Table of Contents
Acknowledgements xi
Preface xv
Introduction: Shadows of the Golden Dawn 1
Introducing Mr Manson. From Woodstock to Altamont. The Age of Aquarius. The occult revival of the 1960s. Eliphas Levi, Madame Blavatsky and the roots of the occult revival.
Chapter 1 Spawn of the Magicians 13
Paris 1960. The Morning of the Magicians. New York 1975. I meet the magicians. They came from outer space. Erich von Daniken and Chariots of the Gods?. The hippies and the mutants. The Nazis and the occult. Evening of the magicians.
Chapter 2 The Return of H. P. Lovecraft 39
Weird Tales and H. P. Lovecraft. The Cthulhu Mythos. August Derleth and Arkham House. Colin Wilson and the Lovecraft revival. Lovecraft in the sixties. Lovecraft and the occult. Kenneth Grant, Lovecraft and Aleister Crowley.
Chapter 3 The Dark Barbarians 58
Robert E. Howard, King Kull and Conan the Barbarian. 'Civilization is unnatural'. Howard and Spengler. Swords, sorcery and the appetite for 'other worlds'. Thirties pulp in sixties paperbacks. Ballantine's Adult Fantasy series. Tolkienmania.
Chapter 4 Journeys to the West 80
The mystic East via the wild, wild West. Krishnamurti, Aldous Huxley, Gerald Heard and Christopher Isherwood. Henry Miller and Big Sur. The Beats go on. Alan Watts and the wisdom of irresponsibility.
Chapter 5 For Madmen Only 118
The Hermann Hesse craze. George Steiner objects. Steppenwolf, the band and the book. Journey to the East. Hesse as precursor to the mystic sixties. Russian Man. Strange forces. C. G. Jung and the occult. Confrontation with the shadow. Jung and the I Ching, flying saucers and the Age of Aquarius. The strange case of Miguel Serrano.
Chapter 6 Knocking on the Doors of Perception 144
Timothy Leary eats a mushroom. Drugs and the occult. Albert Hofmann and LSD. Gordon Wasson and Amanita muscaria. Andrija Puharich, Harry Stone and Uri Geller. Anaïs Nin has second thoughts.
Chapter 7 Food Of the Gods 162
Leary, Harvard and a modern 'mystery school'. Allen Ginsberg wants to call God. Michael Hollingshead's mayonnaise jar. Dr Leary takes a trip. The World Psychedelic Centre. The IFIR Castalia. Leary and Gurdjieff. Guru Tim heads East Leary, Crowley and Dr Dee in Bou Saada.
Chapter 8 The Teachings of Don Carlos 201
A fateful meeting in an Arizona bus station. The shaman's apprentice. Psychedelic pop anthropology. Don Juanmania. The Return of Don Juan. Don Juan returns yet again. Fiction, fact, or? Richard De Mille objects. Occultism on the quad.
Chapter 9 Satan Wants Us 217
Astounding Science Fiction. L. Ron Hubbard and Dianetics. The rise of Scientology. Jack Parsons and the dark side of Pasadena. Stranger in a Strange Land. L. Ron and Parsons. Making a magical child. The Book of Babalon. The strange death of Belarius Armiluss Al Dajjal Antichrist. Idries Shah. Gerald Gardner. Kenneth Grant again. Some famous satanists. Anton LaVey and the Church of Satan. The sad end of Jayne Mansfield.
Chapter 10 Get with the Process 261
A visit to the San Francisco Oracle. The Process Church of the Final Judgement. When Robert met Mary Ann at the Scientology Shop. Alfred Adler, L. Ron and Compulsions Analysis. A vision in Xtul. The mind benders of Mayfair. Satan's swinging London. Lights out for the Greys. Last call for the Process. Ed Sanders and The Family.
Chapter 11 Magical Satanic Mystery Tours 279
John Lennon asks for Nitz Ga at the Indica Bookshop and has a psychedelic experience instead. Pop mysticism. The Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Swami Prabhupada and Krishna Consciousness. Paul is dead. The Rolling Stones and the decadent illuminati. Please allow him to introduce himself. Kenneth Anger gets Lucifer to rise. The hippies and the Hell's Angels. Altamont again. Donald Cammell's performance. Manson, the Beach Boys and bad vibrations. All in the Family. Jim Morrison exposes himself to fear.
Chapter 12 The Magical Revolution 335
The aftermath of Altamont. Jung, Blavatsky and the rise of the Aquarian Age. Theosophical hippies. Gavin Arthur and the Oracle. The Love-Pageant Rally Michael Bowen and the Psychedelic Rangers. The Human Be-in. UFO and the 14-Hour Technicolor Dream. R. D. Laing and the Dialectics of Liberation. Jerry Rubin, Abbie Hoffman and levitating the Pentagon. Gandalf's Garden. The View Over Atlantis.
Chapter 13 The Occult Explosion 375
A crucifixion on Hampstead Heath. Kohoutek fizzles. Man, Myth and Magic. Occult consumerism. The occult publishing boom of the 1970s. Earth mysteries. The New Age. 'Roccult' and roll, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and 'back-masking'. David Bowie and those occult Nazis again. Satan, Manson and 'Reich and roll'. The 8/8/88 satanic rally. Charlie and the 'ecofascists'.
Last Words: Let The Sunshine In 392
Magic today. Fetish clubs and Nazi chic. Millennial cults. The Matrix.
Notes 398
Plates 412
Afterword: Shadows and Darkness in the Summer of Love 420
Appendix 1 Some Spiritually Deadly Thoughts 435
Appendix 2 The Serpent and the Unicorn: Murder in the Aquarian Age 496
Selected bibliography 528
Index 539
