Emma Hardinge Britten

Emma Hardinge Britten was born Emma Floyd ( born May 2, 1823 in London, England; † October 2, 1899 in England) was an English spiritualist, writer and theosophist.

Life and work

Parents, naming and marriage

Britten was born under her birth name Emma Floyd in the East End of London as the daughter of Ebenezer Floyd († 1834) and Anne Sophia Floyd ( 1793-1886 ). According to the entry in the baptismal register her father was a teacher. However, other sources give his occupation as a ship's captain. In 1850, Britten had a longer relationship with a Dr. Hardinge, whereupon she changed her name to Emma Hardinge and Emma Floyd Hardinge. In October 1870, she married Dr. William Britten ( 1819-1894 ), since that time she called herself Emma Hardinge Britten and Emma Hardinge Britten Floyd.

As an actress

As a child she showed talent for music, acting and rhetoric. As in 1834, she was 11 years old, her father died, she took over the care of the family by teaching as a piano teacher. After a brief study art in Paris, she decided on acting and joined a theater group in England at. Different engagements have taken her to several theaters in England, France and finally to 1855 in the United States. During this time she worked as an art teacher and incidentally also gave private lessons. The late 1850s, she finished her artistic career and devoted himself entirely to spiritualism. Her mother accompanied her mostly on their travels.

As a medium,

To 1835/36 she wants to have come into England with the occult secret society Orphic Society in contact. There should have been discovered her clairvoyant talent. 1855 or 1856, she visited several media they finally convinced of their own psychic abilities in New York. In the following decades she gave herself as a medium of public meetings, their notoriety grew and their presentations in the U.S., Canada, England, Australia and New Zealand were well attended.

After they had lived from 1855/56 bis 1881 in the U.S., they settled again in England. Here she founded the magazines Two Worlds (1887 to 2006) and The Unseen Universe ( 1892-1893 ). She has written several books, including the parapsychological works Nineteenth century miracles and Modern American spiritualism. In addition, she has published in several magazines, including The Western Star or The Christian Spiritualist.

1890 she founded the Spiritualists ' National Federation, usually as a Spiritualist 's National Union ( SNU ) refers. This should merge the views of various churches into one unit. The foundations of this organization were the so-called seven principles which they had received allegedly sent in a mediumistic session by the late Robert Owen in 1871. These were sometimes regarded as the 7 Principles of Spiritualism.

Plagiarism disputes with Blavatsky

Hardinge Britten was co-founder and member of the Theosophical Society (TG ) and was on October 30th in the senior staff ( Councillor ) of TG elected.

In 1876 she published her work type magic, which had been her supposedly dictated by an entity in a trance. As at September 29, 1877 Blavatsky works Isis Unveiled was published, were found in several articles that had already been treated in a similar manner in Britten's book Art magic. This led to disputes with Blavatsky, as Britten felt obvious that was written without mentioning the source of her. Because of these differences Britten finally at the turn of 1877/78 withdrew from the TG, her husband, Dr. William Britten, followed their example. Although since that time their relationship was strongly supercooled to Blavatsky, she stood still until about 1890 with other Theosophists, including Henry Steel Olcott in contact by correspondence.

Works (selection)

• Type magic, or, Mundane, sub- mundane and super- mundane spiritism. A treatise in three parts and twenty-three sections, descriptive of art magic, spiritism, the different orders of spirits in the universe known to be related to, or in communication with you, together with directions for invoking, controlling, and discharging spirits, and the uses and abuses, dangers and possibilities of magical art. William Britten, New York 1876
• Ghost land, or, Researches into the mysteries of occultism, illustrated in a series of autobiographical sketches. Progressive Thinker Pub. House, Chicago 1897
• Modern American spiritualism: a twenty years ' record of the communion in between earth and the world of spirits. University Books, New Hyde Park 1970
• Nineteenth century miracles, or, Spirits andt heir work in every country of the earth. , Arno Press, New York 1976; ISBN 0-405-07943-5
• The electric physician, or, Self cure throughelectricity. A plain guide to the use of electricity, with accurate directions for the treatment and cure of various diseases, chronic and acute. William Britten, Boston 1875
• The lyceum manual, a compendium of physical, moral, and spiritual exercises for use in progressive lyceums connected with British Spiritualists ' churches and kindred bodies. British Spiritualists ' Lyceum Union, Manchester 1924
• The place and mission of woman. H. W. Swett, Boston 1859