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Periodical: The Spirit Messenger

Summary: From Pat Deveney's database:

Spirit Messenger, The.
A Weekly / Semi-Monthly Magazine Devoted to Spiritual Science, the Elucidation of Truth, and the Progress of Mind.
Brethren, fear Not: for Error is mortal and cannot live, and Truth is immortal and cannot die
Other titles: The Spirit Messenger and Harmonial Guide / The Spirit Messenger and Harmonial Advocate
1850–1853 Weekly, then semimonthly, then (May 1, 1852) weekly again
Springfield, MA, and then New York, NY. Publisher: R.P. Ambler. Editor: R.P. Ambler (with Apollos Munn until January 16, 1851) and Frances H. (Fanny) Green; then with the issue of May 15, 1852: "Edited by the Spirits of the Sixth Circle, R.P. Ambler, medium"; with issue of August 13, 1852, Ambler again took control. Succeeded by: The Spirit Messenger and Harmonial Guide-->The Spirit Messenger and Harmonial Advocate-->The Journal of Progress-->The Reformer-->The Messenger of Light

1/1, August 10, 1850-April 1853. 4-32 pp., 6 1/2 x 10. $1.00 a year. Illustrated (sheet music, composed by the spirits). With volume two (August 9, 1851) the journal changed its title to The Spirit Messenger and Harmonial Guide, and in October 1851 moved its offices to New York. In May 1852, the journal again resumed the title of Spirit Messenger and at the same time began another volume two, and on October 16, 1852, the journal adopted the title Spirit Messenger and Harmonial Advocate, restarting the numbering at volume 1. The journal ended with number 26, April 9, 1853. Originally, the journal attracted the talented group of Harmonialists who earlier had animated The Univercoelum and Spiritual Philosopher and had broken up over Andrew Jackson Davis's affair with a married woman. The journal carried articles by Ambler, Frances H. (Fanny) Green, Hon. John W. Edmonds, Thomas Lake Harris, George Lippard ("The Poor Man"), Andrew Jackson Davis ("The Origin of the Devil"), J.K. Ingalls, and others. Ambler was a Universalist minister who was converted to spiritualism by the phenomena of the Fox Sisters (he acted as advance lecturer on their tours in early 1850), and returned to the pulpit in later years, disillusioned with spiritualism. Apollos Munn (1816-1851), Ambler's original co-editor, resigned in January 1851 and died later the same year--though he continued to further the cause by appearing at seances after his death. Munn was a printer and newspaper publisher who was converted to spiritualism when a medium told him that the spirit of his sister "Lois" wanted to communicate. He scoffed and left, only to learn later from his mother that his dead sister's real name was Lois. His departure left Russell Perkins Ambler (1826-1908) to run the journal alone. Ambler did not have a head for business or, indeed, for rational discourse. He was the principal medium of the journal and increasingly lost control of his facilities to the spirits who spoke through him, and filled its pages with their communications. By May 1852, after a lapse in publication, Ambler had been replaced as editor by the "Spirits of the Sixth Circle" acting directly, and the pages per issue halved to save money. Initially the revived journal continued to devote itself almost exclusively to communications from the Spirits of the Sixth Circle (or, variously, from the Second Sphere) who communicated through Ambler and stressed that their principal purpose was the reform of renegade society. The journal soon lapsed again, and with the issue of August 13, 1852, Ambler again took editorial control in his own name, explaining that he had been overwhelmed by the spirits (who would, he said, thenceforth pour out their teachings, in books rather than in the magazine) and assured readers that the spirits had promised that the journal would last a year at least. It did not, and ceased with the issue of October 1, 1852, only to be revived as a weekly at $2.00 a year under the name Spirit Messenger and Harmonial Advocate, and in variants of this guise it lasted until April 1853. The rump of the journal was taken up in turn by The Journal of Progress, which was taken over by The Reformer, which was taken over by The Messenger of Light. A fair judgment on the journal was given by the Swedenborgian George Bush, in The New Church Repository and Monthly Review (December 1852): 546. In writing on "Pseudo-Spiritualism" Bush says that "Whole volumes of such sickly stuff . . . have doubtless been indited within the last three years . . . . If any one would see it in its perfection, let him consult the 'Spiritual Messenger' of R.P. Ambler, whose pages are a model on the score of diluted inanity." The Spirits of the Sixth Circle fulfilled their promise of inspiring books, and Ambler published a condensed version of their teachings, automatically written through him, as The Spiritual Teacher; comprising a Series of Twelve Lectures on the Nature and Development of the Spirit. Written by Spirits of the Sixth circle (New York July 1852). NYPL; LOC; Boston Athenaeum; Harvard University; Brown University; American Antiquarian Society; Wisconsin Historical Society.

