As many people honour their moms on this Mother’s Day, I’m thinking about some of the women who have influenced me — and influenced the world.

It seems only fitting that one of the women I have looked to for spiritual sustenance throughout my life also wrote about the greatest mother of all, Mother Nature.

Katherine Tingley was president of the American division of the Theosophical Society, now based in Pasadena, Calif., back in 1896, and the fact that her spiritual writings still resonate with people — and are still relevant — today speaks for itself.

In her book, The Wine of Life, Ms. Tingley opens with a chapter titled Nature, the Mighty Mother — after a quotation by the great mother of Theosophy, co-founder Helena Petrova Blavatsky.

And then there is Annie Besant, another great Theosophist whose words in such books as The Ancient Wisdom have guided my entire life.

In truth, when I came across the works of late 19th-century Theosophists in my early 20s, it seemed like I was renewing friendships and reaffirming what I already knew inside. I had been contemplating the spiritual nature of things since I was 6 or 7 years old, and had already come to many of the conclusions people like Ms. Tingley, Ms. Besant and H.P.B had voiced in their writings.

So, those writers of old and more recent Theosophical writers such as Sarah Belle Doherty have been, in a way, mothers to me and to all and any who have read their works. They are also old friends.

On this day, I remember them, and thank them for their selfless devotion to the spiritual development and resulting betterment of mankind.

We will meet again . . .

— Jillian

Photo: Katherine Tingley, circa 1906. (Credit: Theosophical Society)