Picking up where we left off in part 5, Helena has separated from her Georgian-American husband after several months. Their divorce will become official in 1878. Now she was on to what would become her main mission: founding the Theosophical Society in partnership with Colonel Henry Steel Olcott.
Between July and 17 November 1875 the instructions came to her to form the Theosophical Society and it was founded. That date in November was the first meeting with Colonel Olcott giving the inaugural address as President-Founder.
June 1876 she began living with Col. Olcott in an apartment in New York City known as the “Lamasery.” This became the unofficial headquarters of the Theosophical Society. I’d rather look at the transits for this period setting the chart at mid-month because changes of residence and living arrangements are related to the IC and 4th house contents. Since we don’t have an exact date we look only at planets Jupiter and outward. So Pluto is still in range of square to the natal IC figure we’re now working with, but out about 4° past exact. Jupiter has joined in opposite it: it was retrograde that month moving from 25.3 to 23.6° Scorpio. So it was probably middle or second half of the month when this new cohabitation began.
And of course there is Uranus near enough to the IC to show that changes are happening at home and in patterns of who she communicates most with, as well as give hints to more changes in career and living conditions to come …
Isis Unveiled was published in two volumes 29 September 1877. She had started this work in 1875, a few months before the founding of the Theosophical Society. New editions of this work have been consistently published since.
Because this is her life work beginning to culminate and publishing relates to the intermediate 9th house, I’d like to look at the progressions, but first the transits because we do have an exact date:
Just look at that beautiful quincunx between Uranus and the natal 9th cusp. That is showing the planet of the occult and higher mind in a very tight validating aspect to the natal house cusp that deals with publishing. Now we know this chart is very close to precisely correct because quincunxes in transit only operate within a 2° orb and we’ve already tightened things up using the clues of the transits of many events.
The progressions show the possibility of prog Pluto 9RI46 in quintile/72° to natal Asc. This is primarily a 9th house event, however, and with Capricorn over that cusp the ruler is Saturn. Jupiter and Uranus are in it natally and in progression. The only thing there is in south declination: prog Uranus 18S12′ in 15-degree aspect to natal Venus 3S10′. So this was a slow moving aspect, but it does involve prog Uranus in 9th house of publishing in culminated minor declination to natal Venus in 5th house of creativity.
25 May 1878 divorce from M. Betanelly finalized. The transits show Venus trine DC/sextile Asc, Uranus same, S.Node about 3.5° from natal IC.
8 July 1878 she became officially naturalized as an American citizen, the first Russian woman to ever do so. This also relates to the above progressed aspect of prog Uranus natal Venus, still active. The transits:
I didn’t mark it here, but Uranus in the 4th at 27LEO14 is still quincunx natal 9th cusp.
18 December 1878 she and Col. Olcott set sail for England on their way to India. Jupiter had come back around to the 9th house of higher learning and world travels, and was in applying conjunction to natal Uranus. Both Jupiter & North Lunar Node were in that house. This sociable woman was probably also intermingling with lots of fellow passengers. Look at Mercury-Venus-Sun contra-parallel the natal Asc area. Here I have also marked with a dotted blue line Pluto’s continued square to natal Lunar Nodes. It helps confirm their position in the 4th and 10th houses.
They arrived in India 16 February 1879. There they took the Buddhist rites of Panchasila in May 1880. She continued writing and traveling, a very productive period in her life related to Theosophy. But it also brought controversy. The main controversy was over The Mahatma Letters which were claimed by Blavatsky as examples of her psychic mediumship channeling Masters Koot Hoomi and Morya.
The question remains whether prog Pluto was quintile her Asc during this productive, creative period of her life from 1877-85. Quintiles are creative aspects that can be quite productive, quite transformative if the person utilizes the window of opportunity.
– Prog Pluto was moving Rx at only 01’/year.
– Isis Unveiled was first published 29 September 1877; Pluto 9ARI46-Rx.
– She resigned from her role as Corresponding Secretary of the Theosophical Society on March 21 1885; Pluto 9ARI38-Rx.
This points to a natal Asc at +/- 21°34-41′
If we look back at the progressions for her first marriage date and the question I proposed then about whether the prog N.Node was making a sextile to Asc (trine to DC), it is now even more persuasive that prog Pluto could be making a quintile to natal Asc during the period of 1879-90.
She sailed to France in March 1883. The transits show Jupiter right on her Asc with Saturn making a semi-sextile to it that month:
Uranus also squared the Asc.
By late 1884 her reputation was coming into question. Claims about her abilities and psychic phenomena were coming under external scrutiny in India. During this period she tried to settle things between disputing parties within the Theosophy/spiritualist movement. She also contacted the Society for Psychical Research (SPR) to study her claimed paranormal abilities that had so long been a controversy. Transits for December 1884:
During this period she was diagnosed with Bright’s Disease. You can see the probability of personal and health/career challenges both in Saturn’s pass over her Asc and Neptune’s square to both IC/MC axis and Lunar Nodes.
Her ailing health required a return to Europe March 1885. Transits: Saturn remained near her Asc.
She lived in Naples, Italy beginning in April 1885 on a small Theosophical Society pension [while progressed Pluto was 9ARI38-Rx and prog Saturn 9VIR37]. There she worked on her book The Secret Doctrine (which was later published in 1888, again in two volumes). Ever restless, she then moved to Bavaria where she met Swedish Theosophist, the Countess Constance Wachtmeister who became her close companion for the remainder of her life.
Damaged reputation. The SPR report of December 1885 was authored by Richard Hodgson. In it, Hodgson accused Blavatsky of being a Russian spy and accused her of faking paranormal phenomena. Some of Blavatsky’s followers (Babaji, Subba Row) denounced her and resigning from the Theosophical Society. She remained productive in writing, but the report from SPR damaged her reputation. The transits for 1 January 1886:
Her health decline continued so that by 1886 she was bound to a wheelchair. This correlates to the transit of Saturn conjunct & parallel her natal Asc between June 1884 and August 1886.
She then moved to London on 1 May 1887. N.Node was applying conjunct natal IC; Sun & Mars parallel natal IC; Mercury trine natal IC.
She died the afternoon of 8 May 1891. The transits:
The progressions show activity in all three houses of endings with prog N.Lunar Node in 4th applying in conjunction to natal IC, true prog MC in 8th and contra-parallel natal Asc (orb; -1° as I use for the quotidian or true progressed aspects), and true prog Asc conjunct natal 12th cusp:
Conclusion:
The correct Asc is 21°30-45′ Gemini by looking at the more finely tuned progressions as outlined in this series.
Kannon McAfee Natural Healing 