There is no objection to teaching about Theosophy in an Archaeology college class. This will explain why archaeologists and paleontologists, or biologists would even do so, by explaining the views on evolution and human origins in the nineteenth-century Theosophical literature, where it all began. However, the idea Heinrich Himmler was inspired by Theosophy is highly misleading.

Popular myths and legends of antiquity were not based always purely on inventive fiction, and have demonstrated to be based on history. In the writings of Theosophist, Helena P. Blavatsky, however, are assertions made, rather than mere beliefs, in an evolutionary tale of human origins, that contradicts Darwinian evolution. Blavatsky is of course aware of this, when she states in The Secret Doctrine, that the partial truth is, many of the secondary laws of the Darwinian evolution theory are unquestionable. She argues, there is design and designers, but these designers are not omnipresent, or omniscient, nor is it the God of Theology. It is further claimed, that secret fraternities possess lost manuscripts, and physical evidences of antiquity about human origins.

“The keys to the Biblical miracles of old, and to the phenomena of modern days; the problems of psychology, physiology, and the many “missing links” which have so perplexed scientists, are all in the hands of secret fraternities.” (Helena P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, Vol. 1., pp. 558-59)

But how, anyone would ask.

“There are, scattered throughout the world, a handful of thoughtful and solitary students, who pass their lives in obscurity, far from the rumors of the world, studying the great problem of the physical and spiritual universes. They have their secret records in which are preserved the fruits of the scholastic labors of the long line of recluses whose successors they are. The knowledge of their early ancestors, the sages of India, Babylonia, Nineveh, and the imperial Thebes; the legends and traditions commented upon by the masters of Solon, Pythagoras, and Plato, in the marble halls of Heliopolis and Sais; traditions which, in their days, already seemed to hardly glimmer from behind the foggy curtains of the past; — all this, and much more, is recorded on indestructible parchment, and passed with jealous care from one adept to another. We must bear in mind that authentic treatises upon ancient magic of the Chaldean and Egyptian lore are not scattered about in public libraries, and at auction sales. That such exist is nevertheless a fact.” (Helena P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, Vol. 1, pp. 557-558)

Archaeologists have tried this decade the most to do away with Blavatsky’s ideas, in helping young archaeologists learn about pseudoarchaeology and pseudo-history. We will explain these ideas on evolution in the Theosophical writings.

Evolution and Emanationist Theory in Theosophy

In the Theosophical system nature evolves along three lines of evolution, and not just the physical. It is a story of evolution and cyclical time — the journey of Man, the Cosmos, and Anu.

Blavatsky’s Alternative Theory of Human Origins in Theosophy

In the Biological Evolution theory of Darwin, to account for mutations in organisms, humans did not evolve from monkeys; and although humans are more closely related to modern apes than to monkeys, humans didn’t evolve from apes either. The position in the Theory of Blavatskian Emanation has a concept of Evolution and Involution, and refers to a process not only biological, but cosmic development. Evolution is seen as a process in nature arising from an innate impulse in all things in nature to unfold their potential, and this includes the idea that this potential is man is not rooted, or limited in the animal. Its proponents hold, that man was not descended from anthropoids, but that the common ancestor of humanity is of a celestial origin; and neither is man (a) the result directly from the anthropoid, or (b) directly a creation of God as in the Biblical creation account. Blavatsky writes that “there are centres of creative power for every ROOT or parent species of the host of forms of vegetable and animal life. . . . In the creation of new species, departing sometimes very widely from the Parent stock, as in the great variety of the genus Felis — like the lynx, the tiger, the cat, etc. — it is the “designers” who direct the new evolution by adding to, or depriving the species of certain appendages, either needed or becoming useless in the new environments” (The Secret Doctrine, Vol. 2:732). The apes, The Secret Doctrine argues, descended from an early root race. The earlier types of the Root-races were not like us in form, but contained our germs or seeds.

