The Asseverants are a branch of the New Thought movement that got Sundered. They were founded by Ephriam P. Mossgelder (1887—1974), a farmer and son of a farmer, occasional alderman, and Sunday school teacher in Bugtussel, Iowa. He was a loyal, if only hazily orthodox, member of the town's Baptist church.
Physically frail, Mossgelder developed shamanistic abilities at age 17, after a near-death experience, and shortly after becoming enamored of New Thought. He was convinced the New Thought affirmations enabled him to live through the typhus that caused the NDE.
While practicing his New Thought affirmations in shamanistic astral projection, he developed abilities to cast luck and karma and eventually ka-based wishes (all of which he called "blessings"), all attributed to his brand of New Thought, which he called Asseveration. (Mossgelder only had a high-school education, but made the most of it and had a champion vocabulary.) The name signifies the idea of making something true by saying it, by insisting on it.
Mossgelder’s cultural background included hoodoo/powwow/root-work and similar folk-magic, which he freely incorporated into Asseveration. As a result, Asseverants produce lucky charms in the form of John the Conqueror Root, copies of The Long Lost Friend, and so on.
Mossgelder was a nice guy. He used his powers to help people, and felt he should teach them to help themselves and others. So started the Asseverants. Mossgelder tried to teach his students his own powers, as he understood them, sometimes did teach them, and insisted on two rules: (1) never use their powers to harm, and (2) always speak the truth. Obvious complications:
There are four levels of Asseverants distinguishable:
Since Mossgelder's death, the group has been shrinking and dispersing into the general esoteric community.
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Copyright © Earl Wajenberg, 2020