1831
She was born on July 31 (August 12 in the new style) in Katerynoslav (now Dnipro) in the family of Colonel Peter von Gan and Elena Andreevna Fadeyeva, a famous writer. Her father, Peter Alekseevich von Hahn, a graduate of the Page Corps, chose a military career and belonged to the noble German Mecklenburg family. He retired as a colonel. On the maternal line, Helena Petrovna is the granddaughter of the secret adviser Andrei Mikhailovich Fadeyev and Princess Elena Pavlovna Dolgoruka, whose family descended to the ancient princely family of the Rurikoviches.
1834
Birth of Sister Vira.
1840, June
Birth of brother Leonid.
1842
Death of his mother, moving to his grandparents, Fadeyev Andrei Mikhailovich and Elena Pavlovna in Saratov, where A.M. Fadeyev was governor.
1846-1849
He lives with his family in Tiflis.
1848
Wanting to gain independence, she became the wife of Nikifor Vasilyevich Blavatsky, vice-governor of the Yerevan province in the Caucasus.
1849-1851
She leaves her husband and travels to Turkey, Greece, Egypt, Asia Minor.
1851, August 12th
In London, the first meeting with the Master, whom he has known since childhood from her visions. At the end of the year sails to Canada.
1851-1852
Travels to the USA. Visits Texas, New Orleans. Travels to Mexico, Central and South America, the West Indies; through Cape of Good Hope and Ceylon arrives in India.
Her first attempt to enter Tibet was stopped by a British resident in Nepal.
1853
He returned to England, visiting Java and Singapore.
1854
In the summer he travels again to America, lives in New York and Chicago, and then with a caravan of immigrants makes the transition through the Rocky Mountains and heads to San Francisco.
1855-1856
Goes to India via Japan, Singapore and some other British colonies. Travels to India, Kashmir, Ladakh and Burma. On this trip she manages to get to Tibet via Kashmir and Ladakh. Long communication with the Master. Elena Petrovna described fragments of this period of her life in the book "From the Caves and Slums of Hindustan" under the pseudonym Radda Bai.
1857
On Master's instructions, he leaves India, where uprisings and riots are brewing.
1858
Goes to Europe via Java. Delayed in France and Germany. Then goes to Russia. At the end of the year he comes to Pskov.
1859
Pskov. St. Petersburg. Rugodevo estate of sister Vira. From her foreign travels, Helena Petrovna returned as a person endowed with exceptional volitional and mental abilities, which she demonstrates to her surroundings.
1860 - 1865
Comes to the Caucasus. She travels to Georgia, Imereti and Mingrelia, returns to Tiflis. Meeting with His Eminence Isidore, Exarch of Georgia, later Metropolitan of St. Petersburg and Novgorod. His blessings and instructions: "There is no power other than God! You do not need to be embarrassed by it, if you do not abuse the special gift given to you ... Are there few unknown forces in nature? it is forbidden, as it is not forbidden, to use them. He will master them and, in time, may use them for the benefit of all mankind ... God bless you for all the kind and good. "
1865
In the autumn she left Russia and traveled to the Balkans, Greece, Egypt, Syria, Italy, and other places.
1867
Returns to Italy. She volunteered for her freedom under the flags of Garibaldi.
1867, Nov. 3rd
Wounded at the Battle of Mentan.
1868
At the beginning of the year, recovering from her injuries, she arrived in Odessa, then in Florence. Then through northern Italy went to the Balkans. Next, through Constantinople to India, starting another trip to Tibet.
1868-1870
In Tibet he meets the Master.
1870, December
She returned to Cyprus and Greece.
1871
Headed to Egypt by sea. The ship on which Helena Petrovna is traveling suffers a shipwreck on July 4. Out of 400 passengers, only 16 managed to escape. Among them - Blavatska H.P. Then she went to Cairo, where she founded the Society for the Study of Spiritual and Mediumistic Phenomena. The society did not last long.
1872
Departure from Cairo. Through Syria, Palestine and Constantinople in July, Helena Petrovna gets to Odessa and spends 9 months there. She opened a shop and an ink factory, and later an artificial flowers shop.
