Everybody has different stories about where I came from. Nobody really knows.

I think therapeutic spirituality has largely been a help in the modern world. So the fact that people can approach religion with practical needs.

I think spiritualism, mesmerism, the mental healing movement, provided some people with the most meaningful experiences of their lives.

There are some people in occult history who warned against using the Ouija Board, who said: "This is a dangerous door to the unconscious. Don't approach this thing."

Women had no clerical role anywhere in the Western world, period.

America became a special source of attraction to people who were fleeing the aftereffects of the 30 Years War and the religious persecution that began to sweep through Europe in the period between the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. And when people got here, very often they succeeded.

When spiritualism dawned, suddenly women who wanted to engage in the civic and religious and political culture were becoming transmediums.