Herbert A. Parkyn
Born	(1871-12-24)December 24, 1871 Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Died	December 22, 1927(1927-12-22) (aged 55) Highland Park, Illinois
Resting place	Cimetière Mont-Royal
Occupation	Doctor Author
Subject	New Thought hypnosis suggestion medicine occult
Literary movement	New Thought
Notable works	*Auto-Suggestion; What it is and How to Use It for Health, Happiness and Success *Suggestive therapeutics and hypnotism

Herbert Arthur Parkyn was a physician and author best known as a central figure in the New Thought movement in Chicago at the turn of the 20th century. In 1896 he founded the Chicago School of Psychology, the first institution in America to teach and accredit doctors in the practice of hypnotism and suggestive therapeutics. The school became a major center for research and education in the mental sciences and he trained many prominent leaders of the New Thought movement, including his protégés William Walker Atkinson and Sydney B. Flower, as well as collaborators such as Rev. Stanley LeFevre Krebs and Edward H. Cowles. Parkyn also established The Hypnotic Magazine, the first journal in the country dedicated to the study of hypnosis, and later launched Suggestion magazine, which became one of the most influential periodicals of advanced thought and the new psychology. With his most popular book Auto-Suggestion, he introduced the systematic study of self-suggestion through affirmations, preceding by more than two decades the international recognition later given to the work of Émile Coué.

In addition to his medical and publishing career, Parkyn was a prominent college athlete, winning championships in both hockey and football. He is credited with organizing one of the first international hockey games and played a significant role in establishing the sport as a major fixture in Canadian and American athletics.

Herbert A. Parkyn was born in Toronto, Canada, to Margaret Beale Atkinson and Colonel James Parkyn. His family was well established in Canadian industry and played a key role in the early development of Montreal. His paternal grandfather, William Parkyn, was responsible for launching the first iron steamships on the Saint Lawrence River and for harnessing the hydraulic power of the Lachine Canal at Cote Saint Paul, Montreal. There, the Parkyn family built the Mount Royal Mills, one of the most extensive milling operations in Canada and developed the surrounding town which is now an affluent neighborhood of Montreal, including constructing a large Gothic church where his grandfather served as a deacon.^{[1] : 47 [2][3][4]}

On his mother’s side, his uncle William Kirby Atkinson was the mayor of Ailsa Craig, Ontario and later the owner and editor of the Leader-Telegram, a major daily newspaper in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Another relative, his aunt Mary Ann Parkyn, married Rev. Samuel Nelson Jackson, who settled in the family’s Cote Saint Paul community. Herbert spent much of his youth among his Jackson cousins, including Samuel Hollister Jackson, later the 56th Lieutenant Governor of Vermont; Horatio Nelson Jackson, who gained national recognition as the first person to drive an automobile across the U.S., and later was a co-founder of the American Legion and the owner of the Burlington Daily News; and John Holmes Jackson, who twice served as mayor of Burlington, Vermont. The family connections deepened when Herbert’s sister, Mabel Maude Parkyn, married their 1st cousin Samuel Hollister Jackson, making the two men both cousins and brothers-in-law. Parkyn and his Jackson cousins would maintain a close personal and professional relationship throughout their lives.^{[5]: 48-60 [6][7][8][9][10][11]}

Parkyn’s uncle, Rev. Samuel Nelson Jackson, was a medical doctor as well as a prominent Congregational minister, and he had a profound and lasting influence on Parkyn’s future career as a prominent doctor and teacher in the New Thought movement.^[5]: 56-59

Over the course of Rev. Jackson's career he held many pastorates including in Toronto and Kingston, and rose to positions of national and international influence within the Congregational Church. He served as Chairman of the Congregational Union of Ontario and Quebec, Editor of the Canadian Independent, and President of the Congregational Publishing Company. As General Secretary of the Congregational Missionary Society, he established the Pan-Congregational Council, the first organization to unite Congregational churches worldwide. For eighteen years he was also a Director and member of the Faculty of Theology at the Congregational College of Victoria where he authored A Handbook of Congregationalism.^{[12][5]: 56-59}

It was not only Parkyn’s exposure to his uncle’s work as a physician, minister, educator, editor, and organizer that left a deep impression on him, but also his immersion in Congregationalism itself. The Congregational Church emphasized self-governance, spiritual equality, and freedom of conscience in interpreting the Creator. These principles would strongly influence Parkyn’s outlook, while also influencing the New Thought movement. Congregationalism likewise served as the religious foundation for Mary Baker Eddy, who was nurtured in the faith and joined the Congregational church before founding Christian Science.^[13]

In 1891, Parkyn graduated from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. The following year, he completed the examinations of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario and received his medical degree from the Queen's University Faculty of Medicine.^[14][15] He pursued postgraduate studies at McGill University Medical College in Montreal, followed by additional training at the Medical College of the University of Toronto. Early in his medical studies, Parkyn became intensely interested in the psychology of the mind and undertook a focused study of the science of hypnotism. He continued to develop his understanding of suggestive therapeutics and psycho-therapeutics throughout his entire academic training. In 1894, he relocated to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and enrolled in the University of Minnesota, where he began working closely with the dean of the dental school, Dr. W. Xavier Sudduth, on experiments with hypnosis.^{[16]: 6 [17][18][19]}

Before Herbert A. Parkyn became a prominent doctor of psychology and leader in the New Thought movement, he was a legendary collegiate athlete, excelling in both hockey and football. He was also instrumental in organizing some of the earliest hockey games in Canada and the United States. In 1886, Parkyn and a group of students from Queen's University arranged a game against the Royal Military College, played on the ice of Kingston Harbour. This match is recognized as the first organized hockey game between two Ontario-based teams and sparked a historic rivalry between the schools, one of the oldest in ice hockey history. In 1888, Parkyn served as the captain and secretary for the Queen's University Hockey Club as they were named the first hockey champions of Kingston, Ontario. That year, the team played the Rideau Hall Rebels, which included two sons of Lord Stanley.^[20][21][22]

During his time at the University of Toronto, Parkyn captained both the Victoria Hockey Club and the Toronto University College Hockey Club, while also serving as secretary of the newly formed Ontario Hockey Association. In this role, he helped determine how Ontario teams would participate in the newly established Stanley Cup championship and coordinated matches among school and club teams throughout the province.^{[23][24][25][26][27][28][29]}

Parkyn was also a prominent football player in Canada during a period when the game closely resembled rugby. He played center halfback and fullback for Queen's University and was the team's leading scorer. In 1890, the team played in the Ontario Rugby Football Union (ORFU) Cup Championship but was defeated by Hamilton, Ontario. In 1892, Parkyn played for the University of Toronto "Varsity" (later the "Varsity Blues") team, helping lead them to victory in the ORFU Cup Championship defeating the mighty Ottawa College Club. The following year, in 1893, he was named Honorary Vice President of the Queen’s University football team and took the field in several games as the team won both the ORFU Cup Championship and the Dominion Football Championship. That same year, he also played with the Toronto Athletic Club. During his time playing college sports in Canada, Parkyn was regarded as the best hockey player and the best football kicker in Ontario.^{[30][31][32][33][34]: 76 [35]}

His brother, William Parkyn II, was also a football star, captaining the Windsor University team before his sudden death from malarial fever in 1885 after a game against the Michigan Wolverines.^[36]

Parkyn was also a standout Canadian cricket player. In 1894 he became assistant secretary of Toronto’s Rosedale Cricket Club, where he played alongside Hall of Famer George Lyon, who that year set a Canadian record of 238 not out that stood for four decades.^[37][38]

In 1894, Parkyn enrolled in the University of Minnesota’s Dental College and joined the football team. The university was extremely excited to have Parkyn as part of their team and to help develop their football program. Although the university had fielded its first football team a decade earlier, the sport was still gaining traction in the region. Unlike the more established football programs at eastern Ivy League schools and Canadian universities, the teams in the midwest relied on recruiting experienced players and faculty from those institutions to help organize and build their teams. Parkyn, a former member of the celebrated "Canadian Eleven" and widely considered one of the finest football players in Canada, brought an immediate boost to the team’s profile and recruitment ability. At six feet two inches and 195 pounds, he was the only graduate student on the roster. Playing fullback, he took on most of the running, punting, and kicking duties, becoming known for his ability to reliably drop kick goals from distances of up to 40 yards. His dominant play on the field, combined with his growing reputation in hypnosis, earned him local nicknames such as "Doc," "the Hypnotizer," and "Svengali" Parkyn. He led the team in scoring during the 1894 and 1895 seasons, and in 1895 the Minnesota Gophers were named Champions of the Northwest..^{[39][40][41][42][43][44][45]}

In December 1894, Herbert A. Parkyn was unanimously elected to oversee the University of Minnesota’s winter sports program. His primary objective was to establish an ice hockey team at the university. Parkyn believed there was already a strong base of capable skaters among the football players, many of whom had experience with ice polo, and that assembling a full team would not be difficult. He was also aware that Canadian teams, particularly one from Winnipeg, would likely be interested in competing if the university could field a trained squad. Parkyn presented his proposal to the university’s general athletics committee, outlining the potential benefits of forming a hockey club. He suggested that arrangements could be made to use the ice at Athletic Park in Minneapolis, which already had available facilities including lockers, baths, and dressing rooms. His plan was well received, and he was unanimously elected director of the new club. Dr. W. Xavier Sudduth, the Dean of the Dental School, was named president and Jesse Van Valkenburg served as secretary. Parkyn took on multiple roles as manager, coach, and a central player for what would become the university’s first hockey team, officially formed in January 1895.^{[46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54]}

Later that month, Parkyn organized a series of matches at an outdoor rink located at 11th Street and 4th Avenue South in Minneapolis. These games were among the first ice hockey contests ever played in Minnesota—and possibly in the United States. Some historians believe the University of Minnesota became only the second college in the nation to play the game, following a December 1894 match by Johns Hopkins University. On February 18, 1895, Parkyn arranged an international match between the newly formed University of Minnesota team and the highly regarded Winnipeg Victorias. The game took place at Athletic Park in downtown Minneapolis and is considered one of the earliest international ice hockey matches.^{[55][56][57][58]}

The event drew considerable attention, with local press describing the matchup enthusiastically: "The game is to be played Monday afternoon by Winnipeg and the University of Minnesota. The Winnipeg team are champions of the world and they have just returned from a rough trip through eastern Canada where they defeated without too much trouble Montréal, Toronto, Victoria, Ottawa, Québec, and the Kingston Limestones. Dr. H. A. Parkyn has been coaching the boys every afternoon and has a couple of stars. Dr. Parkyn will play center forward and his long experience with the Victoria team of Toronto, one of the best, makes him a fine player. The excitement of these games is intense and surpasses that at a football game." While Winnipeg won the match 11–3 and later claimed the Stanley Cup, the game marked the beginning of ice hockey as a lasting sport at the University of Minnesota and in the region.^{[55][59][56][60][61][58][62]}

In 1896, after moving to Chicago, Parkyn founded a hockey team affiliated with the Chicago Athletic Association. Taking on the dual roles of manager and captain, he led the team for several years, organizing high-profile matches in Montreal, Toronto, Pittsburgh, and Minneapolis.^[63][64] In 1901 he established a hockey team at the Kenwood Country Club in Chicago that would play regional matches against other local club teams in Chicago. Opponents included teams from Hyde Park, Highland Park, Lake Forest, Evanston, Riverside, and Washington Park, contributing to the development of competitive hockey across the region.^{[65][66][67][68][69][70]}

While playing football at the University of Minnesota, Parkyn became the center of a national controversy during a time of increasing scrutiny over amateur athletics. Following the successful 1895 championship season by the Minnesota Golden Gophers, concerns were growing over the practice of universities paying athletes. In 1895, Harper's Weekly published a critical article by reporter Caspar Whitney, aimed at exposing alleged corruption in college sports. The author accused several western institutions of recruiting and paying "tramp athletes." The article reserved its harshest criticism for the University of Minnesota, claiming the school had paid Parkyn $500 to play football. Although no official rules at the time prohibited such payments, debates over the future of amateurism in college sports were intensifying, as the practice of recruiting and secretly compensating athletes was widespread among Midwest colleges.

The incident caused a significant stir in the press, with the story quickly gaining national traction. The University of Minnesota, eager to distance itself from the controversy, vehemently denied having paid Parkyn to play football. To avoid further scrutiny, both the team and university officials urged Parkyn not to make any public statements. The coverage quickly turned into a media back-and-forth with local newspapers largely defending the university, while Harper’s Weekly stood by its accusations.^[71][72]

The Harper’s piece had gone especially hard on Parkyn, capitalizing on his growing public profile, not only as a star player but also as a nationally recognized figure for his pioneering work in hypnosis at the Dental School. The reporter, eager to craft a sensational exposé, saw in Parkyn the perfect high-profile target to propel the story into national headlines. The controversy sparked a broad public debate and intensified calls for reform in college athletics, contributing directly to the eventual formation of the Big Ten Conference.^[73][74]

Behind the scenes, the reality was more complicated. Parkyn had, in fact, been promised $500 by the university to return and play during the 1895 season. Earlier that year, both he and his professor Dr. W. X. Sudduth, had left Minnesota to open a joint medical practice in Chicago, with plans to eventually launch a full hypnotic sanitarium. However, those plans were temporarily delayed when Sudduth’s father passed away, requiring him to travel for several months to settle the estate. During that time, the University had actively recruited Parkyn to come back to play with the football team. Although now based in Chicago and already playing for the Chicago Athletic Association, Parkyn agreed to return, but only under the condition that the university would pay him $500 to cover travel expenses and help maintain his Chicago office. They would also agree to enroll him in the medical school and support his continued study of hypnosis. When the scandal broke, the university not only denied any payment arrangement but had also failed to honor its promises to pay Parkyn the $500. Harper’s Weekly highlighted this breach in its reporting and revealed that the university had actively worked to silence Parkyn, even after he had already initiated communication with reporters to clarify the situation.^[75]

Despite his efforts to clear his name, Parkyn decided to step away from the University of Minnesota football program following the 1895 championship season. Parkyn's love for the game, however, didn’t end there. After moving to Chicago in 1896, he continued playing with the Chicago Athletic Association football club with whom he had already played several games during the 1895 season. The episode marked the beginning of a pattern that would repeat throughout his life, as he faced ongoing conflicts with the press and repeated cases of personal defamation.^{[76][77][61][78][79]}

At the same time that Parkyn was excelling in hockey and football, he was also making a name for himself in the field of medicine, particularly in suggestive therapeutics and the use of hypnosis as a tool for treatment and healing. Between 1892 and 1894, during his postgraduate studies in Toronto, he had focused on developing his knowledge of hypnotic suggestion and had opened a medical office where he had treated approximately 243 cases, relying primarily on hypnotism as the method of treatment.^{[80]: 6 [81][82]}

During his time in Toronto, Parkyn developed a strong foundation in hypnotism and quickly demonstrated a high level of proficiency in inducing hypnotic states in patients. By the time he began working alongside other established practitioners, he was already well-versed in the subject. Parkyn's abilities to quickly put patients in states of hypnosis was well documented and the famous stage mentalists, Newmann the Great, had declared that there was no better hypnotist than Dr. Parkyn.^[80][83][84]

In 1894, Parkyn relocated to the Dental School at the University of Minnesota to study and work under Dr. W. Xavier Sudduth, the institution’s dean. Dr. Sudduth was internationally famous as both a scientist and lecturer, having devoted the previous fifteen years to the study of hypnotism, including advanced training in Vienna, Berlin, and Heidelberg. While in Europe, he had studied the emerging ideas of Hippolyte Bernheim on suggestive therapeutics, developed at the Nancy School in France and influencing many contemporary physicians, including Albert Moll in Berlin, Auguste Forel, Richard von Krafft-Ebing and Sigmund Freud in Vienna.^{[85][86][87][88][89][90][91][92]}

Parkyn’s connection to Dr. W. Xavier Sudduth was influenced by his cousin, J. Holmes Jackson, who had studied under Dr. Sudduth at the Philadelphia Dental College from 1886 to 1890.^[93][94] Before taking up his post at Minnesota, Sudduth was the head of the Dental and Anatomy departments of the Medico-Chirurgical College of Philadelphia which had absorbed the Philadelphia Dental College in 1886.^[88][89][90] In the 1860s, hypnosis was introduced as part of the curriculum at the Philadelphia Dental College by John H. McQuillan (1826–1879), who held the position of Professor of Physiology. McQuillan, along with William H. Atkinson (1815–1891), the first president of the American Dental Association, studied the use of hypnosis as a method of anesthesia in dental procedures. They were also both associated with spiritualism, and drew on elements of mesmerism and Swedenborgianism in their teaching. These ideas continued to be a part of the school during the time that Parkyn's cousin J. Holmes Jackson, studied there under Dr. Sudduth.^[95]

In 1890, Dr. Sudduth had initially accepted an offer to become dean of dentistry at the newly founded Philadelphia Medical Polyclinic. However, before he formally assumed that role, the University of Minnesota called with an offer for him to serve as dean of its Dental School in Minneapolis, a position Sudduth ultimately chose to accept.^[96][97] Parkyn had many connections and was well acquainted with the Minneapolis area. His uncle, William K. Atkinson, had moved to nearby Eau Claire, Wisconsin in 1885, where he purchased The Leader newspaper. Parkyn was a frequent visitor and spent summers at Atkinson’s large family estate on Lake Chetek, a favored retreat for Minneapolis residents.^{[83][98][80][99]}

Dr. Sudduth was also actively involved in the university’s football and hockey programs alongside Dr. Parkyn. He was a mascot for the football team and served as president of the newly formed hockey team that Parkyn had established in Minnesota. During train rides with the teams, he and Parkyn would entertain and astonish teammates with impromptu demonstrations of hypnosis on fellow players.^[100]

By 1894, Dr. Sudduth had firmly established himself at the University of Minnesota, though he had not yet introduced hypnosis into the school’s public clinical work. However, just before Parkyn’s arrival, he secured permission from the university’s president to begin conducting hypnosis experiments within the medical department’s daily clinics. This would be the first public clinic in the country to use hypnosis in its treatments. Over the following two years, Dr. Sudduth and Dr. Parkyn carried out more than a thousand experiments, focusing primarily on the use of hypnosis as an alternative to chemical anesthetics in dental and surgical procedures. They also held several public demonstrations showcasing the power of suggestion and hypnotic techniques. A wide range of operations, including complex tooth extractions involving deep incisions into the gums and even tumor removals, were successfully performed with hypnosis as the sole anesthetic, with patients reporting no pain during the procedures. Hypnosis also proved to be a valuable tool in treating various mental afflictions, including addictions, stammering, and even in enhancing musical proficiency.^{[101][102][103][104][105][106][107]}

Like Dr. Sudduth, Dr. Parkyn was also deeply influenced by the work being done at the School of Suggestion in Nancy, France. There Ambroise-Auguste Liébeault, know as the "father of modern hypnotherapy" and Hippolyte Bernheim had rejected the older theories of animal magnetism, embracing instead a psychological understanding of hypnosis. Observing clear parallels between natural sleep and hypnotic trance states, they viewed hypnosis as a condition that could be reliably induced through suggestion. It was with the publication of Bernheim’s Suggestive Therapeutics in 1886 that hypnosis started to be treated as a legitimate scientific practice.^{[108][109][110][82]}

In a closed lecture and demonstration held at the University and attended by 50 doctors, attorneys, and other professionals, Dr. Sudduth and Dr. Parkyn strongly dismissed the idea of hypnotic influence as a valid legal defense for crime. They argued that the moral consciousness remains active in a hypnotic state and that according to their research, a person cannot be made to commit a crime under hypnosis. Therefore, the use of hypnosis as a legal defense is invalid, comparable to, but even less excusable than using drunkenness as a defense. They discussed recent high-profile cases, such as one in Eau Claire that had falsely sensationalized hypnosis in the press. Parkyn, who investigated the Eau Claire case firsthand, concluded it was driven by hysteria and public speculation rather than any genuine hypnotic influence.^[111]

Dr. Parkyn, with the assistance of Dean Sudduth, then conducted live demonstrations where they attempted to use hypnotic suggestion to compel hypnotized subjects to commit small simulated crimes to test the limits of suggestion. One subject was told he was part of a gang and instructed to steal a pocket watch from a man in the room. Although visibly under suggestion, he froze and refused to act. Another subject was urged to steal Dr. Sudduth’s handkerchief while he appeared distracted. Instead of complying, the subject became irritated and accused Parkyn of trying to trick him, ultimately refusing with clenched fists and a confrontational stance.^[112]

The demonstrations continued with more imaginative scenarios, including rats and wolves crawling up a subject's legs, which led to dramatic reactions and imaginary revolver fire. When told a bear was attacking and handed a stage dagger, the same subject clutched the knife but would not use it, even as Sudduth, acting as the bear, clawed and dragged him across the floor. This contrast—between the subject’s enthusiastic imaginary violence against animals and his refusal to harm a human figure, was used by Sudduth to highlight the persistence of moral restraint under hypnosis.^[112]

As the tests escalated, Parkyn attempted to push the subjects further by instructing them to forge checks or stab audience members with pasteboard daggers. These efforts repeatedly failed. One subject stared at the dagger and, after hesitation, leapt up and physically grappled with Parkyn rather than follow through. Another subject, more verbal and witty, caught inconsistencies in the fake checkbook and refused to participate unless given a “gold pen.” Even then, he hesitated, citing the dean’s good character, and declined to sign the check. When pressured further with threats, the subject launched into a physical struggle with Parkyn, landing real blows before being restrained.^{[112][111][113]}

Later, another subject was told he and a chair down the hall were magnetic and must come together. He immediately rushed off, crashing into the furniture in an attempt to fulfill the suggestion. In another case, a Yale educated attorney was influenced through verbal suggestion alone, without being hypnotized. He was made to perform a series of ridiculous actions—jerking his leg, calling himself the wrong name, and losing control of his arm—purely through the power of suggestion. Dean Sudduth concluded the demonstration by warning how similar techniques, when used in courtrooms by aggressive attorneys, could easily manipulate testimony from timid or untrained witnesses. The evening's experiments showed the surprising reach of hypnosis, but also its limits, especially when ethical boundaries were crossed.^[113]

The period during which Dr. Parkyn and Dr. Sudduth conducted hypnosis experiments at the University of Minnesota was not without controversy. Their groundbreaking work attracted considerable attention, some of it unwelcome from local dentists and members of the Minneapolis Dental Society, who grew resentful of the recognition the university’s dental clinic was receiving. Critics leveraged the press to portray the experiments as dangerous and lacking scientific credibility. Despite strong support from the university administration and the president of the Minneapolis Dental Society, public opinion began to turn, swayed by sensationalized reports. By late 1894, mounting pressure led the university to request that Parkyn and Sudduth cease all hypnosis-related experiments on campus. The two doctors decided to continue their work privately. In early 1895, Dr. Parkyn established a medical office in Minneapolis, where he and Dr. Sudduth resumed their clinical use of suggestion and hypnosis outside the university’s involvement.^{[114][115][116][117]}

Ultimately, unable to pursue his passion for teaching and lecturing on hypnosis within the university system, Dr. Sudduth resigned as dean of the University of Minnesota Dental School in the spring of 1895. He accepted a new position at the University of Chicago, where he could continue his research and deliver lectures on hypnosis in a more academically supportive environment. Despite the move, Sudduth and Parkyn remained collaborators, opening a joint medical office at 100 State Street in Chicago and planning the launch of a future full-scale hypnotic sanitarium in the city.

In April 1895 at the Midland Hotel in Chicago, Dr. Parkyn and Dr. Sudduth gave a private demonstration in telepathy, mind reading, and hypnotism for invited guests. While presented as an educational event rather than a performance, the demonstrations captivated the audience. Parkyn and Sudduth emphasized that the feats, often attributed to mind reading, could be explained through psychological and physiological principles such as muscle reading and sleight of hand. Experiments included blindfolded object-finding, card identification, and the apparent reading of secret written questions and thoughts, each of which was later explained through logical methods, including impressions left on writing pads and psychological suggestion. Their hypnotism demonstrations showed how heightened senses and focused attention in a trance state could lead to seemingly extraordinary perception. Despite their efforts to demystify each act, many attendees remained unconvinced, highlighting the power of illusion and suggestion. Parkyn and Sudduth would continue their efforts in coming years to expose the tricks and methods underlying performance hypnotism, telepathy, and related practices.^[118]

In June 1895, both men were granted their Illinois State Board of Health certificates, officially authorizing them to practice medicine and surgery in the state. They began treating patients at their spacious, multi-room office at 100 State Street and also provided treatments at the Oak Park sanatorium.^[119] However, in September 1895, their plans took an unexpected turn when Dr. Sudduth's father died and he inherited a substantial fortune. This required him to travel to San Francisco for an extended period to settle his father's estate. He also decided to spend several additional months in Europe to deepen his expertise in hypnosis by studying the latest developments at the leading schools in Paris, Nancy, and Berlin. ^{[120][121][122][123][80]: 6 [124][125][72][126]}

Dr. Sudduth and Dr. Parkyn had already gained some local support in Chicago from individuals interested in their hypnotic research and plans to open a sanitarium. Dr. William F. Waugh, a well known therapeutic physician and dean of the newly established Illinois Medical College, had joined them as a business partner. When their plans were temporarily delayed, Dr. Waugh, eager to remain involved in the partnership, quickly offered to create a Chair of Psychotherapeutics for Parkyn, marking the first such position ever established at a medical school in the United States. At the same time, Parkyn’s football friends in Minneapolis were actively calling for his return. Ultimately, with an offer of $500 on the table and Dr. Waugh’s consent to postpone the faculty appointment until the following term, Parkyn agreed to return and play for the University of Minnesota during the 1895 season. It was during this period that the pay-to-play controversy surrounding Parkyn emerged, with critics accusing him of receiving compensation to play football at Minnesota. The scandal grew so contentious that even Dr. Waugh and Dr. Sudduth became entangled in the dispute and were compelled to issue public statements to clarify the situation.^{[120][121][122][123][80]: 6 [124][125][72][126][127][75]}

By the 1890s, Chicago was already a center of the ideas that Dr. Parkyn would devote his career to exploring. In the mid-1880s, Emma Curtis Hopkins, a former student of Mary Baker Eddy, had founded the Emma Curtis Hopkins College of Christian Science and the Hopkins Metaphysical Association, helping to establish the city as a hub for mental science. In 1893, the Parliament of the World’s Religions, held during the Chicago World’s Fair, marked the first formal gathering of Eastern and Western spiritual leaders and introduced a wide audience to themes of religion, esotericism, and the occult. Many participants remained in Chicago following the event, contributing to the growth of a spiritual and metaphysical movement that quickly gained momentum in the city. This movement would come to be known as New Thought, a term that Parkyn and his collaborators would help to popularize. Rooted in the belief that thoughts shape reality, it emphasized mental healing, positive thinking, and the use of suggestion as a tool for both physical and emotional well-being. The city became home to a growing network of metaphysical schools, mind-curists, lecturers, and publishers who sought to merge emerging ideas in psychology with spiritual insight and esoteric occult traditions like hermeticism, kabbalism and theosophical philosophy.^{[80][128][129][130]}

Following the end of the 1895 football season, Parkyn made a permanent move to Chicago in January 1896. Parkyn would resume his medical work at the offices in the Reliance Building at 100 State Street and he would offer hypnosis treatments at the Hyde Park sanitarium.^[131]

In February 1896, Dr. Parkyn took the faculty position as chair of psycho-therapeutics at the Illinois Medical College, that Dr. William F. Waugh had offered him back in September of 1895.^[132][133] Parkyn had also arranged with Dr. Waugh, the dean of the Illinois Medical School, to incorporate his hypnosis treatments into their public clinics. Initially, the school and the press showed strong enthusiasm and was reported in the Chicago Tribune and other newspapers as a sign of progressive thinking in American medicine, drawing comparisons to the use of hypnotic suggestion in French medical practice. However, the proposal met strong resistance from within the college itself. Conservative faculty and administrators, upset by the media attention and concerned about reputational risks, opposed the clinic. Numerous physicians spoke out against the initiative in the press, and the situation escalated to the point where many of the faculty at the medical school threatened to resign if the plan moved forward. Under mounting pressure, the school ultimately withdrew its support and canceled the integration of hypnosis into its clinics. Parkyn, however, was neither surprised nor discouraged. Having already faced resistance to the emerging science of hypnotism, he remained undeterred. His work with the medical school had always been intended as a stepping stone to a larger goal: the eventual launch of a private clinic with Dr. Sudduth, where they could freely pursue their research and treatments without institutional constraint.^[134][135] There were no hard feelings between them, and Dr. Parkyn continued working with the college for several months in the role of "Lecturer on Psycho-Therapeutics" and Dr. Waugh would go on to collaborate with Parkyn for many years to come.^{[136][137][138]}

In March 1896, Parkyn was part of a groundbreaking experiment in Chicago to successfully capture the first X-ray image of the ribs of a living person. This was only made possible through the use of hypnotism to maintain complete stillness during the long exposure time. While early X-ray photography had managed to image hands, feet, and even some larger joints, photographing the chest had proven impossible due to constant rib movement from breathing and the depth of tissue involved. Dr. Parkyn joined forces with electrical experts from the Ozone Company located in the Masonic Temple Building and photographer Fred D. Foss to attempt the feat.^[139][140]

Using a Crookes tube and induction coil built in Chicago, Parkyn hypnotized a subject into a deeply relaxed, nearly motionless state. He slowed the subject’s pulse and breathing through suggestion, allowing for a multi-hour exposure. The resulting image captured a visible outline of the ribs, the first time such a result had been achieved through the body of a living human. The experiment proved that long-exposure X-ray photography of the torso was possible under controlled conditions. The team continued to refine their techniques, using Parkyn’s skill in hypnosis and the power of their custom equipment to get an image of the entire living skeleton.^[139][140]

In April 1896, Sydney Blanshard Flower became Dr. Parkyn’s business manager and publicist starting with the release of Hypnotism Up to Date, a book composed of interviews and experiments with Parkyn. Alongside the book, Flower conducted and syndicated several newspaper interviews with Parkyn, all aimed at generating publicity for the hypnosis clinic and school Parkyn planned to open in Chicago later that summer.^{[141][142][143]}

Parkyn and Flower’s professional relationship would span the entirety of their careers, with Sydney B. Flower later emerging as a key figure in the New Thought movement. Before formally working together, their lives had intersected in several notable ways. Flower, a British immigrant from a wealthy family, had settled in Winnipeg, where he became known for his athletic accomplishments. In 1895, he held the title of tennis champion of Manitoba and the Dakotas and was a leading cricket player in 1894. He also served as a sports reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press for several years. During the same period, Parkyn was actively involved with Toronto’s Rosedale Cricket Club, serving as assistant secretary and organizing matches with clubs across Canada. In early 1895, Flower reported on Parkyn’s organization of the notable international hockey game between the Winnipeg Victorias and his newly formed University of Minnesota team. Parkyn’s also had strong ties to Winnipeg dating back to 1888, when his father, James Parkyn, took charge of the newly built Lake of the Woods Milling Company’s operations. While the mills were located approximately one hundred miles north, the company’s western headquarters were based in Winnipeg. Lastly, Flower had also lived in Minneapolis in 1893, where he demonstrated his writing talent through a series of editorials published in the Minneapolis Daily Times, covering issues such as urban infrastructure and labor reform.^{[144][145][146][147][148][149][150][151][152][153][154][155][156][157]}

In December 1895, Sydney B. Flower resigned from the Winnipeg Free Press and announced his relocation to Toronto, where the Parkyn family was living and where Herbert A. Parkyn frequently spent his winter holidays. In January 1896, Flower was in Toronto working with Parkyn on the completion of Hypnotism Up to Date. In the book, Flower is presented as the interviewer and Parkyn as the authority on hypnosis, but the content reflects that Flower's already had an advanced understanding of the subject. Just a couple of months later, he would publish his second book on the subject, A Study in Hypnotism. After their winter meet up in Toronto, Flower's joined Parkyn in moving to Chicago, where Hypnotism Up to Date was first published in April 1896 by Charles H. Kerr & Company at 56 Fifth Avenue. The book was later republished by The Psychic Publishing Company, which Parkyn and Flower founded a month later, operating from the same building as the Charles H. Kerr & Company.^{[158][159][160][161]}

The book was originally published just under the name of Sydney Flower, but it was later advertised as a co-authored work with Dr. Parkyn. Structured as a series of dialogues between a skeptical inquirer and the experienced Dr. Parkyn, it walks the reader through the principles and practical applications of hypnosis in a tone that is both accessible and persuasive. Sydney Flower opens the book by stating that he is just the mouth piece of Dr. Parkyn. Saying " If any should be disposed to give credit to the author of this book for his share in its production, let it be remembered that he is only the mouthpiece of another. It is to such men as...the "doctor" of these pages, that the honor of rescuing hypnotism from the clutches of the charlatan, and of presenting it in its natural form to the world, properly belongs."^[162][163]

The book argues that hypnotism is not mystical but a natural form of sleep, made accessible through focus and suggestion rather than magical powers or dominance. It claims anyone can be hypnotized, but only if they are willing, and presents hypnosis as a cooperative state where the critical mind steps back and the receptive mind becomes active. Central to the book is the power of suggestion, both from others and from oneself. The authors argue that many habits and behaviors stem from auto-suggestion and can be reshaped through positive reinforcement. They also reject the idea that hypnosis can override a person’s morals or will, offering examples of subjects who resist unethical commands. The book criticizes sensational portrayals of hypnosis in fiction and media, insisting they obscure its real value as a therapeutic tool.^[162]

As part of the publicity campaign for Dr. Parkyn’s upcoming school, Sydney Flower interviewed him in his role as the Chair of Psycho-Therapeutics at the Illinois Medical College, asking a series of questions about the medical applications of hypnosis. The article was widely syndicated across the United States and Canada, helping to establish Dr. Parkyn as a national figure in the emerging field of medical hypnotism.

Dr. Parkyn explained in the article that hypnotic treatment had shown great success in addressing a wide range of conditions, particularly nervous disorders such as epilepsy, stammering, hysteria, St. Vitus' dance, asthma, rheumatism, sciatica, and neuralgia. He highlighted its remarkable effectiveness in managing pain, including typhoid and migraine headaches, and its use in treating addictions to opium, cocaine, and alcohol. Parkyn emphasized that there was no single method of inducing hypnosis; successful induction depended on the individual, requiring careful study and adaptation. The key was to focus the patient’s attention entirely on a single thought or object. He acknowledged that the medical profession had been slow to accept hypnotism, but noted progress, particularly its official recognition as a therapeutic tool at the recent meeting of the American Medical Association. The article also claimed that Dr. Parkyn had hypnotized more patients than any other physician in the country, with over 2,000 cases to his name, including at least 1,200 in just the past two years^{[164][165][166]}

In June 1896, Dr. Herbert A. Parkyn founded the Chicago School of Psychology, the first institution in the United States dedicated exclusively to the study and application of suggestive therapeutics.^[167] The school was financed by Herbert’s father, James Parkyn, who had sold his interests in the Lake of the Woods Milling Company, then the largest flouring mill operation in the world and relocated from Toronto to Chicago in 1896 with Herbert’s mother and two sisters. James Parkyn served as a partner in the school, and the family lived together in the residential quarters on the upper floors of the building. The school was later incorporated March, 1897.^{[168][169][170]}

Initially the school was located at 255 Bowen Street just off of Cottage Grove Avenue in a very affluent south side neighborhood, but growing interest in its programs soon made expansion necessary. By 1897, it moved just a few blocks away to a large estate building at 4020 Drexel Boulevard, one of Chicago’s grandest avenues. Later that same year, the First Church of Christian Scientists began construction of a large Neo-Classical-styled national headquarters directly across the street. With both institutions operating in such close proximity, the area became a significant hub for the mental sciences, drawing in students, practitioners, and visitors from around the world.^{[171][172][173]}

Emerging at a time when the public's understanding of hypnotism was largely shaped by sensational accounts of European clinics, the school quickly gained national and international recognition for its clinical approach to the use of suggestion in medicine. The school purposely avoided adverting in newspapers or popular magazines, relying instead on professional medical journals and word of mouth to attract its students and clientele.^[174][171]

At the core of the school’s philosophy was the belief that all functions of the human body could be brought under the control of the mind. Parkyn taught that suggestive therapeutics worked by directing the patient’s mental focus to reinforce the body’s natural recuperative processes. According to this model, disease resulted from disruptions in the body’s vital forces, and health could be restored by aligning mental attention with proper physiological function.^[175]

The school offered structured courses in suggestion-based therapeutic methods, attracting physicians and students from across the country. Each month’s course consisted of twelve lectures and six clinic sessions, with additional clinical instruction provided during patient treatment. Students frequently included experienced medical physicians and dentists seeking to explore psychological techniques without the use of pharmaceuticals. A central feature of the institution was its free public clinic, which operated three mornings a week. Patients attended from Chicago and distant cities, as well as visiting physicians who often observed or brought their own chronic cases. The clinic averaged twenty-five patients per session. All cases were treated exclusively through verbal suggestion, with no concurrent use of medicine or electricity. Clinic records showed notable success rates. Treatments were conducted using verbal suggestion, often with the patient seated or reclined, and usually without the use of deep hypnosis. Emphasis was placed on the use of “normal” or waking suggestion. Dr. Parkyn also promoted what he called the “life essentials”: fresh air, exercise, sunlight, proper food, and water.^{[174][171][176][177]}

Instruction at the clinic was hands-on, with students observing live treatments and participating in discussions of diagnoses and suggested interventions. The operating room was designed to create a quiet, chapel-like atmosphere with dim lighting that was most conducive in achieving a highly suggestible state. The treatments were typically delivered in a tone described as steady and prayer-like, aiming to evoke physical and mental relaxation. The methodology differed markedly from the more dramatic techniques of stage hypnotists or earlier schools of mesmerism. Instead of focusing on trance like somnambulistic or cataleptic displays, the Chicago School emphasized a clinical, rational process to induce a suggestible state. Unlike older methods of hypnosis involving eye-fixation or physical manipulations, Parkyn’s approach was subtle and respectful, inducing immediate suggestibility with minimal overt effort. Parkyn was one of the first to promote auto-suggestion as a scientific method for influencing health and behavior through repeated, self-directed affirmations. He taught that focused mental repetition could shape physical and emotional conditions by acting directly on the subconscious. Parkyn distinguished auto-suggestion from hypnotism by emphasizing voluntary, internal influence rather than external control. His method required concentration, emotional conviction, and consistency.

He was the first physician to use the phonograph as a tool for delivering therapeutic suggestions. He would record repeated affirmations and curative phrases onto wax cylinders, allowing patients to listen to them regularly and even use them at home as part of their treatment. This method was designed to reinforce mental conditioning through consistent exposure to spoken suggestions. Parkyn found that the vibrations of the recorded voice attuned to the vibrational frequency of the patient carried psychological influences that acted directly on the subconscious mind.^[178][179] Students at his school reportedly experienced unintended physical effects from repeated exposure to clinical suggestions, reinforcing Parkyn’s view of the mind’s power over the body, even when not consciously directed at the observer.^{[174][171][180][181][182]}

Contemporary medical journals took note of the school’s work in suggestive therapeutics, with many praising its contribution to clarifying the underlying mechanisms behind various psychological healing systems, including Christian Science, mind reading, and non-hypnotic therapeutic methods. The Chicago School of Psychology became known not only as a center for instruction in suggestive therapeutics but also as a significant experimental site for investigating the clinical applications of psychological influence.^[174][171]

In an August 1896 feature article in The Chicago Chronicle, Dr. Herbert A. Parkyn laid out his theory of hypnotism, emphasizing its practical, non-mystical foundation. "The first thing we explain to patients is that there is nothing strange or mysterious about hypnotism or the cures it can support," he said. "We tell them the healing comes from within, they must do the work, and we simply assist. Most people can be hypnotized, regardless of mental strength. In fact, susceptibility is not a sign of weakness, as once believed. Sometimes it takes a few sessions to fully hypnotize someone, especially if their objective mind is highly active."

Parkyn described the central goal of treatment as quieting the objective mind, the part that processes sensory input, so the subjective mind becomes more impressionable. "When properly guided, the mind can influence the body in powerful ways. For example, with insomnia, patients often associate their bed with sleeplessness. We work to break that association and replace it with one of rest." He noted that most of the conditions treated at his institution were nervous disorders, but that functional and other diseases had also been addressed with success. "Some respond after just a few sessions, while others require more time. Demand has grown so rapidly that many patients are now on a waiting list." Parkyn added that nearly anyone could learn to hypnotize others, as the effectiveness of treatment often depended on the subject’s ability to quiet their own mind.^[183]

In April 1896, Dr. W. X. Sudduth returned from Europe, where he had studied recent developments in hypnotism and suggestive therapeutics, specifically at the Nancy School. Upon his return, he chose to remain within the academic institutional system rather than join Dr. Parkyn as a partner in founding a school and clinic. However, he continued to collaborate closely with Parkyn and his school, regularly delivering lectures and contributing numerous articles to Parkyn’s magazines in the years that followed. They also maintained a branch of the international Society for Psychical Research, which they had formed together, and conducted confidential experimental research at their shared offices at 100 State Street.^{[184][185][186]}

Their collaboration focused on the scientific investigation of ideas associated with occult and esoteric teachings, based on a shared belief that emerging scientific methods were approaching the ability to provide tangible explanations for these traditions. According to Parkyn, psychology was expected to "furnish the guides to lead us toward the truth" in the study of occult science. His stated objective was "to find a basis of fact on which to govern all theories regarding metaphysical and psychical processes and to account for all occult phenomena on purely scientific lines." Their research included observations on the parallels between religious and ceremonial practices and therapeutic suggestion. They studied elements of Catholic, Evangelist, and Ceremonial rituals, such as posture, music, incense, and sacramental rites, as structured techniques that induced a suggestible mental state, functioning in ways comparable to methods used in psychological therapy. ^{[187][188][189][190]}

They also explored how sound vibrations, light, and movement could influence mental and emotional states. This was influenced by the theory of the ancient Greeks, particularly the belief that harmony is the fundamental key of nature and that all organisms are expressions or manifestations of harmony. They had seen how using "sensitive electrical devices" to record musical notes onto a prepared plate, had produced forms resembling flowers. Specifically, they found that each note corresponded to a certain form, and that with each upward movement in the musical scale, a new petal was added to the flower shape. Other recordings showed shapes resembling marine shells, with spirals marked as delicately as those found in nature. These visual results were presented as evidence of a broader harmony in natural forms corresponding to musical vibration. For them this validated the ancient assertion of Solomon that "there was nothing new under the sun."^[191]

Their work included the use of psycho-physical exercises that combined controlled breathing, movement, and vocal tones as part of therapeutic practice. Patients were instructed to perform rhythmic motions while producing musical notes, with the intention of regulating mental and physical balance. Each patient’s keynote frequency was identified using a phonautograph, which measured vocal vibrations against standardized frequencies. Once identified, this frequency would be adjusted through sound-based exercises to encourage psychological harmony. In their theory of vibration rate of individuals the doctors held that each patient has a certain normal rate of vibration, or is responsive to a certain note. Curative suggestions, therefore, given in that pitch have a much greater effect than any other. Dr. Parkyn declared in early 1898 that he had proved conclusively that every human being was attuned to a certain note, though he never published the proof.^[192] Light and color were used through a McIntosh electro-thermal cabinet outfitted with colored incandescent bulbs. Treatments were applied according to the psychological effect of each color, with red used to stimulate, blue to calm, and green to reduce activity.^{[193][178][179][194]}

The McIntosh Battery and Optical Company, located at 98th State St. directly next door to Parkyn and Sudduth's offices at 100 State St., made the latest equipment for Electro-Therapeutics, X-Rays, and other experimental work. Parkyn and Sudduth used these devices in their research and they were heavily advertised in Parkyn's magazines.^[195]

Alongside his collaboration with Parkyn, Dr. Sudduth held multiple academic and professional roles. He served as an extension lecturer for the University of Chicago, chairman of the Psychological Society of the Medico-Legal Society of New York, and professor of morbid psychology at the Chicago Post-Graduate College of Medicine. He was a member of a large number of medical and scientific societies, both in this country and in Europe as well as organizations such as the Society for Psychical Research and the Chicago Esoteric Extension Association, which was devoted to the study of sacred books, mysticism, and the esoteric occult aspects of sociology, ethics, and philosophy. By maintaining his role as a respected scientist and lecturer on hypnotism at several prominent institutions, Dr. Sudduth played a pivotal role in introducing and legitimizing the research he conducted with Dr. Parkyn within academic circles.^{[196][197][198][199]}

In August 1896, Parkyn with his business manager and publicist, Sydney B. Flower, founded The Hypnotic Magazine, as an extension of the Chicago School of Psychology. Edited by Flower and published by their Psychic Publishing Company, it aimed to document and promote the use of hypnotism and suggestion in medical and therapeutic contexts. The magazine's stated purpose was to be “an investigation of the science of hypnotism, its uses and abuses, and its therapeutic possibilities."^[200][188]

Intended primarily for the medical profession, The Hypnotic Magazine positioned itself as a bridge between physical and psychical treatment modalities, at a time when mainstream medicine largely overlooked the role of mental states in illness and recovery. The editorial mission emphasized the importance of physicians understanding the psychological dimensions of disease and supported the integration of mental therapeutics alongside material remedies. Parkyn and Flower criticized the neglect of hypnotism in clinical medicine, attributing it to its association with unlicensed practitioners and its reputation as unrespectable due to misuse by charlatans.^{[200][201][188]}

Each issue of Hypnotic Magazine included editorial notes, contributions from physicians, correspondence, and case studies from the daily clinic. Regular contributors included notable figures such as Dr. W. Xavier Sudduth, Dr. William F. Waugh (Dean of the Illinois Medical College), Dr. Charles Gilbert Davis, Dr. Thomson Jay Hudson, James R. Cocke, George Wyld, X. LaMotte Sage, M. H. Lackersteen, and Dr. William Laurence Stevenson. The publication was praised by reviewers for its high standards and its role in demystifying hypnotism and encouraging a rational perspective on suggestion therapy. It was often listed alongside major national magazines such as Cosmopolitan, Harper’s, and Ladies’ Home Journal.^[200][188]

Each issue featured editorials, medical correspondence, and case studies drawn directly from Parkyn’s daily clinic at the Chicago School. Regular contributors included some of the most prominent names in the field at the time including Dr. Thomson Jay Hudson, Dr. W. Xavier Sudduth, W. J. Colville, Dr. George Wyld, Dr. Charles Gilbert Davis, Clark Bell (President of the Medico-Legal Society), Dr. M. H. Lackersteen, Henry H. Goddard, J.V. Daniels, Lloyd Kenyon Jones, Dr. William F. Waugh (Dean of the Illinois Medical College), Alvan C. Halphide, C. O. Sahler, William Lee Howard, Dr. James R. Cocke, Xenophon LaMotte Sage, Thomas Bassett Keyes, Edward B. Warman, William Henry Bischoff, Dr. William Laurence Stevenson, George C. Pitzer, Albro B. Allen, Dr. J. A. Dickey, Rev. John L Nevins, Dr. Albert H. Burr, and Dr. S. Herbert Britton.^[202]

The look of Hypnotic Magazine was so similar to The Metaphysical Magazine of N.Y., that the latter publicly commented on the imitation. They noted that Hypnotic Magazine had copied its size, typeface, layout, and even the color of the cover. The resemblance even extended to the publisher’s address, with both magazines being at "56 Fifth Avenue," one in New York and the other in Chicago. Rather than take offense, The Metaphysical Magazine responded with dry humor, acknowledging the imitation as a compliment and commending the excellent taste of its imitators. The two magazines would end up collaborating often and both advertised heavily in each other's magazines. ^[188][203]

This design template would also extend to two other mental science and metaphysical magazines that collaborated with Dr. Parkyn over the years.

