Periodical:	The Hermetist
Summary:	From Pat Deveney's database: Hermetist, The. Get Understanding 1887—1899 Monthly Chicago, IL. Publisher: Hermetic Publishing Company. Editor: W.P. Phelon, M.D., and Mrs. Mira M. Phelon, C.S.B.; Nancy M. Gordon. 1/1, October 1887-7/5, November 1899. $1.00 a year. Still being noted in the Metaphysical Magazine, July 1901, so the journal may have continued after 1899, 4-16 pp. (varies), 6 1/2 x 8 1/2. This was one of the organs of the Temple of Isis of the Hermetic Brotherhood. The editors, first in Chicago and later in San Francisco, were W.P. Phelon (1834-1904) and his wife, Mira Morse. Phelon was an early convert to Christian Science and was a founder of one of the Chicago branches of the Theosophical Society (into which he inducted L. Frank Baum, the author of the Wizard of Oz), but early on he began teaching his own brand of wisdom (derived from the lost civilization of Atlantis) under the name of the Hermetic Brotherhood of Atlantis, Luxor and Elephanta. The relationship of this to the H.B. of L., of which Phelon and his wife became members in 1887, is unknown. R.S. Clymer, who joined the H.B. of A.L. and E. and for a time carried its pronouncements in his Initiates, incorporated Phelon and his work willy nilly into the chain of initiatory transmission from P.B. Randolph, but there is no evidence the two ever met and Phelon never mentions Randolph. By the time Phelon died in San Francisco in 1904, his movement was claiming direct control by the brothers in the hidden “Mountain City” in Mexico, inaccessible physically but able to be visited astrally. The journal prominently featured advertisements for the works of Phelon and his wife, Mira, and for content it copied from Arnold’s Light of Asia and Madame Guion. It published articles by “Philangi Dess,” whose The Buddhist Ray seems to have been closely connected with The Hermetist, and also pieces by Ursula Newell Gestefeld (who was one of the principals in the publisher, the Hermetic Publishing Company). From 1894 until at least 1904, the society also published separate annual proceedings of its convocations, and from 1901 published irregularly its Temple Talks, both of which had, earlier, appeared in The Hermetist. Rowell’s American Newspaper Directory for 1900 says the journal had a circulation of less than 1,000. LOC; Yale University.
Issues:	Hermetist V1 N1 Oct 1887
	Hermetist V1 N11 Aug 1888
	Hermetist V1 N12 Sep 1888
	Hermetist V1 N1 Oct 1887
	Hermetist V1 N2 Nov 1887
	Hermetist V1 N3 Dec 1887
	Hermetist V1 N4 Jan 1888
	Hermetist V1 N5 Feb 1888
	Hermetist V1 N6 Mar 1888
	Hermetist V1 N7 Apr 1888
	Hermetist V1 N8 May 1888
	Hermetist V1 N9 Jun 1888
	Hermetist V2 N10 Jul 1889
	Hermetist V2 N11 Aug 1889
	Hermetist V2 N11 Sep 1889
	Hermetist V2 N1 Oct 1888
	Hermetist V2 N2 Nov 1888
	Hermetist V2 N3 Dec 1888
	Hermetist V2 N4 Jan 1889
	Hermetist V2 N5 Feb 1889
	Hermetist V2 N6 Mar 1889
	Hermetist V2 N7 Apr 1889
	Hermetist V2 N8 May 1889
	Hermetist V2 N9 Jun 1889
	Hermetist V2 Wrappers
	Hermetist V4 N10 Oct 1897
	Hermetist V4 N11 Nov 1897
	Hermetist V4 N12 Dec 1897
	Hermetist V4 N7 Jul 1897
	Hermetist V4 N8 Aug 1897
	Hermetist V4 N9 Sep 1897
	Hermetist V5 N1 Jan 1898
	Hermetist V5 N2 Feb 1898
	Hermetist V5 N3 Mar 1898
	Hermetist V5 N4 Apr 1898
	Hermetist V5 N5 May 1898
	Hermetist V6 N10 Apr 1899
	Hermetist V6 N11 May 1899
	Hermetist V6 N12 Jun 1899
	Hermetist V6 N1 Jun-Jul 1898
	Hermetist V6 N2 Aug 1898
	Hermetist V6 N3 Sep 1898
	Hermetist V6 N4 Oct 1898
	Hermetist V6 N5 Nov 1898
	Hermetist V6 N6 Dec 1898
	Hermetist V6 N7 Jan 1899
	Hermetist V6 N8 Feb 1899
	Hermetist V6 N9 Mar 1899
Topics:	Atlantis and Lost Continents, Buddhism, Christian Science, Theosophy