Helena Petrovna Blavatsky 2
Blavatsky Brooch
Theosophy Symbol
Blavatsky Brooch
Theosophy Symbol
It was at this time that she engaged in a confrontation with a New York neuropathologist, Dr. George Beard, who claimed in the Daily Graphic that the Eddy brothers were frauds and that Colonel Olcott had been blinded by a handful of bad magicians' tricks. HPB had two reasons to be upset by the article. First, her first real success in Spiritualism might be thwarted; and secondly, the article questioned Olcott's integrity as a serious investigator.
If this went unchallenged it would dash any hopes of selling any translations of his articles. This episode became a fight between Beard and Helena, but took an unexpected turn when she was recognized by both the Spiritual Scientist and Daily Graphic. The editor of the former said he would publish all she could write. In an interview with the Graphic she gained so much publicity that Helena Blavatsky was known throughout the New York area.
But, as usual, her troubles were not over. She had tried to sell the Russian translation of Olcott's articles through Andrew Jackson Davis who admired her as a medium, a friend of Alexander Aksakov who could get the articles in the Psychisen Studien. In his reply to Davis, Aksakov said that he had heard of Madame Blavatsky, and she was a powerful medium, but her communications show moral flows. Toward Davis Helena appeared casual, and Davis thought his friend didn't know her as well as he did. However, Helena suspected Aksakov had heard rumors and hastily sent a letter to him pleading with him not to exposed everything to Davis. It is later noted that Alsakov did receive some of the translations, but he never printed them, nor did any other publication.
Fearing that Aksakov revelations would come down upon her at any time Helena was in a desperate period. She still conducted seances, hoping for the best. She still needed financial support. The man, Henry Olcott, she wanted was unavailable to her. Olcott was supporting an estranged wife and two children, also his law practice had been neglected during his Spiritualism investigations. Michael Betanelly was available and wanted to marry her to look after her, he said he would expect no martial privileges of her. Betanelly was friend to both Helena and Olcott. It was Betanelly who had written a letter to Olcott, on Helena's behalf, verifying the Georgian that materialized during a seance at Chittenden. The letter was to served to disprove Dr. Beard's accusations aimed at Olcott and also give Olcott more creditability. The truth was that Betanelly knew nothing about Spiritualism when writing the letter.
Helena and Betanelly were married on April 3, 1875. They had not told Olcott, when he heard of the marriage he called it "a freak of madness." He later said he had ridiculed her for marrying a man so much younger than herself and unequal to her mental capacity. However, Helena already had her defense planned: she said, " their fates were linked by karma, and the marriage was her punishment for `awful pride and combativeness.'" She added that Betanelly had threaten suicide if she did not marry him. Helena assured Olcott the marriage would not be consummated; although her reason was not clear, it would seem she did so because of her interest in Olcott. Olcott believed her. It may have been a non-sexual marriage, but it is doubtful her entire relationship with Betanelly was non-physical.
Helena's main concern seemed to always lie in Olcott. To her he was always essential to the Spiritualist movement. Later many would say she broke up his marriage, even though the Spiritualists eventually denied it, it is a fact they met shortly before his divorce. But it seemed they just collaborated, with HPB being dominate, at first, intimacy would come later. HPB dictated Olcott's writings and where to send them. Before the establishment of the Theosophical Society there was the founding of the Miracle Club. This was a club where members were admitted to seances conducted by the club medium David Dana, brother of Charles Dana editor of the New York Sun, and suggested by HPB. Members were forbidden to disclose their experiences or the address of the meeting place. The club only lasted a few weeks because David wanted to be paid, which HPB did not agree to.
The failure of the Miracle Club, however, sparked the founding of the Theosophical Society. The membership itself, with the enthusiasm of HPB, did not disperse. In striving to find a common purpose Olcott scribbled a hasty note asking, "Would it not be a good thing to form a society for this kind of study?" The phrase this kind of study referred to subjects such as the Egyptian mysteries and the kabbalah which had been discussed in a lecture previously given to an informal group by J. H. Felt, an architect and engineer. He had said, "the dog-and hawk-headed figures of Egyptian hieroglyphics were accurate pictures of elementals, the spirits who convey messages at seances."
