Blavatsky and Finland

Pekka Ervast's Rosicrucian jewel

The name of Pekka Ervast (1875-1934) may not be well-known outside Finland but at one time he was regarded as the Rudolf Steiner of Scandinavia. He joined the Theosophical Society in 1895 and soon became known to Col. Olcott and Annie Besant through his work for the movement there. When the Finnish Section of the Theosophical Society came into being in 1907 he was elected its first General Secretary. The connection was not to last; by 1920 he had left the organization and founded a Rosicrucian Society where he was to devote the rest of his life.

English readers may be familiar with his play on the life of H. P. Blavatsky: “H.P.B.” Four Episodes from the Life of the Sphinx of the XIXth Century translated into English and published by the Theosophical Publishing House of London in 1933. The website Lux Fennica which deals with all things Finnish and occult carries the following quote on its header:

June 1903: Pekka Ervast met in Stockholm Countess Constance Wachtmeister, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky’s associate for many years. She told him about Blavatsky’s prediction concerning Finland. “Ground seems to give way under everyone’s feet and darkness will reign in the whole world. Let the Theosophists then remember to turn their gazes towards the North, for the light will come from Finland. Thus spake Madame Blavatsky.” 

It should be noted that over time Blavatsky has been cited as saying similar things about the Irish and the Spanish.