Issues:Spirit Messenger V1 Index
Spirit Messenger V1 N01 August 10 1850
Spirit Messenger V1 N02 August 17 1850
Spirit Messenger V1 N03 August 24 1850
Spirit Messenger V1 N04 August 31 1850
Spirit Messenger V1 N05 September 7 1850
Spirit Messenger V1 N06 September 14 1850
Spirit Messenger V1 N07 September 21 1850
Spirit Messenger V1 N08 September 28 1850
Spirit Messenger V1 N09 October 5 1850
Spirit Messenger V1 N10 October 12 1850
Spirit Messenger V1 N11 October 19 1850
Spirit Messenger V1 N12 October 26 1850
Spirit Messenger V1 N13 November 2 1850
Spirit Messenger V1 N14 November 9 1850
Spirit Messenger V1 N15 November 16 1850
Spirit Messenger V1 N16 November 23 1850
Spirit Messenger V1 N17 November 30 1850
Spirit Messenger V1 N18 December 7 1850
Spirit Messenger V1 N19 December 14 1850
Spirit Messenger V1 N20 December 21 1850
Spirit Messenger V1 N21 December 28 1850
Spirit Messenger V1 N22 January 4 1851
Spirit Messenger V1 N23 January 11 1851
Spirit Messenger V1 N24 January 18 1851
Spirit Messenger V1 N25 January 25 18511
Spirit Messenger V1 N26 February 1 1851
Spirit Messenger V1 N27 February 8 1851
Spirit Messenger V1 N28 February 15 1851
Spirit Messenger V1 N29 February 22 1851
Spirit Messenger V1 N30 March 1 1851
Spirit Messenger V1 N31 March 8 1851
Spirit Messenger V1 N32 March 18 1851
Spirit Messenger V1 N33 March 22 1851
Spirit Messenger V1 N34 March 29 1851
Spirit Messenger V1 N35 April 5 1851
Spirit Messenger V1 N36 April 12 1851
Spirit Messenger V1 N37 April 19 1851
Spirit Messenger V1 N38 April 26 1851
Spirit Messenger V1 N39 May 3 1851
Spirit Messenger V1 N40 May 10 1851
Spirit Messenger V1 N41 May 17 1851
Spirit Messenger V1 N42 May 24 1851
Spirit Messenger V1 N43 May 31h 1851
Spirit Messenger V1 N44 June 7 1851
Spirit Messenger V1 N45 June 14 1851
Spirit Messenger V1 N46 June 21 1851
Spirit Messenger V1 N47 June 28 1851
Spirit Messenger V1 N48 July 5 1851
Spirit Messenger V1 N49 July 12 1851
Spirit Messenger V1 N50 July 19 1851
Spirit Messenger V1 N51 July 26 1851
Spirit Messenger V1 N52 August 2 1851
Spirit Messenger V2 N1 Aug 9 1851
Spirit Messenger V2 N2 Aug 16 1851
Spirit Messenger V2 N3 Aug 23 1851
Spirit Messenger V2 N3 Jun 1 1852
Spirit Messenger V2 N4 Aug 30 1851
Spirit Messenger V2 N5 Sep 6 1851
Spirit Messenger V2 N6 Sep 13 1851
Spirit Messenger V2 N7 Sep 20 1851
Spirit Messenger V2 N8 Sep 27 1851
Spirit Messenger V2 N9 Oct 4 1851
Spirit Messenger V2 N10 Oct 11 1851
Spirit Messenger V2 N11 Pct 18 1851
Spirit Messenger V2 N12 Oct 25 1851
Spirit Messenger V2 N13 Nov 1 1851
Spirit Messenger V2 N14 Nov 8 1851
Spirit Messenger V2 N15 Nov 15 1851
Spirit Messenger V2 N16 Nov 22 1851
Spirit Messenger V2 N17 Nov 29 1851
Spirit Messenger V2 N18 Dec 6 1851
Spirit Messenger Second Series V1 N6 March 15 1852
Spirit Messenger Second Series V2 N1 May 1 1852, an alternative copy, and a third copy
Spirit Messenger Second Series V2 N2 May 15 1852 and an alternative copy
Spirit Messenger Second Series V2 N2 June 1 1852
Spirit Messenger [Third Series] August 15 1852
Spirit Messenger [Third Series] September 1 1852
Spirit Messenger [Third Series] September 15 1852
Spirit Messenger [Third Series] October 1 1852
Spirit Messenger 4s V1 N1 Oct 16 1852
Spirit Messenger 4s V1 N2 Oct 23 1852
Spirit Messenger 4s V1 N3 Oct 30 1852
Spirit Messenger 4s V1 N4 Nov 6 1852
Spirit Messenger 4s V1 N5 Nov 13 1852
Spirit Messenger 4s V1 N6 Nov 20 1852
Spirit Messenger 4s V1 N7 Nov 27 1852
Spirit Messenger 4s V1 N8 Dec 4 1852
Spirit Messenger 4s V1 N9 Dec 11 1852
Spirit Messenger 4s V1 N10 Dec 18 1852
Spirit Messenger 4s V1 N11 Dec 25 1852
Spirit Messenger 4s V1 N12 Jan 1 1853
Spirit Messenger 4s V1 N13 Jan 8 1853
Spirit Messenger 4s V1 N14 Jan 15 1853
Spirit Messenger 4s V1 N15 Jan 22 1853
Spirit Messenger 4s V1 N16 Jan 29 1853
Spirit Messenger 4s V1 N17 Feb 5 1853
Spirit Messenger 4s V1 N18 Feb 12 1853
Spirit Messenger 4s V1 N19 Feb 19 1853
Spirit Messenger 4s V1 N20 Feb 26 1853
Spirit Messenger 4s V1 N21 Mar 5 1853
Spirit Messenger 4s V1 N22 Mar 12 1853
Spirit Messenger 4s V1 N23 Mar 19 1853
Spirit Messenger 4s V1 N24 Mar 26 1853
Spirit Messenger 4s V1 N25 Apr 2 1853
Spirit Messenger 4s V1 N26 Apr 9 1853


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