A rough outline of Theosophy

By Annie Besant

Annie Besant (1847-1933) was a British socialist, theosophist, freemason, women’s rights activist, educationist, a writer and a powerful orator. Regarded as a champion of human freedom, she was an ardent supporter of both Irish and Indian self-rule. She was also a prolific author with over three hundred books and pamphlets to her credit.
In 1890, meeting in Paris Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, she was converted to Theosophy, becoming a member of the Theosophical Society and a prominent lecturer on the subject. When Blavatsky died in 1891, Besant was left as one of the leading figures in Theosophy and in 1893 she represented it at the Chicago World Fair.
Besides being a prolific writer, Besant was a “practised stump orator” who gave sixty-six public lectures in one year. In her long life she wrote numerous books and pamphlets.
The Annie Besant’s essay A rough outline of Theosophy was published by the Theosophical Publishing House in Adyar, Madras, in November 1921. It was Besant’s intention that the main purpose of this essay was to present to the average man or woman an idea of ​​Theosophy as a whole. And, reading it, we can realize how much the author has managed to do it: «We, who are Theosophists, allege that there exists a great body of doctrine philosophical, scientific and ethical, which forms the basis of, and includes all that is accurate in, the philosophies, sciences, and religions of the ancient and modern worlds. This body of doctrine is a philosophy and a science more than a religion in the ordinary sense of the word, for it does not impose dogmas as necessary to be believed under any kind of supernatural penalties, as do the various Churches of the world».

• Language: English
• Publisher: Edizioni Aurora Boreale
• Release date: Jan 23, 2023
• ISBN: 9791255041009

Annie Besant

Beebop is a series of graded readers for three levels which increase in complexity to allow for improvement in ability and interest. The ratings take into consideration the following components: difficulty of vocabulary, sentence length, comprehension abilities and subject matter. Each level consists of four story books and four accompanying activity books.

Book preview

SYMBOLS & MYTHS

ANNIE BESANT

A ROUGH OUTLINE OF

THEOSOPHY

LOGO EDIZIONI AURORA BOREALE

Edizioni Aurora Boreale

Title: A rough outline of Theosophy

Author: Annie Besant

Publishing series: Symbols & Myths

Editing by Nicola Bizzi

ISBN: 979-12-5504-100-9

Cover image: Eternal Energy, artwork by Olga Fröbe-Kaptein

LOGO EDIZIONI AURORA BOREALE

Edizioni Aurora Boreale

© 2023 Edizioni Aurora Boreale

Via del Fiordaliso 14 - 59100 Prato - Italia

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www.auroraboreale-edizioni.com

INTRODUCTION BY THE PUBLISHER

Annie Wood Besant (1 October 1847 - 20 September 1933) was a British socialist, theosophist, freemason, women’s rights activist, educationist, a prolific writer and a powerful orator.

Regarded as a champion of human freedom, she was an ardent supporter of both Irish and Indian self-rule. She was also a prolific author with over three hundred books and pamphlets to her credit. As an educationist, her contributions included being one of the founders of the Banaras Hindu University. For fifteen years, Besant was a public proponent in England of atheism and scientific materialism. Besant’s goal was to provide employment, better living conditions, and proper education for the poor.

Besant then became a prominent speaker for the National Secular Society (NSS), as well as a 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 subsequently elected as a Member of Parliament (MP) for Northampton in 1880.

Thereafter, she became involved with union actions, including the Bloody Sunday demonstration and the London matchgirls strike of 1888. She was a leading speaker for both the Fabian Society and the Marxist Social Democratic Federation (SDF). She was also elected to the London School Board for Tower Hamlets, topping the poll, even though few women were qualified to vote at that time.

In 1889, she