Theosophical Society,
H P Blavatsky
H P Blavatsky Meets W Q Judge 1874
An account by W Q judge in which he relates personal
experiences of H P Blavatsky’s unusual powers.
“My
first acquaintance with H. P. Blavatsky began in the winter of the year
1874.
She was then living in apartments in
would suddenly turn round and interject an
observation in English into a
discussion between other persons upon a different
topic to the one she was
engaged with. This never disturbed her, for she
at once returned to her Russian
talk, taking it up just where it had been dropped.
“Very
much was said on the first evening that arrested my attention and
enchained my imagination. I found my secret
thoughts read, my private affairs
known to her. Unasked, and certainly without any
possibility of her having
inquired about me, she referred to several
private and peculiar circumstances in
a way that showed at once that she had a perfect
knowledge of my family, my
history, my surroundings, and my idiosyncrasies.
On that first evening I brought
with me a friend, a perfect stranger to her. He was
a native of the
Islands, who was studying law in
marrying. But she carelessly told him, before we
left for home, that before six
months he would cross the continent of
stranger yet to him, that before all of this he
would marry. Of course, the idea
was pooh-poohed by him. Still fate was too much for
him. In a few months he was invited to fill an official position in his native
land, and before leaving for
that country he married a lady who was not in
was uttered.
“The
next day I thought I would try an experiment with Mme. Blavatsky. I took an ancient
scarabaeus that she had never seen,
had it wrapped up and sent to her
through the mails by a clerk in the employment
of a [Page 147] friend. My hand
did not touch the package, nor did I know where it
was posted. But when I called on her at the end of the week the second time,
she greeted me with thanks for the scarabaeus. I
pretended ignorance. But she said it was useless to pretend, and then informed
me how I had sent it, and where the clerk had posted it.
During
the time that elapsed between my seeing her and the sending of the
package no one had heard from me a word about
the matter.
“Very
soon after I met her, she moved to
her very often. In those rooms I used to hear the
raps in furniture, in glasses,
mirrors, windows, and walls, which are usually
the accompaniment of dark
'spiritist' séances. But with her
they occurred in the light, and never except
when ordered by her. Nor could they be induced to continue
once that she ordered them to stop. They exhibited intelligence also, and would
at her request change from weak to strong, or from many to few at a time.
“She
remained in
“After
she had comfortably settled herself in
was from morning till night surrounded by all sorts
of visitors, mysterious
events, extraordinary sights and sounds, continued to occur.
I have sat there
many an evening, and seen in broad gas light, large
luminous balls creeping over
the furniture, or playfully jumping from point to
point, while the most
beautiful liquid bell sounds now and again burst
out from the air of the room.
These
sounds often imitated either the piano or a gamut of sounds whistled by
either myself or some other person. While all this was
going on, H. P. Blavatsky sat unconcernedly reading or writing at Isis
Unveiled.
“It
should be remarked here that Madame. Blavatsky never exhibited either
hysteria or the slightest appearance of trance.
She was always in the full
possession of all her faculties — and apparently of
more than those of average
people — whenever she was producing any phenomena.
“In
the month of November or the beginning of December of the same winter, a
photograph was received from a correspondent at
size, laying it under a blotting-paper, placing her
hand upon it, and in a moment producing the copy demanded. Colonel Olcott took
possession of this picture, and laid it away in a book
that he was then reading, and which he took to bed with him. The next morning
the portrait had entirely faded out, and only the name, written in pencil, was
left. A week or two later, seeing this blank
card lying in Colonel Olcott's
room, I took it to Mme. Blavatsky, and requested
her to cause the portrait to reappear. Complying,
she again laid the card under
another sheet of paper, placed her hand upon it,
and presently the face of the
man had come back as before; this time indelibly
imprinted.
“In
the front room where she wrote, there was a bookcase that stood for some
time directly opposite her writing-desk. Upon its
top stood a stuffed owl, whose
glassy, never - closing eye frequently seemed to
follow your movements. Indeed, I could
relate things a propos of that same defunct bird, but — in the words of Jacolliot — ' We have seen things such as one does not
relate for fear of making his readers doubt his sanity. . . . Still we have
seen them.'
