The New Krotona: from Hollywood to Ojai

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

The New Krotona: from Hollywood to Ojai The New Krotona: from Hollywood to Ojai Volume III 1921 - 1922 Joseph E. Ross The New Krotona: from Hollywood to Ojai Volume III, 1921- 1922 2009 Joseph E. Ross All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, or electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner. Unless otherwise credited, illustrations or photos are from the author’s archives. First Edition 2009 Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Catalogue in publication data Ross, Joseph E., 1943- The New Krotona: from Hollywood to Ojai: 1921 - 1922, Volume III, by Joseph E. Ross ISBN: 0-925943-13-2 (V. III) 1. Hollywood Region (Calif.)-History. 3. Theosophical Society-History. 2. Ojai (Calif.) - History. IN MEMORY OF A. P. WARRINGTON Whose devotion to an ideal, and whose courage in attempting to carry out that ideal, has made Krotona possible. Contents A Note on the Letters and Other Quoted Material viii Acknowledgements ix Preface x Introduction xi Material discovered since Vol II xiv ES League of Healers xxviii College of Healing xxxi Chapter 1 — 1921 1 Chapter 2 — 1922 182 Appendix A 304 Endnotes 316 Index 319 vii A Note on the Letters and other quoted material The letters are printed, as they are in the original with the exception that when a magazine or book is mentioned in a letter, we have printed it in italic type whereas the writer often simply wrote it with initial letters capitalized. Also, we have standardized capitalization and spelling of Theosophy with an upper case T and theosophical or theosophists with lower case t, except in proper names, such as Theosophical Society and the magazine The Theosophist. The letters have been transcribed directly from the originals and without omission except for the occasional correction of obvious errors of spelling and punctuation. In some letters commas have been added for clarity. The author wishes to point out that one of the fundamental laws of honesty is that whenever we quote something written by another, we will use the quoted words in the same context as the original writer used them. Even slight alterations, such as changing a single word, or omitting a part of a sentence, may change the meaning. Alas, many writers (even among trained scholars) break this rule, and so, by untruthfully quoting, do violence to the meaning of the original writer. An ellipsis (three dots or points) within a quotation indicates that something has been omitted, but we did not change the context. I acknowledge and take responsibility for making public the documents presented to me by Betty Warrington and others that are in this book. Many of the letters are controversial; some are contradictory, and some, very confusing. The past is past except that its shadow still falls on the present. The past is the background of conditioned thought, an action that is dominating and controlling the present, and thereby overshadowing and creating a predetermined future. Is the mind capable of being watchful, choicelessly, of this process, and is it possible to liberate itself from it at any moment? The letters contained herein hold information about and shed light on the personalities around the founding of the Krotona Institute. viii Acknowledgements Material for this volume has been drawn from people I have met and documents I have collected during my many years traveling around the world to centers of Theosophy. Extensive reading, especially perusal of early theosophical and secular journals and books, has rounded out the history contained in the quaint and curious letters, now in my personal archives, of the founders of Krotona. The letters here printed contain priceless bits of information and sidelights on the writers’ personalities, that will enable the reader, however distant in time or space, to become acquainted with the leaders of the theosophical movement as they actually lived the events. I extend my deepest gratitude to all the many writers of the letters, left as a record of Krotona’s history, and especially to the late Mrs. Betty Warrington and the late Srimati [or its shorter form, Smt., is used as a prefix to a married woman’s name] Rukmini Devi Arundale, both of whom presented to me many of their personal collection of letters and artifacts of their late husbands, Albert P. Warrington and George S. Arundale respectively. The staff of the Krishnamurti Foundation America, Inc. has been exceedingly helpful in giving me access to their archives and permission to publish correspondence. My special thanks also to those who have granted me personal interviews, offered documents, photographs and other information to complete this and future volumes. Words will never convey the debt of my gratitude. Special mention must be made of W.G.M. Beumer who provided us with the copy of the Kern Institute, Leiden University, publication about Johan van Manen, and also of Nell C. Taylor’s painstaking and careful checking of the original documents with the printed proofs. I also thank Robert Boyd’s superb editing skills making valuable suggestions toward the completion of the final version. I am of course solely responsible for any imperfections remaining. Joseph E. Ross ix [Author’s] Preface In the Fall of 1874, William Q. Judge came in contact with Madame H. P. Blavatsky. In September of 1875, Judge became one of the founders of the Theosophical Society along with H. P. Blavatsky and Colonel H. S. Olcott in New York City, as he acted as Counsel to the Society. This resulted in an association that was to last throughout their