Theos-Talk Archives (December 1993 Message tl00058)

Announcement in the forthcoming SUNY Press Summer/Fall Catalog
THE MASTERS REVEALED: Madame Blavatsky and the Myth of the
Great White Lodge/ K. Paul Johnson

   "The author has transferred the discussion of Blavatsky's
sources from the realm of the mythical to the historical. He
has given us a well-researched series of capsuled biographies
of persons from whom Blavatsky learned, and the nature of her
relationship with each of them. His work brings reasoned
conclusions into an area characterized by vituperative and
polarized scholarship. He sets his limits well. He has not
overstretched his mark nor made excessive claims for his
conclusions.
   Readers will be fascinated, as I was, to see basic profiles
of historical personalities behind Morya and Koot Hoomi, as
well as to gain some understanding of the way Blavatsky wove
together many strains of esoteric teaching."-- Hal W. French,
University of South Carolina
   "There is darn little non-partisan writing about Theosophy
and this book fills a real need. Johnson shows that the
Theosophical movement is intertwined with the intellectual and
political history of its time. He has marshalled an impressive
body of evidence to show that the Theosophical Masters are
neither disembodied spirits nor are they fictions but are
specific historical personages whose identities were disguised
for various reasons."-- James Burnell Robinson, University of
Northern Iowa
   The existence of Madame Blavatsky's occult "Masters" has
been fiercely debated for more than a century. Although scores
of books have been written about her, none has focused on the
historical identities of these elusive teachers. This book
profiles 32 of Blavatsky's hidden sponsors, including leaders
of secret societies in Europe and America, religio-political
reformers in Egypt and India, and even British government
agents. The milieu in which she carried out her spiritual
quest is vividly revealed as a hotbed of revolutionary plots
and secret coalitions. But beyond all the politics was a
genuine spiritual awakening of global significance.

A volume in the SUNY series in Western Esoteric Traditions
David Appelbaum, editor

State University of New York Press (pub. date July 1994)