WITCH TALES I. ⸻ It was late June 1888. Charley sat alone with Blavatsky at a small table in the drawing-room at Lansdowne Road. ⸻ “Yes, Sir! Witch-stories, and in this enlightened age!” said Blavatsky. “What do you call it but a witch-story, that very experiment you told me of, made by my friend the Spookical Researcher? Is it not witchcraft, to transfer pinches and burns, pain and suffering, in fact, though only slight in this case, to another... Read more
THE CRY OF PEONAGE ~ “Is this new form of slavery a reality?” That is the question Irvine asked himself as he read the sign: “100 Men Wanted.” It was written—in dozens of languages—on similar notices hanging in the shop windows along Greenwich Street. It was a lie masquerading as promise to seduce immigrants of every tongue. “If slavery still exists,” Irvine reasoned, “the best way to find it is by becoming a slave.” And the surest way of becoming... Read more
INTERCOLLEGIATE SOCIALIST SOCIETY ~ Alexander Irvine rubbed his large, chapped, hands together as he walked along Wooster Square. “The Christian organizations, being wholly dependent upon the gains of the capitalists cannot afford to even appear to sanction a lecture on Socialism.” It was late January 1906, and Irvine’s breath was as steamy as his mood. “If it were Christian Science or Buddhism or a minstrel show, or anything of that sort, it would pass muster,” he thought to himself.... Read more
THE ENGLISH IN INDIA PART III. ⸻ Part three of “The English in India” in Charles Johnston’s story. In the previous instalments we explored how the British East India Company assumed control of India (Part I) and the process in which the trained their administrators (Part II.) This concluding piece breaks down the administrative hierarchy of the British Raj as it would have looked when Charley was a Covenanted Civilian in India from 1888-1890. ⸻ THE CROWN. ... Read more
THE ENGLISH IN INDIA PART II. ⸻ Part two of “The English in India” in Charles Johnston’s story: ⸻ The men who made up the administrative body of the British East India Company (EIC,) received their education at the company training school called Haileybury College. Their education was sponsored through a system of patronage. They were known, variously, as the “Covenanted Civil Service,” “Covenanted Civilians,” and “Covenanted-Wallah,” so-named because each member entered into a covenant of nine clauses... Read more
THE ENGLISH IN INDIA PART I. ⸻ Charles Johnston’s history of British rule in India from his essays “The English In India” (May 1909 issue of The North American Review,) and “A Perspective On India,” (December 1926 issue of The Atlantic Monthly.) I have included minor spelling edits for sake of clarity, and expanded some references which are found in the brackets. —S. ⸻ In much that has been written recently in a sense hostile to the work of... Read more
PART I This provocatively titled post is an “appendix” of sorts, for the cross-cultural story “The Agonized Womb of Consciousness.” Rather than shy way from the unavoidable themes/terminology in the series like “aryan” and “swastika,” we will explore their origins, and the etiology of their valence. To avoid the disruption in the narrative flow of the series, I’m “front-loading” the dreaded exposition for context and reference. As this series will focus primarily on Charley Johnston’s experience as a Theosophist... Read more
CHARLEY. The protagonist of our story, Charles Johnston, or “Charley” as he was known to friends, was born in Ballykilbeg, County Down, February 17, 1867. “The son of an Irish landlord,” as he would say, “early indoctrinated with the strictest principles of imperialism and Protestant ascendancy, and at the same time an enthusiastic student of Irish national history, literature, culture, and tradition.” His studies of Irish history began under “the domination of his stern father, well... Read more
New York City, March 7, 1898. “The light is the sword of war that presages conflict,” said one of the street preachers in Union Square. “It appeared in the sky before the Revolution! It appeared in 1861, before the Civil War.” Hundreds of men, still alive in New York, swore they had seen a light, just like the flaming sword, in various places in the South, just before the Civil War. Some even said that President Lincoln’s assassination was... Read more
THE SHADE OF SATTAY. ⸻ This is the story of Govindarao Sattay, the first male Brahmin to visit America in 1884. He would experience both generosity and malice in that country, including imprisonment for declaring his beliefs. Sattay would ultimately die in New York, and be the first South Asian of any caste to be cremated in America. Paving the way for the likes of men like Swami Vivekananda, I think his name, and legacy, merits remembrance. I hope... Read more
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