Yogis Without Borders 69
in her talent to submit herself to being directly mesmerized by subtle spirits rather
than relying on a human operator.
Another related and perhaps even more significant innovation of Spiritualism
was its accessibility to the common and even casual practitioner. Mediumship was
generally considered to be a very specific kind of talent, of which a particular—
often gender- specific— temperament was an accepted indicator. However, the
practice of Spiritualism was not limited to professional mediums. Parlor séances
often relied on the assumption that every human being possessed the energetic
capacity for some mediumistic activity. Popular practices such as table tipping
and various simplified forms of automatic writing (which yielded the now-
trademarked Ouija board)^34 did not necessarily rely on the talent of a single
medium but rather on the (meta)physical principle of a universal substratum of
magnetic energ y that the participants could tap into in order to either contact
the spirit world or even manipulate the energies to directly effect the desired
phenomenon. Thus, the popularity of Spiritualism largely relied on the assump-
tion that every human being possessed the natural ability to interact with cosmic
forces. While this ability manifested with greater strength in certain personalities,
it was grounded in the inherent energetic potential of every human mind- body
complex.
Theosophical Mahatmas Take Control
It is against this background that Theosophy emerged as both an organization
and a body of thought. Inaugurated in a small New York City apartment on
September 18, 1875, the Theosophical Society was co- founded by Henry Steel
Olcott (1832– 1907), an eclectic member of the New York urban gentry, and
Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831– 1891), a Bohemian expatriate of the Russian
aristocracy. Both had had extensive ties with the Spiritualist movement.
Olcott, who had been a founding member of the New York Conference
of Spiritualists, nevertheless grew increasingly ambivalent about the merits of
Spiritualist phenomena. In an intellectual climate where “will”- based movements
such as New Thought and other assorted strains of mind- cure were quickly gain-
ing ascendancy and more established traditions such as Christian Science were
continually cautioning against “Malicious Animal Magnetism,” the medium
held a precarious position. In an 1874 investigation of Spiritualistic phenomena,
Olcott observed the following :
The relation of the mediums towards their controlling spirits is perfectly
defined in this letter from one of the most noted mediums— they are