Radiant Healing Centre fonds, n.d.
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Adams, Anne
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Abstract
Two 23 cm. x 19 cm. notebooks with handwritten entries and papers from the Radiant Healing Centre. Also included are 7 printed sheets.
Description
Jenny Helena Florence O’Hara was born in 1892 in Madoc, Ontario. She married Robert Newton Pincock in 1915. He was an osteopath. Her sister, Minnie O’Hara married Fred Maines in 1922. He was educated at Victoria University in Toronto and was an ordained minister who had served with the YMCA overseas during the First World War. In 1927, Jenny, Minnie and Reverend Fred Maines began to hold séances. They worked in collaboration with Mr. William Cartheuser who was an American medium. Jenny Pincock’s Trails of Truth documents these séances. Most of the séances took place at 47 Church Street, St. Catharines which was the residence of Reverend Maines. Other participants in the séances included: Dr. E.J. Pratt and his wife Viola; poet W.W.E. Ross and other local citizens. The group were basically middle class, well-educated citizens.
The Maines and Pincocks began the Church of the Divine Revelation in St. Catharines, Ontario on Sept. 6, 1930 with Fred Maines as the ordained minister. He remained in this position from 1930-1935. Dr. Anderson (in spirit form) provided instructions for the running of the church. In 1931, the United Church of Canada into which Maines had originally been ordained suspended him because of his foray into spiritualism. Maines was also ordained into the spiritualist ministry. In 1932, they established the Radiant Healing Centre which was also located in St. Catharines, Ontario. On the Radiant Healing Centre correspondence it states that the centre is “under guidance of ‘Dr. Anderson’ who manifests in direct voice through psychic powers of Dr. William Cartheuser”. William worked for the New York section of the American Society for Psychical Research. He also maintained a home at Lily Dale Spiritualist Camp, New York. Jenny spent summers working as a librarian at Lily Dale.
It was thought that a séance could provide alternative medicine. The proponents of this train of thought did not believe in a division of medicine and faith. They believed in a unity of spirit, mind and body. Supposedly, voices emanated from trumpets (aluminum cones) which were used for the séances. These voices were distinctly different from the medium’s voice. The trumpets were also known to levitate. People felt as if they were being touched and taps on the table were heard. “Dr. Anderson” was an old-fashioned (deceased) doctor who supposedly dispensed medical wisdom and sympathy. The spirits at the Healing Centre did not rely on direct physical contact, but worked though prescribed movements of the participants which meant that healing could take place over great amounts of time or space. When members of the church joined as a group, even in absentia, they sent forth a radiant healing light. The healing force could be realized and dispensed by the ‘angelic helpers’.
Newton Pincock died in 1928, but was said to perform osteopathic treatments after his death as the force of his spirit would apply itself to the body. In 1935, Jenny Pincock broke ties with William Cartheuser. She began to suspect that William had let his mind influence the messages from the spirit, but she did not doubt his powers as a medium.
A publication called Progression was produced by this group, with its first issue being put out in October of 1932. Publication ceased in 1938. Women were particularly drawn to this spiritualist type of religion. Women were encouraged to take control over their minds and bodies whereas in biomedical circles they were deemed weak and powerless.