Boris de Zirkoff points out that:
-
"Hinrichs, who
at the time was a leading political reformer, affirmed that Madame Blavatsky
claimed to be a Rosicrucian." (CW I, p.100)
I have not found that Blavatsky has stated that, but instead I have
found an article that Blavatsky wrote where she addressed the subject of the
Rosicrucians entitled "A few questions to Hiraf, author of the article:
Rosicrucianism."
And there Blavatsky specified the following:
« Hiraf should add to the
word Rosicrucian: "that Order in particular", at least because after
all the Rosicrucian Order was nothing more than an esoteric organization, one
of the many branches of the same tree.
And Hiraf, by forgetting to specify this particular denomination and
by including under the name of Rosicrucians all those who, dedicating their
lives to Occultism, congregated in Brotherhoods, Hiraf makes a mistake by which
he can unknowingly make people believe that the Rosicrucians having disappeared,
there are no more true European esotericists practicing Occultism on the face
of the earth.
The Rosicrucian Brotherhood was not founded in Ancient Egypt but until
the mid-13th century. The Rosicrucians strove to combine the most diverse
branches of the Occultism and soon became famous for the extreme purity of
their lives and their extraordinary powers.
The original Rosicrucians later created the Paracelsists, the European
alchemists and other branches of European Occultism such as Freemasonry, etc.
But to indifferently call all esotericists Rosicrucians is to make the same
mistake as if we were to call all Christians Baptists on the ground that the
latter are also Christians.
Strictly speaking, the true Rosicrucians no longer exist because I
understand that the last of them left in the person of Cagliostro (1743-1795). »
(CW I, p.104-6, excerpts)
We therefore see that Blavatsky points out that the true Rosicrucians ceased
to exist at the end of the 18th century and it is incorrect to call the
following esoteric organizations that arose that way. Yet this is what a number
of (more or less genuine) Western occultists and spiritualists did who founded
their organization and called it "Rosicrucian" essentially to give it
more prestige.
And that is why William Judge, who was Blavatsky's main collaborator, commented:
- "Today it is not uncommon to find those who have temerity enough to
dub themselves Rosicrucians." (Echoes of the Orient,
p.35)
Did Blavatsky belong to
any of these "Rosicrucian" organizations?
I have investigated a lot Blavatsky and I have not found any reference
or proof that she belonged to any of these neo-Rosicrucian organizations, but
rather that she was adverse, as shown by her hostile attitude towards Pascal Beverly
Randolph, founder in 1858 of Fraternitas
Rosae Crucis, and to whom Blavatsky about this individual said:
- “The 'Rosicrucian' fantasies of P.B. Randolph.” (CW I, p.269)
- “The most unpleasant are parts of P.B. Randolph's 'Eulis'." (CW X, p.124)
Willy Schrödter in his book “A
Rosicrucian Notebook” wrote:
«
Around 1890
there was a mystic school, well-known in informed circles, sited in Darmstadt,
which was led by an in other respects uneducated and almost illiterate weaver
called Mailander. Those who belonged to it included, among others, Karl Weinfurter
(died 1942), Gustav Meyrink (1868-1932; a student there from October, 1892);
Dr. Franz Hartmann (1838-1912); Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831-1891), the
Indian Babij and Chief of the Austrian General Staff, Schemua (a friend of G.W.
Surya). So Mailander must have been a rather unusual man. »
(p.131-2)
Schrödter affirmed that Blavatsky was a member –or at least was in
contact– with the Rosicrucian Mailander School, but he also pointed out that
this School was formed around 1890 in Darmstadt, Germany, which makes it very
unlikely that Blavatsky belonged to this School because in 1890 Blavatsky was
living in London, she was very ill and very busy instructing her students and
writing her latest books. And therefore she no longer had the strength, the
time, and the enthusiasm to associate with esoteric organizations. And in fact
she died a short time later, in May 1891.
~*~
We therefore conclude
that Blavatsky was most likely not a Rosicrucian.
