PAST LIVES CLAIRVOYANTLY DISCOVERED BY CHARLES LEADBEATER

 

THE HISTORY OF THESE INVESTIGATIONS

A large part of the clairvoyant research carried out by Charles Leadbeater was to search for the past lives of various masters and members of the Theosophical Society.

As far as I have discovered, he carried out this activity from 1895 onwards, since theosophist Ferdinand Brooks commented that he stayed  with Leadbeater for several months in London in 1895, and during this time Leadbeater investigated his past lives.

On this subject, biographer Gregory Tillett wrote:

« In July 1895, while in Paris, Mrs. Besant and Mr. Leadbeater, exercising their clairvoyant abilities, analyzed the past lives of Colonel Olcott.

During the month of August, Mrs. Besant and Leadbeater went to a rural location in England to conduct their clairvoyant researchs.

After the success of their research together with Leadbeater into the lives of Erato, they continued to investigate the past lives of his secretary and traveling companion, Miss Annie J. Willson.

In 1896 they began to broaden the scope of their investigations; and one weekend Leadbeater, Mrs. Besant, Bertram Keightley and Jinarajadasa with his cat Jil left London for a period of escape to Box Hill, Surrey.

There, in an isolated weekend house, without the interference of the "malevolent thought forms" of the metropolis, they began to investigate the hidden history of the earth, its past races and civilizations, with Jinarajadasa taking copious notes.

Among the details he noted were accounts of civilizations on the moon, Atlantis and Lemuria; he also observed that Leadbeater did most of the 'visioning' while Mrs. Besant merely added some additional detail. »

(The Elder Brother, p.63-66, excerpts)

Leadbeater had to resign from the Theosophical Society because of an immorality scandal, but when Annie Besant took over as president of this organization, she forced Leadbeater to be readmitted into this institution, partly to continue with him in their clairvoyant investigations.

« By August 1907, Leadbeater and Besant were together again, working on their occult investigations in Weiser Hirsch, Germany, accompanied by Jinarajadasa, Miss Bright, Mrs. Russak, Mrs. Van Hook and her son Hubert.

Continuing their research from previous years on occult chemistry and other subjects, which they published in 'The Theosophist' between January and December 1908.

In this same place in Germany began a complicated series of investigations into past lives, which came to be known as "the lives," concerning the most prominent members of the Adyar Society.

On February 10, 1909, Leadbeater returned to Adyar accompanied by John Van Manen, [his young] Dutch secretary, occupying the fourth octagonal room.

Leadbeater returned to his previous routine, almost as if nothing had happened. Annie Besant put him in charge of the magazine 'The Theosophist'. He began giving talks on the building's rooftop and also devoted himself to reviewing his notes about past lives. »

(The Elder Brother, p.94-102, excerpts)

The investigation of past lives reached its greatest intensity between 1909 and 1912 when Leadbeater was residing at the headquarters of the Theosophical Society of Adyar, located in Madras, India.

News of these investigations caused great excitement in Adyar, and a large audience would climb to the roof of the building every evening to hear Leadbeater's talks and learn of the latest revelations, in the hope that one of their past lives would feature prominently in one of the narratives.

This photo shows Leadbeater sitting on the terrace of the Theosophical Society Headquarters. 

In April 1909, Leadbeater met Jiddu Krishnamurti, who was then a fourteen years old, and Leadbeater having declared that this boy was going to be the vehicle of Lord Christ-Maitreya, also began to investigate the past lives of Krishnamurti and his younger brother Nitya.

Soon afterwards Krishnamurti was taken with Leadbeater to these meetings every Saturday and Sunday afternoon where he continued with the description of his past lives, helped in the transcription by Ernest Wood (one of his students) and also by the boys' own father.

At this time, the boys spoke very little English and were extremely shy and timid. This not only made communication with Leadbeater difficult but also made school life challenging for Krishnamurti, who was frequently expelled from school and beaten.

When Annie Besant returned from her tour to Adyar (on November 27, 1909) she also began to help them in the investigation, and in the group of investigators were also Hubert Van Hook and his mother, Mrs. Russak, and James Wedgwood.

Regarding this period of clairvoyant research, Leadbeater wrote:

« The research work was done at Adyar in the summer of 1910 ; in the heat of the summer many of the students were away, and we shut ourselves up, so as to be uninterrupted, for five evenings every week; we observed, and said exactly what we saw, and two members, Mrs. Van Hook and Don Fabrizio Ruspoli, were good enough to write down all we said, exactly as we said it ; these two sets of notes have been preserved.

