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 MADAME BLAVATSKY 
 
BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
 THE INFLUENCE OF BUDDHISM ON 
 PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 Crown Svo, Cloth^ 2s. 6d. 
 
 " Mr. Lillie's contentions are set forth with much ability and ingenuity, and in 
 a compact form that enables them to be weighed and examined by the popular 
 mind, to which, more than to the learned, they are addressed."— ^^^/j-waw. 
 
 " The learning which Mr. Lillie arrays in support of this conclusion is imposing 
 and ingenious." — The Times. 
 
 "The astonishing points of contact (ressemblances etonnantes) between the 
 popular legend of Buddha and that of Christ, the almost absolute similarity of the 
 moral lessons given to the world, at five centuries' interval, by these two peerless 
 teachers of the human race, the striking affinities between the customs of the 
 Buddhists and of the Essenes, of whom Christ must have been a disciple, . . , 
 suggest at once an Indian origin to Primitive Christianity." — (Professor Leon de 
 Rosny, in a digest of Mr. Lillie's work in the XXe Siecle.) 
 
 ALSO, 
 
 MODERN MYSTICS AND MODERN MAGIC. 
 
 Crozun Svo, Cloth, 6s. 
 
 Containing a full Biography of the Rev. W. Stainton Moses, together with Sketches 
 of Swedenborg, Boehme, Madame Guyon, the Illuminati, the Kabalists, 
 the Theosophists, the French Spiritists, the Society of Psychical Research. 
 
 " An interesting biographical notice of Stainton Moses, whose acquaintance Mr. 
 Lillie had the good fortune to make very early in his career. Mr. Lillie has 
 gathered pretty much all that has at present transpired in relation to his life and 
 experience, and has put the whole together in a very readable form." — Light, 
 
 " Covers a very wide field." — Borderland. 
 
 "Will serve as a most convenient book of reference to some of the chief schools 
 of occult thought." — Shafts. 
 
 SWAN SONNENSCHEIN & CO., LONDON. 
 
MADAME BLAVATSKY 
 
 AND 
 
 HER "THEOSOPHY" 
 
 A STUDY 
 
 BY 
 
 ARTHUR J^LLIE 
 
 Author of ''Modern Mystics and Modern Ma^ic," " Tlie Influence 
 of Buddhism on Primitive Christianity," etc. 
 
 If there are no Mahatmas, the Theosophical Society is an absurdity."— Mrs. 
 Besant [Ltccifer, December 15th, 1890) 
 
 LONDON 
 
 SWAN SONNENSCHEIN & CO. 
 
 1895 
 
PREFACE 
 
 In the Revue des Deux Mondes for July, 1888, Mr. Emile Burnouf, the 
 eminent Sanskrit scholar, has an article entitled Le Boudd/usme en 
 Oeczde?tt, which deals in flattering terms with Madame Blavatsky's 
 "theosophy." 
 
 " This creed," he says, " has grown with astounding rapidity. In 
 1876, the Theosophical Society had but one branch. It had 104 in 
 1884, 121 in 1885, 134 in 1886, to-day it has 158. The branch in Paris 
 dates from last year. Of the 134 centres, 96 are in India. The others 
 are spread over the globe, in Ceylon, in Burmah, Australia, Africa^ in 
 the United States, in England, Scotland, Ireland, in Greece, in Ger- 
 many, in France. The French ' Society of Isis,' though recent, 
 possesses many distinguished names (p. 368)." 
 
 But since this article appeared in the leading review of Europe the 
 progress of the society has been still more remarkable if we may trust 
 the list of " charters " published in the Theosophist for December, 
 1891. In 1888 the society had 179 centres. In 1890 it had 241 centres. 
 In 1891 it had 279 branch societies. 
 
 This is a great success ; and it is to be confessed that in other coun- 
 tries besides France " distinguished names" are quoted in connection 
 with the society. Messrs. Crookes, Myers, and Gurney took an in- 
 terest in it. Mr. Edward Mainland, a man of genius, the author of 
 the *' Pilgrim and the Shrine," joined it, together with Mr. Sinnett 
 and Dr. Hartmann, able writers. Professor Max Miiller has given 
 advice to Colonel Olcott on the subject of Oriental translations, and 
 borne testimony to the good work that in that direction "theosophy" 
 has accomplished. And Mr. Gladstone has done this " substitute for 
 a religion " the signal honour of giving it and Mrs. Besant, its chief, a 
 long theological article in the Nmeteentk Century, that waxwork 
 gallery of the notabilities of the hour. 
 
vi Preface. 
 
 But a more important conquest was made. Mrs. Besant is a woman 
 of singular integrity and ability. She has brought to the rescue of the 
 society her unrivalled platform eloquence. To show how important 
 theosophy is growing, I think I cannot do better than quote from the 
 Daily Chronicle of April 7th, 1894, an account of an intendew with 
 this lady on her return from India. 
 
 " Late on Thursday evening Mrs. Besant reached her home at Avenue 
 Road, Regent's Park, after nearly five months' lecturing tour in India 
 and Ceylon, where she has been expounding to the Buddhists their 
 own faith. The gift of lucid speech, which has placed Mrs. Besant in 
 the front rank of women orators, has made her reception amongst all 
 classes of people in India one of enthusiastic appreciation. Triumphal 
 arches, unceasing garlanding, and incessant rose-sprinkling have 
 attended her journeyings about. The people have heard her gladly, 
 and priests and philosophers have literally sat at her feet. At Adyar, 
 for many days in succession, she sat in the hall receiving and answer- 
 ing questions. She has aroused the leaders of Indian society to 
 an interest in their ancient institutions and religion never before 
 manifested. 
 
 " Shortly after her arrival yesterday morning she was kind enough/' 
 says a Chronicle interviewer, " to give me an audience. I found her 
 seated in her study, looking very picturesque in a simple Tussore 
 dress, with an Indian shawl arranged gracefully over one shoulder and 
 around her waist. An Indian servant, in native head-dress, was in 
 attendance. Mrs. Besant's hair is now silvery white, and her face has 
 a fuller contour than of yore, and a deeper and more introspective 
 expression. 
 " ' Would you explain the object of your Indian tour, Mrs. Besant ? ' 
 " ' I have travelled on behalf of the Theosophical Society, and in 
 company with its president, Colonel Olcott. All the arrangements 
 were made by the Indian section of the society. My object has been 
 to show to the Hindus that theosophy is identical with the teachings 
 of their own scriptures, and that Madame Blavatsky had the special 
 mission of bringing back to India the knowledge which it had itself 
 lost, and then of spreading that knowledge through the world. Her 
 claim, which I have supported, was that theosophy was the underlying 
 
Preface. vil 
 
 truth of every religion, and that the ancient Hindu scriptures contained 
 the fullest presentment ever made public. I have endeavoured to 
 justify that position in India by proving every point of theosophical 
 teaching by quotations from the Hindu scriptures. 
 
 " ' In towns where the population was mixed in faith, I used the 
 scriptures of the Parsees, Christians, and Mohammedans, and in 
 Ceylon, where the population was Buddhist, I used the Buddhist 
 scriptures. The enormous majority of my lectures were delivered to 
 almost entirely Hindu audiences. I confined myself to the Hindu 
 scriptures, and in all cases I stated that I regarded those scriptures 
 and the Hindu religion as the origin of all other scriptures and all 
 other religions. This was the position learned from Madame Blavat- 
 sky, and which I have held since I joined the Theosophical Society.' 
 
 " ' How was your teaching received by the people of India ? ' 
 
 " ' Everywhere I met with enthusiastic receptions. The Pundits, or 
 spiritual teachers, gave me the warmest welcome, and continually ex- 
 pressed their extreme pleasure at this justification of Hinduism before 
 the world, as the source of all great religions and philosophies.' 
 
 " ' Did they not seek to test your knowledge, Mrs. Besant ?' 
 
 " ' Yes ; the learned Brahmins would come to me with obscure pas- 
 sages and allegories from the sacred writings, asking for interpretation. 
 My answers were based upon the teachings which I have myself 
 received from my Master, one of the great Eastern teachers, to whom 
 I was led by Madame Blavatsky. It is this teaching which enabled 
 me to deal with the learned and spiritual questioners who came to me 
 with their problems. I was able to show them that there really was 
 attainable a secret knowledge which threw light upon the obscurities 
 of their own scriptures. I found no one who was inclined to deny the 
 existence of such knowledge, but I found many who feared that it was 
 entirely lost, and who rejoiced at this definite proof that it was still 
 within reach.' 
 
 " But Anglo-Indian society had diverted itself with many funny 
 stories about Mrs. Besant. One was that on board the steamer com- 
 ing home she had dined apart for fear of losing caste. 
 
 " ' What truth is there, Mrs. Besant, in the statement that you have 
 embraced Hinduism ?' 
 
 " ' There is no truth in the statement as made, but it is true, as I 
 
viii Preface. 
 
 have already explained, that I regard Hinduism as the most ancient 
 of all religions, and as containing more fully than any other the 
 spiritual truths named theosophy, in modern times. Theosophy is 
 the ancient Brahma Vidya of India. Of this, Hinduism is the earliest 
 and best exoteric presentment. Exoterically, therefore, I am a Hindu 
 in my religion and in my philosophy, but this was as true when I went 
 to India as it is true now. There is absolutely no change in my 
 position. It was just because I was Hindu in religion and philosophy 
 that I was given the mission of recalling to the modern Hindus the 
 real grandeur and sublimity of their religion. This could not have 
 been done as effectively by any one who was not at one with them in 
 the broad outlines of religious faith. To the occultist the ceremonials 
 of the Hindu religion are full of significance, for they are all based on 
 the experimental knowledge of the existence and of the powers of 
 spiritual intelligences. As a philosophy intellectually accepted, 
 theosophy may remain apart from all religious faiths, but regarded 
 from the spiritual side — if devotion is to form any part of the life — 
 the theosophist will use the religion most adapted to his own nature. 
 In my own case that religion is Hinduism in its ancient and pure 
 form.'" 
 
 I will make one other quotation, for some of the music by and by 
 may be in a different key. The following eloquent tribute is from 
 Borderland (October 1 5 th). 
 
 " If everything be true that Dr. Hodgson and the Psychical Research 
 Society say about her, it only heightens the mystery, and adds to the 
 marvel of the influence which Madame Blavatsky undoubtedly has 
 exercised, and is exercising, at the present moment. For the most 
 irate of the sceptics cannot den}-, and will not dispute, the fact that 
 the Theosophical Society exists, that it is far and away the most influ- 
 ential of all the associations which have endeavoured to popularise 
 occultism, and that its influence is, at the present time, felt far and 
 wide in many lands, and in many churches. The number of pledged 
 theosophists may be few, although it is probably greater than most 
 people imagine. But the theosophical ideas are subtly penetrating 
 the minds of multitudes who know nothing about theosophy, and are 
 
p7'eface. ix 
 
 profoundly ignorant of all the controversies which have raged round 
 Madame Blavatsky. 
 
 " This is eminently the case with the doctrine of reincarnation, and 
 with the altered estimate which the average man is beginning to form 
 of the mystic teachers and seers of India. Reincarnation may or may 
 not be true. Whether true or false, it has, until the last decade, been 
 almost unthinkable by the average Western. This is no longer the 
 case. Multitudes who still reject it as unproved have learned to re- 
 cognise its value as a hypothesis explaining many of the mysteries of 
 human life. A few admit that there is nothing in reincarnation antag- 
 onistic to the doctrine of Christ, and that it is quite possible to hold 
 firmly all the great verities of the Christian revelation, without reject- 
 ing the belief that the life of the individual, upon which judgment will 
 be passed at the Great Assize, is not necessarily confined to the acts 
 done between the cradle and the grave, but may be an existence of 
 which such a period is but one chapter in the book of life. Altogether 
 apart from the question of the actual truth of the doctrine, it is indis- 
 putable that the sympathetic recognition of the possibility of reincar- 
 nation has widened the range of popular thought, and infused into 
 religious speculation some much-needed charity. And this, which is 
 unquestionably a great achievement, will ever be associated with the 
 name of Madame Blavatsky. 
 
 " Still more remarkable has been the success with which this remark- 
 able woman has succeeded in driving into the somewhat wooden head 
 of the Anglo-Saxon the conviction— long ago arrived at by a select 
 circle of students and Orientalists, of whom Professor Max Miiller 
 may be said to be the most distinguished living representative — that 
 the East is, in matters of religious and metaphysical speculation, at 
 least entitled to claim as much respect as the West. That indeed is 
 stating it very mildly. ' The snub-nosed Saxons,' as Disraeli used 
 to love to describe the race which made him Prime Minister, are 
 learning somewhat of humility and self-abasement before the races 
 whom, by use of material force, they have reduced to vassalage. 
 
 " Down to quite recent times the average idea of the average English- 
 man — notwithstanding all the books of all our pundits — has been that 
 the Hindoos were benighted and ignorant pagans, whom it was charity 
 to subdue, and a Christian duty to attempt to convert. To-day, even 
 
Preface. 
 
 the man in the street has some faint glimmerings of the truth that 
 these Asiatics whom he despises are, in some respects, able to give 
 him points, and still leave him far behind. The Eastern sage who 
 told Professor Hensoldt that the West studied the stomach, whereas 
 the East studied the soul, expressed strongly a truth which our people 
 are only beginning to assimilate. We are learning at last to respect 
 the Asiatics, and in many things to sit at their feet. And in this 
 great transformation, Madame Blavatsky again figures as the leading 
 thaumaturgist. She and those whom she trained have bridged the 
 chasm between the materialism of the West and the occultism and 
 metaphysics of the East. They have extended the pale of human 
 brotherhood, and have compelled us to think at least of a conception 
 of an all-embracing religion, with wider bases than those of which the 
 reunionists of Christendom have hitherto dreamed." 
 
 It seems to me that the most successful creed-maker of the last 
 three hundred years deserves some serious notice. I propose to sketch 
 Madame Blavatsky and her work, using chiefly the testimony of her 
 enthusiasts. I shall have to inquire — 
 
 1. Whether there are any Mahatmas ? 
 
 2. Whether we have their teaching, and, if so^ what is that 
 teaching t 
 
 In this task I propose to leave out as much as possible the private 
 character of the lady as far as regards sex relations. The authenticity, 
 or non-authenticity, of her "miracles" is plainly too vital to be 
 passed over. 
 
 But in its ultimate the real inquiry before us is not so much why 
 Madame Blavatsky failed at times, but how it was she achieved her 
 astonishing success. With the theosophists, the 8th May, the day of 
 her decease, is now called " White Lotus Day," and, according to the 
 terms of her will, a reading takes place at each of the 279 " centres." 
 The works thus honoured are the " Bhagavad Gita " and Sir Edwin 
 Arnold's "Light of Asia." 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PREFACE ..--... 
 I. TIBET ....... 
 
 II. WHAT MADAME BLAVATSKY LEARNT IN TIBET 
 
 III. societ:^ spirite --...- 
 
 IV. THE "miracle CLUB " - . - - - 
 V. THE BROTHERS OF LUXOR . . . - 
 
 VI. THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY - . . . 
 
 VII. ^RYA SAM.^J ...... 
 
 VIII. THE "PIONEER" ...... 
 
 IX. "THE SHRINE" -...-. 
 X. ANNA KINGSFORD - . - _ . 
 
 XI. PROFESSOR KIDDLE . . . . . 
 
 XII. BUDDHISM, "ESOTERIC" AND GENUINE 
 XIII. A CHANGE OF FRONT ..... 
 XIV. THEOSOPHY TRUE AND FALSE - . . - 
 
 XV. CEREMONIAL MAGIC - - - - . 
 
 XVI. A LAST CHAPTER ----.. 
 
 APPENDIX NO. I.— The Mahatma and the " Westminster 
 Gazette ...... 
 
 APPENDIX NO. 2.~Blavatskyana 
 
 PAGE 
 V 
 
 I 
 
 15 
 19 
 
 22 
 
 38 
 48 
 58 
 70 
 96 
 118 
 
 163 
 178 
 
 200 
 210 
 
 221 
 225 
 
MADAME BLAVATSKY. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 TIBET. 
 
 Mademoiselle Helena Petrovxa Hahn was born at 
 Ekaterinoslow, in the south of Russia, in 1831. She is 
 described as being what is called mediumistic from her 
 earliest youth. She was more in the company of phantom 
 " hunchbacks " and Roussalkas (water sprites) than of flesh 
 and blood pla^/mates. Mr. Sinnett argues from this tliat the 
 Mahatmas of Tibet put themselves in communication with 
 the young girl from her very earliest childhood. But an 
 alternative theory, of course, would be that the " Masters " 
 (Sinnett, " Life of Madame Blavatsky," p. 24) were never 
 anything more than the spooks or spirit guides of a 
 medium. 
 
 On the 7th July, 1848, Mademoiselle Hahn married 
 General Blavatsky, a gentleman " nearer seventy than 
 sixty." With a humour that developed early she called 
 her husband a " plumeless raven." For three months they 
 lived together, but not as husband and wife, and then she 
 left him, Mr. Sinnett tells us. 
 
 If we wish to study a given religion, say Islam, we must 
 begin with a picture of the Founder as he appeared to his 
 disciples. We must study his biography, his teachings. 
 We must examine the text of his Bible and see what the 
 " apologists " have to say before we allow the " critical 
 school " to cut in. From October, 1848, to May, 1857, 
 comes a gap in the Russian lady's existence. During these 
 years she is said to have visited Tibet and learnt the 
 secrets of the Mahatmas. 
 
Madame Blavatsky, 
 
 ''After a course of occult study, carried on for seven 
 years in a Himalayan retreat, Madame Blavatsky," saj^s 
 Mr. Sinnett C Occult World," p. 24), " returned to the 
 world." A seven years' probation, be also tells us, is con- 
 sidered quite necessary before any secrets are divulged to 
 the chela. (" Occult World," p. 17.) Madame Blavatsky 
 confirms him here. In the journal called Light (August 
 9th, 1884) she wrote thus : — " I will tell him (a correspon- 
 dent) also that I have lived in different periods in Little 
 Tibet and Great Tibet, and these combined periods form 
 more than seven years." 
 
 But if this gap of eight years is very important, it is a 
 little unfortunate that the school of the apologists have not 
 given us very clear details about it. She went to " Egypt, 
 Greece, and other parts of Eastern Europe." At Paris " a' 
 famous mesmerist, still living as I write," says Mr, Sinnett, 
 " though an old man now, discovered her wonderful psychic 
 gifts, and was very eager to retain her under his control as 
 a sensitive. But the chains had not yet been forged that 
 could make her a prisoner. And she quitted Paris pre- 
 cipitately to escape this influence. She went over to 
 London and passed some time in company with an old 
 
 Kussian lady of her acquaintance, the Countess B , at 
 
 Mivart's Hotel." 
 
 The visit to Paris is dated, according to conjecture, at 
 about a year after her leaving her husband's house, but she 
 kept no diary, and " at this distance of time can give no 
 very connected story of her complicated wanderings " 
 (p. 60). Mr. Sinnett more than once apologises for his 
 vagueness, but this is unfortunate, as it gives an opening to 
 the critical school. She went to New Orleans and studied 
 black magic with the Voodoos. In the year 1851 she was 
 in Paris (p. 62), but this is giving her very little time for 
 her " Course of occult study carried on for seven years in 
 a Himalayan retreat." 
 
 In the same year (Olcott, " People from the Other World," 
 p. 320) she passed the summer at Daratschi Tchag, an 
 Armenian place of summer resort in the plain of Mount 
 " Ararat." Her husband, being Vice-Governor of Erivan, 
 had a bodyguard of 50 Khourd warriors, amongst whom 
 one of the strongest and bravest, named Safar Ali Bek 
 
Tibet. 3 
 
 was detailed as the lady's personal escort. In 1875 this 
 Khonrd, having died, came to her at a seance in America, 
 but this little anecdote scarcely harmonises with the state- 
 ment made by Mr. Sinnett, that she fled from her husband 
 for good and all in the month of October, 1848. 
 
 And in a short time the dates given to us by Mr. Sinnett 
 b'.\gin to perplex us still more. It is recorded that in 1855 
 Madame Blavatsky v/ent to India, and in the month of 
 September, 185("), she passed into Tibet for the first time, 
 being smuggled in " in an appropriate disguise" by a solitary 
 Shaman, her " sole protector in those dreary wastes." It is 
 added that she came out again, and left India a short time 
 before the Indian Mutiny broke out in 1857. This makes 
 at most seven months instead of seven years. 
 
 For her trip to Tibet she started from Kashmir with 
 
 " the Brothers N ," and an ex-Lutheran minister, Mr. 
 
 K . The Brothers N were promptly sent back at 
 
 the frontier, and the ex-Lutheran clergyman was arrested 
 b}^ fever, but not before he had witnessed a striking 
 miracle. 
 
 Travellers from Tibet have told us that certain Lamas, 
 to benefit humanit}', abstain from Nirvana, and on their 
 deathbed announce to their disciples that they will be re- 
 born in such and such a spot. " At the death of one of 
 these, the disciples repair to the place he has indicated and 
 search for a newly-born child which bears the sacred marks, 
 and is for other reasons the most probable incarnation of 
 the departed saint. Having found the child, they leave 
 him with his mother till he is four years old. Then they 
 return, bringing with them a quantity of praying books, 
 rosaries, praying wheels, bells, and other priestly articles, 
 amongst which are those which belonged to the late incar- 
 nation. Then the child has to prove that he is the new 
 incarnation by recognising the property that was his, and 
 by relating reminiscences of his past " ('^ Where Three Em- 
 pires meet," E. F. Knight, c. viii.). 
 
 It is further added that this incarnating Lama is called a 
 " skooshok," and that only four of them exist in Ladak. Bat 
 if we are to believe Madame Blavatsky, ordinary travellers 
 can see these and greater miracles, even where no Lama 
 has died. 
 
Madame Blavatsky. 
 
 " About four days' journey from Islamabad, at an insigni- 
 ficant mud village, whose only redeeming feature was its 
 magnificent lake, we stopped for a few days' rest." A 
 native of Russia, a Shaman of Siberia, was of the party, 
 and he told them that a large party of "Lamaic saints" 
 on pilgrimage to various shrines, had taken up their abode 
 in a cave temple near." The Buddhist Trinity (Buddha, 
 Dharma, and Sangha) were travelling with the party, a fact 
 that gave the Bhikshus the power of working " miracles." 
 The Lutheran minister had plainly a little of the old Adam 
 in him, for this statement seemed to have fired his old 
 Protestant hatred of miracles. He determined to expose 
 these cheats, and in consequence paid a visit to the Pase 
 Budhu, the chief of these Lamaic saints, and demanded to 
 see the process of a "re-incarnation " of " Buddha "' in the 
 body of a little child. This demand was naturally refused, 
 as it is not stated that any oM Lama had died, or that, in 
 fact, ajiy old Lama was within an hundred miles of the 
 place. But Madame Blavatsky produced an A-yu from 
 her pocket, and the Lamaic saints at once became her de- 
 voted servants. An A-yu is a talisman of cornelian with a 
 triangle engraved upon it. "An infant of three or four 
 months was procured from its mother, a poor woman 
 of the neighbourhood," and the magical processes 
 began : — 
 
 " Suddenly we saw the child not raise itself, but violently 
 jerked, as it were, into a sitting posture. A few more jerks, 
 and then like an automaton sot in motion by concealed 
 wires, the four months' baby stood upon its feet. Not a 
 hand had been outstretched, not a motion made, nor a word 
 spoken, and yet here was a baby in arms standing as firm 
 as a man." 
 
 Here the testimony of the sceptical Mr. K is cited : — 
 
 " The baby turned his head and looked at me with an 
 expression of intelligence that was simply awful. It sent 
 a chill through me. The miraculous creature, as \ fancied ^ 
 making two steps towards me, resumed his sitting posture, 
 and without removing his eyes from mine, repeated sentence 
 by sentence, in what I supposed to be Tibetan language, 
 the very words which I had been told in advance are 
 commonly spoken at the incarnations of Buddha, beginning 
 
Tibet. 5 
 
 with, I am Buddha ! I am the old Lama ! I am his spirit 
 in a new body, etc." (" Isis Unveiled," ii., p. 602). 
 
 But if Mr. K knew no Tibetan language, how did he 
 
 know that this is what the baby said ? Also, to what " old 
 Lama " was the infant alluding ? Islamabad is in Kashmir, 
 which is peopled chiefly by Hindoos. There are no " skoo- 
 shoks " within at least a six weeks' journey. We \vill make 
 some more quotations : — 
 
 " Many of the lamaseries contain schools of magic, but 
 the most celebrated is the collegiate monastery of the Shu- 
 tukt, where there are over 30,000 monks attached to it, the 
 lamasery forming quite a little city. Some of the female 
 nuns possess marvellous psychological powers " (" Isis," 
 vol. ii., p. 609). 
 
 She says also that the real religion of Buddha is not 
 to be judged by the fetishism of some of his followers in 
 Siam and Burmah : — 
 
 " It is in the chief lamaseries of Mongolia and Tibet that 
 it has taken refuge, and here Shamanism, if so we may call 
 it, is practised to the utmost limits of intercourse allowed 
 between man and ' spirit.' The religion of the Lamas has 
 faithfully preserved the primitive science of magic, and 
 produces as great feats now as in the days of Kublai Khan. 
 ... At Buddha-lla, or rather Foht-lla (Buddha's mount), in 
 the most important of the many tb.ousand lamaseries of that 
 country, the sceptre of tlie Bodhhisgat (sic) is seen floating 
 unsupported in the air, and its motions regulate the actions 
 of the community. Whenever a Lama is called to account 
 in the presence of the superior of the monastery, he knows 
 beforehand it is useless for him to tell an untruth. The 
 ' regulator of justice ' (the sceptre) is there, and its waving 
 motion, either approbatory or otherwise, decides instan- 
 taneously and unerringly the question of his guilt " (" Isis," 
 vol. ii., p. 616). 
 
 "The lives of these holy men, miscalled idle vagrants, cheat- 
 ing beggars, who are supposed to pass their existence in prey- 
 ing upon the easy credulity of their victims, are miracles in 
 themselves. Miracles because they show^ what a determined 
 will and a perfect purity of life and purpose are able to 
 accomplish, and to what degree of preternatuial asceticism 
 a human body can be subjected, and yet live and reach a 
 
Madame Blavatsky. 
 
 ripe old age. At Bras-ss-Pungs, the Mongolian college, 
 where over three hundred magicians (somers, as the French 
 missionaries call them) teach about twice as many pupils, 
 from twelve to twenty, the latter have many years to wait 
 for their final initiation. Not one in a hundred reaches the 
 highest goal" (" Isis," vol. ii.,p. 617). 
 
 The Buddhist priests dance at times : — 
 
 " As in the instances of Corybantic and Bacchantic fury 
 among the ancient Greeks, the spiritual crisis of the Shaman 
 exhibits itself in violent dances and wild gestures. Little 
 by little the lookers-on feel the spirit of imitation aroused 
 in them. Seized with an irresistible impulse, they dance 
 and become in their turn ecstatics " (" Isis," vol. ii., p. 625). 
 
 Here is another marvel : — 
 
 " If our scientists are unable to imitate the mummy em- 
 balming of the Egyptians, how much greater would be their 
 surprise to see, as we have, dead bodies preserved by al- 
 chemical art, so that after the lapse of centuries they seem 
 as though the individuals were sleeping ? The complexions 
 were as fresh, the skin as elastic, the eyes as natural and 
 sparkling as though they were in the full flush of health. 
 The bodies of certain very eminent personages are laid upon 
 catafalques in rich mausoleums." 
 
 We now come to more important matters, the cave 
 libraries : — 
 
 " Moreover, in all the large and wealthy lamaseries there 
 are subterranean crypts and cave libraries cut in the rock 
 wherever the gonpa and Ihahhang are situated in the 
 mountains. Beyond the Western Tsaydam, in the solitary 
 passes of Kuen-lun, there are several such hiding-places. 
 Along the ridge of Altyn Toga, whose soil no European foot 
 has ever trodden so far, there exists a certain hamlet, lost 
 in a deep gorge. It is a small cluster of houses, a hamlet 
 rather than a monastery, with a poor-looking temple in it, 
 with one old Lama, a hermit, living near to watch it. Pil- 
 grims say that the subterranean galleries and halls under it 
 contain a collection of books, the number of which, accord- 
 ing to the accounts given, is too large to find room even in 
 the British Museum " (" Secret Doctrine," i., xxiv.). 
 
 But this is not the end of these wonders. It appears 
 that the Brahmins and Buddhists are in league (p. xxviii.) 
 
Tibet, 7 
 
 to hide their genuine sacred literature from the Mlechchhas. 
 This was the term applied by the ancient Aryans to the 
 black savages that they tried to displace, and according to 
 Madame Blavatsky, it is applied to white-faced Sanskrit 
 professors and other white-faced respectabilities now. The 
 Brahmins in giving us the Rig Vecla, the Upanishads, the 
 Mahabha!-ata, etc., have foisted upon us " bits of rejected 
 copies of some passages" only (p. xxx.). The large litera- 
 ture of Buddhism is a blind. It is given to conceal, not 
 convey, the real teaching. The real books are hidden away. 
 It is hinted that the Japanese followers of Lao Tse use the 
 same places of concealment. 
 
 " The Japanese, among whom are now to be found the 
 most learned of the priests and followers of Lao Tse, simply 
 laugh at the blunders and h3'potheses of European Chinese 
 scholars, and tradition affirms that the commentaries to 
 which our Western sinologues have access are not the real 
 occult records, but intentional veils, and that the true com- 
 mentaries, as well as almost all the texts, have long disap- 
 2^ eared from the eyes of the profane " (p. xxv.). 
 
 These occult libraries are vv^ell guarded : " Built deep in 
 the bowels of the earth, the subterranean stores are secure ; 
 and as their entrances are concealed in such oases, there is 
 little fear that any one should discover them, even should 
 several armies invade the sandy wastes where — 
 
 " Not a pool, not a bush, not a house is seen, 
 And the mountain range forms a rugged screen." 
 
 (P. xxxiii.) 
 
 But there is another great name to be added to this vast 
 fraternity of concealment. Our best available authorities 
 tell us that Confucius was not a religious teacher at all, 
 and certainly not a mystic. He was a politician and an 
 atheist, and he has enmeshed China in a vast network of 
 ceremonialism that binds her hand and foot. This is 
 erroneous. He too seems to have his real doctrine concealed 
 in some underground crypt (p. xxv.) in some of these " im- 
 mense libraries reclaimed from the sand," the "secret crypts 
 of libraries belonging to the occult fraternity " (p. xxxiv.). 
 
 But fortunately these great secrets are to be complete 
 
8 Madame Blavatsky. 
 
 secrets no longer. In one of these concealed crypts (which 
 one, perhaps, she is not allowed to state), Madame Blavatsky 
 was allowed to peruse the Book of Dzyan or Dzan. It was 
 " an archaic manuscript, a collection of palm leaves made 
 impermeable to water, fire, and air, by some specific, un- 
 known process " (p. i.). It is written " in a tongue absent 
 from the nomenclature of languages and dialects with which 
 philology is acquainted." It is needless to say that it 
 "ante-dates the Vedas" (p. xxxvii.). 
 
 We will quote a few verses of this great book : — 
 
 The eternal parent wrapped in her ever invisible robes Lad slum- 
 bered once again for Seven Eternities. 
 
 Time was not, for it lay asleep in the infinite bosom of duration. 
 
 Universal mind was not, for there was no AH-Hi to contain it. 
 
 The seven ways to bliss were not. 
 
 The great causes of misery were not, for there was no one to pro- 
 duce and get ensnared by them. 
 
 Darkness alone filled the boundless all, for Father, Mother, and 
 Son were once more one, and the Son had not awakened yet for the 
 New Wheel and his pilgrimage thereon. 
 
 The causes of existence had been done away with. The visible that 
 was, and the invisible that is, rested on eternal non-being, the one 
 being. 
 
 Alone, the one form of existence stretched boundless, infinite, 
 causeless, in dreamless sleep, and life pulsated unconscious in uni- 
 versal space, throughout that all-presence which is sensed by that 
 opened eye cf the Dangma. 
 
 But where was the Dangma when the Alaya of the Universe was in 
 Paramartha, and the great wheel was Arupadaka ? 
 
 Where was the silence ? Where the ears to sense it ? No, there 
 was neither silence nor sound. Naught save ceaseless eternal breath, 
 which knows itself not. The hour had not yet struck. 
 
 Behold, oh, Lanoo, the radiant child of the two ! It is Oeaohoo I 
 He is the blazing divine Dragon of Wisdom. 
 
 The One is Four I And Four takes to itself Three, and the union 
 is Sapta (seven). 
 
 The Dzyu becomes Fohat, the swift son of the divine sons, whose 
 sons are the Lipika. 
 
 The eternity of the Pilgrim is like a wink in the eye of self-existence. 
 
 Madame Blavatsky does not explain how it is that if this 
 poem is in the archaic unknown tongue, it bristles all over 
 
Tibet. 9 
 
 with Sanskrit and other L^n<:^uagcs. Foliat is not Sanskrit. 
 In *•' Isis Unveiled," she announced that " Foht " was the 
 Tibetan for Buddlia. How does Buddha turn up in these 
 very earlj^ MSS. ? 
 
 I wdll give bore Colebrooke's translation of a celebrated 
 passage in the Rig Veda : — 
 
 1. There was then neither nonentity nor entity ; there 
 was no atmosphere nor sky beyond it. What covered (all) ? 
 Where ^vas the receptacle of each thing ? Was it w^atcr, 
 the deep abyss ? 
 
 2. Death was not then, nor immortalit}^ ; there Avas no 
 distinction of day or night. That one breathed calmly, with 
 svaddJia (nature) ; there was nothing different from It (that 
 One) or beyond It. 
 
 3. Darkness there was ; originally enveloped in darkness, 
 this universe Avas undi.stingaishable water ; the empty 
 (mass), v/hich was concealed by a husk (or by nothingness), 
 was produced singly by the power of austerity (or heat). 
 
 4. Desire first arose in It, which was the first germ of 
 mind. This the wise, seeking in their heart, have dis- 
 covered by the intellect to be the bond between nonentity 
 and entity. 
 
 5. The ray wdiich shot across these things, — was it from 
 above, or vras it below ? There were productive energies 
 and mighty powers ; Nature (svaddha) beneath, and Enei'gy 
 (prayati) above. 
 
 6. Who knows, who here can declare whence has sprung, 
 whence this creatioii ? The gods are subsequent to its 
 formation ; who then knows from what it arose ? 
 
 7. From what source this creation arose, and whether 
 (any one) created it or not. He who in the highest heaven 
 is its ruler, lie knows, or He does not know. 
 
 If the Book of Dzyan w^as first in the field the Vedic 
 author seems to have [)lagiarised from it. 
 
 Already we are met with a puzzle. When Mr. Sinnett's 
 narrative first appeared the misbelievers pointed out that if 
 Madame Blavatsky had only been seven months in Tibet 
 they did not see how she could have gone through a seven 
 years' training. To one of these Madame Blavatsky in a 
 
lo Madame Blavatsky, 
 
 letter addressed to Licjld (July 27th, 1889) thus re- 
 plied : — 
 
 " Sir, — It is perhaps hardly worth while to take up your 
 space in exposing the careless and ignorant blundering of 
 ' Colenso ' — a singularly inappropriate signature, by the 
 way, for one so reckless about his facts. But, for this once, 
 I will make a statement that may put an end to the inces- 
 sant carping over trifles that can serve but to needlessly 
 embitter controversy. 
 
 " There is no such thinof known to occultists as a ' seven 
 years initiation.' The probations, which ' Colenso ' confuses 
 with initiation, can be lived out anywhere, and this 'Colenso' 
 would have known if he had read Mr. Sinnett's paragraph 
 with even ordinary care, since he says that anj^ English 
 gentleman can pass through it without observation. ' Col- 
 enso's ' inexorable arithmetic is thus wasted trouble, and 
 his careful calculations on Himalayan ranges are wholly 
 beside the mark ; since the seven years' initiation in one 
 place is an absurdity, and a seven years' probation attached 
 to the skirts of the Masters is another. All this is a creation 
 of his own imagination, and while I regret that my life 
 does not fit into the framework made for it by him, and by 
 other similar critics, the misfit is scarcely my fault. Bishop 
 Colenso's work would have fallen very flat if he had been 
 as careless of his facts as the writer who now uses his name. 
 
 " But, apart from this latest attack, why should spiritual- 
 ists feel so interested in my travels, studies, and their 
 supposed dates ? AYhy should they be so eager to unravel 
 imagined mysteries, denounce alleged (or even possible) 
 mistakes, in order to pick holes in everything theosophical ? 
 To even my best friends I have never given but very frag- 
 mentary and superficial accounts of the said travels, nor do I 
 propose to gratify anyone's curiosity, least of all that of my 
 enemies. The latter are quite welcome to believe in and 
 spread as many cock-and-bull stories about me as they 
 choose, and to invent new ones as time rolls on and the old 
 stories wear out." 
 
 But does this quite meet "Colenso's" arithmetical difli- 
 culties ? In Licjlit (August 9th, 1884) Madame Blavatsky 
 
Tibet. I T 
 
 herself had distinctly announced that "she had lived in 
 different periods in Little Tibet and in Great Tibet, and 
 that these combined periods form more than seven years.'' 
 
 Mr. Sinnett is equally explicit : — 
 
 " Never, I believe, is less than seven years from the time 
 at which a candidate for initiation is accepted as a proba- 
 tioner, is he ever admitted to the very first of the ordeals." 
 These ordeals are very severe, Mr. Sinnett tells us ; indeed, 
 I remember in the old days hearing that Madame Blavatsky's 
 ordeals had been by earth, air, and fire and water. But if 
 no Brothers are by to inspect, how could these ordeals be 
 quite satisfactory ? A " probationer " might take a bath at 
 Ostend and announce a " trial by water." 
 
 A suspicion had formed itself in my mind, and a passage 
 from Colonel Olcott has rather confirmed it, otherwise I 
 should not have liked to have brought it forward. This 
 is, that when Madame Blavatsky talks about the " Blazing 
 Divine Dragon of Wisdom" and similar matters her pen 
 is sometimes guided by her spooks or her " master.s." 
 
 " She wrote me," says Colonel Olcott, " that it (' Isis Un- 
 veiled ') was a book on the history and philosophy of the 
 Eastern schools, and their relations with those of our own 
 times. She said she was writing about things she had 
 never studied, and making quotations from books she had 
 never read in all her life " {Theosopliist, April, 1893). 
 
 The colonel goes on : — 
 
 " Whence did H. P. B. draw the materials which compose 
 ' Isis ? ' From the Astral light — and by her soul senses from 
 her teachers — the ' Brothers,' ' Adepts,' ' Sages,' ' Masters.' " 
 
 He quotes her as saying : — 
 
 "At such times it is no more / who write, but my 
 'luminous self,' who thinks and writes for me" (Thco- 
 sophist, April, 1893). 
 
 Professor Max MuUer and several native scholars have 
 attacked the Sanskrit of this good lady's " luminous self," 
 and it is difficult to guess from what other source she has 
 got much of her philology. Many prominent words in her 
 system are nonsense. " Koot Hoomi Lai Singh " is said by 
 Mr. Sinnett to be the "Tibetan baptismal name" of the 
 great Adept. This statement was at once turned into 
 ridicule b}^ the editor of a native newspaper. 
 
12 Madame Blavatsky. 
 
 " Lai Singh " is Hindastani, and an expert at the British 
 Museum assured me that the words " Koot" and " Hoomi " 
 were not to be found in the language of Tibet. Then 
 Dhj^ani Chohans is a made-up word. " Chohan " is not to be 
 found in any Sanskrit dictionary nor in the admirable 
 glossary of Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Chinese Buddhist words 
 drawn up by Mr. Eitel. " Devachan " is a Tibetan word, 
 but instead of being an abode of probation as Madame 
 Blavatsky announces, it contains spirits that cannot return 
 to earth. (Schlagintweifc, ''Buddhism in Tibet," p. 102). 
 
 In " Isis Unveiled " (vol. ii., p. 290) she says that 
 Buddha in Tibet is called " Ferho," or " Faho," or " Fo." He 
 is really called Bchom-dan-hdas Sangs-r-gyas. 
 
 In the same work (v^ol. ii., p. 599) she sa^^s that Buddha, 
 Dharma, and Sangha are called in Tibet " Fo, fa, and 
 Sengh." Our dictionaries, on the contrary, tell us that 
 Dharma is called T. Tch'os and Sangha d Ge hdun. We 
 learn, too, that a monk is called a Shaman, the good lady 
 being evidently under an impression that Chinese is the 
 language of Tibet. 
 
 " Fohat " is another nonsensical word. In " Isis Unveiled" 
 (vol. ii., p. 61G) she says that Buddha-lla and Foht-lla are 
 Tibetan words for "Buddha's Mount." 
 
 On February 20th, 1893, a paper was read by Captain 
 Bower before the Geographical Society describing a trip 
 into Tibet from Sri Nagar in Kashmir, the point of de- 
 parture of the Russian lady. 
 
 He started on the 17th April, and took six weeks to get 
 to Leh, a distance of some 130 miles from Sri Nagar as the 
 crow flies. Between India and Tibet is the most formid- 
 able mountain wall in the world. It is everywhere from 70 
 to 120 miles thick — rock and glacier and precipice. 
 
 Captain Bovver had baggage ponies, but so steep is the 
 Zoji La Pass that an armj^ of coolies had to carry his bag- 
 gage as far as Leh, and the ponies had to be led without 
 burdens. The trip from Kashmir to Lha Sa occupied seven 
 months. Before reaching that capital, he was stopped and 
 forced to branch off to Ciiina. For five of these months he 
 never encamped below 15,000 feet elevation. The thermo- 
 meter registered minus 15°. Also the officials everywliere 
 confessed that thej^ had strict orders from the Chinese to 
 
Tibet. 1 3 
 
 murder all " Pelings " who tried to enter Tibet from 
 Hindusttan. Nothing but the good English breech-loaders 
 of Captain Bovver's little army saved him. China gets 
 annually a })rofifc of eight millions sterling for her brick-tea, 
 and she knows that the English could sell the same amount 
 of tea at the quarter of the price. 
 
 Thus, when we read that Madame Blavatsky was 
 smuggled into Tibet " in a suitable disguise," and that her 
 " sole protector in those dreary deserts " (" Isis," vol. ii., p. 
 662) was a solitary Shaman, we must ask if this means 
 that she succeeded in traversing the formidable glials with- 
 out baggage ponies, without tents, without an army of 
 coolies, a store of food ? It certainly does seem so on the 
 surface, for she tells us that this Shaman was a Russian 
 subject, who had quite as much need of being smuggled in 
 as the Russian lady. He wanted to work round to his 
 home in Siberia. ("Isis Unveiled," vol. ii., p. 599.) Then 
 Captain Bower, starting in April, had the suinmer months 
 before him, whereas Madame Blavatsky, starting in Sep- 
 tember, and returning to India just in time to leave that 
 country "shortly before the Mutiny troubles began," must 
 have travelled all the time in the middle of ivinter, when 
 the ghats are choked willi ice and snow. And yet she tells 
 us in a letter to Light (August 9th, 1884) that she had 
 " penetrated further than any traveller had penetrated be- 
 fore." 
 
 One or two other passages are noteworthy : — 
 
 In " Isis Unveiled," vol. ii., p. 609, is this statement : — 
 " We met a great many nuns travelling from Lha Sa to 
 Kandi They take refuge in caves or viharas pre- 
 pared by their co-religionists at calculated distances." 
 
 What would be thought of a modern traveller who 
 announced that along the roads of Sussex he had met 
 numbers of the " Valas " or prophetesses of Woden, and 
 that at the stone circles, where they stopped for the night, 
 mead and the flesh of the boar SEohrimmer were doled out 
 to them. Buddhist viharas and Buddhist nuns have disap- 
 peared from Hindustan quite as long as the priests of 
 Woden from England. 
 
 Besides, as Mr. Spence Hardy tells us, there are no 
 female recluses in Ceylon. (" Eastern Monachism," p. 61.) 
 
14 Madame Blavatsky, 
 
 But there is more beyond. In the sharp controversies 
 that Madame Blavatsky 's statements provoked in 1884, she 
 was challenged to give at any rate the date of her trip, the 
 name of the ship she went out in, or the name of some 
 three or four Anglo-Indian officials that she had come 
 across during her passage through India. Her reply (Light, 
 August 9th, 1884) was a refusal. "As to the names of 
 three or four English (or rather Anglo-Indians) who could 
 certify to having seen me when I passed, I am afraid their 
 vigilance would not be found at the height of their trust- 
 worthiness," and then she went on to say that she evaded 
 the Anglo-Indian officials. This is all very well, but in 
 steering clear of one difficulty Ave sometimes run into an- 
 other. She says now that in 1856 she entered Tibet 
 through Kashmir, not knowing that the Maharajah at that 
 date allowed no Feringhy in his dominions without a pass- 
 port duly signed by an English official. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 WHAT MADAME BLAVATSKY LEAENT IN TIBET. 
 
 According to Mr. Sinnett, Madame Blavatsky, during this 
 trip into Tibet, was instructed by the Mahatmas in the 
 great gospel of " Theosophy." But this teaching was not 
 made public until October. 1881, that is some twenty-four 
 years afterwards. But we must anticipate matters, and 
 give a short sketch of this gospel here, and then see if the 
 utterances of Madame Blavatsky were always quite in har- 
 mony with this gospel. Mr. Sinnett tells us that for the 
 first time a " block of absolute truth regarding spiritual 
 things was given to the world" ("Esoteric Buddhism," p. 6). 
 " Theosophy " proclaims that at death the individual be- 
 comes practically two individuals ; one of which takes off 
 all the good qualities to the " rosy slumber " of Devachan 
 or Paradise. The second, with all the bad qualities, remains 
 on the earth plane for a time, attends seances, deceives 
 spiritualists, and is by and by annihilated. The only com- 
 munications that mortals can receive from the unseen 
 world are from these semi-fiends. Occultism should, in 
 consequence, never be attempted, except under the super- 
 vision of the Mahatmas of Tibet. To this has been added 
 the Indian doctrine of Karma. It is proclaimed that the 
 good half of the individual must remain in Devachan for 
 1500 years. It is then reborn on earth ; and Karma, or the 
 causation of its previous acts, will force this process to be 
 repeated, "at least 800 times." Then perfection will be 
 gained, and with it annihilation. 
 
 It will be seen at once that we have here two distinct 
 schemes for gaining perfection. 
 
 By the first, perfection, even with an atrocious murder- 
 er, is obtained at the second of death, a perfection 
 greater than that of the angel Gabriel, for the smallest 
 
 15 
 
1 6 Madame Blavatsky. 
 
 blemish will be removed. By the second, even St. Paul 
 will be 1,280,000 j^ears obtaining perfection. 
 
 Now this may be thought a little extravagant, but in 
 Madame Blavatsky's first sketch of her doctrines {Theoso- 
 phist, Oct., 1881) each point is to be found. " At death or 
 before," the division of the individual into a good and a 
 bad half takes place. The good half " can never again span 
 the abyss that separates its state from ours." All that can 
 come to the " seance room of the spiritualists are certain re- 
 liquiae of deceased human beings,'' " elementaries," "shells,'' 
 the bad half of the dead individual which recovers life for 
 a time, and by and by dies out. 
 
 " In truth," say the article, " mediumship is a dangerous, 
 too often a fatal capacit}^, and if we oppose spiritualism as 
 we have ever consiytently done, it is not because we question 
 the reality of their phenomena . . . but because of the ir- 
 reparable sj)iritual injury which the pursuit of spiritualism 
 inevitably enta,ils on nine-tenths of the mediums." 
 
 A letter that she wrote when she came to England in 
 1884, goes further than this. {Pall Mall Gazette, April 26th.) 
 She says that the main object of theosophy was : — 
 
 1. To put down spiritualism. 
 
 2. To convert the materialists. 
 
 3. To prove the existence of the " Brothers.'* 
 
 In the year 1858, Madame Blavatsky having left Tibet, 
 returned to Europe. She Vvas fully impressed " with the 
 magnitude of her mission," as Mr. Sinuett tells us. She 
 now em.erged from " apprenticeship to duty " (" Incidents, 
 etc.," p. 157). In 1858, Madame Blavatsky returned to 
 Russia, rier sister, Madame de Jelihowsky, now gives a 
 picture of her. 
 
 This picture is a little astonishing, for the diary kept by 
 Madame de Jelihowsky, at least the portions quoted by 
 Mr. Sinnett in his " Incidents, etc.," describes the sister as 
 nothing more or less than a " medium," and by this name 
 the sister tells us that she was then called. Raps came and 
 questions were answered. " One of the guests would be 
 reciting the alphabet, another putting down the answers 
 received." 
 
What Madame Blavatsky Learnt in Tibet. 1 7 
 
 Furniture was moved about without contact. Heavy- 
 tables were moved, and then rendered immovable. Change 
 of v/eight in furniture and persons occurred at will. Pre- 
 scriptions for different diseases were given in Latin. 
 
 " She was," says Madame de Jelihowsky, " what would 
 be called in our days a * good writing medium,' that is to 
 say, she could write out the answers herself while talking 
 to those around her." But the lady adds that the answers 
 given were "not always in perfect accord with the facts." 
 
 The spirits were called " Helen's spirits," and also her 
 '* post-mortem visitors." 
 
 Madame de Jelihowsky says a little quaintly — 
 
 " From letters received by me from my sister I found 
 that she had been dissatisfied with much that I had said 
 01 her in my ' Truth about H. P. Blavatsky.' " 
 
 This seems very natural, for it is now announced that 
 the " post-mortem visitors " were no " ghosts of the de- 
 ceased, but only the manifestations of her powerful friends 
 in their astral envelopes " (" Incidents, etc.," p. 81). 
 
 On one occasion the alleged ghost of Pushkin, the poet, 
 came and laboriously rapped out a dreary poem, stating 
 that " he had one desire, and that was to rest on the bosom 
 of Death, instead of which he was suffering in great dark- 
 ness for his sins, tortured by devils, and had lost all hope 
 of ever reaching the bliss of becoming a winged cherub." 
 
 Mr. Sinnett describes all this as a subtle comed}^ Madame 
 Blavatsky, full of the secrets of Tibet, pretended to be a 
 medium, and the table-rapping and table-turning were the 
 ordinary properties of the play. He fails to see how 
 damaging all this is to the Russian lady. What were the 
 tremendous secrets of the Mahatmas ? Simply that all the 
 appearances from ghostland, the Samuels, the Moseses, the 
 E liases of scripture, the Pitri of the Rig Veda, the " spirits " 
 of Swedenborg and Mr. Stainton Moses were deceptions. 
 Instead of proving a hereafter to man these spirits were 
 malignant fiends, and intercourse with them the crucial 
 danger of humanity. And yet she goes at once to her own 
 home, and makes her father and her sister dabble with 
 them day and night. Was there no danger in this of her 
 sister becoming a medium ? 
 
 But the danger with Madame Blavatsky seems to be that 
 
 B 
 
Madame Blavatsky, 
 
 she upsets the plea of her counsel before he has done speak- 
 ing from his brief. Colonel Olcott lets out that she con- 
 tessed in America in a letter which he quotes, that she 
 knew nothina of spiritualism until she met Home the 
 medium m Paris in 1858. " Home converted me to spiritu- 
 alism {Theosophist, August, 1892, p. 649). But if she 
 knew nothing of spiritualism until 1858, how did she set a 
 mission to put it down in 1856 ? 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE SOCIETE SPIRITE. 
 
 In 1871, Madame Blavatsky set up a spiritualistic society 
 in Cairo. Mr. Sinnett calls it a "quasi spiritualistic" 
 society, but Madame Blavatsky calls it a Societe Spivite. 
 Attached to one of tlie hotels, at this time, was an Enolisli- 
 woman who afterwards married a M. Coulomb. Tlte Times 
 newspaper by and by published a number of letters pro- 
 fessing to come from Madame Blavatsk}^ to this lady. Of 
 course any lady that betrays her fjiend is not the best of 
 witnesses, but such as it is we give her account of this 
 spiritualistic society. She was on intimate terms with 
 Madame Blavatsky, and lent her money. 
 
 " In the year 1872, one day as I was walking through the 
 street called ' Sekke el Ghamma el harmar ' — ' the street 
 of the red mosque ' — in Cairo, Egypt, I was roused from 
 my pensive mood by something that brushed by me very 
 swiftly. I looked up and saw a lady. 'Who is that lady?' 
 I asked a passer-by. ' She is that Russian spiritist who 
 calls the dead and makes them answer your questions.' 
 This news was to me tidings of great joy, as 1 was just 
 mourning for the death of my dear and only brother, whom 
 I had recently lost. The idea of being able to hear his voice 
 was for me heavenly delight. I was told that if I asked the 
 secretary of her spiritualistic society to introduce me to her 
 he would do so (he was a Greek gentleman of my acquaint- 
 ance). I was introduced, and found her very interesting 
 and very clever. My first essay at the spirits was not 
 successful ; I neither saw nor heard anything but a few raps. 
 Having shown my disappointment to the secretary of the 
 society, I was told that the spirits did not like to appear in 
 a room which had not been purified and not exclusively 
 used for the purpose, but if I would return in a few days I 
 
 19 
 
20 Madame Btavatsky. 
 
 would see wonders, as they were preparing a closet where 
 nothing else but seances were to be done. I went to see the 
 closet, and saw thafc it was lined with red cloth, all over the 
 four sides and also the ceiling, with a space between the 
 wall and the cloth of about three inches. I was so ignorant 
 of these things at the time that I formed no malicious idea 
 of it. I called again when the closet was ready, but what 
 was my surprise when, instead of finding the kind spirits 
 there to answer our questions, I found a room full of people, 
 all cdive, and using most offensive language towards the 
 founder of the society, saying that she had taken their 
 money and had left them only with this, pointing at the 
 space between the wall and the cloth, where several pieces 
 of twine were still hanging which had served to pull through 
 the ceiling a long glove stuffed with cotton, which was to 
 represent the materialized hand and arm of some spirit. I 
 went away, leaving the crowd as red as tire, ready to knock 
 her down when she came back. Later on I met her again, 
 and I asked her how she came to do such a thing ; to which 
 she answered that it was Madame Sebire's doings (this was 
 a lady who lived with Madame Blavatsky), so I let tliis 
 matter drop. I saw that she looked very unhappy. I called 
 on her the next day, and on hearing that she was really in 
 want I gave her pecuniary help, and continued doing so for 
 some time. As she could not repay me, she granted me re- 
 ceipts, which I left in my boxes in Egypt when I came away. 
 Our acquaintance continued all the while she remained in 
 the country. 
 
 " This money was lent cash, no bill, no account, nothing 
 but cash. To my knowledge Madame Blavatsky while in 
 Cairo never lived in an hotel. I have known her in three 
 different apartments. The first was in ' Sekke el Ghamma 
 el harmar,' the second at ' Abdeen,' and the third at 
 " Kantara el dick.' In ' Abdeen ' she had opened her 
 apartment to the public, who went there to consult her 
 spirits, and where the fiasco of the materialized hand and 
 arm took place as I have already said, and this in the year 
 1872. 
 
 " She left Cairo for Russia, and I did not hear anything 
 more about her until I traced her name in an article repro- 
 duced from an American newspaper, in which I learned that 
 
The Societd Spirite. 21 
 
 she had started a society of a new kind ; this was not a 
 spiritualistic society, but a theosophical one." 
 
 We will now give Madame Blavatsky's story cited by Mr. 
 Sinnett : — 
 
 " The SocietS Spirite has not lasted a fortnight. It is a 
 heap of ruins, majestic, but as suggestive as those of the 
 Pharaoh's tombs. 
 
 " To wind up this comedy with a drama, I got nearly shot 
 by a madman, who had been present at the onl^^ two public 
 seances we held, and got possessed, I suppose, by some vile 
 spook " (Sinnett, " Incidents, etc.," p. 159). 
 
 Mr. Sinnett tells us that in consequence of all this 
 "slanders and scandals were set on foot." People "even 
 went the length of maintaining that instead of paying the 
 mediums and the expenses of the society, it was Madame 
 Blavatsky, who had herself been paid and had attempted 
 to pass off juggler tricks as genuine phenomena" ("Inci- 
 dents, etc.," p. 161). 
 
 Into this great question we cannot enter. Oar main 
 inquiry is this — Is there any evidence that in these days 
 Madame Blavatsky knew anything of the Brothers of Tibet 
 and their crusade against the spiritualists ? When a lady 
 gets up even a " quasi spiritualistic " society, we should say 
 that the evidence is rather the other way. 
 
 One small gleam of light falls on the period which precedes 
 the foundation of the Cairo society. Professor Coues has 
 a letter from Mr. Hodgson, announcing that Madame 
 Coulomb had a secret against Madame Blavatsky which 
 was in some way connected with one Metrovitch, whom 
 Madame Blavatsky eventually married. They a])peared, I 
 believe, on platforms together, in a sort of " variety 
 entertainment," to use the language of the music halls. 
 
CHAPTER lY. 
 
 THE "MIRACLE CLUB." 
 
 In the month of July, 1874, a literary gentleman was sent 
 by the editor of the New York Sun to write articles upon 
 some strange spiritualistic phenomena that were occurring 
 at Chittenden, under the mediumship of the brothers 
 Eddy. This gentleman, whose name was Olcott, had 
 served during the great war in the detective department ot 
 the military police, and had been rewarded with the honor- 
 ary rank of colonel. His articles attracted attention, and 
 in the month of September he went to Chittenden once 
 more, this time with an artist, Mr. Kappes. There he met 
 a strange lady : — 
 
 " I rememlDcr our first day's acquaintance as if it were 
 yesterday ; besides which, I have recorded the main facts 
 in my Eddy book (" People from the Other World," pp. 293 
 et seq.). It was a sunny day, and even the gloomy old 
 farm-house looked cheerful. It stands amid a lovely land- 
 scape, in a valley bounded by grassy slopes that rise into 
 mountains covered to their very crests with leafy groves. 
 This was the time of the ' Indian summer,' when the whole 
 country is covered with a faint bluish haze, like that which 
 has given the ' Nilgiri ' mountains their name, and the 
 foliage of the beeches, elms and maples, touched by earl}^ 
 frosts, has been turned from green into a mottling of gold 
 and crimson that gives the landscape the appearance of 
 being hung all over with royal tapestries. One must go to 
 America to see this autumnal splendour in its full per- 
 fection. 
 
 " The dinner hour at Eddy's was noon, and it was from 
 the entrance door of the bare and comfortless dining-room 
 that Kappes and I first saw H. P. B. She had arrived shortly 
 before noon with a French Canadian lady, and they were 
 at table as we entered. My eye was fiist attracted by a 
 
 22 
 
The ''Miracle Clubr 23 
 
 scarlet Garibaldian shirt the former wore, as beinfy in vivid 
 contrast with the dull colours around. Her hair was then 
 a thick blonde mop, worn shorter than the shoulders, and 
 it stood out from her head, silken, soft, and crinkled to the 
 roots, like the fleece of a Cotswold ewe. This and the red 
 shirt were what struck my attention before I took in the 
 picture of her features. It was a massive Calmuck face, 
 contrasting in its suggestion of power, culture and im- 
 periousness, as strangely with the commonplace visages 
 about the room, as her red garment did with the grey and 
 white tones of the walls and woodwork, and the dull 
 costumes of the rest of the guests. All sorts of cranky 
 people were continually coming and going at Eddy's, to see 
 the mediumistic phenomena, and it only struck me on see- 
 ing this eccentric lady that this was but one more of the 
 sort. Pausing on the door-sill, I whispered to Kappes, 
 ' Good gracious ! look at tlw.i specimen, will you.' I went 
 straight across and took a seat opposite her to indulge ray 
 favourite habit of character-study.^ The two ladies con- 
 versed in French, making remarks of no consequence, but I 
 saw at once from her accent and fluency of speech that, if 
 not a Parisian, she must at least be a finished French 
 scholar. Dinner over, the two went outside the house, and 
 Madame Blavatsky rolled herself a cigarette, for which I 
 gave her a light as a pretext to enter into conversation. My 
 remai'k having been made in French, we fell at once into 
 talk in that language. She asked me how long I had been 
 there, and what I thought of the phenomena; saying that she 
 herself was greatly interested in such things, and had been 
 drawn to Cliittenden by reading the letters in the Daily 
 GrapJcic : the public were growing so interested in these 
 that it was sometimes impossible to find a copy of the paper 
 on the bookstalls an hour after publication, and she had 
 paid a dollar (about 3 rupees) for a copy of the last issue. 
 
