![Alexandra the tavlin](https://kumkoniak.com/114.png)
![alexandra the tavlin alexandra the tavlin](https://66.media.tumblr.com/afea64f13fb28546717890af755b7dbd/tumblr_inline_ng6324GSpf1qazwyd.jpg)
She frequently suffered from depression at this time (as she would throughout her life) and struggled with thoughts of suicide but took strength from the stoic beliefs of Epictetus and the teachings of Buddha. Her father had been friends with the anarchist Élisée Reclus and the writer Victor Hugo, both of whom also recognized the equality of women, and she was naturally drawn to the atmosphere she had been raised in. Having completed her studies in London she then moved to the Sorbonne, which would not accept her as a full-time student because she was a woman, and spent her spare time among the fin-de-siecle Parisian philosophers and occultists who valued and encouraged female empowerment. It was increasingly dangerous to be known for leftist beliefs in Brussels & so, in 1895, she accepted a position as singer at the Hanoi Opera House. She made David-Néel return to her worried parents, but a relationship had been forged in their brief meeting which would have a significant impact on the rest of David-Néel's life. Morgan was a member of the Society of Supreme Gnosis, an offshoot of Madame Blavatsky's Theosophical Society, and was very impressed with the young girl who showed up at her door.
![alexandra the tavlin alexandra the tavlin](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/2b/8e/85/2b8e85d2cf4eca3dcd9f5dc4e18640cb.jpg)
![alexandra the tavlin alexandra the tavlin](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uAleUNOQ7-Q/TjrsyM4rXYI/AAAAAAAABwk/vcODZC5ZPrs/s1600/00-miumiu_fall2011.jpg)
The booklet Morgan had sent fascinated her, and she decided to go meet and talk with her. She had become interested in the occult from a young age and had written to an English woman, Elisabeth Morgan, for literature. When she was 15, and the family was on vacation in Ostend, David-Néel walked into the Netherlands and booked passage to England. She once wrote that she was homesick for a land which was not her own and could never settle for the comfortable and predictable life her parents, and later her husband, hoped to provide her with. Whatever her motivation, her early flight from home would become a signature characteristic of her strong desire for freedom.
![Alexandra the tavlin](https://kumkoniak.com/114.png)