Dr. Parkyn with his publicist and editor Sydney Flower, used Hypnotic Magazine to lead a campaign to defend hypnotism against scientific and public criticism. They described themselves as being at war with professors, physicians, and scientists who attempted to discredit hypnotism by associating it with mesmerism, clairvoyance, mind reading, fortune telling, and fakirism. They argued that such critics either misunderstood or deliberately misrepresented hypnotism, preventing its recognition as a legitimate scientific practice.^[204]

Parkyn continued his efforts to investigate telepathy and to expose any claims that weren't legitimate. In the January 1897 issue of Hypnotic magazine, Parkyn and Flower offered $50 to the first person that could demonstrate a simple feat of mind reading. For the test, they placed a dollar bill in a sealed envelope with the number on the bill only known to Dr. Parkyn and Flower. The mind-reader would have to either speak or write the number correctly to win the money.^[205][206]

They also held a privately arranged session at Parkyn’s Chicago School of Psychology where Parkyn and Sydney Flower conducted a series of telepathy experiments. Besides several of the pupils of the school a number of invited guests were present, including several doctors of note in the city. The guest of honor, however, was Henry H. Goddard of Clark University. The experiments involved both hypnotized and conscious participants and included attempts to guess numbers and letters, locate hidden objects, and reproduce drawings transmitted mentally from one room to another. In one case, a hypnotized woman correctly identified the number after a period of silent concentration. Another subject, trained in suggestion, successfully guessed the letter “S” as visualized by a second participant. However, these results were inconsistent, and repeated trials yielded mixed outcomes. Parkyn also experimented by touching the heads of hypnotized subjects and mentally transmitting numbers, successfully matching three out of six figures. Later trials sought to influence actions rather than thoughts, with subjects reproducing simple images seen only by someone else. Two of four attempts produced notable similarities.^[207]

While only thirteen of seventy-eight tests were considered successful, Parkyn concluded that some results suggested genuine thought transference beyond ordinary chance, warranting further study.^[208]

In 1897, Dr. Parkyn conducted an experimental demonstration to examine the effects of hasheesh on hypnotized subjects. Assisted by Dr. L. Hamilton McCormick, Parkyn placed five men into deep hypnosis and then administered doses of hasheesh to each. The aim was to determine whether the drug could compel confessions or reveal hidden thoughts when combined with hypnotic suggestion. Each subject responded differently. One man exhibited signs of terror, believing he was falling and pleading to be saved. Another claimed to see devils and reacted with fear. A third man gave what appeared to be a confession, stating he had stolen money. One subject alternated between laughter and weeping without clear coherence, and another remained resistant and largely unresponsive.^[209]

Dr. Parkyn reported that hasheesh intensified emotional responses and accelerated the transition from calm hypnotic states to episodes of mental instability. He noted that while one subject did make a confession, the truth of it was not confirmed. Parkyn concluded that hasheesh might amplify the effects of hypnosis but also introduced unpredictable and hallucinatory elements that made it unsuitable for extracting reliable information. He stated: "The experiment proves not that truth may be extorted under such influence, but that the mind becomes more unstable, more fantastic, and far less reliable." He affirmed that suggestion without narcotics remained the safer and more effective method for therapeutic or investigative purposes.^[210]

Esau, was the name a trained fox terrier of Dr. Parkyn, featured in the press as an early example of hypnotic suggestion applied to animals. Parkyn claimed that among animals, dogs exhibited the closest affinity to humans in voluntary attention and responsiveness, making them ideal subjects for hypnotic experimentation. Named after the biblical figure because he “came first,” Esau was subjected to a series of hypnotic and suggestive treatments from a young age. According to Parkyn, the dog learned 34 distinct tricks through suggestion alone, many of which no other dogs reportedly mastered. One such trick involved the dog obeying written commands to go upstairs to his bed. Another included the use of post-hypnotic suggestion to treat an imaginary illness, where Parkyn would softly assure the dog he was well, and Esau would immediately show signs of recovery.^[211][212]

Parkyn conducted demonstrations in which Esau responded to complex questions with physical gestures, barked the correct number of times corresponding to the number of people present, and performed advanced feats like pretending to pray, doing somersaults, yawning on command, and sitting up to mimic conversation. The dog was also said to exhibit sensitivity and affection in a near-human manner, such as kissing Parkyn’s fingers and gazing into his eyes. Parkyn used Esau’s training as proof of the effectiveness of psycho-therapeutics and suggestive methods on animals. He later announced plans to apply similar principles to human development by selecting 20 boys from the streets, aiming to train them into model citizens through suggestion, musical instruction, and character development by the age of 21.^[211][212]

The case of Esau was promoted as a pioneering demonstration of hypnotism’s potential reach beyond human subjects and into the realm of animal psychology and training.^[211][212]

As alternative systems of drugless healing expanded across the U.S., Parkyn became increasingly concerned about the inability of the public and sometimes the medical profession to distinguish between his scientifically grounded approach to Suggestion and the metaphysical claims advanced by Christian Science and other practices. Parkyn’s Chicago School of Psychology was frequently conflated with Christian Science in the eyes of the public, especially with the Christian Science national headquarters located directly across the street from his school. To address the confusion, Parkyn frequently spoke on the issue and wrote many articles to clarify his position.

While Christian Science claimed to cure illness through spiritual means and the denial of physical reality, Dr. Parkyn argued that any healing successes were due to Suggestion, an unconscious psychological process and not divine intervention. He believed that any therapeutic results observed in Christian Science healing were not the result of spiritual realization or divine intervention, but rather what he termed, “masked suggestion," a subconscious mental process that unintentionally improved bodily conditions. His most sustained criticism was directed at the teachings of Mary Baker Eddy in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. He argued that the book lacked logical coherence, was filled with contradictions, and departed from both science and theology. He objected to its denial of matter, disease, and death, and questioned how Christian Science accounted for illnesses in those incapable of belief, such as infants, animals, or the mentally ill. He pointed out that if suffering and sickness were mere illusions, there should be documented cases of Christian Science curing amputations or restoring lost limbs, yet no such evidence existed.^[213]

Parkyn also criticized Christian Science’s theological implications, noting that its claim that man is only “God’s idea” implied that God was responsible for human suffering, sin, and error. He found it contradictory that the book denied the existence of sin and evil, while simultaneously warning its followers that they would be persecuted and suffer for their beliefs. He took issue with Eddy’s control over the movement, noting that she discouraged independent writings, declined to treat patients herself, yet insisted her books were the exclusive source of curative knowledge. Parkyn viewed Christian Science not as a coherent medical or theological system but as a superstition built upon an unacknowledged psychological foundation, stating "that while Christian Science may have produced results, it did so through unrecognized mental influence, not through the metaphysical doctrines it professed."^[213]

Parkyn was concerned about the growing popularity of what he termed "irregular sects.” He noted that enrollment in these schools was nearly double that of conventional medical institutions, leading him to predict that such practitioners might soon outnumber and dominate the medical field. To counter the influence of these movements that attributed the mind’s healing power to supernatural forces rather than to suggestion, Parkyn and Sydney Flower initiated a campaign to support the creation of more professionally directed schools of suggestive therapeutics.^{[188][214][215]}

Parkyn and Flower also believed it was necessary to differentiate their Hypnotic Magazine from the growing number of untrained practitioners and stage performers who were freely using the term "hypnotism." So in December 1897, they officially renamed the publication The Journal of Medical Hypnotism to emphasize that they were an official medical journal. The journal now served not only as the official organ of the Chicago School of Psychology but also as a national bulletin, reporting on developments and successful treatments from affiliated schools across the country. ^[216][217]

Their stated goals were as follows: "The Journal of Medical Hypnotism is devoted to the exposition of the principles and practice of suggestive therapeutics. It is clear, simple, forcible, and direct. It teaches the science of suggestion, which is the essence of education. Its contributors are authorities in this work. There need be no mystery in hypnotism for those who wish to understand its phenomena. From the mystical magic of the past has evolved the scientific hypnotism of today. It is the duty of every parent, clergyman, lawyer, teacher, physician, and dentist to become familiar with the use and abuse of hypnotism. Knowledge is power. It is our work, through The Journal of Medical Hypnotism, to teach the public how simple in application and how powerful an agent for good hypnotic suggestion truly is."^[218]

Many of the graduates of Dr. Parkyn's Chicago School of Psychology had opened practices around the country, but only a few had gone on to establish schools to certify new practitioners. At the time, there were seven affiliated schools located in Des Moines, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Kingston, Kansas City, Chicago, and New York. Parkyn and Flower believed that many more were needed around the region and with Chicago being a hub for those drawn to the New Thought movement, the city should support multiple institutions dedicated to suggestive therapeutics.^[219][220]

Although Sydney Flower did not have the background of a formal medical training at major universities like Dr. Parkyn, he had spent two years studying and working directly under him. During that time, Flower became an accredited doctor of psychology through Parkyn’s school and had gained extensive experience in hypnotism, having observed and reported on thousands of cases alongside Parkyn. Flower had also participated in several hypnosis lectures and demonstrations, delivering the talks while Dr. Parkyn conducted live demonstrations on patients.^[221] By 1898, he was qualified to personally oversee a campaign to establish more affiliate schools in several cities. As part of the effort, he arranged for the journal to be printed each month in the different city he visited to highlight the newly founded school. By the time he returned to Chicago he announced that he had created three new schools.^{[222][220][223]}

In June 1898, only six months after its previous rebranding, The Journal of Medical Hypnotism was renamed to Suggestive Therapeutics. Going forward, their primary focus would be identified as "suggestive therapeutics," practiced through the controlled use of "suggestion." This shift aligned them with other medically professional institutions they collaborated with that were using similar terminology, such as the Illinois College of Psychology and Suggestive Therapeutics, C. O. Sahler’s School of Suggestive Therapeutics at his Sanitarium, and George C. Pitzer’s St. Louis School of Suggestive Therapeutics. Pitzer would soon also publish a book titled "Suggestion."^[224]

Parkyn and Flower had concluded that the word "hypnotism" should no longer appear in the magazine’s title. Parkyn describes this shift as follows; "We use the term "hypnotism" only with considerable hesitation as it's important for students to understand both the word and the state it describes. That said, based on hard-earned experience, we strongly encourage students of suggestion to avoid using the term "hypnotism" in both public and private settings. At the Chicago School of Psychology, the word has been deliberately abandoned and is used only during lectures for educational purposes. We have had many patients who would have avoided us entirely had they known we used hypnotism. Just as the word "love" evokes a web of associations, the word "hypnotism" triggers, for most people, ideas of the strange, sinister, or even evil. For that reason, most individuals instinctively avoid anyone labeled a hypnotist. You should never allow yourself to be described that way."^[225]

Sydney Flower, with his characteristic wit, summed it up succinctly "With the May number died the name “ Medical Hypnotism,” so far as this journal is concerned. We begin the new volume with a fairer title, one that has never been sullied and degraded. It was supposed on our part that we might in time educate the public to the extent, at least, of robbing the word “ Hypnotism” of its terrors, and of reinvesting it with some shreds of dignity. But public prejudice is not so easily allayed, and we are fain to confess ourselves beaten on this tack. It is advisable, therefore, to accept defeat with unconcern, and acknowledge that we cannot afford longer to kick against the pricks. The new venture, an old friend with a new face, is commended to your care, and we trust that our readers will welcome this nursling, which, with urbane demeanor, we present for their delectation and information.”^[226]

This change, however, was short-lived. Within a year, they began once again to prominently feature the term “hypnosis” on their magazine covers, even though it was no longer part of the publication’s title. They had come to realize that “hypnotism” was too deeply embedded in the public consciousness, and that using the term made the magazine’s focus more immediately recognizable and commercially effective.

As downtown Chicago emerged as a growing hub for the New Thought movement, Parkyn and Flower recognized the need to establish a stronger foothold in the city’s center. While their primary base of operations remained on the South Side, where Parkyn’s school played a leading role in the local New Thought community, the character of the movement was shifting. A wave of new institutions and practitioners offering a variety of occult and psychological instructions had begun setting up practices in the city’s newly constructed skyscrapers, particularly in and around the towering Masonic Temple. While Dr. Parkyn still maintained the downtown office in the Reliance Building with Dr. Sudduth,^[227] most of their work there was focused on experimental research involving vibrational sound, light frequencies, and other magnetic and electrical advanced techniques. Much of this remained confidential from the public and even from Flower, until sufficiently developed for press releases or the pages of the magazine. To expand their reach and capitalize on the growing downtown interest, Sydney Flower would establish a school of suggestive therapeutics in the Times-Herald building.^[228][229]

A new downtown Chicago school would serve both to broaden their presence and to reinforce their claim to the term "suggestive therapeutics." The magazine would also be relocated to the same building, with plans to launch a new publication connected to Parkyn’s Chicago School of Psychology. This new magazine would be titled Suggestions (later shortened to Suggestion), further strengthened their claim to both the terms "suggestive therapeutics" and 'suggestion" in the Chicago region.^[230]

The Flower school would also serve a strategic purpose of attracting the growing lay public's interest in mental science, a demographic increasingly targeted by various fringe and unlicensed practitioners drawn to Chicago’s expanding New Thought scene. Parkyn’s own institution, focused on legitimizing suggestive therapeutics within scientific and medical circles, was not positioned to accommodate this broader non-professional audience. As Sydney Flower explained in the inaugural issue of Suggestive Therapeutics, “The Chicago School of Suggestive Therapeutics has been opened for the treatment... and for the instruction of laymen in the science and practice of Suggestive Therapeutics. I leave to the other Chicago schools the work of instructing physicians and dentists in the practical application of suggestion, and am content to teach men and women of the lay brotherhood only.”^[226]

Flower would continue with the current version of the magazine he was editing and its Psychic Publishing Company and Parkyn would launch the new magazine using his school's national recognition to quickly garner a large subscription base. To bolster Flower’s image as an expert in the field, a long and detailed article outlining his experiments and views on hypnosis was arranged in a major Chicago newspaper and syndicated nationally. Dr. W. Xavier Sudduth was brought into the piece to lend it additional authority and reinforce Flower’s credibility.^[231]

By mid June of 1898, both the "Flower's Chicago School of Suggestive Therapeutics" and the newly named "Suggestive Therapeutics" magazine were launched. Parkyn's new "Suggestions" magazine would follow soon after in August. The ultimate goal of the strategy was to operate two coordinated publications, each aligned with a separate institution, thereby solidifying their influence throughout the region and also overshadowing the charlatan practitioners. At the time, their existing periodical had a subscription base larger than the next four leading New Thought publications combined, so launching another equally influential journal would allow them to fully dominate the field.^[188] With their widespread influence in the magazine field and their new branding, they positioned themselves as the primary publishing voice for medical schools of suggestive therapeutics across the country. This strategy established them as the leading authority in the field and attracted substantial advertising revenue from affiliated schools and related products, further magnified by the operation of two concurrent magazines.^[224][232]

At the time, magazines relied on qualifying for the heavily discounted second-class mail rate to be profitable, which required strict compliance with postal regulations. To obtain this rate, publications had to demonstrate that they were not merely serving as advertising vehicles for a business. Both editorial content and advertising were subject to close scrutiny by the postmaster. However, while educational institutions could be financially successful, they were not subject to the same commercial restrictions, as long as their publications offered the public useful information, such as research findings or expert commentary within their field. To meet these requirements, deliberate steps were taken to ensure that Suggestive Therapeutics magazine appeared as an independent, informative periodical rather than a direct extension of the Chicago School of Psychology.

To emphasize this distinction, ads were created stating that Parkyn's new magazine, Suggestions, was the continuation of The Hypnotic Magazine.^[233] They also made a deliberate effort to heavily feature Flower’s name with the title of his institution in all promotions, referring to it as "The Flower’s Chicago School of Suggestive Therapeutics." The postmaster would eventually became aware of their collaboration and Suggestive Therapeutics would end up losing its second-class mailing privileges and be forced to cease operations at the end of 1900.^{[234][235][236][237]}

In August 1898, Suggestions magazine (later Suggestion) was launched featuring what it termed “choice literary gems by the world's best known Mystics," with Dr. Parkyn as editor and M. J. Murphy as assistant editor. Its stated purpose was to disseminate the most advanced ideas and experimental findings in the fields of "Suggestive Therapeutics, Hypnotism, Telepathy, Suggestive Education of Children, Dreams, Visions, and all Psychical Phenomena." While acknowledging the crowded field of similar publications, Dr. Parkyn argued that most failed to grasp a true understanding of mental phenomena. He also stated that the boundary between natural and supernatural forces affecting the mind and body had yet to be clearly defined. Although many events commonly attributed to the supernatural could, in his view, be explained by natural laws, he did not rule out the possibility that some phenomena were genuinely supernatural. He acknowledged the widespread interest in subjects such as telepathy, clairvoyance, mind reading, and crystal gazing as sufficient justification for a serious investigation, but pledged to exclude spiritism and spirit phenomena from its content.^{[232][236][237][238]}

From its inception, Suggestion magazine featured contributions from many of the leading thinkers in mental science and related fields of esoteric research. Its early pages regularly included writings by S. F. Meachem, W. Xavier Sudduth, Charles Gilbert Davis, Mary Scott Fielding, George Dutton, Carrie M. Hawley, Edwin Hartley Pratt, George Bieser, and Stanley LeFevre Krebs. Over time, additional prominent figures such as Thomson Jay Hudson, William Walker Atkinson, George W. Carey, and Ella Wheeler Wilcox would also become part of the magazine’s circle of contributors. With its growing network of respected voices, Suggestion quickly established itself as the foremost journal for serious, scientifically grounded exploration of the mental sciences.^[238]

The magazine quickly became a leading forum for the serious study of mental science, with contributors by Dr. S. F. Meachem, Dr. W. Xavier Sudduth, Charles Gilbert Davis, Mary Scott Fielding, George Dutton, Edwin Hartley Pratt, George Bieser, Stanley LeFevre Krebs, Thomson Jay Hudson, Prof. William James, William Walker Atkinson, George W. Carey, Elmer Ellsworth Carey, Kate Atkinson Boehme, R. Swinburne Clymer, Prof. Edgar L. Larkin, Henry Harrison Brown, Harry Gaze, F. W. Southworth, Roger Sherman, Elbert Hubbard, Elizabeth Towne, William Towne, Dr. Isaac K. Funk, Charles Gilbert Davis, Prof. Elmer R. Gates, Carrie M. Hawley, A. Victor Segno, Albert Whitehouse , Frank Channing Haddock, Ernest Beltane, Alvan C. Halphide, Dr. Sheldon Leavitt, Henry W. Roby, Cleveland Moffett, Ellis Woodbury Rideout, Franklin H. Heald, Rev. Henry Frank, Horatio W. Dresser, L. W. Billingsley, M. H. Lackersteen, and poet Ella Wheeler Wilcox.^[239]

A special section of Suggestions magazine titled "Occult World" was introduced by Dr. Parkyn to serve as an anonymous outlet for exploring subjects that traditional medical circles considered controversial or unscientific. Articles in this section were attributed to the anonymous pseudonym "Astra," a Sanskrit term used in Hindu and Hermetic traditions. This anonymous section allowed Dr. Parkyn to write and publish material on the occult, supernatural phenomena, or experimental mind research without risking professional backlash. In the first five issues of the magazine, the Astra articles formed a five part serialized investigation into the ancient Hindu history of Yogis having the power of telepathy and the possibilities that it is a law of nature. This demonstrated Parkyn’s clear intention for the magazine to act as a platform for a serious inquiry into this area^[240]

Dr. Parkyn's choice of using the name Astra as the pseudonym for the author of the "Occult World" department in Suggestion magazine was selected with intention. The term carries a long history of meaning in Sanskrit and in esoteric tradition. Formed from the Sanskrit root "As", meaning "to throw" or "to project," and the suffix "-tra," meaning "instrument," the word translates to a "projection instrument." Just as mantra is the "thought instrument" and yantra the "control instrument", in Hindu epics astra is the instrument of projection and it was reserved only for weapons that fly, such as arrows, spears, or divine missiles.^[241]

In the Hindu epic traditions the astra is not simply a physical weapon but is empowered by the will, activated by mantra, and directed by intention. To release an astra is to harness word and thought and project it outward as energy. Its esoteric meaning is the principle that mind and will can extend beyond the body. Thought, word, and intention become forces that move outward like rays. In this sense an astra is a psychic or telepathic projection, a current of subtle energy launched from within the practitioner out into the world.^[242]

In Western esoteric traditions astra, came to be understood as the projection of thought and was seen as a force that could be directed outward from the mind. The medium of this projection was called the astral plane, the subtle realm that lies between spirit and matter. In this framework the astra is the ray of mental intention sent forth, and the astral plane is the field through which it travels, carrying the influence of mind beyond the limits of the body.

The telepathy series by Astra begins by citing the ancient wisdom of Eastern mystics, particularly yogis in India, who were said to possess the ability to transmit vivid mental impressions without the use of physical senses. Telepathy is presented as a lost art, still practiced in the East, that Western science had only just begun to rediscover.^[240]

From there, the series charts the evolution of telepathic research in Europe and America, focusing on the systematic efforts of the Society for Psychical Research.^[243] Pioneers such as W. F. Barrett, Edmund Gurney, and Frederick W. H. Myers are credited with demonstrating that thought-transference between individuals, whether near or far, was not only possible, but repeatable under controlled conditions. Telepathic phenomena was then classified into distinct types of those occurring in ordinary waking states, those received during sleep or trance, and those linked to death or crisis. Numerous case studies are presented, including W. T. Stead’s automatic writing experiment with a woman who unconsciously transmitted images, as well as intense episodes such as visions of a family or loved one at the exact moment of their death. Other cases involved spontaneous impressions of danger or death and simultaneous dreams shared by separated family members. Throughout the series it defends these events not as superstition or accident, but as manifestations of a latent faculty of the mind. It argues that emotional bonds, heightened states of consciousness, and extreme circumstances allow the mind to bypass the physical senses and communicate directly with another. The series closes with a strong challenge to the scientific orthodoxy arguing that the weight of documented cases had grown too large to dismiss, and that true progress in psychology would depend on taking these "occult" phenomena seriously.^[240]

Dr. Parkyn's choice of using the name Astra as the pseudonym for the author of the "Occult World" department in Suggestion magazine was selected with intention. The term carries a long history of meaning in Sanskrit and in esoteric tradition. Formed from the Sanskrit root "As", meaning "to throw" or "to project," and the suffix "-tra," meaning "instrument," the word translates to a "projection instrument." Just as mantra is the "thought instrument" and yantra the "control instrument", in Hindu epics astra is the instrument of projection and it was reserved only for weapons that fly, such as arrows, spears, or divine missiles.

In the Hindu epic traditions the astra is not simply a physical weapon but is empowered by the will, activated by mantra, and directed by intention. To release an astra is to harness word and thought and project it outward as energy. Its esoteric meaning is the principle that mind and will can extend beyond the body. Thought, word, and intention become forces that move outward like rays. In this sense an astra is a psychic or telepathic projection, a current of subtle energy launched from within the practitioner out into the world.

In 1898, Dr. Parkyn released his Special Mail Course in Hypnotism and Suggestive Therapeutics in direct conjunction with the first issue of his new periodical, Suggestion. The course had been over a year in preparation and was presented as the first fully complete, standalone system of instruction in suggestive therapeutics. Consisting of forty-one lessons and nearly 400 pages of material, the course drew from Parkyn’s treatment of over 5,000 cases and was described as unlike anything then published in book form. Parkyn trained his students not only in what to say, but exactly how and when to say it. He emphasized the use of simple, believable, and confidently delivered suggestions, free from exaggeration or mystical phrasing. Rhythm, repetition, tone of voice, and mental attitude were all treated as essential components in the delivery of effective suggestions. Throughout the course, Parkyn emphasized scientific observation, clinical experience, and the need for clear, rational language. He insisted that suggestion could be studied and applied without invoking trance states, altered consciousness, or metaphysical explanations.^[225][244]

Doctors and students from across the country praised the course for its clarity, practicality, and power. Many noted that it surpassed the works of Hippolyte Bernheim, Thomson Jay Hudson, and Charles Lloyd Tuckey, in its straight forward explanation of the scientific theory behind suggestion and its direct step-by-step methods that could be easily understood and applied.^[225][244]

1. That the mind is the originating power behind all physical states and that the universe of human experience is fundamentally mental.
2. That there is a direct correspondence between state of the body to the state of the mind; what exists within will express itself without. No ailment appeared that had not first been accepted, whether knowingly or through passive conditioning.
3. That everything moves according to vibration. Thought itself is vibratory, and suggestions, tones, and even colors can be used to restore the body’s vital force and vibratory harmony. "Thought takes form in action."
4. That the mind has a dual nature consisting of two faculties: the active voluntary mind and the passive involuntary mind. These act in tandem, like the poles of a magnet. Healing occurs when the voluntary mind is in proper polarity with the involuntary mind.
5. That mental healing is cyclical in nature. Suggestion had to be repeated because the mind responds to rhythms. Habits are formed and reformed not in single moments, but through a steady rhythm of reinforcement. Nothing in nature occurs without rhythm, and the mind is no exception.
6. That the cause of disease, failure, or fear is the direct effect produced by the mind and can be identified and reversed. If a person suffers it’s not because of chance, fatalism, or hereditary determinism, but because some aspect of their inner life has set that condition in motion.
7. That the masculine gender mind wills, initiates, affirms, and commands healing, while the feminine gender mind receives, accepts, holds, and carries health into being. The discipline of repeating suggestions into the active voluntary mind will condition the passive involuntary mind

Parkyn’s teachings ultimately reflected his goal to use the language of science and psychology to give new form to the metaphysical systems of ancient ideas. While his philosophy never denied the presence of the supernatural, it simply and scientifically explained suggestive therapeutics as demonstrable, repeatable, and subject to the same laws that govern every other aspect of life.^[225][244]

Dr. Parkyn taught that auto-suggestion was the process by which individuals influence their own involuntary mind and was central to all mental and physical change. He divided auto-suggestion into two forms: voluntary, which involves the deliberate repetition of desired thoughts to reshape behavior or bodily function and involuntary, which occurs unconsciously through repeated impressions from daily experience. Parkyn emphasized that the mind tends to act automatically on dominant ideas impressed upon it.

Parkyn insisted that suggestion is not limited to spoken commands stating that "anything that suggests is a suggestion," highlighting that all sensory impressions and environmental cues contribute to shaping mental states. Because of this, he warned against the use of negative suggestions, explaining that repeating what not to do can unintentionally reinforce the very idea one is trying to eliminate. Instead, he advised, that it is better not to give negative suggestions, such as, you cannot, or you will not do this, that or the other thing, etc.. Pointing out what is not desirable does not suffice. In place of such suggestions, he taught to say what you really wish to do. I Can and I Will do this or that, etc... His method relied on planting positive, repeated thoughts that would be taken up by the involuntary mind and ultimately manifest in action.^[225]: 51

From Dr. Parkyn’s A Mail Course in Suggestive Therapeutics and Hypnotism, his most famous and most re-quoted idea, "Thought takes form in action," was born. In these lessons, Parkyn first set out the principle that every thought impressed upon the mind, whether by conscious repetition or unconscious acceptance, ultimately shapes behavior, health, and perception. He taught that this was not simply a figure of speech but a demonstrable law governing all human conduct. By this phrase, Parkyn meant that the mind is constantly translating ideas into physical expression. Repeated thoughts become habits. Mental attitudes produce measurable effects on the body and nervous system. Any suggestion, whether positive or negative, tends to work itself out in the form of action. He insisted that this process is automatic and impartial. Just as constructive affirmations strengthen and heal, careless or pessimistic statements can generate limitation and illness.^[225]

Parkyn expressed this with the statement:^[225]: 79

"Thought tends to take form in action. Get the thoughts you wish a patient to entertain drilled into his mind, keep them stimulated by repetition, and the desired action is almost certain to follow. Anything that suggests is a suggestion, therefore be careful when in the presence of a patient or a child never to say anything yourself or allow anyone else to say anything that you do not wish to take form in action."

In another passage, he elaborated further:^{[245]: 270-273}

"Thoughts take form in action. The converse of this is true also, for our actions take form in the thoughts of others."

Parkyn’s insistence that "thought takes form in action" formed the foundation of his therapeutic system. Every technique of suggestion, every exercise in auto-suggestion, and every regimen of mental discipline he prescribed rested on this conviction that the mind impresses its dominant content on the body and conduct, inevitably and without exception. This phrase would go on to become a motto for understanding the power of thought in the New Thought movement.

It has since become an axiom in psychology teachings even to this day, shaping the way countless practitioners and educators explain how mental patterns create outward results.^{[225][246][247]}

Central to Dr. Parkyn’s system of suggestive therapeutics was his teaching that the body must be furnished with what he termed the "life essentials" to create and maintain health. Parkyn taught that although the mind possessed a powerful capacity to influence physiological processes, such as by increasing blood flow to diseased areas, this capacity could only manifest fully if the body had an adequate quantity and quality of the life essentials, stressing that two quartes of fresh water a day were essential. Parkyn’s five life essentials were fresh air, sunshine, water, food, and exercise. He stated: "Thought tends to take form in action, and, with the life essentials properly supplied, thought action becomes a power in stimulating the organs of nutrition and elimination."^[248] He closely aligned these ideas with the ancient Hermetic doctrine of the five elements which taught that all matter and all processes in nature derive from a combination of five fundamental principles: Air, Fire, Water, Earth, and Aether/Spirit. These elements were understood not only as physical substances but as dynamic forces acting within the human being. When these forces fell into imbalance, disease and disorder followed. Parkyn emphasized that each life essential was a direct expression of one of these ancient elements. Air corresponded to fresh air and the deliberate practice of deep breathing. Fire was reflected in exposure to sunshine and the therapeutic influence of light and warmth. Water included the ingestion of sufficient quantities and the purifying benefits of distilled water. Earth related to nourishment, with Parkyn stressing that food should be consumed not with the temperance of a sick person but with the appetite of a healthy man. Spirit/Aether was present in the exercise of the body and mind, whether through movement in space or through meditation within inner space. This was similar to the eastern philosophy of Ayurveda with Yoga.^[188][249]

In the Hermetic and Platonic tradition, the five Platonic solids were seen as the pure geometric forms through which these elements were expressed and symbolized. Each shape was regarded as a manifestation of an elemental principle both in the structure of matter and in the ordering of thought and space itself. Parkyn regarded this ancient framework as supporting the idea that health arose when the visible and invisible elements of life were harmonized.^[250]

Parkyn further stated:

"The mind is an important factor in building up the health and maintaining good health. Thoughts of health and strength promote health and strength, if the life essentials are properly supplied to the body. Thoughts of sickness and fear thoughts will produce sickness, for they interfere with the normal appetite for the life essentials, and the life essentials being neglected in consequence, the body grows weaker, and in this condition it is open to the inroads of all kinds of physical complaints and contagious diseases. The greatest preventive against diseases of all kinds is good health, and, next to the life essentials, the greatest factor in maintaining good health is healthy thinking."^[251]

Parkyn's "Life Essentials" teachings were also closely related to Yogi philosophy

Parkyn's teachings were also related to the teachings of the Pancha Bhuta, the five elements that make up all of creation in Hinduism.

• Earth (Prithvi): Represents the physical structure of all things.
• Water (Jal): Symbolizes the capacity to nourish and sustain.
• Fire (Agni): Represents the power of digestion and metabolism.
• Air (Vayu): Corresponds to movement, respiration, and the circulation of vital energy.
• Space (Akasha): Represents the mind and the medium through which things manifest.

In Ayurveda, the ancient Indian system of medicine, these elements are believed to be interconnected and are associated with overall health of human beings. Any disorder in the human body indicates imbalance of one or more of these elements.

Like in Parkyn's teachings, this system was made up of three fundamental biological energies called the Dosha that must be in balance. These were made up of combinations of the five elements:

1. Breath - Vata (Space + Air): Governs movement, creativity, and the nervous system.
2. Bile - Pitta (Fire + Water): Regulates digestion, metabolism, and body temperature.
3. Phlegm - Kapha (Earth + Water): Provides structure, lubrication, and immunity.

Dr. Parkyn acknowledges that among all related fields, none had drawn more interest than Magnetism and Telepathic distant healing. He chose to address both by devoting a chapter to each in his course. While noting that these fields were still in their infancy, he allowed that future technological developments might one day detect how magnetic energy could influence the mind and aid healing. However, he emphasized that, at present, the observable results attributed to these practices were entirely due to suggestion.^{[252][253]: 270-286}

On Personal Magnetism, Dr. Parkyn said it was a matter of pleasing the five senses and satisfying the caprices of those with whom one comes in contact. That "personal magnetism is a delicate consideration for others, a kind of cultivated sympathy to the feelings, likes and dislikes of those with which we come in contact, a subjugating of the self in every direction that would be distasteful to the feelings of another." But ultimately it is created by suggestion, stating "Thoughts take form in action. The converse of this is true also, for our actions take form in the thoughts of others...Think the right thoughts and desirable actions will follow."^{[253]: 270-273} Regarding Magnetic Healing and distant treatments, Parkyn demonstrated that these methods were essentially forms of Suggestive Therapeutics. He cited the common practice among such healers of instructing patients to "lie down several times a day, relax all over, and rivet their attention upon any part of the body which is in trouble, claiming that by so doing the circulation flows freely to that part and heals it." To this, Parkyn responded, "What is this but a very sensible and potent suggestion?"^[253]: 278 He also included a letter from a former student who had become a Magnetic Healer. In it, the student acknowledged that his healing technique was fundamentally Suggestive Therapeutics, but noted that framing it as magnetic force made the curative idea more persuasive to patients, thereby enhancing the suggestion's effect on the involuntary mind. Parkyn would later explore this same dynamic more directly with his invention of the Magnetic Healing Cup, a device intended to focus suggestion through symbolic means.^[253]: 277

Parkyn developed several original and effective methods for inducing the suggestive state. One involved striking a match and having the subject stare at the flame until it nearly burned out, repeating this three times. On the third match, the subject was told their eyes would become stuck shut after closing them and in most cases they could not reopen them, soon entering a deep suggestive state. Another method required the subject to hold both hands in front of their face and slowly count each fingernail from one little finger to the other, inducing drowsiness or sleep by the tenth finger. If not fully asleep, simple verbal suggestions such as "your eyelids are very heavy, you are very drowsy, you are going to sleep. Sleep-sleep-sleep," would complete the induction. A third technique had the subject hold a pencil in their teeth and run their gaze slowly up and down its polished surface, further enhancing fixation and suggestibility.^[254]

The many methods for inducing hypnotism in his book, Mail Course on Suggestive Therapeutics and Hypnotism.^[253]

Dr. Parkyn was the first to clearly identify and classify the suggestible somnambule, a term he coined. Somnambule is a French word that translates to sleepwalker or a state of being half awake and half asleep at the same time. A suggestible somnambule, as Parkyn defined it, is a person who, while not literally sleepwalking, lives in that same in-between state of being conscious enough to act, but so open to impression that reason gives way to suggestion.^{[255]: 25-27}

Unlike ordinary people who weigh impressions against reason, the suggestible somnambule reacts abnormally to suggestion, accepting impressions quickly, often impulsively, and acting on them without careful analysis. Parkyn showed that such individuals could be found everywhere. They were the enthusiastic converts at religious revivals, the quick followers of political reform movements, and the excitable members of mobs of mass behavior. Suggestible somnambules were notorious for confessing to crimes they had not committed, sometimes even in court. Unscrupulous lawyers, ministers, revivalists, and stage hypnotists knew to look for them, since their ready compliance made them ideal subjects.^{[255]: 25-27}

The Suggestible Somnambule was mostly responsible for social upheaval

Their influence was so pervasive that Parkyn argued much of social upheaval, religious, political, or even criminal, depended on them. Salesmen, detectives, and physicians also instinctively recognized them. A salesman could quickly close a deal with a somnambule. A revivalist could count on them as the first converts. A stage hypnotist could always rely on them to supply the most dramatic demonstrations. Even quack doctors, patent medicine firms, and promoters of miracle cures built their businesses on the somnambule’s eager testimony. Their emotions ran deep but their reasoning remained shallow, they might be intelligent, even educated, yet their lack of inner resistance made them unusually easy to sway.^[256]: 2-5

The Suggestible Somnambule was the very foundation of the marvels of mesmerism

Because they yielded so completely, Parkyn explained, suggestible somnambules were the very foundation of the supposed marvels of mesmerism. For nearly a century experimenters believed hypnosis was mysterious because somnambules agreed to whatever was suggested, even claiming to be asleep when they were not, or reporting strange visions when prompted. Once Parkyn understood that only this type of person was truly hypnotizable, he recognized that hypnotism was not a hidden force at all. It was suggestion working on an unusually receptive personality. From this discovery, he shifted his practice away from trance states to conscious suggestion, where the subject could remain awake and alert while still benefiting from the constructive power of affirmations and directed thought.^{[257]: 29-32 [258]: 15, 34}

Dr. Herbert A. Parkyn expressed deep skepticism about the practice of vaccination and questioned whether the efficacy of vaccination had ever been conclusively established. He argued that its widespread acceptance was based more on medical precedent than on demonstrable scientific proof. To Parkyn, the idea of injecting disease into the body to produce immunity was not only unconvincing but also “ghoulish” in nature. He believed that strong, well-developed individuals had experienced physical and moral decline as a result of vaccination, and he warned against accepting such a practice as established medical doctrine. Parkyn objected especially to mandatory vaccination laws, asserting that no hypothesis, particularly one he viewed as unproven, should be imposed as an “inexorable law” in a free society.^[259]

He condemned the forced inoculation of children, especially against the will of their parents. He pointed to reported cases of harmful effects in healthy children as reason enough to question its use, and called for a reexamination of the entire practice. Parkyn hoped that vaccination, like other discredited medical beliefs, would one day be abandoned, comparing its cultural hold to the irrational fervor of the Salem witch trials.^[259]

Dr. Parkyn was a vocal skeptic of the trance medium Mrs. Leonora Piper, whose séances had garnered widespread attention and support from leading psychical researchers. Mrs. Piper, based in Boston, had become famous for entering trance states in which she allegedly communicated with the dead, often speaking in the voices of deceased individuals. She was extensively studied by some members of the American and British Societies for Psychical Research, including William James, Richard Hodgson, and James H. Hyslop, all of whom concluded that her abilities were genuine and unexplainable by conventional means.^[260] Parkyn strongly challenged these conclusions. He viewed Mrs. Piper’s performances as a mixture of common stage tricks, voice mimicry, and psychological manipulation. In particular, he criticized the methods used during séances, such as concealing objects in handkerchiefs or performing cold readings under the guise of spirit communication. For Parkyn, there was no evidence that the phenomena involved anything beyond deception and suggestion.^[261]

He was also critical of the Society for Psychical Research for the emotional investment of researchers like Hyslop, who had become personally convinced of the reality of spirit contact after the death of his wife. Parkyn warned that such personal grief could compromise scientific objectivity and lead respected investigators to mistake psychological effects for supernatural ones. For Parkyn, her case underscored the dangers of credulity and the misuse of scientific authority within the occult field. This recognition prompted him to pursue the establishment of a more rigorous and accountable institution for psychic research.^[261]

In the fall of 1899, Dr. Parkyn became the chair of Suggestive Therapeutics at The College of Psychical Sciences and Unfoldment, an institution founded by J. C. F. Grumbine on Chicago’s South Side. Located at 3960 Langley Avenue, just a few blocks from Parkyn’s own school, the College offered instruction in psychometry, clairvoyance, inspiration, and psychopathy. These disciplines formed the basis of a broader philosophical system, known as the "Philosophy of Divinity," developed by Grumbine. The College served as both a correspondence instructional institution and the headquarters of the Order of the White Rose, a Rosicrucian-inspired organization led by Grumbine since 1883. In addition to its regular curriculum, the College hosted special and successive lectures known as the Parlors of the Order of the White Rose, which offered deeper initiation into teachings on spiritual illumination and soul development.

The College advertised that to the adept "the secrets and mysteries of Magic and Occultism are revealed and that the mystic and potential powers of Divinity and Illumination are made operative and practical." Membership in the Order was restricted to those who had completed all four teaching series in the curriculum and demonstrated mastery of its spiritual principles. As a professor at the College of Psychical Sciences and Unfoldment, Dr. Parkyn was closely associated with the Order of the White Rose and engaged in the study of esoteric principles drawn from Hermetic and Hindu traditions.^{[262][263][264]}

Parkyn and Grumbine had a shared commitment to distinguishing serious psychical research from what both men viewed as the excessive mysticism dominating turn-of-the-century occult literature. Grumbine had criticized the "occult rubbish" of the contemporary occult revival for misleading seekers, particularly targeting Theosophy and what he described as its overuse of "Oriental phraseology" and "mystic or cabalistic symbology," which he believed obstructed direct spiritual realization. While both Grumbine and Parkyn were devoted students of ancient systems such as Hermeticism and Hinduism and believed they contained real insight into spiritual law, they objected to the way these traditions were often cloaked in obfuscating language and divorced from practical application. Their emphasis was not on rejecting ancient wisdom, but on clarifying that spiritual and psychological influence depended on disciplined practice aligned with natural law, and a mastery of one’s own mental and moral faculties rather than mystical speculation.^[262]

Like Parkyn and Sudduth's experiments, Grumbine also worked with material science, optics, and color theory integrating it with metaphysical principles, asserting that all sensory phenomena of light, color, and form, were ultimately governed by spiritual law. Color, for example, was treated as a vibratory mode or aura, reflecting the moral and psychic state of the observer. In his 1897 book Clairvoyance, Grumbine described consciousness as the central medium through which divine impressions were received, insisting that the brain merely reflected thought rather than produced it.^[262][265]

The Order of the White Rose was a mystical Rosicrucian organization devoted to the advancement of Universal Religion, a spiritual philosophy rooted in the belief that divine truth transcends all sectarian boundaries and manifests through inner illumination rather than external doctrine. It was composed of adepts in spiritual science and wisdom that had mastered the four series of Teachings from the school, which formed the System of Philosophy Concerning Divinity.^{[266][264][267]}

The Order viewed spirit as the fundamental reality behind matter and upheld that consciousness and inner guidance were the true sources of religious authority. Figures such as Jesus, Buddha, and Zoroaster were acknowledged not as founders of distinct faiths, but as vessels for the one eternal truth. The Order's objective was to form a system of philosophy concerning divinity based on sacred texts from all races and traditions.

