1/1, January 1898-1929 (the journal lasted until at least 1929 but may have continued until White’s death in 1939). 15-44 pages, 6 x 9, 50 cents-$1.00 a year. The advertisement for the journal in the Sunflower says all-encompassingly that this was “devoted to Occultism in general, Planetary law; Best Time to Plant, Symbolism, Astralism, Soul Forces, How to become an Adept, etc. Anti-Pain, Poverty and Ignorance.” S.C. Gould in his “Resume of Arcane Societies,” Notes and Queries, 1900, links this with the Modern Order of the White Mahatmas which shared the journal’s address and featured the predictive astrological work of R. Hollingsworth (”the leader in market predictions”), Fred R. White (”the leading astrologer of America”), and Leona White (”the astral leader”). Gould describes the magazine as “the most original of occult magazines” and notes another journal published at the same address in Minneapolis: The Prophetic Messenger. White (1866-1939) was primarily an astrologer and published several works on the subject, and was convinced of astral fatalism. His advertisements for the journal proclaimed that it was “another of these Freak Journals, devoted to Astrology, Monism or Fatalism as some are pleased to call it. . . . You can also get $1000.00 cash if you will demonstrate to the Editor of the Adept that you are a Free Moral Agent.” It is unlikely anyone ever collected on the wager. The journal began with aspirations to attract a wide audience for its mix of general occultism, astrology, free thought, “scientific monism,” and prairie socialism, but increasingly devoted itself to astrology alone, with the the expected regular “outlooks” for the month. It displayed its free-thought predilections by attacking Koreshanity. Notable contributions by and advertisements for Professor W.H. Chaney and his College of Astrology in Chicago. During the First World War, the journal became the official organ of the American Astrological Society. Rowell’s American Newspaper Directory for 1900 says the journal had a circulation of less than 1,000.

Category: Occultism, Astrology.