lives. Like all strong characters who advance a new idea or seek to revive an old or noble idea, Madame Blavatsky met with bitter opposition and persecution. It will be shown that Warrington had a similar experience as he moved the Hollywood Krotona to Ojai, California. The great purpose of theTheosophical Society, as originated by H.P. Blavatsky, is to exemplify and foster Brotherhood without regard to race, creed, sex, caste or color. H.P.B. Brought, from the storehouse of the past, the great teachings of the Wisdom-Religion, Theosophy, that man is divine in essence. That which binds not only all men, but all beings, all things in the entire Universe into one great whole, is Life, alike in essence but differing in form as expressed in plants, animals, human beings, planets and stars. As the years have gone by and more and more historical documents have come to me, I have felt it a duty to preserve this material, and to make it available to scholars and the public, in the hope that sincere and serious students will find this material helpful as they try to discover the facts regarding the history of Krotona and its subsidiaries. Much of the material dealing with the history of the Adyar Theosophical Society, the Liberal Catholic Church (L.C.C.), and its leaders, Annie Besant, C.W. Leadbeater, C. Jinarajadasa, George Arundale, and even J. Krishnamurti, and documents regarding Krotona that were not used in this or earlier publications, can be found in the Ross Collection at the Krishnamurti Foundation of America Archives, located at 1070 McAndrew Road, Ojai, California. Some students of Theosophy may consider the publication of the facts of Krotona’s history as unfriendly or unethical. If we can begin to question truly the values which now enclose and hold us, though it may cause confusion and disturbance, if we persist in deeply understanding them in action, there will be clarity. x Introduction Krotona Institute of Theosophy is a subsidiary activity of theEsoteric School of Theosophy (E.S.) and not of the Theosophical Society (T.S.). Just as the various activities classed as subsidiary in the usual report of the President of the T.S. are subsidiary to the Theosophical Society, so is the Krotona Institute a subsidiary of the Esoteric School. It was founded under direction of the international head of the E.S., who is and has continually been its President. Its object is training of students that, if properly carried out, ought to contribute strength and steadiness to the work for Theosophy in America. Writing the history of an organization - Krotona - the author knew it would not satisfy everyone. The author apologizes to his readers that the books are not easy to read, for they are a collection of historical documents, and should not be read as a novel, but rather used as a reference material for future research. He has endeavored to make it, not an advertisement for Theosophy, but a factual history according to the documents. In writing it, he has kept two objects in view: to make the history both readable and reliable, as based on actual documents. In the narration of historical events the author has endeavored to state what, after most careful investigation, he found to be the facts, although such a statement might destroy some of the beautiful myths that have been hitherto thought to be veritable history. Because a story is generally believed to be true is not conclusive evidence that it is true. The author presents the reader with an unbiased history of the civic and social life of the Krotona community, to tell the story of its evolution from an idea Warrington had as a young man to its founding and its flourishing into the 21st century. Warrington found no region of the U.S. whose natural attraction surpassed those of Southern California - rugged mountains, smiling valleys, prosperous towns and the vast ocean whose waves beat ceaselessly upon the picturesque coast - all these, added to a climate recognized as ideal, form influences that no visitor can resist.
Recommended publications
  • Krotona-V1-Index.Pdf
    289 INDEX Adams, Mrs., 174 Baverstock, V, 191 Adept Brotherhood, ii, Beachwood Park, 242 Administration Building, 132, Bernard, Marie - see Russak, 138-43,154,189 (also called Mrs. Marie Krotona Court or Krotona Inn) Besant, Annie, xiv, 2,10-1,16-7, Adyar Bulletin, 205 29-39, 59, 79, 83, 88-93, 96-7, Adyar Corporation, 195, 208-9 99-101,189,193-5, 203; assigned Adyar Library, 250 guardianship of Krishnamurti and Alboar, Mr. de, 159 Nityananda, 45; assists at laying Alcott, A. Bronson, xiii cornerstone for the theosophical Alcyone - see Krishnamurti headquarters in London, 99; birth- Alexandria, xii day observed at Krotona, 175-6; Alfonso, Ricardo H., 159 considered by Warrington as his Ailing, Mr., 153 spiritual mother, 35-38; elected The American Theosophist, 131,148, President of the Theosophical 155,169, 212-3, 221-2, 242, 244, Society, 31; heir to Fuente legacy, 256-7 7; Herakles, 102; prophesied Ammonius Saccas, xii Point Loma would come to the Amphitheater, 132-3,136-7,146,154, T.S., 69-70,102; suggests that A.P. 156,191 Warrington come to England to Andrus, Mr. Elmer C, 173 see her and "the boys", 73; sum- Artel, Mme. Louise de, 221 mons served on her, 188; Articles of Incorporation, Krotona suspends Temple of the Rosy Institute of Theosophy, 232-5 Cross, 149; wins guardianship Arts and Crafts Guild, 214 case, 261 Arundale, Dr. George S., 70, 81, Bhagavad-Gita, 134 127,149-50,165, 220, 222, 229, "Bhaktis", 166 235-6, 240-1, Bhavanan, Swami, 124 Astrology, 149 Bibby's Annual, 229 Birth Chant of Omaha Indians, Baja California, 44, 53-5 140-1, 205 Baldwin, Mrs.
