Theos-Talk Archives (October 2008 Message tt00546)

Countess Wachtmeister writes:

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Living in such close and familiar intercourse with HPB as I did at 
this time, it naturally happened that I was a witness of many of the 
phenomena which took place in her vicinity.

There was one occurrence, continuously repeated over a long period, 
which impressed me very strongly with the conviction that she was 
watched and cared for by unseen guardians. From the first night that 
I passed in her room, until the last that preceded our departure from 
Würzburg, I heard a regularly intermittent series of raps on the 
table by her bedside. They would begin at ten o'clock each evening, 
and would continue, at intervals of ten minutes, until six o'clock in 
the morning. They were sharp, clear raps, such as I never heard at 
any other time. Sometimes I held my watch in my hand for an hour at a 
stretch, and always as the minute interval ticked itself out, the rap 
would come with the most regularity. Whether HPB was awake or asleep 
mattered nothing to the occurrence of the phenomenon, nor to its 
uniformity.

When I asked her for an explanation of these raps I was told that it 
was an effect of what might be called a sort of psychic telegraph 
which placed her in communication with her Teachers, and that the 
chelas might watch her body while her astral left it.

Another incident proved to me that there were agencies at work in her 
neighborhood whose nature and action were inexplicable on generally 
accepted theories of the constitution and laws of matter.

As I have already remarked, HPB was accustomed to read her Russian 
newspapers at night after retiring, and it was rarely that she 
extinguished her lamp before midnight. There was a screen between my 
bed and this lamp, but, nevertheless, its powerful rays, reflected 
from the ceiling and the walls, often disturbed my sleep. One night 
this lamp was burning after the clock had struck one. I could not 
sleep, and, as I heard by HPB's regular breathing that she slept, I 
rose, gently walked round to the lamp, and turned it out. There was 
always a dim light pervading the bedroom, which came from a 
nightlight burning in the study, the door between that room and the 
bedroom being kept open. I had extinguished the lamp, and was going 
back, when it flamed up again, and the room was brightly illuminated. 
I thought to myself?what a strange lamp, I suppose the spring does 
not act, so I put my hand again on the spring, and watched until 
every vestige of flame was extinct, and, even then, held down the 
spring for a minute. Then I released it and stood for a moment longer 
watching, when, to my surprise, the flame reappeared and the lamp was 
burning as brightly as ever. This puzzled me considerably, and I 
determined to stand there by that lamp and put it out all through the 
night, if necessary, until I discovered the why and wherefore of its 
eccentricities. For the third time I pressed the spring and turned it 
down until the lamp was quite out, and then released it, watching 
eagerly to see what would take place. For the third time the lamp 
burned up, and this time I saw a brown hand slowly and gently turning 
the knob of the lamp. Familiar as I was with the action of astral 
forces and astral entities on the physical plane, I had no difficulty 
in coming to the conclusion that it was the hand of a chela, and, 
surmising that there was some reason why the lamp should remain 
alight, I returned to my couch. But a spirit of perversity and 
curiosity dwelt within me that night. I wanted to know more, so l 
called out, "Madame Blavatsky!" then, louder, "Madame Blavatsky!" and 
again "Madame Blavatsky!" Suddenly I heard an answering cry: "Oh, my 
heart! my heart! Countess, you have nearly killed me"; and then 
again, "My heart! my heart!" I flew to HPB's bedside. "I was with 
Master," she murmured, "why did you call me back?" I was thoroughly 
alarmed, for her heart fluttered under my hand with wild palpitation.

I gave her a dose of digitalis, and sat beside her until the symptoms 
had abated and she had become calmer. Then she told me how Colonel 
Olcott had once nearly killed her in the same way, by calling her 
back suddenly when her astral form was absent from her body. She made 
me promise that I would never try experiments with her again, and 
this promise I readily gave, out of the fullness of my grief and 
contrition for having caused her such suffering.
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Quoted from:
http://theosophical.org/resources/books/esotericworld/chapter16/
in my book THE ESOTERIC WORLD OF MADAME BLAVATSKY
http://esotericworld.net

Many more examples could be given.

Daniel
http://hpb.cc