The Theosophists

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831-91)

Helena’s father was a German officer in Russian service, Peter von Hahn, her mother Jelena, a well-known novelist, came from old Russian nobility. Helena was the cousin of Russian Finance Minister Sergei Julievich Witte.

At age eleven, she lost her mother and lived with her grandfather, a senior government official. From her mother’s side she had influential ancestors:

Maternally HP Blavatsky’s lineage goes back through the prince Michael of Chernigov to Ryurick, founder of statehood in Russia. Maternally the direct ancestor of H. Blavatsky was Sergey Grigor’yevich Dolgoruky, well-known diplomat of his time, brother of Aleksey Grigor’evich Dolgoruky, a member of the Supreme Secret Council under Peter the Second. Sergei Grigor’evich was great grandfather of Helena Pavlovna Fadeyeva-Dolgorukaya and great-great-great-grandfather of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky.

HP Blavatsky’s grandfather, Prince Pavel Vasilyievich Dolgorukov (1755-1837) was Major General in time of Ekaterina the Great. He was decorated with a higher army award, Order of St. George and was a companion in arms of Kutuzov. His wife was Henrietta de Bandre Plessy Duc de, a daughter of Adolf Frantcevich, which was ordered by Army Corps during Crimea’s campaign and, according to AM Fadeyev, was a favorite of Suvorov.

A daughter of Pavel Vasilievich and Henrietta Adolfovna was Princess Helena Pavlovna, HP Blavatsky’s grandmother. She got a versatile home education, speak in five languages, what occupied with archeology, numismatics, botanic.

Fadeyev’s herbariums and pictures of various plants. Aroused admiration of many scientists. Helena Pavlovna was in scientific correspondence with well-known German scientist Alexander Humboldt, English geologist, founder of Geographic Society R. Merchison, Sweden Christian Steven, researcher of Caucasus flora and fauna. According to HF Pisareva, botanist Homer de Hel named Venus-Fadeyeff in honor of Helena Pavlovna.

Helena Blavatsky (Wiki)

Her family had a close relationship with Prince Emil von Wittgenstein:

Prince Wittgenstein , now dead, What an old friend of my family, whom I saw for the last time when I was eighteen years old, and he and his wife remained until his death in close correspondence with me. He was a cousin of the late Empress of Russia …

At the age of 17, she married the deputy governor of the Yerevan province of Armenia, Nikifor Vladimirovich Blavatsky, twenty years earlier, but left her husband immediately after the wedding. The following 25 years she spent traveling in Europe, Asia, North Africa and America. During this time, she met her spiritual teachers and masters.

From 1858-63 she was again in Russia and partly with her husband, then she took part in 1867 in Italy on the failed march of Garibaldi against Rome and was wounded in the battle with the troops of the Papal States. A few years later, after the death of her father, a spiritual master had given her the order to go to the USA, where she arrived almost penniless in 1874 and befriended in New York with Henry Steel Olcott, who was just about the attention of Esoteric people advertised and Blavatzky could use it well.

She became a close associate of Henry Olcott with stories of her travels and knowledge of various religious teachings and practices, such as Mahayana Buddhism or Coptic and Greek mysteries. In 1875, the Theosophical Society was founded in the home of Helene Blavatsky in New York, which had soon become a meeting place for the esoteric scene through her stagings of magic tricks . The Blavatsky ran a successful (and probably also costly and controlled by interested circles – otherwise we would all do the same) press work, through which they quickly gained supporters in the better company of New York.

The founding members of the TG were mostly writers and journalists who had their own experiences as Masons, parapsychologists, spiritualists and esotericists and therefore were familiar with every deception professionals and less good-faith audience. Henry Olcott planned a society of occultists who, with their study of purported secret sciences, would find worldwide access to influential circles.

As early as 1879, the headquarters of the TG was moved to Bombay in India, in 1882 finally to Adyar at Madras. In India and on Ceylon, the TG made strong competition for the Christian missionaries because it followed the traditions of Buddhism.

The Theosophical Society has several Buddhist schools in Ceylon, most notably Ananda College in Colombo, Dharmaraja College in Kandy, Mahinda College in Galle, and Maliyadeva College in Kurunegala. So Olcott acted as adviser to to the committee appointed to design a Buddhist flag in 1885. The Buddhist flag designed with the assistance of Olcott what later ADOPTED as a symbol by the World Fellowship of Buddhists and as the universal flag of all Buddhist traditions .

Wiki: Henry Steel Olcott

In England, the Society for Psychical Research was founded in 1884 , an organization consisting of well-known and influential British scientists, which initially devoted itself to the critical study of the paranormal phenomena propagated by the Blavatsky in the world press.

Back in 1884, the scams of HPB made headlines worldwide in the Coulomb affair . When Olcott and Blavatsky set out on a trip to Europe in February, during a dispute among supporters in Adyar, Blavatsky discovered hidden openings to a shrine in which HPB allegedly wrote “Masters of Wisdom” in front of a good-hearted audience. ” Meisterbriefe “suddenly had” appear “.

The British Society for Psychical Research immediately accused Blavatsky of cheating in their Hodgson Report . In September, an article appeared in this report in a well-known magazine of the Reformed Church in India, which badly damaged the TG’s reputation. The Blavatsky had to give up her position in the TG, but went in 1887 just to London, where she was able to found in 1887, the soon influential Blavatsky Lodge and the magazine Lucifer . In May 1891, she died in London, leaving her work to a friend with close ties to the Fabian Society.

Here you can find the writings of Blavatsky online (html or pdf):