    [Show full text]
  • Theosophic Messenger V14 N2 Nov 1912
    An Address by the President Our President and the Work Abroad Marie Russak Educational Guiding Lines A Symposium The Lamasery Illustrated 0 Story As a Man Soweth Redfield Ingalls Mental Images Frank H. Knight The Music Mother and Her Children ISSUED MONTHLY BY THE AMERICAN SECTION OF THE THEOSOPHICALSOaETyKROTONA,L05ANOELES.CM $1.50 Per Year Single Copy, 15 Cento ‘Q n| K u~IvE'y:‘<s=T‘Y/I N02 N0VEM§E'R;”1912\\ '~'A.irv_-xlV‘_"/A An Address bv the President Our President and the Work Abroad Marie Russak Educational Guiding Lines A Symposium The Lamasery Illustrated Story As a. Man Soweth Redfleld Ingalls Mental Images Frank H. Knight The Music Mother and Her Children 0 8 Single Copy, 16 Conn Generated for John Patrick Deveney (University of Chicago) on 2015-01-07 18:40 GMT / http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.b2923418 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www.hathitrust.org/access_use#pd-google av». _ FOUNDED BY CoLKS.Oloott «nd H.P.BUvatsky THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY was formed at New York, November 17, 1875, and incorporated at Madras, April 3, 1908 A Society of an absolutely unsectanan and non-political character, whose work should be amicably prosecuted by the learned of all ‘ races, in a spirit of unselfish devotion to the research of truth, and with the purpose of disseminating it impartially, seemed likely to do much to check materialism and strengthen the waning religious spirit. The simplest ex- pression of the object of the Society is the following: First—To form a nucleus of the Universal Brotherhood of Humanity, without distinc- tion of race, creed, sex, caste or color.
    [Show full text]
  • The Channel V1 N3 Apr-May-Jun 1916
    APRIL, MAY, VOLUME ONE JUNE, 1916 NUMBER THREE ©fie An International Quarterly of Occultism, Spiritual Philosophy of Life, and the Science of Superphysical Facts EDITOR - - MARIE RUSSAK Annie Besant James Montgomery Flagg The Phenomena of Dreams Occult Explanation - Bergson, Freud, Hyslop - How to Remember Dreams The Editor War Sonnets Ella Wheeler Wilcox The Little Indesirables Vance Thompson For full Contents, see inside cover THE CHANNEL PUBLISHING SOCIETY TEMPLE PARK, HOLLYWOOD LOS ANGELES; CALIFORNIA, YEARLY SUBSCRIPTION $1.00 SINGLE NUMBERS 30 Cents m Contents _ Page Frontispiece—Annie Besant............... James Montgomery Flagg Krotona Institute................................................................. • Theosophy .......................................................A. P. Warrington j War Sonnets............................................. Ella Wheeler Wilcox 5 The Phenomena of Dreams................................. Marie Russak 7 Science versus Occult Philosophy................................ ..:. iq Dream Stimuli ..................... 12 How to Remember Dreams.................................... 26 Some Personal Dreams............... ............ 27 Occult Investigation of Dreams...... ........... 29 Conclusion—Symbolical Dreams ..................... —....... 31 The Little Indesirables and Reincarnation. .Vance Thompson 35’ Freemasonry in the Bible................................Leonard Bosman 40 Thoughts United .......... Marguerite Percy 47 The Numerical Significance of Language.... Louise R. Waite 48 History of
    [Show full text]
  • E S O T E R I C a ®
    E S O T E R I C A ® Autumn 2020 Insight into the Ageless Wisdom Volume 10. No. 2. A Magazine of the Theosophical Society in England. Charity No. 1167737 Registered in England and Wales. Registered Company No. 09705732. Editorial Contents With warm greetings to all our readers in the UK Editorial …………………………………………………… 2 and around the world and hoping this finds you Susan Bayliss in good health and cheerfulness. In this issue, Esoterica has expanded to provide more articles for From the National President ……………………. 3 your study and enjoyment, and I hope you will find Jenny Baker some uplifting items of interest in these pages. In 2021 there will be three extended issues, so even The Spiritual Ascent ..………………….............. 5 more to relish. Gary Kidgell Here in Britain we have turned a page in the year, Leaving A Gift ............................................. 10 passing from a warm and beautiful summer - never guaranteed in the UK, into the wet windiness of early Healing Oneself Healing the World .......... 11 autumn. For many of you spring will be dawning and for some extreme heat or cold is never far away. Our The Crown of Asphodels ..……….................. 13 environment is ever-changing and seldom the same Helen Johnston Bourchier in one part of the world to another, but in 2020 we have become even more acutely aware of our shared The Theosophical Society in England ......... 20 world and our shared humanity. Here there is an old saying: ‘a trouble shared is a trouble halved’. Well A Parable of Jellaleddin ..……….................... 21 our ‘troubles’ have certainly and increasingly been Rumi very liberally communicated and can no longer be hidden or compartmentalised, so if not halved then The Kingdom Within ..……….......................
