Translate

Search This Blog

Thursday, 24 November 2016

The Collected Supernatural and Weird Fiction of Helena P. Blavatsky, Marion Francis Crawford


The Collected Supernatural and Weird Fiction of Helena P. Blavatsky
Eight Short Stories of the Strange and Unusual - “Blavatsky utilised her more earnest pursuits to provide inspiration and background for some highly entertaining tales of ghosts, horrors and weird occurrences. Her single small volume of  supernatural fiction, ‘Nightmare Tales’, was published in 1892, but there remained a small number of uncollected stories published in magazines of the day. This Leonaur original collects all of these short stories as well as a chapter from her book, ‘From the Caves and Jungles of Hindostan’, which has in the past been included in anthologies of supernatural tales,  to create the most complete collection of Madam Blavatsky’s fiction ever published.”
The Collected Supernatural and Weird Fiction of F. Marion Crawford: Volume 1
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: ,

Saturday, 19 November 2016

Blavatsky and the Big Bang



Tantric cosmological manuscript, 1700s
Blavatsky and Big Bang cosmology - studies the relation between Eastern Manvantara/Pralaya cyclical theories of cosmology with modern Big Bounce cosmological theory. (Notes 5 and 13 refer to concepts from C.W. Leadbeater and not Blavatsky, but do not affect the main thesis).
Wash, Rinse, Repeat. The Cosmical Cycle of Manifestation-Dissolution. Defined, or Redefined - Robert Hütwohl
The “Big Bang” theory is of course, the physical theory, and cannot accommodate the metaphysical realms, but nevertheless the “as above, so below” correspondence or analogy (the “old Hermetic axiom” as Blavatsky calls it) should have some validity.
http://prajnaquest.fr/blog/wash-rinse-repeat-the-cosmical-cycle-of-manifestation-dissolution-defined-or-redefined/

PS – the following definitions from Blavatsky’s writing could be compared with the Bing Bang theory (as could Pythagorean or Tantric cosmologies):
Point within a Circle. In its esoteric meaning the first unmanifested logos appearing on the infinite and shoreless expanse of Space, represented by the Circle. It is the plane of Infinity and Absoluteness. This is only one of the numberless and hidden meanings of this symbol, which is the most important of all the geometrical figures used in metaphysical emblematology. As to the Masons, they have made of the point “an individual brother” whose duty to God and man is bounded by the circle, and have added John the Baptist and John the Evangelist to keep company with the “brother”, representing them under two perpendicular parallel lines (Theosophical Glossary)
Point in the Mundane Egg: the germ within the latter which will become the Universe, the ALL, the boundless, periodical Kosmos, this germ being latent and active, periodically and by turns. (The Secret Docrine Vol.I, p.1)

Article on Science and Religion article mentions Esoteric Buddhism:
Modernity and metaphysics – James Gallant
Other worlds in the chain were of a materiality too subtle for people to observe—at least most people!—and evolution was a principle at work in all of the worlds not only in animate, vegetable, and mineral life, but in humans during multiple reincarnations in various of these worlds. Across millions of years, each of the seven worlds had evolved to the point of being able to sustain life forms, before losing the capacity to do so, then regaining it once more, evolving in the process as did life forms as they moved around and around the chain. http://fortnightlyreview.co.uk/2016/08/modernity-metaphysics/

ps- Since the famous Mars and Mercury question gets misconstrued, see link below: http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/path/v08n04p97_mars-and-mercury.htm

Overview of reincarnation beliefs mentions Blavatsky:
An Objective View of Reincarnation - Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2016/10/25/an-objective-view-of-reincarnation-2/

Alternative medicine article mentions Blavatsky’s role in promoting Eastern philosophy:
Holistic vs. Conventional - Michael Braunstein http://thereader.com/specials/holistic_vs-_conventional/

David Reigle on Space in the Secret Doctrine
There's a new lengthy post at this Stanzas research blog:
http://prajnaquest.fr/blog/

Good Video lectures on Chains and Rounds
Adam Warcup presents a nice series of letters on the difficult subject of chains and rounds, based on his book, Cyclic Evolution:
http://www.theosophycanada.com/adam-warcup-on-cyclic-evolution.php
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , ,

Sunday, 13 November 2016

New Mitch Horowitz Random House edition of The Secret Doctrine, Blavatsky



Mitch Horowitz edits new Penguin Random House edition of The Secret Doctrine, “The Landmark Classic of Occult Philosophy” http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/537071/the-secret-doctrine-by-hp-blavatsky/9780143110156/
and writes a short piece on Blavatsky:
Who Was Madame HP Blavatsky? Mitch Horowitz
https://bullshit.ist/who-was-madame-hp-blavatsky-36f687e5e375#.senb0ez97



