Visions From Madame Blavatsky

According to a blog called Blog-Sothoth, there is a Carl Jung documentary DVD out there in which the Extras section features a bit about Maud Oakes. Oakes was one of the many artist neighbours of Henry Miller while he lived in Big Sur. In her New York Times obituary in 1990, Oakes was described as an "ethnologist and writer," with a special interest in Guatemalan Indian tribes. I could not find any Miller references to her, not even in Big Sur And the Oranges of Hieronymous Bosch, but this Bob Nash wesbite seems to verify that Ms. Oakes lived on Partington Ridge with the lot of them.

Anyway, here's the anecdote, as apparently told on this Jung DVD (as quoted from the Blog-Sothoth wesbite):

"[Oakes] was nearly killed in an automobile accident in the mountains of Peru, and underwent a long convalescence. Her nextdoor neighbor and good friend was Henry Miller, who told her before the voyage that she should stay home. He'd had a premonition that she would undergo a catastrophic event if she went to Peru--he said Madame Blavatsky came to him in a dream and warned him. Oakes found out the hard way that Miller was indeed prescient."

Madame Blavatsky will surely get her own posting one of these days, because she became somewhat of a fixation for Henry when he was a young man. I thought he was over her by this point in his life, but, with the nighttime visitations and all, I guess not. Blavatsky was the founder of the Theosophical Society, whose spiritual interests set the stage for the New Age movement in later decades.

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The photo of Miller in the banner art was taken by Johan Hagermeyer (OAC Collection).