The present volume contains commentary in the form of question & answer on the fundamental teachings of Theosophy by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, author of "The Secret Doctrine" and co-founder of the Theosophical Society. From the Foreword: The following transactions are compiled from shorthand notes taken at the meetings of the Blavatsky Lodge of the Theosophical Society, from January 10th to June 20th, 1889, being somewhat condensed from the original discussions. "The Secret Doctrine" being based upon the archaic stanzas of the "Book of Dzyan," and these being too abstruse for most of the new students of Exoteric philosophy, the members of the "B.L. of the T. S." agreed to devote the debates of the weekly meetings to each stanza and sundry other metaphysical subjects. The questions were put by members who, for the most part, supported their objections and exceptions on modern scientific grounds, and assumed logical deductions based thereon. As such objections are generally the common property of students of "The Secret Doctrine," it has been judged unnecessary to incorporate them in full, so that their substance alone has been retained. The answers in all cases are based on the shorthand Reports, and are those of Esoteric Philosophy as given by H. P. B. herself.

What is Divine Logos? 1. A “Breath of Darkness” moving over “the slumbering Waters of Life,” i.e., primordial substance awakened by latent Consciousness. 2. A Ray descending from “no-place” and shooting “like a falling star through the planes of non-being into the first world of being,” of the Secret Doctrine. 3. Brahma, the first god of the Hindu Trimurti. 4. “Passive Wisdom in Heaven and Conscious, Self-Active Wisdom on Earth.” 5. The Ain-Soph of the Kabbalist. 6. The First Cause of the Bible. 7. “The Germ that dwelleth in darkness and breathes [moves] over [in] the slumbering waters of life,” of the Secret Doctrine. 8. The “Highest Consciousness” of the Occultist or, to be more precise, “the sum total of Dhyani-Chohanic consciousness.” 9. The Ishvara of the Indian Mystic. 10. The Monas of Pythagoras.

Dialogues, based on the most difficult, abstruse material of the early pages of The secret doctrine: the nature of reality, the substance of the universe, the basis and nature of consciousness, mind and matter.

The life and times of Helena Blavatsky, the controversial religious guru who cofounded the Theosophical Society and kick-started the New Age movement. Recklessly brilliant, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky scandalized her 19th century world with a controversial new religion that tried to synthesize Eastern and Western philosophies. If her contemporaries saw her as a freak, a charlatan, and a snake oil salesman, she viewed herself as a special person born for great things. She firmly believed that it was her destiny to enlighten the world. Rebelliously breaking conventions, she was the antithesis of a pious religious leader. She cursed, smoked, overate, and needed to airbrush out certain inconvenient facts, like husbands, lovers, and a child. Marion Meade digs deep into Madame Blavatsky’s life from her birth in Russia among the aristocracy to a penniless exile in Europe, across the Atlantic to New York where she became the first Russian woman naturalized as an American citizen, and finally moving on to India where she established the international headquarters of the Theosophical Society in 1882. As she chased from continent to continent, she left in her aftermath a trail of enthralled followers and the ideas of Theosophy that endure to this day. While dismissed as a female messiah, her efforts laid the groundwork for the New Age movement, which sought to reconcile Eastern traditions with Western occultism. Her teachings entered the mainstream by creating new respect for the cultures and religions of the East—for Buddhism and Hinduism—and interest in meditation, yoga, gurus, and reincarnation. Madame Blavatsky was one of a kind. Here is her richly bizarre story told with compassion, insight, and an attempt to plumb the truth behind those astonishing accomplishments.