 ^ In a chain-shot crack at an American vituperator, she draws the 
 folio whig amusing portrait of herself : ' ' An old woman — whether forty, 
 fifty, sixty or ninety years old, it matters not ; an old woman whose 
 Kalmuco-Buddhisto-Tartaric features, even in youth, never made her 
 appear pretty ; a woman ^vhose ungainly garb, uncouth manners and 
 masculine habits are enough to frighten any bustled and corseted fine 
 lady of fashionable society oat of her wits" {vide her letter, "The 
 Knout," to the Eeligio-Philosojjhical Journal of March 16, 1878). 
 
24 Madame B lav at sky. 
 
 ' I hesitated before coming here,' she said, ' because I was 
 afraid of meeting that Colonel Olcott.' ' Why should you 
 be afraid of him, madame ? ' I rejoined. ' Oh ! Ijecause I fear 
 he mifi^ht write about me in his paper.' I told her that she 
 might make herself perfectly easy on that score, for I felt 
 quite sure Colonel Olcott would not put her in his letters 
 unless she wished it. And I introduced myself. We be- 
 came friends at once. Each of us felt as if we were of the 
 same social world, cosmopolitans, freethinkers, and not in 
 close touch with the rest of the company, intelligent and 
 very worthy as some of them were. It was the voice of 
 common sympathy with the higher occult side of man and 
 nature ; the attraction of soul to soul, not that of sex to sex. 
 Neither then, at the commencement, nor ever afterwards, 
 had either of us the sense of the other being of the opposite 
 sex. We were simplj'- chums ; so regarded each other, so 
 called each other. Some base people from time to time 
 dared to suggest that a closer tie bound us together, as they 
 had heard that poor, malformed, persecuted H. P. B. had been 
 the mistress of various other men, but no pure person could 
 hold to such an opinion after passing any time in her 
 company, and seeing how her every look, word, and action, 
 proclaimed her sexlessness. 
 
 "Strolling along with my new acquaintance, we talked 
 together about the Eddy phenomena and those of other 
 lands. I found she had been a great traveller and had seen 
 many occult things and adepts in occult science, but at first 
 she did not give me any hint as to the existence of the 
 Himalayan sages or of her own powers. She spoke of the 
 materialistic tendency of American spiritualism, which was 
 a sort of debauch of phenomena accompanied by compara- 
 tive indifference to philosoph}^ Her manner was gracious 
 and captivating, her criticisms upon men and things original 
 and witty. She was particularly interested in drawing me 
 out as to my own ideas about spiritual things, and ex- 
 pressed pleasure in finding that I had instinctively thought 
 along the occult lines which she herself had pursued. It 
 was not as an Eastern mystic, but rather as a refined 
 spiritualist, she talked. For my part I knew nothing, or 
 next to nothing, about Eastern philosophy, and at first she 
 kept silent on that subject. 
 
The ''Miracle Chcbr 25 
 
 *' The seances of William Eddy, the chief medium of the 
 family, were held every evening in a large upstairs hall, in 
 a wing of the house, over the dining-room and kitchen. He 
 and a brother, Horatio, were hard-working farmers, Horatio 
 attending to the out-door duties, and William, since visitors 
 came pouring in upon them from all parts of the United 
 States, doing the cooking for the household. They were 
 poor, ill-educated, and prejudiced — sometimes surly to their 
 unbidden guests. At the further end of the seance hall the 
 deep chimney from the kitchen below passed through to 
 the roof. Between it and the north wall was a narrow 
 closet of the same width as the depth of the chimney, two 
 feet seven inches, in which William Eddy would seat him- 
 self to wait for the phenomena. He had no seeming conti'ol 
 over them, but merely sat and waited for them to sporadi- 
 cally occur. A blanket being hung across the doorway, the 
 closet would be in perfect darkness. Shortly after William 
 had entered the cabinet, the blanket would be pulled aside, 
 and forth would step some figure of a dead man, woman, or 
 child — an animate statue, so to say — temporarily solid and 
 substantial, but the next minute resolved back into nothing- 
 ness or invisibility. They would occasionally dissolve 
 away while in full view of the spectators. 
 
 " Up to the time of H. P. B.'s appearance on the scene, 
 the figures which had siiown themselves were either Red 
 Indians or Americans or Europeans akin to visitors. But 
 on the first evening of her stay spooks of other nation- 
 alities came before us." 
 
 All this is from the Theosojohist of March, 1892 (pp. 324- 
 7). We will now turn to Colonel Olcott's " People from 
 the Other World." For soon some of Madame Blavatsky's 
 own " post-mortem visitors " appeared : — 
 
 "On the 14th of October Mademoiselle de Blavatsky 
 reached Chittenden, and attended the seance that evening. 
 Honto, as if to give the amplest opportunity for the artist 
 and myself to test the correctness of the theory of ' per- 
 sonation,' that the ' investigator ' previously alluded to had 
 expounded to us, stood at the right of the cabinet, motion- 
 ing us to observe her height, her feet, the bead trimming on 
 her dress, and then unplaited her hair and shook it out 
 over her shoulders. Santum came, too, and ' Wando ' and 
 
26 Madame Blavatsky. 
 
 ' Wasso ' ; and then the first of the Russian lady's spint 
 visitors made his appearance. 
 
 " He was a person of middle height, well shaped, dressed 
 in a Georgian (Caucasian) jacket, with loose sleeves and 
 long pointed oversleeves, an outer long coat, baggy trousers, 
 leggings of yellow leather, and white skull-cap or fez, with 
 tassel. She recognised him at once as Michalko Guegidze, 
 late of Kutais, Georgia, a servant of Madame Witte, a rela- 
 tive, and who waited upon Mademoiselle de Blavatsky in 
 Kutais. 
 
 " He was followed by the spirit of Abraham Alsbach, who 
 spoke some sentences in German to his sister ; and he, in 
 turn, by M. Zephirin Boudreau, late of Canada, the father of 
 a lady who accompanied Mademoiselle de Blavatsky to 
 Chittenden, and who, of course, was attending her first 
 seance. She addressed her questions to him in French, he 
 responding by rapping with his hand against the door- 
 frame, except in one instance, when he uttered the word 
 ' Oui.' This gentleman stood so that I saw him in profile 
 against the white wall. He had an aquiline nose, rather 
 hollow cheeks, prominent cheek-bones, and an iron-grey 
 beard upon his chin. It was a marked face, in short, of the 
 pure Gallic type, one of the kind that Vergne calls 'numis- 
 matic faces,' for they seem as if made expressly for repro- 
 duction upon coins and medals. In stature he was tall, and 
 in figure slim, and altogether had the air of a gentleman. 
 
 "A little girl spirit came after him, and conversed by 
 raps with her mother, who spoke in the German language ; 
 and this brought William's circle to a close. 
 
 " After that we had a light circle — one of the kind in 
 which, as the reader will remember, certain persons assert 
 that the phenomena are all done by the hand of the medium. 
 Among other things that occurred was the writing of 
 Mademoiselle de Blavatsky's name upon a card by a spirit- 
 hand in Russian script, which it will scarcely be said that 
 Horatio could write with both hands free. Various de- 
 tached hands were shown through the aperture in the 
 shawls, and among the number that of the boy Michalko 
 himself, which the lady recognised by some peculiarity, as 
 well as hy a string of amher heads luouncl around the 
 wrist Recollect that she had only arrived that afternoon, 
 
The ''Miracle Clubr 27 
 
 had barely become acquainted with the medium, had had 
 no conversation whatever with anybody about her former 
 life, and then say how this Vermont farmer could have 
 known : 
 
 "(1) Of the existence of Michalko Guegidze; (2) that he 
 had any relations of any kind with his visitor ; (3) that it 
 is a custom among the Georgian peasants to wear a string 
 of amber beads upon their arms ; and then the sceptic will 
 have to account for the possession of so unusual a thing as 
 this kind of a rosary, by a family working a Green Moun- 
 tain farm " (pp. 297-301). 
 
 In the same work Colonel Olcott gives further details 
 about his new acquaintance : — 
 
 " This lady — Madame Helen P. de Blavatsky — has led a 
 very eventful life, travelling in most of the lands of the 
 Orient, searching for antiquities at the base of the Pyramids, 
 witnessing the mysteries of Hindoo temples, and pushing 
 with an armed escort far into the interior of Africa. The 
 adventures she has encountered, the strange people she has 
 seen, the perils by sea and land she has passed through, 
 would make one of the most romantic stories ever told by a 
 biographer. In the whole course of my experience, I never 
 met with so interesting and, if I may say it without offence, 
 eccentric a character.'' 
 
 Who paid for the armed escort ? If it was Madame 
 Blavatsky, why was she obliged to borrow money from a 
 woman who, according to Mr. Sinnett, was a mere servant in 
 a Cairo hotel ? Colonel Olcott in the Theosojphist (March, 
 1892) adds wonder to wonder: — 
 
 " While she was at Chittenden she told me many incidents 
 of her past life, among others, her having been present, along 
 with a number of other European ladies, with Garibaldi 
 at the bloody battle at Mentana. In proof of her story she 
 showed me where her left arm had been broken in tv/o 
 places by an Austrian sabrestroke, and made me feel in her 
 right shoulder a musket bullet, still embedded in the muscle, 
 and another in her leg. She also showed me a scar just 
 below the heart where she had been stabbed with a stiletto. 
 This wound re-opened a little while she was at Chittenden, 
 and it was to consult me about it that she was led to show 
 it to me. She told me many most curious tales of peril and 
 
28 Madame B lav at sky. 
 
 adventure, among them the story of the phantom African 
 sorcerer with the oryx- horn coronet, whom she had seen in 
 life doing phenomena in Upper Egypt, many years before." 
 
 But when the "Eddy Boys" are present we must not 
 forget that we have come to see marvels : — 
 
 " The next evening, a new spirit, ' Hassan Agha,' came to 
 Madame de Blavatsky. He was a wealthy merchant of 
 Tiflis, whom she knew well. He had a sneaking fancy for 
 the Black Art, as well as our own mediums, and sometimes 
 obliged his acquaintance by divining for them with a set of 
 conjuring stones, procured from Arabia at a great price. 
 His method was to throw them upon the floor, beside his 
 mat, and then, by the way they fell into groups, prophesy 
 the future and read the past for his wondering visitors. 
 He claimed that the stones possessed some magic property, 
 by which and the muttering of certain Arabic sentences, the 
 inner sight of the conjurer was opened, and all things bidden 
 became clear. Hassan's dress was a long j^ellowish coat, 
 Turkish trousers, a hishonet, or vest, and a black Astrakhan 
 cap, 'pappalia, covered with the national hashlik or hood, 
 with its long tasselled ends thrown over each shoulder" 
 (" People from the Other World," p. 310). 
 
 The friendship thickens : — 
 
 " We became greater friends day by day, and by the time 
 she was ready to leave Chittenden she had accepted from 
 me the nick-name ' Jack,' and so signed herself in her letters 
 to me from New York. Yet not a word was spoken at that 
 time that could suggest the idea that she had any mission 
 in America of a spiritual character in which / might or 
 migl}t not have a part to perform. When we parted it was 
 simply as good friends likely to continue the acquaintance 
 thus pleasantly begun " (p. 328). 
 
 But one event puzzled the good colonel, and he even 
 " noted it as a suspicious circumstance." He wanted to hold 
 the medium's hands, but the medium preferred Madame 
 Blavatsky : — 
 
 " It is fair that I should say that the lady reported that 
 he had not removed either hand from the gentleman's arm. 
 Moreover, I must add that Madame de Blavatsky, who sat at 
 the gentleman's right, declared that she felt one hand on 
 her right shoulder (the one farthest from the medium) at 
 
The ''Miracle Club:' 29 
 
 the same instant that the gentleman reported one on each of 
 his shoulders. The guitar, two bells, and tambourine were 
 played simultaneously, and hands of various sizes were 
 shown. Among these, one was too peculiar to be passed 
 over. It was a left hand, and upon the lower bone of the 
 thumb a bony excrescence was growing, which Mme. de 
 Blavatsky recognized, and said was caused by a gun-shot 
 wound in one of Garibaldi's battles. The hand grasped a 
 broken sword that had been lying upon a table behind 
 the shawl. It was the hand of a Hungarian officer, an old 
 friend of the madame's, named Dgiano Nallus " (page 317). 
 
 Then came a black spirit. This account is from " People 
 from the Other World " (p. 328-331) :— 
 
 " Madame de Blavatsky did not recognize liim at first, but 
 he stepped forward a pace or two, and she then saw before 
 her the chief of a party of African jugglers whom she en- 
 countered once in Upper Egypt, at a celebration of the feast 
 of 'The Ramazan.' The magical performances of his party 
 upon that occasion make one of the most incredible stories 
 in the history of either magic or spiritualism, and one feat 
 deserves place in such a book of weird experiences as this. 
 Madame says that, in full sight of a multitude, comprising 
 several hundred Europeans and many thousand Egyptians 
 and Africans, the juggler came out on a bare space of 
 ground, leading a small boy, stark naked, by tlie hand, and 
 carrying a huge roll of tape, that might be twelve or 
 eighteen inches wide. 
 
 " After certain ceremonies, he whirled the roll about his 
 head several times, and then flung it straight up into the 
 air. Instead of falling back to earth after it had ascended a 
 short distance, it kept on upward, unwinding and unwind- 
 ing interminably from the stick, until it grew to be a mere 
 speck, and finally passed out of sight. The juggler drove 
 the pointed end of the stick into the ground, and then 
 beckoned the boy to approach. Pointing upward, and talk- 
 ing in a strange jargon, he seemed to be ordering the little 
 fellow to ascend the self-suspended tape, which by this time 
 stood straight and stifi", as if it were a board whose end 
 rested against some solid support up in mid-air. The boy 
 bowed compliance, and began climbing, using his hands and 
 feet as little ' All Right ' does when climbing Satsuma's 
 
30 Madame Blavatsky. 
 
 balance-pole. The boy went higher and higher until he, 
 too, seemed to pass into the clouds and disappear. 
 
 "The juggler waited five or ten minutes, and then, 
 pretending to be impatient, shouted up to his assistant as it* 
 to order him down. No answer was heard, and no boy ap- 
 peared ; so, finally, as if carried away with rage, the juggler 
 thrust a naked sword into his breech-cloth (the only gar- 
 ment upon his person), and climbed after the boy. Up and 
 up and, hand over hand, and step by step, he ascended, 
 until the straining eyes of the multitude saw him no more. 
 There was a moment's pause, and then a wild shriek came 
 down from the sky, and a bleeding arm, as if freshly cut 
 from the boy's body, fell with a horrid thud upon the 
 ground. Then came another, then the two legs, one after 
 the other, then the dismembered trunk, and, last of all, the 
 ghastly head, every part streaming with gore and covering 
 the ground," 
 
 This astounding marvel was witnessed by Marco Polo, and 
 also by the Emperor Jehangir. But until Madame Blavatsky 
 saw this strange sight no one else had seen it in modern 
 times. But greater marvels are coming. At one seance 
 Madame Blavatsky saw her dead uncle : — 
 
 " He came to visit Madame de Blavatsky, and made her a 
 profound obeisance ; but she failed to recognize him. 
 Nevertheless, she showed no such hesitancy about another 
 of her visitors. The curtain was lifted, and out stepped a 
 gentleman of so marked an appearance as to make it absurd 
 to imagine that William Eddy could be attempting to 
 personate a character in this instance. He was a portly 
 personage, with an unmistakable air of high breeding, 
 dressed in an evening suit of black cloth, with a frilled 
 white shirt and frilled wristbands. About his neck he 
 wore the Greek cross of St. Anne, attached to its appropriate 
 ribbon. At first Madame de Blavatsky thought that her 
 father stood before her, but, as the figure advanced another 
 step or two towards her, thus bringing himself to within 
 five or six feet of where she sat, the spirit greeted her in the 
 Kussian language, and said 'Djadja' (uncle). She then 
 recognized the familiar features of her father's brother, to 
 whom he bore a very strong resemblance in life. This was 
 M. Grustave H. Hahn, late President of the Criminal Court 
 
The ''Miracle Clubr 31 
 
 at Grodno, Russia, which dignified oflSce he held for twelve 
 years. This gentleman, who died in 1861, must not be con- 
 founded with his namesake and cousin, Count Gustave 
 Halm, the Senator, who is livinix in St. Petersburg at the 
 present moment " (p. 360). 
 
 Greater marvels j^et were coming : — 
 
 " The evening of October 24th was as bright as day with 
 the light of the moon, and, while there was a good deal of 
 moisture in the air, the atmospheric conditions would, I 
 suppose, have been regarded as favourable for manifesta- 
 tions. In the dark circle, as soon as the light was ex- 
 tinguished, * George Dix,' addressing Madame de Blavatsky, 
 said : ' Madame, I am now about to give you a test of the 
 genuineness of the manifestations in this circle, which I 
 think will satisfy not only you, but a sceptical world be- 
 side. I shall place in your hands the buckle of a medal of 
 honour worn in life by your brave father, and buried with 
 his body in Russia. This has been brought to you by your 
 uncle, whom you have seen materialised this evening.' 
 Presently I heard the lady utter an exclamation, and a 
 light being struck, we all saw Madame de Blavatsky hold- 
 ing in her hand a silver buckle of a most curious shape, 
 which she regarded with speechless wonder. 
 
 " When she recovered herself a little, she announced that 
 this buckle had, indeed, been worn by her father, with 
 many other decorations, that she identified this particular 
 article by the fact that the point of the pin had been care- 
 lessly broken off" by herself many years ago ; and that ac- 
 cording to universal custom, this, with all his other medals 
 and crosses, must have been buried with her father's body. 
 The medal to which this buckle belongs was one granted 
 by the late Czar to his officers, after the Turkish campaign 
 of 1828. The medals were distributed at Bucharest, and a 
 number of the officers had buckles similar to this made by 
 the rude silversmiths of that city. Her father died July 
 loth, 187o, and she, being in this country, could not attend 
 his obsequies. As to the authenticity of this present so 
 mysteriously received, she possessed ample proof, in a 
 photographic copy of her father's oil portrait, in which this 
 very buckle appears, attached to its own ribbon and medal " 
 (pp. 835, 336). 
 
32 Madame Blavatsky. 
 
 Colonel Olcott is very angry with Madame Coulomb for 
 damaging the society with her false evidence. But it seems 
 to me his own revelations are far more damaging. He 
 makes it quite impossible that we can believe in the 
 Mahatmas of Tibet. 
 
 Madame Blavatsky comes to America a steerage pas- 
 senger without any funds. He, be tells us, supported her 
 during the whole of her American visit. (Theosophist, vol. 
 xiii., p. 49.) What was her proposed means of livelihood 
 when she crossed the Atlantic ? 
 
 But one answer seems possible. She proposed to figure 
 as an ordinary professional " medium." 
 
 At starting she sees that a Colonel Olcott is the great 
 authority in spiritualism in the American newspapers. She 
 flies off to Chittenden where he is investigating the pheno- 
 mena of the " Eddy Boys." She throws herself in his path- 
 w^ay with a little affected coyness. 
 
 " I hesitated before coming here because I was afraid of 
 meeting that Colonel Olcott. He might put me in the 
 papers.' 
 
 But why should she be afraid of being put in an article 
 about spiritualistic mediums, unless she was a spiritualistic 
 medium herself ? 
 
 Were the "Eddy Boys" cheats ? Mr. Stainton Moses told 
 me that they had since confessed their rogueries on public 
 platforms. Mr. Coleman confirms this. 
 
 " That I am far from satisfied with the results attained 
 at Chittenden is already known," says Colonel Olcott signi- 
 ficantly. " The ' Boys,' ho adds, refused him a ' fair chance ' 
 to apply tests." (" People from the Other World,' p. 415.) 
 
 But this raises a delicate question. If " Wando," and 
 " Wasso " were cheats dressed up, what about " Dgiano 
 Nallus," and " Michalko Guegidze ? " Madame Coulomb 
 boldy affirms that they were dressed-up mortals likewise. 
 She points significantly to the Russian dresses, medals of 
 honour, the Tchicharda and the Zourna, that figured directly 
 the Russian lady arrived. Familiar with certain similar 
 dressings up in India, that good lady is perhaps over- 
 suspicious. 
 
 Colonel Olcott lets out one very grave fact indeed. 
 Madame Blavatsky told him that she had had for a familiar 
 
The ''Miracle Chtbr i^ 
 
 John King for fourteen years. Fourteen from 1875 -^rives 
 1861. 
 
 Mr. Sinnett views all this pretence of being a medium as 
 a pleasant comedy. One difficulty in this interpretation is 
 the question of ways and means. Man, and woman also, 
 must eat, drink, and sleep. More than that, they must pay 
 for their food, drink, and lo Iging. A woman with private 
 means might indulge in this rather thin comedy. A woman 
 entirely without means could not. Then, too, if she actu- 
 ally knew all this time that none but fiends could com- 
 municate with mortals, it seems stretching a joke a little 
 far to say that she recognised her father and uncle amongst 
 these fiends. Why, too, did she send these filthy hob- 
 goblins to profane the tomb of her father, and tear the 
 medal of honour from his corpse ? 
 
 But the question shortly will become much more compli- 
 cated. In the year 1855 a thunderbolt fell from the blue. 
 The celebrated Robert Dale Owen had taken up spiritual- 
 ism, and had been much interested in the phenomena 
 produced by Mr. and Mrs. Nelson Holmes. But suddenly 
 American spiritualists were aghast. Mr. Robert Dale Owen 
 produced one Eliza White who confessed that at the Holmes' 
 seances she had personated the spirit "Katie King" in a 
 "trick cabinet" (Olcott, "People from the Other World," p. 
 437). Spiritualism, as the colonel tells us, seemed to have 
 received a death-blow. 
 
 What was the action of Madame Blavatsky when she 
 found that the dream of the Mahatmas of Tibet had, it is 
 true without much exertion on her side, come on earth. 
 Will it be believed that she immediately wrote to the 
 papers trying to set up the reputation of the Holmeses once 
 more ? Colonel Olcott gives extracts from her letter : — 
 
 "As it is, I have only done my duty: first towards spirit- 
 ualism, that I have defended as well as I could from the 
 attacks of imposture under the too transparent mask of 
 science; then towards two helpless, slandered mediums. . . . 
 But I am obliged to confess that I really do not believe in 
 having done any good to spiritualism itself. ... It is with 
 a profound sadness in my heart that I acknowledge this 
 fact, for I begin to think there is no help for it. For over 
 fifteen years have I fought my battle for the blessed truth ; 
 
34 Madame Blavatsky, 
 
 have travelled and preached it — though I never was born 
 for a lecturer — from the snow-covered tops of the Cauca- 
 sian Mountains, as well as from the sandy valleys of the 
 Nile. I have proved the truth of it practically and by per- 
 suasion. For the sake of spirituahsm I have left my home, 
 an easy life amongst a civilised society, and have become a 
 wanderer upon the face of the earth. I had already seen 
 my hopes realised, beyond my most sanguine expectations, 
 when my unlucky star brought me to America. Knowing 
 this country to be the cradle of modern spiritualism I came 
 over here from France with feelings not unlike those of a 
 Mohammedan approaching the birthplace of his prophet," 
 etc., etc. (Letter of H. P. B. to the Spirihicdist of Dec. 13th, 
 1874). 
 
 This is strange language from a lady who had received 
 from the Brothers of Tibet a mighty ''mission," to put down 
 spiritualism. 
 
 Then with Colonel Olcott she posted off to the seances of 
 the Holmeses, and " John King " and " Katie King " came 
 out of the cabinet time after time. Mr. Coleman at the 
 Chicago Conference read a paper, since published in the 
 Religio-Philosophical Jovbrnal (Sept. 16th, 1893), of w^hich 
 this is an extract : — 
 
 " It is evident that Madame Blavatsky and the Holmeses 
 were in collusion in the production of spurious phenomena 
 palmed off on Olcott as genuine. K. B. Westbrook, LL.D., 
 one of the original officers of the Theosophical Society, 
 stated in the Religio-Philosophical Journal, Chicago, Sept. 
 14th, 1889, that Mrs. Holmes had admitted as much, and 
 had stated that Madame Blavatsky proposed to her a 
 partnership in the ' materialisation show business,' with 
 Colonel Olcott as manager, claiming that she had already 
 so ' psychologised him that he did not know his head from 
 his heels.' " 
 
 Here is Colonel Olcott's account of it : — 
 
 " The first evening I spent in Philadelphia, I had a very 
 long conversation through rappings with what purported 
 to be the spirit who calls himself ' John King.' Whoever 
 this person may be, whether he was the Buccaneer Morgan 
 or Pontius Pilate, Columbus or Zoroaster, he has been the 
 busiest and most powerful spirit, or what you please to call 
 
The ''Miracle Club:' 35 
 
 it, connected with this whole modern spiritualism. In this 
 country and Europe we read of his pliysical feats, l)is 
 audible speaking, his legerdemain, his direct writing, his 
 materialisations. He was with the Koons family in Ohio, 
 the Davenports in New York, tlie Williams in London, 
 and the mediums in France and Germany. Madame de 
 Blavatsky encountered lihn fourteen years ago in Russia 
 and Circassia, talked with and saw him in Egypt and India. 
 I met him in London in 1870, and he seems able to converse 
 in any language with equal ease. I have talked with him 
 in English, French, German, Spanish, and Latin, and have 
 heard others do the same in Greek, Russian, Italian, Georgian 
 (Caucasus), and Turkish ; his replies being always pertinent 
 and satisfactory. His rap is peculiar and easily recognis- 
 able from others — a loud, sharp, crackling report. He 
 objects to the application of tests, but after refusing them, 
 will, at the most unexpected times, give such as are much 
 more startling and conclusive than the ones proposed. He 
 has done this with me, not once merely but dozens of times ; 
 and, really, it became the most difficult thing in the world 
 for me to hesitate a moment longer in giving up all reserve 
 and acknowledging myself a spiritualist _2:>^t sang. 
 
 " I went to Philadelphia without a theory as to the 
 Holmes imbroglio ; the newspaper accounts had been so 
 confusing that I dismissed the whole subject from my 
 mind, and determined to start at the very bottom and build 
 up my belief by degrees. But at my first interview with 
 ' John King,' he rapped out the whole secret history of th.e 
 aflfair, telling me the parties concerned in the pretended 
 exposure, their names, the agents they employed, the sums 
 of money subscribed, who carried the purse, who disbursed 
 the funds, and who received the spoils. I was amazed 
 bej^ond description, for the information given was the 
 farthest possible from what seemed credible " (" People 
 from the Other World," pp. 454, 455). 
 
 Now let us listen to Madame Blavatsky, quoted by Colonel 
 Olcott in his "Diary Leaves" {Theosophist, pp. 329, 330):— 
 
 "Yes, I am sorry to say that I had to identify myself, 
 during that shameful exposure of the Holmes mediums, 
 with the spiritualists. I had to save the situation, iov I loas 
 sent from Paris to America on purpose to prove the pheno- 
 
36 Madame B lav at sky, 
 
 w^ena and their reality, and show the fallacy of the spiritual- 
 istic theory of spirits. But how could I do it best ? I did 
 not want people at large to know that I could produce the 
 same things AT WILL. I had received orders to the con- 
 trary, and yet I had to keep alive the reality, the genuineness 
 and possibility of such phenomena, in the hearts of those 
 who, from materialists, had turned spiritualists, but now, 
 owing to the exposure of several mediums, fell back again 
 and returned to their scepticism. This is why, selecting a few 
 of the faithful, I Avent to the Holmeses, and, helped by M. 
 and his poiver, brought out the faces of John King and 
 Katie King from the astral light, produced the phenomena 
 of materialization, and allowed the spiritualists at large to 
 believe it was done through the mediumship of Mrs. Holmes. 
 She was terribly frightened herself, for she knew that this 
 once the apparition Avas real. Did I do wrong ? The 
 world is not prepared yet to understand the philosophy of 
 occult science ; let them first assure themselves that there 
 are beings in an invisible world, whether 'spirits' of the 
 dead or elementals ; and that there are hidden powers in 
 man which are capable of making a god of him on 
 earth. 
 
 " When I am dead and gone people will, perhaps, appreci- 
 ate my disinterested motives. I have pledged my word to 
 help people on to Truth while living, and I will keep my 
 word. Let them abuse and revile me ; let some call me a 
 medium and a spiritualist, others an impostor. The day 
 will come when posterity will learn to know me better. 
 Oh, poor, foolish, credulous, wicked world ! " 
 
 These seances must have been certainly very curious. At 
 one moment an astral form of a " Brother " would issue 
 from the " trick cabinet " and call himself " John King," 
 hustling on his wa}^ back another "John King," in the per- 
 son of Mr. Holmes, with black beard and white turban. 
 But can we quite believe in the boasted transcendental 
 wisdom and truth of these Mahatmas, if they resorted to 
 these puerilities ? " John King " and " Katie King " being 
 imaginary persons, an astral presentment of these is as 
 much a cheat as a dressed-up presentment. The Mahatmas 
 propose, according to Mr. Sinnett, to give to the world 
 for the first time a " block of absolute truth," and yet they 
 
The ''Miracle Club:' 37 
 
 choose for their spokeswoman a lady who for nearly twenty 
 years delivers the great messaf]je turned topsy-turvy. 
 
 But in Li(jld (August 9th, 1884) the Russian lady pub- 
 lished an explanation. I must say at once that her theory 
 of these years and Mr. Sinnett's theory are diametrically 
 opposed. He has exhausted his eloquence to show that 
 on leaving the " Masters " in Tibet she had emerged from 
 " Apprenticeship to Duty," that a solemn and transcendental 
 " Mission " was now hers to overthrow spiritualism in the 
 cause of " absolute truth." 
 
 She, on the other hand, boldly announces that absolute 
 truth was at this time not quite her most prominent mind 
 target, but merry comedy : — 
 
 " True it is I had told Colonel Olcott and many others 
 that the form of a man, with a dark pale face, black beard, 
 and white flowing garments and fettah, that some of them 
 had met about the house and my room, was that of a John 
 King, and I laughed heartily at the easy way tlie actual 
 body of a living man could be mistaken for and accepted 
 as a spirit." 
 
 Fourteen j^ears is rather a long time to keep up the 
 merriest little jest. 
 
 This ends the first period of Madame Blavatsky's stay in 
 America. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE BROTHERS OF LUXOR. 
 
 Madame Blavatsky's attempt to get up what she called a 
 *' Miracle Club " and preach pure spiritualism proved a 
 miserable failure. Colonel Olcott confesses this. {Theo- 
 sophist, 1892, p. 335.) And so in the view of her hostile 
 critics she had to attempt something else, and started the 
 gospel of the Brothers of Luxor. 
 
 This secret doctrine is diametrically opposed to the 
 secret doctrine of the Brothers of Tibet. 
 
 1. The Brothers of Luxor announced that all the pheno- 
 mena of spiritualism w^ere due not to " post-mortem 
 visitors " but living visitors in their astral forms, super- 
 excellent people, who personated the dead to spread 
 spiritualism. 
 
 2. The Brothers of Tibet announced, on the contrary, that 
 these phenomena were due to the bad halves of dead people, 
 and that the great aim of the Brotherhood was to suppress 
 these supremely wicked beings, and root up spiritualism. 
 
 Let us listen to Colonel Olcott (" People from the Other 
 World," p. 452-4):— 
 
 " I reached Philadelphia, as before observed, on the 4th 
 of January, and called upon Mr. Leslie, Dr. Child, Mr. 
 Owen, Dr. Fellger and others. I took rooms at the private 
 hotel of Mrs. Martin in Girard Street, where our friend 
 Madame de Blavatsky w^as also quartered. My acquaint- 
 ance with Madame de Blavatsky, begun under such 
 interesting circumstances at Chittenden, has continued, and 
 recently become more intimate in consequence of her having 
 accepted the offer of M. Aksakow, the eminent St. Peters- 
 burg publisher, former tutor to the Czaro witch, to trans- 
 late my Chittenden letters into the Russian language for 
 republication in the capital of the Czar. 
 
 " I gradually discovered that this lady, whose brilliant 
 
 38 
 
The Brothers of Luxor, 39 
 
 accomplishments and eminent virtues of character, no less 
 than her exalted social position, entitle her to the highest 
 respect, is one of the most remarkable mediums in the 
 world. At the same time, her mediumship is totally 
 different from that of any other person I ever met ; for, 
 instead of being controlled by spirits to do their will, it is 
 she who seems to control them to do her bidding. What- 
 ever may be the secret by which this power has been 
 attained I cannot say, but that she possesses it I have had 
 too many proofs to permit me to doubt the fact. Many 
 years of her life have been passed in Oriental lands, where 
 what we recognise as spiritualism has for years been 
 regarded as the mere rudimental developments of a system 
 which seems to have established such relations between 
 mortals and the immortals as to enable certain of the 
 former to have dominion over many of the latter. I pass 
 by such of the mysteries of the Egyptian, Hindoo, and 
 other priestly orders as may be ascribed to a knowledge of 
 the natural sciences, and refer to those higher branches of 
 that so-called white magic, which has been practised for 
 countless centuries by the initiated. 
 
 " Whether Madame de Blavatsky has been admitted 
 behind the veil or not can only be surmised, for she is very 
 reticent upon the subject, but her startling gifts seem im- 
 possible of explanation upon any other hypothesis. She 
 wears upon her bosom the mystic jew^elled emblem of an 
 Eastern Brotherhood, and is probably the only representa- 
 tive in this country of this fraternity, ' who/ as Bulwer 
 remarks, ' in an earlier age boasted of secrets of which the 
 philosopher's stone was but the least ; who considered 
 themselves the heirs of all that the Chaldeans, the Magi, 
 the Gymnosophists, and the Platonists had taught ; and 
 who differed from all the darker sons of magic in the 
 virtue of their lives, the purity of their doctrines and their 
 insisting, as the foundation of all wisdom, on the subjuga- 
 tion of the senses, and the intensity of religious faith.' 
 
 " After knowing this remarkable lady, and seeing the 
 wonders that occur in her presence so constantly that they 
 actually excited at length but a passing emotion of sur- 
 prise, I am almost tempted to believe that the stories of 
 Eastern fables are but simple narratives of fact ; and that 
 
40 Madame Blavatsky. 
 
 this very American outbreak of spiritualistic phenomena 
 is under the control of an Order, which, wldle depending 
 for its results upon unseen agents, has its existence upon 
 Earth among men" 
 
 It seems very plain from this last paragraph that the 
 idea of the " Order '' came in the first instance from Colonel 
 Olcott himself. Here is another passage from his (" Diary 
 Leaves ") p. 647-9 :— 
 
 " As already explained, the self-advertising attack of the 
 late Dr. George M. Beard — an electropathic ph3\sician of 
 New York City — upon the Eddys, and his wild and false 
 assertion that he could imitate the form-apparitions with 
 •three dollars worth of drapery,' lashed H. P. B. into the 
 Berserker writing-rage, and made her send the Graphic 
 that caustic reply, covering a bet of 500 dollars that he 
 could not make good his boast, which first acquainted the 
 American public with her existence and name. Naturally, 
 people took sides ; the friends of spiritualism and the 
 mediums siding with H. P. B., while the opponents, especially 
 the materialistically inclined scientists, ranged themselves 
 in the cohort of Dr. Beard's supporters. The one who pro- 
 fited by the dispute was Beard, whose ruse — worthy of Pears, 
 Beecham, or Siegel — advertised him and his electricity be- 
 yond his expectations. Profiting by the chance, he gave a 
 thoroughly well-advertised lecture on this subject, and 
 another, if I remember aright, upon mesmerism and 
 thought-reading, at the New York Academy of Music. 
 The Banner of Light, the R. P. Journcd, and other papers, 
 commenting upon H. P. B.'s anti-Beard letter, she replied, and 
 so very speedily found herself with her hands full of con- 
 troversy. As I said before, she took up the attitude of an 
 out-and-out spiritualist, who not only believed, but hneio, 
 tliat the powers behind the mediums, which wrote, produced 
 piiysical phenomena, talked in air-formed voices, and even 
 showed their entire forms or disconnected faces, hands, feet, 
 or other members, were the earth-haunting spirits of the 
 dead ; neither more nor less. In a previous chapter I 
 quoted passages from her published letters, and in articles 
 going to prove this, and in her very first letter to me, 
 written from New York within a week after she left me at 
 Chittenden (October, 1874) addressing me as 'Dear Friend/ 
 
The Brothers of Luxor. 41 
 
 and signing herself 'Jack,' and in her second one, dated six 
 days later, and signed ' Jack Blavatsky/ she entreats me 
 not to praise the mediumistic musical performance of one 
 Jesse Sheppard, whose pretence to having sung before the 
 Czar, and other boasts, she had discovered to be absolutely 
 false; as such a course on my part would 'injure spiritual- 
 ism more than anything else in the world.' 'I speak to 
 you,' she tells me, 'as a true friend to yourself and (as a) 
 spiritualist anxious to save spiritualism from a danger.' 
 In the same letter, referring to a promise given her by 
 ' Mayflower ' and ' George Dix,' two of the alleged spirit- 
 controls of Horatio Eddy, that they would help her by in- 
 fluencing the judge before whom was pending her lawsuit 
 to recover the money put into the Long Island market- 
 garden co-partnership, slie says : ' Mayflower was right, 
 judge . . . came in with another decision in my favour.' 
 Did she believe, then, that medium-controlling spirits could 
 and would influence justices ? If not, what does her 
 language imply ? Either she was a spiritualist, or so repre- 
 sented herself for the time being, with the ulterior design 
 of gradually shifting spiritualists from the Western to the 
 Eastern platform of belief in regard to the mediumistic 
 phenomena. In her anti-Beard letter {N. Y. Daily Graphic, 
 Nov. 13th, 1874), she says, — speaking of the incident of the 
 bringing to her by the ' spirits ' of Horatio Eddy, of a de- 
 ccration-buckle that had been buried with her father's body 
 at Stavropol — 'I deem it my duty as a spiritualist to,' etc., 
 etc. Later on, she told me that the outburst of medium- 
 istic phenomena had been caused by the Brotherhood of 
 Adepts as an evolutionary agency, and I embodied this idea 
 in a phrase in my book (" P. O. W.," p. 454, top), suggesting 
 the thinkable hypothesis that such might be the fact. But 
 then, in that case, the spiritualistic outbreak could not be 
 regarded as absolutely maleficent, as some extremists have 
 depicted it ; for it is inconceivable — at least to me, who 
 know them — that those elder brothers of humanity Avould 
 ever employ, even for the ultimate good of the race, an 
 agency in itself absolutely bad. The Jesuit motto, Finis 
 coronal opus, is not written on the temple walls of the 
 Fraternity. 
 
 " In the same number of the Daily Graphic to which she 
 
42 Madame B lav at sky, 
 
 contributed her anti-Beard letter was published her bio- 
 graph}^, from notes furnished b}^ herself. She sa3'S, ' In 
 1858, I returned to Paris and made the acquaintance of 
 Daniel Home, the spiritualist . . . Home converted me to 
 spiritualism . . . After this I went to Russia. I converted 
 my father to spiritualism.' In an article defending the 
 Holmes mediums from the treacherous attack of their 
 ex-partner and show-manager, Dr. Child, she speaks of 
 spiritualism as 'our belief and '■our cause'; and again, 
 'the whole belief of us spiritualists'; still further, 'If we 
 spiritualists are to be laughed at, and scoffed, and ridiculed, 
 and sneered at, we ought to know, at least, the reason why.' 
 Certainly ; and some of her surviving colleagues might pro- 
 fitably keep it in mind. In the Spiritual Scientist of March 
 8th, 1875, she says that a certain thing would 'go towards 
 showing that notwithstanding the divine truth of our faith 
 (spiritualism), and the teachings of our invisible guardians 
 (the spirits of the circles), some spiritualists have not profited 
 by them, to learn impartiality and justice.' " 
 
 Colonel Olcott becomes a Chela : — 
 
 " Little by little H. P. B. let me know of the existence of 
 Eastern adepts and their powers, and gave me, as above 
 stated, the proofs of her own control over the occult forces 
 of nature by a multitude of phenomena. At first, as I have 
 remarked, she ascribed them to ' John King,' and it was 
 through his alleged friendliness that I first came into per- 
 sonal correspondence with the Masters. Most of their 
 letters I have preserved with my own endorsement of the 
 dates of their reception. For j^ears, and until shortly' be- 
 fore I left New York for India, i was connected in pupilage 
 with the African section of the Occult Brotherhood ; but 
 later, when a certain wonderful thing of a psycho-physio- 
 logical nature happened to H. P. B., that I am not at liberty 
 to speak about, and that nobody has up to the present sus- 
 pected, although enjoying her intimacy and confidence, as 
 they fancy, I was transferred to the Indian section and a 
 different group of masters " (" Diary Leaves," p. 331). 
 
 The initiation was by " precipitated ' letters, as in the 
 case of Mrs. Besant and Mr. Sinnett. But at this point we 
 are met with a difiiculty. Here is one of the letters : — 
 
 " The time is come to let you know who I am. I am not 
 
The Brothers of Luxor. 43 
 
 a disembodied spirit, Brother ; I am a living man, gifted 
 with such powers by our Lodge as are in store for yourself 
 some day. I cannot be with you otherwise than in spirit, 
 for thousands of miles separate us at present. Be patient, 
 of good cheer, untiring labourer of the Sacred Brotherhood. 
 Work on and toil too for yourself, for self-reliance is the 
 most powerful factor of success. Help your needy brother 
 and you will be helped yourself in virtue of the never- 
 failing and ever-active Law of Compensation." 
 
 Does it not seem from this that the " Committee of Seven 
 — the Brothers of Luxor " at first preached open spiritual- 
 ism. " The time has come to let you know^ that I am a 
 living man." Plainly the first precipitated letters professed 
 to come from dead men. 
 
 " And yet," says the bewildered colonel, " in spite of the 
 above, I was made to believe that we w^orked in collabora- 
 tion with at least one disincarnate entity. He was a great 
 Piatonist." Plainly the '' Committee of Seven" w^ere not 
 very clear in their own minds about the " Secret Doctrine." 
 But a still more strange event occurred. The bad half of 
 Paracelsus came across the ages to greet the colonel. 
 
 " While we lived in West Thirty"-fourth Street, H. P. B. 
 and I were standing in the passage between the front and 
 back rooms, when her manner and voice suddenly changed. 
 She took my hand, as if to express friendship, and asked : 
 " Will you have Theophrastus for a friend, Henry ? " 
 This shows, at any rate, that dead ghosts are not too 
 ceremonious. 
 
 I now come to the first miracle of the Brothers of Luxor, 
 the famous " Committee of Seven." It is given by Colonel 
 Olcott in his " Diary Leaves " in the Tlteosoiihist (pp. 330, 
 331) :— 
 
 " I wish I could recall to memory the first phenomenon 
 done by her confessedly as by an exercise of her own will 
 power, but I cannot. It must have been just after she 
 began writing ' Isis Unveiled,' and possibly it was the follow- 
 ing : After leaving 16 Irving Place and making a visit to 
 friends in the country, she occupied rooms for a time in 
 another house in Irving Place, a few doors from the Lotus 
 Club, and on the same side of the street. It was there that 
 later the informal gathering of friends was held, at which I 
 
44 Madame B lav at sky. 
 
 proposed the formation of what afterwards became the 
 Theosophical Society. Among her callers was an Italian 
 artist, a Signor B,, formerly a Carbonaro. I was sitting 
 alone with her in her drawing-room when he made his first 
 visit. They talked of Italian affairs, and he suddenly pro- 
 nounced the name of one of the greatest of the adepts. 
 She started as if she had received an electric shock, looked 
 him straight in the eyes, and said (in Italian), ' What is it ? 
 I am ready.' He passed it off carelessly, but thenceforward 
 the talk was all about magic, magicians, and adepts. It was 
 a cold, snowy winter evening, but Signor B. went and 
 opened one of the French windows, made some beckoning 
 passes towards the outer air, and presently a pure white 
 butterfly came into the room and went flying about near 
 the ceiling. H. P. B. laughed in a cheerful way, and said, 
 ' That is pretty, but I can also do it ! ' She, too, opened the 
 window, made similar beckoning passes, and presently a 
 second white butterfly came fluttering in. It mounted to 
 tlie ceiling, chased the other around the room, played with 
 it now and then, with it flew to a corner, and, presto ! both 
 disappeared at once while we were looking at them. 
 ' What does that mean ? ' I asked. ' Only this, that Signor 
 B. can make an elemental turn itself into a butterfly, and 
 so can I.' " 
 
 But here comes a puzzle. A very conscientious man, an 
 English barrister, Mr. Massey, read this, and at once sent 
 the following letter to Light (July 16th, 1892). 
 
 "Madame Blavatsky and the Butterflies. 
 
 " Sir, — As I was (on another occasion) witness of the 
 butterfly phenomenon described by Colonel Olcott in his 
 notes on Madame Blavatsky, it occurs to me that a contem- 
 porary record of an independent observation may not be 
 without interest in point of evidence. I extract from a 
 diary I began on arrival at New York, September 6th, 1875, 
 so much as relates to the incident in question : — ' Called on 
 Colonel Olcott, and was taken by him in the evening to 
 Madame Blavatsky's. Present : Mr. S. [I suppress names 
 as Colonel Olcott does so], an Englishman (editor of the 
 American BihliopJiilist), Signor B. (an Italian artist, 
 
The Brothers of Ltixor. 45 
 
 formerly secretary to Mazzini), Colonel 0., Madame Blavat- 
 sky, and myself. . . . Signor B. asked me if I thought 
 spirits could materialise themselves into butterflies. There 
 were none visible to me in the room then, but the windows 
 were wide open. About a quarter of an hour after, in came 
 a butterfly fluttering about the room. "Let us have another," 
 said Madame B., and looked towards the window as if 
 summoning one. Almost directly another one came in. 
 Then they were required to disappear. One of them did, 
 but not the other for some time, when it got behind the 
 valence of the curtain. I thought little of this, though 
 it impressed Olcott, because they did not fly to the candles, 
 after the nature of moths (and they were nothing but large 
 moths).' 
 
 " However, I find it added that on the next night I saw 
 one of these large moths there, which did go to the candle, 
 ' so I think they must be frequent visitors, and that no 
 magic is required to account for them.' Then further : 
 ' Olcofct told me he had seen [Signor] B. bring clouds over 
 the moon on a clear, cloudless night — but twenty minutes 
 intervened between the summons and the appearance — time 
 enough for a light cloud to arise naturally, and in a city the 
 horizon is not seen.' This gentleman favoured me with 
 another slight display o£ his powers of mystification, but I 
 seem to have subjected the performance to a very sceptical 
 criticism." 
 
 This again makes a complication, because if a number of 
 butterflies are flying about, it is difficult to tell which is a 
 " Brother of Luxor," and which only an ordinary butterfly. 
 It is sad to think that after all the new society had reason 
 to be dissatisfied with the Italian " Signor B." 
 
 " I had seen him on the best of terms with H. P. B., 
 talking in the most friendly and unreserved way about 
 Italy, Garibaldi, Mazzini, the Carbonari, the Eastern and 
 Western adepts, etc., and matching phenomena, like the 
 trick of the white butterflies, and I certainly had reason to 
 be amazed when, putting on an air of mystery, he warned 
 me to break off* my intimacy with her. He said she was a 
 very wicked and dangerous woman, and would bring some 
 terrible calamity upon me if I allowed myself to fall under 
 
46 Madame Blavatsky. 
 
 her malign spell. This, he said, he was ordered by the 
 great master whose name I had heard him pronounce to FI. 
 P. B., to tell me. I looked at the man to see if I could 
 detect the concealed meaning of this preposterous speech, 
 and finally said, ' Well, signor, I know that the personage 
 you mention exists ; I have every reason, after seeing your 
 phenomena, to suspect that you have relations with him or 
 with the Brotherhood ; I am ready, even to the sacrifice of 
 my life, to obey his behests ; and now I demand that you 
 give me a certain sign by which I shall know, positively 
 and without room for the least doubt, that Madame Blavat- 
 sky is the devil you depict, and that the Master's will is 
 that my acquaintance with her shall cease.' The Italian 
 hesitated, stammered out something incoherent, and turned 
 the conversation. Though he could draw inky clouds out 
 of the moon, he could not throw black doubt into my heart 
 about my new friend and guide through the mazy intri- 
 cacies of occult science. The next time I saw H. P. B. I 
 told her about B.'s warning, whereupon she smiled, said I 
 had nicely passed through that little test, and wrote a note 
 to Signor B. to ' forget the way to her door,' which he did " 
 ("Diary Leaves," p.'589). 
 
 Another miracle of these Brothers was called in ques- 
 tion : — 
 
 " H. P. B. (at a signal, I suppose, received by her privately 
 from ' John King ' or some other invisible co-worker) would 
 cease painting the fiower she was at v/ork upon, lay down 
 her brush, cover the picture with a cloth, and step back 
 with me to the other side of the room or go out ; presently 
 she would return, remove the cloth, and there w^e would 
 find one of these exquisite, sylph-like forms or some other 
 detail of drawing that was not there the moment before. 
 These sylphs were not drawn in outline as an artist, like 
 Retsch, say, who was a master in this branch of art, would 
 have sketched them, but they were formed by simply 
 omitting the blue background and letting the white satin 
 cloth under the painting show through. Does the reader 
 understand ? No brush or pencil tracing formed the figure's 
 outlines, it was an objectivated thought, the visible pro- 
 jection of a painter's thought image : outside the boundary 
 lines of the body rolled blue clouds and masses of vapour, 
 
The Brothers of Luxor, 47 
 
 inside them existed the graceful shape of an air-born sylph, 
 the articulation of her lovely limbs indicated, in the style 
 of Retsch, by single lines. To my somewhat trained 
 artistic eye it was but too evident that the same hand which 
 drew and painted the cabbage-sized roses and mammoth 
 rosebuds at the foot of the balustrade, could not have in- 
 troduced those floating sprites, the artistic embodiments of 
 grace and of true anatomical proportion. And even now, 
 after reading my letter, which gives the facts, I cannot 
 understand how the misproportioned human figure, the 
 balustrade, and wreaths could have been done by thought 
 precipitation : it looks more as if H. P. B.'s hand had di'awn 
 them and she had forgotten the fact when writing to 
 General Lippitt. Still, it may be the bad drawing was in 
 her mind, not in her hand " (" Diary Leaves," p, 522). 
 
 But here Mr. Coleman, in the lecture already cited, chimes 
 in : — 
 
 " Early in 1875 Madame Blavatsky sent to General F. J. 
 Lippitt a picture which she said had been painted for the 
 General by the spirit John King himself. In Mind and 
 Matter, Philadelphia, November 27th, 1880, was published 
 conclusive evidence, found in Madame Blavatsky's room in 
 Philadelphia, that she had herself painted this picture ex- 
 cept certain flowers, etc., which were already on the satin 
 when she procured it. Madame Blavatsky is known to 
 have had fair skill as a painter. Further, Mrs. Hannah 
 M. Wolff, of Washington, D.C., in a published account of 
 her experience with Madame Blavatsky in 1874, has stated 
 that Madame Blavatsky having claimed that certain pictures 
 were painted by spiritual power direct, she was watched 
 by three journalists residing in the same house, and they 
 saw Madame Blavatsky get up in the night and paint them 
 herself." 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 We now come to the " Theosopliical Society." Madame 
 Blavatsky in her " Caves and Jungles of Hindustan," p. 21, 
 calls it " La Societe des Malcontents du Spiritisme." Will 
 it be believed that this was in the first instance as much a 
 spiritualistic society as the Societe Sinrite at Cairo ! The 
 first paper read before the society went to show that in 
 ancient Egypt communion with the dead was " reduced to 
 a positive science," This paper was read by a Mr. Felt in 
 the " parlours of Madame Blavatsky." Colonel Olcott in 
 the Banner of Light announced that " Occultism does not rob 
 spiritualism of one of its comforting features, nor abate one 
 jot of its importance as an argument for immortality^ It 
 denies the identity of no real human spirit that ever has or 
 ever will approach an inquirer." 
 
 Mrs. Hardinge Britten, an original member of the society, 
 gives these details in her work, " Nineteenth Century 
 Miracles " (p. 440). The society was started September 7th, 
 1875. 
 
 But this great Theosophical Society in its early stages 
 was nothing at all like the society that we know so well. 
 It still had an eye on the " Secret Doctrine " of the Brothers 
 of Luxor, or perha])s really called these imaginary Brothers 
 into being. Its moving spirit was a Mr. Felt, who had 
 visited Egypt and studied its antiquities. He was a student 
 also of the Kabala; and he had a somewhat eccentric theory 
 that the dog-headed and hawk-headed figures painted on the 
 Egyptian monuments were not mere symbols, but accurate 
 portraits of the " Elementals." He professed to be able to 
 evoke and control them. He announced that he had dis- 
 covered the secret " formularies " of the old Egyptian 
 magicians. Plainly the Theosophical Society at starting 
 was an Egyptian school of occultism. Indeed Colonel 
 
 48 
 
The TJieosophical Society. 49 
 
 Oicott, who furnishes tliese details (" Diary Leaves " in the 
 Theoso'phid, November to December, 1892), lets out that 
 the first title suggested was the " Egyptological Society." 
 
 In point of fact it is quite plain from the "Diary Leaves " 
 of the somewhat too candid colonel that theosophy, instead 
 of springing at once like Minerva from Jove's head, was a 
 growth, an evolution. Madame Blavatsky (or her spooks) 
 was very quick to take hints. Colonel Oicott, as we have 
 seen, suggested an "Order "of Secret Brothers. She im- 
 mediately assimilated it. Mr. Felt announced that he knew 
 the formularies which could evoke and control the " Ele- 
 mentals." Madame Blavatsky soon announced a similar 
 power, though at this time, according to the colonel, she had 
 read little, and had a very vague idea what an " Elemental " 
 meant. 
 
 " In point of fact both of us used to call the spirits of the 
 elements ' elementaries,' thus causing much confusion, but 
 when ' Isis ' was being written I suggested that we should 
 employ the distinctive terms ' elemental,' ' elementary,' in 
 the connection they have ever since had " {Theosophistf 
 August, 1892). 
 
 After writing all this I have suddenly come across a 
 chapter of the " Diary Leaves " that has fairly taken my 
 breath away. Colonel Oicott himself is much exercised 
 with the amazing ditterences between the Secret Doctrine 
 of the " Brothers of Luxor " and the Secret Doctrine of the 
 Brothers of Tibet. He gives some of the differences. Thus 
 re-incarnation, the " strong foundation stone of the ancient 
 occult philosophy," is announced in " Isis Unveiled " to be 
 " as rare as the teratological phenomenon of a two-headed 
 infant " ('' Isis," vol. i., p. 351). 
 
 " This," says Colonel Oicott justly, " was the sum and 
 substance of our teaching at that time, and shows how 
 infinitely far away from believing in re-incarnation H. P. B. 
 and I were then " {TheosoiMst, August, 1893). 
 
 But a still " stronger foundation stone " was kept out of 
 the early building, namely the " Seven Principles of Man." 
 All know the importance attached to this great revelation 
 in the " Secret Doctrine," and other theosophical treatises. 
 Folks write of them as if a cabman or a policeman in 
 Piccadilly, if he had these seven principles read out to him, 
 
 D 
 
50 
 
 Madame Blavatsky. 
 
 could at once transmute metals. It seems quite certain that 
 Madame Blavatsky copied them out of a life o£ Paracelsus : 
 
 The "Seven Principles of IMan " 
 (Paracelsus). 
 
 The " Seven Principles of Man" 
 (Blavatsky). 
 
 1. 
 
 2. 
 3. 
 4. 
 
 5. 
 6. 
 
 7. 
 
 The animal body. 
 
 The archoeus (vital force). 
 
 The sidereal body. 
 
 The animal soul. 
 
 The rational soul. 
 
 The spiritual soul. 
 
 The man of the new Olympus. 
 
 1. The animal body (Rupa). 
 
 2. Vitality (Jiva). 
 
 3. The astral body (linga sarira). 
 
 4. The animal soul (kama rupa). 
 
 5. Intellect (manas). 
 
 6. The spiritual soul (Buddhi). 
 
 7. Spirit (Atma). 
 
 But if once more we get her power of assimilation we get 
 also her confusion of ideas. Paracelsus was a Kabalist, and 
 he was hampered with the doctrine of the resurrection of 
 the body at the day of judgment: — 
 
 "The natural man possesses the elements of the Earth, 
 and the Earth is his mother, and he re-enters into her and 
 loses his natural flesh, but the real man will be re-born 
 at the day of the resurrection into another spiritual and 
 glorified body " (Hartmann, " Paracelsus," p. 68). 
 
 Thus he held that only four out of the seven principles 
 were immortal. Madame Blavatsky had to adapt her seven 
 principles to quite a different teaching, namely the Indian 
 doctrine of the metempsychosis. In consequence she con- 
 fuses all through two distinct ideas, seven principles (that 
 which man has a pri7icipio), and seven stages of spiritual 
 progress. 
 
 But here again the Brothers of Luxor differ from the 
 Brothers of Tibet. Colonel Olcott quotes a letter from 
 Madame Blavatsky to the Revue, Spirite of Paris (June 1st, 
 1879), in which she announces that man ho.^ four principles, 
 not seven. 
 
 "Yes, for the theosophists of New York man is a trinity 
 and not a duality, for by adding the physical body, man is 
 a TetraJdis or quaternary." 
 
 When Mahatmas give two secret doctrines, diametrically 
 opposed the one to the other, what is to be said ? 
 
The Theosophical Society. 51 
 
 Colonel Olcott is plainly puzzled. He gives three theories, 
 but seems little enamoured of any one of them. 
 
 1. The Mahatmas and Madame Blavatsky knew all about 
 re-incarnation and the "Seven Principles" as earl}^ as 1857, 
 but the laws of occult obscurantism required that these 
 great truths should be not only obscured but falsely stated 
 for some twenty-one years. " She used constantly to write 
 and say that it was not permissible to prematurely give out 
 the details of Eastern occultism, and that is very reasonable 
 and easily grasped. But I have never been able to formulate 
 any theory of ethics or honourable policy which required 
 the opposite of the truth to be taught as true. Silence I 
 can cheerfully concede, but not misrepresentation " (p. 642). 
 
 The colonel emphasises the fact that the wrong doctrine 
 of re-incarnation was given as distinctly coming from a 
 " Brother:' 
 
 2. Not liking his first theory, the colonel goes off to a 
 second, which was that the Mahatma himself was misin- 
 formed at first, in fact that he got for transmission what 
 Mr. Sinnefct calls the " block of absolute truth " after 1856. 
 But if a Mahatma can give us an absolute truth turned 
 topsy-turvy, whom can we trust ? 
 
 3. The third theory of Colonel Olcott seems so astounding 
 that I think that we ought to hand it over to Mr. Myers 
 and the Society for Psychical Research. They have gone 
 into the subject of " multiplex personality." " I have," says 
 the colonel, " sometimes been tempted to suspect that none 
 of us, her colleagues, know the normal H. P. B. at all." 
 
 The Russian lady, he thinks, was killed at the battle of 
 Mentana, and a mighty Mahatma who wanted to give a 
 block of absolute truth to the world revived it by a magical 
 process. 
 
 This " suspicion " of liis in a later chapter seems to have 
 become more definite in his mind. The Mahatmas distinctly 
 told him at last that the body of H. P. B. was a " shell " 
 occupied by one of themselves {Theosopltist, Aug., 1893). 
 
