William Walker Atkinson’s Followers (406)

William Walker Atkinson

Born

in Baltimore, Maryland, The United States

December 05, 1862

Died

November 22, 1932

Genre

Spirituality, Religion, Philosophy

edit data

Pseudonyms: Theron Q. Dumont, Yogi Ramacharaka, Swami Bhakta Vishita & Swami Panchadasi

William Walker Atkinson (December 5, 1862 – November 22, 1932) was an attorney, merchant, publisher, and author, as well as an occultist and an American pioneer of the New Thought movement. He is also known to have been the author of the pseudonymous works attributed to Theron Q. Dumont, Swami Panchadasi and Yogi Ramacharaka and others.

Due in part to Atkinson's intense personal secrecy and extensive use of pseudonyms, he is now largely forgotten, despite having obtained mention in past editions of Who's Who in America, Religious Leaders of America, and several similar publications—and having written more than 100 books in the last 30 years of his life. Hi Pseudonyms: Theron Q. Dumont, Yogi Ramacharaka, Swami Bhakta Vishita & Swami Panchadasi

William Walker Atkinson (December 5, 1862 – November 22, 1932) was an attorney, merchant, publisher, and author, as well as an occultist and an American pioneer of the New Thought movement. He is also known to have been the author of the pseudonymous works attributed to Theron Q. Dumont, Swami Panchadasi and Yogi Ramacharaka and others.

Due in part to Atkinson's intense personal secrecy and extensive use of pseudonyms, he is now largely forgotten, despite having obtained mention in past editions of Who's Who in America, Religious Leaders of America, and several similar publications—and having written more than 100 books in the last 30 years of his life. His works have remained in print more or less continuously since 1900.

William Walker Atkinson was born in Baltimore, Maryland on December 5, 1862, to William and Emma Atkinson. He began his working life as a grocer at 15 years old, probably helping his father. He married Margret Foster Black of Beverly, New Jersey, in October 1889, and they had two children. The first probably died young. The second later married and had two daughters.

Atkinson pursued a business career from 1882 onwards and in 1894 he was admitted as an attorney to the Bar of Pennsylvania. While he gained much material success in his profession as a lawyer, the stress and over-strain eventually took its toll, and during this time he experienced a complete physical and mental breakdown, and financial disaster. He looked for healing and in the late 1880s he found it with New Thought, later attributing the restoration of his health, mental vigor and material prosperity to the application of the principles of New Thought.

Some time after his healing, Atkinson began to write articles on the truths he felt he had discovered, which were then known as Mental Science. In 1889, an article by him entitled "A Mental Science Catechism," appeared in Charles Fillmore's new periodical, Modern Thought.

By the early 1890s Chicago had become a major centre for New Thought, mainly through the work of Emma Curtis Hopkins, and Atkinson decided to move there. Once in the city, he became an active promoter of the movement as an editor and author. He was responsible for publishing the magazines Suggestion (1900–1901), New Thought (1901–1905) and Advanced Thought (1906–1916).

In 1900 Atkinson worked as an associate editor of Suggestion, a New Thought Journal, and wrote his probable first book, Thought-Force in Business and Everyday Life, being a series of lessons in personal magnetism, psychic influence, thought-force, concentration, will-power, and practical mental science.

He then met Sydney Flower, a well-known New Thought publisher and businessman, and teamed up with him. In December, 1901 he assumed editorship of Flower's popular New Thought magazine, a post which he held until 1905. During these years he built for himself an enduring place in the hearts of its readers. Article after article flowed from his pen. Meanwhile he also founded his own Psychic Club and the so-called "Atkinson School of Mental Science". Both were located in the same building as Flower's Psychic Research and New Thought Publishing Company.

Atkinson was a past president of the International New Thought Alliance.

Throughout his subsequent career, Atkinson wrote and published under his own name and many pseudonyms. It is not known whether he ever acknowledged authorship of these pseudonymous works, but all of the supposedly independent authors whose writings are now credited to Atkinson were linked to one another by virtue of the fact that their works were released by a series of publishing houses with shared addresses and they also wrote for a series of magazines with a shared roster of authors. Atkinson was the editor of a ...more

Combine Editions
William Walker Atkinson’s books

Average rating: 4.05 · 19,440 ratings · 1,440 reviews · 2,615 distinct works • Similar authors

	Thought Vibration: or the Law of Attraction in the Thought World 4.08 avg rating — 1,780 ratings — published 2010 — 278 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Hindu-Yogi Science Of Breath really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1,159 ratings — published 1903 — 334 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Memory How to Develop, Train, and Use It 3.75 avg rating — 942 ratings — published 1911 — 175 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Human Aura Astral Colors and Thought Forms 3.62 avg rating — 393 ratings — published 1912 — 141 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Fourteen Lessons in Yogi Philosophy and Oriental Occultism 4.16 avg rating — 263 ratings — published 1903 — 124 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga 3.92 avg rating — 273 ratings — published 1906 — 259 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Clairvoyance and Occult Powers 3.51 avg rating — 303 ratings — published 1916 — 218 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Mystic Christianity 3.86 avg rating — 263 ratings — published 1908 — 164 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Reincarnation and the Law of Karma A Study of the Old-New World-Doctrine of Rebirth, and Spiritual Cause and Effect 3.71 avg rating — 235 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Secret Doctrine of the Rosicrucians: A Lost Classic by Magus Incognito by William Walker Atkinson, Clint Marsh (Editor) 3.96 avg rating — 180 ratings — published 1949 — 57 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by William Walker Atkinson…

Series by William Walker Atkinson

The Yoga Series (5 books)
by

William Walker Atkinson

4.08 avg rating — 898 ratings

Occult Manuals (3 books)
by

William Walker Atkinson

3.63 avg rating — 767 ratings

Personal Power series (12 books)
by

William Walker Atkinson,

Edward E. Beals

4.26 avg rating — 34 ratings

Quotes by William Walker Atkinson (?)

“Remember, the only thing to fear is Fear, and - well, don't even fear Fear, for he's a cowardly chap at the best, who will run if you show a brave front.”
― William W. Atkinson, Thought Vibration

36 likes

“The secret of success is to try always to improve yourself no matter where you are or what your position. Learn all you can. Don't see how little you can do, but how much you can do.”
― Theron Q. Dumont, The Power of Concentration

28 likes

“Everyone has two natures. One wants us to advance and the other wants to pull us back. The one that we cultivate and concentrate on decides what we are at the end.”
― Theron Q. Dumont, The Power of Concentration

22 likes

See all William Walker Atkinson's quotes »

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
Goodreads Librari...: Atkinsons	85	283	Aug 21, 2019 02:00PM
Goodreads Librari...: Merge author profiles	2583	752	4 hours, 5 min ago