As chair of the Department of Suggestive Therapeutics, Dr. Herbert A. Parkyn held a formal role within the Order, which placed him in its inner ranks and affirmed his direct participation in its esoteric teachings. Chapters of the Order were active across the United States, with locations in Los Angeles, Denver, Griffin (Georgia), Jacksonville, St. Louis, Chicago, New York, Boston, Syracuse, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, and Lowell (Massachusetts).^[266][264]

Objects of the Order of the White Rose and the Chapters

The Order of the White Rose had nine objectives that sought to develop humanity’s latent spiritual powers, overcome error and limitation, and realize a divine mode of life. These aims included uniting kindred spirits in shared service, offering guidance through silent ministration, and training students in the path of spiritual unfoldment through the College of Psychical Sciences. Local chapters extended this mission into the broader community through study, public gatherings, and ongoing instruction. The Order welcomed cooperation with all sincere spiritual movements while remaining entirely non-political and non-sectarian.^[268]

The philosophical alignment between Dr. Parkyn and Grumbine extended into their publishing efforts. In September 1898, Parkyn endorsed Grumbine’s periodical Immortality, stating, "I consider Immortality the very best of the psychical publications." The magazine, launched as the official voice of the Order of the White Rose, was devoted to the metaphysical study of Mental Science, Divine Science, Psychopathy, Theosophy, Occultism, Mysticism, and Spiritualism.^[269]

Among its recurring features was The Academy, a dialogue series presented under the editorial supervision of J. C. F. Grumbine, which claimed to channel rare illuminations from the Christ, Platonic, and Hermetic spheres. These teachings were delivered in dialogue form through the voices of ancient seers, hierophants, philosophers, and Illuminati. Other regular content included The Editor’s Tripod, which provided oracular commentary on contemporary affairs "in a Platonic spirit," along with updates from the Theosophical Review by Annie Besant, and contributions by W. J. Colville, Cora L. V. Richmond, Jerome A. Anderson, Swami Vekananda, Swami Saradananda, and Swami Abhayananda.^[270]

Immortality magazine as the voice of the Order of the White Rose, presented sacred geometry, numerology, and divine form as central elements in its teachings on mental science. Its pages described number and shape as a universal language through which the eternal principles of spirit could be expressed, drawing heavily on Hermetic, Masonic, and occult traditions.^[271]

The magazine explained numbers as spiritual archetypes and "impresses of thought," holding that ancient Egypt, India, and Greece had used numerical and geometric forms to express Deity, Soul, Eternity, and Infinity. The concept of numbers was explained as transcending the senses and revealing deeper truths, not just superficial appearances, but with each number having direct meaning:^[272]

• One: Said to be the primal unit, the soul, eternal, and symbolized by the circle. It is the "All" as in "Aum".
• Two: Is the division of unity, the half sphere, and the separation from the absolute to the relative, associated with polarity and gender principles.
• Three: Described as "the sacred three," it's the first correct chord in harmonics, and the measure of the circle. It is the solvent of alchemy and relates to the three dimensions of space.
• Four: Described as "that which regulates life" and the "symbol of life." It is the double-duad and the square whose equal sides determine the circle, representing the "four corners" of the earth and heavens.
• Five: The departure from the square. It relates to the Pentagram of Geometry, the five books of Moses, and the five-pointed star.
• Six: Signifies a complete name described as "The Kingdom; The Crown and the King," and the double triangle of Egypt and Judea, embodying the perfect mingling of Earth and Heavens. The Square and Compass of Masonry.
• Seven: Represents the completed scale of music, the final vibration of color, and the "Seven Spheres" of Magian philosophy. It symbolizes rhythmic completeness, the "Day of Rest" in creation, and attainment, much like the seven stars in Ursa Major or the seven planets.
• Eight: The Seal, the complete Octave, and the recommencement of the harmonic scale, representing the restoration of the Soul to its perfect unison through seven states of life, leading to Nirvana.

Understanding was also expressed through shape:

• The Circle and The Sphere: Symbolize the eternal and the unmanifest or non-manifesting life of the soul. The sphere also represents equilibrium and perfection.
• The Square: Concerns the soul in its manifest or phenomenal life.
• The Cross: A symbol of generation in the sphere of regeneration, linking to the mystic number twelve (which, with the center, makes thirteen). Its horizontal and vertical bars suggest male and female and spirit and matter, along with the four elements.
• The Rosy Cross: Described as the "divinest of symbols" that expresses union with the Divine through realization. To Rosicrucians, the rose within the cross signifies the Sun, the center of the universe.
• The Lotus: The lotus symbolized regeneration, with the white lotus sacred to Isis.
• The Spiral: Is interpreted as the resultant of two forces of motion, accounting for error and evil.

Geometry was described as a science dealing fundamentally with space and time. All regularity of form in nature was seen as an expression of thought, and principles such as Plato’s extreme and mean ratio and conic sections were regarded as already embodied in the universe. A central tenet was the Hermetic aphorism “as above, so below,” establishing the "Law of Correspondence" between the universal (macrocosm) and the individual (microcosm). This law was considered essential for understanding the unity of all things. The Order’s teachings aimed to reveal the mathematical structure of the inner and outer cosmos, affirming the cosmos itself as both the center and the "Eternal Omnipresence."^[269][273]

Immortality magazine placed Hindu philosophy at the center of its exploration of spiritual truth, treating it as a foundational system for understanding the soul, the afterlife, and the path to self-realization. The Order of the White Rose drew heavily on these concepts, presenting them as essential to its curriculum and its mission to reveal the deeper laws of life.^[269]

It was through the voice of Swami Vivekananda that these ideas were given their clearest authority. Vivekananda, the foremost exponent of Vedanta in the West, was repeatedly cited as the guide whose works set the standard for serious students of spiritual science. His book, Raja Yoga was praised and designated as required reading in the College of Psychical Sciences, and his lectures, "The Ideal of a Universal Religion," "The Atman," and "Bhakti Yoga," were treated as foundational texts for understanding the soul’s immortality. The Order of the White Rose openly endorsed his writings as central to its philosophy, regarding his work as the bridge between Eastern wisdom and Western science.^[273]

The origins of soul-life and religion were traced back to the Vedic faith, Brahmanism, and the Vedanta. These traditions were invoked to support the doctrine of the soul’s eternity, pre-existence, and ultimate unity with the Infinite. Hindu philosophy, combined with modern psychology and spiritualism, was presented as a complete framework of “unanswerable hypotheses” that made immortality intelligible to the rational mind. Karma and reincarnation were emphasized as the twin laws binding cause and effect and explaining the soul’s successive earthly lives.^[271]

At the heart of this teaching stood the Hindu concept of the Atman, man’s true spiritual self, distinct from the physical body and accessible only through Yoga. The Atman was described as the "God within," the source of intuition and conscience, obscured by ignorance (Avidya) but destined for realization through union with the universal spirit. Buddhi, the higher faculty of understanding, was presented as the soul’s light of certainty and spiritual illumination. The Order of the White Rose explicitly adopted these ideals, teaching that its purpose was to liberate the Atman from the prison of the senses. Yoga, as expounded in the Yoga Sastra, was held up as the practical science of realizing the Atman. The practices of self-control, meditation, and Samadhi were presented not as exotic asceticism but as structured methods for entering super-conscious states. The Order regarded these teachings as central to training, pointing to Yoga as the path to direct knowledge of spirit.^[271]

Joining alongside Dr. Parkyn was the English born author, occultist, medium, and lecturer, W. J. Colville who would serve as the chair of Mental and Spiritual Science at the College of Psychical Sciences and Unfoldment. Colville was a teacher at the affiliated Brooklyn School of Psychology and similar to Parkyn, his teachings shared a core emphasis on inner causation, vibrational harmony, and the structured development of the self. Both men taught that healing, growth, and moral refinement were achieved by bringing the individual into alignment with universal laws, whether framed in spiritual or psychophysiological terms.^{[274][275][276]}

Central to Colville’s teaching was a seven-level model of human and cosmic development, presented as a vibrational spectrum aligned with both color and states of consciousness. Each level was associated with a distinct vibratory rate and color, forming a chromatic scale that symbolized the ascent of consciousness. The model concluded with an eighth, integrating level described as the white octave, representing unity, wholeness, and divine realization.^[277]

The Seven-level model of human and cosmic development. Each plane was identified with a color and a domain of experience:

1. Red – Mineral: physical substance and foundational structure
2. Orange – Vegetable: vital growth and organic sensitivity
3. Yellow – Animal: sensory perception and instinct
4. Green – Animal-human: emotional and appetitive faculties
5. Blue – Mental-human: rational and analytical thought
6. Indigo – Moral-human: ethical will and aspiration
7. Violet – Spiritual-human: intuitive perception of divinity

The White Octave—a state of unified spiritual realization, representing divine completeness and integration across all planes.^[277][278]

Both Colville and Parkyn taught that each individual responded to specific tonal frequencies and colors, and that healing could be significantly enhanced when these vibratory inputs were properly attuned in harmony through the use of focused thought, color visualization, tonal resonance, and ethical alignment.^[274][279]

Colville and Parkyn's teachings were heavily influenced by the Seven Principles found in Hermetic and Hindu philosophy:

1. Physical Body – (RED) The most apparent and “crudest” of the seven principles, forming the foundation for all others. It required good health, care, and discipline under the control of the mind.
2. Astral Body – (ORANGE) Also called the "ethereal" body, composed of finer matter that separated from the physical body at death. It retained the human form but had no life or intelligence, and was visible only to trained occultists
3. Vital Force (Prana) – (YELLOW) A universal life energy animating all living beings, which dispersed at death. It was the operative force in magnetic, mental, and absent healing, as well as in telepathy and thought transference.
4. Instinctive Mind – (GREEN) The seat of basic passions, desires, sensations, emotions, and appetites. It could be influenced by outside thought-waves to act without reason or reflection.
5. Intellect – (BLUE) Added reason to instinct, creating self-consciousness and deliberate will. It marked the early awareness of the Ego and could be developed through focused attention and vital energy.
6. Spiritual Mind – (INDIGO) Represented the soul’s impulse toward spiritual or cosmic consciousness. Associated with justice, compassion, and creative inspiration, it was viewed as the eventual destiny of all humanity.
7. Spirit – (VIOLET) The “Divine Spark,” representing full consciousness of Spirit. Moments of illumination at this level permanently transformed the individual, leaving a lasting recognition of the soul’s reality.^[280][281]

The teachings put forward by the Order of the White Rose embodied the deeper esoteric dimension of the mental sciences that Dr. Parkyn was exploring and seeking to place on a scientific footing. Because the Chicago School of Psychology was established as the first institution to grant degrees in Suggestive Therapeutics, Parkyn carefully avoided including these esoteric doctrines in its curriculum, knowing that any association with Hermetic or mystical philosophy would invite censure from the medical profession. Yet while the public face of Parkyn's teachings remained clinical, he would be actively engaged behind the scenes in starting institutes and publishing works that carried these teachings forward into the mental science and New Thought movement.^[276]

For Dr. Parkyn, the Hermetic doctrine of divine numbers and forms, joined with Hindu philosophy revealed the living structure of Natural Law itself. Suggestion was not simply a therapeutic technique but the outward expression of a universal principle. In the sacred geometry of the ancients and the metaphysics of the East he saw confirmation that thought, vibration, and form were inseparably linked, and that the laws governing them were as absolute as any in nature.

Parkyn’s time teaching with The College of Psychical Science and Unfoldment allowed for collaborative research with J. C. F. Grumbine and W. J. Colville, including the therapeutic use of sound and color harmony, concentration techniques for clairvoyance and mediumship, and methods to develop and test telepathy. This research was part of a broader initiative by Parkyn and Sydney Flower to shift their efforts away from simply promoting new schools of Suggestive Therapeutics and toward establishing a central hub for wide-scale research in the mental sciences. Parkyn had grown increasingly disillusioned with the methods employed by the Society for Psychical Research and sought a more disciplined, scientific approach to exploring the esoteric dimensions of mental science. Much of the experimental work he conducted with Grumbine and W. J. Colville at the College of Psychical Science would form the foundation for the methods and techniques later adopted in his own research efforts.^[282][276]

By early 1900, J.C.F. Grumbine had relocated the headquarters of his College of Psychical Science and the Order of the White Rose to Syracuse, New York. For several years prior, his institutions had maintained a strong presence in the Chicago area, serving as the key advocates for combining esoteric and occult traditions with a medically grounded approach to mental science. However, Grumbine had become disillusioned with the direction the New Thought movement was taking in Chicago and chose to withdraw his headquarters entirely. In response, Dr. Parkyn sought to establish a similar Chicago-based continuation of what Grumbine was teaching at his College.^[283]

Parkyn and his collaborators envisioned building an international network of individuals dedicated to practicing and refining foundational skills such as concentration, awareness, and suggestion, intended to form the basis for focused research in esoteric practices such as; long-distance telepathy, absent healing, mediumship, and clairvoyance. This would be modeled in many ways on Grumbine’s school and the experimentations done under the Order of the White Rose. The goal was to collect data from a large and diverse participant base, while also generating credible material on topics that were being co-opted by fraudulent practitioners exploiting the growing New Thought audience.^[282][276]

With Parkyn and Sudduth still working to secure recognition for Suggestive Therapeutics within the professional medical field, there was a clear need for parallel research efforts capable of supporting large-scale experimentation and the collection of scientifically valid data. In response, the Psychic Research Company was established in June 1899, shortly before Parkyn began his work at Grumbine’s college. By August 1899, the company had also become the official publishing house for Suggestive Therapeutics magazine, marking a shift in the magazine’s focus and mission. The Psychic Research Company would distribute research materials, document results, and publicly publish its findings.^[284][282]

The establishment of the Psychic Research Company marked the first step toward creating a similar system to that of Grumbine's but framed in a scientific manner, with plans to create a University of Psychic Science, regional Schools of Psychic Science, and even a Psychic Club to organize and support a community of committed participants.^[284][282]

The Psychic Research Company was formally incorporated in late September 1899, with Jay V. Daniels financing the venture from a substantial inheritance received after his father’s death in early 1898. While he held a controlling interest as the company’s principal stockholder, he also represented the interests of his family, including his mother, Mary L. Daniels, and his cousin, Van Ness Daniels Smith. Dr. Parkyn had known the Daniels family from Minneapolis, where in 1894 Jay’s father had become seriously ill with a progressive paralytic condition. In an effort to find relief, the family turned to Parkyn and Dr. Sudduth, hoping Suggestive Therapeutics might offer help. Although the treatment was ultimately unsuccessful in halting the disease, both Jay and his mother developed a lasting interest in hypnotism, with Mary L. Daniels in particular becoming deeply committed in the research of mental science. Van Ness Daniels Smith, a practicing attorney in Chicago, oversaw the legal incorporation of the company and managed the family’s interests in the venture.^{[285][286][287][288]}

Jay V. Daniels had first become aware of Dr. Parkyn and his hypnotism research while working for The Minneapolis Journal during the time it had closely followed Herbert Parkyn's career as a football star and hockey pioneer at the University of Minnesota and had reported extensively on the hypnotism experiments conducted by him and Dr. Sudduth at the University's Dental School and free clinic.^[282][289]

Jay Van Tuyl Daniels and his cousin Van Ness Daniels Smith were born into a prominent Minnesota family with deep political and commercial roots. Their grandfathers, John Van Ness Daniels and Asahel Smith, co-founded the Smith and Daniels Company in the 1850s, which became one of the largest real estate firms in the region, specializing in farmland investment and sales. Together, they also established the First Union National Bank of Rochester, Minnesota, a major mortgage lender in the area. The families were further connected by marriage, with Asahel Smith marrying John’s sister. John Van Ness Daniels served multiple terms as a Minnesota state senator, a position later held by his son as well. Jay’s father, Donald A. Smith, was a prominent Minneapolis businessman and a key figure in the Minnesota Linseed Oil Company, which grew into one of the largest paint supply firms in the United States..^{[290][291][292][293]}

At just 27, Daniels was already a well-regarded journalist, publisher, and editor in Minneapolis. He had served on the house committee of the Minneapolis Press Club and held an editorial role at The Minneapolis Journal. He was also active in business, having worked as an advertising agent for the Great Northern Railroad and founded a journal focused on steamship and land settlement opportunities for emigrants to the Northwest. With his experience in newspaper management, editing, publishing, advertising, and business, he was considered an ideal candidate to run the operations of the company. Daniels would also be the means of expanding the Psychic Research Company internationally by first establishing a London office at 146 Temple Chambers and subsequently moving into France and then into Germany, where the company operated under the name Psychologischer Verlag (Psychological Publishing) and published the German-language magazine Neue Gedanken (New Thought).^{[294][295][296][284][297][298]}

In November 1899, Sydney Flower publicly announced that he would no longer treat patients, marking a formal end to his clinical practice and the closure of the Chicago School of Suggestive Therapeutics. In a written statement, Flower explained that his decision stemmed from a conviction that the treatment of disease required formal medical training and licensure, and that those without a medical degree were not adequately equipped to provide comprehensive care. While affirming the value of Suggestive Therapeutics for laypeople, Flower emphasized that it should not be practiced professionally by those without medical qualifications. He acknowledged the shifting and often inconsistent nature of mainstream medicine but maintained that physicians, despite their differences, had undergone rigorous training and earned the right to practice. In contrast, he argued that lay practitioners lacked both the depth of knowledge and the authority to diagnose or treat disease responsibly. His closure announcement both served as a direct challenge to the growing number of non-medically degreed practitioners and also to redirect attention toward the Psychic Research Company and the numerous mail courses it was preparing to launch.^{[299]: 252-254}

In early 1900, under the new banner of the Psychic Research Company, a wide array of mail-order courses were released covering nearly every topic associated with the mental sciences of the New Thought movement. These included instruction in Hypnotism, Mesmerism, Personal Magnetism, Clairvoyance, Telepathy, Absent Healing, Mind Reading, Mediumship, Concentration, Self-Culture, Auto-Suggestion, and Zoism (a breathing technique course built off of the term ozone).

The aim was to flood the market before competing practitioners could do so, especially in fast-growing areas like Absent Healing and Telepathy, so as to be able to have a large pool for the experiments and also guide readers toward the truth behind many of these practices. Many of the courses, such as those on Mind Reading and Mediumship, were aimed at exposing the methods used by well-known performers, revealing them to be clever tricks rather than supernatural powers. They were presented as entertaining feats one could demonstrate to amuse friends, much like a magic show. Across all titles, the materials consistently rejected mystical explanations, insisting that these abilities were grounded in suggestion, psychology, and misdirection and not in any supernatural force. While most of the courses were published anonymously, many were authored by familiar collaborators such as Dr. Parkyn, J. V. Daniels, Lloyd Kenyon Jones, and Flower himself. Additional contributors were recruited through newspaper ads Flower placed seeking writers on psychic science topics.^{[300][301][302][303][304][305]}

The Absent Treatment course, which was authored by "The Healer" focused on what is also known as Distant Healing, a method in which the practitioner claimed to transmit therapeutic energy telepathically to paying clients at scheduled times each day. The Psychic Research course was publicly presented as a scientific experiment, the service offered distant treatment twice a day for one month at the unusually low cost of one dollar, compared to the five or ten dollars typically charged by others. Only those who experienced improvement were expected to pay; the rest were promised a full refund. This approach was framed as a way to gather meaningful data, not profit, and to better understand the conditions under which distant treatment produced results. The Healer was described in the advertisement as a gentleman of independent means who had no interest in publicity but wished to further the scientific understanding of health-thought transmission. "The Healer" was in fact Jay V. Daniels who used the course and the accompanying treatment campaign to conduct a large scale testing of telepathy-based healing methods.^[301]

While the Mind Reading course was published anonymously, it was actually authored by Dr. Herbert A. Parkyn. It featured his signature phrase, “thought tends to take form in action,” used exactly as in his original mail course and worked as a continuation for the several chapters he had included in his mail course on stage hypnotism. The book included many illustrations clearly showing Parkyn himself conducting muscle reading experiments inside his Chicago School of Psychology. It followed exactly Parkyn's lesson structure and therapeutic goals, presenting the structure of the mind and emphasizing repetition in a manner that mirrors his writings. Releasing these works anonymously allowed Parkyn to include ideas that would not have been appropriate to address in a formal medical context.^[304][306]

The course was directly shaped by Dr. Parkyn’s investigations into the methods of traveling clairvoyants and stage mentalists. One of the most prominent performers at the time was Alexander J. McIvor-Tyndall, an English mentalist who toured extensively across Canada, the Midwest, and the West Coast of the United States. McIvor-Tyndall had adopted many of the performance techniques made popular by the late Washington Irving Bishop, including supposed mind reading to find hidden objects, opening locked safes, and the famous blindfolded carriage drive. In his course, Parkyn clearly exposed the mechanisms behind the illusions and emphasized that it was not reading minds but interpreting unconscious muscular signals from the participant, what is commonly called muscle reading. According to Parkyn, the performer succeeded by skillfully detecting involuntary movements made by the guide’s hand or body as they focus on the hidden object.^{[307][308][309]}

Parkyn framed this phenomenon as an application of a fundamental law of mental action, "All thought tends to take form in action." He explained that just as emotions like fear, joy, or anger are automatically expressed through gestures, so too are focused thoughts revealed in subtle, unconscious movements. These movements, though imperceptible to most observers, provide real and reliable cues that a trained performer can detect. Parkyn wrote that the key to mastering such feats was not supernatural talent but the ability to read and interpret these involuntary responses with precision. The course also disclosed the methods behind seemingly impossible stunts like the blindfolded carriage drive. Parkyn revealed that performers typically used a specially pre-folded black silk handkerchief that allowed them to see through a single layer of fabric. When folded in a particular way, by stopping short of the center from opposite corners, the result was a bandage that appeared secure but actually provided an unobstructed line of sight through a thin area of silk. Parkyn provided detailed instructions for students to replicate and test this method themselves.^[304][310]

While Parkyn and his collaborators understood that these acts were theatrical in nature and relied on practiced techniques rather than actual clairvoyance, they also recognized that the sustained mental discipline required to perform them resulted in genuine psychological development. Parkyn believed that McIvor-Tyndall had, through long practice, developed real powers of concentration, awareness, and personal magnetism. He maintained that even those who took up these skills for amusement or entertainment were, in fact, engaging in meaningful mental training. This recognition formed one of the core motivations for writing the course. Parkyn saw value in encouraging people to practice muscle reading, blindfold work, and other seemingly performative techniques, not merely to entertain but to develop greater focus, control, and self-awareness. By learning how to guide attention and interpret subtle cues, students could cultivate faculties of the mind that had practical value well beyond the stage.^[304][310]

Parkyn had intersected with Alexander J. McIvor-Tyndall several times and was quite fascinated by him, an effect McIvor-Tyndall had on many people. Parkyn had first become aware of him when he drew widespread attention in Chicago by petitioning for permission to be buried alive for thirty days during the Chicago World's Fair, though the proposal was ultimately denied. He was also frequently involved in criminal cases, offering to hypnotize accused individuals to uncover the truth. In the widely reported Minneapolis Hayward murder case, he was called in to assess whether the accused man was guilty and could be hypnotized.^[311] Parkyn and Dr. Sudduth had initially been approached by Hayward's defense team to support a claim that he had been hypnotized into committing the crimes, but they declined after determining that such a defense was not plausible. Nevertheless, they remained involved with the case and observed it firsthand in 1895 as part of their broader study of hypnotic influence and its relation to criminal behavior. McIvor-Tyndall’s performances had also brought him into contact with Parkyn's family. He performed for several weeks in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, where Parkyn’s uncle, the owner of the city’s largest newspaper, had served on the local committee of prominent residents that was chosen in each city to hide the objects and evaluate the mentalist’s demonstrations. Sydney Flower was likewise familiar with McIvor-Tyndall from his time at the Manitoba Free Press in Winnipeg, where McIvor-Tyndall was a regular draw and maintained close friendships with several journalists from the paper.^{[312][312][313][314][315][316][317][318]}

Alexander J. McIvor-Tyndall developed an early fascination with mental science while growing up in England and claimed to possess a natural sensitivity to clairvoyance and the ability to enter trance states. However, he struggled to fully control these abilities, and the intense concentration required during his performances often triggered cataleptic fits. This condition had also afflicted Washington Irving Bishop, who died tragically after falling into a cataleptic fit, being mistakenly declared dead, and undergoing an autopsy just four hours later. Out of fear that the same might happen to him, McIvor-Tyndall carried a note in his pocket explaining that he suffered from catalepsy and should not be pronounced dead if found unresponsive. Managing these episodes took a severe toll on his health, and in an effort to cope, he turned to opium for relief. Eventually, fearing for his life, he sought professional help from Dr. Parkyn, who was nationally recognized for his expertise in the use of suggestive therapeutics for this condition. Parkyn successfully helped him gain control over the cataleptic episodes. Parkyn would later collaborate with McIvor-Tyndall, who would became a prominent lecturer in the New Thought movement and the founder of Swastika magazine ^{[319][320][321][322][323][324][325][326][327][328]}

The Bangs Sisters, Elizabeth and May Bangs, were spiritualist mediums from Chicago who rose to national prominence in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They became widely known for their séances in which they claimed to produce spirit communications, automatic writings, and “spirit portraits” of deceased loved ones. Their sessions attracted many devoted followers, as well as skeptics who suspected fraud. During the period from the summer of 1899 to the spring of 1900, Dr. Herbert A. Parkyn, Sydney B. Flower, and Stanley L. Krebs (a resident graduate of Parkyn’s school) worked to demonstrate that the Bangs Sisters’ performances were not genuine displays of clairvoyance or spirit communication, but rather an entertaining exhibition of highly skilled sleight-of-hand deception.^{[329][330][331]}

The Bangs Sisters’ slate writing performances claimed to produce automatic spirit messages inside sealed slates. During the séance, the sitter would write questions on paper, seal them in an envelope, and watch the medium bind the envelope between two slates with rubber bands or string. While the slates remained in view, the medium would announce impressions and clairvoyant names. After a period of waiting 20 to 30 minutes, taps or vibrations signaled that the spirits had written their reply. When the slates were opened, the sitter’s original letter would appear to be answered in a different handwriting, seemingly without anyone touching it.^[329]

Sydney Flower went first in the summer of 1899 to conduct a series of experiments with the Bangs Sisters, in which he brought his own slates and sealed them in multiple ways: screwed tightly together, bound with string, and covered with wax seals. He attended fifteen sittings in total, and in every case where the slates were secured so they could not be secretly opened, no spirit writing appeared. Flower noted that when the slates were left unsealed or only lightly fastened, results were frequent and impressive. While this led him to conclude that the supposed phenomena depended entirely on the medium’s ability to handle the slates unobserved, he was not able to discover exactly how the trick was accomplished.^[330][331]

Upon conferring with Flower, Dr. Parkyn arranged a controlled sitting of his own with the Bangs Sisters to further examine the performance and explore all the possible methods he and Flower had discussed for accomplishing the trick. He prepared four sheets of paper with invented questions, sealed them in an envelope marked so he could identify it later, and took careful note of every movement Miss Bangs made. He observed her sliding a wedge between the slates to create a slight gap. While she pretended to see clairvoyant initials in the air, she tilted the slates just enough for the letter to slide invisibly into her lap. She then placed the letter on a dark panel on the floor and pushed it under a door to her sister waiting in the next room. The accomplice opened the envelope, copied the questions, and prepared the replies. Parkyn later confirmed that when the letter was returned, it was reinserted between the slates through the same wedge gap, hidden by a tablet so the movement remained concealed.^[331]

With Dr. Parkyn having fully witnessed how the trick was accomplished, he called on his former student and frequent collaborator, Stanley L. Krebs, who was by then a leading member of the International Society for Psychical Research, to attend his own séance so the Society could formally discredit the Bangs Sisters’ claims of clairvoyance. Dr. Parkyn advised him to come equipped with a concealed mirror that he could discreetly place on his lap to watch everything happening under the table. Krebs described the entire procedure in detail, confirming the same steps Parkyn had observed. According to Krebs’s full explanation, the method worked in several stages: first, the wedge was inserted to create a gap between the slates. Then, while the sitter was distracted by conversation and the display of spirit initials, the letter was tilted out into the medium’s lap. It was then passed under the door to an accomplice, who steamed or moistened the envelope flap so it could be opened without damage. The reply was prepared, and the envelope was resealed so precisely that all identifying marks lined up perfectly. The letter was returned under the door, and finally, the medium used the wedge and a tablet to slide it back between the slates without being seen. Taps were heard on the slate, and the sitter was invited to open it, revealing what appeared to be a miraculous message. Krebs emphasized that there was nothing supernatural about the process. It depended only on careful preparation, precise handling of props, and skillful distraction. He concluded that the same trick could be performed by any trained conjurer.^[331][332]

After his experience, Parkyn decided to prove publicly how the effect was accomplished. On April 11, 1900, he staged a demonstration before fifteen students at his school. He recreated the Bangs Sisters’ process exactly. While his students watched, he sat at a table with slates and an envelope containing a question. His father, James Parkyn, was hidden in the back room to play the role of the accomplice. During the demonstration, Parkyn used a black linen thread with a loop in the middle rather than a wedge to remove and return the letter more smoothly. This improvement allowed him to avoid turning sideways in the chair or performing any obvious motions. The letter was passed to the adjoining room, opened, answered, and replaced in the slates in about half an hour. None of the observers detected how it was done. Parkyn noted that by simplifying the mechanism, he could perform the trick faster and with less chance of discovery.^[331]

In mid-1900, Dr. Parkyn leased a large section of office space at 4000 Cottage Grove Avenue, just one block from his school. The one-story building also housed the Station M postal facility, making it an ideal location for coordinating his growing mail-order operations. Within these sizable offices, Parkyn set up workspaces equipped with modern typewriters for staff writers, administrative areas for managing his varies publishing ventures, and facilities dedicated to processing and fulfilling mail-order requests. The space also included substantial storage for books and merchandise, a walk-in bookstore and reading room offering his full catalog along with pamphlets and promotional materials, and additional rooms designated for a school of Osteopathy. Some of the many ventures that these offices housed included the Magnetic Healing Cup Company, the Premium Subscription Agency, the Yogi Publication Society, a New Thought Center reading room, and a Truth Center.^[333][334]

Parkyn soon expanded his operations on Cottage Grove Avenue to include the University of Psychic Science at 3975 & 3977 Cottage Grove, the College of Electro-Therapeutics at 3977 Cottage Grove, and the Natural Healers' Protective League at 3985 Cottage Grove, all three located directly across the street. On the same side as his main building, he added the Chicago Pure Food Company at 3990 Cottage Grove and the Mail Course Exchange Company at 4004 Cottage Grove, both situated directly next door. These ventures were all part of Parkyn’s broader goal of establishing a central hub for the study, education, and practical experimentation within the full scope of the mental sciences.^[335][333]

Dr. Parkyn established the University of Psychic Science with goals closely aligned to those of Grumbine’s College of Psychical Science. Located at 3975 & 3977 Cottage Grove Avenue, just around the corner from his main school, the university occupied offices above the Oakland Music Hall, where lectures and instructional sessions were held. It was intended to function as the primary center for teaching, lecturing, and experimentation across a growing network of enterprises, with plans to establish affiliated Colleges of Psychic Science throughout the country and abroad. The long-term vision included incorporating the Chicago School of Psychology into this framework to create a unified campus district. Later, when the new magazine New Thought was launched, its headquarters would be moved to 3835 South Vincennes Avenue, just three blocks away, keeping it within the expanding campus area.^{[336][335][337]}

The University of Psychic Science is incorporated

Parkyn deliberately kept his name off the official records of the various businesses he operated. The University of Psychic Science was incorporated in September 1900 with the standard minimum capital stock of $2,500. The incorporation was handled by three attorneys from the Chicago law firm of Church, McMurdy & Sherman, whose names appeared in the legal announcement. A reporter who noted the filing contacted the firm for more information and was told by attorney Roger Sherman that the individuals behind the university were not yet ready to make their names public, but that the institution would focus primarily on suggestive therapeutics, along with psychology and various mind-related studies.^[338][339] Roger Sherman, one of the incorporating attorneys, was a longtime friend of Parkyn.^[340] A former star football player for the Michigan Wolverines in the early 1890s, Sherman went on to coach the University of Iowa Hawkeyes in 1894. In 1895, he was also involved in the same controversy that implicated Parkyn during the Caspar Whitney, Harper’s Weekly pay-for-play scandal, in which Sherman was accused of offering $600 to one of Parkyn’s teammates on the Chicago Athletic Association team to finish the season with Michigan, an allegation he denied. Sherman would go on to become a significant ally to Parkyn in his battles against legislation aimed at banning New Thought medical practices. While serving as Assistant State’s Attorney for Chicago, Sherman contributed to Suggestion magazine with articles titled "The Attitude of Courts Toward Hypnotism" in 1899 and 1902.^[341] He later became president of the Illinois State Bar Association.^{[342][343][344]}

Dr. Parkyn’s future pupil, William Walker Atkinson, taught courses and had his first writings published through the University of Psychic Science

Operating out of the same offices as the University of Psychic Science, Parkyn also established a school of Electro-Therapeutics. The university offered instruction in the major forms of natural healing then popular within the New Thought movement. The school was directed by P. H. Blackmarr, formerly a professor of Electro-Therapeutics at Hahnemann Medical College in Chicago, and Charles H. Treadwell, B.S., a former instructor in physics at Syracuse University.^[333][345]

The National School of Osteopathy. At 4000 Cottage Grove Avenue, Parkyn operated a school of Osteopathy. It had originally begun as a correspondence branch affiliated with the National Schools of Osteopathy in Missouri and St. Louis. However, with the acquisition of expanded space, Parkyn transformed it into a full teaching center. The lectures and instruction were conducted by Dr. E. A. Russ. Parkyn commissioned Partlow Designs of Chicago to produce the advertisement for his osteopathy school, featuring the Art Nouveau style woman holding a laurel wreath. He also used the firm to design the advertisement for his Magnetic Healing Cup.^[333][345]

Combined courses. Dr. Parkyn integrated the Electro-Therapeutic and Osteopathy courses into his Chicago School of Psychology courses on Suggestive-Therapeutics and Hypnotism, offering a combined tuition package that allowed students to earn degrees in all three fields.^[345][333]

In mid-1900 Dr. Herbert A. Parkyn created and patented a device known as the Magnetic Healing Cup, which he promoted as both a scientific instrument and a controlled experiment in applied psychic research. Marketed under the name of The Magnetic Healing Cup Company with its headquarters located in his offices at 4000 Cottage Grove Avenue in Chicago.^[346] Dr. Parkyn developed the cup as a tool to test whether a physical object could enhance the therapeutic effects of suggestion by providing patients with a tangible medium through which belief and expectation could be concentrated. He viewed it as a mechanism to focus mental influence, what he referred to as the vital healing force into the subconscious mind. The act of drinking from the magnetized cup, combined with the suggestion of its curative properties, was intended to activate the body's recuperative processes. The project was also part of a larger inquiry into whether the use of physical adjuncts could improve patient responsiveness to mental and psychic treatments.^{[347][348][349]}

Promoted as a scientific breakthrough in suggestion-based medicine, the Magnetic Healing Cup was said to transfer magnetic energy into liquids, producing what was described as “liquid magnetism” or "liquid life." Advertisements frequently referred to it as "the last and greatest discovery of the nineteenth century." Dr. Parkyn claimed that when the magnetized liquid was ingested, it would deliver this energy through the bloodstream, revitalizing the body on a cellular level and curing disease by recharging the patient’s internal vital force. Promotional literature stated that the cup could charge the body "with the only force which ever cured anything," and described the device as containing enough magnetism to lift 40,000 pounds at a distance of one foot, with a perceptible magnetic field extending over 30 inches. The magnetic influence was said to be transmitted into a tasteless solution of Magnetic Metal Salts, prepared by a secret process, to create a drink that would restore energy, stimulate circulation, and reverse chronic illness.^[350][333]

Parkyn distributed the cups free of charge as part of a structured effort to collect feedback on their use. Patients were encouraged to describe their conditions in letters and, in return, received the cup along with instructions and related literature. This exchange allowed Parkyn to gather observational data on the therapeutic effects while also expanding awareness of his larger system of psychic healing. The campaign was not limited to individual patients; Parkyn also recruited agents to distribute the cups nationally, promoting them as safe, drug-free, and compatible with other treatments. Though presented in commercial form, the Magnetic Healing Cup functioned as an applied experiment in focused suggestion. Parkyn saw the cup not as a novelty but as a controlled test of how belief, channeled through a symbolic object, could trigger measurable changes in health.^[351][301]

In addition to Dr. Parkyn’s Suggestion Publishing Company, which issued Suggestion magazine and a wide range of instructional books, and the University of Psychic Science, which published its own educational materials, a third imprint was launched: the Yogi Publication Society. This new venture specialized in reframing earlier content through the lens of Eastern mysticism. One of its key early offerings was A Course in Yogi Philosophy and Oriental Occultism, a 14-lesson mail-order course published under the name Yogi Ramacharaka. The material closely mirrored the structure and content of the earlier Series of Lessons in Personal Magnetism released by the University of Psychic Science, but was rebranded with Indian terminology and spiritual themes. Parkyn's pupil, William Walker Atkinson, along with others, played a central role in adapting the original teachings into this new format to appeal to the growing popular interest in exotic spiritual traditions.^[281][352]

In mid-1900, Dr. Parkyn initiated the formation of the Natural Healers Protective League from offices at 3985 Cottage Grove. Recognizing the rapid rise of various drugless healing movements, he saw that continued ridicule or legal persecution by the medical profession would only strengthen the resolve of these groups. If left unchecked, they would not remain on the defensive but would organize, grow in strength, and eventually demand full freedom to practice without interference.^[353]

The Natural Healers Protective League was Parkyn’s response to this growing pressure. Its aim was to bring together the disparate schools of natural healing into a unified national body that could defend against restrictive legislation and assert the rights of its members. Parkyn emphasized that the League would not only serve as a shield against prosecution, but also as a platform to educate both healers and the public about the actual principles at work, specifically, the law of suggestion. By doing so, he hoped to raise the intellectual standards of the healing movement and prevent it from being overtaken by superstition or fraud. To support the League’s outreach and unify its message, Parkyn also launched The Natural Healer magazine as the official organ of the association. The publication was intended to serve as both a rallying point and an educational resource, providing Natural Healers with the tools to defend their work and understand the psychological basis behind their successes.^[354]

Dr. Parkyn established the Chicago Pure Food Company at 3990 Cottage Grove, with business offices across the street at 3983 Cottage Grove. The company produced scientifically prepared nut-based foods marketed as hygienic and therapeutic alternatives to meat, especially for those with digestive issues. Products like Choc-O-Lets, Cocoa-Nut-Bread, and Malted Nut Cheese were promoted for their nutritional value and appeal. With help from his father’s connections in the Canadian milling industry, Parkyn secured bulk ingredients and distributed samples and literature by mail, encouraging the public to "stop eating so much meat and try fruits and nuts."^{[355][356][357][358]}

Dr. Parkyn operated the Premium Subscription Agency at 4000 Cottage Grove and the Premium Department from his school offices as key parts of his publishing and marketing network. These services allowed customers to bundle multiple magazine subscriptions, often at steep discounts, through a practice known as magazine clubbing. The agency managed payments, address verification, and order fulfillment, and also handled subscriptions for libraries while promoting local reading rooms stocked with New Thought literature. Through Suggestion magazine, Parkyn arranged bundled offers with other New Thought publications, often adding free books or health products as incentives. Because the agency operated independently of any single magazine, it could bypass certain advertising restrictions, enabling broader promotional flexibility.^[359][360]

Magazine clubbing

Dr. Parkyn arranged clubbing deals with a wide range of New Thought magazines, many of which were founded by former students of his Chicago School of Psychology or by fellow New Thought leaders with whom he maintained close professional ties. These included prominent publications such as The Nautilus, Fred Burry’s Journal, Thought, Mind, Now, Success, It, Unity, The Philistine, The Segnogram, The Balance, The Liberator, New Thought, and Medical Talk. Through these collaborations, Parkyn fostered a network of allied periodicals that cultivated a community of New Thought and mental science investigators, providing a platform for sharing experimental findings, therapeutic techniques, and emerging theories.^[361]

Ads for the Premium Subscription Agency and the Premium Department in Parkyn's Suggestion Magazine

Through his magazine Suggestion, Dr. Parkyn marketed a variety of products tailored to the New Thought community. In addition to an extensive selection of books, he offered devices such as the Hypno-Metronome sold through the University of Psychic Science, which was advertised as capable of hypnotizing anyone. Other items included a Vacuum Treatment device designed to aid circulation, the Simplex Spirometer for increasing lung capacity, and a range of practical goods such as alcohol gas stoves and silver utensil sets.^[362][363]

Dr. Parkyn established the Mail Course Exchange at 4004 Cottage Grove Avenue to acquire and repurpose correspondence courses covering a wide range of subjects that could be adapted for his various enterprises. These materials, often issued anonymously or through short-lived mail-order operations, included 19th-century fascination manuals, self-help handbooks, moral self-culture courses, and works on metaphysical topics. They provided a consistent foundation of techniques and ideas focused on cultivating personal power through methods such as concentrated thought, gaze and posture exercises, stillness and breath control drills, and practices for influencing others by mental concentration, silent suggestion, and disciplined character development.^[363]

In addition to these, the collection encompassed older instructional courses on astrology, phrenology, palmistry, charming, physical culture, hygiene, and related fields. Taken together, these resources served as the raw material for many of the instructional courses and publications issued by the Psychic Research Company, allowing Parkyn and his associates to compile, revise, and rebrand content that would appeal to a growing audience interested in self-improvement, mental science, and esoteric study.^[363]

It has been suggested that the name listed as “P. H. Arthur,” identified as the Secretary of the Mail Course Exchange, was actually Herbert Arthur Parkyn, with the initials deliberately rearranged to obscure his identity.

