Theos-Talk Archives (January 2008 Message tt00160)

and that your reason is not quitting you. Blavatsky will prove to you 
tomorrow before everyone that my visit is real." Then he disappeared. 
I saw by my watch that it was three o'clock. I put out the candle and 
immediately went into a deep sleep. 

Next morning, on going with Miss [de Glinka] to Madame Blavatsky, the 
first thing she said to us with an enigmatical smile was "Well! How 
have you passed the night?" "Very well," I replied and I 
added, "Haven't you anything to tell me?" "No," she replied, "I only 
know that the Master was with you with one of his pupils." 

That same evening, Mr. Olcott found in his pocket a little note, that 
all the Theosophists said was in the handwriting of M: "Certainly I 
was there, but who can open the eyes of him who will not see."

This was the reply to my doubts, because all the day I had been 
trying to persuade myself that it was only a hallucination, and this 
made Madame Blavatsky angry. 

I should say that on my return to Paris, where I am now, my 
hallucinations and the strange happenings that surrounded me, have 
completely stopped. 

Source: Hastings, Beatrice. Solovyoff's Fraud. Edmonton, Alberta, 
Canada: Edmonton Lodge of the Theosophical Society in Canada, 1988, 
27?9.


Case 48
Damodar K. Mavalankar 
September 23, 1884.
Madras, India 

I had the moral certainty concerning the existence of the Himalayan 
Mahatmas long before I heard of the name of the Theosophical Society, 
nay, even before it was formed in America.  Being of a religious turn 
of mind, it was the constant end and aim of my aspirations to come in 
contact with personal relations with the Yogis.  When some of the 
orthodox Brahmins told me that in this Kali Yuga no true Yogi could 
be found, I always argued that either no Yogi could have existed in 
any Yuga, or that if any existed before there must be similar persons 
now, however small may be their number at the present time.  Our 
sacred literature was too full of the events of the lives of such 
great men, and I could never believe that it was all the fiction of a 
poetic brain.  These men must have their successors living in some 
secluded part of the world, watching the destinies of the world, and 
assisting every individual effort to rise in the scale of progress.  
For such arguments and belief I was looked upon as a religious 
enthusiast, and being constantly engaged in the performance of 
religious rites and observances, not on a few occasions fear was 
entertained that I might run away into the jungles in search of the 
Mahatmas.  In my childhood I had a very dangerous illness, and 
doctors gave me up for lost.  While my relatives were every moment 
expecting my death, I had a vision which made such a deep impression 
on my mind that I could never forget it.  Then I saw a certain 
personage --- whom I then considered to be a Deva, i.e., God --- who 
gave me a peculiar medicine; and curiously enough, I began to recover 
from that time.   Some years after that, while I was one day engaged 
in meditation, I saw the identical Personage and recognised him as my 
Saviour.  Once more He saved me from the clutches of death.  It was 
some years after this last occasion that the founders of the 
Theosophical Society came to India; and within a few months I joined 
the Society.   Since then I have witnessed several phenomena, both in 
the presence and absence of Madame Blavatsky, in the company of 
others or while alone.  These several accounts have from time to time 
been published in the Theosophist over my own name.   There are 
several other occurrences not so mentioned, which I wrote about in 
private correspondence to Theosophical friends in London and New 
York. Especially the account of my going to the Mahatmas and staying 
with them last year, will be of interest to inquirers after truth.  
This account was published in the Theosophist for January, 1884.  I 
may here add that some time after I joined the Society, I saw several 
Mahatmas, both in their astral form and physical bodies, one of whom 
was the Mahatma known as Mr. Sinnett's correspondent and the author 
of the letters published in "The Occult World."  And when I saw Him, 
I at once identified Him with the majestic Power I had seen in my 
youth thrice, He who had saved my life twice and appeared once during 
my meditation.  I have got several letters from Him and others; and 
all those, written by the same person, whether received by me direct 
or through anybody else, bear the same handwriting.  Latterly, since 
They have chosen to give me verbal instructions, I have been 
receiving very few written communications.  Before joining the 
Society, as well as after, during Madame Blavatsky's absence as well 
as her presence, under a thousand and one different circumstances, I 
have received several letters for myself or for others from different 
Mahatmas, have seen them, talked to them, heard their voices, and 
seen several kinds of phenomena. 

