Masonic, Occult and Esoteric Online Library
H.P. Blavatsky As I Knew Her
By Alice Leighton Cleather
Dangerous Hypnotic Practices
There was also another source of self-deception of some importance in diagnosing Mr. Sinnett's case. He quotes (p. 104) an article by his wife in which she says that he was a student of " the higher aspects of mes- merism." She calls his method the " pure and more spiritual form " by which " the true Ego, by the effort or assistance of the mesmerist, is really cleared of close connection with the lower principles," but " still, of course, in close magnetic touch with the operator." If the reader will compare this with Mrs. Cleather's account (ante, p. 32) of Mr. Sinnett's abortive attempt to hypnotise her, in order to " release her soul," it will be clear that he was, at the time he lost direct touch with the Master K. H. through his treacherous, and disloyal attitude towards H. P. B. (in 1884-5), endeavouring to regain it by getting hypnotic control over suitably sensitive organisms. It is well known that women usually make the best subjects, but the dangers are in this case far greater. Hence H. P. B.'s anger when she heard of his attempt on Mrs. Cleather, who was fortunately for herself much too positive ; and it is evident from Mr. Sinnett's account that she also at once put a stop to his attempt to make use of Mrs. Holloway, for he says (p. 61) she was " angrily jealous " and " insisted on Mrs. Holloway leaving us and coming back to the Arundales " (with whom H. P. B. was staying). Mrs. Holloway (now Mrs. Langford), who is very indignant at what she terms " the falsity of Mr. ' Sinnett's assertions," is dealing with them fully in her book, and is also printing several letters she received from her own Master, and H. P. B.'s, at that period. I will therefore only quote one other passage concerning Mrs. Holloway, as typical of Mr. Sinnett's attitude.
In August 1884, H. P. B., Mrs. Holloway, and others, left London to visit the Gebhards, who had formed alodge at Elberfeld, Germany. Mr. Sinnett, who wasalso on the Continent at the time, was invited by tele- gram, and his version is that H. P. B. had " got intodisgrace with the higher powers, for the Masters sentcommunications over her head, without her knowledge,through Mrs. Holloway, whose psychic condition enabledthem to deal with her in this way" (p. 73). Hesuggests that he was telegraphed for because his " presence might obviate some risks " due to MadameBlavatsky being " under bad influences " ; but the real truth, as I now learn, was that he had expressed a wishto come, through his wife. I might add that Mrs.Holloway, being a recognised chela of one of H. Ip. B.'s Masters> and possessing the requisite psychic and otherqualifications, could quite properly be so used, whendesirable, but certainly not without H. P. B.'s knowledgeand approval. Further, Mr. Sinnett relates that, whenH. P. B. left for Flushing, accompanied by Mrs. Hollowayand Rudolph Gebhard (strange she should go withMrs. Holloway if she had been used " over her head " ; which, according to Mr. Sinnett, made her frantically jealous!), she left her dispatch box behind and Rudolphreturned to get it. This provides him with a further opportunity to insinuate that the box was full of compromising documents, including " Tibetan envelopes "and other evidences of trickery ; and adds the astoundingaspersion on Mrs. Gebhard that she " exercised heroic self-control in refraining from an examination " of its contents the private papers of her own guest^ Butperhaps it is no less than we can expect of the man whocould himself treat H. P. B. as I have already related, when she was his guest at , Simla. Mrs. Langford's version is of course entirely different, and she is particularly indignant concerning Mrs, Gebhard, who was an Englishwoman, widow of an Army Officer, and a lifelong friend.
The real reason for H. P. B.'s anger at Mr. Sinnett's hypnotic practices was that they were sheer Black Magic, fraught with grave moral and psychic danger to the subject. In her Esoteric Instructions she explains what happens to the Ego under such control, which will be seen to be quite different from Mrs. Sinnett's description. Under the head of " Colours, Sounds, and Forms " in Instruction No. I she says :
"A good clairvoyant, moreover, if he had an opportunity of seeing a Yogi in the trance state and a mesmerised subject, side by side, would learn an important lesson in Occultism. He would learn to know the difference between self-induced trance and a hypnotic state resulting from extraneous influence.