 This feat, called Avesa, is often done in India, the colonel 
 tells us, and he goes on to quote from the " Pancharatra 
 Padmasamhita Charyapada " (c. xxiv., vv. 131-140) full in- 
 structions for performing this rite : — 
 
 " I now tell thee, Lotus-born, the method by which to 
 
52 Madame B lav at sky. 
 
 enter another's body. The corpse to be occupied should be 
 fresh, pure, of middle age, endued with all good qualities 
 and free from the awful diseases resulting from sin (m^., 
 syphilis, leprosy, etc.). The body should be that of a 
 Brahmin or even of a Kshatriya. It should be laid out in 
 some secluded place (where there is no risk of interruption 
 during the ceremonial process), with its face turned towards 
 the sky and its legs straightened out. Beside its legs, 
 shouldst thou seat thyself in a posture of yoga, but previously, 
 O four-faced one, shouldst thou with hxed mental concen- 
 tration, have long exercised this yoga power. The jiva is 
 located in the solar plexus, is of itself radiant as the sun and 
 of tlie form of hamsa (a bird), and it moves along the Ida 
 and Pingala nadis (two alleged channels of psychic circula- 
 tion). Having been concentrated as hamsa (by yoga), it 
 will pass out through the nostrils, and, like a bird, dart 
 through space. Thou shouldst accustom thj^self to this 
 exercise, sending out the Prana to the height of a palm-tree, 
 and causing it to travel a mile, or live miles or more, and 
 then re-attracting it into thy body, which it must re-enter 
 as it left it, through the nostrils, and restore it to its natural 
 centre in the solar plexus. Tiiis must be practised daily 
 until perfection be reached. 
 
 " Then, having acquired the requisite skill, the Yogi may 
 attempt the experiment of psychical transfer, and, seated as 
 above described, he will be able to withdraw his Prdna-jiva 
 from his own body, and introduce it into the chosen corpse, 
 by the path of the nostrils, until it reaches the empty solar- 
 plexus, there establishes its residence, re-animates the de- 
 ceased person, and causes him to be seen as though ' risen 
 from the dead.' " 
 
 But this arrangement created difficulties that could not 
 have been quite anticipated. The body of the dead Russian 
 lady was still a power. It appears that when this lady was 
 alive she had a blemish — she did not always speak the truth. 
 This blemish stuck to her "shell." In spite of all the trans- 
 cendental power of the Mahatma, the fibbing could not be 
 quenched. The colonel proves this : — 
 
 " I have heard her tell the most conflicting stories about 
 herself," he says in one passage. 
 
 Here is another :— 
 
The Theosophical Society, 53 
 
 " So as to her age she told all sorts of stories, making her- 
 self twenty, forty, and even sixty years older than she really 
 was. We have in our scrap-books certain of these tales re- 
 ported by successive interviewers.'' But when a lady's age 
 is concerned the Rwpa might be expected to be too strong 
 for the Atmna. 
 
 Here is a graver fib. 
 
 Just before she arrived in India she announced that the 
 Theosophical Society " counts some thousands of Europeans 
 and Americans in its ranks." " At this time," says Colonel 
 Olcott, " it was composed of perhaps a hundred members," 
 (p. 645). 
 
 " No more difficult work," says Mrs. Besant (" Theosophy," 
 p. 2), could be proposed, perhaps, to any body of people, 
 than the understanding of theosophy." 
 
 If Colonel Olcott's authoritative statement, backed up as 
 it is by the Mahatmas, be true, I quite agree with this ; and 
 a small table of dates will make clear its astounding com- 
 plications : — 
 
 Blavatsky born 1831 
 
 Married 1848 
 
 First trip to India ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 1855 
 
 Initiated by Mahatmas in Tibet, and commissioned to over- 
 throw spiritualism, ... ... ... ... ... ... 1857 
 
 Learns what spiritualism is from Home the medium ... ... 3858 
 
 First has John King for a control 1861 
 
 Battle of Mextana, November 3rd 1867 
 
 Societe Spirite, Cairo 1871-2 
 
 America 1875 
 
 Bombay 1879 
 
 Publishes the great revelation of the Mahatmas 1881 
 
 1. If any Tibetan initiate did not come across the Russian 
 lady until November 3rd, 1867, it is plain that all her 
 previous occult history, the seven years' initiation in Tibet, 
 the visit to the underground crypts, the copying out of the 
 Book of Dzyan, her mighty " Mission " to overthrow spirit- 
 ualism, all these things are simple specimens of her genius 
 for fibs. 
 
 2. But how does the truthful Mahatma come out of it 
 all ? In " Isis " and " The Secret Doctrine," he gravely 
 recounts all these matters as if they were true. He an- 
 
54 Madame Blavatsky. 
 
 nounces in America that he has a mission to support spirit- 
 ualism. He announces in India that he has a mission to 
 overthrow it. He announces that the dead return, and that 
 he himself is a dead man. He announces that the dead can 
 never return. He croes through the difficult process of 
 Avesa to overthrow the doctrine of re-incarnation, then 
 makes it the keystone of his " Theosophy." 
 
 When a report got abroad that Mr. Felt was going to 
 evoke a quantity of dog-headed and hawk-headed *' Ele- 
 mental " at a certain meeting of the Theosophical Society, 
 folks crowded to enrol their names. But Mr. Felt made 
 himself scarce ; and Madame Blavatsky, although she also 
 could evoke and control elementals (which at this date were 
 dog-headed) refused to do so. Ordinary spiritualistic 
 "mediums" had to be chartered, as the new society was 
 rapidly dying. 
 
 To this dearth of marvels there is an exception recorded 
 by Mr. Coleman in the paper already noticed that he read 
 at Chicago. 
 
 " A woman, strangely attired, and veiled, came into the 
 doctor's (Dr. Westbrook's) house during a meeting there, 
 at which the Rev. W. R, Algar, Olcott, and H. P. Blavatsky 
 were present, and handed the latter a letter purporting to 
 come from the ' Brothers,' the messenger being presumed to 
 be an ' Elementary.' A few months after vvards Dr. West- 
 brook discovered that the presumed elementary was an 
 Irish servant girl to whom Madame Blavatsky had promised 
 to pay five dollars for the personation of the messenger of 
 the ' Brothers.' Having failed to get her pay, she confessed 
 the fraud." 
 
 But the dying society suddenly made a brilliant rally. 
 An eccentric Baron de Palm, who had joined it, sickened 
 and died. He was " the seignior of the castles of Old and 
 New Wartensee on Lake Constance," the " presumable 
 owner of 20,000 acres of land in Wisconsin, forty town lots 
 in Chicago," etc. He was a Knio^ht Grand Cross, Com- 
 mander of the Sovereign Order of the Holy Sepulchre, 
 Prince of the Roman Empire, Chamberlain to H. M. the 
 King of Bavaria. By will he left all his property to 
 Colonel Olcott in trust for the exclusive benefit of the 
 •Theosophical Society, 
 
The Theosophical Society, 55 
 
 Here was a windfall, £20,000 at least. So said the 
 sym])athisers who crowded round to congratulate the 
 " President Founder." Madame Blavatsky, rich in the 
 knowledge of variety entertainments, at once projected a 
 magnificent " pagan funeral." A " masonic temple " was 
 prepared. The "casket was of rosewood, trimmed with 
 silver." On it, and on " each side of it were placed Oriental 
 symbols of the faith o£ the dead man." Seven candles of 
 different colours burned upon the coffin, and these, with a 
 brazier of incense, signified fire worship. Upon the right 
 stood a cross with a serpent about it, the cross typifying the 
 creative principle of nature, the serpent the principle of 
 evolution. Triangular black tickets of admission were pre- 
 pared, also "Orphic hymns." Seven members of the Theo- 
 sophical Society, clad in black robes, carried in their hands 
 " twigs of palm " to ward off evil spirits, (E. Hardinge 
 Britten, " Nineteenth Century Miracles," p. 442.) 
 
 A journal of the day, the Neiv Yorh World, gives further 
 details, I do not know whether the Orphic hymns are quite 
 authentic : — 
 
 "'All right,' said the colonel, * go ahead and make out 
 your programme, but leave everybody out but the members 
 of the society, for the Masons won't have anything to do 
 with it.' 
 
 " Two hours were then spent in making out an order of 
 march, and a programme of exercises after the procession 
 reaches the temple, and the following is the result. The 
 procession will move in the following order — 
 
 " Colonel Olcott as high priest, wearing a leopard skin, 
 and carrying a roll of papyrus (brown card-board). 
 
 " Mr. Cobb as sacred scribe, with style and tablet. 
 
 " Egyptian mummy-case, borne upon a sledge drawn by 
 four oxen. (Also a slave bearing a pot of lubricating oil.) 
 
 " Madame Blavatsky as chief mourner, and also bearer of 
 the sistrum. (She will wear a long linen garment extend- 
 ing to the feet, and a girdle about the waist.) 
 
 " Coloured boy, carrying three Abyssinian geese (Phila- 
 delphia chickens) to place upon the bier. 
 
 " Yice-President Felt, with the eye of Osiris painted on 
 his left breast, and carrying an asp (bought at a toy store 
 on Eighth Avenue). 
 
56 Madame Blavatsky. 
 
 " Dr. Pancoast, singing an ancient Theban dirge, 
 
 '^ Isis and Nepthys, beginning and end ; 
 One more victim to Amenti we send, 
 Pay we the fare, and let us not tarry, 
 Cross the Styx by the Roosevelt Street ferry. 
 
 " Slaves in mourning gowns, carrying the offerings and 
 libations, to consist of early potatoes, asparagus, roast beef, 
 French pancakes, bock beer, and New Jersey cider. 
 
 *' Treasurer Newton as chief of the musicians, playing the 
 double pipe. 
 
 " Other musicians, performing on eiglit-stringed harps, 
 tom-toms, etc. 
 
 " Boys carrying a large lotus (sun-flower). 
 
 '' Librarian Fassit, who will alternate with music by 
 repeating the lines beginning : 
 
 "Here Horus comes, I see the boat, 
 Friends, stay your flowing tears ; 
 The soul of man goes through a goat 
 In just three thousand years. 
 
 " At the temple the ceremony will be short and simple. 
 The oxen will be left standing on the side-walk, with a boy 
 near by to prevent them goring the passers-by. Besides 
 the Theurgic hymn, printed above in full, the Coptic 
 national anthem will be sung, translated and adapted to the 
 occasion as follows : 
 
 " Sitting Cynocephalus, up in a tree, 
 I see you, and you see me. 
 River full of crocodile, see his long snout ! 
 Hoist up the shadoof and pull him right out." 
 
 Colonel Olcott made a splendid speech on the occasion, 
 but, as he says,it cost him £2000 a j^ear. The "pagan funeral" 
 attracted a great deal of attention, and all his clients deserted 
 him. He was a solicitor as well as a journalist, and the 
 vast fortune of the Baron de Palm turned out to be quite 
 imaginarj^ 
 
 " Our first shock came when we opened his trunk at the 
 
The Theosophical Society, 57 
 
 hospital. It contained two of my own shirts, from which 
 the stitched name-mark had been picked out." 
 
 It is asserted by some tliat one portion of the baron's 
 legacy was more valuable. Professor Coues and ^I. Papus, 
 the leader of the French occultists, declare that " Isis Un- 
 veiled " was fabricated out of the MSS. left by the eccentric 
 but impecunious baron. Mrs. Hardinire Britten, who was 
 an original member of tlie Theosophical Society, supports 
 this view. Colonel Olcott, on the other band, tells us that 
 that great work was due partly to coUaborateurs and 
 partly to automatic writing with Madame Blavatsky for 
 the prophetess. I do not see that tlie question at issue is 
 very important. 
 
 The " Miracle Club " having failed, and the " Brothers of 
 Luxor" having missed fire, the wonderful Russian lad}^ con- 
 ceived new projects. She wrote to India proposing to 
 come there with Colonel Olcott. The wreck of the Theo- 
 sophical Society was to be joined to the Arya Samaj. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 Arya sam^j. 
 
 In 1 Chronicles xvii. 16, we read "And David sat before the 
 Lord." 
 
 The Old and New Testaments are studied very carefully in 
 England, and the Indian religions are scarcely studied at 
 all, and yet the latter throw much light on the former. 
 Palestine was an Asiatic civilisation. India is an Asiatic 
 civilisation. All traces of the Palestine of Ezra and Moses 
 have passed away, but in India, as in the days of Aaron, 
 the priest of Siva throws ashes in the air to bring a male- 
 diction on his foemen, the maidens of Krishna weep for 
 the Indian Tammuz, the departed god of summer. In 
 India the robbers still dig into the walls of houses as in the 
 days of Job. In India the long-haired man of god sits 
 under the juniper tree of Elias. The oak of enchantments 
 (see Stanley, " Sinai and Palestine," p. 141) has not yet 
 been cut down. 
 
 The early stone-using man many thousand 3^ears ago 
 conceived an unseen being. Like the Tsui Goab of the 
 modern Australians, his first god was an ancestor, and as 
 the ancestor in life loved human flesh, bull's flesh, a superior 
 wigwam, much flattery and much homage, religion began 
 to consist of meat-oflferings and drink-oflferings, a palace for 
 the god and an elaborate system of court ceremonial. 
 
 But by and by, on the banks of the Ganges, a great 
 advance was made. It was judged that instead of trying 
 to conceive God from the externals of humanity, it would 
 be more wise to look for hints of Him into man's soul. And 
 as some men seemed more spiritual than others, and as this 
 state of spirituality seemed to advance as the entanglements 
 of the lower life diminished, it began to be judged that by 
 deadening or "mortifying" the flesli, the spirit would be- 
 
 58 
 
Arya Samaj, 59 
 
 come lucid. Hence yoga in India, and eremites (from erema, 
 the desert) in Christianity. 
 
 As early as the date of the Atharva Veda, or say, roughly, 
 a thousand years before Christ, the Kishi Angiras informed 
 the wealthy householder, Saunaka, that there were two 
 sorts of knowledge, the "superior knowledge" and the 
 " inferior knowledge." 
 
 " Know Brahma alone ! " was the motto of the superior 
 I;nowledge. 
 
 An extract from the "Muntlaka Upanisliad" of the Atharva 
 Veda may here throw light on Brahma and union with him : 
 
 "He is great and incom])rehensible by the senses, and 
 consequently his nature is beyond human conception. He, 
 though more subtle than vacuum itself, shines in various 
 ways. From those who do not know him he is at a greater 
 distance than the limits of space, and to those \vho acquire 
 a knowledge of him he is near. Whilst residing in animate 
 creatures he is perceived, although obscurely, by those who 
 apply their thoughts to him. He is not perceptible by the 
 human sight, nor is he describable by means of speech, 
 neither can he be the object of any of the organs of sense, 
 nor can he be conceived by the lielp of austerities and re- 
 ligious rites. But one whose mind is purified by the light 
 of true knowledge, through incessant contemplation, per- 
 ceives him, the most pure god. Such is the invisible 
 Supreme Being. He should be seen in the heart wherein 
 breath, consisting of five species, rests. The mind being 
 perfectly freed from impurity, god, who spreads over the 
 mind and all the senses, imparts a knowledge of himself to 
 the heart." 
 
 The mystics of all lands sought this union, by extasia, by 
 contemplation. Yoga, the word for Indian magic, means 
 simply "union." Sangha, the third person of the Buddhist 
 Trinity, also means " union.'' The divine man Purusha was 
 the result of an union between Buddha, spirit, and Dharma, 
 matter. Thomas a Kempis, in his " Soliloquy of the Soul," 
 has a chapter headed, " On the Union of the Soul with 
 God " (chap. xiii.). St. Theresa had her oraison d' union. 
 St. Augustine based all his mysticism on the text (John 
 xiv. 23), " Jesus answered and said unto him. If a man love 
 me he will keep my words ; and my Father will love him, 
 
6o Madame B lav at sky, 
 
 and we will come unto him and make our abode with him." 
 Clement of Alexandria sketches the end to be kept in view 
 by the " Christian Gnostic": "Dwelling with the Lord he 
 will continue his familiar friend, sharing the same hearth 
 according to the spirit " (" Miscellany," p. 60). Dr. Vaughan, 
 in his ''Hours with the Mystics," shows that the motto of 
 the Neo-Platonist was: "Withdraw into thyself; and the 
 adj^tum of thine own soul will reveal to thee profounder 
 secrets than the cave of Mithras " (vol. i., p. 22). 
 
 In the India to which Madame Blavatsky and Colonel 
 Olcott are now hastening, there was at this date a Hindoo, 
 the leader of a movement to which the Theosophical Society 
 proposed a junction. Dayananda Sarasvati seemed an old 
 Vedic Rishi dropped down through thirty centuries on to 
 the India of Mr. Rudyard Kipling. He had travelled every- 
 where, and read all the Sanskrit books. He had gone 
 through all the rigours of the genuine yoga. He was a 
 mystic, a religious enthusiast. He believed the Vedas to 
 be the one inspired scripture, and his aim was to bring 
 back the Hindoo religion to that simpler faith. His 
 disciples he called the Arya Samaj. 
 
 But can oil and water mingle ? The true " Secret Doc- 
 trine " of the Theosophists, according to Mr. Sinnett, was 
 known to Madame Blavatsky as early as 1857. The main 
 teaching was that all intercourse with the world of ghosts 
 was confined to the bad halves of mortals, who, at death, 
 were cut in two. There was another prominent doctrine, 
 atheism. Dr. Wyld, at one time President of the London 
 Lodge, has published a book, " Theosophy, or Spiritual 
 Dynamics," in which he announces that he left the society 
 when Madame Blavatsky proclaimed that " there is no god 
 personal or impersonal.'' Says Mr. Sinnett, " They (the 
 Mahatmas) never occupy themselves with any conception 
 remotely resembling the god of churches and creeds " 
 (" Esoteric Buddhism," p. 177). 
 
 Since the days of Henry Colebrooke it is scarcely neces- 
 sary to descant upon the fine deism of the Rig Veda, the 
 oldest book in the world. At a bound it sprang from the 
 rude worship of storms, and fire, and thunder, to the con- 
 ception of the philosophical Indian trinity. 
 
 " The deities invoked appear, on a cursory inspection of 
 
Arya Samaj. 6i 
 
 the Veda, to be as various as the authors of the prayers 
 addressed to them, but according to the most ancient 
 annotations of the Indian scripture, those numerous names 
 of persons and things are all resolvable into different titles 
 of three deities and ultimately of one god " (Colebrooke, 
 " Essays," vol. i., p. 25). 
 
 This trinity might be accepted by Professor Huxley or 
 Mr. Herbert Spencer. It consists of an inconceivable god, 
 THAT ONE (Tad) of the hymn already quoted, and which 
 may be paraphrased thus : — 
 
 There was no breath, no sky, but water only, 
 Death was not yet unwoinbed nor day nor night, 
 The unimagined THAT ONE, veiled and lonely, 
 Sate through the centuries devoid of light. 
 
 Then from his impulse Love came into being, 
 And through the ebon darkness flung his gleams, 
 That Love which, say our men of mystic seeing. 
 Bridges the world of fact and world of dreams. 
 
 Oh tell us how this universe was fashioned, 
 
 Ere shining gods appeared to man below, 
 
 He knows that shrouded THAT ONE, unimpassioned, 
 
 Or even he perchance can never know. 
 
 This hymn finely states the crucial mystery that per- 
 plexes man, without the rashness to attempt to solve it. He 
 dwells in a world encircled by millions of stars, and 
 M^ armed by the great orb that gives light and life. Using 
 these as symbols he advances a step. The inconceivable 
 god may be partly thought out. Let us imagine that by 
 the aid of Aditi, the Mother, the Infinite, as Max Muller 
 puts it, matter (matra Sansk.) he parented an active con- 
 ceivable god, Yama, Mitra, the Godman, the sun, and we 
 have the triad. 
 
 This is a version by Sir Monier Williams of a passage in 
 the " Isa Upanishad " : — 
 
 *' Whate'er exists within this universe 
 Is all to be regarded as enveloped 
 By the great Lord, as if wrapped with a vesture. 
 There is one only Being who exists 
 Unmoved, yet moving swifter than the wind ; 
 
62 Madame B lav at sky. 
 
 Who far outstrips the senses, though as gods 
 They strive to reach him ; who himself at rest 
 Transcends the fleetest flight of other beings ; 
 Who, like the air, supports all the vital action. 
 He moves, yet moves not ; he is far, yet near ; 
 He is within the universe. Whoe'er beholds 
 All living creatures as in him and him — 
 The universal Spirit — as in all. 
 Henceforth regards no creature with contempt." 
 
 This does not look like atheism. 
 
 We will now see if Vedism proclaimed that none but 
 wicked " shells " could span the abyss that separates their 
 state from ours." To ignore Colebrooke, Max Muller, 
 Burnouf, and to call this the "Indian Teaching," the "Eastern 
 Wisdom," must appear amusing to all who have dipped into 
 the subject. From an early date to modern times India has 
 had a religion singularlj^ like modern spiritualism, the 
 8'vaddha or intercourse with ghosts. Creed-maker after 
 creed-maker has appeared and told the Hindoo tliat his 
 dead relations are whirling about in the metemps^^chosis, 
 or in Moksha, or in Nirvana. He has been assured that 
 they are annihilated. He has been told that they are in 
 Christian or Mussulman hells, but as in Yedic days he still 
 offers his food to them, and believes they are near. 
 
 Here is a sketch of these rites : — 
 
 "The ancestors having attended and taken their seats, 
 they are furnished with water to drink, with water for puri- 
 fication, with water for bathing. They are also clothed. 
 The food is then presented (through the fire), and they are 
 thus addressed — 
 
 " ' Ancestors, rejoice ! take your respective shares, and be 
 strong as bulls.' 
 
 '•' Nor was it from any portion of the hand that they 
 would accept their food ; it had to be presented by the part 
 between the thumb and the forefinger, which afterwards, in 
 Cheiromancy, was known as ' the line of life,' and which, 
 consequently, was designated Pitrya. 
 
 " After they have fed, the performer of the sacrifices dis- 
 misses them with the same honours with which they had 
 been received, and thus addresses them — 
 
 " * Fathers, to whom food belongs, guard our food, and the 
 other things offered by us ; venerable and immortal as ye 
 
Arya Samaj. 63 
 
 are, and conversant with holy truths ; quafi the sweet 
 essence, be cheerful, and depart contented by the paths 
 which gods travel.' 
 
 " The ceremony, however, did not solely consist in feeding 
 the ancestors ; their honour required the distribution of food 
 to the living, and chiefly to the indigent and destitute ; it 
 was equally furnished to animals and men : thus the con- 
 nexion of the living child with the dead parent was used 
 to inculcate practices of charity. In process of time the 
 Brahmans were not neglected, and this seems to have con- 
 stituted a chief source of their sustenance ; arrogating to 
 themselves the office of fire, what was given to them, satis- 
 fied the ancestors. 
 
 " The Pitris had, however, effectual means of control over 
 their descendants. If they could blast and curse, they 
 could also bless and cause to fructify. To them imploration 
 was made for success in every enterprise, and acknowledg- 
 ments offered in return for good fortune. Vows were paid 
 to them for fame, wealth, power, length of days, or increase 
 of happiness. They are applied to as intercessors, both for 
 men on earth and for departed spirits, and they stood in 
 the relation to men, of saints and of gods, linked to them 
 by the ties of blood, so that each race of mortals on earth 
 became part of a dynasty in heaven ; the gods were not 
 brought down to the level of the Pitris, but these were 
 raised to the rank of divinities. As fire was worshipped as 
 their messenger, so was the moon as their abode. 
 
 " ' May this oblation to fire, which conveys offerings to 
 the manes, be efficacious.' " 
 
 I am aware that Madame Blavatsky has tried to get rid of 
 these awkward Pitri by asserting that they were Kosmic 
 artificers that had not been on earth for millions of years. 
 
 A hymn of the Rig Veda quite disproves this : — 
 
 *' Honour by our sacrifice the son of Vivaswan, the Royal 
 Yama, who passes the mighty spaces. He is the pathway 
 of the nations and their goal. 
 
 " Yama was the first to show us the road which we all 
 must follow. Our fathers have gone before. We are born 
 to leave our footprints upon it. 
 
 " Yama, come to the altar of sacrifice with the Pitris, the 
 
64 Madame Blavatsky, 
 
 sons of Angiras. King, may the prayers of the Rishis 
 attract thee. 
 
 " We have amongst ns the sons of Angiras (Angirases) the 
 Navagwas (a section of the Angirases) the Atharwans, the 
 Bhrigus. Ma}' we obtain their kind thoughts, their happy 
 protection. 
 
 " dead man (the corpse), come hither. Come by the 
 ancient pathways that our fathers have traversed. See 
 these two Kings Yama and the divine Yarnna, who rejoice 
 in our sacrifice. Come with the Pitris, come with Yama to 
 the seat that our worship has set up. Thou has cast off all 
 impurit}^ Enter and don a body of brilliance." 
 
 It is plain here that amongst the Pitris was a man whose 
 funeral obsequies were not yet performed. 
 
 Here is another passage : — 
 
 " Burn not this corpse, Agni. Tear not his skin, his body, 
 Jatavedas. If thou delightest in our offerings with the 
 Pitri, help him. 
 
 " If thou lovest our offerings, Jatavedas, surround him 
 with the fathers. He comes to obtain the body that shall 
 transport his soul. . . 
 
 " Give to heaven and earth that which belongs to them ; 
 give to the waters and plants those portions of his body that 
 are their due. 
 
 *' But there is in him an immortal portion. Warm it with 
 thy rays. Kindle it with thy fire. O Jatavedas, in the 
 blessed body formed by thee transport him to the world of 
 the saints" (" Rig Yeda," vii., 6. 11). 
 
 I have gone at some length into the religion of the Yedas, 
 because when Madame Biavatsky and Colonel Olcott became 
 disciples of Dayananda Sarasvati, it is difficult to conceive 
 that the Russian lady had in her mind a teaching that was 
 diametrically opposed to it. Here was the actual religion of 
 the Mahatma. Angiras was a Mahatma. Bhrigu was a 
 Mahatma. It will be seen from our scanty quotations that 
 this religion knew nothing of the metempsychosis, annihila- 
 tion as the reward of the just man made perfect, or atheism 
 and " shells." Here is an extract from Madame Biavatsky 's 
 " Caves and Jungles of Hindustan " : — 
 
 " For more than two years before we left America we were 
 in constant correspondence with a certain learned Brahman, 
 
Aiya Samaj. 65 
 
 whose glory is great at present (1879) all over India. We 
 came to India to study, under his guidance, the ancient 
 country of the Aryas, the Yedas, and their difficult language. 
 His name is Dayanand Saraswati Swami. Swami is the 
 name of the learned anchorites who are initiated into many 
 mysteries unattainable by common mortals. They are 
 monks who never marry, but are quite difFerent from other 
 mendicant brotherhoods, the so-called Sannyasi and Hossein. 
 This Pandit is considered the greatest Sanskritist of modern 
 India, and is an absolute enigma to everyone" (p. 15). 
 
 It is to be remarked that the Theosophical Society came 
 to India to study not to teach. 
 
 On the 16th February, 1879, Madame Blavatsky, Colonel 
 Olcott, and two other members of the Theosophical Society, 
 landed in Bombay, and repaired to the bungalow that had 
 been prepared for their reception. 
 
 " The first thing that we were struck with," says Madame 
 Blavatsky, " was the millions of crows and vultures. The 
 first are, so to speak, the county council of the town, whose 
 duty it is to clean the streets, and to kill one of them is not 
 only forbidden by the police, but would be very dangerous. 
 By killing one you would rouse the vengeance of every 
 Hindu." 
 
 Here is another passage : — 
 
 " When, some time ago, the wife of the Madras governor 
 thought of passing a law that should induce native women 
 to cover their breasts, the place was actually threatened 
 with a revolution. A kind of jacket is worn only by danc- 
 ing girls. The Government recognised that it would be 
 unreasonable to irritate women, who, very often, are more 
 dangerous than their husbands and brothers, and the custom, 
 based on the law of Manu, and sanctified by three thousand 
 years' observance, remained unchanged." 
 
 This fact must be new to most Anglo-Indians. The wives 
 of Madras governors do not generally think of passing 
 laws. 
 
 The Swami being at the other end of India, the "Ameri- 
 can Mission," as it was called, made tourist trips, escorted 
 by the natives. 
 
 " We were living in India, unlike English people, who are 
 only surrounded by India at a certain distance. We were 
 
 E 
 
66 Madmne Blavatsky. 
 
 enabled to study her character and customs, her religion, 
 superstitions and rites, to learn her legends — in fact, live 
 among Hindus " (p. 13). 
 
 But this " study " was not without its difficulties. They 
 were invited to dine with a Hindu gentleman : — 
 
 "At last, having examined the family chapel, full of 
 idols, flowers, rich vases with burning incense, lamps hang- 
 ing from its ceiling, and aromatic herbs covering its floor, 
 we decided to get ready for dinner. We carefully washed 
 ourselves, but this was not enough, v/e were requested to 
 take off" our shoes. This was a somewhat disagreeable 
 surprise, but a real Brahmanical supper was worth the 
 trouble. 
 
 " However, a truly amazing surprise was still in store for 
 us. 
 
 " On entering the dining-room we stopped short at the 
 entrance — both our European companions were dressed, or 
 rather undressed, exactly like Hindus ! For the sake of 
 decency they kept on a kind of sleeveless knitted vest, but 
 they were barefooted, wore the snow-white Hindu clliutis 
 (sic) (a piece of muslin wrapped round to the waist and 
 forming a petticoat), and looked like something between 
 white Hindus and Constantinople gargons de hains. Both 
 were undescribably funny ; I never saw anything funnier. 
 To the great discomfiture of the men, and the scandal of the 
 grave ladies of the house, I could not restrain mj^self, but 
 
 burst out laughing. Miss X blushed violently and 
 
 followed my example " (p. 149). 
 
 "Having entered the 'refectory,' we immediately noticed 
 what were the Hindu precautions against their being pol- 
 luted by our presence. The stone floor of the hall was 
 divided into two equal parts. This division consisted of a 
 line traced in chalk, with Kabalistic signs at either end. 
 One part v^as destined for the host's party and the guests 
 belonging to the same caste, the other for ourselves. On 
 our side of the hall there was yet a third square to contain 
 Hindus of a diflerent caste. The furniture of the two 
 bigger squares was exactly similar" (p. 151). 
 
 " We all sat down, the Hindus calm and stately, as if pre- 
 paring for some mystic celebration, we ourselves feeling 
 awkward and uneasy, fearing to prove guilty of some un- 
 
Arya Samaj. 67 
 
 pardonable blunder. An invisible choir of women's voices 
 chanted a monotonous hymn, celebrating the glory of the 
 gods. These were half-a-dozen nautch-girls from a neigh- 
 bouring pagoda. To this accompaniment we began satis- 
 fying our appetites. Thanks to the Babu's instructions, we 
 took great care to eat only with our right hands. This was 
 somewhat difficult, because we were hungry and hasty, but 
 quite necessary. Had we only so much as touched the rice 
 with our left hands whole hosts of Raksha.sas (demons) 
 would have been attracted to take part in the festivity that 
 very moment, which, of course, would send all the Hindus 
 out of the room. It is hardly necessary to say that there 
 were no traces of forks, knives, or spoons. That I might 
 run no risk of breaking the rule I put my left hand in my 
 pocket and held on to my pocket-handkerchief all the time 
 the dinner lasted " (p. 153). 
 
 " Thanks to this solemn silence, I was at libert}^ to notice 
 everything that was going on with great attention. Now 
 and again, whenever I caught sight of the colonel or Mr. 
 
 Y , I had all the difficulty in the world to preserve my 
 
 gravity. Fits of foolish laughter would take possession of 
 me when I observed them sitting erect with such comical 
 solemnity and working so awkwardlj^ with their elbows 
 and hands. The long beard of the one was white wdth 
 grains of rice, as if silvered with hoar-frost, the chin of the 
 other was yellow with liquid saffron. But unsatisfied 
 curiosity happily came to my rescue, and I went on watch- 
 ing the quaint proceedings of the Hindus. 
 
 "Each of them, having sat downwith his legstwisted under 
 him, poured some water with his left hand out of the jug 
 brought by the servant, first into his cup, then into the palm 
 of his right hand. Then he slowly and carefully sprinkled 
 the water round the dish with all kinds of dainties, which 
 stood by itself, and was destined, as we learned afterwards, 
 for the gods. During this procedure each Hindu repeated 
 a Vedic mantram. Filling his right hand with rice, he pro- 
 nounced a new series of couplets, then, having stored five 
 pinches of rice on the right side of his own plate, he once 
 more washed his hands to avert the evil eye, sprinkled 
 more water, and pouring a few drops of it into his right 
 palm, slowly drank it. After this he swallowed six pinches 
 
68 Madame B lav at sky. 
 
 of rice, one after the other, murmuring prayers all the 
 while, and wetted both his e^^es with the middle finger of 
 his left hand. All this done, he finally hid his left hand 
 behind his back, and began eating with the right hand. 
 All this took only a few minutes, but was performed very 
 solemnly " (p. 154). 
 
 The costume of the European branch of Arya Samaj 
 seems to have excited attention at the railwa}^ stations dur- 
 ing their travels : — 
 
 " This evening we dined at the refreshment rooms of the 
 railway station. Our arrival caused an evident sensation. 
 Our party occupied the whole end of a table, at which were 
 dining many first-class passengers, who all stared at us with 
 undisguised astonishment. Europeans on an equal footing 
 with Hindus ! Hindus who condescended to dine with 
 Europeans ! These two were rare and wonderful sights 
 indeed. The subdued whispers grew into loud exclama- 
 tions. Two officers who happened to know the Thakur took 
 him aside, and having shaken hands with him, began a very 
 animated conversation, as if discussing some matter of busi- 
 ness ; but as we learned afterwards, they simply wanted to 
 gratify their curiosity about us. 
 
 " Here we learned, for the first time, that we were under 
 police supervision, the police being represented by an in- 
 dividual clad in a suit of white clothes, and possessing a 
 very fresh complexion, and a pair of long moustaches. He 
 was an agent of the secret police, and had followed us from 
 Bombay. On learning this flattering piece of news, the 
 colonel burst into a loud laugh ; which only made us still 
 more suspicious in the eyes of all these Anglo-Indians, en- 
 joying a quiet and dignified meal. As to me, I was very 
 disagreeably impressed by this bit of news, I must confess, 
 and wished this unpleasant dinner was over" (p. 311). 
 
 I purposely pass over this incident. Mr. Hodgson and 
 Professor Coues regard Madame Blavatsky as a Russian 
 agent who used her ''Theosophy" as a simple blind. This 
 seems to me going too far, but as to the general question 
 nothing but surmise is possible. 
 
 The union between the Theosophical Society and the 
 ^rya Samaj did not last n^vj long. Colonel Olcott calls 
 the Indian teacher a "humbug." Mr. Coieman at the 
 
Ayra Samaj. 69 
 
 Chicago Conference (Religio-Pliilosopliical Journal, Sept. 
 16tli, i893) announced that on his side, Dayananda Sarasvati 
 "denounced Madame Blavatsky and Colonel Olcotfc as 
 tricksters, saying that the phenomena produced by them 
 in India were due to mesmerism, pre-arrangement and 
 clever conjuring." 
 
 Professor Max MuUer gives one curious fact ("Biographi- 
 cal Essa^^s," p. 177). Dayananda Sarasvati once tried to find 
 the i^lahatmas in Upper India but failed. Madame Blavat- 
 sky took a hint. Her mind, as we have shov/n, was adapta- 
 tive rather than original. She took spiritualism from 
 Home, the Brothers of Luxor from Colonel Olcott, the notion 
 of controlling " Elementals " from Mr. Felt. And hearing 
 for the first time about these Mahatmas from Dayananda 
 Sarasvati she promptly assimilated them likewise. 
 
CHAPTER YIII. 
 
 THE " PIONEER." 
 
 One more of Madame Blavatsky's projects seemed to have 
 failed. " Theosopliy " was to all appearances as dead as 
 the " Miracle Club." And yet it was on the eve of an as- 
 tounding success. The deliverer was at hand. 
 
 For at this time there was published at Allahabad a news- 
 paper called the Pioneer. It was the organ of the Bengal 
 Civil Service, and in point of fact the leading journal af 
 India. Its editor was Mr. Sinnett, a gentleman who had 
 dabbled a little in spiritualism. There was also living at 
 Allahabad a gentleman who had an appointment in the 
 Board of Revenue, N. W. Provinces. This was Mr. A. O. 
 Hume, son of the famous reformer, Joseph Hume. The theo- 
 sophists got into correspondence with the Pioneer, and in 
 due course Madame Blavatsky received an invitation to come 
 and stay with the Sinnetts. 
 
 Evidently they were a little astonished when she did 
 come, and a "rough old hippopotamus of a woman" waddled in, 
 wearing a red flannel dressing-gown, and smoking perpetual 
 cigarettes. Her tantrums at times were awful, " and if 
 anything annoyed her she would vent her impatience by 
 vehement tirade, directed in a loud voice against Col. Olcott." 
 Her language also at times was awful, including " words 
 that we should all have preferred her not to make use of." 
 
 "I will nob say," writes Mr. Sinnett, "that our new friends 
 made a favourable impression all round." But it was plain 
 to the lenient editor of the Pioneer that her disregard of 
 conventionalities was the result of a deliberate rebellion 
 against, not ignorance of, the customs of refined society. 
 Some folks took her up, and Mr. Hume presided at a theo- 
 sophical meeting and made a clever speech. This gentleman 
 was perhaps the most able of all the converts that theosophy 
 ever made. His abilities earned for him the distinguished 
 
 70 
 
The '' Pioneer y yi 
 
 post of Secretary to the Government of India. It was ar- 
 ranp^etl at one time that he was to write "Esoteric Buddhism." 
 But he, by and by, o'ot disgusted with the obscurantism and 
 direct fraud conspicuous in the movement, and retired. 
 Says Mr. Coleman, in the article already cited : — 
 
 " Mr. Hume, in a letter in 1883 to Madame Blavatsky, the 
 original of which is in my possession, told her that be knew 
 she wrote all the Morya letters, and some, at least, of these 
 signed ' K. H.' " 
 
 Mr. Sinnetb alludes to this visit in his " Occult World ' : 
 "It lias been through my connection with the Theosophical 
 Societ}^ and my acquaintance with Madame Blavatsky that 
 I have obtained experiences in connection with occultism, 
 which have prompted me to undei'take my present task. 
 The first problem I had to solve was whether Madame 
 Biavatsk}^ i-eally did, as I heard, possess the power of pro- 
 ducing abnormal phenomena. And it may be imagined 
 that, on the assumption of the reality of her phenomena, 
 nothing would have been simpler than to obtain such satis- 
 faction wlien once I had formed her acquaintance. It is, 
 however, an illustration of the embarrassments which sur- 
 round all inquiries of this nature — embarrassments with 
 which so many people grow impatient, to the end that they 
 cast inquiry altogether aside and remain wholly ignorant of 
 tlie truth for the rest of their lives — that although on the 
 first occasion of my making Madame Blavatsky 's acquaint- 
 ance she became a guest at my house at Allahabad, and 
 remained there for six weeks, the harvest of satisfaction I 
 was enabled to obtain during this time was exceedingly 
 small. Of course I heard a great deal from her during the 
 time mentioned about occultism and the Brothers, but 
 while she was most anxiour, that I should understand the 
 situation thoroughly, and I was most anxious to get at the 
 truth, the difficulties to be overcome were almost insuper- 
 able, For the Brothers, as already described, have an 
 unconquerable objection to showing off. That the person 
 who wishes them to show off is an earnest seeker of truth, 
 and not governed by mere idle curiosity, is nothing to the 
 purpose. They do not want to attract candidates for 
 initiation by an exhibition of wonders. Wonders have a 
 very spirit-stirring effect on the history of every religion 
 
72 Madame Blavatsky. 
 
 founded on miracles, bat occultism is not a pursuit which 
 people can safely take up in obedience to the impulse of 
 enthusiasm created by witnessing a display cf extraordinary 
 power. There is no absolute rule to forbid the exhibition 
 of powers in presence of the outsider ; but it is clearly dis- 
 approved of by the higher authorities of occultism on 
 principle, and it is practically impossible for less exalted 
 proficients to go against this disapproval. It was only the 
 very slightest of all imaginable phenomena that, during her 
 first visit to my house, Madame Blavatsky was thus per- 
 mitted to exhibit freely. She was allowed to show that 
 ' raps ' like those which spiritualists attribute to spirit 
 agency could be produced at will. This was something, 
 and faide de mieux we paid great attention to raps." 
 
 As Madame Blavatsky was an " Adept," according to Mr. 
 Sinnett, these " raps " were certainly disappointing. They 
 often come after a day or two to the merest tyro in table- 
 turning. 
 
 But greater marvels are preparing, for Madame Blavatsky 
 has been joined by her old friend Madame Coulomb. We 
 will let that lady tell her story. She wrote to Madame 
 Blavatsky from Ceylon and got an answer : — 
 
 " Madame Blavatsky said that she lived in Odessa one 
 year, and thence went to India, where she remained for 
 over eight months, then returning by Odessa to Europe, 
 went to Paris, and from there proceeded to America. ' My 
 lodge in India,' she says, ' of which I may have spoken to 
 you, had decided that, as the society established by myself 
 and old Sebire was a failure, I had to go to America and 
 establish one on a larger scale.' (I know nothing about 
 her lodge in India ; nor did she ever mention it to me ; all 
 I can affirm is that the society she tried to establish in 
 Egypt was nothing else but a spiritualistic society.) ' This, 
 as you see, is far from being a failure.' She concludes her 
 letter with speaking of her ' Isis Unveiled ' and the society 
 she had founded, and of its progress, giving the names of 
 some of the members of it, such as Mr. Wyld, Mr. Crookes, 
 Mr. Wallace, and other Eellows of the Royal Societ}^, who 
 had joined it, and of Mr. Herbert Spencer and Mr. Varley, 
 who, she says, had applied also. This was all very fine, but 
 did not open my way to get out of trouble. So, some time 
 
The '' Pioneer r 73 
 
 after, I wrote to lier again, and explained to her clearly our 
 situation, and asked her to send us some money. To this 
 letter she answered as follows : That she was as poor as a 
 cluirch rat, and had incurred many expenses in travelling, 
 building a library, and starting a journal, etc., etc. She 
 goes on to say that the whole of her income from a sum of 
 money (or rather the remainder of it) left to her by lier 
 father gives her something not exceeding 100 rupees a month, 
 and that with the exception of President Olcott, ' who could 
 be rich, if he is not,' none of them are overflowing with 
 money. 'Knowing this we joined,' she says, 'our capital 
 together, and placing it in New York in a secure house, de- 
 rive from it each of us about 100 rupees monthly. This 
 belongs to the community, money which none of us can 
 touch, for it is for the expenses of the house, and it is not 
 much, I can assure you.' Then she goes on to say that her 
 name as conducting the paper appears, to be sure ! ' but it 
 is only a figure-head, as I am so well known in Europe and 
 America ; but the property is not mine, nor the control. I 
 sincerely think that it will be to your advantage in more ways 
 than one to identify yourselves as fellows. Now it so happens 
 that President Olcott, Vvho is the best of men, is a fanatic 
 in matters upon the Theosophical Society. He will take 
 off his skin for a fellow, but do nothing for an outsider.' 
 
 " Having thus been invited to join the society, and hoping 
 by this means to be able to settle down and get a quiet 
 living, I immediately set to work to raise the money neces- 
 sary for our journey from Galle (Ceylon) to Bombay. This 
 took a very long time, and we were not able to leave before 
 the 24th March, 1880, arriving at Bombay by a P. and O. 
 steamer on the 28th of the same month, that is, after four 
 days' sail. In the evening, as soon as we ariived, we landed, 
 and, after having taken a room and our dinner in the hotel, 
 we drove in a tram-cart up to the terminus of Girgaum, 
 where we asked a gentleman who was in the same cart with 
 us to show us the way to Girgaum Back Road, to the head- 
 quarters of the Theosophical Society. He did so, and we 
 went. As soon as Madame Blavatsky saw nie she gave a 
 loud cry of joy, and instantly asked us to take up our abode 
 at the headquarters. I need not here say how this offer 
 consoled my afflicted heart. I really thanked Providence 
 
74 Madame B lav at sky. 
 
 for having given me the opportunity of doing her some good 
 when in Egypt, which caused me to form an acquaintance 
 which now was so useful to me. That evening we slept at 
 the hotel, and the next day at noon we moved into the 
 headquarters of the Theosophical Society, The first few 
 days we were very happy indeed ; the company was very 
 agreeable, and we thought ourselves in heaven. On the 5th 
 of April of the same year, that is, seven days after our 
 arrival at the headquarters, Colonel Olcott came into my 
 room and asked me if I Vvould undertake to direct the 
 domestic affairs, as the lady who looked after them did not 
 wish to do so any more, I accepted with great pleasure 
 this charge, as it gave me the chance of making myself use- 
 ful. We had already been initiated and had joined the 
 society. The pleasure we had of being in company with a 
 person whom we had known in better days, the gentlemanly 
 and kind behaviour of Colonel Olcott towards us, made us 
 really desirous to do all that lay in our power to show our 
 gratitude and contentment. There was not a thing that we 
 were asked to do that we did not do with the greatest 
 pleasure. 
 
 " Madame Blavatsky, seeing our earnest desire to please 
 her in everything, one evening, taking hold of m}^ arm and 
 walking up and down in the library compound, all of a 
 sudden said : ' Look here, run and tell the colonel that you 
 have seen a figure in the garden.' — ' Where is the figure ? " 
 I asked. ' Never mind,' she said, ' run and tell him so ; we 
 shall have some fun.' Thinking this to be a joke, I ran to 
 him and told him. As the colonel came up madame began 
 to laugh, saying : ' See, she has been afraid of an appari- 
 tion,' and so they both went on laughing, and going up to 
 the other bungalow, related the story to the rest of the 
 people who were there. I must conscientiously say that I 
 did not know what they meant by this joke. A little later 
 on, one day she asked me to embroider some names on some 
 handkerchiefs. I embroidered three names. One handker- 
 chief had the name of H. P. Blavatsky, the second Wijerat- 
 nee, and the third Dies ; in this last I made a mistake ; 
 instead of Dias, the real way of spelling, I put Dies ; at this 
 madame said, ' It is all the better.' These names were 
 worked in silk of several colours, red, yellow, blue, etc. 
 
The "- Pioiieer'' 75 
 
 Perhaps Mr. Dias, Inspector of Police, and Mr. Wijeratnee, 
 Deputy Coroner, both of Galle (Ceylon), whom \ know well, 
 could say whether it is true or not that they received through 
 Madame Blavatsky these handerchiefs in an occult manner. 
 On anotlier occasion, after we removed from the room we 
 occupied in the library compound to a room above Colonel 
 Olcott's bedroom, Madame Blavatsky came upstairs and 
 asked me to try and make a hole, pointing to the pkce 
 where it was to bo made. From this hole, by stretching 
 the arm full length into it, one could touch the ceiling 
 cloth of Colonel Olcott's office, which was adjoining to his 
 bedroom. She gave me an envelope containing a portrait. 
 I made a slit inthe ceiling cloth with a penknife and after- 
 wards slipped it through. 
 
 " Here I report the phenomenon as described by Colonel 
 Olcott in ' Hints on Esoteric Theosophy,' No. 1, second 
 edition, page 83, which runs as follows : — 
 
 "'I had still another picture, that remarkable portrait of 
 a Yogi about which so much was said in the papers. It, 
 too, disappeared in New York, but one evening tumbled 
 down through the air before our very eyes, as H. P. B., 
 Damodar and I were conversing in my office at Bombay 
 with (if I remember aright) the Dewan Sankariah of 
 Cochin.' 
 
 " As Colonel Olcott mentions this gentleman, here I must 
 say that a little later on, a visiting card of Madame Blavat- 
 sky was sent through the same hole and in the same occult 
 maimer as the portrait ; as will be seen by referring to page 
 107 of the above-mentioned book. 
 
 " My readers will think that I did not show much grati- 
 tude to the colonel for his kindness to me by helping madame 
 to perform such tricks and thus impose on his bona fides. 
 In order to justify my apparent bad behaviour, I must say 
 that madame had told me that she did all these things to 
 divert the colonel's mind from certain painful occurrences 
 that he had experienced while in America, and that if she 
 had not got over him by these means he certainly would 
 have destroyed himself, and also she added that she had 
 prevented him from doing so by climbing through a window 
 into his room when she found him with a revolver in his 
 hands, ready to commit suicide." 
 
76 Madame B lav at sky. 
 
 "About the beginning of September, 1880," says Mr. 
 Sinnett, " Madame Blavatsky came to Simla as our guest, 
 and in the course of the following six weeks various pheno- 
 mena occurred which became the talk of all Anglo-India for 
 a time." 
 
 Here is one of them : — 
 
 " On Sunday, the Srd of October, at Mr. Hume's house at 
 Simla, there wxre present at dinner T'lr. and Mrs. Hume, Mr. 
 and Mrs. Sinnett, Mrs. Gordon, Mr. F. Hogg, Captain P. J. 
 Mai tl and, Mr. Beatson, Mr. Davidson, Colonel Olcott, and 
 Madame Blavatsky. I\lost of the persons present having 
 recently seen many remarkable occurrences in Madame 
 Blavatsky 's presence, conversation turned on occult pheno- 
 mena, and in the course of this Madame Blava^tsky asked 
 Mrs. Hume if there was anything she particularly wished 
 for ; Mrs. Hume at first hesitated, but in a short time said 
 that there was something she would particularly like to 
 have brought to her, namely, a small article of jewellery 
 that she had formerly possessed, but had given away to a 
 person who had allowed it to pass out of her possession. 
 Madame Blavatsky then said if she would fix the image 
 of the article in question very definitely in her mind, 
 she, Madame Blavatsky, would endeavour to procure 
 it. Mrs. Hume then said that she vividly remembered 
 the article, and described it as an old-fashioned breast- 
 brooch set round with pearls, with glass at the front, 
 and the back made to contain hair. She then, on being 
 asked, drew a rough sketch of the brooch. Madame Bla- 
 vatsky then wrapped up a coin attached to her watch- 
 chain in two cigarette-papers, and put it in her dress, 
 and said that she hoped the brooch might be obtained in 
 the course of the evening. At the close of dinner she said 
 to Mr. Hume that the paper in which the coin had been 
 wrapped was gone. A little later in the drawing-room she 
 said that the brooch would not be brought into the house, 
 but that it must be looked for in the garden ; and then, as 
 the party went out, accompanying her, she said she had 
 clairvoyantly seen the brooch fall into a star-shaped bed of 
 flowers. Mr. Hume led the way to such a bed in a distant 
 part of the garden. A prolonged and careful search was 
 made with lanterns,, and eventually a small paper packet, 
 
The ' ' Pioneer. " "]"] 
 
 consisting o£ two cigarette-papers, was found amongst the 
 leaves by Mrs. Sinnctt. This being opened on the spot was 
 found to contain a brooch exactly corresponding to the pre- 
 vious description, and which Mrs. Hume identified as that 
 which she had originally lost. None of the party, except 
 Mr. and Mrs. Hume had ever seen or heard of the brooch. 
 Mr. Hume had not thought of it for years. Mrs. Hume had 
 never spoken of it to any one since she parted with it, nor 
 had she for long even thought of it. She herself stated, 
 after it was found, that it was only when Madame asked 
 her whether there was anytliing she would like to have, 
 that the remembrance of this brooch, the gift of her mother, 
 flashed across her mind. 
 
 " Mrs. Hume is not a spiritualist, and up to the time of the 
 occurrence described was no believer either in occult pheno- 
 mena or in Madame Blavatsky's powers. The conviction of 
 all present was that the occurrence was of an absolutely 
 unimpeachable character as an evidence of the truth of tlie 
 possibility of occult phenomena. The brooch is unquestion- 
 ably the one which Mrs. Hume lost. Even supposing, which 
 is practically impossible, that the article, lost months before 
 Mrs. Hume ever heard of Madame Blavatsky, and bearing 
 no letters or other indication of original ownership, could 
 have passed in a natural v/ay into Madame Blavatsky's 
 possession, even then she could not possibly have foreseen 
 that it would be asked for, as Mrs. Hume lierself had not 
 given it a tliought for months.'' 
 
 This narrative, read over to the party, is signed by — 
 
 A. 0. Hume. Alice Gordon. 
 
 M. A. Hume. P. G. Maitland. 
 
 Fred Hogg. Wm. Davidson. 
 
 A. P. Sinnett. Stuart Beatson. 
 Patience Sinnett. 
 
 In Mr. Hodgson's Report (vol. iii., " Proceedings of the 
 Society for Psychical Research," p. 267) we learn that Mr. 
 Hume is now convinced that this phenomenon was due to 
 mental suggestion and cheating. The brooch was amongst 
 some presents of jewellery, some of which are admitted by 
 Colonel Olcott to have passed through his hands. Mr. 
 Hormusji, a jeweller, deposes that he received, from the 
 
yS Madame Blavatsky. 
 
 hands of Madame Blavatsky, a brooch very like this brooch 
 for repairs. The first recipient of the brouch was encamped 
 in the compound of Madame Blavatsky's bungalow for some 
 weeks before he left for England. 
 
 I will give two other marvels. Tliey are cited with 
 comments from Madame Coulomb in " My Intercourse with 
 Madame Blavatsky " (p. 25> 
 
 " Let me begin by an insignificant phenomenon, the first 
 of the three mentioned in the article. Here is what the 
 Pioneer says concerning it : — 
 
 " ' About ten days or a fortnight ago my wife accompanied 
 our theosophists one afternoon to the top of Prospect Hill. 
 When there, Madame Blavatsky asked her in a joking way 
 what was her heart's desire. She said at random, and on 
 the spur of the moment, " to get a note from one of the 
 'Brothers.'" "The Brothers," I should explain, are the 
 superior adepts. Madame Blavatsk}^ took from her pocket 
 a piece of blank pink paper that had been torn off a note 
 she had received that day. Folding this up into a small 
 compass, she took it to the edge of the hill, held it up for a 
 moment or two between her hands, and returned, saying 
 that it had gone. She presently, after communicating 
 mentally by her own occult methods with the distant 
 " Brother," said he asked where my wife would have the 
 letter. After some conversation it was decided that she 
 should search for the note in a particular tree. Getting up 
 a little way into this, she looked all about for a time and 
 could not find any note, but presently, turning back her face 
 to a branch right before her, at which she had looked a few 
 moments before, she perceived a pink three-cornered note 
 stuck on a stalk of a leaf where no such note had previously 
 been. The leaf, that must have belonged to the stalk, must 
 have been freshly torn oft', because the stalk was still green 
 and moist — not v/ithered, as it would naturally have become 
 if its leaf had been removed for any length of time. The 
 note was found to contain these few words : " I have been 
 asked to have a note here for you. What can I do for you ? " 
 signed by some Tibetan cliaracters. Neither Madame 
 Blavatsky nor Colonel Olcott had approached during my 
 wife's search for the note. The pink paper, on which it 
 was written, appeared to be the same that ray wife had 
 
The ^'' Pioneer r 79 
 
 seen, blank, in Madame Blavatsky's hand shortly be- 
 fore.' 
 
 " I shall not review this," says Madame Coulomb, " but 
 will only say how I would perform this phenomenon if I had 
 the misfortune of having to entertain the public by these 
 tricks for the sake of obtaining fame and renown. First of 
 all, it would be necessary that I should have under my 
 orders a faithful person (even a servant properly trained 
 would do) ; when this was secured, I would proceed to take 
 a bit of pink paper from the store of tlie many coloured 
 papers I have, and would write my note upon it as follows : 
 ' I have been asked to have a note here for you. What can 
 I do for you ? ' This done, I would give it to my servant, 
 telling him to be attentive to what particular tree they 
 wished the note to be placed ; and giving him all instructions 
 beforehand, I would accompany the party to the top of a 
 hill. When there, I v/ould play the comedy of drawing the 
 conversation to the point by asking what was the lady's 
 heart's desire, and on receiving the answer, I would take 
 out of my pocket a piece of paper of the exact quality, size, 
 and colour of the one on which the note was written. 1 
 would fold it up in a small compass, as the other was folded, 
 and in order to give the thing an occult appearance, I wouLl 
 go to the edge of the bill, showing mental communication 
 with the Brothers. This is the way in which I would do it, 
 but I am no adept. 
 
 " It is not surprising that Mrs. Sinnett did not find the 
 note on first inspecting the tree; the leaves might have 
 covered the small -sized note, and on her turning back she 
 may have perceived it ; but this does not make the 
 phenomenon real, and indeed I think Mr, Sinnett himself 
 was not quite sure that the paper was the same, because at 
 the end of this narrative we find these words : ' The pink 
 paper on which it was written appeared to be the same.' 
 
 " Now let me tell you about the second phenomenon, 
 known under the name of the cup phenomenon. This, I 
 am glad to say, is already explained in the article, and in 
 order that my readers may understand it I shall have to 
 report the whole of the proceedings as given in the same 
 issue of the Pioneer. 
 
 " ' A few days after this, Madame Blavatsky accompanied 
 
8o Madame Blavatsky. 
 
 a few friends one morning on a little pic-nic in the direc- 
 tion of the waterfalls. There were originally to have been 
 six persons present, incUiding mj^self, but a seventh joined 
 the party just as it was starting. When a place had been 
 chosen in the wood near the upper v/aterfall for the break- 
 fast, the things brought were spread oat on the ground. It 
 turned out that there were only six cups and saucers for 
 seven people. Through some joking about this deficiency, 
 or through someone professing to be very thirsty, and to 
 think the cups would be too small — I cannot feel sure how 
 the idea arose, but it does not matter— one of the party 
 laughingly asked Madame Blavatsky to create another cup. 
 There was no serious idea in the proposal at first, but when 
 Madame Blavatsky said it would be very difficult, but that, 
 if we liked, she would try, the notion was taken up in 
 earnest, Madame Blavatsky, as usual, held mental con- 
 versation with " the Brother," and then wandered a little 
 about in the immediate neighbourhood of where we were 
 sitting, and asked one of the gentlemen with us to bring a 
 knife. She marked a spot on the ground, and asked him 
 to dig with the knife. Tlie place so chosen was the edge of 
 a little slope covered with thick weeds and grass, and 
 shrubby undergrowth. The gentleman with the knife tore 
 up these in the first instance with some difficulty, as their 
 roots were tough and closely interlaced. Cutting, then, 
 into the matted roots and earth with the knife, and pulling 
 away the debris with his hand, he came at last on the edge 
 of something white, which turned out, as it was completely 
 excavated, to be the required cup. The saucer was also 
 found after a little more digging. The cup and saucer both 
 corresponded exactly, as regards their pattern, with those 
 that bad been brought to the pic-nic, and constituted a 
 seventh cup and saucer when brought back to the place 
 where we were to have breakfast. At first all the party 
 appeared to be entirely satisfied with the bona fides of this 
 phenomenon, and were greatly struck by it ; but in the 
 course of the morning someone conceived that it was not 
 scientifically perfect, because it was theoretically possible 
 that by means of some excavation below the place where 
 the cups and saucers were exhumed, the}^ might have been 
 thrust up into the place where we found them by ordinary 
 
The ^'Pioneer'' 8i 
 
 means. Everyone knew that the surface of the ground 
 where we dug had certainly not been disturbed, nor were 
 any signs of excavation discoverable anywhere in the 
 neighbourhood ; but it was contended that the earth we 
 had ourselves thrown about in digging for the cup might 
 have obliterated the traces of these. I mention the objec- 
 tion raised, not because it is otherwise than preposterous 
 as an hypothesis, but because three of the persons wdio were 
 at the pic-nic have since considered that the flaw described 
 spoilt the phenomenon as a test phenomenon.' " 
 
 Now for Madame Coulomb. 
 
 " As I said, the explanation was already given. I must 
 here draw your attention to the wording of this paragraph. 
 'At lirst all the party appeared to be entirely satisfied with 
 the bona fides of this phenomenon, and were greatly struck 
 by it ; but in the course of the morning someone conceived 
 that it was not scientifically perfect, because it was theoreti- 
 cally possible that by means of some excavation below the 
 'place luhere the cup and saucer were exhumed, they might 
 have been thrust up into the place where we found them by 
 ordinary means,' etc. 
 
 " The opinion of these gentlemen with regard to the possi- 
 bility of the cup and saucer being thrust up into the hole 
 made for the purpose is perfectly correct, because this is 
 exactly the way in which he who put the cup and the 
 saucer there explained it to me'' 
 
 Madame Coulomb alludes to a boy named Baboula, who 
 had been the confederate of a professional conjurer before 
 he entered the Russian lady's service. 
 