Source:  APPENDIX IX. 

Case 49
Laura C. Holloway
October 1884
England

I left H.P.B. in London [for my trip back to New York].

Going on board the steamer in the afternoon I retired at once to my 
stateroom and, later on, while reading quietly the room was filled 
with a blazing light that came like a flood upon me.

Two Masters stood in the midst of this light and conversed with me.  
It was the most transcendent Vision I had ever seen, or shall hope to 
see again, and while these enlightened Beings were with me they 
instructed me regarding my future

One of the glorious Beings I saw on that never-to-be-forgotten 
evening at sea, was H.P.B., and then and there my vision was 
strengthened, and I was carefully instructed regarding my one gift ---
 the power to pass easily from the physical to the astral plane, and 
the tasks I was to perform on that plane, while living in the body 
and doing my duty according to my ability. 

Source: Excerpt from letter written by Mrs. Holloway and dated 
September 11, 1923.  This letter is preserved in the H.P.B. Library, 
Toronto, Canada.


Case 50
Richard Hodgson 
December 1884?March 1885
Madras, India 

In November [1884] I proceeded to India for the purpose of 
investigating on the spot the evidence of the phenomena connected 
with the Theosophical Society. [Monsieur] and Madame Coulomb, who had 
been attached to the Theosophical Society for several years in 
positions of trust, had charged Madame Blavatsky with fraud, and had 
adduced in support of their charge various letters and other 
documents alleged by them to have been written by Madame Blavatsky. 

>From these Blavatsky-Coulomb documents it appears that Mahatma 
letters were prepared and sent by Madame Blavatsky; that Koot Hoomi 
is a fictitious personage; that supposed "astral forms" of the 
Mahatmas were confederates of Madame Blavatsky in disguise --- 
generally the Coulombs; that alleged [occult] phenomena --- some of 
them in connection with the so-called Shrine at Adyar --- were 
ingenious trickeries, carried out by Madame Blavatsky, with the 
assistance chiefly of the Coulombs. 

I was left without any doubt that the [astral] appearances [of the 
Mahatmas] might have been well produced by [Monsieur] Coulomb in 
disguise.  I have seen [Monsieur] Coulomb disguised as a Mahatma, and 
can understand that the figure may have been very impressive.  A 
dummy head (with shoulders), like that of a Hindu, with beard, &c. 
and fehta [turban], is worn on the top of the head of the person 
disguised.   A long flowing muslin garment falls down in front, and 
by holding the folds very slightly apart, the wearer is enabled to 
see, and to speak also, if necessary.  I do not think it in the least 
degree likely that any of the witnesses would have penetrated this 
disguise had the figure been even much nearer than it was, and the 
light much better. 

I cannot regard Colonel Olcott's testimony as of any scientific 
value.  In particular, his testimony to the alleged "astral" 
appearance [of the Mahatma Morya] in New York proves, in my opinion, 
no more than that he saw someone in his room, who may have been an 
ordinary Hindu, or some other person, disguised, as a Mahatma for the 
purpose, and acting for Madame Blavatsky.  And the same may be said 
of all his testimony to apparitions of Mahatmas. 

I need not here say much on the other alleged appearances of 
Mahatmas, in either their ordinary physical or their "astral" 
bodies.  A confederate in disguise is generally an easy and 
sufficient explanation of them.  There is no real difficulty in 
applying this explanation even to the case of Mr. Ramaswamier, whose 
account of his experience has made so much impression on Mr. Sinnett. 

The resources of Madame Blavatsky are great; and by the means of 
forged letters, fraudulent statements of Chelas, and other false 
evidence, she may yet do much in the future for the benefit of human 
credulity.  But acting in accordance with the principles upon which 
our Society [for Psychical Research] has proceeded, I must express my 
unqualified opinion that no genuine psychical phenomena whatever will 
be found among the pseudo-mysteries of the Russian lady alias Koot 
Hoomi Lal Sing alias Mahatma Morya alias Madame Blavatsky. 

Source: Hodgson 1885, 3: 207-9, 261-2, 249-50, 241, 239, 245-6, 313?
4, 317.


