And the I'm going to be. Welcome to Snuscast, the podcast designed to help you fall asleep.

Find us on Snooscast.com and follow us on social media and wherever you listen to podcasts.

This episode is brought to you by Old Newspaper Clippings.

Tonight, we'll read the opening section from

from the caves and jungles of Hindustan written by Helen Blavatsky and published in 1883.

Madame Blavatsky was a Russian occultist and philosopher who traveled around the world, including India, before moving to New York City.

She co-founded the Theosophical Society in 1875 and gained an international following from the esoteric religion that the society

promoted.

Madame Lovatsky was a controversial figure championed by supporters as an enlightened

guru and derided as a fraudulent charlatan by her critics. Her theosophical doctrines influence the

spread of Hindu and Buddhist ideas in the West as well as the development of

Western esoteric currents like the New Age movement.

Let's get cozy. Close your eyes. Relax your body into the soft.

Relax your body into the softness of your bed.

Now, take a few deep breaths.

Late in the evening of the 16th of February, 1879, after a rough voyage which lasted 32 days, joyful exclamations were heard everywhere on deck. Have you seen the

lighthouse? There it is at last, the Bombay Lighthouse.

Cards, books, music, everything was forgotten.

Everyone rushed on deck.

The moon had not risen as yet and in spite of the starry tropical sky, it was quite dark. The stars were so bright that at first it seemed hardly possible to distinguish,

far away amongst them, a small fiery point lit by earthly hands.

The stars winked at us like so many huge eyes in the black sky,

...