Creating a sensation when it was first published in 1877, the first major work by the young Russian noblewoman who would found the Theosophical Society devoted 1200 pages to the mysteries of ancient and modern science and theology. This new edition abridged by Theosophical scholar Michael Gomes breathes fresh life into this classic of Western esoteric thinking. Stripped of its lengthy quotations from other writers and its repetitious commentary, Isis Unveiled is revealed to be a clear and readable exploration of the universal truths of the Ancient Wisdom Tradition by one of the most remarkable women of modern times.

Helena P. Blavatsky (1831-1891) is widely celebrated as the leading esoteric thinker of the nineteenth century who influenced an entire generation of artists and intellectuals and introduced Eastern spirituality to the West. Until now, however, readers have been able to know this fascinating woman only through her public writings. Few may have realized that H.P.B. was also a tireless correspondent with family and colleagues, friends and foes, the learned and the simple. Her personal correspondence reveals for the first time the private H.P.B. in all of her sphinx-like complexity rarely visible in her published material. This unparalleled offering contains all known letters H.P.B. wrote between 1860 and the time just before she left for India in 1879. Meticulously edited by John Algeo, former President of the Theosophical Society in America and current Vice President of the international Society, the volume also contains letters to and about Blavatsky, articles, and editorial commentary.

Occultism is not magic. It is comparatively easy to learn the trick of spells and the methods of using the subtler, but still material, forces of physical nature; the powers of the animal soul in man are soon awakened; the forces which his love, his hate, his passion, can call into operation, are readily developed. But this is Black Magic — Sorcery. For it is the motive, and the motive alone, which makes any exercise of power become black, malignant, or white, beneficent Magic. It is impossible to employ spiritual forces if there is the slightest tinge of selfishness remaining in the operator. For, unless the intention is entirely unalloyed, the spiritual will transform itself into the psychic, act on the astral plane, and dire results may be produced by it. The powers and forces of animal nature can equally be used by the selfish and revengeful, as by the unselfish and the all-forgiving; the powers and forces of spirit lend themselves only to the perfectly pure in heart — and this is DIVINE MAGIC.

The essays in Imagining the East explore how Theosophists during the formative period imagined the religions and cultures of the East. The authors examine the relationship of such representations to orientalism, the history of ideas, politics, and culture at large and discuss how these esoteric or theosophical representations mirrored conditions and values current in nineteenth-century mainstream intellectual culture. The essays also look at how the early Theosophical Society's representations of the East differed from mainstream 'orientalism' and how the Theosophical Society's mission in India was distinct from that of British colonialism and Christian missionaries.

The definitive edition of HPB's writings in 15 volumes. Volume 14 includes posthumously published essays, written at various times; among them are some which may have been intended for another volume of The Secret Doctrine. Some of the subjects are: 'The Kabalah'; 'Eastern and Western Occultism'; 'The Last of the Mysteries in Europe'; 'Symbolism of Sun and Stars'; 'Cycles and Avataras'; 'The Mystery of Buddha'.