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(Forward to the 12-volume set of Soulcraft Script) Please understand, fellow student, at the beginning of your perusal of these Soulcraft Teachings, that you are not having any new religion offered you, nor the tenets of any peculiar cult, nor any Course in Mysticism that purports to make you healthy, wealthy and wise. Rather, you will find here an education in the Eternal Verities. Soulcraft, as the text will untold for you, is a study of the great cosmic principles on which the universe is run; the mystical history of Man on this planet; the significance of the Great Avatar, Christ, in human destiny; the fundamental principle of the deathlessness of the human soul and human personality; the program by which each soul is permitted to experience as many mortal lives as it desires for the perfection of its celestial character; and the enigmas of eternity that puzzle the orthodox Christian whose spiritual horizons are bound by the so-called Plan of Salvation. It neither contradicts nor combats orthodoxy but develops out of it and beyond it. These treatments of various subjects answer questions arising in the student's mind as he probes deeper and deeper into the higher, richer doctrine. Science, Evolution, and Psychical Research are all reconciled and rationalized in Soulcraft. The great tenets found in Rosicrucianism, Theosophy and some phases of Spiritualism are covered in this comprehensive study. The whole constitutes a profound philosophy on which to live life based on the most devout Christian Mysticism. It is the Ageless Wisdom presented in such form as to make it comprehensible to the layman who may have procured no more than a grammar school education. Certainly to read and absorb Soulcraft brings peace of mind to those whose soul-hunger has been distressing. You gradually come to realize what you are as a living entity and why you are on earth, what great Program is being worked out in the drama of human life, and what conditions await you when you ultimately come to make the Passing and be rejoined to your dear ones. Remember, the whole "doctrine" — if we care to call it that — has been revealed from Higher Dimensions of Time and Space by Intelligences who have found ways of communicating back to us their viewpoints on the eternal verities. Soulcraft has no denomination, no political slants, no surreptitious axes to grind, no other motive behind its tenets than to aid distraught people desiring more nourishing spiritual food than conventional forms of religion may furnish them. You will be acquiring not a religion but a philosophy by persevering in its perusal to the end. And you will acquire a sweeter, wider, higher grasp of the Christian faith and its Divine Progenitor by making its principles a part of your character. The Recorder, William D. Pelley (From article "Conscientious Mormon Seeks Light on The Golden Scripts" , Valor Magazine, July 19, 1952.) A conscientious Mormon sends Valor magazine a sincere letter of inquiry from a distant State in which he explains as follows: "I have long been a believer in the visions and experiences of Joseph Smith, the founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; for I fully realize that no man, much less an unlettered youth, could fabricate the Book of Mormon. And now that I have been instructed in Soulcraft teachings, it has been made plain to me how this was accomplished. "But -- and here is the enigma -- in all of the instructions and teachings of the Higher Mentors, and even Elder Brother Himself, no mention has been made, apparently, of the establishment of a Church to propound and exemplify the instructions coming to you [William Pelley], while in the case of Joseph Smith, the whole program seems to have been based upon the foundation of a church." Pelley's response: There is much more to this Mormon's letter but the above is the gist of it. There is a splendidly valorous expression at its end which reads: "I have suffered much during my long life, physically, mentally, and financially. But if it was all necessary in order to lead me to these truths, then I am satisfied, even happy!" To all of it, appreciating that similar interrogations may have been from time to time in the hearts or minds of others, Mormons or non-Mormons, The Recorder reprints the main portion of his personal answer.... Peculiarly enough, your letter of inquiry of the 12th comes in just at a time when many correspondents around the country want similar clarification of the points which you propound about The Golden Scripts. In taking time out to answer you somewhat at length, please do not be offended if I use much of what I have to say to you personally as the substance of a current article in Valor. For every person who actually gets to writing such a letter of inquiry as yours, there are probably a hundred who felt the same way but didn't bring themselves to getting the letter off. Let