Case 51
Henry S. Olcott 
January 8, 1885
Adyar, Madras, India 

During the night, chela "D.K." visited and talked with me about 
persons and things.  [C.W.] Leadbeater sleeping in another bed in my 
room heard his voice and mine and saw a phosphorescent light by my 
bed but could not see his form.  M[orya] and five chelas were at the 
place together.  H.P.B. saw them all.

[In his handwritten diary for Jan. 8, 1885, Colonel Olcott wrote:

"During the night. . . I was visited by Dj.K... who talked with me 
about sundry pesons and things.  Mr. Leadbeater. . . sleeping on 
another charpai in the same room, heard the two voices and saw a 
column of light by my bedside, but could not distinguish the form of 
my visitor."]

Source:  Olcott, Henry S.  Old Diary Leaves.  Volume III, p. 208.


Case 52
Henry S. Olcott 
February 7?8, 1885
Adyar, Madras, India 

Again has our Master [Morya] snatched HPB from the jaws of death. A 
few days ago she was dying and I was recalled from Burma by 
telegraph, with little or no prospect of seeing her again. But, when 
three physicians were expecting her to sink into coma and so pass 
senseless out of life, He came, laid his hand upon her, and the whole 
aspect of the case changed.

The day before yesterday things looked so bad that Subba Row and 
Damodar lost heart and got quite panicky and said the T.S. would go 
to the dogs. Well, yesterday came here a certain Indian yogi, dressed 
in the usual saffron robes, and accompanied by a female ascetic?his 
supposed disciple. I was called, came and sat down, and we stared at 
each other in silence. Then he closed his eyes, concentrated himself, 
and gave me psychically his message. He had been sent by the Mahatma 
[Narayana] at Tirivellum (the one who dictated to HPB the "Replies to 
an English F.T.S.") to assure me that I should not be left alone. He 
recalled to me my conversation of the 7th with [Damodar] and [Subba 
Row]. And he asked me (mentally) if I could for a moment have 
believed that he, who had always been so true to me, would leave me 
to go on without help. Then he and his Maya of a she-chela went up to 
HPB's sick-chamber, and she?contrary to every Hindu usage for females 
of the sort?went straight at the [Old Lady] and made passes over her, 
and at the Guru's command began to recite mantrams. Then the Guru 
took from beneath his robe a ball, the size of an orange, of the 
nirukti or sacred ashes used in Hindu temples for external 
application after the bath, and told the disciple to put it in a 
small cupboard that hangs over the head of HPB's bed. He told the 
latter that when she needed him she should simply think of him in his 
present visible form and mentally repeat his name thrice. Then there 
was some conversation all around, and they went away.

Source:  Olcott, H. S. "Letters of H. S. Olcott to Francesca 
Arundale." Theosophist (Adyar) 53 (September 1932), 732?4. 


Case 53
Henry S. Olcott
September 25, 1885
Gooty, India

". . . In night [I] had visit from M[orya] and Majji. . . . "

[In a letter dated October 10, 1885 to Francesca Arundale, Henry 
Olcott mentions this visit from Morya:

". . . that night [at Gooty] I was visited by my Guru [Morya] 
and 'Majji'. . . . "

Source:  Olcott, Henry S.  Diaries.  Entry for Sept. 25, 1885; 
Olcott, Henry S.  Letter from Henry S. Olcott to Francesca 
Arundale.   The Theosophist (Adyar, Madras, India), December 1932, p. 
275.


Case 54
Countess Constance Wachtmeister
Oct.?Dec. 1885
Wurzburg, Germany

In the autumn of 1885, I was making preparations to leave my home in 
Sweden to spend the winter with some friends in Italy, and 
incidentally, en route to pay Madame Gebhard a promised visit at her 
residence in Elberfeld [Germany].

It was while I was engaged in putting my affairs in order, in view of 
my long absence, that an incident occurred, not indeed singular in my 
experience, but out of the normal. I was arranging and laying aside 
the articles I intended to take with me to Italy when I heard a voice 
saying, "Take that book, it will be useful to you on your journey." I 
may as well say at once that I have the faculties of clairvoyance and 
clairaudience rather strongly developed. I turned my eyes on a 
manuscript volume I had placed among the heap of things to be locked 
away until my return. Certainly it seemed a singular inappropriate 
vade mecum for a holiday, being a collection of notes on the Tarot 
and passages in the Kabbalah that had been compiled for me by a 
friend. However, I decided to take it with me, and laid the book in 
the bottom of one of my traveling trunks.