In mid-1900, Suggestive Therapeutics magazine was ruled to have violated the requirements for receiving the discounted second-class postal rate and was granted a grace period until the end of the year to fulfill its prepaid subscriptions. The magazine had come under threat of mail fraud charges by U.S. Postal Service inspectors following complaints from a rival publication and growing scrutiny over its extensive use as a promotional vehicle. At the time, postal authorities were also actively cracking down on the practice of exaggerated claims by practitioners of esoteric healing methods and especially the practice of Absent Treatment. While Flower was promoting the practice in magazine advertisements as an experiment in telepathy it still prompted the postal authorities to launch a full investigation into the magazine.^[364][365]

The Postal Service had begun a series of high profile investigations into the practice of Absent Treatment with cases open on the famed mental scientists Helen Wilmans and Sidney A. Weltmer. They had questioned its feasibility, ultimately concluding that no practitioner could realistically provide the advertised thirty minutes per day per patient given the large volume of clients they were attracting. Anticipating potential legal action, Flower published an editorial in the June 1900 issue reaffirming his offer of a full refund to any customer that did not see any benefits from the service. With a further assurance that the Absent treatment would cease to be conducted, Flower was able to stave off mail fraud charges, but with the magazine drawing the attention of a full blown investigation it was ultimately discovered by postal authorities that Suggestive Therapeutics functioned primarily as a promotional outlet for the Chicago School of Psychology. Since the school already had a magazine, it was deemed ineligible for the discounted second-class mail rate. Without that postal subsidy, the magazine became economically unviable and, for all practical purposes, ceased operations.^[366]

The investigation into Suggestive Therapeutics magazine was initiated following complaints submitted to postal inspectors by a competing Chicago publication, The Star of the Magi. Launched in November 1899, it served as the official organ of the Order of Oriental Magi. Its publisher and editors held titles such as the Supreme Grand Magus, Supreme Grand Preceptor, and Supreme Grand Vizier. Although the magazine had a brief run, it quickly attracted a New Thought readership interested in metaphysical subjects. The publication made extensive claims regarding its possession of secret knowledge related to the "Secret Sciences," Alchemy, Geomancy, Astrology, Magic, Mysticism, Freemasonry, Telepathy, and other esoteric fields. It also asserted that its order originated during the time of Atlantis.^[367]

The Star of the Magi represented the kind of sensationalist metaphysical publication that Parkyn and Flower aimed to counter within the New Thought movement. Like other journals of its type, it was viewed as appealing to readers prone to exaggerated or misleading claims. Parkyn and his collaborators like Grumbine’s College sought to redirect that audience toward more grounded and scientifically framed teachings. In the February 1900 issue of the magazine it featured an ad for the newly released Mind Reading course from the Psychic Research Company. The advertisement was designed to catch attention with promises like “Become a mind-reader for free” and “Telepathy is now a proven fact.” It further claimed, “Nothing will give you so much entertainment as this Course,” and urged readers in bold letters to "SEND NO MONEY," just a postcard with their name to receive the first lesson and the current copy of Suggestive Therapeutics magazine at no cost. The ad functioned much like an early form of clickbait, crafted to capture interest and collect contact information so that respondents could be sent materials aimed at guiding them toward a clearer, more structured understanding of mental science.^[368]

The Mind Reading Course was heavily advertised because it served the dual purpose of exposing the tricks used by stage performers and providing the core methods for practicing and testing telepathy. Divided into two parts, the first taught muscle reading techniques, detecting subtle pressure from a guide’s hand, a wire, or forehead contact as entertaining feats that would work to harness powers of concentration and personal magnetism through practice. The second part focused on telepathy and provided a series of controlled tests designed to learn more about how thought could be transmitted without contact. These experiments involved sending emotional impressions, naming distant friends, and using visual aids like the “telepascope” to sharpen concentration. The aim was to gather results from a wide range of participants in a broad, ongoing investigation into the phenomenon.^[369]

Even thought this same ad had appeared in almost all the major mental science and advanced thought journals, the editor of the Star of the Magi attacked the ad, claiming it was what he termed "a well known 'something-for-nothing,' 'catch-'em-and-skin-'em' plan,'" In his March 1900 editorial he issued a public apology to his readers for the ad, claiming he had been duped. He explained that he had allowed the ad without a full investigation because the company behind it was a fellow Chicago based publisher that presented itself with a professional veneer, maintaining offices in a reputable building, and advertising widely. The editor then engaged in a slew of slanderous accusations, naming both Sydney Flower and J. V. Daniels, of being opportunists who preyed on public curiosity and trust. He described the Psychic Research Company not as a serious scientific initiative but as a calculated scheme designed to exploit the widespread fascination with emerging mental powers. In particular he went after Flower referring to him as “the LL.D. man," and claiming that "on closer acquaintance, proves to be a degenerate cigarette fiend, whom the medical journals and the State Board of Health are after for his open and gross violations of the law, and we trust the postal authorities will soon stop his fraudulent use of the mails."^[370][365]

In a textbook act of projection, the Star of the Magi editor accused the Psychic Research Company of the very tactics he himself was engaged in. The overwhelming response from readers unsettled him, exposing the vulnerability of his own dubious claims of mystical knowledge and spiritual authority. It threatened to reveal just how little separated his operations from those they were suddenly eager to denounce. Fearing exposure, he had launched into a tirade of unhinged, libelous slander, an overreaction that spoke volumes. Flower and Daniels swiftly responded with a $25,000 defamation suit.^[371]

The Star’s reply to the lawsuit was a complete editorial meltdown. It begins by denouncing Flower and Daniels as "unscrupulous persons" and "an unsavory pair of swelled heads....imposters who are in the occult field solely for what money they can make out of it by fake and false pretense." The libel suit, he claimed, was nothing more than a "colossal bluff," a ploy to "get a big bunch of my money" after "looking up my financial standing" and hoping for a quiet payoff. He mocked the idea outright, declaring, "Vain hope! We have thousands for defense, but not a cent for blackmail."^[371]

From there, the editor took a sharp turn into bizarre character assassination. He scoffed at the "mighty Daniels and the little faded Flower," and referred to Flower as "the great and only Sydney Flower, alias 'Haggard'," a jab that Flower was really the anonymous contributor in Suggestive Therapeutics using the popular monicker. He accused them of being publicity seekers who "enjoy being written up," but they didn’t like it when it came from him "because it hurts." He claimed they were just trying to "cover up their schemes," because they feared that "if the newspapers take a notion to look into us, we are done." He further taunted Flower for presently being in Des Moines, asking, "Great Sid, why do you run? Is the climate not right for such a delicate Flower?....Why did you leave your Haggard shadow behind?...."Why not take the Jekyll with the Hyde?" and added "We shall carefully preserve as occult mementos what we have left of you." As the editorial descended further into farce, he turned his scorn toward Flower’s personal life. He sneered, "Enjoy yourself, Sid, but remember, you are married now....Don’t let the good people of Des Moines get onto your curves, it’s a moral town, and you can’t do there what even Chicago doesn’t allow."^[371] Sydney Flower had traveled to Des Moines in April 1900 to give lectures and see about opening a School of Psychic Science in the city. He wrote about his trip in the May 1900 issue of the magazine.^[372]

The editorial response published by the Star of the Magi would have provided Daniels and Flower with strong grounds for a clear victory in their defamation suit. However, the editor of the Star had also filed multiple formal complaints with postal authorities, and the lawsuit itself brought heightened attention to the matter. As a result, the controversy escalated to the point where federal investigators launched an official inquiry into the operations of the Psychic Research Company and its affiliated publication, Suggestive Therapeutics. In an effort to de-escalate the situation, Daniels and Flower chose to withdraw their lawsuit against the Star’s editor.^[365][373]

Although the postmaster’s investigation did not result in formal mail fraud charges, the Psychic Research Company was issued a warning to refrain from making exaggerated claims in its advertising. However, a broader review of Suggestive Therapeutics revealed a clear pattern that over the preceding two years the magazine had overwhelmingly promoted Dr. Parkyn and his associated ventures. Investigators observed that the magazine had previously operated as a promotional platform for Parkyn’s school during its earlier incarnation as The Hypnotic Magazine. Both Suggestive Therapeutics and Suggestion claimed to be continuations of that earlier title, and that Parkyn had also served as a primary contributor to the first four issues of Suggestive Therapeutics. Adding to these concerns, both magazines prominently featured S. F. Meacham as a lead contributor. Meacham had been the lead writer for Parkyn’s Suggestion magazine since its launch, contributing to every issue. Beginning in October 1899, he began contributing original material to both publications simultaneously, an unusual arrangement for a principal writer and a supposed competitor in the same city. Taken together, these factors raised strong suspicions that Suggestive Therapeutics was not an independent journal, but rather a second magazine created under a different name to serve the same promotional purpose..^{[364][374][375][376][365]}

Parkyn's full page ads that appeared multiple times in each issue of Suggestive Therapeutics between 1898 and 1900

The investigator's findings supported that conclusion. Each issue of Suggestive Therapeutics carried, on average, four to five full-page advertisements for the Chicago School of Psychology, often placed in the most prominent positions. The pattern extended further with the release of Parkyn’s book, A Mail Course in Suggestive Therapeutics and Hypnotism. Several issues featured four-page spreads dedicated to the book, with subsequent issues including multiple full-page ads for it, as well as editorial pieces and featured letters promoting its content. In addition, every issue contained half-page and quarter-page ads for Parkyn’s Suggestion magazine, books sold by his Suggestion Publishing Company, and other products.^[374]

For another Chicago magazine operating in the same market and field where Parkyn already had a strong presence, such an extensive promotional outlay to a competitor would have been unthinkable, and financially unsustainable for Parkyn. To postal investigators, it was a clear indication that Parkyn was not paying for the advertising space, especially given the absence of any reciprocal promotion for Suggestive Therapeutics magazine in Parkyn’s own publication. The volume, placement, and frequency of the ads confirmed that Suggestive Therapeutics was operating as a promotional vehicle for Parkyn and the Chicago School of Psychology rather than as a fully independent, impartial publication.^{[364][375][365]}

Editorials on Parkyn's book and featured letters addressed to him in Suggestive Therapeutics magazine

As a result, in July 1900 the postal authorities ruled to permanently revoke the second-class postage rate for Suggestive Therapeutics magazine, granting a grace period through the end of the year to fulfill existing prepaid subscriptions. Without access to the discounted mailing rate, the journal was effectively forced to cease operations at the end of 1900. Its loss would deal a significant blow not only to efforts aimed at guiding the New Thought movement toward verifiable approaches to mental science, but also to the Psychic Research Company, which relied on the magazine as its primary outlet for distributing course materials and publishing research findings. With no platform in place, there was no practical means of communication with the tens of thousands of individuals who had purchased instructional content and were actively applying the techniques. Compounding the setback, both Sydney Flower and Jay V. Daniels had come under investigation by postal authorities and were now considered high-risk figures, effectively forcing them to take a back seat in any future magazine publications for a period of time in order to avoid drawing further attention. Parkyn, drawing on his experience of organizing and managing championship sports teams, moved quickly to reorganize the operation and bring in new collaborators capable of continuing the work.^[364][365]

With the looming shutdown of Suggestive Therapeutics, it was decided that Jay V. Daniels would establish a European branch of the Psychic Research Company by setting up a base of operations in the United Kingdom. In September 1900, offices were opened in the Temple Chambers building, located within the historic Temple grounds, once the headquarters of the Knights Templar in 12th-century London. The goal was to lay the groundwork for future operations across Europe by flooding the market with course books on every facet of the mental sciences, many of which were offered at low cost or even free.^[377] This effort was supported through a working collaboration with the Fowler & Wells Company of New York, specifically its L. N. Fowler & Co. branch located at 337 Strand in London, just a couple of blocks from the Temple Chambers building where Daniels would established offices.^{[377][378][379]}

Fowler & Wells was founded in the 1830s by phrenologist brothers Orson Squire Fowler and Lorenzo Niles Fowler, and was a leading publisher of works on phrenology, physiology, self-culture, fascination, and reform topics. They also issued popular journals like The Phrenological Journal and widely distributed books and anatomical charts. Lorenzo N. Fowler later established a London office in the 1860s, which operated under his name as L. N. Fowler & Co. He also opened the Fowler Institute located at Ludgate Circus, which served as the center of phrenological activity in Britain, offering head readings, lectures, and publications.^{[380][381][382]}

The collaboration between the Fowler & Wells Company and the Psychic Research Company offered clear advantages to both parties. Fowler & Wells brought a well-established distribution network, enabling the Psychic Research Company to circulate its courses widely and inexpensively, even without a dedicated magazine for promotion. At the same time, Fowler & Wells was seeking to expand its role in the New Thought movement, with particular interest in the emerging fields of Hypnotism and Suggestive Therapeutics. As phrenology and earlier nineteenth-century practices such as concentration, mind-reading, memory, fascination, and self-culture declined in popularity compared to the new ideas of the New Thought movement, Fowler & Wells was left with a large catalog of works on these subjects. Dr. Parkyn had identified that many of these earlier practices had been successful by unintentionally drawing on the practical effects of suggestion. With this understanding, the older titles could be readily repurposed into new instructional courses, preserving much of the original content while reframing it through the lens of modern New Thought principles and suggestive therapeutics. Under this arrangement, the Psychic Research Company would rebrand the legacy material, while Fowler & Wells would provide low-cost printing and distribution, allowing many of the courses to be offered free of charge.^[383]

The Psychic Research Co. would repurpose Fowler & Wells works that aligned with New Thought interests

The Fowler family and the Daniels and Smith families had known each other since the 1850s in Minnesota. Orsena Susan Fowler, daughter of Orson Squire Fowler, was married to Melville Clayton Smith, who, along with his brothers Delano Thomas Smith and Irving Daniel Smith, had relocated from New York to Minnesota alongside the Daniels and Smith families. They were all involved in the real estate business, focusing on the purchase and sale of farmland in what was then known as the "New England of the West," with Irving Daniel Smith eventually becoming the largest landowner in the region. John Van Ness Daniels, grandfather of Jay V. Daniels, and Asahel Smith, grandfather of Van Ness Daniels Smith, operated the firm Smith and Daniels, which became one of the largest farmland investment firms and co-founded the Union National Bank, a leading mortgage lender in the area. Politically, they were also deeply active in state government, with Delano and Melville Smith both serving as Minnesota state senators alongside John Van Ness Daniels for nearly a decade.^{[384][385][386][387][388][389][390]}

Following the loss of Suggestive Therapeutics at the end of 1900, Dr. Parkyn moved quickly to preserve the publishing momentum of his mental science network. He enlisted longtime pupil Lloyd Kenyon Jones to serve as the founding editor of a new magazine, which would effectively replace the discontinued magazine. In December 1900, The Journal of Magnetism was launched under the newly formed Magnetic Publishing Company, with Jones, then known simply as Lloyd Jones, acting as editor and manager of both the publication and the company. The title was chosen to capitalize on the current fascination in magnetism within the new Thought community. By January 1901, The Journal of Magnetism formally absorbed the subscription list and all remaining assets of Suggestive Therapeutics, continuing seamlessly under a new name while preserving nearly identical content, structure, and focus. Jones’s role, however, was temporary. He remained with the magazine only until April 1901, at which point he left to found the Chicago School of Psychic Attainment, with Parkyn’s backing.^{[391][392][393]}

Lloyd Jones had been a member of Parkyn’s circle for several years. Born in Marshfield, Wisconsin, he began working for The Marshfield Times, where he became close to its publisher, John H. White. Marshfield’s proximity to Eau Claire, home of The Eau Claire Telegram, the newspaper owned by Parkyn’s uncle, created frequent opportunities for collaboration between the two publications. Through this connection, Jones learned of Parkyn's Chicago School of Psychology right when it opened. Having developed an early interest in mental science, he relocated to Chicago in 1896 to enroll as one of its earliest students. He would remain actively involved with Parkyn, lecturing and giving exhibitions on hypnotism and suggestion throughout the region, publishing articles in Hypnotic Magazine, and assisting in school operations. In late 1899 Jones would also become a contributor to Suggestive Therapeutics and in 1900 would write several instructional courses for the Psychic Research Company, including the courses on psychometry, clairvoyance, and phrenology.^{[391][394][395][396][397]}

Although Sydney Flower continued his involvement in the new publication, he was required to step back from any formal editorial role. The loss of Suggestive Therapeutics, which had served as Flower’s primary source of income at the time, was directly tied to its promotion of Parkyn’s school, and Parkyn acknowledged this responsibility. He would ensure that Flower remained part of the ongoing enterprises, and help him regain his financial footing by positioning him for even bigger future ventures.^[398]

William Walker Atkinson became involved with Dr. Herbert A. Parkyn in the spring of 1900, when he arrived at Parkyn’s Chicago School of Psychology in search of mental therapy. It was there that Atkinson received the therapeutic help he had been searching for and would also become a student at the school learning directly under Dr. Parkyn. The training in both Parkyn's clinical applications and occult theories would shape Atkinson's future writings and establish many of the core beliefs and methods he would continue to promote throughout his career. Atkinson would become a close collaborator for many years with Dr. Parkyn and emerge as one of his most visible protégés.^{[399][364][373]}

In the years leading up to 1900, Atkinson had been a successful attorney practicing commercial law in central Pennsylvania as a partner of the firm Leisenring & Atkinson. There he specialized in debt enforcement, creditor litigation, and property execution cases, often representing trust companies in foreclosures and judgments. In 1899, he relocated to a neighboring county, intending to expand his legal career. However, in early 1900, he attempted to return to practice with his old partner but was blocked by the local bar association, which required a six-month residency and a new examination. Atkinson, maintaining he had never legally forfeited his standing, refused to comply and instead dissolved his partnership. The episode left him embittered and professionally stalled. Friends and family later said he became despondent over the incident and brooded deeply about the professional slight. With limited options, Atkinson moved his wife and child into the home of his brother-in-law in Philadelphia and accepted a position as regional manager for the North American Mercantile Agency located in the Drexel Building. While he was well suited to the work which involved compiling business credit reports, tracking debtor payments, and assessing financial risk he claimed that he fell into a deep depression. This lead to a complete mental breakdown for Atkinson leading to what he claimed was a “nervous prostration” brought on by mental stress.^{[400][401][399][364]}

On May 9, 1900, Atkinson suddenly vanished without explanation. He was last seen leaving his office with several law books and carrying roughly $500 in cash, a substantial sum. When he failed to return home by the next day, his wife filed a missing persons report, and police issued alerts across a 250-mile radius. Newspapers throughout the region seized on the sensational story, with headlines appearing across the Northeast. It was reported that he had recently been in poor health, complaining of severe headaches. Some speculated mental derangement, while others feared foul play. His old law partner J. S. Leisenring traveled to Philadelphia to assist in the search as well as colleagues and friends from all around. But there was no word of him. He had effectively disappeared.^[402][403]

His family’s only hope was that this might be a recurrence of an earlier episode in Atkinson’s life. At the age of 21, he had also experienced a personal crisis, reportedly due to unrequited love, leading him to disappear from Baltimore and send a series of suicide notes from a hotel in Philadelphia. After the incident, he reportedly began delving into esoteric studies, which provided him with some stability and direction.^[402][399]

After six weeks, on June 21, 1900, Atkinson unexpectedly presented himself at the New York office of the North American Mercantile Agency. He said he had no memory of the preceding month and a half, except for a vague impression of having been in Chicago. He did not explain how or why he had traveled or what he had done during the intervening time. A letter addressed to J. S. Leisenring found in his pocket helped confirm his identity. Shortly after reappearing, Atkinson relocated permanently to Chicago, bringing his wife and child with him.^{[399][404][405][406][407]}

In a letter written shortly afterward, Atkinson claimed he had suffered a mental breakdown specifically blaming the Bar Association’s rejection as the trigger. He stated that the breakdown had been coming on gradually and only reached its climax in May. Publicly, he thanked friends and family for their concern and said he was recovering well.^[408] However, his movements during that time were not so mysterious. He was captured in a formal group photograph portrait used in the third edition of Parkyn’s Mail Course in Suggestive Therapeutics and Hypnosis which was released in mid 1900. This photographic evidence placed him in Chicago, and enrolled at Dr. Parkyn’s School of Psychology, during the exact time period he was missing in Philadelphia.^[409]

During his six-week disappearance in 1900, William Walker Atkinson traveled to Chicago to receive treatment and to study at Dr. Parkyn’s school. Parkyn’s methods, widely promoted as effective for nervous and mental exhaustion, appear to have had a clear therapeutic effect. Atkinson’s experience in Chicago was therapeutic and decisive. Upon reappearing in New York and reestablishing contact with his family in Philadelphia, he quickly arranged for their relocation to Chicago. There, he immediately entered into direct collaboration with Dr. Parkyn. The speed of this transition contradicts his public claim of amnesia and shows that he had sought treatment discreetly, due to the stigma still attached to suggestive and hypnotic therapies at the time.^[399][410]

After relocating to Chicago with his family in the summer of 1900, William Walker Atkinson spent several months studying directly under Dr. Herbert A. Parkyn while also seeking accreditation from the Illinois Bar Association to have an active law license. During this time, Atkinson underwent full training in Parkyn’s system of suggestive therapeutics and became aligned with the broader effort, led by Parkyn and Sydney Flower, to establish the legitimacy of mental science and to fight the proliferation of charlatan practitioners. His background in occult literature, combined with strong writing and organizational skills, led Parkyn to invite him to contribute to Suggestion magazine and to give a series of lectures on the mental sciences. Over several months, Parkyn would gradually expose his students to a more metaphysical view on the powers behind the mental sciences through Atkinson’s lectures and introduce his voice into the journal by assigning him unsigned editorial articles. Parkyn saw Atkinson as a valuable addition to the broader mission of bringing the benefits of suggestive therapeutics into everyday life. Atkinson was not only a passionate writer who had personally experienced the healing effects of Parkyn's methods, but also brought with him a background in corporate law and financial risk assessment. These skills proved especially useful as Parkyn and his associates began expanding their work into larger business ventures..^{[411][412][373]}

In December 1900, Atkinson’s first published work on New Thought appeared in Suggestion magazine under the title "The Law of Mental Control." This would be a series of four articles based on his lectures on the mental sciences with the titles "The Functions of the Mind,"^[411] "The Real Self," "Character Building by Mental Control," and "I Can and I Will." This series presented the main concepts behind the field of suggestive therapeutics and would soon be expanded into one of Atkinson’s most popular books, A Series of Lessons in Personal Magnetism, Psychic Influence, Thought-Force, Concentration, Will-Power and Practical Mental Science. The ideas in this series and the following book created the foundation for the teachings and methods that would define Atkinson’s writing career, and was the key to his rise to prominence within the New Thought movement.^{[413][414][411][415]}

Dr. Parkyn introduced Atkinson's series with the following statement,^[416]

"the series of articles by Mr. Atkinson, entitled 'The Law of Mental Control,' promises to be quite interesting, and differs from the usual Mental Science contribution in a number of ways. Mr. Atkinson will avoid any special reference to the Mental Science theories of the treatment of disease, and will confine himself to an exposition of his conception of the true principles underlying the science of the mind, his ideas differing very materially from those of many other writers in the same field."

In February 1901 Atkinson assumed the official title as assistant editor for Parkyn's Suggestion magazine.

Dr. Parkyn introduced Atkinson to his readers with the following address:^[412]

"An Increase in Our Staff. We direct the attention of our readers to the fact that William Walker Atkinson has assumed the duties of associate editor of this journal. Mr. Atkinson, who is by profession a lawyer, has been for many years a student of psychic phenomena, and has written several works upon the subject. He has recently determined to devote his entire time and energies to the investigation, and advancement of psychic science and occultism, and our readers will receive the benefit of his work. At present, he is engaged in the investigation of the subject of psychic science as applied to the affairs of every day life, and he promises to give us some live contributions along these lines in the near future. Although Mr. Atkinson’s duties as associate editor begin only with this number, he has heretofore furnished us with editorial articles written in a lighter vein, and the breezy editorials which have appeared in this journal for several months last past, came from his pen. We are pleased to be able to announce to our readers that Mr. Atkinson will remain with us permanently, and will contribute something to each number of this journal, both in the editorial columns and in the body of the magazine. The policy of Suggestion will remain the same, Dr. Parkyn giving his personal attention to the Suggestive Therapeutic features of the journal, as well as directing its policy."

William Walker Atkinson’s role in Suggestion magazine was to fulfill a specific part of Parkyn’s broader strategy. Over the previous two years, Sydney Flower, through his school and Suggestive Therapeutics magazine, had attracted a large following of lay students and readers interested in the emerging mental sciences. However, he showed no interest in the metaphysical or occult aspects that were becoming increasingly associated with the field and was openly dismissive of such ideas. By 1900, however, the New Thought movement had become deeply intertwined with metaphysical and occult language, and large audiences were being drawn to teachings promising mysterious inner powers, especially in the fields of magnetism. Parkyn, who was both knowledgeable and personally interested in these areas, remained committed to maintaining his professional credibility within the medical and psychological communities. To protect that standing, he deliberately avoided linking his therapeutic work too closely with the metaphysical rhetoric that had come to dominate much of the popular mind-cure literature. Atkinson’s task was to represent Parkyn’s system to the metaphysically inclined student by using the language and imagery popular within the New Thought movement. The goal was not simply to broaden the reach of the material but to offer an alternative to what Parkyn saw as the confusion and distortion introduced by speculative metaphysical systems. By presenting scientifically grounded techniques in familiar esoteric terms, Parkyn through Atkinson hoped to attract those drawn to mystical teachings and redirect their focus toward disciplined, rational, and demonstrable methods of mental and personal development.^{[413][414][411][415][417]}

The structure of the Atkinson series would follow along the instructional logic of Parkyn’s Mail Course: in Suggestive Therapeutics and Hypnosis. Beginning with the functions of the mind, progressing through the identification of the real self, and moving into exercises on character building and mental reinforcement. While the Atkinson series would also reintroduced older concepts such as fascination, concentration, and soul and self culture, it retained the same core methods found in Parkyn’s course, including repetition, affirmation, visualization, and auto-suggestion..^{[413][414][411][415][417]}

1. The "I Am" - Dr. Parkyn taught that true healing came from within, through disciplined suggestion, and not from supernatural forces. Teaching patients to use auto-suggestions like "I Am strong" and "I Am fearless." This would be echoed using the phrase “I AM” in its Hermetic style to emphasize that suggestion's power lies in personal divinity and self-realization, stating, "the mental scientist asserts the 'I AM' with all his power."^[415][417]
2. Dual Mind Theory - Dr. Parkyn had expanded Thomson Jay Hudson’s dual mind theory, which divided the mind into conscious and subconscious parts, by teaching that there is only one mind with two functions: the voluntary and the involuntary. This would be repeated verbatim with just renaming the two functions as the active and the passive, to adapt to New Thought's fascination with magnetic forces.^[411][417]
3. Three-Part Structure - Dr. Parkyn taught a framework in which the divine nature of man serves as the directing principle over the mind, which in turn governs the functions of the body. This model would be adopted in metaphysical terms, stating "the I AM is the master, the body and mind are but servants. The real Ego is what one recognizes when one says to himself, I AM."^{[417]: 256 [411]}
4. Repetition - Parkyn taught that mental and behavioral change occurs through repetition, writing, “voluntary effort begins the habit; repetition sends it into the involuntary where it becomes automatic.” This same idea would be conveyed using magnetic imagery, describing how “the active function produces the thought-habit and repetition imparts to it the vibrations which carry it on along passive lines thereafter."^[414][417]
5. "I Can and I Will" - Parkyn emphasized the use of positive phrasing, such as “I can” and “I will,” as essential tools for mental conditioning, warning that negative expressions like “I will not be fearful” can unintentionally reinforce the very idea they aim to suppress. These phrases would be used in identical form and with the same caution, just combining them in the affirmation “I can and I will,” as a powerful formula for awakening the “I Am” and initiating personal transformation.^{[413][417]: 79}
6. Misidentification of Man's Divine Nature - Parkyn cautioned against the common mistake of identifying the involuntary mind with man's divine nature. He maintained that this part of the mind was mechanical, responsive to suggestion, and not the seat of higher moral or spiritual identity. This would be echoed directly, stating that it was an “erroneous idea” to regard the passive mind as the "I Am."^[417][411]
7. Framing of Mental Energy - Parkyn described mental activity using terms like "vibrations" and "energy flow." This language would be adopted almost directly, just adding embellishments such as “vibratory impulses” and “momentum.” Stating, “the active function has the power to send forth vibratory impulses which neutralize the momentum of the thought-habit.” ^{[413][414][411][415][417]}

The series of lectures created for Atkinson's lecture series were not only constructed from Parkyn’s therapeutic material but also from a large body of earlier self-help instruction books published by the Fowler & Wells Company. Among the most heavily drawn upon for techniques were the fascination manuals of the 1840s through 1870s which emphasized the power of silent command, magnetic eye contact, and the projection of thought through focused desire. These manuals typically instructed readers to sit quietly, fix their gaze on a subject, and mentally direct them to act. These methods appear nearly unchanged in the Atkinson series for development of psychic influence and personal magnetism. Mirror work, central gaze, and solar plexus concentration, are all recurring themes in the series. Aditiontionaliy, materials from moral and character-building systems such as Orson Squire Fowler’s Self-Culture and Perfection of Character were folded in and rephrased in the new metaphysical idiom. Concepts like self-restraint, silence as strength, and the ethical cultivation of will were reframed in terms of vibratory energy, inner magnetism, and mental mastery. ^{[382][418][419][420]}

Some of the Fowler & Wells Co. published books that were reworked for lectures and courses

Prentice Mulford’s essays, particularly Thoughts are Things and Your Forces and How to Use Them, also provided a primary foundation for the more spiritual and esoteric interpretation of suggestive therapeutics that would come to define its presentation within the New Thought movement. Mulford, who had died in 1891, had been a key influence on Parkyn’s explanation of suggestion, particularly in how he linked mental activity with external, observable outcomes. In the very first pamphlet put out by Parkyn's Chicago School of Psychology in 1896, he had quoted Mulford directly stating "Thoughts are things; change the thought and benefit will ensue."^[417]: 252 In Mulford's writings, thought was not a passive or internal event but a radiant, energetic force that moved through what he called the “thought atmosphere,” capable of impressing itself on people, events, and the conditions of daily life. This idea, that thought was a transmissible, causative energy, aligned perfectly with Parkyn’s view that suggestion could operate both voluntarily and involuntarily, and that it could be directed not just through words but through presence, tone, and focused intent.^[420][421]

Mulford’s framework offered the conceptual bridge that made it possible to elevate simple techniques of gaze, posture, repetition, and focused intent into operations of a higher mental law. His idea that thought could “travel” and exert influence independent of speech or proximity gave spiritual weight to older fascination practices that had previously been explained through will-power or nerve control. Atkinson, working under Parkyn’s guidance, drew directly on Mulford’s terminology and cosmology in reframing the core mechanics of Suggestion. In the lesson series, traditional exercises such as eye fixation, mirror work, and mental affirmation were preserved almost exactly as they appeared in earlier mail-order manuals, but now cast in terms of “thought-currents,” “volic force,” and “mental pictures impressed through the I AM.” Through Mulford, Parkyn was able to repackage for Atkinson familiar psychological practices as expressions of an invisible universal law, giving the doctrine of Suggestion a spiritual and energetic dimension that both aligned with and helped define New Thought philosophy.^[420][422]

The end result was a repurposed instructional series that blended Parkyn’s clinical psychology with the physical techniques and moral prescriptions of earlier methods. These earlier practices fit seamlessly into Parkyn’s broader framework, as he consistently taught that subjects such as personal magnetism, thought force, concentration, success, and will-power were ultimately expressions of suggestion. Parkyn’s explanations closely echoed those of Prentice Mulford, emphasizing the idea that thought was both formative and transmissive. As Parkyn wrote, "Thoughts take form in action. The converse of this is true also, for our actions take form in the thoughts of others... Think the right thoughts and desirable actions will follow." Within this view, the gaze drills, posture control, and mental projection techniques found in fascination manuals were not esoteric rituals but practical applications of suggestive influence, methods for shaping behavior, cultivating confidence, and directing the will both internally and externally.^[420][422]

By 1901, J.C.F. Grumbine had relocated the headquarters of his College of Psychical Science and the Order of the White Rose to Syracuse, New York. In the years prior it had maintained a strong presence in the Chicago area, where it combined esoteric and occult traditions with a medically scientific approach to the study of mental science. Grumbine, however, had grown disillusioned with the direction the New Thought movement was going in Chicago and chose to withdraw his headquarters from its activities entirely. In response, Dr. Parkyn established the University of Psychic Science as a continuation of what Grumbine's college was teaching. With the University being just two blocks from the former site of Grumbine’s college and Parlors of the Order of the White Rose, it allowed it to keep much of the same audience engaged in mental science research.^[423][364]

It was here, under Parkyn’s direction, that William Walker Atkinson would begin his teaching career by giving a series of lectures on the power of the human will in what would become the center piece of arguably his most popular teachings known as "Thought = Force in Business and Everyday Life." The lectures would later be published in serialized form in Suggestion magazine and then compiled into book format. The establishment of the University of Psychic Science was to be the centerpiece of Parkyn's effort to present suggestive therapeutics in the metaphysical language and stylistic framework of the New Thought movement. Though Parkyn remained behind the scenes and took no public role in the university’s lectures, he closely mentored William Walker Atkinson, positioning him as the public representative of the institution.^[419][418]

In 1901, William Walker Atkinson’s first book, A Series of Lessons in Personal Magnetism, Psychic Influence, Thought-Force, Concentration, Will-Power, and Practical Mental Science, was published by Dr. Herbert A. Parkyn through his University of Psychic Science. The serialized articles and the compiled volume quickly attracted widespread attention, resonating with readers who were increasingly drawn to metaphysical interpretations of suggestion and mental science. With its New Thought vocabulary and its blend of therapeutic instruction and occult psychology, the book met a growing national appetite for such ideas.^[419]

This debut work established Atkinson as a major figure in the public presentation of New Thought teachings. Recognizing its impact, Parkyn rebranded the series into what would become one of the most influential books of the era, Thought = Force in Business and Everyday Life. The book holds a unique place in the history of New Thought literature as one of the first works to explicitly apply its principles to business success. At a time when most writings in the movement focused on health, spiritual growth, or personal development, it introduced the idea that mental concentration, willpower, and suggestion could be used as tools for financial achievement and commercial advancement. This innovation helped lay the foundation for the self-help and business motivation genre, influencing later authors such as Napoleon Hill and Norman Vincent Peale.^[424]

Parkyn recognized that Atkinson’s background in corporate law and finance made him particularly well suited to deliver these ideas to a business audience and arranged for him to give several lecture at corporate institutions. Unlike spiritualists or religious figures, Atkinson could present himself as one of them, speaking their language while introducing mental science concepts designed for business success. Parkyn viewed this as a strategic opportunity to engage business leaders in the practice of suggestion and auto-suggestion, believing they were a critical demographic for advancing a broader national shift toward health, happiness, and success. Parkyn would soon expand his influence in the business community through his development of the science of suggestion and innovative advertising techniques.^[424][399]

In one of the most dramatic public showdowns in the history of American mental science, Dr. Parkyn, engaged in a highly publicized telepathy duel against Miss Maud Lancaster of London. Known in the press as the "Lady Sherlock Holmes," Lancaster claimed to have helped Scotland Yard solve crimes using her extraordinary psychic powers. She was traveling across the United States on a public demonstration tour and had arrived in Chicago to showcase what she described as genuine telepathy. Dr. Parkyn and William Walker Atkinson, directly challenged Lancaster’s claims after attending one of her exhibitions at the Chicago Press Club on January 24, 1901. Before an audience of journalists, police officials, physicians, and scientists, Lancaster performed a series of feats that included identifying individuals who had touched objects, locating an imaginary murder weapon, and reading the serial number on a banknote, all while blindfolded.^{[425][426][427][428]}

While the audience appeared convinced, Parkyn publicly stated that the entire performance could be explained by natural means. He argued that her results were due to refined sensory awareness, crowd reactions, and unconscious movements from participants. Parkyn emphasized that true telepathy was spontaneous and not something that could be reproduced on command for theatrical effect. Miss Lancaster and her manager took offense at these statements and issued a formal challenge. A second performance would be held under the strictest scientific conditions to determine whether the feats could be repeated. Dr. Parkyn accepted the challenge with Atkinson serving as his second and required that all sensory input be completely blocked so the results could not be explained by observation or suggestion.^[425][426]

The duel took place on February 12, 1901, at the Palmer House Hotel in Chicago. The audience was limited to seventy carefully selected individuals, including doctors, scientists, and journalists. Dr. Parkyn personally blindfolded Lancaster using multiple layers of surgical cotton and cloth to ensure that she could not see or hear. He instructed the audience to remain completely still and silent to prevent any involuntary clues or cues. Under these conditions, Lancaster was unable to reproduce any of her earlier feats. She misidentified the people who had touched the items and failed to guess the correct number on the banknote. She blamed her failure on the attitude of the audience and claimed that Parkyn was sending her negative thought waves, later claiming he had "hypnotized" her. After the demonstration, Dr. Parkyn declared that the tests reaffirmed that Miss Lancaster’s earlier performance had not demonstrated real telepathy.^[364]

The event was widely covered and was a rare moment when a public claim of psychic power was directly challenged under controlled observation. Although Miss Lancaster continued her tour, the Chicago duel marked a turning point in how her claims were received. Dr. Parkyn was praised for insisting on proper test conditions and for demonstrating that dramatic results on stage could not substitute for scientific proof. Despite Miss Lancaster's failed demonstration, Parkyn and Atkinson did show respect for her skill as a performer. They emphasized that while her feats could be explained by trained use of the five senses, they still offered valuable insight into the psychology of suggestion and audience influence.^[364]

In March 1901, Dr. Parkyn and Sydney Flower came up with the idea of the "Psychic Club" as a way to create a private organization of practitioners and investigators who could share their results in psychic research. Shortly after, in May, a School of Psychic Science affiliated with the University of Psychic Science was opened in the Equitable Building, where Flower conducted teaching classes three nights a week.^[429] The Psychic Club served a practical function of offering a protected outlet for distributing the Psychic Research Company’s instructional materials, while the school provided Flower with a means to continue his work in a meaningful and financially viable way. Both were launched with Flower as president, giving him standing within the mental science community at a time when his earlier controversy made it hard for him to serve publicly without inviting renewed scrutiny.^{[430][431][432]}

At the outset, the organization began simply as the Psychic Club of Chicago and maintained a reading room where local members could meet and share resources. In addition to distributing courses from the Psychic Research Company, the club offered a wide range of books and pamphlets related to mental science and psychic phenomena. However, these features were discontinued shortly after the club’s launch in response to growing demand for a purely fraternal organization focused on spiritual unity and shared mental practice, free from any appearance of being a commercial enterprise. The organization was then reorganized as the Psychic Club of America, a not-for-profit entity with no assessments, dues, or financial liabilities..^[430][433]

The Club quickly attracted attention and within its first several months, membership surpassed 5,000, with individuals joining from across the United States and Canada. Members were also sent a copy of the Journal of Magnetism and a set of instructions for three tricks intended to expose fraudulent mediumship. These included a method for reading and responding to questions sealed in an envelope without opening or tampering with it, techniques for producing writing on a slate, and instructions on how to create spirit photographs. The accompanying statement noted that these demonstrations were intended for amusement and educational purposes and not as part of genuine spiritualistic practice.^[434]

Quote:^[434]

"We hope that these tricks will not offend those who admire Spiritualism for its beautiful philosophy. We give them away free and perhaps are advancing the truth by showing up the false. Of course, these tricks have nothing to do with the true phenomena of Spiritualism. They are simply for amusement, but they are also in some sort a protection against trickery on the part of public mediums for those who understand how they are done. This is our chief reason for giving them away."

(They would fluctuate between using "success" and "prosperity" in their creed)

Creed:^{[431]: 119-126}

"We believe in the dynamic force of individual thought and that thought sent forth from the human mind is a force working for good or evil. We believe also that every call for help or health sent forth in silent desire is heard, and attracts to itself some measure of this potential thought. We therefore ask our members to join themselves with us in sending and receiving these vast thought waves which we believe have a vibration that expresses itself materially. At the noon hour we ask that all our members, scattered all over the world, give up five minutes to silent determination to help in thought those who are less fortunate than they. This is accomplished by silently repeating the password (the password has vibratory properties of its own and is a magnet to attract to the speaker the fulfillment of desire) of the club followed by the benediction, ‘Let all people and things receive blessings of health, happiness and prosperity. I send my positive thought into the world. Let it find itself a home where it is most needed."

This act of synchronized concentration was seen as a way to generate a continuous wave of psychic force, uniting members into what was called a battery of thought. The organization quickly began to expand through the formation of local chapters, each led by practitioners aligned with the club's principles and its broader spiritual and therapeutic aims. The Psychic Club would soon become the foundation for a change in direction for the Journal of Magnetism, setting the stage for its rebranding as the organ of the Psychic Club under the new title New Thought.^{[434][431][435]}

With the creation of the Psychic Club, Parkyn and Flower set in motion a strategy to reestablish a major magazine under Flower’s editorial leadership. Although the Journal of Magnetism had remained in circulation throughout 1901, it was struggling to gain momentum and had seen its subscriber base decline to around 4,000. Flower had previously been one of the most successful editors in the advanced thought publishing world, and Parkyn was determined to restore him to the center of a thriving publication. With the Psychic Club of America structured as a private, non-profit membership organization, it became possible to develop a new magazine that would function solely as the official organ of the club. It would not be sold on newsstands, and all advertising would be limited to content from the magazine’s staff or members of the Psychic Club. Under this arrangement, it was hoped that both the publication and Flower himself would be shielded from interference by postal authorities and could explore the psychical sciences as fully and freely as they saw fit.^[436][437]

Another key ambition behind the creation of the Psychic Club and its accompanying journal was to generate significant financial resources that could be directed toward large scale global experimentation in the psychic sciences. Dr. Parkyn and Flower also envisioned using the proceeds to fund legal and legislative efforts aimed at securing recognition for mental science practices and pushing back against the mainstream medical establishment, which was actively working to discredit and ban New Thought methods. To support this vision, it was decided that a large scale mail order business would be launched under Flower’s leadership and promoted through the new magazine. Through this enterprise a wide array of products would be marketed including more than fifty food remedies, various lotions and skin treatments, health cigars, and cures for ailments ranging from toothaches and dandruff to hair loss.^[438][439]

Home Course of Instruction in the Mail Order Business

The platform would also encourage fellow members of the Psychic Club to build their own mail order businesses. In October 1901 Flower put together a Home Course of Instruction in the Mail Order Business a guide designed to help other members replicate his methods and contribute to the growing wealth and influence of the Psychic Club community.^[440] The course was quickly put together following the exact same structure and examples found in the 1900 publication Secrets of the Mail Order Trade by Saw Sawyer.^[441] This economic initiative was further supported by the formation of the Psychic Club Success Circle, which introduced collective investment schemes with names like the “Cash Compelling Scheme” and “The Royal Ten.” These pooled ventures focused on investment in Flower’s mail order businesses and also extended into projects such as mining operations, a gold extraction company, and agricultural development in Mexico. Several of the same investment opportunities were also promoted in Parkyn’s Suggestion magazine.^{[442][443][444][436]}

In November 1901, William Walker Atkinson announced that he was stepping down from his position as assistant editor of Suggestion magazine. This transition had been carefully planned, as Parkyn had been preparing him to both edit a publication and serve as its principal contributor. Through Suggestion and a wide-reaching promotional campaign highlighting Atkinson’s lectures, courses, and books, Parkyn had successfully established him as a prominent figure within the New Thought community. The strong editorial influence of Suggestion across the psychical science press further elevated Atkinson to a position of leadership that other journals respected and often emulated.^[445]

At the time, Parkyn’s Suggestion magazine featured a full stable of well known advanced thought writers. These included Dr. S. F. Meacham, Dr. E. H. Pratt, and Dr. George Bieser contributing articles to every issue and frequent contributions from Dr. W. Xavier Sudduth, Prof. Stanley L. Krebs, Dr. F. W. Southworth and others. Dr. Parkyn himself also contributed to nearly every issue. With so many established voices filling its pages, there was limited room for the broader metaphysical explorations that the growing New Thought audience was craving. The time was right for a magazine focused entirely on the spiritual and philosophical foundations of the mental sciences, presented fully in the language of New Thought.^[446][364]

Atkinson was brought over to the Journal of Magnetism to oversee its transformation into a magazine that expressed the distinctive New Thought energy and vision Parkyn had cultivated around his image over the previous year and a half. Branding it as ATKINSONIA, they had successfully created an atmosphere in which followers felt they were entering an exclusive environment of New Thought ideas, immersed in special truths.^[447]

Atkinson's first major decision was to rename the journal. Although Sydney Flower was initially hesitant, recalling how previous rebranding had disrupted subscriptions and distribution, he ultimately agreed when Dr. Parkyn also endorsed the change. With the December 1901 issue, the publication was officially retitled New Thought. This continued their tradition of adopting the popular terminology that would help define the movement, just as they had with Suggestive Therapeutics and Suggestion magazines in the late 1890s. Atkinson explained the choice of name with this statement:^[448]

This name, I think, is one of the most appropriate that could have been bestowed. In the first place, it is a name by which that great wave of spiritual and psychic thought sweeping over the world is best known, a wave that is clearing away antiquated dogmas, crass materialism, bigotry, superstition, unfaith, intolerance, persecution, selfishness, fear, hate, intellectual tyranny and despotism, prejudice, narrowness, poverty, disease, and perhaps even death itself. It is a wave that is bringing us liberty, freedom, self-help, brotherly love, fearlessness, courage, confidence, tolerance, advancement, the development of latent powers, success, health, and life. We may differ as to the meaning of many words, but we all know what is meant when one speaks of the "New Thought."

The aim of New Thought magazine was to establish itself as the central voice of the movement and to overshadow the growing number of charlatan promoters who were introducing humbug theories and sensational claims into the field. Through its pages, Dr. Parkyn and the editors intended that all ideas and methods associated with New Thought would be examined from a clear, rational, and scientific perspective, so that genuine progress could be distinguished from fraud and speculation. By offering careful investigation and open discussion, the magazine sought to protect the public and to uphold the credibility of mental science.

The public announcement for New Thought declared:^[449]

The journal New Thought stands for advanced ideas that work for man’s betterment, freedom, independence, success, health, and happiness. It carries the banner of tolerance, broadness, human brotherhood, love, charity, and self-help. It teaches man to stand on his own feet, to work out his own salvation, to develop the powers latent within him, to assert his real manhood, and to be strong, merciful, and kind. It preaches the doctrine of “I can and I will,” the gospel of “I do.” It calls upon man to cease his lamenting and repining and urges him to stand erect and assert his right to live and be happy. It teaches him to be brave and fear nothing. It teaches him to abolish fear and its foul brood of negative thoughts, such as worry, hate, jealousy, malice, envy, and uncharitableness, which have kept him in the mire of despair and failure. It teaches all these things and more. Every month it comes to its readers laden with some special message of hope, comfort, and encouragement. Each month it teaches something of value.

