Instantaneous Personal Magnetism

Instantaneous Personal Magnetism: Combining an Absolutely New Method with the Best Established Teachings of the Past, written by Webster Edgerly (under the pen name Edmund Shaftesbury) and first published in 1926 was the "Standard Method" for personal magnetism. The book outlines the ability to control other's thoughts and destiny through a more pure and Victorian morality. In a more realistic tone, the book also deals with calming the nerves and thoughts to relieve stress.
Standard Method over previous publications
Instantaneous Personal Magnetism was advertised and released as being a combination of "an absolutely new method with the best established teachings of the past." According to a section printed before the introduction by the publisher, the methods explained in the book are the result of 45 yeas of teachings, and is also the only method used by the Magnetism Club of America.
Layout of the book
According to some critics, the book is set up in a way that maximizes the readability for the general public; having short brief chapters that include concise statements that sum up the whole chapter. The whole book is split up into ten "departments" which outline a section of Edgerly's beliefs, and then are broken down even more with subsections, which are the equivalent of chapters. The departments and chapters are as follows:

*Department of Magnetic Sources
:*a) The Drift of Life
:*b) Fires of Magnetism
:*c) Latent Magnetic Energies
:*d) Human Magnetism
:*e) Life is Magnetism
:*f) The Veneer
:*g) Outlines of Magnetism
*Department of Mental Magnitude
:*a) The Stomach Substitute
:*b) The Sex Substitute
:*c) The Greed Substitute
:*d) The Spiritual Substitute
:*e) Mental Magnitude
:*f) Mental Magnitude Regime
*Department of the Magnetic Eye
:*a) Magnetism of the Eye
:*b) Magnetic Details
:*c) Oriental Secrets
:*d) Glance Practice
:*e) The Vital Eye
:*f) The Powerful Eye
:*g) The Keen Eye
:*h) The Fire of the Eye
:*i) Magnetic Eye of Youth
:*j) The Tense Eye
*Department of Personal Magnetism
:*a) Preparing the Way
:*b) Immediate Progress
:*c) "Fidgits"
:*d) Physical Losses
:*e) Nervous Losses
:*f) Mental Losses
:*g) Gains without Warning
*Department of Magnetic Health
:*a) Foul Habits are Repellent
:*b) Wanton Losses of Vitality
:*c) Artificial Magnetism
:*d) The Magnetism of Health
:*e) Foods that are Magnetic
:*f) Foods that Destroy Magnetism
*Department of Tension Energy
:*a) Physical Tensing
:*b) Nerve Tensing
:*c) The Tense Touch
:*d) The Tense Voice
:*e) The Greatest Power in Life
:*f) The Greatest Engine of Vitality
:*g) Tense Walking
*Department of Repose (and Power)
:*a) The First Victory
:*b) Calmness
:*c) Calm Energy of Power
:*d) Experiments
:*e) Still Life
*Department of Magnetic Voice
:*a) Qualities that Win
:*b) Winning and Losing
:*c) Rounding the Flat Voice
:*d) Magnetic Modulation
:*e) Modulating Movements
:*f) Magnetic Colors of Voice
:*g) Vocal Qualities
:*h) Mixing Beautiful Colors
:*i) Rapid Magnetic Advancement
:*j) The Great Test
*Department of Applied Personal Magnetism
:*a) The Two Minds
:*b) The Magnetic Mind
:*c) the Truth Teller
:*d) Discerning the Truth
:*e) Introducing Physical Values
:*f) Magnetic Values
:*g) Spirit of Personal Improvement
:*h) Magnetic Initiatives
:*i) Magnetic Margins
:*j) The Vanishing Illusion
:*k) Mental Determination
*Department of Magnetic Healing
:*a) Methods of Healing
:*b) Death and Life
:*c) Doctors of Magnetism
:*d) The Grandest Success in Life

The short, concise qualities of each chapter can be seen in that the whole book is 400 pages long, with 73 "chapters." Also, in a clear effort to stress certain ideas or thoughts, Edgerly would bold the text, with an example being:

"Every person whose existence is worth anything to himself or the world, must at times BE ALONE WITH HIMSELF."

Personal magnetic experiments
In the chapter entitled "Experiments", Edgerly details exercises for the student to perform, in an attempt to visualize the effects of personal magnetism. This include activities to show the calming of nerves, like holding a glass of water with a leaf on top, then performing movements without spilling the water or the leaf, or the sharpening of visual focus by moving the eyes across a line, and not refocusing at all. In the chapter "Experiments", Edgerly also details sixteen examples of the "leakage of magnetism" which include "the drumming of the fingers, all kinds of embarrassment, and stuttering."
Who uses this book
In the introduction, and throughout the book, Edgerly makes remarks to how many people of various professions have used his system for the "most positive and powerful magnetic influence over their lives." In some short accounts he even gives the exact number of people who responded to his work with gratified letters, such as the 7,793 attorneys who "began in the humblest station in the profession... every one of them rose to the very heights of success." He also mentions famous persons who were credited with personal magnetism, with such names as:
*Charles Sumner
*Edwin Booth
*Henry Ward Beecher
=="The Drift of Life"==
In a brief section before the first department and chapter, there is a poem titled "The Drift of Life" by Edmund Shaftesbury.

"1. Source of Magnetism
:Sweetly the morning sunlight,
::Climbing the mountain high,
:::Poured down it's golden-beams slanting
::Like a pathway from the sky;
:::And along this highway gleaming,
::Came the spirit of one we love;
:::Our home to bless
:::::In this wilderness
::It came from the heaven above
2. Passing Opportunity
:Swiftly the day advancing
::Sped like the sunshine by;
:::While the glowing orb of heaven
::Flooded the noon-tide sky.
:::The rose grew wild on the mountain,
::The bee sipped the honeyed flower,
:::And down the vale
:::::The lily pale,
::Nodded the fleeting hour.
3. Lost
:Gently the evening sunlight
::Touched the horizon's bar,
:::Reaching the sea eternal,
::Lighting the land afar.
:::And down the gold beams slanting
::Like a pathway to the sky,
:::On pearls of light,
:::::Through the gateway bright,
::It passed to the realm on high."

The poem has never been published elsewhere.

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