Beliefs & practices

Theosophical doctrine, as set out in Blavatsky’s major works, includes the existence of a single unknowable absolute, a sequence of involutionary and evolutionary cycles, the periodic appearance of root races, and the existence of advanced human teachers (the Mahatmas or Masters) directing the spiritual progress of humanity. Karma and reincarnation, framed in distinctively Theosophical terms, are central.

The Society itself does not require adherence to any specific doctrine; the only formal commitment is to the first object, universal brotherhood. In practice, however, the body of writing produced by Blavatsky and her successors functions as a working canon for most members.