Oahspe
Encyclopedia
Oahspe: A New Bible is a book published in 1882, purporting to contain "new revelations" from "...the Embassadors of the angel hosts of heaven prepared and revealed unto man in the name of Jehovih..." It was written by an American dentist, John Ballou Newbrough (1828–1891), who reported it to have been produced by automatic writing
, making it one of a number of 19th-century neo-revelationist works attributed to that practice. Adherents of the revelation expounded in Oahspe are referred to as "Faithists".
Oahspe comprises a series of related interior books chronicling earth and its heavenly administrations, as well as setting forth teachings for modern times. Included are over 100 drawings. The title page of Oahspe describes its contents with these words:
"Jehovih" is used in Oahspe as the name of the Creator and "God" is the title of the (at one-time mortal) spiritual ruler over Earth. Beyond the one-time mortal God of Earth is the Ever Present, called by various names such as Jehovih the Great Spirit. "But whoever from now on hears my word and the decree of my commandment and continues to make an idol of any name except the Great Spirit, blasphemes against his Creator."
The Oahspe has been stated as being the first known reference to the term "starship".
Dr. Newbrough had started writing the book in 1880 and stated that the writing was done automatically; he had been a spiritualist
since the early 1870s. Not all details about his automatic writing are clear; an article in The New York Times
has him explain that, feeling the urge to write, he sat down with pen and paper until a bright light enveloped his fingers and they started writing. Moreover, the text contains symbols resembling hieroglyphs
, presumably drawn. However, in a leaflet accompanying the book (such as it was received in New Zealand in 1895), Newbrough claims it was written using a typewriter.
The first presentation of the book took place on 20 October 1882 in Newbrough's house, at 128 West 34th Street in New York City, where he presented the "new bible," "a large quarto volume of over 900 pages," to a group of people. Newbrough claimed that the book was not a sacred text per se, but rather a history of religions going back 24,000 years; Newbrough did not claim any knowledge of ancient religions. He published the book with the financial assistance, he claims, of a number of unnamed contributors.
obelisk in Central Park
. Ward was present at Oahspes first presentation, as was Dr. Cetliniski, an Oriental scholar, who affirmed that mere mortals could not have produced such a book and that "supernatural agents" must have been responsible.
The first reporter on the book, writing for The New York Times, compared the book's content to a revised fusion of Indian and Semitic religions, and said its style was "in one place modern, and in another ancient, and the English of the King James version of the Christian bible is mixed in with the English of today's."
According to Oahspe, when mortals die their spirits continue to live, regardless of who they worshiped, or even whether they disbelieved in an afterlife. The spirit realm becomes their new home, which is called heaven, and the individual spirit is called an angel. There are unorganized heavens close to or on the earth. Also starting there - and linking to the highest heavens - are the organized heavens. Both types of heavens are accessible to mortals. If a portion of heaven lives in anarchy and delights in evil, that portion is called hell.
An angel must subsist for a season after death somewhere along a continuum of delightful to abysmally wretched conditions. The heavenly place where angels initially live is determined by what their habits were as mortals; as well as by their aspirations and diet. Selfish behavior, low thoughts, or eating animal derived food will place a newborn angel in the lowest level, being on the earth. Evil oriented persons enter heaven into hellish conditions. Nevertheless, all in descension eventually turn around and ascend upward to more delightful places within an organized heaven, whose chief is called God. God is an advanced angel ordained into office for a season.
The morphologically plural name Elohim
, often translated as god-singular in the Old Testament, is not used to mean the Creator throughout the main body of Oahspe; the singular Hebrew terms "Jehovih" (SHD 3069) and "Eloih" are used instead.
The first few books of Oahspe lay the groundwork for understanding the nature of the work. This merges into a concise history taking the reader up to the present time, the new era. Separate from the history books are a series of books intended to illume for the reader the requirements of humanity for this day and age.
An interesting graphological characteristic of Oahspe is that a number of its sub-books are printed on pages divided in two, top to bottom. In these, the top half of the page contains a narrative of celestial events, while the bottom half describes the corresponding events on Earth.
