Occult guru Helena Blavatsky lived a life that defied explanation. However, her books might be even harder to explain. Isis Unveiled and The Secret Doctrine are massive collections of esoteric thought that defy description. Her supporters have hailed these unruly tomes as landmarks of modern spiritual philosophy. Her critics have called them impenetrable, pseudo-scientific, and racist. What should we make of Blavatsky’s unorthodox and often problematic ideas? Tune in and find out how materialized tea cups, the wisdom of the gods, and everyone’s favourite lost continent 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.