Alice Gordon
Mrs. Alice Gordon and her husband, Lt. Col. William Gordon, became members of the Theosophical Society on August 6, 1879. In March 1883 she becomes the President of the Ladies’ Theosophical Society formed at Calcutta, with Mrs. Kumari Devi Ghosal, daughter of Devendro Nath Tagore, as Secretary. The outcome of this movement was the foundation of the newspaper Bhâratî.
According to Readers Guide to The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett:
Gordon, Lt. Co. W. and Mrs. Alice, members of the TS, residents of Calcutta and friends of APS, AOH, and the Founders. They were primarily interested in spiritualism. Mrs. Gordon accompanied the Founders on their first trip to Simla in 1880. The Gordons were hosts to the medium, William Eglinton, in Calcutta in the spring of 1882, after his original host, Mr. Meugens, had left Calcutta. The Gordons were witnesses to the Vega phenomenon connected with Eglinton's trip back to England. ML index; LBS, p. 16.[1]
She was also present at the dinner party where the first of the brooch phenomena took place.
The "Vega Incident"
On Friday, March 24, 1882, Mrs. Gordon and her husband, along with Col. Olcott, saw the Mahatmas K.H. and M. This was in connection to William Eglinton and the "Vega Incident":
At this hour we three—Colonel Olcott, Colonel Gordon, and myself—sat in the room which had been occupied by Mr. Eglinton. We had a good light, and sat with our chairs placed to form a triangle, of which the apex was to the north. In a few minutes Colonel Olcott saw outside the open window the two "Brothers" and told us so; he saw them pass to another window, the glass doors of which were closed. He saw one of them point his hand towards the air over my head, and I felt something at the same moment fall straight down from above on to my shoulder, and saw it fall at my feet in the direction towards the two gentlemen. I knew it would be the letter, but for the moment I was so anxious to see the "Brothers" that I did not pick up what had fallen. Colonel Gordon and Colonel Olcott both saw and heard the letter fall. Colonel Olcott had turned his head from the window for a moment to see what the "Brother" was pointing at, and so noticed the letter falling from a point about two feet from the ceiling. When he looked again the two "Brothers" had vanished.
There is no verandah outside, and the window is several feet from the ground.
I now turned and picked up what had fallen on me, and found a letter in Mr. Eglinton’s handwriting, dated on the Vega the 24th. We opened the letter carefully, by slitting up one side, as we saw that someone had made on the flap in pencil three Latin crosses, and so we kept them intact for identification. The letter is as follows:
My Dear Mrs. Gordon, At last your hour of triumph has come! After the many battles we have had at the breakfast-table regarding K.H.’s existence, and my stubborn skepticism as to the wonderful powers possessed by the "Brothers," I have been forced to a complete belief in their being living distinct persons. I am not allowed to tell you all I know, but K.H. appeared to me in person two days ago, and what he told me dumbfounded me.[2]
Written accounts
- "Instantaneous Transmission of Letters" at Blavatsky Archives. Reprinted from Psychic Notes (Calcutta), April 13, 1882, pp. 66-67.
- "Instantaneous Transmission of Another Letter" at Blavatsky Archives. Reprinted from Psychic Notes (Calcutta) March 30, 1882, pp. 60-61.
- "Some Experiences of the Occult" at Blavatsky Archives. Reprinted from Light (London), November 29, 1890, pp. 575-577.