H.P.B. Discusses the Editorial
Line Adopted in The Path Magazine
Helena P. Blavatsky
Helena P. Blavatsky and William Q. Judge
“Your ‘Path’ is a most
excellent theosophical
paper,
but useless for militant
purposes.”
“What you need in America
is a weekly if
not a fighting daily. Path
is a ‘Lamb-Job ’
an ever meek Jeremiah, as
is our Revue
Theosophique in Paris. You hardly dare say
booh in it for fear it should look like polemics.”
“The E.S. is the throbbing
heart of the T.S. &
without it the T.S. becomes
a sham & nothing more.
(…) So long as this
fermentation goes on & the stream
of the E.S. is not settled,
I will give instructions which if
they even fall into the
enemies hands will do no harm. Catch
me, giving the real
until I know my chelas. All these were and
are flowers & if
you would have the fruit - behave yourselves.”
(H. P. Blavatsky, to W.Q.
Judge)
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2012 Editorial Note:
The following letter, dated July 7th, 1889, is
reproduced from the October 1995 edition of
“Theosophical History” magazine, pp. 271-273.
The message to Judge makes it
clear that
the individual search for
discipleship is a
central factor in the history
and future of the
theosophical movement. On the
other hand,
H.P.B. did not reveal much of Occultism in her
Esoteric Instructions, due to
the lack of firmer
ethical foundations in the
souls of theosophical
students. As long as she
lived, there was a
remarkable “fermentation” within
the Esoteric
School and the theosophical
movement as a whole.
From these facts one can infer
that the task in the
21st century and
beyond must include building solid
ethical foundations, both as
individuals and collectively.
Right action, however, is not
the result of propaganda;
it naturally emerges from
healthy and active Antahkaranas.
Underlined words are thus in
the original. Sometimes,
they are underlined with a
double line in the transcription
made by Mr. Michael Gomes. We
don’t take that into
consideration. Words in square
brackets, followed by
question marks, are attempts
by the transcriber to
understand the original. We
add a few explanatory notes.
(Carlos Cardoso Aveline)
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Fontainebleau. France
Hotel de la Ville de Lyon & de Londres
July 7th 1889
My dear W.Q.J.
Having been spirited away
by Mrs. Ida G. Candler, of Boston, and forced to take rest for a month here, I
have a little time now to write, & I mean to tell you all I had to say
since you left, & that remained unsaid.
1. I do not thank you for
the two men you sent here, with regard to whom I have done all you wanted me to
& followed your instructions. I am friends with both, have nothing against
them, they love me, I love them, but neither is worth a two-penny damn for our
work here. Both Fullerton & Lane [1]
are complete failures in England. The former worked & did what he could at
[least ?]; the latter will not touch a thing & speaks of nothing but suicide.
Five days after he came he went off to the isle of Wight & remained a
fortnight; no sooner had I gone to France than he went off to Scotland.
I can do nothing for him.
2. In re E.S. Now you know
or ought to know - for the situation is full well defined, that if you drop
now the E.S. [2], down goes the
whole of the T.S. in America, save a few flapdoodling independent Branches.
Drop it, and you yourself become useless & helpless. The E.S. is the
throbbing heart of the T.S. & without it the T.S. becomes a sham
& nothing more. Had we 100 Annie Besants & Herbert Burrowses [3] it might become in time a real Brotherhood
of man, the nucleus of the future [weal
?] of Humanity, as in “Looking Backward.” [4]
But we have one Annie & one Herbert
& hundreds of sentimental half selfish when not quite selfish ninnies, who
will quarrel & dispute & ruin the whole. So true is this, that the
whole force of Coues’ infernal cunning is directed against the E.S. alone,
hence against me. If you do not understand this, then you are not the
acute Irishman I take you to be. Now you know that Coues hates you, but pitches
only into me though till now he has not hated me but had great hopes in me - for
himself. He knows that once he has destroyed the E.S. he will have stopped the
heart & activity of the whole T.S. in America, and - he acts accordingly.
Coues is wise in his generation & you are not, I see. Read his
interview with the “Washington Star”[5] reporter
& see how cunningly he acts. His whole air is to identify the Theosophists
with the Butlerites, and make the “Esoteric” and the “Esotericists of the T.S.”
identical in the sight of the public, just to ruin us. Now what can you do
against him? You have pitched him out, expelled him & he speaks as if he was
the President of the T.S. having the impudence of saying that “we (Coues) do
not mean to permit her (Blavatsky) to do that & the other.” And he will go on laughing at us because he
has money & can bribe the dailies [6]
& we have none & that papers refuse insertion to our replies.
Now I say, that the only
salvation to this is the E.S., because however ill-managed, the majority will
ever be true and that if we could only establish ramifications & have
esoteric Lodges, the Presidents of which would be responsible for their members,
receive but one instruction for the whole lodge (two or three, if numerous)
then it would be all right.[7]
Your suggestion to abolish
the 7 Councillors is impossible & excuse me, absurd. Do you want me to
appear a fickle fool? I have just appointed them and now I will smash them? No
sir. I was told to do it & I did it; and if (through your fault
& obstinacy) the E.S. falls, the 7 will fall with it and I - too. For, the
moment the E.S. is destroyed I retire from the T.S. altogether. This I swear.
