Francesca Arundale

Francesca Arundale was born in Brighton, England, in 1847. In 1881 she became a member of the Theosophical Society (Adyar), and was a close friend of H. P. Blavatsky and Annie Besant. She lived for some years in Germany. In 1902 she moved to Adyar, Chennai, India, and was active in the Varanasi (formerly Benares) branch of the T. S. She died in India on March 23, 1924.

George S. Arundale, her great-nephew and adopted son, became president of the Theosophical Society (Adyar).

Mahatma Letters

Miss Arundale was the recipient of a a letter from Mahatma Koot Hoomi in July 1884, which has been published by the Blavatsky Archives.

Co-Freemasonry

In 1896 she became a member of the International Order of Co-Freemasonry, Le Droit Humain. She also participated when Annie Besant formed the first London Lodge of the order in 1902.

Writings

Miss Arundale wrote an account of her friendship with H. P. Blavatsky, My Guest, H.P. Blavatsky. It was published in 1932 at the Theosophical Publishing House in Adyar.

She also wrote:

• Education in the Light of Theosophy, Adyar, Madras, India: Vasanta Press, 1913.
• The Idea of Re-birth, with Karl Heckel, London: K. Paul, Trench, Trübner, 1890.
• "Psychism and Spirituality," a series of articles in The Beacon, 1922.
• Intuitional Consciousness #69 in the Adyar Pamphlets series, published in September 1916. It is available online at Canadian Theosophical Association.
• Idea of Rebirth Including a Translation of an Essay on Re-incarnation
• "Record of Some Phenomena Transcribed from the original in the Archives of the Society for Psychical Research." Narrative available at Blavatsky Archives, with the introduction, "A portion of this narrative was quoted in Proceedings of the S.P.R. (London), Volume III, 1885, pp. 387-388. This online edition is reprinted by permission of the Society for Psychical Research, London."

For a list of articles written by and about Miss Arundale, see Union Index of Theosophical Periodicals