ABSTRACT
Helena Petrovna Hahn was born on 31 July 1831 in the Ukraine, in a family of the lower nobility. From her childhood she is said to have been “psychic” and “mystical.” On her return home, she was married, at the age of seventeen, to a General Blavatsky. When Mme Blavatsky left her husband she made her way to Constantinople, where she met the Countess Kisselev, with whom she travelled in Egypt, Greece, and the Balkans, beginning at the same time her occult studies. After two years in Russia, Mme Blavatsky resumed her travels by journeying on horseback through the Caucasus. The Colonel provided considerable organizing skill, Mme Blavatsky supplied marvels of all kinds, both flattered the Indians and their faiths in the most fulsome manner, and gradually the membership of the Theosophical Society increased, and with it its financial resources.
