Fraternization Movement

UNDER CONSTRUCTION
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
During several periods of the 20th and 21st centuries, various people attempted to achieve reunification of the organizations within the broad Theosophical Movement.

1931 H. P. B. Centenary

Gottfried de Purucker and other Theosophical leaders essayed to work together in 1931 to celebrate the centenary of the birth of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky.

The American Theosophical Society published this article:

It is noteworthy that the H. P. B. Centenary is being celebrated by various organizations besides our own...

We have the Blavatsky Centenary Program of the Temple of the People, outlining a series of lectures and services which includes several especially on H. P. B.

In San Francisco, a big public Centennial Celebration for H. P. B. will take place on August 16, in which the three lodges of our Society will join with the United Lodge, Point Loma Lodge, the Rosicrucians and the New Thought Center. Excellent dramatic and musical talent have been donated and a hall with a seating capacity of 1,000 has been engaged. It is splendid that so many will give homage to H. P. B.and will also share the aspiration and spiritual blessing of the occasion.

International Fraternity of Theosophists

Victor A. Endersby organized the International Fraternity of Theosophists as an attempt to unite Theosophists who were disaffected, disenfranchised, or otherwise independent from the major organizations of the Theosophical Movement.

1993 Parliament of the World's Religions

Following the Parliament, an American Theosophist wrote:

For the past several years, there has been a commendable dialog among the Theosophical (Wheaton), the Theosophical Society (Pasadena), the United Lodge of Theosophists, and the Temple of the People. Real progress has been made in furthering the cause of theosophy without infringing on the independence of any of the participating groups. We are all putting past enmities behind us.

Now is the time, I suggest, to open that dialog still further to other like-minded organizations that have been divided from us by personality clashes and past disagreements. We do not have to agree with all their positions, nor they with ours. But I suspect that we agree on more matters than we disagree.

Additional resources

• Articles on Fraternization from The Canadian Theosophist, June 15, 1935 [1]
• G de P speech at the 1st Fraternization Convention, the HPB Centennial Conference, London, 1931 [2]
• G de P speech at the 6th Fraternization Convention in Boston, June 25-26-27 1938 [3]
• [Victor A. Endersby] "Towards Theosophical Unity: The International Fraternity of Theosophists" The Canadian Theosophist 37.3 (July-Aug 1956), 54-60.
• Spinks, F. Pierce. Theosophists Reunite! An Eloquent Plea For A Reunited Society. Boston: Christopher Publishing House, 1958.