Helena Blavatsky, by Wikipedia

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Blavatsky, Garibaldi, and Mazzini
by Jaigurudeva
Blavatsky News: An informative site for those with an interest in Helena Petrovna Blavatsky.
Sunday, October 2, 2011

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The August-September 2011 issue of Rivista italiana di teosofia, the journal of the Theosophical Society in Italy, carries an article on “Helena Petrovna Blavatsky e l’Italia” by Patrizia Moschin Calvi. The writer informs us that as 2011 marks the 150th anniversary of the Unification of Italy, H.P. Blavatsky has come into the news there, together with Giuseppe Garibaldi and Giuseppe Mazzini, who were the well-known protagonists and heroes in the fight for unification. Blavatsky’s different statements about her presence at the Battle of Mentana, Italy, in November 1867, are referred to, though the writer is forced to mention: it is difficult to make rational sense of her movements, as AP Sinnett explains “We rarely find any logical meaning which might explain her actions and often even she found herself in the position of not understanding ‘why’ at any given moment she was preparing to go here or there. The true reasons for these movements were the orders she received through occult channels.” Obviously another area that needs further research.

Olcott says she was still wearing her red Garibaldian shirt when they met in rural Vermont in October 1874: she told me many incidents of her past life, among others, her having been present as a volunteer, with a number of other European ladies, with Garibaldi at the bloody battle of Mentana. In proof of her story she showed me where her left arm had been broken in two places by a sabre-stroke, and made me feel in her right shoulder a musket-bullet, still imbedded in the muscle, and another in her leg. She also showed me a scar just below the heart where she had been stabbed with a stiletto.

Garibaldi was also shot and wounded at the Battle of Mentana, which occurred on November 3, 1867. Garibaldi’s army was routed by the Papal troops.

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Theosophy in Italy
by Theosopedia
Accessed: 1/16/19

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The first contact with Theosophy in Italy may be traced to the frequent presence of H. P. BLAVATSKY there, where she undoubtedly met many persons who later became members of the Theosophical Society. She visited Trieste, Venice, Rome, Bologna, Bari, and Naples. She is reported to have been with the Italian patriots Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-82) and Giuseppe Mazzini (1805-72); the latter she apparently met in London in the year 1851. She claimed to have participated with volunteers at Garibaldi’s [1867] battle of Mentana (in an attempt to capture Rome) in the year 1867 (Cranston and Williams, p. 79).

Theosophy (in the early broad sense of teachings about this and the divine worlds) was known in Italy before the formation of the Theosophical Society. The Italian philosopher Antonio Rosmini Serbati (1797-1855), a Catholic priest, wrote a large work in eight volumes with the title Teosofia, published in 1859 after his death, and condemned by the Catholic Church. The first Theosophical Center was established in Milan (1890) by J. Murphy, helped by Alfredo Pioda, who also established the first Theosophical Center in Locarno (Switzerland) and commenced the magazine La Nuova Parola. The first Lodge and lending library was organized in Rome (1897) through the efforts of C. A. Lloyd and Decio Calvari, who was the secretary of the Italian Parliament. This Lodge translated and published several Theosophical books, among which were The Occult World and Esoteric Buddhism by Alfred P. SINNETT. At about the same time, Lodges were established at Genoa and Palermo through the efforts of the British Consul, Macbean Reginald Gambier. Later Isabel COOPER-OAKLEY helped to form Lodges in Florence, Milan, Naples, Rome, and Torino. The Italian Section of the Society was established on February 1, 1902, in the presence of Charles W. LEADBEATER, with Oliviero Boggiani as its first General Secretary. At Trieste, the first Lodge was established in 1908, after a visit by Annie BESANT, but a Theosophical center may have existed earlier and been visited by the famous explorer and British Consul at Trieste Richard Francis Burton (1821-90) who translated The Thousand Nights and a Night (1885-88), popularly known as The Arabian Nights, into English.

During World War I (1914-18) the activity of Italian Lodges was considerably reduced because of military service (in which several members died) and the shortage of paper for publishing the Section’s magazine and books. At the end of the war, membership and the number of Lodges increased, as did the printing of books. Theosophy flourished until the advent of the Italian Fascist government, which adopted Nazi race discrimination and persecution of Jews. In order to continue the work of the Society in Italy, the General Secretary, Tullio Castellani, proposed to abolish the first aim of the Theosophical to avoid a clash with the law. In a memorable meeting of representatives of almost all Lodges in Italy on November 20, 1938, that proposal was rejected. The Fascist government ordered the dissolution of the TS in Italy by a decree issued by the Prefect of Genoa. However, members meetings continued secretly from time to time in another place, but this did not escape the notice of the police and several members were threatened with internment, harassed, and some were imprisoned and deported to Germany. Some did not survive. The following is the text of the decree abolishing the TS in Italy issued by the Fascist government:

“THE ROYAL PREFECTURE OF GENOA

“According to the report of the local police headquarters of 30th November 1938-XVII it appears that the Italian Theosophical Society in the greatest part of its members is composed of persons who show little comprehension of the basic principles of Fascism and carry on an activity often in opposition to the politics of the National Government under the pretext of spiritual studies. Considering that many members of the Italian Theosophical Society far from pursuing any high ideal indulge, especially of recent times, in sectarian and demagogical manifestations; pursuant to the telegram by the Hon. Home Ministry n. 470-442 of 4th January 1939-XVII and according the article 210 of the law in force, of the civil police.

“Decrees

“The Italian Theosophical Society with its central seat in Genoa, Piazza del Ferro, 3 is dissolved; consequently are dissolved all Groups of the same Society extant at Genoa under the title ‘Giordano Bruno’ and in the following towns: Bari, Forlì, Milan, Rome, Turin, Florence, Venice and Trieste. “The police inspectors of Genoa and of the other aforesaid towns are ordered to execute this decree. Genoa, 14th January 1939-XVII.”

The president, George S. ARUNDALE, appointed Giuseppe Gasco as presidential agent in Italy, and he held the office until the end of World War II (1939-1945). Thereafter, Gasco was elected General Secretary until his retirement in the year 1956. Immediately after the war, the Section experienced a great renewal of activity, with new Lodges, an increased number of members, and the publishing of Theosophical books. The publishing house Ars Regia, established by Sulli Rao with the help of Isabel Cooper-Oakley, ceased to exist, but soon after another Theosophical publishing house, Alaya, was set up by Gaetano De Martino. In 1952, at Trieste, the publishing house Sirio was established, operating until 1995. The new publishing house Edizioni Teosofiche Italiane was then founded in Vicenza in 2001 and since then it has been the Italian Theosophical Society official publishing house.

The Italian government granted an act of incorporation for the Section on September 15, 1980, by a decree of the president of the Italian Republic. From that time on, the Theosophical Society in Italy has grown every year and has been fortunate in receiving several legacies that have greatly assisted Theosophical work. At the time of writing, the Society in Italy comprises 51 lodges and centers with 1043 members in good standing.

A series of initiatives were taken at Assisi in 2002 for the centenary of the Italian Theosophical Society (1902-2002). In particular, a congress was organized with the participation of eminent representatives of the Theosophical Society from all over the world (including Radha Burnier, international president; Tran-Thi-Kim Dieu, chairman of the European Theosophical Federation; Nelda Samarel, director of the Krotona School of Theosophy; Diana Dunningham Chapotin, international secretary of the Theosophical Order of Service; and Phan-Chon-Ton, scientist). There was also an exhibition showing the history and development of the Theosophical movement in Italy, including a wide range of documents, Theosophical magazines and literature, and videos. Part of the exhibition was dedicated to the impact of Theosophical ideas on such notable representatives of the Italian culture as Giuseppe Calligaris, Aldo Capitini, Pietro Ubaldi and Maria Montessori.

The Italian Theosophical Society was profoundly honored and deeply privileged to organize the tenth world congress of the Theosophical Society in Rome from 10 to 15 July 2010, with the subject “Universal Brotherhood without Distinction: a Road to Awareness”. More than 500 delegates coming from 39 different countries attended the event, chaired by Radha Burnier. The president of the Italian Republic, Giorgio Napolitano, sent a message of wishes which was read during the opening ceremony. The congress was an important occasion for thorough research carried out through fraternal works. Twenty lectures, all now downloadable from the Italian Theosophical Society official website, were delivered during the five-day congress. Moreover, three study groups were established to make a contribution by specific works. A special area called "Casa Italia" was set up for the exhibiting of digitalized material on the history of the Italian Theosophical Society. Other events included meetings, movies, and the presentation of the new Italian edition of some Theosophical books. A charity bazaar, run by the Italian Theosophical Order of Service, operated during the congress in order to raise funds for the T.O.S international initiatives.

During the past almost one hundred years, about 300 works on Theosophy have been published, most translated from classical Theosophical literature.