), living a life of virtue
, and service to others.
principles. The suffix ISM in Faith-ism is defined meaning adherence or following an ideology. The Book of Inspiration in the Oahspe states "I will have no sect. I will have no creed".
Oahspe gives many details regarding an alleged large continent called Pan or Whaga that once filled much of the Pacific Ocean. It also puts forward views on the causes of rapid loss or gain of fertility upon the earth. The largest of the Books are Book of Eskra, the recent history according to the Oahspe, and the Book of God's Word which teaches the record of Zarathustra.
Oahspe presents many illustrations of symbols said to be of ancient languages and of rites and ceremonies. It states the concept that there was an original language called Pan or the Panic Language, meaning "Earth Language," which originated from the ability of humans to mimic sounds. Its Book of Saphah has details on the claimed meanings and roots of many of the ancient words, symbols and ceremonies.
Oahspe contains chronologically-ordered accounts that are cosmological
revelation
s concerning the evolution
of humanity from approximately 78,000 years ago. This includes a narrative of the genesis of life on earth, from its start as a planet being formed from its beginnings as a comet, to its first life-forms and finally to the appearance of the human race and its progression from beast to spiritual maturity.
Oahspe explains physical science as having its basis in subtler realms (which include spiritual forces), and then how to predict from them. Oahspe devotes an entire interior book to the subject, called the Book of Cosmogony and Prophecy, but a general overview can be read in the Book of Jehovih. Also, many examples and edifications are sprinkled throughout Oahspe. Other related subjects include physics and an integrating treatment of gravity, light, electricity, magnetism, and heat.
The text describes cyclical events that occur within a range of greater and smaller cycles. For instance, according to Oahspe, the earth is traveling with the sun and its planets through regions of space in a large circuit of 4,700,000 years, which is divided into sections of 3,000 years average, which also occur within larger cycles of 24,000 years and 72,000 years, and so on. Each of these regions has variations in density and other qualities, and so, engender varying conditions that the Earth encounters. Also, explanation is given as to the rise and fall of civilizations.
The various regions mentioned in the previous Cycles section, are under the administration of spiritual or "etherean" beings with titles such as "God" and "Chief" and whose ranks and ages vary in ascending grade, from tens of thousands of years to hundreds of thousands of years old and older. Their dominions cover vast distances and include many spiritual and corporeal worlds of various grades and densities.
These chief officers are designated "Sons and Daughters of Jehovih," and in accordance, the text of Oahspe contains separate sections or "books" such as the Book of Cpenta-Armij, Daughter of Jehovih, and also includes familiar names from non-Abrahamic religions
, as in the Book of Apollo and Book of Thor, named as Sons of Jehovih.
Each of these Chiefs, Chieftainesses, Gods and Goddesses are only advanced angels according to Oahspe. And every angel, regardless of rank or office, was once a mortal, either from this planet earth or from some other planet in the universe.
reported in 1883 of secret initiations and sermons being held in Utah Hall (25th Street and 8th Avenue). A first colony based on the book's principles was founded in 1882 in Woodside Township, New Jersey
, but it folded quickly, as did another in New York State
.
Of the colonies founded on the basis of Oahspe, the most notable was the Shalam Colony in Las Cruces, New Mexico, in 1884, of which John Newbrough was a founding member. According to The New York Times, Faithists had also tried to buy up land in Virginia and West Virginia, and were regarded by Southerners with great suspicion. The purported colonies were places where foundlings and orphans were to be brought up communally, to "give them better opportunities for marital selection." While the movement originated in New York, they had only a small following there, and according to The New York Times, "They have given no intelligible idea of what they want or seek to accomplish."
One such group today is the Universal Faithists of Kosmon (Colorado and California), whose teachings include the virtue of unified group efforts to achieve good works. This group also publishes an 1891 Oahspe edition in paperback format.