" In the Yogi, the ' principles ' of the lower Quaternary disappear entirely. . . . Nothing [visible] but hardly perceptible vibrations of the golden-hued Prana [Life] principle and a violet flame streaked with gold rushing upwards from the head, in the region where the Third Eye rests, and culminating in a point. . . .
" On the other hand, in a subject in an artificially produced hypnotic or mesmeric trance, an effect of unconscious when not of conscious Black Magic, unless produced. by a high Adept, the whole set of the principles will be present, with the Higher Manas paralysed, Buddhi severed from it through that paralysis, and the redviolet Astral Body entirely subjected to the Lower Manas and Kama Rupa (the green and red animal monsters in us}."
Observe that, far from the Higher Ego or Soul (Higher Manas) being freed from the body, as Mrs. Sinnett describes it is " paralysed " and the unfortunate subject is left at the mercy of the lower nature and thehypnotiser's will. 1 Note further that H. P. B. says thiseffect may be produced even by " unconscious," as wellas " conscious, Black Magic." Richard Wagner, whohad considerable knowledge of magic, gives an exact andterrible illustration of this process in his symbolicalmusic-drama, Parsifal, The plastic elemental femaleprinciple is there personified in Kundry. Awake she isthe humble serving messenger of the Grail Brotherhood; but, unknown to them, the black magician, Klingsor,can throw her into a hypnotic trance and compel her to serve his nefarious ends. At the beginning of Act II he is seen calling up her " red-violet Astral Body " while her physical body lies in a hypnotic sleep under a bush in the Grail's domain, exactly as H. P. B. describes above. He forces it by his will- to assume the form of a beautiful temptress in his magic garden of illusion, by means of whom he lures the Grail Knights, wounds their King, and gets possession of the Sacred Spear.
The terrible danger to sensitive and hysterical women of being subjected to this process by an unscru- pulous male hypnotiser cannot be exaggerated ; and men like Sinnett, who have recourse to such evil practices in the pursuit of their selfish ends, are black magicians of the worst description, and are a menace to humanity. Unfortunately he is by no means a solitary instance, for, besides Leadbeater's operations with boys, there have latterly been some deplorable developments involving the perversion and ruin of young girls by self-styled "initiates," whose superior wisdom is considered to override the accepted moral code, no less than that of true Occultism. Those who have witnessed Parsifal will remember that redemption is effected by the intervention of the true Ego, or Higher Self, personified in the " Pure Fool " (Parsifal), who, as the embodiment of Compassion ('" Alaya's SELF," ) pierces the illusion, resists the tempting shade, regains the Sacred Spear, and regenerates the Brotherhood.1
The whole may be taken as a drama of the Theosophical Society, which may now be said to be under the dominion of Klingsor, and still awaiting the coming of its Parsifal who can shatter the vast fabric of psychic illusion. No lesser being than the next "Torch-Bearer of Truth " due in 1975, is likely to be strong enoughfor such a task in the Black Age. And has not thatsame fatal plasticity of the feminine nature been mosteffectively used to achieve its downfall ? Mr. Sinnett attributes the financial ruin that over-took him in later years to " the dark powers " plottinghis downfall. If it was so, surely those powers wereof his own lower nature the black magic of hypnotismand he had only himself to thank for his punishment : which could, in fact, be said scarcely to "fit thecrime."
A striking example of the dangers attendant on thisform of Black Magic was given me by one of the earlymembers of the T. S., now deceased, who was addictedto the necromantic side of occult study. He wished toascertain the contents of a certain occult book in one ofthe secret chambers of the Vatican Library, and tried to achieve his object by hypnotising a female subjectand commanding her to go there. She told him that" a wall of fire " barred the way ; but he ordered her togo through it, whereupon she uttered a loud shriek andfell down in a fit. He had the fright of his life in restoringher to normal consciousness.