Secret Doctrine Article:
https://thesanguinewoods.wordpress.com/2017/02/22/russian-mystic-madame-blavatsky-her-secret-doctrine-a-landmark-classic-of-occult-philosophy/






Posted by at 1 comment:
Labels: ,

Sunday, 6 November 2016

Blavatsky, Theosophy & ’Doctor Strange’ (film, 2016) Scott Derrickson, Marvel


By the hoary hosts of Hoggoth, in the early days, Theosophists were actively cultivating ties to popular fiction writers and lately the study of theosophical influence on pop culture has been growing. See Theosophical Fiction and also, Zanoni. The well-received Doctor Strange movie inherits much of the theosophically-influenced orientalist-occult pop culture themes, as the reviews below point out. Praise the Vishanti! (Indeed, there has been a fairly extensive commentary on the mystical/pop culture intersection related to the character and the film. We've included a larger-than-usual sampling, sadly, not being in possession of the all-seeing Eye of Agamotto, we cannot claim that this list is exhaustive):
 
Mainstream Mysticism: Doctor Strange Vs. Materialism
Jeff Wolfe - Symbol & Verse
This sets Strange off on a classic Hero's Journey, the first step of which is to set off to parts unknown. Is it any surprise he is directed to a hidden temple tucked in the Himalayan Mountains? As it goes, the teacher must first be found before the lessons can commence. Like so many other myth stories, the keys to the universe are held in secret by monks or priests, who obtained them through intense dedication and practice of physical and mental disciplines. 
https://symbolandverse.journoportfolio.com/essays/mainstream-mysticism-doctor-strange-vs-materialism/
 
A Brief History of Doctor Strange and His Relationship with Tibet, Occultism, and Buddhism - Joel Gruber (11/05/2016)
"From 1963 to the present day, Doctor Strange comics document a visual history of American pop-fascination with the “Orient,” and with Tibet in particular. During the early 1960s, Tibetans were more exoticized objects of wonder than actual persons, and thus the Ancient One better resembled Blavatsky’s Mahatmas than he did a cave-dwelling Tibetan yogi. As the counterculture critiqued America’s Protestant heritage and explored religions from the so-called “Orient,” Englehart and Brunner destroyed God and presented their own version of a Buddhist-esque occult philosophy, which they and their readers put into practice. "
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joel-gruber/doctor-strange-a-brief-hi_b_12805350.html
 
 
Strange Tales #115, Dec. 1963, art: Steve Ditko
Doctor Strange (2016) – Revelation of the Illuminist Method - Jay Dyer:
"Lining up his chakras and mastering the “Key of Solomon,” Strange decides to delve into deeper, darker rites, taking it upon himself to don the All-Seeing Eye necklace that allows him to fast forward and rewind time itself, from the grimoires of his order’s ascended masters (call him Blavatsky Cumberbatch). "
https://jaysanalysis.com/2019/11/25/doctor-strange-2016-revelation-of-the-illuminist-method/
 
How Doctor Strange Helped Create Hippies - Charles Moss - Nov 2 2016 In Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America, Bradford W. Wright wrote, "Dr. Strange remarkably predicted the youth counterculture's fascination with Eastern mysticism and psychedelia. Never among Marvel's more popular or accessible characters, Dr. Strange still found a niche among an audience seeking a challenging alternative to more conventional superhero fare.
https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/how-doctor-strange-helped-create-hippies

Breaking Saturn's Spell: Arrival & Doctor Strange - Chris Knowles 01-12-2016
Doctor Strange touched all the tentpole bases-- apocalypse-sized threat, cities aflame, multiculti heroes banding together under a militaristic regimen-- but added themes roughly parallel with the wilder expressions of Tibetan Buddhism and psychedelic culture (according to this writer, DMT culture, specifically.  
https://secretsun.blogspot.com/2016/12/arrival-and-doctor-strange-or-breaking.html
 
The Broken Hands of Doctor Strange Jeffrey Overstreet|November 17, 2016 
The Theology of Dr. Strange Mike Beidler  November 30, 2016 

Doctor Strange Movie Cast Coached by Gelong Thubten, a Tibetan Monk

https://buddhaweekly.com/doctor-strange-movie-cast-coached-gelong-thubten-tibetan-monk-known-extensive-years-long-retreat/ 
Tibet Supporters Protest Marvel's 'Doctor Strange' over Changed Character
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/tibet-supporters-protest-marvel-s-dr-strange-over-changed-character-n677706 
 
Doctor Strange's Magical and Mystical Roots in Hindu Mythology
Amulya sai Inturi Nov.. 30 2016
https://www.fandom.com/articles/doctor-strange-magical-mystical-roots-hindu-mythology
 
Doctor Dtrange and the racial history of a Marvel icon - Zack Kruse - 19 March, 2019
https://www.popmatters.com/doctor-strange-and-race-2631242477.html
 