For more than a century, the Italian Theosophical Society has published several magazines, such as: Teosofia (1898-1902) in Rome; Bollettino della Sezione Italiana della Società Teosofica (1907-1920) in Genoa; Ultra (1907-1934) in Rome; Gnosi, rivista di studi teosofici (1919-1936) in Turin; Il Loto (1930-1939) in Florence; Società Teosofica Italiana Bollettino (1935-1937 and 1945-1948); Alba Spirituale (1948-1968) in Savona-Rome-Florence; Rivista Teosofica Italiana (1968-1971) in Florence; Rivista Italiana di Teosofia (1971-1995) in Trieste and since 1995 in Vicenza.

The following is a list of the General Secretaries in Italy:

Oliviero Boggiani (1901-1904)
Decio Calvari (1904-1905)
Otto Penzig (1905-1918)
Emilio Turin (1919-1920)
Oliviero Boggiani (1920-1929)
Luisa Gamberini Cavallini (1929-1934)
Tullio Castellani (1934-1939)
Giuseppe Gasco, Presidential Agent (1939-1946)
Giuseppe Gasco (1946-1956)
Giuseppe Filipponio (1956-1962)
Roberto Hack (1962-1971)
Edoardo Bratina (1971-1995)
Antonio Girardi (1995- )

The Italian Section has been fortunate in attracting a considerable number of eminent persons into its membership. Among them are these:

Prince Fabrizio Ruspoli (1878-1935), admiral
Otto Penzig (1856-1929), a botanist
Roberto Assagioli (1888-1974), founder of Psychosynthesis
Edoardo Bratina (1913-1999), scholar and writer
Bernardino del Boca (1919-2001), anthropologist, painter, and writer
Maria Montessori (1870-1952), pedagogue
Pietro Ubaldi (1886-1972), philosopher
Giuseppe Calligaris (1876-1944), scientist
Gaetano De Martino (1899-1966), jurist and philanthropist
Lando del Sere (1900-1985), teacher
Enzo Forcellini (1910-2001), teacher
Renato De Grandis (1927-2008), musician

References

Cranston, Sylvia, and Carey Williams, research assistant. HPB: The Extraordinary Life and Influence of Helena Blavatsky, Founder of the Modern Theosophical Movement. 3rd rev. ed. Santa Barbara, CA: Path Publishing House, c. 1993.

Antonio Girardi

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H.P. Blavatsky involvement in Italian Politics with Garibaldi and Mazzini, and the Carbonari’s Role in the Republican Revolutions
The American Minvervan
https://theamericanminvra.com
Posted on 5 Aug 2018

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Blavatsky interest in Italian Politics, and the Carbonari

It is not enough to study history, but to make history, and the movers of history is a function we take interest in. The subject of the relation between Secret Societies, Politics and Theosophy is a fascinating side of history, and the thing is, while we are interested in history, many of us may not be academic scholars. It means, we do not regard the underlying ideas of our branches and movements to be merely ideas and abstractions, especially since these revolutionaries of our interest considered concrete action resultant from their ideas was the point of their sacrifices, philosophy, and mission. This is why, what I have stated, and will state, will be surely discounted and argued against by a few who unwelcome the truth; but try as you might, it cannot. H.P. Blavatsky’s interest in Italian politics has been very scanty in the historical record of her life, but with us, we find it a positive, than a negative. H.P.B. herself had claimed, and proven to H.S. Olcott, as detailed in his Diary Leaves, that she had joined Garibaldi and the Red Shirts (the Garibaldians) at the bloody battle of Mentana, stabbed with a stiletto, her right shoulder with a musket-bullet wound, and her left-arm broken by a sabre-stroke.

She was intimate with a few Carbonaros (of the Italian Carbonari liberals), Mazzinists, and Garibaldians, including his sons, whom she stated alone knew the whole truth of the story of her participation in these events prior to the formation of the Theosophical Society.

The woman was therefore intimately involved in early nationalist movements, and for this reason, intrigues me, in regards to my late research on the Italian philosopher of Actualism, Giovanni Gentile who synthesized and expressed the spirit of that Italian thought, with respects to the Italian political prophet Giuseppe Mazzini.

Understanding this history and the ideas will help us rebuild associations and establish new bonds, and continue the mission, or better, mould our own from it. No harm comes to us for being a little public, as firstly no one will take the efforts seriously. In a more democratically-ruled society of our political age, than the 1800s, there should be no reason to run idiotically, or hide. We have all the avenues and opportunities of freedom of expression of our ideas open to us more than in any age, which people have grown accustomed to on the fundamental level; hence we ought to feel comfortable to express these ideas in their truest sense, as the author aims to do, publicly, and without pseudonyms. Those days are over; or so it seems even in the “liberal order.”

