Stellar Ray, The.
Higher Thought, Philosophy, Modern Menti-Culture, Practical Psychology, Physical Upbuilding, Astral Science, Occultism, Optimism, Opulence / A Magazine for Thinkers / A Magazine for the People, Devoted to a Solution of the Practical Problems of Life in the Light of Science, Occultism and Philosophy / The Oldest and Newest Thought in the Line of Progress.
Nature is a Unity in diversity of manifestation, one stupendous whole, animated by the breath of life
1906--1914 Monthly
Detroit, MI. Publisher: Astro Publishing Company. Editor: Henry Clay Hodges and M.J. Murphy, Herbert Parkyn; Emma Hodges Williamson, assistant editor.
Succeeds: Suggestions: A Monthly Magazine (August 1898-September 1899)--> Suggestion (October 1899-November 1906)
17/6, December 1906-33/2-3, August-September 1914. 32-52 pp., 7x10; $1.00 a year.

Volume numbering continues that of Suggestion(s), which Hodges bought from Herbert Parkyn so that Parkyn could devote his time and capital to the Black Sand and Gold Recovery Company ("the enterprise within the next few years will surpass that of the Bell Telephone, both in magnitude of operations and profits for the stockholders"). Hodges (1828-1919) was an old spiritualist, social reformer and astrologer--and a wealthy manufacturer and land developer with decidedly pronounced and eccentric views. He took over the subscription list of Suggestions/Suggestion to make the renamed journal (published from the Hodges Building in Detroit) the vehicle for expounding his personal solutions to the problems of the world that he had set out more fully in the seven volumes of his Science and the Key of Life, Planetary Influences, revealed to him, through "psychic telegraphy," by "Alvidas" and "Clytina" and other deceased worthies who had been students of Plato's. (Reviewers were not impressed: "Hodges has been accused of obscurity, but we find nothing subtle in the declaration that 'If the soul did not serve for the repository of the psychic stellar influence, there are also the static hydraulic phenomena to contend against, to say nothing of other sub-lunar vibrations.' If this is obscure then Shakespeare is obscure."). The first issue of the journal listed the "subjects of interest" that would be covered in the journal: "Health, Happiness and Success, Nature Cure, Personal Magnetism, Rational Hygiene, Formation of Character, Suggestion, Development of the Will, Psychology of Childhood, Psychic Research, Astral Science, Advanced Thought, Power of Thought, Practical Psychology, Animal Psychology, Physical Culture, Drugless Methods of Healing") and grandly announced that the journal stood "for a rational system of living based on natural laws in which the physical, mental and psychological elements are duly considered. This magazine teaches that every ill--political, industrial, social, physical, mental and psychological--can be remedied by the proper application of natural laws: that nature will cure all diseases without drugs when given an opportunity; that nature designed every sentient being, to enjoy a happy existence; that the laws of this universe are adequate for all conditions and all emergencies, and if permitted to act naturally, universal peace, good-will, prosperity and health would result; that facts are the results of underlying law; that the human intellect and will is unchained and unassailable; that the power of thought is the most potent force; that creation today is a thought externalized, and that thought rightly applied will solve any problem that now confronts the human mind." While the journal announced that it would continue the content and work of Suggestion(s), with the addition of a department of "Astral Science," it almost immediately became a repository everything that fell under the broad umbrella of the occult, New Thought: spiritualism, fringe healing, and the like. It featured a "Stellar Science Department" run by Hodges himself; a Department of New Thought headed by Charles Brodie Patterson; a "Department of Psychic Research," headed by Edgar Lucien Larken, a "Department of Psychical Sciences and Unfoldment" under the care of J.C.F. Grumbine; a column on the "Swastika Success Club, of Manasas, Virginia" and contributions by Hereward Carrington, Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Eleanor Kirk, and "Yogi Romacharaka" (i.e., Ramacharaka--W.W. Atkinson), Mabel Gifford Shine, Captain Walrond, L. Edward Johndro, James Coates, Coulson Turnbull, Walter DeVoe, Elbert Hubbard, Edgar L. Larkin, et al.--in fact, contributions by practically everyone in the area at the time (who seem to have written for the journal in exchange for prominent reviews of their books). The journal carried advertisements for many of the New Thought hucksters of the era, notably "The Monea Lessons" and The Church of the New Thought, in both of which Hodges was probably involved. The last issue, August-September 1914, carried the notice that "The publication of 'The Stellar Ray' will be discontinued, owing to important matters which fully occupy the attention of its present publisher, Henry Clay Hodges." Advertised in Soundview, April 1907. NYPL; LOC microfilm; Skidmore, Lily Dale (19/5-22/3, 1907-1909.)

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