Jerry Hicks, Esther Hicks and The Law of Attraction: How Did It Start?

Because so much of what Esther Hicks and Jerry Hicks have claimed about their pasts is either provably wrong or questionable, their stories can be relied on only as a general basis and reference.

Although Jerry Hicks claims to have been a lifelong seeker of esoteric truths, influenced to practice the tricks of wealth by Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich, there is nothing on the record to verify much of his autobiography.

Sometimes, a researcher trying to find out about Jerry Hicks life gets a perplexing sense that an eraser has been taken to the records.

Some of his claims, such as knowing Rip Taylor from his days in the entertainment business, have been denied outright by other parties. What we do know as a fact is that, at the time of his meeting Esther, Jerry was recently divorced from Trish Hughes. The couple had been successful in reaching the Crown Level with Amway and making Jerry a wealthy man.

Esther was Trish Hughes bookkeeper and married to Richard, a Mormon as is most of Esther's family, with a daughter Tracy. Single again after four marriages, Jerry (in his sixties and twenty-five years older than Esther) was engaged to be married for at least his fifth time.

Both relationships ended after Richard discovered that Esther and Jerry were having an affair.

Esther and Jerry Hicks were married soon after. This would be the fifth marriage Jerry Hicks later said he could remember, while conceding that there might have been more. By all public accounts, the marriage was a happy one, the pair well-matched.

Abraham-Hicks was not born until about five years later. Jerry had been reading books from the New Thought Movement for years and trying to use the tools to teach others to obtain the wealth he claims to have created prior to Abraham-Hicks, the company. He and Esther began reading books Jane Roberts wrote, claiming to be a channel for a nonphysical entity known as "Seth." Esther tells of lying on the couch with Jerry, reading aloud as he tickled her feet.

This is a part of the story Esther and Jerry Hicks probably wish they hadn't shared because they begin their official tale about the emergence of Abraham Hicks, the entity, with a visit to Sheila Gillette (then, Sheila Petersen-Lowary), author of The 5th Dimension: Channels to a New Reality, a woman who'd been channeling "Theo" since a severe stroke brought her to a near death experience as a young woman.

According to Esther's version, they just happened to hear that Petersen-Lowary would be in town soon and rushed, out of the blue, to make an appointment, this though Esther claims to have been turned off by Jerry's old Ouija Board stories. At their session with Theo, Jerry, Esther tells us, asked many questions while she listened until, as they were leaving, Theo asked her if she would like to know the name of her "spiritual guide."

Esther claims to have been flabbergasted, never having heard the term before (despite extensive reading of Jane Roberts' books, acknowledged in an interview later), and she was told that the name would be given to her independently in a "clairaudient experience."

Esther and Jerry were advised to begin meditating regularly in order to develop this relationship. Here's where the more glaring contradictions begin because, as the official story is told (convincingly by Esther), she never knew anyone who meditated and thought it was weird. To the contrary, the Seth Books, which she and Jerry had been reading heavily, lying on the couch, tickling feet, are full of references to meditation.

The official story of Abraham-Hicks requires that Esther Hicks be an innocent chosen by Abraham, described as the voice of God, because she had so few strong opinions and was married to the "questioner of all time," Jerry Hicks.

In a series of steps, then, the official story has it that Abraham-Hicks is born. First, while meditating, Esther suddenly realizes that her head is being involuntarily swiveled to make her nose draw letters. (Honest!) While sustaining the miracle of remaining in meditation, she calls out to Jerry to alert him and jots down what is being spelled: "I am Abraham. I am your spiritual guide." (Note: this is not clairaudience, as predicted earlier, by Theo.)

This experience apparently having ended there, since no additional information is given, Esther says that one night, while watching television in bed with Jerry, Abraham takes control of her hands, thumping them against her chest. She gets "an urge" to go over to her IBM Selectric typewriter and watches as, presumably, Abraham spends several minutes searching the keyboard to understand the letters. Then, her fingers begin typing out words. "I am Abraham," again, but more tellingly as she reports it in Ask and It Is Given: Learning to Manifest Your Desires, "We are going to write a book together."

What makes this last reported statement unbelievable is that Jerry Hicks has just finished explaining that, in Abraham Hicks' world, they do not have words, reading or hearing. They communicate by a sort of ESP. For Esther, it is claimed that they deliver "blocks of thought" to be interpreted, not words or sentences. They didn't even know the mechanics of a typewriter or the features on the keyboard, so how did they go about deciding to "write a book together" or even care about writing one?