They are woven into the present story, written partly during the summer of 1911, when a few weeks were stolen for the purpose, and completed in April and May 1912, similarly stolen out of the rush of busy lives. This kind of work cannot be done in the midst of constant interruptions, and the only way to accomplish it is to escape from the world for the time. »

(Man: When, How, Whither, Foreword)

This photo was taken in Adyar in 1911 where Dick Balfour Clarke, Irving Cooper, Fabrizio Ruspoli and Charles Leadbeater can be seen very busy working on organizing the past lives discovered. 

PUBLICATIONS

These past lives began to be published in the magazine 'The Theosophist' from April 1910 under the title "Rents in the veil of time" until November 1912.

And they were later published in 1913 in a book entitled "Man: Whence, How and Whither".

But Leadbeater did not directly mention people; instead, he used the names of stars and mythological figures, and readers had to guess which person corresponded to a particular hero, god, or star; and the time of reincarnations extended from the year 624 AD until the Moon had physical life.

According to Leadbeater, he discovered about thirty lives of Krishnamurti, and these were later published in 1924 in two books entitled "The Lives of Alcyone," vols. I and II.

(Note: Leadbeater gave Krishnamurti the initiatory name "Alcyone," which is incorrect because this name is feminine, not masculine, and originally comes from Greek mythology and is the name of the daughter of Aeolus, the god of the winds, who married King Ceyx and was transformed into a bird along with her husband. Leadbeater had the unpleasant habit of taking words and distorting their meaning.)

REALITY

The past lives discovered by Leadbeater and his team were considered a great achievement, and much time and resources were devoted to it.

In this photo, from left to right, are: Ernest Wood, Gertrude Kerr, Charles Leadbeater, Dorothy Jirarajadasa (who married Jirarajadasa in 1916), and Dr. Raimond van Marle. They are all very happy to show a long genealogical scroll detailing past lives clairvoyantly discovered by Leadbeater and his team.

Unfortunately, Charles Leadbeater was a huge charlatan; his clairvoyance was nonexistent, and the past lives that he and his team discovered were pure fantasies, products of their imagination.

One of the aspects that shows these "clairvoyant investigations" were pure farce is that, curiously, the main villains in all his stories were those people who in 1906 exposed Leadbeater in America as a sexual pervert, and to whom he also assigned the names of stars:

Dr. Elizabeth Chidester, or Robert Dennis, called them Ursa, Mr. Knothe called it Cancer, Mrs. Dennis called it Hesperia, and Mrs. Kate Davis called it Lacerta.

Another aspect is that the same people constantly appear, almost all of them close to Leadbeater.

Another point is that several of the leaders of the occult hierarchy mentioned by Leadbeater (Maitreya, Mahachohan, etc.) do not exist, and Leadbeater misrepresented the names he gave to these beings. So how can Leadbeater possibly discover the past lives of fictional beings?

OPINIONS OF VARIOUS THEOSOPHERS ON

THESE PAST LIVES 

Below is what several theosophical researchers said about it:

José Ramón Rodros

« Charles Leadbeater claimed, through his clairvoyance, to have observed the atom, the solar system, to have seen himself and his group as monkeys on the Moon, and the supposed past lives of more than 300 people. But all of that falls apart when his "clairvoyant discoveries" are analyzed. »

(HP Blavatsky: Students - Friends and Enemies)

T.H. Martyn

« In 1919 I went to the United States. The young Van Hook was in New York, and he spoke freely to me about the immorality of Charles Leadbeater and how Leadbeater also pretended to perceive people's past lives through his clairvoyance. »

(OE Library Critic, vol. 11, No. 11, January 4, 1922, pp. 4-8)

Edouard Schuré

« Krishnamurti, baptized with the name Alcyone, has no other title than the mandates of his master and the patronage of Mrs. A. Besant. His thirty-two previous incarnations, the earliest of which dates back to the time of Atlantis, are extensively related and published.

These accounts, presented as the result of visions of Mr. Leadbeater and Mrs. Besant, are mostly grotesquely puerile and fail to convince any serious occultist. They are supposedly arranged to demonstrate that for twenty or thirty thousand years, leading figures of the Theosophical Society have been preparing for the Great Work that is about to begin.

Through their incarnations, reminiscent of a serialized novel, these figures are adorned with the great names of Greek mythology and the brightest stars in the firmament. »

(Mrs. Annie Besant and the Crisis of the Theosophical Society, pp. 5-14)

Eugène Lévy

« A book entitled "Man: Whence, How and Whither" has just been published , co-written by Mrs. Besant and Mr. Leadbeater.

