Blavatsky and Scriabin, Again

Research into the influence of Blavatsky on the Russian composer Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915) continues. The current issue of the Music Theory Online, the journal of the Society for Music Theory, contains an in-depth analysis of Scriabin’s symphony Prometheus: The Poem of Fire by Anna M. Gawboy and Justin Townsend titled “Scriabin and the Possible.”

The original program for Prometheus printed in the booklet at the 1911 Moscow premiere revealed the work’s connection to Blavatsky. The text begins, “Prometheus, Satanas [sic], and Lucifer all meet in ancient myth. They represent the active energy of the universe, its creative principle. The fire is light, life, struggle, increase, abundance, thought” (translated in Bowers 1996, 206–7). This closely paraphrases Blavatsky’s description of the Lucifer/Prometheus figure from The Secret Doctrine: “Satan, or Lucifer, represents the active, or . . . the ‘Centrifugal Energy of the Universe’ in a cosmic sense. He is Fire, Light, Life, Struggle, Effort, Thought, Consciousness, Progress, Civilization, Liberty, Independence” (Blavatsky 1888, vol. 2, 245).

For Blavatsky, Prometheus’s theft of fire was an allegory for the acquisition of human intellect, a pivotal moment in the theosophic narrative of human evolution (Blavatsky 1888, vol. 2, 519–28). The Secret Doctrine described how the human soul began as an emanation of the divine spirit, a primal thrill of vibration that Blavatsky conceptualized variously as a breath, a sound, and a light. Like a dividing cell, this emanation underwent a process of differentiation over many eons, eventually resulting in a physically embodied being. Although humans had achieved full materialization at the midpoint of the cycle, they still lacked the “sacred spark which burns and expands into the flower of human reason and self-consciousness” (vol. 2, 95). The Promethean enlightenment would eventually allow humans to transcend their base material existence and begin the journey toward divine spiritual reunification.

Dramatic trajectory of the slow luce part.
a. Blavatsky’s diagram of involution and evolution (1888/2, 300)
b. The slow luce of Prometheus

Blavatsky News

* Imagine doing a critical survey (published in two parts!) of an influential philosophical movement and relying only on one source. But this is what Michael Barker has done in his two part investigation, “The Roots of Theosophy,” at the online site Swans. And when the source is such a highly contested book, Peter Washington’s 1994 Madame Blavatsky’s Baboon, one would expect at least an attempt at some sort of verification. Unfortunately Barker ends up serving Washington’s errors as fact: “Anna’s early death in 1885” [Anna Kingsford died in 1888].

According Michael Barker’s version, “when the full Society for Psychical Research report was released—[Blavatsky] was effectively forced by Olcott to leave her own Society, thereby ending their friendship. She traveled back to Europe in March 1885, eventually settling in London (in the spring of 1887). Here, cut off from the Adyar [sic] she was ‘supported by the rich and aristocratic friends who helped to sustain her last years,’ and they ‘helped to set up her journal’” [was she supposed to edit it for free?]. Unfortunately for Barker’s timeline, “the full Society for Psychical Research [Committee] report” was only released long after Blavatsky left Adyar.

Or his statement: “Hodgson’s ‘report has not gone unchallenged by Theosophists, but their defense consists of arguments ad hominem, and Hodgson’s basic findings have not been refuted,’” all the while showing no familiarity with what has been published by even non-theosophists on the matter.

* The online newsletter Hermes carries an article by Jeffrey Lavoie where he argues that in Isis Unveiled Blavatsky plagiarized from the antiquarian Isaac Preston Cory’s compendium Ancient Fragments, a book made up of translations taken by Cory from diverse sources. In “Isaac Preston Cory, Isis Unveiled (1877) and Cosmology” he says:

Shortly after its publication in 1877, a source analysis of Isis Unveiled was performed by one of Blavatsky’s contemporaries- a disgruntled Spiritualist named William Emmette Coleman. Coleman concluded that while Blavatsky cited close to a thousand individual sources it seemed more probable that she had only consulted about a hundred separate works in compiling this work (Blavatsky seemingly conceded this point in a final article entitled ‘My Books’ written shortly before her demise in 1891).