At last the day came for me to leave Sweden, in October 1885, and I 
arrived at Elberfeld, where I met with a cordial and affectionate 
greeting from Madame Gebhard. However, the time was drawing near for 
me to pass on into Italy. My friends never ceased pressing me to join 
them there, and at last the date of my departure was fixed.

When I told Madame Gebhard that I must leave her in a few days, she 
spoke to me of a letter she had received from HPB.  She was ill in 
body and depressed in mind. Her sole companions were her servant and 
an Indian gentleman. 

My luggage was soon ready, and a cab was actually waiting for me at 
the door when a telegram was put into my hands containing these 
words, "Come to Wurzburg at once, wanted immediately?Blavatsky."

It was evening when I reached Madame Blavatsky's lodgings, and as I 
mounted the stairs my pulse was a little hurried while I speculated 
upon the reception which awaited me.

Madame Blavatsky's welcome was a warm one.

I remember very well that it was then, on going into the dining room 
together to take some tea, that she said to me abruptly, as of 
something that had been dwelling on her mind.

"Master says you have a book for me of which I am much in need."

"No, indeed," I replied, "I have no books with me."

"Think again," she said, "Master says you were told in Sweden to 
bring a book on the Tarot and the Kabbalah."

Then I recollected the circumstances that I have related before. From 
the time I had placed the volume in the bottom of my box it had been 
out of my sight and out of my mind. Now, when I hurried to the 
bedroom, unlocked the trunk, and dived to the bottom, I found it in 
the same corner I had left it when packing in Sweden, undisturbed 
from that moment to this. But this was not all. When I returned to 
the dining room with it in my hand, Madame Blavatsky made a gesture 
and cried, "Stay, do not open it yet. Now turn to page ten and on the 
sixth line you will find the words . . . ." And she quoted a passage.

I opened the book which, let it be remembered, was no printed volume 
of which there might be a copy in HPB's possession, but a manuscript 
album in which had been written notes and excerpts by a friend of 
mine for my own use; yet, on the page and at the line she had 
indicated, I found the very words she had uttered.

When I handed her the book I ventured to ask her why she wanted it.

"Oh," she replied, "for The Secret Doctrine. That is my new work that 
I am so busily engaged in writing. Master is collecting material for 
me. He knew you had the book and told you to bring it that it might 
be at hand for reference."

Source:  Wachtmeister, Countess Constance, and others. Reminiscences 
of H. P. Blavatsky and the Secret Doctrine. London, Theosophical 
Publishing Society, 1893, 16?21, 22?3, 25?6, 32.


Case 55
Sriman Swamy
March 1887
Lhasa, Tibet

In reply to your enquiries I may say that I certify on my word as a 
Sanyassi that I have twice visited Tibet since the year 1879; that I 
have personally become acquainted with several Mahatmas, among whom 
were the two known to the outside word as Mahatma "M" and Mahatma "K. 
H."; that I spent some time in their company; that they told me that 
they and other Mahatmas were interested in the work of the 
Theosophical Society; that Mahatma "M" told me he had been the 
(occult) guardian of Madame Blavatsky from her infancy. 

And I further certify that in March 1887 I saw Mr. Damodar K. 
Mavalankar at L'hassa, in a convalescent state.  He told me, in the 
presence of Mahatma "K. H." that he had been at the point of death in 
the previous year. 

Source:  "News of Damodar." Lucifer (London), Volume 5, September 
1889, p. 68.


Case 56
Charles Johnston
Spring 1887
London

I first met dear old "HPB," as she made all her friends call her, in 
the spring of 1887. Some of her disciples had taken a pretty house in 
Norwood, where the huge glass nave and twin towers of the Crystal 
Palace glint about a labyrinth of streets and terraces. London was at 
its grimy best. 

