These messages are not only of historical significance, but address many issues confronting us today: the growth of psychism, our spiritual development, the need for brotherhood and altruism, and the role of theosophists and the Theosophical Society in the modern world. An essay by Kirby Van Mater provides the historical setting. Sketching important events from the founding of the Society to H P Blavatsky's death in 1891, it gives the reader a better understanding of the major currents affecting H P Blavatsky and her lifework.