me preface what I have to say by declaring to you that I have never read the Book of Mormon, just as I have never read Mrs.Eddy's Science and Health or even Madam Blavatsky's Secret Doctrine. Curiously enough, it seems that some purpose was being served by keeping my mind a blank in respect to the tenets of these and other religions and denominations. And yet I seriously ask you to believe that I know, in a general way, all that they contain that is vital from the esoteric standpoint. How this happens I cannot attempt to explain. As you perhaps have learned, I was reared in the Methodist denomination, in which during my early boyhood my father was a pastor. My early years in this life were all connected with the Protestant Church and I went through the experience of "conversion" in the emotional sense at the profound age of ten. When my father left the pulpit for commercial business, this early religious emotionalism "wore off", shall we say? I held the average layman's insouciance toward orthodoxy up through the years when I was winning my way toward being one of the highest-paid magazine writers in America, including 10 years of motion-picture production in Hollywood. I indulge in such autobiographical reference to make this point: During this period, which ran to approximately 38 years, instinctively I had disassociated the personality of the Man of Galilee from all orthodox instruction respecting him. I kept an odd sense of personal relationship for which I was ever at a loss to account. Now I realize it must have been a strong sense of prenatal recollection. I never brought myself to believe that He ever made many of the statements attributed to Him in the New Testament. At any rate, I went out to the Orient in the course of my career, primarily for the Methodist Centenary, [sectarian newspaper] on a world survey of Foreign Missions. Before I finished with it, I had side-tracked into Russia during the worst introductory phases of the Bolshevist Revolution. What I saw or learned in Russia, in consequence, opened my eyes to what I believed to be the modern program of the Israelites, and I became openly anti-Semitic in consequence. This introduced a quandary into my thinking in respect to Christ which contributed in no small part to what occurred in 1928. If you have read Star Guests you know what this was, as it is described in detail in the opening chapters of that volume. [Note: While experimenting with a form of automatic writing in 1928 Pelley had posed the question, "Is there literally such a personage as the Man of Galilee?" At that point Pelley and his female companion were overcome for the first time with what became known as the Master Vibration. This condition accompanied each Golden Script message, the first of which immediately followed.] Ignoring the origin of the Book of Mormon for the moment, let me say that when the first epiphanies began in my own experience, along with the transcripts that afterwards were collated and published as The Golden Scripts, I accepted them as personal adjurations and enlightenments to me privately, answering many quandaries that had compounded in my own thinking up to that period. You are entirely correct in surmising that The Golden Scripts were addressed to me personally, practically all of them in the first person, and for a long time I had not the slightest notion of making them public. Incidentally, I have by no means done so completely even at the present time. There are other Golden Scripts, running perhaps half again as voluminous as the unabridged edition, which cannot see print until after my demise, for the main reason that they concern my own prior incarnations and I am not after that type of publicity. However, the general tenor of all the sacred Scripts had it that my feeling of disassociation of Christ from the orthodoxies of the New Testament came from my having been, let's put it, one of the early Church Fathers who had discussed these and similar matters with Him personally when He was in His flesh. On one occasion my antagonism toward the modern Judaists was explained as having arisen from participation in the major events of the original Christian drama. Many of these "talks", up here in the 20th Century, introduced information about the brevet I had taken upon myself to help complete the Dispensational work that had begun so long ago with the nativity in Bethlehem, and gradually brought me to realize that I must have a responsibility not to keep the general gist of the preachments secret. Where a given Script, or transcript of clairaudient conversation, befitted society generally, and contained the same illuminations and inspirations applicable to others that it had for me, I began, ON EXPRESS ORDERS, to alter the personal pronouns from the singular to the plural, to make certain grammatical changes with the Great Mentor, we might put, it standing by, and to prepare them generally for public release and