HPB was just finishing her day's work, so I passed a half hour 
upstairs with her volunteer secretary, a disciple who served her with 
boundless devotion. 

So the half hour passed, and I went downstairs to see the Old Lady. 
She was in her writing room, just rising from her desk, and clad in 
one of those dark blue dressing gowns she loved. My first impression 
was of her rippled hair as she turned, then her marvelously potent 
eyes, as she welcomed me: "My dear fellow! I am so glad to see you! 
Come in and talk! You are just in time to have some tea!" And a 
hearty handshake.

HPB with a quizzically humorous smile [asked]: "Of course you have 
read the SPR Report??The Spookical Research Society?and know that I 
am a Russian spy, and the champion impostor of the age?"

"Yes, I read the Report. But I knew its contents already. I was at 
the meeting when it was first read, two years ago."

"Well," said HPB, again smiling with infinite humor, "and what 
impression did the frisky lambkin from Australia [Richard Hodgson] 
make upon your susceptible heart?"

"A very deep one. I decided that he must be a very good young man, 
who always came home to tea; and that the Lord had given him a very 
good conceit of himself. If he got an opinion into his head, he would 
plow away blandly, and contrary facts would be quite invisible. And 
all that Mr. Sinnett says in the Occult World seems to me absolutely 
unshaken by the whole Report."

"There is one thing about the SPR Report I want you to explain. What 
about the writing in the occult letters [of the Masters]?"

"Well, what about it?" asked HPB, immediately interested.

"They say that you wrote them yourself, and that they bear evident 
marks of your handwriting and style. What do you say to that?"

"Let me explain it this way," she answered, after a long gaze at the 
end of her cigarette. "Have you ever made experiments in thought-
transference? If you have, you must have noticed that the person who 
received the mental picture very often colors it, or often changes it 
slightly, with his own thought, and this where perfectly genuine 
transference of thought takes place. Well, it is something like that 
with the precipitated letters. One of our Masters, who perhaps does 
not know English, and of course has no English handwriting, wishes to 
precipitate a letter in answer to a question sent mentally to him. 
Let us say he is in Tibet, while I am in Madras or London. He has the 
answering thought in his mind, but not in English words. He has first 
to impress that thought on my brain, or on the brain of someone else 
who knows English, and then to take the word forms that rise up in 
that other brain to answer the thought. Then he must form a clear 
mind picture of the words in writing, also drawing on my brain, or 
the brain of whoever it is, for the shapes. Then either through me or 
some chela with whom he is magnetically connected, he has to 
precipitate these word shapes on paper, first sending the shapes into 
the chela's mind, and then driving them into the paper, using the 
magnetic force of the chela to do the printing, and collecting the 
material, black or blue or red, as the case may be, from the astral 
light. As all things dissolve into the astral light, the will of the 
magician can draw them forth again. So he can draw forth colors of 
pigments to mark the figures in the letter, using the magnetic force 
of the chela to stamp them in, and guiding the whole by his own much 
greater magnetic force, a current of powerful will.

"That sounds quite reasonable," I answered. "Won't you show me how it 
is done?"

"You would have to be clairvoyant," she answered, in a perfectly 
direct and matter-of-fact way, "in order to see and guide the 
currents. But this is the point: Suppose the letter [is] precipitated 
through me; it would naturally show some traces of my expressions, 
and even of my writing; but all the same, it would be a perfectly 
genuine occult phenomenon, and a real message from that Mahatma. 
Besides, when all is said and done, they exaggerate the likeness of 
the writings. And the experts are not infallible. We have had experts 
who were just as positive that I could not possibly have written 
those letters, and just as good experts, too. But the Report says 
nothing about them. And then there are letters, in just the same 
handwriting, precipitated when I was thousands of miles away. Dr. 
Hartmann received more than one at Adyar, Madras, when I was in 
London; I could hardly have written them. But you have seen some of 
the occult letters? What do you say?"

"Yes," I replied; "Mr. Sinnett showed me about a ream of them: the 
whole series that the Occult World and Esoteric Buddhism are based 
on. Some of them are in red, either ink or pencil, but far more are 
in blue. I thought it was pencil at first, and I tried to smudge it 
with my thumb; but it would not smudge."

