Vera Stanley Alder

Vera Dorothea Stanley Alder (29 October 1898 - 26 May 1984) was a successful portrait painter who explored the Ancient Wisdom, which revolutionised her life. She wrote several books and pamphlets, which simplified and summarised this knowledge in order to present it to others. She lectured widely and demonstrated a rare gift for condensing and synthesising the essentials of esoteric teaching. She founded the World Guardian Fellowship .

Background and family life

Vera Dorothea Stanley Alder was born 29 October 1898 at Eglingham, near Alnwick, Northumberland. Her father David Julius Adler (born 3rd April 1871) was Danish and her mother Sylvia Marie Stanley (born 12th December 1880) was English. Her first sister Karen, who later became a leading actress was born on 11th August 1901. Her second sister Sonya Patricia who married Sir James Marjoribanks was born on 20 May 1910. Vera was a fourth cousin of Niels Bohr, the Nobel Prize winner and atomic physicist. Vera was educated at Roedean School in Sussex until 1914 and went to the Slade School of Art in London in 1917 [ Personal letters written by Vera Stanley Alder and in the possession of her niece Patricia Marjoribanks. ] to study portrait painting. She also studied painting in Paris. Vera first married Roland Hunt, a naval architect, on 12th June 1943 with whom she shared a common enthusiasm for esoteric subjects. They divorced on 23rd May 1956. Roland later emigrated to California where he died. On 16th February, 1963 Vera married Aage Larsen, her Danish publisher to whom she was married until her death on 26th May, 1984.

Career and works

Vera had a successful career as a portrait painter using both oil paints and pastels [ Bergery, Jessie, “Introducing Vera Stanley Alder” Nice-Matin 1953-05-14 ] . In 1923, for example, she exhibited portraits of Lady Douglas, Lady Poynter, and Princess Tatiana Viazensky (granddaughter of Harry Gordon Selfridge) at the Lyceum club in Paris where she had a studio [“Art and Artists”, New York Herald, 1923-11-04 ] . In 1927 she exhibited at the Cercle Nautique in Cannes [ “At a Cannes Potrait Exhibition”, The Daily Mail, 1927-02-19] portraits of Princess Elizabeth of Greece [ A full page copy of this portrait was also shown on Page 116 of the Tatler, No. 1203, 1924-07-16 ] (niece of King Constantine I of Greece) , Baron de Saint-Marc and Aubry Smith (the actor and cricketer). She then began to investigate the Ancient Wisdom, which revolutionised her life. She became a vegetarian and wrote seven books, one of which (“From the Mundane to the Magnificent”) she described as a “Spiritual Autobiography.” Her books were translated into several languages [ Stanley Alder, Vera (2006). "Crear La Mente del Mundo", Grupal Logistica Y Distribucion, ISBN 84-95593-12-2] . Her devotees include such widely divergent people as Elvis Presley [ Guralnick, Peter (2000) "Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley" Pp. 175 & 183 Abacus, London ISBN 9780349111681] , rock musicians [ [http://www.progbibliography.de/inspbooks.htm Literary references in Progressive Rock] Item No. 24, Retrieved on 2008-04-01 ] and hippies [Hart, S.F. [http://www.sfheart.com/hippiebooks.html Recommended Hippie Reading List] Item no. 1, Retrieved on 2008-04-01] . One commentator described her as “A painter and mystic who was particularly successful in finding a way to join both technological and social progress with a mystic spirituality” [ Hoolie, Tristan (2002) [https://lra.le.ac.uk/bitstream/2381/853/1/hooleythesis.pdf Visions of a New Jerusalem: Predictive Fiction in the Second World War] Thesis for Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Exeter Page 220, Retrieved on 2008-04-01] . Vera founded the World Union Fellowship, which later became the World Guardian Fellowship that published the Journal of World Guardians and which continued, after her death [ Parrish-Harra, Reverend Carol E. Ph. D [http://www.sanctasophia.org/articles/Biographical/The-Way-We-Were.html The Way We Were—A Love Story of Student and Spiritual Teacher] Retrieved on 2008-04-01] .

References

Works

* Stanley Alder, Vera (1938). "The Finding of the Third Eye" Rider and Company, London, UK ISBN 0 0902 7343 5
* Stanley Alder, Vera (1939). "The Initiation of the World" Rider and Company, London, UK ISBN 0 09 089700 5
* Stanley Alder, Vera (1940). "The Fifth Dimension" Rider and Company, London, UK ISBN 0 09 027292 7
* Stanley Alder, Vera (1942). "Wisdom in Practice" ISBN Rider and Company, London, UK ISBN 0 09 103810 3
* Stanley Alder, Vera (1958). "The Secret of the Atomic Age" Rider and Company, London, UK ISBN 0 09 111811 5
* Stanley Alder, Vera (1956). "When Humanity Comes of Age" Rider and Company, London, UK ISBN 0 09 111801 8
* Stanley Alder, Vera (1979). "From the Mundane to the Magnificent" Rider and Company, London, UK ISBN 0 09 138071 5

[All the above were reissued in paperback from 1968 on by Samuel Weiser, 734 Broadway, New York 10003, USA]

* Stanley Alder, Vera, "The Story of World Union Fellowship" (Pamphlet) The World Union Fellowship Publishing Company and Photospeed Lithographic Company, London, UK
* Stanley Alder, Vera (1976). "The Time is Now! A Guide to World Regeneration" (Pamphlet) World Guardian Publishing Co. and Comet Press Ltd., Bedford, UK
* Stanley Alder, Vera, "The New World Civilization" (Pamphlet) C.W. Daniel & Co, Ashingdon. UK
* Stanley Alder, Vera, "Self Training in the Art of Living" 12 talks on cassettes The Speakers International Agency, 29 Old Bond Street, London W1X 4LJ, UK, with titles:
** "Man Know Thyself"
** "The Mystery of Relationship"
** "Love or Sex?"
** "What is the Spiritual Hierarchy?"
** "Diet and Evolution"
** "Meditation Made Simple"
** "The Essentials of Well-Being"
** "The Science of Colour"
** "Advance Knowledge of the Ethers"
** "Breathing Your Way to Success"
** "A Survey of Yoga"
** "The Coming of Communities"