So, it is said, that we descended from pre-physical humans, and them, from primitive, or advanced intelligences consequently themselves of divine origin. Gods, born from the celestial abode, reign on earth after merging in nascent man and emerging as the first Dynasties, Kings and Rulers, teaching mankind sciences, &c. Man, the Book of Dzyan commentaries tell us, in their nascent genealogy were beings without solid bones or flesh, the shadow-doubles (“chayyas”) of pre-human beings, or gods of a double nature (an astral body within an ethereal one). So, they held that the composition of their germs were that of an ethereal and astral type. Moreover, these ancestors were “lunar Beings.” The first human stock, it teaches, were projected by higher and semi-divine beings out of their own essences, and although they are called human, the human-type such as ours evolves much later.

Blavatsky’s claims and commentary on the book upon which her magnum opus is based, holds that Man preceded the mammalia of this Round, or geological epoch. Man began as an astral being, descendant from lunar deities, who are, it calls our real ancestors. H.P.B. goes so much as to remind us in her Collected Writings on Reasons for Secrecy, that it was a forbidden secret of the initiates, regarding the knowledge that lunar beings inhabited the moon hiding in dark valleys. Therefore, it is natural, that skeptics and scientists of astronomy react with repudiation.

Questionable Occult Phenomena

Occult phenomena in the Theosophical Society History have been contested in the past by skeptics, and these cases have included:

The Cup and Saucer; Astral Bell Ringing; The “doubling” Ring; Olcott’s crystal he claimed to see visions in that was just glass; Olcott’s Cures in Ceylon by Mesmerized Water and Hand-Passing; Magnetism passed through objects like cigarettes; Table-Rapping; Raining inside rooms; Letters falling from thin-air and hidden cupboards and floor openings, &c.

The result is that skeptics found it underwhelming, or explainable by hoax or by some mechanism of trickery. It isn’t what they found, so much as to what they just concluded, because it could be explainable by other means, rather than through spiritualist, or complex occult theory. Just take this into consideration.

A glimpse into the logic of the claims put forth as lost history:

“It is a tradition among Occultists in general, and taught as an historical fact in Occult philosophy, that what is now Ireland was once upon a time the abode of the Atlanteans, emigrants from the submerged island mentioned by Plato. Of all the British Isles, Ireland is the most ancient by several thousands of years. Inferences and “working hypotheses” are left to the Ethnologists, Anthropologists and Geologists. The Masters and keepers of the old science claim to have preserved genuine records, and we Theosophists — i.e., most of us, believe it implicitly. Official Science may deny, but what does it matter? Has not Science begun by denying almost everything it accepts now?” (Helena P. Blavatsky, Miscellaneous Notes, Collected Writings, Vol. 11, pg. 304)

Evidently, the tone is always in her writings — “this is a fact.”

Questionable Archaeology

Archaeologists have critiqued Theosophical theories, because H.P.B. and her confederates believed in lost and submerged continent theories, which are now replaced by the theory of plate tectonics.

The assertions made in the The Secret Doctrine and Mahatma Papers:

Land-masses under the name of Lemuria (sunk under the waves by ancient disasters — earthquakes and subterranean fires); The continent of Atlantis was said to have been later broken into seven peninsulas or islands of the Atlantic Ocean (the Atlantic Ridge being a remnant of this continent); and Pre-human origins and lost civilizations of remote ages, which includes the existence of lost races of giants.

So, lets cover the last one, on lost races of giants thoroughly.

Giants

There have long existed myths, folklore, and archaeological digs and hoaxes surrounding the tales of giants. In India and amongst the Celts, Welsh, Greeks, Norse, Persians, and Jewish lore, there are legends of prehistoric races of giants, or the gigantic stature of humans. The main issue we take with the reason why people want to prove the existence of giants, is that they only want to view it from the Biblical viewpoint, concerning “fallen nephilim” and rephaim who were said to mate with humans. So, from this, the conspiracy derives about bloodlines, hollow earth theorists, etc. Just as stated, there are different myths and legends about the giants, and there is no reason to prioritize the Jewish account over the others myths.