consumption. Out of about 1,200 printed pages of such transcript, not unlike stenographic report of any legal procedure, I gradually passed 844 pages into public print. This is the volume of which $50,000 worth of books have been circulated to the public this year absolutely free of cost, the funds having been provided me on which to accomplish it. So much for general background, enabling me to treat of the points raised in your letter. I was specifically adjured, I might interpolate at this point, that the public reaction to my making the sacred conversations of common knowledge would be persecution of the vilest order, leave me a marked man for the balance of my days, bring about a 7.5 year prison sentence, destroy my secular writing revenue completely, and make me in turn what I had been originally, another Galilean with all Semitic animosities set against me. Nevertheless, the most minute descriptions as to how the whole program would come out were afforded me, and at the time of the Master's physical return, my vindication would come. All modern minority plans for majority subjugations were ultimately to come to naught, and with the ultimate smashing of United Nations and its booting out of America, events would so mature as to bring in a wonderful Golden Time that would be the objective of the Christian Dispensation from its commencement. This philosophy, so aptly confirming by event, became the cornerstone of all my thinking and performing. Indeed, I have never had a prognostication made me from what I term this Sacred Source, that hasn't matured on the pinpoint. Furthermore, I might add that persons, skeptical or otherwise, who have happened to be present at some of these recordings, have found themselves unable to move a muscle of their physical bodies during the transcribing. All of it, you understand, was unsolicited by me in this life consciously. It just happened involuntarily insofar as I was concerned. Which brings us to the controversial subject of "His" true Church. Let me say what I have to say in this wise---The Great Teacher, for I think of Him as strictly that, has never at any time or in any terms, ever uttered one syllable to me implying that He had any "church" excepting the Truth exercising in men's hearts universally. I do recall at one time when I had passed a facetious remark about the Pope of Rome, He interposed quickly and vehemently, "Nevertheless, he is my servant for those who must approach Truth through the spectacles of ritual." Never in 23 years experience with this sacred communication has He ever uttered a single criticism of any Faith, Denomination, Cult, or Doctrine, no matter how antagonistic it might be to the general agenda of principles set forth in the Golden Speakings. [Golden Scripts] I might also add specifically, since you have mentioned it, that no reference has ever been made to the Mormon Church, either for or against it, but His general philosophy and angle seems to be that all forms of spiritual observance befit the peculiar needs of the communicants, thus rationalizing their existence. But what was being aimed at in my own illumination was the clarification of His original doctrine, that the error that has crept into latter-day orthodoxy might be reasonably corrected. That reincarnation of the personal soul-spirit into mortality again and again was a fact, was early impressed upon me. Indeed, I have passages which would seem to attest that this was one of the main tenets He broadcast in Palestine in the flesh, but that the early ecclesiastics, of their own volitions, made an allegorical interpretation of it which became mystically almost without meaning. "But," said He on many occasions, "remember not to tell men truths with too great suddenness, lest they turn and rend you." Conscientiously I went through over 200 transcripts of the Sacred Conversations and culled out, almost under specific guidance, those which were feasible to release to the general public. I did this with an utterly virgin mind, I say, respecting such works as the Book of Mormon, Science and Health, or The Secret Doctrine. Yet indications keep mounting that the fundamental truths in all these books are in the Sacred Conversations somewhere. Mormonism may be "His Church" and it may not. I have no means of knowing because He has never mentioned it. But neither has he passed comment on the truth or falseness of any other creed. One thing I did understand, was that I was under no obligation to establish any creed, denomination, or cult in consequence of my own enlightenments. I was simply to release what He obviously had uttered to the great cross-section of the public and let it go at that. I gathered that in the fullness of time He had His own plans for its formal utility. You ask about true copies of His original speakings being on deposit in the Vatican. I cannot say, one way or another, because I do not know, but there are implications aplenty that everything