Clara Codd

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Clara Codd

Clara Codd was an English Theosophist known for her work as a feminist, lecturer, teacher, and writer. She served as General Secretary of both the Australian and South African Sections of the Theosophical Society based in Adyar, Chennai, India. During a Theosophical career of nearly 70 years, she traveled to six continents. Her fascinating autobiography is rightfully called So Rich a Life.

Early life and education

Clara Codd as a young woman

Clara Margaret Codd was born October 10, 1876 at Barnstaple, Devon, England. She was the oldest of ten daughters. Her father, Henry L. Codd, was an Inspector of Schools for Cornwall and part of Devon, but had previously spent some years in a nautical career. His wife Clara V. Codd was a half-Italian beauty who with Henry was active in North Devon hunting society. The daughters were educated by a series of governesses. Clara was a shy and sensitive child and read extensively from her father's library; the works of Sir Walter Scott and Thomas Carlyle were especially meaningful to her. Mrs. Codd took her to plays and concerts, and Clara learned to sing and play the violin in a local orchestra. She became a proficient pianist and loved to accompany singers throughout her life.

Even as a child, Clara questioned the meaning of life and felt moved into a search for "something." Religious training in the family consisted of attending the local Church of England parish churches, and memorizing passages of scripture. After Clara read a spiritualist book called The Living Dead, she was relieved of her childhood fears of hell, and embraced the concept of life after death.

While Clara was still a young woman, her father died, and the mother moved the family to Geneva, Switzerland where they could live more cheaply. Clara took on work wherever she could find it to help support the family. She "spent all the days teaching English, playing accompaniments, teaching music, and, for a short time, posing for artists as a model, never in the 'all-together' but as a costume model." Geneva had a cosmopolitan atmosphere, and Clara met people of many nationalities and social strata. She became proficient in speaking French. It was there that the young women first became acquainted with Theosophy:

Her first contact with Theosophy came through an Austrian neighbour, Madame von Pachten, who attended many concerts, meetings and lectures and often took the young Clara with her. One day she asked Clara if she would like to 'hear the theosophists'. The four theosophical lodges in Geneva at that time met in private homes. The one to which Clara was taken was that of the Russian Consul, Count Prozor. The second time she attended the lodge, Clara described the atmosphere of excitement as Colonel Olcott, a Principal Founder of the TS was due to speak. Clara described the Colonel's lecture as chatty and informal, simple and unassuming. He told of his life with Madame Blavatsky and of the apparent marvels and miracles which took place in her presence. The highlight of the evening though, for Clara, was the Colonel's description of five Adepts whom he said he had personally known. Her life changed irrevocably from that moment on. She began to attend theosophical classes and subsequently joined the Theosophical Society.

Feminist activities

As a young woman, a strong sense for freedom and justice moved her to work for the enfranchisement of women. Despite a natural shyness, she spoke passionately for women’s rights from street platforms and in crowded halls, enduring heckling, physical abuse, and imprisonment.

Clara Codd

Joining the Theosophical Society

She joined the Theosophical Society at age 27, on December 16, 1903. In her autobiography, So Rich a Life, Clara states, "I had come home at last after long wandering. I had found the beginning of the way." Three years later in 1906 the young woman was appointed to be the first national lecturer for the English Section. She gave up an offer of a position as an organizer for the Women's Social and Political Union to work for Theosophy. She lectured every lodge in England.

Study in India

Birthday party at Olcott, October 10, 1947

Theosophical activities in the United States

In 1929, the young Miss Codd toured the United States, visiting thirteen Midwestern cities in two months. While in Iowa, she spoke on "Reincarnation" "to about 500 young people in a commercial school at Des Moines. These young people had formerly been addressed by Mr. Hoover [Herbert Hoover - later the U. S. president] ... and by Billy Sunday [a megastar evangelist]." During 1929 and 1930, while living at the headquarters of the American Section, she wrote several books that were published by Theosophical Press.

Involvement in Golden Link

Miss Codd was the International Chief Link in the Golden Chain of Love, a children's movement that came to be associated with the Theosophical Order of Service. Her sister Dorothy Mary Codd was Chief Link for Europe.

Years in South Africa

From February 2, 1938 to May 21, 1946, Miss Codd lived in the Union of South Africa, and became a citizen of that country. She served as National President (General Secretary) of the Section, and received a small pension after her term there. In January of 1945, her term ended, she wrote to Sidney Cook at the Theosophical Society in America:

Mr. Kruisheer is a splendid G.S. He is such a good organiser. I shall never be a Gen. Sec. agoin. I do not think that that is the best thing I can do. I am not an administrator. I just fill in a gap. For some time now I have had a pet idea. Tell me if you think it is feasible. I would like to go round the world once more before I pass over and say goodbye to all the dear people I love so well. This Xmas I have heard again from so many in the U.S.A...Could you have me for lecturing for a year? You need not give me any salary as now I am the proud possessor of a pension. And then I could go on to N.Z. and Australia and finally settle somewhere.
I would like to spend my last days in inspiring and teaching the Masters young workers somewhere.

