68 - C.W. Leadbeater Part I: The Man Who Sold the World

Well, we're doing it. This week we're starting a monster of a series on a real piece of work named C.W. Leadbeater, who is, unfortunately, one of the absolute most influential and important people in Western occultism and spirituality. Leadbeater was a theosophist, and after Helena Blavatsky's death became the most important theosophists and a global superstar.  He invented aura reading, the color scheme for the chakras, turned the literary device of the "masters of ancient wisdom" into the superheroes that would become the "Ascended Masters". He completely upended Blavatsky's teachings, was one of the most manipulative, cold, and calculating spiritual gurus we have ever read about, and was, actually and for real, a child molester. But, being that it's theosophy we're talking about here, the saga of C.W. Leadbeater's life is also incredibly silly, larger than life, and more fun than it has any right to be. Enjoy.   BY POPULAR DEMAND WE NOW HAVE A PATREON   Sign up today and support the show for only $5 a month and get access to our bonus series “The Corkboard Bizarre” where we talk about ongoing research, discuss our personal feelings and beliefs around the subjects we cover, do weird experiments, and have a good time.   https://www.patreon.com/thenonsensebazaar