recorded about His Palestinian ministry of today is strictly hearsay, edited and re-edited so many times as to have lost all semblance of its pristine essence. One thing I might mention, He has never once made mention of any such place as Hell and any condition of Eternal Torment. All is of Light and Instruction. All souls come to salvation in the end by means of the Rebirth (on earth) which truly was the substance of His converse with Nicodemus, and the benefits of Ultimate Experience. To sum it up, my dear friend, I make no claims whatsoever about The Golden Scripts. I submit them on their merits, for what they contain that is consistent and inspiring. They were originally dictated to me and I shared them. I am trying to start no church, religion, denomination or cult. People the land across are finding a new basis of regenerated faith in them, and that, I believe, is why they were given to me. My early years as a professional writer were merely technical preparations for doing the expository work that now falls to me. Because they are strictly non-sectarian, they can appeal to the communicants of any Faith. If you are a good Mormon, continue to be a good Mormon. If you are a professing Catholic or Protestant, continue so to profess. If Christian Science or Theosophy befit your spiritual requirements, go to those for them. The Golden Scripts are merely master commentaries on all of them — and none. This is as far as I can go in responding to your letter of query about them. Those which can only be published post-mortally, outline precisely what I'm supposed to do to aid in inducting the Golden Times I mention so frequently in Valor, and a hundred years from today it may be seen that whatever I have done had a mighty serious motivation, even though from the near-angle of the present, many phases have seemed futile. I think in the end it will be seen that nothing was futile nor out of place. Lastly, the fact that the way was opened to me to publish and give away $50,000 worth of these total collations has an undeniable significance. My best personal wishes go out to you, and may you continue to find the same consolation and inspiration in The Scripts that I have found as an individual. Fraternally, The Recorder. (From the pamphlet, Something About Soulcraft, by Mel and Adelaide Pearson, published in 1986) What is Soulcraft, anyway? "A 'different' course of study premised on the theorem that Man first discovers the universe; then he discovers God; then he discovers himself; then he discovers society as sentient material for human betterment.” (William Dudley Pelley) If a philosophy is a collection of basic fundamentals by which human beings live, then Soulcraft can be called a practical philosophy. It offers both spiritual ballast and tangible guidelines for the mortal experience. It is described by many students as a brand new perspective on the engrossing mysteries of birth, life, death, and the realities of Spirit. Others have described it as an uncovering and a recovering of ancient truths, long lost or forgotten or perverted up the centuries. Actually, truth being eternal, there is no question of time involved. Besides, your concern is getting sensible answers to questions right now about life's purposes, about the problems that are continually heaped upon you, about your own relationships with family, friends, community and the Omniverse. Soulcraft has done this for thousands over the years. The Soulcraft philosophy developed out of a long series of messages received from planes high above the mortal during a period of thirty years by one man, William Dudley Pelley. By the time the messages ceased, Mr. Pelley had written several million words in books and articles expounding this remarkable teaching. From the appearance of the first article, entitled "My Seven Minutes in Eternity" in American Magazine of March,1929, until the last issue of Mr. Pelley's own magazine in June, 1962, a veritable fountain of consolation, instruction and inspiration poured out of his typewriter providing thousands with their first glimpse into the Eternal Verities, broadening their understanding of Life's purposes and enhancing their spiritual concepts. Why haven't I heard of Soulcraft before, if it's been around so long? When Mr. Pelley began his metaphysical work in the late 1920's, there was no public forum to which he could bring his particular offering for the enhancement of the human spirit. At that time there were no magazines dealing with ESP except those published by strictly scientific investigators, or by schools of thought already established, such as the Spiritualists, the Theosophists, or various cultist groups. Mr. Pelley could not restrict the material he was getting only to "scientific investigation," nor was he a Spiritualist, a Theosophist, or a cultist. He found it necessary to establish his own magazine, publish his own books and forthwith depend on direct mail advertising, enriched