Who is helena blavatsky

By , HPB was in controlled possession of her many and most unusual spiritual and occult powers. She was considered to be the best available instrument for the work her Teachers had in mind, namely to offer to the world a new presentation, though only in brief outline, of the age-old Theosophia,.

A challenge was offered to her work by the Spiritualist movement then sweeping America. Helena stated:. Scientific materialism threatened to destroy the faith in and search for spiritual realities.

Olcott was investigating mediumistic phenomena at the Eddy farm and publishing the results in important newspapers. She demonstrated that she could produce the phenomena herself and suggested their real explanation. Olcott and W. Judge, together with several others, formed a Society which they chose to call The Theosophical Society, for promulgating the ancient teachings of Theosophy, or the Wisdom concerning the Divine which had been the spiritual basis of other great movements of the past, such as Neoplatonism, Gnosticism, and the Mystery Schools of the classical world.

Olcott, was delivered on 17 November , the official date of the founding of the Society. Starting from a generalized statement of objectives, the Founders soon expressed them more specifically in what we know as the Three Objects of the Theosophical Society. Isis Unveiled outlines the history, scope and development of the Occult Sciences, the nature and origin of magic, the roots of Christianity, the errors of Christian theology and the fallacies of established orthodox science, against the backdrop of the secret teachings which run as a golden thread through bygone centuries, coming to the surface every now and then in the various mystical movements.

She was also the godmother of the New Age movement. Blavatsky was born to an aristocratic family in Russia in She arrived in the U. While some have described Blavatsky as a charlatan who faked paranormal phenomenon, Bevir concentrates on two of her verifiable contributions to Western religion: giving occultism an Eastward orientation and helping to turn Europeans and Americans towards Eastern religions and philosophies.

After all, the rise of spiritualism and occultism were intimately tied to a contemporary crisis in Christianity.

One aspect of this crisis was liberal Christian antipathy to the idea of eternal damnation, thought incompatible with the notion of a loving God. People were searching for ways to believe in such a context. Use precise geolocation data. Select personalised content. Create a personalised content profile. Measure ad performance. Select basic ads. Create a personalised ads profile. Select personalised ads. Apply market research to generate audience insights.

Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. Share Flipboard Email. Lisa Jo Rudy. Theology Expert. Lisa Jo Rudy received her Masters in Divinity from Harvard University, where she studied world religions and theology. She is a writer and researcher. Blavatsky Published Works: Isis Unveiled, The Secret Doctrine, The Voice of the Silence, The Key to Theosophy Notable Quote: "It is an occult law moreover, that no man can rise superior to his individual failings without lifting, be it ever so little, the whole body of which he is an integral part.

In the same way no one can sin, nor suffer the effects of sin, alone. In reality, there is no such thing as 'separateness' and the nearest approach to that selfish state which the laws of life permit is in the intent or motive.

Cite this Article Format. Rudy, Lisa Jo. Helena Blavatsky, Occultist and Founder of Theosophy. Raps, whisperings, and other mysterious sounds were heard all over the house, objects moved about in obedience to her will, their weight decreased and increased as she wished, and winds swept through the apartment, extinguishing lamps and candles.

She gave exhibitions of clairvoyance, discovered a murderer for the police, and narrowly escaped being charged as an accomplice. In Blavatsky became severely ill. A wound below the heart, which she received from a sword cut in magical practice in the East, opened again, causing her intense agony, convulsions, and trance.

After Blavatsky recovered, her spontaneous physical phenomena disappeared, and she claimed that they only occurred after that time in obedience to her will. Blavatsky again went abroad and, disguised as a man, she fought under Garibaldi and was left for dead in the battle of Mentana. She fought back to life, had a miraculous escape at sea on a Greek vessel that was blown up and, in in Cairo, she founded the Societe Spirite. It was a dubious venture that soon expired amid cries of fraud and embezzlement, reflecting considerably on the reputation of the founder.

Her closer ties with Spiritualism dated from her arrival in New York in July Blavatsky first worked as a dressmaker to obtain a living and, after her acquaintance with Col. Henry Steel Olcott at Chittenden, Vermont, in the house of the Eddy Brothers, she took up journalism, writing mostly on Spiritualism for magazines and translating Olcott's articles into Russian.

Her second marital venture, which occurred during this period, ended in failure and escape. The starting point of her real career was the founding of the Theosophical Society in It professed to expound the esoteric tradition of Buddhism and aimed at forming a universal brotherhood of man; studying and making known the ancient religions, philosophies, and sciences; investigating the laws of nature; and developing the divine powers latent in man.

It was claimed to be directed by secret Mahatmas, or Masters of Wisdom. Olcott, who was elected president, was a tireless organizer and propagandist. His relationship to Blavatsky was that of pupil to teacher. He did the practical work and Blavatsky the literary work. Their joint efforts soon put the society on a prosperous footing and, at the end of , a little party of four left, under their leadership, for Bombay.

Soon after the theosophical movement gained added impetus from the publicity launched by A. Sinnett, editor of the Pioneer, who had embraced Buddhism in Ceylon. The publicity had its disadvantages as well. The attention of the Society for Psychical Research SPR was aroused by reports of the theosophic marvels, and Richard Hodgson was sent to Adyar, India, where the central headquarters of the theosophical movement was established, to investigate.

The investigation had a disastrous effect for Blavatsky and dealt a nearly fatal blow to Theosophy. Hodgson reported that he found nothing but palpable fraud and extreme credulity on the part of the believers. The Coulombs, a couple who had joined Blavatsky in Bombay in and were her acquaintances from the time of the Cairo adventure, confessed to having manufactured, in conspiracy with Blavatsky, a large number of the theosophical miracles: they revealed the secret of the sliding panels of the shrine in the Occult Room through which, from Blavatsky's bedroom, the "astral" Mahatma letters were deposited; disclosed impersonation of the Mahatmas by a dummy head and shoulders; declared that the Mahatma letters were written by Blavatsky in a disguised hand and that they were projected through cracks in the ceiling by means of spring contrivances; and they produced the correspondence between them and Blavatsky in proof of their self-confessed complicity.

Hodgson's investigations, which lasted for three months, entirely demolished the first private and confidential report of the SPR issued in December , which was theoretically favorable to Blavatsky's claims. Hodgson's conclusions were published in the Proceedings of the SPR. The publication of the report, which followed the printing of the Coulomb letters in the Madras Christian Magazine, created an immense sensation.

In response, Olcott, whose honesty was not impugned by the report, banished Blavatsky from Adyar. The proofs of her guilt were overwhelming, for the defense was built up with great difficulties. With the Theosophical Society thus discredited, recovery looked hopeless.