Between Olcott’s & Harte’s flapdoodles the T.S. is as good as a farce. I
tell you Coues knows it well; and if you let him triumph, then let the Karma
fall upon you. Do what you like & how you like, I leave you with a carte
blanche to act. So long as this fermentation goes on & the stream of
the E.S. is not settled, I will give instructions which if they even fall into
the enemies hands will do no harm. Catch me, giving the real until I know
my chelas. All these were and are flowers & if you would have the
fruit - behave yourselves. Dixi. [8]
Bert [9] will send you an address of the Esot. “Horus” Lodge of the T.S.
which please see if you can publish in Path.[10] It shows that Mahatmas or no Mahatmas what I can teach
personally is sufficient to old Kabalists of 20 years standing. All the members
of the Horus Lodge (Bradford) are old Masons & Kabalists & what they
say in the Address is very suggestive & will wipe out Coues’ nose off.
Now I see how true it is
what Lane says. What you need in America is a weekly if not a fighting daily.
Path is a “Lamb-Job” an ever meek Jeremiah, as is our Revue Theosophique
in Paris. You hardly dare say booh in it for fear it should look like polemics.
If, profiting by the occasion, you should address every Theosophist &
Esotericist and [have ?] Buck [11] &
a few others to help you - and representing [them ?] the truth, namely that
Theosophy cannot triumph so long as every paper pitches into it and none will
print an answer, collect money enough to publish a weekly, a theosophical packa
fighting paper “the Champion,” or the “Wrangler,” or some such thing & set
Fullerton as nominal editor & you the real Boss, then we could get
on. Now Mrs. Candler [12] (the wife
of the member for Congress who proposes going for Coues’ scalp in October at Washington)
who adores me & proves it, promises 300 a year for something like that. She
made me come to Paris & spent £30 on one way here only; forcing Bert to
take coupé lit reserved carriages & what not - for me my maid &
himself who accompanied me; placing me in a suit of rooms at 25 francs a day,
for a whole month, & spending money like mud - she will do anything for me.
She is a generous, charming, devoted friend & theosophist & will be a
valuable ally for you in October. She will start up a subscription for a Weekly
for you & is sure to head it with a good sum. Your Path is a most excellent
theosophical paper, but useless for militant purposes.
Well, that’s all. Choose ye
this day etc. [13] Here Bert & I have received writs from
Mrs. Cook, who proposes to sue us for defamation & damages for our two
libels in Light!! [14] She
[begins ?] I had no right to reply & contradict her libel. What
next. I am sick, sick, sick of all. If you don’t help, I give up all.
Yours [ ? ]
HPB
NOTES:
[1] Alexander Fullerton and Michael-Angelo Lane,
as the transcriber, Mr. Michael Gomes, reports. (CCA)
[2] W.Q. Judge was facing a
problem of despondency and/or conflict, as will be seen in “Letters Between Blavatsky and Judge - 15”.
(CCA)
[3] The transcriber informs that Herbert Burrows had joined the
theosophical movement with Annie Besant in May 1889. (CCA)
[4] “Looking Backward”; the futurist novel by Edward Bellamy. (CCA)
[5] HPB’s answer to the “Washington Evening Star” was
published in “Lucifer” magazine, London, July 1889, pp. 427-428. We thank the
transcriber for indicating that. (CCA)
[6] Having a small
circulation, the 19th century daily journalism was easy to influence
by the use of money. (CCA)
[7] According to this plan, the majority of E.S. Members
would receive instructions only by hearing to them. They would be then real akoustikós
as in the Pythagorean tradition. (CCA)
[8] These words were written in July 1889. The
“fermentation” went on taking various forms until HPB died in May 1891 and did
not cease even after that. In fact, it got worse. HPB’s esoteric writings must have been kept by
her therefore at a low level of what she calls real Occultism. On the
other hand, for those who have eyes to see, the esoteric dimension in her books
and writings is not only unique; it is generous; it was given in a special
moment in the evolution of present humanity; and it is more than enough for
students in the 21st century and beyond. Those interested can research and verify the
plain fact that, in the universal literature of all time, there is nothing
similar to her writings. (CCA)
[9] Bertram Keightley. (CCA)
[10] It was printed in the “Path”,
July 1889, p. 163, as the transcriber indicates. (CCA)
[11]
The transcriber says this is Dr. Jirah D. Buck, of Cincinnati, Ohio. (CCA)
[12] Mrs.
Ida Garrison Candler, who is also mentioned in the first sentence of the
present letter. She died in 1891, a few
weeks before H.P.B.’s own death. In ‘Lucifer’
magazine, May 1891 edition, p. 264, one can read in a short untitled note:
“It is with the greatest possible regret that we have to announce the sudden
death of our good and esteemed friend Mrs. Ida Garrison Candler (…). Mrs. Candler twice made the long journey
across the Atlantic on purpose to spend a few weeks at Headquarters, and it was
she who accompanied H.P.B. during her stay at Fontainebleau and Jersey in 1889.
She left the most pleasant recollections behind her owing to her amiable and
generous temperament, and the Society has lost by her death one of its
strongest adherents and supporters (…)”.
On Mrs. Candler, see also the opening sentence in the present
letter. (CCA)
[13] “Choose
ye this day etc.”; a reference to the Bible, the book of Joshua, 24:15: “Choose
ye this day whom ye shall serve…” (CCA)
[14] The
transcriber clarifies: this is a reference to the letters from Bertram
Keightley and H.P.B. in which they discuss Mabel Collins’ and Coues’s actions,
and which were published in “Light”, London, June 1889. HPB’s letter to “Light” can be seen at the
Blavatsky “Collected Writings”, TPH, volume VI, pp. 284-286. (CCA)
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On the role of the esoteric movement in the
ethical awakening of mankind during the 21st century, see the book “The Fire and Light of Theosophical Literature”, by
Carlos Cardoso Aveline.
Published in
2013 by The Aquarian Theosophist,
the volume has 255 pages and can be obtained through Amazon Books.
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