Madison times. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1884-1???, 1884-07-05
TERMS: $500 PER NEAR.
THE THE0SOPHIST.
A Sober English Journals Opinion of the
Woman of Mystery.
Pall-Mall Gazette.

A Sober English Journals Opinion of the
Woman of Mystery.
Pall-Mall Gazette.
Who is Nine. Blavatsky? Nine. Biay-
atsky is woman of mystery. OF her
life in the past no one can speak. All
that is known is that she is the niece of
Gen. Fadayeff, the well-known Pansla-
vonic leader, who died the other day at
Odessa, and is related to the Dolgorouki
family, which is one of the oldest in
Russia. Mime. Blavatsky, however, is
noble, not on account of her aristCcratic
origin or high descent, but from the part
she has played in the establishment of
theosophy in India. There is some
thing inexpressibly bizarre and para-
dox.cai about the strange religious move
ment of which Nine. Blavatsky is the
founder. That a woman-and that
woman Russian-should be the ap-
pointed agent for the revival of occultism
as a practical religious faith in our In.
dian empire, is one of the strancest
phenomena of our time.
Altogether apart from her peculiar
claim as leader OF religious movement.
which within the last few years has dis
played an astonishing vitality, and while
numbering its followers in every capital
in Europe, is rapidly extending in Hind.
ostan, Nine. Blavatsky is a figure well
deserving attention. One ofthe greatest
travellers in the world there is hardly
any country which she has not visited
there are few languages which she does
not sI'ak. Her English is not less fluent
than if she had been born in We ,tmins
ter, and probably good deal more cor
rect. Her reading is extensive. and her
knowledge even ofthe minutest details.
OF English speculative and religious con-
troversles is extraOrdiEarilye exact. Her
book, Isis Unveiled" IS written i'm Eng
lish and displays vigorous grasp of our
language as well as very great controyer-
slal vehemence. She is contributing TO
the leading Russian review, studies of
Indian social life and character. and
she has long been known as a learned
correspondent of The Moscow Gazette.
But all these mundane distinctions
are as nothing compared with those
mysterious attributes with which. in the
opinion of believing theosophists. she
is invested. For Nine. Blavatskv is a
woman who has stood nearer than any
other among mortals-outside Thibet =
to the secret of the universe. She it is
who, after passing through a long and
toilsome nOvitiate, has been selected as
the chosen vessel by which their myste-
rous Mahatmas have determined to
communicate some portion of their jeal-
ously guarded hoard of spirit-lore TO a
generation which as yet dimly perceives
the need of it. If we believe One-quar-
ter OF the stories confidently repeated by
those who have the honor of Nine.
Blavatsky's acquaintance, she lives in
constant communion with the unseen.
lime and space have no existence for
her. While she is sitting on the divan
IN Mr.. Snnett's drawing-room, smoking
her accustomed cigarette, she is holding
converse with her chiefs and teachers
| who in actual flesh are residing in the
remotest glens of the Himalayas; nor is
this communion purely spiritual At
times the message of the Mahatma will
be committed to writing, and a small
triangular note neatly folded, bearing
the strange Thibetan characters will
flicker into existence from the impalpa-
bic air and fall at her feet.
To talk to Nine. Blavatsky is like
reading "Zanoni," with this difference,
that Bulwer Lytton's hero is the crea-
ton OF the romancing brain, whereas
Nine. Blavatsky in flesh and blood
stoutly asserts that she herself has wit
messed or exercised all the mysterious
powers after which Zanoni sought.
As for vril, the fatal essence with which
the coming race was to be armed, Nine.
Blavatsky is aware not only of its pro-
pcrties and the conditions urder which
it can be employed, but she sees poten-
tial vril Oh every side and can employ
1t should the need arise for any benefi-
cent purpose. TO the uninitiated and To
those who as yet are cropping darkly
about the outer portal of the TheosophIc
temple, Nine. Blavatsky can necessarily
speak but in enigmas. Even to Mr.
Sinnett, the chief Theosophist OF the
London branch of the true believers,
she is but allowed to communicate
in part. Secrets too vast to be COM
municated to him lie hidden in her
soul, nor dare she venture to unfold
those occult mysteries which, if grasped
by persons whose fitness for such pow
ers has not been tested by a long series
Of probationary stages, might prove dis
astrous to the world. She moves among
men much as one who knew the secret
Of dynamite might have lived in the
middle ages, and she trembles as she
thinks of the possibility that this dread
secret may some time fall into unhallow-
aJ hands