Psychiana
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A religious movement created in 1928 by Frank Bruce Robinson (1886-1948), with headquarters in Moscow, Idaho.
Psychiana began and largely remained a mail-order enterprise, recruiting people through advertising in popular magazines and through direct mail solicitations. The first advertisement for Psychiana, which Robinson himself penned and peddled around to local publishers in Spokane, WA in 1929, featured a picture of Robinson and with the headline, "I TALKED WITH GOD (yes I did, actually and literally)." Those who expressed an interest in Robinson's promises of health, wealth, and happiness by responding to one of his ads were offered a series of bi-weekly "lessons" by mail on a subscription plan. Robinson used Psychiana's printing presses to start a small publishing company, which also published many of his own books on various spiritual themes, as well as Robinson's memoir, The Strange Autobiography of Frank B. Robinson.
Thematically, Robinson's ideas as expressed in Psychiana grew out of the metaphysical tradition and can be classified under the New Thought umbrella. Robinson adopted concepts such as affirmations, positive thinking, and mental healing into Psychiana's lessons and emphasized health and material prosperity as possible rewards for dedicated and hardworking Psychiana students. Robinson said that the name he chose, "Psychiana," came to him in a dream. He unabashedly referred to himself as a prophet, and envisioned his movement as becoming a worldwide, revolutionary spiritual force; at the same time, he made little effort to establish any kind of organizational structure beyond his headquarters office in Idaho, preferring to keep the operation strictly on a correspondence level.
Psychiana burgeoned during the Great Depression, but Robinson offended many of his contemporaries, not only by the "businesslike" nature of Psychiana, but also with his harsh criticisms of conventional Christianity. Deportation proceedings were initiated against him in a federal court in Idaho, his opponents claiming that he was a foreign national illegally residing in the United States. During the trial, Robinson contended that although he had been raised in England, he had been born in New York City while his father was visiting the U.S., and was therefore a U.S. citizen. Nonetheless he was ordered to leave the country. Robinson traveled to Cuba, where he stayed briefly while Idaho Senator William Borah intervened on his behalf and helped him to obtain a visa. Robinson was soon back in Idaho and became a naturalized citizen in 1942.
Upon Robinson's death in 1948, Psychiana's operations were taken over by his wife, Pearl, and son, Alfred; however, its success was so closely associated with Robinson and his personal style that it failed to survive for more than a few years after his demise.
Sources:
Black, John. Psychiana : the media religion.
Braden, Charles. These also believe : a study of modern American cults & minority religious movements. New York : Macmillan Co., 1949.
Monroe, Julie. Moscow : living and learning on the Palouse. Charleston, SC : Arcadia, 2003.
Robinson, Frank B. The strange autobiography of Frank B. Robinson. Moscow, Idaho : Psychiana, Inc., 1941.
