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Tuesday 20 December 2016

Blavatsky and Scriabin



Coady Green and Christopher Wayne Smith performing in Ladakh (Picture courtesy of Scriabin in the Himalayas)
Enchanted Modernities exhibition has multi-media theosophical Scriabin piece (and a Dane Rudhyar recital)
Painting Music: Enchanted Modernities - Ali Snow
“Alexander Scriabin, a Russian pianist and composer who was deeply influenced by Theosophy, visualized a grand magnum opus, or large and important work, which he entitled “Mysterium.” This week-long, multimedia performance would have taken place in the Himalayas incorporating music, incense, dance, and light.”
 
“Before dwelling further on "Mysterium," it is essential to mention that Scriabin was a firm believer of Theosophy. Theosophy, an occultism founded by H. P. Blavatsky and H. S. Olcott in New York in 1875, strongly influenced many great artists, writers, thinkers, and politicians alike. To talk about the world between 1870s and 1950s without the presence of Theosophy is as unjustifiable as leaving Christianity out of the medieval period.”
 
Two recent books on Scriabin’s theosophical influences:
Review: Skryabin, Philosophy and the Music of Desire. By Kenneth M. Smith. (Royal Musical Association Monographs, no. 19.) Farnham, Surrey, Eng.: Ashgate, 2013
 
Book Nietzsche's Orphans: Music, Metaphysics, and the Twilight of the Russian Empire - Rebecca Mitchell – Yale -2106
 
Scriabin in the Himalayas – Final unfinished epic theosophy-inspired Mysterium gets staged:
 
Scriabin and Theosophy Slideshow
https://prezi.com/krxnplixm7tm/alexander-scriabin-symbolism-and-theosophy/
 

Thursday 15 December 2016

The Resurrection of Blavatsky News

Seven years ago, at the Winter Solstice, three people, possibly from the East, Hari, Jai and Padma, embarked upon a novel project of reporting on the activities and influence related to that singular 19th-century Russian Theosophist, Helena Blavatsky.
The blog caught the interest of many people in cyberspace and proved to be a unique, well-documented, outspoken and useful source of information, tracking what some have called 'The Blavatsky Revival', through an effervescent period of development. Five years later, again on the Winter Solstice, these three worthies departed into the sunset as mysteriously as they had arrived; but their impact and legacy remains and should prove to be a valuable source of information for some time to come.
Although five years is a healthy run as blogs as go, it seemed a shame to see such a good project go by the wayside and so, after less than a two-year hiatus, the powers that be have deemed that a return to action would be feasible. Hence the past few months have been busily dedicated to catching up on the Blavatsky news for all of 2015-2016 so that there is no gap in coverage since the blog's initial cessation at the end of 2014. Moreover, I did not observe any lull in interesting Blavatsky news items; with an impressive diversity of topics such as early twentieth century art exhibitions, contemporary installation art, Spanish-language novels, historical and biographical pieces from the United States, Asia, and Europe, many aspects of popular cultural, Eastern Religion, Western Occultism, academic studies, theosophical and alternative spirituality, the Blavatsky Revival remains a healthy concern and the Blavatsky News project has given a good indication of how impressively her influence, reputation and appreciation have been acknowledged and grown over the last two decades.  How the future  of her belated-recognition will evolve should be interesting to witness.
 I would like to specify that I have no connection or contact with the previous bloggers (and no formal affiliation with any Theosophical groups) and unfortunately do not have the resources to live up to Hari, Jai and Padma's knowledge, enthusiasm, and editorial insight which made every post an obvious labor of love; I have endeavored to make each post as informative and interesting as my meager knowledge and abilities permit. I hope this new version of Blavatsky News has been as enjoyable to read as it has been to research. Please feel free to comment and any news items submitted  will receive the utmost consideration and appreciation (e-mail: theosophyproject@yahoo.ca).

 Future plans for this blog remain rather boutique. Since we have pretty much caught up with tracking the backlog of news items, I will try to make future posts comparatively short and sweet and better organized, and less frequent, more of a bi-weekly pace, probably.  Editorial input will remain brief, limited to the occasional informative reference mainly, but in the interest of neutrality and objectivity as well as freedom of thought and expression, controversial or critical news items will not be ignored, if they are honest and well-researched. Happy Holidays to one and all, please stay tuned for what should be another interesting year in Blavatsky News.

