Helena Petrovna Blavatsky

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (Russian: Еле́на Петро́вна Блава́тская, Ukrainian: Олена Петрівна Блаватська), was born at Dnepropetrovsk (Ekaterinoslav), Ukraine, on August 12, 1831. She was a Theosophist, writer, and traveler. Between 1848 and 1875 Blavatsky went around the world three times. In 1875 Blavatsky, together with Colonel H. S. Olcott, established the Theosophical Society. Blavatsky was the main source of Theosophical teachings and discussed the major themes of Theosophy in many articles and several major works, including Isis Unveiled, The Secret Doctrine, The Key to Theosophy, and The Voice of the Silence. She died in London, on May 8, 1891.

Early years

Born as Helena von Hahn (Russian: Елена Петровна Ган, Ukrainian: Олена Петрівна Ган) she was the daughter of Colonel Peter Alexeyevich von Hahn and novelist Helena Andreyevna (née de Fadeyev).

On July 6, 1842 Helena Andreevna Hahn, Helena’s mother and at that time a well-known writer, died at the age of 28 of galloping consumption.

According to Vera Jelihovsky, Helena's mother, at the time, was worried about the destiny of her elder daughter, “gifted from childhood by outstanding features”. Before her death, her mother said: “Well! Perhaps it is for the better that I am dying: at least, I will not suffer from seeing Helena’s hard lot! I am quite sure that her destiny will be not womanly, that she will suffer much”.

After her mother’s death, Helena’s grandfather Andrei Mikhailovich and Grandmother Helena Pavlovna had taken the children to Saratov, where they had quite a different life. Fadeyev’s house was visited by Saratov’s intellectuals.

Marriages

Striving for full independence in 1849, at Tiflis, 16-year old Helena married vice-governor of Erevan Nikifor Vladimirovich Blavatsky, who was much older than her. In June 7, 1849 their wedding ceremony took place. Soon after their wedding, Helena escaped from the husband and returned to her relatives. Nikifor Blavatsky tried to obtain a divorce on the ground that "his marriage had never been more than a form." His attempt failed, however, owing to the fact Russian law at the time regarded divorce with disfavor. It is not certain when Nikifor died. In Helena's scrapbook there is a cutting from a newspaper talking about her life, where we find the sentence: "For many years they [Helena and Nikifor] resided together at Odessa, and finally a legal separation was affected." To this, HPB added two notes. The one commenting on her stay with her husband "for many years" said: "a lie—was with him but for three weeks." To the second phrase: "finally a legal separation was affected" she added "legal, because he died." The name and date of the newspaper do not appear in print, but H.P.B. wrote in ink above the first cutting: "From the N. Y. Mercury, Jan. 18, 1875."

In April 3, 1875, in New York, a few months before founding the Theosophical Society, Mme. Blavatsky married with a Georgian living in America Michael Betanelly. The marriage broke after several months and Betanelly sued for a divorce. The divorce was granted on the 25th May 1878, with William Q. Judge acting as Blavatsky's counsel.

Travels

Shortly after her marriage Helena began more than 20 years of extensive travel, bringing her into contact with mystic traditions the world over. This period of Blavatsy’s life is difficult for her biographers as she did not keep diaries and there was nobody with her to tell about these events. The picture of the route and course of the travels is based mainly on Blavatsky’s own memories, which sometimes contain the chronological contradictions. N. A. Fadeyeva reported that only her father knew where his daughter was, and from time to time would send money to her.

1849/50: Left her husband and travelled in Turkey, Greece, Egypt and France

1851: Met the man who was to her guru in London (always referred to as 'Master')

1851: Sailed for Canada, travelled south to New Orleans, Mexico and South America

1852: From the West Indies sailed via the Cape and Ceylon to India

1852: Attempted unsuccessfully to enter Tibet

1853: Travelled via Java to England

1854: Returned to America, crossing The Rockies with a caravan of emigrants

1855: Returned to India via Japan and The Straights

1856/57: Travelled throughout India, Kashmir, Ladakh, Burma, and parts of Tibet

1858: Returned to Russia via Java, France and Germany

1860/65: Lived with the native tribes in the Caucasus

1866/67: Travelled in the Balkans, Egypt, Syria and Italy

1867: Wounded at the Battle of Mentana in Russia

1868: Returned to India and Tibet

1871: Shipwrecked off the island of Spetsai sailing from Greece to Egypt

1871/72: Lived in Cairo

1872: Travelled through Syria, Palestine, the Lebanon, and back to Odessa

1873: Lived in Paris and sailed to the USA.

Founding of the Theosophical Society

In 1873, in Paris, she received an order from her Master to go to the United States and meet with Col. Henry S. Olcott, who was now about to become a journalist, reporting on spiritualistic phenomena. It was in this capacity that, a year later, he met Mme. Blavatsky, and they quickly became friends.

As she began to instruct Col. Olcott in the occult science and esoteric philosophy, the two started working together in connection with the Spiritualistic movement in the US. During this time, HPB performed at will many phenomena normally ascribed to “the spirits,” and published articles in different spiritualistic journals explaining the origin and nature of these psychic incidents, in ways that contradicted many of the Spiritualists' theories. Most spiritualists were not pleased with HPB’s attempt to reform, sometimes quite radically, their believes.

In July 1875, HPB wrote in her scrapbook: "Orders received from India direct to establish a philosophico-religious society and choose a name for it, also to choose Olcott." In the Fall of the same year, along with H. S. Olcott, W. Q. Judge, and others, the Theosophical Society was founded.

Additional resources

• H. P. Blavatsky in Theosopedia.