Relief work and the Point Loma community
Born Catharine Augusta Westcott in Newbury, Massachusetts, in 1847, Tingley studied music and developed an interest in practical relief work. In New York she organised help for prisoners, hospital patients and families in poverty. Her third marriage, to Philo Tingley in 1888, gave her the surname under which she became widely known. Through William Q. Judge she entered the Theosophical movement; after his death in 1896, supporters recognised her as his successor in the American organisation that had separated from the Adyar-based society.
In 1900 she moved the headquarters to Point Loma, near San Diego, and founded the Raja-Yoga School. Music, drama and visual art accompanied academic study, while the community developed printing, gardening and other practical activities. Theosophical University followed in 1919. Tingley also campaigned for international peace and prison reform. Her leadership concentrated considerable authority in her own hands, and the school’s strict discipline and separation of children from their parents attracted criticism. She died at Visingsö in Sweden in 1929.
Her writings and the student manuals
Her talks reached readers through magazines and books including Theosophy: The Path of the Mystic and The Gods Await. She appealed to the possibility of inner moral change, arguing that human beings could overcome selfishness and develop their spiritual capacities. Educational work and opposition to war and capital punishment formed practical expressions of that outlook.
