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  | alternatives = [http://www.katinkahesselink.net/blavatsky/articles/v1/y1876_002.htm KHL]

  | alternatives = [http://www.katinkahesselink.net/blavatsky/articles/v1/y1876_002.htm KH]; [https://universaltheosophy.com/hpb/madame-blavatsky-explains/ UT]

  | translations = [https://ru.teopedia.org/lib/ЕПБ-ЛА-1-108 Russian]

  | translations = [https://ru.teopedia.org/lib/ЕПБ-ЛА-1-108 Russian]

}}

}}

One would think that the last day of judgment had come for American Spiritualism.

One would think that the last day of judgment had come for American Spiritualism.

Why all this disturbance? Simply because two humble individuals have spoken a few wholesome truths. If the grand beast of the Apocalypse with its seven heads, and the word “Blasphemy” written upon each, had appeared in heaven, there would hardly have been so much commotion there, as this; and there seems to be a concerted effort to pitch Colonel Olcott and myself, coupled like a pair of Hermetic Siamese twins, into the school of the Diakka. <ref> {{HPB-CW-comment|[When the cutting of this article was pasted in H.P.B.’s Scrapbook, Vol. I, p. 108, she corrected the word “school” to read “Scheol” and added the following footnote in pen and ink: Scheol—the hell of the Jews—you donkey printer. —Compiler.]}}</ref> Occultism seems to the superstitious, as ominous as a comet with fiery tail, and the precursor of war, plagues and other calamities. They seem to think that if they do not crush us, we will destroy Spiritualism.

Why all this disturbance? Simply because two humble individuals have spoken a few wholesome truths. If the grand beast of the Apocalypse with its seven heads, and the word “Blasphemy” written upon each, had appeared in heaven, there would hardly have been so much commotion there, as this; and there seems to be a concerted effort to pitch Colonel Olcott and myself, coupled like a pair of Hermetic Siamese twins, into the school of the Diakka. <ref> {{HPB-CW-comment|[When the cutting of this article was pasted in H.P.B.’s {{SB-page|v=1|p=108|text=Scrapbook, Vol. I, p. 108}}, she corrected the word “school” to read “Scheol” and added the following footnote in pen and ink: Scheol—the hell of the Jews—you donkey printer. —Compiler.]}}</ref> Occultism seems to the superstitious, as ominous as a comet with fiery tail, and the precursor of war, plagues and other calamities. They seem to think that if they do not crush us, we will destroy Spiritualism.

I have no time to waste, and what I now write is not intended for the benefit of such persons as these, whose soap-bubbles, however pretty, are sure to burst of themselves, but to set myself right with many most estimable Spiritualists for whom I feel a sincere regard.

I have no time to waste, and what I now write is not intended for the benefit of such persons as these, whose soap-bubbles, however pretty, are sure to burst of themselves, but to set myself right with many most estimable Spiritualists for whom I feel a sincere regard.

Surely, some magician with his or her Cabalistic Presto! Change! has worked sudden and singular revolutions in the mind of this disciple of Occultism, this gentleman who “is” and “is not” a Spiritualist.

Surely, some magician with his or her Cabalistic Presto! Change! has worked sudden and singular revolutions in the mind of this disciple of Occultism, this gentleman who “is” and “is not” a Spiritualist.

As I am the only she-Cabalist in America, I cannot be mistaken as to the author’s meaning; so I cheerfully pick up the glove. While I am not responsible for the changes in the barometer of Col. Olcott’s spirituality (which, I notice, usually presage a storm), I am for the following facts: Since I left Chittenden, I have constantly and fearlessly maintained against every one, beginning with Dr. Beard, that their apparitions are genuine and powerful. Whether they are “spirits of hell or goblins damned,” is a question quite separate from that of their mediumship. Col. Olcott will not deny that when we met at Chittenden for the first time, and afterwards—and that more than once—when he expressed suspicions about the genuineness of May-Flower and George Dix, the spirits of Horatio’s dark séances, I insisted that so far as I could judge, they were genuine spirits. <ref>{{HPB-CW-comment|[In her Scrapbook, Vol. I, p. 108, H.P.B. corrected the word “spirits” to read “phenomena.”—Compiler.]}}</ref> He will also no doubt admit, since he is an eminently truthful man, that when the ungrateful behaviour of the Eddys, towards whom every visitor at the Homestead will testify that he was kinder than a brother—had made him ready to express his indignation, I interfered in their behalf, and begged that he would never confound mediums with other people as to their responsibility. Mediums have tried to shake my opinions of the Eddy boys, offering in two cases that I can recall, to go to Chittenden with me {{Page aside|190}} and expose the fraud. I acted the same with them that I did with the Colonel. Mediums have tried likewise to convince me that Mr. Crookes’ Katie King was but Miss F. Cook walking about, while a wax-bust, fabricated in her likeness and covered with her clothes, lay in the cabinet, representing her as entranced. Other mediums, regarding me as a fanatical Spiritualist, who would even be ready to connive at fraud rather than see the cause hurt by an exposure, have let, or pretended to let, me into the secrets of the mediumship of their fellow mediums, and sometimes incautiously into their own. My experience shows that the worst enemies of mediums are mediums. Not content with slandering each other, they assail and traduce their warmest and most unselfish friends.