In addition to its inspirational and educational mission, the magazine positioned itself as a platform where sincere investigators, practitioners, and students could share discoveries and practical methods without the distortions and exaggerations that often accompanied the popular literature of the time. It aimed to set a higher standard of honesty and usefulness, making New Thought not merely an inspirational slogan but a tested approach to living. New Thought magazine quickly became the largest and most influential periodical in the movement. Within two months, it established its main offices at 3835 Vincennes Avenue, just a few blocks from Parkyn’s Chicago School of Psychology, the University of Psychic Sciences, and his other ventures, creating the atmosphere of a full campus environment.^[450]

New Thought magazine was heavily promoted in Dr. Parkyn’s Suggestion magazine, which even featured multi-page articles highlighting its content and contributors.^[451]

William Walker Atkinson would serve as the anchor of the journal and its primary voice. Many of his earlier articles from Suggestion magazine were republished exactly as they had first appeared, and he continued to translate Dr. Parkyn’s teachings into the distinctive "Atkinsonia" style of New Thought philosophy that Parkyn had helped shape for him. Much of his writing also focused on defining the New Thought movement as a comprehensive, self-empowering lifestyle built around Parkyn’s central principle, expressed in his well-known phrase, “thought takes form in action.”^[452]

The course book Thought = Force in Business and Everyday Life became the centerpiece of the magazine’s promotions and was used as the main giveaway for new members of the Psychic Club. The only change between the 1901 version published by the University of Psychic Science and the 1902 edition was the recommendation it contained for further study into Hypnotic Suggestion. In the earlier version, the works of Dr. Herbert A. Parkyn’s were endorsed as best fitted and could be obtained through the University of Psychic Science. In the later 1902 edition, this endorsement was replaced with a recommendation for the publications of the Psychic Research Company. The reason for this adjustment was that the magazine New Thought could not appear to be simply a promotional outlet for Parkyn. If the main free premium was a book that only containing an endorsement for Parkyn’s books, it would have invited criticism and potentially caused legal and commercial problems. Despite this change, the two courses on Hypnotic Suggestion were essentially identical, with the same core teachings included in both versions. Thought = Force served as Atkinson’s and the magazine’s primary instructional text and was later reworked into several future publications under his name, including The Law of the New Thought and Nuggets of the New Thought, both released in 1902. He also continued to draw extensively on the Fowler & Wells Co. back catalog for material that could be adapted into additional books and articles.^{[453][454][455]}

The 1901 version that suggests "the works of Dr. Herbert A. Parkyn" was changed in the 1902 version to suggest "the publications of The Psychic Research Company." This was to avoid any possible charge of being a promotional outlet for Dr. Parkyn.

Uriel Buchanan was brought in as well to join New Thought magazine as a main contributor. Dr. Parkyn had previously taught him and encouraged his work in mental science, where he had developed a system he called The Art of Attainment, which closely followed the teachings of Dr. Parkyn but was aimed at a non-medical layperson clientele. His courses were taught both through a mail course and out of an office at 4126 Drexel Boulevard, directly next door to Dr. Parkyn’s school. This arrangement allowed students and graduates of Parkyn’s program to explore the personal benefits of suggestion and auto-suggestion in a setting less medically focused than Parkyn’s own curriculum.^[456]

Central to Buchanan’s philosophy was the idea that any suggestion accepted by the mind becomes a reality, gaining strength and activity. He taught that if individuals invite feelings of anxiety, fear, hatred, and discouragement, they give those thoughts vitality. By contrast, aspiring, cheerful, uplifting thoughts would help the good within thrive and create an intelligence of harmony. He believed it was always a person’s duty to nourish and cultivate only the true and good, maintaining that the only hope of freedom from fear, grief, anxiety, disappointment, and failure lay in continual alertness and watchfulness. Uriel Buchanan played a significant role in shaping the content of New Thought magazine by offering articles on the cultivation of personal magnetism, hygienic physical culture, and mental training.^[457][458]

In late 1901, a proposition was made to a number of leading New Thought writers, offering a prize of $120 for the best series of twelve lessons on New Thought subjects. Responses were received from many well-known writers and ultimately the prize was awarded to Nancy McKay Gordon, a longtime Chicago author on occult topics. ^{[459][460][461]} Mrs. Gordon had been co-editor of The Hermetist magazine in Chicago with W. P. Phelon and had also served as the second elder of the Hermetic Brotherhood of Atlantis, Luxor, and Elephante (A.L.&E.), an organization closely affiliated with the publication. Together, Gordon and Phelon were recognized as the primary teachers of Hermetic philosophy in Chicago. Mrs. Gordon, in particular, became known for blending New Thought mental science with Hermetic teachings in her work. Parkyn and his associates had long maintained connections with the Brotherhood, frequently reporting on its activities and offering glowing reviews of several of Mrs. Gordon’s books.^[462] Just as Parkyn had collaborated with J. C. F. Grumbine to explore how ancient occult traditions could be integrated with modern theories of suggestion, he and Dr. Sudduth also worked with the Hermetic Brotherhood to investigate the intersections between mental science and Hermetic philosophy. They attended several lectures at the Chicago School of Hermetic Philosophy, most of which were presented by Mrs. Gordon herself.^{[463][464][465]}

However, in early 1900, Dr. Parkyn very publicly called out Nancy McKay Gordon for promoting the idea that the human body could regrow lost parts by the power of the mind. This claim arose from an incident involving a Mrs. Graham, who said she had regenerated the end of her finger through mental concentration. The story was widely reported in the newspapers across the country. According to the accounts, “Mrs. Nancy McKay Gordon, a mental healer and head of the Hermetic Brotherhood of Chicago,” offered her endorsement stating:

“Mrs. Graham lost the tip of her forefinger, including all the nail and a piece of the bone. She picked it up and something whispered to her, ‘Stick it on again; stick it on again.’ Then she came to me. I told her to concentrate her mind on regaining a perfect finger. She did. I did, too. It is my theory that she literally loved that finger on again.”^[466]

Dr. Parkyn’s investigation, which included interviews with the treating physician, found the story to be entirely false. According to the physician, only a tiny piece of flesh was removed, and it healed normally with no regeneration beyond the growth of a partial nail. A photograph of Mrs. Graham’s hands was published in the March 1900 issue of Suggestion, showing that the first joint of her left index finger remained visibly shorter than the right. What astonished Parkyn most was that Nancy McKay Gordon, co-editor of The Hermetist magazine, a leading teacher of Hermetic philosophy, and someone he had respected, would endorse such a claim. He argued that her statements revealed either profound ignorance of basic anatomy or a deliberate effort to mislead. While he noted that exaggerated healing stories were common among self-styled spiritual teachers, Parkyn wrote that the most astonishing part of the entire story was that Mrs. Gordon herself would lend her name and reputation to a clear and damaging deception.^{[467][466][468]} With Dr. Parkyn being recognized as one the nation’s most esteemed and influential professional doctor in the field of mental science, his public rebuke of Mrs. Gordon and by extension, the Hermetist magazine and the Hermetic Brotherhood, was profoundly damaging to their reputations, especially within the Chicago New Thought community. Less than a month after Parkyn’s articles on the subject were published, Nancy McKay Gordon resigned her position as second elder of the Hermetic Brotherhood, and W. P. Phelon relocated both the Hermetist magazine and the Brotherhood’s operations to San Francisco.^[459][469]

With Nancy McKay Gordon’s reputation in ruins, it emerged that she herself had actually been deceived by Mrs. Graham, who was far from a harmless woman seeking help for her finger. In reality, Mrs. Graham was a willfully deceptive spiritualist healer who claimed to have clairvoyant visions, to be able to project her astral body, and to be a pupil of teachers in the astral world. She also professed vivid memories of past incarnations, including having been Marie Antoinette and being beheaded, while also claiming she could heal all diseases through “divine electricity” and cast out pain, which she said appeared in her lap as a serpent she would then throw out the window. After resolving the truth of the matter with Mrs. Gordon, Dr. Parkyn was eager to help restore her standing in the community. He ensured she was chosen as the featured writer for the first twelve issues of New Thought, where she contributed the key articles on developing mental science abilities from a beginner level, thus rebuilding a large and loyal following. Nancy McKay Gordon would go on to collaborate with Parkyn and his associates for many years thereafter.^[467][470]

In late 1902, it was announced that the publishers of New Thought had brought on Ella Wheeler Wilcox and Elizabeth Towne as new contributors. Their additions would not only bring two of the most influential voices in the New Thought movement to the magazine but would also align it with the strong female presence that was a defining feature of the movement, in which women were increasingly assuming prominent leadership roles. Ella Wheeler Wilcox would serve as co-editor with Atkinson, while Elizabeth Towne agreed to provide an article for every issue.^[471] In Atkinson’s December 1902 announcement, he referred to the magazine's publishers in the plural making it evident that Dr. Parkyn was stepping in to make some changes and ease the workload on Atkinson. Over the past year, Atkinson had managed almost all the editing while writing two to three articles per issue, completing two books, and trying to run his own school of mental science. The sustained pressure was threatening to revive his past problems with nervous exhaustion, and Dr. Parkyn recognized that major adjustments were needed. With the addition of Wilcox and Towne as contributors it would allow Atkinson more freedom and allow Sydney Flower to mainly focus on the expanding mail-order and investment businesses. ^[472]

Ella Wheeler Wilcox would be the new face of the magazine

At the time, Ella Wheeler Wilcox was one of the most famous poet in the United States. She had been writing since the age of fourteen and became internationally known in 1883 at the age of thirty-three with her poem Solitude, which contained her most quoted lines: “Laugh, and the world laughs with you; Weep, and you weep alone.” Over the years, she became very interested in the ideas of New Thought, and her poems often reflected these themes. Because of her fame and the New Thought ideas in her work, her poems were republished in almost every journal that covered the movement, making her one of its main voices. Bringing her on as a co-editor of New Thought magazine was the publishing equivalent of signing the most famous and talented player to a sports team, something that Dr. Parkyn was very experienced in doing. Not only would her name instantly put the magazine front and center on all newsstands but it would also take a huge load of the shoulders of Atkinson. In addition to contributing to the magazine, Wilcox also provided a poetry book, The Heart of the New Thought, which was offered as a premium gift to new subscribers.^[473][474]

The fame of Ella Wheeler Wilcox was not wasted. Her name appeared in large letters across the center of every cover for more than a year and became the focus of much of the advertising in other journals and on newsstands. To build on the momentum her presence created, Parkyn and his investors decided to cut the price in half to five cents per issue and fifty cents per year, making it the most affordable journal of its kind. The impact was immediate, and New Thought quickly grew to become the most widely read and most influential voice of the movement, as well as one of the largest magazines in the country.^[475]

Ella Wheeler Wilcox's name would be prominently displayed for maximum impact

Elizabeth Towne was the publisher and editor of Nautilus, a journal she had started as a four-page pamphlet in 1898 in Portland, Oregon. After relocating to Holyoke, Massachusetts, she had been steadily expanding the publication’s reputation within the New Thought community with the help of her second husband, William E. Towne.^[476][477]

Dr. Parkyn first came into direct contact with Elizabeth Towne through a series of lively and teasing exchanges. This began in the December 1900 issue of Suggestion, when he responded to an article Towne had written in the November 1900 issue of Nautilus, remarking that she had "gone for us!" In her piece, Towne had challenged Parkyn’s claim that "Divine Healers" were simply masking suggestive therapeutics with religious or philosophical language. She countered that he "forgets the bread pills or quinine he has masked his own suggestions with" and concluded that as long as the suggestion reached the patient, "he gets cured just the same. It takes all kinds of suggestions and all kinds of 'masks' for all kinds of people.”^[478]

In his humorous editorial reply, Parkyn introduced her as "a spark producer without a doubt," whose journal was "one of the liveliest sheets that comes this way," and who "says what she pleases, without asking anyone’s permission." He noted that even after finding a soulmate, she remained "as vigorous and skittish as ever." He teased her about her “Success Circle” and wondered if perhaps it was her influence that had brought Suggestion such good fortune. He also poked fun at her declaration that "I AM every day quieting more storms than you can shake a stick at," adding a warning to her husband that he hoped she couldn’t start storms at home as well. Parkyn admitted that after reading her article, he felt quite uneasy about the strength of Elizabeth’s vibrations," until she mailed him a copy of her book Just How to Wake the Solar Plexus, along with a note suggesting she didn’t truly "have it in for us."^[478]

In February 1901, Parkyn published a warm and humorous letter she sent in response:^[479]

"You are a brick, and you take the bun for heaping coals of fire successfully. My name is mud or any other old thing. I’ll never again find fault with your faultfinding! Nor for anything else. You are ALRIGHT! Thank you heartily for that good-natured write-up and for all the orders it is bringing me. I heard from your notice long before the journal reached us. Bless your heart, and may you have an extra Satisfying Christmas and a New Year full of more Success and lots of fun thrown in."

— Elizabeth Towne

"P. S.—I’ll allow Shelton all the glory for the success vibrations for 1900. But look out for MORE in 1901, not only money, but heaps of other Good Things. I AM growing ’em for you."

Parkyn replied that her vibrations were so strong they began to feel them right after the New Year. He joked that her vibrations were "hot and sizzling" and asked her to keep sending money, fun, and other good things, but to hold off on any "soul mates," explaining they weren’t quite ready for those yet.^[479]

Their back-and-forth teasing continued in the May 1901 issue of Suggestion when a letter from Elizabeth Towne asking about advertising rates for her new book in Dr. Parkyn’s magazine was accidentally overlooked. She sent a playful follow-up letter wondering if they were deliberately "snubbing the sassy editor of Nautilus." This prompted a long, humorous, and friendly editorial devoted to Elizabeth Towne, in which she was affectionately nicknamed "Naughty Lass." The issue would also feature a praising review of her new book The Constitution of Man, as well as a free advertisement for the book in the editorial section. ^[480]

These exchanges between Parkyn and Towne led to a warm friendship and mutual respect between the Suggestion team and the Nautilus team, laying the foundation for a lasting collaboration and Towne becoming part of Parkyn’s family of collaborators. Nautilus would soon be filled with advertisements from Parkyn’s many ventures, including his magazine, books from his publishing company, Atkinson’s Thought = Force, his osteopathy school, the Psychic Research Company, and other New Thought publishers who were either his former pupils or part of his broader circle of collaborators. In many issues of Nautilus at the time, more than half of all the advertisements came from Parkyn and his associates.^[481]

This close connection was further reinforced by numerous editorials and articles in Suggestion featuring Towne and Nautilus. The impact on Nautilus was immediate with the magazine quickly doubling in size and becoming a prominent voice within the New Thought movement. When Elizabeth Towne was hired in late 1902 to contribute an article to each issue of New Thought, her fame grew even further, helping Nautilus become the second most influential journal in the movement.^[482]

In the spring of 1903, Elmer Ellsworth Carey relocated from California to Chicago to attend Dr. Parkyn's Chicago School of Psychology. and to join the staff of Suggestion magazine. He had established a long career as a journalist, writer, editor, and publisher for numerous journals, including serving as editor of The Californian Illustrated in Hawaii and publishing Freedom magazine in the Philippines during the Spanish-American War, where he exposed widespread corruption in military contracting. During his early years in the Orient and Hawaii, Carey focused on promoting investment opportunities and encouraging economic development. He also became a prominent advocate for the settlement and growth of California, eventually emerging as one of the state’s most visible public representatives.^{[483][484][485]}

Elmer Ellsworth Carey spent three years living in the Philippines and traveled extensively throughout the Far East over a period of years. These journeys fostered a deep interest in Eastern spiritual philosophies and in Hindu health practices focused on diet and breath control. His studies also led him to become a Theosophist, regularly attending society lectures while living in San Francisco. In 1900, he attended several talks given by Swami Vivekananda during the Swami’s extended visit to the city and became a member of the Vedanta Society that Vivekananda founded there. While based in San Francisco, Carey began contributing detailed newspaper articles exploring the emerging field of mental sciences and the contemporary theories surrounding it. His work presented these topics in a systematic, research-oriented manner that encouraged critical examination and serious discussion. Carey's involvement in this area of study ultimately led him and Dr. Parkyn’s to connect and in February 1903 he would start to contribute articles to Suggestion magazine. Dr. Parkyn was impressed with Carey’s writing and his experience in editing, publishing, and large-scale business development. He considered Carey an excellent fit for his expanding ventures and in May of 1903 he offered him the role of assistant editor and manager of Suggestion magazine, along with serving as Parkyn’s personal representative in many enterprises.^{[486][487][488][489]}

Dr. Parkyn announces Elmer Ellsworth Carey joining Suggestion:

"It Is with pleasure we announce the acquisition to our working force of our new manager, Mr. Elmer Ellsworth Carey, recently of the San Francisco Press. Mr. Carey’s long experience in that line renders him quite at home in all matters pertaining to the publishing department. That he is a careful student of occult phenomena is in evidence to all who have read his recent articles in SUGGESTION. Mr. Carey will continue occasionally to write such leading articles, as well as to contribute to the various departments of this magazine. Further proof of Mr. Carey’s mind-reading ability is the fact that he is taking hold of our policy and plans with a celerity that borders on the uncanny and is equaled only by the promptness with which said plans are being put into execution. The gentleman makes his bow, and is hereby installed a citizen of Chicago. We bespeak for Mr. Carey your heartiest cooperation, fellowship and good will."^[486]

Elmer Ellsworth Carey is his first editorial explains what makes Suggestion unlike any other journal:

"The difference begins and ends with Dr. Herbert A. Parkyn. Unlike editors who rely on theory alone, Parkyn is a practicing physician with professional training and authority. He combines medical science with a clear understanding of how the mind shapes health. No other publication presents suggestive treatment equally from a physician’s standpoint and a scientific study of mental influence. Suggestion delivers practical instructions grounded in real medical knowledge, not speculation. Its guidance on 'life essentials' and mental practices is evidence of this unique approach. Suggestion is in a class by itself. Where other journals are limited and one-sided, this magazine has the full strength of both medicine and mind."^[486]

The New Thought community of publishers, editors, writers, and practitioners had long aspired to create an official organization that could represent the movement as a whole and convene annual conventions where ideas might be exchanged and alliances forged. The first serious attempt to realize this ambition emerged in 1895 when the Metaphysical League was formed in Boston, led by prominent East Coast figures such as Horatio W. Dresser, Charles Brodie Patterson, and Henry Wood. By 1899, they had successfully launched the first large-scale convention under the banner of the International Metaphysical League, held in Boston, followed by another in New York in 1900. Following the New York convention, the League resolved to stage the next convention in Chicago in 1901.

While the league included a few well known Chicago figures like Ursula N. Gestefeld and Annie Rix Militz, the New Thought movement in the Midwest and West was largely shaped by dynamic innovators with a strong sense of individualism. Uniting them into a collective organization to promote a shared message proved to be a significant challenge for the East Coast Metaphysical League and ultimately led to the cancellation of the planned conventions for both 1901 and 1902.^[490][491]

By 1903, Chicago and the surrounding Midwest had become the heart of the movement’s publishing, teaching, and organizational energy. Dr. Parkyn and his collaborators had not only established the most widely read and influential magazines but had also brought together a network of affiliated journals whose editors were either Parkyn’s former students or had aligned themselves with what was called the "Suggestion Family."^[456][492]

These publications extended far beyond Chicago itself and were all united in promoting Dr. Parkyn's central principle that "Thought takes form in action" and that "suggestion" formed the core of all mental science. The region's preeminence was also reinforced by Parkyn's Chicago School of Psychology, which stood as the leader as the first American institution devoted exclusively to suggestive therapeutics. It shared the national stage with the Weltmer Institute of Suggestive Therapeutics in Nevada, Missouri, and Dr. Geo. C. Pitzer's St. Louis School of Suggestive Therapeutics, making the region the undisputed hub of professional training in the mental sciences.^[456]

At the same time, Parkyn associates such as William Walker Atkinson, Ella Wheeler Wilcox, and Elizabeth Towne had emerged as the most recognized and respected voices in the movement. With the momentum and organizational strength surrounding Dr. Parkyn and his collaborators, it was decided that the time had finally come to hold a major New Thought convention in Chicago that could bring together the East Coast, Midwest, and West Coast branches of the movement, as well as international participants.^[490][493]

In June 1903, Dr. Parkyn, together with his new manager Elmer Ellsworth Carey, started the process of organizing the New Thought community in Chicago. They started by establish a regular gathering of all the different New Thought groups, which became known as the Union New Thought Meetings. The meetings were instigated first by organizing a large banquet in May 1903 to welcome Elizabeth Towne during her visit to Chicago.^[494] Elmer Ellsworth Carey with Dr. Parkyn, Sydney Flower, and William Walker Atkinson brought more than a thousand members of Chicago’s New Thought community together at the Masonic Temple building for the occasion. The strong sense of camaraderie and the exchange of ideas among so many groups easily inspired plans for another meeting the following month. Elmer Ellsworth Carey spread the word throughout the city and on June 28, 1903, the first Union New Thought Meeting took place in the grand hall on the rooftop of the Masonic Temple. An audience of 1,200 people attended, including representatives from about twenty organizations as well as many independent participants. It was agreed that the Union New Thought Meetings would now be held regularly on the last Sunday evening of each month.^[493][495]

At these meetings, Elmer Ellsworth Carey proposed that the time was right to hold an International New Thought Convention in Chicago, with the goal of “giving the world a great New Thought revival meeting.” With unanimous agreement, plans were set for the convention to take place in November 1903, and a committee was formed to organize the event. Carey was appointed as the committee’s secretary and would be the main point of communication for all convention business. Dr. Parkyn would continue to guide the effort behind the scenes, maintaining his leadership role in the New Thought movement by proxy in order to protect his influential standing within the professional medical community. Other officers joining the effort included prominent Chicago figures such as T. G. Northrup, as chairman, who was president of the Prentice Mulford Club, and Mrs. Stanley Waterloo, as treasurer, who operated the leading New Thought bookstore in Chicago, which served as a central hub for the movement in the city, and was married to the editor of the Chicago Tribune and president of the Chicago Press Club.^{[496][497][498]}

The Chicago New Thought Convention was a success and from it was formed The New Thought Federation. In the Federation's constitution its purposes were defined as:

"To aid human development through unfoldment of its consciousness of unity, and in the manifestation of this consciousness by way of cooperation; to stimulate faith in and study of the higher nature of man in its relation to health, happiness and character; to teach the Universal Fatherhood and Motherhood of God and the all-inclusive Brotherhood of Man; to secure rightful liberty in pursuit of the purposes of this Federation; to foster the New Thought movement in general; to publish such literature as may be found essential, and to take an active part in all matters appertaining to education along the lines proposed. In accomplishing these purposes, the Federation in nowise shall interfere with, infringe upon, or be responsible for, the interpretations, methods, or work either of New Thought individuals or organizations."^[491]

The significance of the New Thought movement was stated to be: "That One Life is immanent in the Universe, and is both center and circumference of all things, visible and invisible; that every soul is divine, and that in the realization of this truth each individual may express and manifest his highest ideals through right thinking and right living. These statements are tentative, and imply no limitations or boundaries."^[491]

With the establishment of the New Thought Federation at the Chicago Convention of 1903, Dr. Parkyn and his collaborators had successfully brought together the Midwest and West Coast movement with the East Coast and the International movement. The East Coast organizers of the Metaphysical League had deliberately not participated in organizing the Chicago convention to allow Dr. Parkyn and his collaborators to be the focus for the Midwest and West Coast groups. At the convention an agreement was passed in which the Metaphysical League was merged with the New Thought Federation. The officers for the new Federation would have many of the same ones that were on the Metaphysical League as well as a Parkyn and East Coast collaborator, Eugene Del Mar, serving as secretary. A large advisory committee was also created, composed of many of Parkyn’s associates. Plans were set for the next two conventions to be held in St. Louis in 1904, in conjunction with the World’s Fair and the St. Louis School of Suggestive Therapeutics, and in Nevada, Missouri in 1905, in partnership with the Weltmer Institute of Suggestive Therapeutics.^[491]

While the former Metaphysical League organizers continued to work with the Federation and participate in the conventions, they found it difficult to come to collective agreements with the individualistic spirit of the Western and Midwestern branches of the movement. After the 1906 convention, which returned to Chicago, the conventions would be brought back to Boston and New York and the Federation would be turned into the International New Thought Alliance. The name change was to signal its affiliation with Charles Brodie Patterson and his Alliance Publishing Company that put out his influential, Mind magazine.^[490][499]

Horatio W. Dresser, one of the most prominent figures in the Metaphysical League, later published A History of the New Thought Movement in 1919. In it, he describes the Midwest conventions as being "less successful, inasmuch as it was not always easy to find common ground among representatives of individualism in the West and middle West." In the following years Sidney Weltmer would bring the annual conventions to his Institute in Nevada, Missouri.^[490]

An article in Mind magazine where Charles Brodie Patterson, a past president of the Metaphysical League, discusses the merger of the League with the New Thought Federation, January 1904.^[491]

In 1909, the New Thought Convention returned once again to the Midwest, this time under a new name—the Metaphysical Chautauqua Circle of America. By adopting the name of the original East Coast convention tradition while holding the event in the heart of the Midwest, it symbolized a full union between the different branches of the New Thought movement. The Metaphysical Chautauqua Circle quickly became one of the most prominent and enduring convention series in the movement. Unlike any other organization of its kind, it operated without officers, bylaws, or formal membership requirements. There was no president, no treasurer, and no initiation process or fees. Membership was self-elected, drawing in some of the most influential authors, editors, orators, scientists, ministers, and doctors working in the fields of metaphysics and mental science.^[500][501]

The conventions were held annually at the Weltmer Institute in Nevada, Missouri, one of the nation’s foremost centers for suggestive therapeutics and mental healing. The gatherings took place in the Institute’s spacious auditorium and drew some of the most recognized figures in the New Thought movement. Dr. Parkyn was a featured speaker at these events, joined by many of his "Suggestion Family" of collaborators and graduates. Their participation helped cement the reputation of the Metaphysical Chautauqua Circle as "the greatest intellectual body in the world."^[501][500]

In late 1903 it was decided to move the headquarters of New Thought magazine to New York city. They would occupy offices at 27 East 22nd Street right around the corner from the Fowler & Wells Publishing Co. at 27 East 21st Street. With the momentum from the successful Chicago convention the time had come to establish a strong presence on the East Coast. By relocating New Thought magazine, the largest and most influential journal in the movement, into the heart of New York City, Parkyn and his collaborators would be positioned to influence the entire New Thought movement.^[502]

Dr. Parkyn and Sydney Flower understood that the move was not without its challenges. Over the previous three years, they had witnessed events affecting both their associates and themselves that convinced them they faced determined adversaries, particularly in New York. These powerful enemies seemed intent on stopping their shared goal of creating a new reality centered on personal self-knowledge and empowerment. Persistent rumors had circulated ever since Suggestive Therapeutics magazine was shut down in 1900, claiming that a group of extremely wealthy men in New York were working to suppress aspects of the New Thought movement they found threatening. Helen Wilmans and Sidney A. Weltmer, two of Parkyn’s associates, were also targeted by postal authorities that same year. Helen Wilmans publicly accused influential New York interests of orchestrating her arrest and indictments, describing her persecution as the result of "unjustifiable malice, backed by millions of dollars in the hands of narrow-minded old men." There was substantial evidence supporting her claims. Despite being defended by both the Governor and a U.S. Senator from Florida, she was repeatedly prosecuted by the Federal Postal Authorities, who devoted enormous amounts of money and resources to pursuing multiple cases against her even after earlier efforts had failed.^{[503][504][505]}

Sidney Weltmer faced similar challenges, ultimately taking his fight all the way to the Supreme Court, where he prevailed only after spending a fortune to secure a ruling in his favor. Even then, the government continued searching for ways to bring new charges in spite of the Supreme Court’s decision. Taken together, these actions strongly indicated that powerful and wealthy interests were driving the prosecutions.^{[503][506][507]}

Within two months of moving to New York, the Sun newspaper started to publish a series of articles attacking Sydney Flower and New Thought magazine. These articles quickly escalated into what Dr. Parkyn and Flower interpreted as a coordinated campaign, likely backed by substantial money and influential interests determined to damage the credibility of New Thought magazine. The first of these pieces appeared in February 1904, alleging that Flower was operating dubious financial schemes under the guise of metaphysical teaching. The Sun characterized Flower’s investment solicitations as “get rich quick” devices and described them as preying on the public’s gullibility. They followed with a second article that suggested that he had even been involved in “horse doping” schemes. The language was inflammatory and presented as fact, even though it relied almost entirely on anonymous sources and the reporter’s own conjecture. Soon after The New York Times and The Washington Post joined in, publishing lengthy articles that amplified the same themes. The coverage presented these fraud claims as fact without showing that any investor had actually been defrauded.^[508][509]

Several of the articles went out of their way to draw a sharp distinction between Sydney B. Flower and Charles Brodie Patterson, repeatedly stating that Patterson and the Metaphysical League were the only true and reputable standard-bearers of New Thought. Even implying that members of the Metaphysical League merely shrugged their shoulders when asked about Flower, insisting that neither he nor his magazine spoke for them. This repeated framing implied that the purpose was not only to undermine New Thought magazine but also to fracture the movement by implying that only certain figures were legitimate. In April 1904, as the press coverage intensified, William Walker Atkinson, decided to distance himself from the turmoil and returned to Chicago where he would continue writing for New Thought.^[510][511]

In December 1904, the long series of accusations against Sydney Flower and New Thought magazine reached a decisive point when the Postmaster General issued a fraud order that barred Flower and his publication from receiving any further mail. The order instructed all post offices to stamp letters addressed to Flower as “fraudulent,” return them to senders or destroy them if they could not be delivered. Approximately 3,000 letters were being held by the New York post office when the ban took effect, with most of the letters containing cash or money orders sent by subscribers responding to Flower’s investment offers. Inspectors charged that over the preceding year, these solicitations raised as much as $75,000.^[512]

Flower openly described his activities as experiments in finance, at one point writing that he was “amusing myself by experimenting with money in its earning capacity” and referring to his projects as “pecuniary yeast cakes.” He maintained that no one should be surprised by the speculative character of the ventures and that funds would be returned to any subscriber on request. Throughout this process, Flower and his counsel maintained that the Investment Fund had been closed months before and that investors had been or were being repaid in full. They also argued that speculative trading could and did legitimately generate high profits. They explained that the large returns promised in the so-called “Investment Fund” were generated through a system of “puts and calls,” a form of speculative trading then carried on in Chicago. Letters were produced from persons in Chicago attesting that such methods could commonly yield profits of 100 to 200 percent on money invested. Nevertheless, the Post Office determined that without evidence to substantiate these assertions, the promises were “probably false,” and the fraud order was ultimately issued.^[513]

Despite the serious action taken by the postal authorities and the repeated press coverage suggesting misconduct, no criminal conviction or court judgment confirming fraud was produced. The fraud order was issued as an administrative measure by postal authorities under their regulatory powers, without a trial establishing that Flower had deliberately deceived subscribers or failed to meet refund obligations.^{[514][515][516][517]}

The fraud order would have effectively crippled New Thought magazine by cutting off access to the mails, which were essential for subscription renewals, fulfillment, and correspondence. By October 1904, with the New Thought headquarters already moved back to Chicago, Dr. Parkyn needed to find a way to prevent the postal authorities looming fraud order in New York from halting the magazine’s operations entirely. This became critical after the Western News Company, which handled a large portion of the distribution of the magazine’s circulation, learned that a fraud order would be issued. Western News informed the magazine that they would not continue to handle its distribution unless the Post Office confirmed that the fraud order was closed. Parkyn’s strategy was to arrange for The New Thought Publishing Company, which controlled the subscription lists and advertising contracts, to be sold and then incorporated under new ownership unconnected to Sydney B. Flower. To carry out this plan he turned to Charles B. Lahan, one of his most influential allies in the publishing world for assistance.^[513]

Charles Beecher Lahan was a prominent figure in the national publishing and newspaper industries. He had served as president of the National Typographical Union, was president of the Regan Publishing Company of Chicago, and edited the Second Class Mail Bag magazine. He was also the "Exalted Ruler" of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks in Chicago, where he and Dr. Parkyn had been "Brother Elks" for many years.^[518] As president of the Regan Publishing Company, he had worked with Parkyn and Flower for many years, since Regan was the printing house that produced their magazines beginning with The Hypnotic Magazine in 1896.^{[519][520]: 112}

Under the terms of the agreement to take over The New Thought Publishing Company, Lahan committed to maintaining and completing all active subscriptions, some of which still had several years remaining, as well as fulfilling advertising contracts and paying outstanding obligations to contributors. He also incorporated The New Thought Publishing Company under Illinois law to formalize ownership and administration of the magazine. Drawing on his strong connections within the postal administration and the distribution networks, Lahan was able to have the mail fraud order lifted and secure the reinstatement of the magazine’s discounted second-class mailing privileges.^[513][519]

New Thought magazine continued publication with William Walker Atkinson remaining as its sole editor. Sydney B. Flower stepped away from the New Thought movement for several years and turned his attention to more business-focused pursuits. He did, however, continue to collaborate with Dr. Parkyn on later ventures.^[456]

While Dr. Parkyn's Chicago School of Psychology trained hundreds of physicians, dentists, and medical professionals in Suggestive Therapeutics, it also drew students from a wide range of other professions eager to apply the science of suggestion to their own fields. One area Parkyn steadily developed was the use of psychological suggestion in business and salesmanship.

He taught that business success depends on mastery of the mind. Those who cultivate their inner faculties of intellect, emotion, and will can rise from ordinary sellers to influential leaders. Commerce, he emphasized, is not a simple exchange but a subtle contest between minds. Every transaction involves two individuals, each seeking to shape the other’s thinking. The skilled salesman must read character, sense motive, and apply suggestion with precision. Success comes not through force or deception, but through understanding, empathy, and mental discipline. Beneath the surface politeness of business lies a quiet but constant struggle for influence, and those who are mentally prepared are the ones who prevail.^[521]

As early as the late 1890s, Parkyn began applying these ideas in collaboration with his "Brother Elk," Charles B. Lahan, then president of the National Typographical Union. Dr. Parkyn introduced the science of suggestion to the world of advertising through the phrase “Are You a Thinker.” Leveraging Lahan’s connections in the printing and newspaper trades, the phrase was widely promoted as a psychological trigger in business ads. It marked a new strategy in commercial messaging of placing a bold, suggestive prompt at the start of an advertisement to capture attention and influence the reader’s state of mind before the message even began.^[519][518]

Some of the many samples of Dr. Parkyn's suggestion, "Are you a Thinker?" in newspapers across the country.

Dr. Parkyn also capitalized on his, "Are you a thinker?" marketing campaign by branding Suggestion magazine as the publication for "Thinkers." He referred to its readership collectively as the "League of Thinkers" and established a dedicated "Thinker" department within the magazine.^[522]

Dr. Parkyn's definition for a "thinker" was stated as:

"A thinker wears no tag, collar or number; his opinions are not received from a newspaper, a book or a pulpit. He is not a parrot. “They say” has no terrors for him. He wants facts, and from these facts he builds his own ideas. And he reserves the right to change his opinions as new light is received. If you never change your opinions, you never think. Use your brain, and it will reveal to you new virtues. Thought is the only factor in evolution; thought is the only power that can regenerate mankind. Thought will kill ignorance, greed, and bring all elements into harmony with law. When this occurs evil will be unknown. Think first yourself; then be tolerant with others who think. Respect the opinions of others is the first rule of mortality."^[523]

Following the success of the "Thinker" campaign and the strong response from the business community for more usable advertising suggestions, Dr. Parkyn introduced a new phrase: "Do It Now!" Unlike "Are You a Thinker?," which appealed primarily to intellectuals, financial institutions and large business ventures, "Do It Now!" was designed for broad use across nearly every type of business. Its versatility made it an immediate favorite, and soon newspapers and magazines were filled with advertisements bearing the slogan.^[524]

The phrase quickly moved beyond print ads. It became a national motto, appearing on placards in offices, factories, and even under wall clocks as a constant reminder to act without delay. Businessmen placed the slogan on their desks, while advertising agencies and post office headquarters adopted it as part of their own motivational decor. Its influence reached the highest levels of public life, with President Theodore Roosevelt quoting it in speeches to rally national resolve, and Andrew Carnegie using it to urge wealthy industrialists to begin their philanthropic efforts during their lifetimes rather than waiting until after death.^{[525][526][527]}

Some of the many samples of Dr. Parkyn's suggestion, "Do It Now!" in newspapers across the country.

Recognizing the widespread impact of the "Do It Now!" campaign, Dr. Parkyn made it a central feature of Suggestion magazine. The slogan appeared prominently on the cover, was declared the magazine’s official motto, and inspired the formation of a dedicated "Do It Now!" club and department. The magazine began publishing a series of "Do It Now!" poems, submitted by both readers and writers in support of the idea. Dr. Parkyn also took charge of distributing wall and desk ornaments featuring the motto, printed on granite paper and mounted with red borders, helping to further spread the message into offices and homes across the country.^[528]

Dr. Parkyn adapted his most well-known quote, “Thought takes form in action; repeated actions become habits,” into a national marketing campaign for banks. The phrase was ideally suited to what was called the “savings” or “cash habit,” encouraging the public to develop the routine of opening and maintaining savings accounts.^[529]

Some of the many samples of Dr. Parkyn's suggestion, "Thought Takes Form In Action" in newspapers

Dr. Parkyn formulated what he called the trinity of mankind’s demand, desire, and affirmation: Health, Happiness, and Success. He would use this phrase not only as a suggestion in advertisement campaigns but also as the primary branding slogan for his magazine Suggestion.^[530]

Some of the many samples of Dr. Parkyn's suggestion, "Health, Happiness, and Success."

As one of the only fully accredited medical physicians from a leading school within the hierarchy of the New Thought movement, Dr. Parkyn was regarded as a natural leader by many of the movement’s more spiritual and metaphysical figures. While New Thought lecturers and writers often spoke compellingly about the transformative power of suggestion, their insights tended to remain within the realms of inspiration and spiritual philosophy. Few had the scientific training necessary to understand or explain how suggestion affected the physical body in measurable terms. That responsibility was deferred to professionally trained experts like Parkyn. As Henry Harrison Brown, an elder statesman of the movement and editor of NOW magazine, had advised the New Thought community, "To deduce a philosophy or even to theorize upon the psychic phenomena requires time and growth... Let those who like Thomson Jay Hudson, Andrew Jackson Davis, and Dr. Herbert A. Parkyn, who have for years experimented, give us theories."^[531]

With the coming together of multiple organizations at the 1903 New Thought Convention in Chicago, Dr. Parkyn launched a campaign to unify the movement around the the central principle of Suggestion as the foundational force underlying the various mental science teachings. As part of this effort, he encouraged periodicals and schools within the "Suggestion Family" to adopt shared phrases, signaling to readers that they belonged to a cohesive network grounded in the practical application of Suggestion. The phrases included those that Dr. Parkyn had prominently branded through his magazine Suggestion and made central to his teachings, including "Do it Now," "Thinker," and "Health, Happiness, and Success." The initiative also formed part of a broader suggestive strategy devised by Dr. Parkyn, centered on the repeated use of focused affirmations that would suggest the idea of “thinking thoughts of health, happiness, and success, now.”^[532][533]

This campaign marked a continuation of a process Parkyn had begun years earlier, in which he had taken the technical teachings of suggestive therapeutics and synthesized them into short, potent suggestive phrases designed for mass distribution and public influence. Earlier examples of this included “I Can and I Will” and “Thought=Force,” which were widely promoted through Parkyn’s collaboration with William Walker Atkinson.^[454]

The response to the campaign was immediate. New Thought publications and institutions across the country began incorporating Parkyn’s suggestive phrases into their editorial content, advertising, and branding. Many of these publications were operated by Parkyn’s former students or close collaborators. These included New Thought, The Nautilus, Now, Self-Culture, Thought, Unity, The Balance, Good Health, The Business Philosopher, The Segnogram, and Human Culture, among others. While New Thought magazine used Parkyn’s phrases within its editorial material, it adopted the slightly altered slogan “Health, Happiness, and Prosperity” as its formal branding, a strategic choice following earlier legal scrutiny and postal shutdowns related to its past collaboration with Parkyn. With so many influential publications and writers adopting the same key phrases, they quickly became widespread slogans of the New Thought movement. They appeared not only in magazines but also in books, lectures, and advertisements nationwide, forming a unifying linguistic thread across the diverse strands of mental science and spiritual psychology then emerging in the country.^[476][534]

Dr. Parkyn’s work in the science of suggestion as applied to advertising led to the creation of a specialized school dedicated to training advertising professionals from across the country. He saw advertising as a powerful and influential field, one with immense potential for good, but also vulnerable to misuse. By creating a school of scientific salesmanship grounded in the core principles of suggestion, Parkyn aimed to instill greater integrity and truthfulness within the profession. While the school would cover general principles of salesmanship, its central focus was the teaching of "Suggestion." Parkyn believed that by spreading the understanding of suggestion throughout the advertising industry, it would foster a more ethical and uplifting climate in a field that played a critical role in shaping public thought.^[535]

He taught that, “Suggestion is not morally neutral; it is moral in structure. To study and use suggestion properly is to become a moral person, because the process depends on consciously cultivating traits like truthfulness, courage, confidence, and justice.”^[536]

Parkyn also recognized advertising as a unique arena for large-scale psychological research. The ability to test different forms of suggestion across broad audiences offered an unparalleled opportunity to observe their effects in real time, refining both theory and practice through direct empirical feedback.

With a proven track record of applying successful suggestion-based techniques in advertising, and with increasing interest from the business world in both the methods and the philosophy behind them, Dr. Parkyn saw the need for a dedicated school to train the many advertising professionals seeking his guidance. To avoid drawing public scrutiny that might damage his medical reputation or invite accusations of "hypnotizing" the public, Parkyn chose to lead the effort through a trusted proxy. He turned to one of his students and a member of the "Suggestion Family," Arthur Frederick Sheldon, to head the school and manage the extensive lecture circuit that would involve constant travel to ad clubs across the country.^[537]

Arthur F. Sheldon had studied the mental sciences for many years and was the nephew-in-law of Helen Wilmans.^[538] Sheldon began his career as a lawyer, graduating from the University of Michigan in 1892. He soon moved into the publishing and book trade, working as a traveling salesman for the Werner Company, selling encyclopedias door to door. He later became a general sales manager and oversaw a regional office. In 1898, Sheldon moved with his wife and child to Sea Breeze, Florida, to join the mental science community established by his uncle Charles C. Post and his wife Helen Wilmans Post. There, in 1899, he founded the Sheldon Publishing Company and served on the executive committee of Wilmans' Mental Science Association. That committee also included several of Parkyn’s associates, including Frederick W. Burry, Dr. F. M. Doud, and Eugene Del Mar. In June 1901, Sydney B. Flower attended the Mental Science Association’s convention in Sea Breeze, furthering the connection.^{[537][539][540][541]}

In late 1901 when federal postal actions intensified against Helen Wilmans and his uncle, financially devastating their Sea Breeze operation, Sheldon relocated with his family to Chicago. There he reconnected with Dr. Parkyn and his network, who were eager to support him. Sheldon was eager to collaborate with Dr. Parkyn on applying suggestion to the field of salesmanship and began by enrolling in his school. Parkyn recognized that Sheldon’s background as a salesman and sales manager, combined with his deep involvement in mental science, made him an ideal choice to lead the school. Together they opened the school in 1903, with Charles B. Lahan playing a key role in promoting it throughout the advertising community.^[537][542]

The course manual for the school was carefully assembled to focus on the teaching of suggestion and self-culture practices associated with right thinking. The curriculum was described as offering essential instruction on topics such as “Yourself and Your Powers,” “Character and Health Building,” “The Great Book of Human Nature,” “Logic as Applied to Business,” “Mental Culture,” and “Psychology.” A clear note in the manual stated that no diploma would be awarded unless the "important Sidelight on Suggestion” was successfully completed.^[535]

Arthur Sheldon contributed several course sections himself, while others were drawn from lectures delivered by prominent businessmen. The centerpiece of the program was the extensive section titled “Suggestion in Salesmanship.” Authored by Sheldon, it was a direct and thorough reworking of Dr. Parkyn’s earlier writings, including material from his books and articles previously published in Suggestion magazine. In the course, Sheldon specifically referenced Suggestion magazine and its affiliated Chicago School of Psychology.^{[535]: 185-186}

The course book also included a section that directly referenced and quotes Dr. Parkyn’s teachings on cultivating strong willpower, including his well-known phrase “I can and I will.” Included in the review questions section there was a question specifically about Dr. Parkyn's teaching, that asks: “Give five methods for strengthening the Will and explain why such training directly affects character. What does Dr. Herbert Parkyn say concerning the cultivation of the Will?”^[543]

Sheldon’s Suggestion in Salesmanship lesson series was derived directly from Dr. Parkyn’s foundational work on Suggestive Therapeutics, with only slight modifications to fit the language and goals of commercial sales instruction. Throughout the text, numerous key points are presented that originated directly from Parkyn and formed the foundation of his system.^[535]

These included:^{[535]: 181-238}

• Repeating the same three laws of suggestion. First, the voluntary mind is ruled by reason and the five senses. Second, the involuntary mind is receptive in proportion to the quieting of the voluntary. Third, repeated suggestions become belief and action. Sheldon also included rephrasing them in plain language, just as Parkyn had done.
• That the mind functions as a single unit operating in two modes, rather than as two distinct minds. Sheldon uses Parkyn's voluntary and involuntary modes. He also reiterates Parkyn’s view that abstract philosophical debate holds little value for the practical man, where it makes little difference as long as one understands how to apply suggestion effectively.
• Using identical examples throughout: suggesting a specific waking time before sleep, shaping dreams through thought, and emphasizing that the involuntary mind remains active during sleep. Both stress that suggestions given before sleep are most effective.
• Sheldon mirrors Parkyn’s distinction between general and specific suggestion. Parkyn defined general suggestion as that which influences the entire personality or emotional state, and specific suggestion as targeted toward a single fault or habit. Sheldon uses the same division and even employs the same analogy, comparing the distinction to general tonics versus targeted medicines.
• Sheldon repeats Parkyn's mental causation model of thought being the origin of all action with nearly identical examples. Parkyn taught that thought precedes all physical action, that it is the original creative force behind everything from personal behavior to invention and civilization. He often illustrates this with examples like buildings, steamships, and laws, all being born first in thought. Sheldon uses the same line of examples saying, "“Every action you performed this day… had its origin in a thought… Thought is the very root of all the activities of the world…from machines, ships, buildings, history, each “cradled in thought.”
• Sheldon paraphrases several of Parkyn’s teachings, including his definition of auto-suggestion. Sheldon writes that it is “a Suggestion that springs entirely within one's own mind, from some thought or some bodily sensation, either real or imaginary.” In Parkyn’s Auto-Suggestion, he defines it as “an impression arising within one's own mind... aroused by some thought or some real or imaginary bodily sensation.”
• Sheldon uses Parkyn's teaching that intense attention makes the mind more suggestible. Parkyn illustrated that heightened focus reduces resistance and increases the impact of suggestion through the power of emotional fixation. Sheldon applies the same teaching with the illustration of a customer’s undivided attention during a sales interaction.

