Episode #66 – Who Was the Mother of the Occult? (Part I)

There are few stranger figures from the 19th century than Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. Her absolutely unbelievable life story has puzzled biographers since the 1800s. Nevertheless, her occult spiritual philosophy would end up being remarkably influential. Was Helena Blavatsky truly a modern sage gifted with improbable spiritual powers? Or, was she just another 19th century huckster duping the naive? Tune in and find out how Tartar Shamans, ghost boxes, and a magician who pretends to be Chinese all play a role in the story.

Works Cited

Blavatsky, H. P. Isis Unveiled: a Master-Key to the Mysteries of Ancient and Modern Science and Theology. Cambridge University Pres, 2012.

Blavatsky, H. P. The Secret Doctrine: the Synthesis of Science, Religion, and Philosophy. Theosophical University Press, 1977.

Cranston, Sylvia. The Extraordinary Life and Influence of Helena Blavatsky, Founder of the Modern Theosophical Movement. Putnam Book, 1993.

Johnson, K. Paul. Madame Blavatsky: the ‘Veiled Years’. Theosophical History Centre, 1987.

Johnson, K. Paul. The Masters Revealed: Madame Blavatsky and the Myth of the Great White Lodge. Sri Satguru Publications, 1997.

Lachman, Gary. Madame Blavatsky: the Mother of Modern Spirituality. Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin, 2012.

Meade, Marion. Madame Blavatsky: the Woman behind the Myth. Ereads, 2012.

Olcott, Henry Steel, and Henry Steel Olcott. Isis in America: the Classic Eyewitness Account of Madame Blavatsky’s Journey to America and the Occult Revolution She Ignited. Tarcher, 2014.

“Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research.” Internet Archive, The Library Shelf, archive.org/stream/proceedingssoci00britgoog#page/n215/mode/1up.

Sedgwick, Mark J. Against the Modern World: Traditionalism and the Secret Intellectual History of the Twentieth Century. Oxford University Press, 2011.

Sinnett, A. P., et al. The Mahatma Letters: to A.P. Sinnett from the Mahatmas M. & K.H. Theosophical Pub. House, 1979.

“The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism, Fraudulent and Genuine : Being a Brief Account of the Most Important Historical Phenomena, a Criticism of Their Evidential Value, and a Complete Exposition of the Methods Employed in Fraudulently Reproducing the Same.” Internet Archive, The Library Shelf, archive.org/stream/physicalphenomen00carr#page/192/mode/2up.