Well,
over the top of the doors of the bookcase was a blank space, about three
inches wide, and running the breadth of the case. One
evening we were sitting
talking of magic as usual, and of 'the
Brothers', when Madame said, 'Look at the
bookcase!'
“We
looked up at once, and as we did so, we could see appear, upon the blank
space I have described, several letters apparently in
gold, that came out upon
the surface of the wood. They covered nearly all of
the space. Examination
showed that they were in gold, and in a character that
I had often seen upon
some of her papers.
This
precipitation of messages or sentences occurred very frequently, and I will
relate one which took place under my own hand and
eyes, in such a way as to be unimpeachable for me.
“I
was one day, about
just been brought in by a friend of Colonel Olcott.
I was sitting some six feet
distant from H. P. Blavatsky, who was busy
writing. I had carefully read the
title-page of the book, but had forgotten the exact
title. But I knew that there
was not one word of writing upon it. As I began to
read the first paragraph I
heard a bell sound in the air, and looking saw that
Mme. Blavatsky was intently
regarding me.
“ 'What book do you read ? ' said she.
“Turning
back to the title-page, I was about to read aloud the name, when my eye was
arrested by a message written in ink across the top of the page which, a few minutes
before, I had looked at and found clear. It was a message in about seven lines,
and the fluid had not yet quite dried on the page — its contents were a warning
about the book. I am positive that when I took the volume in my hand,
not one word was written in it.
“On
one occasion the address of a business firm in
the purpose of sending a letter through the mail,
and no one present could remember the street or number, nor could any directory
of
found in the neighborhood. The business being very
urgent, it was proposed that one of us should go down nearly four miles to the
General Post Office, so as to see a
But
H. P. B. said: ' Wait a moment, and perhaps we can get the address some other
way.' She then waved her hand, and instantly we heard a signal bell in the air
over our heads. We expected no less than that a heavy directory would rush at
our heads from the empty space, but no such thing took place. She sat down,
took up a flat tin paper-cutter japanned black on both sides and without having
any painting on it. Holding this in her left hand, she gently stroked it with
her right, all the while looking at us with an intense expression. After she
had rubbed thus for a few moments, faint outlines of letters began to show
themselves upon the black, shining surface, and presently the complete
advertisement of the firm whose address we desired was plainly imprinted upon
the paper-cutter in gilt letters, just as they had had it done on slips of
blotting paper such as are widely distributed as advertising media in America —
a fact I afterwards found out. On a close examination, we saw that the street
and number, which were the doubtful points in our memories, were precipitated
with great brilliancy, the other words and figures being rather dimmer. Mme.
Blavatsky said that this was because the mind of the operator was directed
almost entirely to the street and number, so that their reproduction was
brought about with much greater distinctness than the rest of the advertisement,
which was, so to speak, dragged in in a rather
accidental way.
“About
any object that might be transported mysteriously around her room, or
that came into it through the air by supermundane means, there always lingered
for a greater or less space of time, a very
peculiar though pleasant odour. It
was not always the same. At one time it was
sandal-wood mixed with what I
thought was otto of
roses; at another time some unknown Eastern perfume, and
again it came like the incense burnt in temples.
“One
day she asked me if I would care to smell again the perfume. Upon my
replying affirmatively, she took my handkerchief
in her hand, held it for a few
moments, and when she gave it back to me it was
heavy with the well-known odour.
Then,
in order to show me that her hand was not covered with something that
would come off upon the handkerchief, she permitted
me to examine both hands. They were without perfume. But after I had convinced
myself that there was no perfumery or odoriferous objects concealed in her
hands, I found from one hand beginning to exhale one peculiar strong perfume,
while from the other there rolled out strong waves of the incense.
“On
the table at which Isis Unveiled was written stood a little Chinese cabinet
with many small drawers. A few of the drawers
contained some trifles, but there
were several that were always kept empty. The
cabinet was an ordinary one of its class, and repeated examination showed that
there were no devices or mechanical arrangements in it, or connected with it;
but many a time has one of those empty drawers become the vanishing point of
various articles, and as often, on the other hand, was the birthplace of some
object which had not before been seen in the rooms.