Throughout the series of lessons, the core instructional logic, terminology, and examples used are the same as Dr. Parkyn’s, with many being direct quotes from his books and magazine articles. ^[535]

The Sheldon School quickly became known throughout the country as the preeminent institution for learning the modern techniques of scientific salesmanship. Its methods, rooted in psychology and mental training, were adopted by major corporations, and it became common to see the phrase “a Sheldon School graduate preferred” in employment advertisements. Arthur F. Sheldon traveled extensively, delivering lectures and expanding the school’s reach across the United States.^{[544][545][546]}

Dr. Parkyn collaborated closely with the Sheldon School in promoting the power of suggestion in business. In his magazine, he created a dedicated department titled Business Psychology, edited by Prof. P. J. Mahon, a faculty member at the Sheldon School.^[547] This department covered business-specific adaptations of Parkyn’s methods, such as the use of auto-suggestion for developing confidence, concentration, optimism, and ethical character in professional life.

Parkyn also featured the school in editorials and articles that praised its approach to sales training and was presented as a direct extension of the larger Suggestion movement. Parkyn emphasized that selling was a science with definable laws, and that the Sheldon School had identified and taught those laws through a psychological lens. Parkyn positioned salesmanship as a field governed by mental causation, where success followed not chance but understanding stating that every reader of Suggestion could benefit from the Sheldon School’s methods and that those who understood the laws of salesmanship could walk “in the light of perfect knowledge.” Another article profiling The Business Philosopher, the Sheldon School’s own periodical, it praised its efforts to establish business as a science and crediting the school with bringing structure and legitimacy to an area long treated as merely practical.^{[547][548][549]}

The connection between the two institutions was reinforced by their shared publishing and promotions that appeared in The Business Philosopher and Suggestion. Both periodicals would be filled with advertisements for one another as well as advertised bundled offers. Most notably a year’s subscription to The Business Philosopher plus a copy of Parkyn’s book Auto-Suggestion at a reduced price. The promotion emphasized the value of Parkyn’s teaching for business readers and presented the book as a necessary companion to the school’s psychological training. Parkyn’s influence on the school’s messaging was also visible in its adoption of his key slogans. Sheldon’s publications and editorials prominently featured the phrases “Do it now,” "Thought takes form in action," "I can and I will," and "Thinker" embedded in advertisements, editorial commentary, and course lessons.^{[548][547][550]}

The Sheldon School’s publishing company, The Science Press, published The Business Philosopher, as well as Dr. Parkyn’s book Auto-Suggestion. Shortly afterward, The Science Press also released James Allen’s As a Man Thinketh, which was marketed using Dr. Parkyn’s well-known phrase, “thought tends to take form in action,” prominently featured in its advertisements.

The Science Press was managed by Edward E. Beals, a former student of Dr. Parkyn, who later authored The Law of Financial Success, a widely popular book, possibly co-written with William Walker Atkinson. Beals’s publishing career expanded with his purchase of the William Walker Atkinson publishing business, which he operated through his Fiduciary Press before continuing to issue new Atkinson titles under The Progress Company. In 1922, Beals collaborated with Atkinson on the twelve-volume Power Book series.^[551][552]

Some of the many examples of The Sheldon School using Dr. Parkyn's suggestive ad phrases and a bundled offer of The Business Philosopher magazine with Dr. Parkyn's Auto-Suggestion book.

Beginning in 1902, Dr. Parkyn, along with his father James Parkyn, became involved in large-scale investment ventures in Mexico. Since the early 1890s, Mexico had attracted significant attention from U.S. investors, with newspapers across the country publishing enthusiastic reports about the immense wealth to be gained from tropical agriculture and mining enterprises. The promise of high returns sparked a nationwide rush to participate in these opportunities. With a family background in agricultural development and distribution, the Parkyns were well positioned to capitalize on the wave of investment flowing into the region.^[553]

In late 1901, Dr. Parkyn’s cousin, Horatio N. Jackson, began traveling extensively through Mexico in search of mining properties and soon established the Santa Eulalia Exploration Company.^[554] Jackson acquired several mines in northern Mexico, which Dr. Parkyn and his father, James Parkyn, invested in. After witnessing the strong returns from these ventures, James Parkyn began touring Mexico himself in search of agricultural land suitable for large-scale cultivation. This led to a partnership with other Chicago businessmen and the formation of the La Luisa Plantation Association, a 3,000-acre estate in the Veracruz district focused on producing sugar, coffee, and rubber. Dr. Parkyn served on the board of the association, while his father acted as the principal promoter of the project. James Parkyn heavily advertised the company’s stock offerings through newspapers, particularly those affiliated with the family in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.^[555]

This marked the beginning of Dr. Parkyn leveraging his own large magazine readership and the New Thought community to promote and sell shares in his investment ventures. It coincided simultaneously with the advertisements by Sydney B. Flower and his many stock offerings for his investment ventures, as a coordinated effort to build up the kind of wealth that would allow them to protect their brand of the New Thought movement from the increasing attacks that were using enormous amounts of wealth to pass laws and unleash prosecutions to shut it down.

In the summer of 1902, the first advertisements inviting readers to purchase stock in the La Luisa Plantation Association appeared in Suggestion magazine and also in the June 1902 issue of The Nautilus, where the ad was published alongside an investment offer by Sydney Flower. Both ads took up most of the last page of the issue and marked a noticeable shift in the magazine’s advertising tone.

Elizabeth Towne, editor of The Nautilus, addressed the sudden appearance of these large investment advertisements in an editorial note. She clarified that she was not offering financial advice and emphasized that readers should use their own judgment when considering such opportunities. Towne stated that she had committed money to each company and expressed confidence in both promoters. She described Dr. Parkyn's father’s favorable report after a recent visit to the site and also mentioned her belief that both Dr. Parkyn and Sydney Flower were honorable and capable men, expressing optimism about the potential returns on her investments.^[556]

The response to the La Luisa Plantation stock offerings was overwhelming, with investment pouring in from around the world. This surge of capital soon enabled the investment association to purchase, for $1.5 million, a vast section of the Veracruz district known as the Motzorongo Plantation, formerly the prized estate of the late Secretary of the State of the Republic of Mexico, General Carlos Pacheco Villalobos. Spanning 165,000 acres, more than 250 square miles, it became the largest American-controlled agricultural estate in Mexico.^[557][558]

At the center of the operation stood a state-of-the-art sugar mill, valued at $300,000 and widely regarded as the finest in the country. The mill was capable of processing hundreds of tons of cane daily and was supported by a private railroad running through the estate, connecting with two stations on the Vera Cruz and Pacific Railway, which bisected the property. The plantation included over 200,000 coffee trees, 40,000 cocoa trees, and 50,000 rubber trees, along with citrus groves of oranges and lemons. Thirty-five miles of barbed wire fencing enclosed approximately 30 square miles of pastureland used to raise cattle and hogs. A self-sustaining village supported a workforce of more than 500 laborers, who were housed in over one hundred dwellings. The community featured a general store, three additional shops, a machine shop, and a blacksmith shop. Additional infrastructure included a ramie processing plant, a sawmill for the estate’s vast timber reserves, a 25-room American-style administration building, and the estate’s own electric lighting plant and telephone system. The infrastructure of the Motzorongo Plantation alone was valued at approximately $500,000, placing the cost of the 163,000-acre land purchase at around $6 per acre. This was roughly one-third of the prevailing market value for land in the region and represented the true appeal of the investment, with projections estimating that the price per acre could rise as high as $100 to $300 in the coming years..^{[559][532][560]} Large multi-page advertisements promoting stock in the newly formed Motzorongo Company began appearing widely in New Thought publications across the country as well as in newspapers. Dr. Parkyn traveled to the plantation with his father and sent back several detailed update letters, published in Suggestion, describing the remarkable investment opportunity and the rapid progress in expanding the operation. He also organized large group excursion trips for readers of his magazine who were interested in investing, allowing them to travel to the plantation and spend several weeks inspecting it firsthand. Within just a few months, all of the initial stock offerings had sold out, with readers of Suggestion purchasing more than $250,000 worth of shares.^[532][560]

Partnering with Dr. Parkyn and his father in the Motzorongo Plantation investment were some of the most prominent capitalist investors from the Midwest. The acquisition represented the largest land purchase by American investors in Mexico at the time, and the opportunity emerged through a wealthy associate named Colonel Joseph A. Robertson, who was then residing in Monterrey, Mexico. Robertson had originally relocated there to manage the Gulf Railway, but he soon became involved in a number of major ventures, including additional Mexican railroad and mining projects, the founding of the Monterrey Iron Foundry and Manufacturing Company, and ownership of The Monterrey News.^[561][562]

In 1873, Robertson had married Ida Wells, a relative of Bertha Wells, the wife of Dr. Parkyn’s cousin, Horatio N. Jackson, who had also worked with Robertson in earlier Mexican mining operations. With Robertson’s extensive ties to the Mexican government, he was approached by the family of the late General Carlos Pacheco with an offer to purchase the Motzorongo Plantation. This led to the formation of an investment group composed primarily of Chicago and Midwestern businessmen, assembled with the assistance of Dr. Parkyn.^[561][562]

Parkyn's partners in the Motzorongo Plantation investment included several of his Midwest associates who had been past collaborators through his school, the New Thought movement, or were his fraternal brothers in the Order of the Elks and the Order of the Knights Templar. They included some of the most prominent figures in American industry and religion at the time. ^[563][564]

These included:

Harry W. Huttig of Muscatine, Iowa, who was the President of the Huttig Bros. Manufacturing Company, the Huttig Trust & Investment Company, and the Huttig Lumber Company. He was the son of William Huttig, who, along with his brother, founded the Huttig Bros. Manufacturing Company in 1880. The company grew to become the countries largest supplier of sash and doors, operating what was considered at the time the largest and most advanced factory in the United States.^{[565][566][567][568]}

The Huttig family had immigrated from Germany in 1850 and played a prominent role in establishing several German-American colonies across the Midwest, supported in part by their German American Savings Bank. Harry W. Huttig was financially involved with Prof. P. Braun in the formation of a colony and also supported Braun’s New Thought magazines, New Man and Self-Culture, both of which were part of Dr. Parkyn’s “Suggestion Family” of affiliated publications. Huttig would go on to remain a close friend and business partner of Dr. Parkyn for the next twenty years, collaborating with him in several large-scale ventures.^[569][570]

Several of H. W. Huttig's associates were partners in the Motzorongo Plantation Company, including Leigh H. Wallace, a prominent lumber merchant and banker, Rev. H. Henkel, a German Lutheran minister and the Letts brothers.

C. C. Letts and H. A. Letts were from Davenport, Iowa, just down the road from Muscatine. In the late 1890s, they relocated to Chicago, where C. C. Letts founded C. C. Letts & Co., a company that operated a large wholesale tea and coffee business as well as engaged in many real estate ventures throughout the Midwest and Western states. His brother, H. A. Letts, was a prominent dentist and had studied the use of hypnotism as an anesthetic in dentistry under Dr. Parkyn.^{[571][572][573]}

Harry C. Moir from Chicago was the managing owner of the Morrison and Saratoga Hotels and The Boston Oyster House. The Morrison Hotel was the tallest hotel in the world for many years. The Boston Oyster House was a famous landmark restaurant within the hotel that provided dance music and entertainment with seating for 2,000. Moir was born in Calcutta, India, to British parents and then raised in Canada. In 1893, at the age of 26, he moved to Chicago after attending sessions of the Parliament of World's Religions held during the Chicago World's Fair..^[574][575]

C. W. Bibb form Minneapolis, was the owner The Bibb Broom Corn Company one of the largest distributors of brooms in the nation. He was also a major real estate developer and owned several mines. He would go on to found The American Federation of Patriotic Societies and have several books published by Dr. Parkyn's "Brother Elk," Charles B. Lahan, through his Regan Press Company.^{[576][577][578]}

Prof. Edgar Young Mullins was the President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, located in Louisville, Kentucky. Mullins was one of the most influential figures in American Protestantism. As president of the seminary, Mullins helped shape the identity of Southern Baptists through his writings, leadership, and theological vision. He authored The Axioms of Religion, a foundational text that articulated Baptist principles of soul competency, religious liberty, and democratic church governance, and he played a major role in drafting the Baptist Faith and Message.^[579]

Mullins was not only a theological leader but also a major public intellectual, frequently speaking at national gatherings and representing American Baptists in ecumenical and civic forums. His reputation extended far beyond denominational lines. His involvement in the Motzorongo Plantation Company carried significant weight. At a time when religious figures rarely associated themselves with large-scale investment ventures, Mullins’ participation signaled to potential investors that the company had the backing of a trusted, nationally known Christian leader.^[580]

The Motzorongo Company was heavily marketed as a “co-operative society”, a phrase that resonated at the time among a rising class of progressive-minded investors, spiritual seekers, and reformist businessmen. From the earliest advertisements placed in Suggestion magazine and other New Thought publications, the company was framed not merely as a land venture in tropical Mexico, but as a moral and social opportunity, a chance to become part of a new kind of agricultural enterprise that promised both material return and spiritual fulfillment. It aligned perfectly with the ideals of the New Thought movement, which emphasized harmony, unity, individual responsibility, and the power of collective intention. It was about cultivating a better economic and social model, one rooted in mutual benefit, prosperity, and high-minded purpose.^[560][532]

In contrast to the harsh realities often associated with mining camps or foreign land ventures, Motzorongo was portrayed as a model of dignified labor and fair treatment. Ads described a plantation where workers lived in clean, well-organized quarters, received regular wages, and worked under conditions that were humane and health-conscious, a rarity for investment enterprises at the time. Investors were invited to travel to the plantation, inspect the operations, and see firsthand the harmonious environment being cultivated.^[581]

This image was reinforced by its board members including Prof. Edgar Young Mullins, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, who lent the company the prestige and moral credibility of one of the most respected theological voices in the country. Mullins' name assured religious conservatives that this was a serious, respectable venture, one worthy of trust. Alongside him was Rev. H. Henkel, a well known German Lutheran minister, whose presence signaled the company's appeal to German immigrant communities and faith-based communities. At the center was Dr. Parkyn, whose network of New Thought followers and emphasis on collective progress gave the project its idealistic energy and broad public appeal.^[581]

Dr. Parkyn and his family were the largest creditors of the company, holding a controlling interest with six of the fifteen voting seats among the majority bondholders. Parkyn spread the bonds among his father, mother, two sisters, and his wife to ensure the family’s majority control over financial decisions and company direction. With so much of his family’s money tied up in the venture, including investments from his Jackson cousins and his uncle William K. Atkinson and family in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, as well as the many Suggestion magazine investors, Dr. Parkyn was determined to maintain close control over the company’s operations. To maintain close oversight, Parkyn’s father, James Parkyn, moved to the plantation to manage its operations directly. With his extensive background in agriculture and milling, James provided hands-on leadership, ensuring that the plantation delivered on its promises of productivity and fairness.^[582][583]

Dr. Parkyn soon expanded the land holdings of the Motzorongo Plantation Company with the purchase of a neighboring estate known as Hacienda Josefina. It was described as a "Paradise" and one of the most valuable pieces of land in Mexico. This major acquisition increased the company’s total property to 360,000 acres, an area of more than 560 square miles.^[584]

In 1903, Dr. Parkyn, in collaboration with William Walker Atkinson and Elmer Ellsworth Carey, established the Yogi Publication Society to publish books and lessons on yogic philosophy, a subject of deep interest to Dr. Parkyn and the New Thought movement. The purpose of these works was to reveal the principles of the Law of Suggestion within the ancient teachings of Hinduism on the power of the mind, health, breathing, water consumption, diet, and hygiene. The death of Swami Vivekānanda in 1902 at the age of thirty-nine created a sudden void in the transmission of Hindu philosophy and its connection to New Thought ideas. A decade earlier, his electrifying speeches at the Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago had awakened widespread Western interest in Eastern mysticism. Dr. Parkyn had long studied the principles of Yogic philosophy and since his time at Grumbine’s College of Psychical Science and Unfoldment had regarded Vedanta as one of the clearest and most refined expressions of the Law of Suggestion within any spiritual system.

The creation of the Yogi Publication Society was intended to carry these teachings forward and establish them firmly within the New Thought movement. Under Parkyn’s guidance, Atkinson and Carey sourced material from existing traditions and developed new material specifically to introduce New Thought audiences to Hindu philosophy, presenting it with accessible interpretations in the familiar language of the movement. They drew on the teachings of Swami Vivekananda, the Order of the White Rose, and the Theosophical Society, blending them with Parkyn’s own system of mental science and physical culture. Carey added his extensive firsthand knowledge of Eastern traditions, gained through years of travel in Southeast Asia and immersion in Far Eastern philosophies, while Atkinson shaped the work into a straightforward and inspiring narrative. Although the Yogi Publication Society operated from Parkyn’s offices at 4000 Cottage Grove Avenue, official ownership was placed under Atkinson’s name, creating a deliberate distance that kept both Parkyn and Carey formally removed from the venture because of their affiliation with the Chicago School of Psychology.^[585][586]

The Yogi Publication Society began its work in June 1903 by republishing a small book titled Light on the Path, originally issued by the Theosophical Society in 1885. Intended as an introduction to Eastern philosophy, the book was described as "a manual for the personal use of those who are ignorant of the Eastern Wisdom and who desire to enter within its influence." According to Theosophical lore, the text had been dictated by the Master Hilarion through the mediumship of a mysterious figure known only as "M.C." This is recognized to have been Mabel Collins, a prominent member of the Theosophical Society who also worked closely with Helena Blavatsky as co-editor of the journal Lucifer. The republication served as an accessible entry point into Yogi philosophy and was strategically used to introduce the figure of Yogi Ramacharaka in the book’s new preface, helping to establish his presence within the New Thought community.^[587][588]

Many of the books published by the Yogi Publication Society were issued under symbolic pseudonyms intended to embody the inner spirit of the teachings they conveyed. This began with the creation of Yogi Ramacharaka, who was presented as the author of the yogi philosophy series that would dominate its publications during its first five years.^[589][590]

The Yogi Publication Society presented an elaborate backstory for Yogi Ramacharaka, one designed to offer clear symbolic clues about the meaning of the name and the true origins of the work.

The backstory of Yogi Ramacharaka

• According to the narrative, Yogi Ramacharaka was born in India in 1799 and spent years traveling across the East, fasting, meditating, and studying in monasteries and lamaseries in search of spiritual truth.
• Around 1865, after forty years of searching, Yogi Ramacharaka discovered the unnamed "basis for his philosophy."
• Sometime shortly after this he accepted a young student, an eight-year-old son of a Brahmin family, known as Baba Bharata.
• Together, they retraced Yogi Ramacharaka’s earlier path, now guided by deeper insight.
• By 1893, at the age of 94, Ramacharaka sensing the end of his life, entrusted Baba Bharata with the task of bringing their teachings to the West. That same year, Baba Bharata attended the World’s Parliament of Religions in Chicago, where he achieved instant acclaim.
• Though many encouraged him to found a new religion, he chose instead to preserve and transmit the inner teachings of his master.
• Lacking writing experience, Baba Bharata partnered with an “English author.” Baba Bharata providing the ancient Sanskrit wisdom, while the english author translated it into an accessible english form. Together, they agreed to publish under the shared symbolic name Yogi Ramacharaka.^[589][591]

This origin story, while presented as historical, was never intended to be taken literally. Yogi Ramacharaka was created as a symbolic persona meant to embody the transmission of Hindu yogic philosophy reframed through the lens of modern mental science and Suggestion. The meaning and details of his name and biography served as a layered allegory.

Sanskrit meaning of the name Yogi Ramacharaka

The name Yogi Ramacharaka integrates several esoteric Sanskrit elements to express the central philosophical goal of the project. "Yogi" means "to unite" and esoterically denotes one who's self is in union with the universal through disciplined living. "Rama" is an incarnation of the god Vishnu and the hero of the Ramayana. Esoterically it is taught to be the power to uplift the heart and mind and bring about transcendental bliss, evoking moral strength and divine harmony. "Charaka" references the ancient physician and author of the Charaka Samhita, a foundational Ayurvedic text about the importance of diet, hygiene, prevention, and mental focus. Thus, Yogi Ramacharaka can be interpreted as:

"a disciplined practitioner who's self is in union with the divine harmony and transcendental bliss that is brought about by right thinking and living."

Together, these elements signify the integration of mind, spirit, and body, mirroring Dr. Parkyn's emphasis on health, self-mastery, and directed thought.^[592]

Yogi Ramacharaka's birth year of 1799

The claimed birth year of 1799 aligns with the key moment of the publication in 1799 of Joseph Priestley’s "A Comparison of the Institutions of Moses with Those of the Hindoos and Other Ancient Nations." This work, read by early American thinkers like Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, marked the West’s first serious intellectual engagement with Hindu philosophy. Yogi Ramacharaka’s "birth" in that year represents the initial spark of Eastern wisdom entering Western awareness.^[593]

In 1865 he discovers the unamed truth

The narrative’s turning point around 1865, when Yogi Ramacharaka discovers the unnamed "basis of his philosophy," symbolizes the emergence of Suggestion as a formal psychological principle. This corresponds directly with the pioneering work of Ambroise-Auguste Liébeault in Nancy, France, who began treating patients with hypnotism and suggestion in 1865. He then published Du Sommeil et des Etats Analogues, outlining his findings and establishing the foundation for what would be known as the Nancy School of Suggestive Therapeutics which he and his collaborator, Hippolyte Bernheim, would bring to the world. Dr. Parkyn’s teachings were rooted in the methods that were first introduced in the Nancy School, and through his experimentation and research of these initial theories he had discovered that Suggestion was the unnamed universal principle underlying all religious and healing traditions.^[594]

Meets his student Baba Bharata

Sometime shortly after Yogi Ramacharaka discovers the unnamed power, he meets and accepts an eight year old boy as a student. This student, known as Baba Bharata, is symbolic on multiple levels. On the surface, he mirrors the historical Swami Vivekananda, who was born in 1863 and, at the age of eight, began formal study under Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, a noted reformer of Hindu thought and an associate of Ramakrishna who would become Vivekananda's guru. More broadly, the name Baba Bharata carries layered symbolic meaning. In Indian usage, Baba is a respectful term for a father, wise elder, or holy man while Bharata, is the ancient name for India and linked to legendary kings, sacred texts, and the soul of the nation itself. Thus, Baba Bharata can be interpreted as "Wise Father India", symbolizing India as both the inheritor and the student of its own spiritual legacy. It had grown ancient, dormant, and obscured, but was now being reawakened by the rediscovery of its true philosophical foundation.

In metaphysical terms, Bharata represents the field of human consciousness where thought takes form in action. Ancient texts describe Bhārata-varṣa as the realm where karma operates fully, the arena in which the soul evolves through self-mastery and right action. The name itself, from bhā (light) and rata (devoted), means "those devoted to light," symbolizing the mind’s journey toward illumination. This concept parallels Dr. Parkyn’s teachings on Suggestion, which express the same principle underlying Bharata, that every thought holds causal power. In both systems, liberation or success arises from mastering the creative power of the mind. The figure of Baba Bharata personifies this awakened state of the inner teacher who governs the mental field and demonstrates the unity of spiritual law and psychological science.^[595]

Retraces his steps with his student

After accepting the student, Yogi Ramacharaka resumes his travels, this time retracing his earlier steps with Baba Bharata at his side. This retracing represents the reinterpretation of Hinduism through the lens of Suggestion. What had once been understood as mystical, ritualistic, or divine is now seen as practical, psychological, and universally applicable. The old journey is walked again, but with new understanding and a new goal of preparing it for transmission to the western world.

The 1893 World’s Parliament of Religions in Chicago

The story resumes in 1893, nearly three decades after Yogi Ramacharaka first took Baba Bharata as his student. Now 94 years old, Yogi Ramacharaka senses that the end of his earthly influence may be near. It has been ninety-four years since 1799, the symbolic beginning of the West’s intellectual contact with Hindu philosophy, yet no major impact has been made. To ensure the teachings are not lost, Yogi Ramacharaka tasks Baba Bharata to bring the message to the West. The chosen vehicle is the 1893 World’s Parliament of Religions in Chicago. There, as Swami Vivekananda did in historical fact, Baba Bharata becomes an immediate success, lecturing to global audiences and gaining devoted followers. This moment in the narrative represents the symbolic flowering of Hindu philosophy into the Western intellectual sphere, reborn and reinterpreted through its rediscovered foundation in Suggestion.

Baba Bharata is urged to form a new religion

Following the Parliament, many urge Baba Bharata to found a new religion. This, too, mirrors real-world events. As the New Thought movement gained strength in the early twentieth century, many factions considered formalizing their ideas into new religious structures. But Dr. Parkyn and his collaborators rejected this impulse. They did not seek to create a new religion, but to identify and promote the underlying psychological principle of Suggestion that already operated within all religions. They saw Hinduism, especially the Vedantic and yogic traditions, as the most direct and refined expression of this inner law. Baba Bharata’s refusal to found a new faith reflects this shared principle, that it was not a new system that was needed, but a new understanding of the systems that already existed.

Baba Bharata partners with an "English author"

Although Baba Bharata was depicted as a charismatic speaker, the story explains that he was not well suited to writing books. He eventually encounters an “English author” who, though from a very different background, shares his purpose. This element of the narrative works on two levels, it reflects the idea that ancient Sanskrit writings, filled with mystical language and allegories, were often difficult for English readers to grasp and thus required an English writer to adapt them for Western audiences and it also alludes to the real-life collaboration between Elmer Ellsworth Carey and William Walker Atkinson. At the time, Carey had recently moved from the West Coast to Chicago to join the staff of Suggestion magazine. Prior to that, he had spent many years in the Far East, where he became a devoted student of Eastern Occultism and Hindu philosophy. He had a particular interest in health-culture, hygiene, and dietary teachings found in texts such as the Charaka Samhita. Though Carey was a skilled lecturer, journalist, and magazine editor, he had never authored a book. Atkinson, by contrast, was an experienced and prolific New Thought book writer, well equipped to shape ancient Sanskrit-based teachings into a form accessible to English-speaking audiences.^{[585][596][597][598]}

Elmer Ellsworth Carey parallels within the Yogi Ramacharaka narrative

Like Swami Vivekananda, Carey was born in 1863, and by 1903, when the Yogi Publication Society began issuing its books, he was forty years old. For years he had immersed himself in Eastern mysticism, spending several years in the Far East and traveling extensively throughout Southeast Asia, studying under Hindu teachers and delving into ancient philosophical texts. His passion continued upon returning to San Francisco, where he became involved with the Theosophical Society and the Vedanta Society founded by Swami Vivekananda in early 1900. He wasn’t just a student, he was a practitioner. Carey was a committed meditator, a disciplined health reformer, a vegetarian, and a record-breaking faster, once completing a 45-day fast. After decades of seeking, he had finally discovered the unnamed "basis of this philosophy" through Dr. Parkyn’s teachings that the underlying reality was Suggestion. This personal journey closely matches the storyline of Yogi Ramacharaka’s own forty-year quest of travel, meditation, fasting, and deep study culminating in the final discovery of the unnamed "basis of his philosophy." ^[599][600]

Writing under the pseudonym Yogi Ramacharaka, the Yogi Publication Society released a series of correspondence courses and widely accessible English-language books on classic yogic philosophy. These included titles such as The Hindu-Yogi Science of Breath, Hatha Yoga, Raja Yoga, Gnani Yoga, The Spirit of the Upanishads, and The Bhagavad Gita. Across all these works, a single core message was consistently emphasized, that Suggestion is the true science behind the transformative power of these ancient practices. Dr. Parkyn recognized that classical Hindu teachings offered a powerful framework for expressing the universal creative force of the "All," while still preserving the central role of Suggestion as a personal, directive power within the individual. This distinction had been at the heart of his long-standing struggle against systems like Christian Science, which he believed obscured the practical, self-empowering nature of mental influence. For Parkyn, Suggestion was not merely a spiritual idea, but a disciplined personal practice, and its conscious use was the key to transforming both the individual and society at large.^[601][602]

The Yogi Philosophy series of books and correspondence courses proved to be enormously influential in introducing Eastern spiritual teachings to the Western world. These works played a central role in shaping how Western audiences first encountered concepts such as prāṇa, meditation, the subtle body, and mental discipline. Far more than abstract philosophy, the series offered practical instruction in breath control, concentration, self-mastery, and the development of inner power, presented in clear, accessible English. As a result, the series is widely credited as one of the primary forces behind the rise of interest in Yoga and meditation in the West.^[603]

While William Walker Atkinson served as the principal for The Yogi Publication Society and later conducted lecture tours billed as Yogi Ramacharaka, both Parkyn and Carey contributed works under the same pseudonym.^{[604][605][606]}

In the spring of 1904, as the main promotion for the wide release of The Hindu-Yogi Science of Breath, the first major work published under the pseudonym Yogi Ramacharaka, Dr. Parkyn’s Suggestion magazine featured two major articles on the benefits and science of breathing, along with a third on the history of thought power in India. Parkyn himself contributed “Breathing Exercises and Auto-Suggestion,” while a second article, “Rhythmical Breathing,” examined the scientific and esoteric foundations of rhythmic breathing in Eastern practices. This article referenced the Vedanta Philosophy, stating: "When mind changes into will the currents change into a motion similar to electricity. When all of the motions of the body become perfectly rhythmical, the body has, as it were, become a gigantic battery of will." It further taught that prana, defined as "absolute energy, vital force, spirit of life," is stored in the brain and nerve centers, particularly the abdominal brain or solar plexus.^[607]

Another article on thought power in India asserted that the concept of "thought as matter" was "one of the oldest beliefs on earth," and described the "Hindo Vedanta" as "the most wonderful product of the human mind," teaching that "thought came into existence first, and then matter formed into shape around it." The article continues by stating that thought's ability to act on matter at a distance has been known for "many centuries in the remote east, to the wonderful psychics of ancient India, that fountain stream of all esoteric wisdom."^[607]

In 1906, the popular pseudonym of Yogi Ramacharaka was used by Dr. Parkyn to publish a book presenting his core teachings of Suggestion, titled The Science of Psychic Healing. This book directly matched the Suggestion teachings of Dr. Parkyn with Yogi philosophy, delivered in a direct and instructional tone. It followed closely the material in Parkyn’s A Special Mail Course in Suggestive Therapeutics and Hypnosis and demonstrated how those teachings related to ancient Hindu practices. The book Hatha Yoga had been published the year before on the Hindu teachings of physical health, and The Science of Psychic Healing was intended as a companion volume that taught how the mind controlled physical health. They stated that together, the two books would provide readers with the “Key to Health.” The author made clear that their approach was based on Natural Law and rejected any attempt to make psychic healing into a religion, writing, "We do not see why Psychic Healing should be made into a religion, any more than should Drug Healing, Massage, Osteopathy, or any other form of healing. All true healing results from an application of perfectly natural laws, and the power employed is as much a natural law as is electricity."

The book repeatedly uses Parkyn's most famous phrase “Thought takes form in action,” and also includes many other distinctive terms closely associated with his teachings. The text makes frequent reference to specific anatomical organs like the liver, stomach, and heart, offering detailed instructions for auto-suggestions directed at each. These are precisely the kinds of therapeutic practices found in Parkyn’s course, reflecting a level of physiological specificity and clinical authority typical of a trained physician and rarely seen in the writings of New Thought authors.^[608]

In 1909, Dr. Parkyn and Elmer Ellsworth Carey collaborated on The Hindu-Yogi System of Practical Water Cure, published under the pseudonym Yogi Ramacharaka. The book combined Dr. Parkyn’s direct teachings on the health benefits of sufficient daily water intake with parallel concepts from yogic tradition. Beginning in 1898, Parkyn was the first in the West to promote the drinking of water as a fundamental necessity for health, emphasizing it as one of the most vital of the "life essentials" and asserting that well-being depended largely on its proper use. At the time, this framing of "life essentials" was novel, with the term first appearing in his articles published in Suggestion magazine and his book on Suggestive Therapeutics. By 1909, however, Parkyn’s advocacy had moved the idea into the broader public conversation. Medical journals and popular health magazines across the country were promoting adequate daily water intake, and hundreds of thousands of people had become newly aware of the importance of monitoring the quantity of liquids they consumed each day.^{[609][610][611]}

Parkyn specified that the proper amount of water to drink daily was two quarts. For external use, he recommended two gallons or more per day, either in one full bathing session or divided into two portions, one taken upon arising and one before retiring. To reinforce this practice, he developed a series of auto-suggestions designed to instill what he called the "Two Quart a Day Habit." These instructions appeared verbatim in The Hindu-Yogi System of Practical Water Cure, alongside detailed medical explanations of how each organ is affected by hydration and how the digestive system functions. The kind of knowledge that only a trained physician with years of research in this field could provide.^{[612][607][610]}

Elmer Ellsworth Carey not only contributed the link between Parkyn’s modern scientific understanding and ancient yogic philosophy, but also brought his own extensive research and lifelong passion for the study of water to the book. For years, Carey had made the effects of water on the human body one of his chief areas of interest, publishing numerous articles on the subject. This commitment endured throughout his life, and by the time of his death in 1936, he was both a partner and the research director for the Sparkletts Bottled Water Company in Los Angeles.^{[613][614][615]}

The logo of the Yogi Publication Society was not an arbitrary design but a deliberate symbol chosen to express the sacred geometric pattern of creation found in traditions such as Hindu, Hermetic, Kabbalistic, and Pythagorean philosophy. These teachings describe creation as unfolding from a single point into the multiplicity of form and then returning to reconciliation. Pythagorean thought emphasized the three initiates as the foundation of reality and identified 3, 6, and 9 as keys to universal law. Across these systems geometry was understood as the blueprint of existence and the Society’s logo was created to reflect this knowledge.^[616][617]

3 - The logo begins with the first and most essential trinity. At the center is a point of origin, the seed of being, from which radiant lines extend outward in every direction. These straight lines mark the first movement of creation, light unfolding from unity into manifestation. Their outward flow is then enclosed by a curve, a circle that brings the motion into harmony and completion.

6 - The design then carries this triad into a second expression. The radiant center enclosed in its circle is framed by an equilateral triangle, itself set within a larger circle. This creates the number six, the doubling of the first trinity into balance and proportion. Here the sacred law is shown not only in its initial act but in its structural order, where the triangle of harmony and the circle of wholeness establish the foundation of universal design.

9 - A third layer completes the progression. Around all that lies within, another larger triangle is joined with the encompassing outer circle. This brings the number nine, the sign of completion, the seal of cycles that continue without end. It shows that the trinity of origin, the balance of six, and the fulfillment of nine are a continuous rhythm extending to infinity.

In 1908, under the direction of Dr. Parkyn and the management of William Walker Atkinson, the Yogi Publication Society released The Religions and Philosophies of India, the final Yogi Ramacharaka title under Atkinson's management. That same year, they published Reincarnation and the Law of Karma, the first Yogi Publication book credited directly to Atkinson, and also introduced The Kybalion, a work on Hermetic philosophy attributed to the anonymous authorship of “The Three Initiates.” This marked a deliberate shift in focus toward Rosicrucian-style Hermetic philosophy and their core teachings being the Law of Suggestion. To support this new direction, new publishing imprints were established, including The Arcane Book Concern and the Advanced Thought Publishing Company.

The Yogi Publication Society continued to distribute the Ramacharaka titles and reprinted earlier works that had become scarce or difficult to obtain. In 1909, management of the Society was handed to Olive Bedwell, a longtime secretary who had worked with them since 1900. Bedwell maintained the imprint’s operations and expanded its offerings while keeping the core Ramacharaka catalog in steady circulation. Thanks to Bedwell’s consistent oversight, the Yogi Publication Society remained in business and eventually became the primary publisher for much of Atkinson’s back catalog as well as other New Thought titles, continuing into the present day.

To prevent other publishers from using similar names, several titles were issued under alternate but related imprints, including The Yogi Publishing Company, The Yogi Publishing Society, and The Yoga Publication Society. These were intentional variants and not typographical errors.

Dr. Parkyn and his associates had, since 1900, pursued a deliberate plan to saturate the emerging New Thought book market with a steady succession of publications covering a wide range of related subjects, all unified under the central principles of Parkyn’s lead doctrine of the Law of Suggestion. The authors behind these series were closely connected, often using the same recurring phrases such as Parkyn’s “Thought takes form in action,” “Happiness, Health, and Success,” and “Poise and Power.” Their works covered similar subjects and centered on the core principles of right living and right thinking. Many of the books across the different series were able to be produced quickly by repurposing decades old material on topics such as memory training, fascination, concentration, etiquette, personal magnetism, mesmerism, or astrology, and then integrating the teachings of the Law of Suggestion into them.

William Walker Atkinson, serving as Dr. Parkyn’s chief representative, provided the central link among the authors in the publishing networks. He collaborated with many of them and was instrumental in producing a massive number of titles himself. Several of the series, like the Psychic Research Company series, the Yogi Ramacharaka series, The Arcane Teaching series, and the Theron Q. Dumont series, were released anonymously or under pseudonyms. This was an established practice within esoteric and occult publishing and reflected Dr. Parkyn’s teaching on the use of “masked suggestion” to influence the involuntary mind. It enabled the creation of symbolic figures such as spiritual adepts like Yogi Ramacharaka, mysterious French psychological authorities like Theron Q. Dumont, or anonymous initiates of secret societies presenting long-concealed Hermetic knowledge to the public. These “masked suggestions” helped the material bypass the reader’s initial skepticism and reach the mind with limited conscious resistance. While Atkinson would claim authorship of many of the pseudonymous and anonymous titles in his Who's Who in America profile, it is established that there were other contributing authors, including Dr. Parkyn himself, who assisted to put out the large volume of books in such a short time frame. Atkinson's inclusion of these titles in his Who's Who profile was a way to impeach any possible fraudulent future claims on them and to bolster his public profile.

Unlike many of his collaborating authors, who used their success in writing and publishing as a springboard into more lucrative ventures of lecture tours, company creations, and real estate and stock promotions, Atkinson always remained in the role of a New Thought author. He had long struggled with nervous prostration and found the pressures of business overwhelming. Public speaking was also difficult for him, and though he occasionally gave lectures, he rarely managed more than a few each year. Shy and somewhat reclusive, he preferred working in private offices located away from others, where he could focus on research and writing. When stress became too great, he had a lifelong habit of withdrawing completely. One such episode reoccurred in 1907, when he sold his William Walker Atkinson publishing imprint to Edward E. Beals' Fiduciary Press and moved back to Palmyra, New Jersey, just outside Philadelphia. That same year, it appears that he also sold his rights to the 1907 book The Law of Financial Success, which was released under the authorship of Edward E. Beals and became a major hit. Atkinson would later list it in his Who’s Who entries as his own work, and it is likely that he was involved with it, as he and Beals would later collaborate extensively. They would both be partners in starting the magazine Cosmic World and The Progress Company with Christian D. Larson and in 1922 co-author the twelve-volume Power Book series, and also most likely the book Thoughts Are Things, in 1909, which Atkinson claimed in his Who's Who profile but was published under the name Edward Walker. This is thought to be a combination of both of their names, Edward Beals' first name and William Walker Atkinson's middle name.

Atkinson did attempt to run his own Chicago publishing company and magazine called Advanced Thought, however the stress was too much for him and he unloaded it to his manager, Arthur Gould. His sole ability to generate income was in writing books and contributing articles to magazines and so Atkinson's profile and prestige in Who's Who was an essential part of his resume and a way to stay relevant in the quickly shifting interests within the New Thought movement. He would diligently list his directly authored works right away on his Who's Who profile, but he purposefully waited several years before attaching his name to the pseudonymous and anonymous titles so that the mysterious authorships could have their effect. The Yogi Ramacharaka series, for example, did not appear in his Who’s Who listing until 1909, six years after the series began and more than a year after the last volume was published. Similarly he did not list The Kybalion or The Arcane Teaching series until 1913, five years after they were first published and two years after the final titles had appeared. Other pseudonyms, were never mentioned by name, though Atkinson alluded to having authored additional unnamed works. To Dr. Parkyn and his collaborators like, Christian D. Larson and Edward E. Beals, having Atkinson's name recognition attached to these well known book series allowed for him to be a central selling figure in marketing campaigns that used the books series to promote other business ventures.

Psychic Research Company series - 1900 The effort began through the Psychic Research Company’s series of volumes on many topics such as Hypnotism, Clairvoyance, Mind Reading, Palmistry, Astrology, Suggestive Therapeutics, and Phrenology. Many of these titles were published anonymously or under pseudonyms and were distributed for free through marketing campaigns or sold at low cost. While the topics spanned a wide range of occult, divination, and mental science subjects, the central theme ultimately drew readers to the Law of Suggestion.

William Walker Atkinson series - 1901 This evolved from the creation of Atkinsonia and the publication of a new wave of works beginning in 1901 with Thought=Force in Business and Everyday Life, followed by titles that directly addressed the New Thought philosophy like The Law of New Thought (1902) and Nuggets of New Thought (1902). This continued over the next two decades with numerous self-released titles and collaborative series, including Memory Culture (1902), Dynamic Thought (1906), Thought-Vibration (1906), Self Healing by Thought Force (1906), Mental Magic (1907), Mental Fascination (1907), Mind Reading (1907), Psychomancy and Crystal Gazing (1907), Mind Culture of the Child (1908), Mental Influence (1908), Secret of Success (1908), The Inner Consciousness (1908), Reincarnation (1908), Mind Power (1908), The New Psychology (1909), Memory (1909), Suggestion and Auto-Suggestion (1909), The Will (1909), Subconscious and Superconscious (1909), Mind (1909), Art of Logical Thinking (1909), Thought Culture (1909), Art of Expression (1909), Psychology of Salesmanship (1909), Human Nature (1909), Psychology of Success (1910), Mind and Body (1910), Telepathy (1910), The Crucible of Modern Thought (1910), Scientific Parenthood (1910–11), The Message of the New Thought (1911), Mastery of Being (1911), Your Mind and How to Use It (1911), and many related articles.

Yogi Ramacharaka series - 1903 The Yogi Publication Society was established in 1903 to issue a series of lessons and books on Yogic philosophy under the pseudonym Yogi Ramacharaka. These works presented Hindu teachings through the interpretive framework of the Law of Suggestion, illustrating Suggestion as the underlying principle within the Yogic system. The series included Yogi Philosophy, Vol. I (1903), Science of Breath (1903), Yogi Philosophy, Vol. II (1904), Hatha Yoga (1904), Raja Yoga (1905), Gnani Yoga (1906), Psychic Healing (1906), The Bhagavad Gita (compilation, 1907), The Upanishads (compilation, 1907), Mystic Christianity (1907), and Religions and Philosophies of India (1908). In later years, the Yogi Publication Society expanded its catalog to include volumes on Hermetic philosophy and the emerging field of New Psychology.

