Poster © Elisa Chigueco
A noteworthy exhibition, covering the life and work of H. P. Blavatsky will be organized by José Manuel Anacleto in Lisbon, from May 8 -May 16, 2018. Your editor would describe José as a formidable Theosophical activist. In order to get to know more about him, read his mini interview with Theosophy Forward here
TOS at the Golden Link Colleges, a short write up previously published in the AUSTRALIAN TOS LINK, November 2017, issue. Written by Gayle Thomas
The author (middle) with students
HPB states in the, The Key to Theosophy, ‘that members can best help the movement of theosophy by living it by practicing altruism’. The Golden Link College (GLC) in the Philippines provided a perfect venue for me to volunteer to teach English as a second language. GLC is based in Caloocan city, a very poor area of Metro Manila.
The building
GLC was established by the Theosophical Society and the Theosophical Order of Service. Vicente Hao Chin (2016) wrote the curriculum, ‘On Education’. Based on the philosophy and vision of the school, the curriculum’s aim is, “to promote a kind of education that is free of the many harmful elements of standard education, such as ranking, competition, use of fear and anger in teaching, over focus on grades and examinations etc.” (Hao Chin 2016)
Young students in silence.
The curriculum, believes firmly in the importance of total human development rather than simple academic preparation. It gives opportunities to all students to rise and be the best that they can. Having just completed an Education Masters subject on Testing and Assessment, I can attest to the controversy the NAPLAN testing is having on our Australian curriculum. Schools are focused on achieving high NAPLAN results which concentrates on numeracy and literacy. This often comes at the expense of other subjects such as the arts, physical education and other vital developmental subjects. At GLC, quoting Vic (2007) again, ‘the core curriculum must enable the student to have the needed foundation for the essential aspects of living’.
FROM JULY 26 – 29 ALL ROADS LEAD TO BERLIN
THE 2018 ITC CONFERENCE IS ENTITLED:
What is a Life Worth Living?
This year, from July 26-29, the conference will be held in beautiful Berlin, a very symbolic and dynamic location for the focus and theme of our conference.
The venue: Seminaris Campushotel
PHILADELPHIA DECLARATION: THEOSOPHY IN ACTION
During ITC 2017 in Philadelphia, USA, the City of Brotherly Love, conference participants expressed their wish to “undertake action.” In other words: awakening Theosophical wisdom and shaping it into a tangible form, applying it through practical deeds, instead of simply sharing it philosophically or intellectually amongst themselves.
The 11th World Congress will be held in Singapore, 4 - 9 August 2018
Theme:
Consciousness, Contemplation, Commitment:
The Future is Now
The venue will be at Ramada Hotel in its Congress Hall and related meeting rooms
Accommodation at Ramada & Days Hotel
Days Hotel (***)
SGD$1,165 for twin-sharing
SGD$1,589 for single occupancy
Ramada (****)
SGD$1,306 for twin-sharing
SGD$1,801 for single occupancy
The package rates are for accommodation from 3rd until 9th (check out).
Includes conference fee, breakfast, lunch and dinner from 4th to 8th August 2018, and breakfast on 9th.
Hotels give smartphones with unlimited 4G and IDD calls to selected countries.
(IDD = international direct dialing)
Spanish edition of Lucifer, the Light-bringer.
Now the Seven Jewels of Wisdom also available in Spanish. This is truly GOOD NEWS. The English text, originally published through the TS Point Loma in The Hague, the Netherlands, was translated into Spanish by members of the TS Adyar in Costa Rica. This is cross pollination, two Theosophical groups helping each other. Progress is made!
The TS Study Centre in Bradenton, FL, has enjoyed holding their meetings at the Mitreya Center, an interfaith meeting place. A few members of the TS, however, saw an unmet need at the Mitreya Center – its library needed some TLC. Five members of the Bradenton TS/TOS group decided to take on the massive project of reorganizing the Center's library, so it would be more accessible to the center’s many visitors. The group is creating a library catalogue, which will be available to the greater Bradenton community, as well.
