The first part of the book is titled: The Western Esoteric Tradition. Before Blavatsky turned her face predominantly east, she was interested and well-versed in the Esoteric traditions of the West. She travelled mainly in the West, including the Middle East. Although, she claims to have visited Tibet prior to 1873.
The first chapter presents HPB’s journey from Spiritualism to Occultism, as its title signifies. What is meant by Spiritualism is pretty clear. This is the phenomenon that was started at the home of the Fox sisters in early 1848. The table-rappings became in a very short period of time very popular in the US and abroad. Most mediums communicated with dear ones on ‘the other side’. Other mediums could make the spirits visible, or let objects appear out of thin air. Apart from being very popular on stage, there were lots of people who conducted seances in the privacy of their homes. In a sense it was a very democratic pass-time.
What is meant by “Occultism” is much harder to describe predominantly because it was introduced in the English-speaking world as something other than Spiritualism. So, in a sense Occultism is was Spiritualism isn’t. However, it is not always this easy so a little history lesson is in order here. In 1856 Eliphas Lévi published his Dogme et rituel de la haute magie in which he used the term. He was not the first one to use it, but he was a major factor in its popularisation. Spiritualist medium Emma Hardinge Britten used the term as well. In her work Ghost Land (1876), she used the two terms to clearly distinguish two separate phenomena. Whereas, Spiritualism was essentially passive, mediums passed messages of spirits, Occultism was not. In the works of Hardinge Britten, magic and the active role of men stood at the centre. This active role of men towards “psychic” phenomena is exactly the stance of HPB when she approached Spiritualism in the 1874.
So, why did HPB dabbled with Spiritualism when she wanted to promote Occultism? According to Goodrick-Clarke, HPB wanted to cultivate Spiritualism to combat both scientific materialism and foster the growth of esotericism in the Western world.
Tags: Blavatsky, Theosophy, Western esotericism