1873
In the spring she goes to Paris. Under the pseudonym Madame Laura travels with piano concerts in Europe. July 7 arrives in New York. She lives in a dormitory for workers, earns a living by making advertising cards, ties, leather jewelry and other small items.
1874
At this time in the United States are becoming popular spiritistic sessions, widely advertised in the press and discussed by society. Elena Petrovna visits the Eddie brothers' farm in Chittenden, Vermont, where she meets Colonel Olcott, who has been her regular assistant and staffer for many years.
She writes articles, first about Western spiritualism, and then about the occultism of the East. In October - return to New York. She is seriously ill.
1875
Continuation of the disease. By the end of spring, a rapid and complete recovery.
Her supporters include 24-year-old William Judge.
On September 8, 1875, a decision was made to establish the Theosophical Society. Olcott was appointed president. The charter is being developed. Board members are elected.
November 17 - the official opening of the Theosophical Society.
In the same year, Helena Petrovna began to write "Isis Unvealed".
1876
The growing influence of the Theosophical Society. Branches were opened in London and Corfu, and contacts were established with those interested in theosophy in India and Ceylon.
Blavatsky's house in New York became the headquarters, where people interested in the unknown laws of nature gathered. A New York reporter christened her home Lamaseri, a Lamaist convent.
1877
On September 29, both volumes of “Isis Unvealed” were published with the title: "To the Theosophical Society, founded in New York in 1875 by AD to study the subjects set forth here."
Part of the funds from the publication of "Isis Unvealed" Helena Petrovna sent to Russia to the fund to help the wounded in the Russian-Turkish military campaign in the Balkans (1877-1878).
1878
On July 8, H.P. Blavatsky received American citizenship.
Correspondence is established in absentia with several Hindu pandits. Helena Petrovna is convinced that the best ground for the revival of ancient Eastern wisdom can only be India. On December 17, she and Colonel Olcott sailed from New York to London and then to Bombay.
1879
On February 16, H.P. Blavatsky and Olcott arrived in Bombay. At the pier they are solemnly greeted by followers of ancient Vedic revelations. Settle in the Indian part of the city. In the following weeks they travel around India - to the famous caves of Carly, Rajputan, Allahabad, Agra and a number of other places. In early May - return to Bombay.
From the first days in India - demonstrative police surveillance. British authorities suspect her of spying for Russia. Catholic missionaries see in her activities an encroachment on the right given to them "by God" to save pagans.
Helena Petrovna begins active work - she works a lot, writes articles in local and Western European publications, meets with local writers, opinion leaders, representatives of the aristocracy.
Her house became the headquarters of the Theosophical Society. She founded the monthly magazine The Theosophist, of which she became the editor. The first issue was released in October. The magazine is in demand in America, Europe and India. Its circulation is growing, and Helena Petrovna writes a lot for the magazine. Five volumes of her "Collective Writtens" consist of articles from this period.
In December, a group of Theosophists traveled to northern India to Allahabad, where the Viceroy and Government of India spent most of the year. Arrived in Allahabad on December 4. Meeting with local British authorities. Acquaintance with A.P. Sinnett, editor of the influential Anglo-Indian newspaper "Pioneer". They spent about two weeks in Allahabad. Then they drove to Benares.
1880
Return to Bombay on the first day of the new year.
The book "From the Caves and Slums of Hindustan" appeared in the Russian press.
Helena Petrovna arrives in Ceylon with Olcott in May and spends three months on the island. Several branches of the Theosophical Society were founded.
In autumn, Helena Petrovna visited Simla. She spent six weeks at the Sinnett house. Most of the phenomena she made at the time are described in Sinnett's first book, The Occult World, which was widely discussed in England.
At the request of influential friends, police surveillance of Blavatsky was lifted,
In December, the motto of the Theosophical Society became the motto of Magaraji Benares: "There is no religion higher than truth."