The lore of giants remains apart of fringe history, due to the credulity of many of us, and those doubting it are ignored. It is considered, because of the serious claim made of it, by several classical renowned men, including K.H. and M. in the Mahatma Papers. No contemporary Theosophist ever seems to doubt it, or consider, that maybe these men were just convinced by the fantasy of the mythical lore, but this would discount the fact, that they say, they have or seen evidences of their existence. This is never satisfactory to people, who in suffering reputably the perception of being a crackpot by the larger scientific community or their peers.

Unfortunately, as stated, there are too many hoaxes that have already been uncovered, but remain passed around by “fringe historians” — that categorical designation of Hel, because of the coldness of scientists to such persons. For example, the Grand Canyon myth about a Tibetan-style underground civilization in the Arizona Gazette (April, 1909) is a hoax. The characters in the story never existed, and there is no evidence whatsoever that the cave in question ever existed.

Lost Races of Giants

The Secret Doctrine (1888) asserted things, even present-day students may think are absurdities, or unbelievable. Vincente Hao Chin in the Theosophical Encyclopedia, explains Blavatsky’s views, that ancient peoples and legends retain some fact of an ancient record of giants —

“Helena P. BLAVATSKY, in her The Secret Doctrine, affirms the factual existence of giants in history. She adduces several reasons for considering such an allegation:

a. Existence of fossil bones of giants. Blavatsky cites that while the science of her time still did not validate the existence of bones of giants, she mentions various reports of such fossils, even among well-known personages such as Tertullian, Philostratus, Pliny, Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, Homer, Plutarch, etc., some of whom saw the bones themselves.

b. Traditions and legends — Blavatsky regards the myths and legends of various cultures as not entirely fictitious but based on facts. Examples are the Danavas and Daityas of the Hindus; the Rakshasas of Ceylon; the Titans and Cyclops of the Greeks; and the Emims, Og, and Anakim of the Jews.

c. Relics of civilizations — there exists today colossal statues in the Easter Islands and Afghanistan (the Bamian statues) whom Blavatsky said were the relics of the giants before. She stated that the Bamian statues, the tallest of which is 173 feet high, and which were destroyed in 2001 by the fundamentalist Taliban government, depicted the sizes of human beings in the different root races. The stones of Stonehenge, Carnac and West Hoadley were also mentioned as evidences that those who arranged them were themselves huge to be able to move stones as heavy as 500 tons.

d. Biological reversion — Blavatsky takes the existence of extremely tall people today as examples of biological reversion to earlier types. She quotes Darwin who wrote that when different types of animals are cross-bred, they “always betray a tendency to revert to the original type” (SD II:277).

e. Esoteric teachings — using her own sources, Blavatsky states that esoteric teachings affirm that the earlier root races of humans were of such heights that we would consider them as giants, particularly the Atlanteans. The reported skeletons in the mounds of America that measures up to 11 feet high, are, if true, those of the early 5th root race humanity. The Easter Island statues belong to the 4th root race. Humanity, she says, will eventually revert back to its gigantic stature in accordance with the law of cycles (CW XIII:134).

Giants Buried and Bones Pulverized under the Ocean

“And if the skeletons of the prehistoric ages have failed so far (which is positively denied) to prove undeniably in the opinion of science the claim here advanced, it is but a question of time. Moreover, as already stated, human stature is little changed since the last racial cycle. The Giants of old are all buried under the Oceans, and hundreds of thousands of years of constant friction by water would reduce to dust and pulverize a brazen, far more a human skeleton. But whence the testimony of well-known classical writers, of philosophers and men who, otherwise, never had the reputation for lying?” (The Secret Doctrine. 1888. Vol. 2., pg. 277)

Hidden Caves Full of the Skeletons of Giants

“And, as the very existence of those gigantic ancestors of ours is now questioned — though in the Himavats, on the very territory belonging to you we have a cave full of the skeletons of these giants — and their huge frames when found are invariably regarded as isolated freaks of nature (…)” (K.H., The Mahatma Letters, no. 1., October 15th, 1880.)