by word-of-mouth. This remained his way of life until his passing to the Other Side in June of 1965. In these latter days, many new doors have opened. Investigation of ESP in all its myriad forms has become not only respectable but "in." Magazines and forums are developing around the globe which no longer specialize, but seek scientific and spiritual truth in whatever form and wherever it may be found without regard to organized or dogmatic preaching. Now Soulcraft is coming into its own. It is being recognized for what it is, a fresh approach to ancient truths, and their application both to the individual and to society, combining the timelessness of the East with the energy and purpose of the West. If this seems paradoxical or incomprehensible to you, simply rest assured you have a treat in store, presenting to you in sparkling lucid language a fountain of spiritual nourishment at which any seeker may freely drink and find himself or herself refreshed and strengthened. Who was this man, Pelley? William Dudley Pelley was born in Lynn Massachusetts, on March 12, 1890, the son of a Methodist preacher. He was educated in Massachusetts public schools initially, then by prodigious reading throughout the rest of his life. He was trained in the writing profession during the first thirty years of his life, as a printer and reporter for several of the great New England newspapers, then as writer and editor for papers of his own. Before he was thirty, his name appeared on the covers of the best known magazines of the day, among them Redbook, American, Ladies Home Journal and that most aspired-to pinnacle of all writers in the 1920's and 1930's, The Saturday Evening Post. He had traveled across half the world, learned the United States like the palm of his hand and, indeed, was standing on the shores of Lake Baikal in Siberia when the Red Revolution swept in flames across Russia. He had achieved outstanding success in almost all forms of writing, fiction, non-fiction, poetry, scenario writing for several years in Hollywood, when on a memorable spring night in a bungalow in California, he underwent a completely unexpected and uninvited out-of-body experience which turned out to be the watershed of his life. All his many previous diversified activities were seen to be simply training for his real career. Rapidly, his hitherto dormant extrasensory abilities came to magnificent flower. He soon found himself taking messages by clairaudience (hearing them spoken within his inner ear) from high, high sources, not on a personal and individual wavelength, but describing a vast panorama of the universe and its workings, not just in physical manifestation but mentally and spiritually as well. He began to grasp the eternality of consciousness, the purpose and need for mortal enhousement over and over again on an ever-ascending spiral, the reasons for problems in human relationships, for wars, for suffering as we humans see it, and the oneness of what may most aptly be called Wholly Spirit. He perceived it to be for the purpose of acquainting his fellow human beings with the processes of celestial mechanics, as he began to understand them, that he had had his writing ability honed and sharpened to so keen and effective an edge. This was to be his real life work. When he passed over to the Other Side in June, 1965, he left behind him over two dozen volumes of invaluable teaching, easily read, profoundly moving and personally applicable to every mortal being who walks this confused and turbulent earth caught in the birth pangs of the Aquarian Age. What constitutes the Soulcraft Library and must it be read in any certain order? There is no prescribed order in which the Soulcraft books must be read. Any one of them may be read by itself with pleasure and spiritual profit. The essence of the Soulcraft message is to be found in the great compendium of direct messages from the one who calls himself the Elder Brother, which Mr. Pelley recorded and which are known collectively as The Golden Scripts. Set down in poetic Biblical prose, symbology, psalm and parable, this 908-page singular book has become synonymous with the Bible to many persons to whom the Elder Brother speaks with personal and indelible application. "Each man hath a vision possible on his Damascus Road.... " There is a set of twelve volumes, each containing 13 lectures (making a total of 156), which is called The Soulcraft Scripts. Each of these lectures is made up of a direct message received by Mr. Pelley from Mentor Minds on the Other Side of Life, together with his own comments and interpretations with an appropriate Master Message [Elder Brother] added. Each of these Scripts may be read by itself with much to be gained, although it is true that more will be gained by reading the later after the earlier. The nine volumes, beginning with Getting Born and following in sequence to Undying Mind, delineate in straight and lucid prose the