Blavatsky and Literature: W. B. Yeats & Rosa Praed

W.B. Yeats

Yeats "Yeats died just before the catastrophe of the Second World War but his poetry seems able to encompass and face up to the most destructive century in human memory. Its way of doing so is idiosyncratic in the extreme, relying more on Irish and Greek myth, mystical and antinomian texts by Plotinus, Blake, Swedenborg, Nietzsche and Madame Blavatsky than on the approved masters of 19th- and 20th-century scientific, political and economic thought. Yeats turned himself from a wistful romantic into a tough-minded prophet – a unique metamorphosis at least in poetic history that makes him the bridge between two centuries or between late romanticism and modernism."
http://europe.newsweek.com/w-b-yeats-was-tough-prophet-our-times-330045

Magic, myth and secrecy - WB Yeats and the occult
Michelle McDonagh May 9 2015 When the Yeats family moved back to London in 1887, the young poet paid a visit to Madame Helena Blavatsky, the famous occultist and founder of the Theosophical Society which he joined and was later expelled from.
http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/books/wb-150/magic-myth-and-secrecy-wb-yeats-and-the-occult-31207213.html

Australian novelist Rosa Praed had theosophical connections:

Stargazing with Rosa Praed - Jessica White

In the 1880s and 1890s, her success propelled her into artistic and theosophist circles and she counted Helena Blavatsky and Oscar Wilde among her acquaintances
http://sydneyreviewofbooks.com/stargazing-with-rosa-praed/

The ‘Weird Melancholy’ of Torquay author Rosa Praed - Kevin Dixon

During the 1880s Rosa’s work began to change. In 1878 the Theosophical Society had founded its London branch. She had, since childhood, been interested in spiritualism and she began to attend and host Theosophical Society meetings. She came to know and correspond with the theosophists H.S. Olcott, Madame Blavatsky and Annie Besant. Occult themes then began to emerge in her work

http://wearesouthdevon.com/weird-melancholy-torquay-author-rosa-praed/

The Academician Theosophical is blogging up a storm with plenty of interesting Blavatskian research, sample this Blavatsky letter showing the love to the great Egyptologist Gerald Massey (not to be confused with other Blavatsky associate C. C. Massey):

https://theacademiciantheosophical.wordpress.com/2016/10/24/a-letter-from-helena-blavatsky-to-gerald-massey-on-christianity-and-egyptology/

Gerald Massey

Blavatsky-inspired exhibitions Lawren Harris, Hilda Klint, Georgia O'Keeffe, Gaitonde, Oursler

Well-received Lawren Harris exhibit, an important Canadian ‘’Group of Seven’’ painter, mentions Theosophical inspiration:
By the time Harris discovered theosophy, Blavatsky was dead, but her legacy was thriving. He loved theosophy’s epic sweep and great sense of possibility. “Theosophy is no soporific like an ordinary religion—it excites all sorts of things, unknown and untoward things,” he wrote. He joined the Toronto Theosophical Society (serving on, of all things, the decorating committee), and gave lectures on theosophy and art. He quit smoking and drinking and Christianity. And he published in the Canadian Theosophist, arguing that art was part of the training of the soul. Harris read daily from William Quan Judge’s translation of the Bhagavad Gita—and believed he was the reincarnation of Judge himself.

http://torontolife.com/culture/art/lawren-harris-mystic/

Hilda Klint
In 1886, she formed a group of like-minded women interested in mediumship (communicating with the spirits of the dead) called “The Five” or “The Friday Group.” In 1888, she joined the Theosophical Society — as did Mondrian — and read the writings of Annie Besant and Charles Leadbeater, who believed that thoughts could be manifested as colored forms carrying the purpose of the messenger. While she clearly was adept at rendering the visible world, her interest in theosophy led her to believe that painting was the best medium for bringing the invisible or occult world into the visible.
http://hyperallergic.com/316080/hilma-af-klint-the-keeper-new-museum/


Oursler’s archive of the occult - exhibit mentions Theosophy’s influence on modern and pop art:

