The Letters of H. P. Blavatsky: Volume 2 1879-1883

Helena Blavatsky, in an 1877 letter to her aunt, called herself “a psychological enigma, a puzzle for future generations, a Sphinx!” Fourteen years later a New York Tribune obituary compared her with “the greatest thinkers, not alone of the present day, but of all time.” That obituary went on to predict, “Madame Blavatsky has made her mark upon the time, and thus, too, her works will follow her.” Her works have indeed done so, including the groundbreaking Isis Unveiled (1877); her fictionalized travel account, From the Caves and Jungles of Hindostan (1883–1886); her magnum opus, The Secret Doctrine (1888); an introduction to her teachings, The Key to Theosophy (1889); her mystical handbook for spiritual development, The Voice of the Silence (1889); and her newspaper and magazine articles (1874–1891), now collected in fourteen volumes. In addition to those published works, H.P.B. was a prolific correspondent with her family and colleagues, friends and foes, the learned and the simple. Her published works present the public Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. Her correspondence represents the private H.P.B., the enigmatic, puzzling sphinx. That correspondence, of which this is the second volume, is presented in the H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings series. The letters within volume 2 include the period of February, 1879 to December, 1883. Writing in 1879, HPB describes her arrival by steamship in Bombay, accompanied by Col. Henry Olcott and Edward Wimbridge:

Imagine the deputies of the Society coming out to greet us in boats, decorated with garlands of flowers, accompanied by an orchestra of musicians, blowing on trumpets and horns; no sooner had they got on board our vessel than we were surrounded. I raged and laughed at the same time, at the spectacle we presented to the eyes of all the loafers assembled on the bridge and on the quay.

In November 1883, HPB writes from Adyar, Madras, India, to Parbati Churn Roy:
My dear Brother—I have just returned from Bombay, and therefore just had your letter, to which I answer. I am glad to find you in such a state of mind, but how can I assure you of that which it is not in my power to accomplish? All I can say to you is, no one, no Theosophist, who ever came here, went away without having had some phenomenal proof or other of the existence of the Mahatmas.

Throughout the letters contained in this volume, HPB continues her travels as a public figure, and zealously proclaims her Theosophical views and belief in her Masters. Her correspondence tells the whole story, with an insider’s knowledge and in her own voice.