Watch Spirit VLog 4: Who was Florence Scovel Shinn & thoughts about the early 20th century, religion, and my relationship with the Bible.
Transcript
Hi, my name is Daisy Jarve- Alexander. Thanks for watching my channel. This is a Spirit Vlog where I ramble about life and share what I have learned, observed, and interpreted from my experience.
Florence Scovel Shinn Metaphysician
One author I have been reading lately is Florence Scovel Shinn. Mrs. Shinn actually self-published The Game of Life and How to Play It in 1925. In total, she is credited with 5 books. Your Word is Your Wand was published in 1928 and The Secret Door to Success in 1940.
After her death at the age of 69 in 1940, another two works were published. The Power Of The Spoken Word was published in 1945 by Shinn Press and The Magic Path Of Intuition.
Louise Hay Published Florence’s Last Book
This last book was actually published by Louise Hay founder of the Hay House Publishing company and a “huge fan of Florence”. In 2013. Louise Hay had received a small, typewritten unpublished manuscript of the last writings of Florence Scovel Shinn from a rare books dealer.
Daisy’s Thoughts on Florence
I personally resonate with the way Florence writes. and find her writing deeply inspiring. As it is a representation of much of my own personal belief system. She is practical and optimistic. She is unaffected by the appearance of lack and teaches one how to approach life in an intentional and loving way. As a person who is a being of light, rather than a victim.
The Larger Conversation
The fact that she is a woman participating in this larger conversation that was bubbling up at that time as the New Thought Movement is inspiring and she was creating illumed content. Focused on deep positivity. Even when things appear to go bad they are shaping up for good. You could say she was an influencer.
In chapter 1 of Your Word is Your Wand she writes,“Power moves but is never moved. When man stands calm and serene, has a good appetite, feels contented and happy when appearances are against him, he has reached mastery. Then he has the power to “rebuke the the winds and the waves,” to control conditions.
Metaphysical Wisdom of the Ages
You could say she was inspired by the metaphysical wisdom of the ages, that string of knowledge that I believe connects us to the ancients – A way of thinking that does not really exist in popular mainstream culture or in our collective understanding of what reality is. Does anyone attracted to this writing want to be like everyone else? No, I am confident they don’t.
If you do not run your subconscious mind yourself, someone else will run it for you.
A Female New Thought Writer/ Metaphysician
As a female writer, she was not alone, there were a handful of women metaphysicians who were writers from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I hope to share some of their writings in the future with you.
Of course, I will be reading other books written by women later this year. Florence’s writing is essential for the truth seeker. In the time and place of the late 1800s early 1900s, they were considered New Thought authors. And there was actually a surprising number of female writers and thought leaders. Although I do not consider them all the same. Even if under that category.
At this time, Florence is known only by a special few. Usually, strong intuitive high vibe women who can hear and feel the quiet whisper of the true reality hiding in front of us. Within us.
References
Let’s take a look at some of the people, writings, and information that Florence references in her writing:
- The Bible is the most common book mentioned. And she quoted Jesus continually.
- She mentions Plato when writing about Divine Design.
- The Body Electric by Walt Whitman when she writes “Man would no longer throw off his body in death, it would be transformed into the “body electric.”
- She often mentions people from her everyday life. Such as this quote where she says, I heard a metaphysician once say, “If you do not run your subconscious mind yourself, someone else will run it for you.”’
- Peter D. Ouspensky, she quotes from his book”Tertium Organum,” that “love is a cosmic phenomenon,” and opens to man the fourth-dimensional world, “The World of the Wondrous.”
- Hermes Trismegistus a legendary Hellenistic figure that originated as a combination of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth.
- And English author Judge Thomas Troward.
The Bible
Florence includes the Bible often in her writing. And for some, that can be off-putting for many reasons. All of us have our own perspectives and experience of and with the Bible. At that time, the bible was a most common book found in households in America. Thus it was a book of theology and ethics, about the universe that everyone was aware of.
Was She a Christian
She was more of an esoteric or maybe mystical Christian. That is, she is focused on the idea of a direct line of communication with God or Infinite Spirit- the ALL ONE. This is a more personal understanding and not led by a human’s interpretation. Looking within one’s self for answers rather than to others. And I think she was raised as a Quaker. She attended Friends Central School, a private school in Pennsylvania.