Creationism — which denies evolution — can still be taught in Louisiana public schools. In Kentucky, there is a theme park devoted to Noah’s Ark, complete with dinosaurs. However, before you start snickering, may I remind you that Madame Blavatsky, who wrote the influential The Secret Doctrine, had a stuffed baboon dressed in a suit in her study; in its hand was a copy of Charles Darwin’s The Origin of Species. Wassily Kandinsky, Frantisek Kupka, Piet Mondrian, and Kazimer Malevich read Blavatsky’s writings and believed they could evolve spiritually and reach a higher plane of consciousness. In the late 1870s, Hilma Af Klint, a pioneer of abstract art, attended a séance. She and four other women formed a group, “The Five” (de fem), that had séances, which, in Af Klint’s case, inspired her to begin a form of automatic drawing.
http://hyperallergic.com/311319/fault-line/

Georgia O'Keeffe
Comparing these to Monet’s serial haystacks is an obvious connection, but I think that Mondrian’s voyage toward abstraction is more apposite. Mondrian’s trees of the early 20th century evolve into a different form of rigorous geometry, while O’Keeffe's sketchy paintings of cottonwood trees are aiming for a different essence of abstraction, one more akin to Canadian artist Emily Carr, who O’Keeffe met, and to the theosophy, serial and spiritual reading of Swedish artist Hilma af Klint.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/reviews/georgia-okeeffe-tate-modern-review-an-extraordinary-show-long-overdue-a7122306.html


Important modern Indian painter influenced by Blavatsky:
Despite “willing himself into oblivion”, Gaitonde’s genius has been acknowledged over the years. An unbeaten record at Christie’s of ₹23.7 crore in 2013, followed by his 2014 solo exhibition at the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, have made Gaitonde a much sought-after artist. Sonata of Solitude traces the artist’s journey, delineating his major influences, from Wassily Kandinsky to Paul Klee and the writings of Helena Blavatsky.
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blink/watch/archiving-a-master/article8650514.ece

Exposition: In 1903, the Theosophical Society founded the Halcyon Hotel and Sanitarium:

“Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831-91) created the Theosophical Society, a worldwide spiritual movement founded in New York that linked the “bodily manifestation of the Divine” from Krishna, Moses, the Buddha, Christ and down through Hiawatha. She saw them as purveyors of ancient wisdom who help us understand our higher selves. “
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/times-past/article83216552.html

Blavatsky & Dharmapala bio - Lion's Roar

The Lion’s Roar: Anagarika Dharmapala and the Making of Modern Buddhism, Sarath Amunugama, pp i-vii, 1-719, VijithaYapa, Colombo, 2016.

An early convert to Theology led by Blavatsky and Olcott, his non-commitment to Buddhist Theology took him to the Theological movement’s headquarters in Adyar and from there to the recovery of the Buddhist places in British India. In the last decades of his life, the recovery of the Buddhist sites became one of principal objectives of his life; in particular save Buddhagaya from the control of the Hindu Mahants. This was something he could not achieve in his life time, but he had led the way and his success in the historic processes of Buddhist recovery succeeded in establishing Buddhism as a civilizational influence internationally. For instance his creation, the Mahabodhi was the main facilitator of Ambedhkar’s decision to covert to Buddhism with the millions of his caste fellows, the dalits.

http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=153009

Dharmapala and early TS history:
Anagarika’s efforts to foster Buddhism in Asia began in Adyar - Dr. Sarath Amunugama
“It was during this week in Adyar that he was instructed by Blavatsky to study Pali. Impressed by the gathering in Adyar, Dharmapala vowed “that henceforth my life should be devoted to the good of humanity.” In 1886, he accompanied the Ramanya Nikaya monk Ilukwatte Medhankara to Adyar. Medhankara was a favourite of the ‘Theosophical Twins’ Blavatsky and Olcott: “A word must be said about this Medhankara. He was of the Ramanya Nikaya, a young man truly holy in his life and aims to a degree that I have never seen equaled among the Bhikkus of Ceylon.”
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/150920/plus/anagarikas-efforts-to-foster-buddhism-in-asia-began-in-adyar-164656.html

Political commentary on Dharmapala:
Has Modi found a Buddhist Vivekananda in Anagarika Dharmapala?
Ranjan Crasta At an early age, even as he was educated in Christian institutions, he found himself drawn towards Buddhism. This affinity to Buddhism was eventually cemented when Colonel Olcott and Madam Blavatsky, two of the founders of the Theosophical society in Britain began visiting Ceylon and declared themselves Buddhists. A 16-year-old Dharmapala grew close to the two, assisting Olcott as a translator as he travelled around Sri Lanka furthering Buddhist education. https://sgforums.com/forums/1728/topics/490312/

Dharmapala tribute By Dharma Hewamadduma:

