Theos-Talk Archives (December 2001 Message tt00149)

Steve, you wrote:

"In his Old Diary Leaves, Olcott recounts a story of seeing Blavatsky 
hold up a pencil, which then turned into two pencils, and then more. 
The longer he stared, the more pencils he saw. That seems to
indicate something was burning in the room which produced sense 
distorting fumes."

Steve, in your reasoning here are you really suggesting that the most 
PROBABLE explanation is that there were "sense distorting fumes" in 
the room which produced a hallucination in which Olcott thought he 
saw Blavatsky producing multiple pencils out of one pencil?

If this is really what you are suggesting, then what about some of 
the experiences cited below? I could give hundreds of examples but 
will only give four of them at this time.

Experience 1

Charles Leadbeater wrote:

"Even at that hour a number of devoted friends were gathered in Mrs. 
Oakley's drawing room to say farewell to Madame Blavatsky, who
seated 
herself in an easy chair by the fireside. She was talking brilliantly 
to those who were present, and rolling one of her eternal cigarettes, 
when suddenly her right hand was jerked out towards the fire in a 
very peculiar fashion, and lay palm upwards. She looked down at it in 
surprise, as I did myself, for I was standing close to her, leaning 
with an elbow on the mantelpiece; and several of us saw quite clearly 
a sort of whitish mist form in the palm of her hand and then condense 
into a piece of folded paper, which she at once handed to me, 
saying "There is your answer." Every one in the room crowded round, 
of course, but she sent me away outside to read it, saying that I 
must not let anyone see its contents. It was a very short note."

Steve, were there "sense distorting fumes" in the room which produced 
an hallucination of a whitish mist forming in the palm of HPB's hand?

Experience 2

Charles Leadbeater again wrote:

"In those days trains were usually lit by smoky oil lamps, and in the 
center of the roof of each compartment there was a large round hole 
into which porters inserted these lamps as they ran along the roofs 
of the carriages. This being a day train, however, there was no lamp, 
and one could see the blue sky through the hole. It happened that Mr. 
Oakley and I were both leaning back in our respective corners, so 
that we both saw a kind of ball of whitish mist forming in that hole, 
and a moment later it had condensed into a piece of folded paper, 
which fell to the floor of our compartment. I started forward, picked 
it up, and handed it at once to Madame Blavatsky, taking it for 
granted that any communication of this nature must be intended for 
her. She at once unfolded it and read it, and I saw a red flush 
appear upon her face."

Steve, are we to suppose that there were "sense distorting fumes" in 
the train compartment which produced an hallucination of "a kind of 
ball of whitish mist forming in that hole, and a moment later it had 
condensed into a piece of folded paper"?

Experience 3

Henry Olcott wrote:

"Isis was leaning back in her chair, fooling with her hair, and 
smoking a cigarette. She got one lock in her fingers and pulled it, 
and fingered it in an absent way—talking the while, when lo! the
lock 
grew visibly darker and darker until, presto! it was as black as 
coal. I said nothing until the thing was done, when suddenly catching 
her hand I asked her to let me have this neat specimen of miracle 
making as a keepsake. You ought to have seen her face when she saw 
what she had done in her brown study. But she laughed good-naturedly, 
called me a sharp Yankee, and cut off the lock and gave it to me. I 
will send you a bit of it as a talisman. Mind you, this was cut off 
of Isis's head in my sight and under the full blaze of the 
chandelier. This one lock showed against the blonde silky and 
crinkled hair of Blavatsky's head like a skein of black
sewing-silk upon a light-brown cloth." 

Steve, are we to suppose that there were "sense distorting fumes" in 
the room which produced an hallucination of "the lock [of hair] which 
grew visibly darker and darker until, presto! it was as black as 
coal"?

Experience 4

Henry Olcott again wrote:

"When I asked him [Master Morya] to leave me some tangible evidence 
that I had not been the dupe of a vision, but that he had indeed been 
there, he removed from his head the puggri [turban] he wore, and 
giving it to me, vanished from my sight." 

Steve, are we to conclude that there were "sense distorting fumes" in 
Olcott's bedroom which produced an hallucination of the Master and 
of the Master vanishing from Olcott's sight?

Daniel H. Caldwell
BLAVATSKY ARCHIVES
http://hpb.cc