Madame
Blavatsky
Born Helena Petrovna Hahn in 1831, Madame Blavatsky
was of Russian background. She was one of the founders
of the Theosophical Society which aimed at reconciling
all religions and sects using common eternal truths.
She is accredited with having influenced modern Occultism.
Madame Blavatsky died in 1891 and was exposed as having
used trickery to perform some of her acts.
While living in New York City, she founded the Theosophical
Society in September 1875, with Henry Steel Olcott,
William Quan Judge and others. Madame Blavatsky claimed
that all religions were both true in their inner teachings
and false or imperfect in their external conventional
manifestations. Imperfect men attempting to translate
the divine knowledge had corrupted it in the translation.
Her claim that esoteric spiritual knowledge is consistent
with new science may be considered to be the first
instance of what is now called New Age thinking. In
fact, many researchers feel that much of New Age thought
started with Blavatsky.
Her last words in regard to her work were: "Keep the
link unbroken! Do not let my last incarnation be a
failure." Suffering from heart disease, rheumatism,
Bright's disease of the kidneys, and complications
from influenza, Madame Helena Petrovna Blavatsky died
at 19 Avenue Road, St Johns Wood[5], the home she
shared, in England on May 8, 1891. Her body was then
cremated; one third of her ashes were sent to Europe,
one third with William Quan Judge to the United States,
and one third to India where her ashes were scattered
in the Ganges River. May 8 is celebrated by Theosophists,
and it is called White Lotus Day. She was succeeded
as head of one branch of the Theosophical Society,
by her protege, Annie Besant. Her friend, WQ Judge,
headed the American Section.
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