Then, he resigned from the Public Service and came to associate erudite Buddhist scholars such as most Ven. Hikkaduwe Sri Sumangala, Col. Henry Steel Olcott and studied Buddhism and the oriental languages such as Pali, Sanskrit, Hindi etc. and dedicated himself to social service.
http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=152154

Blavatsky, Olcott and Sri Lanka

Article on Olcott in Sri Lanka - European warrior of the modern Buddhist mission:

Henry Steele Olcott was born on August 2, 1832, to a pious, Presbyterian family in Orange, New Jersey. On May 16, 1880, Olcott and Blavatsky arrived in Colombo first time and a few days later on May 25, at the Wijananda Temple in Galle, Olcott and Blavatsky observed five precepts. Olcott's second visit to Ceylon was in April, 1881, accompanied by Ven Mohottivatte Gunanando Thera.
http://www.dailynews.lk/?q=2016/02/17/features/european-warrior-modern-buddhist-mission

How Western theosophists shaped modern Sri Lanka - Manisha Gunasekera
"While the Christian movement flourished with state sanction from early-19^th century, Buddhism was going through its own process of revival with the establishment of two new Buddhist Orders of Amarapura(1799) and Ramannna(1864), with links to Burma, andwith the formation of new Buddhist monastic institutions such asthe ParamaDhammaChetiyaPirivena in Ratmalana(in 1845), the VidyodayaPirivena in Maligakanda(in 1873) and the VidyalankaraPirivena in Peliyagoda(in 1875) (Meegama 2003).  These developments enlivened the contemporary polemical debate within Buddhism. The arrival of Blavatsky and Olcott in Sri Lanka in 1880 which led to the formation of the Buddhist Theosophical Society of Ceylon (which I will hereafter refer to as the BTS),coincided with and was catalysed by thevery public polemical debates between Evangelical Christianity and Buddhism, which culminated in the great Panadura debate of 1873 that catapultedMigettuwatteGunanadaTheroto international fame.[v]Olcott and Blavatsky on their arrival declared themselves to be Buddhists, and becamein Olcott’s own words “the first white champions”[vi] of the Buddhist revivalist movement in Ceylon.  Seven branches of the BTS were formed in Ceylon in 1880.
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/160807/sunday-times-2/tradition-modernity-and-elite-formation-203755.html

New Book on History of Sri Lanka, Colonialist Period:
Confrontations with Colonialism – Resistance, Revivalism and Reform under British Rule in Sri Lanka. 1796 – 1920 (Volume 1). By Dr. P.V.J. Jayasekara. Published by Vijitha Yapa, 2017. Pages 569. Rs 1,500. Reviewed by Leelananda De Silva.
The third chapter is on "Buddhism, Theosophy, and Nationalism". In the latter part of the 19th century three leading Theosophists, Blavatsky, Olcott, and Annie Beasant, made a powerful impact on Buddhist and nationalist movements in Ceylon. They were critical of "Western civilization, its materialism, and the claims of western science as the path to progress". They were critical of Christian missionaries, and they undermined the Christian missionary claim to superior wisdom and modern thinking. "The most popular theme of their public lectures was the spiritual superiority of oriental civilization, its ancient wisdom, as opposed to Western materialism. Theosophists played an important role in the revival and establishment of Buddhist educational institutions, especially in English.
http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=159188

 An animal shelter in Sri Lanka inspired by Olcott & Blavatsky:
"Mr. Senaka Weeraratna, Chapter Leader (Colombo Chapter) in his Welcome Address compared the visit of Bob Isaacson to an event that took place 135 years ago when another American lawyer and Civil War veteran by the name of Henry Steele Olcott arrived in Galle in 1880 with Madame Blavatsky, a Russian lady. They embraced Buddhism reciting pansil along with the Ti-sarana (taking refuge in the noble triple gem) at a Temple i.e. Vijayananda Pirivena, and thereafter embarked together with the support of indigenous Buddhist leaders like Anagarika Dharmapala to revive Buddhism in Sri Lanka. Henry Olcott addressed the weakest point in the Buddhist firmament namely Education and set up Buddhist schools which later blossomed into institutes of international renown such as Ananda, Nalanda, Mahinda, Dharmaraja, Sangamitta and Dharmasoka."
http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2015/10/25/dharma-voices-for-animals-colombo-chapter-inaugurated-with-call-for-creation-of-a-caring-and-compassionate-society-in-sri-lanka/