Despite his harsh conclusion, the only proof Coleman offered for evidence was in the form of a short article published as an appendix to Vsevolod Solovyoff’s A Modern Priestess of Isis (1895) which listed some of the sources from which Blavatsky had allegedly borrowed (though in some cases Coleman was mistaken as Blavatsky used and cited these sources properly). Regardless of the veracity of Coleman’s conclusion one thing remains known- one of the sources that Coleman ‘revealed’ was Isaac Preston Cory and his Ancient Fragments.

“Shortly after” is stretching it. According to the material on Coleman given in Theosophy in the Nineteenth Century his earliest detailed attempt at refuting Blavatsky’s books appears in 1889, and here he is contrasting the shift in teachings from Isis Unveiled to The Secret Doctrine.

Although Lavoie says “the only proof Coleman offered for evidence was in the form of a short article published as an appendix to Vsevolod Solovyoff’s A Modern Priestess of Isis (1895),” this is not so. Theosophy in the Nineteenth Century shows that he had an extended series from April to October 1891 in a small Spiritualist monthly (and to which HPB wrote her last article, “My Books”) where he listed passages in corresponding books. But even here he gave only 32 books, including the Bible.

* John L. Crow has an article in the September 2012 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Religion on “Taming the Astral Body: The Theosophical Society's Ongoing Problem of Emotion and Control.” Understanding the praxis of nineteenth century Theosophy seems to be much under discussion at present, and Crow, a graduate student of American Religious History at Florida State University, adds his views.

In New York City in 1875, a group interested in Spiritualism and occult science founded what would become the Theosophical Society. Primarily the creation of Henry Steel Olcott and Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, the Theosophical Society went through a number of early incarnations. One original version promised to teach occult powers. After Blavatsky found that she could not honor earlier promises to teach occultism, she shifted the focus of the Society to one that promoted Universal Brotherhood instead, highlighting notions of the body and demanding the control of emotion as a means to rebuff demands for training. With this refocusing, Blavatsky reestablished control of the Society and asserted herself as the central channel of esoteric knowledge. Thus, by shifting the focus from the attainment of occult powers to the more ambiguous “spiritual enlightenment,” Blavatsky erected an elaborate, centralized system of delayed spiritual gratification, a system contingent upon the individual's adoption of specific morals and values, while simultaneously maintaining control of the human body on all its levels: spiritual, social, physical, mental, and especially emotional.

* Vogue Australia in its July 27 online edition carries an interview with the creative minds behind Maniamania, accessories label known for its designs (typically of silver, bronze and crystals). They have just launched a new line, the Astral plane Collection:

This range is inspired by the symbols and visions of dreaming, and the notion of other planes of existence, and the film is a moving representation of that idea. It combines our stylistic influences of Art Nouveau and 60s iconography with the spiritual developments of dream philosophy. It is directly inspired by the visual devices of Jean Cocteau, as well as an homage to the concepts of Carl Jung and Helena Blavatsky.

Blavatsky and the Atheist

The Arts Section of Chennai’s English-language daily newspaper The Hindu (published continuously since 1878) in its July 19, 2012 edition draws our attention to three books recently published about Rangampalli Jagannathiah, an Indian theosophist who met Mme. Blavatsky in 1882. His great-granddaughter R.J Kalpana (pictured above) has penned his biography titled An Atheist Disciple—Biography of Rangampalli Jagannathiah (1852-1918) and compiled some of his writings in both English and Telugu, Rangampalli Jagannathiah - Collected Writings, in English and Shri Rangampalli Jagannathiah Rachanalu—Telugu Vyasa Samputi.

