The Indianapolis journal., 1894-04-08
BLAVATSKY'S FRIEND
Countess Wachmeister, from The
Osophy Headquarters.
Not Prophecies. but Says Annie Be-
SAINT Can Never Wear the Shoes of
the Late High Priestess.
New York Advertiser.

New York Advertiser.
The Countess Wachtmester, a lady
whose liberality has endeared her to the
theosophic cult of Europe, India and Amer
lea, arrived on the Lucania on Saturday,
and will remain the guest of Mrs. Meagher,
Of Fifty-ninth street, until Thursday, when,
accompanied by Ernst t. Hargrove, of Lon
don, and our own William Q. Judge, she
will cross the continent to San Francisco
to play a star part in the annual conven-
ton of the American Theosophical Society,
which convenes as a sort of sideshow to the
midwinter fair on April %. The Countess
and her companion, although well up in the
front ranks of theosophy, will not project
their astral bodies to the land beyond the
Rockies, but will travel in the manner of
ordinary mortals.
The Countess owes her prominence in the
theosophical world to the fact that she was
for many years a sort of Boswell to Nine.
Blavatsky. She took her pen in her own
noble hand recently and wrote volume of
recollections of the deceased priestess of
theosophy, which she had printed on good
paper and with chaste white binding at her
own expense The Countess Wachtmester,
IL must be understood, Is lady of great
wealth, and when. in 1880, she renounced
spiritualism, of which ism she had been an
ardent and self-providing investigator, the
propagandists of the higher religion of
truth hailed her. in the words of Colonel
Olcott, as a valuable acquisition
That the countess has "renounced' spirit
ualism does not exactly define her position.
Like the recently arrived Englishman who
said "Your lager is good drink, but
bottle of Bass is better" the countess feels
that she has taken a step upward in the
intellectual life when she declares that she
has left spiritualism to embrace theosophy.
lady said yesterday afternoon on this sub
ject: ''Spiritualism is at standstill in
London, if ii be not on the decline. do
not make this statement dogmatically, but
it is the result of my observation. What
progress has spiritualism made within forty
years? What proofs have followed the pro-
mitigation of the faith in spirit return? AT
present physical phenomena as introduced
by mediums are generally rejected among
in the spiritualistic association, and are
growing into disrepute as being frivolous
and valueless even If genuine.
"Theosophy in London is making rapid
strides In fact, I may say that the his
tory of no modern faith or school OF
thought shows such marvellous growth.
theosophic lodges. the largest of which is
named, in .commemoration of her great
there is no religion higher than truth, after
Nine Blayatsky. 1t has three hundred
members 1t is only of recent years that
theosophy has acquired a literature of its
to-day there are no less than twenty philo-
sophie works that may be called text
books of theoSophy and newspapers for the
dissemination of the truths of soul life are
becoming. sufficiently numerous to meet
the growing thirst for light
The Countess came direct from India to
New York. She accompanied Mrs. Annie
Eesant to the land Of elephants and tenn
ION, Madras, Calcutta and Bombay. The
Countess is an old friend and present pa
l. nral x-a1
lady Of about fifty, stout as to figure. with
light hair, originally blond, but with "a
gold. Her face is forceful and inclined TO
masculinity. especially above the. eyes, but
ar sae has, mas voice 6 & Of peculiar softness and
In her every act and utterance. She does
not aspire TO become platform light, yet
she showed every ability to entertain as
dren and junior Theosophists at No. IA
Madison street yesterday afternoon. and
natives. and of the worship Of the soul
that obtains in this most religious nation
on the globes surface.
At the conclusion Of the session of the
Lotus Club an informal reception was ten
Gered the Countess. She was still suffering
from the fatigue of the long journey from
the Orient, and seemed to view the trans
continental trip by rail with alarm 1t is
her ladyship's first visit to America, and
people who promptly, upon Introduction
asked her 'how she liked America" that
so far as she had observed Broadway is
very fine street, the buildings in which
Americans live are very tall and the ele-
waited railroads very noisy but that she
hoped to be able to answer the question in
telligently several months hence, as she in
tended TO see much of the country as
possible.
Especially anxious is her ladyship to meet
her brother and sister Theosophists of
Chicago, where she understands that the
search for the higher truth is especially
vigorous. Recalling her ladyship's intimacy
with Mrs. Besant, the Morning Advertiser
reporter asked: Does Mrs. Besant to-day
fill directly or remotely the position of tenn
poral leader, head center or high priestess
of theosophy once held by Nine. Blavat-
sky?"
BY no means. That can never be- Mrs
Besant is an able woman, an extraordinary
woman, and she Is doing a great work for
the cause of her faith, but no one can ever
be TO theosophy what Nine. Blavatsky was
in her day and generation," the Countess
replied with distinctness of tone that was
almost acerbic.
n.xsI n