In these tough times, the theosophical movement has been struggling. The various issues around the Covid pandemic, the January 6th Washington riot, the Russian invasion of Ukraine have seen diverse reactions and positions, which have caused some tensions. On the other hand, there have been many charitable, compassionate deeds and shows of solidarity and support. Blavatsky, as I have posted about on occasion, has seen an increase in negative allegations, often highly speculative, superficially researched, steeped in confirmation bias, when not outright fanciful conspiracy theories.
Amazingly, in all of this, there have been a recent spate of mainstream articles about Blavatsky that are actually fair, accurate, and appreciative. Are we approaching a 'ground-zero' level of understanding of Blavatsky in the mainstream, where she gets the same level of professional, researched consideration as any normal historical figure, rather than the
tenuous, inaccurate, unfair, contrived, unproven, confused, conceptual, discursive,
theoretical speculations steeped in colonialist-era assumptions? Let us hope. Thank you!
Decent article - It got picked up on some news wires, did well. When did Blavatsky use the term 'ascended teachers'? I'm not aware of such statements by her. Then she includes a link to a Pablo Sender article denying connection with 'ascended masters', so this bit is confusing. Should Blavatsky have been critiquing Russian imperialism? That's quite a complicated can of worms to be opening, I think she was capable of criticizing Russia on certain things, see Blavatsky's writings on Russia, more research needed. Was her views on India and Eastern religions too romantic? Maybe according to academic theories on orientalism, but weren't western academic views on Asia steeped in imperialistic colonialism? It's nice that she's acknowledging her anti-colonialist position in her travel writings, but what if research were to reveal that it is much more extensive than that? My own opinion is that the 'Prisoners of Shangri-La' theories have fostered a considerable under-valuation of Blavatsky's relation to Eastern philosophy. One could read studies on Buddhism, the Bhagavad Gita, the Yoga Sutras, and recent studies by Julian Strube to see Blavatsky's credible and coherent knowledge of Eastern philosophy and religion. Moreover, by perusing the magazines that she edited, one can notice many serious, important contributions by some of the most learned native Asian scholars of the time.
White Lotus Day
celebrates the ‘founding mother of occult in America,’ Helena
Petrovna Blavatsky
Accurate,
respectful, objective, nice image research, 31 slides
Madame Blavatsky Russian mystic who founded an occult movement
Stars Insider • May 8
An
HPB 'Mindmap', a bullet-point chart thing, not bad, seems like an
Indian perspective, where did they get '“Theosophical Dictionary”, “From
the caves and debris of Hindustan”?
Madame HP Blavatsky - Biography, Contributions, Literary Works
science one a little fuzzy, but the rest seems OK
19 facts about Madame Blavatsky, the famed Russian mystic's life:
Carl Seaver 2023
Helena Blavatsky: The idiosyncratic occultist who divided opinion
Guru or phoney, even in death Helena Blavatsky's spiritual teachings continued to attract admirers
Charlie Connelly 5 May 2022
This is one of those 'Yeah Blavatsky and her Theosophical Society, but then the Hodgson Report came out. Game over. Cased closed. The end.' type articles. This may have been well-intentioned. I think that they just wanted an occult article for Halloween. But it relies on the Marion Meade bio, which I think is too steeped in the standard 'guilty until proven innocent' approach to Blavatsky, still prevalent in the 1990s, but has become outdated since then, in my view, as thing have changed a lot in twenty years.
Did She Introduce Eastern Spirituality To America Or Merely Hoodwink
People? The Tale Of Madame Blavatsky:
Margaret Brecknell, October 24, 2022
Good, accurate, comprehensive, concise academic online encyclopedia entry:
The Theosophical Society
James A. Santucci, 2018 World Religions and Spirituality Project (WRSP),
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