The Occult World

About this book

A letter appears to come from a mysterious teacher living far away. Phenomena observed around H. P. Blavatsky seem to support the possibility of secret knowledge. A. P. Sinnett assembles these claims into the story of an invisible order.

The Occult World helped make the alleged Mahatmas central to the public image of Theosophy. Sinnett writes with sympathy for the witnesses and with impatience towards ordinary explanations. His evidence remains disputed, but the details show how a nineteenth-century circle of seekers began to imagine spiritual authority operating across enormous distances. The letters themselves became objects of fascination and controversy.