The Deep Roots of Today’s Self-Development Industry

The self-development book genre, which helps readers improve themselves through introspection and nurturing skills, is extremely popular and is expected to generate $14 billion annually by 2025. A significant subset of the genre focuses on New Age spiritual practices.

Some popular practitioners of today's New Age spirituality blatantly call on the “other” world for guidance. New York Times bestselling author and speaker Gabrielle Bernstein, for example, helps readers tap into a universal source energy. Packaged in slick and aesthetically pleasing marketing materials, Bernstein's books, such as Spirit Junkie and Super Attractor, gained millions of readers and landed her on Oprah's Soul Sunday program. Yet the foundation of Bernstein's empire relies on tapping into one's “spirit guides,” or personal spirits on the other side, who can help steer individuals through life.

This concept reflects how various modern-day practitioners describe the divine, whatever form it takes. To some, this may sound strange. Even many followers of these types of spiritual practices admit these beliefs can seem a bit unconventional. Some describe it as "woo woo," usually affectionately but with an understanding that, yes, it's a little "out there." 

Yet, the belief that humans can improve their physical lives by tapping into spiritual energy or knowledge from "beyond" if they open themselves to it is nothing new.

This type of self-development dates back to the hugely popular Spiritualist movement of the 19th century. Spiritualism centered on furthering self-development by using access to the "other side" as a pathway to knowledge, comfort, growth, and power. Nineteenth-century Spiritualists channeled spirits from beyond in order to inquire about loved ones but also to ask for guidance in crafting a good and prosperous life, not unlike many practitioners of modern-day New Age spirituality. The positivity and popularity of Spiritualism help explain why New Age thinking remains so prominent today.

Even though there were earlier iterations of humans' tapping into the supernatural world, Spiritualism as a religion began in western New York in 1848 when two teenage girls, known as the Fox sisters, began to converse with the spirit of a dead man buried in the basement of their cottage. Respected members of the community witnessed and took seriously the sisters’ ability to tap into the beyond. Soon, the phenomenon of talking to or channeling spirits spread as countless “mediums” began to develop the ability to speak to those in the afterlife.

Spiritualism allowed practitioners to forgo religious authority, scripture, and dogma when accessing the spirit world. No longer was a pastor or other educated male intermediary necessary for direct contact with the divine realm. Instead, this religion centered on an individual’s ability to communicate with those in the afterlife. Doing so proved attractive to Americans because Spiritualists taught that the afterlife was more joyful than the vision portrayed by their Calvinist forebears, who emphasized punishments for sins by an angry God. The afterlife did not need to be something to fear. Instead, it became a place filled with a loving God and spirits intent on spiritual uplift.

One of the earliest and long-lasting mediums on the circuit was Andrew Jackson Davis, also known as the "Poughkeepsie Seer." At the heart of his own clairvoyance and mediumship was an understanding that God was benevolent — too good to ever create something so awful as hell or eternal damnation. Davis spent his adult life teaching what he called the "Harmonial Philosophy," based on the belief that God was a universal being of pure love and goodness and that mere mortals could tap into this goodness through mediumship.

Spiritualism’s progressive view of the beyond bled into adherents’ outlook on the earthly world and their politics. Spiritualists were some of the strongest anti-slavery and pro-women’s rights reformers in the U.S.

As spiritualism grew, mediums became influential leaders in their communities. Their standing was exemplified by Lily Dale, N.Y. Beginning in the 1880s, the town was a hotbed of Spiritualism. Carrie E.S. Twing was one of Lily Dale’s most famous mediums, and she channeled the musings of the spirit Ikabod, whose quirky yet homey messages made the other world accessible to true believers as well as those who were mildly curious. Atop Spiritualism's mainstream perch, Twing bolstered her prestige and influence. She became a national speaker for the Patrons of Husbandry and a national suffrage speaker, often sharing the stage with luminaries such as Susan B. Anthony and Lillie Devereux Blake.

E.L. Watson — another medium, and one of the founding members of Lily Dale — later became president of the California Equal Suffrage Association and played a crucial role in securing women's voting rights in the state. Her political influence reflected how mainstream and popular Spiritualism was. 

Davis, Twing, and Watson, among many others, shared their positive spirit messages both in popular books and public speeches that attracted large audiences.

Contrary to the belief that the 19th-century Spiritualist practice of “talking to the dead,” or spirits, was a backward-looking practice, in reality, it was a positive, forward-looking action designed to gain practical steps for making the physical world a better place.

The positively and belief in God's goodness and accessibility preached by 19th-century Spiritualists is at the core of the teachings of much New Age spirituality today — and helps explain its enduring popularity. Ideas about tapping into the spirit world and manifesting good things on earth through access to the divine have become mainstream, with countless TikToks and Instagram reels instructing viewers on how to do so for guidance in love and life. Practitioners like Bernstein remind readers that God, or Universal Intelligence, wants us to experience abundance and joy. They preach that an all-loving God-being, or energy, is always trying to give individuals their highest good. Like the mediums of the 19th century, they promise that humans can tap into this energy and knowledge from the beyond if they simply get out of their own way.

Nineteenth-century Spiritualists at Lily Dale would feel right at home watching today's most popular New Age metaphysical teacher and medium, Esther Hicks, deliver messages from the spirit world. Hicks channels a group of spirits that are collectively referred to as Abraham, who impart wisdom and guidance to Hicks’s followers. Known simply as Abraham-Hicks, they now boast best-selling books, such as Ask and It Is Given and Into the Vortex, which relay messages from the spirit(s) of Abraham but are channeled through Hicks.

The channeled Abraham reminds readers to simply ask the universe for what they desire and to feel good thoughts to get themselves into the “vortex” of receiving good things. Abraham-Hicks argues that our ability to tap into the vortex will create a better world because everyone will be living closer to their “source energy” and in a happier state of being. This, they argue, creates a more just and enlightened world. 

The packaging is thoroughly modern, but the message is strikingly similar to the one spread by 19th-century Spiritualists: access to the spirit realm can bring about positive results in the earthly realm. Today, adherents still flock to see speakers like Bernstein and Abraham-Hicks on stage and buy their bestselling books, much like 19th-century followers converged in places like Lily Dale, NY, to see the popular spirit mediums of their day.

Elizabeth Garner Masarik is an assistant professor of history at SUNY Brockport. She is a member of Dig: A History Podcast and author of Spiritualism’s Place: Reformers, Seekers, and Séances in Lily Dale.

Made by History takes readers beyond the headlines with articles written and edited by professional historians. Learn more about Made by History at TIME here. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of TIME editors.