Yearning for the New Age: Laura Holloway-Langford and Late Victorian Spirituality

6. “Our Golden Word: Try”

114 6 “Our Golden Word: Try” Theosophists esteemed the written word with an almost Protestant faithinitspower,andtheyproducedanarrayofmetaphysicaltreatises , memoirs, and novels. Additionally, they penned a plethora of letters, which were passed from one person to another, keeping the founders in touch with followers on several continents. Even communications from the Adept Brotherhood occurred in writing rather than orally or through music,meditation,orimages.1 A discipleofthe Brotherhood was expected toadoptvegetarianismandcelibacy,butaprimequalificationforthechela was literary skill. Helena Blavatsky might eat meat with relish, chainsmoke , and curse like a sailor, but these shortcomings were outweighed by her prodigious religious imagination and her talent as a writer. Since the appearance of Isis Unveiled in 1877, she had been the driving force behind the Theosophical Society’s publications, authoring many of the articles that appeared in the movement’s journals. While occult phenomena generated excitement, Blavatsky recognized that it was through the written word that Theosophy could enter the discourse of the modern world. The future of Theosophical movement, she knew, hinged less on messages from the Masters, which followers tended to treat as inviolate, than on the creation of texts that could be edited, debated, criticized, and rewritten.2 It was her need for an experienced assistant who could aid in the production of metaphysical documents that led her to accept Laura Holloway-Langford as a probationary disciple. S front/backmatter 115 “Our Golden Word: Try” 115 NEGOTIATING WITH THE MASTERS The Masters had assigned Holloway-Langford the task of writing a book in collaboration with Mohini Chatterji that would correct errors in the works of A. P. Sinnett. Because of the controversy over her role as a medium, however, she had threatened to give up this project. In letters, Blavatsky and Koot Hoomi sought to soothe her wounded pride, complimenting her abilities and affirming her good intentions, while reassuring Holloway-Langford that the summer’s troubles were part of a larger cosmic plan. One letter suggested that she had been sent to test Sinnett and other members of the Society in England. Another said that, having been specially chosen by the Masters, she should not be discouraged. Additionally , Blavatsky sent her a note addressed to “Dearest Daughter of God,” asking “whether Barkis is still willing.”3 Blavatsky’s nickname for Holloway-Langford, “Barkis,” referred to the faithful servant in Charles Dickens’s novel David Copperfield. Holloway-Langford,however,hadnotcometoEuropeto“serve”either Blavatsky or the Masters. More in the habit of giving orders than taking them, she seized the initiative, composing a letter to Koot Hoomi that asked: 1. Will you lead me by correspondence? 2. Will you make a book for me? 3. Have I been compelled to advance theosophically or have I done it myself? 4. Can a person earn a living & still be a novice? 5. Can I write a novel with your help? 6. Can my case be made an exception & my time of probation shortened? 7. Will you help me pay off a debt under a “solemn promise” (or contract) that I shall then go to India? 8. What are my chances of chelaship, and can you accept me before returning to America? 9. Will you help me write a poem? In recounting this letter to Blavatsky, the Master added: “Etc. Etc. Etc. . . . I repeat [these questions] so that the questioner may realise how much 4 pages of note-paper may be made to contain—when the woman-child, 116 front/backmatter 116 Yearning for the New Age nervous & restless . . . was left to herself. . . . If we wished to paralyze her Personality&useherasanunconsciousmediumwemightmakeherwrite books she would not be the author of, & poems that were not her inspiration .” But, he asserted, such actions would violate the laws of karma. The Master concluded that Holloway-Langford could be transformed in her next rebirth from the “feeble worm of today” into a “strong adept” only if she took responsibility for her own actions and avoided “self-inflicted punishment.”4 In their correspondence, Koot Hoomi and Holloway-Langford spoke different languages: he drew on the idiom of karma and reincarnation, whilesheemployedthelingoofbusinessandlaw.Experiencedinnegotiating book contracts, Holloway-Langford wanted to fix in writing the terms of her relationship to the Masters. To her it seemed logical to ask them for anagreement about the work she was expectedto produce,what help they would give her, who would hold the copyright, and how much she would be compensated. Yet it seems far-fetched to think that she really believed that adepts...