 Here is another marvel recorded by Mr. Sinnett : — 
 
 " We were bound on another pic-nic to the top of Pro- 
 spect Hill. Just before starting, I received a short note 
 from my correspondent. It told me that something would 
 be given to my wife on the hill as a sign from him. While 
 we were having our lunch, Madame Blavatsky said the 
 Brother directed her to ask what was the most unlikely 
 place we could think of in which we would like to find a 
 note from him, and the object which he proposed to send 
 us. After a little talk on the subject, I and my wife 
 selected the inside of her jampan cushion, against which 
 she was then leaning. This is a strong cushion of velvet 
 
 F 
 
82 Madame Blavatsky. 
 
 and worsted ^YO^k that we have had some years. We were 
 shortly told that the cushion would do. My wife was 
 directed to put it under her rug for a little wdiile. This 
 she did inside her jampan for perhaps half a minute, and 
 then we w^ere directed to cut the cushion open. This we 
 found a task of some difficulty, as the edges were all very 
 tightly sewn ; but a penknife conquered them in a little 
 while. I should add that while I was ripping at the 
 cushion Madame Blavatsky said there was no hurry, that 
 the letter w^as only then being written and was not quite 
 finished. When "we got the velvet and the worsted-work 
 cover cut open, we found the inner cushion containing the 
 feathers sewn up in a case of its own. This, in turn, had to 
 be cut open ; and then, buried in the feathers, my wife found 
 a note addressed to me and a brooch — an old familiar brooch, 
 which she had had for many years, and which, she tells 
 me, she remembers having picked up off her dressing-table 
 that morning wdiile getting ready to go out, though she 
 afterwards put it do\vn again, and chose another instead. 
 The note to me ran as follows : — ' My dear Brother, — This 
 brooch, No. 2, is placed in the very strange place, simply to 
 show to you how very easily a real phenomenon is pro- 
 duced, and how still easier it is to suspect its genuineness. 
 Make of it what you like, even to classing me with con- 
 federates. The difficulty you spoke of last night with 
 respect to the interchange of our letters, I will try to 
 remove .... An address wall be sent to you, which you 
 can always use — unless, indeed, you really would prefer 
 corresponding through pillows. Please to remark that the 
 present is not dated from a * Lodge,' but from a Kashmir 
 Valley.' The allusions in this note have reference to various 
 remarks I made in the course of conversation during dinner 
 the preceding evening. 
 
 " Madame Blavatsky, you wall observe, claims no more in 
 connection wath this phenomenon than having been the 
 occult messenger between ourselves and the Brother in 
 Kashmir, w^ho, you will observe, appears to have w^ritten 
 the letter in Kashmir within a few moments of the time at 
 which w^e found it inside our cushion. That persons hav- 
 ing these extraordinary powers could produce even more 
 sensational effects if they chose, you will naturally argue. 
 
The ''Pioneer:' '^i 
 
 Why, then, play tricks which, however conclusive for the 
 one or two people who may define their conditions, can 
 hardly be so re^i^arded by others, while the public generally 
 will be apt to suppose the persons who relate them liars or 
 lunatics, rather than believe that anything can take place 
 in nature except with the permission and approval of the 
 Iioyal Society ? Well, I think I perceive some of the 
 reasons why they refrain, but these would take too long to 
 toll. Still longer would it take to answer by serious argu- 
 ment the nonsense which the publication of the brooch 
 incident No. 1 has evoked all over India." 
 
 "I have reported this supposed phenomenon," saj's Madame 
 Coulomb, " in order that my readers may judge for them- 
 selves ; as for me, I see no science in it. All I find is the 
 theoretical possibility of some one sewing it in the cushion 
 beforehand. I do not agree with the opinion of the writer 
 of this article as to the distance of the Brother — viz.^ Kash- 
 mir; I think the Brother, through whom Madame Blavatsky 
 performed the phenomenon, must have been quite close by." 
 
 One point has not been noticed either by Madame Cou- 
 lomb or Mr. Hodgson, and that is that Madame Blavatsky 
 had again made a change of front. Inspired by Colonel 
 Olcott, as we have seen, she announced that all her miracles 
 were due to the Brothers of Luxor. Then seduced by the 
 fascinating theories of Mr. Felt, she proclaimed that all 
 these miracles were performed by the dog-headed and 
 hawk-headed architects of the universe, the mighty " Ele- 
 mentals," whom by proper incantations she could bend to 
 her will. One of these statements might be true, but not 
 both. How was it that Madame Blavatsky now returned 
 to the theories of Colonel Olcott ? 
 
 This I believe to be the solution : — 
 
 Madame Coulomb asserts that at starting Madame Bla- 
 vatsky, far from being flush of cash, as Mr. Sinnett always 
 describes her to be, was badly off when she came to India. 
 In a letter quoted she says she is as " poor as a church rat," 
 her sole income being derived from the remainder of a sum of 
 money left to her by her father. She states further that she 
 and Colonel Olcott "joined our capital together, and placing it 
 in New York in a secure house, derive from it each of us about 
 100 Rs. monthly " (£6 10s. now, but more at that date). 
 
84 Madame Blavatsky. 
 
 Madame Coulomb shows that from the first the great 
 Theosophical Society had to pinch. The cost of printing 
 its organ, the Theosophist, pressed upon it ; and it soon had 
 a largish staff of dupes and confederates all of whom had 
 to be fed and lodged, and it was found that the Rajahs and 
 wealthy natives were very tepid about " Buddhism," though 
 a Rajah in India has spent as much as ten thousand pounds 
 in presents to the Brahmins during a holy pilgrimage to 
 cure a crooked joint in his son, or an abscess in the liver of 
 his favourite wife. And even with the aid of the mighty 
 dog-headed architects of the universe the Russian lady 
 found it difficult to compete with the Indian performers of 
 basket and mango tricks. Thus, the theory of Colonel 
 Olcott was re-gilt and re-christened, and the Mahatmas 
 emerged from the Brothers of Luxor. Tlie atheism was, 
 perhaps, also a necessity, for the gods of Baal had to be 
 taken away from the priests of Baal. 
 
 An adventure with the Rajah of Wudhwan throws a 
 light on all this: — "We arrived safe at Wudhwan," says 
 Madame Coulomb, " and found His Highness the Rajah, 
 escorted by his bodyguard, at the station. He gave Madame 
 a very cordial welcome ; and, indeed, he was very kind to 
 us all — I mean Dr. Hartmann, Mr. Mohini, and myself. 
 We drove to a palace, which had been fitted up and decor- 
 ated for the occasion. I must say that His Highness w^as 
 really liberal ; he gave orders that we should be provided 
 with everything we might require, and indeed we had more 
 than we wanted. Many details of this visit, which would 
 not interest the public, I shall not describe. But what I 
 must not omit is the phenomenon performed on this occa- 
 sion. His Highness received a small note, which was found 
 inside a miniature metal needle (Cleopatra's needle), which 
 stood on a corner shelf ; this note contained half a silver 
 coin in the shape of a crescent. This phenomenon was 
 very simple indeed. Madame wrote a note, wa^apped the 
 silver coin in it, and put the small packet inside the needle, 
 which was hollow, and then set tbe needle again in its 
 place. When His Highness came, we all sat in the room, 
 and Madame Blavatsky began, as usual, to say that she felt 
 that the Brother was near, and finally assured the company 
 that she could see a paper flutter in the space. 'Oh, there, 
 
The '-' Pioneery 85 
 
 there ! I am sure it is on that corner-shelf.' She got up 
 and looked on it, opened every box that was on it, and 
 finally came back to her seat, pretending that she did not 
 know in which of these objects that were on the what-not 
 the desired message could be. A gentleman of the company 
 rose, went to the corner, and said, ' I think I know where 
 it can be.' So saying, he took the needle in his hand, and 
 gave it to niadame, who passed it on to His Highness, who 
 looked inside it, but could not find the slip of paper. 
 'Break it! break it ! Never mind we can find another,' 
 said the gentleman to Madame Blavatsky, who now had it 
 in her hands; she broke the top of it, and drew out the 
 note. She was obliged to do so, because she had introduced 
 it through the pedestal up to the narrow part of the needle 
 so tightly that, even by knocking it, it could not slip down. 
 
 " I am happy to say that news came that His Highness 
 had not lent laith to the occurrence above described. I say 
 happy, because this shows me that he is a man of sense. 
 But whether this information was the direct cause of 
 madame's change of temper, or something else, I cannot say; 
 but what is certain, she did change, and began soliloquising 
 as follows : — ' What did he want me here for ? I shall go 
 away to Bombay to-morrow. Here is a lot of money gone 
 for nothing. I shall not have enough to go to Europe.' 
 And so she went on for a long time ; at last, after this storm 
 came a calm ; slie, breaking into one of those ch.arming 
 moods, which oblige one to do anything for her, said, ' Try, 
 my dear, and speak with Mr, Unwala, and tell him that you 
 know that I have not enough moneys to go to Europe, and 
 ask him if he can get me 1,000 Rs. from His Highness.' I 
 did as I was told, and Mr. Unwala obtained 500 Rs. ; this 
 money His Highness gave himself to madame through the 
 carriage-window as the train was leaving for Varel, where 
 we were going on a visit to Mr. Hurrisinjee Rupsinjee." 
 
 It is plain here that Madame Blavatsky, sans mecaniqiie, 
 found herself unable to compete in Hindoo estimation with 
 the Indian jugglers. She had another disappointment with 
 the celebrated Holkar. 
 
 " PooNA, Mercredi. 
 
 " Ma ch^re Marquise,— Holkar— fiasco. Tant mieux, il 
 m' envoie 200 rupees pour mes depenses ; aura eu peur do 
 (][uel(jue sacie official bigot. Damn hini," 
 
S6 Madame Blavatsky, 
 
 Here is another letter : — 
 
 *' Now dear, let us change the programme. Whether some- 
 tiling succeeds or not, I must try. Jacob Sassoon, the 
 happy proprietor of a crore of rupees, with whose family I 
 dined last night, is anxious to become a Theosophist. He is 
 ready to give 10,000 rupees, to buy and repair the head- 
 quarters, he said to Colonel (Ezekiel, his cousin, arranged all 
 this), if only he sa\v a little phenomenon, got the assurance 
 that the Mahatmas could hear what was said, or gave him 
 some other sign of their existence (? !!). Well, this letter 
 will reach you the 26th (Friday) ; will you go up to the 
 shrine and ask K. H. to send me a telegram that would 
 reach me about four or five in the afternoon, same day, 
 worded thus : — 
 
 " ' Your conversation with Mr. Jacob Sassoon reached 
 Master just now. Were the latter even to satisfy him, still 
 the doubter would hardly find the moral courage to connect 
 himself with the society. Ramalinga Deb.' 
 
 " If this reaches me on the 2Gth, even in the evening, it 
 will still produce a tremendous impression. Address, care 
 of N. Kandalawala, Judge, PooNA. Je ferai le eeste. 
 Cela coutera quatre ou cinq roupies. Cela ne fait rien. 
 
 " H. P. B." 
 
 " K. H." is of course Koot Hoomi, and Ramalinga Deb 
 another Mahatma. We have anticipated a bit to show why 
 Mahatmas were necessary. 
 
 We continue the narrative of Madame Coulomb : — 
 '' While the elite of the society at Simla was thus amused, 
 orders from there were sent to headquarters that a new 
 bungalow should be chosen. The orders were, of course, 
 given by letter. Here is the letter written by madame to 
 me : — 
 
 " ' Ma chere Mad. Coulomb, " ' My dear Mad. Coulomb, 
 
 "' Je vous prie de veiller a " ' I beg you to take care of 
 
 tout dans notre demenage- everything in the removal, 
 
 ment, Choisissez bien la Choose a good house. Let it 
 
 maison. Qu'elle soit utile; he useful Let your room be 
 
 que la vostra camera si trova above that of a certain Mr. 
 
 sopra la testa d'un certo President. — "Edaltraroba." 
 
 Sisrnore Pres, a — altra roba.' You know the rest,' 
 
The '' Pioneerr 87 
 
 "I am obliged to mention these seeming trifles, because 
 later on in my story they will be very important. After a 
 great deal of trouble, we finally found a nice bungalow on 
 the range of hills called Cumballah. The bungalow is 
 known under the name of Crow's Nest. We removed into 
 it in Madame Blavatsky's absence, and when she came back 
 she said that it was quite to her taste, and considered it 
 very well adapted for the performing of phenomena. 
 
 " For a few months from this time w^e were engaged in 
 getting the house ready, and here I can say for the truth 
 that we worked incessantly, and very often we used to go 
 to bed so tired that we could not sleep. But this, although 
 considered necessary and right, yet it did not fully satisfy 
 madame's theosopbical object ; she wanted work of another 
 kind, but did not dare to express her wish in so many words. 
 So she used to get cross, despise everything, and hate every- 
 body ; and as we could not understand what she really 
 wanted, she vented her rage on us by forbidding that a 
 sufficient quantity of bread should be brought into the 
 house, saying that if we wanted more we were to buy it 
 with our own money — and this, after we had worked like 
 slaves for her ! 
 
 " Sometimes when awake in bed, I used to torture my 
 brain to find out what I could do to please her — for, bad as 
 the place was, yet it was better than none; and although she 
 was unjust, yet at times she used to have a good fit for two 
 or three days, at which times she was more tractable, which 
 made up for the past, and we pushed on. In one of these 
 good moods she called me up and told me : ' See if you can 
 make a head of human size and place it on that divan,' 
 pointing to a sofa in her room, * and merely put a sheet 
 round it ; it would have a magic eftect by moonlight.' 
 What can this mean ? I wondered. But knowing how dis- 
 agreeable she could make herself if she was stroked on the 
 wrong side, I complied with her wish. She cut a paper 
 pattern of the face I was to make, which I still have ; on 
 this I cut the precious lineaments of the beloved Master, but, 
 to my shame, I must say that, after all my trouble of cut- 
 ting, sewing, and staffing, madame said that it looked like 
 an old Jew — I suppose she meant Shylock. Madame, with 
 a graceful touch here and there of her painting brush, gave 
 
Madame B lav at sky. 
 
 it a little better appearance. But this was only a head, 
 without bust, and could not very well be used, so I made a 
 jacket, which I doubled, and between the two cloths I 
 placed stuffing, to form the shoulders and chest; the arms 
 were only to the elbow, because, when the thing was tried 
 on, we found the long arm would be in the way of him who 
 had to carry it. This beauty finished, made madame quite 
 another person. Now the philosopher's stone was found ! 
 Let us see what I can do with it, thought I to myself, and, 
 if it is only this she wants, and this is to assure us a home, 
 she shall certainly have as many as she likes. 
 
 " However, this was not all. A trap was the next thing 
 madame desired to have ; it was made, fixed, and ready for 
 use. Oh ! a trap this time, what can she mean ? This is 
 no saloon trick ! And the glove business in Cairo came 
 vividly to my mind again. Can this be a new attempt at 
 spiritualism ? Let us watch and see what it is before wo 
 speak ; with this decision I went on. To this I must add 
 that my thorough ignorance in everything of this kind 
 kept back every conclusion I might have arrived at. And 
 again my curiosity was excited ; I wanted to know, to 
 learn, to understand. I learned and vinderstood more than 
 I cared fox-. 
 
 "Now let us see for what purpose trap and doll had been 
 made. The arrival of Mr. A. P. Sinnett, ex-editor of the 
 Pioneer, at the headquarters of the Theosophical Societ}^ 
 made the trap very useful, and it was instrumental in aid- 
 ing to spread the theosophical fame in Bombay. This 
 occurrence I report here from the Theosopliist for August, 
 1881 (see supplement:) — 
 
 " ' Mr. Sinnett was then requested by some of the fellows 
 present to give the society some particulars about his new 
 book — '' The Occult World," which many of the Mofussil 
 members would not perhaps have a chance to read. To this 
 he ansv/ered that it would take a long time to recapitulate 
 the contents of the book ; but he v/ould explain how he 
 was led into writing it, and gave a general idea of its 
 purport. He then gave an account of the manner in which 
 his correspondence with one of the Brothers of the First 
 Section sprang up, how it grew and developed, and how he 
 was at last struck with the idea of publishing extracts from 
 
The ''Pioneer. 89 
 
 liis correspondent's letters for the benefit of the world at 
 lari^e. He also stated his reasons for affirming most 'posi- 
 tively tliat these letters were written by a person quite 
 different from Madame Blavatsky — a foolish suspicion 
 entertained by some sceptics. It was 2')]iysically impos- 
 sible, he said, that this could be the case ; and there were 
 other valid reasons for asserting that not only was she not 
 their author, but even most of the time knew nothing of the 
 contents. Foremost among these stood the fact that their 
 style was absolutely different from that in wliich Madame 
 Blavatsky wrote, and for anyone who could appreciate the 
 niceties of literary style, there is as much individuality in 
 style as in handwriting. Apart from this consideration, 
 however, Mr. Sinnett drew attention to some incidents 
 more fully described in the book itself, wliich showed that 
 a telegram for him was handed into the telegraph office at 
 Jhelum for transmission to him at Allahabad, in the hand- 
 writing of tlie celebrated letters. This telegram was an 
 answer to a letter from him to the " Brother," which he had 
 enclosed to Madame Biavatsky, then at Amritsur. It was 
 despatched within an hour or two of the time at which the 
 letter was delivered at Amritsur (as the post-mark on the 
 envelope, which was afterwards returned to him, conclu- 
 sively showed). A complete chain of proof was thus 
 afforded to show that the handwriting in which all the 
 Brother's letters were written was certainly the production 
 of some person who ivas not Madame Blavatsky. He went 
 on to explain that a final and absolutely convincing proof, 
 not only of the fact that the letters were the work of a 
 person other than Madame Blavatsky, but also of the 
 wonderful control of generally unknown natural laws 
 which that person exercised, had been afforded to him on 
 the very morning of the day in which he was speaking. 
 He had been expecting a reply to a recent letter to his 
 illustrious friend Koot Hoomi, and after breakfast, while 
 he was sitting at a table in the full light of day, the ex- 
 pected answer was suddenly dropped, out of nothing, on the 
 table before him. He explained all the circumstances 
 under which this had occurred, circumstances wliich not 
 only precluded the idea that Madame Blavatsky — and no 
 other person was present in the flesh at the time — could 
 
90 Madame Blavatsky, 
 
 have been instrumental in causing the letter to appear, but 
 made the mere liypothesis of any fraud in the matter con- 
 temptibly absurd. 
 
 " ' Mr. Sinnett then concluded by saying that he would 
 leave further proofs to those who would read his book.' " 
 
 Now for Mr. Sinnett's critic : — 
 
 " This phenomenon is so much more important because, 
 according to Mr. Sinnett's declaration, it leaves no room for 
 doubt, and because lie does not admit the possibility of anj^- 
 one but his illustrious friend having written the said letter. 
 To this I shall say for the truth that Madame Blavatsky 
 wrote before me the latter part of the letter, that I saw it 
 addressed and given into the hands of Mr. Coulomb, telling 
 him to put it in Astral Post Office. Concerning the way in 
 which the letter reached Mr. Sinnett, which he assumes to 
 have dropped out of nothing, I must say that he is mis- 
 taken there, because it was done in the following manner : 
 An ingeniously and well-combined trap was fixed on the 
 floor of the garret above Mr. Sinnett's room ; the floor was 
 a boarded one, and between the boards was a space suffici- 
 ently wide to permit a thick letter to slip through easily. 
 The aperture of the tixip met with that of the boards, so 
 that once the letter was freed from the arrangement which 
 retained it, it slipped down, and, being heavy, did not 
 flutter in the space, but fell right on the table before him. 
 
 "In order that you may easily understand how the letter 
 slipped through, I shall have to tell you that the opening 
 of the trap was performed by the pulling of a string, which, 
 after running from the trap, where it was fastened, all 
 along the garret above Mr. Sinnett's room to that part of the 
 garret above Madame Blavatsky's bedroom, passed through 
 a hole and hung down behind the door and the curtain of 
 her room, which was adjoining to that of Mr. Sinnett. 
 
 " If Mr. Sinnett had investigated first, and believed after 
 — if he had considered the probabilities and the improba- 
 bilities — if he had inspected the rooms, he would not have 
 been taken in so easily. I really think that we ought to 
 consider it our duty to make sure of things before we give 
 them out to the world as truth ; and this in a special manner 
 with regard to a new doctrine, for, if it is worth our while 
 accepting it, it is certainly worth our while to look into it 
 
The ''''Pioneer,'' 91 
 
 minutely. And in this case, nothing must come in the way 
 to stop our investigations ; we must have no regard to 
 persons or anything else ; we must practically go to work 
 until we find the truth. And I am sure that these pre- 
 cautions were not taken by Mr. Sinnett, or he would have 
 found out that the letter did not drop out of nothing, but 
 out of a trap through the ceiling above his head. 
 
 " As to writing in a style absolutely different to that of 
 Madame Blavatsky, it is not likely that the said lady would 
 make use of her own epistolary style for a subject which 
 had as object the reformation of the human mind, the 
 destruction of a long-established belief, and the edification 
 of a doctrine which was founded on a mysterious basis as 
 yet unknown to the greater part of the w^orld ; the style 
 must be adapted to what it treated of. But I think the 
 illustration given to Mr. C. C. Massey ought to open the 
 eyes of all blind believers, and from that I'act they should 
 arrive at the conclusion that similar practices have often 
 been repeated before, and that it is very plausible that such 
 correspondence as mentioned in the article may have had 
 the same origin. 
 
 " Now that the use of the trap has been explained, let us 
 see for what purpose the doll was made. This was to give 
 a convincing and material proof of the existence of the 
 Brothers, as their (said) invisible presence did not fully 
 satisfy the truth-seekers. 
 
 "Among the many apparitions to which this doll has been 
 instrumental, I will choose one seen by Mr. Ramaswamier, 
 in December, 1881, for of this I can bring personal evidence, 
 and also, because it is doubly interesting, inasmuch as it 
 bears a manifest proof of the power of deception ; but, as 
 an important part of it is recorded in connection with an- 
 other instance, I shall make only one narrative of the tw^o. 
 In the Theosophist for December, 1882, page 67, is reported 
 an article, under the heading, 'How a Chela found his Guru,' 
 In order to be able to make my readers thoroughly under- 
 stand, I ought to report the v.hole of this article, comment- 
 ing as I go along, but that truly would be too tiresome, and 
 perhaps not interesting in its details. So I shall begin at 
 page 68, second column, last paragraph, and continue to 
 page 69, to the end of the same paragraph. 
 
92 Madame B lav at sky, 
 
 " ' It was, I think, between 8 and 9 a.m., and I was follow- 
 ing the road to the town of Sikkim, whence I was assured 
 by the people I met on the road I could cross over to Tibet 
 easily in my pilgrim's garb, when I suddenly saw a solitary 
 horseman galloping tow^ards me from the opposite direction. 
 From his tall stature, and the expert way he managed the 
 animal, I thought he w^as some military officer of the Sikkim 
 Rajah. Now, I thought., am I caught ! He will ask me for 
 my pass, and what business I have on the independent 
 territory of Sikkim, and, perhaps, have me arrested and 
 sent back, if not worse, but, as he recognised me, he reined 
 the steed. I looked at and approached him instantly. . . . 
 I was in the awful presence of him, of the same Mahatma, 
 my own revered Guru whom I had seen before in his astral 
 bod}^, on the balcony of the Theosophical headquarters ! 
 It was he, the " Himalayan Brother "of the ever-memorable 
 night of December last, who had so kindly dropped a letter 
 in answer to one I had given in a sealed envelope to 
 Madame Blavatsky, whom I had never for a moment during 
 the interval lost sight of — but an hour or so before.' 
 
 " Here we have a most distinct evidence of what these 
 apparitions are. The happy 'Chela,' Mr. Ramaswamier, 
 sa3's that he looked up and recognised the very Mahatma, 
 his own revered ' Guru,' whom he had seen in the astral 
 body on the balcony, etc. If Mr. Ramasv\^amier really saw 
 the very identical Mahatma, then indeed we must say for 
 the truth that this phenomenon is a real one. Because the 
 Mahatma he saw" in his astral body on the balcony at the 
 headquarters of the Theosophical Society in Bombay, on 
 the memorable night of December, 1881, was no one else 
 than Monsieur Coulomb, w^ith the doll's head on his own. 
 It was he who dropped the letter in answer to the one sent 
 through Madame Blavatsky to the Mahatma, as already 
 mentioned, and which letter in answer had been handed to 
 Mr. Coulomb by Madame Blavatsky, with instructions to 
 drop it as the carriage drove back under the portico. 
 
 "Now please hear Vvhat Mr. Ramaswamier says in the 
 article under the heading of ' A Chela's Reply,' page 76 of 
 the same number, second column, last paragraph of the 
 article, which runs as follows : he says, ' After this, it 
 would seem but natural that whenever I hear a doubter or 
 
The ''Pioneer.'' 93 
 
 a scoffer denying the existence of our Himalayan Mahatmas, 
 I should simply smile in pity, and regard the doubter as a 
 poor deluded sceptic indeed.' 
 
 " So Mr. Ramaswamier was convinced. But what con- 
 vinced him ? Was it the appearance of the same Mahatma 
 whom he had recognised to be the one he had seen in his 
 astral body at the headquarters of the Theosophical Society, 
 Bombay ? But this was Mr. Coulomb, as I said. Then, 
 after sifting this famous phenomenon, what truth is there 
 left of it ? That Mr. Ramaswamier met a man on horse- 
 back, who spoke to him in his mother-tongue. Is this all 
 we have ? If so, I think it is a very poor foundation 
 whereupon to edify such a colossal enterprise as the forma- 
 tion of a new belief." 
 
 Of Mr. Ramaswamier and of these appearances of the 
 Mahatmas Madame Coulomb has more to tell. She intro- 
 duces a new character, Mr. Deb, who by and by changed 
 his name in a mysterious manner to " Babajee." 
 
 " On the 16th June, 1882, Madame Blavatsky left the 
 Crow's Nest to go to Baroda. About this time Mr. Dhar- 
 bagiri Nath (another title for Mr. Babajee or Deb) was sent 
 on a 'mission' to the Northern Provinces. He was to 
 make his first appearance dressed in an elegant Thibetan 
 costume — it consisted of a pair of blue trousers, a blue 
 figured silk jacket, lined and bordered with deerskin fur, a 
 waistcoat of blue satin, almond checked, with little flowers 
 in the middle, and all ornamented with little buttons, a 
 yellow cotton satin blouse, with very wide sleeves all but- 
 toned up, which he wore under the jacket, a small round 
 cap of figured orange silk, bordered with the same fur, and 
 a pair of boots, Hungarian fashion, all laced up. In this 
 attire Mr. Deb started for his mission to the Northern 
 Provinces ; here I leave him, and will pick him up again 
 by and by. 
 
 "Now Madame Blavatsky, considering it necessary (I 
 suppose) to revive the sinking faith of her votaries, decided 
 upon leaving for Darjeeling, there to try 'to make the world 
 talk,' as she expresses herself sometimes ; so after some 
 preparations she started, accompanied by Mr. R. Casava 
 Pillai, of Nellore. This gentleman was employed in the 
 police of Nellore (I think he was an inspector). Before he 
 
94 Madame B la vat sky. 
 
 left he had his costume made, consisting of a yellow cotton 
 satin blouse, a cap of the same shape as that of Mr. Deb, a 
 pair of top-boots, and a pair of very thick cloth trousers — 
 when all was ready they started very quietly, and Madame 
 begged us not to sa}^ to anj^one that she had left ; this w^as 
 to give the thing a mysterious appearance as usual. 
 
 " Shortly after Madame had left Bombay, Mr. Ramaswa- 
 mier, the happy Chela who found his Guru, and of whom 
 we have already spoken at length, arrived at headquarters ; 
 he also had his pilgrim's garb made by the same tailor, and 
 started to join madame. There is nothing interesting in all 
 these details, but I have given them for the sake of exacti- 
 tude, and because some one in the Northern Provinces may 
 at that very date have received some mysterious visitor 
 dressed in blue silk, etc., according to the description, and 
 giving himself as a Chela come from the Masters. I mention 
 Mr. K. Casava Pillai, because he is to be traced later, and 
 Mr. Ramaswamier I mention, because I hope to be soon able 
 to smell the aura of the Mahatn^a he met on horseback on 
 the territory of Sikkim. Both on the way, and on her 
 arrival at Darjeeling, Madame Blavatsk}^ had to meet with 
 difficulties and trouble, and the greatest of all was the ill- 
 ness of her faithful servant Baboula ; had it not been so we 
 w^ould have heard more astounding feats from there ; how- 
 ever, Mr. Ramaswamier's finding his Guru was no small 
 thing. 
 
 " Here I think we may pick up Mr. Deb, wdiom after liis 
 mission w^as over, the blessed Maliatmas transformed into 
 somebody else; he stayed at Darjeeling with the company 
 of pilgrims, and used to go with Mr. Casava Pillai to drink 
 the water of the stream at the foot of the mountain. So 
 Mr. Deb and Mr. Casava Pillai were friends ; I^Ir. Deb soon 
 left the party and came to headquarters. When I saw him, 
 I cheerfully went to shake hands, as I had always done, 
 and he withdrew, pretending that he did not know who I 
 was. What this meant I need not say ; necessity obliged 
 him to be somebody else, so from Deb he has since been 
 called Babajee, and the comedy which he had played me of 
 being somebody else, he played with others afterwards — 
 both natives and Europeans. 
 
 "The band of pilgrims left Darjeeling, accompanying 
 
The ^ '■ Pioneer, " 95 
 
 Madame Blavatsky home, and the new orders fresh from 
 the Himalayan Brothers were, that those who had been of 
 the party were not to shake hands with anybody except 
 madame. All these foolish eccentricities disgusted us so 
 much that we decided to remain in Bombay, where we had 
 some very good friends, who kindly offered to help us and 
 give us a home — but Madame Blavatsky and colonel insisted 
 that we should go to Madras. Madame told me: 'Come, 
 do not be foolish, come to Madras, there you will be very 
 well ; you can have dogs, chickens, ducks, horses — all the 
 animals in creation if you like ; there is a beautiful river, 
 Mr. Coulomb can fish and amuse himself — you will not be 
 
 well at ; I am sure you would soon wish to leave, and 
 
 then another thing, I am in want of you.' So with all this 
 we allowed ourselves to be persuaded, and started with them 
 for Madras." 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The proposed change of quarters from the Crow's Nest in 
 Bombay to the bungalow of Adyar was duly carried out. 
 A certain preparation of the house is necessary on these 
 occasions, as Colonel Olcott (" Hints on Esoteric Theosophy " 
 No. 1, p. 96) assures us : — 
 
 " The Brothers mainly appear where we are, simply 
 because there they have the necessary conditions. Our 
 houses, wherever we make a headquarters, are certainly 
 prepared not with machinery, but w^ith a special magnetism. 
 The first thing the Brothers do when we take up a new 
 residence is to prepare it thus, and we never take a new 
 house without their approval ; they examine all we think 
 of taking, and pick out the one most favourable. Some- 
 times they send every one of us out of the house if they 
 desire to especially magnetise the place." 
 
 Madame Coulomb gives an account of this magnetism : — 
 
 "We left Bombay on the 17th December, 1882, and 
 arrived here in Madras on the 19bh. The bungalow answered 
 madame's description, the river was there, and the fish too ; 
 animals were granted me, to my great satisfaction, and I 
 thought I might try and be happy. But there is no peace 
 for the wicked, says Isaiah, no more there was any for the 
 Coulombs ! 
 
 " Although the main bungalow was very spacious, yet 
 the apartment that madame had chosen on the upper storey 
 had only one large room, a bathroom, and the rest above 
 the bungalow was left as terrace. 
 
 " As madame found this accommodation too small for her, 
 she asked Mr. Muttuswamy Chettier's sons to get masons to 
 build a small room, which is at present known as the occult 
 room ; this was built on part of the terrace, which faced 
 
 96 
 
*' The Shrine'^ 97 
 
 Baboula's- sleeping-place ; and while this work was going 
 on, madame thought of all the contrivances that mi^ht 
 prove useful for the occultism, such as how to utilise the 
 windows, now rendered useless by the new arrangement. 
 The one which gave light to Baboula's sleeping-place and 
 passage was to be turned into a bookshelf, which is the 
 present one with the looking-glass door. One of the two 
 windows of the large room, which before looked on the 
 terrace, was bricked up ; the other was turned into the door 
 through which they now go from madame's dining-room 
 into the occult one. I beg my readers to take notice of the 
 v/indow which had been bricked up in the large room 
 because it is from this that the Mahatmas were pleased to 
 show a great many instances of their power. This done, 
 madame's energetic and never-resting mind began to think 
 what might be done to establish a permanent apparatus for 
 the transmission of the occult correspondence, more expedi- 
 tious and less troublesome than the ladder and the trap. 
 At first she thought of utilising a cabinet made by Mr. 
 Wimbridge ; and indeed for a short time she did use it. 
 She lined it with yellow satin, put the two pictures of the 
 alleged Mahatmas inside it, with some other ornaments ; but 
 as at the back of this there was no possibility of making a 
 hole, and the panels were not made to slide, but fixed, 
 madame decided upon making a new one, and to have it 
 placed in the new room at the back of the window which 
 had been bricked up. To carry out her plans, she asked 
 me if I would drive into town to Mr. Deschamps and order 
 a nice cabinet made of black wood, or at least black var- 
 nished. She gave me a plan of it, which had been drawn 
 by her and Mr. Coulomb. I went to Mr. Deschamps and 
 ordered the cabinet, which took about eighteen days to 
 make. This was not of black wood [i.e., ebony), but cedar- 
 wood black-lacked. 
 
 " Madame was in this great hurry because Mr. Sinnett was 
 expected to come and spend a short time at headquarters, 
 in company with his wife and child, on their way to Enghxnd. 
 
 ''As soon as Mr. Deschamps sent the cabinet, which is 
 known under the name of 'shrine,' it was measured on the 
 spot where it was intended to remain. Now this shrine 
 had three sliding panels at the back, made on purpose to be 
 
98 Madame Blavatsky. 
 
 taken out and slid back when necessity demanded it ; the 
 middle one of these panels was pulled out of its groove and 
 sawn into two, because by pulling the panel up all one 
 piece it would have shown, notwithstanding the many folds 
 of muslin which hung in festoons over the shrine. After 
 sawing this panel as I said, the lower part was put back 
 into its groove, and to the top piece was nailed a bit of 
 leather, by which the servant could have a strong hold to 
 pull it up easily. This done, it was placed against the wall 
 once more, the half-panel was lifted up, and the measure of 
 the hole into the wall was taken ; a few knocks with a 
 hammer and chisel made a small breach of about seven or 
 eight inches in length and five or six in breadth, quite suffi- 
 cient to permit an arm to pass ; this done, the shrine was 
 finally fixed. At the back of this cabinet, against the wall 
 of the bricked window already mentioned, was placed the 
 armmre a glace (glass almirah) which madame brought 
 with her from Bombay. In this almirah sliding-panels 
 were made corresponding with the hole, so that when the 
 panel of the shrine and that of the almirah were both 
 pulled open, one could see from madame's present dining- 
 room through the hole into the occult room — the doors of 
 the shrine being, of course, opened. 
 
 '' I shall not tire my readers by mentioning what kind of 
 correspondence was transmitted through this channel at the 
 time of Mr. Sinnett's stay at the headquarters, because 
 neither myself nor my husband lent a hand in such trans- 
 mission on that occasion ; but I shall have to speak of the 
 apparition which Mr. Sinnett saw on the terrace of Colonel 
 Olcott's bungalow, and for precision's sake it behoves me to 
 give here a short description of what took place on the 
 arrival of Mr. Sinnett at headquarters. I do not know 
 what the previous conversation can have been between this 
 gentleman and Madame Blavatsky, but the result was that 
 madame told me : ' What are we to do now ? Mr. Sinnett 
 wants to go and sleep in colonel's bungalow.' To this I 
 answered that I was very sorry, because I knew that 
 colonel did not like anyone to occupy his rooms ; but 
 madame said, ' He wants to go there because he expects a 
 visit from the Mahatma.' I shrugged my shoulders, and 
 told the servant to remove the trunks in the said bungalow. 
 
*' The Shrine'' 99 
 
 A little later in the day she asked me to go upstairs. I 
 went. 'Come here,' she said. 'See, Mr. Sinnett would 
 go into the colonel's bungalow to sleep, because, as I told 
 you, he expects a visit from the Mahatma. Do you think 
 it would be possible for Mr. Coulomb to go quietly in the 
 night, and through the window close to his berl pass a letter 
 and go away, or even show himself at a distance ? Mr. 
 Sinnett would never dare to move if I tell him not.' I 
 answered that T would ask my husband, but that I was 
 sure he would not do it, because Mr. Sinnett was not a 
 simpleton : he might go after the apparition and find out 
 what it was, and then what would become of her ? I told 
 my husband, and he refused point-blank, saying that he 
 would not do it. Whether anyone else did it, instead, or 
 not, this I could not say ; but what I can affirm is, that Mr. 
 Sinnett did not stay very long in the bungalow, and I 
 heard him say that it was no use staying there any longer. 
 A few days after this, madame asked to have Koot Hoomi 
 shown on colonel's bungalow. Baboula, madame's servant, 
 took the Christofolo, all wrapped up in a shawl, and with 
 Mr. Coulomb went all along the compound on the side of 
 the swimming-bath to the end of the jpasture, returning in 
 a straight line back to colonel's bungalow up to the terrace, 
 where it was lifted up and lowered down to give it a 
 vapoury appearance. I went up to madame to say that all 
 was ready, and found her at the window, in company with 
 Mr. and Mrs. Sinnett, looking through an opera-glass ; I 
 was very much annoyed that she should be so imprudent, 
 but this is her nature. Another day, she asked that the 
 Mahatma should be taken on the island in the middle of the 
 river opposite the main bungalow. It was found impossible 
 to oblige her this time, because the tide was high and the 
 moonlight as bright as day, so that the servant, who had to 
 carry the bundle, could not cross the river : consequently, 
 the apparition did not take place, to madame's great annoy- 
 ance, because she had already invited Mr. and Mrs. Sinnett 
 to go up and see. Some time after they had left for England, 
 Madame Blavatsky, with a view to remove any suspicion 
 that might have arisen in her visitors at seeing letters, 
 flowers, foliage, etc., appear always through the same 
 channel, namely, the shrine — ordered other sliding panels to 
 
lOO Madame B lav at sky. 
 
 be made in the same occult room. The window in the 
 passage was now turned into a cupboard, the glass door of 
 the almirah was taken away and placed as door to it, 
 as it can be still seen, I suppose, and is the very identical 
 one through which Colonel Olcott received the two Chinese 
 vases in the way explained later on. I must here say that 
 this cupboard has a double back. The one which is seen in 
 the passage immediately at the top of the stairs faciiig 
 Baboula's sleeping-place, which is simple shutters painted 
 grey. The inner back, or double one, inside the cupboard 
 in the occult room, is of teak-wood, not painted and not 
 varnished, but planed. In this are the sliding panels, which 
 admit not only a hand but even a person to go througli if 
 opened wide. It is very complicated, because, besides slid- 
 ing a little in the frame, it works on hinges, thus leaving a 
 larger aperture. 
 
 " Now, returning to the shrine where so much occult cor- 
 respondence was going on, I shall say that a little later on 
 Madame Blavatsky, fearing to be asked b}^ some one to have 
 the almirah removed to inspect the back of it, devised means 
 which she said would do away with all danger of being dis- 
 covered. So she asked my husband to give orders to the 
 carpenters to make a sham door of solid boards of teak- 
 wood, composed of four panels, one of which, when un- 
 fastened, could be slid off about ten inches, through which 
 the hand and arm could easily pass, and this was of course 
 in a straight line with the hole in the wall and the sliding 
 panel at the back of the shrine. This apparatus of the sham 
 door served very well for some time, and many astounding 
 phenomena were performed through it. 
 
 "About this epoch. General and Mrs. Morgan had given 
 madame an invitation to go to Ooty, as she was suffering 
 very much from the heat in Madras. Before leaving, slie 
 devised the plan that a phenomenon should take place in 
 her absence. This was that in presence of Mr. R. R. D. B. 
 a saucer should fall from the shrine and break, and that a 
 second one should appear through the occult channel already 
 described. She took also the precaution to say, * that if I 
 wrote to her on the subject, I was to be careful of what I 
 said.' She started for Ooty, and when there she sent the 
 following letter : — 
 
" The Shrine y 
 
 lOI 
 
 " ' \Wi July. 
 " ' Dear Marquis, 
 
 " 'Show or send him [Dam o- 
 dar] the paper, i.e., the slip 
 (the small one, not the large 
 one, for this latter must go 
 and lie near its author in the 
 mural temple), with order to 
 supply you with them. I 
 have received a letter which 
 has obliged our dear master 
 K. H. to write his orders also 
 to Mr. Damodarandtheothers. 
 Let the Marquise read them. 
 That will be enough I assure 
 you. Ah, if I could only have 
 my dear Christofolo here ! 
 
 '' ' Dear Marquis — I leave the 
 fate of 7)iy children in your 
 hands. Take care of them 
 and make them work mir- 
 acles. Perhaps it would be 
 better to make this one fall 
 on his head ? H. P. B. 
 
 " ' Gachetez I'enfant apres '''Seal the child after read- 
 
 Vavoir lu. ing it. 
 
 " ' Enregistrez vos lettres " ' Register your letters if 
 
 s'il s'y trouve quelquechose there is anything within — 
 
 — autrement non.' otherwise, never mind.' 
 
 " After the perusal of this letter my readers will, I am sure, 
 consider any comment on its contents quite useless, for by 
 this it is clearly seen how the occult letters, which were her 
 children, were wont to be transmitted, and how she missed 
 her dear Christofolo — alias K. H. 
 
 "I shall produce several letters, all of which are chiefly to 
 prove how the phenomena were performed, and the corre- 
 spondence transmitted. There is one which refers to the 
 projected phenomenon of the saucer. 
 
 "'ISJuillet 
 " ' Cher Marquis, 
 
 '"Montrez ou envoy ezlui le 
 papier ou le slip (le petit sac- 
 risti pas le gran d, car ce dernier 
 doit aller se coucher pres de 
 son auteur dans le temple 
 mural) avec I'ordre de vous les 
 fournir. J'ai re^u une lettre 
 qui a force notre maitre cheri 
 K. H. d'ecrire ses ordres aussi 
 k Mr. Damodar et autres. 
 Que la Marquise les lise. Cela 
 suffira je vous I'assure. Ah, 
 si je pouvais avoir ici mon 
 Christofolo cheri ! 
 
 " * Cher Marquis — Je vous 
 livre le destin de mes enfants. 
 Prenez en soin et faites leur 
 faire des miracles. Pent ^tre 
 il serait mieux de faire 
 tomber celui-ci sur la tete ? 
 " ' H. P. B. 
 
I02 
 
 Madame Blavatsky. 
 
 " ' Ma bien ch^re Amie, 
 
 "'Vous n'avez pas besoin 
 d'attendre I'liomme " Punch." 
 Pourvu que cela soit fait en 
 presence de personnes qui 
 sont respectables besides our 
 own familiar Wiuffs. Je vous 
 supplie de le faire a la pre- 
 miere occasion. 
 
 " ' Tell Damoclar please, the 
 "Holy" whistle breeches, and 
 St. Poultice that they do not 
 perfume enouo^h with incense 
 the inner shrine. It is very 
 damp, and it ought to be well 
 incensed. 
 
 " ' ii. P. Blavatsky.' 
 
 " ' My very dear Friend, 
 
 " ' You need not wait for the 
 man " Punch." Provided the 
 thing takes place in the pre- 
 sence of respectable persons 
 besides our own familiar 
 muffs. I beg you to do it 
 the first opportunity." 
 
 "This also speaks for itself, and it is a distinct proof that 
 the phenomena did not take place in an occult way, but by 
 the help of friends. 
 
 "The following is with reference to a slip of paper which 
 was to be placed in the saucer which was to appear as if 
 repaired by the Mahatma : — 
 
 " ' Cher Monsieur Coulomb, 
 "'C'estjecrois cela que vous 
 devez avoir. Tachez done si 
 vous croyez que cela va reus- 
 sir d'avoir plus d'audience 
 que nos imbeciles domesti- 
 ques seulement. Cela merite 
 la peine, car la soucoupe 
 d'Adyar pourrait devenir his- 
 torique, comme la tasse de 
 Simla. Soubaya ici et je 
 n'ai guere le temps decrire a 
 mon aise. A vous mes hon- 
 neurs et remerciments. 
 
 " ' (Signed) H. P. B.' 
 
 "'Dear Monsieur Coulomb, 
 "'This is what I think you 
 ought to have. Try if you 
 think that it is going to be a 
 success to have a larger audi- 
 ence than our domestic im- 
 beciles only. It is well worth 
 the trouble, for the Adyar 
 saucer might become histori- 
 cal, like the Simla cup. 
 Soubaya is present, and I 
 have hardly time to write at 
 my ease. My Salaams and 
 thanks to you. 
 
 "'H. P. B.' 
 
The Shrined 
 
 103 
 
 " In order to be exact, let me report the contents of the 
 slip of paper above-mentioned, which is worded as follows ; 
 
 " ' To the small audience present as witness. Now Madame 
 Coulomb has occasion to assure herself that the devil is 
 neither as black nor as wicked as he is generally represented. 
 The mischief is easily repaired. — K. H,' 
 
 "The phenomenon Madame Blavatsky so anxiously desired 
 to be performed, the beloved Master seems to have reserved 
 for the very earnest theosophist, General Morgan of Ooty ; 
 because really no one came to headquarters before this 
 gentleman's visit was announced by the following letter, so 
 it was done for his edification ; here is the letter : — 
 
 " ' Yendredi. 
 '"Mes ch^re Madame Cou- 
 lomb ET Maequis, 
 
 '* Voici le moment de nous 
 montrer ne nous cachons pas. 
 Le general part pour affaires 
 a Madras et y sera lundi et 
 y passera deux jours. II est 
 President de la Societe ici et 
 veut voir le shrine. C'est 
 probable qu'il fasse une ques- 
 tion quelconque et pent etre 
 se bornera-t-il a regarder. 
 Mais il est sur qu'il s'attend 
 a un phenomene car il me I'a 
 dit. Dans le premier cas sup- 
 pliez K. H. que vous voyez 
 tons les jours ou Cristofolo de 
 soutenir I'honneur de famille. 
 Dites lui done qu'une fleur 
 suffirait, et que si le 'pot de 
 chamhre cassait sous le poids 
 de la curiosity il serait bon de 
 le rem placer en ce moment 
 Damn les autres celui la vaut 
 son pesant d'or. Per I'amor 
 del Dio^-ou de qui vousvoud- 
 rez — ne manquez pas cette 
 
 " ' Friday. 
 " ' M YJDEAR Mad AM e Coulomb 
 AND Marquis. 
 "'This is the moment for us 
 to come out — do not let us 
 hide ourselves. The General 
 is leaving this for Madras on 
 business. He will be there on 
 Monday, and will remain 
 there two days. He is Presi- 
 dent of the Society here, and 
 wishes to see the shrine. It 
 is probable that he will put 
 some question, or perhaps he 
 may be contented with look- 
 ing. But it is certain that he 
 expects a phenomenon, for he 
 told me so. In the first case 
 beg K. H, whom you see 
 every day, or Christofolo, to 
 keep up the honour of the 
 family. Tell him that a 
 flower will be sufficient, and 
 that if the pot breaks under 
 its load of curiosity it would 
 be well to replace it at once. 
 The others he damned ; this 
 is worth its 
 
 weio-ht 
 
 in 
 
 gold. 
 
I04 
 
 Madame Blavatsky. 
 
 occasion, car elle ne se repe- 
 tera plus. Je ne suis pas la, 
 et c'est cela qui est beau. Je 
 me fie a vous, et je vous sup- 
 plie de ne pas me desap- 
 pointer, car tous mes projets 
 et mon avenir avec vous tous 
 — (car je vais avoir une 
 maison ici pour passer les six 
 mois de I'annee et elle sera a 
 moi a la societe et vous ne 
 souffrirez plus de la chaleur 
 comme vous le faites, si j'y 
 reussis). 
 
 " ' Voici le moment de f aire 
 quelque-chose. Tournez lui 
 ta tete au general et il fera 
 tout pour vous surtout si vous 
 etes avec lui au moment du 
 Christophe. Je vous envoie 
 tin en cas — e vi saluto. Le 
 colonel vient ici du 20 au 25. 
 Je reviendrai vers le milieu 
 de Septembre. 
 
 " ' A vous de coeur, 
 " ' Luna Melanconica. 
 
 " ' J'ai dine chez le Gouver- 
 neur et son P Aide-de-Camp. 
 Je dine ce soir cliez les Carmi- 
 chaels. Elle est folic pour 
 moi. Que le ciel m'aide ! ' 
 
 For the love of God — or of 
 anyone you please — do not 
 miss this opportunity, for we 
 shall never have another. I 
 am not there, and that is the 
 beauty of the thing. I rely 
 on you, and beg you not to 
 disappoint me, for all my pro- 
 jects and my future depend 
 on you — (for I am going to 
 have a house here, where I 
 can spend six months of the 
 yeai", and it shall be "ininc for 
 the society, and you shall no 
 longer suffer from the heat, 
 as you do now, but this if I 
 succeed). 
 
 '•' 'This is the proper time to 
 do something. Turn the Gen- 
 eral's head and he will do 
 anything for you, especially 
 if you are with him at the 
 same time as Christophe. I 
 send you a possible requisite 
 [Lit an " in case of " — a letter 
 from the Mahatma, in case 
 the General should want a 
 reply]. I wush you good-bye. 
 The Colonel will be here from 
 the 20th to the 25th. I shall 
 return about the middle of 
 September. 
 
 " ' Heartily yours, 
 " ' Luna Melanconica. 
 
 "'I have dined with the Go- 
 vernor and his principal Aide- 
 de-Camp. This evening I 
 shall dine with the Carmi- 
 chaels. She is viad after me. 
 May heaven help me I ' 
 
'* The Shrine'' 105 
 
 " Here I report the ' en cas ' mentioned at the end of this 
 lettei", which was meant to be put in the shrine in answer 
 to any letter the General might have placed in it : — 
 
 " ' I can say nothini^ noio — and will let you know at Ooty. 
 
 '' (Signed) K. H. 
 " ' General Morgan.' " 
 
 "As soon as the phenomenon took place, General Morgan 
 signed his name, as witness, on the slip of paper which was 
 found in the saucer which had been replaced through ^ the 
 hole ; then I followed the advice which madame had given 
 to me before leaving — that is, to be prudent as to what I 
 wrote concerning the matter. Here is what my letter con- 
 tained : — 
 
 " ' Adyar, 12>th August, 1883. 
 
 " ' My DEAii Friend, 
 
 " ' I verily believe I shall go silly if I stop with you. 
 Now let me tell you what has happened. On my arrival 
 home I found General Morgan sitting down in that beauti- 
 ful office of ours, talking with Damodar and Mr. Coulomb. 
 After exchanging a fev/ words I asked whether he would 
 wish to see the " Shrine," and, on his answering in the 
 affirmative, we went upstairs, pausing, on the outside, on 
 account of the furniture of your sitting-room being heaped 
 up to block the doors and prevent thieves breaking in. The 
 General found the portraits admirable, but I wished I had 
 never gone up, because, on my opening the " Shrine," I, 
 Madame Coulomb, who never care either to see or to have 
 anything to do in these matters, as you well know, must 
 needs go and open the " Shrine,'' and see before my eyes, and 
 through my fingers pass, the pretty saucer you so much 
 cared for. It fell down and broke in twenty pieces. Dam- 
 odar looked at me, as much as to say, " Well, you are a fine 
 guardian." I, trying to conceal my sorrow, on account of 
 General Morgan's presence, took the debris of the cup and 
 put them in a piece of cloth, which I tied up, and placed it 
 behind the silver bowl. On second consideration, I thought 
 I had better take it down again, and reduce it in powder 
 this time. So I asked Damodar to reach it for me, and, to 
 our unutterable surprise, the cup was as perfect as though 
 
io6 Madame Blavatsky. 
 
 it had never been broken, and more, there was the enclosed 
 note : — 
 
 " ' " To the small audience present as witnesses. Now 
 Madame Coulomb has occasion to assure herself that the 
 devil is neither as black nor as wicked as he is generally 
 represented. The mischief is easily repaired. — K. H." 
 
 ' 'J 
 
 Round this group of facts there has raged a fierce con- 
 troversy between the " Theosophists " and the " Society for 
 Psychical Research," who sent out to India a gentleman, 
 named Hodgson, who has since published a report accusing 
 Madame Blavatsky of cheating. 
 
 I will deal first of all with the facts that are conceded by 
 both disputants : — 
 
 1. Madame Blavatsky took a large house in Adyar, with 
 a flat roof, on which was an airy bedchamber, 
 
 2. Adjoining this she had an " occult room " constructed 
 on the roof. 
 
 3. A window connecting the two was bricked up. 
 
 4. A handsome shrine of cedar wood was bought and 
 placed against the bricked-up window. 
 
 5. Exactly on the other side of this bricked-up window 
 an armoire a glace was placed. 
 
 Now, here we have at least five-sixths of the apparatus 
 of fraud confessed. What was denied is that the back of 
 the shrine was pierced until Madame Blavatsky went to 
 England. 
 
 But how injudicious seem the proceedings of the Russian 
 lady if she is innocent. 
 
 The society was hard up. Why did she go to the expense 
 of an " occult room ? " If such a room was wanted surely 
 the isolated bedroom on the top of the house would have 
 done admirably, and Madame Blavatsky would have been 
 far more comfortable in a sleeping apartment below. 
 Bricked-up windows and constantly closed curtains are con- 
 sidered oppressive by most Europeans in an Indian climate. 
 Some may ask, too, why the " shrine " and the wardrobe 
 were so accurately dos d dos ? 
 
 Mr. Hodgson's report is given in the " Proceedings of the 
 Society for Psychical Research," vol. iii., pp. 219 et seq. He 
 arrived in Madras, December 18th, 1884. He applied to see 
 
The Shrined 107 
 
 the shrine, and Damoclar refused to let him see it. Two 
 days later Madame Blavatsky arrived at Adyar, and she 
 professed a complete ignorance of the matter, saying " she 
 had been unable to discover what had been done with the 
 shrine." Mr. Damodar and Dr. Hartmann both denied 
 having any knowledge of it, and " it was only after repeated 
 and urgent requests to to be told what had happened that I 
 learned from the halting account given by Mr. Damodar and 
 Dr. Hartmann that the shrine had been moved from the 
 ' occult room ' into Mr. Damodar 's room about mid-day of 
 September 20th, that on the following morning at nine 
 o'clock they found the shrine had been taken away, and 
 they had not seen it since. They threw out suggestions 
 that the Coulombs or the missionaries might have stolen 
 it." 
 
 Mr. Hodgson practically confirms all that Madame 
 Coulomb has said about the occult room. A recess capable 
 of admitting a boy as small as Baboula allowed the latter to 
 pass letters and objects from Madame Blavatsky 's close- 
 curtained bedroom into the shrine. Mr. Hodgson examined 
 the books of the general dealer who sold Madame Coulomb 
 the two saucers, and found them duly registered. 
 
 " The theosophists contended that the structures for 
 trickery revealed by the Coulombs, who had had exclusive 
 charge of Madame Blavatsky's rooms during her absence, 
 had been made after she had left ; that they never had 
 been and could not be used in the production of pheno- 
 mena, that the hollow space and the aperture leading to it 
 were too small to be utilised in any connection with the 
 shrine ; and, moreover, that Mr. Coulomb's work was inter- 
 rupted before he had time to make a hole through the 
 wall." But Mr. Hodgson points out one damaging fact, 
 and that is that with the exception of Madame Blavatsky 
 and the Coulombs and the boy Baboula and Colonel Olcott 
 (whose statement on this point Mr. Hodgson gives "reasons 
 for distrusting"), none of the witnesses who testified to the 
 unpierced wall " ever removed the shrine from the wall or 
 saw it removed alter it was placed there ; further, that no 
 such examination was ever made on the east side of the 
 party wall as would have sufficed to discover the sliding 
 panels and apertures.'' Mr. Hodgson found out at last that 
 
io8 Madame Blavatsky, 
 
 the shrine was destroyed because Mr. Judge was too curious 
 about it. Dr. Hartinann admitted to Mr. Hodgson that he 
 had discovered that the back of the shrine could be re- 
 moved, and that he kept back the " discovery " for fear of 
 injuring Madame Blavatsky. "Everywhere," says Mr. 
 Hodgson, " was malobservation, equivocation, absolute dis- 
 honesty." 
 
 A word here. Mrs. Besant in her Autobiography 
 alludes to these Indian exposures. She contrasts the 
 " frank and free nature " of Madame Blavatsky with the 
 " foul and loathsome deceiver " her accuser. "Everything," 
 she says, " turns upon the veracity of the Coulombs." 
 
 But does this state the complete case? Madame Coulomb 
 has produced several dozen letters in support of her charges. 
 This is the real evidence. They are pronounced to be in 
 Madame Blavatsky's handwriting, by the experts Sims and 
 Netherclift, and no attempt has been made on the part of 
 the theosophists to prove them forgeries. It is difficult to 
 produce one letter which will stand the test of a scientific 
 examination. To produce say two dozen forged letters 
 would be quite impossible. 
 
 Another point strikes one. The meaning of a forged 
 document is generally quite on the surface, " Pay to the 
 bearer thirty-seven pounds." This tells its story. But in 
 the Blavatsky letters, all is hint — innuendo — nickname. 
 Mons. Coulomb is " The Marquis," Madame Blavatsky is 
 " Luna Melanconica." Madame Coulomb " The Marquise," 
 Colonel Olcott " Pres," and the members of the Theosophi- 
 cal Society " our own familiar muffs." Scarcely any letter 
 tells its story without an interpreter. 
 
 This is generally considered the most compromising docu- 
 ment of all : — 
 
 " Oh, mon pauvre Christofolo ! II est done mort, et vous 
 I'avez tue ? Oh, ma chere amie, si vous saviez comme je 
 voudrais le voir revi vre 1 
 
 " Ma benediction a mon pauvre Christofolo. Toujours 
 a vous, H. P. B." 
 
 " Christofolo " was the nickname behind the scenes for 
 the doll that represented Koot Hoomi. Mr. Coulomb first 
 
'' The Shrined 109 
 
 worked this dummy for the edification of Mr. Sinnett. 
 Hence perhaps " Coulomb," by a play of fancy, would be 
 changed to " Christophe Coloinb," and eventually into 
 " Cristofolo/' in Madame Blavatsky's polyglot tongue. The 
 meaning of the letter is that Madame Coulomb in a fit of 
 anger had destroyed the dummy Mahatma. 
 
 But singularly enough a very important argument has 
 been overlooked by both disputants. The theory of the 
 theosophists is that there is a real Koot Hoomi and that 
 his miracles were genuine. But if so, Madame Coulomb 
 must have thoroughly believed in his powers. Would she 
 have dared to brave the might of this astounding personage, 
 especially as without miracle he might have come forward 
 as a witness and had her locked up in an Indian jail as a 
 perjurer. 
 
 One letter, it seems to me, could not possibly be a forgery, 
 but a few words of explanation are necessary : — 
 
 Early in 1884 Madame Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott, 
 with Baboula and another native named Mohini, sailed for 
 England. This last gentleman was being brought home to 
 testify, as an eye-witness, to the existence of the Mahatmas. 
 He has since left the society and announced that the 
 Mahatmas are a myth. 
 
 It was a hazardous step on the part of the Russian lady 
 this English trip, but she left orders in writing that her 
 bedroom and the shrine were to be left in the sole charge of 
 the Coulombs ; and an effort was made to close up the 
 passage between the arinoire a glace and the shrine in part. 
 A " Board of Control " was pompously constituted. It con- 
 sisted of an English traveller, and some natives. It was 
 evidently intended to be a dummy board. But the Russian 
 lady here was a little too clever. Natives of the lower class 
 when invested with a little authority like to use it. Money 
 was short, owing to the sum taken by the travellers in the 
 steamer ; and, perhaps, some of these natives had a grudge 
 against their old housekeeper. Soon they cavilled at her 
 small expenses, sold her pet dogs, and by-and-by made her 
 and her husband eat off plantain leaves like native servants. 
 Imagine a lady, vexed with prickly heat, mosquitoes, and 
 other Eastern irritations, and then treated thus. No wonder 
 that a great question of revenge soon surged up. 
 
no Madame Blavatsky. 
 