The liberal order turns out to not be as we envision, since the work of the Renaissance is not a finished project; and firstly having no influence on the modern society. Typically it is thought, political interests is one thing, and Occultism another, but in truth, the two are a linked interest and are linked in history, since the intent is to truthfully propagandize, or promulgate our ideas and philosophy, despite public opinion — a thing shaped for us — the citizens, the masses, the uninitiated. The Southern Italian Carbonari was a secret society and political organization founded to advocate liberal ideas in the early nineteenth-century Europe.


Carbonari society initiation. 1879 illustration showing members of the Italian secret society known as the Carbonari performing an initiation ceremony in a cave. The Carbonari was an informal network of Italian secret societies active in Italy from around 1800 to 1831. They were a focus for those unhappy with the repressive political situation in Italy following 1815, especially in the south of the Italian Peninsula. Members of the Carbonari took part in important events in the process of Italian unification (the Risorgimento), especially the failed Revolution of 1820.

The Carbonari spread into Northern Italy by 1815, when Napoleon was defeated, and they were initially united in the goal to oppose Napoleonic ruler of Naples, Joachim Murat. The Carbonari were composed of advocates of both constitutional monarchy and republicanism, and Freemasons. What united the Freemasons and Carbonari was “militant opposition to the Roman Catholic Church domination of Italy,” K. Paul Johnson explains in The Masters Revealed (Johnson 38). Marquis de Lafayette often known in the United States simply as Lafayette (as spoken of by W.Q. Judge and H.P.B. on the Freemasons and Rosicrucians' roles in the Revolutions in Adepts in America in 1776: William Q. Judge’s Speculations prompt Blavatsky to Question “Illuminati” Theory), was a vital figure in the historical fight for American and French Independence served as leader of the Charbonnerie in France. Thus far, in the public’s opinion, they are made to think of this as nefarious, and suspect. The goal of opposition to the Church for the Carbonari and Freemasons was primarily for a secular Italy, and to restrict the power of the Church, promote freedom of religion and secular education. Yet, there is more to this vision, which they fought for, and certainly the Theosophists and H.P. Blavatsky.

In a footnote in A Few Questions to Hiraf about the Rosicrucians, Illuminati, and Kabbalists, H.P. Blavatsky connected the “political cataclysms” of the time with the Carbonari, who were responsible for the establishment of new constitutional governments in some states in Italy, and fighting for Greek independence, before the European powers united to overthrow these governments. She stated of them:

“For those who are able to understand intuitionally what I am about to say, my words will be but the echo of their own thoughts. I draw the attention of such only, to a long series of inexplicable events which have taken place in our present century; to the mysterious influence directing political cataclysms; the doing and undoing of crowned heads; the tumbling down of thrones; the thorough metamorphosis of nearly the whole of the European map, beginning with the French Revolution of ’93, predicted in every detail by the Count de St.-Germain, in an autograph MS., now in possession of the descendants of the Russian nobleman to whom he gave it, and coming down to the Franco-Prussian War of the latter days. This mysterious influence called “chance” by the skeptic and Providence by Christians, may have a right to some other name. Of all these degenerated children of Chaldaean Occultism, including the numerous societies of Freemasons, only one of them in the present century is worth mentioning in relation to Occultism, namely, the “Carbonari.” Let some one study all he can of that secret society, let him think, combine, deduce. If Raymond Lully, a Rosicrucian, a Cabalist, could so easily supply King Edward I of England with six millions sterling to carry on war with the Turks in that distant epoch, why could not some secret lodge in our day furnish, as well, nearly the same amount of millions to France, to pay their national debt — this same France, which was so wonderfully, quickly defeated, and as wonderfully set on her legs again. Idle talk! — people will say. Very well, but even an hypothesis may be worth the trouble to consider sometimes.”

-- (H.P. Blavatsky, A Few Questions to Hiraf)

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Hypatia interview (Greek Theosophical Journal)
by Erica Georgiades
http://adepts.light.org/2012/01/24/586/
http://adepts.light.org/2012/02/03/hypa ... ntinued-2/
Posted on January 24, 2012 and February 3, 2012
by adepts.light.org

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Q. In a letter sent by H.P.B. to the President of the Ionian branch of the Theosophical Society she expresses interest in knowing what is the situation regarding Mazzini bust. Why H.P.B. was interested in Giuseppe Mazzini? What was the connection of HP.Blavatsky with the Carbonari?