Sunday 4 December 2016

Blavatsky and Indian Politics: A. O. Hume, Besant



A.O. Hume father of Indian National Congress : Madras Miscelany:
The Father of the Congress – S. Muthia
 “Leading India into this new age was the Indian National Congress founded 130 years ago after the seeds for it were sown at a Theosophical Society Convention in Madras in 1884 when Col. Olcott and A.O. Hume called for the founding of an Indian political party to speak for the people of India. With Hume travelling throughout India to champion this suggestion and helping organize the first Indian National Congress convention in Bombay on December 28-30, 1885, he became known as the ‘Father of the Indian National Congress.’”
http://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/society/madras-miscellany/article6818726.ece
see also Hume on Blavatsky:
http://www.blavatskyarchives.com/hume1884.htm

Article on Annie Besant’s entrepreurial activities in India:

From Besant to Vasantha - Sriram V.
“The foundation stone for the Vasantha Press was laid in 1908, and it became functional a short while later. In 1914, Mrs Besant acquired the Madras Standard, a daily, and renamed it New India. The paper, which electrified the freedom movement with its demand for Home Rule, was initially brought out from the Vasantha Press.
http://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/society/hidden-histories-from-besant-to-vasantha/article8916950.ece


Article on long-standing Bengaluru lodge and charitable organisation founded in 1909 :
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/date-with-history-bengaluru-has-a-hidden-history-of-universal-brotherhood/articleshow/51437441.cms

Article on Indian anthropological history notes Blavatsky's influence:
Muller postulated the migration of the Aryans from the north-west into India while Olcott and Blavatsky asserted that the Aryans were indigenous to India. In their view the Aryan culture was the cradle of civilisation, and had spread from India to the West and other parts of the world. Like them, Dayanand Saraswati, who founded the Arya Samaj in 1875, also considered the Aryans as indigenous to India, and the Vedas as the repository of all knowledge and wisdom. Incidentally, the Arya Samaj merged with the Theosophical Society, which also was founded in 1875. Although this merger did not last long, the two parties never seem to have differed on the Aryan question.
http://thewire.in/21359/how-hindutva-historiography-is-rooted-in-the-colonial-view-of-indian-history/
 

Prof. Gauri Viswanathan, Department of English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University gave a lecture at McGill University on March 24, 2016 entitled Theosophy, Translation, and the Mediation of Hinduism. It was about Blavatsky and Ghandi’s influence on India. Overall, it was a positive outlook of Blavatsky and she is working on a book about Blavatsky.
Her last article on Blavatsky was “Anna Kingsford: The Release of the Suffering Soul" in  Monism: Science, Philosophy, Religion, and the History of a Worldview, 2012.
https://books.google.ca/books?id=LWXIAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA106&lpg=PA106&dq=Viswanathan+anna+kingsford&source=bl&ots=j5vKZQG0C3&sig=ZG_61dDQmkZtsmvwqLoE-BQ6wug&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwign8v5mIHPAhWF2B4KHeLRAJcQ6AEIITAC#v=onepage&q=Viswanathan%20anna%20kingsford&f=false

She is also part of a major academic research project The Enchanted Modernities International Network:
“The Enchanted Modernities International Network will bring together scholars who are experts in the visual arts, music and sound, and literature from all over the world to explore what the visual, material and performing arts can tell us about the relationships between theosophy, modernity and mysticism c. 1875-1960.”
https://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/awards-made/awards-focus/enchanted-modernities-theosophy-modernism-and-arts-c-1875-1960\
A recent piece from The Hindu by Elina Abakarova:
August 12 was the 185th birth anniversary of one of the most extraordinary women of the 19th Century, Helena Petrovna Blavatskaya, better known across the world as Madame Blavatsky. The founder of the Theosophical Society this writer, poet, philosopher and traveller was also a brilliant pianist, a fine artist and a linguist. Due to her incomprehensible nature, activities and knowledge, she was called a sphinx. The mix of legend and fact that shrouds her life does not detract from her powerful influence over modern spiritual thought.
http://www.thehindu.com/features/friday-review/the-messenger-of-light/article9002691.ece



