Quotes:Steiger, Isabelle de

Zirkoff, Boris

Steiger, Isabel de (1836-1927). *Memorabilia. Reminiscences of a Woman Artist and Writer. With a Preface by A. E. Waite. London: Rider & Co., xxiv, 310 pp.

Source: Boris de Zirkoff, «H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings», vol. 6, p. 446

Steiger, Madame Isabel de. English painter, authoress and Theo- sophist, b. at Liverpool, Feb. 28, 1836; d. Jan. 1, 1927. She was one out of seven children, and her mother died when she was only five. Educated in private school at Liverpool until fifteen, 396 then went to a school at Stratford-on-Avon. From early years showed aptitude for art and interest in natural sciences, and was a great reader. Married at 25 Rudolf Adolf von Steiger von Riggersberg, of an old Swiss noble family; he was a cotton merchant with business interests in Egypt, where they went to live for a time. Her husband having died some ten years later of tuberculosis, Mme. de Steiger returned for a while to Egypt where she studied painting. After a stay in Florence, she returned to London in 1874. From then on, she lived mostly in London, Edinburgh and Liverpool, painting in earnest and exhibiting in various Galleries.

She says that her blackest period spiritually was after the death of her husband, but that at the age of about 45 a great mental change took place, and she gradually evolved a deeper philosophy of life. She was for many years interested in Spiritualism and wrote articles for Light (London). Before hearing of Theosophy, she was a member of the Spiritualistic circle of Mrs. Hollis- Billing, a very remarkable medium who was very friendly with H. P. B. some years later. As a matter of fact, it was at the home of Dr. and Mrs. Billing, at Norwood, London, that H. P. B. and Col. Olcott stayed on their way to India, in early January, 1879. Mrs. Billing’s “control” was known by the name of “Ski.” The mystery about this entity has never been fully divulged, but we find the following information in a letter which H. P. B. wrote to Mrs. Hollis-Billing from Simla, under date of October 2, 1881:

“...Why for pity’s sake do not you tell people the truth about our Brother Ski, as you told me, as you and he know it to be the truth ? Why allow the people to believe he is a disembodied ‘Spirit,’ when he is a living Spirit, who lived and will live for as many hundred years as he likes, putting his body away to sleep, whenever tired of earthly life, and roaming in the interplanetary worlds as much as he likes. Why should you conceal from those who are prepared to receive the truth, that he was an Initiate, and knew more than all their ‘medicine men’ put together ? Our Brothers know him and he knows them. Morya is his greatest friend as you know, and he brought that silk handkerchief from ihis house to Olcott. Morya (M∴) wants Ski to come out bravely and tell the world the truth...”^[1]

Mme. de Steiger became associated with the first Theosophical Branch in England from the time of its formation in 1878, and apparently met H.P.B. and Col. Olcott on their way to India in 1879. She had been for some years a close friend of Dr. Anna

MADAME ISABEL DE STEIGER 1836-1927 Reproduced from her work entitled Memorabilia: Reminiscences of a Woman Artist and Writer, London, Rider & Co.

397

Bonus Kingsford and in later years was on intimate terms with the Sinnetts. She took part in various Theosophical activities and knew most of the early workers in London. In 1887, she joined the Liverpool Lodge of the T.S., having moved to that city.

Mme. de Steiger’s interests seem to have been divided between the higher forms of Spiritualism, Theosophy, and the Hermetic teachings; she studied the latter with her life-long friend, Mrs. Mary Anne Atwood,^[2] who exerted a very strong influence upon her mind. She later withdrew from the T.S., becoming interested in the Alchemical Society in London, and later yet in the work of Rudolf Steiner.

Many of her paintings and most of her personal belongings perished in a great fire at Edinburgh.

Mme. de Steiger published the following works: On a Gold Basis. A Treatise on Mysticism. London: Philip Wellby, 1907. xv, 349 pp. —Superhumanily. London: Elliot Stock.—Memorabilia. London: Rider & Co., publ. posthumously. This work, various portions of which were written at different times, contains a number of minor errors of both facts and dates, and should be read with discrimination.

She also wrote articles on Hermetic teachings for the Transactions of the Alchemical Society of London, and translated into English Karl von Eckartshausen’s Cloud upon the Sanctuary, a work of deep mystical significance and value.

Source: Boris de Zirkoff, «H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings», vol. 7, pp. 395-397

↑ Originally published in The Theosophical Forum, Point Loma, Calif., Vol. VIII, May, 1936, pp. 343-46. Consult also the Index to The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett, for further information concerning “ Ski.”
↑ Mary Anne South (married later to Rev. Alban Thomas Atwood) was a very unusual individual. She was born in Hampshire in 1817 and died in 1910, at the advanced age of 92. She and her father, Thomas South, were dedicated students of the Classics and of the Hermetic tradition. At the age of thirty-three, she wrote her amazingly scholarly work entitled A Suggestive Inquiry into the Hermetic Mystery, which was published at her father’s expense by Trelawney Saunders, London, 1850. It appeared anonymously. After a fairly brisk sale, the stock of this work was withdrawn and all copies burnt. It has been said that the reason for this was that the author and her father became convinced that the work revealed too much and might be open to abuse. Mrs. Atwood’s work, both in- its original edition and its second and third editions (Belfast, 1918 and 1920, respectively, with an introduction by Walter Leslie Wilmshurst and an Appendix; 597 pp.), is extremely scarce. The greater part of her valuable collection of books, Mrs. Atwood presented to the Theosophical Society in London during the presidency of A. P. Sinnett. Unfortunately it became scattered in later years. A more recent edition of Mrs. Atwood's work has been published by Julian Press, New York. 1960.
Mrs. Atwood may be considered as “the last of the Hermetists” in the closing years of the 19th century, and is doubtless an integral part of the Theosophical Movement, even though she is not known to have had any close contact with its organizational form.

[1] Originally published in The Theosophical Forum, Point Loma, Calif., Vol. VIII, May, 1936, pp. 343-46. Consult also the Index to The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett, for further information concerning “ Ski.”

[2] Mary Anne South (married later to Rev. Alban Thomas Atwood) was a very unusual individual. She was born in Hampshire in 1817 and died in 1910, at the advanced age of 92. She and her father, Thomas South, were dedicated students of the Classics and of the Hermetic tradition. At the age of thirty-three, she wrote her amazingly scholarly work entitled A Suggestive Inquiry into the Hermetic Mystery, which was published at her father’s expense by Trelawney Saunders, London, 1850. It appeared anonymously. After a fairly brisk sale, the stock of this work was withdrawn and all copies burnt. It has been said that the reason for this was that the author and her father became convinced that the work revealed too much and might be open to abuse. Mrs. Atwood’s work, both in- its original edition and its second and third editions (Belfast, 1918 and 1920, respectively, with an introduction by Walter Leslie Wilmshurst and an Appendix; 597 pp.), is extremely scarce. The greater part of her valuable collection of books, Mrs. Atwood presented to the Theosophical Society in London during the presidency of A. P. Sinnett. Unfortunately it became scattered in later years. A more recent edition of Mrs. Atwood's work has been published by Julian Press, New York. 1960.
Mrs. Atwood may be considered as “the last of the Hermetists” in the closing years of the 19th century, and is doubtless an integral part of the Theosophical Movement, even though she is not known to have had any close contact with its organizational form.

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