I’m back with Chapter Two of H. P. Blavatsky’s 1877 work on science and religion, Isis Unveiled. After the set up of Chapter One, we move into questioning science and their fear of taking the investigation of Spiritualism seriously.
Her discussion of magic as technology and science that we just haven’t understood yet reminds me of Marvel comics Thor and the focus on Asgardian magic as science. Her focus on Elementals and/or Goblins reminds me of how curious I was when I first watched the show Hellier. The idea that Goblins were some kind of spiritual being instead of the classic high fantasy bad guy fodder that I knew them as.
Of course, my upbringing in the Evangelical church would dismiss all of these as demons, and my practical humanist adult self would dismiss the larger claims of interactions with these beings as delusion or farce. Interestingly, the Data over Dogma Podcast just had a really interesting discussion of Demons.
I remember when I was in high school, a local church had invited a preacher to speak of his time in spiritualist communities. He had slide after slide of mediums with shadows behind them and ectoplasm streaming from their mouth and nose. He talked on and on about the role of demons in occult practices and how he had been saved from the forces of evil. It all looked as super fake as so many of the old pictures from the 1800s do. Why would demons care to stop by when it is all fake?
Though Blavatsky wants more scientific study into the phenomena, she has some great wit about this fakery, stating, “True, the great majority of "spiritual" communications are calculated to disgust investigators of even moderate intelligence. Even when genuine they are trivial, commonplace, and often vulgar. During the past twenty years, we have received through various mediums messages purporting to be from Shakespeare, Byron, Franklin, Peter the Great, Napoleon, and Josephine, and even from Voltaire. The general impression made upon us was that the French conqueror and his consort seemed to have forgotten how to spell words correctly; Shakespeare and Byron had become chronic inebriates; and Voltaire had turned an imbecile. Who can blame men trained to habits of exactitude, or even simply well-educated persons, for hastily concluding that when so much palpable fraud lies upon the surface, there could hardly be truth if they should go to the bottom?” (41).
That bottom, according to Blavatsky, could contain the “pearl” of an actual phenomenon. She goes on to provide this list from Sir William Crookes’ Researches on the Phenomena of Spiritualism (1874) "to account for the phenomena observed."
These theories run as follows:
"First Theory. — The phenomena are all the result of tricks, clever mechanical arrangements, or legerdemain; the mediums are impostors, and the rest of the company fools.
"Second Theory. — The persons at a seance are the victims of a sort of mania, or delusion, and imagine phenomena to occur which have no real objective existence.
"Third Theory. — The whole is the result of conscious or unconscious cerebral action.
"Fourth Theory. — The result of the spirit of the medium, perhaps in association with the spirits of some or all of the people present.
"Fifth Theory. — The actions of evil spirits, or devils, personifying whom or what they please, in order to undermine Christianity, and ruin men's souls. (Theory of our theologians.)
"Sixth Theory. — The actions of a separate order of beings living on this earth, but invisible and immaterial to us. Able, however, occasionally to manifest their presence, known in almost all countries and ages as demons (not necessarily bad), gnomes, fairies, kobolds, elves, goblins, Puck, etc. (One of the claims of the kabalists.)
"Seventh Theory. — The actions of departed human beings. (The spiritual theory par excellence.)
"Eighth Theory. — (The psychic force) . . . an adjunct to the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh theories."
These theories are fascinating and remind me of some of the critiques and discussions about mediums today. The one about Satori and Cody comes to mind.
There is so much more in this chapter. Too much to write about. Check it out for yourself when you get a chance, and let me know what you think.
Remember that this is just research for me; there is no real scholarly merit here. I am also experimenting with NotebookLM for my research, and I’m really enjoying the breakdowns and podcast it provides. The podcast above was created with this AI.
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