The next phase in the birth of Abraham Hicks is even more inexplicable. Esther tells a bizarre story in which she and Jerry are nearly crushed by trucks on a highway when, suddenly, Abraham (now seizing her vocal chords) orders Jerry to "take the next exit," according to Ask And It Is Given. (A written version from a decade earlier has Abraham prefacing this order by saying the highway was "too dangerous.)

This part of the official story seems to be a partially developed effort to suggest a heavenly rescue. After exiting, they sit in the car in a parking lot under the highway and Jerry converses with Abraham, who has taken control of Esther's vocal chords, "for hours"

Channeling is born with Abraham Hicks emergence in the physical form of Esther Hicks' body, and after Jerry Hicks breaks his promise to keep her fantastic abilities quiet, a lucrative series of high priced Abraham Hicks Workshops begins.

Jerry Hicks illness has slowed things down, but in the meantime, the workshops along with books, cards, recordings and other gift shop items have made Abraham-Hicks a prosperous organization and Esther and Jerry Hicks very wealthy people.

Rhonda Byrne's wildly popular, The Secret, was inspired by an Abraham-Hicks workshop. Esther Hicks was initially the main narrator and focal point of the movie, but dropped out (with cash) in a dispute over money.

Even so, this put Esther and Jerry Hicks, along with their only child, Abraham Hicks, (joking!), more in the limelight than ever before. The seductive power of The Secret and the Law of Attraction behind it were irresistible for a culture lost in consumerism and unable to find its way out of a spiritual void.

The Law of Attraction

"That which is like unto itself is drawn" is the biblical sounding mantra used by Jerry and Esther Hicks in selling The Law of Attraction. It's a slightly altered version of a slogan used by the creators of The Law of Attraction, when it first came into play in the New Thought Movement of the 1920s, with accounts for it's awkward and antiquated sound.

The Law of Attraction, which Jerry and Esther claim dishonestly to have originated (see the outstanding blog, Kyra Speaks: Abraham Hicks Sells Used Thought), is, according to Abraham Hicks, the most powerful law in the universe.

According the The Law of Attraction, whatever you think about instantly begins to manifest as the universe constantly gathers all its forces to deliver what you are focusing on. The trick is that you may be careless in what you're thinking. If you're wishing for a better car, a strange analogy Jerry Hicks frequently employs, by thinking about what you hate about your old car, you're attracting your old car, not the new one.

Sound weird? It gets weirder.

"You get what you think about,whether you want it or not," Jerry Hicks proclaims confidently in the audiobook for Ask And It Is Given.

If you are not getting what you believe you clearly want, the flaw is in your way of thinking. Banish all but thoughts about the features you crave in that new car, and presto... Well, not quite. There is another caveat.

According to Abraham Hicks, the all powerful Law of Attraction works in a three step process. First, you ask with your thoughts. Of course, this is virtually automatic because you are thinking all the time. If you think predominantly positive thoughts, you are asking for positive outcomes, whether you are conscious of the asking or not.

(In different versions, Esther Hicks claims that words and thoughts are meaningless and that you ask with your "vibrations," which draw other vibrations in the law of attraction. In Ask And It Is Given, the couple writes that your thoughts attract similar thoughts.)

Step two, Abraham Hicks claims "is not your job." In step two, "the universe answers." This is immediate. Whatever you have asked for is delivered. "It is law," announces Esther Hicks, acting as Abraham. "No exceptions."

But here's the catch. Esther and Jerry Hicks once ran a string of "art of allowing" workshops because, in step three, it's your job to allow what the universe has delivered.

The universe, Jerry and Esther Hick claim, did it's job by delivering the car, the perfect health, Montana Wildhack, Tarzan, a string of McMansions around the world, whatever you asked for. If you don't see them, it's simple: "You're not letting it in."

Almost in the same breath, they provide another, somewhat contradictory escape hatch. The reason you don't see that Rolls Royce in your driveway, Montana Wildhack topless in the front seat, is because of "the buffer of time," a gimmick that lets your dreams come gloriously through in sequence. In the ensuing anger over being denied trademark status for "law of attraction," the buffer of time evolves into the "vortex of attraction," a virtual holding tank for new cars, big houses and perfect lovers.

Only the slickest of deliveries could land this turkey so that it looks like a sleek, personal jet.

The Law of Attraction, the whole basis for the teachings of Abraham Hicks, came with an out for which Esther and Jerry Hicks could not be blamed. It was your fault. You weren't letting it in. Or, if that didn't sell, you get your buffer of time extending the abundant roll out of pleasures into infinity.

