The original Theosophical Society split after Blavatsky's death, chiefly into the Adyar based Theosophical Society and the Pasadena based Theosophical Society founded by William Quan Judge, and each rival body keeps and reports its own membership rolls without any shared or independently audited combined count.
What would resolve this A single count published jointly, or independently compiled from each Society's own reported rolls with a stated methodology and date, across the Adyar, Pasadena and any other surviving Theosophical bodies.
OpenSociology of religionJoscelyn Godwin, The Theosophical Enlightenment