Thought Forms (book)

Thought Forms was a book written by Annie Besant and Charles Webster Leadbeater in 1905 on the titular subject of Thought-Forms.

Writing of the book

The genesis of the book was an article by Annie Besant printed in the September, 1896 issue of Lucifer. These are the original illustrations from that article:

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Charles Leadbeater worked with Annie Besant to develop this concept further, describing their clairvoyant observations to painters to produce the images for the 1905 book. The illustrations were painted by "Mr. John Varley [1850-99, grandson of John Varley], Mr. Prince and Miss Macfarlane."

Publication history

The first edition of Thought-Forms came out in 1905. It was published in London and Benares by the Theosophical Publishing Society, and in New York by John Lane. In the United States, the book was distributed by the Theosophical Book Concern of Chicago. The volume was hardbound in both green and red covers.

When the next edition was published in 1925 by the Theosophical Publishing House, it incorrectly stated "First Printed 1901 - Reprint 1905 - Reprint 1925." John L. Crow wrote an account of how this error was propagated through subsequent editions and library catalogs. "Why the date of 1901 was introduced is unknown. Kurt Leland, an Annie Besant specialist, theorized that the publishers were confused by Besant's publication, Thought Power, which was published in 1901."

In 1933, 1948, 1961, and 1967, the book was reprinted by the Theosophical Publishing House in Adyar, India. The Theosophical Publishing House in Wheaton, Illinois reprinted the work in 1969, in 1971, 1975, 1986, and 1999.

Translations have been published in German and Slovenian.

Digital versions

• 1905 edition at Internet Archive.
• 1905 edition at Hathitrust.
• 1905 edition at Google Books.
• Illustrations from the 1905 Benares edition at Fulltable.
• One of the Wheaton editions at Anandgholap.net.
• 1999 edition is available in various commercial eBook formats.

Influence on art

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Wassily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian, Paul Klee, and other artists were heavily influenced by this book.

Events featuring this book

The Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts held a 3-day workshop with lectures by Richard Flores and Kevin Wallace on April 12-14, 2013:

This three-day workshop is based upon Thought Forms, the 1901 book by Annie Besant and Charles Leadbeater that inspired Wassily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian, Paul Klee and countless other artists. Participants will explore the ideas that pre-date and inspired abstract painting through insights into the processes of seeing and recording impressions in form and color.

SALTWATER: A Theory of Thought Forms was the name of the 14th Istanbul Biennial in Turkey, which ran from September 5 to November 1, 2015. It involved more than 100 artists in 36 venues, and included a display honoring the Besant-Leadbeater work.

Theosophist Annie Besant saw ‘thought forms’ as embodied entities of the imaginal realm, visible and vibrating states of what remains generally invisible – forms of the real world that can be apprehended through intense awareness, meditation and attention.

A number of drawings, paintings, installations, films, objects, books, collaborations, and research-based events will be viewable as thought forms – waves or oscillating patterns of repeating and differing lines that structure and enfold all forms of transference of energy – from brain waves to shockwaves after an explosion, from sound waves and waves of water to electromagnetic waves of different lengths and frequencies, including radio waves and light.

Subsequently, a portion of the Turkish exhibit was displayed as Intention to Know: The Thought Forms of Annie Besant, an exhibit presented from December 29, 2015 through March 1, 2016 at the Stony Island Arts Bank in Chicago following the run in Turkey. The display was conceived by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev in cooperation with Theaster Gates and the Rebuild Foundation.

Intention to Know: The Thought Forms of Annie Besant presents a complete series of framed prints from the first edition of Thought Forms alongside Danish artist Lea Porsager’s gouache paintings inspired by the book. Archival material from Besant’s life and times, including an intact first edition of Thought Forms, is presented alongside work by two contemporary artists, Erin Hayden and Cauleen Smith.

Additional resources

• Lachman, Gary. “Kandinsky's Thought Forms and the Occult Roots of Modern Art.” Quest 96.2 (March-April, 2008): 57-61.
• Alderton, Zoe. "Colour, Shape, and Music: The Presence of Thought Forms in Abstract Art," Literature & Aesthetics

21-1 (June 2011), 236. Available from Academia.edu.