One of the original's in Theosophy, or the "New Thought Movement", a brilliant, albeit overworked and stressed lawyer has a breakdown. It's approximately 1890, slightly before.
He consolidates a few spiritual teachings and from there begins a career as one of the most prolific authors ever, whose hundred(s?) of books are still in print (under a variety of pseudonyms), titles include:
- Mind Power: The Secret of Mental Magic
- Practical Mind-Reading
- Reincarnation and the Law of Karma
- The Subconscious and the Superconscious Planes of Mind
- Telepathy: Its Theory, Facts, and Proof
- The Seven Cosmic Laws
- The Science of Psychic Healing
- Ghosts of the Living, End of the Dead
- How to Develop Psychic Telepathy
- The Mystic Sixth Sense
- Mental Vibrations and Transmission
- Clairvoyance and Occult Powers
- The Art and Science of Personal Magnetism: The Secrets of Mental Fascination
His influence on contemporary spiritual teachings cannot be overestimated. He's "L. Ron Hubbard" gone mainstream, and his fingers can still be seen in every New Age chicanery - or ideal - today.
Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Walker_Atkinson
I mean, I should have stumbled across him as a child, I would have lapped this all up...
Maybe better I didn't. Well, given where I'm living now, maybe I should have...
Nonetheless, I'll keep an eye peeled, if I come across any volumes I'll be sure to pass them along. I'm pretty sure you'd want to read them as well...