BLAVATSKY, H. P.

Subsequently to the publication of the brief article on page 138 Bro. Joseph H. Fussell, secretary of the Theosophieal Society at Point Loma, Calif., contributed to The New Age of January, 1915, page 29, an article which clears up once and for all any questions as to claims made for the founder of the Theosophical Society of having been a Mason. She received from John Yarker, unsolicited, a certificate making her a member of the so-called Ancient and Primitive Rite of Masonry (not connected with Free and Accepted Masonry) but, as she clearly stated, made no claim to any membership in any regular Lodge. The “Masonry of the Orient,” to which she referred in a published letter, and which appears to refer to some form of self-styled Freemasonry indigenous to India, is one of many questions for Craft historians to clear up. The wide-ranging and indefatigable Yarker is another subject in the same category ; for while he was a regular and loyal Mason, a contributor to Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, and guilty of no clandestinism, his writings have left a trail of confusion behind them because of his penchant for identifying Freemasonry with any form of occultism, symbolism, or esotericism which resembled it. The Theosophical movement has never in any of its sects or branches been recognized by or identified with any regular Masonic Body.