Orientalism (and disability) in in Scott Derrickson’s’Doctor Strange’ (2016) 
Rebecca Radillo 
https://thedailyfandom.org/orientalism-and-disability-doctor-strange/
 
Producing and Consuming the Posthuman Body in Superhero Narratives - Scott Jeffery - January 26, 2013
What is known by fans and scholars as the Golden Age of Comics dates from approximately 1938 to the late 1950s. 1938 marks the debut of Superman in Action Comics issue one but in order to understand the emergence of the comic book superhuman some context is necessary. The comic book superhuman was in fact preceded by what Coogan (2006) usefully describes as the Antediluvian Age. At the end of the eighteenth century and the early decades of the twentieth century the posthuman was already manifesting itself in several seemingly disparate realms. In the fantastic fiction H. G. Wells for instance, which presented invisible men, human-animal hybrids and highly evolved (and de-evolved) relatives of humankind from the far future. The early science fiction author Edward Bulwer Lytton’s 1871 novel The Coming Race presented another vision of advanced humanity. Lytton’s work would go on to influence the fin de siècle interest in occultism (Knowles, 2007), particularly H. P. Blavatsky, founder of Theosophy, whose mystical writings are rife with highly evolved ‘ascended masters’ and whose occult theories emphasise a kind of evolutionary mysticism. Indeed, Badminton cites Blavatsky writing of the ‘post-human’ as early as 1888 (Badmington, 2004:133).
http://hplusmagazine.com/2013/01/26/producing-and-consuming-the-posthuman-body-in-superhero-narratives/
 
Doctor Strange: A Hero of the Mind 
Tristan Garcia
 
The links below document the pop culture “Tibetan lineage” of the good doctor:
 
The study of Theosophical influences on pop culture is quite a growing field, pioneered by:
The Gospel According to Superheroes: Religion and Pop Culture - edited by B. J. Oropeza - 2005
 
Our Gods Wear Spandex: The Secret History of Comic Book Heroes, 2007 - Chris Knowles
https://books.google.ca/books?id=93Mv-1R5yskC&source=gbs_navlinks_s 
 
Mutants and Mystics Science Fiction Superhero Comics and the Panormal, Jeffrey Kripal, 2011:
Google Books
 
Pseudoscience and Science Fiction, Andrew May, 2016 :
https://books.google.ca/books?id=2O0QDQAAQBAJ&source=gbs_book_other_versions
 
The Assimilation of Yogic Religions Through Pop Culture
Editor, Paul G. Hackett, 2017  
Google Books 
 
Movie Magick: The Occult in Film, 2018
https://books.google.ca/books?id=sfx0DwAAQBAJ&dq=Doctor+Strange+film+Blavatsky+Theosophy&source=gbs_navlinks_s
 
Mysterious Travelers: Steve Ditko and the Search for a New Liberal Identity - Zack Kruse, 2021
https://books.google.ca/books?id=Z_cQEAAAQBAJ&source=gbs_book_other_versions 
 
Fictional Practice: Magic, Narration, and the Power of Imagination
BRILL, 2021
https://books.google.ca/books?id=NLJFEAAAQBAJ&dq=Blavatsky+review+of+Mr.+Isaacs+francis+marion+crawford&source=gbs_navlinks_s 
 
Religion and Myth in the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Michael D. Nichols McFarland, 2021 208 pages
https://books.google.ca/books/about/Religion_and_Myth_in_the_Marvel_Cinemati.html?id=6BTBzQEACAAJ&redir_esc=y
 
For a more realistic use of theosophical adepts in popular fiction see FrancisMarion Crawford's Mr. Isaacs - a bestseller in Blavatsky's time (Crawford's uncle was a Theosophist), the book is still a good read:
https://archive.org/details/mrisaacsatalemo07crawgoog

Here's what Blavatsky thinks of such literary adaptations (review of Mr. Isaacs):
http://www.katinkahesselink.net/blavatsky/articles/v4/y1883_020.htm

The history of western use of Eastern mystical lore has deep roots, as early as Philostratos' Life of Apollonius of Tyana -  see Lee Irwin's broad overview Western Esotericism, Eastern Spirituality and the Global Future.
http://www.esoteric.msu.edu/VolumeIII/HTML/Irwin.html

Thomas McEvilley's The Shape of Ancient Thought examines the ancient western accounts of Eastern influence, giving new life to the Eastern influence theory:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HAiTfOSP_w&t=16s
Posted by at 1 comment:
Labels: ,
Location: Montreal, QC, Canada

Sunday, 30 October 2016

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

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




Posted by at 1 comment:
Labels: , , , , ,

Thursday, 20 October 2016

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.

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
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , ,

Friday, 14 October 2016

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

Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)