In February 1985, Richard Slusser returned to Denver, Colorado from a twelve-week spiritual pilgrimage to India. He resolved to dedicate his energies to theosophical work. He began teaching introductory classes in Theosophy forming the nucleus of an ongoing theosophical study group.

In the summer of 1986, the group requested a charter from the Theosophical Society in America, the American Section of the international Theosophical Society with headquarters in Adyar, India. The charter was issued on August 11, 1986 and the group became the High Country Theosophical Study Center until October 21, 1992 when it returned the charter. Richard served as the Study Center's Secretary.

In September 1986, the High Country Newsletter was started under Richard's editorship. Its initial purpose was to communicate with Study Center members. Before long, it drew outside interest and took on mail-order subscriptions.

Over time, the interest of Study Center members shifted away from the Source Teachings of Theosophy to other materials including those of Annie Besant and C.W. Leadbeater. This led to a divergence of paths. In January 1991, Richard changed the periodical's name to The High Country Theosophist and made it completely independent of any theosophical organization.

Over the years, the magazine has reached a growing number of domestic and foreign subscribers. They include many of the real workers in the Movement.

As time passed, several valued theosophical publications have left the scene, including The Theosophical Network, edited by Rick Nurrie, and The Eclectic Theosophist, edited for most of its years by W. Emmett Small. Other periodicals have taken different directions, like The Canadian Theosophist.

The High Country Theosophist remains one of the few independent print journals dedicated to the Source Teachings of Theosophy. (There are other journals like Theosophy World, but they do not have print copies; they only exist in electronic form.) The magazine continues to this day to put out new material of interest to theosophical students.