In the United States of America other existing Faithist organizations include:
Outside of the United States:
Past Faithist organizations include:
, in 1884, as a commune in which members would live peaceful, vegetarian lifestyles, and where orphaned urban children were to be raised. The commune was decided upon after a convention in November 1883, and was founded with the financial help of Andrew Howland. Members spent the first winter in adobe
huts, and in 1885 began building a 42-room central building, the Fraternum. Children were "'gathered-up' from foundling homes, handed over by police sergeants, and left in Faithist depositories"; Newbrough and his wife traveled to Kansas City
, San Francisco, New Orleans, and Chicago
and gathered fifty children. The 20-room Children's House was constructed in 1890; by all accounts, the children, from all races, were pampered and treated with love and kindness.
The Shalam Colony managed to attract membership from all over the United States, though one such member filed suit in 1891 with the New Mexico Supreme Court
, claiming that the commune fell short of its promises; the suit caused great hilarity in the courtroom, where Judge Freeman made fun of Faithism in metaphor and ridicule, as reported by The Central Law Journal. By the time Newbrough died (on 22 April 1891, of influenza
), the colony consisted of the Fraternum, the Children's House, and a church and other buildings. A second type of colony was built a half a mile away from Shalam; called Levitica, it was founded for the "Leviticans," a class of people halfway between the enlightened "Kosmon" people of Shalam and the normal people of the world. Levitica was designed in a less communal fashion, and inhabitants could live in more isolated homes.
Apparently, the colony was not a viable financial enterprise, due to the repeated failure of crops, the lack of markets for the crops they did produce, and the frequent flooding of the Rio Grande
; Newbrough's wife, Francis van de Water Sweet, had married Howland in 1893 "to put an end to malicious gossip" but the cost of maintaining the colony proved too high. In 1901, the colony folded, and the children were sent to orphanages in Dallas and Denver.
The 1891 Oahspe Edition was published in various printings from 1891 to the present. The 1891 edition has been published by Kosmon Press, United Kingdom, since 1910, but with some British spellings such as colour instead of color. In America, E. Wing Anderson and his group, the Essenes of Kosmon, published the 1891 Oahspe edition in several printings from the 1935 printing up to the 1955 printing.
The 1998 Edition of Oahspe Co-authored by David A. Cardone is a reprint of the 1891 edition. It is called the angel cover edition. A 2009 edition (doctrinal books) OAHSPE Seven Books of Spiritual Wisdom is also co-authored by David A Cardone and has the same angel cover. OAHSPE Seven Books of Spiritual Wisdom Oahspe is Sky-Earth-Spirit
The latest edition goes back to the 1882 version. In late 2009, the Oahspe - Raymond A. Palmer
Edition (two volumes of 1250 pages), includes pencil drawings that Newbourgh did as well as the original color paintings of the Prophets.
, in a log cabin. His father, William Newbrough, was an Englishman who had attended William and Mary College; his mother, Elizabeth Polsky, was Swiss and attracted to spiritualism
. Their son was named for the universalist clergyman Hosea Ballou
. Newbrough's father was a stern man, flogging his son when the latter "began to receive spirit messages"; his schooling (he went to high school in Cleveland) were paid for by his mother and him selling wool and eggs. He graduated from Cincinnati Medical College
, but being highly sensitive to pain and suffering he chose dentistry
, setting up practice first in Dayton
, then Cincinnati, and then New York City
. He ran into trouble with the Goodyear Rubber Company after he developed a much cheaper compound to set teeth in dental plates than the one produced by Goodyear, which dominated the market. He was sued for patent infringement, but when the verdict was handed down in his favor, after he had supposedly consulted with spirits who visited him at dawn, he saw that as confirmation of his spiritual future.
Automatic writing
Automatic writing or psychography is writing which the writer states to be produced from a subconscious and/or spiritual source without conscious awareness of the content.-History:...
, making it one of a number of 19th-century neo-revelationist works attributed to that practice. Adherents of the revelation expounded in Oahspe are referred to as "Faithists".