Initially, R. Jagannathiah had joined the National Secular Society of London and was elected its Vice President along with Annie Besant. “In 1882 he argued the tenets of Theosophy with Helena Blavatsky on a public platform. By the end of the week-long debate, he turned a believer of Theosophy,” informs Kalpana. R. Jagannathiah was also the founder of the Bellary Sanmarga Lodge and was associated with Adyar Theosophical Society. Getting the chronology of events right was important, his personal journals and correspondence which have been preserved helped in the process. “His correspondence with the founders of the Theosophical Society like Helena Blavatsky and H.S Olcott is well documented and sources of information. Gathering all the facts and cross referencing them took a lot of time,” explains Kalpana.

Jagannathiah, who wrote as“R.J.” and “Veritas” in The Philosophic Inquirer of Madras, was introduced to Blavatsky on December 27th, 1882. They spent three days in discussion and he says, “In three days she shattered my seven years’ knowledge of atheistic theories.” He became an ardent worker for Theosophy in India. He penned a memorandum about her in 1909, which can be read here. A biographical sketch, with the picture of him seated with his co-worker, T.S. Swaminatha Aiyar, is in the New York Path of December 1894.

The Science of the Occult

“Occult Science and the Science of the Occult: Astral Projection and the Disenchantment of Fin-de-Siècle Britain,” Johnstone Metzger’s Bachelor of Arts (Honours) thesis submitted to The Faculty of Arts History Department, University of British Columbia, 2012, takes on a dual task: looking at the subject of astral projection through the lens of London’s Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn during the 1890s, and then comparing it with the attention given by Richard Hodgson in his 1885 report on the astral phenomena connected with Blavatsky. It is an ambitious undertaking but Metzger manages to provide a concise documented account of the evolution of the astral practices of the Golden Dawn.

More impressive is that Metzger has actually read Richard Hodgson’s report to the Committee appointed by Council of the Society for Psychical Research “to investigate the evidence for marvellous phenomena connected with the Theosophical Society.” This second part of the thesis examines the scientific response to the subject as provided by Hodgson’s 1885 report. No other sources seen to have been consulted, though the author’s argument would have benefited by the research of Walter A. Carrithers, Vernon Harrison, Leslie Price and J.P. Deveney. Metzger concludes that “Hodgson’s report had more in common with a legal trial than it did with a physics experiment,” and adds the interesting insight:

Though he does not make this explicit, Hodgson portrays himself following a two-step process. First, he determined which testimonies could be trusted, and which ones he discarded, based on his position as the expert observer. Then he used the viable testimony to create possible scenarios, and used them to judge, impartially and without prejudice, whether the reported phenomena were fraudulent or genuine. As these two positions are directly at odds with each other, there were some areas where they overlapped uncomfortably.

Find Yourself in Oz

The trailer for Oz: The Great and Powerful is out in the UK. The film is meant to be a prequel to well-known 1939 version, The Wizard of Oz. According to the press release from Walt Disney Pictures:

“Oz: The Great and Powerful” imagines the origins of L. Frank Baum’s beloved character, the Wizard of Oz. When Oscar Diggs (James Franco), a small-time circus magician with dubious ethics, is hurled away from dusty Kansas to the vibrant Land of Oz, he thinks he’s hit the jackpot—fame and fortune are his for the taking—that is until he meets three witches, Theodora (Mila Kunis), Evanora (Rachel Weisz) and Glinda (Michelle Williams), who are not convinced he is the great wizard everyone’s been expecting. Reluctantly drawn into the epic problems facing the Land of Oz and its inhabitants, Oscar must find out who is good and who is evil before it is too late. Putting his magical arts to use through illusion, ingenuity—and even a bit of wizardry—Oscar transforms himself not only into the great and powerful Wizard of Oz but into a better man as well.

This will no doubt extend the Oz franchise to a new generation and bring about some discussion of the theosophical influence on L. Frank Baum’s story (according to John Algeo’s “A Notable Theosophist: L. Frank Baum,” published in The American Theosophist 1986, Baum and his wife became members of the Chicago branch of the Theosophical Society on September 4, 1892). The film is scheduled for release in March 2013.

