Madame Helen Petrovna Blavatsky
(1831 -1891)
Russian founder of the Theosophical Movement
Theosophy; which is Greek for "Divine Wisdom" was founded by Madame Helen Petrovna Blavatsky, who lived from 1831-1891. She was born in Russia to an aristocratic family, and exhibited psychic abilities at an early age. She married a much older Czarist general at the age of 17, but the marriage lasted only three months. She later had two more marriages, many lovers, and an illegitimate child. Biographers report that she swore fluently in at least three languages, exhibited a violent temper, and was a hashish user. She founded Theosophy on November 17, 1875, and said of her ability to influence thousands that people "in every part of the world have turned into asses at my whistle and have obediently wagged their long ears as I piped the tune".
Madame Blavatsky traveled extensively after divorcing the elderly Mr. Blavatsky. While in America, she became intensely involved in "Spiritualism." During a trip to Tibet, she claimed to make contact with disembodied higher spiritual beings whom she called "mahatmas." These masters of the spirit-world, she claimed, "guided her entire life through letters and messages." Her home contained an altar to the "mahatmas."
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