Thursday 24 November 2016

The Collected Supernatural and Weird Fiction of Helena P. Blavatsky, Marion Francis Crawford


The Collected Supernatural and Weird Fiction of Helena P. Blavatsky
Eight Short Stories of the Strange and Unusual - Blavatsky utilised her more earnest pursuits to provide inspiration and background for some highly entertaining tales of ghosts, horrors and weird occurrences. Her single small volume of  supernatural fiction, Nightmare Tales, was published in 1892, but there remained a small number of uncollected stories published in magazines of the day. This Leonaur original collects all of these short stories as well as a chapter from her book, From the Caves and Jungles of Hindostan, which has in the past been included in anthologies of supernatural tales,  to create the most complete collection of Madam Blavatskys fiction ever published.
The Collected Supernatural and Weird Fiction of F. Marion Crawford: Volume 1

Saturday 19 November 2016

Blavatsky and the Big Bang



Tantric cosmological manuscript, 1700s
Blavatsky and Big Bang cosmology - studies the relation between Eastern Manvantara/Pralaya cyclical theories of cosmology with modern Big Bounce cosmological theory. (Notes 5 and 13 refer to concepts from C.W. Leadbeater and not Blavatsky, but do not affect the main thesis).
Wash, Rinse, Repeat. The Cosmical Cycle of Manifestation-Dissolution. Defined, or Redefined - Robert Hütwohl
The “Big Bang” theory is of course, the physical theory, and cannot accommodate the metaphysical realms, but nevertheless the “as above, so below” correspondence or analogy (the “old Hermetic axiom” as Blavatsky calls it) should have some validity.
http://prajnaquest.fr/blog/wash-rinse-repeat-the-cosmical-cycle-of-manifestation-dissolution-defined-or-redefined/

PS – the following definitions from Blavatsky’s writing could be compared with the Bing Bang theory (as could Pythagorean or Tantric cosmologies):
Point within a Circle. In its esoteric meaning the first unmanifested logos appearing on the infinite and shoreless expanse of Space, represented by the Circle. It is the plane of Infinity and Absoluteness. This is only one of the numberless and hidden meanings of this symbol, which is the most important of all the geometrical figures used in metaphysical emblematology. As to the Masons, they have made of the point “an individual brother” whose duty to God and man is bounded by the circle, and have added John the Baptist and John the Evangelist to keep company with the “brother”, representing them under two perpendicular parallel lines (Theosophical Glossary)
Point in the Mundane Egg: the germ within the latter which will become the Universe, the ALL, the boundless, periodical Kosmos, this germ being latent and active, periodically and by turns. (The Secret Docrine Vol.I, p.1)

Article on Science and Religion article mentions Esoteric Buddhism:
Modernity and metaphysics – James Gallant
Other worlds in the chain were of a materiality too subtle for people to observe—at least most people!—and evolution was a principle at work in all of the worlds not only in animate, vegetable, and mineral life, but in humans during multiple reincarnations in various of these worlds. Across millions of years, each of the seven worlds had evolved to the point of being able to sustain life forms, before losing the capacity to do so, then regaining it once more, evolving in the process as did life forms as they moved around and around the chain. http://fortnightlyreview.co.uk/2016/08/modernity-metaphysics/

ps- Since the famous Mars and Mercury question gets misconstrued, see link below: http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/path/v08n04p97_mars-and-mercury.htm

Overview of reincarnation beliefs mentions Blavatsky:
An Objective View of Reincarnation - Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2016/10/25/an-objective-view-of-reincarnation-2/

Alternative medicine article mentions Blavatsky’s role in promoting Eastern philosophy:
Holistic vs. Conventional - Michael Braunstein http://thereader.com/specials/holistic_vs-_conventional/

David Reigle on Space in the Secret Doctrine
There's a new lengthy post at this Stanzas research blog:

http://prajnaquest.fr/blog/

Good Video lectures on Chains and Rounds
Adam Warcup presents a nice series of letters on the difficult subject of chains and rounds, based on his book, Cyclic Evolution:
http://www.theosophycanada.com/adam-warcup-on-cyclic-evolution.php

