Aquarian Age, The.
A New Thought and Astrological Magazine, Devoted to the Christ Teaching of Love and Service to Mankind, the unfolding of latent Soul Powers, Healing, Esoteric Astrology, etc. A Messenger of Light--A Bringer of Joy--A Healer / An Advanced Thought Magazine Devoted to the Christ Teaching of Love and Service, Divine Healing and the Unfolding of the Latent Soul Powers, Esoteric Astrology, Etc .
1917--1951? Monthly (but combinin May/June and July/August), then bimonthly Brookline, MA; Santa Barbara, CA.
Editor: George B. Brownell and Louise Brightman Brownell, then Louise B. Brownell, then James E. Dodds, and from September 1951, Fern P. Dodds.
Publisher: Aquarian Ministry.
1/1, 1917-1951 (?)
$1.00-$1.50 a year, 36 pp.

An unnumbered and undated issue of the journal (collected here as vol. 1, no. 0, with printed covers and half-page mimeographed text exists, published from Brookline, Massachusetts and containing Illuminated Messages received by Louise in June and December 1917. This is either a prospectus for the later journal or an issue of it, published before the Brownells moved to California. The George B. Braunhold (later Brownell, 1874-1946) and Emma Louise Brightman Brownell (1877-1957) founded the Aquarian Ministry to propagate their ideas on "abundant living" in this Aquarian Age: "Become centered and the kingdom of heaven is yours" "The Infinite Mind encircles you and all is intelligent life; let it flow through," etc. These inspirational messages seemed to have been received by Louise and written under impressment: ‘We were sitting in the silence, one evening last June, with a group of devoted souls, asking for light and wisdom, when all at once we seemed to be in an atmosphere of wonderful peace, harmony and power. The writer felt impressed to take up pencil and paper, and the following message was given in a rythmic flow hard to describe to one who has not been under similar inspiration." The journal, which was the organ of their movement, had regular contributions by the Brownells and by Orcella Rexford ("Vocational Expert and Color Psychologist"), William Alexander Redding, Dr. H.L. Cornell, Henry Thomas Hamblin, James L. Gordon, Adelaide Gaffney, et al. Redding, of Cripple Creek, Colorado, whose books the ministry published, seems to have been a principal teacher in the organization and is notable mainly because he was criticized by H.P. Holler for his "terribly misleading reincarnation illusion" that all the great men of the Bible were now incarnate on earth. The journal carried the standard New Thought disquisitions on healing at a distance, and regular affirmations for readers ("God is a mighty resurrecting power in me, awakening my soul to higher expression, etc."), together with articles on numerology, medical astrology, çakras ("The Twelve Sacred Gates"), etc.

The journal carried advertisements for the books and lessons of the Brownells (George's Healing Service Club and Louise's astrological books, readings and answers to questions -- advising that "freewill offerings . . . will be gladly received to help support and extend the work") and notices of and advertisements for the journal's contributors as well as for The Brotherhood of Light, Llewellyn Publishing, San E, Foulds' Now: A Journal of Affirmation, the works of Isabella Ingalese and Max and Augusta Heindel, and various other Southern California healers and mystics. The only indication of the journal's circulation is the claim in 1921 that the previous year it had sent out 36,000 copies, which would indicate about 3,600 subscribers. With the last known (1951) issue, the journal largely ignored the Brownells and the Aquarian Ministry took on a life of its own under the aegis of James E. Dodds, who had been a minister in the organization. Noted in William C. Hartmann's Who's Who in Occult, Psychic and Spiritual Realms (1925). Wisconsin Historical Society; University of Waterloo; Michigan State University; Universiteit Utrecht; LOC; NYPL; D.T. Suzuki archives, Japan.

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