Root race
<p><b >Root races</b> are stages in human <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution" title="Evolution" >evolution</a> in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esoteric_cosmology" title="Esoteric cosmology" >esoteric cosmology</a> of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theosophy" title="Theosophy" >theosophist</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helena_Petrovna_Blavatsky" title="Helena Petrovna Blavatsky" class="mw-redirect" >Helena Petrovna Blavatsky</a>, as described in her book <i ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_Doctrine" title="The Secret Doctrine" >The Secret Doctrine</a></i> (1888). These races existed mainly on now-<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Continents" title="Lost Continents" >lost continents</a>. Blavatsky's model was developed by later theosophists, most notably <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Scott-Elliot" title="William Scott-Elliot" >William Scott-Elliot</a> in <i >The Story of Atlantis</i>(1896) and <i >The Lost Lemuria</i> (1904). <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie_Besant" title="Annie Besant" >Annie Besant</a> further developed the model in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man:whence,how_and_whither,_a_record_of_clairvoyant_investigation" title="Man: whence, how and whither, a record of clairvoyant investigation" class="mw-redirect" ><i>Man: Whence, How and Whither</i></a> (1913). Both Besant and Scott-Elliot relied on information from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Webster_Leadbeater" title="Charles Webster Leadbeater" >Charles Webster Leadbeater</a> obtained by "astral clairvoyance". Further elaboration was provided by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Steiner" title="Rudolf Steiner" >Rudolf Steiner</a> in <i >Atlantis and Lemuria</i> (1904).<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Root_race#cite_note-1" >[1]</a></sup>Rudolf Steiner, and subsequent theosophist authors, have called the time periods associated with these races, <b >Epochs</b> (Steiner felt that the term "race" was not adequate anymore for modern humanity).</p>
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