The infant society was eagerly formed in September1875. It was co-founded by Olcott along with William Q. Judge. Its name was furnished by Charles Sotheran who was of independent means, a high Mason, a Rosicrucian, and a student of the kabbalah. Sotheran thought the name of the Miracle Club was too cheap; he considered Egyptological Society, too limited; looking through a dictionary, he found the word theosophy, a word that was unanimously agreed on at the next meeting because it seemed to express esoteric truth as well as covering the aspects of occult scientific research, both of which were goals of the Society.
Because of Olcott's love for red tape and Helena's ritualism the Society included all of the pomp originally planned for the Miracle Club. There was the policy of secrecy, each member wrote F.T.S (Fellow, Theosophical Society) after their name, and recognized each other by secret signs, most of which were borrowed from Egyptian occultism and the Grand Lodge of Cairo.
After its establishment the Theosophical Society expounded the esoteric tradition of Buddhism aiming to form an universal brotherhood of man, studying and making known the ancient religions, philosophies and sciences, and investigating the laws of nature and divine powers latent in man. The direction of the society was claimed to be directed by the secret Mahatmas or Masters of Wisdom.
After reading the evidence of the letters supposedly written from these Mahatmas many concluded that they were written by friends of HPB, or by HPB herself. The letters conveyed her ideas. These conclusions were drawn after earnest men and women lavished an aggregate of several lifetimes of study and research on the Mahatmas letters. Several books and monographs, pro and con, were written. Who Wrote the Mahatmas Letters, a book by the Hare brothers, one a disillusion Theosophist, was a well researched work.
Although there is not any certain evidence of these Mahatmas or Masters of Wisdom, Helena's first book Isis Unveiled, 1877, outlined the basic precepts and the secret knowledge which they protected. In the book's preface HPB inserted `a plea for the recognition of the Hermetic philosophy, the ancient universal wisdom." The success of the book was greater than that of the society, which by 1878 almost collapsed.
In July 1878 Helena P. Blavatsky became the first Russian woman to acquire United States citizenship. Some say she did so not to have the English in India think she was a Russian spy. She and Olcott went to India in December of that year in order to revive the society's study of Hindu and Buddha religions.
It was in India that HPB and the society gained much support. Newly acquired supporters included Sinnett, the statesman Allen O. Hume, and various high-caste Indians and English officials. At this time HPB aided Sinnett and Hume in corresponding with the Masters Koot Hoomi and Morya. From this the first suspicions of the Masters occurred, when their handwriting closely resembled that of HPB. However, nothing was every proven conclusively.
In 1882 the headquarters of the society was moved to an estate in Adyar, near Madras. There HPB had a shrine room constructed for the Mahatmas where they could directly manifest their communications. A former colleague of HPB, Emma Cutting Coulomb and her husband managed the household. They were later discharged for dishonest practices.
In 1884 HPB and Olcott toured Europe while in the United State the Coulomb's published letters which they claimed to be written by HPB containing instructions for the Masters' manifestations and for the operation of the shrine through secret black panels. Apparently, the panels were constructed by Coulomb during HPB's absent to destroy her reputation. During December 1884, Richard Hodgson of the Psychical Research Society (PRS) in London went to Adyar to investigate the activity there. In the following spring he released a scathing report alleging fraud and trickery by HPB and her associates. To HPB and the Theosophical Society the report was controversial for over one hundred years. It put a tarnish upon the name of HPB and the Society. In 1986 the PRS published an article in its Journal calling the report prejudiced, saying that Hodgson had ignored all evidence favorable to HPB, and, that an apology was due.
Because of the controversy, Olcott sent HPB to Europe in 1885, where she toured different countries finally settling in Germany due to deteriorating health. By then the French-born Swedish Countess Constance Wachrmeister had moved in with HPB and helped her with her work, especially her second book, The Secret Doctrine (1888), which is said to be her greatest work.