1881
With the assistance of H.P. Blavatsky, Sinnett's correspondence with the Mahatmas began. Helena Petrovna spent the end of summer and the beginning of autumn in Simla, near Hume, and at the end of October she went to Lahore, then to North India.
In May, the magazine "Russian Herald" begins to publish the novel "Durbar in Lahore." In late November, she returned to headquarters in Bombay.
1882
On March 31, Elena Petrovna goes to Allahabad, from there to Calcutta. Receives an invitation from the maharaja to visit him. The Bengal Theosophical Society was founded in the Maharaja's palace that evening.
On April 19, Blavatsky and Olcott sailed for Madras, where the Madras Theosophical Society was founded. At the same time, the question arose of moving headquarters from Bombay to Madras. On November 17, an estate was purchased in Adyar, a suburb of Madras.
Helena Petrovna's illness. He has been living in Darjeeling for two months due to her health condition. In mid-November he went to Allahabad to the Sinnets and then to Bombay. On December 19, her permanent residence became Adyar.
1883
Helena Petrovna spent almost the entire year at the headquarters of the Theosophical Society in Adyar. He spends a lot of time with TheTheosophist magazine. Articles written this year occupy 700 pages in her Collective Writtens.
In December, a serious illness. Doctors recommend that she urgently change the climate. Olcott was invited to accompany her to France. The affairs of the Company are transferred to the Management Board.
In August 1883 a branch of the Theosophical Society was established in Odessa, the first in Russia. N.A. Fadeyeva becomes its chairwoman.
1884
On February 20, Helena Petrovna and her companions left India and on March 12 they arrived in Marseilles.
Blavatsky and Olcott head to Nice and spend a week with Lady Caitness. Later, Caitness founded the Theosophical Society of East and West in Paris.
After Nice, Helena Petrovna temporarily settled in Paris to work on the "Secret Doctrine", hoping for solitude. During this period, one of its regular visitors was the famous astronomer Camille Flammarion. Seven months spent in Europe do not bring her rest and tranquility.
William Judge, on his way from America to India, stayed for a few months in France with H.P. Blavatsky.
In April, Blavatsky joined Olcott in London to reorganize the London branch of the Theosophical Society. It was decided to form a new group, which will be called the Hermetic Lodge, and London will remain in its original form.
Helena Petrovna returns to Paris. Sister Vira Zhelikhovskay and aunt N.A. Fadeyeva come to her from Russia.
On June 29 she went to London, then to Elberfeld (Germany).
At this time in Adyar, the Coulombs are committing adultery. A public campaign of harassment by H.P. Blavatsky began.
In October, Blavatsky again in London. In an interview with Pell Mell Newspapers on October 23, she said, "I'm going back to India to sue slanderers and forgers."
A month later sails to India via Port Said and Cairo. In Cairo, she was detained for 10 days. Accepts invitations and pays visits to high-ranking officials. As a result, the ranks of the Theosophical Society were replenished, and the Prime Minister of Egypt Nubar Pasha became an honorary member.
On December 21, H.P. Blavatsky arrives in Adyar. India greets her enthusiastically. In her greetings, the Hindus thanked her for "the revival of Sanskrit literature, for her efforts to reconcile religion with science, for shedding light on the afterlife, for the faithful transmission of Aryan wisdom, which has been so distorted by Europeans." Students of Madras colleges present her with an appeal, which reads: “You have dedicated your life to the selfless spreading of the truths of occult philosophy. You have shed streams of light on the innermost mysteries of our ancient religion and philosophy by sending your amazing work, Isis Unvealed, to the world.
Helena Petrovna insists on meeting with a judge, lawyer or attorney to provide written evidence, start a lawsuit and restore her good name. However, a committee set up specifically by the Theosophical Society to consider the matter decided that "Ms. Blavatsky should not be sued for defamation." Because in the case of a trial, the Names of Teachers and, in addition, the reality of psychophysical manifestations (phenomena) will not be brought to a general uneducated discussion.
H.P. Blavatska obeys the decision of the Committee.
The London Society for Psychical Research is sending its attorney to India to investigate the whole case on the spot.
