ABSTRACT
Although Leadbeater's research into the past lives of members of the Theosophical Society had begun in the 1890s, it was with his investigations into the lives of Krishnamurti/Alcyone that this became a major preoccupation with him. The occult methods whereby Leadbeater undertook this research were varied although sometimes he used one approach and sometimes a combination of them. Ernest Wood, who was probably in the best position to know just how the Lives had been compiled, expressed some doubts in his biographical work. Leadbeater asked Wood to compile a list of prominent Theosophists who had been left out so that he could investigate and find places for them. Not only individuals and their incarnations came under Leadbeater's psychic gaze; he observed flora and fauna with similar interest. Leadbeater said simply that he wrote down what he saw on the akashic records, and regarded Hare's suggestions that he had copied material from other sources as a 'gross impertinence'.