"Of course not!" she smiled; `the color is driven into the surface of 
the paper. But what about the writings?"

"I am coming to that. There were two: the blue writing, and the red; 
they were totally different from each other, and both were quite 
unlike yours. I have spent a good deal of time studying the relation 
of handwriting to character, and the two characters were quite 
clearly marked. The blue was evidently a man of very gentle and even 
character, but of tremendously strong will; logical, easygoing, and 
taking endless pains to make his meaning clear. It was altogether the 
handwriting of a cultivated and very sympathetic man."

"Which I am not," said HPB, with a smile; "that is Mahatma Koot 
Hoomi; he is a Kashmiri Brahman by birth, you know, and has traveled 
a good deal in Europe. He is the author of the Occult World letters, 
and gave Mr. Sinnett most of the material of Esoteric Buddhism. But 
you have read all about it."

"Yes, I remember he says you shriek across space with a voice like 
Sarasvati's peacock. Hardly the sort of thing you would say of 
yourself."

"Of course not," she said; "I know I am a nightingale. But what about 
the other writing?"

"The red? Oh that is wholly different. It is fierce, impetuous, 
dominant, strong; it comes in volcanic outbursts, while the other is 
like Niagara Falls. One is fire, and the other is the ocean. They are 
wholly different, and both quite unlike yours. But the second has 
more resemblance to yours than the first."

"This is my Master," she said, "whom we call Mahatma Morya. I have 
his picture here."

And she showed me a small panel in oils. If ever I saw genuine awe 
and reverence in a human face, it was in hers, when she spoke of her 
Master. He was a Rajput by birth, she said, one of the old warrior 
race of the Indian desert, the finest and handsomest nation in the 
world. Her Master was a giant, six feet eight, and splendidly built, 
a superb type of manly beauty. Even in the picture, there is a 
marvelous power and fascination; the force, the fierceness even, of 
the face; the dark, glowing eyes, which stare you out of countenance; 
the clear-cut features of bronze, the raven hair and beard?all spoke 
of manhood strength. I asked her something about his age. She 
answered:

"My dear, I cannot tell you exactly, for I do not know. But this I 
will tell you. I met him first when I was twenty?in 1851. He was in 
the very prime of manhood then. I am an old woman now, but he has not 
aged a day. He is still in the prime of manhood. That is all I can 
say. You may draw you own conclusions."

Then she told me something about other Masters and adepts she had 
known. She had known adepts of many races, from Northern and Southern 
India, Tibet, Persia, China, Egypt; of various European nations, 
Greek, Hungarian, Italian, English; of certain races in South 
America, where she said there was a Lodge of adepts.

Source: Johnson, Charles. 1900. "Helena Petrovna Blavatsky." 
Theosophical Forum (New York) 5?6 (Apr.?Jul.). Reprint in Blavatsky, 
Collected Writings, 8:392?409. 


Case 57
Violet Tweedale
1888?1889
London

On another occasion when I was alone with Madame Blavatsky, she 
suddenly broke off our conversation by lapsing into another language, 
which I supposed to be Hindustani. She appeared to be addressing some 
one else, and on looking over my shoulder I saw we were no longer 
alone. A man stood in the middle of the room. I was sure he had not 
entered by the door, window, or chimney, and as I looked at him in 
some astonishment, he salaamed to Madame Blavatsky and replied to her 
in the same language in which she had addressed him.

I rose at once to leave her, and as I bade her good-by she whispered 
to me, "Do not mention this." The man did not seem aware of my 
presence; he took no notice of me as I left the room. He was dark in 
color and very sad looking, and his dress was a long, black cloak and 
a soft black hat, which he did not remove, pulled well over his eyes. 
I found out that evening that none of the general staff were aware of 
his arrival, and I saw him no more.

Source:  Tweedale, Violet. Ghosts I Have Seen and Other Psychic 
Experiences. New York: Frederick A. Stokes, 1919, 51, 56?61.


Case 58
Henry S. Olcott
October 25, 1888
Approaching Rome, Italy by train

[I had] the most unexpected and splendid visit from M[orya] in the 
train.  I felt so rejoiced. . . . He was so kind, so loving and 
compassionate; despite all my faults and shortcomings, he bears with 
me and holds to me because of the useful work I have now and then 
done, and of my fervent desire to do my duty.  If he has not told you 
already, he will; so I shall not flog my tired brain to describe how 
he came, talked, looked and went.  Goodnight, Chum -- to you and to 
all . . . . 

