Feelgood Theosophy
Welcome to the Feelgood Lodge
The Day the Vicar caught fire
H P Blavatsky survives a shaky start
to move on to great things
Helena Petrovna
von Hahn (later Blavatsky after she got married and did a runner) was born in
the early hours of July 31st 1831 Russian calendar (August 12th
on ours) at Ekaterinsoslav now Dniepropetrovsk in the Ukraine.
Helena was born
prematurely and in those days the doctors couldn’t do much so you either lived
or you didn’t. The situation was made worse by the fact that her mother was
stricken with Cholera while giving birth (how bad can it get). Not surprisingly
Helena wasn’t expected to make it so they got the local priest in sharpish to
do the christening.
This was a
Russian Orthodox service which lasts quite a long time and everybody (entire
household) stands for the duration and many participants hold candles.
The priest was
wearing a voluminous golden robe especially for the occasion and right behind
him was Helena’s three year old Aunt Nadyezdha holding a candle. This is of
course a recipe for disaster and little Nadyezdha eventually nodded off with
the candle in her hand and set fire to the priest’s robe.
The priest was
a bit more fortunate than Miss Haversham in Great Expectations and there were
several people still alert enough to extinguish the fire before he was injured.
After this shaky
start Helena von Hahn went on to become H P Blavatsky and her mother Helena
Andreyevna von Hahn made a full recovery from cholera. They were tough in those
days.
There is no
further info on the career of the priest.
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