 But a greater trial was in store. Madame Coulomb seems 
 to have nourished a special animosity against the masked 
 dummy, Koot Hoomi, which she made herself. Colonel 
 Olcott was always prosing about this Mahatma, and his 
 prosing used to drive her quite wild. But Madame Blavat- 
 sky had rather foolishly left the " astral post oiSce," as it 
 was called, in charge of one of the Board of Control. In 
 consequence, at every crisis letters were produced from the 
 " Mahatma on duty," and it was natural that these letters 
 sliould decide each small turn of the squabble against the 
 Coulombs. The worthy lady who knew accurately who 
 had written them, now began to use threats of strange dis- 
 closures. Madame Blavatsky, in Europe, was in consterna- 
 tion. Either the following letter is by her, or Madame 
 Coulomb is the greatest master of refined mockery that has 
 appeared since Voltaire. 
 
 " Paris, \si Ajml, 1884, 
 " 46 Rue Notre Dame des Champs. 
 
 " My dear Monsieur and Madame Coulomb, 
 
 " I address this letter to you both, because I think it 
 well that you should lay your heads together and think 
 seriously about it. I have not been able to write to you 
 before — I have been too ill for that. I will first transcribe 
 certain passages from several letters which I have just 
 received from the Adyar. These extracts will be lengthy. 
 I will not dwell upon what is there said respecting Madame 
 Coulomb and Mr. Brown, ' who (Madame Coulomb), in his 
 
 case, as she did in that of , tries her best to undermine 
 
 the power of the Society by talking to him as she does against 
 it! All that may or may not be serious. Neither is what 
 Mr. Lane-Fox says in his letter ; but see what is added ! 
 ' She opposes everything that is intended for the benefit of 
 the Society. But these are perhaps trifling things which 
 might be counteracted. More serious is the fact that she 
 says she lent you money in Egypt.' (That 1 have never 
 hidden, I have told it to everybody ; and at the time of the 
 Wimbridge-Bates tragedy, I announced publicly that I was 
 under obligation to you, since, when no one would aid me — 
 me, a stranger in Cairo — you alone and M. Coulomb helped 
 
The Shrined iii 
 
 me, gave me hospitality, loans of money, etc. ; I have 
 always said "inore even than you really did. Well, I con- 
 tinue my copying) — ' she says the money was never repaid ; 
 that if. Coulomib has been constructing secret traj^doors 
 Jot the producing of occult phenomena, that she could tell 
 — the Lord knows what — if she wanted to ; and, lastly, her 
 foolish assertion that the Theosophical Society was founded 
 
 to overthrow British rule in India Madame Coulomb, 
 
 ever since I knew her, expressed it to be her highest wish 
 to get sufficient money to go to some other place, and for 
 this object she begged 2,000 Rupees from Hurrusingjee. 
 She has told me many times that if she had only 2,000 
 Rupees she would go like a shot. Mr. Lane-Fox has offered 
 to give her the 2,000 Rupees, or provide for her in any way 
 she wishes ; but now she suddenly changes her attitude, and 
 insists on staying ; saying that she has a paper from Colonel 
 Olcott, in which he offers her a home for life in Adyar, and 
 that she has positive orders from you (orders ! ! ?) not only 
 to remain here during your absence, but also to help herself 
 from the funds of the Society whenever she should want 
 any money to buy dresses, etc' Is it, then, because I have 
 really said and repeated to you, before Olcott and others, 
 that you both, being Theosophists and friends, had a right 
 to spend the money of the Society for your dress and 
 necessary expenses, that you are saying to them that M. 
 Coulomb has constructed secret trap-doors, etc. ! ! Oh, 
 Madame Coulomb ! what, then, have I done to you, that you 
 should try to ruin me in this way ? Is it because for four 
 years we lived together, helping each other to meet the 
 troubles of life, and because I have left ever}^ thing in the 
 house in your hands, saying to you continually, ' Take what 
 money you need,' that you seek to ruin me for life in the 
 minds of those who, when they turn their back on me, will 
 turn their back on you hrst, and although you will gain 
 nothing but the loss of friends, who would otherwise always 
 have aided you ? How can I believe that Madame Coulomb 
 will so dishonour her husband and herself ? Those who 
 write to me and the Colonel also say as follows : — ' Her 
 object in doing so looks as though she wanted to get money 
 from Mr. Fox and remain here, and ' — but I am unwilling 
 to transcribe more. I am keeping the letters, and if ever we 
 
112 Madame Blavatsky. 
 
 Tiled again you shall see them. They add : — ' Furthermore, 
 we have sufficient evidence, through herself, that she is made 
 use of by black magicians, not only to interfere with the 
 welfare of the Societ}^, but especially to exert a poisonous 
 and detrimental influence on Damodar. As to her being an 
 enemy of the Society, she does not even attempt to deny it.' 
 Further on it is said that Ivl. Coulomb says the same things 
 as his luife. I do not believe it. You are too honest a 
 a man, too proud, to do such a thing. You are ready to kill 
 a man when you are in a rage. You ivill never lay an ac- 
 cusation against him ! You would not accuse him in secret 
 before his friends. And if Madame Coulomb, who would not 
 do an injury to a fly — who has so much love for the very 
 beasts — has done so, it is because she is sick, and does not 
 know what she says, and does not think of the frightful 
 harm she is doing to those who have never done anything 
 to her, and the harm that she does to herself and to all. 
 Why does she hate me ? What have I done to her ? I 
 know that I am bad-tempered, violent, that without intend- 
 ing it I have perhaps ottended her more than once. But 
 what evil have I ever done to her ? Since our arrival at 
 Adyar I have truly and sincerely loved her, and since my 
 departure I have thought only of buying her something at 
 Paris which she needed, and of how I could put you in the 
 possession of 2,000 or 3,000 Rs. in order that she might go 
 and reside for the summer at Ootacamund, or settle else- 
 whei-e and keep a boarding-house, or indeed do anything 
 for herself and you. I have never been ungrateful, never a 
 traitor, my dear M. Coulomb. And you, Madame Coulomb, 
 do not say that you have never said this, as in the case of 
 Hurrusingjee, for see again what that poor boy, Damodar, 
 says, who has written a despairing letter. I copy again : — 
 
 ' I am between the horns of a dilemma, Master tells me 
 
 that Madame Coulomb must be treated with consideration 
 and respect, and on the other hand she tells me, and has 
 been saying to everyone, that you are a fraud — performing 
 phenomena by means of secret spring trap-doors, probably 
 constructed by M. Coulomb. This she did not assert to me, 
 
 but only insinuated,' etc. And further on : — ' I 
 
 entirely agree with the facts introduced in 's letters 
 
 to you. Madame C. has been, according to her confession, 
 
The Shrined 113 
 
 exercising an influence prejudicial to the interests of the 
 Society.' 
 
 " Well now, what do you say to all that ? What end do 
 you expect to gain, Madame Coulomb, by allowing people 
 to believe of you that luhicli you are incapable of doing, i.e., 
 of (employing) black magic against a Society which pro- 
 tects you, which works for you, if you have worked for it 
 (and God knows the obligations which we owe entirely to 
 you, M. Coulomb, for all that you have done for us since we 
 came to Adyar). That you have worked for us I say aloud, 
 and that, working, you have aright to our gratitude, and to 
 your clothing and food, and to live at the cost of the Society 
 as far as its funds allow — I say it again. But what purpose 
 have you in going and vilifying me secretly to those who 
 love me, and who believe in me ? What (cause of) venge- 
 ance have you against me ? What have I done to you, I ask 
 again ? What you do will never ruin the Society, only me 
 alone, at the most, in the estimation of my friends. The pub- 
 lic has always looked upon me as a fraud and, an impostor. 
 By talking and acting as you do you will only gain one end, 
 that is, people will say that you are also 'a fraud'; and worse 
 than that, that you have done for your otvn interests what T 
 have not done for myself, since I give all that I have to the 
 Society, for I spend my life for it. They will say that you 
 and M. Coulomb have helped me, not for the sake of 
 friendship (for you prove by your accusations and denuncia- 
 tions that for some reason unknown to me you hate me), 
 but in the hope of ' hlachmailing,' as one of the letters to 
 Olcott puts it. But that is dreadful I You are truly sick ; 
 you must be so to do as foolishly as you are doing ! Un- 
 derstand, then, that you cannot at this hour of day injure 
 anyone. That it is too late. That similar phenomena, and 
 more marvellous still (letters from the Mahatma Koot 
 Hoomi and from our Master), have happened when I was a 
 thousand leagues away. That Mr. Hume at Simla, Col. 
 Strange in Kashmir, Sinnett in London, Queensbury in 
 New York, and Gilbert in Australia, have received the 
 same day and the same hour a circular letter in the writing 
 of the Mahatma when all ivere alone in their rooms. Where 
 then were the trap-doors constructed by M. Coulomb ? 
 Find one out really, and it will reflect at most on you, the 
 
114 Madame Blavatsky. 
 
 principal actors, and on poor me. People who have seen 
 the Mahatma before them in Australia and London as at 
 the Adyar, who have received from him letters in Ids 
 handivriting in reply to their letters written two hours 
 before, ivill not believe you, nor could they believe you; and 
 remember that if I was twenty thousand times exposed, 
 detected, and convicted of imposture, like the mediums, all 
 that would indeed be nothing to the cause, to truth. So 
 then if by accusing myself publicly, and proclaiming myself 
 a fraud in all the papers, I can thus do good to the Society 
 and make the veneration for the Mahatmas still greater — I 
 shall do it without a moment's hesitation. I will spend 
 myself for that cause which 3^ou hate so much. And who 
 then has been the fraud when (I being a thousand leagues 
 away) Hurrusingjee has a reply to his letter which he had 
 put into the shrine, and Srinavas Rao also, as they have 
 written to me from the Adyar? Is it you who have 
 written in the handwriting of the Mahatma, and you also 
 who have taken advantage of a tixqo-door 'i All the evil 
 proved will be that you have never wished to believe that 
 there were true ' Mahatmas ' behind the curtain. That you 
 do not believe the phenomena real, and that is wh}^ you see 
 tricks in everything. Ah, well! (I commit myself) to the 
 gra.ce of God. Accuse me, denounce me, ruin H. P. 
 Blavatsky, who has never hated or betrayed you, who 
 almost ruined the Society at its first appearance in Bombay, 
 in order to sustain and protect you in opposition to all — 
 even the Colonel ; and that when she was [not] able to do 
 it without danger to herself. Do it, my good friend. But 
 remember, you who speak so much of God and of Christ, 
 that if there be a God, He will assuredly not reward you 
 for the evil which you try to do to those who have never 
 done anything to you. You may say what you please, but 
 a living person is always more than a dog or a beast in 
 the economy of nature. Mr. Lane-Fox and the Board of 
 Trustees appear to have made changes in the house — send- 
 ing away the coolies and the dogs, too ! And it seems to 
 me that Madame Coulomb attributes all that to me ! Ah 
 well! you are altogether wrong. All that, the Board of 
 Trustees arranged the last day at Bombay, when, having 
 received the news of the death of my uncle, I took no part. 
 
'^ The Shrine r 115 
 
 I did not even know what they had done. It was the 
 Colonel, Dr. Hartmann, and Mr. Lane-Fox who arranged 
 and carried out everything. It is only to-day that I have 
 made the Colonel explain the thing to me. I have even 
 asked that they should nominate M. Coulomb as one of the 
 trustees, so much do I need him to build a room. The 
 Colonel has not answered me either yes or no. And to-day 
 he reproached me again with having, along with M. 
 Coulomb, spent all the money for my rooms, etc. Do yo\x 
 know what he said respecting the letters from which I have 
 copied extracts ? If Madame Coulomb — who has ' un- 
 deniably helped you in some phenomena, for she told this 
 to me herself — were to proclaim it on the top of the roof, it 
 would change nothing in "my knoiuledge and that of Dr. 
 Hartmann, Brown, Sinnett, Hume, and so many others in 
 the appreciation of Theosophy and their veneration for the 
 Brothers. You alone would suffer. For if even you your- 
 self were to tell me that the Mahatmas do not exist, and 
 that you have tricked in every i^henonienon produced by 
 you, I would answei' you that you lie ; for lue Jcnoiu the 
 Mahatmas, and know that you could not — no more than 
 fly on the moon — have produced certain of the best of your 
 phenomena.' See there ! Conclude from this what the 
 truth is, and what he thinks. 
 
 " If I have not done more for you than I have, it is be- 
 cause I had not the means. Absorbed altogether in the 
 cause as I was, and still am, I think of nobody. May / 
 perish, but may the cause flourish ! If you compromise me 
 before Lane- Fox, Hartmann, and the others — all well ! I 
 shall never return to the Adyar, but will remain here or 
 in London, where I will prove by phenomena more mar- 
 vellous still that they are true, and that our Mahatmas 
 exist, for there is one here at Paris, and there will he also 
 in London. And when I shall have proved this, where 
 will the trap-doors be then? Who will make them? Why 
 do you wish to make the Colonel hate you, and set him 
 against you, as you have put all at Adyar against you ? 
 Why not quietly remain friends and wait for better days, 
 helping us to put the Society on a Arm basis, having large 
 funds, of which all theosophists who have need of protec- 
 tion and help in money would reap the benefit ? Why not 
 
ii6 Madaiiie Blavatsky. 
 
 accept the 2,000 Rs. which Mr. Lane-Fox offered you, and 
 spend the hot months at Ooty, and the cool months with 
 us, as in the past ? It appears that Damodar has not a cash 
 left. He asks money from us — from us ! And we who spend, 
 spend, and shall soon have no more, for it is no longer com- 
 ing in ; and you — you wish to alienate from the cause the 
 only man who is able to help it, the only one who is rich. 
 Instead of becoming friends with him you are setting him 
 horribly against you. Ah, my dear friend, how miserable 
 and foolish is all this ! Come, I have no ill-will against 
 you. I am so much accustomed to terror and suttering 
 that nothing astonishes me. But what truly astonishes 
 me is to see you, who are such an intelligent woman, doing 
 evil for its own sake, and running the risk of being 
 swallowed up in the pit which 5^ou have digged — yourself 
 the first (victim) ! Pshaw ! Believe, both of j^ou, that it 
 is a friend who speaks. I love M. Coulomb well, and until 
 he himself says to me that I am mistaken respecting him, 
 that he has left you to speak and talk of trap-doors without 
 contradicting you, I will never believe such tales respecting 
 him. He is incapable of it. Undo then the evil which 
 you have unwittingly done. I am sure of this — (you are) 
 carried away by your nerves, your sickness, your sufferings, 
 and the anger which you have roused in the Board of 
 Trustees, who annoy me more than they annoy you. But 
 if you choose to go on disgracing me for no good to your- 
 self — do it ; and may your Christ and God repay you ! 
 
 " After all, I sign myself, with anguish of heart which 
 you can never comprehend — for ever your friend, 
 
 '' H. P. Blavatsky." 
 
 Now it seems to me that Thackeray or Daudet could not 
 have imagined this splendid, wheedling, menacing, puzzle- 
 headed, pathetic, contradictory letter. " I am innocent," it 
 sajs. "I am guilty. You can ruin me ! I laugh at you ! 
 There are trap-doors ! There are no trap-doors ! " And 
 then in the middle of this grotesque inconsequence suddenly 
 shines out the seeress ! Who else, in 1884, would have 
 dared prophesy that four years after the Coulomb dis- 
 closures the Theosophical Society would be more flourish- 
 ing than ever ! 
 
'' The Shrine!'' 117 
 
 Some of this letter Madame Coulomb could not have 
 written. The most reckless forger would scarcely sit down 
 and write, out of her own head, long imaginary extracts 
 from the letters of known people like Mr. Lane-Fox, who 
 could at once come forward and convict her. And the 
 letter defends Madame Biavatsky instead of incriminating 
 her, which is rather against the theosophical theory. 
 
 I will conclude this chapter with an extract from a 
 strange letter which has been published by Professor 
 Coues of America. He announces that he possesses the 
 original : — 
 
 " My Dear 
 
 " What I mean was to keep the details of 
 phenomena, and everything coming from and connected 
 with the Master, very secret, yet to make no secret of the 
 phenomena as before going on (else the public would say 
 that since the exj)ose by the Psychic R. S. we were tamed, 
 and that the humbug has ceased, which would be fatal to 
 us). 
 
 " We are surrounded by pitfalls, whirlpools, and traitors. 
 We have to fight tbem fearlessly and openly with the 
 weapons of philosophy, not those of phenomena, as we 
 would soon get worsted again. Let it be known that 
 phenomena (sic) goes on as before, but do not let anyone 
 know what it is, and the great secrecy will be the best 
 punishment for the howling, doubting, and profane public. 
 If Olcott had not courted exposure and scandal by his 
 stupid invitation of the S. P. R. to come and see, there 
 would be nothing of all that happened, but now we are in, 
 and have to do the best we can. 
 
 " H. P. Blavatsky." 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 ANNA KINGSFORD. 
 
 I THINK we have now established that the Mahatmas of the 
 Tibetan mountains are as unsubstantial as the mist-spectres 
 of the Brocken. My task seems done ; in reality it now 
 begins. For we have to account not for the failure of 
 Madame Blavatsky, but for her conspicuous success. How 
 is it that a fibbing, cheating, variety performer, with her 
 dressed-up dolls and gummed envelopes, obtained subjec- 
 tion over minds like those of Mr. Maitland, Mr. Hume, Dr. 
 Wyld, Mr. Sinnett, Mr. Myers ? How could third-rate con- 
 juring tricks vanquish Dr. Anna Kingsford and Mrs. 
 Besant ? 
 
 Progress, it has been well observed, proceeds more by 
 reaction than by action. The eighteenth century, vrithoiit 
 much evidence, believed in a spirit world. In the nir.e- 
 teenth century, the full swing of the pendulum has carried 
 us far away from this idea. Our God is Darwin and 
 evolution. But suddenly, on the top of this full-flavoured 
 materialism, came the tapping tables ; and folks of the 
 highest fashion wildly consulted dead grandmammas and 
 dead sporting uncles about their matrimonial or their Derby 
 projects. But of these investigators, all were not equally 
 frivolous. To souie minds the new spiritualism presented 
 the gravest problems, some scientific, some religious. 
 
 This gives us the two groups that Madame Blavatsky 
 was able to influence — the mystics and the scientists. It 
 must be remembered that at first very exaggerated accounts 
 were in circulation regarding the Blavatsky miracles. 
 Some of these stories were very astounding indeed, and when 
 folks learnt that the chaos of the seance rooms had been 
 reduced to order, and that a mighty adept was in existence 
 who could control the turbulent spirits, they were natur- 
 ally inclined to learn something of her methods. Dr. Wyld, 
 
 ii8 
 
Anna Kingsford. 119 
 
 the first President of the London Lodge, has assured me 
 that all the theosophists that joined the society in his 
 time, did so in the hope of mastering the secrets of magic. 
 Each wished to be an Apollonius of Tyana. Then her 
 theory that the phenomena were not due to spirits at all 
 found much favour with the Society for Psychical Ke- 
 search, as they were trying to establish the same conclusion. 
 But a vulgar love of marvel, although it be dignified with 
 the name of science, will never spread Europe, Asia, Africa, 
 and America with " lodges " and " branch associations." 
 The Magus is of two patterns. There is the Cagliastro 
 Magus, and the Saint Martin. By and by Dr. Anna Kings- 
 ford joined the society, and was elected president of the 
 London lodge. A sketch of this lady and her work may 
 let us into some of the secrets of Madame Blavatsky's in- 
 fluence. 
 
 Anna Bonus was born in 1846. In youth she had the 
 misfortune, or fortune, to have unsympathetic surroundings. 
 This caused all soul growth to sprout inwardly rather than 
 in the conventional channels. Also like St. Theresa from 
 an early age she was of those who see visions and dream 
 dreams. She married a gentleman named Kingsford, wlio 
 subsequently took orders. She grew dissatisfied with 
 Anglicanism, and sought a refuge in the Roman Catholic 
 Church. But she soon found that the career of a new 
 Madame Guyon was impossible in that petrified establish- 
 ment. Then, lo and behold, one day a mighty " gospel " 
 was revealed to her. Among her heavenly visitants ap- 
 peared an old gentleman in the costume of the last century. 
 Consulting old prints, she came upon the same face. It was 
 Swedenborg. Certainly, in one sense at least, it was the 
 spirit of Swedenborg, for it promptly announced that the 
 literal interpretation of the Bible was irrational. The 
 Christ was without doubt born of the "Virgin" and the 
 " Father," but the " Christ " was not the man Jesus, but 
 the new Adam that can be born in each of us according to 
 the express statement of St. Paul : — 
 
 " My little children of whom I travail in birth again 
 until Christ be formed in you." {Qal. iv. 19.) 
 
 Also the Virgin Mary was not the literal mundane 
 mother. 
 
I20 Madame B lav at sky. 
 
 Her gospel was thus summed up by Mr. Maifcland : — 
 
 "There is no enlightenment from without. The secret 
 of things is revealed from within. 
 
 " From without cometli no divine revelation, but the spirit 
 within beareth witness." 
 
 Mr. Maitland is the author of " The Pilgrim and the 
 Shrine." This work attracted the attention of Mrs. Kings- 
 ford, and she wrote to the author. In consequence a warm 
 friendship sprang up, and they wrote an elaborate treatise 
 in collaboration, the " Perfect Way." Each had trials in 
 life, transcending as each believed the trials of others. Mr. 
 Maitland considers that this ministry of pain is the secret 
 of spirit growth. 
 
 "By the bruising of the outer the inner is set free." 
 
 " Man is alive only so far as he has felt." 
 
 For a lucid account of Anna Kingsford, and her visions 
 and projects, see Mr. Maitland's " Story of the New Gospel 
 of Interpretation." That little volume gives a portrait of 
 a very remarkable woman indeed. She had as many visions 
 as St. Theresa, and a force of character transcending that 
 of the Spanish saint. I have heard Mrs. Besant on the 
 platform, and I have heard Anna Kingsford as chairman of 
 a meeting of the Hermetic Society. She was analytical, 
 subtle, ready, if she lacked (or avoided) the eloquent but 
 somewhat artificial outbursts of Mrs. Besant. It is to be 
 remarked, too, that when Mrs. Kingsford died, a writer in 
 the Illustrated London News announced that at the age of 
 twenty-two she was the most beautiful woman he had ever 
 seen. 
 
 One day she read a.n account of a cruel vivisection. She 
 was fired with indignation. It was suggested to her that 
 medical science alone could judge how far such operations 
 were necessary. To neutralise such a plea for the future, 
 she determined to take a medical degree herself. 
 
 Many obstacles were in the way, including her feeble 
 health. But a French writer has justly remarked — "Ob- 
 stacles are the touchstone of capacity." In 1873 she passed 
 her matriculation examination at the Apothecaries' Hall, 
 and this " with a success so great as to fill her with high 
 hopes of a triumphant passage through the course of her 
 student life." But immediately after this the English 
 
Anna Kingsford. 121 
 
 medical authorities closed tlieir schools to women alto- 
 gether. 
 
 Paris was open to her. Should she go and study there ? 
 Did she dare to brave a viva voce examination in French 
 before the sniggering youns^ Gandins of the French classes. 
 Nothing daunted Anna Kingsford. She went to Paris. 
 She worked hard, so hard that she permanently wrecked her 
 health. But she came out triumphantly through the ordeal. 
 
 This allows us to understand the influence brought to 
 bear by Madame Blavatsky on minds like Anna Kingsford. 
 This lady was a mystic. From the date of Buddha, or 
 indeed the Rishi Angiras, to the date of Saint Martin and 
 the Illuminati of the nascent French Revolution, certain 
 select minds have held that by sublimating the soul alone, 
 can worthy dreams of God be vouchsafed. This list includes 
 St. Paul, Origen, St. Clement of Alexandria, the Catholic 
 mystics, the mediaeval Kabalists, the Sufis, the Spinozas, 
 the Agrippas, the Boehmes. Anna Kingsford had studied 
 these, and had observed the close similarity of the Oriental 
 and the best Western mysticism, and learning that a 
 foreign lady was in contact with a lofty school of Buddhist 
 mystics, and that they wished to found a Universal 
 Brotherhood, she was naturally anxious to learn more. It 
 is to be confessed that in reality this gifted lady was more 
 a Buddhist than a Christian. She based all progress upon 
 the metempsychosis. She considered the use of wine and 
 flesh meat, morally as well as physically, deleterious. She 
 believed with the Buddhists that all Bibles are simply 
 parables, the folk-lore of the people, to be explained away, 
 mystically. x\ll these were points of contact between her 
 and the imaginary Mahatmas of Tibet. And she had one 
 more strong sympathy. Like Madame Blavatsky she 
 hated spiritualism ; not, however, for the same motive. 
 Madame Blavatsky detested it because it pronounced her 
 miracles untrustworthy ; Anna Kingsford contemned it 
 because she thought it made a mere plaything of man's 
 supernal treasure. 
 
 It must be pointed out that Madame Blavatsky had an 
 eminent cleverness. She could exhibit a few sequins, and 
 gain credit for untold treasures. With a " Hush ! " and 
 the whisper of a mystic word such as " Fourth Principle ! " 
 
122 Madame B lav at sky. 
 
 or " Para Brahma ! " she could make you believe that she 
 had all the secrets of Cornelius Agrippa. We now come to 
 her Mahatma letters, to see what light they shed in the con- 
 version of mj^stics like Anna Kings ford. 
 
 Without doubt these show much ability. She contrived 
 to change in them her literary style and handwriting, and 
 if Colonel Olcott's fibbing Russian lady is not altogether 
 absent, the Mahatma-half at times seems really there. 
 
 Can a person have invention and no originality ? The 
 extravagant idea of an " astral post office '' seems to have 
 come from Mr. Sinnett. Madame Blavatsky was fond of 
 borrowing ideas. 
 
 '* One day, therefore, I asked Madame Blavatsky whetlier 
 if I wrote a letter to one of the Brothers explaining my 
 views, she could get it delivered for me. I hardly thought 
 this was probable, as I knew how very unapproachable the 
 Brothers generally are ; but as she said that at any rate 
 she would try, I wrote a letter, addressing it ' to the Un- 
 known Brother,' and gave it her to see if any result would 
 ensue. It was a happy inspiration that induced me to do 
 this, for out of that small beginning has arisen the most 
 interesting correspondence in which I have ever been privi- 
 leged to engage — a correspondence which, I am happy to 
 say, still promises to continue, and the existence of which, 
 more than any experiences of phenomena which I have had, 
 though the most wonderful of these are yet to be described, 
 is the raison d'etre of this little book. 
 
 " The idea I had specially in my mind when I wrote the 
 letter above referred to, was that of all test phenomena one 
 could wish for, the best would be the production in our 
 presence in India of a copy of the London Times of that 
 day's date. With such a piece of evidence in my hand, I 
 argued, I would undertake to convert everybody in Simla 
 who was capable of linking two ideas together, to a belief 
 in the possibility of obtaining by occult agency physical 
 results which were beyond the control of ordinary science. 
 I am sorry that I have not kept copies of the letter itself 
 nor of my own subsequent letters, as they would have 
 helped to elucidate the replies in a convenient way ; but I 
 did not at the time foresee the developments to which they 
 would give rise, and, after all, the interest of the correspon- 
 
Anna Kingsford. 123 
 
 dence turns almost entirely on the letters I received : only 
 in a very small degree on those I sent. 
 
 "A day or two elapsed before I heard anything of the 
 fate of my letter, but Madame Blavatsky then informed me 
 that I was to have an answer. I afterwards learned that 
 she had not been able at first to find a Brother willing to 
 receive the communication. Those whom she first applied 
 to declined to be troubled with the matter. At last her 
 psychological telegraph brought her a favourable answer 
 from one of the Brothers with whom she had not for some 
 time been in communication. He would take the letter and 
 reply to it. 
 
 "Hearing this, I at once regretted that I had not written 
 at greater length, arguing my view of the required conces- 
 sion more fully. I wrote again, therefore, without waiting 
 for the actual receipt of the expected letter. 
 
 "A day or two after I found one evening on my writing- 
 table the first letter sent me hj my new coi respondent. I 
 may here explain, what I learned afterwards, that he was a 
 native of the Punjab who was attracted to occult studies 
 from his earliest boyhood. He was sent to Europe whilst 
 still a youth at the intervention of a relative — himself an 
 occultist — to be educated in Western knowledge, and since 
 then has been fully initiated in the greater knowledge of 
 the East. From the self-complacent point of view of the 
 ordinary European this will seem a strange reversal of the 
 proper order of things, but I need not stop to examine 
 that consideration now. 
 
 " My correspondent is known to me as Koot Hoomi Lai 
 Sing. This is his * Tibetan mystic name ' — occultists, it 
 would seem, taking new names on initiation — a practice 
 which has no doubt given rise to similar customs which we 
 find perpetuated here and there in ceremonies of the Roman 
 Catholic church. 
 
 " The letter I received began in onedias res, about the 
 phenomenon I had proposed. ' Precisely,' Koot Hoomi 
 wrote, ' because the test of the London newspaper would 
 close the mouths of the sceptics,' it was inadmissible. ' See 
 it in what light you will, the world is yet in its first stage 
 of disenthralment .... hence unprepared. Very true, we 
 work by natural, not supernatural, means and laws. But, 
 
124 Madame B lav at sky. 
 
 as on the one hand science would find itself unable, in its 
 present state, to account for the wonders given in its 
 name, and on the other the ignorant masses would still be 
 left to view the phenomenon in the light of a miracle, every 
 one who would thus be made a witness to the occurrence 
 would be thrown off* his balance, and the result would be 
 deplorable. Believe me it would be so especially for your- 
 self, who originated the idea, and for the devoted women 
 who so foolishly rushes into the wide open door leading to 
 notoriety. This door, though opened by so friendly a hand 
 as yours, would prove very soon a trap — and a fatal one, 
 indeed, for her. And such is not surely your object. . . . 
 Were we to accede to your desires, know you really what 
 consequences would follow in the trail of success ? The in- 
 exorable shadow which follows all human innovations, 
 moves on, yet few are they who are ever conscious of its 
 approach and dangers. What are, then, they to expect who 
 would offer the world an innovation which, owing to human 
 ignorance, if believed in, will surely be attributed to those 
 dark agencies the two-thirds of humanity believe in and 
 dread as yet ? . . . The success of an attempt of such a kind 
 as the one you propose must be calculated and based upon 
 a thorough knowledge of the people around you. It depends 
 entirely upon the social and moral conditions of the people 
 in their bearing on these deepest and most mysterious 
 questions which can stir the human mind — the deific powers 
 in man and the possibilities contained in Nature. How 
 many even of your best friends, of those who surround you, 
 are more than superficially interested in these abstruse pro- 
 blems ? You could count them upon the fingers of your right 
 hand. Your race boasts of having liberated in this 
 century the genius so long imprisoned in the narrov/ vase 
 of dogmatism and intolerance — the genius of knowledge, 
 wisdom, and free thought. It says that, in their turn, 
 ignorant prejudice and religious bigotry, bottled up like 
 the wicked djin of old, and sealed by the Solomons of 
 science, rest at the bottom of the sea, and can never, escap- 
 ing to the surface again, reign over the world as in the days 
 of old : that the public mind is quite free, in short, and 
 ready to accept any demonstrated truth. Ay, but is it 
 verily so, my respected friend ? Experimental knowledge 
 
Anna Kings ford. 125 
 
 does not quite date from 1662, when Bacon, Robert Boyle, 
 and the Bishop of Chester transformed under the royal 
 charter their " invisible college " into a society for the pro- 
 motion of experimental science. Ages before the Royal 
 Society found itself becoming a reality upon the plan of 
 the " Prophetic Scheme," an innate longing for the hidden, a 
 passionate love for, and the study of, Nature, had led men 
 in every generation to try and fathom her secrets deeper 
 than their neighbours did. Roma ante Roviulum fuit is 
 
 an axiom taught us in your English schools The 
 
 Vril of the Coming Race was the common property of races 
 now extinct. And as the very existence of those gigantic 
 ancestors of ours is now questioned — though in the Hima- 
 vats, on the very territory belonging to you, we have a cave 
 full of the skeletons of these giants — and their huge frames, 
 when found, are invariably regarded as isolated freaks of 
 Nature — so the vril, or akas as we call it, is looked upon as 
 an impossibility — a myth. And without a thorough know- 
 ledge of akas — its combinations and properties, how can 
 science hope to account for such phenomena ? We doubt 
 not but the men of your science are open to conviction ; 
 yet facts must be first demonstrated to them ; they must 
 first have become their own property, have proved amen- 
 able to their modes of investigation, before you find them 
 ready to admit them as facts. If you but look into the 
 preface to the Micrograpliia you will find, in Hookes' sug- 
 gestions, that the intimate relations of objects were of less 
 account in his eyes than their external operation on the 
 senses, and Newton's fine discoveries found in him their 
 greatest opponent. The modern Hookeses are many. Like 
 this learned but ignorant man of old, your modern men of 
 science are less anxious to suggest a physical connection of 
 facts which might unlock for them many an occult force in 
 Nature, than to provide a convenient classification of 
 scientific experiments, so that the most essential quality of 
 a hypothesis is, not that it should be true, but only ]}lausihle, 
 in their opinion. 
 
 *' ' So far for science — as much as we know of it. As for 
 human nature in general it is the same now as it was a 
 million of years ago. Prejudice, based upon selfishness, a 
 general unwillingness to give up an established order of 
 
126 Madame B lav at sky, 
 
 things for new modes of life and thought — and occult study- 
 requires all that and much more — pride and stubborn resist- 
 ance to truth, if it but upsets their previous notions of 
 
 things — such are the characteristics of your age 
 
 What, then, would be the results of the most astounding 
 phenomena supposing we consented to have them produced ? 
 However successful, danger would be growing proportion- 
 ately with success. No choice would soon remain but to 
 go on, ever crescendo, or to fall in this endless struggle with 
 prejudice and ignorance, killed by your own weapons. 
 Test after test would be required, and would have to be 
 furnished ; every subsequent phenomenon expected to be 
 more marvellous than the preceding one. Your daily 
 remark is, that one cannot be expected to believe unless he 
 becomes an eye-witness. Would the lifetime of a man 
 suffice to satisfy the whole world of sceptics? It may be an 
 easy matter to increase the original number of believers at 
 Simla to hundreds and thousands. But what of the hun- 
 dreds of millions of those who could not be made eye-wit- 
 nesses? The ignorant, unable to grapple with the invisible 
 operators, might some day vent their rage on the visible agents 
 at work ; the higher and educated classes would go on dis- 
 believing, as ever, tearing you to shreds as before. In com- 
 mon with many, you blame us for our great secrecy. Yet 
 we know something of human nature, for the experience of 
 long centuries — ay, ages, has taught us. And we know that 
 so long as science has anything to learn, and a shadow of 
 religious dogmatism lingers in the hearts of the multitudes, 
 the world's prejudices have to be conquered step by step, not 
 at a rush. As hoary antiquity had more than one Socrates, 
 so the dim future will give birth to more than one martyr. 
 Enfranchised Science contemptuously turned away her face 
 from the Copernican opinion renewing the theories of Aris- 
 tpa^chus Samius, who " affirmeth that the earth moveth cir- 
 cularly about her own centre," years before the Church 
 sought to sacrifice Galileo as a holocaust to the Bible. The 
 ablest mathematician at the Court of Edward VI., Robert 
 Recorde, was left to starve in jail by his colleagues, who 
 laughed at his Castle of Knowledge, declaring his discoveries 
 
 vain phantasies All this is old history, you will think. 
 
 Verily so, but the chronicles of our modern days do not 
 
Anna Kings ford, 127 
 
 differ very essentially from their predecessors. And we 
 have but to bear in mind the recent persecutions of mediums 
 in England, the burning of supposed witches and sorcerers 
 in South America, Russia, and the frontiers of Spain, to 
 assure ourselves that the only salvation of the genuine pro- 
 ficients in occult sciences lies in the scepticism of the public; 
 the charlatans and the jugglers are the natural shields of 
 the adepts. The public safety is only ensured by our keep- 
 ing secret the terrible weapons which might otherwise be 
 used against it, and which, as you have been told, become 
 deadly in the hands of the wicked and selfish.'" 
 
 The letter of Mr. Sinnett contained, without doubt, a 
 business-like suggestion. But the reply of Madame Blavat- 
 sky was equally business-like. There were very sound 
 reasons why a copy of the Tiraes should not be ''precipitated" 
 half across the globe. Mr. Sinnett and Mr. Hume now de- 
 manded that an independent lodge should be established at 
 Simla for English inquirers. This occasioned a second 
 letter : — 
 
 " We will be at cross purposes in our correspondence 
 until it has been made entirely plain that occult science has 
 its own methods of researcli, as fixed and arbitrary as the 
 methods of its antithesis, physical science, are in their wa^^ 
 If the latter has its dicta, so also have the former ; and he 
 who would cross the boundary of the unseen world can no 
 more prescribe how he will proceed, than the traveller who 
 tries to penetrate to the inner subterranean recesses of 
 L'Hassa the Blessed could show the way to his guide. The 
 mysteries never were, never can be, put within the reach of 
 the general public, not, at least, until the longed-for day 
 when our religious philosophy becomes universal. At no 
 time have more than a scarcely appreciable minority of men 
 possessed Nature's secrets, though multitudes have witnessed 
 the practical evidences of the possibility of their possession. 
 The adept is the rare efflorescence of a generation of 
 inquirers ; and to become one, he must obey the inward 
 impulse of his soul, irrespective of the prudential considera- 
 tions of worldly science or sagacity. Your desire is to be 
 brought to communicate with one of us directly, without 
 the ag-ency of either Madame Blavatsky or any medium. 
 Your idea would be, as I understand it, to obtain such 
 
128 Madame Blavatsky, 
 
 communications, either by letters, as the present one, or by- 
 audible words, so as to be guided by one of us in the 
 management, and principally in the instruction of the 
 Society. You seek all this, and yet, as you say yourself, 
 hitherto you have not found sufficient reasons to even give 
 up your modes of life, directly hostile to such modes of 
 communication. This is hardly reasonable. He who would 
 lift up high the banner of mysticism and proclaim its reign 
 near at hand must give the example to others. He must 
 be the first to change his modes of life, and, regarding the 
 study of the occult mysteries as the upper step in the ladder 
 of knowledge, must loudly proclaim it such, despite exact 
 science and the opposition of society. ' The kingdom of 
 Heaven is obtained by force,' say the Christian mystics. It 
 is but with armed hand, and ready to either conquer or 
 perish, that the modern mystic can hope to achieve his 
 object. 
 
 "My first answer covered, I believe, most of the questions 
 contained in j^our second and even third letter. Having, 
 then, expressed therein my opinion that the world in general 
 was unripe for any too staggering proof of occult power, 
 there but remains to deal with the isolated individuals who 
 seek, like yourself, to penetrate behind the veil of matter 
 into the world of primal causes — i.e., we need only consider 
 now the cases of yourself and Mr. " 
 
 " I should here explain," " says Mr. Sinnett," " that one of 
 my friends at Simla, deeply interested with me in the progress 
 of this investigation, had, on reading Koot Hoomi's first letter 
 to me, addressed my correspondent himself. More favourably 
 circumstanced than I, for such an enterprise, he had even 
 proposed to make a complete sacrifice of his other pursuits, 
 to pass away into any distant seclusion which might be 
 appointed for the purpose, where he might, if accepted as 
 a pupil in occultism, learn enough to return to the world 
 armed with powers which would enable him to demonstrate 
 the realities of spiritual development and the errors of 
 modern materialism, and then devote his life to the task of 
 combating modern incredulity and leading men to a practical 
 comprehension of a better life. I resume Koot Hoomi's 
 letter : — 
 
 " ' This gentleman also has done me the great honour to 
 
Anna Kingsford. 129 
 
 address me by name, offering to me a few questions, and 
 stating the conditions upon which he would be willing to 
 work for us seriously. But your motives and aspirations 
 being of diametrically opposite character, and hence leading 
 to different results, I must reply to each of you separately. 
 
 " ' The first and chief consideration in determining us to 
 accept or reject your ofler lies in the inner motive which 
 propels you to seek our instruction and, in a certain sense, 
 our guidance; the latter in all cases under reserve, as I 
 understand it, and therefore remaining a question inde- 
 pendent of aught else. Now, what are your motives ? I 
 may try to define them in their general aspects, leaving 
 details for further consideration. They are — (1) The desire 
 to see positive and unimpeachable proofs that there really 
 are forces in Nature of which science knows nothing ; (2) 
 the hope to appropriate them some day — the sooner the 
 better, for you do not like to wait — so as to enable yourself 
 (iC) to demonstrate their existence to a few chosen Western 
 minds ; (h) to contemplate future life as an objective reality 
 built upon the rock of knowledge, not of faith ; and (cj to 
 finally learn — most important this, among all your motives, 
 perhaps, though the most occult and the best guarded — the 
 whole truth about our lodges and ourselves ; to get, in 
 short, the positive assurance that the " Brothers," of whom 
 every one hears so much and sees so little, are real entities, 
 not fictions of a disordered, huUucinated brain. Such, 
 viewed in their best light, appear to us your motives for 
 addressing me. And in the same spirit do I answer them, 
 hoping that my sincerity will not be interpreted in a 
 wrong way, or attributed to anything like an unfriendly 
 spirit. 
 
 " ' To our minds, then, these motives, sincere and worthy 
 of every serious consideration from the worldly standpoint, 
 appear selfish. (You have to pardon me what you might 
 view as crudeness of language, if your desire is that which 
 you really profess — to learn truth and get instruction from, 
 us who belong to quite a different world from the one you 
 move in.) They are selfish, because you must be aware that 
 the chief object of the Theosophical Society is not so much 
 to gratify individual aspirations as to serve our fellow-men, 
 and the real value of this term '' selfish," which may jar upon 
 
 I 
 
130 Madame Blavatsky. 
 
 your ear, has a peculiar significance with us which it cannot 
 have with you ; therefore, to begin with, you must not 
 accept it otherwise than in the former sense. Perhaps 3^ou 
 will better appreciate our meaning when told that in our 
 view the highest aspirations for the welfare of humanity 
 become tainted with selfishness, if, in the mind of the 
 philanthropist, there lurks the shadow of a desire for self- 
 benefit, or a tendency to do injustice, even where these 
 exist unconsciously to himself. Yet you have ever dis- 
 cussed, but to put down, the idea of a Universal Brother- 
 hood, questioned its usefulness, and advised to remodel the 
 Theosophical Society on the principle of a college for the 
 special study of occultism 
 
 "'Having disposed of personal motives, let us analyse 
 your terms for helping us to do public good. Broadly 
 stated, these terms are — first, that an independent Anglo- 
 Indian Theosophical Society shall be founded through your 
 kind services, in the management of which neither of our 
 present representatives shall have any voice ; ^ and, second, 
 that one of us shall take the new body '' under his patron- 
 age," be " in free and direct communication with its leaders,'' 
 and afford them " direct proof that he really possessed that 
 superior knowledge of the forces of Nature and the attri- 
 butes of the human soul which would inspire them with 
 proper confidence in his leadership." I have copied your 
 own words so as to avoid inaccuracy in defining the 
 position. 
 
 " * From your point of view, therefore, those terms may 
 seem so very reasonable as to provoke no dissent, and, in- 
 deed, a majority of your countrymen — if not of Europeans 
 —might share that opinion. What, will you say, can be 
 
 ^ " In the absence of my own letter, to which this is a reply, the reader 
 might think from this sentence that I had been animated by some un- 
 friendly feeling for the representatives referred to — Madame Blavatsky 
 and Colonel Olcott. This is far from having been the case ; but, keenly 
 alive to mistakes wdiich had been made up to the time of which I am 
 
 writing, in the management of the Theosophical Society, Mr. and 
 
 myself were under the impression that better public results might be 
 obtained by commencing operations de novo, and taking, ourselves, the 
 direction of the measures which might be employed to recommend the 
 study of occultism to the modern world. This belief on our part was 
 co-existent in both cases with a warm friendship based on the purest 
 esteem for both the persons mentioned." 
 
Anna Kingsford, 131 
 
 more reasonable than to ask that that teacher anxious to 
 disseminate his knowledge, and pupil offering him to do so, 
 should be brought face to face, and the one give the ex- 
 perimental proof to the other that his instructions were 
 correct ? Man of the world, living in, and in full sympa- 
 thy with it, you are undoubtedly right. But the men of 
 this other world of ours, untutored in your modes of 
 thought, and who find it very hard at times to follow and 
 appreciate the latter, can hardly be blamed for not respond- 
 ing as heartily to your suggestions as in your opinion they 
 deserve. The first and most important of our objections is 
 to be found in our Yides. True, we have our schools and 
 teachers, our neophytes and " shaberons " (superior adepts), 
 and the door is always open to the right man who knocks — 
 And we invariably welcome the new-comer — only, instead 
 of going over to him, he has to come to us. More than that, 
 unless he has reached that point in the path of occultism 
 from which return is impossible by his having irrevocably 
 pledged himself to our Association, we never — except in 
 cases of utmost moment — visit him or even cross the thres- 
 hold of his door in visible appearance. 
 
 " ' Is any of you so eager for knowledge and the beneficent 
 powers it confers, as to be ready to leave your world and 
 come into ours ? Then let him come, but he must not 
 think to return until the seal of the mysteries has locked 
 his lips even against the chances of his own weakness or 
 indiscretion. Let him come by all means as the pupil to 
 the master, and without conditions, or let him wait, as so 
 many others have, and be satisfied with such crumbs of 
 knowledge as may fall in his way. 
 
 " * And supposing you were thus to come, as two of your 
 own countrymen have already — as Madame B. did and Mr. 
 O. will — supposing you were to abandon ail for the truth ; 
 to toil wearily for years up the hard, steep road, not daunted 
 by obstacles, firm under every temptation; were to faith- 
 fully keep within your heart the secrets entrusted to you 
 as a trial ; had worked with all your energies and unselfishly 
 to spread the truth and provoke men to correct thinking 
 and a correct life — would you consider it just, if, after all 
 your efforts, we were to grant to Madame B. or Mr. O. as 
 "outsiders " the terms you now ask for yourselves. Of these 
 
132 Madame Blavatsky, 
 
 two persons, one has already o^iven three-fourths of a life, 
 the other six 3^ears of manhood's prime to us, and both will 
 so klDOur to the close of their days ; though ever working 
 for their merited reward, yet never demanding it, nor mur- 
 muring when disappointed. Even though they respectively 
 could accomplish far less than they do, would it not be a 
 palpable injustice to ignore them in an important field of 
 Theosophical efibrt ? Ingratitude is not among our vices, 
 nor do we imagine you would wish to advise it. 
 
 '' * Neither of them has the least inclination to interfere 
 with the management of the contemplated Anglo-Indian 
 Branch, nor dictate its office. But the new Society, if 
 formed at all, must, though bearing a distinctive title of its 
 own, be, in fact, a branch of the parent body, as is the 
 British Theosophical Society at London, and contribute to 
 its vitality and usefulness b}^ promoting its leading idea of 
 a Universal Brotherhood, and in other practicable ways. 
 
 " ' Badly as the phenomena may have been shown, there 
 have still been, as j^ourself admit, certain ones that are un- 
 impeachable. The " raps on the table when no one touches 
 it," and the " bell sounds in the air," have, you say, always 
 been regarded as satisfactory, etc., etc. From this, you 
 reason that good test phenomena " may easily be multiplied 
 ad hifiiiitwin." So they can — in any place where our mag- 
 netic and other conditions are constantly offered, and where 
 we do not have to act with and through an enfeebled 
 female body, in which, as we might say, a vital cyclone is 
 rao'ing much of the time. But imperfect as may be our 
 visible agent, yet she is the best available at present, and 
 her phenomena have for about half a century astonished 
 and baffled some of the cleverest minds of the age ' " 
 
 All this should make us cr}^ as well as laugh. A gallant 
 gentleman announces himself as ready to throw off the gold- 
 embroidered coat of the secretary to the Government of 
 India and to don the dirt and the leopard's skin of the Yogi. 
 And yet Madame Metrovitch, the variety performer, tells 
 him coolly that he is not morally worthy of such a career 
 although she is. 
 
 I must draw attention to one or two other points. 
 
 There is much in these letters that might influence a mind 
 like Anna Kinsfsford or Mr. Hume. As a historical fact we 
 
Anna Kingsfoi'd, 133 
 
 know that both were so influenced. But this would be 
 effected not by what they state, but what they suggest. If 
 you tell a Swedenborg that a band of workers are "raising 
 the banner of mysticism " in a certain locality, he would at 
 once draw a flattering mind-picture of these workers, a 
 picture that one whose " interior man " (to use the Sweden- 
 borg language) was not developed could not draw. This 
 gives us the secret of Madame Blavatsky's influence over 
 genuine mystics like Anna Kingsford. But these letters, 
 instead of really " raising the banner of m3^sticism," pull it 
 down. Mr. Hume and Mr. Sinnett make a very reasonable 
 request. They ask to have a branch lodge at Simla to 
 " raise the banner of mysticism " amongst the English. 
 Now, if there had been any real Mahatmas this request 
 would certainly not have been refused, for those astute 
 persons would have seen that by such means the suspicions 
 aroused in the English mind by Madame Blavatsky and 
 Colonel Olcott would have been allayed. But it did not 
 suit the Russian adventuress to tell the world what real 
 yoga was, namely, an inner growth independent of any 
 Mahatmas and certainly independent of any Blavatskys, 
 Therefore she dances on thin ice all through the corre- 
 spondence, and dances very cleverly. 
 
 It appears that Mr. Sinnett and Mr. Hume thought 
 Simla the best headquarters for a lodge, whether indepen- 
 dent of Madame Blavatsky or under her supervision. But 
 there are wheels within wheels : — 
 
 ' Simla. 
 
 " My dear Mme. Coulolib, 
 
 '' I am obliged to remain till the 25th of 
 October, as I can make 200 rupees, offered me by the 
 Foreign Office for translating a book of Russian statistics. 
 Say so to Damodar. 
 
 "Don't give yourself the trouble of setting the house. 
 When I leave here, I will have to stop at various places, as 
 I promised to pay visits to several persons, and have to see 
 some fellows on my way back. I may be detained till end 
 of November. I cannot go to Ceylon now. In January, I 
 will go to Calcutta — to Mrs. Gordon— to establish a branch, 
 and I want Olcott to come back, and go together to Bom- 
 
134 Madame Blavatsky, 
 
 bay again from Calcutta. I may not go to Ceylon before 
 the spring. 
 
 " Say to Damoclar his idea of establishing headquarters 
 at Simla is absurd. He must have been influenced by Mr. 
 Hume (magnetically), as it is Mr. Hume's hobby. If I 
 change my headquarters — and we have to do it, for I hate 
 Bombay — I will have headquarters at Calcutta and Ceylon, 
 going to Simla every summer for two or three months. 
 The rent here for a cottage of three rooms is 2,000 rupees, 
 and everything dear in proportion. Hume and Damodar 
 are both crazy. 
 
 " 01), mon pauvre Christo- '' Oh, my poor Christofolo I 
 
 folo! II est done more, et He is dead then, and you 
 
 vous I'avez tue ? Oh, ma have killed him ? Oh, my 
 
 cheie amie, si vous saviez dear friend, if you only knew 
 
 comme je voudrais le voir how I would like to see him 
 
 revivre ! revive ! 
 
 " Ma benediction a mon " My blessing on my poor 
 pauvre Christofolo. Toujours Christofolo. Ever yours, 
 a vous, H. P. B." H. P. B." 
 
 Here is another letter from a Mahatma. They do not 
 all seem to be up to the same lofty moral plane : — 
 
 " My ' DEAR Brother,' — This brooch, No. 2, is placed in 
 this very strange place, simply to show you how very 
 easil}^ a real phenomenon is produced, and how still easier 
 it is to suspect its genuineness. Make of it what you like, 
 even to classing me with confederates. 
 
 " The difficulty you spoke of last night with respect to 
 the interchange of our letters, I will try to remove. One 
 of our pupils will shortly visit Lahore and the N.-W. P. ; 
 and an address will be sent to you which you can always 
 use ; unless, indeed, you really would prefer corresponding 
 through — pillows ? Please to remark that the present is 
 not dated from a * Lodge,' but from a Kashmere valley." 
 
 This next is better. It is a decided stroke of genius to 
 make the Mahatma speak of her as " the old lady," but I 
 
Anna Kingsford. 135 
 
 think she might have remembered that when he met her 
 in 1857, she was not an old lady. One can't think of 
 everything : — 
 
 "You see, then, that we have weightier matters than 
 small societies to think about ; yet the Theosophical Society 
 must not be neglected. The affair has taken an impulse 
 which, if not well guided, might beget very evil issues. 
 Recall to mind the avalanches of your admired Alps, and 
 remember that at first their mass is small, and their 
 momentum little. A trite comparison, you may say, but I 
 cannot think of a better illustration when viewing the 
 gradual aggregation of trifling events growing into a 
 menacing destiny for the Theosophical Society.' It came 
 quite forcibly upon me the other day as I was coming down 
 the detiles of Konelum — Karakorum you call them — and 
 saw an avalanche tumble. I had gone personally to our 
 chief .... and was crossing over to Lhadak on my way 
 home. What other speculations might have followed I 
 cannot say. But just as I was taking advantage of the 
 awful stillness which usually follows such cataclysms, to 
 get a clearer view of the present situation, and the disposi- 
 tion of the ' mystics ' at Simla, I was rudely recalled to my 
 senses. A familiar voice, as shrill as the one attributed to 
 Saraswati's peacock — which, if we may credit tradition, 
 frightened off the King of the Nagas — shouted along the 
 currents — ' .... Koot Hoomi, come quicker and help me ! ' 
 and, in her excitement, forgot she was speaking English. 
 I must say that the ' old lady's ' telegrams do strike one 
 like stones from a catapult. 
 
 " What could I do but come. Argument through space 
 with one who was in cold despair and in a state of moral 
 chaos was useless. So I determined to emerge from a 
 seclusion of many years, and spend some time with her to 
 comfort her as well as I could. But our friend is not one 
 to cause her mind to reflect the philosophical resignation of 
 Marcus Aurelius. The Fates never wrote that she could 
 say : — ' It is a royal thing when one is doing good to hear 
 evil spoken of himself.' I had come for a few days, but 
 now find that I m3^self cannot endure for any length of 
 time the stifling magnetism even of my own countrymen. 
 I have seen some of our proud old Sikhs drunk and stagger- 
 
136 Madame B lav at sky, 
 
 ing over the marble pavement of their sacred temple. I 
 have heard an English-speaking Vakil declaim against Yocj 
 Viclya and Theosophy as a delusion and a lie, declaring that 
 English science had emancipated them from such degrading 
 superstitions, and saying that it was an insult to India to 
 maintain that the dirty Yogees and Sunnyasis knew any- 
 thing about the mj^steries of Nature, or that any living 
 man can, or ever could, perform any phenomena. I turn 
 my face homeward to-morrow. 
 
 " .... I have telegraphed you my thanks for your 
 obliging compliance with my wishes in the matter you allude 
 
 to in 3''our letter of the 24th Received at Amritsur, 
 
 on the 27th, at 2 P.M. I got your letter about thirty miles 
 beyond Rawul Pindee, five minutes later, and had an 
 acknowledgment wired to you from Jiielum at 4 P.M. on the 
 same afternoon. Our modes of accelerated delivery and 
 quick communications are not, then, as you will see, to be 
 despised by the Western world, or even the Aryan English- 
 speaking and sceptical Vakils. 
 
 " I could not ask a more judicial frame of mind in an 
 ally than that in which you are beginning to find yourself. 
 My brother, you have already changed your attitude to- 
 wards us in a distinct degree. What is to prevent a perfect 
 mutual understanding one day ? .... It is not possible 
 that there sliould be much more at best than a benevolent 
 neutrality shown by your people towards ours. There is so 
 very minute a point of contact between the two civilisa- 
 tions they respectively represent, that one might almost say 
 they could not touch at all. Nor would they, but for the 
 few — shall I say eccentrics ? — who, like j^ou, dream better 
 and bolder dreams than the rest, and, provoking thought, 
 bring the two together by their own admirable audacity." 
 
 " The letter before me," says Mr. Sinnett, " is occupied 
 so much with matters personal to myself, that I can 
 only make quotations here and there ; but these are 
 specially interesting, as investing with an air of reality 
 subjects which are generally treated in vague and pompous 
 language. Koot Hoomi was anxious to guard me from 
 idealising the Brothers too much on the strength of my 
 admiration for their marvellous powers. 
 
 " ' Are you certain/ he writes, ' that the pleasant impres- 
 
Anna Kingsford. 137 
 
 sion you now may have from our correspondence would not 
 instantly be destroyed upon seeing me ? And which of our 
 holy shaherons has had the benefit of even the little uni- 
 versity education and inkling of European manners that has 
 fallen to my share?' 
 
 " In a guarded way, Koot Hoomi said that as often as it 
 was practicable to communicate with me, ' whether by 
 .... letters (in or out of pillows) or personal visits in 
 astral form, it will be done.' " 
 
 How did these letters come ? Mr. Sinnett shall tell us : — 
 
 . " I have hitherto said nothing of the circumstances under 
 which these various letters reached my hands : nor, in com- 
 parison with the intrinsic interest of the ideas they embody, 
 can the phenomenal conditions under which some of them 
 were delivered, be regarded as otherwise than of secondary 
 interest for readers who appreciate their philosophy. But 
 every bit of evidence which helps to exhibit the nature of 
 the powers which the adepts exei'cise, is worth attention, 
 while the rationale of such powers is still hidden from the 
 world. The fact of their existence can only be established 
 by the accumulation of such evidence, as long as we are un- 
 able to prove their possibility by a priori analysis of the 
 latent capacities in man, 
 
 " My friend to whom the last letter was addressed wrote 
 a long reply, and subsequently an additional letter for Koot 
 Hoomi, which he forwarded to me, asking me to read and 
 then seal it up and send or give it to Madame Blavatsky 
 for transmission, slie being expected about that time at my 
 house at Allahabad on her way down country from Am- 
 ritsur and Lahore, where, as I have already indicated, she 
 had stayed for some little time after our household broke 
 up for the season at Simla. I did as desired, and gave the 
 letter to Madame Blavatskv, after f^ummino; and sealing the 
 stout envelope in which it was forwarded. That evening, 
 a few hours afterwards, on returning home to dinner, I 
 found that the letter had gone, and had come back again. 
 Madame Blavatsky told me that she had been talking to a 
 visitor in her own room, and had been fingering a blue 
 pencil on her writing table without noticing what she was 
 doing, when she suddenly noticed that the paper on which 
 
138 Madame Blavatsky, 
 
 she was scribbling was my letter that the addressee had 
 duly taken possession of, by his own methods, an hour or 
 two before. She found that she had, while talking about 
 something else, unconsciously written on the envelope the 
 words which it then bore, ' Read and returned with thanks, 
 and a few commentaries. Please open.' I examined the 
 envelope carefully, and it was absolutely intact, its very 
 complete fastenings having remained just as I arranged 
 them. Slitting it open, I found the letter which it had con- 
 tained when I sent it, and another from Koot Hoomi to me, 
 criticising the former with the help of a succession of pencil 
 ligures that referred to particular passages in the original 
 letter — another illustration of the passage of matter through 
 matter, which, for thousands of people who have had per- 
 sonal experience of it in spiritualism, is as certain a fact of 
 Nature as the rising of the sun, and which I have now not 
 only encountered at spiritual seances, but, as this record will 
 have shown, on many occasions when there is no motive for 
 suspecting any other agency than that of living beings with 
 faculties of which we may all possess the undeveloped germs, 
 though it is only in their case that knowledge has brought 
 these to phenomenal fruition. 
 
 " Sceptical critics, putting aside the collateral bearing of 
 all the previous phenomena I have described, and dealing 
 with this letter incident by itself alone, will perhaps say — 
 Of course, Madame Blavatsky had ample time to open the 
 envelope by such means as the mediums who profess to get 
 answers to sealed letters from the spirit world are in the 
 habit of employing." 
 