Bamian Statues are not Giant Buddhas

“It is at the entrance of some of these [viharas in Bamian] that five enormous statues, of what is regarded as Buddha, have been discovered or rather rediscovered in our century, as the famous Chinese traveller, Hiouen-Thsang, speaks of, and saw them, when he visited Bamian in the VIIth century (…) The Buddhist Arhats and Ascetics found the five statues, and many more, now crumbled down to dust (…) The largest is made to represent the First Race of mankind, its ethereal body being commemorated in hard, everlasting stone, for the instruction of future generations, as its remembrance would otherwise never have survived the Atlantean Deluge. The second — 120 feet high — represents the sweat-born; and the third — measuring 60 feet — immortalizes the race that fell, and thereby inaugurated the first physical race, born of father and mother, the last descendants of which are represented in the Statues found on Easter Isle; but they were only from 20 to 25 feet in stature at the epoch when Lemuria was submerged, after it had been nearly destroyed by volcanic fires. The Fourth Race was still smaller, though gigantic in comparison with our present Fifth Race, and the series culminated finally in the latter (…) These are, then, the ‘Giants’ of antiquity, the ante- and post-diluvian Gibborim of the Bible. They lived and flourished one million rather than between three and four thousand years ago.” (The Secret Doctrine. 1888. Vol. 2, pg. 338-340)

Classical Naturalist Philosophers believed in Races of Giants

“(…) we may turn to the scientific journals of 1858, which spoke of a sarcophagus of giants found that year on the site of that same city. As to the ancient pagan writers — we have the evidence of Philostratus, who speaks of a giant skeleton twenty-two cubits long, as well as of another of twelve cubits (…) nevertheless, it was that of a giant, as well as that other one discovered by Messecrates of Stire, at Lemnos — ‘horrible to behold,’ according to Philostratus.

Is it possible that prejudice would carry Science so far as to class all these men as either fools or liars?

Pliny speaks of a giant in whom he thought he recognised Orion, the son of Ephialtes (Nat. Hist., vol. VII., ch. xvi.). Plutarch declares that Sertorius saw the tomb of Antaeus, the giant; and Pausanias vouches for the actual existence of the tombs of Asterius and of Geryon, or Hillus, son of Hercules — all giants, Titans and mighty men.” (The Secret Doctrine. 1888. Vol. 2, pg.)

“(…) the Abbe Pegues (cited in de Mirville’s Pneumatologie) affirms in his curious work on ‘The Volcanoes of Greece’ that ‘in the neighbourhood of the volcanoes of the isle of Thera, giants with enormous skulls were found laid out under colossal stones(…).’” (The Secret Doctrine. 1888. Vol. 2, pg. 278)

“Certain excavations in America in mounds and in caves, have already yielded in isolated cases groups of skeletons of nine and twelve feet high. These belong to tribes of the early Fifth Race, now degenerated to an average size of between five and six feet. But we can easily believe that the Titans and Cyclopes of old really belonged to the Fourth (Atlantean) Race, and that all the subsequent legends and allegories found in the Hindu Puranas and the Greek Hesiod and Homer, were based on the hazy reminiscences of real Titans — men of a superhuman tremendous physical power(…).” (The Secret Doctrine. 1888. Vol. 2, pg. 293)

Cyclopean Sites are not Druidical

“(…) these gigantic monuments are all symbolic records of the World’s history. They are not Druidical, but universal. Nor did the Druids build them, for they were only the heirs to the cyclopean lore left to them by generations of mighty builders (…) both good and bad.” (The Secret Doctrine. 1888. Vol. 2, pg. 754.)

