Helena Blavatsky, Psychic Pioneer
Thrilling History of a Woman IIV/o for Many Years
Mystified Scientists and Occultists All Cher the World
IX the last century :ir. >se a woman,
turned aside from worn out
sources of excitement, and
111:, y.^ fj n<»Ti- Tr^i intn -i -n^«-
■
■ -
grew
I
■
■
.!■ ■ .
Helena Blavatsky.
by stepping into the
as yet almost whol
ly unexplored world
of psychic phenom
ena, succeeded in
living a life of sixty
years in which t here
was not one dull
moment. The true
and disinterested
lover of risk and
excitement must
feel a bitter envy in
reading the life of
Madam Blavatsky.
She had more than
her share; with ev
ery 1 ireal h she drew
she lived through a
crisis in her life —
which most of us
can manage only
two or three times.
Her worshipers
insist that she was
animated solely by
a love of humanity
and a pure desire lo
give it a new and
true religion. lie:
detractors cry that
she was a cheap im
postor, dealing in
coarse tricks of jug-
Blery to deceive
her credulous disci
r Long before her
special and wonder
ful powers as a sol
dier of fortune in
the world of the un
seen were devel
oped, she showed
the same craving
fir ri>k and excite
ment that she later
grew to be able tv
satisfy m so com
plete a manner. She
was Ixtrn, in I S3 1,
in Kur-sia. a daugh-
New Y.rk Vt'a. A>l..undcd
ter .»: a family 01 good though not noble descent. A
wild, undisciplined girl, fond of dark corners and
paroxysms of adventurous exploits, she was the
despair of her family. She rude any horse on a man's
saddle, and defied any and all orders or requests
with dashing and unfailing rebellion, keeping her
family in the wildest turmoil of apprehension <>f her
Dext crazy notion. But more than this, she sur
rounded herself constantly with a throng <>f invisible
companions^ playfellows or frightful enemies; until
she frightened the younger children almost into con
vulsions. She insisted that everything had a per
sonality, even to her shoes and chest of drawers,
some kindly, some terrifying. She disappeared at
times wholly, and could be found only after lung
search in out of the way, remote locality, and she
bad a strange power over birds and animals.
Of course, like all imaginative children, she made
up "pretend" playmates, many and diverse, and
was often found talking and playing with them.
One such vision of early childhood she claimed to
have met in later life, and to have known him as
though she had been brought up with him. At
Seventeen she married a man old enough to be her
grandfather, because her governess laid her a wager
that she couldn't make him propose — another
striking proof of the sporting instinct carried to the
»:th power. After three months of the cat and dog
battle that would naturally result from such a
marriage, she ran away from her husband, her
family, her country, and for ten years indulged to
its fullest extent her passion for adventure by
world wide wanderings.
Her father supplied her with money; and there
fire a few hints to be gained through his connection
with her. We see her in Paris, arousing the enthu
siasm of an old mesmerist^ who sees in her the pos
sibility of great devel< ipinent as a medium . we catch
:i sziiirmse of her in London; we see her rushing to
By DOROTHY CANFIELD
■ try to meet a real J Fei
r Indian, and 1
■
Ne. 1 . < Orleans and studyii
I iert s in 1
Texas to Mexico Vbout 1
reived a large legacy from a godmother,
which she dissipated in a short time, throw
ing the money, as she always did when she
had any. to the winds with both hands. She
thought that she had bought some large
tracts of land in America, but soon forgot
where they were located, and thought no
more of them, as the project of going to
India to study the Oriental mystic science
took possession of her.
Around the ("ape she went to Ceylon, and
thence to Bombay. It is to be remembered
that all this took place in 155.;. when globe
trotting was not the domestic pastime it
has since become. For the first time, just
before this expedition, she joined forces with
other.-, and went with two companions", an
English occultist nd a Hindu adept in oc
cult science; but the party broke up soon
after their arrival in India, in the complete
inharmony which always followed Madam
Hlavatsky's attempt at cooperation. She
left India and returned to England; thence
to New York and to Chicago; at that time
the crudest of Western boom cities. There
were no railways to the far West, a circum
stance which allured one of her tempera
ment, and she made the trip to San Fran
cisco in an emigrant's caravan.
A Himalayan Retreat
FROM there she went back again to India;
where she was lost tosight for two year.-,
during which she always said she was making
a " Himalayan retreat " and laying the foun
dations for her system of philosophy. l!
