(Translated from the Book of the Golden Precepts, which sh...)
Translated from the Book of the Golden Precepts, which shares a common origin with the Stanzas of Dzyan of The Secret Doctrine, the rules and ethics presented in the Voice contrast the two paths of spiritual attainment: the one pursued by those seeking knowledge for their own enlightenment; the other chosen by those whose aspirations are prompted by compassion for all.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0911500057/?tag=2022091-20
(The book "From the caves and jungles of Hindustan" in a l...)
The book "From the caves and jungles of Hindustan" in a literature style describes the travels of H. Blavatsky and her Teacher which she named Takhur Gulab-Singh. In spite of that the book was considered as novel, Blavatsky asserted that "the facts and persons that I cited are true. I simply collected to time interval in three-four months the events and cases occurring during several years just like the part of the phenomena that the Teacher has shown".
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1976226880/?tag=2022091-20
( Madame Blavatsky's Victorian-era masterpiece is now sca...)
Madame Blavatsky's Victorian-era masterpiece is now scaled down to its essentials, providing the most readable, accessible experience ever of one of history's seminal occult works. The Secret Doctrine, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky's masterwork on the origin and evolution of the universe and humanity itself, is arguably the most famous, and perhaps the most influential, occult book ever written. Published since 1888 only in expensive, two-volume editions of some 1,400 pages, it has long eluded the grasp of modern readers- until now. This single-volume edition, abridged and annotated by historian and Theosophical scholar Michael Gomes, places the ideas of The Secret Doctrine within reach of all who are curious. In particular, Gomes provides a critical sounding of the book's famous stanzas on the genesis of life and the cosmos- mysterious passages that Blavatsky said originated from a primeval source and which form the heart of The Secret Doctrine. Gomes scrupulously scales down the book's key writings on symbolism to their essentials, and offers notes and a glossary to illuminate arcane references. His historical and literary introduction casts new light on some of the book's sources and on the career of its brilliant and elusive author, one of the most intriguing personages of the nineteenth century. At once compact and representative of the work as a whole, this new edition of The Secret Doctrine brings unprecedented accessibility to the key esoteric classic of the modern era.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158542708X/?tag=2022091-20
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/9707830247/?tag=2022091-20
writer occultist spirit medium
Blavatsky was born on 11 August in 1831 in the Ukrainian town of Yekaterinoslav, then part of the Russian Empire. Her birth date although according to the Julian calendar used in 19th-century Russia it was 30 July. Her father was Colonel Peter Hahn; her mother, Helena Fedeyev, a novelist and daughter of Princess Helena Dolgoruky.
Helena received no formal education.
She made her way to Asia via the Americas, heading to Canada in autumn 1851. Inspired by the novels of James Fenimore Cooper, she sought out the Native American communities of Quebec in the hope of meeting their magico-religious specialists but was instead robbed, later attributing these Natives' behavior to the corrupting influence of Christian missionaries. She spent two years in India. Sailing to the U. S., she visited New York City, where she met up with Rawson, before touring Chicago, Salt Lake City, and San Francisco, and then sailing back to India via Japan. There, she spent time in Kashmir, Ladakh, and Burma, before making a second attempt to enter Tibet. She claimed that in Tibet, she was taught an ancient, unknown language known as Senzar, and translated a number of ancient texts written in this language that was preserved by the monks of a monastery; she stated that she was, however, not permitted entry into the monastery itself.
Blavatsky alleged that she departed Tibet with the mission of proving to the world that the phenomena identified by Spiritualists were objectively real, thus defending it against accusations of fraud made by scientific materialists.
She visited Chittenden in October 1874, there meeting the reporter Henry Steel Olcott, who was investigating Eddy's claims for the Daily Graphic. He helped attract greater attention to Blavatsky's claims, encouraging the Daily Graphics editor to publish an interview with her, and discussing her in his book on Spiritualism, People from the Other World (1875). Blavatsky and Olcott published a circular letter in Eldridge Gerry Brown's Boston-based Spiritualist publication, The Spiritual Scientist. There, they named themselves the "Brotherhood of Luxor", a name potentially inspired by the pre-existing Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor. Blavatsky and Olcott established the Miracle Club, through which they facilitated lectures on esoteric themes in New York City.
In summer 1875, Blavatsky began work on a book Isis Unveiled.
Blavatsky, Olcott and an Irish Spiritualist, William Quan Judge agreed to establish an esoteric organization the Theosophical Society.
The Theosophical Society established links with an Indian Hindu reform movement, the Arya Samaj, which had been founded by the Swami Dayananda Saraswati; Blavatsky and Olcott believed that the two organizations shared a common spiritual world-view.
In July 1879, Blavatsky and Olcott began work on a monthly magazine, The Theosophist, with the first issue coming out in October.
Sailing to Marseilles, France, in March 1883, she spent time in Nice with the founder of the Theosophical Society's French branch, the Countess of Caithness.
In London, Blavatsky founded a magazine, controversially titling it Lucifer; in this Theosophical publication she sought to completely ignore claims regarding paranormal phenomena, and focus instead on a discussion of philosophical ideas.
(Translated from the Book of the Golden Precepts, which sh...)
( Madame Blavatsky's Victorian-era masterpiece is now sca...)
(The book "From the caves and jungles of Hindustan" in a l...)
Blavatsky was a pantheist, and emphasized the idea of an impersonal divinity, referring to the Theosophical God as a "universal Divine Principle, the root of All, from which all proceeds, and within which all shall be absorbed at the end of the great cycle of being". She was dismissive of the Christian idea of God in the Western world, describing it as "a bundle of contradictions and a logical impossibility. "
She was "basically a non-political person".
Quotations: "The possible truths, hazily perceived in the world of abstraction, like those inferred from observation and experiment in the world of matter, are forced upon the profane multitudes, too busy to think for themselves, under the form of Divine revelation and scientific authority. But the same question stands open from the days of Socrates and Pilate down to our own age of wholesale negation: is there such a thing as absolute truth in the hands of any one party or man? Reason answers, "there cannot be. " There is no room for absolute truth upon any subject whatsoever, in a world as finite and conditioned as man is himself. But there are relative truths, and we have to make the best we can of them. "
The biographer Peter Washington described Blavatsky as "a short, stout, forceful woman, with strong arms, several chins, unruly hair, a determined mouth, and large, liquid, slightly bulging eyes". She had distinctive azure colored eyes, and struggled with obesity throughout her life.
Aged 17, Helena agreed to marry Nikifor Vladimirovich Blavatsky, a man in his forties who worked as Vice Governor of Erivan Province. Her reasons for doing so were unclear, although she later claimed that she was attracted by his belief in magic. Although she tried to back out shortly before the wedding ceremony, the marriage took place on 7 July 1849. In December 1874, Blavatsky met the Georgian Mikheil Betaneli. Infatuated with her, he repeatedly requested that they marry, to which she ultimately relented; this constituted bigamy, as her first husband was still alive. However, as she refused to consummate the marriage, Betaneli sued for divorce and returned to Georgia.
Blavatsky's sexuality has been an issue of dispute; many biographers have believed that she remained celibate throughout her life, with Washington believing that she "hated sex with her own sort of passion". In later life, she stated that she was a virgin, although she had been married to two men during her lifetime. Throughout its early years, the Theosophical Society promoted celibacy, even within marriage. Some have suggested that she may have been a lesbian or transvestite, due to early accounts in which she traveled while dressed in masculine attire. Meade thought that Blavatsky had, with a few exceptions, been "contemptuous" of other women, suggesting that while this may have been the result of general societal misogyny, it may have reflected that Blavatsky had been jilted by another woman.
