Blavatsky was a world traveler who eventually settled in India where, with Olcott, established the headquarters of the Society in Madras (now Chennai). Her first major book Isis Unveiled (1877) presented elements mainly from the Western wisdom tradition based on her extensive travels in Asia, Europe and the Middle East. Her second major work The Secret Doctrine (1888), contains a commentary on The Book of Dzyan, and is based upon what she called the Ancient Wisdom or Wisdom Religion, which is described as the underlying basis of all the religions of humanity. These writings, along with her Key to Theosophy and The Voice of the Silence are key texts.

According to her own story as told to a later biographer, she spent the years 1848 to 1858 traveling the world. She visited Egypt, France, Canada (Quebec), England, South America, Germany, Mexico, India, Greece and especially Tibet, where she studied for some years with the ascetics, to whom she referred as Brothers. Blavatsky was initiated for theosophical work while in Tibet.