The Theosophist

The New Mithraeum

The Theosophist is a monthly journal founded by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky in Bombay in 1879, shortly after she and Henry Steel Olcott established the headquarters of the Theosophical Society in India. Its first issue appeared on 1 October 1879. The journal was subsequently published from Adyar, Madras, following the transfer of the Society’s headquarters there.

From its beginnings, The Theosophist covered a broad range of subjects including comparative religion, philosophy, occultism, Spiritualism, Hinduism, Buddhism and the study of ancient religious and esoteric traditions. Its original subtitle described it as “A Monthly Journal Devoted to Oriental Philosophy, Art, Literature and Occultism”, also encompassing Mesmerism, Spiritualism and other “secret sciences”.

Blavatsky was its founding editor, and the journal was later edited by figures including Henry Steel Olcott and Annie Besant. Its pages provide an extensive record of the development of modern Theosophy and of the Theosophical reception of ancient religions and mystery traditions. For the study of the modern reception of Mithraism, it is particularly relevant for its reviews and discussions of works by authors such as G. R. S. Mead.

The Theosophist has continued, with changes in editorial direction and a brief disruption of its title in 1930, into the present day.