“(…) the rocking stones of Ireland, or those of Brinham, in Yorkshire (…) them are evidently the relics of the Atlanteans (…)” (The Secret Doctrine. 1888. Vol. 2, pg. 347)

“(…) had there been no giants to move about such colossal rocks [as in a Stonehenge], there could never have been a Stonehenge (…) Who then, if not giants, could ever raise such masses (especially those at Carnac and West Hoadley), range them in such symmetrical order that they should represent the planisphere, and place them in such wonderful equipoise that they seem to hardly touch the ground, are set in motion at the slightest touch of the finger, and would yet resist the efforts of twenty men who should attempt to displace them. We say, that most of these stones are the relics of the last Atlanteans.” (The Secret Doctrine. 1888. Vol. 2, pg. 341-343)

Easter Island Relics of Ancient Human Groups

“Easter Island was (…) taken possession of (…) by some Atlanteans; who, having escaped from the cataclysm which befell their own land, settled on that remnant of Lemuria only to perish thereon, when destroyed in one day by its volcanic fires and lava.” (The Secret Doctrine. 1888. Vol. 2, pg. 326)

“The Easter Island relics are, for instance, the most astounding and eloquent memorials of the primeval giants. They are as grand as they are mysterious; and one has but to examine the heads of the colossal statues, that have remained unbroken on that island, to recognize in them at a glance the features of the type and character attributed to the Fourth Race giants.” (The Secret Doctrine. 1888. Vol 2. pg. 224)

“(…) most of the gigantic statues discovered on Easter Island, a portion of an undeniably submerged continent — as also those found on the outskirts of Gobi, a region which had been submerged for untold ages — are all between 20 and 30 feet high. The statues found by Cook on Easter Island measured almost all twenty-seven feet in height, and eight feet across the shoulders.” (The Secret Doctrine. 1888. Vol. 2., pg. 331)

“The Easter Isles in ‘mid Pacific’ present the feature of the remaining peaks of the mountains of a submerged continent, for the reason that these peaks are thickly studded with Cyclopean statues, remnants of the civilization of a dense and cultivated people, who must have of necessity occupied a widely extended area.” (The Secret Doctrine. 1888. Vol. 2., pg. 322)

“‘Even at the date of Cook’s visit, some of the [Easter Island] statues, measuring 27 feet in height and eight across the shoulders were lying overthrown, while others still standing appeared much larger. One of the latter was so lofty that the shade was sufficient to shelter a party of thirty persons from the heat of the sun. The platforms on which these colossal images stood averaged from thirty to forty feet in length, twelve to sixteen broad (…) all built of hewn stone in the Cyclopean style, very much like the walls of the Temple of Pachacamac, or the ruins of Tia-Huanuco in Peru…. THERE IS NO REASON TO BELIEVE THAT ANY OF THE STATUES HAVE BEEN BUILT UP, BIT BY BIT, BY SCAFFOLDING ERECTED AROUND THEM’ — adds the journal very suggestively — without explaining how they could be built otherwise, unless made by giants of the same size as the statues themselves.” (The Secret Doctrine. 1888. Vol. 2., pg. 337)

Jewish and Christian Lore on Giants

In the Book of Numbers 13:1 and 17 of the Jewish Torah, Adonai sends the tribes of Israel to go settle in Canaan, and ordering Moses to find it, the god says to Moses, to search the land, and this land is declared that of the “children of Israel.” Moses spied, and found they found the land abundant and rich, great walls, and a strong tribe, descendant of Anak, a giant (see Numbers 13:25-28; 30-32). After searching or scouting the land, they remark of the giants, or sons of Anak, that “we were in our sight as grasshoppers; and so we were in their sight.”