From left: Judith Snow, Donna Lobdell and Ann Willig
TOS Liaison, Alec Grae, who has been volunteering in libraries since the 4th grade, explains: “TS materials are interspersed with other topics of interest, because of the other groups that also meet here. But the vast majority of items are of interest to the TS as well.”
The 11th World Congress will be held in Singapore, 4 - 9 August 2018
The venue will be at Ramada Hotel in its Congress Hall and related meeting rooms
Accommodation at Ramada & Days Hotel
Days Hotel (***)
SGD$1,165 for twin-sharing
SGD$1,589 for single occupancy
Ramada (****)
SGD$1,306 for twin-sharing
SGD$1,801 for single occupancy
The package rates are for accommodation from 3rd until 9th (check out).
Includes conference fee, breakfast, lunch and dinner from 4th to 8th August 2018, and breakfast on 9th.
Hotels give smartphones with unlimited 4G and IDD calls to selected countries.
(IDD = international direct dialing)
[Message received from Jan Jelle Keppler]
From 23 till 25 June 2017, at the time of this year’s summer solstice, a three day Theosophical seminar was organized in Dnipro, Ukraine, in the house where Helena Petrovna Blavatsky was born in 1831. (see phtoto)
The theme of the seminar was:
“The Inspirational Mind: Fusing Love and Knowledge for Human Welfare”.
Eleven reports, eight in English and three in Russian, as well as three presentations, two in Russian and one in English were given by nine speakers, three from Ukraine and three couples from the United States of America.
Each talk was translated simultaneously. After the reports, there were lively question and answer sessions, in which most of the time the questions were put by the speaker and the answers had to be given by the audience.
Food Distribution in Kenya
Lovely kids anxiously waiting
The day dawned bright and warm and all worries about the weather being wet dissipated with the sun coming out and the clouds disappearing! We – Induben Shah, Gideon, Patrick and I – left for Machakos at a quarter past nine in the morning. We arrived in Machakos at about 11 o'clock and to our consternation found that nothing, and I mean nothing, was ready! There were no packed food parcels nor was there the truck that was to carry 130 packets of food, each packet containing 10 kgs of dried maize, 3 kgs of dried beans, oil, sugar, salt and 5 kgs of maize meal. We waited and waited as we kept on listening to the sentence, "The lorry will be here in the next half an hour!" Well! That half hour stretched to 2pm, which was the time originally expected for us to have completed the food distribution and headed back home. Then the lorry arrived, was loaded and finally left for the venue!
ITC 2017: Impressions of a Moderator, by Jonathan Colbert
Moderator-in-chief Jonathan Colbert
ITC participants at the Friends Center in Philly this year bore their hearts on their sleeves. “Lets get to work,” they said. “Lets get off our backsides and apply these true and healing ideas!” Members and newcomers did not attend as emissaries of their respective organizations or as promoters of old agendas. This year we were more like so many Promethean rebels bent on overcoming anything resembling stasis or inertia. What was the precipitant of this benign restlessness? Have the ill-mannered actions, words and tweets of a petulant president scared the hell out of Theosophists? Or is it that the whole world now seems in such desperate need for the healing message, the soothing, soul-satisfying balm of pure Theosophy? Could the precipitant have been the theme of the conference itself: “A Nucleus of Universal Brotherhood: World’s Healing Force”?
[Message received from Marcos de Resende]
The 23rd International Theosophical School at the Theosophical Institute of Brasilia, just outside the Brazilian capital, took place in the last week of July 2017. Invited guest-speaker was Esteban Langlois, General Secretary of Theosophical Society in Argentina. The theme, elaborated through lectures, meditations and group studies was Abstract Teachings for a Concrete Life.
Participants of the 23rd edition of the International Theosophical School
Approximately 120 participants, coming from Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Spain, Australia and Brazil, attended this special event.
