Arthur Edward Powell (September 27, 1882 – March 20, 1969) was a Theosophist whose books were published beginning in the early 1900s. He studied the major esoteric works of

Helena Blavatsky Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, uk, Олена Петрівна Блаватська, Olena Petrivna Blavatska (; – 8 May 1891), often known as Madame Blavatsky, was a Russian mystic and author who co-founded the Theosophical Society in 187 ...

Charles Webster Leadbeater Charles Webster Leadbeater (; 16 February 1854 – 1 March 1934) was a member of the Theosophical Society, Co-Freemasonry, author on occult subjects and co-initiator with J. I. Wedgwood of the Liberal Catholic Church. Originally a pr ...

and

Annie Besant Annie Besant ( Wood; 1 October 1847 – 20 September 1933) was a British socialist, theosophist, freemason, women's rights activist, educationist, writer, orator, political party member and philanthropist. Regarded as a champion of human f ...

Biography

Arthur E. Powell was born at 'Plas-y-Bryn', a house located in Llanllwchiairn (near Newtown),

Montgomeryshire Montgomeryshire, also known as ''Maldwyn'' ( cy, Sir Drefaldwyn meaning "the Shire of Baldwin's town"), is one of thirteen historic counties of Wales, historic counties and a former administrative county of Wales. It is named after its county tow ...

, Wales. He later emigrated to the United States, where he died in Los Angeles, California in 1969. Arthur's parents were Edward Powell (1850-1918) and Mary Eleanor Pughe Pryce-Jones (1859-1944), who married on June 3, 1880. Arthur's father Edward Powell was a solicitor, and Chairman of the Board and Managing Director of the Humber-Hillman Company (an automobile manufacturer). Arthur married twice, his first wife being Hilda (surname not known), and his second wife being Winifred May Fenwick. Powell joined the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

. He served in India as a lieutenant.

Vegetarianism

Powell was a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetarianism m ...

. He authored ''Food And Health'' in 1909. Powell promoted abstinence from

alcohol Alcohol most commonly refers to: * Alcohol (chemistry), an organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom * Alcohol (drug), an intoxicant found in alcoholic drinks Alcohol may also refer to: Chemicals * Ethanol, one of sev ...

coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulant, stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. S ...

meat Meat is animal flesh that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted, farmed, and scavenged animals for meat since prehistoric times. The establishment of settlements in the Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of animals such as chic ...

tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and northe ...

and

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

.''Review: Amateur Dietetics''
(1910). '' The British Medical Journal'' 1 (2560): 208. His book ''Food And Health'' was negatively reviewed in the ''

British Medical Journal ''The BMJ'' is a weekly peer-reviewed medical trade journal, published by the trade union the British Medical Association (BMA). ''The BMJ'' has editorial freedom from the BMA. It is one of the world's oldest general medical journals. Origi ...

'' as biased and supporting

food faddism A fad diet is a diet that becomes popular for a short time, similar to fads in fashion, without being a standard dietary recommendation, and often making unreasonable claims for fast weight loss or health improvements. There is no single defin ...

. The review noted that Powell 'uses quotations from standard medical authors when they can be made to serve his purpose, although they repudiate the conclusions he arrives'. A review in ''

The Lancet ''The Lancet'' is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal and one of the oldest of its kind. It is also the world's highest-impact academic journal. It was founded in England in 1823. The journal publishes original research articles, ...

'' journal suggested that 'Lieutenant Powell spoils his own cause, a cause with which we have no quarrel, by attempting to support it by disquisitions on the ethics of killing animals'.''Food and Health by Arthur E. Powell, Lieutenant, Royal Engineers, London: Methuen and Co''. (1909). ''

'' 4: 1677.

Selected publications

''Food and Health''
(1909) * ''The Etheric Double'' (1925)
''The Astral Body and Other Astral Phenomena''
(1927) * ''The Mental Body'' (1927) * ''The Causal Body And The Ego'' (1928) * ''The Solar System'' (1930) * ''Human Astral Entities'' * ''The Mastery of Emotion'' * ''Astral Death'' * ''Clairvoyance in Space and Time'' * ''Kundalini'' * ''The Fourth Dimension'' * ''Rebirth'' * ''Discipleship'' * ''Chakras'' * ''The Development of Astral Powers'' * ''Sleep-life'' * ''Dreams'' * ''Invisible Helpers'' * ''The Astral Plane'' * ''Non-human Astral Entities'' * ''Thought Forms'' * ''The Magic of Freemasonry'' * ''Spiritualism'' * ''The Work of a Lodge of the Theosophical Society''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Powell, Arthur E. 1882 births 1969 deaths English Theosophists Vegetarianism activists