Life, 1912-12-12 · page 19 of 48
Life — December 12, 1912 — page 19: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This 1920s Life magazine satirizes pseudoscientific mysticism and patronizing attitudes toward women's behavior. "Swami Baa Baa" is a fictional charlatan claiming to have discovered that American women possess multiple personalities (beyond the accepted "double personality" theory of the era). The joke mocks both the absurd pseudo-Eastern spiritualism popular in that period and men's bafflement at women's moods. A letter from a supposedly satisfied customer describes scheduling his homecoming around his wife's different "personalities"—implying women are unpredictable and require mystical diagnosis rather than simple human understanding. The cartoons showing various female figures represent these supposed distinct personalities. The satire targets credulous men who'd pay for such nonsense rather than actually try understanding their wives as complex human beings. It's simultaneously mocking both trendy occultism and marital gender dynamics of the era.
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Do E are now able to make an an- nouncement much more startling in its nature than anything which has gone before. Owing to the recent experiments of Swami Baa Baa through our ladies’ depart- ment, in which by bringing his advanced form of tattvic vibra- tions to bear on the tempera- ments of a number of self-sacri- ficing American women who, with rare generosity, offered them- selves, we are able to inform the public that the nature of woman is at last made plain. Woman is no longer the secret of all the ages. Baa Baa, by a simple process, makes it easy for anyone to understand her. Remember, we make this statement in all seriousness, and we are prepared to substantiate our claims at any time. In order, however, that there may be no doubt, we will offer the following explanation: First, however, we should like to answer the question that has been so often asked recently, namely, How is it that the Swami after so many years, nay ages, of Oriental research, is now able to find out anything new? The an- swer lies in the wonderful specimens he has had the privi- lege of studying. The American woman, as the Swami says, offers a greater variety of psychic-hysterico-emotional de- velopment than has ever been known. It has been, there- fore, through the many subtle variations of her tempera- ment that the great laws of woman’s soul have at last Swami been discovered. Think of what this means! To know instantly every lady you meet, and to anticipate in advance just what she will do at a given tim But we hasten to our proofs. No one who knows anything about our wonderful psychic life will dispute our reasoning for an instant. We defy any yogi, thought-medium, psychic clairvoyant or mind- reader (not to speak of psychologist) in the world, to find a flaw in our structure. Up to the present time it is known that cach one of us has a double personality. Your wife, for example, is not the same in the evening as she was in the morning. This is because she merges from one personality into the other. If she is an emotional lady she may vibrate from one to the other, so that you cannot al- ways be sure which personality she is under at a given time. Now what the Swami has dis- covered is that not only do Amer- -LIFE-: You Understand Your Wife? Or Any Other Lady, for that Matter? If Not, Avail Yourself at Once of the Greatest Secret of the Ages, Now Made Plain by Swami Baa Baa “The various personalities emerge” ican women al- ways have two personalities, but often many more. This de- pends entirely upon the number of times they have been reincarnated. Once we have labeled all the personalities in their order, it is perfectly easy for any man to tell what a woman will do when she is dominated by a particular one. We furnish the secret in this office. Here is a let- ter just received which will explain the method: “The wife—morning and evening” Dear Sirs I have had trouble with my wife for years until I got her to go and sce Swami Baa Baa. He made a careful examination of her area of consciousness, located four personalities—one of them dating back to the first pyramid—gave me a schedule of acts at- tached to each personality, and since then we have been living in perfect harmony. I find, for instance, that if I come home between twelve and one o'clock A. M., personality number two is in charge, and there s an awful time for both of us. But if I wait until after two, personality number four is in charge, and all is harmony—no matter what my condition. I throw out this suggestion to many misguided men; that is, don’t come home too early. Now that I have my wife's different: personalities located I've got so I can tell when they are coming, and by a few simple rules, know exactly what to do. Constant happiness is the result. Forever yours, The Swami begs everyone to be careful and not con- found the personalities with the astral body or the auric envelope. These are entirely different. Also, the sub- liminal self is not the astral body. By keeping the dis- tinction between these various entities in mind, much difficulty will be saved. It is quite ¢ for any stu- dent who desires to make the ex- periment to become in time a ruler of the universe, and in har- mony with all forces, by preserv- ing the following rules Go into the silence. This can be done by fixing the soon a crystal ball, and breathing al- ternately, while calling up a blue dise with yellow centre. Soon the aura will be per- ceived, or rather felt, waving gently about the outline of the physical, or body of illusion. comicbooks.com