In December, the magazine "Russian Herald" begins to publish a novel "Mysterious Tribes in the Blue Mountains."
1885
In mid-January, Blavatskaya's health deteriorated sharply. Her condition raises serious concerns among doctors. However, suddenly and uncontrollably, she recovers.
On March 21, Helena Petrovna sent a letter to the General Council of the Theosophical Society: "I am forced to resign, which I have already submitted on September 27, 1884." The statement was published in The Theosophist together with her doctor's conclusion: "... the condition of her heart requires complete calm ... I recommend her to go to Europe immediately and live in a temperate climate."
On March 31, the seriously ill Blavatsky left India for good. Arrives in Naples. Then a short stay in Torre del Greco. Then Würzburg (Germany). On the way he stays for a week in Rome and another week in Switzerland. In mid-August she traveled to Würzburg, where she worked on the "Secret Doctrine".
Despite Olena Petrovna's desire for solitude, her whereabouts soon became known to the public and a stream of visitors headed to it. In August - September, among others, it was visited by: Vs. Solovyov, Nadezhda Andreyevna Fadeeva, later - Hartmann, Gebhard, president of the Theosophical Society in Germany Hubbe-Schleiden and others.
On her way to Italy in November, Countess Constance Wachtmeister, the widow of the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Stockholm, came to Würzburg and remained with Helena Petrovna until the very last days of her life, acting as personal secretary.
At the end of December, a report by the Society for Psychical Research on the Coulomb case (Hodgson's report) was published, the conclusions of which supported those who slandered Helena Petrovna and questioned the psychological experiments she demonstrated. In the ranks of the Theosophical Society appeared those who doubted, many began to leave its ranks. But there were also dedicated employees. Work on the "Secret Doctrine" continues.
1886
In Cologne, Gebhard meets her and persuades her to visit him in Elberfeld. Olena Petrovna agrees, but instead of the planned several days, due to deteriorating health, she is delayed for two months. She went to Ostend in July, where she continued to work on the Secret Doctrine.
In India, in support of H.P. Blavatsky, seventy pandits (scientists, experts in the ancient teachings of India) signed a statement in which they claimed the existence of the Mahatma, which is questioned by the enemies of Elena Petrovna.
Helena Petrovna's health is improving. The Countess Wachtmeister arrives in Ostend by the end of the summer.
"Cases from the life of Mrs. Blavatsky" by Sinnett are published. The book had a great resonance in society and, thanks to it, the wave of condemnation and misunderstanding of Helena Petrovna's experiments, raised by Hodgson's report, was somewhat extinguished.
1887
In April, Helena Petrovna's health deteriorates. Doctors are again seriously worried about her life. However, she once again recovers uncontrollably. It must complete the Secret Doctrine.
On May 1, Helena Petrovna leaves Ostend for London. Bertram Kitley recalls: "... less than two hours (after arrival), all the working materials of OPB were unpacked and she went to work with her head. Her ability to work was impressive. She sat at her desk from early in the morning until late in the evening. Even when she was overcome by illness ..., she persistently continued to promote her work."
The new Theosophical Lodge was founded three weeks after Blavatsky's arrival in London. Followers of her philosophy united and later created the famous "Blavatsky Lodge". By taking this name, they thus publicly spoke in support of the one whose name Colombo, the Catholic missionaries and those behind them, were trying to tarnish.
At the meeting on May 25, it was decided to start publishing the magazine "Lucifer" (Light Bearer) and establish its own publishing house. The editor-in-chief of the magazine is H.P. Blavatsky. The second editor was writer Mabel Collins, who had written ‘The Light on the Path’ a few years earlier. It was in her house that Helena Petrovna settled in London.
When the Blavatsky Lodge needed a larger room closer to central London, the Kitley brothers rented a three-story building on Lansdowne Road, surrounded by a picturesque garden. The move to a new place in September coincided with a significant event - the release of the first issue of Lucifer magazine. The magazine had a circulation of 15 thousand copies.
1888
November 1 - the first volume of the "Secret Doctrine" is published. The first edition of the first volume sold out instantly, and an additional edition was needed.