 Mr. Hodgson (" Proceedings of the Society for Psychical 
 Kesearch," vol. iii. p. 258) is not satisfied with the genuine- 
 ness of this '' precipitation." 
 
 " The envelope," he says, " was in Madame Blavatsky's 
 possession for several hours, and when it was returned to 
 Mr. Sinnett he found it * absolutely intact, its very complete 
 fastenings having remained just as he had arranged them.' 
 Cutting the envelope open Mr. Sinnett found inside not 
 only the letter it had previously contained, but also another 
 from Koot Hoomi. Mr. Sinnett showed me the envelope. 
 The fastenings were not by any means what I should call 
 
Anna Kingsford. 139 
 
 complete ; so far from this being the case, that owing to the 
 length of the flap, which was only sealed at its lower ex- 
 tremity, the letter might have been abstracted, and re- 
 inserted with other letters, without even steaming the 
 envelope, or loosening the adhesion of the gum by any other 
 process. And if the gum had been loosened by careful 
 steaming, the abstraction and re-insertion would have been 
 superlatively easy." 
 
 "Let the incident," says Mr. Sinnett, "I have just described 
 be compared with another illustration of an exactly similar 
 incident which occurred shortly afterwards under different 
 circumstances. Koot Hoomi had sent me a letter addressed 
 to my friend to read and forward on. On the subject 
 of this letter before sending it I had occasion to make 
 a communication to Koot Hoomi. I wrote a note to 
 him, fastened it up in an ordinary adhesive envelope, 
 and gave it to Madame Blavatsky. She put it in her 
 pocket, went into her own room, which opened out of 
 the drawing-room, and came out again almost instantly. 
 Certainly she had not been away thirty seconds. She 
 said, 'he' had taken it at once. Then she followed me 
 back through the house to my office-room, spoke for a 
 few minutes in the adjoining room to my wife, and, return- 
 ing into my office, lay down on a couch. I went on with 
 my work, and perhaps ten minutes elapsed, perhaps less. 
 Suddenly she got up. ' There's your letter,' she said, 
 pointing to the pillow from which she had lifted her head ; 
 and there lay the letter I had just written, intact as regards 
 its appearance, but with Koot Hoomi's name on the outside 
 scored out and mine written over it. After a thorough ex- 
 amination I slit the envelope, and found inside, on the fly- 
 leaf of my note, the answer I required in Koot Hoomi's 
 handwriting. Now, except for the thirty seconds during 
 which she retired to her own room, Madame Blavatsky had 
 not been out of my sight, except for a minute or two in my 
 wife's room, during the short interval which elapsed be- 
 tween the delivery of the letter by me to her and its return 
 to me as described. And during this interval no one else 
 had come into my room. The incident was as absolute and 
 complete a mechanical proof of abnormal power exercised 
 to produce the result as any conceivable test could have 
 
140 Madame Blavatsky. 
 
 yielded. Except by declaring that I cannot be describing 
 it correctly, the most resolute partisan of the commonplace 
 will be unable seriously to dispute the force of this incident. 
 He may take refuge in idiotic ridicule, or he may declare 
 that I am misrepresenting the facts. As regards the latter 
 hypothesis I can only pledge my word, as I do hereby, to 
 the exact accuracy of the statement." 
 
 An able analj^sis of this incident is given by Mr. Hodgson 
 in the " Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research," 
 vol. iii., p. 257. It appears that Mr. Sinnett made a "de- 
 position" on the subject with fuller details before a committee 
 of the society. 
 
 '' From this account," says Mr. Hodgson, " it appears that 
 Madame Blavatsky was not out of Mr. Sinnett's sight for 
 ten seconds, but in the account given in * The Occult World,' 
 Mr. Sinnett undertakes to say only that she had not been 
 away to her room thirty seconds, admitting that she was 
 out of his sight for a minute or tivo in Mrs. Sinnett's room. 
 After this I cannot feel certain that Madame Blavatsky 
 may not have been absent in her own room considerably 
 more than thirty seconds, nor do I feel certain that Madame 
 Blavatsky may not have retired to some other room during 
 the interval of ' a few minutes ' which Mr. Sinnett assigns 
 to her conversation with Mrs. Sinnett in the adjoining 
 room. Even apart from this uncertainty I cannot attach 
 any importance to the case after finding that on my second 
 trial I could open a firmly closed ordinary adhesive envelope 
 under such conditions as are described by Mr. Sinnett, read 
 the enclosed note and reyjly to it, the question and the re- 
 ply being as long as those of Mr. Sinnett's, and reclose the 
 envelope, leaving it apparently in the same condition as 
 before, in one minute. And it appears to me quite possible 
 that Madame Blavatsky, with her probable superior skill 
 and practice, might have easily performed the task in thirty 
 seconds." 
 
 " In one or two cases," says Mr. Sinnett, " I have got 
 back answers from Koot Hoomi to my letters in my own 
 envelopes, these remaining intact as addressed to him, but 
 with the address changed, and my letter gone from the in- 
 side, his reply having taken its place. In two or three cases 
 
Anna Kingsford. 141 
 
 I have found short messages from Koot Hoomi written across 
 the blank parts of letters from other persons, coming to mo 
 through the post, the writers in these cases being assuredly 
 unaware of the additions so made to their epistles. 
 
 " Of course I have asked Koot Hoomi for an explanation 
 of these little phenomena, but it is easier for me to ask than 
 for him to answer, partly because the forces which the 
 adepts bring to bear upon matter to achieve abnormal 
 results, are of a kind which ordinary science knows so little 
 about that we of the outer world are not prepared for such 
 explanations ; and partly because the manipulation of the 
 forces employed has to do, sometimes, with secrets of initia- 
 tion which an occultist must not reveal. However, in 
 reference to the subject before us, I received on one occasion 
 this hint as an explanation : — 
 
 " ' . . . . Besides, bear in mind that these my letters are 
 not written, but impressed, or precipitated, and then all 
 mistakes corrected.' 
 
 " Of course, I wanted to know more about such precipita- 
 tion ; was it a process which followed thought more rapidly 
 than any with which we were familiar ? And as regards 
 letters received, did the meaning of these penetrate the 
 understanding of an occult recipient at once, or were they 
 read in the ordinary way ? 
 
 " ' Of course I have to read every word you write,' Koot 
 Hoomi replied, ' otherwise I would make a fine mess of it. 
 And whether it be through my physical or spiritual eyes, 
 the time required for it is practically the same. As much 
 may be said of my replies ; for whether I precipitate or 
 dictate them or write my answers myself, the difiference in 
 time saved is very minute. I have to think it over, to 
 photograph every word and sentence carefully in my brain, 
 before it can be repeated by precipitation. As the fixing 
 on chemically prepared surfaces of the images formed by the 
 camera requires a previous arrangement within the focus of 
 the object to be represented, for otherwise — as often found in 
 bad photographs — the legs of the sitter might appear out of 
 all proportion with the head, and so on — so we have to first 
 arrange our sentences and impress every letter to appear on 
 paper in our minds before it becomes fit to be read. For 
 the present it is all I can tell you. When science will have 
 
142 Madame Blavatsky. 
 
 learned more about the mystery of the lithophyl (or litho- 
 biblion),and howtbe impressof leaves comes originally to take 
 place on stones, then I will be able to make you better under- 
 stand the process. But you must know and remember one 
 thing — w^ebut follow and servilely copy Naturein her works.'" 
 
 In another letter Koot Hoomi expatiates more fully on 
 the difficulty of making occult explanations intelligible to 
 minds trained only in modern science. 
 
 " Only the progress one makes in the study of arcane 
 knowledge from its rudimental elements lorings him 
 gradually to understand our meaning. Only thus, and not 
 otherwise, does it, strengthening and refining those myste- 
 rious links of sympathy between intelligent men — the 
 temporarily isolated fragments of the universal soul, and the 
 cosmic soul itself — bring them into full rapport." 
 
 Mr. Sinnett relates another marvel : — 
 
 " The very first incident which took place was in the 
 nature of a pleasant greeting from my friend Koot Hoomi. 
 I had written to him (per Madame Blavatsky, of course) 
 shortly before leaving London, and had expected to find a 
 letter from him awaiting my arrival at Bombay. But no 
 such letter had been received, as I found when I reached 
 the headquarters of the Theosophical Society, where I had 
 arranged to stay for a few days before going on to my 
 destination up country. I got in late at night, and nothing 
 remarkable happened then. The following morning, after 
 breakfast, I was sitting talking with Madame Blavatsky in 
 the room that had been allotted to me. We were sitting at 
 different sides of a large square table in the middle of the 
 room, and the fall daylight was shining. There was no one 
 else in the room. Suddenly, down upon the table before 
 me, but to my right hand, Madame Blavatsky being to my 
 left, there fell a thick letter. It fell ' out of nothing,' so 
 to speak ; it was materialised, or reintegrated in the air 
 before my eyes. It was Koot Hoomi's expected reply — a 
 deeply interesting letter, partly concerned with private 
 matters and replies to questions of mine, and partly with 
 some large, though as yet shadowy, revelations of occult 
 philosophy, the first sketch of this that I had received. 
 Now, of course, I know what some readers will say to this 
 
Anna Kingsford. 143 
 
 (with a self-satisfied smile) — ' wires, springs, concealed 
 apparatus,' and so forth ; but first all the suggestion 
 would havB been grotesquely absurd to any one who had 
 been present ; and secondly, it is unnecessary to argue 
 about objections of this sort all over again ah initio every 
 time. There were no more wires and springs about the 
 room I am now referring to, than about the breezy hill-tops 
 at Simla, where some of our earlier phenomena took place. 
 I may add, moreover, that some months later an occult note 
 was dropped before a friend of mine, a Bengal civilian, who 
 has become an active member of the Theosophical Society, 
 at a dak bungalow in the north of India ; and that later 
 again, at the headquarters of the Theosophical Society at 
 Bombay, a letter was dropped according to a previous 
 promise out in the open air in the presence of six or seven 
 witnesses." 
 
 I now give the celebrated letter of Koot Hoomi to Mr. 
 Hume. It has been much praised, and is undoubtedly 
 clever. But it is to be remarked that the same evasions 
 shine through the grandiloquent language that Dr. Wyld 
 complained of. Several of my friends have assured me 
 that when they sought the secrets of magic from Madame 
 Blavatsky, they were treated to like evasions. 
 
 " Dear Sir, 
 
 " Availing of the first moments of leisure to 
 formally answer your letter of the 17th ultimo, I will now 
 report the result of my conference with our chiefs upon the 
 proposition therein contained, trying at the same time to 
 answer all your questions. 
 
 " I am first to thank you on behalf of the whole section 
 of our fraternity that is especially interested in the welfare 
 of India, for an offer of help whose importance and sincerity 
 no one can doubt. Tracing our lineage through the vicissi- 
 tudes of Indian civilisation from a remote past, we have a 
 love for our motherland so deep and passionate that it has 
 survived even the broadening and cosmopolitanising (pardon 
 me if that is not an English word) effect of our studies in 
 the laws of Nature. And so I, and every other Indian 
 patriot, feel the strongest gratitude for every kind word or 
 deed that is given in her behalf. 
 
144 Madame Blavatsky, 
 
 "Imagiue, then, that since we are all convinced that the 
 degradation of India is largely due to the suffocation of her 
 ancient spirituality, and that whatever helps to restore that 
 higher standard of thought and morals, must be a regene- 
 rating national force, everyone of us would naturally and 
 without urging, be disposed to push forward a society whose 
 proposed formation is under debate, especially if it really is 
 meant to become a society untainted by selfish motive, and 
 whose object is the revival of ancient science, and tendency 
 to rehabilitate our country in the world's estimation. Take 
 this for granted without further asseverations. But you 
 know, as any man wdio has read history, that patriots may 
 burst their hearts in vain if circumstances are against tliem. 
 Sometimes it has happened that no human power, not even 
 the fury and force of the loftiest patriotism, has been able 
 to bend an iron destiny aside from its fixed course, and 
 nations have gone out like torches dropped into the water 
 in the engulfing blackness of ruin. Thus, we who have the 
 sense of our country's fall, though not the power to lift her 
 up at once, cannot do as we would either as to general 
 affairs or this particular one. And with the readiness, but 
 not the right, to meet 3'our advances more than half-way, 
 we are forced to say that the idea entertained by Mr. 
 Sinnett and yourself is impracticable in part. It is, in a 
 word, impossible for myself or any Brother, or even an 
 advanced neophyte, to be specially assigned and set apart as 
 the guiding spirit or chief of the Anglo-Indian branch. 
 We know it would be a good thing to have you and a few 
 of your colleagues regularly instructed and shown the 
 phenomena and their rationale. For though none but you 
 few would be convinced, still it would be a decided gain to 
 have even a few Englishmen, of first-class ability, enlisted 
 as students of Asiatic psychology. We are aware of all 
 this, and much more ; hence we do not refuse to correspond 
 with, and otherwise help you in various ways. But what 
 we do refuse is, to take any other responsibility upon our- 
 selves than this periodical correspondence and assistance 
 with our advice, and, as occasion favours, such tangible, 
 possibly visible, proofs, as would satisfy you of our presence 
 and interest. To ' guide ' you we will not consent. How- 
 ever much w^e may be able to do, yet we can promise only 
 
Anna Kingsford, 145 
 
 to give you the full measure of your deserts. Deserve 
 much, and we will prove honest debtors ; little, and you 
 need only expect a compensating^ .return. This is not a 
 mere text taken from a schoolboy's copybook, though it 
 sounds so, but only the clumsy statement of the law of our 
 order, and we cannot transcend it. Utterly unacquainted 
 with Western, especially English, modes of thought and 
 action, were we to meddle in an organisation of such a kind, 
 you would find all your fixed habits and traditions inces- 
 santly clashing, if not with the new aspirations themselves, 
 at least with their modes of realisation as suggested by us. 
 You could not get unanimous consent to go even the length 
 you might yourself. I have asked Mr. Sinnett to draft a 
 plan embodying your joint ideas for submission to our 
 chiefs, this seeming the shortest way to a mutual agree- 
 ment. Under our ' guidance ' your branch could not live, 
 you not being men to be guided at all in that sense. Hence 
 the society would be a premature birth and a failure, look- 
 ing as incongruous as a Paris Daumont drawn by a team of 
 Indian yaks or camels. You ask us to teach you true 
 science — the occult aspect of the known side of Nature ; 
 and this you think can be as easily done as asked. You 
 do not seem to realise the tremendous difficulties in the 
 way of imparting even the rudiments of our science to 
 those who have been trained in the familiar methods of 
 yours. You do not see that the more you have of the one 
 the less capable you are of instinctively comprehending the 
 other, for a man can only think in his worn grooves, and 
 unless he has the courage to fill up these, and make new 
 ones for himself, he must perforce travel on the old lines. 
 Allow me a few instances. In conformity with exact 
 science you would define but one cosmic energy, and see no 
 difference between the energy expended by the traveller 
 who pushes aside the bush that obstructs his path, and the 
 scientific experimenter who expends an equal amount of 
 energy in setting a pendulum in motion. We do ; for we 
 know there is a world of difference between the two. The 
 one uselessly dissipates and scatters force, the other concen- 
 trates and stores it. And here please understand that I do 
 not refer to the relative utility of the two, as one might 
 imagine, but only to the fact that in the one case there is 
 
 K 
 
146 Madame Blavatsky, 
 
 but brute force flung out without any transmutation of 
 that brute energy into the higher potential form of spiritual 
 dj^namics, and in the other there is just that. Please do 
 not consider me vaguely metaphysical. The idea I wish to 
 convey is that the result of the highest intellection in the 
 scientifically occupied brain is the evolution of a sublimated 
 form of spiritual energy, which, in the cosmic action, is pro- 
 ductive of illimitable results ; while the automatically act- 
 ing brain holds, or stores up in itself, only a certain quan- 
 tum of brute force that is unfruitful of benefit for the 
 individual or humanity. The human brain is an exhaustless 
 generator of the most refined quality of cosmic force out of 
 the low, brute energy of Nature ; and the complete adept 
 has made himself a centre from which irradiate potentiali- 
 ties that beget correlations upon correlations through 
 seons of time to come. This is the key to the mysterj- of 
 his being able to project into and materialise in the visible 
 world the forms that his imagination has constructed out 
 of inert cosmic matter in the invisible world. The adept 
 does not create anything new, but only utilises and manip- 
 ulates materials which Nature has in store around him, 
 and material which, throughout eternities, has passed 
 through all the forms. He has but to choose the one he 
 wants, and recall it into objective existence. Would not 
 this sound to one of your ' learned ' biologists like a mad- 
 man's dream ? 
 
 " You say there are few branches of science with which 
 you do not possess more or less acquaintance, and that you 
 believe you are doing a certain amount of good, having 
 acquired the position to do this by long years of study. 
 Doubtless you do ; but will you permit me to sketch for 
 you still more clearly the difference between the modes of 
 physical (called exact often out of mere compliment) and 
 metaphysical sciences. The latter, as you know, being 
 incapable of verification before mixed audiences, is classed 
 by Mr. Tyndall with the fictions of poetry. The realistic 
 science of fact on the other hand is utterly prosaic. Now, 
 for us, poor unknown philanthropists, no fact of either of 
 these sciences is interesting except in the degree of its 
 potentiality of moral results, and in the ratio of its useful- 
 ness to mankind. And what, in its proud isolation, can be 
 
Anna Kings ford. 147 
 
 more utterly indifferent to everyone and everything, or 
 more bound to nothing but the selfish requisites for its 
 advancement, than this materialistic science of fact ? May 
 I ask then .... what have the laws of Faraday, Tyndall, 
 or others, to do with philanthropy in their abstract relations 
 with humanity, viewed as an intelligent whole ? What care 
 they for Man as an isolated atom of this great and har- 
 monious whole, even though they may sometimes be of 
 practical use to him ? Cosmic energy is something eternal 
 and incessant ; matter is indestructible ; and there stand 
 the scientific facts. Doubt them, and you are an ignoramus ; 
 deny them, a dangerous lunatic, a bigot ; pretend to improve 
 upon the theories — an impertinent charlatan. And yet 
 even these scientific facts never suggested any proof to the 
 world of experimenters that Nature consciously prefers that 
 matter should be indestructible under organic rather than 
 inorganic forms, and that she works slowly but incessantly 
 towards the realisation of tliis object — the evolution of 
 conscious life out of inert material. Hence their ignorance 
 about the scattering and concretion of cosmic energy in its 
 metaphysical aspects, their division about Darwin's theories, 
 their uncertainty about the degree of conscious life in 
 separate elements, and, as a necessity, the scornful rejection 
 of every phenomenon outside their own stated conditions, 
 and the very idea of worlds of semi-intelligent if not intel- 
 lectual forces at work in hidden corners of nature. To give 
 you another practical illustration — we see a vast difference 
 between the two qualities of two equal amounts of energy 
 expended by two men, of whom one, let us suppose, is on 
 his way to his daily quiet work, and another on his way to 
 denounce a fellow-creature at the police station, while the 
 men of science see none ; and we — not they — see a specific 
 difterence between the energy in the motion of the wind 
 and that of a revolving wheel. And why ? Because every 
 thought of man upon being evolved passes into the inner 
 world, and becomes an active entity by associating itself, 
 coalescing we might term it, with an elemental, that is to 
 say, with one of the semi-intelligent forces of the kingdoms. 
 It survives as an active intelligence — a creature of the 
 mind's begetting — for a longer or shorter period proportion- 
 ate with the original intensity of the cerebral action which 
 
148 Madmne Blavatsky, 
 
 generated it. Thus, a good thought is perpetuated as an 
 active, beneficent power, an evil one as a maleficent demon. 
 And so man is continually peopling his current in space 
 with a world of his own, crowded with the offsprings of his 
 fancies, desires, impulses, and passions ; a current which re- 
 acts upon any sensitive or nervous organisation which 
 comes in contact with it, in proportion to its dynamic in- 
 tensity. The Buddhist calls this his ' Shandba ' ; the Hindu 
 gives it the name of ' Karma.' The adept involves these 
 shapes consciously ; other men throw them off unconsci- 
 ously. The adept, to be successful and preserve his power, 
 must dwell in solitude, and more or less within his own soul. 
 Still less does exact science perceive that while the building 
 ant, the busy bee, the nidifacient bird, accumulates each in 
 its own humble way as much cosmic energy in its potential 
 form as a Haydn, a Plato, or a ploughman turning his 
 furrow, in theirs ; the hunter who kills game for his 
 pleasure or profit, or the positivist who applies his intellect 
 to proving that + X -f = - , are wasting and scattering 
 energy no less than the tiger which springs upon its prey. 
 They all rob Nature instead of enriching her, and will 
 all, in the degree of their intelligence, find themselves ac- 
 countable. 
 
 " Exact experimental science has nothing to do with 
 morality, virtue, philanthropy, therefore can make no claim 
 upon our help until it blends itself with metaphysics. 
 Being but a cold classification of facts outside man, and 
 existing before and after him, her domain of usefulness 
 ceases for us at the outer boundary of these facts ; and, 
 whatever the inferences and results for humanity from the 
 materials acquired by her method, she little cares. There- 
 fore, as our sphere lies entirely outside hers — as far as the 
 path of Uranus is outside the Earth's — we distinctly refuse 
 to be broken on any wheel of her construction. Heat is 
 but a mode of motion to her, and motion develops heat, but 
 why the mechanical motion of the revolving wheel should 
 be metaphysically of a higher value than the heat into 
 which it is gradually transformed she has yet to discover. 
 The philosophical and transcendental (hence absurd) notion 
 of the medipeval theosophists that the final progress of 
 human labour, aided by the incessant discoveries of man, 
 
Anna Kingsford, 149 
 
 must one day culminate in a process which, in imitation of 
 the Sun's energy — in its capacity as a direct motor — shall 
 result in the evolution of nutritious food out of inorganic 
 matter, is unthinkable for men of science. Were the sun, 
 the great nourishing father of our planetary system, to hatch 
 granite chickens out of a boulder ' under test conditions ' 
 to-morrow, they (the men of science) would accept it as a 
 scientific fact without wasting a regret that the fowls were 
 not alive so as to feed the hungry and the starving. But 
 let a shaberon cross the Himalayas in a time of famine and 
 multiply sacks of rice for the perishing multitudes — as he 
 could — and your magistrates and collectors would probably 
 lodge him in jail to make him confess what granary he had 
 robbed. This is exact science and your realistic world. 
 And though, as you say, you are impressed by the vast ex- 
 tent of the world's ignorance on every subject, which you 
 pertinately designate as a ' few palpable facts collected and 
 roughly generalised, and a technical jargon invented to 
 hide man's ignorance of all that lies behind these facts,' and 
 though you speak of your faith in the infinite possibilities 
 of Nature, yet you are content to spend your life in a work 
 which aids only that same exact science. . . . 
 
 " Of your several questions we will first discuss, if you 
 please, the one relating to the presumed failure of the 
 ' Fraternity ' to * leave any mark upon the history of the 
 world.' They ought, you think, to have been able, with 
 their extraordinar}^ advantages, to have 'gathered into their 
 schools a considerable portion of the more enlightened 
 minds of every race.' How do you know they have made 
 no such mark? Are you acquainted with their eflforts, suc- 
 cesses, and failures ? Have you any dock upon which to 
 arraign them? How could your world collect proofs of the 
 doings of men who have sedulously kept closed every 
 possible door of approach by which the inquisitive could 
 spy upon them ? The prime condition of their success was 
 that they should never be supervised or obstructed. What 
 they have done they know ; all that those outside their 
 circle could perceive was results, the causes of which were 
 masked from view. To account for these results, men have, 
 in different ages, invented theories of the iQterposition of 
 gods, special providences, fates, the benign or hostile in- 
 
150 Madame Slav at sky. 
 
 fliience of the stars. There never was a time within or 
 before the so-called historical period when our predecessors 
 were not moulding events and * making history/ the facts 
 of which were subsequently and invariably distorted by 
 historians to suit contemporary prejudices. Are you quite 
 sure that the visible heroic figures in the successive dramas 
 were not often but their puppets ? We never pretended to 
 be able to draw nations in the mass to this or that crisis in 
 spite of the general drift of the world's cosmic relations. 
 The cycles must run their rounds. Periods of mental and 
 moral light and darkness succeed each other as day does 
 night. The major and minor yugas must be accomplished 
 accordino- to the established order of thinojs. And we, 
 borne along on the mighty tide, can only modify and direct 
 some of its minor currents. If we had the powers of the 
 imaginary Personal God, and the universal and immutable 
 laws were but toys to play with, then, indeed, might we 
 have created conditions that would have turned this earth 
 into an arcadia for lofty souls. But having to deal with an 
 immutable law, being ourselves its creatures, we have had 
 to do what we could, and rest thankful. There have been 
 times when ' a considerable portion of enlightened minds ' 
 were taught in our schools. Such times there were in 
 India, Persia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. But, as I re- 
 marked in a letter to Mr. Sinnett, the adept is the efflor- 
 escence of his age, and comparatively few ever appear in a 
 single century. Earth is the battle-ground of moral no 
 less than of physical forces, and the boisterousness of 
 animal passion, under the stimulus of the rude energies of 
 the lower group of etheric agents, always tends to quench 
 spirituality. What else could one expect of men so nearly 
 related to the lower kingdom from which they evolved ? 
 True also, our numbers are just now diminishing, but this 
 is because, as I have said, we are of the human race, subject 
 to its cyclic impulse, and powerless to turn that back upon 
 itself. Can you turn the Gunga or the Bramaputra back 
 to its sources ; can you even dam it so that its piled-up 
 waters will not overflow the banks ? No ; but you may 
 draw the stream partly into canals, and utilise its hydraulic 
 power for the good of mankind. So we, who cannot stop 
 the world from going in its destined direction, are yet able 
 
Anna Kings ford. 151 
 
 to divert some part of its energy into useful channels. 
 Think of us as demi-gods, and my explanation will not 
 satisfy you ; view us as simple men — perhaps a little wiser 
 as the result of special study — and it ought to answer your 
 objection. 
 
 " ' What good/ you say, ' is to be attained for my fellows 
 and myself (the two are inseparable) by these occult 
 sciences ? ' When the natives see that an interest is taken 
 by the English, and even by some high officials in India, in 
 their ancestral science and philosophies, they will themselves 
 take openly to their study. And when they come to realise 
 that the old ' divine ' phenomena were not miracles, but 
 scientific effects, superstition will abate. Thus, the greatest 
 evil that now oppresses and retards the revival of Indian 
 civilisation wdll in time disappear. The present tendency 
 of education is to make them materialistic and root out spiri- 
 tuality. With a proper understanding of what their ances- 
 tors meant by their writings and teachings, education would 
 become a blessing, whereas now it is often a curse. At 
 present the non-educated, as much as the learned natives, 
 regard the English as too prejudiced, because of their Chris- 
 tian religion and modern science, to care to understand 
 them or their traditions. They mutually hate and mis- 
 trust each other. This changed attitude towards the older 
 philosophy, would influence the native princes and wealthy 
 men to endow normal schools for the education of pundits ; 
 and old MSS., hitherto buried out of the reach of the 
 Europeans, would again come to light, and with them the 
 key to much of that which was hidden for ages from the 
 popular understanding, for which your sceptical Sanscritists 
 do not care, which your religious missionaries do not dare, 
 to understand. Science would gain much, humanity every- 
 thing. Under the stimulus of the Anglo-Indian Theosophi- 
 cal Society, we might in time see another golden age of 
 
 Sanscrit literature 
 
 " If we look at Ceylon we shall see the most scholarly 
 priests combining, under the lead of the Theosophical 
 Society, in a new exegesis of Buddhistic philosophy ; and at 
 Galle, on the 15th of September, a secular Theosophical 
 School for the teaching of Singhalese youth, opened with 
 an attendance of over three hundred scholars ; an example 
 
152 Madame Blavatsky. 
 
 about to be imitated at three other points in that island. 
 If the Theosophical Society, 'as at present constituted/ 
 has indeed no ' real vitality/ and yet in its modest way has 
 done so much practical good, how much greater results 
 might not be anticipated from a body organised upon the 
 better plan you could suggest ? 
 
 " The same causes that are materialising the Hindu mind 
 are equally affecting all Western thought. Education en- 
 thrones scepticism, but imprisons spirituality. You can do 
 immense good by helping to give the Western nations a 
 secure basis upon which to reconstruct their crumbling 
 faith. And what they need is the evidence that Asiatic 
 psychology alone supplies. Give this, and you will confer 
 happiness of mind on thousands. The era of blind faith is 
 gone; that of inquiry is here. Inquiry that only unmasks 
 error, without discovering anything upon which the soul 
 can build, will but make iconoclasts. Iconoclasm, from its 
 very destructiveness, can give nothing ; it can only raze. 
 But man cannot rest satisfied with bare negation. Agnos- 
 ticism is but a temporary halt. This is the moment to 
 guide the recurrent impulse which must soon come, and 
 which will push the age towards extreme atheism, or drag 
 it back to extreme sacerdotalism, if it is not led to the 
 primitive soul-satisfying philosophy of the Aryans. He 
 who observes what is going on to-day, on the one hand 
 among the Catliolics, who are breeding mira^cles as fast as 
 the white ants do their young, on the other among the free 
 thinkers, who are converting by masses into Agnostics — 
 will see the drift of things. The age is revelling at a de- 
 bauch of phenomena. The same marvels that the spiritual- 
 ists quote in opposition to the dogmas of eternal perdition 
 and atonement, the Catholics swarm to witness as proof of 
 their faith in miracles. The sceptics make game of both. 
 All are blind, and there is no one to lead them. You and 
 your colleagues may help to furnish the materials for a 
 needed universal religious philosophy ; one impregnable to 
 scientific assault, because itself the finality of absolute 
 science, and a religion that is indeed worthy of the name 
 since it includes the relations of man physical to man 
 psychical, and of the two to all that is above and below 
 them. Is not this worth a slight sacrifice ? And if, after 
 
Anna Kingsford, 153 
 
 reflection, you shall decide to enter this new career, let it 
 be known that your society is no miracle-mongering or 
 banqueting club, nor specially given to the study of pheno- 
 menalism. Its chief aim is to extirpate current supersti- 
 tions and scepticism, and from long-sealed ancient fountains 
 to draw the proof that man may shape his own future 
 destiny and know for a certainty that he can live hereafter, 
 if he only wills, and that all ' plienomena ' are but mani- 
 festations of natural law, to try to comprehend which is the 
 duty of every intelligent being." 
 
 All this is very fine, but it suggests a doubt whether 
 Madame Blavatsky knew anything herself about the soul 
 growth of Boehme and Buddha. With her the "ancient 
 Indian spiritualism " seems to mean " phenomena," " science," 
 " proof " of a next world. 
 
 An able analysis of the Koot Hoomi letters is given by 
 Mr. Hodgson in the Report that I have frequently quoted. 
 Mr. Sims and Mr. Nethercliffc, the leading experts in hand- 
 writing, pronounced the letters to be in the handwriting of 
 Madame Blavatsky, unskilfully disguised at first, more 
 skilfully disguised later on. Mr. Hodgson saw many of 
 these letters in manuscript, a great advantage, as he says 
 that in print they have been much edited. He thinks that 
 in style Koot Hoomi and Madame Blavatsky have many 
 points of similarity, " especially in the cumbrous and wordy 
 form of sentence which so often appears, in the abundance 
 of parenthetical phrases, and in the occasional use of oidri 
 metaphors." 
 
 Also both at times wrote curious English : — 
 
 Koot Hoomi. Madame Blavatsky. 
 
 your's, her's your's 
 
 fulfill, dispell expell 
 
 thiefs thiefs 
 
 leasure deceaved, beseached 
 
 quarreling, marshaling quarreling, quarreled 
 
 alloted cooly (for coolly) 
 
 in totto lazzy, lazziness 
 
 defense defense 
 
 Other mistakes, says Mr. Hodgson, suggesting that the 
 
154 
 
 Madame Blavatsky 
 
 writer was accustomed to French, may be found in different 
 Koot Hoomi documents ; for instance, montain for movm- 
 tcdn, pro fond for profound, vantedy for vaunted. " You 
 have to beat your iron while it is yet hot." 
 
 Also both seemed to have the same ideas about dividing 
 words at the end of a line : — 
 
 Koot Hoomi. 
 
 Madame Blavatsky. 
 
 incessan-tly, direc-tly 
 
 una-cquainted 
 
 fun-ctions 
 
 po-werless 
 
 des-pite, misunders-tood 
 
 recen-tly, hones-tly, perfec-tly 
 
 cha-nged 
 
 correc-tness 
 
 po-wers 
 
 Beacon-sfields 
 
 Both also seemed to mentally construct their sentences 
 first in French and then to transfer them to English. Mr. 
 Hodgson gives several specimens of these. Amongst others 
 the following^ : — 
 
 Koot Hoomi. 
 
 Madame Blavatsky. 
 
 So more the pity for him. 
 
 You felt impatient and 
 believed having reasons to 
 complain. 
 
 One who understands 
 tolerably well English. 
 
 Their active meiitality pre- 
 venting them to receive clear 
 outside impressions. 
 
 So more the pity for him. 
 
 There is not a tittle of 
 doubt for it being so. 
 
 Olcott says you speak very 
 well English. 
 
 The mediums reproached 
 me with preventing by my 
 presence the " spirits " to 
 come. 
 
 Then, too, there were specimens of American spelling, for 
 instance, Koot Hoomi spelt " skepticism " thus. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 PROFESSOR KIDDLE. 
 
 Madame Blavatsky with Colonel Olcott and Baboula, the 
 conjurer's boy, is steaming through the Suez Canal. She 
 is approaching, but from an opposite pole, Anna Kingsford. 
 
 The advent of this latter lady was of immense importance 
 to the theosophists. She did not stay very long, but she 
 imported mysticism into the society. Koot Hoomi had 
 prated about the mystical " banner," but as theosophy with 
 Madame Blavatsky meant the guinea annual subscriptions 
 of the members, it stood to reason that she could not toler- 
 ate any theory of magic that was not based on intricate 
 secrets of the powers of five-ra^^ed stars and catch -words, 
 of which she alone possessed accurate knowledge. With 
 Mrs. Kingsford were associated earnest students of the old 
 Kabbalism like Mrs. Penny and Mr. Maitland. A few of 
 these remained in the society, but most of them by and by 
 left and formed "Hermetic" societies, "Christian Magians," 
 " Christo Theosophical " societies, and so on. 
 
 Madame Blavatsky at length reached England ; but it is 
 to be doubted whether it was very wise policy allowing her 
 to come. She was soon at her old tricks. The day after 
 she v/as introduced to Anna Kingsford, a little comedy took 
 place. The two ladies met in the morning, and by and by 
 went together to a pastry-cook's shop for lunch. A discus- 
 sion had previously taken place about a certain article in The 
 Theosophist, Madame Blavatsky, who had started it, main- 
 taining that such and such words were in the article, and 
 Mrs. Kingsford being under an impression that they were 
 
 not. With the Russian lady was a native of India, M , 
 
 who had come to England to bear testimony as to the exist- 
 ence of the Mahatmas. 
 
 " M — ' — , have you got that copy of The Theosophist in 
 your pocket ? " said Madame Blavatsky. 
 
 155 
 
156 Madame B lav at sky. 
 
 The answer was in the negative. 
 
 At lunch the discussion was revived, and Madame Bla- 
 vatsky was more positive than ever. She affected to lose 
 her temper. 
 
 " M , I must have that copy," meaning that it must 
 
 be at once brought by occult means. 
 
 " There it is 1 " said M , producing it from his pocket, 
 
 but Mrs. Kingsford failed to credit this " precipitation." 
 
 Mrs. Kingsford used to narrate another amusing anecdote. 
 One day she cross-examined the native. 
 
 " M , tell me truly, have you ever seen these Mahat- 
 
 mas ? " 
 
 " Seen ! What do you mean by ' seen ' ? The word is 
 vague." 
 
 " Have you seen any of them in the flesh ? " 
 
 " In the flesh ! No ! I have seen their astral bodies." 
 
 A short time afterwards Mrs. Kingsford learnt from 
 another lady that she had put the same question, and elic- 
 ited quite a different answer. 
 
 "M , what is this? You told Mrs. Dash that you 
 
 had seen the Mahatmas in the flesh." 
 
 " Yes, I did so proclaim," said the native. 
 
 " And you told me just the contrary." 
 
 " That is so." 
 
 " But is not one statement a falsehood ? " 
 
 " No, it is occultism — " 
 
 " Then occultism permits — " 
 
 " Any lie as long as it is not quite impossible." 
 
 Dr. Anna Kingsford told me another funny anecdote. 
 Madame Blavatsky was at an evening party convened in 
 her honour, and M , the native, was there also. Sud- 
 denly in the middle of a commonplace conversation, the 
 Russian lady threw herself sprawling on her knees, and 
 
 M imitated her. Both looked with an expression of 
 
 reverence and awe in the direction of an imaginary Ma- 
 hatma whom they pretended to see. 
 
 But in truth the alliance between Madame Blavatsky 
 and Anna Kingsford could not last very long. The mind 
 of one was saturated with the teachings of Boehme and 
 the fine old mystics, whereas the theosophy of the other 
 was a complete antagonism to this. 
 
Professor Kiddle. 157 
 
 The motto of the neo-platonist was simple — " Withdraw 
 into thyself, and the adytum of thine own soul will reveal 
 to thee profounder secrets than the Cave of Mithras." 
 
 The philosophy of Mrs. Kingsford was similar : — " There 
 is no enlightenment from without. The secret of things is 
 revealed from within." 
 
 She had an original mind, but she never liked to break 
 completely away from the old orthodoxies. She pondered 
 over the saying of Matthew Arnold : 
 
 " At the present moment there are two things about the 
 Christian religion which must be obvious to every percipient 
 person ; one, that men cannot do without it ; the other, that 
 they cannot do with it as it is." 
 
 But Christianity was certainly not an atheism. Indeed 
 the Christian mystics, as Mrs. Kingsford well knew, based 
 their entire system on the text (John xiv. 23), "Jesus an- 
 swered and said unto him, If a man love me he will keep 
 my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come 
 unto him and make our abode with him." 
 
 But how could there be union with God in a system 
 which denied God altogether ? The answer was that by 
 
 " living the life," a theosophist like M was rewarded 
 
 by visits from the Mahatmas in their astral bodies. But 
 then what guarantee was there for the genuineness of these 
 visits ? The Mahatma might be a wicked shell personating 
 a Mahatma. Besides a visit from a Mahatma has nothing 
 to do with the next world at all. A Mahatma is as much a 
 
 mortal as M himself. But after life theories are 
 
 theories, and folks can differ about these theories and still 
 remain fast friends. But Madame Blavatsky was very 
 irritable and very aggressive. Mrs. Kingsford, in alliance 
 with Mr. Maitland, wrote a pamphlet protesting against her 
 atheism. They proposed that a section of the London 
 Lodge should be allowed independent speculations. But a 
 letter from Koot Hoomi at once threatened immediate 
 expulsion. And a still less satisfactory event now 
 occurred. 
 
 In Mr. Hodgson's article (p. 397 of the " Proceedings ") is 
 a copy of a letter written by Madame Blavatsky to a 
 medium^ " X," exhorting him to deceive Mr. Massey by the 
 aid of a sham miracle. 
 
158 Madame Blavatsky, 
 
 " My Dear Good Friend, 
 
 " Do you remember what Z (the medium's control) told 
 or rather promised to me ? That whenever there is need for 
 it he will always be ready to carry any message, leave it 
 either on Massey's table, his pocket, or some other mysteri- 
 ous place. Well now, there is the tnost important need for 
 such a sliow of his powers. Please ask him to take the 
 enclosed letter and put it into M.'s pocket, or in some other 
 still more mysterious place. But he must not know it is Z. 
 Let him think what he likes, but he must not suspect you 
 had been near him with Z at your orders. He does not 
 distrust you, but he does Z." 
 
 Madame Blavatsky, taxed with this letter, admitted that 
 this portion was genuine : — 
 
 " ExGHEiN, Friday. 
 
 " All I have the honour now of telling you is — on my 
 theosojyJoical ivord of honour, — 1. That I am the author of 
 but the first part of the letter you quote, i.e., a few hurried 
 lines to X, after receiving the letter addressed to you and 
 received by me at Girgaum, Bombay — asking X to remind 
 Z of his promise and convey the letter to you by any means 
 provided they were occult. My authorship begins with ' My 
 dear good friend,' and ends with ' He does not distrust you, 
 but he does Z.' What follows after has never been written 
 by me." 
 
 But Mr. Hodgson draws attention to the fact that there 
 was nothing in her letter about sending the letter to Mr. 
 Massey " only by occult means," and that in the other part 
 of the letter a certain " L.L." was to be treated to occult 
 letters by pure cheating. It will be remembered that Mrs. 
 Besant has urged in her biography that Madame Coulomb 
 is the sole witness against Madame Blavatsky. This is not 
 quite correct, for in Cairo, in America, and here in London, 
 the same queer stories of confederacy crop up. And the 
 defence, namely, that part of the letter is forged, is unin- 
 telligible. How could a piece of paper be found with water- 
 marks, etc., corresponding exactly with those of the letter 
 
Professo7' Kiddle. 159 
 
 to be altered, and how could the two pieces be spliced 
 together so as to avoid detection ? 
 
 But whilst Anna Kingsford was tryino- to reconcile 
 Madame Guyon and Koot Hoomi, and the Psycliic Research 
 Society were taking down " depositions," and listening to 
 the "astral bell " concealed up Madame Blavatsky's petti- 
 coats, a bolt fell from the blue. In Ligld, September 1st, 
 1883, appeared the following letter : — 
 
 " Sir, 
 
 "In a communication that appeared in your issue 
 of July 21st, ' G. W., M.D,,' reviewing * Esoteric Buddhism/ 
 says : ' Regarding this Koot Hoomi, it is a very remarkable 
 and unsatisfactory fact that Mr. Sinnett, although in cor- 
 respondence with him for years, has yet never JDcen per- 
 mitted to see him.' I agree with your correspondent 
 entirely; and this is not the only fact that is unsatisfactory 
 to me. On reading Mr. Sinnett's ' Occult World,' more 
 than a year ago, I was very greatly surprised to find in one of 
 the letters presented by Mr. Sinuett as having been trans- 
 mitted to him by Koot Hoomi, in the mysterious manner 
 described, a passage taken almost verhatirti from an address 
 on Spiritualism by me at Lake Pleasant, in August, 1880, 
 and published the same month by the Banner of Light. 
 As Mr. Sinnett's book did not appear till a considerable 
 time afterwards (about a year, I think), it is certain that I 
 did not quote, consciously or unconsciously, from its pages. 
 How, then, did it get into Koot Hoomi's mysterious letter ? 
 
 " I sent to Mr. Sinnett a letter through his publishers, 
 enclosing the printed pages of my address, with the part 
 used by Koot Hoomi marked upon it, and asked for an 
 explanation, for I wondered that so great a sage as Koot 
 Hoomi should need to borrow anything from so humble a 
 student of spiritual things as myself. As yet I have re- 
 ceived no reply ; and the query has been suggested to my 
 mind — Is Koot Hoomi a myth ? or, if not, is he so great an 
 adept as to have impressed my mind with his thoughts and 
 words while I was preparing my address ? If the latter 
 were the case he could not consistently exclaim : ' Pereant 
 qui ante nos nostra dixerunt.' 
 
 '' Perhaps Mr. Sinnett may think it scarcely worth while 
 
i6o Madame Blavatsky. 
 
 to solve this little problem ; but the fact that the existence 
 of the brotherhood has not yet been proved may induce 
 some to raise the question suggested by ' G. W., Sl.D.' Is 
 there any such secret order ? On this question, which is 
 not intended to imply anything offensive to Mr. Sinnett, 
 that other still more important question may depend. Is 
 Mr. Sinnett's recently published book an exponent of 
 Esoteric Buddhism ? It is, doubtless, a work of great 
 ability, and its statements are Vv^orthy of deep thought ; but 
 the main question is, are they true, or how can they be 
 verified ? As this cannot be accomplished except by the 
 exercise of abnormal or transcendental faculties, they must 
 be accepted, if at all, upon the ii^se dixit of the accom- 
 plished adept, who has been so kind as to sacrifice his 
 esoteric character or vow, and make Mr. Sinnett his channel 
 of communication with the outer world, thus rendering his 
 sacred knowledge exoteric Hence, if this publication, with 
 its wonderful doctrine of ' Shells,' overturning the consola- 
 tory conclusions of Spiritualists, is to be accepted, the 
 authority must be established, and the existence of the 
 adept or adepts — indeed, the facts of adeptship — must be 
 proved. The first step in affording this proof has hardly 
 yet, I think, been taken. I trust this book will be very 
 carefully analysed, and the nature of its inculcations ex- 
 posed, whether they are Esoteric Buddhism or not." 
 
 The following are the passages referred to, printed side 
 by side for the sake of ready reference : — 
 
 Eoctract from Mr. Kiddle's Extract fromKoot Hoomis 
 
 discourse, entitled "The Pre- letter to Mr. Sinnett, in the 
 
 sent Outlook of Spiritual- ''Occidt World,'' Srd Edi- 
 
 ism," delivered at Lake tion, p. 102. The first edi- 
 
 Pleasant Camp Meeting on tion was published in June^ 
 
 Sunday, August 15th, ISSO. 1881. 
 
 "My friends, icZeas rule the "Ideas rule the world ; and 
 
 world; and as men's minds as men's minds receive new 
 
 receive new ideas, laying ideas, laying aside the old 
 
 asid§ the old and effete, the and effete, the world will 
 
 world advances. Societyrests advance, mighty revolutions 
 
Professor Kiddle. 
 
 i6i 
 
 U[)on them ; mighty revolu- 
 tions spring from them ; in- 
 stitutions crumble before 
 their onward march. It is 
 just as impossible to resist 
 their influx, when the time 
 comes, as to stay the pro- 
 gress of the tide. 
 
 And the agency called 
 Spiritualism is bringing a 
 new set of ideas into the 
 world — ideas on the most 
 momentous subjects, touch- 
 ing man's true position in 
 the universe ; his origin and 
 destiny ; the relation of the 
 mortal to the immortal ; of 
 the temporary to the Eternal ; 
 of the flnite to the Infinite ; 
 of man's deathless soul to the 
 material universe in which 
 it now dwells — ideas larger, 
 more general, more compre- 
 hensive, recoGjnisinoj more 
 fully the universal reign of 
 law as the expression of the 
 Divine will, unchanging and 
 unchangeable, in regard to 
 which there is only an Eter- 
 nal NoWy while to mortals 
 time is past or future, as re- 
 
 will spring from them, creeds 
 and even powers will crumble 
 before their onward march, 
 crushed by their irresistible 
 force. It will be just as im- 
 possible to resist their in- 
 fluence when the time 
 comes as to stay the pro- 
 gress of the tide. But all 
 this will come gradually on, 
 and before it comes we have 
 a duty set before us: that of 
 sweeping away as much as 
 possible the dross left to 
 us by our pious forefathers. 
 New ideas have to be planted 
 on clean places, for these 
 ideas touch upon the most 
 momentous subjects. It is 
 not physical phenomena, but 
 these universal ideas that we 
 study, as to comprehend the 
 former, we have first to un- 
 derstand the latter. They 
 touch man's true position in 
 the universe in relation to 
 his previous and futuie 
 births, his origin and ulti- 
 mate destiny; the relation of 
 the mortal to the immortal, of 
 the temporary to the Eternal, 
 of the finite to the Infinite ; 
 ideas larger, grander, more 
 comprehensive, recognising 
 the eternal reign of immut- 
 able law, unchanging and 
 unchangeable, in regard to 
 which there is only an Eter- 
 nal Now: while to unini- 
 tiated mortals time is past 
 or future, as related to 
 
1 62 Madame Blavatsky, 
 
 lated to their finite existence their finite existence on this 
 on this material plane ; &c., material speck of dirt ; <foc., 
 &c., &c. &c., &c. 
 
 " New York, Aug, 11, 1883." " Henry Kiddle." 
 
 This letter created an immense excitement in occult 
 circles. And an explanatory letter from Tibet, if anything, 
 made matters worse. In it Koot Hoomi announced that he 
 had gone ofi'to Mount Pleasant in his astral or spirit body, and 
 there had heard Professor Kiddle's inspirational address. 
 
 " For the first time in my life I paid serious attention to 
 the utterances of the poetical media (American for mediums), 
 of the so-called ' inspirational ' oratory of the English 
 American lecturers, its quality and limitations. I was 
 struck with all this brilliant but empty verbiage, and re- 
 cognised for the first time fully its materialism." 
 
 Returning to the flesh in Tibet, with this "inspirational" 
 discourse jingling in his ear, the Mahatma proposed not 
 to plagiarise from it but to attack it in a letter sent 
 to Madame Blavatsky through the spiritual telegraph. 
 "Proofs," it appears, are struck off" in this process, but the 
 Mahatma, being tired after a long ride, failed to correct 
 them on this occasion. These " proofs " are all carefully 
 kept ; and a new version of the letter corrected from the 
 proofs was sent. 
 
 But the terrible Professor Kiddle was again on the 
 watch. In Light (Sept. 20, 1884), he pointed out that if 
 the Mahatma went in his astral body to Mount Pleasant he 
 could scarcely have heard the discourse, for it was delivered 
 at Lake Pleasant. 
 
 Also, if the main object of his astral flight was to wit- 
 ness a "medium" discoursing under the obsession of a spirit 
 it is difficult to understand his satisfaction at his success, 
 for the professor is no " medium," and he read the lecture 
 from a manuscript. 
 
 The cup was full. Anna Kingsford retired, together 
 with Mr. Maitland, Mr. Stainton Moses, Mr. Massey, in fact 
 the greater portion of the intelligent members of the 
 society. They had long argued that whether there were 
 Mahatmas or no it was desirable to support a society in 
 touch with the real occultism of India. To this important 
 question we must now turn. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 BUDDHISM, '•' ESOTERIC " AND GENUINE. 
 
 In *' The Secret Doctrine," Madame Blavatsky announces 
 that there are two Buddhisms, two revelations of occultism, 
 a sham one to be found in the discourses which, with 
 pleasant comedy, Buddha delivered to his disciples to put 
 them off the track of the real secrets, and a real one only 
 known to her. 
 
 Oddly enough, if we turn to the " Lalita Vistara," which 
 contains the life of Buddha, we find a claim very similar to 
 hers. It states that the work was written to reveal the 
 " mysteries " of the Buddhas, the secrets of yoga, to show 
 how a mortal can acquire the " divine vision," with its con- 
 comitant " magical powers " (Foucaux's translation, pp. 7, 
 401). ^ ^ 
 
 Which is the authentic claimant here ? and which the 
 sham one ? My own impression is that better than any 
 other work in the world, better than the Upanisbads, better 
 than Cornelius Agrippa or Paracelsus, the " Lalita Vistara " 
 reveals the secrets of the White Magician. The Western 
 occultists give a hint here, and a dark sentence there. 
 They write under the shade of the great Roman Church. 
 The "Lalita Vistara" without any disguise gives the external 
 and the internal development of the adept (Brahmajnani, 
 be who knows Brahma). As this work has never been 
 treated from this point of view, I will give a hasty sketch 
 of it. 
 
 Buddha was born of the Virgin of the Zodiac, called by 
 the Brahmins, Maya Devi. He comes to her womb as an 
 elephant. Capricorn in the early Buddbist sculptures is an 
 elephant issuing from a Makara, or Leviathan. The "Lalita 
 Vistara" talks of tbe elephant Airavana (born of the waters), 
 and also of the elephant called Bodhi (spiritual enlighten- 
 ment). It is plainly a story, not of an ordinary birth, but 
 
 163 
 
164 Madame Blavatsky, 
 
 of the birth of the Parusba, the divine man of Brahminism, 
 the Higher Ego, the Higher Adam of Christianity. 
 
 At the birth of the little prince soothsayers were con- 
 sulted by the king. They pronounced the following : — 
 
 *' The young boy will, without doubt, be either a king of 
 kings, or a great Buddha. If he is destined to be a great 
 Buddha, four presaging tokens will make his mission plain. 
 He will see — 
 
 " 1. An old man. 
 
 " 2. A sick man. 
 
 " 3. A corpse. 
 
 " 4. A holy recluse. 
 
 " If he fails to see these four presaging tokens of an 
 avatara, he will be simply a Chakravartin (king of earthty 
 kings)." 
 
 King Suddhodana, who was a trifle worldly, was very 
 much comforted by the last prediction of the soothsayers. 
 He thought in his heart. It will be an easy thing to keep 
 these four presaging tokens from the young prince. So he 
 gave orders that three magnificent palaces should at once be 
 built — the Palace of Spring, the Palace of Summer, the 
 Palace of Winter. These palaces, as we learn from the 
 " Lalita Yistara," were the most beautiful palaces ever con- 
 ceived on earth. Indeed, they were quite able to cope in 
 splendour with Yaijayanta, the immortal palace of Indra 
 himself. Costly pavilions were built out in all directions, 
 with ornamented porticoes and furbished doors. Turrets 
 and pinnacles soared into the sky. Dainty little windows 
 gave light to the rich apartments. Galleries, balustrades, 
 and delicate trellis -work were abundant everywhere. A 
 thousand bells tinkled on each roof. We seem to have the 
 lacquered Chinese edifices of the pattern which architects 
 believe to have flourished in early India. The gardens of 
 these fine palaces rivalled the chess-board in the rectangular 
 exactitude of their parterres and trellis- work bowers. 
 Cool lakes nursed on their calm bosoms storks and cranes, 
 wild geese and tame swans ; ducks, also, as parti-coloured 
 as the white, red, and blue lotuses amongst which they 
 swam. Bending to these lakes were bowery trees — the 
 champak, the acacia serisha, and the beautiful asoka-tree 
 with its orange-scarlet flowers. Above rustled the mimosa, 
 
Buddhism, ''Esoteric'' and Genuine. 165 
 
 the fan-palm, and the feathery pippala, Buddha's tree. 
 The air was heavy with the scent of the tube-rose and the 
 Indian jasmine. These palaces, when the prince was old 
 enough, were peopled witli beautiful wives and concubines. 
 The chief wife was lovely Yasodhara. 
 
 Perhaps, at this time, the good King Suddhodana was 
 more happy than even the prince in the ecstasy of his 
 honeymoon. He had found for that prince the most beauti- 
 ful wife in the world. He had built him palaces that were 
 the talk of the whole of Hindoostan. No Indian maharaja 
 before had had such beautiful palaces, such lovely wives 
 and handmaidens, such dancing girls, singers, jewels, 
 luxuries. In his bowers of camphor cinnamon, amid the 
 enchanting perfumes of the tube-rose and the santal-tree, 
 his life must surely be one long bliss, a dream that has no 
 awakening. 
 
 But suddenly this exultation was dashed with a note of 
 woe. The king dreamt that he saw his son in the russet 
 cowl of the beggar-hermit. Awaking in a fright, he called 
 an eunuch. 
 
 " Is my son in the palace ? " he asked abruptly. 
 
 '' He is, king." 
 
 The dream frightened the king very much, and he 
 ordered five hundred guards to be placed at every corner 
 of the walls of the Palace of Summer. And the soothsayers 
 having announced that a Buddha, if he escapes at all, 
 always escapes by the Gate of Benediction, folding doors of 
 immense size were here erected. The sound of their swing 
 on their hinges resounded to a distance of half a yogana 
 (three and a half miles). Five hundred men were required 
 to stir either gate. These precautions completely quieted 
 the king's mind, until one day he received a terrible piece 
 of news. His son had seen the first of the four presaging 
 tokens. He had seen an old man. 
 
 This is how the matter came about. The king had pre- 
 pared a garden even more beautiful than the garden of the 
 Palace of Summer. A soothsayer had told him that if he 
 could succeed in showing the prince this garden, the prince 
 would be content to remain in it with his wives for ever. 
 No task seemed easier than this, so it was arranged that on 
 a certain day the prince should be driven thither in his 
 
1 66 Madame B lav at sky 
 
 chariot. But, of course, immense precautions had to be 
 taken to keep all old men and sick men and corpses from 
 his sight. Quite an army of soldiers was told off for this 
 duty, and the city was decked with flao^s. The path of the 
 prince was strewn with flowers and scents, and adorned 
 with vases of the rich kadali plant. Above were costly 
 hangings and garlands, and pagodas of bells. 
 
 But, lo and behold ! as the prince was driving along, 
 plump under the wheels of his chariot, and before the very 
 noses of the silken nobles and the warriors with javelins 
 and shields, he saw an unusual sight. This was an old 
 man, very decrepit and very broken. The veins and nerves 
 of his body were swollen and prominent ; his teeth chat- 
 tered ; he was wrinkled, bald, and his few remaining hairs 
 were of dazzling whiteness ; he was bent very nearly double, 
 and tottered feebly along, supported by a stick. 
 
 " What is this, O coachman ? " said the prince. " A man 
 with his blood all dried up, and his muscles glued to his 
 body ! His head is white ; his teeth knock together ; he is 
 scarcely able to move along, even with the aid of that 
 stick!" 
 
 " Prince," said the coachman, " this is Old Age. This 
 man's senses are dulled ; suffering has destroyed his spirit ; 
 he is contemned by his neighbours. Unable to help him- 
 self, he has been abandoned in this forest." 
 
 " Is this a peculiarity of his family ? " demanded the 
 prince, " or is it the law of the w^orld ? Tell me quickly." 
 
 "Prince," said the coachman, " it is neither a law of his 
 family, nor a law of the kingdom. In every being youth is 
 conquered by age. Your own father and mother and all 
 your relations will end in old age. There is no other issue 
 to humanity." 
 
 " Then youth is blind and ignorant," said the prince, " and 
 sees not the future. If this body is to be the abode of old 
 age, what have I to do with pleasure and its intoxications ? 
 Turn round the chariot, and drive me back to the palace ! " 
 
 Consternation was in the minds of all the courtiers at 
 this untoward occurrence ; but the odd circumstance of all 
 was that no one was ever able to bring to condign punish- 
 ment the miserable author of the mischief. The old man 
 could never be found. 
 
Buddhism^ ''^Esoteric'' and Genume. 167 
 
 King Suddhodana was at first quite beside himself with 
 tribulation. Soldiers were summoned from the distant pro- 
 vinces, and a cordon of detachments thrown out to a dis- 
 tance of four miles in each direction, to keep the other pre- 
 saging tokens from the prince. By-and-by the king became 
 a little more quieted. A ridiculous accident had interfered 
 with his plans : " If my son could see the Garden of Happi- 
 ness he never would become a hermit." The king deter- 
 mined that another attempt should be made. But this time 
 the precautions were doubled. 
 
 On the first occasion the prince left the Palace of Summer 
 by the eastern gate. The second expedition was through 
 the southern gate. 
 
 But another untoward event occurred. As the prince 
 was driving along in his chariot, suddenly he saw close to 
 him a man emaciated, ill, loathsome, burning with fever. 
 Companionless, uncared for, he tottered along, breathing 
 with extreme difticulty. 
 
 " Coachman," said the prince, " what is this man, livid 
 and loathsome in body, whose senses are dulled, and whose 
 limbs are withered ? His stomach is oppressing him ; he is 
 covered with filth. Scarcely can he draw the breath of 
 life!" 
 
 " Prince," said the coachman, " this is Sickness. This 
 poor man is attacked with a grievous malady. Strength 
 and comfort have shunned him. He is friendless, hope- 
 less, without a country, without an asylum. The fear of 
 death is before his eyes." 
 
 " If the health of man," said Buddha, " is but the sport of 
 a dream, and the fear of coming evils can put on so loath- 
 some a shape, how can the wise man, who has seen what 
 life really means, indulge in its vain delights ? Turn back, 
 coachman, and drive me to the palace ! " 
 
 The angry king, when he heard what had occurred, gave 
 orders that the sick man should be seized and punished, but 
 although a price was placed on his head, and he was 
 searched for far and wide, he could never be caught. A 
 clue to this is furnished by a passage in the " Lalita Yistara." 
 The sick man was in reality one of the Spirits of the Pure 
 Abode, masquerading in sores and spasms. These Spirits 
 of the Pure Abode are also called the Buddhas of the Past 
 
1 68 Madame Blavatsky, 
 
 in many passages. The answers of the coachman were due 
 to their inspiration. 
 