Oahspe comprises a series of related interior books chronicling earth and its heavenly administrations, as well as setting forth teachings for modern times. Included are over 100 drawings. The title page of Oahspe describes its contents with these words:
A New Bible in the Words of Jehovih and His Angel Ambassadors. A Sacred History of the Dominions of the Higher and Lower Heavens on the Earth for the Past Twenty-Four Thousand Years together with a Synopsis of the Cosmogony of the Universe; the Creation of Planets; the Creation of Man; the Unseen Worlds; the Labor and Glory of Gods and Goddesses in the Etherean Heavens; with the New Commandments of Jehovih to Man of the Present Day.
"Jehovih" is used in Oahspe as the name of the Creator and "God" is the title of the (at one-time mortal) spiritual ruler over Earth. Beyond the one-time mortal God of Earth is the Ever Present, called by various names such as Jehovih the Great Spirit. "But whoever from now on hears my word and the decree of my commandment and continues to make an idol of any name except the Great Spirit, blasphemes against his Creator."
The Oahspe has been stated as being the first known reference to the term "starship".
Oahspe's genesis and first presentation
Oahspe (the word means "sky, earth (corpor) and spirit. The all; the sum of corporeal and spiritual knowledge as at present," according to the 1882 edition) was published in 1882.Dr. Newbrough had started writing the book in 1880 and stated that the writing was done automatically; he had been a spiritualist
Spiritualism
Spiritualism is a belief system or religion, postulating the belief that spirits of the dead residing in the spirit world have both the ability and the inclination to communicate with the living...
since the early 1870s. Not all details about his automatic writing are clear; an article in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
has him explain that, feeling the urge to write, he sat down with pen and paper until a bright light enveloped his fingers and they started writing. Moreover, the text contains symbols resembling hieroglyphs
Hieroglyphs
Hieroglyph or hieroglyphics may refer to:*Anatolian hieroglyphs*Chinese character*Cretan hieroglyphs*Cursive hieroglyphs*Dongba script*Egyptian hieroglyphs*Hieroglyphic Luwian*Mayan hieroglyphs...
, presumably drawn. However, in a leaflet accompanying the book (such as it was received in New Zealand in 1895), Newbrough claims it was written using a typewriter.
The first presentation of the book took place on 20 October 1882 in Newbrough's house, at 128 West 34th Street in New York City, where he presented the "new bible," "a large quarto volume of over 900 pages," to a group of people. Newbrough claimed that the book was not a sacred text per se, but rather a history of religions going back 24,000 years; Newbrough did not claim any knowledge of ancient religions. He published the book with the financial assistance, he claims, of a number of unnamed contributors.
Style and language
The manuscript, as it was originally presented in 1882, contained hieroglyphs, whose resemblance to real Egyptian hieroglyphs was attested to by Prof. Thomas A.M. Ward, who claimed to have deciphered the hieroglyphics on the Cleopatra's NeedleCleopatra's Needle
Cleopatra's Needle is the popular name for each of three Ancient Egyptian obelisks re-erected in London, Paris, and New York City during the nineteenth century. The London and New York ones are a pair, while the Paris one comes from a different original site where its twin remains...
obelisk in Central Park
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
. Ward was present at Oahspes first presentation, as was Dr. Cetliniski, an Oriental scholar, who affirmed that mere mortals could not have produced such a book and that "supernatural agents" must have been responsible.
The first reporter on the book, writing for The New York Times, compared the book's content to a revised fusion of Indian and Semitic religions, and said its style was "in one place modern, and in another ancient, and the English of the King James version of the Christian bible is mixed in with the English of today's."
Basic teachings
Oahspe emphasized service to others; each person is graded according to service to others. Each individual, group and nation is either in ascension or descension; sooner or later, all ascend, rising in grade. The higher one's grade, the better are the conditions within one's own soul, and the better the place awaiting one in heaven.According to Oahspe, when mortals die their spirits continue to live, regardless of who they worshiped, or even whether they disbelieved in an afterlife. The spirit realm becomes their new home, which is called heaven, and the individual spirit is called an angel. There are unorganized heavens close to or on the earth. Also starting there - and linking to the highest heavens - are the organized heavens. Both types of heavens are accessible to mortals. If a portion of heaven lives in anarchy and delights in evil, that portion is called hell.