As I am the only she-Cabalist in America, I cannot be mistaken as to the author’s meaning; so I cheerfully pick up the glove. While I am not responsible for the changes in the barometer of Col. Olcott’s spirituality (which, I notice, usually presage a storm), I am for the following facts: Since I left Chittenden, I have constantly and fearlessly maintained against every one, beginning with Dr. Beard, that their apparitions are genuine and powerful. Whether they are “spirits of hell or goblins damned,” is a question quite separate from that of their mediumship. Col. Olcott will not deny that when we met at Chittenden for the first time, and afterwards—and that more than once—when he expressed suspicions about the genuineness of May-Flower and George Dix, the spirits of Horatio’s dark séances, I insisted that so far as I could judge, they were genuine spirits. <ref>{{HPB-CW-comment|[In her {{SB-page|v=1|p=108|text=Scrapbook, Vol. I, p. 108}}, H.P.B. corrected the word “spirits” to read “phenomena.”—Compiler.]}}</ref> He will also no doubt admit, since he is an eminently truthful man, that when the ungrateful behaviour of the Eddys, towards whom every visitor at the Homestead will testify that he was kinder than a brother—had made him ready to express his indignation, I interfered in their behalf, and begged that he would never confound mediums with other people as to their responsibility. Mediums have tried to shake my opinions of the Eddy boys, offering in two cases that I can recall, to go to Chittenden with me {{Page aside|190}} and expose the fraud. I acted the same with them that I did with the Colonel. Mediums have tried likewise to convince me that Mr. Crookes’ Katie King was but Miss F. Cook walking about, while a wax-bust, fabricated in her likeness and covered with her clothes, lay in the cabinet, representing her as entranced. Other mediums, regarding me as a fanatical Spiritualist, who would even be ready to connive at fraud rather than see the cause hurt by an exposure, have let, or pretended to let, me into the secrets of the mediumship of their fellow mediums, and sometimes incautiously into their own. My experience shows that the worst enemies of mediums are mediums. Not content with slandering each other, they assail and traduce their warmest and most unselfish friends.

Whatever objection any one may have to me on account of country, religion, occult study, rudeness of speech, cigarette smoking, or any other peculiarity, my record in connection with Spiritualism for long years does not show me as making money by it, or gaining any other advantage direct or indirect. On the contrary: those who have met me in all parts of the world (which I have circumnavigated three times) will testify that I have given thousands of dollars, imperilled my life, defied the Catholic Church, where it required more courage to do so than the Spiritualists seem to show about encountering Elementaries, and in camp and court, on the sea, in the desert, in civilized and savage countries, I have been, from first to last, the friend and champion of the mediums. I have done more: I have often taken the last dollar out of my pocket and even necessary clothes off my back to relieve their necessities.

Whatever objection any one may have to me on account of country, religion, occult study, rudeness of speech, cigarette smoking, or any other peculiarity, my record in connection with Spiritualism for long years does not show me as making money by it, or gaining any other advantage direct or indirect. On the contrary: those who have met me in all parts of the world (which I have circumnavigated three times) will testify that I have given thousands of dollars, imperilled my life, defied the Catholic Church, where it required more courage to do so than the Spiritualists seem to show about encountering Elementaries, and in camp and court, on the sea, in the desert, in civilized and savage countries, I have been, from first to last, the friend and champion of the mediums. I have done more: I have often taken the last dollar out of my pocket and even necessary clothes off my back to relieve their necessities.

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{{HPB-CW-comment|[In H.P.B.’s Scrapbook, Vol. I, p. 111, may be found a cutting from the Banner of Light of January 15, 1876. The author, F.H.C., announces Col. Olcott’s lecture in Boston on Jan. 30th, and deals with the subject of Col. Olcott and the Elementaries.

{{HPB-CW-comment|[In H.P.B.’s {{SB-page|v=1|p=111|text=Scrapbook, Vol. I, p. 111}}, may be found a cutting from the Banner of Light of January 15, 1876. The author, F.H.C., announces Col. Olcott’s lecture in Boston on Jan. 30th, and deals with the subject of Col. Olcott and the Elementaries.