Years in Australia

Clara Codd

John Coats and Clara Codd

Later years

The Fifth World Congress of the Theosophical Society, Adyar, in Salzburg, Austria, was the last public appearance of Miss Codd. According to Joy Mills,

"No one who attended that Congress at Salzburg will ever forget the lecture 'our beloved Clara' gave there; it was, she said, her 'farewell' lecture, but although she was in her 90th year, she spoke with all the vigor and dynamic vibrancy of the eternally young. The standing ovation that followed her talk was the spontaneous tribute of the members to the gallant soldier who never swerved from the vow she had taken, on entering the Society, to use every talent and capacity in the service of humanity.

Her final years were spent at Ways End, Camberley, near Tekels Park in England, supported by a small pension provided by the Theosophical Society Sections in the United States, Australia, South Africa, and England. She died peacefully on April 3, 1971. Her younger sisters Dorothy (Dolly), Isabel, and Leilah received many expressions of condolence and support from Theosophists around the world.

Letters

Miss Codd conducted a massive correspondence with people all over the world. She established a "correspondence group," whose members received a bi-monthly duplicated letter, from 1945 until 1968. Some examples of the letters are available in Clara Codd Letters.

Writings

Clara Codd made significant contributions to Theosophical literature. The Union Index of Theosophical Periodicals lists 466 articles by or about Clara Codd. That number includes dozens of articles that she wrote or edited for the News and Notes of the Theosophical Society in Australia during 1934-1936. She wrote a regular column called "The Inner Life" in the journals of the American Section: The Theosophical Messenger from 1930-1932, and The American Theosophist from 1932-1940.

Miss Codd enjoyed theater, and wrote some plays and skits for Theosophist audiences. For example, while at the Olcott campus of the American Section, her play "The Pilgrimage of the Soul" was presented on New Year's Eve. Viewers said,

The play ... portrayed in symbolic fashion and pageantry the descent of the ego into the lower worlds, his long journey and return. An improvised stage was set up at the fire-place end of the library. Members of the Staff made up the cast and were dressed in simple costumes. They read quotations chosen by Miss Codd to fit the action and mood of her play. And with interludes of piano music accompanying the movement of the play, at atmosphere perhaps something like that created during the presentation of the mystery plays in Greece stirred and was felt by all."

She also published many books and booklets, some of which are transcribed lectures:

• Ageless Wisdom of Life. Adyar, Madras, India, 1957 [2nd edition], available at Hathitrust. The 4th edition, published by the Theosophical Publishing House in Wheaton, IL in 1967, is available at Hathitrust. Translated into Russian by Dagmara Reinke and published as Taina Zhizni: i kak teosofiia otvechaet na nikh in Boston by ALBA, 1963. In 1959 a Finnish translation by Sirkka Simonen was published as Elämän ajaton viisaus by the Kalevala Lodge in Helsinki. Another Finnish version was translated by Eino Vuorinen.

• The Consecrated Life.
• The Creative Force. Also published in Dutch as De scheppende kracht: Amsterdam : Theosofische Vereniging, Ned. Afd, 1960.

• The Eternal Wisdom of Life. Also published in Spanish as La eternal sabiduria de la vida: México : B. Costa-Amic, 1968. Translated by Ingeniero Salvador Tayabas y Sonia Pérez Vera. Reissued México, México: Orion, 1981.

• Introduction to Patanjali's Yoga. Adyar, Madras, India: Theosophical Publishing House, 1966. 164 pages.

• The Key to Theosophy. Adyar, Madras, India: Theosophical Publishing House, 1953. 262 pages. This is the "1st simplified Adyar edition" by Clara Codd of the work by H. P. Blavatsky.

• On Lecturing and Lecture Organization. London: Theosophical Publishing House, 1922. 64 pages.

• Letter to Aspirants. A Spanish edition called Carta a los aspirantes was published in 2015.

• Looking Forward: The Coming faith and the Coming Social Order. Edinburgh: Orpheus Publishing House, 1918. 71 pages.

• Masters and Disciples: A Guide to Study. London, 1928.

• Meditation: Its Practice and Results. Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Press, 1930, and several later editions. 92 pages. Available at Hathitrust. A French edition was published as La méditation: sa pratique et ses buts - Paris: Adyar Editions 1931.

