A surprisingly (albeit relatively) long tenured Fortean.
Helen Knothe was born 23 February 1904 in New York. She was the second of three children. Her mother was Maria Obreen, a Danish artist. Her father was Frank Knothe, worked for a haberdashery, becoming a vice president. According to Helen’s recollections, her father was cold and distant, but her mother a source of quiet warmth. They lived a middle-class, urban life, living in New York City until Helen was three, when they moved to Ridgewood, New Jersey. Helen learned Dutch so much did she identify with that side of her family. Her family was vegetarian, and maintained an organic garden. They had generally progressive views, belong to a Unitarian Church and supporting various causes. In addition, Frank and Maria were Theosophists, and introduced their children to the mystical tradition.
Supposedly, Helen’s birth was interpreted in Theosophical terms. She was seen by her parents, and other Theosophists in their cohort, as the reincarnation of Piet Meuleman, an important Danish Theosophists whom her parents had known. Another’s biographer—from whom most of the above comes—Margaret O. Killinger, wrote in “The Good Life of Helen K. Nearing”: Helen “became the most devout follower of theosophy in her family and a lifelong spiritual seeker. By age thirteen, she learned to read people’s palms, studying the lengths of their fingers and the depths and position of the lines on their hands for insight into their character. She analyzed handwriting and collected autographs, believing both were likewise revealing. [She] later communed with fairies and would become a dowser who skillfully located water sources though a diving rod, as well as an inveterate practitioner of the Ouija board.”
Helen Knothe was born 23 February 1904 in New York. She was the second of three children. Her mother was Maria Obreen, a Danish artist. Her father was Frank Knothe, worked for a haberdashery, becoming a vice president. According to Helen’s recollections, her father was cold and distant, but her mother a source of quiet warmth. They lived a middle-class, urban life, living in New York City until Helen was three, when they moved to Ridgewood, New Jersey. Helen learned Dutch so much did she identify with that side of her family. Her family was vegetarian, and maintained an organic garden. They had generally progressive views, belong to a Unitarian Church and supporting various causes. In addition, Frank and Maria were Theosophists, and introduced their children to the mystical tradition.
Supposedly, Helen’s birth was interpreted in Theosophical terms. She was seen by her parents, and other Theosophists in their cohort, as the reincarnation of Piet Meuleman, an important Danish Theosophists whom her parents had known. Another’s biographer—from whom most of the above comes—Margaret O. Killinger, wrote in “The Good Life of Helen K. Nearing”: Helen “became the most devout follower of theosophy in her family and a lifelong spiritual seeker. By age thirteen, she learned to read people’s palms, studying the lengths of their fingers and the depths and position of the lines on their hands for insight into their character. She analyzed handwriting and collected autographs, believing both were likewise revealing. [She] later communed with fairies and would become a dowser who skillfully located water sources though a diving rod, as well as an inveterate practitioner of the Ouija board.”
In 1917—when she was thirteen—Helen went to Christian Science camp in New Hampshire, because her parents feared she was too bookish and solitary. Even so, she said she remained isolated during the summer. She graduated from Ridgewood High School in 1921. Afterwards, she went to Holland to study violin, where she stayed with another Theosophist. Unexpectedly, she moved very near the center of the (admittedly fragmenting) Theosophical world. Jiddu Krishnamurti, a British Indian, had been groomed to be the new world leader of Theosophy; in 1921, he visited Amsterdam—and fell in love with Helen. The romance would continue, in some form, for several years (she was also romantically entangled with his brother), as Helen became increasingly steeped in Theosophy, coming to know not only Krishnamurti, but also the head the Society Annie Besant. In 1923, she moved to Vienna for both educational and Theosophical reasons. In August of that year, she became the primary spiritual channel for Krishnamurti when he went into trances.
Helen returned to New York soon enough, but continued to travel in Krishnamurti’s circle, as it globe-trotted. During this time, she continued to move up through the Theosophical hierarchy and explore associated practices, such as yoga. In 1927, she finished studies in Australia, and also finally broke with Krishnamurti, who had been drifintg from her anyway, especially since his brother’s death, and would himself break from Theosophy in 1929. She returned to her family and in 1928 was asked by her father to have Scott Nearing speak at the local unitarian Church. Nearing was by this point well known for his pacifism, vegetarianism, and left-leaning politics. (He was associated with communism.) His own marriage was falling apart; he and Helen would become lovers. She was 24. He was 43. In Killinger’s account, Helen was not Scott’s only mistress: he was a frequent philanderer, and a neighbor who knew both Scott and his first wife said that Nellie refused torrent him a divorce because she did not want his next wife to suffer, as she had, his frequent adulteries. And, indeed, Helen was not pleased with Nearing’s bed-hopping, particularly when he became involved in paternity disputes.
Helen returned to New York soon enough, but continued to travel in Krishnamurti’s circle, as it globe-trotted. During this time, she continued to move up through the Theosophical hierarchy and explore associated practices, such as yoga. In 1927, she finished studies in Australia, and also finally broke with Krishnamurti, who had been drifintg from her anyway, especially since his brother’s death, and would himself break from Theosophy in 1929. She returned to her family and in 1928 was asked by her father to have Scott Nearing speak at the local unitarian Church. Nearing was by this point well known for his pacifism, vegetarianism, and left-leaning politics. (He was associated with communism.) His own marriage was falling apart; he and Helen would become lovers. She was 24. He was 43. In Killinger’s account, Helen was not Scott’s only mistress: he was a frequent philanderer, and a neighbor who knew both Scott and his first wife said that Nellie refused torrent him a divorce because she did not want his next wife to suffer, as she had, his frequent adulteries. And, indeed, Helen was not pleased with Nearing’s bed-hopping, particularly when he became involved in paternity disputes.