C.W. Leadbeater (1847 or 1854-1934), English clergyman and Theosophical author, contributed to world thought mostly through his work as a clairvoyant.
C.W. Leadbeater was an Anglican priest when he joined the Theosophical Society in 1883. The next year he met Helena Petrovna Blavatsky when she came to London.
At this time he was the recipient of a few Mahatma letters which influenced him to go to India. In India he claimed to have received visits and training from some of Blavatsky's Masters. See C.W. Leadbeater's "Account of the Development of His Clairvoyance.
This was the start of a long career in the Theosophical Society.
He remains well known and influential in his work through clairvoyance with for instance his books The Chakras and Man, Visible and Invisible, and writing on the function of the Sacraments in the Liberal Catholic Church, to name just a few subjects.
His most well-known activity was the discovery of Jiddu Krishnamurti, on a beach in India. Krishnamurti was to be the vessal for the indwelling of the coming "World Teacher" that many Theosophists were expecting. This new teacher would, in the pattern of Moses, Buddha, Zarathustra, Christ, and Muhammad divulge a new dispensation, a new religious teaching. Theosophists believed that the teacher was a spiritual being who would dwell in the body vessal.
Charles Leadbeater, stayed in India for some time overseeing the raising of Krishnamurti, but eventually felt that he was being called to go to Australia for the cause. While in Australia he became a leading member of the Liberal Catholic Church.
Leadbeater was accused of paedophilia but never charged or brought to court, though there is a body of evidence that suggests he sexually abused his students in the United States, India and later Australia. Peter Michel, in his biography of Charles W. Leadbeater, writes that these accusations may have been unfounded and came from what can be considered as his enemies like Alexander Fullerton, Burrows and Mead, Hubert van Hook, Katherine Tingley and Hilda Martyn. It is true however that (before 1906), he recommended the practice of masturbation as a prophylactic in certain cases to certain young boys. But these were ideas that Charles Leadbeater already had before he joined the Theosophical Society and still was a member of the Church. It has been speculated that a letter to a young boy attributed to Leadbeater, that was signed "Thousand kisses darling", was a forgery of Fullerton.
Leadbeater's clairvoyance was not without grave errors. In his book 'Inner Life' he claims that there is a population of humans on the planet Mars. And also that there is no difficulty of water in the equatorial lands. See Leadbeater's Observations on Mars. See also Criticisms of C.W. Leadbeater's Teachings.
Literature
- Caldwell, Daniel. Charles Webster Leadbeater: His Life, Writings & Theosophical Teachings.
- Peter Michel: Charles W. Leadbeater (German edition; no English translation available)
- Thomas, Margaret. Immorality in the Theosophical Society.
- Tillett, Gregory. The Elder Brother: A Biography of Charles Webster Leadbeater.
Works
- The Inner Side Of Christian Festivals (1920)
- The Science of the Sacraments (1920)
- Glimpses of Masonic History (1926)
- The Hidden Life in Freemasonry (1926)
- The Masters And The Path (1925)
- Man Visible And Invisible (1902)
- The Inner Life (1911)
For a more complete list of his works, see A Chronological Listing of C.W. Leadbeater's Books and Pamphlets.