• The Mystery of Life and How Theosophy Solves It. London: Theosophical Society. Theosophical Society in England and Wales, 1963. Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1972. Revised edition London: Theosophical Publishing House, 2001. Slovenian translation by Maja Lorbek and Jelka Godec under the title Skrivnost zivljenja kot jo razkriva teozofija, published by Izola: Samozal M. L. Pigraf, 2002. Also published in Dutch as Het levensmysterie, number 7 in the series Theosofische bibliotheek; n.s., 7: Amsterdam : Theosofische Vereniging Ned. Afd, 1950.

• The Other Side of Death. London: Theosophical Society, 1900s. 16 pages. Theosophy series, no. 12. French version, L'Au-delà de la mort , was published in 1929 in Paris by Société théosophique de France.

• Poems. 1964. Poetry written by Clara Codd and her sister Dorothy Codd.

• Reincarnation: An Answer to Life's Problems. London: Theosophical Society, nd. 16 pages. Number 12 or 13 in Theosophy series of pamphlets.

• The Riddle of Life and How Theosophy Answers It. Johannesburg: Theosophical Service Group, 1940. 28 pages. Notation of "S Pam 212."

• The Secret of Sin and Suffering. Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Press, 1931. 15 pages.

• So Rich a Life. Pretoria: Institute for Theosophical Publicity, 1951. 431 pages. Autobiography.

• Technique of the Spiritual Life. Adyar, India: Theosophical Publishing House, 1958. 2nd edition, 1963. Translated into Finnish by Pirkko Carpelan as Ohjeita henkisen tien kulkijalle: [Hki] : Elonpyörä, (Painoseppä), 1977. 125 pages. Spanish translation by Walter Ballesteros was published in 1963 by Sociedad Teosófica as Técnica de la vida espiritual.

• The Theosophical Worker. Two articles from the August and September issues of The Theosophist were translated into Dutch and published as De theosofische werker in 1958. "The Worker in the World" by Clara Codd was followed by Hugh Shearman's "The Task of the Worker."

• Theosophy and Christianity. London : Theosophical Society, nd. 16 pages. Number 23 in series of "Penny booklets."

• Theosophy as the Masters See It: Being an account of the Theosophical Society and its work as outlined in the "Letters from the masters of the wisdom." Adyar, Madras, India: Theosophical Publishing House, 1953. 369 pages.

• Theosophy for Little Children. Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Press, 1930. 45 pages.

• Theosophy for Very Little Children. Adyar, Madras, India: Theosophical Publishing House, 1916. Also published in Dutch: Amsterdam: Theosofische Vereenigings Uitgevers-Maatschappij, 1925.

• There Is No Death: A Message of Comfort. Auckland, N.Z.: New Zealand Section of the Theosophical Society, 1959. 22 pages.

• Thought, the Creator. London: Theosophical Society, 1927. 16 pages. Theosophy series, number 13.

• Trust Yourself to Life. Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1968 and 1975. 116 pages. A Quest Books miniature.

• The Understanding Life: Three Lectures. Wheaton, Illinois: Theosophical Press, 1929. Ojai, CA : Theosophical Book Association for the Blind, 1969. Braille. Three lectures.

• The Way of the Disciple. 2nd edition. Chennai, India: Theosophical Publishing House, 1964 and 2000. 287 pages. Contents: 1. The brotherhood of the perfected men -- 2. Discipleship -- 3. The restoration of the mysteries. Also published in Dutch as Het pad van de leerling - Amsterdam : Theosofische Vereniging, 1970.

Lectures

Miss Codd did not feel she was a trained lecturer. She wrote, "I do not think I lecture. I just talk. Of course I have realized that there some moments when one is talking when the sublimity of the subject lifts one up." Audiences responded to her humanity and her inspiration, and she was much in demand across five continents.

"She just chatted away as if we were all sitting around the fireside. No other speaker I know of has ever achieved such intimacy and closeness with those who listened to her. Each felt as it receiving a very personal message. She always stood on the platform a very slim and erect figure in a long black dress.

She would speak with a few note cards in her card, but rarely referred to them. Many of Clara Codd's lectures were recorded or transcribed.

Audio recordings

• Arcane Schools of Past and Future by Clara Codd
• Life on the Other Side of Death by Clara Codd
• Wings of the Soul by Clara Codd

Additional recordings are available through the Henry S. Olcott Memorial Library and Quest Books.

Transcribed or published lectures

Many of Miss Codd's lectures were published as booklets, or collected in books like The Understanding Life.

• Annie Besant and C. W. Leadbeater, As I Knew Them
• Discipleship in the New Age
• The New World Order
• Our Leaders As I Knew Them
• Saintship in the Theosophical Society
• The Way of Initiation

Additional resources

• Clara Codd: A Personal Recollection by John Algeo
• A Tribute to Clara Codd by Leatrice Kreeger