The Secret Doctrine outlined a scheme of evolution relating to the universe (cosmogenesis) and humankind (anthropogenesis), and is based on three premises: (1) Ultimate Reality, as an omnipresent, transcendent principle beyond the reach of thought; (2) the universality law of cycles throughout nature; and (3) the identity of all souls with the Universal Oversoul and their journey through many degrees of intelligence by means if reincarnation, in accordance with "Cyclic and Karmic law."
The Secret Doctrine is claimed to have been largely based on the archaic manuscript of The Book of Dyzan, which HPB interpreted. She claimed the Mahatmas communicated parts of The Secret Doctrine to her, claiming they impressed thoughts in her mind which she put to paper. Critics say she copied her thoughts from various existing works.
During 1889 HPB finished two more books: The Key to Theosophy an introduction to theosophical thought and philosophy; and, The Voice of the Silence, a mystical and poetic work on the path of enlightenment.
The work of the Theosophical Society was continued by activist Annie Wood Besant, a reviewer of The Secret Doctrine and a convert to Theosophy. Besant's home in London became the headquarters of the Society. She actively supported progressive causes, bringing another generation of liberal intellectuals into the society, and became president following Olcott's death in 1907.
In all respects it is not difficult to believe that HPB possessed genuine occult inspiration and powers for she exerted enormous influence over some of the most talented individuals of her time. Touched by her were persons like Horace Greeley, the Honorable John L. O'Sullivan, ex-Ambassador to Portugal; P. B. Randolph, leading American Rosicrucian; Prince Wittgenstein. Also among those influenced by her are W. B. Yeats, the Irish poet, and "AE" (George W. Russell). She was influential in the development of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn by promoting the translations of Hindu scriptures and philosophical works.
HPB died in her home on May 8, 1891. She became unable to walk and suffered from various diseases. She was cremated with a third of her ashes remaining in Europe, and a third going to America and India each. Theosophists commemorate her death on May 8, called White Lotus Day.
It would not be a mere understatement to say Madame's Blavatsky's life was different, because it was very different. There seems to be no single reason for this difference; one cannot say it was just her childhood, her adolescence, her adult life; the lost of her son, or the child she dearly loved; or her love of occult science. One is forced to say that is was several or all of these factors which made her different and who she was. Over a hundred years following her death people are still fascinated by the name of Madame Helena Blavatsky.
One presumes this fascination is generated by the unique pursuit of Madame Blavatsky's life itself. One never could say she allowed life to pass her by; if anything, she propelled life. Divine revelations appealed to her for she was mystical by nature. Yori resembled her invisible playmate in early childhood. She did not share Christian visions because of her violent rebellion against the church. A heaven containing thousands of angelic creatures was not for her. She was too earthy. Her life was with people. Her saints were the Mahatmas or Masters of Wisdom, modeled on Buddhist and Christian monks, who resided in the inaccessible portion of the earth. They were the "old souls" who had completed their rounds of incarnations on earth, but frequently returned to help members of humankind who deserved it: the Theosophists.
Even though many have been and are skeptical of HPB, and it must be said they have cause to be, it cannot be believed she deliberately intended to hurt people. Although some of her ways were suspicious, it is doubtful that she intentionally exploited people with her glimpses of the truth. This seems contradictory to the nature of a woman who gave her deluxe accommodations to a peasant family and came to America in steerage. She seemed to possess a strange and uncanny power, even in youth, to hurl defiance in the face of polite society, and then force it to take her seriously. Perhaps this is the charm and complexity of Madame Blavatsky which even today compels some individuals to try and follow her. A.G.H.
This is allegedly Blavatsky with Ascended Masters Kuthumi, El Moyra, and Saint Germain.
I doubt this is true.
"I am an old Buddhist pilgrim, wandering about the world
to teach the only true religion, which is truth."
Blavatsky and Alice Bailey
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