It seems that she utilizes the Bible as a book that whispers to us the ancient religion. The one truth that makes up all reality. Our Spirit knows this ancient religion. We simply forget it as we are told the stories that program us when we arrive here as humans embodied.
The Use of the Word HE
Please know that although she uses the word “he” in a generic sense, it embraces all mankind, thus the feminine. This is how people wrote in the early 1900s.
A Little Bit About My Perspective & Experience With the Bible and Religion
I grew up questioning aspects of Christianity. In my family’s Apostolic Luthern Church. I was told I was born a sinner, just because I exist as a child of God. and that I must attend their church to be saved. As life on earth is short and eternity is eternal.
To make it even better my mother had me as a single woman. My dad was not part of my life after I was conceived. Thus there was something bad about me in general. And due to my Mother’s emotional issues my grandparents, the extreme religious people, raised me. So I got a lot of dark judgment experience. That was incongruent from what I could feel so strongly as Spirit.
The religious Ideas such as original sin, the unquestioning nature of the church, and the translation & compilation of the Bible. Plus the mambo jumbo I heard each Sunday. To me, there was so much hate. So much self-righteous hate that seems to have been justified by the Bible. Or at least people’s interpretation of it.
Was the Bible Edited as a Form of Propaganda?
And I have never understood how the Bible came together. And how we can completely trust that it was not edited as a form of propaganda to enslave mankind vs save them.
Although aside from my perspective on church and religion I felt deeply spiritual and connected to the infinite. And the Bible was connected to this.
I Will Not Forget How and Why My Family Became Christians in the First Place
Now I remembered, deep in my soul was the knowledge that my ancestors were forced to join my family’s church. The church that they were part of because of the abuse of our ancestors. The Sami in northern Scandinavia. Otherwise known as Laplanders. Which by the way (Laplander)is a derogatory term.
Yet there is a core in the Bible that I loved and that she highlights in her writing.
Now more about Florence:
Her Family
Florence was born in the 19th century in Camden, New Jersey, on September 24, 1871. She was a Libra. Her mother was Emily Hopkinson Scovel and her father was Alden Cortlandt Scovel, a lawyer. Florence’s great-great-grandfather was Francis Hopkinson, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Her Education
As a child she attended Friends Central School, a Quaker school that opened in 1845 and still going strong today. And then went Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA), this was the earliest institution to admit female students for study, even ahead of European schools during the mid-to late-1800s, in the art world. At PAFA she met her future husband, artist Everett Shinn there.
After Florence’s graduation from the Academy, she and Everett were married and then moved to New York City
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She Married & Moved to New York City
Florence and Everett moved to Greenwich Village in lower Manhattan to 112 Waverly Place. Their home was about a half block from Washington Square Park. The park honors George Washington (1732-1799), the first president of the United States, who was inaugurated in New York City.
There is a story that Florence actually inherited a lock of George Washington’s hair. Since her great great grandfather knew him (remember he was a signer of the Declaration of Independence).
I tried to find a video from the early 20th century of Washington Sq Park. I was only able to find this parade video at the Library of Commerce during the time that Florence lived there and her are some elderly firemen in a parade in 1903.
Everette Shinn
Everett was an impressionistic painter Here is a painting by him of Washington Square. Aside from being a rather successful artist Everett was interested in theatre. So much so that he built a theatre in the courtyard. He designed and built sets as well as writing plays. Florence often played the leading lady in his plays.
Florence Was a Book Illustrator
Flossie worked as a book illustrator. Thus she was an artist and an actress. Here are some of her illustrations (see video).
In 1912 Everetee asked for a divorce. They had been married for fourteen years. After the divorce, she moved to a large apartment on 5th Avenue overlooking central park. This is when she began her work as a metaphysical teacher and lecturer.
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Life in the Early 20th Century
While many aspects of everyday life are the same now as it was then. The culture was different back then compared to today, especially for women. For instance, women couldn’t have their own bank accounts. It wasn’t until the 1960s could a woman open their own account without a husband, and women did not have the federal right to vote until about the 1920s.
It seems as though Florence did just fine living as an independent woman.