An angel must subsist for a season after death somewhere along a continuum of delightful to abysmally wretched conditions. The heavenly place where angels initially live is determined by what their habits were as mortals; as well as by their aspirations and diet. Selfish behavior, low thoughts, or eating animal derived food will place a newborn angel in the lowest level, being on the earth. Evil oriented persons enter heaven into hellish conditions. Nevertheless, all in descension eventually turn around and ascend upward to more delightful places within an organized heaven, whose chief is called God. God is an advanced angel ordained into office for a season.
The morphologically plural name Elohim
Elohim
Elohim is a grammatically singular or plural noun for "god" or "gods" in both modern and ancient Hebrew language. When used with singular verbs and adjectives elohim is usually singular, "god" or especially, the God. When used with plural verbs and adjectives elohim is usually plural, "gods" or...
, often translated as god-singular in the Old Testament, is not used to mean the Creator throughout the main body of Oahspe; the singular Hebrew terms "Jehovih" (SHD 3069) and "Eloih" are used instead.
Arrangement of Oahspe
According to Oahspe, the history of humankind is marked by a series of progressions. These lessons come in cycles: advancement followed by recession, being in turn succeeded by other cycles of improvement and regression. Cycles exist within cycles, but one important cycle, used in improving the grade of humanity, is a 3000 year cycle (average), and it is this cycle around which the books in Oahspe are organized.The first few books of Oahspe lay the groundwork for understanding the nature of the work. This merges into a concise history taking the reader up to the present time, the new era. Separate from the history books are a series of books intended to illume for the reader the requirements of humanity for this day and age.
An interesting graphological characteristic of Oahspe is that a number of its sub-books are printed on pages divided in two, top to bottom. In these, the top half of the page contains a narrative of celestial events, while the bottom half describes the corresponding events on Earth.
Doctrines
Oahspe includes doctrinal books, and precepts for behavior can be found throughout its many books. Freedom and responsibility are two themes reiterated throughout the text of Oahspe. Some core doctrines include an herbivorous diet (vegan, vegetable food only), peaceful living (no warring or violence; pacifismPacifism
Pacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...
), living a life of virtue
Virtue
Virtue is moral excellence. A virtue is a positive trait or quality subjectively deemed to be morally excellent and thus is valued as a foundation of principle and good moral being....
, and service to others.
Ethics
Oahspe exhibits great interest in understanding and applying general ethicalEthics
Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime, etc.Major branches of ethics include:...
principles. The suffix ISM in Faith-ism is defined meaning adherence or following an ideology. The Book of Inspiration in the Oahspe states "I will have no sect. I will have no creed".
Religion
Oahspe speaks of the need for all religions to help the various nations and peoples to rise upward. It also speaks of what it calls "the religion of Gods themselves," in which its adherents have no need for intermediaries such as are Saviors and Idols, but who commune directly with the Creator of all.History
Oahspe purports to describe events in the spirit realms and their corresponding influence on events in the physical world starting from approximately 72,000 years ago and its believers think that its revelations also provide missing details of ancient historical accounts regarding the origins of earth's major religions.Geology and Archeology
Oahspe gives many details regarding an alleged large continent called Pan or Whaga that once filled much of the Pacific Ocean. It also puts forward views on the causes of rapid loss or gain of fertility upon the earth. The largest of the Books are Book of Eskra, the recent history according to the Oahspe, and the Book of God's Word which teaches the record of Zarathustra.
Language and linguistics
Oahspe presents many illustrations of symbols said to be of ancient languages and of rites and ceremonies. It states the concept that there was an original language called Pan or the Panic Language, meaning "Earth Language," which originated from the ability of humans to mimic sounds. Its Book of Saphah has details on the claimed meanings and roots of many of the ancient words, symbols and ceremonies.