    [Show full text]
  • A Survey of Surviving Buildings of the Krotona Colony in Hollywood
    A SURVEY OF SURVIVING BUILDINGS OF THE KROTONA COLONY IN HOLLYWOOD Alfred Willis University of California, Los Angeles Krotona is one of three important early twentieth-century career, as an attorney in Norfolk, was abbreviated by his Theosophical colonies in California.1 From 1912 until its deepening commitment to work on behalf of the 1926 move to new quarters in Ojai,2 the Krotona colony3 Theosophical Society. He joined the Society in December flourished in Los Angeles on a piece of Hollywood Hills 1896 and began to study Theosophy in earnest in 1898. property situated just west of Beachwood Canyon and Over the next several years he formed personal north of Franklin Avenue.4 Its physical plant included acquaintances with Olcott, C. W. Leadbeater, and other two major works by the San Diego architectural firm of Society leaders during a troubled period of schism in the Mead & Requa; at least one major work designed by Society’s organization. In 1906, his faithful work on Arthur and Alfred Heineman; minor works by Elmer C. behalf of its administration headquarter at Adyar, Madras, India, was rewarded by admission to its Esoteric School Andrus and Harold Dunn5; and a substantial group of (or “Section”). Through spiritual techniques such as houses designed by an amateur woman architect who meditation, members of the Esoteric Section developed played a major role in the Theosophical Society, Marie their higher faculties, which could then be used to direct Russak Hotchener. Nearly all of Krotona’s major and spiritual energy to the accomplishment of the many of its minor buildings still stand occupied, though Theosophical Society’s goals and, more generally, the all have been to some extent remodeled and most changed evolution of humanity toward unity.
    [Show full text]
  • Bailey and Theosophy
    Bailey and Theosophy by Niels BrØnzsted Introduction In esoteric circles it is a well known fact that throughout the world and arrest the attention the modern esoteric teaching originates from of the highest minds."4 two chohans in the spiritual hierarchy, Morya And later he introduces a message from (M) and Kuthumi (KH), who–with the consent the "chief himself” with the words: "An of their superior or "chief," as they prefer to abridged version of the view of the Chohan on call him, the Mahachohan or Lord of the T.S. from his own words as given last Civilization of that time–founded the night." This is the well-known Maha Chohan's theosophical movement in the end of the 19th Letter where we read the following excerpts: century. "The doctrine we promulgate being the only In the book called The Mahatma Letters we true one, must, supported by such evidence as find allusions to the hierarchical purpose of we are preparing to give, become ultimately this movement and the "division of labor" triumphant as every other truth. Yet it is between the masters and the exponents of the absolutely necessary to inculcate it gradually, movement. These letters are not really written enforcing its theories, unimpeachable facts for by the chohans. They are thought forms of the those who know, with direct inferences text precipitated on paper, and in most cases deduced from and corroborated by the evidence the chohan did not perform the actual furnished by modern exact science... precipitation himself but telepathically "For our doctrines to practically react on transferred the thought form to one of the the so-called moral code, or the ideas of senior disciples, as for instance H.