The replacement of the Christ of the Gospels with a false Jesus is now supported by new documents. In their research, these occultists explore, on the one hand, the past incarnations of the one whom Ms. Besant calls "Master Jesus" — that is, the Jesus born 105 years before Christ; and on the other hand, the previous lives of the being she calls "Lord Maitreya, the current Bodhisattva, the supreme Teacher of the world," whose ego supposedly replaced that of Jesus at some point, thus culminating in the final incarnation of the "Christ," whose return she now proclaims.

Let us first mention the incarnations of the "Supreme Master," whom she believes to be "Lord Maitreya."

In the chapter on "The Beginnings of the Lunar Chain", page 34, we read:

"There is a hut there where a man from the moon lives with his wife and children; later we will know them as Master M. and Master KH, as Gautama, who became Buddha, and as Lord Maitreya. Several 'monkeys' live around the hut and offer their owners the devotion of faithful dogs; among these monkeys we recognize those who will later become Mr. Leadbeater, Mrs. Besant, J. Krishnamurti, and Mizar (the latter's brother). We can give them their future names to recognize them better, although they are not yet human."

(In her narrative, Ms. Besant uses pseudonyms for all her characters, such as Heracles for herself, Sirius for Mr. Leadbeater, etc. A special table at the beginning of the volume contains the key. We have included the equivalents that appear in this table in our quotations.)

In the fourth root race, we again find the character who is supposed to be "Maitreya" as the husband of the Ego, whom Mrs. Besant believes she identifies with "Master KH"

Mrs. Besant becomes part of the family again, as does her daughter, the older sister of "Master M.", "Maitreya," the future World Teacher, whose return is promised to us, and he was then a tribal chief (p. 113).

We find her again (on p. 252) as the daughter of Alcyone, with "Jesus" himself as her sister.

In the Iranian subrace, he is the head of the state religion (p. 298).

He is High Priest in the South Indies, 18'875 BC (p. 328).

3'000 years later, in Egypt (p. 330), he is, in the same role, an advisor to a pharaoh.

Thus we arrive at around 15'000 BC, and then —believe it— we are told nothing more about the later incarnations of the one who, nevertheless, is claimed to have been the Instructor of the world at the beginning of our era.

We explore his life as a husband, father, civil servant, and priest, and turn our backs on the one incarnation that would be of vital importance to the entire universe.

But let's see if Mrs. Besant's incarnations of "Jesus" fill this void, if they shed light on this essential point that has remained obscure.

We first find her, at the beginning of the fifth root race, as the daughter of Alcyone-Krishnamurti and sister of Maitreya (p. 252).

Then, as Julius Caesar's second wife, in 1887 BC (p. 328). He (or rather she) was widowed at that time, having lost Vulcan (known as Sir Thomas More in his last incarnation). Mrs. Besant and Alcyone (p. 494) were then his siblings.

He then appears among the Aryan immigrants in India (p. 333).

She is also apparently identified as the daughter of Alcyone-Krishnamurti (her father) and M. Fabrizio Ruspoli* (her mother), who were in turn the parents of the future "World Teacher, Maitreya" (then their daughter). This took place 72'000 years before our era, on the shores of the Gobi Desert.

(*Mr. Ruspoli is an Italian theosophist currently residing in Adyar, with whom Mr. Leadbeater stayed in Italy.)

We find Jesus again, in the year 15'910 BC, as the grandson of Maitreya and the father and grandfather of a large family which, as in all the other cases examined, includes only the current members of the Theosophical Society; however, only the faithful friends of Adyar are included, to the exclusion of all others. In this family, including sons-in-law and daughters-in-law, there are 33 members (p. 496).

In the year 12'800 BC, Mrs. Besant's "Jesus" was still part of an infinitely large family, always composed in the same way, which included, among the names known in the Theosophical world, Mrs. Marie-Louise Kirby (an Italian Theosophist, resident in Adyar), who was his sister. Jesus was then the father of Miss S. Maud Sharpe (former General Secretary of the English Section), Julius Caesar, and T. Subba Raw; the Teshu Lama was then his daughter... etc., etc. (p. 499).

Finally, in 13'500 BC, this Jesus married an emperor from southern India.

But, once again, we will be disappointed. For there is absolute silence regarding the incarnations of Jesus after this time, as well as those of the "World Teacher." We are given no details about Jesus' life at the turn of the age.