Power Book Library series - 1903 The Power Book Library was a series of works by Frank Channing Haddock that included The Power of Will (1903), Power for Success (1903), Business Power (1910), The Culture of Courage (1910), Practical Psychology (1915), Creative Personality (1917), The Secret of Brain Energy (1917), and The Personal Atmosphere (1918)..^[618] Haddock was the son of Rev. George C. Haddock, a prominent Methodist minister who was killed in 1887 for his involvement in the temperance movement and became widely regarded as a martyr to the cause. Following his father’s death, Frank Channing Haddock left his law practice and entered the Methodist ministry to became active in temperance reform. During this time he became associated with Parkyn’s longtime collaborator, Dr. W. Xavier Sudduth, who was also very active within the temperance movement. Sudduth's sisters , Margaret Ashmore Sudduth and Alice Sudduth Byerly, being nationally known leaders in the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. Haddock eventually left the church to follow his growing interest in the New Thought movement and became a student of Dr. Parkyn's. In 1901 he published the first edition of Power of Will, which in 1903 came to the attention of publisher Albert L. Pelton, who offered to publish it nationally and encouraged Haddock to produce a full series of companion volumes. The work received extensive promotion in Suggestion magazine with full page editorials and Haddock being invited to contribute to Parkyn's magazine. The Power of Will series became a staple within the movement.^[523]

The Poise and Power series - 1907 The Poise and Power series was written by Christian D. Larson and published by his Progress Company. Titles included Poise and Power (1907), The Great Within (1907), How to Stay Young (1908), On the Heights (1908), Your Forces and How to Use Them (1910), Thinking for Results (1911), Mastery of Self (1912), How to Stay Well (1912), The Mind Cure (1912), Business Psychology (1912), Brains and How to Get Them (1914), My Ideal of Marriage (1916), Concentration (1920), and many others. Larson, a student of Dr. Parkyn, founded a New Thought Temple in Cincinnati in 1901 and launched the magazine Eternal Progress. His books became highly influential, inspiring a “Poise and Power” movement that represented balance and strength of will. The phrase was later adopted by several authors connected to Dr. Parkyn, including Frank Channing Haddock’s Ten Studies in Poise and Power, Harry Gaze’s Life, Youth, and Success, William Walker Atkinson’s Psychology of Salesmanship, Walter W. Raymond’s That Unseen Presence, B. F. Austin’s Self=Unfoldment, Arthur Gould’s Poise and Power, and as a central theme in The Arcane Teachings series.

Christian D. Larson would further collaborate with Parkyn students Edward Beals, Dr. W. C. Van Valen, and William Walker Atkinson in the formation of The Progress Company.

The Nut-Shell series - 1907 This series was published jointly by The Fiduciary Company and The Lyal Book Concern. Written by William Walker Atkinson, it included Practical Mind-Reading (1907), Practical Mental Influence (1907), and Practical Psychomancy and Crystal Gazing (1907). The first editions appeared anonymously through The Lyal Book Concern, operating from Atkinson’s former offices in the Drexel Building in Philadelphia, prior to his 1900 breakdown and relocation to Chicago. Atkinson issued the books without his name because he had sold the rights to publish under “William Walker Atkinson” to The Fiduciary Company, managed by Dr. Parkyn’s former student Edward E. Beals. Beals had previously worked with Parkyn and the Sheldon School, overseeing their publishing division, The Science Press, which released Parkyn’s Auto-Suggestion in 1905.

The Arcane Teachings series - 1909 The Arcane Series marked a shift into Hermetic philosophy, emphasizing the foundational role of suggestion within the oldest spiritual and esoteric teachings. This move aligned with a broader effort to bring Hermetic principles, especially those associated with secret societies like the Rosicrucians, into public view. Intended as a continuation of The Kybalion, which had been released in 1908 by the Yogi Publication Society, the Arcane Series was structured as a multi-part course. It included: Vol. I: The One and the Many (1909), Vol. II: Cosmic Law (1909), Vol. III: The Arcane Formulas (1909), Vol. IV: The Mystery of Sex (1909), Vol. V: The Psychic Planes (1909), and Vol. VI: Vril or Vital Force (1909). The series was published anonymously by the Arcane Book Concern.^[619]

The New Psychology series - 1909 In 1908, Christian D. Larson (President), Edward E. Beals (Manager and Treasurer), and William Walker Atkinson (Vice-President) launched The Cosmic World magazine. In 1909, it merged with Larson’s earlier publication, Eternal Progress, to become The Progress Magazine. That same year, they established The Progress Company, along with Dr. W. C. Van Valen, a fellow student of Dr. Parkyn. The company became one of the largest New Thought publishing houses, with a major headquarters and sanitarium in Chicago. In 1909, it issued The New Psychology Series by Atkinson, including The New Psychology, Memory, and Suggestion and Auto-Suggestion.^{[620][621][622]}

The Success and Happiness series - 1910 This series was written by Prof. Alexander Verner, an English psychologist and founder of the British Psychological Institute, a London-based correspondence school that awarded diplomas in subjects such as Phrenology, Physiognomy, Palmistry, Clairvoyance, Psychometry, Mediumship, and related areas. The foundational text of the series, Success and Happiness, was first published in England in 1904 under the pseudonym Swami Brahma. In 1910, the full series was reissued in the United States by the Marlowe Publishing Company of Chicago. Titles included Success and Happiness (1910), Medical Hypnosis and Suggestion (1910), Practical Psychometry (1910), Personal Magnetism and Will Power (1910), How to Converse with Spirit Friends (1910), Clairvoyance and Crystal Gazing (1910), and Table Rapping and Automatic Writing (1910). Many of these works closely paralleled titles released by William Walker Atkinson, S. A. Weltmer, and J. C. F. Grumbine, among others in the New Thought and occult publishing fields. Dr. Parkyn and his sayings were referenced repeatedly throughout the series, and it would also be featured in coordinated advertising campaigns that bundled it with works by Atkinson, Theron Q. Dumont, and Swami Panchadasi.^[623]

Theron Q Dumont series - 1913 This series was published by William Walker Atkinson’s Advanced Thought Publishing Company between 1913 and 1920. Theron Q. Dumont was not a real person but a pseudonym, presented as a renowned “Instructor on the Art and Science of Personal Magnetism, Paris, France.” The series included: The Master Mind (1913), Culture of Personality: The Art and Science of Personal Magnetism (1913), Advanced Course in Personal Magnetism (1914), Mental Therapeutics (1916), Practical Memory Training (1916), Successful Salesmanship (1917), Character Reading (1918), Power of Concentration (1918), and The Solar Plexus (1920).

Arthur Gould series - 1919 The series was released by the Advanced Thought Publishing Company just as Arthur Gould assumed ownership from William Walker Atkinson in 1919. Gould had been working with Atkinson since at least 1913, when The Science of Sex Generation (co-authored with Franklyn L. Dubois) and Sex Force were published by Advanced Thought Publishing. He had also served as the manager and co-editor of Advanced Thought magazine and married Ollie Bedwell, Atkinson’s longtime private secretary, who had taken over ownership of The Yogi Publication Society in 1909. In 1919, Gould formally took control of both the Advanced Thought Publishing Company and the Advanced Thought magazine. At that time, he began releasing a series of books under his own name, many of which carried the same titles as earlier works by Christian D. Larson and Frank Channing Haddock. These included Poise and Power (1919), The Power of Will (1919), The Great Within (1919), Thinking for Results (1919), The Winning Personality (1919), How to Become Prosperous (1920), and How to Achieve Your Desires (1923). While the first four titles of the series were identical to those of earlier New Thought classics, Gould’s versions were revised and updated versions with more modern interpretations of the original teachings.

The Personal Power Book series - 1922 In this series, William Walker Atkinson and Edward Beals would collaborate once again. This time on a twelve volume set of self-help books focused on developing personal power for physical, mental, and spiritual goals. The titles in the series were: Personal Power (1922), Creative Power (1922), Desire Power (1922), Subconscious Power (1922), Health Power (1922), Will Power (1922), Spiritual Power (1922), Thought Power (1922), Perceptive Power (1922), Reasoning Power (1922), Character Power (1922), and Regenerative Power (1922).^[624]

At the time of publication, Edward Beals had spent the previous seven years working as a successful real estate advertiser, investor, and builder. In 1914, he had moved to Seattle where he co-founded the firm Bock, Beals, and Bird with two prominent local real estate figures. Drawing from his experience with The Sheldon School, Beals applied principles of suggestion and mental science to sales advertising. In 1916, he relocated to Detroit to work alongside Henry Clay Hodges, one of the city’s most successful real estate developers and a major figure within Parkyn’s “Suggestion Family.” Hodges had acquired Suggestion magazine from Parkyn in 1906 and played a key role in promoting the Law of Suggestion throughout the New Thought community.^[625]

After Atkinson transferred ownership of Advanced Thought magazine and its publishing company to Arthur Gould in early 1919, Hodges invited him to Detroit and financed a new book campaign in collaboration with Beals. Although Hodges died in September of that year, the project was completed in 1922 under Beals’s direction. The Personal Power series marked the most ambitious promotional campaign Beals had launched. The marketing included large four page advertisements and positioned the series as the culmination of Atkinson’s three decades of work. Beals was presented as a living example of the success achievable through the application of the methods.^[624][626]

"William Walker Atkinson has a world-wide fame as mystic, thinker, author, teacher. Here in the PERSONAL POWER BOOKS is his crowning work—his newest work—the cream of his 30 years research. Edward E. Beals is a practical, widely known business executive, who thru the application of these methods has honorably won a fortune. On one side—the rich ideas and discoveries by Atkinson; on the other, the sound, proven, work-a-day application by Beals."^[624]

In November 1903, Prof. Edgar Lucien Larkin started contributing articles to Suggestion magazine and by March 1904, Dr. Parkyn made him a permanent Staff Writer for his magazine. At the time, he was the director of the Mount Lowe Observatory, living atop Echo Mountain in California, where he spent years studying the heavens and delving into the history of occult and metaphysical philosophies. His quarters at the observatory housed a vast collection of rare esoteric books, and he closely followed the emerging ideas of the New Thought movement through subscriptions to many of its leading magazines. Drawing on his work at the Mount Lowe Observatory, Larkin had developed a strong scientific understanding of the universe and its connections to the teachings of the ancient mystery schools, especially Indian Yogic philosophy.^{[627][628][629]}

In late 1903, just before joining Parkyn’s magazine, Larkin published Radiant Energy. In it, he described light, heat, and electromagnetic radiation not only as measurable physical forces, but as outward signs of a deeper universal law linking the smallest atom to the largest star. Much like Parkyn, who taught that suggestion worked through definite natural laws, Larkin argued that the same principles guiding radiant energy in space also applied to the workings of the mind and human life. For him, energy was not just mechanical or thermal, but a living current, always in motion, that could be directed toward growth, healing, and transformation. In this view, the human mind functioned both as a receiver and a transmitter within this greater network of universal forces.^[630][629]

Prof. Larkin’s ideas lined up with Dr. Parkyn’s teaching that the laws of thought and the laws of nature were the same thing. In his book, he described the universe as one great field of energy in which every person takes part, with the ability to direct unseen forces with the mind. This provided more scientific support to Parkyn’s teaching that, by learning and applying universal laws, people could shape both their inner lives and their outer circumstances. By connecting the careful study of astronomy with the ideas of mental science, Larkin showed that the same forces governing the stars also flowed through the human mind, demonstarting that personal mental development was part of the same radiant order that governed the universe itself.^{[630][631][631]}

Prof. Larkin being designated as Staff Writer was a first for Suggestion magazine, a distinction Parkyn had never granted to any other contributor and Larkin would be the only writer to ever bear this title with the magazine. This was a clear mark of Parkyn's respect for the Professor and his contributions within the publication. While the magazine had featured longtime regular contributors who appeared every month for years, and its pages were also filled with renowned guest contributors each month, Dr. Parkyn still went out of his way to elevate the attention given to Prof. Larkin. Being Staff Writer set Larkin apart, signaling that his work was in complete accord with Dr. Parkyn’s philosophy of Suggestive Therapeutics and mental science. The title carried a message to readers that his voice was not only trusted but was a central source of authority that embodied Parkyn’s ideals.^[632][633]

When Prof. Edgar Larkin joined the staff of Suggestion magazine, he brought both the authority of his position as director of the Mt. Lowe Observatory and a rare combination of scientific discipline with deep knowledge of the world’s oldest esoteric traditions. In his Practical Psychology series, he stated that "thought is excessively refined matter” and "thought is power," reinforcing the view of suggestion as a tangible natural force. He treated telepathy not as a mystical oddity, but as part of the lawful workings of the mind. He went further, arguing that thought could act on matter at a distance, a capacity "known for many centuries in the remote East, to the wonderful psychics of ancient India."^[633]

Larkin devoted substantial attention to the Vedantic view that thought precedes matter. He described the "Hindu Vedanta" as "the most wonderful product of the human mind," teaching that a thought form came first, followed by the materialization of its pattern. His admiration for the "psychics of India," whom he called “the ablest psychologists that have appeared on earth,” was unreserved. These adepts, he explained, believed that mind “had precedence of all existing things" and possessed "illimitable power." He frequently referred to the "wisdom of India" which taught that human minds are "parts of the mentality of nature" and can draw from the "universal store."^[634]

To illustrate this, he cited the Grand Hymn of Creation form the Rig Veda:

"In the beginning there arose the Golden Child. He was the only born Lord of all that is. Whose shadow is immortality. Whose shadow is death. There was then neither nonentity or entity, neither atmosphere nor sky beyond. That ONE breathed, breathless, by ITSELF in essence. The covered germ burst forth by MENTAL heat. The ray shot across them. There is only one DEITY, the great soul. He is the soul of all being."^[633]

To Larkin this ancient cosmology was a remarkable reference to the modern understandings of the present Psychic Age, stating:

"it was thought out by our ancestors, the ARYANS, in Central Asia many thousand years ago. The strange thing about it is that all the material universe is represented as being “ BORN of MIND,” as a GOLDEN CHILD. And, stranger still, the entire fabric of nature is conceived to be based on sex, duality and polarity."^[633]

Larkin situated these principles in the present moment, observing a worldwide "psychic movement" driven by seekers exploring their inner being, a revival he linked to "living adepts" descended from prehistoric India. His articles gave readers a cosmic framework, showing that the mental forces they were learning to apply were the same forces that, in the oldest wisdom traditions, shaped worlds and moved stars.^[634]

Dr. Parkyn and Prof. Edgar Larkin became acquainted through Prof. Isaac Newton Vail of Pasadena, California, whose work had become a major fascination for Dr. Parkyn. Prof. Vail had developed what he called the “Annular Theory” of the Earth’s formation. In his book The Waters Above the Firmament, he proposed that the Earth once possessed an “annular or ring system, such as the planet Saturn has now,” composed of "aqueous vapors" that formed a "sun-illuminated cloud canopy over all the earth, except the polar regions." He argued that this theory explained past geologic revolutions and that present Earth conditions were the result of a succession of causes, specifically the "successive collapse of earth-rings and vapor canopies." His works also included the illustrated The Waters Above the Firmament and The Flaming Sword.^[635]

In January 1903, Dr. Parkyn reached out to Prof. Vail to invite him to contribute to his Suggestion magazine and also to assist him with launching and promoting his own periodical, Annular Theory. This resulted in a four-part series on Vail’s theories in Suggestion from February through May 1903. Dr. Parkyn’s fascination with Prof. Vail’s ideas led to many correspondences and several visits to Pasadena while he was traveling to and from Mexico. Through these visits, Parkyn also became well acquainted with Prof. Larkin, who was known in Pasadena as "The Wizard of Echo Mountain." Vail and Larkin were longtime collaborators and Vail often visited Larkin at the observatory to explore the heavens and to discuss their theories and research. Parkyn recognized in Larkin someone who not only embraced the teachings of suggestive therapeutics but could also connect them seamlessly to the vast workings of the universe and the ancient philosophies of the Hindu masters. With Vail shifting his attention to his own magazine, Parkyn invited Larkin to carry on in the same vein by contributing articles on the connections between the mental sciences and the cosmic universe to Suggestion.^[636][637]

With Dr. Parkyn’s promotion of Prof. Larkin as a featured writer in Suggestion magazine, Larkin swiftly emerged as one of the most respected and dynamic new voices in the New Thought movement. As he had previously done with Sydney Flower and William Walker Atkinson, Parkyn once again introduced a fresh and compelling voice into the New Thought discussion. Following his proven strategy, he first built Larkin’s reputation within Suggestion and then positioned him in another forum to extend the reach and influence of the core teachings. This time, rather than one of Parkyn’s own offshoot publications, the chosen outlet was The Nautilus, the most trusted of the affiliated journals in the "Suggestion Family." Dr. Parkyn had already helped elevate The Nautilus magazine and its editors, Elizabeth Towne and her husband William Towne, into admired voices in the movement through frequent editorial mentions, joint advertising campaigns, and Elizabeth’s regular contributions to New Thought magazine. Yet neither carried the sensational impact that figures like Atkinson, and now Larkin, brought to the stage.^[638]

Professor Edgar L. Larkin in Suggestion and then in The Nautilus

Because Suggestion was anchored by Dr. Parkyn and supported by a roster of widely respected contributors, it stood as the foremost venue for serious leaders in the field. Its authority did not depend on celebrity writers. Instead, its stature allowed Parkyn to introduce and cultivate new voices, elevating them into recognized leaders of the movement. Once their names carried weight among the movement’s thinkers, and where Suggestion’s more scientific tone might limit their reach to general audiences, Parkyn would position them in more accessible venues.

Coinciding with Prof. Larkin’s arrival, The Nautilus expands to forty pages and unveils a new design

The timing of Prof. Larkin’s move to The Nautilus coincided with a major investment into the magazine that transformed it from the modest, coverless eight-page journal it had been for five years into a forty-page publication with a professionally designed cover. Its new look, from the striking cover to the page layouts, closely mirrored the style of Suggestion, signaling its official alignment with Dr. Parkyn’s circle of collaborators.^[639]

In September 1904 Dr. Parkyn spent a month in California while returning from a trip to his Motzorongo Plantation in Mexico. He used the opportunity to visit members of the "Suggestion Family" across the state, stopping at the offices of Now magazine in San Francisco and spending a week in Pasadena with Prof. Isaac Newton Vail and Prof. Edgar L. Larkin at his Mount Lowe observatory. In Los Angeles he met with many local supporters and old friends who had recently moved there, including George Edwin Burnell and Alexander J. McIvor-Tyndall.^{[637]: 165 [640]}

At the time Los Angeles was quickly becoming a New Thought center as many of the movement’s leaders migrated to the area. Parkyn was eager to extend his teachings to the West Coast, which was being flooded by charlatans who preyed on the influx of new migrants after having been discredited in the East. To establish a strong presence, he turned to his longtime associate McIvor-Tyndall, whose extreme fame on the West Coast made him an ideal public figurehead for a new venture. George Edwin Burnell, a highly respected figure in the New Thought community and a longtime friend of Parkyn from Minneapolis and Chicago, would also be involved with the venture, to lend it legitimacy within the movement at a time when some still regarded McIvor-Tyndall as little more than a charlatan stage performer.^{[637][641][642][643]}

Dr. Parkyn’s meetings with McIvor-Tyndall and Burnell had been arranged months in advance to discuss the details of establishing in Los Angeles what Parkyn had already built in the Midwest with his University of Psychic Science, Psychic Club, Psychic Research Company and Psychic Science Schools. Although Parkyn’s trip to California was delayed by several months, he had encouraged McIvor-Tyndall and Burnell to move forward with the formation of a Psychic Science Alliance Society earlier that spring in May 1904. Under its name McIvor-Tyndall began delivering lectures based on Parkyn’s teachings and methods. When Parkyn finally arrived in Los Angeles, they reviewed plans for an official Institute of Psychic Science, with Parkyn refining the curriculum and discussing long-term goals.^[637][644]

This resulted in the establishment of The McIvor-Tyndall Institute of Psychic Science, which opened in October 1904 at 1501 South Grand Avenue in Los Angeles. The Institute offered afternoon and evening classes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, conducted by McIvor-Tyndall and Burnell. In addition, McIvor-Tyndall delivered a public lecture each Sunday afternoon at Blanchard Hall. These events proved immensely popular, with the 800-seat hall regularly filled to capacity at an admission price of twenty-five cents.^[645][646]

"Health, Happiness, and Success"

The Institute's motto was a declaration of their connection to the “Suggestion Family," featuring Parkyn’s well-known slogan "Health, Happiness, and Success" throughout its promotions. The curriculum mirrored Parkyn’s model, being centered around the instruction of the Law of Suggestion along with physical culture, self-culture, the development of the power within, and the understanding and the application of the psychic law underlying all life.^[647][648]

Dr. McIvor-Tyndall teaches Parkyn's message of "Health, Happiness, and Success"

The connection to Dr. Parkyn's "Suggestion Family" was also signaled by the use of the equal sign Dr. Parkyn’s distinctive use of the equal sign as a hyphen, first seen in Thought=Force in Business and Everyday Life and later in Auto=Suggestion, What It Is and How to Use It for Health, Happiness, and Success was also used for Dr. McIvor=Tyndall.

In late April 1905 William Walker Atkinson traveled to Los Angeles to spend several months with Alexander J. McIvor-Tyndall and evaluate the teaching and lectures at the Institute of Psychic Science. Atkinson had previously served as the public face of Dr. Parkyn’s University of Psychic Science in Chicago, the same role that McIvor-Tyndall was now fulfilling in Los Angeles, which made him well suited to mentor and guide the work of the Institute. Around the same time W. J. Colville also visited the Institute to contribute his teachings to the curriculum. Colville had earlier served as a professor with Dr. Parkyn at J. C. F. Grumbine’s College of Psychical Sciences and Unfoldment, the school that laid the foundation for Parkyn’s University of Psychic Science.^{[649][650][651]: 2}

While in Los Angeles, Atkinson delivered a few lectures alongside McIvor-Tyndall to lend his name and recognition to the Institute and was the guest of honor at the Metaphysical May Festival, where W. J. Colville also appeared. Outside of these events he kept largely out of the public eye, concentrating on his collaboration with McIvor-Tyndall and his ongoing writing projects. Parkyn was eager to introduce the group to Prof. Edgar L. Larkin, as he had plans that they would one day collaborate. So he arranged for Atkinson, McIvor-Tyndall, and Burnell to visit Larkin’s Mount Lowe observatory to make the connection.^[652][653]

By August 1905, Atkinson’s reports on McIvor-Tyndall and the Institute were highly favorable. McIvor-Tyndall’s name recognition and seasoned lecturing style were drawing large crowds, and membership in the Psychic Science Alliance had grown to more than 1,500. The Institute was attracting prominent members of the community, and there was strong interest in supporting its further growth. Its reputation was spreading throughout the New Thought movement, and news of its success reached as far as Boston and New York.^[654][655]

Mrs. Charles F. Joy

The attention intensified when Mrs. Charles F. Joy, wife of a prominent former Congressman, offered to fund the construction of a million-dollar temple for the Institute. Mrs. Joy and her husband were a wealthy, well-connected couple who moved in circles that included the Roosevelts and high government officials. While staying in Los Angeles in 1905, she began attending McIvor-Tyndall’s lectures and soon became one of his most devoted pupils. For a time, she even disappeared from her husband to stay at the McIvor-Tyndalls' home. Already deeply interested in New Thought, she had long sought a way to play a meaningful role in the movement, even attempting unsuccessfully to write a book. Through the Institute she believed she had found her chance, not only by offering to build a temple but by envisioning an entire New Thought colony centered around it. Her pledge to spend a million dollars on the project sent shockwaves through New Thought circles, especially on the East Coast.^{[654][655][656]}

Leaders on the East Coast quickly grasped what such an institution in Los Angeles could mean. With the support of figures like William Walker Atkinson and W. J. Colville, a extremely well-funded Institute and colony in California threatened to shift the center of New Thought completely away from its traditional bases in New York and Boston. To counter this, Rev. Henry Frank, one of the movement’s most visible leaders and editor of The Independent Thinker in New York City, was dispatched west to divert Mrs. Joy’s support. Frank’s arrival in Los Angeles coincided with that of Helen Wilmans Post, and he soon found himself at a dinner at the McIvor-Tyndalls' home held in honor of both him and Mrs. Post. Mrs. Joy was also in attendance. McIvor-Tyndall, unaware of Frank’s true purpose, enthusiastically encouraged her to attend his lectures.^[654][655]

Once Henry Frank had her attention, he moved quickly. He assured Mrs. Joy that to the recognized leaders of New Thought in the East, McIvor-Tyndall was seen as nothing more than a charlatan, a stage hypnotist and mind reader with no real standing in the movement. Backing him, he argued, would discredit her and her project. By contrast, if she allied herself with the East Coast leaders, she would gain their backing and respect, and Henry Frank himself would lead the new school she envisioned. Mrs. Joy was well aware of Rev. Henry Frank’s stature and the influence of the leaders in New York and Boston. Within days she informed McIvor-Tyndall that she would not be working with him after all. Instead, she would build her temple under Henry Frank’s direction.^{[654][655][657]}

With Mrs. Charles F. Joy’s support redirected to building a university led by Henry Frank and the East Coast wing of New Thought in Los Angeles, Dr. Parkyn recognized the need to quickly rally resources for the institution. Otherwise, public attention and press coverage of the movement in the city would shift entirely to the proposed million-dollar university and the circumstances surrounding Mrs. Joy’s withdrawal of support from McIvor-Tyndall. This risked sparking a public debate over whether McIvor-Tyndall’s earlier career involved charlatanism and quackery.^[657]

An anonymous wealthy philanthropist, speculated to be John D. Rockefeller

To stay ahead of the story before Mrs. Joy and Henry Frank could make their announcement in the newspapers, Dr. Parkyn resolved to act as an anonymous benefactor for McIvor-Tyndall and the Institute. A story was arranged to be leaked to the press claiming that a wealthy philanthropist, deeply interested in the psychic sciences, had offered to fund both the construction of a temple for the Institute and a national lecture tour by McIvor-Tyndall. The tour would feature free public lectures, presented as a means of bringing the science to the widest possible audience.^[658][659]

The story reported that Dr. McIvor-Tyndall had signed an agreement with an anonymous philanthropist to devote his exclusive time for eight months, with the option of extending the contract for two years. During this period he was to deliver free nightly lectures across the country in major theaters and auditoriums, with all expenses, including a generous salary, paid by the benefactor. Rumors also circulated that a substantial sum had been pledged to establish a temple in the city for the study of occult powers. Several articles speculated that John D. Rockefeller was the mysterious supporter, but McIvor-Tyndall neither confirmed nor denied the claim, stating only that "it is all given by one man who desires his name withheld for the present." The diversion succeeded, and when Mrs. Joy and Henry Frank announced their million-dollar plan, the press coverage framed it as a rival but equally impressive project. The newspapers gave no attention to Frank’s attempts to portray McIvor-Tyndall as a charlatan.^{[658][659][660][661]}

The press seized on Rockefeller as the likely benefactor after Parkyn and McIvor-Tyndall set the stage by promoting a lecture headlined "John D. Rockefeller, The Twentieth Century Savior."^[662] They anticipated that such a title would spark speculation linking Rockefeller to the anonymous funding and generate additional headlines. In reality, the lecture did not praise Rockefeller but argued that in this age of extreme materialism he served as a cautionary example, showing that even the richest man in the country could not find happiness, health, or contentment and was in fact among the most miserable.^[662][663]

In September 1905 McIvor-Tyndall left the Institute of Psychic Science in the care of Burnell and other members of the Alliance and departed on his free lecture tour. The tour was managed by Oliver Morosco, a well-known Hollywood theater producer and future film mogul. Morosco was a close friend of Dr. Parkyn’s cousin, Dr. Joseph Addison Jackson, then the leading surgeon in Hollywood. Speaking publicly about the venture, Morosco remarked, "it not only interests me from a financial standpoint, but the doctor has inspired me with the desire to help this movement and promote the growth of psychic research. I am deeply interested, and I can see the results that will naturally spring from this tour in the future."^{[661][664][665]}

Dr. Parkyn’s aim in funding the tour was to harness McIvor-Tyndall’s remarkable personal magnetism and nearly twenty years of experience touring and lecturing before large audiences to carry the Suggestion Family’s message to cities across the country. McIvor-Tyndall’s ability to command and direct a crowd, guiding them to see precisely what he intended, made him a formidable force in presenting spiritual and scientific truths. Parkyn saw in this a powerful means of awakening the public.

The McIvor-Tyndall tour carried him through California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and into Montana, stopping in the major cities along the way. Once in Montana, however, the tour was halted and Parkyn’s plans for McIvor-Tyndall shifted. Already well known in Butte and Helena, Montana from earlier tours, McIvor-Tyndall remained there for six months, lecturing in both cities and throughout the state until June 1906. During this period Parkyn was laying the groundwork for his next move, deciding that Denver would serve as the center for his future New Thought and business operations.

Denver had become a major hub of New Thought, and its location, linking Chicago to the West, made it an ideal base for Parkyn’s expanding ventures. In mid June 1906 McIvor-Tyndall was sent to Denver, where he was placed in charge of the New Thought National Federation as plans advanced to build a new grand auditorium for him. He would work closely with Grace M. Brown, the Federation’s vice president, who had recently inherited a fortune from her father-in-law, Samuel S. Brown. McIvor-Tyndall was also appointed the editor and writer of the first New Thought section ever published in a major newspaper, The Denver Post.^[666][667]

At the 1906 Convention of the World New Thought Federation in Chicago, the opening day was marked by an effort at reconciliation after the discord that had shaken the movement in Los Angeles. The incident involving Mrs. Charles F. Joy and her offer to build a million-dollar temple and colony in the city, an offer that collapsed into a baseless scheme to position herself within New Thought, had left the East Coast leaders publicly embarrassed. Their greedy scramble for her promised money had pitted them against Dr. Parkyn and his Suggestion family, and in the process Henry Frank and his East Coast allies had attacked Dr. J. A. McIvor-Tyndall, branding him a charlatan unfit to represent the movement.^[668]

The bitterness ran deep, but Dr. Parkyn had no intention of continuing the feud. While the East Coast leaders had openly worked to undermine fellow New Thought figures, they also represented some of the movement’s earliest voices, and excluding them from the Federation would only weaken it. With those leaders now asking for forgiveness, the Chicago convention provided a chance to restore unity. Parkyn arranged for Henry Frank and McIvor-Tyndall to speak back to back on the first day of the program, each addressing the gathering in succession.^[668]

Henry Frank's speech

Henry Frank spoke first, and his remarks amounted to a clear apology for his earlier attacks on McIvor-Tyndall. His theme was the universality of truth, which he declared was found not in rigid labels or reputations but in the living consciousness of men and women who expressed the harmony of universal forces and the beauty of nature’s laws. He emphasized that each man must find truth for himself, and that what is called error is only a misinterpretation of nature’s laws. Even those once associated with spiritualism, stage hypnosis, or mind-reading should not be cast out, he argued, for if they were sincere in their search and had learned from experience, they too belonged within the movement. Redemption, he said, was found in everyday life, not in condemnation, and past associations must give way to present truth.^[668]

McIvor-Tyndall's speech

McIvor-Tyndall followed with a speech on individuality. He began by pointing out that the very assignment of this subject was proof of its principle, for the New Thought movement depended on the freedom of the individual as its foundation. Creeds, systems, and organizations might try to dictate or contain, but progress rested on the unfolding of consciousness. He warned against herding men like sheep and reminded the audience that there had always been individuals who stepped aside to claim freedom from such devices. His most memorable line declared, "The individual can never be labelled nor can he be classified because he realizes that what he knows today is but a step toward what he may know tomorrow." In this way he directly answered Frank, showing that a man’s identity was never fixed but always in process, always growing toward higher truth.^[668]

Together their speeches marked a turning point. Frank affirmed that sincerity mattered more than past forms, while Tyndall confirmed that no one could be confined to an old reputation. The 1906 convention thus signaled the defeat of East Coast attempts to discredit the Western movement and maintain their control as gatekeepers. Though agreements were made to hold the convention in the East for two years, it soon returned to the Midwest as its permanent home. One by one, East Coast leader, including Henry Frank, Charles Brodie Patterson, and Horatio Dresser, were drawn into contributing to Parkyn’s affiliated magazines and institutions. For some, the humiliation of the call to heel at the 1906 convention lingered. Horatio Dresser, whose parents had been pioneers of New Thought in Boston, went so far as to claim in his 1919 A History of the New Thought Movement that no convention had been held in 1906, in an attempt to omit much of Chicago’s and Dr. Parkyn's role in shaping the history of New Thought.^{[669]: 199 [668]}

Dr. Parkyn had married Aura Parks on December 18, 1902. She had been a former patient of his that had come to him for treatment after the suicide of her former husband left her in a state of melancholia. Parkyn had been attending to her for two years before their marriage. Aura was slightly older than Dr. Parkyn and was widely regarded as a woman of beauty and refinement who had inherited a large estate from her late husband, a man considerably older and of great wealth.^[670]

In April 1905, just over two years after their marriage, Aura took her own life. The loss of her mother a less than a year earlier had triggered a severe recurrence of her melancholia. The circumstances of her death were dramatic, and the story quickly spread from the Midwest press to newspapers across the country. The case was sensational from the outset:

"A leading physician of Suggestive Therapeutics whose wife had died by suicide, with the possibility that he hypnotized her to do it and a fortune left behind," provided headlines that editors could not resist.

From the first headlines the case was treated as scandal. The press accused Dr. Parkyn of neglect, of exploiting his wife financially, and of driving her to suicide. These claims appeared under bold headlines such as "Jealousy the Cause of Suicide" and "What Drove Mrs. Parkyn to Suicide" long before the facts were known. In time, every one of these accusations would be proven false.^{[671][672][670]}

The confirmed story was that while in Indiana visiting her mother's grave, Aura registered at the Barnett Hotel. At about seven o’clock in the evening she dressed for the night and called for the bellboy. She then took out a revolver she had bought earlier that day, lay down on the floor, and when the bellboy knocked she shot herself in the head. She left a letter for Dr. Parkyn which read, "You are tired of me. I do not mean to reproach you, but it is best that I stand in your way no longer… I regret nothing," and another for her brothers bidding them goodbye. These letters were examined the next day during the inquest under the supervision of the coroner and prosecutor. From this account the press built a story filled with intrigue and betrayal. They claimed that Aura had been driven to desperation by her husband’s closeness to another woman, by quarrels over an "invention" they were said to be developing, and by the loss of her inherited fortune. Statements from friends and relatives were twisted to suggest estrangement, cruelty, and even a refusal by Dr. Parkyn to view her body. Others wrote that her fortune had been squandered in investments in plantations and mines in Mexico.^[673][674]

These stories were repeated again and again with no supporting evidence. They spread from Chicago to New York and captured the public’s attention. For weeks the false accounts went unanswered in print which left the impression that Dr. Parkyn was in some way responsible for his wife’s death. As sworn statements and official records eventually came forward, the entire scandal fell apart. The attorney representing Aura’s brothers, confirmed that her previous husband’s estate was still intact in trust and that no one connected to Dr. Parkyn had misused it. Affidavits from the undertaker and others present at the funeral confirmed that Dr. Parkyn had been there from the beginning and had personally attended to his wife’s remains. They also confirmed that there was no delay in viewing her body. Friends stated that Aura had complete control over her own property and that there had been no quarrels over money or inventions. Testimony from Dr. Parkyn’s attorneys showed that he was substantially wealthier than Aura and that his yearly income was nearly twice that of hers.^{[675][676][677]}

The Star, one of the papers most responsible for spreading the story, eventually issued a full retraction and apology. It admitted that the original reports had come from a special correspondent whose information was false. It acknowledged that the articles had unjustly damaged Dr. Parkyn’s reputation and that the supposed motives of jealousy, financial wrongdoing, and neglect were without basis. The paper stated that Aura’s death was the result of a sudden mental breakdown similar to one she had suffered before her marriage and that Dr. Parkyn bore no responsibility. For Parkyn, the case became an example of how quickly a personal tragedy could be turned into public defamation and how slowly the truth could overtake falsehood once it was printed. In 1906 Dr. Parkyn used his own magazine to publish a six part series condemning the press. He wrote that newspapers were the worst form of suggestion upon the public mind and that their reckless methods were harming the country.^[678]

In the fall of 1905 after dealing with the tragedy of his wife's death and the following battles with the false allegations from the press, Dr. Parkyn published his first major work since Mail Course on Suggestive Therapeutics and Hypnotism in 1901. Titled Auto-Suggestion: What It Is and How to Use It for Health, Happiness and Success, the book was composed largely of articles Parkyn had written over the previous few years for his Suggestion magazine, each exploring the theory and practical application of auto-suggestion. With slight editing, he compiled these writings into one cohesive volume, creating one of the earliest formal texts dedicated entirely to the subject.^[679]

In the book, Parkyn presents auto-suggestion as a universal psychological mechanism underlying all forms of healing and personal transformation. He states that whether change is achieved through conventional medicine, religious faith, magnetic healing, or mental science, the true agent at work is the individual's own belief, activated through the power of auto-suggestion. Parkyn maintained that auto-suggestion operates continuously, both voluntarily and involuntarily, shaping one’s health, behavior, emotions, and life outcomes. When deliberately applied, it can be used to overcome illness, eliminate fear, build new habits, and achieve personal goals. Understanding and directing this internal process, he concludes, is the key to self-mastery and lasting well-being.^[679][680]

"The most practical helpful little book in the English language"

Auto-Suggestion: What It Is and How to Use It for Health, Happiness and Success would become Dr. Parkyn’s most successful and enduring publication. The book quickly gained wide recognition and became one of the most influential texts within the New Thought and mental science movements. It offered readers a clear, practical system for self-healing and personal development through the deliberate use of thought. Its appeal cut across audiences, from physicians and psychologists to everyday readers seeking tools for self-improvement. Within its first two years of publication, Auto-Suggestion sold more than thirty thousand copies, a remarkable figure for the time.^[680][681]

Parkyn argued that auto-suggestion was not a mysterious or mystical force. It was an everyday reality, a mental mechanism that operated in all people, at all times, whether they realized it or not. Every belief, fear, or mental picture repeated often enough would eventually express itself through the body, through habits, or through outward life conditions. Illness, failure, anxiety, and even physical dysfunction, were often just the aftereffects of long-standing negative suggestions repeated silently in the mind until the body began to believe them. Parkyn taught that auto-suggestion came in three forms:^[679]

1. Voluntary auto-suggestion, in which the individual deliberately implants an idea through repeated affirmations and mental focus.
2. Involuntary auto-suggestion, which arises unconsciously, often from fear, emotion, or early impressions.
3. Involuntary-voluntary suggestion, where one unknowingly creates change by believing in the power of an outside agent (like a sugar pill or religious ritual), when in fact the change is coming from within.

The key to transformation, he insisted, lay in consciously replacing destructive mental patterns with constructive ones. Parkyn urged his readers to repeat specific affirmations daily, like "I am healthy now," or "I am a strong, determined, fearless man," until they became embedded in the involuntary mind. Visualization, too, was critical. By mentally picturing health, success, or courage, the individual planted "psychic pictures" that would, over time, materialize in action.^[679]

Health was one of Parkyn’s major concerns, and he rejected the common reliance on drugs and restrictive regimens. He believed that poor circulation and digestive weakness were often caused or worsened by negative suggestion and fear. Instead of “dyspeptic diets,” he prescribed water, fresh air, deep breathing, normal food, and strong mental suggestions of health. He gave many case studies of chronic sufferers cured not by medicine, but by shifting their mental patterns and rebuilding their physical habits. Parkyn also wrote extensively on forming character, breaking bad habits, overcoming fear, building concentration, and achieving success in business and life. He viewed personal magnetism, the power to attract and influence, as a byproduct of mental and emotional health, not as a mysterious gift. The person who thought clearly, lived simply, affirmed strength, and radiated goodwill would naturally develop personal magnetism.^[679]

1. "Thought takes form in action." This phrase became an axiom in the field of psychology and is used to explain how mental impressions eventually manifest in behavior and physical condition.
2. "A man can tell a 'story' so often that, eventually, he will believe it himself." Another axiom in the field of psychology, it's used to illustrate how repeated affirmations, whether true or not, become accepted by the involuntary mind through repetition.
3. "The involuntary mind is automatic in its operations, but is always open to control by the impressions made upon it by the voluntary mind." A core formulation of Parkyn’s replacement for the conscious/subconscious model, asserting the importance of voluntary direction of thought.
4. "Psychic pictures tend to materialize." A concise summary of Parkyn’s teaching in the power of visualization and mental imagery to bring about real-world change.
5. "Avoid negative auto-suggestions under all circumstances." Parkyn insisted that only positive, affirmative thoughts should be impressed upon the mind, as negative phrasing reinforces the undesired state.
6. "Health is my birthright, and by living like a healthy person I am bound to be healthy." A sample affirmation Dr. Parkyn prescribed to recondition both body and mind toward a state of health.
7. "Every day I am growing better, brighter, and happier" This affirmation would become the foundation for Emile Coue's famous 1920's affirmation, "Day by day, in every way, I am getting better and better."

Dr. Parkyn's call to mankind

"Let us arise, then, and see what we can do by new auto-suggestions to stamp out these old absurd notions, first in ourselves, and then, by precept and practice, endeavor to assist our fellow men to free themselves from self-imposed burdens." "Let us examine ourselves to discover the part played by superstitious, absurd childish impressions, and habits formed in childhood, in making us miserable or unhealthy, or in retarding our progress. in this world. Then let us make ourselves over again by constantly repeated auto-suggestions in the form of affirmations that we are masters of our own destiny."^[679][682]

Dr. Parkyn made a deliberate effort to establish that Auto-Suggestion: What It Is and How to Use It for Health, Happiness and Success was directly connected to the earlier work Thought-Force in Business and Everyday Life, that he had published in 1901 under the authorship of William Walker Atkinson. In that earlier volume, Parkyn had utilized Atkinson as the voice to convey his teachings to the growing New Thought audience. At the time, Parkyn was a nationally recognized physician and a leading advocate for the integration of suggestive therapeutics within the framework of the American Medical Association. To maintain his professional credibility and avoid direct association with metaphysical or esoteric movements, he strategically distanced himself from overt New Thought authorship, while still channeling his methods into that arena through others.

By 1905, Dr. Parkyn had made a conscious decision to speak more openly about the broader field of mental science, particularly in its relevance to individual lives and spiritual belief. The publication of Auto-Suggestion marked a turning point in this shift, representing the first time much of the New Thought movement encountered Parkyn’s philosophy directly in his own words. Until then, his writings, including his earlier books and Suggestion magazine, had primarily been aimed at medical professionals and intellectually inclined readers. Though widely respected as a leading figure in the mental sciences, Parkyn’s teachings had largely reached lay audiences through the voices of others. With Auto-Suggestion, he stepped into public view, offering a clear, accessible articulation of his method to a much broader readership.

Dr. Parkyn constructed Auto-Suggestion using the same blueprint he had previously employed with Thought-Force. As before, he began by publishing the material as a series of articles in Suggestion magazine, before compiling them into a cohesive volume. The design continuity between the two books was unmistakable: Auto-Suggestion used the same distinctive font, layout, and stylistic conventions as Thought-Force, including Parkyn’s signature typographic device of placing an equal sign (=) between the key terms in the title. More significantly, Auto-Suggestion reused many of the core concepts, techniques, and phrases introduced in Thought-Force. Among the most prominent was the phrase "Thought takes form in action," which Parkyn repeated no fewer than seven times throughout Auto-Suggestion. This repetition served as both a doctrinal emphasis and an implicit assertion of intellectual ownership.^[683]

Dr. Parkyn was the main pioneer of the understanding and development of auto-suggestion, preceding the international recognition of Émile Coué by more than two decades. He began formulating his system of therapeutic self-suggestion in the late 1890s through his clinical experimentation at his Chicago School of Psychology. Drawing on the Nancy School’s emphasis on the role of suggestion in influencing unconscious mental processes, Parkyn had expanded these principles beyond passive therapeutic suggestion into an active, self-directed practice he termed "auto-suggestion."^[684]

Unlike earlier schools that focused primarily on suggestion from one person to another, Parkyn codified a structured method by which individuals could deliberately impress ideas upon their own minds to effect physical, emotional, and behavioral change. His system included techniques such as daily affirmations, vivid visualization, focused verbal repetition, emotional reinforcement, and conscious habit replacement, all aimed at influencing the body and mind through persistent internal command.

In 1922, Émile Coué achieved international fame with the publication of Self-Mastery Through Conscious Auto-Suggestion, introducing his method of auto-suggestion to a global audience. Also a student of the Nancy School system, Coué played a pivotal role in popularizing auto-suggestion on the world stage. In America he found himself as one of the most famous people in the country as the "autosuggestion craze" took hold, with millions of Americans grabbing their string of rosary-like "Coué beads" and standing in front of the mirror repeating his famous self-affirmation: "Day by day in every way, I am getting better and better."^{[685][684][686]}

Coué’s system of auto-suggestion was, in many key respects, a simplified restatement of the earlier work developed by Dr. Parkyn. Coué’s emphasis on daily affirmations, verbal repetition, and mental visualization closely mirrored techniques that Parkyn had been teaching and publishing since the late 1890s. Even Coué’s now-famous mantra closely echoed Parkyn’s earlier phrase: "Every day I am growing better, brighter, and happier."

