Theosophical Society,
THE
LIFE OF
H P Blavatsky
The Late Madame Blavatsky.
Her Life as a Theosophist.
An
Interview with Colonel Henry S. Olcott originally published in The Daily
Telegraph of
In
the course of a conversation with a representative of The Daily Telegraph
yesterday Colonel Olcott gave the following interesting particulars of the
career of Madame Blavatsky, whose death in London has been reported by
cable:---
"I
met her," said the Colonel, "in the course of my investigations into
the Eddy homestead spiritual phenomena in
"I
found her to be in every way the most remarkable personage I had ever met in
the course of a busy public life. Her
brain seemed to be a mine of queer erudition.
I assisted her in the writing of her first great work Isis Unveiled,
which occupied her for two years, and which all will concede to be amongst the
most remarkable literary monuments of our generation, whatever people may thing
of the ideas taught. Madame Blavatsky
had no literary training. In fact, her
aunt, of whom I asked information in this respect, wrote me that when she last
saw her niece, about five years before, she had displayed not even a tittle of learning upon the different subjects which I reported
to her that her niece was then engaged upon.
Her aunt could offer no theory about it, except that in some
unaccountable way her niece had become, so to speak, inspired, like the
apostles. However, I can testify that I
saw her working on this book for two years, giving hundreds of quotations and
footnote references to authorities, and she had only a working library of some
20 or 30 books, almost without exception my own property. That brain power has been increasingly
manifested ever since, and notwithstanding extreme bad health during a great
part of the time. In 1885 she was
thought to be at the point of death, and her physicians at
"Since
1885 she has produced The Secret Doctrine, in two volumes, about 1500 pages,
treating upon the most abstruse questions in philosophy and metaphysics; also
The Key to Theosophy, in question and answer form; Gems from the East, a
collection of ethical aphorisms; The Voice of the Silence, a very remarkable
little work of the same character. She
founded and has been editing Lucifer, a monthly magazine, and editing a French
review published at
"Now,
it should be known that her work has been of an unselfish character. She has given the profits of her
publications towards the support of the society, and of course, like myself,
has worked without any salary or emolument of any kind whatever. She was a woman of most intense nature,
possessing powerful combative temperament.
She was one of those persons who make bitter enemies and devoted
friends. Most disgusting attacks have
been made upon her character from time to time, among other charges being that
of immorality. In point of fact, she was
absolutely devoid of the feeling of sex, and no one
who ever lived with her for 24 hours would ever dream of suspecting the purity
of her life and motive. Mme. Blavatsky
was not always accurate or methodical in her writing or thinking. Her brain was a sort of perpetual seething
volcano of ideas, and when she started upon a topic it seemed as though there
were a rush of other ideas from all sides that had been evoked by the original
thought, and which she tried, as it were, to grasp and to weave into her
paragraphs. The result is that her works
will always stand out rather as disjointed and fragmentary encyclopaedias,
as it were, than anything else. Her works,
however, embody immense power. She was a
most brilliant writer in three languages.
You know what she can do in English; well, in French and Russian she is
even more brilliant."
"To
give you an idea of her personal influence, I may say that within the
membership of the society there are included a large number of persons of a
decidedly mystical turn of mind, who wanted personal teaching or guidance. Now, my function in the society is that of organiser, practical director, and I have not the time,
even if I had the capacity, to undertake the role of a teacher. But my colleague, despite the crushing nature
of her current duties, consented to take up this fresh labor, and as I gave my
official consent an esoteric section was formed of would-be pupils, who pledged
themselves as such to Mme. Blavatsky, and they have received instruction from
time to time. This body numbers over 1000, and these are persons in most instances of high
educational attainments, and among them there are many professional men, such
as physicians, who consulted her in regard to obscure problems of human
life."
"Though
as dissimilar as possible in temperaments and bent of mind, yet Mme. Blavatsky
and I always worked together in perfect good understanding. Long before we left
"Mme.
Blavatsky's death is, of course, irreparable, for no one possesses her peculiar
knowledge of Oriental occultism---except, of course, her own teachers, who are
not accessible to the general public.
But this society will not be shaken in the least by her decease, nor
would it be by mine. It has gained a
position and is now an entity, with a strong indwelling vitality."
"As regards my plans? Well, I can only say that I have made none as
yet beyond relinquishing my
Theosophical Society,