Studies in Occultism; A Series of Reprints from the Writings of H. P. Blavatsky No. 1: Practical Occultism—Occultism versus the Occult Arts—The Blessings of Publicity

by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky

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Genres: Occult, Nonfiction

59 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (Russian: Еле́на Петро́вна Блава́тская, Yelena Petrovna Blavatskaya, often known as Madame Blavatsky; 12 August [O.S. 31 July] 1831 – 8 May 1891) was a Russian occultist, philosopher, and author who co-founded the Theosophical Society in 1875. She gained an international following as the leading theoretician of Theosophy, the esoteric religion that the society promoted.

Source: Wikipedia

Reviews

[Catherine Baum · Rating 2 out of 5]

Surprisingly and unequivocally boring. She may have been a great mystic but a writer she was not. Going to switch to biographies and studies to gain this information instead. Disappointing even as an historical document.

[blake · Rating 2 out of 5]

What's going on here? Where am I?

Kind of fun to read this after The Story of Atlantis and the Lost Lemuria and especially Foucault's Pendulum because it highlights beautifully the incestuous nature of occult/conspiracy books. Leadbeadter and Scott-Elliot (of Lemuria) confidently referred to Blavatsky (among others) as authoritative sources. Saint-German, whose avatar is prominent in Eco's book, makes an appearance here.

Blavatsky here seems to be reporting on (real or imagined) a tradition of guru and student where she admonishes against what today's Harry Potter crowd might call the Dark Arts and creates a built-in "No True Scotsman" argument by saying that the only way to acquire true powers is to purge the self (i.e. live and use the powers only for altruism), which gives one a nice double-sided security blanket:

"Why don't I have powers?"
"You're still caught up in worldly desires!"
"Hey, that guy's using evil powers!"
"He'll never have the true powers because he's caught up in worldly desires!"

So it provides a nice protection against accusations of fraud or malevolence. I mean, I suppose. I haven't researched Blavatsky that much.

It's a little light on the deets, if you know what I mean. It's almost as if she were trying to entice people into believing you had a lot of power without having to demonstrate it in any fashion or provide any sort of evidence. Again, I have no idea. Maybe she was a great—well, I can't call her a sorceress because she has nothing good to say about them, but maybe she was on to something. There's just no way to tell from this.

Then again, maybe she was just in the right place at the right time—i.e., Western civilization at a time when traditional Christian dogma was being challenged by less and less educated people. That's not really meant as a dig: The industrial revolution and the rise of leisure time meant more people with less grounding in philosophy were able to grasp at popular "edgy" things without understanding the great debates of the first thousand years of the Christian Church. Else they might have recognized the neo-Gnosticism in Blavatsky.

Of course, recognizing they might've still embraced it. I certainly don't know. I hope to learn more as I read more from the time period.

Which is why I read this in the first place.

So any recommendation I might make would be based on that: Curiosity about this strain of thought at this time in history.

[Morrigan · Rating 4 out of 5]

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[Vlad Scutelnicu · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book that I have studied while attempting to understand the knowledge of the Theosophical Society. A well-written volume that presents the general ideas of Theosophy.

[Lawrence Hung · Rating 4 out of 5]

H.P. Blavatsky, the guru of Occultism in the western world, gave an account of what it is in essence and what it stands for. For anyone who is interested in pursuing an esoteric knowledge, this book is a good start.

Blavatsky defined the term by the words of Lucifer: "Occultism is the science of life, the art of living.", and this life is "first, sacrifice, and second, renunciation." Explosive thinking? Take a look at her meaning of Theosophist: "...(who is of) pure, unselfish life, who finds more joy in helping his neighbor than in receiving help himself; one who is ever ready to sacrifice his own pleasures for the sake of other people; and who loves Truth, Goodness, and Wisdom for their own sake,not for the benefit they may confer—is a Theosophist." Theosophist, as she holds, is one side of the coin and Occult science on the other.

Having read these definitions, one's mind is unavoidably ignited for seeking further. Although one might not able to understand all of the "Master" saying, even after reading this book, there are plenty of "new" perspectives of looking at the world. This short book, with only 31 pages, is a very good and quick introduction to the "Sacred Science".

The book touches lightly on what ultimately the state of being a true Theosophist: "It (the heart) must be full of the feeling of its non-separateness from the rest of beings as from all in Nature;" and thus "One with the Universal ALL." It is certainly not as easy as Blavatsky claimed to become a true Theosophist. Becoming ONE whole, as the author pointed out with the influence from the Oriental thinking, is effective to combat the long-established western educated instinct of dualism, emulation, strife, friendly rivalry, etc.

The notion of "Man Know Thyself" is the beginning of "New Age Movement", a movement which seeks a spirit of absolute unselfishness and devotion to Truth; then follow self-knowledge, self aspirant and self-mastery. Looking at today's currents of thought, the shadow of Blavatsky's messages is lurking everywhere when men encounter enormous difficulties and challenges. The messages echo in a very high and advanced state in the last century, when majority of the people won't have a clue about what it is.

It might not be the last book for the Theosophist. You won't find all the details here. But it is a perfect introductory book into Occultism, if one wishes to study the "Science" further with Blavatsky other more lengthy works.

[Kaylin H. Lindquist · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting

Interesting and eloquent choices of words.. good artistic read but little actual information on the occult. It was short though so worth the quick read.