tenets of the Soulcraft philosophy in an ever-expanding and deepening process. Any one of these books may be read separately, however, giving a clear understanding of a part of the whole picture. The rest of the Soulcraft books stand independently. One of the best introductions to Soulcraft is Seven Minutes in Eternity, a reprint of the article in American Magazine which began the whole thing, together with an Aftermath written by Mr. Pelley in the 1950's, and two articles added after his passing by his daughter and son-in-law. Why I Believe the Dead Are Alive [no longer in print] is the fascinating account of Mr. Pelley's own awakening and development in the world of psychics, metaphysics and extrasensory perception, told informally with humor and candor. As Thou Lovest is a biography of Jesus, told as seen through the eyes of Simon, called Peter. In this book you will understand the humanity of Jesus as well as the divinity of human beings inasmuch as all together are living and growing parts of Wholly Spirit. What is "No More Hunger"? How does it relate to Soulcraft? The scope of Mr. Pelley's concern for all facets of the human predicament has already been mentioned. No More Hunger is a book written by him in the early 1930's. It was not sufficient for him to attack the money-changers in the temple — it was also necessary to provide a constructive alternative to the dog-eat-dog jungle atmosphere of today's marketplace. Based on the spiritual tenets of Soulcraft, No More Hunger was written in 1934 to present a social blueprint for a constructive and more rational society in which every single citizen would be a participant and all citizens would work out their material, cultural and spiritual wellbeing within a framework of cooperation. More than that, an environment could be created wherein all human relationships would be elevated to a new plateau of performance underscoring compassion, peace and justice .... the whole process of living together. The equality of every human being would be emphasized and developed. Mr. Pelley called this new social concept a Christian Commonwealth. While mass hunger, joblessness, even war, serve a purpose in the whole Life Scheme, the moment any of these scourges can be eliminated they become sheer encumbrances upon evolving spirit. Mr. Pelley envisioned humankind performing in an entirely renovated social environment as spiritual enlightenment engendered a new sense of justice and compassion in human thinking and ways of relating to each other. The spiritually awakened would be the way-showers for the transition. The practical mechanics of a Cooperative Commonwealth are to incorporate the entire producing and working capability of the nation into a National Intentional Community so that every citizen, including every newborn child as a shareholder, has a political voice and an economic stake in its operation. Certainly, if the principle of "incorporation" is American and proper for the few to enrich their lives, the same principle must be acceptable and workable to enrich the lives of the total citizenry. In the intervening decades since Mr. Pelley first expounded this idea, technology has advanced to the Age of the Computer, and human beings have advanced into the Age of Anxiety so that the proposals of No More Hunger have become imperative if the nation is to survive. Again, Mr. Pelley had demonstrated that he had not been born before his time, but as a forerunner, a way-shower, a true prophet. Is it true Mr. Pelley was imprisoned for a period of time? Yes, Mr. Pelley was convicted of breaking the "law" and did spend seven and a half years of a 15-year sentence in prison. Unfortunately, most people are unaware that his trial and conviction in 1942 had no relation to so-called conventional crimes of hurt or injury to either persons or property. Learned men of both constitutional law and political history are fully aware that Mr. Pelley was the victim of tyranny in government and the vengeance it could wreak on its opposition. Mr. Pelley was the nation's outstanding political prisoner of this century! Simultaneously with his expounding of a philosophy which would liberate the mind and spirit of humankind, Mr. Pelley sought to liberate humankind from the oppressive and restraining aspects of our whole economic-social-political system. In short, a philosophy could be vital and dynamic only to the extent that its basic tenets were the pillars upon which all human relationships were built and projected. Every human being is important and each life has an inherent right to the fullest opportunity to express and perform, thus commensurately expanding its individual personality and consciousness. At the same time, he strongly opposed Zionism, Stalinist Communism and the international banking network. It was not this opposition, however, that primarily distressed these groups. For centuries, researchers and reformers have been unmasking injustices