From Theosophy's Sacred Teachings: “The Voice of the Silence,” Fragment I, Part 1 of 2

The 19th-century Russian esotericist Helena Petrovna von Hahn, more popularly known As Madame Blavatsky or H.P.B., came from a noble family in Ukraine. As a child, Madame Blavatsky would often have visions and displayed clairvoyance as well as other metaphysical phenomena. Years later, she traveled throughout Europe and the Middle East studying under various teachers and Sufi saints. While in London, United Kingdom, she met one special teacher, an Indian yogi named Master Morya, who later directed her to go to New York in the United States. Once there, she founded the Theosophical Soceity in 1875 with other like-minded individuals.