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H.P. Blavatsky The Light-Bringer

By GEOFFREY A. BARBORKA

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Writing By Instructions

TO SHOW that H. P. Blavatsky acted in the capacity of a messenger in bringing the teachings of the Ancient Wisdom to the western world and that she was instructed to do so by means of her writings, there is nothing better than her own words :
I wrote this last night 'by order,' but what the deuce it is to be I don't know. Perhaps it is for a newspaper article, perhaps for a book, perhaps for nothing : anyhow, I did as I was ordered.

The significance of this quotation is that it describes how the writing of Isis Unveiled began. This was a short time before the founding of The Theosophical Society. 'One day in the Summer of 1875, H.P.B. showed me some sheets of manuscript which she had written',* wrote Col. Olcott, when she made the'statement given above. Regarding the writing of The Secret Doctr ine, a sentence from one of her letters to A. P. Sinnett, after he had visited her at Ostend, simply dated Sunday, reads : 'It is true that ever since you left, Master has made me add some thing daily to the old MSS. SO th at much of it is new and much more that I do not understand myself.'f There was supervision of the manuscript of The Secret Doctrine as the writing progressed. A striking illustration was narrated by Countess Wachtmeister, who was Mme. Blavatsky's companion during the preparation of that work :
When I walked into H.P.B.'s writing room, I found the floor strewn with sheets of discarded manuscript. I asked the meaning of this scene of confusion, and she replied : 'Yes, I have tried twelve times to write this one page correctly, and each time Master says it is wrong. I think I shall go mad, writing it so often; but leave me alone; I will not pause until I have conquered it, even if I have to go on all night.
I brought a cup of coffee to refresh and sustain her, and then left her to prosecute her weary task. An hour later I heard her voice calling me, and on entering found that, at last, the passage was completed to satisfaction.

The Countess also related that assignments were often given by means of precipitated messages :
Another incident of frequent occurrence came under my notice from time to time, and marks another mode in which guidance and aid were given to H.P.B. in her work. Often, in the early morning, I would see on her writing-table a piece of paper with unfamiliar characters traced upon it in red ink. On asking her what was the meaning of these mysterious notes, she replied that they indicated her work for the day.*