    [Show full text]
  • OE Library Critic V19 1929-1930
    THE O. E. LIBRARY CRITIC PnblUhti moDtblj it 1207 Q St, N. W., W iikiiglin, D. C. OY The O. E. Library League VoL XIX August, 1929 No. 1 y to r lx Bub8crl;i't*nn. U nited S ta tu and forclgo. flrty M U . Single copies, (Ite cent». Issues earlier tlian Juoe, 1826; one or two copies, Ote reals; more than tiro copies, tiro rents each, single or mixed Issues, INNOCENT CRIMINALS AND CRIMINAL INNOCENTS In the April CRITIC was published a letter to lion. C. C. Young, Governor of California, from Judge Franklin A. Grif­ fin, dated January 20, 1928, appealing for justice in the case of Mooney and Billings, convicted in 1917 on the basis of perjured evidence of participation in a bomb outrage in San Francisco in 1916. It was Judge Griffin himself who presided at the trial. Notwithstanding the appeals of those directly concerned in the convictions Governor Young took no action and in November, 1928, Judge Griffin wrote a still stronger appeal, which I give below: San Francisco, Cal., November 14, 1928. Honorable C. C. Young, Governor of California, Sacramento, California. My dear Governor: When you discussed the Mooney case some weeks ago with a group of citizens at Berkeley you told us that until then you had believed Mooney and Billings guilty of the Preparedness crime. Some days afterward when you sent a message to the State Federation of Labor at Sacramento you said again that you believed them guilty. I believe that you are as anxious as any other citizen of California, to see justice done to these two men and will give serious attention to the documents in behalf of their pardon.
    [Show full text]
  • A Quarterly Journal of Research
    osoph e ic h a l T T H H y i s t o r A Quarterly Journal of Research Volume 3, No. 5 January 1991 ISSN 0951-497X THEOSOPHICAL HISTORY A Quarterly Journal of Research Founded by Leslie Price, 1985 Volume 3, No. 5, January 1991 EDITOR The Editors assume no responsibility for the views expressed by authors in Theosophical History. James A. Santucci California State University, Fullerton The Theosophical History Foundation is a nonprofit public benefit corporation located at the Department of Religious Studies, California State University, Fullerton, 1800 North State College Boulevard, Fullerton, CA 92634- ASSOCIATE EDITORS 9480 (USA). Its purpose is to publish Theosophical History and to facilitate the study and dissemination of information regarding the Theosophical Movement. John Cooper The Foundation’s Board of Directors are April Hejka-Ekins, Jerry Hejka-Ekins, University of Sydney J. Gordon Melton, and James A. Santucci. Robert Ellwood * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * University of Southern California GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSION OF MANUSCRIPTS J. Gordon Melton 1 The final copy of all manuscripts must be submitted on 8 ⁄2 11 inch 1 Institute for the Study of American 4 paper, double-spaced, and with margins of at least 1 ⁄ inches on all sides. Religion Words and phrases intended for italics output should be underlined in the University of California, Santa Barbara manuscript. The submitter is also encouraged to submit a floppy disk of the work in ASCII or WordPerfect 5 or 5.1, in an I.B.M. or compatible format. If possible, Joscelyn Godwin 1 Macintosh 3 ⁄2 inch disk files should also be submitted, saved in ASCII (“text Colgate University only with line breaks” format if in ASCII), Microsoft Word 4.0C or earlier version, WriteNow 2.0 or WordPerfect 2.01 or earlier version.
    [Show full text]
  • A Survey of Surviving Buildings of the Krotona Colony in Hollywood
    A SURVEY OF SURVIVING BUILDINGS OF THE KROTONA COLONY IN HOLLYWOOD Alfred Willis University of California, Los Angeles Krotona is one of three important early twentieth-century career, as an attorney in Norfolk, was abbreviated by his Theosophical colonies in California.1 From 1912 until its deepening commitment to work on behalf of the 1926 move to new quarters in Ojai,2 the Krotona colony3 Theosophical Society. He joined the Society in December flourished in Los Angeles on a piece of Hollywood Hills 1896 and began to study Theosophy in earnest in 1898. property situated just west of Beachwood Canyon and Over the next several years he formed personal north of Franklin Avenue.4 Its physical plant included acquaintances with Olcott, C. W. Leadbeater, and other two major works by the San Diego architectural firm of Society leaders during a troubled period of schism in the Mead & Requa; at least one major work designed by Society’s organization. In 1906, his faithful work on Arthur and Alfred Heineman; minor works by Elmer C. behalf of its administration headquarter at Adyar, Madras, India, was rewarded by admission to its Esoteric School Andrus and Harold Dunn5; and a substantial group of (or “Section”). Through spiritual techniques such as houses designed by an amateur woman architect who meditation, members of the Esoteric Section developed played a major role in the Theosophical Society, Marie their higher faculties, which could then be used to direct Russak Hotchener. Nearly all of Krotona’s major and spiritual energy to the accomplishment of the many of its minor buildings still stand occupied, though Theosophical Society’s goals and, more generally, the all have been to some extent remodeled and most changed evolution of humanity toward unity.
    [Show full text]