The Element Encyclopedia of the Psychic World: The Ultimate A–Z of Spirits, Mysteries and the Paranormal. Theresa Cheung

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СКАЧАТЬ MADAME [1831–1891]

      Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, daughter of Russian aristocrats, was a key figure in the nineteenth-century revival of occult and esoteric knowledge. A highly intelligent and energetic woman, she helped to spread Eastern philosophies and mystical ideas to the West and tried to give the study of the occult a scientific and public face.

      Blavatsky became aware of her psychic abilities at an early age. She travelled through the Middle East and Asia learning psychic and spiritual techniques from various teachers, and she said that it was in Tibet that she met the secret masters or adepts who sent her to carry their message to the world.

      In 1873 Helena immigrated to New York, where she impressed everyone with her psychic feats of astral projection, telepathy, clairvoyance, clairsentience and clairaudience. Her powers were never tested scientifically, but her interests were always more in the laws and principles of the psychic world than psychic power itself. In 1874 Helena met and began a lifelong friendship with Colonel Henry Steel Olcott, a lawyer and journalist who covered spiritual phenomena, and a year later they founded a society ‘to collect and diffuse a knowledge of the laws which govern the Universe’. They called this society the Theosophical Society, from theosophy, a Greek term meaning ‘divine wisdom’ or ‘wisdom of the gods’.

      Travelling to India, Blavatsky and Olcott established themselves at Adyar, near Madras, and a property they bought there eventually became the world headquarters of the society. They established the nucleus of the movement in Britain and founded no fewer than three Theosophical Societies in Paris.

      Throughout her life Blavatsky’s powers were dismissed as fraud and trickery, but this did not stop the Theosophical Society from finding a home among intellectuals and progressive thinkers of her day. The society was born at a time when spiritualism was popular and Darwin’s theory of evolution was undermining the Church’s teachings, so the Society’s new thinking flourished. Many people appreciated the alternative it provided both to church dogma and to a materialistic view of the world.

      Blavatsky’s two most important books are Isis Unveiled and her magnum opus, The Secret Doctrine, published in 1888. She drew her teachings from many religious traditions: Hinduism, Tibetan Buddhism, Platonic thought, Jewish Kabbalah and the occult and scientific knowledge of her time. Although they influenced many people, her books are extremely difficult to read. Nevertheless, her teachings were absorbed by many people and then simplified into a worldview that was taken up by many later New Age groups. This worldview includes a belief in seven planes of existence; the gradual evolution and perfecting of spiritual principles; the existence of nature spirits (‘devas’); and belief in secret spiritual masters or adepts from the Himalayas, or from the spiritual planes, who guide the evolution of humanity. All of these beliefs are derived from Blavatsky’s Theosophy.

      BLOCKED ENERGY

      Energy is believed to be the basis of all matter, and psychics and alternative medicine practitioners believe that a field of energy, called an aura, surrounds your body and a flow of energy (‘chi’) exists within it. If these energy forces are interrupted for some reason the energy becomes blocked and will not flow freely. Chakras are an essential part of this energy flow. If one or more of them is closed, then the energy is blocked at these points.

      It is thought that blocked energy which is not cleared can lead to serious consequences, affecting your mental, physical and spiritual health, and impeding your spiritual and psychic development.

      See Energy balancing.

      BODHISATTVA

      In Buddhism, the bodhisattva is an enlightened being who instead of going straight to nirvana - and not being reborn -decides to delay eternal bliss in order to help others on the path.

      The concept of a bodhisattva can be used to describe anyone who is dedicated to compassion and the greater good. In many ways it could be said there is a bodhisattva nature in every one of us.

      BODY SCANNING

      The ability to look psychically into and around a human body in order to determine the person’s heath and state of mind. Body scanning can be experienced through any of the five senses.

      A medical intuitive can psychically read a body and come up with a diagnosis in actual medical terms. Each intuitive works differently, for example, some read auras while others read energetically the insides (organs, blood, glands) of our insides. Intuited information can then be provided to the client’s medical doctor and/or health care professional for further evaluation and discussion of possible treatments. Many medical intuitives work with, or are, medical doctors themselves.

      BODYWORK

      Alternative medicine therapies that take into account the role of the mind and emotions in physical health and look especially at how the body interacts with the environment and universal life energies.

      There are many types of bodywork therapies, involving manipulation, massage, movement, breathing, energy balancing and energy transfer. All these therapies assume the existence of a universal life force and the ability of the body to self-heal when therapy stimulates that life force.

      See: Acupuncture, Acupressure, Bioener-getics, Energy balancing, Massage, Reflexology, Reiki, Shiatsu, Therapeutic touch.

      BOGEY

      Also referred to as the bogeyman in British folklore, this is said to be an evil spirit who loves to cause trouble. The bogey is believed to travel alone or in groups, and in some instances they are synonymous with the devil. Usually the bogey is described as big and nasty and for years the threat of calling upon the bogeyman was used by parents to frighten children into good behaviour.

      The precise origins of the bogeyman legend are unknown but it is possible that it came from the old Central European gods. The Slavic for god is ‘bog’ and after Christianity came to Central Europe and made its way to the British Isles, many of the deities in the old religions became transformed into evil spirits. It is possible that the gods of pre-Christian Britain became known as these horrible, frightening beings - bogs, bogeys, boggles or boggarts.

      The boggart is a type of bogey hobgoblin in British folklore with poltergeist characteristics. A boggart is said to be helpful, but most of the time it is devious and frightening, never appearing but playing tricks on people, such as knocking books off shelves or tripping people up. It is also thought to punch, scratch and kick. In parts of Yorkshire the threat of being thrown into the ‘baggart hole’ is still used today by parents if their children aren’t behaving.

      BOLEYN, ANNE [1501–1536]

      Anne Boleyn was the second wife of Henry VIII, and their marriage changed the course of English history. Her larger-than-life story is matched by the many sightings of her ghost since her death.

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