About the book
Isis Unveiled asks who has the authority to explain nature and human life. In Volume I, subtitled Science, H. P. Blavatsky challenges the materialist explanations of her period and argues for what she calls an ancient Wisdom-Religion. Her discussion moves between classical philosophy, mesmerism, Spiritualist testimony, religious symbolism and nineteenth-century scientific debates.
First published in 1877, this is an earlier work than The Secret Doctrine. Its use of the word science reflects Blavatsky’s argument and the controversies of her time; it does not make its accounts of clairvoyance, healing or occult forces established scientific findings. The quotations, reported events and interpretations need to be read as different kinds of evidence.
This HIPS Books edition includes the Preface, the complete opening section Before the Veil, all fifteen chapters and their historical notes. Vocabulary appears before the reading it supports; clearly labelled reader guides follow the text and notes. Volume II: Theology is a separate book, available individually or in the two-volume collection.
What this edition includes
588 A4 pages. Newly typeset historical text; editorial introduction; vocabulary; chapter-level reading guides; linked notes and return links; clickable contents; declared editorial repairs. Historical wording and HIPS commentary remain separate.
Inside the book: selected contents
A reading overview, not the complete text.
- Before the Veil: Blavatsky introduces the terminology and ambitions of her inquiry.
- Old Things with New Names: the opening chapter compares older ideas with contemporary claims.
- Phenomena and Forces: reported unusual phenomena become part of her dispute with materialism.
- Fifteen chapters: the volume ranges across nature, spiritualism, ancient philosophy and the evidence she invokes.
Key concepts for reading
HIPS editorial explanations of the historical text.
- Wisdom-Religion: Blavatsky’s proposed underlying spiritual tradition, not an independently verified single source of all religions.
- Mesmerism: historical theories and practices associated with animal magnetism.
- Spiritualism: the nineteenth-century movement associated with claimed communication with spirits.
- Science: read the author’s historical use separately from present-day scientific evidence.
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