{{Page aside|193}}

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He quotes from his Inaugural Address the statement concerning Mr. Felt who had promised, by simple chemical means, to exhibit the race of beings which people the elements. At the side of the cutting, H.P.B. remarked in pen and ink:]}}

He quotes from his Inaugural Address the statement concerning Mr. Felt who had promised, by simple chemical means, to exhibit the race of beings which people the elements. At the side of the cutting, H.P.B. remarked in pen and ink:]}}

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{{HPB-CW-comment|[In H.P.B.’s Scrapbook, Vol. I, p. 112, there is pasted a cutting from the Banner of Light, of January 15, 1876, which is a Letter of Charles Sotheran to the Editor, in which he explains the reasons for his resignation from the Theosophical Society and indulges in some very uncomplimentary remarks about H.P.B. On the left margin of this article, H.P.B. wrote in pen and ink:]}}

{{HPB-CW-comment|[In H.P.B.’s {{SB-page|v=1|p=112|text=Scrapbook, Vol. I, p. 112}}, there is pasted a cutting from the Banner of Light, of January 15, 1876, which is a Letter of Charles Sotheran to the Editor, in which he explains the reasons for his resignation from the Theosophical Society and indulges in some very uncomplimentary remarks about H.P.B. On the left margin of this article, H.P.B. wrote in pen and ink:]}}

This did not prevent Mr. Sotheran to come 6 months after that and beg my pardon, and beg on his knees to be taken into the Society again as will be proved further.

This did not prevent Mr. Sotheran to come 6 months after that and beg my pardon, and beg on his knees to be taken into the Society again as will be proved further.

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{{HPB-CW-comment|[Col. H. S. Olcott replied in the pages of the Spiritual Scientist to the very outspoken criticism of Prof. Hiram Corson in regard to his Inaugural Address of November 17, 1875. He protested against the rather rude and unfair remarks of Prof. Corson. The last paragraph of his reply is quoted below, and the italicized words in it are those which have been underlined by H.P.B. when she pasted the cutting of this reply in her Scrapbook, Vol. I, p. 113:]}}

{{HPB-CW-comment|[Col. H. S. Olcott replied in the pages of the Spiritual Scientist to the very outspoken criticism of Prof. Hiram Corson in regard to his Inaugural Address of November 17, 1875. He protested against the rather rude and unfair remarks of Prof. Corson. The last paragraph of his reply is quoted below, and the italicized words in it are those which have been underlined by H.P.B. when she pasted the cutting of this reply in her {{SB-page|v=1|p=113}}|text=Scrapbook, Vol. I, p. 113:]}}

“As for the Theosophical Society, our present experience with a certain person, who shall be nameless since his conduct has been such as to forfeit his right to recognition, has been a lesson that we mean to profit by. We are considering a proposition to organize ourselves into a secret society* so that we may pursue our studies uninterrupted by the falsehoods and inpertinences of outside parties. When we have secured the proof palpable of the Unseen Universe and its laws, we may publish it to the world, unless we should then be satisfied that some other critic as courteous and fair as Mr. Corson would denounce us as guilty of ‘assumption,’ ‘pretention,’ or ‘brag.”’

“As for the Theosophical Society, our present experience with a certain person, who shall be nameless since his conduct has been such as to forfeit his right to recognition, has been a lesson that we mean to profit by. We are considering a proposition to organize ourselves into a secret society* so that we may pursue our studies uninterrupted by the falsehoods and inpertinences of outside parties. When we have secured the proof palpable of the Unseen Universe and its laws, we may publish it to the world, unless we should then be satisfied that some other critic as courteous and fair as Mr. Corson would denounce us as guilty of ‘assumption,’ ‘pretention,’ or ‘brag.”’

{{HPB-CW-comment|[In the Banner of Light of February 12, 1876, Louisa Andrews wrote an article entitled “Professor Crookes still Faithful to his Conviction,” in which she said that “it is especially gratifying to know that this gentleman is still firmly grounded in the faith.”

{{HPB-CW-comment|[In the Banner of Light of February 12, 1876, Louisa Andrews wrote an article entitled “Professor Crookes still Faithful to his Conviction,” in which she said that “it is especially gratifying to know that this gentleman is still firmly grounded in the faith.”

To this H.P.B. appended the following footnote when she pasted the cutting into her Scrapbook, Vol. I, p. 116:]}}

To this H.P.B. appended the following footnote when she pasted the cutting into her {{SB-page|v=1|p=116|text=Scrapbook, Vol. I, p. 116}}:]}}

Firmly “grounded” in his faith in the phenomena—perfectly sceptical as to their being produced by disembodied “Spirits”! Nei!—O, sweet sugar-plum Louisa. . . . .

Firmly “grounded” in his faith in the phenomena—perfectly sceptical as to their being produced by disembodied “Spirits”! Nei!—O, sweet sugar-plum Louisa. . . . .

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