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Blavatsky

Belief in Magic? The theosophy of H.P. Blavatsky

Since the word ‘magic’ is often associated with the word ‘miracle‘ or with parlor tricks, I think it’s useful to quote H.P. Blavatsky on this: Our Society believes in no miracle, divine, diabolical or human, nor in anything which eludes the grasp of either philosophical and logical induction, or the syllogistic method of deduction. But [...]

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Going beyond spiritualism – Blavatsky’s first occult shot

H.P. Blavatsky had already written a few articles in spiritualist magazines when she came out with ‘A Few Questions for Hiraf‘. She called this article her ‘first occult shot’ in the diary she kept with Olcott. This article was a response to a strange joke a few fellows had made who had concocted out of [...]

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John Algeo about the TS, Blavatsky and more: an interview

John Algeo is vice president of the Theosophical Society. He recently ran for president but only got a third of the votes. I really liked the program he ran on, and since we correspond regularly, I thought it would be nice to interview him here. 1. Who’s your favorite spiritual teacher (theosophical or otherwise) of [...]

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To my Buddhist (and semi-Buddhist) readers

I feel blessed to already have so many readers and comments that I have to explain my basic attitude to blogging and spirituality not just to theosophists, but to (Western) Buddhists as well. First off: my basic concern is the pursuit of wisdom, not knowledge. This is what I also tried to say in my [...]

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Blavatsky on Krishna – signs of respect

It has been said that Blavatsky’s work started out with a Western approach. Her book ‘Isis Unveiled’ has been described as ‘Egyptian’. From a theosophical standpoint this is preposterous – and anyone who has looked at index will have to agree. One early reference to Indian spirituality is this one: Blavatsky refers to the washing [...]

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