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Life, 1913-03-06 · page 26 of 72

Life — March 6, 1913 — page 26: what you’re looking at

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Life — March 6, 1913 — page 26: Life, 1913-03-06

What you’re looking at

This page satirizes the early 20th-century craze for spiritual charlatans and New Thought mysticism. "Swami Baa Baa" is a fictional con artist who claims to solve the "problem" of middle-aged women seeking purpose through women's clubs, suffrage meetings, and self-improvement activities. The satire targets: 1. **Pseudo-spiritual hucksterism**: Fake yogis and mystics exploiting wealthy Americans with nonsensical jargon ("tattvic envelope," "auric silences") 2. **Gender anxiety**: The premise that women's activism and independence are problems needing "solutions" 3. **Technological gullibility**: The absurd wireless communication device for contacting the swami, satirizing contemporary fascination with new inventions like Marconi's wireless The humor lies in Life magazine treating this obvious fraud as legitimate. The cartoons show hysterical women and the Swami's exaggerated mystical persona. The joke assumes readers will recognize this as transparent exploitation of both wealthy patrons and women's genuine intellectual aspirations.

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

£ trembie with joy. We have had occasion before to announce new eras, but any new era which has ever taken place is a mere bagatelle compared with the one which is now about to dawn upon the Amer- ican people. We have had some ex- perience with eras and know what we are talking about. A great wave of psychic joy is now about to sweep over this fortunate pcople. Swami Baa Baa, the most exalted yogi in the world, is of course respon- sible for all the joy that is coming. It is he who has solved the problem of Woman; and all women should bless his name. He has, through his wonderful astral powers, already shown us how to go into the silence, how to mark the seven cycles of Kar- ma, and how to lose oneself in the ecstatic contemplation of the inner tattvic envelope which encompasses the syllable Om. He has, further- more, shown us how to indulge in all the physical pleasures of life and at the same time, by cosmic vibrations, increase our moral stature. But this is nothing. Swami Baa Baa has a great and universal love for all women. This has been evidenced from time to time by the fact that in our Vi- bration Parlors we have had to have a_ special room devoted to ladies who, at sight of the Swami, immediately go into hysterics and have to be treated by occult demonstration. Later on, when these ladies have reached the second plane of harmonic vibrations, they become calm; and as they mount up through the various stages into the higher atmosphere of thought they gradually lose themselves in the auric silences. But let us get down to business. To tb PE Grateful Husbands Laud Baa Baa Vital Problem of What to Do With Our Women Settled—Glowing Psychic Sun Ushers in Dawn of New Mental Day put the whole matter into crude ma- terialistic language, it is simply this: When a woman reaches a certain age, she gets restless; she wants to re- form the world; she wants to learn a dozen different lar guages in as many weeks; she wants to uplift everybody in sight, and regenerate mankind. Thus we have all over the country bodies of women in feverish cachin- nations organizing Women's Clubs, Suffrage Meetings, New Thought Cir- cles, Literary Paroxysms, and other social outbursts. In the case of mar- ried women, it is a well-known physi- ological fact, that when they get to a certain age, the only thing that can save them is to become engaged in some sort of high-brow activity. By this time, also, every husband wel- comes almost anything that his wife can do on the outside. But even under the best of circumstances, all these activities are only a makeshift. Think of the energy wasted by women every year! All this is now going to be changed. Any woman of middle age whose hus- band has become tired of her should enter into the higher life which is furnished by Swami Baa Baa at a moderate consideration; and in ad- dition to this come into the heritage of joy produced by going into the auric envelope and other ecstatic states. This shows how, with new customers, we are able to save time in get- ting them started cor- rectly. But owing to our combination with Signor Marconi, we can supply you with individual wire- less outfits, thus enabling you to keep in constant visible communication with Swami Baa Baa. The process is simplicity itself. After putting on the wireless outfit— which is scarcely larger than a watch —you step into the private office and have it tuned up on the same vibra- ‘You hab seen eras what am some eres, Ah admits— bat, dis yere BRA what de Swami qwine t'show yo'all am SOME MO'sRA! tory plane as the Swami. You can then send your astral body, your sub- liminal self or any one of your per- sonalities by wireless express, have it treated and returned to you, without losing an hour from your regular oc- cupation. It should be understood, however, that these individual wireless outfits are only necessary for beginners. Those who go into the silence and have left the lower planes, are capable of all things without apparatus. Nothing that they cannot do! From a long vibration just received from an advanced student, we here state as follows: “Om Baa Baa: Not only am I master of the Universe, but I have reached the esoteric circle of Atman, with two reincarnated personalities, two others just naturalized on the pres- ent plane, an astral body, sublim- inal self and auric veil. My astral body. drinks champagne, my sub- liminal self smokes pure Havanas, my auric veil takes on the music of the spheres, and my quartette of personalities is cach one carry- ing on a desperate flirtation with the four flowers of an opera com- pany. All this while my ego is mounting the heights of Pranic morality. All things are mine. I return my crystal ball, my wire- less, and a set of green, blue and yellow discs. No longer need any help. Am one with the Syllable Om, and I sing with the stars. To all those who doubt the power of Swami Baa Baa it need only be said that the only realities are in the visible world. Become perfectly passive by lying Prone. Repeat “Om” ten times, will a yellow ball to come to you, and by comicbooks.com