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Helena Blavatsky facts for kids

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Helena Petrovna Blavatsky
Helena Blavatsky

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (12 August 1831 – 8 May 1891) was a Russian born occultist. At the age of 17 she married a Russian nobleman, Nikifvor Blavatsky. but soon divorced.

In 1875, Blavatsky and Henry Steel Olcott established a research and publishing institute called the Theosophical Society. Blavatsky defined Theosophy as "the archaic Wisdom-Religion, the esoteric doctrine once known in every ancient country having claims to civilization". One of the main purposes of the Theosophical Society was "to form a nucleus of the Universal Brotherhood of Humanity, without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste or color". Madame Blavatsky saw herself as a missionary of this ancient knowledge. She travelled the world and wrote books about the occult including Isis Unveiled and The Secret Doctrine.

The Theosophical Society had an influence on Buddhist modernism and Hindu reform movements, and the spread of those modernised versions in the west. Blavatsky was important in the Western transmission and revival of Theravada Buddhism.

Images for kids

  • Povedano - Helena P. Blavatsky

    Blavatsky's portrait by Spanish-Costa Rican painter Tomás Povedano.

  • Ekaterinoslav XIXth century

    An illustration of Yekaterinoslav—Blavatsky's birthplace—as it appeared in the early 19th century

  • H.Hahn and H.Blavatsky

    A painting of Blavatsky and her mother, titled "Two Helens (Helena Hahn and Helena Blavatsky)" 1844–1845

  • Picture of H.P.Blavatsky

    Blavatsky's drawing of a boat scene, produced in England in 1851

  • Tashilhunpo Monastery, Shigatse

    Tashilhunpo Monastery, Shigatse, the place that Blavatsky claimed held the Senzar texts she translated

  • Helena Blavatsky

    Blavatsky

  • Helena Blavatsky in India

    Blavatsky and Hindu Theosophists in India, circa 1884

  • Blavatsky Olcott Mavalankar

    Blavatsky standing behind Olcott (middle seated) and Damodar Mavalankar (seated to his left), Bombay, 1881

  • HPB by Schmiechen

    Mme. Blavatsky (painted by Hermann Schmiechen).

  • Blavatsky and Olcott

    Blavatsky and Olcott in 1888

  • Emb logo

    The logo for the Theosophical Society brought together various ancient symbols

  • Leo Tolstoy The Voice of the Silence

    The book The Voice of the Silence presented by Blavatsky to Leo Tolstoy

  • Reincarnation AS

    After spending time in India, Blavatsky adopted a belief in reincarnation (as shown here in Hindu art)

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