Biblical names associated with giant lore:

Amalekites

Amorites

Anakims

Ashdothites

Aviums

Avites

Caphtorims

Ekronites

Emins

Eshkalonites

Gazathites

Geshurites

Gibeonites

Giblites

Girgashites

Gittites

Hittites

Hivites

Horims

Horites

Jebusites

Kadmonites

Kenites

Kenizzites

Maachathites

Manassites

Nephilim

Perizzites

Philistines

Rephaims

Sidonians

Zamzummins (or Zuzim)

Zebusites

Many giant versions of creatures today existed:

spiders (e.g., the bird-eating spider, up to 12-inch leg span)

moths (e.g., the Atlas moth, with a wing span of 11 inches)

centipedes (up to 13 inches long)

snails (e.g., the African giant snail, up to 15½ inches long)

frogs (e.g. Beelzebufo, 16 inches high)

dragonflies (e.g., Meganeura, with a wing span of more than 2½ feet)

rats (e.g., Josephoartigasia, with a conservatively estimated body mass of 750 pounds)

beavers (e.g., Trogontherium, about 7½ feet long)

scorpions (e.g., the sea scorpion Jaekelopterus, estimated at more than 8 feet long)

crabs (e.g., the giant spider crab, with a claw span more than 12 feet)

armadillos (e.g., Glyptodon, up to 13 feet long)

turtles (e.g., Archelon, up to 16 feet long)

fish (e.g., Xiphactinus, 19 feet long)

sloths (e.g., Megatherium, which stood about 20 feet)

worms (e.g., the giant earthworm, up to 22 feet long)

sea cows (e.g., Hydrodamalis, 25 feet or more in length)

crocodiles (e.g., Sarcosuchus, up to 40 feet long)

snakes (e.g., Titanoboa, over 42 feet long)

crustaceans (e.g., supergiant amphipods 10 times larger than those previously discovered)

squid (e.g., Mesonychoteuthis, 50 feet or more in length)

sharks (e.g., Rhincodon, up to 65 feet long)

octopuses with 100 foot long tentacles.

Blavatsky asked in The Secret Doctrine — “why not humans?”

Giants drowned with Atlantis

“It is not, however, by the dead-letter of the Hebrew Bible that we shall check the tenets of the Secret Doctrine; but point out, rather, the great similarities between the two in their esoteric meaning. It is only after his defection from the Neo-Platonists, that Clement of Alexandria began to translate gigantes by serpentes, explaining that “Serpents and Giants signify Demons.” (Genesis, chapter v.) We may be told that, before we draw parallels between our tenets and those of the Bible, we have to show better evidence of the existence of the giants of the Fourth Race than the reference to them found in Genesis. We answer, that the proofs we give are more satisfactory, at any rate they belong to a more literary and scientific evidence, than those of Noah’s Deluge will ever be. Even the historical works of China are full of such reminiscences about the Fourth Race.” (The Secret Doctrine. 1888. Vol. 2., pg. 280)

“That no gigantic skeletons have been hitherto found in the “tombs” is yet no reason to say there never were the remains of giants in them. Cremation was universal till a comparatively recent period — some 80, or 100,000 years ago. The real giants, moreover, were nearly all drowned with Atlantis. Nevertheless, the classics, as shown elsewhere, often speak of giant skeletons still excavated in their day.” (ibid.)

Pre-Historical Races of Giants believed in by Ancient World

“If we turn to the New World, we have traditions of a race of giants at Tarija on the eastern slopes of the Andes and in Ecuador, who combated gods and men. These old beliefs, which term certain localities (…) “the fields of giants,” are always concomitant with the existence of pliocene mammalia and the occurrence of pliocene raised beaches. “All the giants are not under Mount Ossa,” and it would be poor anthropology indeed that would restrict the traditions of giants to Greek and Bible mythologies. Slavonian countries, Russia especially, teem with legends about the bogaterey (mighty giants) of old; and their folklore, most of which has served for the foundation of national histories, their oldest songs, and their most archaic traditions, speak of the giants of old. Thus we may safely reject the modern theory that would make of the Titans mere symbols standing for cosmic forces. They were real living men, whether twenty or only twelve feet high. Even the Homeric heroes, who, of course, belonged to a far more recent period in the history of the races, appear to have wielded weapons of a size and weight beyond the strength of the strongest men of modern times.” (The Secret Doctrine. 1888. Vol. 2., pg. 754-55)