I
have often seen her put small coins or a ring or amulet, and have put things in
there myself, closed the drawer, almost instantly reopening it, and nothing was
visible. It had disappeared from sight Clever conjurers have been known to
produce such illusions, but they always require some confederacy, or else they
delude you into believing that they had put the object in, when in reality they
did not. With H. P. B. there was no preparation. I repeatedly examined the
cabinet, and positively say that there was no means by which things could be
dropped out of sight or out of the drawer ; it stood
on four small legs, elevated about two inches above the desk, which was quite
clear and unbroken underneath. Several times I have seen her put a ring into
one of the drawers and then leave the room. I then looked in the drawer, saw
the ring in it, and closed it again. She then returned, and without coming near
the cabinet showed me the same ring on her finger. I then looked again in the drawer
before she again came near it, and the ring was gone.
“One
day Mrs Elizabeth Thompson, the philanthropist, who
had a great regard for H. P. B., called to see her. I was present. When about
to leave, the visitor
asked Madame to lend her some object which she had
worn, as a reminder and as a talisman. The request being acceded to, the choice
was left to the lady, who
hesitated a moment; Madame then said, ' Take this
ring,' immediately drawing it
off and handing it to her friend, who placed it
upon her finger, absorbed in
admiring the stones. But I was looking at H. P. B.'s fingers, and saw that the
ring was yet on her hand. Hardly believing my eyes,
I looked at the other. There
was no mistake. There were now two rings; but the
lady did not observe this, and went off satisfied she had the right one. In a
few days she returned it to
Madame,
who then told me that one of the rings was an illusion, leaving it to me
to guess which one. I could not decide, for she
pushed the returned ring up
along her finger against the old one, and both merged
into one.
“One
evening several persons were present after dinner, all, of course, talking
about theosophy and occultism. H. P. B. was sitting
at her desk. While we were
all engaged in conversation somebody said that he
heard music, and went out into the hall where he thought it came from. While he
was examining the hall, the
person sitting near the fireplace said that instead of
being in the hall, the
music, which was that of a musical box, was playing
up in the chimney. The
gentleman who had gone into the passage then
returned and said that he had lost
the music, but at once was thoroughly amazed to
find us all listening at the
fireplace, when he in turn heard the music
plainly. Just as he began to listen,
the music floated out into the room, and very
distinctly finished the tune in the air over our heads. I have on various occasions
heard this music in many ways, and always when there was not any instrument to
produce it.
“On
this evening, a little while after the music, Madame opened one of the
drawers of the Chinese cabinet and took from it
an Oriental necklace of curious beads. This she gave to a lady present. One of
the gentlemen allowed to escape him an expression of
regret that he had not received such a testimonial.
Thereupon
H. P. B. reached over and grasped one of the beads of the
necklace which the lady was still holding in her
hands, and the bead at once
came off in Madame's hand. She then passed it to the
gentleman, who exclaimed
that it was not merely a bead but was now a
breast-pin, as there was a gold pin
fastened securely in it. The necklace meanwhile
remained intact, and its
recipient was examining it in wonder that one of
its beads could have been thus
pulled off without breaking it.
“I
have heard it said that when H. P. B. was a young woman, after coming back to her
family for the first time in many years, everyone in her company was amazed and
affrighted to see material objects such as cups, books, her tobacco pouch and
match-box, and so forth, come flying through the air into her hand, merely when
she gazed intently at them. The stories of her early days can be readily credited
by those who saw similar things done at the
Such
aerial flights were many times performed by objects at her command in my
presence. One evening I was in a hurry to copy a drawing
I had made, and looked about on the table for a paper-cutter with which to rub
the back of the drawing so as to transfer the surplus carbon to a clean sheet.