Later, angered by the refusal of the their application to legally trademark the term "Law of Attraction" because it had been kicking around for nearly a hundred years (Esther and Jerry thought nobody would notice.), Abraham Hicks reduced their use of the term in their presentations and it remains on their website to enhance search results, complete with the dishonest marketing phrase, "Here's where it all started."

They now use the clunky term "Vortex of Attraction" most frequently, making lemonade out lemons. The vortex, it now turns out after twenty years of Abraham Hicks workshops without a mention, is where all those goodies the universe delivered are waiting until you're vibrating at the right frequency to let them in. Or maybe for the buffer of time to melt down.

Followers now refer to themselves as being "ootv," or out of the vortex, when they're not receiving what they've asked for, recognizing a need for better "vibrational alignment."

(It would take a lot more stamina than I have today to try to explain "vibrational alignment," but take it from me, it's what you need to have in order to have your goodies delivered. Probably, although you may still have that pesky buffer of time to deal with, too.)

Abraham Hicks, A Nonphysical Entity

Abraham, Esther Hicks tells us, came into being with a biblical, male name because they believed that would make it easier for followers to relax with them and learn.

Esther claims that Abraham Hicks is a gathering of about one-hundred nonphysical teachers who coalesce to deliver answers and teachings at their workshops and to write bestselling books. (They also do one on ones for wealthy followers, like Jim Carey and Jennifer Anniston, who can hand over big bucks, but not for people like you and me.)

Abraham Hicks is brought into Esther instantly as she relaxes into a sort of meditative state, standing in front of live audiences in her bare feet. They speak through her voice and talk about Esther and Jerry in the third person. Initially, they were inclined to be a bit solemn, but later learned to play and tease with audience members. A troubling kink developed in 2010 when Esther, as Abraham, began verbally abusing audience members, even evicting some she claimed were "out of vortex" to the delight of other audience members, all of whom must have been in the vortex.

For reasons detailed in Fourteen Reasons You Can't Trust Esther Hicks and Abraham, I don't think it's possible that any entity like what is described as Abraham Hicks is reaching out to help people by delivering blocks of thought to Esther Hicks. At least, not now.

If it were true, we would have to concede that these nonphysical teachers with access to all the knowledge ever available to humans is a sort of dunce, making errors from the obtuse to the silly to the offensive.

As a final note on that, I should add in fairness that a good friend with unimpeachable credibility tells a story about his first time at an Abraham Hicks workshop, back in the late 1990s. A natural skeptic, he sat "with one foot out the door," ready to evacuate. But then, he saw "auras dropping all around Esther," as if the entities that comprised Abraham Hicks were arriving one at a time.

The likely solution to this contradiction is that, while once present and teaching, for several reasons, Abraham Hicks is no longer in the house.

These days, Abraham-Hicks is a successful business in the state of Texas. They promote Abraham Hicks Workshops and sell merchandise from recordings of workshops, guided meditation DVDs to printed transcripts.

Jerry Hicks, although now out of action and undergoing therapy for leukemia, is CEO. His management style is autocratic. Employees are required to punch time clocks and to maintain diaries of their daily activities. He has been known to leave a trail of bodies of ex-employees and associates when he and Esther find them expendable or expecting to share too much of the bounty.

Esther Hicks, in real life, is known to be short tempered and prone to frequent meltdowns over the slightest mistakes by underlings.

The picture you get from people who have worked for them is not of a couple with special insights or joy. Their "Life Is Supposed To Be Fun" motto is belied by years of hard work and long hours. There are tensions between Esther and Jerry, who resents her getting most of the attention, and Esther's now grown daughter, Tracy, who is unhappy over Jerry's role in driving a wedge between her parents.

The image of a happy go lucky pair bouncing through a life of joy is part of the sale with no recognizable counterpart in their real lives.

Oprah Winfrey, Wayne Dyer, Louise Hay and others have been instrumental in promoting the false front that is Abraham-Hicks as enablers. Their endorsements helped people overlook the flaws and dishonesties in Abraham-Hicks work. Now that, Jerry Hicks illness has shown that the core of what has been preached in recent years is completely false, will they step up and apologize?

Recent events, from Esther Hicks abusing audience members to Jerry's inability to relieve himself of cancer without chemotherapy have shown that Abraham Hicks is no longer part of Abraham-Hicks.

Trusting the credibility of friends who have known them well, I believe that Esther Hicks did once give birth to Abraham, a remarkable teacher of loving values, and that the riches brought through selling The Law of Attraction buried them.

Someone, maybe an astute researcher like Kyra, will dig deep and uncover the twenty-five year trail of teachings and be able to pinpoint when they became more about Jerry and Esther Hicks' own worldview than the one Abraham gave them. When that time comes, I'll be eager to post it here.