There is no doubt based on the available information that the Earlier Theosophical Society offered its members a system of secret degrees. Dr. Santucci publisher of Theosophical History Quarterly, made the suggestion that the TS in the beginning had a Theurgist (ceremonial Magic) character.W. J. Colville wrote in 1884:
“Some years since, when a Theosophical Society was started in New York, it was declared that it was necessary to take nine degrees to qualify a member to enter into the full mysteries and powers of the order.”Dr. Mathiesen writes: “There should be little doubt that this system of degrees was connected with a specific program of step-by-step training in occult or magical practices. In offering such a program during 1875–1876.
Who, then, were these members of high degree, and what was the program of occult training that they provided? Whenever this question has been raised in the past, it has been tacitly assumed that there could have been only one such member in the Early Theosophical Society, namely, H. P. Blavatsky herself, and also that the Society‘s program of training would necessarily have been under her sole direction. Undoubtedly she could have provided such training and direction, and that she actually provided it to H. S. Olcott and W.Q. Judge seems clear from the evidence as cited by Deveney.
Also H. P. Blavatsky was not the only member of the Early Theosophical Society who needs to be considered as a possible occult trainer of high degree. Even from the little we know about them, it appears that George H. Felt, Dr. Seth Pancoast, Charles Sotheran and Albert Leighton Rawson were also qualified, each in his own way, to give instruction in one or another occult or esoteric practice. In addition to these four men, Emma Hardinge Britten also must be taken into consideration. Not only was she the sixth member to sign the Society‘s Pledge of Secrecy.
A quarter of the founding members were Spiritualists, and some of them were mediums as well. Yet she was much more than a medium; in addition to the practical skills that she had acquired as a seer for the Orphic Brotherhood in the 1830s (which employed crystals and mirrors, music, and specially prepared fumigations as aids to clairvoyance, she had also received instruction in its doctrines and practices from Louis de B— as early as 1850.” (1)
After Felt failure (see Editorial 14 “Astral Gymnastics”) the TS attempted to find a substitute, including the commissioning of E.S. Spaulding, a member, in August 1876 to travel to Tunis with some stranded “Arab” sailors “to find a real magician or sorcerer who would consent to come to this country”…(Olcott‘s letter to E.S. Spaulding in August 1876. See also “Those Desolate Arabs. What a Member of the theosophical Society Who Accompanied Them Home is Required to Accomplish, “Banner of Light” 29/20, August 12. 1876)
Next the Society repeatedly hinted at the coming of a Hindu “fakir” to instruct its members, and just as frequently had to explain the non-appearance of the guru.
The apparent failure of all these endeavors brought an increasing chorus from the Society‘s enemies, and eventually from its friends as well, to produce the proofs of its claims. (Banner of Light 46/20 “Invitation to theosophists to enter upon the Field of Explanation and Proof,” Banner of Light 45/3: There have been many claims for occultism. From Olcott but no proof.: “Will Theosophy Please Explain,” Religio-Philosophical Journal 24/5, April 6, 1878:4. “Alas! Poor Olcott! Where are your proofs?”)
The role assigned to Swami Dayananda was another illustrative than of the TS‘s search for a practical teacher. Initially, Blavatsky and Olcott assured the members that Dayananda was really an adept who had taken over the swami‘s body. Including also Hurrychund Chintamon, “revealed as a thief, and who later told C. Massey that he had never been even a chela and had no occult powers whatsoever.
In fact John Deveney writes on the subject of the change (reinvention ?) of the TS that time from the emphasis on practical application to a more philosophical (“principles”) orientation: „simple the ultimate fallback position of schemers who had been called upon to demonstrate what they had been advertising and, unable to do so, fell back on the impossibility of the goals so long touted ? Was the problem faced by Blavatsky and Olcott, in other words, similar to that faced by the Strict Observance in the 18th century when it was finally backed in a corner and had to produce its Unknown superiors ?” (2)
1) Robert Mathiesen, “The Unseen Worlds of Emma Hardinge Britten: Some Chapters in the History of Western Occultism,” Theosophical History, Fullerton, California
2) Deveney, “Astral Projection and the early TS”)