(1893- 1934). Eminent Theosophical writer. He was born on August 26, 1893, and joined the Theosophical Society – Adyar in 1914. Van der Leeuw gained his LL.D. at Leiden for a treatise on cyclic law. He was ordained a priest of the Liberal Catholic Church. He was General Secretary of the Netherlands Section 1930-31, was awarded the Subba Row Medal in 1925 for his book The Fire of Creation, and founded the King Arthur School for boys in Sydney, Australia, which continued only for a year. He was killed in June 1934 when his aircraft crashed during a solo flight in South Africa.
His small book, Gods in Exile, (1986, T.P.H., Madras) is particularly significant as one of the few Theosophical texts that offers a way to apply the teaching to practical ends, that is, to raise consciousness to a higher level. First published in 1926, it has remained in print to this day, running through eight editions.
Publications include: The Conquest of Illusion, (1928); Gods in Exile, (1926); The Fire of Creation (1925).