Sunday 6 November 2016

Blavatsky, Theosophy & ’Doctor Strange’ (film, 2016) Scott Derrickson, Marvel


By the hoary hosts of Hoggoth, in the early days, Theosophists were actively cultivating ties to popular fiction writers and lately the study of theosophical influence on pop culture has been growing. See Theosophical Fiction and also, Zanoni. The well-received Doctor Strange movie inherits much of the theosophically-influenced orientalist-occult pop culture themes, as the reviews below point out. Praise the Vishanti! (Indeed, there has been a fairly extensive commentary on the mystical/pop culture intersection related to the character and the film. We've included a larger-than-usual sampling, sadly, not being in possession of the all-seeing Eye of Agamotto, we cannot claim that this list is exhaustive):
 
Mainstream Mysticism: Doctor Strange Vs. Materialism
Jeff Wolfe - Symbol & Verse
This sets Strange off on a classic Hero's Journey, the first step of which is to set off to parts unknown. Is it any surprise he is directed to a hidden temple tucked in the Himalayan Mountains? As it goes, the teacher must first be found before the lessons can commence. Like so many other myth stories, the keys to the universe are held in secret by monks or priests, who obtained them through intense dedication and practice of physical and mental disciplines. 
https://symbolandverse.journoportfolio.com/essays/mainstream-mysticism-doctor-strange-vs-materialism/
 
A Brief History of Doctor Strange and His Relationship with Tibet, Occultism, and Buddhism - Joel Gruber (11/05/2016)
"From 1963 to the present day, Doctor Strange comics document a visual history of American pop-fascination with the “Orient,” and with Tibet in particular. During the early 1960s, Tibetans were more exoticized objects of wonder than actual persons, and thus the Ancient One better resembled Blavatsky’s Mahatmas than he did a cave-dwelling Tibetan yogi. As the counterculture critiqued America’s Protestant heritage and explored religions from the so-called “Orient,” Englehart and Brunner destroyed God and presented their own version of a Buddhist-esque occult philosophy, which they and their readers put into practice. "
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joel-gruber/doctor-strange-a-brief-hi_b_12805350.html
 
 
Strange Tales #115, Dec. 1963, art: Steve Ditko
Doctor Strange (2016) – Revelation of the Illuminist Method - Jay Dyer:
"Lining up his chakras and mastering the “Key of Solomon,” Strange decides to delve into deeper, darker rites, taking it upon himself to don the All-Seeing Eye necklace that allows him to fast forward and rewind time itself, from the grimoires of his order’s ascended masters (call him Blavatsky Cumberbatch). "
https://jaysanalysis.com/2019/11/25/doctor-strange-2016-revelation-of-the-illuminist-method/
 
How Doctor Strange Helped Create Hippies - Charles Moss - Nov 2 2016 In Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America, Bradford W. Wright wrote, "Dr. Strange remarkably predicted the youth counterculture's fascination with Eastern mysticism and psychedelia. Never among Marvel's more popular or accessible characters, Dr. Strange still found a niche among an audience seeking a challenging alternative to more conventional superhero fare.
https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/how-doctor-strange-helped-create-hippies


Breaking Saturn's Spell: Arrival & Doctor Strange - Chris Knowles 01-12-2016
Doctor Strange touched all the tentpole bases-- apocalypse-sized threat, cities aflame, multiculti heroes banding together under a militaristic regimen-- but added themes roughly parallel with the wilder expressions of Tibetan Buddhism and psychedelic culture (according to this writer, DMT culture, specifically.  
https://secretsun.blogspot.com/2016/12/arrival-and-doctor-strange-or-breaking.html
 
The Broken Hands of Doctor Strange Jeffrey Overstreet| 
The Theology of Dr. StrangeMike Beidler  November 30, 2016 

Doctor Strange Movie Cast Coached by Gelong Thubten, a Tibetan Monk

https://buddhaweekly.com/doctor-strange-movie-cast-coached-gelong-thubten-tibetan-monk-known-extensive-years-long-retreat/ 
Tibet Supporters Protest Marvel's 'Doctor Strange' over Changed Character
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/tibet-supporters-protest-marvel-s-dr-strange-over-changed-character-n677706 
 
Doctor Strange's Magical and Mystical Roots in Hindu Mythology
Amulya sai Inturi Nov.. 30 2016
https://www.fandom.com/articles/doctor-strange-magical-mystical-roots-hindu-mythology
 