“That which is known and accepted is, that several races of gigantic men have existed and left distinct traces. In the journal of the Anthropological Institute (Vol. 1871, art. by Dr. C. Carter Blake) such a race is shown as having existed at Palmyra and possibly in Midian, exhibiting cranial forms quite different from those of the Jews. It is not improbable that another such race existed in Samaria, and that the mysterious people who built the stone circles in Galilee, hewed neolithic flints in the Jordan valley and preserved an ancient Semitic language quite distinct from the square Hebrew character — was of a very large stature. The English translations of the Bible can never be relied upon, even in their modern revised forms. They tell us of the Nephilim translating the word by “giants,” and further adding that they were “hairy” men, probably the large and powerful prototypes of the later satyrs so eloquently described by the patristic fancy; some of the Church Fathers assuring their admirers and followers that they had themselves seen these “Satyrs” — some alive, others pickled and preserved. The word “giants” being once adopted as a synonym of Nephilim, the commentators have since identified them with the sons of Anak. The filibusters who seized on the Promised Land, found a pre-existing population far exceeding their own in stature, and called it a race of giants. But the races of really gigantic men had disappeared ages before the birth of Moses. This tall people existed in Canaan, and even in Bashan, and may have had representatives in the Nabatheans of Midian. They were of far greater stature than the undersized Jews. Four thousand years ago their cranial conformation and large stature separated them from the children of Heber. Forty thousand years ago their ancestors may have been of still more gigantic size, and four hundred thousand years earlier they must have been in proportion to men in our days as the Brobdingnagians were to the Lilliputians.” (The Secret Doctrine. 1888. Vol. 2., pg. 755-56)

Unexplained Mysteries

Geological Time-Scale of the Giant Atlanteans

Helena Blavatsky proposed the idea in The Secret Doctrine, that the root-races lived as far back as the Eocene period, and Olcott in Esoteric Buddhism stated, that the main continent of Atlantis submerged, and began in the Miocene period. At the time of the 1880’s, the Miocene period according to science was proposed to be 850,000 years, and H.P.B. proposed that the age of the Miocene period was millions of years ago, since the main continent of Atlantis perished. There existed giant Atlanteans, who perished 850,000 years ago, and their last remnant died out 11,000 years ago, she adds. The continent submergence coincided with the elevation of the Alps, and remnant pieces broken into islands sunk far into the ocean.

The Atlanteans come after the Lemurians who come first, and 700,000 years elapsed between the sinking of Lemuria (Third Epoch) and the beginnings of the Atlanteans (Fourth Epoch). What happened to Lemuria, K.H. stated, will be the fate of the British Islands and then following France, &c. When these lands reappear in the last seventh sub-race of the seventh Root race of this present humanity’s Epoch (the Fifth Root race or epoch), the lands of Lemuria and Atlantis will reappear, and very few seas will exist, with the reappearance and disappearance of land-mass.

This is all in accordance to an idea of land-mass shifting across great time and during the geological disturbances of the axis.

The earliest Paleolithic men, it is further stated, were of both Atlantean and mixed African and Atlantean stock. The Fifth root race, i.e., most of humanity today, referred to by the title of Aryan, are mostly descended from a common root ancestry, while the Dayak of Borneo, the Australoid and Capoid races are descended from Lemuro-Atlantean bloodlines. H.P.B. claims that the Lemurian epoch ended by the time of the early Eocene period, and their relics live on in some of those aborigines of the islands and continent of Australia. Scientifically, it is known that the Earth’s conditions 40 million years ago were not suitable for any human civilisation to have existed. Blavatsky gives dates that are approximations of the geological ages, and then says however, that ‘not one of the exact numbers will ever be given out, as they pertain to the Mysteries of Initiations and to the Secrets of the occult influence of Numbers’ (Helena P. Blavatsky, Collected Writings, Vol. 13, pg. 306). Science has dated the Age of the Earth (Terra) to be over 4 BY. H.P.B. has stated based on Vedic astronomy — about 2 BY.