and focusing attention on those in high office who are guilty of the abuse of power, but it is a historical fact that those who control the purse strings are difficult to remove. What was different and dangerous to the exploiters, the greedy and the corrupt, was Mr. Pelley's proposal of a workable system in which greed, exploitation and corruption simply could gain no foothold. It was his proposal of a "Cooperative Commonwealth” that was at issue. The outbreak of World War II provided the environment for the Administration to allege the political "crime" of sedition to silence him. Government spokesmen were frank to say, "This case must be an example. Opponents of this administration, take warning!" In an atmosphere of war hysteria, it was a simple matter to circumvent the constitutional rights of the accused and obtain an arbitrary conviction and a sentence of fifteen years. Subsequently, the Supreme Court in other sedition cases clearly established that the elements necessary to prove sedition were not present in Mr. Pelley's trial. Thus, when Mr. Pelley and others, were indicted in the so-called Mass Sedition Case, the case was dismissed by the Chief Justice of the Washington Federal Court with the admonition "it would be a travesty of justice to permit the case to continue." In view of the fact that the same evidence had been used against Mr. Pelley in Washington as had been used in Indianapolis, he was to all intents and purposes exonerated, but neither the appeals court nor the Supreme Court would grant a rehearing on Mr. Pelley's original conviction. There were powerful forces who did not want him free. . It is almost routine for prisoners not guilty of hideous crimes and whose prison record is without blemish to be freed on parole after one-third of their sentences have been served. Not so for Mr. Pelley. His behavior was exemplary. Throughout his entire incarceration, he was respected by his jailers and praised by those who dealt with him daily. He led a Great Books program for the more literate of his fellow inmates. He reorganized a registry system for incoming inmates that saved grateful U. S. marshals many hours of useless waiting. He wrote speeches for the warden. He put together an illustrated book of the U.S. Reformatory at Terre Haute, Indiana which was put on display in the Bureau of Prisons in Washington, D.C. Federal prosecutors, who had officiated at his trial in Indianapolis, recommended him for parole at the end of five years' time. But still he would not be released, even on parole. At last, the late Senator Langer of North Dakota threatened the federal Parole Board with a full investigation and introduced a resolution to that effect on the floor of the U. S. Senate. This brought results and Mr. Pelley was released on Valentine's Day, 1950. Since Mr. Pelley is no longer here, who is responsible for the promotion of his work? Mr. Pelley's daughter and son-in-law, Adelaide and Melford Pearson, are the legal guardians of Mr. Pelley's interests and his writings. In 1970 a crisis in Soulcraft affairs was precipitated by the sudden and unexpected death of Mr. Pelley's widow (Adelaide's step-mother) which eventually required the dissolution of Soulcraft Fellowship, Inc. At that time, the Pearsons reactivated a corporation, long dormant, which Mr. Pelley himself had founded in 1940. They are today [1986] publishing the Soulcraft books under the name of Fellowship Press, Inc., P. O. Box 192, Noblesville, Indiana, 46060. [ownership was transferred to Soulcraft Enterprises, Inc. in 2001] In 1961, the Pearsons started a separate printing and publishing corporation for the primary purpose of promoting the ideas of No More Hunger. Mr. Pelley himself was not in a position to conduct any political battles that might result. So Aquila Press was born. Side by side, it has worked with Soulcraft through the ensuing years, doing its own research and publishing in the area of social reform and printing the Soulcraft material. At this moment, (the autumn of 1986), Aquila Press, Inc., P. O. Box 252, Noblesville, Indiana, offers two basic books for sale: No More Hunger in an updated edition, supervised by Mr. Pelley some years before his death, and Challenge to Crisis, a companion book to No More Hunger, written by Melford Pearson, describing the America we think we live in, the, America we do live in, and the America we could live in under the guidelines presented in No More Hunger. What is the business and promotional nature of Fellowship Press and Aquila? Both Fellowship Press and Aquila Press conduct the promotion of their business almost entirely by direct mail solicitation with occasional advertisements in magazines or metaphysical publications. Because these books are not for everyone, the finest form of advertising is word-of-mouth. "Let me tell you what I've just discovered....” Fellowship Press sponsors no groups or organizations for two reasons: One, sponsoring groups