Blavatsky: 'Simply a note of interrogation'

 Born on this day in 1844 was Madame Blavatsky, mystic, author, self-mythologiser and co-founder of Theosophy, a movement that made a very considerable impact towards the end of the 19th century and into the 20th. Blavatsky described it as 'the synthesis of science, religion and philosophy' and claimed that it was a rediscovery and restatement of  an 'Ancient Wisdom' that underlay all the religions of the world. In person Madame Blavatsky, with her penetrating eyes, clearly exerted quite a spell, and among those who fell under it was, inevitably, W.B. Yeats, who in his early days never met a mystical philosophy he didn't like – hermeticism, rosicrucianism, spiritualism, Order of the Golden Dawn, what have you got?  Later he took a more sceptical view: the problem with Theosophy, as he saw it, was that its followers wanted to turn good philosophy into bad religion, and even Blavatsky seemed to have doubts about her followers, declaring that 'There are about half a dozen real theosophists in the world, and one of those is stupid.' As for la Blavatsky, 'I have no theories about her,' Yeats wrote. 'She is simply a note of interrogation.'

I believe Madame Blavatsky makes an appearance in the novel Bedford Park by one Bryan Appleyard.