Theos-Talk Archives (July 2003 Message tt00211)

Alice Gordon on Madame Blavatsky

I returned to India from England at the end of 1878,
having, during that year, investigated the phenomena
of Spiritualism, and convinced myself of their truth,
and in 1879 I published in a leading newspaper there
an account of some seances held in my house in London.
Mr. Sinnett was the editor of that paper, and the
connection thus began led eventually to my
acquaintance with Madame Blavatsky, to see whom I took
a long journey of nearly thirty hours to Allahabad,
and at the same time I met for the first time Mr. and
Mrs. Sinnett and Mr. and Mrs. Hume. This was in the
winter of 1879-80. During this visit I heard raps
produced at will on tables, glass doors, and
elsewhere, and a large glass clock shade was often
used, we being able to see the hands from underneath
this, and so be certain that they did not move. From
Allahabad, Madame Blavatsky, Colonel Olcott, the
Sinnetts, and myself went to Benares for a few days, a
Rajah there having lent us a house. Probably most of
you have read Mr. Sinnett’s book, “The Occult World,”
in which this visit is recorded. 

In the summer of 1880, I went to Simla on a visit to
Mr. and Mrs. Hume. Madame Blavatsky was there part of
the season, the guest of Mr. and Mrs. Sinnett. In
“The Occult World” much of the phenomenon is recorded
[by Mr. Sinnett], and, probably, you have all heard of
the cigarettes which were disintegrated and
re-integrated. I saw this done several times, but
will only mention in detail the one cigarette which
was especially made and manipulated for me. I went
one morning unexpectedly to see Madame, and found her
alone in her room. Our conversation turned on
phenomena, and I asked her whether she could send
anything to my husband now, or to me after I returned
home. She said she could not, as she must know the
place in order to direct her thought there. But she
added that as I never bothered her for phenomena, she
would like to do something for me, and suddenly
remembering that she had been somewhere that morning
(to the dentist) suggested sending a cigarette there
if I would go directly and fetch it, to which I
consented. She then took out a cigarette paper, and
in broad daylight, I standing quite close watching
her, she tore off a corner and gave it to me, telling
me to take care of it, which I did, putting it into my
purse at once. She made a cigarette with the other
piece of the paper, and was on the point of crushing
it between her hands, when she bethought her to try a
new experiment, saying, if it failed it was of no
consequence, as it was for me, and so she put it into
the fire. In a few seconds she said it was all right,
and told me where I should find it. I started at once
for the house, and astonished my friends by asking
them to look under a cloth on a table in a certain
room for a cigarette, and there sure enough we found
one. On opening it and comparing the paper with the
piece I had with me they fitted exactly. Of course,
it sounds like a conjuring trick, but I feel quite
sure that I saw the piece of paper I held torn off the
very paper from which the cigarette was made. 

You have doubtless read of the so-called astral bells.
These I have often heard in Madame Blavatsky’s
presence, both indoors and out of doors. The nearest
approach to the sound is that produced by striking
softly a thin wineglass, which produces a clear,
musical sound. Sometimes there were several sounds in
succession, forming a cadence. I remember on one
occasion a gentleman going into the next room to that
in which Madame Blavatsky was sitting, and there he
also heard the bell-like sound. We had at that time
phenomena almost daily, and were almost always on the
lookout for something to happen. One day it suddenly
occurred to me that I should like to write to Koot
Hoomi. We seemed to know him so well, there being so
many communications from him; so I wrote a letter, and
took it straight to Madame’s room and asked her if she
thought he would take it from me; I did not expect him
to do so, I admit. She said she did not know. I then
showed her an envelope which contained the one I had
written, and she told me to place it under the
tablecloth at the place where she always sat when
writing, and see if it was taken. I did so. There
was no one in the room but ourselves, and she then
suggested that I should not lose sight of her, which I
did not. We went to luncheon, and on our return she
told me to look under the cloth. My letter was no
longer there. I received an answer from Koot Hoomi,
but it was given me by Madame Blavatsky. I believe
that letter was taken by Occult means, though the
evidence would not be very conclusive to an outsider;
one must always appear too credulous when not entering
into details and giving reasons. 

I will now relate a phenomenon of which I was the sole
witness with Madame Blavatsky. I had gone
unexpectedly to her room when we were both staying at
Mr. Hume’s in Simla, in 1881. She was sitting writing
at her table, which was placed close to a small
window. The room being very warm I suggested a little
fresh air, and proposed opening the window, which
swung from the top on hinges. With some difficulty I
pushed it out from below, but in swinging back it came
down on to the piece of wood intended to hold it open,
which went through the glass. Madame became excited,
and I, thinking it was because the glass was broken,
said, “Never mind, we can get it mended.” She
exclaimed, “No, no, keep still; I saw a hand;
something is going to happen.” I was standing close
to the window-ledge, between Madame and the window. 
Presently she said, “Draw the curtain” --- a small one
just coming as far as the ledge, but I had scarcely
pulled it across when she said, “Draw it back,” and
there in front of me was a letter directed to Mr.
Hume, and “Favoured by Mrs. Gordon,” in the
handwriting so well known to me as that of Koot Hoomi.
This I concluded was done that Mr. Hume might have
evidence that the letters really arrived phenomenally,
and I am perfectly certain that the letter was not in
the place where I found it one half-minute before, and
quite as certain that no human hand in the flesh put
it there.

Quoted from:
Gordon , Alice. "Some Experiences of the Occult." 
Light (London), November 29, 1890, pp. 575-7.
The narrative has been transcribed from the original
source but material not relevant to the flow of the
narrative has been silently deleted. Explanatory
notes added by the editor are enclosed within
brackets.

This and more narratives about HP Blavatsky can be
found in THE ESOTERIC WORLD OF MADAME BLAVATSKY. See:
http://www.blavatskyarchives.com/esotericworldam.htm


=====
Daniel H. Caldwell
BLAVATSKY STUDY CENTER/BLAVATSKY ARCHIVES
http://blavatskyarchives.com/introduction.htm
"...Contrast alone can enable us to appreciate things at 
their right value; and unless a judge compares notes and 
hears both sides he can hardly come to a correct decision."
H.P. Blavatsky. The Theosophist, July, 1881, p. 2