Doctor Dtrange and the racial history of a Marvel icon - Zack Kruse - 19 March, 2019
https://www.popmatters.com/doctor-strange-and-race-2631242477.html
 
Orientalism (and disability) in in Scott Derrickson’s’Doctor Strange’ (2016) 
Rebecca Radillo 
https://thedailyfandom.org/orientalism-and-disability-doctor-strange/
 
Producing and Consuming the Posthuman Body in Superhero Narratives - Scott Jeffery - January 26, 2013
What is known by fans and scholars as the Golden Age of Comics dates from approximately 1938 to the late 1950s. 1938 marks the debut of Superman in Action Comics issue one but in order to understand the emergence of the comic book superhuman some context is necessary. The comic book superhuman was in fact preceded by what Coogan (2006) usefully describes as the Antediluvian Age. At the end of the eighteenth century and the early decades of the twentieth century the posthuman was already manifesting itself in several seemingly disparate realms. In the fantastic fiction H. G. Wells for instance, which presented invisible men, human-animal hybrids and highly evolved (and de-evolved) relatives of humankind from the far future. The early science fiction author Edward Bulwer Lytton’s 1871 novel The Coming Race presented another vision of advanced humanity. Lytton’s work would go on to influence the fin de siècle interest in occultism (Knowles, 2007), particularly H. P. Blavatsky, founder of Theosophy, whose mystical writings are rife with highly evolved ‘ascended masters’ and whose occult theories emphasise a kind of evolutionary mysticism. Indeed, Badminton cites Blavatsky writing of the ‘post-human’ as early as 1888 (Badmington, 2004:133).
http://hplusmagazine.com/2013/01/26/producing-and-consuming-the-posthuman-body-in-superhero-narratives/
 
Doctor Strange: A Hero of the Mind 
Tristan Garcia
 
The links below document the pop culture “Tibetan lineage” of the good doctor:
 
The study of Theosophical influences on pop culture is quite a growing field, pioneered by:
The Gospel According to Superheroes: Religion and Pop Culture - edited by B. J. Oropeza - 2005
 
Our Gods Wear Spandex: The Secret History of Comic Book Heroes, 2007 - Chris Knowles
https://books.google.ca/books?id=93Mv-1R5yskC&source=gbs_navlinks_s 
 
Mutants and Mystics Science Fiction Superhero Comics and the Panormal, Jeffrey Kripal, 2011:
Google Books
 
Pseudoscience and Science Fiction, Andrew May, 2016 :
https://books.google.ca/books?id=2O0QDQAAQBAJ&source=gbs_book_other_versions
 
The Assimilation of Yogic Religions Through Pop Culture
Editor, Paul G. Hackett, 2017  
 
Movie Magick: The Occult in Film, 2018
 
Mysterious Travelers: Steve Ditko and the Search for a New Liberal Identity - Zack Kruse, 2021
https://books.google.ca/books?id=Z_cQEAAAQBAJ&source=gbs_book_other_versions 
 
Fictional Practice: Magic, Narration, and the Power of Imagination
BRILL, 2021
https://books.google.ca/books?id=NLJFEAAAQBAJ&dq=Blavatsky+review+of+Mr.+Isaacs+francis+marion+crawford&source=gbs_navlinks_s 
 
Religion and Myth in the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Michael D. Nichols McFarland, 2021 208 pages
 
For a more realistic use of theosophical adepts in popular fiction see FrancisMarion Crawford's Mr. Isaacs - a bestseller in Blavatsky's time (Crawford's uncle was a Theosophist), the book is still a good read:
https://archive.org/details/mrisaacsatalemo07crawgoog

Here's what Blavatsky thinks of such literary adaptations (review of Mr. Isaacs):
http://www.katinkahesselink.net/blavatsky/articles/v4/y1883_020.htm

The history of western use of Eastern mystical lore has deep roots, as early as Philostratos' Life of Apollonius of Tyana -  see Lee Irwin's broad overview Western Esotericism, Eastern Spirituality and the Global Future.
http://www.esoteric.msu.edu/VolumeIII/HTML/Irwin.html

Thomas McEvilley's The Shape of Ancient Thought examines the ancient western accounts of Eastern influence, giving new life to the Eastern influence theory:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HAiTfOSP_w&t=16s