 It would ahnost seem as if some influence, malefic or 
 otherwise, was stirring the good King Suddhodana. Un- 
 moved by failure, he urged the prince to a third effort. 
 The chariot this time was to set out by the western gate. 
 Greater precautions than ever were adopted. The chain of 
 guards was posted at least twelve miles off from the Palace 
 of Summer. But the Buddhas of the Past again arrested 
 the prince. His chariot was suddenly crossed by a phan- 
 tom funeral procession. A phantom corpse, smeared with 
 the orthodox mud, and spread with a sheet, was carried on 
 a bier. Phantom women wailed, and phantom musicians 
 played on the drum and the Indian flute. No doubt also, 
 phantom Brahmins chanted hymns to Jatavedas, to bear 
 away the immortal part of the dead man to the home of the 
 Pitris. 
 
 "What is tiiis?" said the prince. "Why do these 
 women beat their breasts and tear their hair ? Why do these 
 good folks cover their heads witli the dust of the ground. 
 And that strange form upon its litter, wherefore is it so rigid?" 
 
 " Prince," said the charioteer, " this is Death ! Yon form, 
 pale and stiflTened, can never again walk and move. Its 
 owner has gone to the unknown caverns of Yama. His 
 father, his mother, his child, his wife cry out to him, but he 
 cannot hear." 
 
 Buddha was sad. 
 
 " W^oe be to youth, which is the sport of age ! Woe be 
 to health, which is the sport of many maladies ! W^oe be 
 to life, which is as a breath 1 Woe be to the idle pleasures 
 which debauch humanit}^ ! But for the ' five aggregations ' 
 there would be no age, sickness, nor death. Go back to the 
 city. I must compass the deliverance.'*' 
 
 A fourth time the prince was urged by his father to visit 
 the Garden of Happiness. The chain of guards this time 
 was sixteen miles away. The exit was by the northern 
 gate. But suddenly a calm man of gentle mien, wearing 
 an ochre-red cowl, was seen in the roadway. 
 
 " Who is this," said tlie prince, " rapt, gentle, peaceful in 
 mien ? He looks as if his mind were far away elsewhere. 
 He carries a bowl in his hand." 
 
Buddhism, ^''Esoteric'" and Gemdne. 169 
 
 " Prince, this is the New Life," said the charioteer. 
 " That man is of those whose thoughts are fixed on the 
 eternal Brahma [Brahmacharin]. He seeks the divine 
 voice. He seeks the divine vision. He carries the alms- 
 bowl of the holy beggar [bhikshu]. His mind is calm, be- 
 cause the gross lures of the lower life can vex it no more." 
 
 " Such a life I covet," said the prince. " The lusts of man 
 are like the sea-water — they mock man's tliirst instead of 
 quenching it. I will seek the divine vision and give im- 
 mortality to man ! " 
 
 King Suddhodana was beside himself. He placed five 
 hundred corseleted Sakyas at every gate of the Palace of 
 Summer. Chains of sentries were round the walls, which 
 were raised and strengthened. A phalanx of loving Vv^ives, 
 armed with javelins, was posted round the prince's bed to 
 " narrowly watch " him. The king ordered also all the 
 allurements of sense to be constantly presented to the 
 prince. 
 
 " Let the women of the zenana cease not for an instant 
 their concerts and mirth and sport. Let them shine in silks 
 and sparkle in diamonds and emeralds." 
 
 The allegory is in reality a great battle between two 
 camps — the denizens of the Kamaloka, or tlie Domains of 
 Appetite, and the denizens of the Erahmaloka,or the Domains 
 of Pure Spirit. The latter are unseen, but not unfelt. 
 
 For one day, when the prince reclined on a silken couch 
 listening to the sweet crooning of four or five brown-skinned, 
 large-eyed Indian girls, his eyes suddenly assumed a dazed 
 and absorbed look, and the rich liangings and garlands and 
 intricate trellis-work of the golden apartment were still 
 present, but dim to his mind. And music and voices, more 
 sweet than he had ever listened to, seemed faintly to reach 
 him. I will write down some of the verses : — 
 
 " Mighty prop ot humanity- 
 March in the pathway of the Rishis of old, 
 Go forth from this city ! 
 Upon this desolate earth, 
 
 When thou liast acquired the priceless knowledge of the Jinas, 
 When thou hast become a perfect Buddha, 
 
 Give to all flesh the baptism (river) of the Kingdom of Righteous- 
 ness, 
 
170 Madame Blavatsky. 
 
 Thou who once didst sacrifice thy feet, thy hands, thy precious body 
 
 and all thy riches for the world, 
 Thou whose life is pure, save flesh from its miseries ! 
 In the presence of reviling be patient, O conqueror of self ! 
 Lord of those who possess two feet, go forth on thy mission ! 
 Conquer the evil one and his army.'' 
 
 Thus run some more of these gathas : — 
 
 " Light of the world ! [lamp du monde — Foucaux], 
 In former kalpas this vow was made by thee : 
 ' For the worlds that are a prey to death and sickness I will be a 
 
 refuge ! ' 
 Lion of men, master of those that walk on two feet, the time for thy 
 
 mission has come ! 
 Under the sacred Bo-tree acquire immortal dignity, and give Am- 
 
 rita (immortality) to all ! 
 Revilings and many prisons, 
 Death and murder, 
 
 These hast thou suffered with love and patience, 
 Forgiving thine executioners. 
 Kingless, men seek thee for a king ! 
 
 'Stablish them in the way of Brahma and of the ten virtues, 
 That when they pass away from amongst their fellow-men, they may 
 
 all go to the abode of Brahma." 
 
 But the good King Sucldhodana opposed the bright 
 spirits. 
 
 It is recorded that he offered to resign his royal umbrella 
 in favour of his son. His urgent entreaty that the prince 
 should abandon all thoughts of a religious life was answered 
 thus : — 
 
 " Sire, I desire four gifts. Grant me these, and I will 
 remain in the Palace of Summer." 
 
 " What are they ? " said King Suddhodana. 
 
 " Grant that age may never seize me. Grant that I may 
 retain the bright hues of youth. Grant that sickness may 
 have no power over me. Grant that my life may be with- 
 out end." 
 
 The Buddhas of the Past prevail, and Buddha determines 
 to escape. How is the Gate of Benediction to be opened ? 
 Buddha prays to Dasasata Nayana (he of the ten hundred 
 eyes), who sends his angels to open it. He exchanges the 
 rags from the graveyard for a king's jewels and silks, I 
 
Buddhism^ ^^ Esote7'ic'' and Genuine. 171 
 
 cannot help giving here a paraphrase of a lyric in " Izeyl," 
 pronounced by Buddha : — 
 
 " The throne is too far from the crowd, 
 Its famine and cares ; 
 I give up the crown for the shroud 
 That the xjocji wears. 
 
 " The throne is too far from the poor, 
 And their soul, to know 
 A man must go forth and endure 
 Their want and woe. 
 
 " The throne is too far from the tomb, 
 The corpse, the pall ; 
 I will set up a torch in the gloom 
 And succour all." 
 
 Buddha now puts himself under a teacher (guru), named 
 Arata Kalama, but soon finds that he can learn little of him. 
 He then studies the secrets of white magic in the only way 
 that these can be learnt, by solitude and purification. 
 
 Already we have matter enough to enable us to judge 
 Madame Blavatsky. Her Buddhism proclaims : — 
 
 1. Annihilation is the reward of the just man made 
 perfect. 
 
 2. Communication with the unseen world is most perilous, 
 as none but malignant fiends, the bad halves of dead 
 mortals, can communicate with the denizens of earth. 
 
 3. Therefore, such communication should only be at- 
 tempted under the guidance of a Mahatma. 
 
 4. There is no God. 
 
 If the allegory of Buddha's life has any meaning, it com- 
 pletely upsets proposition No. 1. Old age, disease, and 
 death make happiness impossible here. But there is a 
 remedy — amrita (" a," not " mrita," death). No doubt a 
 bad school of Brahmanism about A.D. 20 foisted on early 
 Buddhism the Pyrrhonism of the Sunya Vadi. This is 
 fully set forth in my little work, "The influence of 
 Buddhism on Primitive Christianity." 
 
 Proposition No. 2. Madame Blavatsky holds that all 
 good thought and effort must come from Mahatmas and 
 Dhyan Chohans, from mortals, from this world in short. 
 
 The " Lalita Vistara " reverses this proposition. All the 
 
172 Madame BlavatsJzy. 
 
 mortals round Buddha, the Brahmins, the king, etc., seem 
 to hold the brief of Mara the tempter. They all seek to 
 dissuade the prince from his lofty mission. All good thought 
 and effort come to him from the dead Buddhas, called also 
 Rishis, the dead saints, who certainly know nothing of any 
 law of division at death. In the " White Lotus of L)harma," 
 Buddha, like Christ, calls from the grave two of these 
 mighty prophets to attest his mission. 
 
 Proposition No. 3. It so happens that Buddha, for a 
 short time, was under an actual Mahatma. But he found 
 that he could learn nothing but formalism from him. So 
 he left him and sat under the bo-tree seeking interior light. 
 On his death-bed he uttered these words: — 
 
 " Be to yourselves Ananda, your own light. Seek no 
 other refuge. Let Dhaima (interior knowledge) be your 
 liglit and refuge. Whosoever now Ananda, or after my de- 
 parture, shall be his owm light, his own refuge, and shall 
 seek no other refuge, will henceforth be my true disciple." 
 
 Proposition No. 4. A man who prays to Dasasata Nayana 
 to burst open the barriers that keep him from the spiritual 
 life, can scarcely be called an atheist. But we will let 
 Buddha speak for himself. 
 
 When the teacher was dwelling at Manasakata in the 
 mango grove, some Brahmins, learned in the three Yedas, 
 come to consult him on the question of union with the 
 eternal Brahma. They ask if they are in the right path- 
 way towards that union. Buddha replies at great length. 
 He suggests an ideal case. He supposes that a man has 
 fallen in love with the " most beautiful woman in the land." 
 Day and night he dreams of her, but has never seen her. 
 He does not know whether she is tall or short, of Brahmin 
 or Sudra caste, of dark or fair complexion ; he does not 
 even know her name. The Brahmins are asked if the talk 
 of that man about that woman be wise or foolish. They 
 confess that it is " foolish talk." Buddha then applies the 
 same train of reasoning to them. The Brahmins versed in 
 the three Vedas are made to confess that they have never 
 seen Brahma, that they do not know whether he is tall or 
 short, or anything about him, and that all their talk about 
 union with him is also foolish talk. They are mounting 
 a crooked staircase, and do not know whether it leads to a 
 
BuddJiism, ^^ Esoteric'" and Genuine, 173 
 
 mansion oi' a precipice. They are standing on the bank of 
 a river and calling to the other bank to come to them. 
 
 Now it seems to me that if Buddha were the uncom- 
 promising teacher of atheism that Sir Monier Williams 
 pictures him, he has at this point an admirable opportunity 
 of urging his views. The Brahmins, he would of course 
 contend, knew nothing about Brahma, for the simple reason 
 that no such being as Brahma exists. 
 
 But this is exactly the line that Buddha does not take. 
 His argument is that the Brahmins knew nothing of 
 Brahma, because Brahma is purely spiritual, and they are 
 purely materialistic. 
 
 Five " Veils," he shows, hide Brahma from mortal ken. 
 These are 
 
 1. The Veil of Lustful Desire. 
 
 2. The Veil of Malice. 
 
 3. The Veil of Sloth and Idleness. 
 
 4. The Veil of Pride and Self-righteousness. 
 
 5. The Veil of Doubt. 
 
 Buddha then goes on with his questionings : 
 "Is Brahma in possession of wives and wealth ? " 
 " He is not, Gautama ? " answers Vasettha the Brahmin. 
 " Is his mind full of anger, or free from anger ? " 
 " Free from anger, Gautama ! " 
 " Is his mind full of malice, or free from malice ? " 
 " Free from malice, Gautama ! " 
 " Is his mind depraved or pure ? " 
 " It is pure, Gautama ! " 
 "Has he self-mastery, or has he not ?" 
 " He has, Gautama." 
 
 The Brahmins are then questioned about themselves. 
 " Are the Brahmins versed in the three Vedas in posses- 
 sion of wives and wealth, or are they not ? " 
 " They are, Gautama 1 " 
 
 " Have they anger in their hearts, or have they not ? " 
 " They have, Gautama." 
 " Do they bear malice, or do they not ? " 
 " They do, Gautama." 
 
 " Are they pure in heart, or are they not ? " 
 " They are not, Gautama." 
 " Have they self-mastery, or have they not ? " 
 
15^4 Madame B lav at sky. 
 
 " They have not, Gautama." 
 
 These replies provoke, of course, the very obvious retort 
 that no point of union can be found between such dissimilar 
 entities. Brahma is free from malice, sinless, self-contained, 
 so, of course, it is only the sinless that can hope to be in 
 harmony with him. 
 
 Vasettha then puts this question : " It has been told me, 
 Gautama, that Sramana Gautama knows the way to the 
 state of union with Brahma ? " 
 
 " Brahma I know, Vasettha ! " says Buddha in reply, 
 " and the world of Brahma, and the path leading to it ! " 
 
 The humbled Brahmins learned in the three Vedas then 
 ask Buddha to " show them the way to a state of union 
 with Brahma." 
 
 Buddha replies at considerable length, drawing a sharp 
 contrast between the lower Brahminism and the higher 
 Brahminism, the " householder " and the " houseless one." 
 The householder Brahmins are gross, sensual, avaricious, 
 insincere. They practise for lucre black magic, fortune- 
 telling, cozenage. They gain the ear of kings, breed wars, 
 predict victories, sacrifice life, spoil the poor. As a foil to 
 this he paints the recluse, who has renounced all worldly 
 things, and is pure, self-possessed, happy. 
 
 To teach this " higher life," a Buddha " from time to time 
 is born into the world, blessed and worthy, abounding in 
 wisdom, a guide to erring mortals." He sees the universe 
 face to face, the spirit world of Brahma and that of Mara 
 the tempter. He makes his knowledge known to others. 
 The houseless one, instructed by him, " lets his mind per- 
 vade one quarter of the world with thoughts of pity, 
 sympathy, and equanimity ; and so the second, and so the 
 third, and so the fourth. And thus the whole wide world, 
 above, below, around, and everywhere, does he continue to 
 pervade with heart of pity, sympathy, and equanimity, 
 far-reaching, grown great, and beyond measure." ^ 
 
 " Verily this, Vasettha, is the way to a state of union with 
 Brahma," and he proceeds to announce that the Bhikshu, 
 or Buddhist beggar, " who is free from anger, free from 
 malice, pure in mind, master of himself, will, after death, 
 when the body is dissolved, become united with Brahma." 
 1 " Buddhist Suttas," p. 201. 
 
Buddhism^ '' Esoteric'' and Genuine, 175 
 
 We here see how many million miles away the "Buddhism" 
 of Madame Blavatsky was from that of Buddha. Suppos- 
 ing that there are Mahatmas and that the Russian lady's 
 miracles were genuine, does that take us very far? Madame 
 Blavatsky, a pauper, desired to use her magic to gain the 
 lakhs of rupees of Mr. Sassoon and Holkar. Buddha having 
 a crown and countless gold pieces desired to become a pauper. 
 Madame Blavatsky had an ambition to astound the vulgar 
 with duplicated diamond rings and astral post offices. 
 Buddha contemned diamonds and false applause. Madame 
 Blavatsky worked entirely on the plane of matter, and 
 sought to demolish Brahma and his legions. Buddha 
 worked entirely on the plane of spirit, and sought the im- 
 mortal world of Brahma, and the soul growth. In short, 
 the magic of one was black, and the other white. A fine 
 Buddhist parable may throw light on this : — 
 
 ALCHEMY. 
 
 A vain young Brahmin once was told 
 
 Of holy spells that made red gold ; 
 
 This fancy vexed him day and night, 
 
 His life was gross, his heart was light. 
 
 Said one, "In Uravilva^s wood 
 
 There dwells the Buddha, calm and good. 
 
 He knows all secrets. Ask his aid ! " 
 
 The Brahmin sought the holy shade : 
 
 Said Buddha, "What you wish, my son, 
 
 May most undoubtedly be done. 
 
 But gold is crime ! It whets the knife ; 
 
 Designs the drops that poison life. 
 
 It parents lust, and hate, and ire ; 
 
 For gold the son will kill the sire. 
 
 For gold the maiden sell her shame, 
 
 Kings spread wide lands with sword and flame 
 
 The sons of Dharma never tell 
 
 Their mantras and their potent spell 
 
 Except to those whose lives are pure. 
 
 To those who've conquered earthly lure, 
 
 Who know in fact the gold's true worth, 
 
 The tawdriest tinsel upon earth." 
 
 The Brahmin said, " My life is pure, 
 
 I've conquered every earthly lure ; 
 
 Who, like a Brahmin, knows the right I " 
 
 His life was gross, his heart was light. 
 
176 Madame B lav at sky. 
 
 One night the couple -when the moon 
 
 Hides for two Aveeks her light in June 
 
 (The only fortnight in the year 
 
 When man can make red gold appear), 
 
 Sought out a cavern, where a rill 
 
 Dashed down a chasm in the hill ; 
 
 The mantras now were promptly told, 
 
 And Buddha spread the ground -with gold, 
 
 Six thousand pieces the amount, 
 
 A robber saw the Brahmin count. 
 
 Then Buddha hurled it in the foam, 
 
 Repeating as he journeyed home 
 
 His solemn caution : " Son, bew^are ! 
 
 Use not this knowledge, have a care ! " 
 
 But as they trudged, at break of day, 
 
 Five hundred robbers barred the way ! 
 
 " Oh holy masters, we are told," 
 
 They said, " that you have countless gold." 
 
 Said Buddha, " Gold sheds human blood, 
 
 And so we flung it in the flood. '^ 
 
 The chieftain said, " Such w^ords are vain, 
 
 And one as hostage must remain — 
 
 The younger one. So promptly hie 
 
 And fetch the gold, or he must die. 
 
 Within a week he will be slain ! " 
 
 " Within a week I come again," 
 
 Said Buddha, " Fear not. Brahmin youth, 
 
 A Buddha's tongue is simple truth.'' 
 
 Grim terror pales the young man's brow, 
 
 Will the great Buddha keep his vow ? 
 
 Five days have passed away too soon. 
 
 To-night will end the weeks in June 
 
 W^hen spells can work ; and if he Avait, 
 
 To-morrow will be all too late. 
 
 " take me to the rocky dell. 
 
 To-night I'll Avork a mystic spell." 
 
 The gold Avas made. Quick spread its fame, 
 
 A rival band of robbers came ; 
 
 " Divide or fight ! " they loudly cried. 
 
 When the broad pieces they espied. 
 
 " He made this gold," the first clan said, 
 
 " We give him up to you instead. '^ 
 
 O pity noAV the Brahmin's fate, 
 
 He thinks of Buddha's word too late. 
 
 Though all unfit the time of year, 
 
 The greedy robbers Avill not hear, 
 
 They cut his throat ; and then assail 
 
 Their rivals for their lying tale. 
 
 Swords flash and fall on sounding crest, 
 
 On cloven targe, and stricken breast, 
 
Buddhism, ''Esoteric''' and Genuine. 177 
 
 Sharp cries of anguish over all 
 Outroar the angry waterfall, 
 Whose snowy stream is soon a flood 
 Of dying men and human blood, 
 Borne off to Yama's realm of death ; 
 Two robbers soon alone draw breath. 
 Exhausted with three days of fast, 
 They watch the gold. Says one at last, 
 " You guard the cave ; but we must eat. 
 I'll to the town for drink and meat." 
 One hied him to a leech's stock, 
 One nursed a dagger by a rock ; 
 Each muttered, " Soon 'tis all mine own ! " 
 One perished, stabbed without a groan ; 
 The other seized his drink and meat 
 And soon was writhing at his feet. 
 
 M 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 A CHANGE OF FKONT. 
 
 In the month of February, 1894, at the request of a friend, 
 I gave a short lecture at Toynbee Hall, intending to ex- 
 plain theosophy in a popular way to the working man, 
 of whom I was told the audience would be chiefly composed. 
 Instead of them I found that a large detachment of theo- 
 sophists had invaded Whitechapel. They contradicted every 
 word that I had said, and were especially angry with me 
 for representing Madame Blavatsky's teaching to be atheistic, 
 and for announcing that she had ever asserted that only the 
 bad halves of men could ever communicate with the living. 
 
 I was puzzled. These theosophists were plainly en- 
 thusiasts. Also they seemed honest enthusiasts. And 
 they cited chapter and verse against me. As I rolled 
 home in the underground railway I began to think that the 
 theory of " Shells " had come to me in some turbid dream. 
 
 Eagerly I consulted her writings when I reached home. 
 Certainly in the Theosophist for October, 1881, appeared 
 these words, " At death or before," the '' Spirit," the higher 
 Ego, " becomes a new person," that " can never span the 
 abyss that separates its state from ours." Plainly I had 
 not dreamt all this. And in " Esoteric Buddhism," p. 177, 1 
 read : " They (the Mahatmas) never occupy themselves with 
 any conception remotely resembling the god of churches 
 and creeds." 
 
 But my theosophical assailants could not be quite mad ; 
 so I made a careful examination of the more recent utter- 
 ances of Madame Blavatsky, and I found that the charge 
 made against me was perfectly just. " Theosophy " had 
 made a complete change of front. I place a few of its 
 statements side by side. 
 
 178 
 
A Change of Front, 
 
 179 
 
 God. 
 
 "It (the Esoteric Philo- 
 sophy) proves the necessity 
 of an absolute Divine prin- 
 ciple in nature." 
 
 " It denies Deity no more 
 than it does the sun." 
 
 " Esoteric philosophy has 
 never rejected God in nature, 
 nor Deity as the absolute 
 and abstract Ens " (" Secret 
 Doctrine," vol. i. p. 20). 
 
 God istbe"Seven-Skinned, 
 Eternal Father - Mother " 
 (" Secret Doctrine," i. p. 9). 
 
 " There is no God per- 
 sonal or impersonal." In a 
 small work entitled, " Theo- 
 sophy or Spiritual Dynamics,' 
 Dr. Wyld, for some years 
 President of the British 
 Branch of the Theosophical 
 Society, announces that he 
 retired from it when these 
 words were used by Madame 
 Blavatsky. 
 
 God is " unconscious " 
 ("Esoteric Buddhism,"p.l76). 
 
 " Revelation never comes 
 from the Unmanifestable 
 One Life. The Occultist ac- 
 cepts it alone from Dhyan 
 Chohans, and planetary 
 spirits, divine but finite 
 beings, who have become 
 Gods for men " (" Secret 
 Doctrine," i. p. 10). 
 
 " This infinite eternal cause 
 is Be-ness rather than Being " 
 (76., i. p. 14). 
 
 God " may be regarded in- 
 differently as space, duration, 
 matter, or motion " (" Esoteric 
 Buddhism," p. 176). 
 
 " The God of the Apostle 
 Initiate and of the Rishi is 
 the Unseen and the Visible 
 Space" ("Secret Doctrine," 
 i. p. 9). 
 
 NiRVaNA. 
 
 Nirvana does not mean Annihilation is the reward 
 annihilation (" Secret Doc- of the highest adept (" Eso- 
 trine," i. xxi). teric Buddhism," p. 133). 
 
i8o 
 
 Madame Blavatsky, 
 
 Good Spirits. 
 
 The good halves of mortals, 
 separated from the bad halves 
 at death, " can never again 
 span the abyss which sepa- 
 rates tbeir state from ours" 
 {Theosophist, October, 1881). 
 
 All that can come to earth 
 are the shells, the wicked 
 halves of mortals {Ih.). 
 
 The good halves can span 
 the abyss, but it is by draw- 
 ing the " living seer " to the 
 disembodied spirit. 
 
 Madame Blavatsky, cited 
 bv Mrs. Besant (" Death and 
 After," p. 71). 
 
 The souls or astral egos 
 of pure living sensitives, 
 labouring under the same 
 delusion, think their loved 
 ones came down to them on 
 earth, while it is their own 
 spirits that are raised to- 
 wards these in the De- 
 vachan (Mrs. Besant, Ih., p. 
 72). 
 
 The " guardian angels " 
 of the Christian are the 
 same as the Dhyan Chohans, 
 the Flagoe of Paracelsus, the 
 Pitri or ancestors of the 
 Hindoos ("Secret Doctrine," 
 i. p. 222). 
 
 Dhyan Chohans. 
 
 The Dhyan Chohans are 
 spirits, the "architects of the 
 visible w^orlds," the same as 
 the "archangels" and seraphs 
 of Christianity (" Secret Doc- 
 trine," i. p. 16). 
 
 They are the same as plan- 
 etary spirits, they are men 
 who have become gods 
 (" Secret Doctrine," i. p 10). 
 
 They are adepts, men liv- 
 ing on earth at times. The 
 " adept himself, no matter 
 how high, does return to in- 
 carnation eventually after 
 the rest of mankind have 
 passed across the great divid- 
 ing period in the middle of 
 the fifth round " (" Esoteric 
 Buddhism," p. 136). 
 
A Change of Front. 
 
 i«i 
 
 Flesh Meat — Wine — Marriage. 
 
 Dr. Wyld writes to me 
 that when he was president 
 of the Eno^lish branch of the 
 Theosophical Society, " H. P. 
 B. and Olcott always taught 
 us that the highest theo- 
 sophy could not be reached 
 except by abstaining from 
 wine, marriage, and flesh 
 meats, and they used to 
 reply to our complaints that 
 no teachers of the East came 
 to us, that it was because we 
 did not live ' the Life ' as 
 above." 
 
 Madame Blavatsky married 
 twice after receivingthis doc- 
 trine. According to Madame 
 Coulomb she v/as " Madame 
 Metrovitch," and Professor 
 Coues tells us that she 
 married one Betanelly in 
 1875, in America. 
 
 Colonel Olcott tells us 
 that her weight was over 
 17 stone, and that her cor- 
 pulence was "largely due to 
 the manner of life she led, 
 taking next to no physical 
 exercise whatever, and eat- 
 ing much unless seriously 
 out of health. Even then 
 she partook largely of fatty 
 meats, and used to pour 
 melted butter by the quan- 
 tity over her fried eggs at 
 breakfast. Wines and spirits 
 she never touched, her bever- 
 ages being tea and coffee, the 
 latter being her special fav- 
 ourite. 
 
 "Herappetite,whilel knew 
 her, was extremely capricious, 
 and she was most rebellious 
 to all fixed hours for meals, 
 hence a terror to all cooks 
 and the despair of her col- 
 leagues. 
 
 " When we removed to 
 Adyar, I determined to put 
 a stop to this bother, and I 
 built a kitchen on the terrace 
 near H. P. B.'s bedroom, gave 
 her a set of servants to her- 
 
1 82 Madame Blavatsky. 
 
 self, and let her eat or go 
 without as she pleased. 
 
 " She was never a vege- 
 tarian while I knew her, 
 flesh diet seeming to be in- 
 dispensable for her health 
 and comfort, as it is to so 
 many others in our society, 
 including myself." 
 
 I have fully noticed other discrepancies, the metempsy- 
 chosis, the seven and the four principles, etc. 
 
 What was the meaning of this complete change of front ? 
 Soon I detected a logic in it. Madame Blavatsky's theo- 
 sophy had one consistent principle — opportunism. Her 
 " Esoteric Buddhism " was designed to win over the rich 
 Hindoos, and to do this she was obliged to dethrone Brahma, 
 Vishnu, and Rama, and to put in their places the Mahatmas, 
 the Dhyan Chobans. These Dhyan Chohans made the 
 Kosmos as Mr. Sinnett tells us. But as they are still alive 
 in Tibet they confront us with a difficulty. Without a 
 world there could be no Dhyan Chohans, and without 
 Dhyan Chohans there could be no world. Then ATadame 
 Blavatsky had to get rid of the Indian ghost worship. Her 
 mind, as I have often stated, lacks originality. But a book 
 by an eccentric Frenchman gave her a hint. 
 
 The Abbe Louis Constant; under the pseudonym of Eliphas 
 Levi, had written several works on magic. He was a Kab- 
 alist, and he professed to be an adept himself, " Magus." 
 But Mr. Home came to Paris and quite eclipsed this 
 magician with his marvels. Eliphas Levi retaliated with a 
 doctrine that he professed to find in the Kabala, the 
 doctrine of shells. 
 
 " Nothing can enter heaven but tliat which comes from 
 heaven. After death, therefore, the divine spirit which 
 animated man returns alone to heaven, and leaves on earth 
 and in the atmosphere two corpses, one terrestrial and 
 elementary, the other airy and astral, one inert already, the 
 other still quickened by the universal movement of the soul 
 of the world, but destined to die slowly, absorbed by the 
 astral powers that produced it." 
 
A Change of Front. 183 
 
 Eliphas Levi goes on to say that " It is these airy corpses 
 that necromancy evokes." This bad half of the individual 
 *' seeks again the objects of his passions^ torments the dreams 
 of young girls — haunts the scenes of his old mundane 
 pleasures " (Eliphas Levi, " Dograe et Rituel de la Haute 
 Magie," vol. i. p. 262). 
 
 Madame Blavatsky seized eagerly on this passage. At 
 once it played havoc with the visions of her rivals, the 
 Yogis, and swept away the whole army of the Pitris that 
 the Hindoos believed in. Also it furnished a splendid stick 
 for those wicked spiritualists of America who had snubbed 
 her and accused her of cheating. But Madame Coulomb 
 and Mr. Hodgson broke in upon her Indian day-dreams. 
 Mr. Subba Row, the Sanskrit scholar, who helped her so 
 much, discovered her fraud, and left the society. Mohini 
 and B. J. Padshah '' found,'' says Mr. Coleman, " bundles of 
 blue and red pencils with which tlie Mahatma letters were 
 written, also packs of Chinese envelopes, and bundles of 
 Tibetan dresses for personating the Mahatmas." Another 
 native, Babajee, made revelations. He confessed that Dam- 
 odar and Madame Blavatsky exercised so complete an 
 influence over him that he was obliged to attest all they 
 told him. He saw the Russian lady write Mahatma letters, 
 and was told that these great adepts would be very angry if 
 he did not say that he had seen them. Damodar disap- 
 peared. 
 
 The shipwreck had come. What was Madame Blavatsky 
 to do ? She must appeal to the white faces once more. The 
 Christian Kabalists were friendly towards the theosophists, 
 but they wanted a God. " Be-ness " was not enough for 
 them. But the Christian Kabalists were too small a body 
 to support a large society. The hated spiritualists had to 
 be courted, and the " shell " doctrine of Eliphas Levi ex- 
 plained away. 
 
 But all tliis was wormwood to poor Mr. Sinnett. The 
 god that was to be '' regarded indifferently as space, duration, 
 matter, or motion," seemed to be quite demolished, carrying 
 with him the " shells " in his downfall. A plaintive wail 
 from his lips appears in the Theosophist of September, 1893. 
 It is entitled " Esoteric Teaching." 
 
 " After the publication of ' Esoteric Buddhism,' the great 
 
184 Madame Blavatsky, 
 
 adept who gave me the information wrote to me declaring 
 explicitly that it constituted a correct exposition of his 
 teaching. His words were : — * Be certain that, with the 
 few undetectable mistakes and omissions notwithstanding, 
 your "Esoteric Buddhism" is the only right exposition, how- 
 ever incomplete, of our occult doctrines. You have made 
 no cardinal fundamental mistakes, and whatever may be 
 given to 3'ou hereafter will not clash with a single sentence 
 in your book, but on the contrary will explain away any 
 seeming contradiction.' " 
 
 Mr. Sinnett announces that, now Madame Blavatsky is 
 dead, he is allowed to reveal the fact that he has had 
 several letters of the Mahatmas forwarded to him without 
 the knowledge of Madame Blavatsky at all. 
 
 He also states that, when the documents were precipi- 
 tated from Tibet, " Madame Blavatsky eagerly perused the 
 letters I received in reply to my elaborate questions, assur- 
 ing me constantly that the information they contained was 
 almost as new to her as it was to me." Decidedly there 
 was an element of comedy in Madame Blavatsky. 
 
 But a conspicuous illustration of this change of front is 
 to be found in the " Talking Image of Urur." This clever 
 little work is at once a farce and a dirge — the dirge of 
 deluded years. Its author, Dr. Hartmann, was induced by 
 his theosophical studies to travel from America to India ; 
 and he was one of the committee at Adyar during the 
 Coulomb troubles. Dr. Hartmann is the most able cham- 
 pion of Madame Blavatsky 's teaching, not excepting Mr. 
 Sinnett. He has published works on Boehme, Paracelsus, 
 the Rosicrucians, and other mystics. In all these works 
 there is, perhaps, too strained an attempt to show that 
 medieval Kabalism was derived from the adepts of Tibet, 
 and too little attention to the converse proposition. What 
 must have been the surprise of the Esoteric Lodge when 
 the prophet suddenly exchanged fervent eulogy for fervent 
 denunciation. 
 
 Pancho is a young man living in San Francisco. He is 
 married to the beautiful Conchita. From his youth he had 
 those indefinite yearnings after mystical knowledge that 
 disturbed the early days of Boehme and Madame Guj^on. 
 Dr. Hartmann's story is in part biographical. Suddenly a 
 
A Change of Front . 185 
 
 Mr. Puffer comes to San Francisco, and he reveals to Pancho 
 a mighty mystery. In the centre of Africa, at a place 
 called Urur, is the head-quarters of a " Society for the 
 Distribution of Wisdom." This society is under the guid- 
 ance of certain great adepts called the " Lunar Brothers." 
 Dr. Hartmann points out that all his dramatis personce are 
 "composite photographs of still living people." The eloquence 
 of the " still living " Mr. Puffer fires the imagination of the 
 susceptible Pancho. 
 
 " I should consider myself extremely fortunate to become 
 a member of your society and to attract the attention of 
 the adepts," said Pancho. 
 
 " That is easy enough, " replied Mr. Puffer. " All you 
 have to do is to get a diploma from Captain Bumpkins. I 
 will manage the matter for you." 
 
 " I am infinitely obliged to you," said Pancho. " But, to 
 tell you the truth, I should like to look a little deeper into 
 this business. I am very much interested in occultism, and 
 I should like to become a Chela like yourself." 
 
 "Ah!" said Mr. Puffer. "That is quite another affair, 
 and rather difficult. You will have to get a Master, whose 
 orders you must implicitly obey, whatever these orders may 
 be, and you may not even know who that Master is ; for 
 his orders will be communicated to you through Chelas or 
 throuMi the Talkinoj Imao^e." 
 
 "It is just this mysterious way of doing things that is 
 most attractive to me," replied Pancho. " I do not think 
 that they will ask anything unreasonable." 
 
 " Then you will have to swear a solemn oath," continued 
 Mr. Puffer, " always to obey implicitly all the instructions 
 given to you by a Chela as supposed to be coming from an 
 unknown superior. Whatever your private opinions may 
 be, you must hold up our views before the world and give 
 all your time, money and labour gratuitously to the support 
 of the S. D. W. You will swear that if any one should 
 object to any opinion offered by Captain Bumpkins, or any 
 other member of our society, you will not listen to it, but 
 support our views on every occasion." 
 
 " I am willing to swear to an3'thing 3'ou like," answered 
 Pancho, "if I can gain my object; because I have full con- 
 fidence in your honesty." 
 
1 86 Madame Blavatsky. 
 
 Mr. Puffer accompanied Pancho to the door, and as they 
 were bidding each other good-bye, Pancho said : 
 
 " By-the-by, I almost forgot to ask you a question, which 
 you may, perhaps, consider absurd. Do the adepts believe 
 in God ? " 
 
 " In our society," answered Mr. PafFer, " every man's 
 belief is respected. If you choose to imagine that the moon 
 is made of green cheese, there is no one to prevent you from 
 believing it, any more than in God. No, they do not be- 
 lieve in such nonsense." 
 
 Pancho, however, has one terrible wrench. It is explained 
 to him that the Chela must give up flesh meat and wine. 
 Also he must leave the beautiful Conchita behind him. 
 Adepts cannot have wives. After a great struggle he sends 
 a letter to Mr. Puffer. 
 
 " I have no doubt," he said, receiving the letter, " that 
 you will be accepted on probation, and now, as you have 
 entered upon the path, I advise y^u to cease shaving or 
 cutting your hair, because, in doing so, a great deal of 
 magnetism is lost. Do not eat any meat. Eggs are per- 
 mitted, but you must always first remove the dot from the 
 yolk. The dot is the seat of life, and must not be destroyed." 
 
 Soon Pancho is on the deck of a large steamer, which by 
 and by touches at Madagascar. In the distance are blue 
 misty hills, which may, he thinks, be near Kakodumbola 
 where the Brothers dwell. The steamer entered a harbour ; 
 and a boat with a flag bearing the letters S. D. W. (Society 
 for the Distribution of Wisdom) came out to the ship. 
 
 The people from the boat of the S. D. W. came on board. 
 They were members of that society, venerable Hottentots, 
 Kaffirs, and Zulus, who gave a hearty welcome to our 
 friends, and invited them into their boat to go ashore, where 
 carriages were awaiting to take them further on to Urur. 
 
 They landed, and Pancho entered a carriage with one of 
 the Zulus. 
 
 " I am exceedingly^ anxious to make the acquaintance of 
 Captain Bumpkins," said Pancho, as they drove along the 
 beach on the road to Urur. 
 
 '' We hope," said the Zulu, after some hesitation, " that 
 3'ou will have some influence over him." 
 
 " How could I, a mere beginner, have any influence over 
 
A Change of Front. 187 
 
 the Hierophant ? " asked Pancho, astonished. " Is it not far 
 more probable that I will have to sit at his feet and listen to 
 his wisdom ? " 
 
 " It is all very well," said the Zulu ; '■' but speaking con- 
 fidentially, I will tell you that Bumpkins has some little 
 peculiarities, and that we have stood his nonsense long 
 enough ; even the Hottentots will stand it no longer. We 
 do not want to be made the laughing-stock for small boys 
 and servant girls ; we can see no wisdom in that. He 
 wants us to march through the streets of the city, each one 
 to wear a badge and a little flag in his hand. He means 
 w^ell enough ; but we will not stand his nonsense, we won't ! 
 We hope that you will persuade him to give it up, or there 
 will be a mutiny. This is all that I am permitted to say." 
 
 Captain Bumpkins is plainly another of these "composite 
 photographs." He is not to be seen when Pancho readies 
 the headquarters, but Madame Corneille and Malaban, a 
 black man, receive him and a fellow traveller, Mr. Green. 
 
 " How long have you been a Chela ? " asked Mr. Green. 
 
 " This I am not permitted to tell," answered Malaban. 
 
 Pancho was going to ask him a question, but Madame 
 Corneille said: "Do not ask him anything if you would 
 not get fibs for an answer." 
 
 " Do Chelas ever tell fibs ? " asked Pancho. 
 
 "They do not mean to do so," answered Madame 
 Corneille, " but they love the truth so much that they 
 adorn it on every occasion." 
 
 " Where is the Hierophant ? " asked Pancho. 
 
 " The what ? — Oh, you mean Bumpkins, Captain Bump- 
 kins," said Madame Corneille. " You will not see him to- 
 night. Poor fellow ! He has an awful toothache. He 
 always sleeps at night with open windows, and caught a 
 cold." 
 
 '• But why does he do that ? " asked Pancho. 
 
 " Pie says," she answered, grinning, " that it is to save the 
 Mysterious Brothers the trouble to dematerialise themselves 
 when they come to visit him in his dreams." 
 
 One thing is patent in this " Universal Brotherhood." 
 The black members thoroughly hate and contemn the white 
 brethren, and find quite a pleasure in deceiving them. 
 
 " O ye gods ! " exclaimed Pancho ; " is this the outcome 
 
1 88 Madame Blavatsky. 
 
 of the wisdom of the adepts ? A Hierophant parading the 
 streets with a little flag in his hand, a Talking Image 
 attended by spooks ; Chelas who cannot open their mouths 
 without telling a fib. . . . Yes, is it for this that I have left 
 my home ? " 
 
 Thus talking with himself, Pancho wandered away from 
 the main building, and came in the vicinity of a house of 
 smaller dimensions. A light shining from an open window 
 attracted his attention, and he beheld a man in the room 
 where the light was brightly burning. He seemed to be 
 about fifty years of age ; but his face could not be clearly 
 seen as it was bound up with a handkerchief. He held a 
 paper in his hand, looking at it and making gesticulations. 
 Presently, however, he looked up, and must have seen 
 Pancho standing among the trees, for he dropped his paper 
 and stared at him with surprise. 
 
 Then something curious happened. The man, making a 
 reverential bow and crossing his hands in Oriental fashion 
 over his breast, addressed Pancho in the following words : 
 
 " O great Krashibashi ! Have I then at last found 
 favour in your eyes ? For many years have I wished to 
 see you. At last my prayer now seems granted, and you 
 have consented to appear in bodily form before your 
 obedient servant. May I ask you to enter this humble 
 room and accept a chair ? I shall immediately open the 
 
 Captain Bumpkins had mistaken Pancho for the astral 
 form of the great adept, Krashibashi. 
 
 As the story goes on, the picture given of the members 
 of the Theosopiiical Society (all " composite photographs," 
 observe) is by no means flattering. 
 
 " The Society for the D. O. W. had also among its members 
 some persons of considerable spiritual unfolding and intel- 
 lectual power ; but the vast majority of its members were 
 attracted by a desire to gratify their curiosity, and to 
 obtain favours from the Mysterious Brotherhood." 
 
 Thus one oldish 3^oung lady wants the elixir of youth, 
 another Chela the philosopher's stone. 
 
 "On this occasionPancho'sinterior eyes were also open to 
 an extent. Even without the aid of a magic mirror he 
 could see that the Society for the Distribution of Wisdom was 
 
A Change of F7^ont. 189 
 
 not exactly what he had imagined it to be. He could see 
 that there were few persons, if any, who cared anything 
 for truth for its own sake, but only for the benefits that 
 would arise from its possession. He knew that it was not 
 only the desire of benefiting humanity that had caused him 
 to come to Urur, but that he hoped to obtain knowledge in 
 regard to certain m3^sterious things which might be useful 
 to liim, and he was aware that neither Mr. Green nor Mrs. 
 Honeycomb would have come to Africa if they had not ex- 
 pected to profit by the visit." 
 Here is another passage : — 
 
 " While the enemies of the Society for the Distribution of 
 Wisdom thus did their very best to make its name known 
 all over the world, those who belonged to it spent all the 
 power at their command to ruin still more effectually its 
 reputation. There were many who, like Pancho, Mr. Green, 
 and Mrs. Honeycomb, had not the faintest conception of 
 what self-knowledge means, and who, nevertheless, imagined 
 it to be their duty to enlighten the world about things 
 which were entirely unknown to themselves. They mis- 
 took ' wisdom ' for a belief in certain statements supposed 
 to come from the Mysterious Brotherhood ; and the rubbish 
 published by them was often sufficiently intolerable to 
 irighten away for ever any honest investigator. In fact 
 the S. D. W. assumed an entirely sectarian character, and 
 differed from other sects only in so far as it advocated more 
 superstitions than the rest." 
 
 All this is very just no doubt, but who promulgated the 
 doctrine that inner wisdom and the dogmatism of the 
 Mahatmas were one and the same thing ? The discipline 
 of the Chela is sketched off by one who has been a Chela 
 himself. 
 
 " Mr. Green," said Mrs. Honeycomb, " Master says you 
 must not let any idea come into your head." 
 
 " Never ! " solemnly acquiesced Mr. Green. 
 
 " Now go ! " She ordered him off, and Mr. Green dis- 
 appeared downstairs. 
 
 *' What is he going to do ? " inquired Pancho. 
 
 " We always make him sit every day for an hour or two 
 and look at any fly speck on the wall," replied Mrs. Honey- 
 
190 Madame Blavatsky, 
 
 comb, " so that the Master can work his brain and get it into 
 good shape to make it receptive. The poor fellow is very 
 anxious to become clairvoyant." 
 
 " He seems to be very obedient," 
 
 " Oh, yes ! He is easily managed. If we would tell him 
 to jump overboard, he would do so unhesitatingly. He is 
 used to obedience. He was educated by a Christian clergy- 
 man, who made him do lots of nonsensical things to train 
 him to obey. For two 5^ears Mr. Green had every day care- 
 fully to water a walking-cane stuck into a flower-pot, 
 although he knew well enough that it would never grow. 
 It was merely done to get him into the habit of not using 
 his reason." 
 
 '' But why did you tell him not to let any idea get into 
 his head ? " 
 
 " Because," was the answ^er, " there is nothing more 
 dangerous for a Chela than if he does his own tliinking. 
 He should never think, but always believe what we tell him." 
 
 " He seems to have excellent qualifications for Chelaship," 
 said Pancho. 
 
 " Oh, yes ! " answered Mrs. Honeycomb. '' He is ready to 
 believe anything, especially if it comes in a letter that is 
 dropped on his head." 
 
 But on one occasion even Mr. Green was bewildered. 
 Contradictory teachings came from the " Masters." 
 
 " But was not the document signed by one of the 
 Brothers ? " asked Mr. Green. 
 
 " That does not make any diflPerence," said Bumpkins. 
 " Accepted Chelas are authorised to sign the names of 
 their Masters to any document they like." 
 
 I have pointed out that the atheism of Madame Blavat- 
 sky was palpably opportunism. She wished to make the 
 Rajahs think that the Mahatmas made the world and ruled 
 the forces of nature. Dr. Hartmann fully confirms me here. 
 
 " For thousands of years the heads of the scientists have 
 been puzzled to find out what causes the world to move. 
 Some thought that it was the law of gravitation, and others 
 imagined that it was magnetism ; but it is evident that such 
 absurd theories offer no explanation of the mystery. Mr. 
 Putfer now assures us that the motion of the earth around 
 its axis is due to the supernatural and miraculous powers 
 
A Change of Front. 191 
 
 possessed by a body of adepts who live in a desert in Africa, 
 in the exact geographical centre of the surface of this planet. 
 By the united effort of their combined and concentrated 
 will-power they can produce the most astonishing effects 
 not only in tlie atmosphere of this earth, but also in the body 
 of the sun. The proof of this assertion may be seen in the 
 sun spots, a phenomenon well known to our astronomers, 
 and which may be easily explained by the fact that the 
 adepts are supplying the sun with electricity, to keep its 
 photosphere clear. If these adepts neglect their business 
 the disk of the sun becomes as full of mouldy spots as a 
 cheese. If they were to stop for one moment exercising 
 their will-power, the sun would become as dark as a crow 
 and the earth would cease to Tiiove. 
 
 " Our reporter asked Mr. Puffer how it came that there 
 were occasionally famines in Africa if the adepts had the 
 power to do such things. Mr. Puffer replied that he had 
 presented this matter to their consideration, but that the 
 adepts had no time to attend to such trifling matters, as 
 their number was small and it was all they could do to 
 keep the world going. They had something more important 
 to do than to satisfy the greed of the paupers." 
 
 Students of " Esoteric Buddhism " will scarcely know 
 whether to call this burlesque or plagiarism. One point 
 about the adepts Mr. Sinnett has neglected. 
 
 " These adepts, of which Mr. Puffer, by a concatenation of 
 fortunate circumstances, has become an accepted Chela, are 
 in possession of untold wealth ; and it is said that even the 
 roofs of the houses in which they live are made of pure gold 
 and set with rubies and diamonds, and they are notsmokincr 
 any other but genuine Havana cigars." 
 
 What was the " talking image " ? A mechanism, a 
 puzzle, an echo. 
 
 If you were very wise it spoke the words of transcen- 
 dental wisdom. If you were very foolish its words were quite 
 different, sometimes even very improper. Does this mean 
 that the talking image was a " composite photograph " of 
 Madame Blavatskyand tlie "shrine" of Adyar ? 
 
 There is a not very pleasant underplot where Conchita 
 
192 Madame Blavatsky, 
 
 the abandoned wife, gets into the clutches of an unprin- 
 cipled mesmeriser. She throws herself out of the window 
 of a house of ill-fame to escape a worse fate, and dies. 
 
 The hero of the story at last determines to " do his own 
 thinking " : — 
 
 " Pancho, in consequence of his experiences, had become 
 fully convinced that pure and unadulterated truth cannot 
 be found in anything in this mundane sphere ; but that 
 there is likewise nothing which does not contain a certain 
 spark of truth, of God, or eternal life ; and that within the 
 human organism this spark may be blown into a flame 
 whose heat causes the heart to glow with divine love, and 
 whose light illuminates the mind with divine wisdom. He 
 was perfectly sure that this could not be accomplished by 
 any external means or ceremonies ; neither by holding one's 
 breath, nor by believing in certain doctrines, nor by learn- 
 ing by heart all the books in the world, together with all 
 the sayings of the sages ; but that it must be accomplished 
 by internal means." 
 
 The next passage also is a little remarkable, considering 
 that it comes from the Holy of Holies of Theosophy, and is 
 written by a gentleman who still writes F.T.S. after his 
 name. 
 
 " Pancho remained at the house of his friend. He studied 
 the Bible and the works of Theophrastus Paracelsus and 
 Jacob Boehme — not merely by means of his rational in- 
 tellect, but by entering into the spirit in which these books 
 were written ; and the deeper he entered into that spirit, 
 the more did his mind become clear of metaphysical phan- 
 tasms ; and the cobwebs which the African sun could not 
 remove from Pancho's brain, became removed by the light 
 that began to dawn at the very centre of his own soul." 
 
 " One of old, representing personified eternal truth, is re- 
 ported to have said, ' I am the light of the world. He who 
 follows me, will find eternal life.' He does not say, ' Go to 
 the Mysterious Brotherhood and learn what kind of a de- 
 scription they give about the light.' " 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THEOSOPHY TRUE AND FALSE. 
 
 The title of this chapter, " Theosophy True and False," is 
 not intended to set forth the absolute truth of either 
 theosophy, but only to infer that when a group of thinkers 
 selects a certain title for their teachings, and a second group 
 borrows the title for teachings that seem diametrically op- 
 posed to these, the earlier group may be called the true 
 theosophists. These were secret societies. They can be 
 traced from early times, certainly from the appearance of 
 Buddhism in Persia, 300 B.C., and I propose to show that 
 these teachings are eminently Buddhist. These secret 
 societies emerged more or less into the light about one 
 hundred years before the Christian Era, in Palestine, Egypt, 
 Greece, Persia. As Essen es they inoculated Mosaism, as 
 Mithraists they secretly pervaded the great Roman empire. 
 Experts have discovered the records of Mithraism in 
 Arthur's Con, and other British caves. Christianity was 
 largely due to these Essenes and these Mithraists. Christ 
 called his followers Children of Wisdom, as Buddha called 
 his followers Sons of Dharma. 
 
 " But we speak the Wisdom of God in a mystery, even 
 the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world 
 to our glory." (aAAa koAovfJL€V crocfiLav Oeov ev fiva-Trjpuo.) Here 
 
 (1 Cor. ii. 7) St. Paul actually calls Christianity theosophy. 
 There is a doubt about when the name was first used, 
 but we will take up our theosophists in the huge darkness 
 of the Middle Ages when the Church had become corrupt. 
 To the Jews and also to the Mussulmans we owe a debt of 
 gratitude, for each harboured a group of secret societies 
 which preserved a high idea of God, and a spirit of in- 
 dependent thought, amid strong persecution. More than 
 that, these secret societies inoculated Christianity with 
 
 193 N 
 
194 Madame Blavatsky, 
 
 groups of secret independent thinkers, and the Reformation 
 was one great outburst of these. 
 
 Two great streams of theosophists came down, both 
 curiously impregnated with the higher Buddhism. These 
 were the Kabalists and the Sufis. 
 What was the Kabala ? 
 
 The Kabala is a book of magic, a book of lofty mysti- 
 cism, a book of quite astounding pretensions. 
 
 It is said to have been dictated by God Himself to a 
 " select company of angels who formed a theosophic school 
 in Paradise." It was revealed to Adam, and then to Noah, 
 to Abraham, to Moses. It was the secret wisdom of Israel 
 handed orally down with immense precautions. 
 
 With greater plausibility it is asserted to have been a 
 secret book of the Essenes and Therapeutse, the section of 
 Israel that derived their mysticism from contact with the 
 Buddhist missionaries. It is said to have been in the 
 hands of Jesus and his disciples. 
 
 St. Paul was a Kabalist. Origen and Clement of 
 Alexandria were impregnated with Kabalistic teachings. 
 And Philo and Josephus also plainly belonged to the school 
 of Jewish mj^stics. But orthodox Israel were slaves of 
 letter, the most abject of bibliolaters. 
 
 How could they have cherished a work whose main 
 teaching is that the letter of the Old Testament must all 
 be explained away ? 
 
 Let us listen to the Kabala. 
 
 " Woe be to the son of man who says that the Tora con- 
 tains common sayings and ordinary narratives. For if this 
 were the case we might at the present day compose a code 
 of doctrines from profane writings which should excite 
 greater respect. If the Tora contains ordinary matter, then 
 there are nobler sentiments in profane odes. But every 
 word of the law has a sublime sense and a heavenly mystery. 
 Now the spiritual angels had to put on a heavenly garment 
 when they descended to earth. If they had not put on 
 such a garment they could neither have remained nor been 
 understood on the earth. 
 
 " It is for this reason that David prayed, ' Open thou mine 
 eyes that 1 may see the wondrous things of thy law.' " 
 The Kabala is essentially a book of high mysticism. 
 
Theosophy True and False, 195 
 
 Humanity is divided into four groups who can be detected 
 by tlie clairvoyant. Their types of faces resemble the 
 Chajoth, the man, lion, ox, and eagle of the vision of 
 Ezekiel. To the highest group alone is vouchsafed the 
 " Luminous Mirror," as distinguished from the '' Non- 
 Luminous Mirror," the " Tree of Life," as distinguished 
 from the " Tree of Knowledge." 
 
 These are the words used for the soul growth, the illumi- 
 nation of the mystic. The well-used word " Grace " has 
 also a meaning distinct from that of modern pulpits. It is 
 the faculty of reading the mystical sense, not the literal 
 sense of the Bible. 
 
 A second objection may be stated. 
 
 The Jews were stubborn unitarians, and quite hated the 
 Trinity idea. The Zohar proclaims the Trinity of Philo, 
 the Trinity of Buddhism. 
 
 It announces that for millions of millions of years En 
 Soph (the boundless), the formless, passionless, inconceiv- 
 able, inactive God, remained quiescent and solitary in chaos. 
 Then by the aid of Sophia (the Buddhist Prajna or Dharma) 
 and the " Divine Man " (Purusha of India) were formed the 
 worlds. This chaos is the Ungruund, the great " All " and 
 the great " Nothing " of Boehme. It is the Yliaster, the 
 Limbus magnus of Paracelsus. 
 
 Other points might be taken up. The Kabala has the 
 doctrine of re-incarnation, but the re-births are restricted 
 to three. This makes nonsense of the India Karma idea, 
 and argues a foreign doctrine only half accepted. I show, 
 too, in my " Buddhism in Christendom " (p. 87), that the 
 ten Sephiroth of the Kabala are taken from the ten 
 Paramitas of the Buddha. Both words mean attributes 
 (vTroo-raVet?), but the ideas of divine attributes varied a little 
 in Behar and Palestine. Where the Buddhists write down 
 '' Patience,'' " Charity," " Gnosis," the Jews prefer " Splen- 
 dour," " Kingdom," " Beauty." The three major Sephiroth 
 are absolutely the same as the three principal Paramitas. 
 
 En Soph whose image is a dot or point. This in 
 Buddhism is Dhyani, and represents also the Isvara or 
 inactive God, " He whose image is Sunyata (no image), who 
 is like a cypher or point infinite unsustained in Nirvritti," 
 
196 Madame Blavatsky, 
 
 cited by Hodgson (" Lit. of Nepal/' p. 77). Nirvritti is the 
 Buthos of the Gnostics and Pravritti the Pleroma. 
 
 The second and third Sephiroth are " Intelligence " and 
 " Wisdom,'' called also in the Kabala the " Father " and 
 " Mother." These in Buddhism are " Upaya " and " Prajna," 
 and in the two systems they symbolise the active bi-sexual 
 God. 
 
 " The Anointed they call male-female," sa^^s Cj^ril of 
 Jerusalem. 
 
 I now come to another point, the " Shells." Man is often 
 compared to a worm. Is it anywhere stated in the Kaba- 
 la that at death this worm is cut in half, and that two 
 halves run about independently. Following in the wake of 
 Madame Blavatsky and Eliphas Levi, the theosophists 
 loved to repeat this statement, until the extreme immorality 
 of the teaching was exposed. An interesting paper by a 
 gentleman named Leiningen was read in 1887 before the 
 Psychological Society of Munich. He shows that, according 
 to the Kabala, the individual at death is separated not 
 into two, but four portions, which may (or may not) be 
 called distinct beings. 
 
 1. Neschamah (spirit), which goes to the Briatic World, 
 the abode of pure spirits. 
 
 2. Ruach (soul), which goes to the World of Formation 
 (Jetsirah). 
 
 3. Nephesch (the lower principle), which for a long time 
 remains in the World of Matter (Asiah), and sometimes 
 hovers about not very far from the corpse. 
 
 4. " The Spirit of the Bones," which remains in the 
 sepulchre until the resurrection. 
 
 This seems to give a colour to the nonsense of Eliphas 
 Levi at first sight, but the author points out that when this 
 latter "Spirit of the Bones " is evoked, Nephesch, Ruach, 
 and Neschamah are evoked likewise. The individual is 
 practically still an individual in spite of the separation. 
 
 How did such a theory arise ? I think it is a simple 
 perversion of the Buddhist doctrine of the five Skandhas. 
 This word may mean the " five bodies," the " five detach- 
 ments of an army," the "five aggregations." Some Buddhists 
 hold that the Skandhas are what the individual takes with 
 him to each new birth. Some think they are that which 
 
Theosophy True and False, 197 
 
 he leaves behind him. Burnouf calls them " intellectual 
 attributes ; " Goldstiicker, "means of conception; " Judson, in 
 his " Birman Dictionary," the "living animal; " Schroter, in 
 his " Bhotanta Dictionary," the " five bodies." 
 
 Childers gives a noteworthy fact. It is held by the 
 Buddhists that even after Nirvana four of the five Skandhas 
 still exist. Now, if we take up the Sanskrit word Skandha 
 in its literal meaning, we see the closest analogy between 
 the Buddhist and the Kabalist ideas. A living man may 
 be described as an army of five detachments. At death, 
 one of these, the material body, is destroyed, and the re- 
 maining four detachments march off to ghostland. We may 
 call any one of these what we like, " Nephesch," or the 
 Buddhist " Vinnana," the vagueness of the Buddhist 
 Skandha idea is in its favour. But the Jew was hampered 
 by a teaching received from Persia that the soul remained 
 with the gross atomic body in the sepulchre, until that body 
 revived at the resurrection. Hence the absurdity of the 
 Jewish version, but it is by no means as absurd as Eliphas 
 L^vi would make it. 
 
 We now come to the Sufis. When Islam attacked the 
 Buddhists, a curious result took place. Asia Minor and 
 Egypt had long been the home of secret societies, the rem- 
 nants of the Gnostics, the Neo-platonists, the Manicheeans, 
 and even of the Essenes or disciples of John ; secret 
 societies due to Buddhist propagandism. By the aid of 
 these, half of Islam became Buddhists. Advantage was 
 taken of the quarrel raging between the Sheahs and 
 Soonees. One sect of the latter, the Ghoollat, made a sort 
 of Buddha of Ali, whose rank amongst the prophets was the 
 chief bone of contention between the rival camps. Some of 
 the Ghoollat affirmed that, by transmigration, the higher 
 nature of Ali returned to earth. Others held that he sat 
 enthroned in the clouds, and that the thunder w^as his voice. 
 This was the earliest school of mystics in Islam, said by 
 some to go back to the actual date of Ali. The Sebiin, 
 another sect of mystics, proclaimed the Seven Great Imams, 
 seven successive incarnations of the Supreme in mortal 
 shape. This is plainly the Buddhist doctrine of the 
 Seven Mortal Buddhas. The rites of initiation were 
 very severe. 
 