1 SSS, when she returned to Russia, the world
knew of her. Vaguely, with curious, distorted
versions, the story of her eccentric wander
ings and strange powers began to be known.
For ten or twelve years she lived with
various members of her family in Russia
and in the Caucasus Mountains. During
this time her remarkable powers as a me
dium showed themselves more and more
clearly. No disinterested person, reading
of the psychic phenomena which took place
about her, can doubt that she had strange
]>o\vcr.s in this direction, any more than he
can doubt the intense delight she took in
exercising them to the mystification of her
observers, a passion which grew upon her
as the years passed; until there can be little
doubt of the fact that when she failed t<> control
these powei . or they were not complete enough to
satisfy her, she pieced them out with various tricks
and devices.
For a period of years she lived thus, reveling in
the excitement produced by her gifts as a medium.
There ivas not one of the familiar phenomena which
she did not spring on her amazed and long suffering
family; who, unless ■ ley shared her sublimely robust
taste for excitement, must have grown heartily
weary of so disconcerting a visitor She surrounded
the most simple operations of every day life with
mystery. Arm chairs glided about like house cats.
Tables became alternately as light as a feather or
impossible to move, according as she could most
thoroughly dismay her skeptical brother, an I she
played pranks on her father, a rugged old unbeliever
in the • cult. until he frightened the poor man into
the most abject credulity.
Involved with the Police
OXCE indeed she nearly involved the whole family
in an alarming fracas with the police, by her
suspiciously complete knowledge of the details of a
murder which had been committed near them The
hard hearted police officials pooh-poohed at the i lea
of supernatural power , and Colonel Halm (Ulavat
sky's father) had all the difficulty in the world to as
sure them that there was no foul play in the matter.
When family life grew dull, Helena would liven
things with a few phenomena calculated to drive
any housekeeper mad. She waved her hand, and all
the lamps and candles in the room went out, md in
the ensuing darkness her invisible forces turned all
the furniture topsyturvy, even the heavy sideboard.
It is related to her credit thai this was "gently done
so that none of the carving was injured; but it is
not stated thai she set them up on their feel again
or lighted the lights. < hie imagines it difficult to
iter life.
\' ■ >f change felt the need >i
1
a her launched upon
tuou -1 gratefully prodi
I lie HinJu, W.r,h,[>cd Her
tan Yet : .':.
: ' ■ '. > •'..••. well know n man ••;
llant ex-soldier in the Civil War. refined
iiiii .i pron linen! figui e in the
of New Yi>r* intellectual ■•■.<■'■, From that time
of hei deal h, he lived •>n tei i
pectfu . ntn >t to say venerating, intimacy
..! failed to regard her as a Heaven
seni ' • pure and uplifting spiritual
■ ng humanil y. 1; is notewori hy ■•:
the [>ateni purity ol theii that, in ;
: daily life ■ ■>-
. I n ii! ';.•■; andal .il« >ut
nor indeed ever ibout Madam Blavatsky,
nding the unazing amount of talk which
and th<
life
\\ ■'■ i ' ■]■ >nel 0 ■ the Theoso]
Society in 1875, in \ew York, after .1 lamei
•of a beginning heh id made in Cairo a few years
before At this time ;he was immensely talked oi
Amerii an pre ■ lories thai are told
i>!" her remarkable p ■ powei ■ are startling
All during the •<■■ ■>n I half of hi :
day feat s, or ti i< i. >, •>r illusion ■ « hate\ •■:
one may choose to ( 1 >und incredible.
I■ . time to time ihe wa exposed in some
ng "i ecret cabim
and tin- like; bui
tinued to do ■' seemed imp
fraud People who did not belit
1 .on tant ly !• >reed to amazement
by hei
'< >m- skeptic v. as told to
: In a tuffy little room in a city rl
I for a fresh plucked rose; and, looking up,
saw one d< yard him, .ill dew\
He put i( in his buttonhole, where it wilted md died
like any rose, and he ;tl vay ke|>t the le y c
souvenir. An ' ■• ■■ ' :: -i-'
5
keep housemaids under such condi
tions. Some of the phenomena soun 1
he cheapest of claptrap medium
tricks, and others foreshadow
powers
■ >f tempe 1
had ki
next twenty •.
the last of hei
are a veritable
■ .jit' 1>! •
■
imaginable va
■
ell withi hi
■
were throwing
■ •
i
Olcot
■
■
:
■
■
■
ing up
fer\'id ■
■
■
. I
.
■' i
ten aining 1 harla