The approach of Esteban Langlois was rather interesting, exploring profound teachings from The Secret Doctrine and other well-known Theosophical writings, while linking them with daily living. The developed program, not only contained lectures but also group meditations and debates and this made the event very dynamic and productive.
Since 1995, and always in the month of July, the Theosophical Institute of Brasilia organizes the International Theosophical School, inviting lecturers from the international Theosophical scene, with as objective to help developing the Theosophical work in the Americas.
The 38th European Theosophical Congress held in Barcelona from August 21 – 26 had the following theme:
Theosophy: A Way towards Universal Consiousness
The grand-piano, also called “the instrument of instruments”
Beauty is considered to be one of the important aspects of the work at the International Theosophical Centre (ITC) in Naarden. In order to visualise this, two roses complement the TS seal, as the seal of the ITC, which has been approved by Radha Burnier. In practise, it means that we always try to add elements of beauty to our programs, most of the time live music. Now a new related activity is being organised by Martie Velthuis, who many participants of ITC activities had contact with. Martie is a professional music teacher. When she moved to a smaller house her grand piano was placed at St. Michaels House, where she now organises music events every month for TS members and music lovers.
[Message as received from John Vorstermans in New Zealand.]
A new online resource centre; Theosophical material easily accessible
Theosophy World was an idea conceived in 2014, with the purpose to establish a global online resource centre for theosophical content that would be available to members and the general enquirer alike.
We have all experienced frustrating hours trying to locate material for education, research or purely general interest sake, only to find we can’t locate what we are looking for very easily with content scattered all over the internet.
Theosophy.world is an exciting new online resource centre that helps alleviate this problem. It contains helpful theosophical material that is easily accessible. With the powerful ‘Search’ and ‘Tag Cloud’ functionality embedded into the site, results are displayed quickly and effectively. Theosophy.world also provides links to other websites and libraries where sources of valuable information are stored.
Ria Pati – India
WHY CAN'T THE SKY BE PINK?
The author
The atmosphere is happy and cheerful, with lots of kids between the ages of 6 and 10 years. Their assignment is to replicate a template created by the instructor consisting of the sky, mountains, birds and mounds of land in the foreground. On one such occasion I overheard a 6- year-old run up to the instructor to show him her work. After a brief pause the instructor asked her – “Why have you made the sky pink?”
The question caught me off-guard. It got me thinking. Really, WHY can’t the sky be pink after all? In the little girl’s world, the sky could be orange, purple, red, or green… anything that she imagined it to be.
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ANNIE BESANT (1847-1933), LONDON, 30 SEPTEMBER - 1 OCTOBER 2017
Annie Besant
The Theosophical Society in England (http://www.theosoc.org.uk) is holding a two-day international conference on Annie Besant (1847-1933) at the TSE Headquarters at 50 Gloucester Place, London W1U 8EA on Saturday and Sunday, 30 September and 1 October 2017.
The chair of the first day of the conference, which is primarily concerned with Annie Besant’s public work as a feminist, secularist, socialist and anti-imperialist, will be Dr Muriel Pécastaing-Boissière of the University of Paris-Sorbonne, Paris 4 (author of the new biography Annie Besant (1847-1933) : la lutte et la quête, soon to be published in English).
Those who wish to submit a paper for the first day on any aspect of the subject should send a summary of not more than 200 words by 1 June 2017 to Mr Leslie Price, secretary of Programme Committee, at TSE History & Archives (history&
Conference participants will be responsible for their own travel, meals and accommodation. Those presenting papers will be exempt from registration fees and will also be admitted free to the second day, chaired by Kurt Leland (author of Invisible Worlds: Annie Besant on Psychic and Spiritual Development), which is a study day concerned with research problems in assessing Besant’s Theosophical work. If you wish to register for the conference, or to be kept informed of the programme, please contact The Theosophical Society in England (