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Ruth Shick Montgomery (June 11, 1912 – June 10, 2001) was a self-proclaimed psychic and author of numerous books on occult and New Age subjects, whose predictions regarding the "polar shift of 1999" heads a long list of failed attempts to foretell the future. She was a biographer of alleged paranormal medium Jeanne Dixon and a protégée of Arthur Ford who posited unsupported claims that he (like Cayce) could access the Akashic Records (or database) of the Universe. Montgomery is widely seen as a forerunner of later New Age gurus such as Sylvia Browne, and 1980s so-called spirit channelers such as Penny Torres (Mafu) and J.Z. Knight (Ramtha). After her long-time friend and mentor, celebrity medium Arthur Ford, died of natural causes, Montgomery claimed to begin automatic writing, first with a pencil, later with a typewriter, and said she was able to communicate with Ford, though this claim was never tested under laboratory conditions. According to Montgomery, this postmortem communication was the basis for a lengthy series of books which resulted in her achieving minor celebrity status during the 1960s and 1970s, at which time Montgomery became something of a "darling" of the morning talk show set, and was for a time a household name. Montgomery, who enjoyed great financial success via her prolific New Age writings, initially claimed to believe her mission on Earth was to educate the public regarding her views on life after death, which is common among spiritualists. However, she also studied reincarnation and came to believe that mental and physical illnesses often have their origins in past lives. Montgomery wrote of such things as birth marks indicating the possible sites of past life injuries, and commented that often children born with serious defects or illnesses are in fact re-paying debts incurred in previous existences. Her books were often filled with claims about the past lives of the famous among her contemporaries, stating that Ernest Hemingway had once been a Hun warrior, and that in a previous incarnation Jacqueline Kennedy was a famed French queen. Montgomery was a believer in the existence of extraterrestrial contact, and claimed to have met non-human aliens on a number of occasions, particularly when she resided in Mexico in the 1970s, though she presented no physical evidence of these experiences. In one book she wrote of missing an opportunity to ride in a flying saucer due to her husband, Bob, enduring a minor illness at the time the offer of a ride was made by space aliens. With other like-minded mystics, Montgomery founded the Association for Past Life Research and Therapy. Her many books (allegedly channeled via automatic writing from her spirit guides) popularized spiritualist notions in public consciousness in the 1960s through the 1990s, and paved the way for what is now known as New Age pseudo-religion. Montgomery is particularly noted for popularizing the walk-in theory whereby a person's soul can depart a hurt or anguished body and be replaced with a new soul which overtakes the body. She filled a book with an extensive list of present-day and historical individuals she said were examples of "walk-ins" and claimed several US Presidents were among this group. In a final book which she co-authored, Montgomery hinted that she may have been able to mentally divert the course of a hurricane away from the region of Florida in which she resided, and also made a number of claims regarding her ability to enjoy ongoing conversations with her husband Bob, following his death from heart disease. Montgomery herself died in 2001, though several psychics have alleged mediumistic contact with her, and quotes supposedly made by the deceased Montgomery have appeared in books published since 2001. == Journalism == Montgomery began her long journalism profession as a cub reporter for ''Waco-News-Tribune'' while receiving her education at Baylor University (1930–1935). Later she graduated from Purdue University (1934) and began work as a reporter on the ''Louisville Herald-Post''. In 1943, she became the first female reporter in the Washington bureau of the ''New York Daily News'', and embarked on her extensive Washington DC career. She covered notable foreign affairs (the Berlin Airlift among them), was a syndicated columnist for Hearst Headlines and United Press International〔 and was a well-read correspondent with the International News Service. At Franklin D. Roosevelt's funeral, Montgomery was the only female of the 12 invited reporters. In 1950, while a reporter for the ''New York Daily News'', she was voted president of the Women’s National Press Club. In 1959, she was a member of then Vice-President Richard Nixon's press corps on his tour of Russia. Montgomery wrote of her 25 years covering Washington in her 1970 book, “Hail to the Chiefs; My Life and Times with Six Presidents”. Montgomery wrote annual newspaper columns listing predictions by psychic Jeane Dixon beginning in 1952. In 1962, “Once There was a Nun: Mary McCarran's Years as Sister Mary Mercy” was published and thus began Montgomery’s long career as a non-fiction author. In 1965 her book, “A Gift of Prophecy” about Jeane Dixon was published and became a best-seller, selling over 3 million copies.〔 Montgomery retired from her journalism career in 1969.〔 As part of their Texas Collection, the Archives Division at Baylor University contains a research collection which include papers of Montgomery. She held honorary doctor of law degrees from Baylor University and Ashland College. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ruth Montgomery」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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