Archaeologists teaching College Students about Pseudoarchaeology however falsely claim Theosophy influenced Heinrich Himmler and the National Socialists

Archaeologists, and other scientists, for the most part consider Theosophy as only worthy of space in their topics under pseudo-science and pseudo-archaeology catergory. There are good reasons they give, and bad inaccurate reasons they give, that create further confusion. What we want is the accurate criticism. So, one must say, criticism of the Theosophists is warranted, but when we observe the critiques and cons, it can be often dishonest and inaccurate, by asserting things about Theosophy, that are not true; rather than just elaborating on what ideas held by the Modern Theosophists are pseudo-archaeological.

Take this for clear example:

“As we learned in class, the motivations for pseudoarchaeology are clear: money, fame, nationalism, religion, and romanticizing the past. We as humans prefer to have a sort of security and affirmation that we are not crazy. When certain benefits come into play, people learn to capitalize their beliefs in the most imaginative ways.

The mixture of danger and imagination plays a tragic story for the history of Theosophy. Theosophy as a belief system was actually created as a countermeasure for the popular religions of the time. In doing so, the founders of Theosophy ended up forming a new belief system which was quick to gain many followers. In separating humanity into seven root races, Theosophists formed a new explanation for racism and differential treatment based on looks. Their blatant claim that Aryans were evolved from Atlantians put the fifth race on a high pedestal of sophistication. Heinrich Himmler, as we learned in class, firmly believed in Theosophy and used the seven root races idea to help mastermind the most infamous Holocaust in History. [***all of this is false]

The founders of Theosophy had no scientific evidence to support their beliefs. They had simply taken their main principles from the other religions which they had deemed as untrue and wrong. In summation, the founders of Theosophy allowed their imaginations to cross into reality, forming a new belief system which was used and capitalized on, as an excuse for the mass murder of a certain “inferior race.” This is when the imagination can run too far and have too much freedom.” (Anthropology Class on The Dangers of Pseudoarchaeology)

“One such idea is Theosophy. Theosophists believe that no one religion is correct but rather you must combine all the ideas of religions in order to learn the Truth. (…) However, when you look deeper into this religion you see their beliefs are absurd and contain minimal historical evidence to back up their beliefs. They believe current humans have evolved from the fifth root civilization, from Atlantis. There is no archaeological evidence that leads us to believe that there ever was a continent of Atlantis. Despite the evidence backing up their beliefs there were still many people willing to follow this religions teachings. One such individual is Heinrich Himmler from the Nazi party. Himmler used his religion to justify his killing of people during the holocaust.” (Theosophy and the Nazis)

Theosophists did not form a new explanation for racism and differential treatment. This is false. H.P.B.† perpetually mocks the idea of categorizing peoples as superior and inferior. K.H. and M. mock the superiority-complex of the English, especially since these men are handing their philosophy in partial bits to English persons who consider them “niggers” and inferior. Many other brothers, they noted, did not want to help the “Pelings” (Tib. phyi-gling, foreigner). Lastly, the early Theosophist proponents rejected the idea that all religions are correct, or the same in that simplistic way it is understood today. Theosophists, in my view, seem to have fallen into the same bad habits of logic that plague the creationists and religious. Scientists and Skeptics have taken great note of these habits and argumentation. One could say, that a “contemporary Theosophist” is nothing like Hypatia, or a modern scientist, unless that person is a scientist, or actually engaged in scientific data research, and empirical studies. The attempt made by Annie Besant and C.W. Leadbeater in their science circle, that led to the publishing of Occult Chemistry was some effort to alleviate this issue.

Nevertheless,

“(…) there is a silly arrogance in continuing to disdain something and to condemn it as false just because it seems unlikely to us. That is a common vice among those who think their capacities are above the ordinary.” (trans. by M.A. Screech; Michael de Montaigne, Essays: A Selection, I:27., pg. 74., Penguin Classics, 1993.)