The second volume of the Secret Doctrine is published on December 28.
H.P. Blavatsky dedicated this work: "To all true theosophists of every country and every race, because they caused it and it was written for them."
Many famous scholars, including Einstein, have shown a deep interest in the Secret Doctrine. The English and American press, and later the European press, published interested reviews of the Secret Doctrine.
In December, William Stead, a well-known journalist and editor of the Pell-Mell newspapers, wrote to Helena Petrovna: "You are a more majestic woman, and I think that no one but you ... could write The Secret Doctrine." I don't even feel competent enough to comment on its unusual content ... I can't say that I understand you, because the world you live in is so rich in dimensions that I can't even imagine it, but still I am not so foolish as not to see that your genius is not of this world and that you have extraordinary literary and popularizing talents."
In the fall, Lucifer announced the creation of the Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society. Olcott announced its goals and structure:
- Promoting the interests of the Theosophical Society through a deeper study of esoteric philosophy;
- The institution and its sole management are entrusted to Ms. Blavatsky.
On December 1, Helena Petrovna wrote a letter in which she stated her task: “I can show the way only to those whose eyes are open to the truth, whose souls are filled with altruism, mercy and love for all living things, and who think of themselves last».
By the end of H.P. Blavatsky's life, more than a thousand people had been admitted to the Esoteric Section.
At the end of the year the publishing house "H.P.B.press" was founded, in which the books of the Theosophical Society were published.
1889
Helena Petrovna spends three weeks in Fontainebleau, near Paris. Translates into English selected excerpts from the Hindu "Book of Golden Presepts". In Russian publications, this pearl of Eastern wisdom is known as the "Voice of Silence."
After Fontainebleau she spends two weeks on the island of Jersey off the coast of France. Helena Petrovna is preparing the next issue of Lucifer magazine for publication.
Her “Key to Theosophy”, written in the genre of philosophical dialogue, was published in London.
1890
At the beginning of the year, H.P. Blavatsky's literary activity was suspended for some time due to illness. But she plans to systematize the records for the third volume of the "Secret Doctrine" and work on the fourth volume, which has just begun.
In August, Blavatskaya travels to the East End to open a Women's Shelter Club for low-paid young workers, in which she has invested.
At the end of the summer she wrote an article "Mental and mental action" - one of the main theosophical works in the field of psychology. The article was published in the October and November issues of Lucifer.
At the end of the year, the first part of the "Protocols of the Blavatsky Lodge" was published in London. The second part was published in 1891, and together they compiled a book that survived several editions. It deals with the "Secret Doctrine" and contains the answers of Helena Petrovna herself to the questions asked at the meeting of the Lodge from January 10 to March 14, 1889.
She held the meeting of the Lodge until the last days of her life.
1891
Compilation of a large "Theosophical Dictionary". The book was published under this title in 1892, a year after her death. Rewrites some of his occult stories, which were published in 1892 under the title "From nightmares."
On April 15, H.P. Blavatsky wrote the Annual Message to the Congress of American Theosophists, which was held in Boston.
On April 25, she contracted influenza, an epidemic that was raging in London at the time.
On May 8, when H.P. Blavatsky, as always, was working in her office, her Spirit left her physical body forever. She left quietly and unnoticed. Her close associates standing next to her did not even notice her last breath.
H.P.B.'s body was cremated. Later, one-third of the ashes were transferred to Adyar, another to the European headquarters of the Theosophical Society in London, and a third to the American headquarters of the Theosophical Society in New York.
Her Day of Reassurance, May 8, will be celebrated around the world as White Lotus Day.
Sources:
- Elena Petrovna Blavatskaya. Biographical essay by E.F. Pisareva. Kiev, ed. MP "Elliss", 1991.
- Sylvia Cranston. Е.П.Блаватская. The life and work of the founder of the modern theosophical movement. Riga, ed. Ligatma, 1996.
- Collection. Elena Blavatskaya: destinies and faces ... St. Petersburg, Costa Firm, 2006