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Life, 1912-08-15 · page 15 of 40

Life — August 15, 1912 — page 15: what you’re looking at

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Life — August 15, 1912 — page 15: Life, 1912-08-15

What you’re looking at

This 1895 *Life* article satirizes the "New Thought" movement—a contemporary spiritual fad promising cosmic harmony and occult wisdom. "Swami Baa Baa" (a mocking name suggesting fakery) operates "Vibration Parlors" offering mystical advice to gullible women and financial guidance for Wall Street investors. The satire mocks several targets: **Spiritualist practices**: The absurd "seven stages" of meditation—lying in bed staring at nothing, sitting on hitching posts watching weathervanes—lampoon pseudoscientific spiritual techniques. **Wall Street greed**: Connecting stock trading to "rhythmic harmony" and charging $30 weekly for financial letters ridicules both spiritualism and market speculation. **The letter**: A man pays for spiritual guidance to seduce a woman, then blames his "molecular plane" when her husband appears and beats him. The punchline exposes the movement's uselessness while mocking masculine entitlement. The trained nurse "in attendance" for hysterical clients further satirizes the emotional manipulation and pseudoscience involved.

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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

~ * J FE 1595 Each One of Us a Universe Get in Tune With the Infinite and Consult Swami Baa Baa—Life's Vibration Parlors Open WAMI BAA BAA will answer questions every afternoon to se- lect classes of ladies who desire infor- mation about the secret mysteries of life. Occasionally these ladies become hysterical, and at present a trained nurse will be in attendance. In pass- ing from the purely materialistic life to the higher plane of aten, the transi- tion is often too sudden for the ordi- nary temperament; hence this precau- tion. We have received inquiries asking us if we can give information about Wall Street. Our Wall Street depart- ment is a branch and Swami Baa Baa will give advice to all who need it once a week. Successful dealing in Wall Street depends entirely upon your auric envelope, which must re- spond in rhythmic value to the fluctua- tions of the market. This is fully ex- plained in our weekly financial letter, for which we charge only $30. Before entering the Wall Street zone you must make an carnest effort to place yourself in harmony with the universe. This can be done by rhythmic breathing, also by the seven stages of silent prostrations as fol- lows: First Stage—Lie prone in bed, and with feet lifted in the air forty-five de- xrees and eyes fixed upon the zenith until red wheels with green hubs ap- pear to vision. Second Stage.—Have bare feet come in contact with carth at molecular pe- riod and the diurnal axis turning— which thing occurs about four o'clock in the morning. In case you are a married man, it is better not to let your wife see you doing this, as it dis- turbs the harmonies. Third Stage.—This is the St. Stylus method. You sit on top of a hitching post for thirty minutes and gaze at the weathervane over the stable; in to All Sufferers case you have no weathervane of your own, borrow one from your neighbor. While doing this, the wind should be East. The other four rules will be given to all initiated upon applying to our Wall Street Department. In the meantime, it must be remem- bered by all applicants to our parlors that the materialization of all objects is due to the inner mental forces working through the laws of the uni- verse, and that if we do not happen to be in tune with those forces, the results will, of course, be objectively insincere. What is termed, for example, a rail- road accident is due to the discordant thought produced possibly months be- forehand in some of the railroad cir- cles. What we aim to do in our par- lors is gradually to produce rhythmic harmony so that all things will be in accord with the powers that be. We have received the following letter: “In accordance with your first directions I endeavored, during my last trip to the seashore, to get in harmany with a beautiful blond lady with an affectionate disposi- tion, and was getting along swim- mingly when suddenly her husband appeared on the scene and I have been laid up ever since. “What is the matter with your rhythmic force? Here I paid you a hundred dollars and nothing but disaster results.” Our friend is on the lowest molecu- lar plane. He doesn't realize the fact that before he can get into the upper tattvas he must necessarily go through a course of what appears to be phys- ical suffering. His own rebellious spirit, superinduced by his previous method of living, have caused his trouble. What he should have done before interview with beautiful blond was to have gone into the silence and thus prevented husband from appear- ing on the scene. Husband was a ma- terial object who got in unawares, ow- ing to the incomplete insulation of our customer's astral body with the vibra- tory influences. All these things will come to him later. He must have faith. We have received a great many ap- plications from mediums and im- mature yogis all over the country to establish branch offices. To all these we say we don’t need their help. Swami Baa Baa has infinite power and can reach anywhere. It is better to send a lock of your hair when com- municating from a distance. In the meantime, your auric enve- lope should change its colors four times every twenty-four hours, in or- der to make any progress. You can feel yourself going from red to yellow and from green to blue by concen- trating on nearest door knob. Red is the anger color and should be kept in abeyance. Do this by willing it away. Pronounce the sacred syllable Om every hour during the first week. You will be surprised at the difference. Nothing will trouble you. Remember, each one of us is the universe. As one of our customers has put it: “Tn ten days’ time I have trained my astral body to fetch and carry any- thing in sight. I married a suffragette, but this no longer troubles me. I've put a few more kinks in my auric en- velope, and I am now master of the universe. I enclose second payment of $50. “Here's to Swami Baa Baa! May his subliminal self never cast a shadow.” Life's Vibration Parlors comicbooks.com