“As
I searched, it was suggested by someone that the round smooth back of a
spoon bowl would be the best means, and I arose to go
to the kitchen at the end
of the hall for a spoon. But Mme. Blavatsky said,
'Stop, you need not go there;
wait a moment.' I stopped at the door, and she,
sitting in her chair, held up
her left hand. At that instant a large table-spoon
flew through the air across
the room from out of the opposite wall and into her
hand. No one was there to
throw it to her, and the dining-room from which it
had been transported was
about thirty feet distant; two brick walls separating
it from the front room.
“In
the next room — the wall between being solid — there hung near the window a
water-color portrait in a frame with glass. I had just gone into
that room and looked at the picture. No one was in
the room but myself, and no
one went there afterwards until I returned there.
When I came into the place
where H. P. B. was sitting, and after I had been
sitting down a few moments, she
took up a piece of paper and wrote upon it a few
words, handing it over to me to put away without looking at it. This I did. She
then asked me to return to the
other room. I went there, and at once saw that the
picture which, a few moments
before, I had looked at, had in some way been either
moved or broken. On
examining it I found that the glass was smashed,
and that the securely fastened
back had been opened, allowing the picture within to
fall to the floor. Looking
down I saw it lying there. Going back to the other
room I opened and read what
had been written on the slip of paper, it was :—
“ ' The picture of ------ in the dining-room has
just been opened; the glass is
smashed and the painting is on the floor.'
“One
day, while she was talking with me, she suddenly stopped and said,
'So-and-so
is now talking of me to -----, and says, etc.' I made a note of the
hour, and on the first opportunity discovered that
she had actually heard the
person named saying just what she told me had been
said at the very time noted.
“My
office was at least three miles away from her rooms”: One day, at about 2
P.M.,
I was sitting in my office engaged in reading a legal document, my mind
intent on the subject of the paper. No one else was in
the office, and in fact
the nearest room was separated from me by a wide
opening, or well, in the
building,
made to let light into the inner chambers. Suddenly I felt on my hand
a peculiar tingling sensation that always
preceded any strange thing to happen
in the presence of H. P. B., and at that moment
there fell from the ceiling upon
the edge of my desk, and from there to the floor, a
triangularly-folded note
from Madame to myself. It was written upon the clean
back of a printed Jain
sutra or text. The message was in her handwriting, and
was addressed to me in her writing across the printed face.
“I
remember one phenomenon in connection with the making of a water-color
drawing of an Egyptian subject for her, which
also illustrates what the
Spiritualists
call apport, or the bringing phenomenally of objects
from some
distant place. I was in want of certain dry
colors which she could not furnish
me from her collection, and as the drawing must be
finished at that sitting, and
there was no shop nearby where I could purchase them,
it seemed a dilemma until she stepped towards the cottage piano, and, holding
up the skirt of her robe de chambre with both hands,
received into it seventeen bottles of Winsor &
Newton dry colors, among them those I required. I still wanted some gold-paint,
so she caused me to bring her a saucer from the dining-room, and to give her
the brass key of the door. She rubbed the key upon the bottom of the saucer for
a minute or two, and then, returning them to me, I found a supply of the paint
I required coating the porcelain.”
I
should hardly venture to communicate the foregoing narrative to the public if
it were not for the obvious impossibility, in
editing memoirs of Mme. Blavatsky,
of keeping the various experiences recorded of her
within the limits of that which is generally held to be credible. Certainly no
one person of those who have had opportunities of observing the phenomena
occurring in her presence could hope to be regarded by the world at large as
both sane and truthful in relating his experience. But fortified as each
witness is in turn by the testimony of all the others, the situation must be recognised as involving difficulties for critics who
contend that one and all, near relations, old friends, casual acquaintances, or
intimates of her later years, are all possessed with a mania for trumping up
fictitious stories about Mme. Blavatsky, or all in different parts of the
world, and at widely different periods, sharing in an epidemic hallucination in
regard to her, while in no other respects exhibiting abnormal conditions of
mind.
The
first incident during her stay in
attention of the newspapers to Mme. Blavatsky was
the death and cremation, under the auspices of the Theosophical Society, of an
eccentric personage known in
The
newspapers credited the Society with having acquired great wealth by seducing the
sympathies of this guileless millionaire, when in reality his effects did not
meet the cost of the ceremonies connected with burning his body. However, the
Society and Mme. Blavatsky suddenly sprang into local notoriety.
