Theos-Talk Archives (December 2001 Message tt00203)

I can not keep up with all the postings here! And it is even more 
difficult to comment in a meaningful way on all the points that 
really need to be elucidated. 

Steve, in your comments BELOW, you write:

"They will also continue defending Blavatsky against the charge that 
she was a drunk, knowing very well that nobody has ever said she 
touched alcohol."

Steve, this is NOT correct. William Emmette Coleman charged her with 
drinking alcohol. His articles are in THE RELIGIO-PHILOSOPHICAL 
JOURNAL. I will have to find the citation and the article.

There are other points in your posts that require a reply but I do 
not have the time this morning to make those replies.

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

Steve Stubbs wrote:

> This shall be my last comment on Blavatsky's motto,
> "Rule, Botanica!" Below find the story posted by
> Daniel Caldwell, edited so as to show only those
> portions which indicate that herbs were involved in
> the experience:
> 
> "We took cigars. ... I was stupefied. ... They sat
> there and quietly smoked their cigars. ... I just sat
> and looked at them in a sort of stupid daze. They
> seemed to enjoy my surprise. ... Then the elder man
> took out of his pocket a painted lacquered case. ...
> The box exhaled a strong spicy aromatic odor much like
> sandal wood but still not just that. Whatever I
> wished to see, he said I need simply think of. ...
> When I seemed to be growing inquisitive, some power
> prevented my seeing anything. ... I stood transfixed
> looking from one to another in dumb amazement. ...
> Madam said, ... 'What's the matter? You must be
> crazy.' ... Madam said they had been with her for more
> than an hour. ... In a half hour from the time the two
> men left, there was not a drop of moisture in the room
> nor a shade of dampness to indicate that there had
> been a shower."
> 
> In this quote we see evidence of herbs burning, herbs
> contained within a lacquered case which was held to
> Olcott's nose, visual hallucinations, tactile
> hallucinations (the room was wet), profuse sweating,
> time distortion, loss of consciousness, cognitive
> impairment, and stupefaction. Can any reasonable
> person read this story and believe that there were no
> botanical products involved in this wonder? 
> Especially interesting is that these drugs are the
> means of "the production of flowers as the adepts do
> it." That clearly indicates that they used these
> substances to produce visual hallucinations and
> presumably insights.
> 
> True Believers will of course not draw the obvious
> conclusions, nor will they believe Blavatsky's own
> comments (mere hearsay) nor will they believe the
> comments of eyewitnesses (slander) unless they find it
> blessed by Sylvia Cranston. They will also continue
> defending Blavatsky against the charge that she was a
> drunk, knowing very well that nobody has ever said she
> touched alcohol. It is also absurd to say that nobody
> can comment on this because the individuals in
> question are dead, and yet that Cranston can say
> whatever she wishes. I will leave them to Cranston's
> toadying "biography" and I shall follow the evidence.
> 
> PB Randolph himself admitted to using botanical
> substances and offered them for sale. It was legal at
> the time to do so. There is no question about this. 
> His advertisements still exist. Let True Believers
> truly believe what they will.
>