Point Loma

ARTICLE UNDER CONSTRUCTION
ARTICLE UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Point Loma or Lomaland was a Theosophical community established in San Diego, California by Katherine Tingley and her followers in the Universal Brotherhood and Theosophical Society.

Establishment of the community

During Katherine Tingley's European Crusade in 1896, she met young Gottfried de Purucker in Geneva, Switzerland. He had lived in San Diego, and described the Point Loma peninsula to her. Tingley instructed E. A. Neresheimer and E. B. Rambo to purchase the property. The following year, she and her followers laid the cornerstone for the School for the Revival of the Lost Mysteries of Antiquity, or SRLMA.

"Theosophists from both the United States and abroad were encouraged to move to Point Loma and become part of a great adventure in Theosophical living."

Growth

In 1900, 95 people, including 37 children, were residing at Point Loma in tents while buildings were under construction. The only permanent structure was The Homestead, built as a sanitarium by Dr. Lorin F. Wood Sr. (1852-1943), which was used for indoor gatherings and as housing for TIngley and some others. Within ten years, the community had grown to 357. The adults of this group were considered to be "pioneers" and were revered by later residents for establishing the colony. After 1911, the legal name of the community became Lomaland, although it was also known among the residents as "the Homestead" or "the Hill."

Facilities at Point Loma

Iverson L. Harris described the wide range of facilities that were built for the community:

In addition, however, the community grew to include living quarters for the five hundred or more residents who gathered there, as well as a refectory, bakery, stables, carpenter shop, smithy, machine shop, and facilities for the production of textiles and the tailoring of clothing. Orchards and vegetable gardens produced more than enough fruits and vegetables to supply the needs of the community, and the formerly barren slopes of Point Loma were soon covered with groves of eucalyptus and avocado. Even a publishing house was added to the colony's facilities, with a printing press and a bindery turning out a steady production of Theosophical books and tracts.

Raja Yoga School

A school was indeed started, called the Raja Yoga school, mainly for the children of families living at Point Loma, and it was eventually expanded to include instruction from the primary grades through advanced graduate studies.

Accounts of life at Point Loma

George Cardinal LeGros wrote a poem about Point Loma:

A Point Loma Memory

They tell me that Point Loma is no more,
That all my friends have vanished from the Hill;
But, thinking of its pathways and the shore,
I close my eyes and see Point Loma still.

I hear the winds that cry along the sea,
I know again the skies of morning blue,
The meadows and the blossoms blowing free,
The words we said, the things we used to do.

They tell me all is gone, and yet somehow
The Glory that was Yesterday is there
Triumphant in a bright Eternal Now
That sparkles on the joy-enchanted air

As, one by one, we all go Home to rest
At old Point Loma in the Golden West.

Additional resources

Articles

• Point Loma Tradition in Theosophy World.

Books

• Brown, Lauren R. The Point Loma Theosophical Society: a list of publications, 1898-1942. San Diego, 1977. Limited access at Hathitrust.
• Tingley, Katherine. The Life at Point Loma. Point Loma, California: Aryan Theosophical Press, 1909. Reprinted from the Saturday Post December 1902.

Video

• "Historical Retrospective: Point Loma 1898-1942" by Prof. Dwayne Little at Point Loma Theosophy Network, along with other talks. This link is no longer operating as of October 2019, but the content is available at Internet Archive's Wayback Machine.
• Exploring the Theosophical Society and American Metaphysical Religion by Ronnie Pontiac. March 9, 2024. Posted on March 17, 2024 on Altadena Libraries YouTube channel. See minutes 17-27.
• Alliant Int'l University shows a piece of San Diego History posted by jdpowers36 on Nov 20, 2007. "Nicholas Vega, Senior Curator at the San Diego Historical Society talks about the remarkable pieces of San Diego History. Giant Oak doors that once stood within the entrance of the International Theosophical Institute on Point Loma in 1901, which is now Point Loma Nazarene, are now available to be shot at the Historical Society in San Diego. A fire in 1952 destroyed the temple, but the doors were saved. They stand about 13' high and measure nearly 7' across. The doors were carved in 1901 by Reginal Machell of the Royal Academy in London, and depict the artist's ideal man and woman. Following World War I, the leader of the movement, Madame Katherine Tingley, renamed the Aryan Temple, "The Temple of Peace." In 1942 the Theosophical Institute moved its headquarters and the property was acquired by USIU....which is now ALLIANT INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY. ALLIANT proudly displays them for the public to see and admire the craftmanship and the history the doors represent.."

The European School of Theosophy offered this series of lectures by Kenneth Small in 2025, called Wisdom from the Lomaland Theosophical Community (1897-1942):

• Lomaland's Raja Yoga Education. May 3, 2025.
• Global Mythology, Art and Symbolism. May 10, 2025.
• The Drama at Lomaland - "the soul's interpreter". May 17, 2025.
• Lomaland: A Global Village New Paradigm Foundation principles and themes for today’s world. May 24, 2025.

Archival collections

• Kenneth R. Small Archive of the Universal Brotherhood and Theosophical Society at Lomaland, 1874-1960 at San Diego State University Archives and Special Collections.