Early Years of the Toronto Theosophy Society with Dr. Gillian McCann

Early Years of the Toronto Theosophy Society with dr. Gillian McCann

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Early Years of the Toronto Theosophy Society: Context, Founding & Mission

In partnership with Toronto Open Heart School, Toronto Theosophical Society (TTS) would like to extend an invitation for our Lecture Hall Series on Sunday June 7th at 7.30 pm). The lecture will take place by Zoom streaming and at TTS location (792 Glencairn Ave, North York – steps from Glencairn Subway Station). Doors open at 7:00 pm.

Presentation:

Toronto’s Religious & Intellectual Climate (1890s)

What did Toronto look like spiritually and culturally at the close of the nineteenth century? This was a city on the edge of something new — where certain educated Torontonians were hungry for spiritual frameworks that reached beyond conventional religion, drawn toward questions of consciousness, the nature of reality, and the deeper currents of human existence. It was precisely this moment that made Toronto ripe for Theosophy to take root.

The Founding & Early Membership (1891)

Who were the people who came together to found the TTS, and what brought them into the same room? Gillian will explore the backgrounds, professions, and aspirations of the founding members — what they were seeking spiritually, intellectually, and socially — and what the early life and culture of the lodge actually looked like.

This lecture draws on Gillian’s book Vanguard of the New Age: The Toronto Theosophical Society 1891–1945, for which she was granted full access to the TTS archive.

Zoom Link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88633355986?pwd=1ZtLX5bjCYWLWy5QTC3bjjOd9QLUG4.1

About the Presenter

Gillian McCann, Ph.D

She is a scholar of religion whose work focuses on New Religious Movements, the intersection of Eastern and Western spiritual thought, and the history of alternative spiritual communities in North America. She holds a doctorate in Religious Studies from the University of Toronto and teaches at Nipissing University in North Bay, Canada.

Her research into the Toronto Theosophical Society brought her to the TTS archive, where she was given full access — research that became the foundation for her book Vanguard of the New Age: The Toronto Theosophical Society 1891–1945.