Andrew Paul Wood spoke to Rachael Comer for Stuff ahead of the launch of his book Shadow Worlds: A history of the occult and esoteric in New Zealand.
‘In a cafe in the Royal Arcade in downtown Timaru a group of enthusiastic residents settle in for a night of theosophical conversation.
It is October 1912, and Miss C W Christie, organiser of the New Zealand Section of the Theosophical Society and travelling organiser for the Order of The Star in The East, is delivering a series of lectures in the cafe.
A classified advertisement in The Timaru Herald October 11, 1912 edition informs people of a public question meeting at 8pm. Questions may be posted, or given in at the meeting, it says.
These kinds of meetings were not uncommon in the town at the time, according to author Andrew Paul Wood who said because of its location between Christchurch and Dunedin, visiting lecturers on the subject regularly stopped in Timaru.
Wood’s book Shadow Worlds, A history of the Occult and Esoteric in New Zealand, is released on Thursday and will be officially launched at Timaru Booksellers that evening.
For Wood, who recently moved back to Timaru, the town he grew up in, the book has been about two years in the making and has been a major undertaking.’
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