William Walker Atkinson
William Walker Atkinson (December 5, 1862 - November 22, 1932) was a very important and influential American figure in the early days of the New Thought Movement. He was an attorney, merchant, author, as well as being an occultist and an American pioneer of the New Thought.

He was responsible for publishing the magazines Suggestion (1900-1901), New Thought (1901-1905) and Advanced Thought (1906), in Chicago. He was devoted to the diffusion of yoga and of Oriental Occultism in the West. He contributed to the development of occult psychology and New Thought, especially with regard to the mental world and its relationship to man's spiritual reality.

Writing
Atkinson published under several pen names, including Magus Incognito, Theodore Sheldon, Theron Q. Dumont, Swami Pachandasi, and perhaps most prominently as the Yogi Ramacharaka. Atkinson is also popularly held to be one of the Three Initiates who anonymously authored The Kybalion, which certainly resembles Atkinson's other writings in style and subject matter, but Atkinson's two co-authors, if they even existed, are unknown (wild speculation often includes names like Mabel Collins, Michael Whitty, Paul Foster Case, and Harriett Case.

Atkinson was a prolific writer, and his many books on New Thought achieved wide circulation among New Thought devotees and practitioners. Beginning in 1916, he started writing articles for Elizabeth Towne's magazine The Nautilus, and from 1916 to 1919 he edited the journal Advanced Thought, and was for a time honorary president of the International New Thought Alliance.

He wrote nearly a hundred books with many other pseudonyms: Theodore Sheldon, Theron Q. Dumont, Swami Panchadasi, The Three Initiates, Magus Incognitus and probably others not identified at present. He wrote books together with Eduard E. Beals and Laurion, William De Laurence. He wrote a series named The Arcane Teachings, published at Arcane Books Co., with 6 volumes, without signature. Among these books we can identify and comproof his authority in Arcane Formula or Mental Alchemy; The Cosmic Laws; and Vril, or, Vital Magnetism

According to the Circulo de Estudos Ramacháraca, Atkinson has been identified as the author or co-author (with individuals such as Edward E. Beals, Laurion William De Laurence, of 105 separate titles. These can be broken down roughly into the following three groups:


Titles written under pseudonyms
These form the most expressive of Atkinson's writings and include the teachings of Yoga Philosophy and Oriental Occultism. They were written in such a way as to form a course of practical instruction.

Life
He was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to William and Emma Atkinson, both of whom were born in Maryland also. He began his working life as a grocer at 15 years old, probably helping his father. He married Margret Foster Black of Beverley, New Jersey, on October 1889 and they had two children. The first probably died young. The second got married and had two daughters.

Atkinson pursued a business career from 1882 onwards and in 1894 he was admitted as an attorney to the Bars 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 1880's he found it with New Thought. From mental and physical wreck and financial ruin, he wrought perfect health, mental vigor and material prosperity, which he attributed to the application of the principles of New Thought.

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

By the early 1890's Chicago had become a major centre for New Thought, mainly through the work of Emma Curtis Hopkins, and Atkinson decided to move there and he became an active promoter of the movement as an editor and author. In 1900 he 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 & 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 up until 1905. During these years he built for himself an enduring place in the hearts of its readers. Article after article of wonderful strength and vital force 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.

While performing his New Thought editor job, Atkinson became interested in Hinduism, and (according to the story) met up with one Baba Bharata, a pupil of the late Yogi Ramacharaka, who had become acquainted with Atkinson's writings. They both shared similar ideas, and the men collaborated, and with Bharata providing the material and Atkinson the writing talent, they wrote a series of books which they attributed to Yogi Ramacharaka as a measure of their respect. Atkinson started writing these books under the name Yogi Ramacharaka in 1903. He wrote about 13 books under this pseudonym. They were published by the Yogi Publication Society in Chicago and reached more people than his New thought works did. In fact, all his books on Yoga are still reprinted today. The very fact that after all these years their books are well known around the word and sell better with every passing year is a credit, too, to the two men who wrote them.

In 1903, he was admitted to the Bar of Illinois, which means he did not leave that part of his life aside.

He died November 22, 1932 in California - one of the greats of The New Thought Movement. Many mysteries surround his life. A certificate of copyright 3 years after his death is signed by the author himself. Today the major collection of his works can be found at a Brazilian Organization titled Círculo de Estudos Ramacharaca.

 

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