Series - Psychic records

Title and statement of responsibility area

Title proper

Psychic records

General material designation

Parallel title

Other title information

Title statements of responsibility

Title notes

  • Source of title proper: Title based on contents of the series.

Level of description

Series

Reference code

Edition area

Edition statement

Edition statement of responsibility

Class of material specific details area

Statement of scale (cartographic)

Statement of projection (cartographic)

Statement of coordinates (cartographic)

Statement of scale (architectural)

Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)

Dates of creation area

Date(s)

Physical description area

Physical description

40 cm of textual records

Publisher's series area

Title proper of publisher's series

Parallel titles of publisher's series

Other title information of publisher's series

Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series

Numbering within publisher's series

Note on publisher's series

Archival description area

Name of creator

(1891 - 1985)

Biographical history

Mary Olga Park (née Bracewell) was a contemporary spiritualist mystic and self-published writer who lived most of her life in Vancouver, British Columbia. She was known for her non-denominational, theological beliefs and for the prophetic visions she experienced. She did not consider herself the head of a church or esoteric cult—or as a medium or psychic—but rather as a spiritual teacher.

Park was born to Ellen and Bruce Bracewell on February 24, 1891 in Gargrave, Yorkshire, England. As a child, Park showed an interest in nature, music and religion. Park was raised as a Wesleyan Methodist. After the local Wesleyan church disbanded, she secretly attended an Anglican Church against her parents’ wishes, as she was drawn by the music, liturgy, and sacramental worship. Park attended various schools in the suburbs of Birmingham until the age of fourteen, when she won a scholarship to Aston Pupil Teachers’ Centre. She studied there for three years, but also wished to pursue a career in music.

Park and her family immigrated to British Columbia in 1910, when Park was 19 years old. It was a difficult transition for Park, who had abandoned her musical and educational opportunities and social connections in England. The family settled in Revelstoke, British Columbia and soon after moved to a farm in South Vancouver, British Columbia. By 1914, Park began to receive dream visions showing her the experiences of soldiers in the First World War. From then on, she received psycho-spiritual experiences of Jesus Christ and other saints, philosophers, and thinkers.

On March 24, 1917, Park married James Fleming Park, and they had two children: Robert Bruce Park and James Samuel Park, who died a few days after his birth. Throughout the 1920s, Park was active at St. Mary’s Anglican Church in South Vancouver. She taught Sunday school and was a leading member of the church choir. During this time, Park became close with Rev. Charles Sydney McGaffin, the rector of the church. She considered him to be a man of progressive spiritual understanding. Through the 1940s, Park continued having visions and mystical experiences. Notably, Park received the words and music for a mystical communion service she practiced for the rest of her life at her own home worship altar, and kept a regular morning and evening practice of contemplative prayer. Park also became the Canadian representative of the Churches’ Fellowship for Psychical and Spiritual Studies in 1956–1963, corresponded with the Psychical Research Society in London, and was a member of the Spiritual Frontiers Fellowship.

Due to the broadening of her theology, she eventually felt compelled to move outside the parameters of the institutional Church. As she grew older, Park became dissatisfied with the nature of church dogma, or in her words, “Churchianity,” and broke ties with the Anglican Church. After her husband's death in 1959, she went to live with her son until 1964, when she moved to a small cottage in Port Moody. She devoted the rest of her life to living as a solitary contemplative. After word of her spiritual “awakening” and beliefs began to spread by her self-published books and by word of mouth, she received “seekers” and “learners” who wished to receive instruction on her spiritual practice. She began to regard those with whom she built her spiritual relationships as an informal society which had roots in interior realms and she referred to it as the Society of the Mystical Communion of Christ (SMCC).

Park continued to live alone at her cottage until 1978 when, after breaking an ankle, it was necessary to move back to Vancouver where she continued to receive visits from seekers and learners. Due to her advancing age and frailty, Park was transitioned to a care center for the elderly in Vancouver in 1983. Mary Olga Park died on December 13, 1985 at the age of ninety four.

Custodial history

Scope and content

Series consists of the textual records Park kept about the spiritual and psychic experiences she encountered from ca. 1914 until the end of her life. Park originally kept handwritten notes of her psychic records; later she would revisit them and create a typewritten copy which she kept as the originals. Park’s psychic records were arranged into sections corresponding to whom the records pertained and those she received during her communion service. Within these divisions, the records are arranged chronologically, and were grouped by year by Park.

Park kept detailed notes of her psychic occurrences and categorized the records in terms of the kind of occurrence. These include: clairvoyance, clairaudience, precognition, “out-of-the-body” experiences, dream visions (occurring in early morning between dreaming and waking), soul sight, astral encounters, voices and “the silent voice”, conversation by “spirit-telephone,” times of being “in the psychic consciousness,” “dream consciousness,” “in dual consciousness,” or experiencing “fully conscious ESP.” Park also experienced manifestations at her sanctuary such as visions of individuals or “psychic colour with form,” instruction during sleep, and what she termed, “overshadowing,” or a being of the spirit realms that would speak through her. Less common are instances of natural resurrection and epiphanies, healing manifestations, telepathy and telekinesis. Park also experienced visions of her son, James Samuel Park (Jamey, in her records), who died in infancy. At times he appears grown as a child and interacting with other individuals in Park’s visions.