Evolution or progress
Oahspe contains chronologically-ordered accounts that are cosmological
Esoteric cosmology
Esoteric cosmology is cosmology that is an intrinsic part of an esoteric or occult system of thought. It almost always deals with at least some of the following themes: emanation, involution, spiritual evolution, epigenesis, planes of existence or higher worlds , hierarchies of spiritual beings,...
revelation
Revelation
In religion and theology, revelation is the revealing or disclosing, through active or passive communication with a supernatural or a divine entity...
s concerning the evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
of humanity from approximately 78,000 years ago. This includes a narrative of the genesis of life on earth, from its start as a planet being formed from its beginnings as a comet, to its first life-forms and finally to the appearance of the human race and its progression from beast to spiritual maturity.
Cosmogony
Oahspe explains physical science as having its basis in subtler realms (which include spiritual forces), and then how to predict from them. Oahspe devotes an entire interior book to the subject, called the Book of Cosmogony and Prophecy, but a general overview can be read in the Book of Jehovih. Also, many examples and edifications are sprinkled throughout Oahspe. Other related subjects include physics and an integrating treatment of gravity, light, electricity, magnetism, and heat.
Cycles
The text describes cyclical events that occur within a range of greater and smaller cycles. For instance, according to Oahspe, the earth is traveling with the sun and its planets through regions of space in a large circuit of 4,700,000 years, which is divided into sections of 3,000 years average, which also occur within larger cycles of 24,000 years and 72,000 years, and so on. Each of these regions has variations in density and other qualities, and so, engender varying conditions that the Earth encounters. Also, explanation is given as to the rise and fall of civilizations.
Administration
The various regions mentioned in the previous Cycles section, are under the administration of spiritual or "etherean" beings with titles such as "God" and "Chief" and whose ranks and ages vary in ascending grade, from tens of thousands of years to hundreds of thousands of years old and older. Their dominions cover vast distances and include many spiritual and corporeal worlds of various grades and densities.
These chief officers are designated "Sons and Daughters of Jehovih," and in accordance, the text of Oahspe contains separate sections or "books" such as the Book of Cpenta-Armij, Daughter of Jehovih, and also includes familiar names from non-Abrahamic religions
Abrahamic religions
Abrahamic religions are the monotheistic faiths emphasizing and tracing their common origin to Abraham or recognizing a spiritual tradition identified with him...
, as in the Book of Apollo and Book of Thor, named as Sons of Jehovih.
Each of these Chiefs, Chieftainesses, Gods and Goddesses are only advanced angels according to Oahspe. And every angel, regardless of rank or office, was once a mortal, either from this planet earth or from some other planet in the universe.
Faithism
Soon after its publication, a number of groups formed in response to Oahspe. In New York City, the Oahspe Faithists were organized; The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
reported in 1883 of secret initiations and sermons being held in Utah Hall (25th Street and 8th Avenue). A first colony based on the book's principles was founded in 1882 in Woodside Township, New Jersey
Woodside Township, New Jersey
Woodside was a township that existed in Essex County, New Jersey, United States, from 1869 to 1871. Woodside was incorporated as a township by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 24, 1869, from portions of Belleville Township...
, but it folded quickly, as did another in New York State
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
.
Of the colonies founded on the basis of Oahspe, the most notable was the Shalam Colony in Las Cruces, New Mexico, in 1884, of which John Newbrough was a founding member. According to The New York Times, Faithists had also tried to buy up land in Virginia and West Virginia, and were regarded by Southerners with great suspicion. The purported colonies were places where foundlings and orphans were to be brought up communally, to "give them better opportunities for marital selection." While the movement originated in New York, they had only a small following there, and according to The New York Times, "They have given no intelligible idea of what they want or seek to accomplish."
One such group today is the Universal Faithists of Kosmon (Colorado and California), whose teachings include the virtue of unified group efforts to achieve good works. This group also publishes an 1891 Oahspe edition in paperback format.
In the United States of America other existing Faithist organizations include:
- the Restoration Faithists (of the New York area).
- The Eloists (headquartered in the New England region).
Outside of the United States:
- The Kosmon Church, in the United Kingdom.
- The Oahspe Stichting, in the Netherlands.
