Myrtle Fillmore

Myrtle Fillmore about 1881

Myrtle Fillmore ( maiden name Mary Caroline Page; born August 6, 1845 in Pagetown , Ohio , † October 6, 1931 in Unity Village , Missouri ) was together with her husband Charles Fillmore a co-founder of Unity Church , which was part of the Neugeist movement in the USA is.

Life

As a child, Myrtle suffered from tuberculosis for a long time . Their health was therefore fragile and their life expectancy was short. She received her training as a teacher at Oberlin College , a school that was co-educational as early as the mid-19th century . This shows that Myrtle Page grew up and was trained in an open-minded environment. She worked as a teacher in Clinton, Missouri .

In 1876 Myrtle Page met Charles Fillmore, who was nine years his junior, during a spa stay in Denton, Texas , whom she married in 1881. He too had been in poor health since an accident while skating as a child. The couple lived together in Colorado , where their son Lowell was born in 1882. In 1884 the family moved to Kansas City and the second son Waldo Rickert was born.

In the years that followed, Myrtle Fillmore's health deteriorated to a final stage as a result of tuberculosis. In 1886, she and her husband heard a lecture by EB Weeks, a Christian Science believer by Emma Curtis Hopkins , on spiritual healing . Her health improved through these practices until 1888. This healing success prompted her husband to try out this path himself and to develop it further. Together, the couple began holding events of the New Thought movement (Eng. Neugeist movement ) following the Sunday service. They published the magazine Modern Thought , which deals with topics such as Christian Science, Unitarianism , Rosicrucians , Theosophy and the like. Ä. employed. The couple devoted themselves to spiritual work with the sick and handicapped and thus continued on the path that had begun through contact with the spiritual healing method. At that time, in 1889, the third son, Royal, was born.

In 1891, Unity was founded, evolving from the gatherings in the Fillmores' house. From 1895 both lived as strict vegetarians. The movement grew stronger and stronger, so that the meetings had to take place in ever larger rooms. In 1920 Charles Fillmore bought 58 acres (23.5 hectares) of land at Lee's Summit . There a community called Unity Farm was formed, which ran agriculture and sold its products at the Unity Inn.

The Fillmores worked together as a journalist, but each also published their own writings in the spirit of New Thought.

Myrtle Fillmore died in 1931 at the age of 85. No matter how their healing experience is judged, this age remains astonishing for a person who contracted tuberculosis in the mid-19th century. It is against this background, together with a liberal upbringing and education, to understand their intellectual work. Her burial site was not disclosed in order to avoid supporters styling her as a cult figure.

Works

• How to let God help you? Lee's Summit 1956.
  • How do you let God help you? Dups, Karlsruhe-Durlach 1962
• Healing Letters. Unity Village 2006, ISBN 9780871593108

literature

• Neal Vahle: Torch-Bearer to Light the Way. The Life of Myrtle Fillmore. Open View Press, Mill Valley 1996