The Mysteries Of Sound In H. P. Blavatsky’s ‘Esoteric Instructions’

Abstract

This chapter is concerned with music and esotericism in the 19th century, particularly with the notion of sound in Helena Petrovna Blavatskys Esoteric Instructions. It is, however, by way of introduction deemed necessary to briefly specify these two general concepts. The chapter focuses on three pre-modern ideas related to music and cosmology, which have flourished through Western culture and were finally used in H. P. Blavatskys Theosophy a modern self- proclaimed form of esotericism in the 19th century. The first is the idea of Kosmos in the original Greek meaning of the word as an ordered whole, as an ornament or the great harmonia. The second idea is the idea of correspondences. This idea of correspondences, or correlative thinking, has been central to much of what has been and is termed Western esotericism. The third idea is that of the power of sound and words. Keywords: H.P. Blavatsky; Kosmos