Books Part 2: Psychiana Religon

My Grandmother, Areknazan Harpootian Motian, had a collection of books about the Psychiana Religion. This mail order religion was started in 1928 in Moscow, Idaho. Dr. Frank B. Robinson, whose father was a Baptist priest, was dissatisfied with "church" religions.  He advertised that you could have a direct connection to God. My Grandmother subscribed to lessons which were received monthly for a couple of years- 1948-1950.  She also purchased almost all of the available books. Was Grandma in a Cult?!

from 'For Rent, A Cross'
double click to enlarge/read

Dr. Frank B. Robinson was a kind of new age thinking, anti- war, anti-church writer. Most shocking of all were his diatribes against the story of Jesus Christ!  He said it was stolen from ancient religions which were thousands of years older than the birth of Christ. I thought my Grandmother was a devout Christian of the Armenian Apostolic Church.  Her Faith was what helped her to survive ten years of slavery in Turkey. She had to pretend she was 'Turkish'.  It wasn't until fairly recently that I realized this meant converted to Islam. I thought she was pretending to be the daughter of the Turkish family next door. In 1915, during the Armenian Genocide, my great grandmother had given two of her daughters to her Turkish neighbor for protection. This way her children wouldn't have to go on the deportation march. The evidence of faint remains of a blue slave tattoo on Grandma's inner arm, scars on her hands and wrists, and the nightmares I heard her having tell a different story. I shared a bedroom with Grandma. She would shout, toss and turn until she launched herself out of her bed- landing hard on the floor to wake herself up. This was happening 40-50 years after she had left Turkey.

Grandma prayed every night. I remember watching her. She would stand with her eyes closed, moving her lips and moving her arms and body in different positions. She was in a meditative trance. I assumed this was the way Armenian Christians prayed. Then I saw a picture of an Islamic Imam praying and the stance was exactly the way Grandma stood. My Uncle wrote "Hard circumstances caused my mother to pray in the manner of Islam."  Wow, why would she continue to pray in the manner of Islam when she was forced to practice that religion? Was she saying her own Christian prayers within the movements of Islam? There must have been something in the daily practice that helped her to cope with life. Grandma wrote notes pertaining to bible passages- many passages about forgiveness, and together with these positive thinking ideas put forth in the Psychiana books, I say that she worked hard to improve herself and her outlook on life.

When I asked my Mom about the Psychiana books, she said her mother was exploring different religions. Lots of the books in her collection have newspaper cut outs of Armenian patriarchs and priests pressed between the pages. She was a member of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Providence. Her husband, Stephen, however, was Catholic. I don't think he was devout but it appears that his family was converted by the Catholic Capuchin mission in Malatya. At the time of her arrival in the USA, 1929, the Armenian church in Providence was divided politically between the Ramgavers and the Tashnags. I think there was also some prejudice against Armenians who 'converted' to save their own lives rather than die a martyr. Grandma's spiritual life was a mix of her own choosing. The picture at left was hers- notice that Mary (?) is standing on a snake and a crescent moon. These symbols and many 'pagan' beliefs crossed over into Armenian Christianity from their ancient origins.

My conclusion is that Grandma was 'jarbig'- Armenian for smart in a practical way. She wasn't in a cult! She was able to take in knowledge, form her own opinions and apply it to her life. Go Grandma!