![]() ![]() One of Blavatsky's original goals in writing Isis Unveiled and founding the Theosophical Society was to reconcile contemporary advances in science with occultism, and this synthesis was one of the main appeals of Blavatsky's work for individuals interested in religion but alienated from conventional Western forms at the time. Evans, a contemporaneous journalist and magician, described the book as a "hodge-podge of absurdities, pseudo-science, mythology and folk-lore, arranged in helter-skelter fashion, with an utter disregard of logical sequence." Fritze considers Isis Unveiled to be a work of pseudohistory. For example, Blavatsky cites the work of the Byzantine historian George Kedrenos, although her primary source was not his Synopsis Historion but the less impressive-sounding Conjuror's Magazine, or Magical and Physiognomical Mirror Volume II printed 1791–1793. In addition, the book corrects many misconceptions about Blavatsky’s sources. Theosophical scholar Moon Laramie goes a step further in Blavatsky Unveiled Volume 1 rendering the first seven chapters of Isis Unveiled into contemporary English. Critical reception Ĭover of Blavatsky Unveiled, the first translation of Isis Unveiled into modern English. Modern Theosophists hold the book as a revealed work dictated to Blavatsky by Theosophy's Masters. Blavatsky later asserted the correctness of her statements on reincarnation and the constitution of man in Isis Unveiled, attributing the resulting confusion and alleged contradictions to the more superficial or simplified conceptions of the ideas in Isis Unveiled compared to those of later works. Specifically, the few and-according to many-ambiguous statements on reincarnation as well as the threefold conception of man as body, soul and spirit of Isis Unveiled stand in contrast to the elaborate and definite conception of reincarnation as well as the sevenfold conception of man in The Secret Doctrine (1888). In later theosophical works some of the doctrines originally stated in Isis Unveiled appeared in a significantly altered form, drawing out confusion among readers and even causing some to perceive contradiction. Blavatsky's combination of original insights, backed by scholarly and scientific sources, accomplished a major statement of modern occultism's defiance of materialist science. ![]() In doing so, Isis Unveiled reflected many contemporary controversies-such as Darwin's theories on evolution and their impact on religion-and engaged in a discussion that appealed to intelligent individuals interested in religion but alienated from conventional Western forms. Blavatsky gathered a number of themes central to the occult tradition- perennial philosophy, a Neo-Platonic emanationist cosmology, adepts, esoteric Christianity-and reinterpreted them in relation to current developments in science and new knowledge of non-Western faiths. Campbell and Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke to be a milestone in the history of Western Esotericism. Isis Unveiled is argued by many modern scholars such as Bruce F. Blavatsky writes in the preface that Isis Unveiled is "a plea for the recognition of the Hermetic philosophy, the anciently universal Wisdom-Religion, as the only possible key to the Absolute in science and theology." It follows the Renaissance notion of prisca theologia, in that all these religions purportedly descend from a common source the ancient "Wisdom-Religion". Volume II, Theology, discusses the similarity of Christian scripture to Eastern religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, the Vedas, and Zoroastrianism. Volume I, The "Infallibility" of Modern Science, discusses occult science and the hidden and unknown forces of nature, exploring such subjects as forces, elementals, psychic phenomena, and the Inner and Outer Man. ![]() Isis Unveiled is divided into two volumes. The work was originally entitled The Veil of Isis, a title which remains on the heading of each page, but had to be renamed once Blavatsky discovered that this title had already been used for an 1861 Rosicrucian work by W. Isis Unveiled is nevertheless also understood by modern scholars to be a milestone in the history of Western esotericism. The work has often been criticized as a plagiarized occult work, with scholars noting how Blavatsky extensively copied from many sources popular among occultists at the time. ![]() Isis Unveiled: A Master-Key to the Mysteries of Ancient and Modern Science and Theology, published in 1877, is a book of esoteric philosophy and Helena Petrovna Blavatsky's first major work and a key text in her Theosophical movement. ![]()
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