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Helena Blavatsky, Russian author and founder of Theosophy, 1889. Helena Blavatsky, Russian author and founder of Theosophy, 1889. Helena Blavatsky (nee Hahn) (1831-1891) emigrated from Russia to New York in 1873. Two years later she co-founded the Theosophical Society with Henry Olcott and William Quan Judge. Theosophy is a mystical religious doctrine that postulates that all religions are attempts by a 'Spiritual Hierarchy' to assist humanity to evolve to a state of greater perfection, and that each individual religion therefore posseses a part of the overall truth.