to uphold the motto of the Theosophical Society. “There is no religion higher
than Truth”, as at Wednesday's meeting. But, alas, she signally failed, and her
name was coupled with Leadbeater's in resolution put to the meeting later on.
She commenced her oration, which dealt with mental gymnastics, and casuistic reasoning,
with a good deal of the hypothetical jumble of in visible nothings thrown in.
But it was soon recognized that the burden of her one hour's talk was to favor
Leadbeater. Her final remarks were pregnant with meaning as regards the fight
which is before the loyal members of the Theosophical Society.
-
“This is the last
time I stand on your platform; I will not speak again in this hall until you
change your executive. I
am sorry.”
After a few other sentences she bade them farewell. Mr. Mackay, the
chairman then read the resolution, which was seconded by Mr. Macroe, president
of the Sydney Lodge:
« We, the members of the Theosophical Society, assembled here in Sydney,
desire to put on record our emphatic condemnation of the general campaign of
vilification and calumny carried on by certain members of the Sydney Lodge. In
particular we condemn the slanderous statements of the members of the so-called
Loyalty League and the utterly false charges made in their official magazine. We
consider that they have entirely violated all the principles of truth and brotherhood,
for which the Theosophical Society stands, and exemplified in the lives of such
leaders as the president of our society, and Bishop Leadbeater. »
Mr. Mackay then vacated the chair, which was taken by Senator Reid who tried
to put the resolution while the influence of the gentle Annie in the
ascendancy. But Senator Reid was quickly brought to task, and cries of 'the
gag' were heard from several parts of the hall. He said:
- “Don't
misunderstand, we are not judging the executive to-night.”
After consistent interruption, he said he would take an amendment. One member
spoke at length and moved an amendment, “that the resolution should stand as it
is”, with the exception that Leadbeater's name should be deleted. This
amendment was seconded, and cleared the deck for discussion. There was: a good
deal of noise and uproar at this stage, which assisted to clear the atmosphere
of gentle Annie's influence. Mr. Barnes, an executive member, in addressing the
meeting, took great exception to the remarks of Senator Reid and Annie Besant
regarding the judging of the executive, and changing the executive.
He emphasized the fact that the executive in power had been duly elected
last Easter at the inter-State conference in the very teeth of all the
opposition that could be brought to bear by Leadbeater and his followers. He
also said that he had listened to the lecture of their revered leader, and it
had been difficult for him to control his emotions as against his reason. For Mrs.
Besant's whole speech had appealed to the heart or emotions, and when she went
out to bend an audience to her will, she generally gained her object. How ever,
he must not be blamed or using his reason, as he had gathered from Mrs. Besant's
teachings that reason was paramount in all things.
Dr. Fraser also spoke at length, and he could not imagine how bishops
and priests could appeal to Theosophists, and in a striking sentence said:
-
“In the name of common
sense how could Wedgewood be made a Bishop? If you placed a mitre on his head as high as
St. Paul's it would not make him a Bishop. How can anyone regard him as a
Bishop because a staff was placed in his hand in an hotel in London?”
Wedgewood begot Leadbeater, and he in turn begot Cooper, and so the dreadful
caricature and pantomime goes on.
Mr. T.H. Martyn, a member of the executive of the Sydney Lodge for 31
years, in the course of his remarks said that he was surprised at the attitude
Mrs. Besant had taken, and that she had not spoken fairly. Also in
referring to the executive she had made a gross mistake, because the action was
taken by the two trustees, who were invested with certain powers, himself being,one,
in giving this matter to the public and the press, and that the executive had nothing
to do with it.
Senator Reid said he would now put the motion. There were cries from all
parts of the hall to put the amendment first, but he was adamant. Great up roar
ensued, which deterred him, and a member dissented from his ruling. Things now
began to get lively indeed. He said:
-
“I will take a vote, whether
I vacate the chair, and it will give the feeling of the meeting on the
resolution.”
A vote was taken for and against, and, though the scribe of 'Truth' used
all his astral and physical sight, it was difficult to say which side had won.
Any how, Senator Reid decided that the show of hands was in his favor, and that
as it was getting late lie would now put the resolution. Then pandemonium broke
loose, as the members cried in vain for the amendment to be put first. The resolution
was put in spite of all opposition, with calls of “Amendment! Amendment!” the
hands went up for and against, but it would be impossible with all the clairvoyant
faculties of Mrs. Besant and the Arhat Mahatma Leadbeater to say which was
successful, the resolution or the amendment.
The members were so confused that they did not know whether they voted for
the resolution or the amendment. This ended the proceedings, and Annie entered
her stately motor car and was driven away from the scene of turmoil and strife.
(In
this last section the author of this article is being very satirical, but he
also exhibits the manipulations that Annie Besant and the followers of
Leadbeater did to keep this pedophile charlatan within the Adyar Theosophical
Society.)
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