“Fancy
my surprise . . .” she wrote about this time to her sister.
“I
am — heaven help us ! — becoming fashionable, as it
seems I am writing
articles on Esotericism and Nirvana, and paid for
them more than I could have
ever expected, though I have hardly any time for
writing for money. . . .
Believe
me, and you will, for you know me, I cannot make myself realize that I
have ever been able to write decently. ... If I were
unknown, no publisher or
editor would have ever paid any attention to me. . . .
It's all vanity and
fashion. . . . Luckily for the publishers, I
have never been vain.”
In
the course of another family letter she writes: —
“Upon
my word, I can hardly understand why you and people generally should make such
a fuss over my writings, whether Russian or English! True, during the long
years of my absence from home, I have constantly studied and have learned
certain things. But when I wrote "/sis", I wrote it so easily that it
was certainly no labor, but a real pleasure. Why should I be praised for it?
Whenever
I am told to write, I sit down and obey, and then I can write easily
upon almost anything — metaphysics, psychology,
philosophy, ancient religions, zoology, natural sciences, or what not. I never
put myself the question: ' Can I write on this subject? . . .' or, ' Am I equal
to the task ?' but I simply sit
down and write. Why ? Because somebody who knows all dictates to me. . . . My MASTER,
and occasionally others whom I knew in my travels years ago. . .
Please
do not imagine that I have lost my senses. I have hinted to you before
now
about them . . . and I tell you candidly, that whenever I write upon a subject
I know little or nothing of, I address myself to Them, and one of Them inspires
me, i.e. He allows me to simply copy what I write from manuscripts, and even
printed matter that pass before my eyes, in the air, during which process I have
never been unconscious one single instant. ... It is that knowledge of His protection
and faith in His power that have enabled me to become mentally and spiritually
so strong . . . and even He (the Master) is not always required; for, during
His absence on some other occupation, He awakens in me His substitute in
knowledge. At such times it is no more / who write, but my inner Ego, my '
luminous self,' who thinks and writes for me. Only see . . . you who know me.
When was I ever so learned as to write such things? .
. . Whence all this knowledge? . . .”
On
another occasion again she wrote also to her sister: —
“You
may disbelieve me, but I tell you that in saying this I speak but the truth; I
am solely occupied, not with writing
For
several years, in order not to forget what I have learned elsewhere, I have
been made to have permanently before my eyes all that I need to see. Thus night
and day, the images of the past are ever marshaled before my inner eye. Slowly,
and gliding silently like images in an enchanted panorama, centuries after
centuries appear before me, . . . and I am made to connect these epochs with
certain historical events, and I know there can be no mistake. Races and
nations, countries and cities, emerge during some former century, then fade out
and disappear during some other one, the precise date of which I am then told
by ... Hoary antiquity gives room to historical periods; myths are explained by
real events and personages who have really existed ; and every important, and
often unimportant event, every revolution, a new leaf turned in the book of life
of nations — with its incipient course and subsequent natural results — remains
photographed in my mind as though impressed in indelible colours.
. . .
When
I think and watch my thoughts, they appear to me as though they were like those
little bits of wood of various shapes and colors in the game known as the casse tête: I pick them up one by
one, and try to make them fit each other, first taking one, then putting it
aside, until I find its match, and finally there always comes out in the end
something geometrically correct. ... I certainly refuse point-blank to
attribute it to my own knowledge or memory, for I could never arrive alone at
either such premises or conclusions. ... I tell you seriously I am helped. And
He who helps me is my GURU. . . .”
As
belonging to the period of Mme. Blavatsky's residence in America, mention may here
be made of a remarkable incident with which she was closely concerned, though
it was not accomplished by the exercise of her own abnormal powers.