198 Madame Blavatsky. 
 
 "According to his propfress in 'the way,'" says M. 
 Napoleon Ney (" Le Societes Secretes Miisulmanes," p. 14), 
 " different names were ^iven to the neophyte." He was first 
 Talamid (disciple or servant), then Mourid (aspirant). He 
 was then initiated, and became Fakir (beo^gar, Ebionite, the 
 Buddhist Bhikshu). He was then Sufi (seer, according to 
 M. Ney, but some trace the word to Sophia), then 
 Salek ("walking" in the way), then Medjedoub ("drawn 
 to God "). Each of these degrees can only be gained after 
 successive ordeals. 
 
 There are two higher degrees reached by few: — Moham- 
 medi (full of the spirit of the prophet) and Touhidi, " merged 
 in the Divinity, Supreme Beatitude." 
 
 M. Ney goes on to say that this is plainly the Nirvana of 
 Buddhism. 
 
 Each sect had a " chain of gold," namely, a catalogue of 
 saints reaching to the Angel Gabriel. This catalogue varied 
 with each. It was recorded in the " Golden Legend." M. 
 Ney shows that the Bosicrucians of the Freemasons come 
 from Islam. I have pointed out that the Lotus of India 
 became the rose of Western mysticism. 
 
 " What rose do you wear ? " is the Shibboleth of the 
 Sufi. 
 
 *' I wear the rose of Mouley Taieb," is the proud answer ; 
 but the uninitiated are obliged to say, " I wear no rose at 
 all ; I am simpl}^ a servant of God." Initiation is called 
 " taking the rose." 
 
 "In some societies," says M. Ney, "to 'receive the rose,' 
 a noviciate of a thousand and one days is required, during 
 which the aspirant is condemned to the meanest duties of 
 the household, and to painful and degrading ordeals. In 
 the hands of thy Sheikh thou shalt be as a corpse in 
 the hands of those who wash dead bodies. God's own 
 voice commands this." This reminds M. Ney of the 
 ^erinde ac cadaver of the Jesuits. 
 
 It is difficult to detach the Kabalists from the Sufis in 
 history. The word " Toledo ! " was the great pass-word in 
 the witches' Sabbaths in France. Michelet explains this by 
 the fact that Toledo in Spain was the headquarters of the 
 Jewish and also the Arabian schools of magic. It is plain 
 that these " theosophists " differed in toto from the modern 
 
Theosophy Tmte and False, I99 
 
 school. They held that the magnum opus, the great 
 soul awakening, must come from within, not from Mahat- 
 mas and Blavatskys. Through Martinez Pasquales and 
 Kolmer they organised the Illuminati of the French re- 
 volution. 
 
CHAPTER XY. 
 
 CEKEMONIAL MAGIC. 
 
 In Paris a fierce war is raging between the spiritistes and the 
 occultist es. The spiritistes are occultistes in one sense of 
 the word, for their study is the occult world. But the oc- 
 cultistes hold that the term occultism applies to certain secrets 
 of magic that they alone possess. Thus, occultism, with one 
 party, means the secrets of the next world, and occultism 
 with the other party means certain secrets existing in this 
 world. 
 
 The battle seems due to a work by M. Papus. It is en- 
 titled "Traite Methodique de Science Occulte." This 
 gentleman is the " President of the Independent Group of 
 Esoteric Studies," and also the head, I believe, of the 
 martinistes, a Kabalistic society, which goes back as far 
 as Martinez Pasquales, and is announced to have had Saint 
 Martin, Eiiphas Levi, and also the first Lord Lytton amongst 
 its members. 
 
 M. Papus in this volume attacks the spiritistes. The 
 main blot of their system is that, by neglecting the tradi- 
 tions of ceremonial magic, the}^ render themselves liable to 
 become a prey to the elementaires and the coques astrales. 
 This seems at first sight a plagiarism from Madame Blavat- 
 sky, who also dealt in theories about coques astrales. But 
 M. Papus is more hostile to the theosophists than he is to- 
 wards the honest, but mistaken, sjyiritistes. He calls the 
 former " Bouddhistes d' Opera Goiiiique." Eiiphas Levi is 
 the high priest of occultisme ; and a somewhat ghastly 
 photograph of le Grand Occultiste Frangais, as he ap- 
 peared after death, is given as a frontispiece. The great 
 occultist looks a little like Fagin the Jew after execution. 
 M. Papus gives an account of a seance of the spiritistes of 
 Marseilles. One lady was controlled by General Marceau, 
 and gave a histrionic representation of his death. St. John 
 
 200 
 
Ceremonial Magic. 201 
 
 the Evangelist came likewise, and a much more solemn 
 name was attached to one visitant. M. Pap us laughs at the 
 reincarnation theory, which makes a clerk in a bank be- 
 lieve that he is Voltaire come back to earth, or Napoleon ; 
 and quite floods modern society with Joans of Arcs, Marie 
 Stuarts, Madames de Maintenon. Somehow it is only the 
 pretty ghosts that seem to be eager to come back. 
 
 But the spiritistes quickly took up the gauntlet, and one 
 of them under the pseudonym of " Rouxel " (" Spiritisme et 
 Occultisme," p. 5) sketched the two systems: — 
 
 " Spiritism is a science which has for object the study of 
 certain phenomena whose causes baffle the senses, and seem 
 to contradict certain laws established more or less arbitrarily 
 by conventional science. 
 
 " Spiritism is a science. That is its fundamental character. 
 It distinguishes it on one side from the current religions 
 which are based on authority, and on the other side from 
 that science which leans on a priori principles to deduce 
 consequences all more or less logical and all more or less 
 false." 
 
 The writer goes on to describe the patient methods of the 
 spiritistes, the Crookes, Wallaces, Gurneys ; how they 
 methodically observe occult phenomena, note down the 
 facts, and make comparisons in a careful way. A flood of 
 evidence has established, they maintain, the following re- 
 sults : — 
 
 1. The agents which produce these phenomena are the 
 spirits of the dead. 
 
 2. The soul survives the body. 
 
 3. If the soul survives the body the conclusions of science 
 that the soul is a resultant of the organism is disproved. 
 
 The author then proceeds to sketch occultism, but says 
 that her definition is a far more difficult matter : — 
 
 " For a long time I have observed it move like a wavelet, 
 contradict itself, change its name and its last teaching ; 
 * Buddhist ' yesterday, ' Magist ' the day before, * Occultist ' 
 to-day, now ' Kabalist,' now ' Zingari,' it is truly Proteus. 
 
 " Occultism like s[)iritism deals with those phenomena 
 whose causes evade materialistic science. It professes to 
 offer a solution — many solutions even — more satisfactory 
 than ours. On that point the public shall be a judge. 
 
202 Madame Blavatsky, 
 
 " The method of the occultists is radically opposed to the 
 method of the spiritists. This last is the experimental pro- 
 cess, as we have shown. Occultism places authority above 
 3Ictgister dixit. 
 
 " There was a time, not very remote, when the occultists 
 explained all the phenomena noted by Crookes and Wallace 
 and Gurney by the intervention of certain beings called by 
 them elementaries and elementals, to the absolute exclusion 
 of spirits of the dead. Now they admit that these latter 
 may come sometimes. Thus their ' authority ' is certainly 
 changeable." 
 
 Another answer to M. Papus comes from Italy. M. 
 Palazzi has written a little work which in its French 
 translation is called " Les Occultistes Contemporains." As 
 M. Papus takes exclusively for an authority Eliphas Levi, 
 M. Palazzi gives quotations from his writings to show how 
 contradictory these writings are : — 
 
 " Through the veil of all allegories hieratic and mystic, 
 through the darkness and the grotesque ordeals of all the 
 initiations, through the symbolism of ancient scriptures, in 
 the ruins of Nineveh or Thebes, on the crumbling tablets of 
 old temples, and on the blackened faces of the sphinxes of 
 Assyria and Egypt, on the monstrous and also marvellous 
 paintings that interpret the Vedas to the believers in India, 
 in the strange emblems of our old books of alchemy, in the 
 ceremonies of reception practised by all mystic societies we 
 find the traces of a doctrine always the same and always 
 studiously hidden " (Eliphas Levi, " Dogme et Rituel de la 
 Haute Magie," p. 63). 
 
 On the second page of the same book we read, says M. 
 Palazzi : — 
 
 " The discovery of the great secrets of the religion and 
 pr'wiitive science of the Magi . . . gives us the explanation 
 of their miracles and prodigies. 
 
 " The greatest genius of the Catholics in modern times, 
 Count Joseph de Maistre, foresaw this great event. 
 
 " ' Newton,' he said, ' brings us back to Pythagoras ; the 
 analogy which exists between science and faith must sooner 
 or later bring them together.' 
 
 " Sharing with the great man both his faith and hope, 
 
Ceremonial Macric 
 
 we have dared to ransack the rubbish heaps of the old 
 sanctuaries of occultism ; we have asked of the secret 
 doctrines of the Chaldeans, of the Egyptians, of the 
 Hebrews, the secrets of the transfiguration of dogmas." 
 
 In his " Histoire de la Magie," p. 5, Eliphas Levi writes 
 also : " The key of knowledge has been abandoned to chil- 
 dren, and as was to be expected, this hey is mislaid and as 
 good as lost." 
 
 " Here ah'ead}^," says M. Palazzi, commenting on these 
 passages, " in this confession of Eliphas Ldvi is a complete 
 proof that the occultists are not by an uninterrupted aiiilia- 
 tion, nor even by continuous tradition, the exclusive re- 
 tainers of the secret knowledge of the ancient initiations, 
 and of the doctrine of the Magi. Their pretensions have 
 no basis. Eliphas Levi announces that he has ' dared ' to 
 place himself on the lost track, seeking in the darkness of 
 initiations amongst the ruins of the old cities of the East a 
 doctrine which he confesses was always concealed with the 
 greatest iDOssible care.'" 
 
 This seems unanswerable ; and the great French occultist 
 seems to cut himself away still more completely from the 
 past in another passage : — 
 
 " The Church, always inspired by the spirit of truth, 
 found it necessary to proscribe under the terms ' magic,' 
 * manichceism,' ' illuminism,' ' masonry/ all that was in any 
 way connected with the primitive profanation of the 
 mysteries." 
 
 The unprofaned mysteries, the French writer explains, 
 came first from the true as distinguished from the false 
 Zoroaster, and then were handed down first by the Egyp- 
 tians in their hieroglyphic alphabet, then by Moses, then 
 by the Zingari in their Tarot. The society to which he 
 belonged was called the Martinistes, the chief French sec- 
 tion of the Illuminati. The mysticism of this latter com- 
 plex movement seems to have been mainly due to three 
 individuals. The first was Martinez Pasquales, a mystic 
 from Spain, who taught Saint Martin to evoke the dead. 
 His followers called themselves "Philalethes," and "Knights 
 of the Holy City." At Avignon and Lyons they performed 
 many marvels, including, it is said, much intercourse with 
 the dead. The second founder was Schroepfer whose evoca- 
 
204 Madame B lav at sky. 
 
 tions were famous in Germany, and so were those of the 
 Count St. Germain, his pupil, who showed Louis XV. his 
 decapitated son in a maojic mirror. The third was Kohner, 
 who learnt his magical knowledge in the East. He is sup- 
 posed to be Altotas, from whom Cagliostro derived, as he 
 tells us, his magical knowledge. But Kolmer had a more 
 important pupil, Wieshaupt, the great captain of the 
 Illuminati. If Eliphas Levi repudiates " illuminism," 
 " manicb?eism/' and so on, he cuts himself completel}^ from 
 the past, for " illuminism " was Sufism. And where did he 
 get his doctrine of shells, for the Magists of the French 
 Revolution seemed quite to live with the dead ? There is 
 a record of a famous banquet of twelve, of whom six were 
 to be ghosts. It was a sort of test banquet, to which the 
 Podmores of the Illimiinati sent chosen delegates. The 
 dead guests were the Duke of Choiseul, Voltaire, d'Alem- 
 bert, Diderot, the Abbd de Voisenon, and Montesquieu. 
 
 " They talked," says M. de Canteleu (" Societes Secretes," 
 p. 180), " with a rare impudence, and spared no one, not 
 even their own personality." 
 
 But magic has its secrets. This is quite true, but it gets 
 these secrets from books open to the public, from the 
 Kabala, and such works as " The Magus " of Frances 
 Barrett. This gentleman was one of the real Illuminati, 
 and the real Martinistes. His work, which appeared in 
 1801, gives the secrets of Kabalistic magic. 
 
 Many people have asked me why a good spirit is called 
 an " astral " spirit, and its body an " astral " body, and so 
 on. I have been unable to answer, but by the aid of Mr. 
 Barrett I can do so now. Ceremonial magic plainly dates 
 from the time when the ancients believed that each star 
 was a god, the planets very great gods, the fixed stars very 
 small gods. And the main object of ceremonial magic was 
 to evoke and win the influence of these " astral " spirits, 
 even in the Kabalism of the early century. Mr. Barrett 
 shows that an advance had been made on the Peripatetics 
 who held that there was only one spirit in each star. Each 
 had its hierarchy, but the "intelligent president" alone 
 could be summoned, the presidents of the seven planets 
 being the most potent of all. These are the " Seven spirits 
 round the throne of God," says Mr. Barrett. 
 
Ceremonial Magic. 205 
 
 But how are you to evoke one of these spirits, say the 
 " intelligent president " of Saturn ? 
 
 The first difficulty is to get his real name. Without that 
 nothing can be done. And the process is by no means 
 easy. 
 
 ""This then is to be known/' says Mr. Barrett (p. 73), 
 "that the names of the intelligent presidents of every one 
 of the planets are constituted after this manner, that is to 
 say by collecting together the letters out of the figures of 
 the world from the rising of the body of the planet, accord- 
 ino: to the succession of the sig-ns throuMi the several 
 degrees from the aspects of the planet himself, the calcula- 
 tion being made from the degree of the ascendant." 
 
 Now as all this might be a little difficult to the tyro, we 
 may let him know at once that the name of Saturn, de- 
 duced by this process, is " Oriphael." 
 
 But this is only a beginning. I will give a sketch of 
 other necessary proceedings, promising that if any member 
 of the Psychic Research Society is really anxious to 
 " summon " the intelligent President of Saturn, he must go 
 direct to Mr. Barrett. 
 
 First you must get a sword. It must be two-edged, says 
 Mr. Barrett, quoting a passage attributed a little vaguely to 
 " the prophets " : — 
 
 •' Take unto you two-edged swords." 
 
 You must have " two holy wax lights," a magic wand 
 scored over with that six-pointed star that figures on all 
 Madame Blavatsky's literature. It is called the " Seal of 
 Solomon," and all readers of the "Arabian Nights" know that 
 on one occasion it kept the Djinin the jar. You must have 
 a tripod " in which the perfumes are put, and may be either 
 held in the hand or set in the earth." All " magical instru- 
 ments " must be consecrated with "holy water," "holy oil," 
 and " oderiferous sufFumigations." Also you must be pro- 
 tected from evil spirits by the aid of a " pentacle." M. 
 Papus defines this as a '' synthetical tracery," which does 
 not tell us much. It is a plate of metal with magical 
 symbols scored upon it, the " Seal of Solomon," a " lamb 
 slain," " the figure of the serpent hanging on the Cross,'' or 
 some other sacred device.. 
 
 But more important than all is the " Lamen." Trace on 
 
2o6 Madame Blavatsky, 
 
 brass, or virgin wax properly scented two circles from the 
 same centre, leaving a space large enough to write the ten 
 names of God in Hebrew, El, Eloshim, Elohe, Zebaoth, Elion, 
 etc., between them. In the centre of the lam en draw a 
 six-pointed star and place in it the name of the intelligent 
 president, Oriphael in this case. Round the six-pointed 
 star there must be four five-pointed stars irregularly drawn, 
 if only one spirit is summoned, but a star for each of the 
 minor spirits if several are invoked. Does not this busi- 
 ness of a badly drawn star for each spirit go back to the 
 times when savages thought the stars gods and drew badly 
 and couldn't write at all ? 
 
 Tiie evocation of Kabalistic magic has been compared on 
 one side to the Essene and Christian Sacramentum, and on 
 the other to the rites of the hona fide Buddhist magician. 
 Mr. Barrett tells us that in the Kabala a preliminary fast 
 of forty days is pronounced necessary. The evoker must 
 wear white linen and a white veil. The " table or altar " 
 must be covered with a clean v/hite linen cloth, and set 
 towards the East. There must be wax lights and incense. 
 Round all you must have a magic circle. " In the middle 
 of the altar you must place lamens covered with fine white 
 linen, which is not to be open until the days of consecration " 
 ("The Kabala," p. 93). On the forehead of the evoker 
 there must bo a gold lamen. Eliphas L^vi adds a detail 
 which Mr. Barrett has plainly omitted through inadvert- 
 ence. Bread and wine is placed on the altar for the spirit 
 ("Dogme," vol. ii. p. 187). The Buddhist necromancer 
 evokes Vajra pani, the " Wielder of the thunderbolt," with 
 similar rites. 
 
 All this requires some comment. Each of the seven 
 planets has a vast hierarchy of angels, as Mr. Barrett tells 
 us, under the intelligent governor (p. 43). The distance of 
 Saturn from the sun, according to our astronomers, is 
 893,955,000 miles. 
 
 It follows that when the two planets are whirling round 
 on opposite sides to the sun there is a vast space between 
 them. 
 
 Does it not seem a priori a rather strange arrangement 
 that a ruler of a vast legion of angels should be obliged to 
 leave his superintendence of them, and travel, say, one 
 
Ceremonial Magic. 207 
 
 billion two hundred and forty-three millions of miles every 
 time tbat a hon vivant like Eliphas Levi, suffering from the 
 gout, scores a few Hebrew words on a lamen of virgin wax ? 
 This magic to the uninitiate is plainly a survival of early 
 astronomical ignorance, when people thought that the earth 
 was a large flat plane, the planets seven large lamps, the 
 other stars small lamps, all fixed on to a solid dome ; when 
 they thought also that the stars were the astral bodies, 
 each of a god. Even Mr. Barrett often confuses stars and 
 angels in a hopeless manner. 
 
 But supposing that we have properly prepared our magic 
 lamens and the real Oriphael comes to us, what have we 
 gained ? How can we be certain that he is not a wicked 
 " shell " personating the intelligent governor of Saturn ? 
 
 One tremendous answer is open to the occultists, but I do 
 not know whether they would like to use it. These rites 
 are the rites of black magic. A thin veneering of orthodoxy 
 is used in some of the " invocations." 
 
 "In the name of the blessed Trinity I do desire thee, 
 strong and mighty angel, named Oriphael, that if it be the 
 divine will of him who is called Tebragrammaton, etc., thou 
 take upon thee some shape as best becoraeth thy celestial 
 nature and appear to us visibly in this place," and so on 
 (" The Kabala," p. 93). But Mr. Barrett confesses that ex- 
 actly the same lamen is used " for the invocating of all 
 spirits whatever " (p. 95). By this hocus pocus, a " demon, 
 whether good or bad, may be drawn out " (p. 62). He 
 especially cautions us to go through the proper ceremony 
 of ''licencing the good angels to depart " after they have 
 obeyed us in coming (p. 94). The circle is a prison, the 
 Hebrew words bars, the food and drink a bait for the " good 
 angel," the sword is there to frighten him. Imagine one 
 of the "seven great angels that stand by the throne of 
 God " alarmed at the aspect of the fat little Abbe Eliphas 
 Levi, holding in his hand a second-hand sword bought of 
 an old clothes man. 
 
 We come upon another difficulty. The evocation of these 
 astral spirits, these intelligent governors of the planets, was 
 the crux of ceremonial magic in Mr. Barrett's day, when 
 Martinez, the founder of the French Kabalists, was still 
 alive. M. Papus is now their chief, and lo and behold ! 
 
2o8 Madame B lav at sky. 
 
 these vast legions of starry gods have disappeared. Ele- 
 mentals and elementaries, he tells us ("Traite Methodique," p. 
 104<7), are the only spirits that occultisme recognises. Can 
 it be that occuUisnie is learning lessons from spiritisme ? 
 But the " Elementals " of M. Papus deserve a word, as Mr. 
 Barrett believed in them likewise. There are four species 
 of " invisible powers." " Some are fiery, some watery, some 
 serial, some terrestrial" (Barrett, "Ceremonial Magic," p. 
 43). He adduces as specimens of these elementals the 
 Nereides that the old Greek sailors propitiated with milk, 
 honey, and the flesh of goats, for calm voyages ; the Dryades 
 or spirits of trees ; the spirits of the air, " that hold the four 
 winds in the four corners of the earth "; the " boiling spirits," 
 etc., etc. (p. 4S). Plainly in Mr. Barrett's day the elementals 
 were what they were in the days of Homer, intelligent 
 beings, that could give to the world rain, warmth, precious 
 metals, prosperous voyages. But M. Papus has backed out 
 of all this likewise. He calls the elementals " esprits incon- 
 scients." Madame Blavatsky goes further. She tells us 
 (" Theosophical Glossary," p. 112) thatthey are "rather forces 
 of nature than ethereal men and women." This puzzles me. 
 I doze on the seashore. A soft air fans my forehead. I 
 look up. I may perhaps see a pretty Nereid breathing 
 upon me. I may detect only a soft breeze. But I don't 
 see how it can be rather more one than the other. Madame 
 Blavatsky at one time professed to be the solitary person 
 outside of Tibet who, by magical processes, could control 
 these beings. Surely, if any one, she can tell us whether 
 a certain elemental that she was ordering about was a soft 
 Nereid or only a soft breeze. 
 
 But we have one proof more that occultism is not tradi- 
 tion but shifting guess-work, the " Elementaries." This 
 word is unknown to Mr. Barrett, and seems to have been 
 coined by Eliphas Levi to describe the bad halves of dead 
 mortals, Cogues astrales. M. Papus affirms that the incuhi 
 and succiihi are elementaries. 
 
 This contradicts the older theosophists, for these spirits, 
 according to Paracelsus, are not dead mortals at all. An 
 incubus is the same as an Umhratilis, a full-grown young 
 woman, handsome and abominably wicked, that can be 
 created by the male without the aid of the female in half 
 
Ceremonial Magic, 209 
 
 a minute. How she can become abominably wicked in that 
 time is not explained. 
 
 On one very important point Mr. Barrett throws light. 
 He has a chapter on the "method of raising evil spirits, 
 and also the souls and shadows of the dead," in fact he 
 views both evocations as black magic. A churchyard must 
 be selected and the " bones of the dead " must be " perfumed 
 with new blood, eggs, honey, oil, etc., and then the body and 
 soul (not a Goque astrale) will obey the summons." This 
 confirms me in what I have already suggested, that the 
 Kabalists, like the Catholics, were astride of two conflict- 
 ing eschatologies. The first taught that the saints were flying 
 about everywhere, the second that their souls were with 
 their bodies in the grave until the resurrection. 
 
CHAPTER XVL 
 
 A LAST CHAPTER. 
 
 Three years ago I read this funny letter in a newspaper : — 
 
 " Sir, — I must apologise for trespassing on the valuable 
 space in your paper; but being deeply interested in the 
 subject, I should like to ask either you or any of your 
 readers, and especially ' R. C. ; F. T. S./ whether it is a 
 fact that two ladies drove through, or about, or round 
 London in a hansom cab, with the cremated remains of 
 Madame Blavatsky in an urn upon their knees. And if 
 they did so, then why ? Gilded Coach." 
 
 Another newspaper report was that these cremated re- 
 mains were to be placed in four stupas of the pattern 
 erected to Buddha. These stupas were to be in Europe, 
 Asia, Africa, and America respectively. The death took 
 place on May 8th, 1871, now called " White Lotus Day." 
 
 Whilst the ashes of this noteworthy old lady are waiting 
 for their stupas let us say a last word over them, and make 
 it as kindly as we can. The first point to be considered is 
 this, and it is a very important one. From about the date 
 of the Society Spirite in Cairo she seems to have been quite 
 without means. Becky Sharp thought that with ten 
 thousand a year she could have lived quite a " respectable " 
 life. Perhaps with some such sum at her disposal Madame 
 Blavatsky might have been a Madame Guy on. But when 
 she adopted spiritisme as a means of livelihood she started on 
 an incline of polished ice. " Miracle Club," " Arya Samaj," 
 " theosophy," the " occult business," the " materialising 
 show business," each was " business." She had to live and 
 help Colonel Olcott, who, through her, had lost a lucrative 
 practice. 
 
 Fibs by a Russian or a Pole are not by any means viewed 
 as fibs are viewed by a Frenchman, who in his turn admits 
 
 21 
 
A Last Chapter, 211 
 
 that the Englishman quite beats him in the matter of 
 truth fuhiess. 
 
 " Yes, sir ! " says one of Balzac's heroes, using English to 
 emphasise a particularly solemn assurance. 
 
 If the career of a Madame Guyon had been open to 
 Madame Blavatsky, it is probable that even then she might 
 have a little embellished the narrative of her experiences, 
 both inner and outer. It must be said in her favour too 
 that she was not the originator of the teaching of occultism, 
 that the main duty of man is to invent ingenious fibs to 
 keep concealed certain pass-words and rites. 
 
 In the following passage Madame Coulomb seems to 
 record a genuine conversation : — 
 
 "At this period, having satisfied myself that neither pheno- 
 menanor apparitions were genuine,I began to thinkmore seri- 
 ously on the matter, and finally one day I asked her why she 
 did these things, to which she answered as follows : ' But do 
 you know^ that you are a great " Seccatura ? " What a 
 bigot you are ! Do not be afraid, I do no harm ; but on the 
 contrary, a great deal of good. See/ she added, ' Mr. Some- 
 body, who for eight years was careless of his wife and child, 
 by this means has been brought back to the fold, and 
 now, as you see him, he cares for both ; and, moreover, the 
 same gentleman, who, before joining the society, was so 
 proud and so hard with the natives, now shakes hands with 
 them, and even remains in their company.' And she related 
 to me many instances of good results from such foolish 
 practices." 
 
 No doubt the relations between the black faces and the 
 white in India are by no means sa^tisfactory. Two rival 
 Brahminisms are face to face. Madame Blavatsky really 
 tried to make matters better, but she plunged into a vast 
 difiiculty like a "griff." She did an immense deal of harm, 
 but we must credit her with good intentions. And when 
 the members of the Theosophical Society freely subscribed 
 their guineas the good old lady was generous. She wore an 
 old dressing-gown, and supported quite an army of poor 
 natives. , 
 
 She did a surprising amount of work. 
 
212 Madame Blavatsky, 
 
 " While she was writing ' Isis Unveiled ' at New York 
 she would not leave her apartment for six months at a 
 stretch. From early morning until very late at night she 
 would sit at her table working. It was not an uncommon 
 thing for her to be seventeen hours out of the twenty-four 
 at her writing. Her only exercise was to go to the dining- 
 room or bath-room and back again to her table. As she 
 was then a large eater, the fat accummulated in great 
 masses on her body. 
 
 "When 'Isis' was finished and we began to see ahead the 
 certainty of our departure, she went one day with my sister 
 and got herself weighed ; she turned the scales at 245 lbs. 
 (17 stone 7), and then announced that she meant to reduce 
 herself to the proper weight for travelling, which she fixed 
 at 156 lbs. (11 stone 2)." 
 
 One point I have kept purposely in the background, but 
 I hear that the Psychical Research Society are about to 
 bring it prominently forward. Letters have already been 
 produced by that body, in which she seems to confess that at 
 one period she led an immoral life. But, as Mr. Stead has 
 truly remarked, if " Messalina " rises from her dead self, the 
 point is in her favour. 
 
 " We might as well refuse to recognise what the psalms 
 have done for mankind because of David's treacherous 
 murder of Uriah." 
 
 Was she really a physical medium ? The Psychic 
 Research Society has answered No ! with some emphasis. 
 On the other hand, stories like this are going about. 
 Colonel Olcott asserts positively, in his " Diary Leaves," 
 that one day in America he and Madame Blavatsky and 
 another lady were in a room together. This second lady 
 was wearing a plain gold ring. Madame Blavatsky pressed 
 her hand a moment, and the plain gold ring was covered 
 with diamonds and other precious stones. A curious story 
 this ! If she could produce diamonds thus easily, why did 
 she descend to Adyar " shrines " and Simla pic-nics ? 
 
 She had the gift of " suggestion " and hypnotism be^^ond 
 a doubt. I copy from Light an account of the conversion 
 of Mrs. Besant : — 
 
 ''From 1886 onwards, Mrs. Besant, being of an active 
 nature, had noticed the current which was setting in the 
 
A Last Chapter. 
 
 direction of the new psycholoo^y. She had, indeed, investi- 
 gated spiritualism, and was not satisfied with the spiritual- 
 istic hypothesis, and had finally convinced lierself tliat 
 there was some hidden thing, some hidden power, and re- 
 solved to seek until she found — yet the ' conversion ' was as 
 startling as it was sudden." 
 
 The account of this change we give in Mrs. Besant's own 
 words. It is to bo understood that she had been asked by 
 Mr. Stead to review " The Secret Doctrine " for him : — 
 
 " Home I carried my burden and sat me down to read. 
 As I turned over page after page the interest became ab- 
 sorbing ; but how familiar it seemed ; how my mind leapt 
 forward to presage the conclusions ; how natural it was, 
 how coherent, how subtle, and yet how intelligible ! I was 
 dazzled, blinded, by the light in which disjointed facts were 
 seen as parts of a mighty whole, and all my puzzles, riddles, 
 problems, seemed to disappear. The effect was partially 
 illusory in one sense, in that they all had to be slowly un- 
 ravelled later, the brain gradually assimilating that which 
 the swift intuition had grasped as truth. But the light had 
 been seen, and in that flash of illumination I knew that the 
 weary search was over and the very Truth was found." 
 
 Now this finding of the " very Truth " is of the exact 
 nature of " conversion." In another form we meet with it 
 constantly in religious tracts and biographies. Storm-tossed 
 and weary, the excited sinner at lasts finds " peace," and 
 henceforth knows that he too has found the " very truth," 
 it may be in the materialistic creed of the conventicle, or it 
 may be in the sensuous certainties of Catholicism. But 
 henceforth there is no doubt, the " very truth " has been 
 found. And the parallel goes on. Mrs. Besant met Madame 
 Blavatsky as a result of her review of "The Secret Doctrine." 
 There was some natural reluctance, of course, in leaving one 
 " very truth " for another " very truth " ; and so, breaking 
 with her old friends, therefore, Mrs. Besant went again to 
 Madame Blavatsky: — 
 
 " H. P. Blavatsky looked at me piercingly for a moment. 
 ' Have you read the report about me of the Society for 
 Psychical Research ? ' ' No ; I never heard of it so far as I 
 know.' * Go and read it, and if, after reading it, you come 
 back — well.' And nothing more would she say on the 
 
214 Madame Blavatsky. 
 
 subject, but branched off to her experiences in many- 
 lands. 
 
 " I borrowed a copy of the Report, read and re-read it. 
 Quickly T saw how slender was the foundation on which 
 the imposing structure was built ; the continual assumptions 
 on which conclusions were based ; the incredible character 
 of the allegations ; and — most damning fact of all — the foul 
 source from which the evidence was derived. Everything 
 turned on the veracity of the Coulombs, and they were self- 
 stamped as partners in the alleged frauds." 
 
 Here follows one of the most amazing passages ever 
 written, and remember that it is written by a woman who 
 had fought for years for the right of private judgment : — 
 
 " Could I put such against the frank, fearless nature that I 
 had caught a glimpse of, against the proud fiery truthfulness 
 that shone at me from the clear blue eyes, honest and fear- 
 less as those of a noble child ? " 
 
 No reasoning here — simple surrender, that is all. But 
 the account goes on : — 
 
 " Was the writer of ' The Secret Doctrine ' this miserable 
 impostor, this accomplice of tricksters, this foul and loath- 
 some deceiver, this conjurer with trap-door and sliding 
 panels ? I laughed aloud at the absurdity and flung the 
 Report aside with the righteous scorn of an honest nature 
 that knew its own kin when it met them, and shrank from 
 the foulness of a lie." 
 
 It is hardly necessary to say that Mrs. Besant immedi- 
 ately joined the Theosophical Society. H. P. B. soon after- 
 wards put her hand on Mrs. Besant's head and said, " You 
 are a noble woman. May Master bless you." This occurred 
 on the 10th of May, 1889. 
 
 As in the ca,se of Dr. Anna Kingsford, we have here a 
 complete proof that the mystic develops from within. 
 For years Mrs. Besant had been an unconscious Chela ; and 
 the crop of lofty mysticism that she carried away with her 
 after her first interview with Madame Blavatsky had in 
 reality been carried there. The Russian lady had little 
 
A Last Chapter. 215 
 
 more to do with her launch than the admiral's little 
 daughter, who touches a button, and sends a ponderous 
 fabric like H.M. battleship Rodney sliding down the 
 grooves. 
 
 It is to be remembered also that, according to Colonel 
 Olcott, there were two distinct beings in the red dressing- 
 gown of Madame Blavatsky — a fibbing Russian lady and a 
 mighty Mahatma. Plainly this latter was chiefly exhibited 
 in the presence of Mrs. Besant. She certainly seemed to 
 psychologise people. 
 
 '' H. P. B." says Colonel Olcott, " made numberless friends, 
 but often lost tlicm again, and saw them turned into per- 
 sonal enemies. No one could be more fascinating than she 
 when she chose, and she chose it when she wanted to draw 
 persons to her public work. She would be caressing in 
 tone and manner, and make the person feel that she re- 
 garded him as her best, if not her only friend. She would 
 even write in the same tone, and I think I could name at 
 least a dozen women who hold her letters saying that they 
 are to be her successors in the T. S., and twice as many 
 men, whom she declared her only real friends. I have a 
 bushel of such certificates, and used to think them precious 
 treasures, until after comparing notes with third parties, I 
 found that they had been similarly encouraged. With ordin- 
 ary persons like myself and her other associates, I should not 
 say slie was either loyal or staunch. We were to her, I 
 believe, nothing more than the pawns in the game of chess, 
 for whom she had no heart-deep love." 
 
 The following experience of an enthusiastic theosophist 
 may throw some light here. " R. S. " writes a letter to 
 Madame Wachtmeister, published in that lady's " Re- 
 miniscences " : — 
 
 " I was at a great distance from H. P. B. Madame Blav- 
 atsky died before I ever met her. I was accepted as a 
 pupil ; — no rules were laid down, no plan formulated. I 
 continued my daily routine, and at night, after I fell into a 
 deep sleep, the new life began. On waking in the morning 
 ... I w^ould vividly remember that I had gone, as it were, 
 to H. P. B. I had been received in rooms that I had de- 
 scribed to those who lived with her, described even to the 
 worn places and holes in the carpet." 
 
2i6 Madame Blavatsky, 
 
 From this astral H. P. B., " R. S. '' derived mighty truths. 
 She was taught " the methods of motion," of vibration, of 
 the formation of the world from the first nucleolus of 
 "spirit moulding matter." She learnt that "motion was 
 consciousness," and so on. 
 
 "A few days after Madame Blavatsky died, H. P. B. 
 awoke me at midnight. She held my eyes with her 
 leonine gaze. Then she grew thinner, taller, her shape be- 
 came masculine. Slowly then her features changed, until 
 a man of height and rugged powers stood before me." 
 
 Now, whatever '' R. S. " may be, it is evident that he (or 
 she) is not an orthodox *' theosophist," or he w^ould have 
 known that the dead Madame Blavatsky, being a wicked 
 " shell," could not have preached mighty truths about 
 motion, etc. But the letter shows the influences at work 
 in theosophical circles. 
 
 We must remember, too, that on a public platform, Mrs. 
 Besant announced solemnly, as a proof of the existence of 
 the Mahatmas, that she had seen letters written in their 
 well-known handwriting some time after Madame Blavat- 
 sky's death. But this utterance led to a quaint episode in 
 the history of the Society. 
 
 Mrs. Besant discovered that a Mr. Judge in America had 
 simulated the handwriting of the Mahatmas in these letters, 
 and that all, except the "mental impression," were from him. 
 Mrs. Besant at once, as head of the Society, summoned a 
 great " Judicial Committee " to try Mr. Judge, who was 
 charged with having " practised deception in sending false 
 messages, orders, and letters, as if sent and written by the 
 Mahatmas." The Judicial Committee met in London on 
 the 2()th July, 1894?. According to one newspaper, Mrs. 
 Besant presided, " dressed as a Mahatma," or, at any rate, 
 as a native of India, with " white dress and white turban," 
 although in what part of India females wear w^hite turbans 
 w^as not specifi.ed. "Mr. Judge raised a question of juris- 
 diction, and the Council of the Society has sustained his 
 plea that, even if guilty of the misuse of the Mahatmas' 
 names and handwriting, he was not amenable to an inquiry 
 by the Judicial Committee, as the oflence would have been 
 committed by him as a private member and not in his 
 official capacity. The Council had also passed a resolution 
 
A Last Chapter, 217 
 
 to the effect that a statement as to the truth or otherwise 
 of at least one of the charges as formulated against Mr. 
 Judge would involve a declaration on their part as to the 
 existence or non-existence of the Mahatmas, and that would 
 be a violation of the spirit of neutrality and the unsectarian 
 nature and constitution of the Society." 
 
 Mrs. Besant is reported to have thus spoken : — 
 " I regard Mr. Judge as an occultist, possessed of consider- 
 able knowledge and animated by a deep and unswerving 
 devotion to the Theosophical Society. I believe that he 
 has often received direct messages from the Masters and 
 from their Clielas, guiding and helping him in his work. I 
 believe that he has sometimes received messages for other 
 people in one or other of the ways that I will mention in a 
 moment, but not by direct writing by the Master nor by 
 his direct precipitation ; and that Mr. Judge has then 
 believed himself to be justified in writing down in the 
 script adopted by H. P. B. for communications from the 
 Master, the message psychically received, and in giving it 
 to the person for whom it was intended, leaving that person 
 to wrongly assume that it was a direct precipitation or 
 writing by the Master himself — that is, that it was done 
 through Mr. Judge, but done hy the Master. 
 
 " Now personally I hold that this method is illegitimate, 
 and that no one should simulate a recognised writing which 
 is regarded as authoritative wdien it is authentic. And by 
 authentic I mean directly written or precipitated ^ by the 
 Master himself. If a message is consciously written it 
 should be so stated : if automatically written, it should be 
 so stated. At least so it seems to me. It is important that 
 the very small part generally played by the Masters in these 
 phenomena should be understood, so that people may not re- 
 ceive messages as authoritative merely on the ground of their 
 being in a particular script. Except in the very rarest 
 instances, the Masters do not personally write letters or 
 directly precipitate communications. Messages may be 
 sent by them to those with whom they can communicate 
 by external voice, or astral vision, or psychic word, or 
 mental impression, or in other ways. If a person gets a 
 message which he iDelieves to be from the Master, for com- 
 munication to anyone else, he is bound in honour not to 
 
2i8 Madame Blavatsky. 
 
 add to that message any extraneous circumstances which 
 will add weight to it in the recipient's eyes. I beheve that 
 Mr. Judge wrote with his own hand, consciously or auto- 
 matically I do not know, in the script adopted as that of 
 the Master, messages which he received from the Master or 
 from Chelas ; and I know that, in my own case, I believed 
 that the messages he gave me in the well-known script 
 were messages directly precipitated or directly written by 
 the Master. When I publicl}^ said that I had received 
 after H. P. Blavatsky's death letters in the writing H. P. 
 Blavatsky had been accused of forging, I referred to letters 
 given to me by Mr. Judge, and as they were in the well- 
 known script I never dreamt of challenging their source. 
 I know now that they were not written or precipitated by 
 the Master, and that they were done by Mr. Judge, but I 
 also believe that the gist of these messages was psychically 
 received, and that Mr. Judge's error lay in giving them to 
 me in a script written by himself and not saying that he 
 had done so. I feel bound to refer to these letters thus 
 explicitly, because, having been myself mistaken, I in turn 
 misled the public." 
 
 Now all this may be satisfactory to Mr. Judge, but is it 
 satisfactory to the Theosophical Society ? The satire that we 
 have quoted (" Talking Image of Urur," see ante., p. 190) from 
 the pen of a gentleman that knows perhaps more about that 
 society than any living being, made one special hit. This 
 was that it was a leading maxim that a Chela must receive 
 as a genuine document of the Mahatmas anything that any 
 superior chose to write. And we know that the red pencils 
 and Tibetan envelopes found amongst Madame Blavatsky's 
 properties were so used by Damodar and others. But satire 
 has now become sober fact, if the " mental impression " of 
 A. and of B. is to be received as a genuine document of the 
 Mahatmas. But these mental impressions ditfer considerably, 
 as we have seen in the cases of Mr. Judge and Mr. Sinnett. 
 How can we be certain which of the two gives us the " block 
 of absolute truth " ? 
 
 These Mahatmas have strangled the conscience and 
 thought of theosophy. Perhaps the Judge trial was an 
 effort to cast off the incubus. 
 
 Listen to this astounding passage in the " Diary Leaves " 
 of Colonel Olcott : — 
 
A Last Chapter. 219 
 
 " I have been obliged to trace its evolution (that of the 
 reincarnation theory) within our lines, at the risk of a small 
 digression, as it was necessary for the future welfare of the 
 society to show the apparent baselessness of the theory that 
 our present grand block of teaching has been in H. P. B.'s 
 profession since the beginning. To admit that would in- 
 volve the necessity of conceding that she had knowingly 
 and willingly lent herself to deception, and the teaching of 
 untruth, in ' Isis '" {Theoso]jliist, August, 1893). 
 
 This is the passage, and at once the splendid fabric of 
 theosophy, the astral post offices, and tlie huge underground 
 crj^pt libraries, seem to dissolve like a palace of ice in 
 Russia before the first sunbeam of spring. The theory of 
 Mr. Sinnett is logical enougli. Madame Blavatsky was 
 entrusted with the secret doctrine of the Mahatmas during^ 
 her visit to Tibet in the year 1856, but a wise and far- 
 seeing obscurantism made it necessary that her mission 
 should at first be concealed by expedients, some honest, and 
 some dishonest. On no other hypothesis, indeed, could her 
 visit to Tibet, and the existence of the Mahatmas, be estab- 
 lished. But Colonel Olcott has now dissipated all this. 
 The colonel, though credulous, is believed by all to be 
 thoroughly honest. He has given up a lucrative profession 
 in the quest of higher ideals. In hot climates he has 
 worked without rest, preaching, like Buddha, his Dharma 
 in the bazaar. If any know the secrets of Madame Blavat- 
 sky, it ought to be the colonel, and now he assures us that 
 she knew notliing of tne Tibetan secret doctrine till she 
 went with him to India. Then, when did the Tibetan 
 Mahatma come in ? Tlie colonel would perhaps reply : At 
 the date of the battle of Mentana, when the Tibetan Ma- 
 hatma took possession of the body of a fibbing Russian lady. 
 This is all very well, but this Mahatm.a first of all said that 
 he was a spirit from the ghost world. He then announced 
 that he was a Brother of Luxor. That he was a Tibetan 
 Mahatma was only his third statement. According to the 
 colonel, we have a Tibetan Mahatma fobbing off his ideas 
 on a fibbing Russian lady. But may not the fibbing 
 Russian lady have been one too many for him, and fobbed 
 off her ideas on him ? 
 
 THE END. 
 
APPENDIX No. I, 
 
 THE MAHATMA AND THE "WESTMINSTER GAZETTE.' 
 
 Whilst these sheets are passmg through the press some singular de- 
 tails about the " mental impressions '' of the Vice-President of the 
 Theosophical Society, Mr. W. Q. Judge, have been given in a series of 
 papers in the Westminster Gazette, commencing on October 29th. 
 They were written by Mr. F. M. Garrett, whose facts are guaranteed 
 by Mr. Walter R. Old {Westminster Gazette, November 9th), who was 
 a member of the " Esoteric Section '' when these transactions took 
 place. It appears that the Mahatma (his name is Morya) wanted to 
 displace Colonel Olcott from the post of President of the Theosophical 
 Society. And so immediately after the death of Madame Blavatsky, 
 Mr. Judge had a "mental impression" that he must post off to 
 England, having wired from America : 
 
 *' Do nothing 'till I come ! " 
 
 His first step on arrival was to propose to Mrs. Besant that the 
 Mahatmas should be consulted by placing a letter asking for their ad- 
 vice in a well-known cabinet in Madame Blavatsky's room. 
 
 " Mr. Judge took the letter out again. On his showing it to Mrs. 
 Besant, judge of that lady's emotion at the discovery that at the end 
 of the question stood the word ' Yes ' traced apparently in red chalk." 
 
 Three days later the " Esoteric Section Council " met to decide how 
 the section should in future be governed, its head being gone. Mr. 
 Judge at once produced a plan " under which the council was to 
 dissolve, and its powers to be delegated to Mrs. Besant and himself as 
 ' Joint Outer Heads,' the Inner Heads being the Mahatmas." 
 
 Mrs. Besant was arranging her papers, when amongst them was dis- 
 covered a little slip with the words : — "Judge's plan is right." This 
 was written in red pencil, and sealed with a " Cryptograph M." 
 
 Plainly these words had again come as Mrs. Besant put it, " in what 
 some would call a miraculous fashion." Soon more miracles occurred. 
 Letters were found in gummed envelopes, in desks, in old letters, as 
 in the old Blavatsky days ; and Mrs. Besant felt justified in making 
 her celebrated announcement. 
 
 221 P 
 
2 2 2 Appendix. 
 
 Speaking in the Hall of Science on August 30, 1891, three months 
 after Madame Blavatsky's death, she said : — 
 
 "You have known me in this hall for sixteen and a half years. 
 You have never known me tell a lie. (' No, never,' and loud cheers.) 
 I tell you that since Madame Blavatsky left I have had letters in the 
 same handwriting as the letters which she received. Unless you think 
 dead persons can write, surely that is a remarkable fact. You are 
 surprised ; 1 do not ask you to believe me ; but I tell you it is so. 
 All the evidence I had of the existence of Madame Blavatsky's 
 teachers of the so-called abnormal powers came through her. It is 
 not so now. Unless even sense can at the same time deceive me, un- 
 less a person can at the same time be sane and insane, I have exactly 
 the same certainty for the truth of the statements I have made as I 
 know that you are here. I refuse to be false to the knowledge of my 
 intellect and the perceptions of my reasoning faculties.'' 
 
 But the work of the Mahatma was only half finished. Practically 
 Mr. Judge and Mrs. Besant ruled the society, but Colonel Olcott was 
 still the nominal head. Is was necessary to force him to retire. The 
 method adopted was so astounding, that unless a sober member of the 
 "Esoteric Section" had confirmed the statement, I should have 
 hesitated to record it. IMrs. Besant was informed that good old 
 Colonel Olcott wanted to poison her. It is also positively asserted that 
 she put off a journey through fear of such a catastrophe. 
 
 But a Mahatma may be too clever. A "precipitated" letter was 
 sent to Colonel Olcott, with a very clear impression of the "Crypto- 
 graph M." The colonel opened his eyes. He recognised the impres- 
 sion of a brass seal which he himself had had made in the Punjab as 
 " a playful present " for Madame Blavatsky. Further investigation 
 disclosed that the paper of some of the missives was "the sort of tissue 
 which is used to separate the sheets of typewriting transfer paper." 
 At other times certain " Punjab paper," bought by Colonel Olcott, was 
 detected. This and the "brass seal " were known to be amongst the 
 late Russian lady's efi"ects, and to these Mr. Judge had had access. 
 
 Here was a discovery ! The poor Mahatma, bafiied, planned a great 
 coup. A letter reached Colonel Olcott from "a Mr. Abbott Clark of 
 Orange City, California, a gentleman who was under no sort of 
 suspicion of having anything to do with Mahatmas." In this letter 
 was an additional slip containing these words : — 
 
 "Judge is not the forger you think, and did not write 'Annie.' 
 My seal is with me, and he has not seen it, but would like to. Both 
 are doing right each in his own field. Yes, I have been training him 
 and can use him, when he does not know, but he is so new it fades 
 
Appendix, 223 
 
 but often as it may in this letter from an enthusiast "^ * "^ it for 
 you to know." 
 
 The asterisks represent a blur. The precipitated letter was in red 
 chalk. It was signed with the " Cryptograph M,'' i)urposely smudged. 
 And across it in black carbon were the words : — 
 
 " Facit per alium applies to the Lahore brass 'M.' It is not pencil." 
 But the best laid schemes of mice and Mahatmas oft "gang agley." 
 Colonel Olcott had not bought the brass seal at Lahore at all, but at 
 quite another place, and " writing to Mr. Clark, he discovered that Mr. 
 Judge had spent two days in Orange county at the very date when 
 the Master availed hnnself of Mr. Clark's envelope." 
 
 We need not go very far into the question whether the red pencil 
 letters were really written by a Mahatma. It is enough that Mrs. 
 Besant, Colonel Olcott, and other leading theosophists, believed that 
 they had complete evidence of a fraud. 
 
 Says The Wedminster Gazette, commenting on these revelations : — 
 "In general, if not yet in detail, the peculiar series of 'missives' 
 which have been reproduced, and in some cases facsimiled, in The 
 Westminster Gazette, are admitted ; it is admitted, too, that this 
 foundation of the Theosophical Society's inner fabric during the last 
 few years has somewhere about it something rotten. Colonel Olcott's 
 view, pointing at Mr. Judge, is recorded in his written evidence, 
 which afforded the main gravamen of the articles ; Mrs. Besant's view, 
 pointing so far as it is intelligible in the same direction, is recorded in 
 lier adoption of that evidence at the published ' enquiry.' It is a 
 queer enough spectacle to see Mrs. Besant, who regretted that her 
 strict intellect could not accept miracles on the Christian evidence, 
 greedily swallowing the ' precipitated ' revelations of the Mahatma. 
 But it is a queerer and a much sadder spectacle to find her, on the 
 tardy discovery that she had been deceived, leading the way in a con- 
 donation of the deception which makes her whole Church, as it were, 
 a party to it. And that, even more flagrantly, has been the line of 
 most of her followers who have yet spoken upon fuller knowledge. 
 Here is a society which claims to be the recipient of a revelation from 
 god-like beings, and the teacher to the world of a transcend ently high 
 system of ethics. Yet with one accord we now have them pleading 
 that they do not care twopence half -penny whether the demi-gods, by 
 whom they have solemnly sworn, do or do not exist, or exist only as 
 jugglers, equal neither in culture nor in honesty to, say, the average 
 Cheap-Jack : while the question as to whether their own principal 
 oflicials are or are not utterly untrustworthy persons is dismissed as a 
 matter of no moral importance. Wc are not ignoring the fact, which 
 
2 24 Appendix, 
 
 has been made clear by many other correspondents besides Mr. 
 Burrows, that this mental and moral fiabbiness is not shared by all 
 members of the society. Far from it. But as the official and the most 
 ostentatious line taken, it is a notable feature. It illustrates how in- 
 evitably the miracle-seeking instinct of this and all similar epochs is 
 linked with the moral crookedness of ' theosophistry . ' " 
 
 It is difficult to gainsay this. Indeed, the low state of moralit}^ of 
 the theosophists is evinced, as it seems to me, less by these transactions 
 than by the comments on them, with which, in many letters, they have 
 since flooded the newspapers. A document is v/ritten in red chalk, 
 it is immaterial whether the name of the writer be Blavatsky or 
 Damodar. It is fraudulently announced that this document is writ- 
 ten by a Mahatma. But, if I repeat the statement, knowing it to 
 be false, I am just as guilty as the writer. I may urge that, without 
 the glamour of the Mahatmas and their miracles, a vast apparatus for 
 the exposition of the fine mysticism of Boehme and Saint Martin would 
 collapse. Theosophy is a Chinese cage whose bars are labelled 
 "Slavery/' ''Gobemoucherie,'' "Hocus-pocus,'' "Hush up!" This will 
 be seen by a perusal of the "Rules and Pledges" of the "Probationer." 
 I give them slightly condensed, on the authority of Professor Coues. 
 
 [copy.] 
 ''^ Strictly jyrivate, and confidential. 
 
 "The Esoteric SECTI0^' or the T. S. 
 [Seal.] 
 
 " Dear , I forward you herewith a copy of the Kules and Pledges 
 
 for the Probationers of the Esoteric Section T. S. Should you be unable 
 to accept, then I request that you will return this to me without delay. 
 
 " H. P. Blavatsky. 
 
 " Rules of the Esoteric Section (Probationary) of the Theosophical 
 Society. 
 
 "2. Application for membership in the Esoteric Section must be accom- 
 panied by a copy of the pledge hereunto appended, ivritten out and sealed 
 by the Candidate, who thereupon enters upon a special period of proba- 
 tion, which commences from the date of the pledge. 
 
 " 4. He who enters the Esoteric Section is as one newly born ; his past 
 — unless connected with crime, social or political, in which case he cannot 
 be accepted — shall be regarded as never having had existence in respect 
 of blame for actions committed . 
 
 "7. To preserve the unity of the Section, any person joining it expressly 
 agrees that he shall be expelled, and the fact of his expulsion made public 
 to all members of the Society, should he violate any one of the three follow- 
 ing conditions : 
 
Appendix. 225 
 
 " (a) Obedience to the Head of the Section in all Theosophical matters. 
 
 " (6) The secrecy of the signs and passwords. 
 
 " (c) The secrecy of the documents of the Section, and any communica- 
 tion from any Initiate of any degree, unless absolved by the head of the 
 Section, 
 
 " PLEDGE OF PEGBATIONEES OF THE E.SOTERIC SECTION OF THE T, S. 
 
 "2. 1 2)ledge myself to support before the world the Theosophical move- 
 mrnt, its leaders, and its members, and in partic^dar to obey, ivithout cavil or 
 delay, the orders of the Head of the Esoteric Section. 
 
 '* 6. I pledge myself to give lohat support I can to the Theosophical movt- 
 Quent in time, money, and worh. 
 
 '^7.1 pledge myself to preserve inviolable secrecy as regards the signs 
 and passwords of the Section and all confidential documents. So help me 
 my higher self. 
 
 "Signed, 
 
 " The arrangements with regard to the Esoteric teaching which will be 
 given to members of the Section will be communicated to them in due 
 course." 
 
 APPENDIX No. II. 
 
 BLAVATSKYANA. 
 
 When Madamo Blavatsky first went to America (says Mrs. Hannah 
 Wolff) she, for cheapness, put up at the ' ' Working Woman's Home." 
 She translated a book on Russia; changed the word "Russia" every- 
 where to " United States " ; and she wanted to publish it as an original 
 work written by her on America. 
 
 She took " haschish " at this time. 
 
 She claimed that photographs left in her drawer would become 
 coloured. 
 
 " Isis Unveiled,'' according to Mr. Coleman, contains 2000 plagiarisms 
 from " Christianity and Greek Thought," by B. T. Cocker ; " Demono- 
 logia," by J. S. F. ; "Plato and the Older Academy," by Zeller ; 
 
2 26 Appendix. 
 
 the "Philosophy of Magic," by Salverte ; " Sod, the Son of Man," by S. 
 F. Dunlop/' and "over a hundred" other books. In a series of 
 articles written in The, Golden Way Mr. Coleman points out these 
 jolagiarisnis. 
 
 According to the Countess of Wachtmeister, Madame Blavatsky, on 
 one occasion being unable to obtain a match, elongated herself two or 
 three feet and stretched up to the gas chandelier to light a cigarette. 
 
 The man Michalko (see ante, p. 26) was alive when, as a dead man, 
 he was supposed to come to the Eddy seance. 
 
 Home, the medium, in a letter from Geneva, dated June 12, 1882, 
 says that Madame Blavatsky was in Paris in 1858. " I took no interest 
 in her, excepting a singular impression I had the first time I saw a 
 young gentleman who has ever since been as a brother to me. He did 
 not follow my advice. He was at that time her lover, and it was most 
 repulsive to me that in order to attract attention she pretended to be 
 a medium. My friend still thinks she is mediumistic, but he is also 
 just as fully convinced that she is a cheat." 
 
 In "Isis Unveiled," Madame Blavatsky talks of " Chris tna," 
 ^'Bhudda," and of two Sanskrit books called t:.e " Bhagavad Gita" 
 and the " Haripurana." 
 
 Schmiechen, the German artist, from sketches by Madame Blavatsky, 
 produced tAvo large oil paintings of " Koot Hoomi" and "Morya." 
 Like the well-known presentment of "John King," they had black 
 beards, and white turbans and white robes— rather a chilly costume 
 for Tibet. 
 
 Experts have pronounced that the letters of the two Mahatmas and 
 those of Madame Blavatsky are written in the same handwriting. 
 
 In The Graphic (American) of November 13th, 1874, Madame 
 Blavatsky published " six statements " about her early life, which six 
 statements in the Banner of Light, Feb. 17, 1877, she flatly contradicted : 
 " I was not born in 1834 ; Ekaterinoslav cannot claim the illustrious 
 honour of being my birth-place. M. Blavatsky was not seventy-three 
 when he capped the climax of my terrestrial felicity,'" and so on. Was 
 there an element of madness in the Russian lady ? 
 
 She once saw Col. Olcott's astral body "oozing through the wall" of 
 her bedroom. 
 
 On another occasion, as the colonel tells us, she created a pipe '' out 
 of nothing." 
 
 Mahatmas must be followed from distance to distance as the yokel 
 follows the rainbow. Their home was first announced to be Egypt, 
 then Malta, then Kashmir, then Tibet. 
 
 Col. Olcott's first guru was called " Serapis." 
 
Appendix. 227 
 
 This is the colonel's letter to Dayananda Sarasvati : — 
 " Venerated Teacher, — A number of American and other students, 
 who earnestly seek after spiritual knowledge, place themselves at your 
 feet, and pray you to enlighten them.'' 
 
 All the Anglo-Indian officials that I have spoken to fully believe 
 that in India Madame Blavatsky was in the secret service of Russia. 
 The refugees of that nation in London tell the same story. They 
 affirm that the' Coulomb scandal caused her to be dismissed, and that, 
 to recover her position, she courted Mrs. Besant, who was known to 
 be in touch with Stepniak and Krapotkin. Mr. Newton, the first 
 treasurer of the Theosophical Society, affirms that the journey to 
 India was decided upon after an interview at the Russian Legation. 
 
 DENOUMENT. 
 
 The great drama of theosophy has many surprises. Mr. W. Q. 
 Judge has dethroned Mrs. Besant. It had been arranged, it seems, 
 that she was to rule the Indian and English sections of the Theosophi- 
 cal Society ; and now these tremendous words have come across the 
 Atlantic, "I declare Mrs. Besant's headship at an end." 
 
 Three reasons are given by the Vice-President for this grave step — 
 
 1. Mrs. Besant has practised witchcraft and tried her weird spells, 
 her " psychic experiments," on Mr. Judge and others. 
 
 2. Mrs. Besant has pronounced one of the letters of the Mahatma, 
 which was precipitated in an orthodox manner and passed on to Mr. 
 Sinnett, "a fraud by H. P. B. herself, made up entirely and not from 
 the Master." 
 
 Says Mr. Judge with some acuteness : "If that letter be a fraud, 
 then all the rest sent through our old teacher are the same.'' 
 
 3. Mrs. Besant, in league with a Hindu named Chakravarti and 
 others, has quite flooded the society with documents from phantasmal 
 Mahatmas and " black magicians." 
 
 • ' They had all sorts of letters sent me from India, with pretended 
 messages from the Master." 
 
 Again : — 
 
 " The plot exists among the black magicians, who ever war against 
 the white." 
 
 All this is sad, but was not also some o it inevitable ? Let us 
 suppose that there are really certain Dhyan Chohans in Tibet who 
 made the Kosmos, rule it, and propose to instruct individual votaries 
 by astral appearances and dream messages, all of which are to be re- 
 ceived as infallible. Was it not quite certain that everyone would 
 
28 Appendix. 
 
 soon have his private Mahatma, and that A would consider B's 
 " Master " " black," not " white " ? Was it not also probable that a 
 Baphomet Sabbath would result, with its accusations of poisonings, 
 spells, witchcraft, black magic ? Mr. Judge proposes to dethrone the 
 fine " old wisdom religion of India " as well as Mrs. Besant, its chief 
 expounder. In America, a great Western school of magic is to be 
 founded under the Mahatmas. They no longer " live in India. '^ 
 
 N 
 
 Printed by Cowan 6* Co., Limited, Perth. 
 
f