As Coué’s fame spread across America in the early 1920s, several contemporary writers and publications began noting the clear parallels between his methods and those already familiar to readers of Parkyn’s 1906 book Auto-Suggestion. One pointed critique appeared in 1921 in The Sphinx magazine where the editor wrote:

"There seems to be some truth in the statement that Americans on the whole, will eagerly accept any idea, theory, or personage that is stamped with a foreign label, judging by the "to do" now being made over Dr. Emile Coue, the French auto-suggestionist who is now on tour here, no doubt for the principal purpose of garnering a goodly supply of nimble American dollars. As a matter of fact, there is nothing new in Dr. Coue's teaching. for it was far better expressed and practiced by American pioneers in Psycho-Therapy many years before Dr. Coue had mastered the underlying principles of Suggesto-Therapy. Dr. Coue himself is a pupil of Dr. S. A. Weltmer of Nevada, Mo., and acknowledge his indebtedness to Dr. H. A. Parkyn, once president of the Chicago School of Psychology. Dr. Parkyn's book on "Auto-Suggestion" is still the best exposition of auto-suggestion treatment ever published." The Sphinx Vol: 20-22, 1921

Coué’s "borrowing" from Dr. Parkyn did not stop with techniques and mantras. He also adopted and slightly rephrased key language that had already been closely tied to Parkyn’s published work. One example is the slogan "Health, Happiness, and Success," which Parkyn used as the subtitle of Auto-Suggestion: What It Is and How to Use It for Health, Happiness and Success. Coué presented the same trio of ideals in a slightly altered form as "Health, Success, and Happiness," making it a central theme in his own system. Even more notably, Coué reworded one of Parkyn’s most important maxims, "Thought tends to take form in action, and if the thoughts are earnest and determined the action is almost certain to follow." Coué expressed the identical idea with slightly different phrasing: "Every thought entirely filling our mind becomes true for us and tends to transform itself into action." ^{[687][684][679][686]}

Charles Baudouin, a French psychologist born in Nancy, France in 1893, grew up in close proximity to the original Nancy School and later became a devoted follower and lifelong collaborator of Émile Coué. In 1920, Baudouin published Suggestion and Autosuggestion: A Psychological and Pedagogical Study Based Upon the Investigations Made by the New Nancy School, a comprehensive work that aimed to formalize the principles of Coué’s system within a broader psychological and educational framework. Throughout the book, Baudouin referred repeatedly to the earlier writings of Dr. Parkyn. He cited Parkyn’s Auto-Suggestion extensively, quoting large portions of the text and showing Parkyn's role in developing many of the techniques used in auto-suggestion. This consistent and detailed inclusion clearly demonstrated that Coué’s system was heavily influenced by the work of Dr. Parkyn.^[688]

The similarities did not go unnoticed by Dr. Parkyn or his early collaborators. As public interest in Coué's methods surged, Parkyn was invited to appear on one of the earliest radio programs in 1923, to discuss his original system of auto-suggestion and clarify its development. Around the same time, he reunited with longtime associate Sydney B. Flower to launch a new series on auto-suggestion in their newly established magazine The Thinker.^[689]

Émile Coué’s rise to fame largely rested on his reliance on the suggestible somnambules acording to Dr. Parkyn. When Coué began his clinics and mass demonstrations, knowingly or not, he was consistently drawing upon the same class of people. These were the highly receptive individuals who accepted suggestion without resistance and responded with dramatic cures, casting aside crutches, proclaiming themselves healed, and repeating his affirmations with fervor. It was their quick compliance that made Coué’s method appear universally effective and helped propel him to international renown.^{[690][691][692]}

Dr. Parkyn, who had been the first to identify and classify the suggestible somnambule, recognized exactly what was happening. Commenting on Coué in 1923 on a nationally broadcast radio show, Parkyn explained that Coué’s results came not from a new discovery but from working with the same class of people he had long ago described and these were simply the predictable responses of the suggestible somnambule. For Parkyn true auto-suggestion was when the subject remained in control, using suggestion as a tool of self-mastery rather than yielding to another’s influence. Parkyn's assertion that Coué was relying on suggestible somnambules was confirmed in a 1922 interview conducted by Dr. Claude William Chamberlain, a former student of Dr. Parkyn. Chamberlain stated:

"Much of Émile Coué's success in public was due to his well-developed ability to select suggestible somnambules as his subjects. The Frenchman would not admit that he made any distinction, and in the conference that I had with him, he said that he did not recognize the somnambule. This decided me that he was doing it unconsciously, just as a salesman selects prospects when he wants to take it easy."^[691][692]

Dr. Parkyn taught that daily newspapers exerted a powerful harmful influence on the public through suggestion, shaping behavior, health, and moral attitudes. He held that the continual publication of violent, sensational, and fear-based material created predictable psychological effects, especially among readers who lacked scientific training. Parkyn argued that detailed crime reporting provided unstable individuals with models for imitation. He documented cases in Chicago and elsewhere in which murders, assaults, robberies, and suicides closely followed methods previously described in the newspapers, including razor murders, wire strangulations, attacks on women, and train robberies. Parkyn cited medical authorities who also attributed clusters of similar crimes to suggestion and stated that constant exposure to violent material desensitized the public and lowered the perceived value of human life. (Suggestion magazine Feb 1906 to June 1906)

He maintained that this influence was intensified by war reporting and coverage of foreign uprisings, which he said produced an abnormal appetite for sensationalism that newspapers later satisfied through domestic crime stories, interviews with condemned criminals, and serialized fiction centered on killing and lawlessness. Parkyn held that this cycle encouraged readers to view violence as an acceptable response to jealousy, grievance, or despair.

Parkyn also taught that newspapers harmed public health through suggestive medical advertising. He argued that patent medicine advertisements misrepresented common sensations as signs of serious disease and caused readers to develop symptoms through autosuggestion. He described cases of individuals who believed they suffered from kidney trouble, heart disease, or digestive disorders strictly because they had read such advertisements, despite their symptoms being attributable to diet, hydration, mastication, or basic health habits. Parkyn stated that laxative advertising produced long-term dependence and that many patent medicines fostered addictions to morphine, cocaine, or alcohol. He also criticized whiskey promoted as a therapeutic remedy and argued that such ads encouraged alcoholism among chronic sufferers.

In addition, Parkyn condemned advertisements by "Lost Manhood" practitioners, quack specialists claiming to treat male sexual weakness or “nervous debility.” He argued that such ads created intense anxiety in young men, induced long periods of secret suffering, and sometimes led to suicide.

Parkyn proposed several remedies. He believed that newspapers should stop publishing the details of violent crimes, executions, and assaults, as well as deceptive medical and “Lost Manhood” advertisements. He urged readers to refuse sensational papers, to educate their friends about the dangers of suggestion, and to promote cleaner, more constructive journalism. Parkyn also called for legal or postal measures, such as denying second-class mailing privileges to papers that printed crime details, and supported state laws restricting the publication of execution reports. He held that such steps would reduce crime, protect public health, prevent exploitation by fraudulent advertisers, and encourage newspapers to adopt more responsible practices in response to public pressure.

In November 1906 Dr. Parkyn abruptly announced to his readers that he had sold Suggestion magazine to Henry Clay Hodges, a wealthy industrialist from Detroit. In his final editorial, he wrote that it was with deep regret that he was parting with the publication. He explained that he had made a promise several years earlier to commit himself to financing a business venture with a close personal friend, and that the demands of doing both would be too great. That friend was his neighbor, Thomas J. Lovett, with whom he organized the Black Sand and Gold Recovery Company to promote Lovett’s patented Magnetic Separator invention.^[693][694]

Parkyn assured his readers that this was in no way a farewell, promising that they would still hear from him from time to time and that he would remain dedicated to the practice and research of the mental sciences. He expressed confidence that Mr. Hodges would prove to be a great benefactor for the magazine, noting that his passion, energy, and the enormous capital at his command would greatly expand the subscription list within a few months. Parkyn emphasized that Hodges held the highest respect and admiration for Suggestion and that its declaration of principles and mission would remain unchanged. The only alteration would be a name change to The Stellar Ray and the addition of expanded research into astrology, a field in which Hodges had a deep personal interest.^[693]

Henry Clay Hodges was one of Detroit’s wealthiest and most prominent citizens. Born in South Hero, Vermont, in 1828, he moved through the Midwest and spent part of his early life teaching science before settling in Detroit in 1863 at the age of thirty-five. There, he and his brother Charles C. went into business as Hodges Bros., first achieving enormous success as insurance agents representing much of the Midwest and Ontario for the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company. From there they expanded into large-scale real estate ventures and industrial manufacturing enterprises. Among their companies was the Wyandotte Rolling Mills Company, which produced steamer boats for the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway system; the Detroit Lubricator Company, one of the nation’s most successful manufacturers, whose lubricators were used worldwide in everything from heavy machinery to surgical equipment; and the Detroit Radiator Company, which later grew into the American Radiator Company and was essential to the emerging automobile industry. Their real estate ventures were among the most significant in Detroit, shaping some of the city’s finest avenues and contributing landmark structures, including the Henry Clay Hotel and the Hodges Building.^{[695][696][697][698]}

Hodges had developed an interest in the mental sciences for many years, particularly in astrology and the influence of the stars and planetary movements on the mind. In 1902 he published his first book on astrology through his own Astro Publishing Company, titled Science and Key of Life. Over the next several years he continued writing on the subject, eventually expanding the work into a six-volume series.^[699]

Hodges envisioned a future in which astrology would guide every aspect of society, from school curricula to government policy, and even believed that marriage certificates should only be granted to couples whose astrological readings aligned, a practice he claimed would eradicate the problem of divorce.^[700]

Henry Clay Hodges’ and his book series, Science and Key of Life, were well known to the readers of Parkyn's Suggestion magazine. He had been advertising his book series monthly in the magazine for several years and had also contributed articles including “Do the Planets Have Any Perceptible Effect Upon Human Events?”^{[701]: 165 [702]}

Hodges' Science and Key of Life centered on astrology as its main theme which naturally extended into a wide range of esoteric subjects based in Hermetic, Masonic, and Hindu philosophy, including the significance of numbers, the vibrational effects of color, sound, and heat, palmistry, the pyramids, and the harmonics of cosmic rays upon the mind.

Hodges adopted a style long established in Masonic and esoteric traditions, in which teachings were framed as transmissions from antiquity in order to cloak them with the authority of timeless wisdom. Within the structure of his book series, he presented the material not as his own but as revelations shared from a spiritual source. The metaphysical doctrines were said to have been delivered through a process of “psychic telegraphy,” as a form of mediumistic communication, and attributed to voices from the classical past.^[699]

Hodges uses Alvidas and Clytina, ancient Greek students of Plato, as the transmitters of his Science and Key of Life book series

The series opened with a 1901 preface volume titled Two Thousand Years in Celestial Life, presented as the autobiography of a woman named Clytina, who was said to have been born in Athens in 147 B.C. and entered celestial life in 131 B.C. The book contained not only her life story but also an account of the previous four years of transmissions said to have been received through her and others. The book stated that "Within the past four years, Mr. Henry Clay Hodges, of Detroit, Michigan, has received through psychic force, a series of remarkable communications... from Alvidas and Clytina and others, former inhabitants of ancient classic Greece." These transmissions were received by Hodges in the presence of six other witnesses that gathered several times a week as "The Mystic Seven." Clytina stated that their "Purpose is to form a chain connecting the conditions existing over 2,000 years ago with those up to the present time, for the seed that was sown by Plato, Confucius, Socrates and hosts of others, is now bearing fruit."^[703][704]

Transmission of the messages by "psychic telegraphy"

Henry Clay Hodges claimed that he received messages from unseen spirits through a specially arranged telegraph machine. The setup involved a small slate covered box with a telegraph key inside, where Hodges would place his written questions. Wires from the box were connected to a small battery and then to a ticker machine placed in full view of everyone present. During the session a medium rested a hand on the closed box but never touched the telegraph key. The ticker would then begin producing messages in shorthand telegraph code, which the medium quickly wrote down. Afterwards the messages were quickly taken to Hodges’ office and typed up by his stenographer. ^[704]

In 1897 the wireless telegraph had only just been invented by Marconi and was so new that most people had never seen, or even heard of it yet. Hodges exploited that ignorance by staging his "psychic telegraphy" sittings in which the telegraph ticker was visibly unconnected to any wires other than those to the box and battery as it rattled out messages that he claimed were from the spirit world. To confer credibility, he assembled the panel of the "Mystical Seven," which was a mix of professionals, everyday witnesses, and Spiritualists as actual validators. After witnessing the performances, they fully believed what they saw and swore the communications were genuine and signed statements to that effect. Hodges reinforced the illusion with straightforward slate-writing tricks of the kind then being used (and debunked in demonstrations by Parkyn), to create a seamless impression of transmitting messages from the celestial realm.^[705]

The Illustrated Slate transmitted by Clytina

In August 1897 Hodges, together with members of his "Mystic Seven," visited the psychic Campbell of the then famous Campbell Brothers in New York. Allen Campbell’s forte was the manifestation of spirit art through slate séances. The group arranged themselves around a small table where Hodges carefully examined a blank slate, confirming it was free of marks, and placed it on the table. A second blank slate was placed directly on top of it, upon which Campbell set his gold watch chain. Each of the participants then placed a hand on the upper slate and held it there for several minutes. When the chain, the top slate, and the participants’ hands were removed, the lower slate was found to contain writing and drawings in gold that had not been there before.^[704]

The slate presented a combination of Masonic cipher text on the left side, plain English text on the right side, and esoteric imagery in the center. On the right the words are given in cursive English.^[704] They read,

"In the present as in the past do I come unto thee, and by the tokens of the past speak. And in the present do I speak likewise. By the emblem we send know that the star shall still shine on. Clytina."

The wording refers to "tokens" and an "emblem." In Masonic and esoteric usage tokens are signs or proofs of recognition that connect to earlier teachings, and an emblem is a symbolic image that conveys a truth.^[706] On the left side the words are written in the Masonic or Pigpen cipher using the Grid X Grid X variant that was widely employed in Knights Templar Freemason circles.^[707] Decoded this portion reads,

"Beyond the stars that man can see are stars unnumbered for thee and me. Thy loving guide C." (C. for Clytina)

At the center is a seven pointed star that contains the all seeing eye and radiates outward, a design long associated with mystical completeness and the planetary cycle. Above it is a six pointed star, also containing an eye, a symbol traditionally understood as the union of opposites and the harmony of spirit and matter. At the lower left is the Rod of Asclepius, a staff entwined by a single serpent which is an ancient emblem of healing and knowledge.^[704]

The classic combination of cipher, text, and symbols reflected the established language of Masonic and Rosicrucian traditions in which hidden writings, guiding figures, and emblematic imagery served as vehicles for the transmission of wisdom.^[708]

The meanings behind the names Clytina and Alvidas

The names of the spirit guides in Hodges’ Science and Key of Life were chosen with deliberate meaning. Each was constructed to embody the essence of the teachings and to provide the reader with clues to Hodges’ deeper intentions.

Clytina is derived from the Ancient Greek word klutós (κλυτός), which translates to "glorious" or "renowned" and is a deliberate variation of the Greek mythic Clytia. In Greek mythology the daughters of Oceanus, called the Oceanids, were said to number in the thousands and were often understood allegorically as the stars scattered across the sea of night. Among them were Clytia and Leucothoe, whose fate reveals an allegory of Venus and Mercury, the two planets closest to the Sun.

Clytia loved Helios, the Sun god, but he directed his affection to her sister Leucothoe. Out of jealousy Clytia revealed the affair to their father who punished Leucothoe by burying her alive, a symbolic entombment that corresponds to Mercury’s frequent disappearance into the brilliance of the Sun. Helios could not save her, but he transformed her into the frankincense tree. This tree, long associated with purity, divine worship, and sacred fire, represents Mercury’s role as a hidden but consecrated star, veiled within the Sun’s radiance. Clytia, abandoned and consumed by grief, sat staring at the Sun until she was transformed into the heliotrope flower, turning perpetually to follow his light. In astronomical terms Clytia is Venus, the Morning and Evening Star, known as the light-bearer. Her punishment and eventual exalted transformation into a heliotrope reflects Venus’s observable behavior of never straying far from the solar path and appearing as the herald of dawn or dusk.

This myth is expressed visually in the emblem on the illustrated slate, where two stars are set before the rays of the Sun. The smaller six-pointed star, the hexagram and Star of David, corresponds to Mercury. As the hidden light, it is close to the Sun but easily lost in its glare, echoing Leucothoe’s burial and her transformation into the tree of divine connection. The larger seven-pointed star, the heptagram, corresponds to Venus. Rather than the five-pointed pentagram, this “Blazing Star” symbolizes the higher light of divine guidance and illumination. Venus in this form is the light-bearer, the bright one who guides and reveals, and whose devotion to the Sun mirrors Clytia’s transformation into the heliotrope.

Clytina's messages on the slate tie directly to the planetary allegory. The "tokens of the past" recall the ancient myths, while "the emblem we send" points to the image of the Blazing Star and the Star of David. Her assurance that "the star shall still shine on" affirms the eternal role of the light-bearer's guidance. Most significant is the statement, “Beyond the stars that man can see are stars unnumbered for thee and me. Thy loving guide." Here she declares that beyond her visible brilliance of divine guidance there lies an infinite realm of unseeable light.

Alvidas was presented as the voice through which Hodges’ Science and Key of Life was revealed, and the name itself is built from symbolic elements. The prefix "Al" comes from Arabic, where it is the definite article "the." In esoteric use it signifies "the absolute" or "the all," as in al-chemy, "the art," or Al-lah, "the God," where the article conveys divine exclusivity. For instance, "The Absolute Art" or "The Absolute and Only God." The root "vid" is from Sanskrit, meaning "to know," appearing in words such as vidyā for wisdom or learning and Veda for the sacred texts of knowledge. The ending "as" is common in Sanskrit nouns, seen in man-as for mind and oj-as for vital energy, and when attached to vid produces vidas, knowledge in complete form. The combined name, Al-vidas, thus reads as "The Knowledge," and in esoteric interpretation, "The Absolute Divine Knowledge."^[709][710]

In Science and Key of Life Hodges repeatedly demonstrates his interest in the etymology of words, especially those connected to Sanskrit roots. One example is his treatment of the word Saturn, which he divides into Sat-urn. Sat, he explains, is a Sanskrit term signifying "Be-ness" or the divine essence that simply is, while urn is the sacred vessel of existence. He concludes that Sat does not exist for it can only be made to manifest through the urn.^[702]

By 1904, Henry Clay Hodges had become involved in financing the advancement of the New Thought movement, believing it to be the knowledge that could liberate mankind and usher in a new golden era. He and Dr. Parkyn shared a close alignment in their views on the power of mind control and the principles underlying it. Parkyn possessed the expertise and the platforms to teach these ideas, but he lacked the immense financial resources necessary to overcome the growing opposition to the movement. Hodges, by contrast, was eager to devote his later years entirely to this cause, bringing not only his fortune but also the energy and determination he had to crown his lifetime of financial achievements with a final act of grace.^[711]

In 1904 Hodges financed the establishment of The Church of the New Thought in Detroit and served as president of its board of trustees. This was conceived as the beginning of a larger movement that would expand into churches across the country as well as New Thought colleges. Hodges personally drafted the seven guiding principles of the church and financed the construction of a classic Greek Temple style building for the church at 43 Winder Street in Detroit. He attracted some of the most influential New Thought leaders to participate, beginning with Margaret LaGrange as the first pastor, followed by Charles Brodie Patterson, whom he brought to Detroit. The church later extended its influence westward, first to Denver and eventually to Los Angeles, where Harry Gaze assumed leadership.^{[712][713][714][715]}

The Greek temple style building, like many of the cover designs of Dr. Parkyn’s Suggestion magazine, used the deliberate motif of twin columns, an image central to many occult and Freemason traditions as the pillars of Jachin and Boaz at Solomon’s Temple, which were seen as supporting the entrance to higher wisdom.^[716]

The seven principles of The Church of the New Thought were fully aligned with those taught by Dr. Parkyn and the "Suggestion Family."

The Seven Principles:^[712]

1. Firstly, we believe in an infinite source of intelligence from which all life has emanated, is now sustained, and which, through its dissemination, brings order out of chaos under immutable laws.
2. Secondly, man, being an embodiment of this divine energy in the process of individualization, by recognizing his divine origin and awakening the faculties of his inner nature, ceases to be a mere material machine acted upon by external forces and becomes instead a spiritual operator, governing all things by the power of his awakened spirituality.
3. Thirdly, since clean thoughts are necessary to a clean body, and both are essential to the formation of a strong mind, it is incumbent upon man not only to govern his outward life so that it remains above reproach, but also to so order his inner life that only clean, strong, and wise thoughts abide within him.
4. Fourthly, all life being an expression of intelligence in various stages of manifestation, and reason being the faculty that gives to man his divine heritage, with divine will as the basic principle upon which the universe rests, and man as the vessel through which these divine qualities demonstrate, it is within his province to make his life spiritually, mentally, and physically that which he wills it to be. Thus we are no longer fated, but are free through Truth to fulfill our destiny, that is, to be like gods.
5. Fifthly, Truth is a principle inseparable from life, and through all life’s manifestations Truth is disseminated. Where there is life, there is Truth. Man needs only to seek and he will find. With an unbiased mind, an open heart, and the true desire of the spirit, Truth enters and dwells even in the humblest cottage, making of it a palace.
6. Sixthly, that life has ever been and ever will be is a recognized law of nature. Yet we are most concerned with that part of eternity represented by the precious “Now.” To build each day so that there shall be no regret, to make each day a page upon which we may write with the ink of love our holiest thoughts and noblest desires, this is the laudable ambition of all.
7. Seventhly, religion is the principle of government man sets up by which he may live in closest touch with goodness. Knowing nothing higher than Truth gleaned from the book of life, we declare that to do good and to be good, according to the light of Truth, is our religion.

Dr. Parkyn’s decision to step down from running Suggestion magazine was only possible if a long-time and well-trusted member of the “Suggestion Family” was to assume charge of it. Henry Clay Hodges fit this role perfectly. He was not only an influential member of Parkyn’s inner philosophical circle but also a relative of Parkyn’s uncle, Samuel Nelson Jackson. Hodges’ paternal great-grandmother was a Jackson, and the two families were connected in Petersham, Massachusetts. Both later relocated to the Burlington, Vermont area, with the Hodges family settling in South Hero, just eighteen miles away. Hodges maintained this family connection to Petersham by building a large summer residence there. This relationship was further reinforced by the professional overlap between the two families. Parkyn’s grandfather was actively engaged in building steamboats and served as inspector of steamboats in Montreal, while at the same time Hodges was constructing steamers in Detroit for the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence trade.^[717][718]

The only changes Henry Clay Hodges made when he assumed control of Suggestion magazine were the addition of a department devoted to astrology and the renaming of the publication as The Stellar Ray. Everything else remained as it had been, with the mission statement left unchanged. As the successor to Suggestion, The Stellar Ray continued as a central voice for the "Suggestion Family," while Hodges used his considerable resources to expand its size. The magazine now regularly featured a Department of Psychic Research headed by Edgar L. Larkin, a Department of Psychical Sciences and Unfoldment led by J. C. F. Grumbine, a Department of New Thought directed by Charles Brodie Patterson, as well as contributions from well-known writers such as Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Eleanor Kirk, and "Yogi Ramacharaka."^[719]

The statement of principles for The Stellar Ray magazine was presented exactly as a continuation of Dr. Parkyn's in Suggestion. The Stellar Ray was described as a magazine of higher thought. It stood for a rational system of living based on natural laws in which the physical, mental, and psychological elements were duly considered. The magazine taught that every ill whether political, industrial, social, physical, mental, or psychological, could be remedied by the proper application of natural laws; that nature, when given an opportunity, would cure all disease without drugs; that nature designed every sentient being to enjoy a happy existence; that the laws of the universe were adequate for all conditions and all emergencies, and if allowed to act naturally would bring about universal peace, goodwill, prosperity, and health. It declared that facts are the results of underlying law; that the human intellect and will are unchained and unassailable; that thought is the most potent force in existence; that creation itself is thought externalized; and that thought, rightly applied, will solve any problem confronting the human mind.^[720]

In the June 1906 issue of Suggestion magazine Dr. Parkyn first introduced his readers to the The Black Sand and Gold Recovery Company with a five page advertisement and a three page editorial about the company. He explained that the magazine normally avoided promoting speculative mining enterprises but made an exception in this case because the company, its operations, and its officers were personally friends of his.^{[694][721][722][723][724]}

Dr. Parkyn described The Black Sand and Gold Recovery Company as one of the most promising industrial ventures of its era, aiming to recover vast mineral wealth from the black sands of the Pacific Coast. These sands, long known to contain large quantities of gold, iron, and other valuable minerals, had historically resisted profitable extraction. The company claimed to have overcome this barrier through the Lovett Process, a patented system of magnetic separation and mineral recovery that its backers described as a “virtual monopoly” on commercial black sand treatment. J. F. Batchelder, the Superintendent of Mines and Metallurgy who ran the research for the government in Black sands, was now running the operations of the company. He called control of the Lovett patents "the only key to unlock the inconceivable wealth" of the Pacific black sands.^[725][726]

The Lovett Process

The Lovett Process formed the foundation of the company’s claims. It employed a patented magnetic separator capable of handling wet material containing magnetic iron, along with concentrating devices and methods for recovering gold from both sand and iron ore. These patents, along with a bedrock pneumatic pipe dredge, gave the company complete control over the commercial treatment of black sands. A full-scale Lovett Separator was publicly demonstrated at the Lewis and Clark Exposition in Portland. At the same event, C. E. Wilson, an electrical furnace expert, smelted a 500-pound steel ingot for the U.S. Government from iron recovered by the Lovett process. ^[722][727]

In 1905, a U.S. Government investigation funded by a $50,000 appropriation from Congress examined the mineral content of Pacific Coast black sands and the report confirmed that the sands contained significant quantities of iron and gold, as well as other valuable minerals. The company initially built a plant for iron and steel production, followed by a second plant on the Snake River for gold and platinum recovery. Projected annual net profits were $600,000 from the first two plants, with an estimated $5,000,000 annually if 1,000 separators were operated under royalty agreements.. One representative claimed the Pacific Coast sands held enough iron to fill Lake Superior with solid ore, enough to supply the world’s iron and steel needs for 100,000 years.^[722][728]

Beyond financial returns, the company’s promoters envisioned a broad economic impact, with new industries along the Pacific Coast, tens of thousands of jobs, and a substantial increase in national wealth. Parkyn closed his editorial by urging readers to investigate the opportunity themselves, and that he and his friends and relatives were already highly invested. Dr. Parkyn would serve as the fiscal agent for the company and use his large platform in the New Thought movement to bring in hundreds of investors.^[722][727]

Thomas J. Lovett was a long-time friend and neighbor of Dr. Parkyn, who lived at 4001 Drexel Boulevard, right across the street from Parkyn’s school and residence. Lovett had helped Parkyn over the years in creating magnetic devices used for experimentation and research into mental sciences and with the development of Parkyn’s Magnetic Healing Cup. Lovett had worked with magnets in his inventions and back in 1892, he had patented his magnetic separator designed to separate iron from black sand. The process went beyond simple separation but also included patented methods for extracting gold from both the iron and the remaining sand, as well as recovering other valuable minerals, that could be smelted in quantity for industrial use.^[729][730]

J. H. McFarland

Also residing in the same apartment building at 4001 Drexel was John H. McFarland, a long-time friend of both Dr. Parkyn and Thomas J. Lovett. McFarland was a business investor and salesman with extensive real estate interests. He had previously worked as Commercial Agent for the Frisco Railway System and served as General Manager of the Illinois agency of Fidelity Mutual. Like Lovett and Parkyn, McFarland was also an inventor, holding a patent for a gas light lamp that converted kerosene into hydro-carbon gas, producing light at one-tenth the cost of a standard coal oil lamp. He served as Secretary of the Black Sand and Gold Recovery Company and later partnered with Parkyn and Lovett in placer mining ventures.^[729][731]

The Waupanseh Club (Oakland Club) on Drexel Blvd

The three men became close friends as members of the Oakland Club (later called the Waupanseh Club), where McFarland served as Vice President and Director. The club was located at 4043–4045 Drexel Boulevard, just a half block down from Parkyn's school. It had around 150 members, made up of prominent people living in the vicinity, and distinguished itself from similar organizations by allowing the lady friends of members to gather and enjoy its facilities year-round. While liquor was not permitted on the premises, the club offered card rooms, dancing rooms, dining rooms, reading and library rooms, smoking rooms, billiard rooms, and other amenities associated with a first-class club. ^{[732][733][734]}

Lovett had worked in the mining business for many years and, in 1889, formed his first company, the Western Ore Separating Company, in Chicago. It was during this venture that he invented and patented his magnetic separator. Lovett believed his patented machine could dominate the industry of metal recovery from black sands and did not intend to offer the process to the American public until it had received government endorsement. Dr. Parkyn was well acquainted with Lovett’s machine, and in 1903, following a Canadian government investigation that confirmed the north shore sands of Lake Superior contained significant quantities of valuable metals, he helped organize the North Shore Reduction Company with Lovett and a group of prominent businessmen from Chicago and Minneapolis. The company’s stock was marketed through New Thought magazine by Sydney Flower, since Parkyn believed that offering speculative mining shares through Suggestion might jeopardize its second-class postal privileges. New Thought, by contrast, functioned as the outlet of the Psychic Club and did not rely on the discounted second-class rate, making it not susceptible to the second class mail rate rules.^{[735][736][737][738]}

The company's board of directors was noted as one of the strongest ever organized, including steel men, government officials, bankers, lawyers, and well-known Chicago business professionals. Since the company was built around the Lovett Magnetic Separator and dredge patents, the composition of its board reflected a deliberate emphasis on intellectual property. The president and vice president were leading Chicago patent lawyers, while several others were industrial and chemical innovators who had built major enterprises on the strength of patent monopolies. Together they made patent protection and proprietary technology the foundation of the enterprise. The board was further reinforced by leaders of big business, linking the company to manufacturing capital, government finance, and railroad wealth.^[724]

The board included longtime personal associates of Parkyn, such as H. W. Huttig, who was also involved in the Motzorongo Plantation Company, and J. H. McFarland, his neighbor and business associate. Others included:^[724]

• William H. Dyrenforth (President) was a senior Chicago patent attorney, who had litigated several patent disputes that reached the U.S. Supreme Court. His firm was a central presence in intellectual property litigation, especially in mechanical and industrial patents.
• George A. Chritton (Vice President) was a Chicago corporation lawyer, who also argued cases before the Supreme Court and specialized in patent and corporate law.
• William Hoskins was a chemist and assayer. He was a partner in Mariner & Hoskins of Chicago, one of the city’s oldest commercial chemistry firms and where "Chromel" was born. He headed Hoskins Manufacturing which pioneered electric heating elements and supported Albert L. Marsh’s discovery of nichrome. He was the National Vice President of the American Chemical Society and had more than thirty patents to his name. Hoskins represented the metallurgical expertise essential to validating the company’s technology.
• Philetus Warren Gates was the former president of Gates Iron Works, a machinery manufacturing company based in Chicago. Gates had patented a gyratory crusher in 1881 that became a cornerstone of the crushing and milling industry. Gates Iron Works merged into Allis-Chalmers in 1901, placing him among the city’s best-known industrialists. Gates’s presence connected the company with large-scale manufacturing and the proven ability to commercialize machinery based on patent monopolies.^[739][740]
• Henry W. Hoyt of Chicago was Second Vice-President of Allis-Chalmers at its founding in 1901, and served on the board of directors and the executive committee with men like Cornelius Vanderbilt III and John W. Gates. His role on the board underlined the links between this venture and the elite networks of heavy industry.^[741]
• William P. Williams was Assistant Treasurer of the United States at Chicago, in charge of the local Subtreasury. He managed federal funds and payments in one of the largest financial centers outside New York. His inclusion brought fiscal expertise and a direct connection to government finance.
• F. E. Hayne (Treasurer) served as Treasurer and Assistant Secretary of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway, one of the nation’s leading railroads. His appointment connected the enterprise to high-level railroad finance and the banking networks that supported it.
• Hon. William H. Guirl was a large lumber manufacturer, operating as W. H. Guirl & Co. He organized large lumber plants and served on the Indiana legislature.

While the Black Sand and Gold Recovery Company established placer operations, these sites were mainly intended to showcase the power of the Lovett Magnetic Separator and affiliated machinery. The true goal was to sell and license the machines, using the government research reports on the wealth of black sands to spark public interest. By 1905, when official investigations confirmed the sands held valuable metals, the company was ready with demonstrations, including a full exhibit at the Lewis and Clark Exposition. Newspapers across the country filled with stories of hidden fortunes provided the perfect backdrop for the company to present its separator as the only proven way to recover them.

This approach reflected the experience of men on the company's board like P. W. Gates, H. W. Hoyt and and William Hoskins. Gates had patented the gyratory crusher in 1881, a single invention that revolutionized ore reduction and became a fixture across the mining world, earning his firm immense profits through exclusive manufacturing rights. Hoyt, as a senior executive of Allis-Chalmers, helped build an industrial giant by acquiring and consolidating companies specifically for their machinery patents, ensuring the firm’s dominance in heavy equipment. Hoskins, a chemist and inventor, followed a similar path in the electrical field. Through his patents on electric heating coils and related alloys, he and his associates created Hoskins Manufacturing, which supplied elements that became indispensable to appliances and industrial heating. His laboratory also fostered the development of nichrome, an alloy that would dominate resistance heating for decades. Like Gates and Hoyt, Hoskins understood that patents were more than legal protections, they were tools to control markets, shape industries, and secure monopolies. These men had shown how patents could serve as the foundation of entire industries, and the Black Sand and Gold Recovery Company followed that model.^[739][740]

By 1909 the Black Sand and Gold Recovery Company was supplying placer mining outfits across the West with Lovett dredges and magnetic separators. To meet demand it established manufacturing facilities in Denver and Salt Lake City, giving the company a base to distribute machines throughout the region. It also operated some placer sites of its own, intended less for profit than as demonstrations of the Lovett system and as a means of sustaining public interest in the wealth hidden in black sands. The most ambitious of these ventures was led by Charles H. Spencer in northern Arizona. Spencer, a bold and entrepreneurial mining man, had been working under the Black Sand and Gold Recovery Company name along the Colorado River for several years. Using Lovett's dredges and magnetic separators, he carried out extensive prospecting that returned encouraging assay reports, but the activity remained largely experimental.^{[742][743][744][745]}

In mid 1909 Spencer traveled to Chicago to present his findings to the board of the Black Sand and Gold Recovery Company and request further investment, but a majority the of board decided not to commit more funds to his Arizona operations. However, Parkyn and some other board members remained interested in Spencer's operation because of the strategic location and promotional value the work offered. Spencer had been operating in some of the most isolated parts of Arizona, deep within the Navajo Nation and the chance to promote investment as the only operation working with the Lovett system in such rugged country carried strong appeal. Over several days of discussion Spencer and Parkyn focused on the importance of Lees Ferry, which was the only place where the Colorado River could be crossed in that region. They agreed that moving Spencer’s operation there would allow the creation of a base and supply center where Lovett machinery could be kept for prospecting outfits moving into the district. Spencer convinced Parkyn that the banks of the Colorado River contained great wealth and that he was close to unlocking it. The plan promised a double return with profits from placer mining and control of the crossing that would serve as the main supply station for the many other ventures expected to follow.^[745]

Since the board as a whole chose not to continue funding Spencer’s Arizona work, Parkyn and his closest associates, took it upon themselves to support the venture and oversee its difficult move across more then a hundred miles of rugged country to a new site at Lees Ferry. In the fall of 1910 Parkyn and several collaborators visited Spencer’s operation to make sure their plans were being carried out and to stage a promotional show of confidence. Photographs from the visit emphasized that the backers of the enterprise were not merely office men in Chicago but active participants willing to stand alongside the work and share in the hardships of the field.^[746]

By 1911 the patented Lovett machinery was being sold and licensed across the western states, and the Black Sand and Gold Recovery Company had established it as an essential tool in placer mining. With Lovett and other directors eager to pursue ventures such as Spencer’s work at Lees Ferry, the decision was made to dissolve the company and organize a new corporation. Parkyn, together with Lovett and close associates including J. H. McFarland, H. W. Huttig, William Hoskins and William H. Dyrenforth, created the American Placer Corporation, incorporating it with a capital stock of five million dollars in South Dakota, where the laws were more favorable for placer companies. Although its headquarters were filed in Pierre, South Dakota the company was directed from a sub-office at Parkyn’s address in the Marquette Building in Chicago.^[743]

Parkyn visits the Lees Ferry operation with investors and partners including Lovett, J. V. Daniels of the Psychic Research Company, and his cousin Horatio Nelson Jackson

In September 1910, Parkyn organized a promotional trip to oversee the Spencer operations at Lees Ferry with a group of influential investors and partners that was aimed to convey the high level of professional involvement in the venture. Among the group was J.V. Daniels who had been with Parkyn since they formed the Psychic Research Company in 1900, also his cousin Horatio Nelson Parkyn who was a nationally known figure as the first person to drive a car across the country in 1903 and was also a well recognized name in mining investment circles with his many extremely successful mines in Mexico.^[745]

Arrangements had been made by Parkyn for a Thomas Flyer automobile, with an experienced driver, to come from the west coast to meet the party when they arrived by train in Flagstaff, AZ. He wanted the trip to prove that a motor car could make the journey across some of the most remote roads and trails and reach Lees Ferry. Having his cousin, Horatio Nelson Jackson, added to the promotional value of the drive. The attempt would mark the first time a horseless carriage had gone as far as the Little Colorado and tried to cross it at the Tanner Crossing. Along with them was J. V. Daniels, T. J. Lovett, H. W. Huttig, and William Hoskins.^[745]: 228

The journey drew attention from settlers and Navajos along the way, who saw an automobile for the first time. The narrow high pressure tires struggled in the soft sand and at the Little Colorado everyone except the driver had to push to get it across. They pressed on over wagon tracks and barren ground until they were within a few miles of Spencer’s camp at Lees Ferry. The dugway ahead was too narrow and the driver refused to risk it, so Spencer sent a wagon to carry the men and their supplies the rest of the way. The car had not reached the camp itself but Parkyn had achieved his purpose of showing that large amounts of supplies could be brought by motor vehicle to within just a few miles of their station at Lees Ferry.^[745]: 230

When Dr. Parkyn sold Suggestion magazine in November 1906 and later stepped away from teaching at his Chicago School of Psychology in 1907, he did not abandon his lifelong commitment to uncovering the power of suggestion or his determination to see that truth carried into every aspect of society. On the contrary, the decision was a deliberate strategic step, intended to give him greater freedom to influence and guide the New Thought movement from multiple directions.

By 1906 Parkyn’s work with his school had accomplished its purpose. Across the country new institutions had adopted his system, including major centers such as the Weltmer Institute and the St. Louis School of Suggestive Therapeutics, which were now accrediting thousands of new Doctors of Psychology. He had also built a wide network of magazines around the world that operated on the same shared principles and platforms, forming the “Suggestion Family.” Parkyn now saw his mission as using his name and connections to generate substantial wealth that could be directed into building a vast New Thought infrastructure across the western states. Just as Chicago had become the epicenter of the movement a decade earlier, the momentum was now shifting westward, with Denver rising as the next great center of New Thought and strong movements quickly taking root in Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Parkyn left Chicago and the Midwest in the hands of powerful and wealthy caretakers such as Henry Clay Hodges and Sidney Weltmer, who were prepared to invest heavily in maintaining and expanding the strongholds already established there.

Parkyn’s eyes were on the West, which he saw as both the future of the movement and the greatest opportunity, uniting vast, undiscovered and unclaimed wealth with the mass migration of spirited individuals who were seeking not only a better quality of life but also visions of a utopian future. He believed that in the West a well-built New Thought movement could endure and ultimately aspire to transform the world.

After the scandal surrounding Mrs. Charles Joy’s proposed million-dollar temple and the controversy between Alexander J. McIvor-Tyndall and Henry Frank, who had spread claims in the Los Angeles New Thought community that McIvor-Tyndall was a charlatan, Parkyn abandoned plans to build a temple in Los Angeles. Although he managed to settle the dispute and bring the East Coast syndicate under control, he concluded that McIvor-Tyndall would be better positioned in Denver as a leader within the New Thought Federation.

By 1906 Los Angeles was becoming crowded with every sort of new idea arising from the movement, and Parkyn decided to send William Walker Atkinson there in March of that year. Atkinson was to work with A. Victor Segno and take charge of editing The Segnogram, a magazine that had been launched in October 1904. Together they concentrated their efforts on building the most influential magazine and publishing house in Los Angeles. Atkinson’s arrival coincided with a major infusion of capital that led to the construction of a massive, Masonic-style headquarters for the enterprise.

Although Denver was already a hotbed for the New Thought movement, its growth there had largely come through Emma Curtis Hopkins' trained offshoots of Christian Science. Leaders such as Malinda Cramer and the Brooks sisters, who founded the Church of Divine Science, and Thomas J. Shelton, who launched his Christian magazine, had all moved their work to Denver around 1899 and 1900.^[747]

For Dr. Parkyn, the city offered a different opportunity. He saw Denver as the ideal base for building a strong “Suggestion Family” network that could extend its influence westward to the Pacific, eastward to the Midwest and beyond, and also reach the steady flow of migrants passing through on their way west. The city also suited his larger ambitions, providing a central location for the headquarters of his Black Sand and Gold Recovery Company and other ventures he intended to use to fund his New Thought operations. By placing McIvor-Tyndall at the head of the New Thought Federation in Denver, as well as in charge of the New Thought department in The Denver Post, Parkyn positioned him to gain significant influence within the movement. From there Parkyn could finance lecture tours for Tyndall throughout the western states and launch a magazine to further amplify his standing..

Dr. Parkyn had already set down roots in Denver as early 1905, when he funded the creation of a magazine by J. William Cashmere called The Balance.

Parkyn and his extended family were lifelong Freemasons, and his family lineage traced back to Protestant English immigrants who migrated through Scotland and Ireland before settling in North America. These settlers brought with them a form of Freemasonry that emphasized both esoteric and Christian traditions, combining Knights Templar ritual symbolism with elements of Hermeticism and Kabbalistic teachings. It also retained Mesmeric influences that had been transmitted from France to Scotland when practitioners were being prosecuted during the time of the French Revolution. These Mesmeric traditions were rooted in the work of Franz Anton Mesmer, the German physician and Freemason whose theory of animal magnetism, later known as mesmerism, formed the basis for modern hypnotism. Mesmer established a group known as the Order of Universal Harmony, or "Mesmeric Freemasonry," to safeguard the deeper aspects of his system, which had faced significant opposition during his lifetime.

The Nautilus edited by Elizabeth Towne, Now under Henry Harrison Brown, Idea led by Eleanor Kirk, Fred Burry’s Journal, Helen Wilmans’s Freedom, Robert Sheerin’s Suggester and Thinker, Arthur F. Sheldon’s Business Philosopher, and Elbert Hubbard’s The Philistine, among many others.^[748]

• Hypnotic Magazine 1896--1897 Monthly, Chicago, IL. Publisher: Psychic Publishing Company. Editor: Sydney B. Flower
• Suggestion Magazine 1898--1906 Monthly, Chicago, IL. Publisher: Suggestion Publishing Company. Editor: Herbert A. Parkyn and M.J. Murphy; William Walker Atkinson, associate editor 1900-1901; Elmer Ellsworth Carey, associate editor.
• Suggestive Therapeutics and Hypnotism 1900, by Herbert A. Parkyn, Suggestion Publishing Co., Chicago
• "Auto-suggestion; what it is and how to use it for health, happiness and success" by Herbert A. Parkyn 1906, Suggestion Publishing Co., 4020 Drexel Blvd., Chicago.
• Hypnotism up to date by Flower, Sydney Blanshard and Parkyn, Herbert A., Publication date 1896, Publisher Charles H. Kerr & Company, No 56 Fifth Avenue, Chicago.
• The “Chicago School of Psychology” and Hypnotic Magazine: Suggestive Therapeutics, Public Psychologies, and New Thought Pluralism, 1895–1910
• A branch of the Jacksons and correlated families, 1730-1911 by Jackson, Samuel N. (Samuel Nelson), 1838-1913 Publication date 1911 Publisher, New York : Bartlett-Orr Press
• The Jackson Chronicles, by Fred Kinney Jackson, Burlington Vt 1949, genealogy of Parkyn family.