Florence’s New Career
In 1912 when Florence was divorced she would have been about 41 years old. Her friend Ira Glackens was quoted to say “Little Flossie took some time to recover from the blow. And when she did she embarked on an entirely new career and seems never to have drawn again. She got religion but in a way all her own.”
Florence developed her personal spiritual philosophy and then wrote a book, The Game of Life and How to Play it. Since no one wanted to publish her first book. She published it herself.
As a teacher, she lectured 3 times a week at the new york unity society at that time located at 11 W 42nd street New York . She also sold her books there and after her lectures did treatments and interviews after the meetings. She also held counseling sessions out of her home.
She Was a Frienc of Emmett Fox
In London, Florence had met another metaphysician, Emmett Fox. Who would become a very well-known metaphysician in the New Thought community. When he arrived in America she invited him to teach her classes while she was on vacation. As an unknown many in attendance walked out on him, without even hearing what he had to say. I am sure Florence knew what he had to offer and that is why she presented him with this opportunity. And I am sure it was an opportunity for those that stuck around.
A woman who stayed had this to say ” He was so marvelous that the next week we went to the meeting very early for we felt there would be a crowd There was!
In a biography about the life of Emmet Fox it says:
“He (emmet) arrived in the US with a six-month Visa, but was eventually to stay for twenty years. His first break came when Florence Scovel Shinn, whom he had met in London, invited him to speak at her church while she was on vacation.
Of Florence Emmet said ”One secret of her success is she was always herself. Colloquial, informal, friendly, and humorous. She never sought to be literary, conventional, or impressive. .. she herself was very spiritual. Although this was usually hidden behind a matter-of-fact, and carefree treatment of her subject. The technical or academic approach was not for her. She taught by familiar, practical, and everyday examples.”
She Advertised in New Thought Magagzines
I found some classified ads in different new thought periodicals from that time. Here is an ad promoting her classes and books. And another her correspondence course.
She Left the 3D
She lived to the age of 69. Leaving the 3D Game of Life on Oct 17th of 1940. Ira Glackens said ‘ one day Flossie went into her living room sat down and died.
New Thought a Metaphysical Perspective
Florence’s writing is considered NEW THOUGHT. A belief system that holds that Infinite Intelligence, or God, is everywhere, Spirit is the totality of real things, and true human selfhood is divine,
When I imagine the world as it was for Florence she was surrounded by amazing open-minded people and living in a beautiful world. She spoke of God in a way that was useful and did not give people a feeling of hopelessness. Unlike the dread and fear my experience sitting in church gave me.
Supply
Many religious people, especially during the 1920s, believed People who were in poverty deserved it according. That the poor where were sinners. Bad people. They were in poverty due to their sin. If you are from a very old-school Christian family you know what that is like.
Florence dealt with poverty in a vastly different and healing way. “Many of my students have come out of the bondage of poverty, and are now bountifully supplied, through losing all fear of letting money go out. The subconscious is impressed with the truth that God is the Giver and Gift; therefore as one is one with the Giver, he is one with the Gift. A splendid statement is, “I now thank God
the Giver for God the Gift.”
She would say that “man comes into the world financed by God, “thus “the supply needed for his perfect self-expression will be at hand.”
My very Lutheran family thought that if things were not going well. If people were struggling financially that there was a moral reason. That God didn’t bless them. This just leads to hopelessness and issues of self-worth.
I now know that when things appear bad, That means amazing things are in the works. And this has played out for me every time.
Florence taught people to align with the energy of the universe in a different way.
The Birth of Quantum Physics
It is interesting to think that in the early 20th century at the time when Florence was doing her work in New York. Einstein and other Max Plank forward his controversial quantum theory, establishing a new science, called quantum physics.
In 1905 Einstein’s famous paper titled Special Theory of Relativity (1905), Quantum physics has shown that there is a connection between science and spirituality.
With that, I bid you farewell.
Join me as I share my spirit vlog navigating this 3D- world sifting and sorting our scrambled particles and becoming who we are. Reading metaphysical-based books, meditations, affirmations, my spirit vlog, and especially explore what many have begun to call the Law of attraction (LOA).
My perspective is simply that- MY PERSPECTIVE. These is my stories, my understanding, and my own deeply structured brain (that I have been on reprogramming and am still in process…..
I look forward to talking again soon.
Until then sending you Much love and appreciation,
Daisy Alexander
