One of the most influential occult thinkers of the nineteenth century, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831-1891)left behind conflicting images of adventuress, author, mystic, guru, occultist, and charlatan. With the aid of Col. Henry Olcott and William Q. Judge, she founded the Theosophical Society in New York in 1875.

Born at Ekaterinoslav, Russia, on July 31, 1831, Blavatsky was the daughter of Col. Peter Hahn, a member of a Mecklenburg family settled in Russia. In order to gain converts to Theosophy, she felt obliged to appear to perform miracles. This she did with a large measure of success, but her methods were on several occasions detected as fraudulent. Nevertheless, her commanding personality secured for her a large following.

Surrounded with Mystery

An enigmatic personality, Blavatsky was raised in an atmosphere saturated with superstition and fantasy. She loved to surround herself with mystery as a child and claimed to her playmates that in...