6,493
edits
Difference between revisions of "Helena Blavatsky"
no edit summary
Occultwiki (talk | contribs) (Created page with "350px|thumb|Helena Blavatsky in 1877 '''Helena Petrovna Blavatsky''' (12 August [O.S. 31 July] 1831 – 8 May 1891), often known as '''Madame Bla...") |
Occultwiki (talk | contribs) |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
[[File:Helena Blavatsky.jpg|350px|thumb|Helena Blavatsky in 1877]] | [[File:Helena Blavatsky.jpg|350px|thumb|Helena Blavatsky in 1877]] | ||
'''Helena Petrovna Blavatsky''' (12 August [O.S. 31 July] 1831 – 8 May 1891), often known as '''Madame Blavatsky''', was a Russian and American mystic and author who co-founded the Theosophical Society in 1875. She gained an international following as the leading theoretician of Theosophy. | '''Helena Petrovna Blavatsky''' (12 August [O.S. 31 July] 1831 – 8 May 1891), often known as '''Madame Blavatsky''', was a Russian and American mystic and author who co-founded the Theosophical Society in 1875. She gained an international following as the leading theoretician of [[Theosophy]]. | ||
==Early life== | ==Early life== | ||
| Line 26: | Line 26: | ||
He helped attract greater attention to Blavatsky's claims, encouraging the ''Daily Graphics'' editor to publish an interview with her, and discussing her in his book on ''Spiritualism, People from the Other World'' (1875), which her Russian correspondent Alexandr Aksakov urged her to translate into Russian. She began to instruct Olcott in her own [[occult]] beliefs, and encouraged by her he became celibate, tee-totaling, and vegetarian, although she herself was unable to commit to the latter. | He helped attract greater attention to Blavatsky's claims, encouraging the ''Daily Graphics'' editor to publish an interview with her, and discussing her in his book on ''Spiritualism, People from the Other World'' (1875), which her Russian correspondent Alexandr Aksakov urged her to translate into Russian. She began to instruct Olcott in her own [[occult]] beliefs, and encouraged by her he became celibate, tee-totaling, and vegetarian, although she herself was unable to commit to the latter. | ||
At a Miracle Club meeting on 7 September 1875, Blavatsky, Olcott, and Irish Spiritualist, William Quan Judge, agreed to establish an esoteric organization, with Charles Sotheran suggesting that they call it the Theosophical Society. The term ''theosophy'' came from the Greek ''theos'' ("god(s)") and ''sophia'' ("wisdom"), thus meaning "god-wisdom" or "divine wisdom." The term was not new, but had been previously used in various contexts by the Philaletheians and the [[Christianity|Christian]] mystic, Jakob Böhme. Theosophists would often argue over how to define Theosophy, with Judge expressing the view that the task was impossible. Blavatsky however insisted that Theosophy was not a religion in itself. Lachman has described the movement as "a very wide umbrella, under which quite a few things could find a place." | At a Miracle Club meeting on 7 September 1875, Blavatsky, Olcott, and Irish Spiritualist, William Quan Judge, agreed to establish an esoteric organization, with Charles Sotheran suggesting that they call it the Theosophical Society. The term ''[[theosophy]]'' came from the Greek ''theos'' ("god(s)") and ''sophia'' ("wisdom"), thus meaning "god-wisdom" or "divine wisdom." The term was not new, but had been previously used in various contexts by the Philaletheians and the [[Christianity|Christian]] mystic, Jakob Böhme. Theosophists would often argue over how to define Theosophy, with Judge expressing the view that the task was impossible. Blavatsky however insisted that Theosophy was not a religion in itself. Lachman has described the movement as "a very wide umbrella, under which quite a few things could find a place." | ||
==''Isis Unveiled''== | ==''Isis Unveiled''== | ||