is a whole separate administrative endeavor, one which Fellowship does not wish to pursue at this time. Two, Mr. Pelley himself wished to avoid any possibility of Soulcraft being formed into a church or cult. Such structuring, he knew, would shortly crystallize the Soulcraft ideas into inflexible dogma in which spiritual growth and investigation would wither and die. Following this guideline, Fellowship takes the responsibility only to make available the best of the Soulcraft books, to sell them at reasonable prices to all who wish to read them, and to permit each person to make his own interpretation of the Soulcraft ideas as expressed by Mr. Pelley. With written permission given, Fellowship permits quoting from the Soulcraft books of a reasonable amount to illustrate a point, providing, of course, full credit is given. It is a bright and enlivening prospect that there is at last a genuine renascence of Spirit occurring. The effects of it are felt around the globe as we move forward into the Aquarian Age. The Soulcraft Library is a part of that rebirth of the Ancient Wisdom. Profound but simple to follow, it may prove to be something you've been looking for all your life. (by Jack Kerlin, Soulcraft Enterprises, Inc.) Fellowship Press was the last of many commercial names Pelley used for his publishing empire. In August of 2001 the inventory, printing, publishing and promotional functions of the family-owned business sustained by his heirs, Adelaide and Mel Pearson, were contracted to a new entity named Soulcraft Enterprises, administered by Jack Kerlin of Springdale, Utah. The Pearsons have taken reasonable legal precautions to assure Pelley's work will continue unabated into perpetuity without alteration. Under terms of the Transfer Agreement, Kerlin, the licensee, "shall operate a publishing company whose express purpose is the publishing, distributing and selling of Pelley's works within an agreed-upon scope and purpose. Licensee acknowledges the importance of maintaining the original and unique character, style and integrity of Pelley's literary and philosophical works and recordings. He acknowledges that Pelley was a controversial individual whose public positions subjected himself and his family to public scrutiny and notorious attack. Licensee is committed to preserving the reputation and privacy of Pelley and his family and will not commit any acts that aid or abet the distortions or misrepresentations that have or are related to Pelley and his writings, nor will he commit any acts which will alter, destroy, distort or taint the original character, style and integrity of Pelley's Works and Recordings." The inimitable Golden Scripts, a 908-page tome of tutorials, treats an array of subjects philosophical and spiritual in nature. Soulcraft devotees consider it the "Bible" of the New Age couched in scriptural prose unmatched in the entire repertoire of English literature. Pelley refused credit for this codex other than that of "recorder". He claimed to receive it clairaudiently from a highly evolved discarnate who called himself "Elder Brother", that same Man of Galilee known historically as Jesus. The "Great Speakings", as Pelley originally termed the Golden Scripts , was received verbatim with scant final editing. This voluminous body of spirit transmissions constitutes but a portion of the total material dictated by Elder Brother. Much of the remaining content was of personal nature and inappropriate for public consumption. Other portions are scattered among Soulcraft books and periodicals or forever lost amidst the tumultuous events swirling around Pelley mid-century. Contrary to his political activities, Pelley never sought an organized "church" of faithful Soulcrafters. He eschewed any attempt to organize a "religion" with hierarchal leadership. He did not see himself as a revered guru but merely the instrumentality of an ethereal entity exhibiting "high vibration". Pelley acknowledged himself as firm but kind, contemplative and pragmatic, a hard-driving man with a mission. He dearly loved the supernal personage speaking words of solace through The Golden Scripts that inveighs: "When the world asketh you, what of the teacher, what message hath he for us that is greater than all others, thus make ye answer: Behold, every life, no matter how humble, no matter how tragic, no matter how broken and thwarted, hath a meaning and an inner glory, and is precious in my sight." Infused throughout with love, this singular book is Pelley's outstanding legacy. Now in its tenth printing the Golden Scripts has never sold in large quantities, possibly no more than ten thousand copies since its first appearance in 1941. Yet for ardent "seekers of truth" the book has endeared itself as a testament of transcendent love, a call of valor to every soul wandering through life's vicissitudes. Nothing could please William Dudley Pelley more.
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