The term "Theosophy" comes from the Greek theosophy, which is composed of two words: theos ("god," "gods," or "divine") and Sophia ("wisdom"). Theosophia, therefore, may be translated as the "wisdom of the gods," "wisdom in things divine," or "divine wisdom". The word "theosophy" was first used in writing during the 3rd to the 6th century of our era by the Alexandrian Neo-Platonic philosophers.

They used this term to denote an experiential knowledge that came through spiritual, not intellectual, means. In the course of time, several mystics and spiritual movements in the West (mainly Christian-based) adopted the word "theosophy" in their teachings. Among them, we can find Meister Eckhart in the 14th century, Jacob Boehme in the 17th century, and Emanuel Swedenborg in the 18th century, and others. In the last quarter of the 19th century Mme. Blavatsky, Col. Olcott, and a group of like-minded people, founded the Theosophical Society, thus bringing the term back into the light again. They claimed the work of the TS was a continuation of previous Theosophists, especially that of the Greek and Alexandrian philosophers.