Roerich, Helena (1879-1949)

Author and channeler, born in Russia on February 13, 1879. Roerich was not formally educated but early developed a love of reading that included serious works in philosophy. She married artist Nicholas Roerich in 1901. Both she and her husband had a leaning toward Theosophy, and soon after their marriage she came into contact with Master Morya, the teacher whom Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, the co-founder of the Theosophical Society, had heralded as the primary source of theosophical teachings.

In 1915 the Roerichs left Russia for England, but moved on to New York in 1920. Through the early 1920s Helena Roerich received the messages that would constitute her first book, Leaves of Morya's Garden (a second volume appeared in 1925). Over the rest of her life she operated quietly as a channel and produced a host of books from Morya, including New Era Community (1926); Infinity (2 vols., 1930); Hierarchy (1931), and The Fiery World (2 vols., 1933-34). During these years her own work, which constituted the teachings of the Agni Yoga Society, founded in the mid-1920s, was overshadowed by that of her husband and his very public activities as an artist and peace advocate.

In 1929 she and her husband moved to the Punjab and lived near the Urusvati, the Himalayan Research Institute of the Roerich Museum. Through the 1930s she wrote letters on theosophical themes, which were assembled and published as Letters of Helena Roerich.

Sources:

Balyoz, Harold. Three Remarkable Women. Flagstaff, Ariz.: Altai Publishers, 1986.

Roerich, Helena. Fiery World. 2 vols. New York: Agni Yoga Press, 1943.

——. Hierarchy. 3d ed. New York: Agni Yoga Press, 1947.

——. Infinity. 2 vols. New York: Agni Yoga Press, 1956, 1957.

——. Leaves of Morya's Garden. 2 vols. New York: Agni Yoga Press, 1952, 1953.

——. Letters of Helena Roerich. New York: Agni Yoga Press, 1954, 1967.