Prince
Emile Wittgenstein, a Russian officer, and an old friend who had known
her from childhood, was in correspondence with her
at the time of the formation
of the Theosophical Society. In consequence of
certain warnings addressed to him at spiritual seances
concerning fatalities which would menace him if he took
part in the war on the
specially taken care of during the campaign, and
that the spiritualistic warning
would be confuted. The course of subsequent events
will best be described by the quotation of a letter afterwards addressed by the
Prince to an English journal
devoted to spiritualism. This was as follows: —
“ TO THE EDITOR OF THE ' SPIRITUALIST'.
“Allow
me, for the sake of those who believe in spirit predictions, to tell
you a story about incidents which happened to me
last year, and about which I,
for months past, have wished to talk to you, without,
till now, finding time
to do so. The narrative may perhaps be a warning
to some of the too credulous
persons
to whom every medial message is a gospel, and who too often accept as true what
are perhaps the lies of some light spirit, or even the reflection of
their own thoughts or wishes. I believe that the fulfilment of a prediction is
such an exceptional thing that in general one ought
to set no faith in such
prophecies, but should avoid them as much as
possible, lest they have undue
influence upon our mind, faith, and free-will.
“A
year and some months ago, while getting ready to join our army on the
kind friend of mine and a powerful medium in
anxious words, not to go to the war — a spirit
had predicted that the campaign
would be fatal to me, and having ordered my
correspondent to write to me the
following words, ' Beware of the war saddle ! It
will be your death, or worse still!'
“I
confess that these reiterated warnings were not agreeable, especially when
received at the moment of starting upon such a
journey; but I forced myself to
disbelieve them. My cousin, the Baroness Adelina von Vay, to whom I had
written about the matter, encouraged me in doing
so, and I started.
“Now
it seems that this prediction became known also to some of my
theosophical friends at
their utmost to make it of no avail. And especially
one of the leading brethren of the Society, and residing far away from
“The
fact is, that during the whole campaign, I did not see one shot explode
near me, and that, so far as danger was concerned, I
could just as well have
remained at Vevey. I
was quite ashamed of myself, and sought occasion now and then, to hear at least
once the familiar roar and whistle which, in my younger
years, were such usual music to me. All in vain I
Whenever I was near a scene
of action, the enemy's fire ceased. I remember
having once, during the third
bloody storming of Plevna,
with my friend, your Colonel Wellesley, stolen away
from the Emperor's staff, in order to ride down to a
battery of ours which was
exchanging a tremendous fire with the redoubt of Grivitsa. As soon as we,
after abandoning our horses further back in the
brushwood, arrived at the
battery, the Turkish fire ceased as by
enchantment, to begin again only when
we left it half-an-hour later, although our guns
kept on blazing away at them
without interruption. I also tried twice to see
some of the bombarding of
Guirgiewo, where all the windows were broken, doors
torn out, roofs broken
down at the Railway Station by the daily firing from
Rustchuk. I stopped there
once a whole night, and another time half a day,
always in the hope of seeing
something. As long as I was there, the scene was
quiet as in the times of
peace, and the firing recommenced as soon as I had
left the place. Some days
after
my last visit to Guirgiewo, Colonel Wellesley passed
it, and had part of his luggage destroyed by a shell, which, breaking through
the roof into the gallery, tore to pieces two soldiers who were standing near.
"I
cannot believe all this to be the sole result of chance. It was too regular,
too positive to be explained thus. It is, I am sure of it, magic — the more so
as the person who protected me thus efficaciously is one of the most powerful
masters of the occult science professed by the theosophists. I can relate, by
way of contrast, the following fact, which happened during the war on the
The
result of this was that he exposed himself openly, madly, to the enemy's
fire, till at last a shot tore off his leg, and he
died some weeks later. This
is the faith we ought to have in predictions, and
I hope my narrative may be
welcome to you, as a warning to many.—
Truly yours,
“(PRINCE) E. WITTGENSTEIN
(F.T.S.).
“
Apart
from the intrinsic interest of this narrative it is important as showing
definitely — what indeed is notorious for all who
knew Mme. Blavatsky at the
period to which it refers — that she had already,
while the Theosophical Society
was still in its infancy in
whom she has been so absurdly accused by her recent
critics of inventing at a
far later date.
Theosophical Society,