Showing results by author "Annie Besant" in All Categories

Annie Besant made a name for herself as a women’s rights activist, socialist, and orator. Her first public speech, “On the Political Status of Women”, launched her into the field of advocacy around which she built a career.

Annie Besant was a writer, lecturer, prominent theosophist, and women's rights activist of her time. She was a frequent contributor to various theosophical publications of her day. This piece by her, from 1912, is a short, basic introduction to mysticism through the eyes of theosophy. She writes about mysticism within Christianity and the Western Mystery Tradition in general. It's also interesting to note that she mentions the Illuminati in this piece, but in a philosophical rather than historical context, which is unusual for the time period.

Annie Besant was a writer, lecturer, prominent Theosophist, and women's rights activist of her time. She was a frequent contributor to various Theosophical publications of her day. This particular piece dates to 1913, and she's writing about the Ancient Mysteries as compared to the modern religions of the world. She also discusses the Great White Brotherhood, Initiation, the Rosicrucians, Madame Blavatsky, and other related topics.

Annie Besant was a writer, lecturer, prominent Theosophist and women's rights activist of her time. She was a frequent contributor to various Theosophical publications of her day. This is a lecture of hers from 1913, where she speaks about universal consciousness, spiritual unfolding and personal psychic progress.

Annie Besant was a writer, lecturer, prominent theosophist, and women's rights activist of her time. She was a frequent contributor to various theosophical publications of her day. This particular piece was a lecture she gave in 1893, discussing yoga, consciousness, the Atman, and a multitude of related concepts.

Annie Besant was a writer, lecturer, prominent Theosophist and women's rights activist of her time. She was a frequent contributor to various Theosophical publications of her day. This particular piece dates to 1910, and she takes a philosophical examination of the mysteries of evil, as she puts it. She explains that there is a necessity for evil to exist, that it serves certain purposes, which she goes into detail about.

Annie Besant was a writer, lecturer, prominent Theosophist, and women's rights activist of her time. She was a frequent contributor to various Theosophical publications of her day. This piece by her is a short, basic introduction to occultism through the eyes of Theosophy as well as the differences between the Occultist and the Mystic.

Annie Besant was a writer, lecturer, prominent Theosophist, and women's rights activist of her time. She was a frequent contributor to various Theosophical publications of her day. This particular piece was a lecture delivered to the League of Liberal Christianity at Manchester in May of 1911, regarding a global awakening of consciousness that she felt she was witnessing at the time.

Annie Besant was a writer, lecturer, prominent Theosophist and women's rights activist of her time. She was a frequent contributor to various Theosophical publications of her day. Here she writes about the qualifications of being a disciple, what an aspirant can expect, and what types of behavior their teacher may expect of them, as well as why we shouldn't judge other aspirants as not being worthy of having a teacher and what is to be gained by the whole process.

Annie Wood Besant (1847-1933) was a prominent Theosophist, women’s rights activist, writer, and orator. She was born in London into a middle-class family of Irish origin. She fought for the causes she thought were right, starting with freedom of thought, women’s rights, secularism (she was a leading member of the National Secular Society), birth control, Fabian socialism, and workers’ rights. Soon, she was earning a small weekly wage by writing a column for the National Reformer, the newspaper of the National Secular Society. She was also one of the leading figures in Theosophy.

The subject of my discourses I have called "The Laws of the Higher Life", because so many people in dealing with religion that has to do with the Higher Life seem inclined to remove it from the realm of law, bringing it into some strange region of arbitrary whim and results without endeavor, of failure without weakness.

The Ancient Wisdom is a book by Anni Besant published in 1897 as per the dedication in the Leader of the undated first pressing. In this book Besant introduces and explains the physical plain, astral plane, mental plain and other planes of existence. This book is intended to place in the hands of the general listener an epitome of Theosophical Teachings, Sufficiently plain to serve the elementary student, and sufficiently full to lay a sound foundation for future knowledge.

This short account of Swami Vivekananda, the Vedantist who brought Hinduism to America, focuses on the years 1893 to 1897. After a famous speech at the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893, Vivekananda promoted his religious beliefs and practices by lecturing extensively across the United States, teaching and attracting devotees, producing a wealth of publications and tracts on Hinduism, encouraging vegetarianism, writing the first book on yoga to appear in America and so on, for a new and enthusiastic audience.