First in the series are the records related to the Master. This is what Park called Jesus Christ, also referring to him as Master Jesus and the Cosmic Christ, or the living Christ of her inner experience. Secondly, there are records related to vision of the Rector, her close friend, Rev. Charles Sydney McGaffin, with whom she communicated and developed a romantic and spiritual connection after his passing in 1940. Another division are records of Park’s Teacher, John of Patmos, the presumed author of the Book of Revelation, who was her primary guide and mediator of the “Christ wisdom”. A division related to communications related to the development of her Society of the Mystical Communion of Christ (SMCC) and another division related to messages received during her personal communion service.

Lastly, any other individuals that appeared in her visions, Park terms the “Spokesmen of the Heavenly Servers” (Servers). These Servers included: The Easterner, The Essene, The Ethiopian, The Greek Orthodox Priest, The Indian, The Man with the Mace, The Persian, The Professor, The Tall Priest, and The Unknown Spirit Lady, among others. Park had other Servers which were Canadian religious and spiritual figures: Canon Spencer Hayward Elliott (Victoria Cathedral, Victoria, B.C.), Rev. Harry Ralph Trumpour (St. Helen’s Church. Vancouver, B.C.), Rev. Andrew Roddan (Vancouver First United Church, Vancouver, B.C.), Most Reverend Dr. Adam Urias de Pencier (Third Bishop of New Westminster, B.C. and Second Archbishop and Metropolitan of British Columbia). Finally, some Servers were fictional, religious, and historical individuals including: John Quincy Adams, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the Egyptian god Osiris, Francis Bacon, Sir Oliver Lodge, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Saint Paul (Saul of Tarsus), and Philo of Alexandria, and spiritualist writer Canon A. F. Webling.

Some psychic records were kept in Park’s filing cabinet, predominantly those from the late 1970s until her death. These were interfiled with personal and teaching material in her filing cabinet, such as the case with “Purpose – Mission,” “Rector – Letters,” and “Discernment, Special (Visions, Spiritual insights, messages from beyond, etc.).” Other “special messages” such as those on Easter and Maundy Thursday, and some from the Rector and Teacher were kept in the filing cabinet. Lastly, the series also contains the psychic records of Bernice Pell Crane, a “learner” of Park’s, who sent Park her notes of her psychic experiences.

Notes area

Physical condition

Immediate source of acquisition

Arrangement

The original order of the psychic records was retained by the archivist. Park kept her psychic records from ca. 1940 to the end of 1979 in their own box. Park arranged her psychic records first by individual (Master, Rector, Teacher, Servers) and within those divisions, she arranged them chronologically by decade with a file corresponding to a decade. In each of the files, she kept the records pertaining to a specific year in a smaller enclosure, which was removed for preservation purposes. The information written on original enclosures was transcribed on the new enclosures.

The psychic records kept in Park’s filing cabinet were also kept in their original order to retain their context.

Language of material

Script of material

Location of originals

Availability of other formats

Restrictions on access

Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication

Finding aids

File list available.

Associated materials

Related materials

Accruals

General note

Park abbreviates names of those that she meets in her clairvoyant visions, dream visions, and out-of-the-body experiences: her husband (J or Jim) the Rector (C.S. or just S), her son (R.B.), among others.

Alternative identifier(s)

Standard number area

Standard number

Access points

Subject access points

Place access points

Genre access points

Control area

Description record identifier

Rules or conventions

Status

Level of detail

Dates of creation, revision and deletion

Description created by Andréa Tarnawsky in November 2017.

Language of description

Script of description

Sources

Dillinger, Johannes. “Medieval Lore.” In Magical Treasure Hunting in Europe and North America: A History, 51. New York: Springer, 2011.

Roberts, S.C. “A Miscellany of Authors.” In Adventures with Authors, ¬155-156. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1966.

Simcox, Carroll E., ed. “Deaths.” Living Church 156 (1968): 15.

Snyders, Tom. “Vancouver’s Hoboes, by Andrew Roddan.” Georgia Straight, March 23, 2005. https://www.straight.com/article/vancouvers-hoboes-by-andrew-roddan.

United Empire Loyalists’ Association of Canada. “The Reverend Harry Ralph Trumpour.” Accessed September 20, 2017. http://www.uelac.org/education/WesternResource/420-Trumpour.pdf.

Wikipedia. S. v. “Adam de Pencier.” Last modified May 24, 2017. Accessed September 20, 2017. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_de_Pencier.

Accession area