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Curtiss, Harriette Augusta (1856-1932)

Harriette Augusta Curtiss was the author of a number of influential occult books and the cofounder, with her husband, F. Homer Curtiss, of the Order of Christian Mystics. Born in 1856 in Philadelphia, she was given a good education and was headed for a career on the stage when her mother asked her not to pursue such a course. She eventually became a clairvoyant. She was 51 years old when she married F. Homer Curtiss and they began a very successful collaboration as occult leaders and teachers. The year of their marriage they founded the Order of the 15, whose task was the correlation of theosophical and orthodox Christian teachings. Through it she issued monthly lessons for students.

The Order of the 15 evolved into the Order of Christian Mystics. Curtiss assumed the role of teacher for the order and operated under the religious name Rahmea. Meanwhile, Homer Curtiss served as the order's secretary. Harriette Curtiss's first book was assembled from correspondence to students and published as Letters from the Teacher. The monthly lessons were later gathered into the order's basic text, The Voice of Isis, and the more advanced text, The Message of Aquaria.

During World War I the Curtisses formed the Church of the Wisdom Religion, a more esoteric group, to work alongside the Order of Christian Mystics. The church was later incorporated as the Universal Religious Foundation. Through the fruitful years of leading these two organizations, Curtiss wrote more than 20 books and booklets covering a variety of occult topics. She died September 22, 1932, in Washington, D.C.