[In his handwritten diary for Oct. 25, 1888, Henry Olcott penned the 
following:  

"At 9:30 [I] took train for Rome via Pistoia and Pisa.  In train all 
night. . . . [I] had a most encouraging visit from M[orya] in the 
train." ]

Sources:  Letter dated Oct. 26, 1888 from Henry Olcott to H.P. 
Blavatsky (quoted in Hammer on the Mountain, Howard Murphet, Wheaton, 
Illinois, Theosophical Publishing House, 1972, p. 236); Olcott, Henry 
S.  Diaries.   Entry for Oct. 25, 1888.


Case 59
Archibald Keightley
April 1889
London

The meetings of the Blavatsky Lodge were out of the ordinary. The 
discussions were out of the ordinary. The discussions were informal 
and all sat round and asked questions of Mme. Blavatsky. All sorts 
and conditions of men and women were present and one part of our 
delight was for Mme. Blavatsky to reply by the Socratic method ? ask 
another question and seek information on her own account. 

Sometimes there would be unseen visitors, seen by some but not by 
others of us. Results were curious. Mme. Blavatsky felt the cold very 
much and her room was therefore kept very warm, so much so that at 
the meetings it was unpleasantly hot very often. One night before the 
meeting time, I came downstairs to find the room like an ice-house, 
though fire and lights were fully on. I called H.P.B.'s attention to 
this, but was greeted with a laugh and "Oh, I have had a friend of 
mine here to see me and he forgot to remove his atmosphere." Another 
time I remember that the rooms gradually filled until there was no 
vacant seat. On the sofa sat a distinguished Hindu, in full panoply 
of turban and dress. The discussion proceeded and apparently our 
distinguished guest was much interested, for he seemed to follow 
intelligently the remarks of each speaker. The President of the Lodge 
arrived that night very late, and coming in looked around for a seat. 
He walked up to the sofa and sat down ? right in the middle of the 
distinguished Hindu, who promptly, and with some surprise, fizzled 
and vanished! 

Source:  Keightley, Archibald.  "Reminiscences of H.P. Blavatsky," 
The Theosophical Quarterly (New York), October 1910, pp. 109-122.


Case 60a
Annie Besant
July 1889
Fontainebleau, France

My first-hand experience of the Masters had been clear, definite, and 
absolutely convincing to me.  The experience began in 1889.  In the 
beginning of the year, before I joined the T.S., I was making 
desperate efforts to pierce the darkness, and was seeking with 
passionate earnestness to obtain some direct evidence of the 
existence of Soul and of the superphysical worlds; one evening as I 
sat alone, concentrating my mind on this longing, I heard the 
Master's voice --- but knew not whose its was ---and after some 
questions asked by Him and answered by me, came the promise that I 
should soon find the light --- a promise quickly verified.  As I did 
not till later know Who had spoken to me, I ought not to put this as 
evidence at that time, and it was in the summer of of 1889 that I 
gained my first direct evidence.  I as in Fontainebleau [staying with 
Madame Blavatsky], and was sleeping in a small room by myself; I was 
waked suddenly and sat up in bed startled, to find the air of the 
room thrown into pulsing electrical waves, and then appeared the 
radiant astral Figure of the Master [Morya], visible to my physical 
eyes.

Source: Besant, Annie.  The Case Against W.Q. Judge, p. 10. 