A. Blavatsky claimed to have fought and been injured in the 1867 battle of Mentana, and speaks of knowing the Garibaldis who could vouch for her. Admiring references to Mazzini are found in other TS founders sources like Charles Sotheran and Herbert Monachesi, and of course Olcott. Later Rene Guenon described HPB as having been involved in the Jeune Europe movement which had been established by Mazzini. He was passionately anti-clerical and promoted a spirituality that would be more liberal and inclusive than that of the Catholic Church. Hence Blavatsky’s resonance with Mazzini’s ideas could have been equally political and spiritual. Likewise her admiration for Cagliostro and his “Egyptian Masonry” which also seems to have been common among the several TS founders.

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The Extraordinary Life and Influence of Helena Blavatsky: Founder of the Modern Theosophical Movement [EXCERPT]
by Sylvia Cranston
Carey Williams, Research Assistant
© 1993 by Sylvia Cranston

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Chapter 5: Travels Resumed

As when she left Tiflis more than a decade previously, HPB says she again fled ‘‘because I was sick at heart and my soul needed space.’’ It was the boredom of conventional life in Russia and the absence of real freedom that drove her away. [30] She went to Odessa for a while. Thereafter one cannot speak with certainty as to the sequence of her travels, but besides Iran, Syria, Lebanon, and Jerusalem, HPB appears to have been more than once in Egypt, Greece, and Italy. It may be during this time that she studied the Kabbalah under a learned rabbi. She corresponded with him until he died, and his portrait was always a treasured relic.

In 1867, HPB spent several months traveling through Hungary and the Balkans. The towns visited were recorded in a travel diary that still exists. [31] Her last stops were in Venice, Florence, and Mentana. [32] A small town northeast of Rome, Mentana has special historic significance: In Italy's long struggle for freedom, on November 3, 1867 it was the site of an important battle waged between the forces of the Italian liberator, Garibaldi, and those of the papists and the French.

When eight years later HPB was in New York, a reporter heard about her participation in this battle. He wrote under the caption ‘‘Heroic Women’’:

Her life has been one of many vicissitudes, and the area of her experiences is bounded only by the world. . . . in the struggle for liberty [she] fought under the victorious standard of Garibaldi. She won renown for unflinching bravery in many hard-fought battles, and was elevated to a high position on the staff of the great general. She still bears the scars of many wounds she received in the conflict. Twice her horse was shot under her, and she escaped hasty death only by her coolness and matchless skill.

Altogether Madame Blavatsky is

AN ASTONISHING WOMAN

When HPB included the clipping in her scrapbook she inked in these words: ‘‘Every word is a lie. Never was on ‘Garibaldi’s staff’. . . .’’

To Sinnett, she wrote: ‘‘The Garibaldis (the sons) are alone to know the whole truth; and [a] few more Garibaldians with them. What I did, you know partially; you do not know all.’’ [33] On another occasion she remarked, ‘‘[W]hether I was sent there, or found myself there by accident, are questions that pertain to my private life.’’ [34] One of Blavatsky’s inveterate critics, René Guenon, admits that a high-ranking Mason, John Yarker (whose writings HPB commends in Isis), was ‘‘a friend of Mazzini and Garibaldi’’ and ‘‘had once seen Madame Blavatsky in their entourage.’’ [35]

HPB told Olcott she was at Mentana as a volunteer with a number of other European ladies. He recalls ‘‘In proof of her story she showed me where her left arm had been broken in two places by a sabre stroke, and made me feel in her right shoulder a musket bullet, still embedded in the muscle, and another in her leg.’’ In all, five wounds were received and she was picked up out of a ditch for dead. Olcott is of the opinion that this near-death was a critical stage in her development, wherein she was able to use her personal self more effectively as a vehicle for the higher self within.

In the early part of 1868, apparently recovered from her wounds, HPB was in Florence. Then via northern Italy she crossed over to the Balkans, according to her account spending some time there awaiting orders from her teacher. Finally word came to proceed to Constantinople and then on to India, [36] after which she journeyed to eastern Tibet. This trip is said to mark her first prolonged stay in that mysterious realm.

_______________

Notes:

31. Blavatsky, H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings, 1:xlvii, 11–25

32. Blavatsky, The Letters of H. P. Blavatsky to A. P. Sinnett, 144

33. Blavatsky, The Letters of H. P. Blavatsky to A. P. Sinnett, 144; H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings, 1:54–55

34. H. P. Blavatsky, ‘‘Mr. A. Lillie’s Delusions,’’ Light, London, England, Aug. 9, 1884, 323–24; Blavatsky, H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings, 4:277–78

35. René Guenon, Le Théosophisme: Histoire d’une pseudo-religion, Paris, France, 43

36. Olcott, Old Diary Leaves, 1:9, 264; Blavatsky, The Letters of H. P. Blavatsky to A. P. Sinnett, 151–52