Past Faithist organizations include:
- the Universal Brotherhood of Faithists in Tiger, Georgia;
- the Essenes of Kosmon (who lived in communities in Colorado around the 1940s and 1950s);
- The Confraternity of Faithists and Kosmon Church in the U.K.
Land of Shalam
The Shalam Colony, or Land of Shalam, was formed in Las Cruces, New MexicoLas Cruces, New Mexico
Las Cruces, also known as "The City of the Crosses", is the county seat of Doña Ana County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 97,618 in 2010 according to the 2010 Census, making it the second largest city in the state....
, in 1884, as a commune in which members would live peaceful, vegetarian lifestyles, and where orphaned urban children were to be raised. The commune was decided upon after a convention in November 1883, and was founded with the financial help of Andrew Howland. Members spent the first winter in adobe
Adobe
Adobe is a natural building material made from sand, clay, water, and some kind of fibrous or organic material , which the builders shape into bricks using frames and dry in the sun. Adobe buildings are similar to cob and mudbrick buildings. Adobe structures are extremely durable, and account for...
huts, and in 1885 began building a 42-room central building, the Fraternum. Children were "'gathered-up' from foundling homes, handed over by police sergeants, and left in Faithist depositories"; Newbrough and his wife traveled to Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, San Francisco, New Orleans, and Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
and gathered fifty children. The 20-room Children's House was constructed in 1890; by all accounts, the children, from all races, were pampered and treated with love and kindness.
The Shalam Colony managed to attract membership from all over the United States, though one such member filed suit in 1891 with the New Mexico Supreme Court
New Mexico Supreme Court
The New Mexico Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is established and its powers defined by Article VI of the New Mexico Constitution...
, claiming that the commune fell short of its promises; the suit caused great hilarity in the courtroom, where Judge Freeman made fun of Faithism in metaphor and ridicule, as reported by The Central Law Journal. By the time Newbrough died (on 22 April 1891, of influenza
Influenza
Influenza, commonly referred to as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by RNA viruses of the family Orthomyxoviridae , that affects birds and mammals...
), the colony consisted of the Fraternum, the Children's House, and a church and other buildings. A second type of colony was built a half a mile away from Shalam; called Levitica, it was founded for the "Leviticans," a class of people halfway between the enlightened "Kosmon" people of Shalam and the normal people of the world. Levitica was designed in a less communal fashion, and inhabitants could live in more isolated homes.
Apparently, the colony was not a viable financial enterprise, due to the repeated failure of crops, the lack of markets for the crops they did produce, and the frequent flooding of the Rio Grande
Rio Grande
The Rio Grande is a river that flows from southwestern Colorado in the United States to the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way it forms part of the Mexico – United States border. Its length varies as its course changes...
; Newbrough's wife, Francis van de Water Sweet, had married Howland in 1893 "to put an end to malicious gossip" but the cost of maintaining the colony proved too high. In 1901, the colony folded, and the children were sent to orphanages in Dallas and Denver.
Related publications
Numerous publications have been inspired by Oahspe, incorporating text and ideas from it, as well as reinterpretations, condensed and abridged versions. Many of these publications were from: The Essenes of Kosmon, Montrose, Colorado; Kosmon Press, London; Palmer Publications, Amherst, Wisconsin; Universal Faithists of Kosmon, Salt Lake City, Utah; Kosmon Publishing Inc., Kingman, Arizona; The Eloists, Massachusetts; Four Winds Village, Tiger, Georgia.Editions
Oahspe has been published in three editions in the U.S.A.; all other complete publications are either reprints or minor modifications of these. The first edition was edited and in 1882 published by John Newbrough. The second was also edited by Newbrough but not published until after his death in the spring of 1891. The third edition, was edited by Wing Anderson in 1912.Publishing chronology
The 1882 Oahspe edition was available until the 1891 edition appeared, except for an apparently 1912 London edition, which combined 1882 body text with 1891 front matter and image captions. In the USA, the 1882 edition had not been republished until 1960, after Ray Palmer of Palmer Publications found an 1888 Oahspe edition, by that time rare. He photocopied it and inserted from the 1891 edition, the Book of Discipline, which was not in the 1882 edition; also the 1891 index was adjusted for page numbers and inserted into the 1882 photocopy edition.The 1891 Oahspe Edition was published in various printings from 1891 to the present. The 1891 edition has been published by Kosmon Press, United Kingdom, since 1910, but with some British spellings such as colour instead of color. In America, E. Wing Anderson and his group, the Essenes of Kosmon, published the 1891 Oahspe edition in several printings from the 1935 printing up to the 1955 printing.
