New York is a city where people of uncommon beliefs may collide. Such is the case with a group that convenes every week to discuss the meaning behind the philosophical work of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, a name unknown outside certain circles but who, in her time, was a well-known and controversial New Yorker.
In the 19th century, Madame Blavatsky, as she was known, helped introduce Eastern spiritual practices to the West and was the founder of the belief system called Theosophy, which sought to marry the world’s major religions. Her ideas and writings eventually helped shape the New Age movement.
Since 1952, the New York Theosophical Society has operated out of a weathered townhouse on East 53rd Street, where it holds regular lectures. Despite keeping a low profile, the society has a rich history, beginning with Madame Blavatsky’s arrival in New York in the 1870s.
Often pictured with her head wrapped in a dark shawl that accentuated her piercing blue eyes, Blavatsky was born to a noble family in Russia. Impressing some as a visionary, she was also denounced as a charlatan, a Russian spy and a humbug profiteer.
With her associate Colonel H.S. Olcott and others, she established the society in New York in 1875.
Theosophy, which has societies sprinkled across the globe, maintains that all religions contain a portion of a larger truth.
“There are no dogmas, no doctrines, nobody has to believe anything. It’s above religion,” said Lyn Trotman, the New York society’s president. “You have to go beyond that.”
Trotman leads the Monday night book group, which is free and open to the public.
She starts by reading aloud from The Divine Plan by Geoffrey Barborka, written, as the book’s frontispiece explains, “expressly for the purpose of those who wish to read and gain a deeper understanding of The Secret Doctrine,” a book by Blavatsky published in 1888.
“The group attracts quite an eclectic attendance,” Trotman said.
During a recent meeting, a small metal Buddha on a tall bookshelf kept watch over the half-dozen people seated around a table.
“We were on page 409,” Trotman began. “So, continuing now with the inner and outer realms.”
In the course of two hours, the conversation raced from one end of the universe to the other, with references made to astral bodies, the ancient Egyptians, the Tibetan Book of the Dead, Plato, St. Augustine and atoms. Parallels were drawn between Buddhism, Hinduism, Gnosticism and Christianity, all of which Blavatsky wrote about.
There was talk of “the birth and evolution of the soul,” “whirling souls,” “the seven planetary channels” and a “radiant envelope,” along with several utterances of “Wow. That was deep.”
Trotman brought things back to reality for a moment.
“We still have to pay US$2 to get on the subway,” she said.
Then, turning back to the reading, she said: “Now, where did I leave off? Oh, the portal into the underworld.”
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