Madame Blavatsky claimed that "there exists in Thibet a brotherhood whose members have acquired a power over Nature which enables them to perform wonders beyond the reach of ordinary men. She declared herself to be a _chela_, or disciple of these brothers (spoken of also as 'Adepts' and as 'Mahatmas'), and asserted that they took a special interest in the Theosophical Society and all initiates in occult lore, being able to cause apparitions of themselves in places where their bodies were not; and that they not only appeared but communicated intelligently with those whom they thus visited and themselves perceived what was going on where their phantoms appeared." This phantasmal appearance she called the projection of the _astral_ form. Many of the phenomena witnessed in the presence of the Sibyl were supposed to be the work of the mystic brotherhood who took so peculiar an interest in the Theosophical Society and its members. The Madame did not claim to be the founder of a new religious faith, but simply the reviver of a creed that has slumbered in the Orient for centuries, and declared herself to be the Messenger of these Mahatmas to the scoffing Western world. Speaking of the Mahatmas, she says in "Isis Unveiled": * * * "Travelers have met these adepts on the shores of the sacred Ganges, brushed against them on the silent ruins of Thebes, and in the mysterious deserted chambers of Luxor. Within the halls upon whose blue and golden vaults the weird signs attract attention, but whose secret meaning is never penetrated by the idle gazers, they have been seen, but seldom recognized. Historical memoirs have recorded their presence in the brilliantly illuminated salons of European aristocracy. They have been encountered again on the arid and desolate plains of the Great Sahara, or in the caves of Elephanta. They may be found everywhere, but make themselves known only to those who have devoted their lives to unselfish study, and are not likely to turn back." The Theosophical Society was organized in New York, Nov. 17, 1875. Mr. Arthur Lillie, in his interesting work, "Madame Blavatsky and Her Theosophy," speaking about the founding of the Society, says: "Its moving spirit was a Mr. Felt, who had visited Egypt and studied its antiquities. He was a student also of the Kabbala; and he had a somewhat eccentric theory that the dog-headed and hawk-headed figures painted on the Egyptian monuments were not mere symbols, but accurate portraits of the 'Elementals.' He professed to be able to evoke and control them. He announced that he had discovered the secret 'formularies' of the old Egyptian magicians. Plainly, the Theosophical Society at starting was an Egyptian school of occultism. Indeed Colonel Olcott, who furnishes these details ('Diary Leaves' in the _Theosophist_, November to December, 1892), lets out that the first title suggested was the 'Egyptological Society.'"