The 1998 Edition of Oahspe Co-authored by David A. Cardone is a reprint of the 1891 edition. It is called the angel cover edition. A 2009 edition (doctrinal books) OAHSPE Seven Books of Spiritual Wisdom is also co-authored by David A Cardone and has the same angel cover. OAHSPE Seven Books of Spiritual Wisdom Oahspe is Sky-Earth-Spirit
The latest edition goes back to the 1882 version. In late 2009, the Oahspe - Raymond A. Palmer
Raymond A. Palmer
Raymond Arthur Palmer was the influential editor of Amazing Stories from 1938 through 1949, when he left publisher Ziff-Davis to publish and edit Fate Magazine, and eventually many other magazines and books through his own publishing houses, including Amherst Press and Palmer Publications...
Edition (two volumes of 1250 pages), includes pencil drawings that Newbourgh did as well as the original color paintings of the Prophets.
Biography of Dr. John Newbrough
John Ballou Newbrough was born on 5 June 1828 near Mohicanville, OhioAshland County, Ohio
Ashland County is a county located in the state of Ohio, United States, and was formed in 1846 from parts of Huron, Lorain, Richland and Wayne Counties. As of the 2010 census, the population was 53,139. Its county seat is Ashland...
, in a log cabin. His father, William Newbrough, was an Englishman who had attended William and Mary College; his mother, Elizabeth Polsky, was Swiss and attracted to spiritualism
Spiritualism
Spiritualism is a belief system or religion, postulating the belief that spirits of the dead residing in the spirit world have both the ability and the inclination to communicate with the living...
. Their son was named for the universalist clergyman Hosea Ballou
Hosea Ballou
Hosea Ballou was an American Universalist clergyman and theological writer.-Biography:Hosea Ballou was born in Richmond, New Hampshire, to a family of Huguenot origin...
. Newbrough's father was a stern man, flogging his son when the latter "began to receive spirit messages"; his schooling (he went to high school in Cleveland) were paid for by his mother and him selling wool and eggs. He graduated from Cincinnati Medical College
University of Cincinnati
The University of Cincinnati is a comprehensive public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, and a part of the University System of Ohio....
, but being highly sensitive to pain and suffering he chose dentistry
Dentistry
Dentistry is the branch of medicine that is involved in the study, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of diseases, disorders and conditions of the oral cavity, maxillofacial area and the adjacent and associated structures and their impact on the human body. Dentistry is widely considered...
, setting up practice first in Dayton
Dayton
Dayton is a city in Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, Ohio, United States.Dayton may also refer to:-United States:*Dayton, Alabama*Dayton, California, in Butte County*Dayton, Lassen County, California*Dayton, Idaho*Dayton, Indiana...
, then Cincinnati, and then New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. He ran into trouble with the Goodyear Rubber Company after he developed a much cheaper compound to set teeth in dental plates than the one produced by Goodyear, which dominated the market. He was sued for patent infringement, but when the verdict was handed down in his favor, after he had supposedly consulted with spirits who visited him at dawn, he saw that as confirmation of his spiritual future.
External links
- A 1891 Version of the Oahspe
- A 1912 Oahspe edition containing 1891 front material and image captions, and 1882 body text, at the Internet Sacred Text ArchiveInternet Sacred Text ArchiveThe Internet Sacred Text Archive is a website dedicated to the preservation of electronic public domain texts, specifically those with significant cultural value...
- Pamphlet on the Origin of Oahspe (sacred-texts.com)
- Information about the Shalam Colony, a utopian community founded by Oahspe faithists