Blavatsky News

* Kevin J. Brehony’s paper “To Letchworth via India: The Transformation of the Theosophical Educational Trust” presented at the Internationalization in the field of education Conference, held at the University of Geneva, June 27-30, 2012, examines the Theosophical Society’s educational theories and practices beginning first in India and subsequently in England until 1921. Only a small part is devoted to Blavatsky’s views on education, mainly seen through her Key to Theosophy, and best summed up by a quote from the book that children were taught to “believe in the miracles of the Bible on Sunday, while for the six other days of the week you teach them that such things are scientifically impossible.” The rest deals with Besant educational work in India and theosophical developments in England.

* The site Sects and Violence in the Ancient World: Musings on religion ancient and modern carries a color photograph of the “Lamasery,” Mme. Blavatsky’s apartment on Eight Avenue and West 47 Street in New York City, along with some musings on the subject of Theosophy. The two corner windows on the right above the storefront are where Blavatsky’s parlor was, and where she wrote Isis Unveiled, the window on the left let in on Col. Olcott’s bedroom. The exterior of the building is still much the same as when she lived there.

Theosophy was a faith that grew out of experimental ideas in New York City with tendrils stretching all the way to India and China. The movement even bestowed upon Gandhi his famous epithet of Mahatma. The words inscribed on his Serbian monument would serve us all well to memorize: “non-violence is the essence of all religions.”

* This year the Emile G. Scholz Prize for best paper of the HIS 203 Research Seminar went to two graduate students at the University of California at Davis. Particularly fascinating is the title of Rajbir Judge’s: “Black Skin, White Breasts: Colonial Subjectivity, Miscegenation, and the Theosophical Society.” The prize is named in the memory of Emile George Scholz, who was born in 1893 in Bakersfield and died in Modesto, California in 1977. Established by one of his grandsons as a testament to his lifelong love of history, “it is the family’s hope that future ‘Scholz Prize’ winners will remain devoted to the study and appreciation of historical events and will convey to future generations their understanding of, and passion for, these events for the benefit of humankind.” Hopefully Rajbir Judge’s paper with the challenging title will be soon available.

Blavatsky in Canada

The National Post, a Canadian conservative newspaper, carries in its July 6th issue a fairly favorable review by Philip Marchand of Gillian McCann’s Vanguard of the New Age: the Toronto Theosophical Society. 1891-1945.

What future cultural historians may find of greatest interest in the story of Canadian Theosophy is its appeal to some of the foremost artistic figures of the day. Artist Lawren Harris is the best known of these figures, but other members of the Group of Seven followed his example, as did drama critic Roy Mitchell, who sought inspiration for a new Canadian drama and thought he found it in the Irish theatre of Theosophist William Butler Yeats. 

This situation reflected wider artistic trends in the English-speaking world of the early 20th century. The two most luminous English-language poets of the era, Yeats and Ezra Pound, were both deeply interested in the occult, if not — in Pound’s case — specifically the teachings of Madame Blavatsky. In the world of visual arts, Piet Mondrian and Wassily Kandinsky were committed Theosophists. Their story, and the story of Albert Ernest Stafford Smythe, himself not an inconsiderable poet, is a reminder that the arts have a need for the otherworldly in the same way that plants need moisture. If they don’t get this need fulfilled by traditional religions, they will seek such fulfillment in enterprises such as the Theosophical Society.

McCann’s study is an easy read, being just over 160 pages of text, the rest being notes and index. For some reason McCann chose not to utilize the extensive work of Ted G. Davy charting the history of Theosophy in Canada. Mr. Davy’s efforts have been published in book form as Theosophy in Canada: ‘The Split’ and other Studies in Early Canadian Theosophical History and Some Early Canadian Theosophists (2011) and covers almost 400 pages. What Davy, McCann and her reviewers are all in agreement on is the influence of Blavatsky’s ideas on Canadian society during the first half of the twentieth century, special recognition being given to figure of Albert E.S. Smythe, who guided the movement in Canada during this time, and who helped foster the Back to the Blavatsky movement in the 1920s.

The cancelled envelope to A.E.S. Smythe mailed in 1926 from the Theosophical Society in Australia comes from Australian Postal History & Social Philately.