Prentice Mulford

Prentice Mulford (April 5, 1834 – c. May 30, 1891) was an American literary humorist, philosopher, and early figure in the development of the New Thought movement. Many of the principles that would become standard in the movement, including the Law of Attraction, the power of thought, spiritual autonomy, and mental healing, were clearly laid out in his Your Forces and How to Use Them, released as a series of essays during 1886–1892. Mulford’s writings laid foundational concepts that shaped later metaphysical and psychological systems, including auto-suggestion and personal magnetism. He is recognized as one of the earliest voices to articulate the idea that thought itself is a creative force that influences both personal health and external circumstances.

Biography Prentice Mulford was born in Sag Harbor, New York, a seafaring village on Long Island, in 1834. He grew up amid tales of distant voyages and maritime adventure. In 1856, at the age of 22, he shipped out aboard the clipper Wizard for San Francisco, California, where he would spend the next 16 years. Life at sea proved to be grueling and unwelcoming, and his initial role cleaning the ship's pig-pen became symbolic of the indignities he endured. Later, aboard the whaling vessel Henry, Mulford worked as cook and steward despite lacking both aptitude and training, a role he eventually came to manage through determination and invention. His humorous reflections on this period express ideas of perseverance and mental power, which he would later incorporate into his New Thought writings.

After ten months at sea, Mulford turned to gold mining in California, and spent several years in mining towns, trying to find his fortune in gold, copper, or silver. He worked as a butcher’s assistant, miner, cow-keeper, and schoolteacher. These years of hardship and solitude deeply influenced his thinking, leading him to explore the relationship between the mind and the conditions of life. He became convinced that one's inner state shaped one's outer reality and that mental discipline, rather than external effort alone, was the key to health, success, and fulfillment. After leaving the mining life, Mulford ran for a position on the California State Assembly in Sacramento. Although he was nominated, he ultimately lost the election.

Mulford later worked as a newspaper editor and contributor. He was assigned to Europe to report on international exhibitions, and in London he married a young English woman who was Catholic. In 1872, Mulford returned to New York City, where he became known as a comic lecturer, a poet and essayist, and a columnist for the New York Daily Graphic from 1875 to 1881. He was buried in his family's private vault in Sag Harbor, and later moved to Oakland Cemetery there.

Partial works Thoughts are Things (1889) Your Forces and How to Use Them (In six volumes, published in 1888) The Swamp Angel, 1888 The Gift of Understanding Gift of the Spirit (1904) 1st edition- with an introduction by Arthur Edward Waite Gift of Spirit (1917 2nd revised ed.) Thought Forces Essays Selected from the White Cross Library (1913) The God in You, 1918 Prentice Mulford's Story: Life by Land and Sea (1889)