Case 60b
Annie Besant
July 1889
Fontainebleau, France

I will tell you about the first occasion on which I saw my Master. 
Soon after I had joined the Society, it happened that I was in 
England at a time when H. P. B. was in Fontainebleau, France, where 
The Voice of the Silence was written. She wrote me to go over and 
join her, which I did with joy. She was living in a delightful old 
house out in the country, and I was put in a bed-room near hers, a 
door connecting the two. One night I awoke suddenly owing to an 
extraordinary feeling that there was in the room. The air was all 
throbbing, and it seemed as if an electric machine was playing there; 
the whole room was electric. I was so astonished (for it was my first 
experience of the kind) that I sat up in bed, wondering what on earth 
could be happening. It was quite dark, and in those days I was not a 
bit clairvoyant. At the foot of the bed a luminous figure appeared, 
and stood there from half a minute to a minute. It was the figure of 
a very tall man, and I thought, from pictures I had seen, it was H. 
P. B.'s Master. Near him was another figure, more faintly luminous, 
which I could not clearly distinguish. The brilliant figure stood 
quite still, looking at me, and I was so utterly astounded that I sat 
perfectly still, simply looking at Him; I did not even think of 
saluting Him. So I remained motionless and then gradually the figure 
vanished. Next day I told H. P. B. what had happened, and she 
replied: `Yes, Master came to see me in the night, and went into your 
room to have a look at you.' This was my first experience of seeing a 
Master; it must have been clearly a case of materialisation, for as I 
have said, I was not in the least clairvoyant at the time.

Source:  Besant, Annie.  "In the Twilight."  The Theosophist (Adyar, 
Madras, India), May 1910, pp. 1098-1100.


Case 61
James Morgan Pryse
August 1889
Los Angeles, California

My mind kept dwelling on Paracelsus, with a distinct impression that 
he was again incarnated; so I resolved to find him, if possible, and 
in my daily meditation concentrated my mind on him.  One evening [in 
1889] while I was thus meditating the face of H. P. B. flashed before 
me.  I recognized it from her portrait in Isis, though it appeared 
much older.  Thinking that the astral picture, as I took it to be, 
was due to some vagary of fancy, I tried to exclude it; but at that 
the face showed a look of impatience, and instantly I was drawn out 
of my body and immediately was standing "in the astral" beside H. P. 
B. in London.  It was along toward morning there, but she was still 
seated at her writing desk.  While she was speaking to me, very 
kindly, I could not help thinking how odd it was that an apparently 
fleshy old lady should be an Adept.  I tried to put that impolite 
thought out of my mind, but she read it, and as if in answer to it 
her physical body became translucent, revealing a marvellous inner 
body that looked as if it were formed of molten gold.   Then suddenly 
the Master M. appeared before us in his mayavi-rupa.  To him I made 
profound obeisance, for he seemed to me more like a God than a man.  
Somehow I knew who he was, though this was the first time I had seen 
him.  He spoke to me graciously and said, "I shall have work for you 
in six months."  He walked to the further side of the room, waved his 
hand in farewell and departed.  Then H. P. B. dismissed me with the 
parting words, "God bless you," and directly I saw the waves of the 
Atlantic beneath me; I floated down and dipped my feet in their 
crests.   Then with a rush I crossed the continent till I saw the 
lights of Los Angles and returned to my body, seated in the chair 
where I had left it.  Thus by looking for Paracelsus, while resolved 
not to intrude on H. P. B. and the Master M., I found them all.   For 
H. P. B. simply was Paracelsus, and in my ignorance of that fact I 
had blundered, happily stumbling upon a triumphant outcome vastly 
beyond anything I had expected.

Source:  Pryse, James Morgan.  "Memorabilia of H.P.B."  The Canadian 
Theosophist, March 15, 1935, pp. 1-5.


Case 62
Julia Keightley
May 1891
Pennsylvania

A few days after Madame Blavatsky died, HPB awoke me at night. I 
raised myself, feeling no surprise, but only the sweet accustomed 
pleasure. She held my eyes with her leonine gaze. Then she grew 
thinner, taller, her shape became masculine; slowly then her features 
changed, until a man of height and rugged powers stood before me, the 
last vestige of her features melting into his, until the leonine 
gaze, the progressed radiance of her glance alone remained. The man 
lifted his head and said, "Bear witness!" He then walked from the 
room, laying his hand on the portrait of HPB as he passed. Since 
then, he has come to me several times, with instructions, in broad 
daylight while I was busily working, and once he stepped out from a 
large portrait of HPB.

Source:  Wachtmeister, Constance and others. Reminiscences of H. P. 
Blavatsky and the Secret Doctrine. London, Theosophical Publishing 
Society, 1893."

Compiled and edited by Daniel H. Caldwell


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