Furthermore, it is remarkable that apart from these individuals, no one in our vast universe has ever penetrated these family communities, which are credited with the pioneering role in all past civilizations. And yet, thousands of marriages are shown to us, but the same names always reappear, and yet all the members of all the families are identified. »

(Mrs. Annie Besant and the Crisis of the Theosophical Society, pp. 114-118)

The Theosophical Society

The Theosophical Society of Adyar remains silent when it is pointed out how absurd these past lives are, but its behavior shows that it agrees that these "clairvoyant investigations" were pure charlatanism because it has stopped publishing those three books for many years.

Cid

I am surprised that more people have not questioned Leadbeater's clairvoyance, because the accounts of those past lives are so outlandish that only people with very little discernment will believe that they could be true.

THE APPOINTED PERSONS

Theosophist Ferdinand Brooks, who for a time was an assistant to Leadbeater and Besant, published the following list identifying many of the characters mentioned by Leadbeater in his past-life accounts:

Achilles: Mrs. Van Hook.

Adrona: Upendranath Basu.

Aglaia: Conntess Wachtmeister.

Alastor: Alexander Fullerton.

Alba: Mrs. Herbert Whyte (Ethel M. Mallett).

Albireo: Mrs. W. H. Kirby.

Alcestis: Mrs. Sinnett.

Alcmene: Sitaram.

Alcyone: Jiddu Krishnamurti.

Aldebaran: Dr. Weller Van Hook.

Aletheia: Johan Van Manen.

Altair: Herbert Whyte.

Amalthea: Mrs. Rowan Hamilton.

Andromeda: Aimee Blech.

Antares: G. Naraniah (Father of Krishnamurti).

Apis: Miss Edith Ward.

Apollo: Robert Lutvens.

Aquarius: Miss Addie Tuttle.

Aquila: B. Shiva Rao.

Arcor: Miss. A. T. Willson.

Arcturus: Ralph Hunt.

Argus: Madame Blech.

Aries:Sir William Crookes.

Atalanta: Mlle. E. Blech (dead.)

Athena: Thos. Vaughan, "Philalethes” (sow a Master).

Auriga: Hilda Powell.

Aurora: Count Bubna-Licics.

Ausonia: Ida Varley.

Avelledo: Dr. A. A. Wells.

Beth: Contesse de Bryas.

Beatrix: Miss Bright.

Beatus: Bhagat Ram.

Bellatrix: Miss Marjorie Tuttle.

Berenice: Contesse Fontone.

Betelgeuse: Alma Kunz.

Bodtes: B. Ranga Reddy.

Boreas: G. Venkata Subbu.

Brihaspati: Jesús.

Calliope: Irving Cooper.

Calypso: Ram Karan Nath.

Cancer: Knothe.

Capella: Mrs. S. Maud Sharpe.

Capricornus: Bhagavan Das.

Castor: Alfred P. Sinnett.

Centaurus: Gretchen Boggiani.

Centurion: General Morgan.

Cetus: Gyanendra Nath Chakravarti.

Chameleon: Faulding.

Chrysos: Miss Christie.

Clio: Mrs. I. Cooper Oakley.

Clarion: Clara Holbrooke.

Colossus: Mrs. Cholmeley.

Concordia: Cecilia Varley.

Corona: Julius Cesar.

Cygnus: R. B. Clarke.

Dactyl: Commandant D. A. Courmes.

Daleth: B. Sanjiva Rao.

Deneb: Lord Cochrane (Xth Earl Dundo.nald)

Dædalus: Professor V. P. Dalal. 

Daphne: Evelyn Lauder.

Demeter: Maurice Prozor.

Diana: J. N. Dandekar.

Diomeda: K. R. Devshankar.

Dolphin: Colonel Lauder. 

Dorado: José Nifré.

Draco: Mons. Charles Blech.

Egeria: Howard McGuire.

Electra: Barbara Lutyens.

Elsa: Elsa Prozor.

Eros: Mrs. H. T. Felix.

Eudoxia: Miss Louisa Shaw.

Euphrosyne: Lady Lutyens.

Fides: George S. Arundale.

Flora: Mrs. Faulding.

Fomalhaut: Ernest Mariette.

Fons: Major Adam.

Formato: Clara Holbrooke.

Fortuna: W. B. Fricke.

Gimel: (Mrs.) Padma Bai (Sanjiva Rao). 

Gemini: Miss. E. Maud Green.

Glaucus: Krishna Lal.

Hebe: H. W. Hunt.

Hector: W. H. Kirby. 

Helios: Mrs. Marie Russak.

Herakles: Annie Besant.

Hesperia: Mrs. Dennis.

Hestia: Dr. Rocke.

Hygeia: G. Subbiah Chetty.

Irene: Krishnamurti’s mother (yet dead)

Iphigeneia: Iqbal Narayan Gurtu.

Iris: Leslie A Smith.

Jason: J. R. Aria.

Judex: Yadunandan.

Juno: W. G. John.

Jupiter: The 'Nilgirir Master' guru of Morya.

Kudos: Jugal Kishore.

Leo: Fabrizio Ruspoli.

Leto: McBean.

Libra: Miss Portz.

Lignus: Woodward.

Lily: Youngest Miss Blech.

Lobelia: Van Hinloopen Labberton.

Lomia: James I. Wedgewood. 

Lutetia: Charles Bradlaugh.

Lyra: Lao Tze.

Magnus: Jimmy Scott.

Mahaguru; Gautama Siddharta. 

Manu: Chiefly ‘Vaivasvata,’ the Vth Race Manu.

Markab: George R. S. Mead.

Mars: Master Morya. 

Mathematicus: Rama Rao.

Melete: Mrs. Varley.

Melpomene: Mabel Collins.

Mercury: Master Kuthumi (Koot-Hoomi).

Minerva: Mohini M. Chatterji.

Mira:  Carl Holbrook.

Minorca: Miss Mina Kuntz.

Mizar: Jiddu Nityananda (Krishnamurti brother). 

Mona: Mrs. Piet Meulemans.

Neptune: Master Hilarión.

Nestor: William T. Stead.

Nicosia: Colonel Nicholson. 

Nitocris: Miss Neff.

Norma: Donna Margherita Ruspoli.

Olympia: Damodar K. Mavalankar.

Ophiuchus: Mons. Ostermann.

Orpheus: S. Subramania Iyer, 

Osiris: Master Serapis. 

Pallas: Plato.

Parthenope: A. P. Warrington.

Pegasus: Professor Ottone Penzig.

Perseus: Gilbert Neville.

Philze: John Cordes.

Phocea: William Q. Judge.

Phoenix: Dr. Th. Pascal.

Pindar: Mrs. Bright.

Pisces: Miss Clara Codd.

Polaris: B. P. Wadia.

Pollux: Bertram Keightley.

Pomona: Mrs. Firth.

Priam: Capitan Powell.

Procyon: Rudolf Steiner.

Proserpine: P. (or S.) Radcliffe.

Proteus: The Teshu Lama. 

Psyche: Pheebe Holbrook.

Rama: Rama Shankar.

Rector: D. B. Subba Rao. 

Regulus: J. Shivaram (Krishnamurti’s eldest brother). 

Rhea: Mrs. Scott Elliott. 

Rigel: Fritz Kunz. 

Sagittarius: Old Mrs. Young. 

Sappho: A. Schwartz. 

SATURN: Master The Venetian. 

Scorpio: X.Y.Z. (too awful!) 

Scotus: David Graham Pole. 

Selene: C. Jinarajadasa. 

Sextans: Gilbert Graham. Fa 

Sirius: Charles W. Leadbeater. * 

Sirona: Made de Steiger. 

Siwa: T. Subba Row. 

Spica: Miss Fancesca Arundale. 

Stella: S. T. Studd. 

Surya: Lord Maitreya.

Taurus: Dr. Jerome Anderson.

Telemachus: D. K. Telang. 

Theodoros: Roosevelt (?).

Theseus: Alex Dashwood. 

Thetis: Miss Renda.

Thor: P. K. Telang.

Tiphys: Hodgson Smith.

Tolosa: Scott Elliott’s son.

Trapezium: G. R. S. Mead.

Trefoil: Dr. Trilokekar.

Ulysses: H. S. Olcott, now the Powell Baby. 

Uranus: Master Djwal Khul. 

Ursa: Robert Dennis. 

Vajra: H. P. Blavatsky.

Vega: Basil Hodgson Smith.

Velleda: Scott-Elliott. 

Venus: Master Rakoczy (Count Saint Germain). 

Vesta: Mrs. Holbrook. 

Viola: Miss V. Hope. 

Viraj: The Maha-Chohan.

Virgo: Ivy Anderson. 

Vulcan: Sir Thomas More (now a Master).

Wenceslas: Count Strasido. 

Xanthus: Mrs. Ames.

Zephyr: Mrs. Windust.

Zoe: Madame de Manziarly. 

(?): N. K. Banerji.

There have been many more identifications since then than are contained in my list.

(The Theosophical Society and its Esoteric Bogeydom, pp. xi-xvi)

 

CONCLUSION

This is yet another example of the immense charlatanism of Charles Leadbeater, who wasted energy, time, and resources of the Theosophical Society of Adyar with his fantasies.