More Of The Source
File under: New Age™ Gurus
The LA Weekly is currently running these excerpts from Isis Aquarian's recent memoir about her time in "The Source," the Southern California sun-kissed cult organized by a man who called himself Father Yod. He claimed he was God and surrounded himself with Hollywood's hottest hippies. The turban definitely comes off for that:
Father and Makushla had the master bedroom with Ahom, and eventually Ahom and all the pregnant women were moved into a side room off his bedroom. Ahom was about six months pregnant when Aquariana and Prism (who had also become Father’s women) also became pregnant by Father.But all good things invariably must come to an end:
It was a rocky road for most of the Source Family members in following years. In the Family, we had our own way of dressing, eating, loving, our own social mores and even our own way of speaking. We had to relearn how to communicate with the rest of the world, now our world. It was a painful transition for most. Some started slipping away from the teachings and some went on to other spiritual endeavors or groups. Some fell into drugs to try and recapture the cosmic heights we’d gotten so accustomed to or simply to escape. A few brothers ended up living on the streets, and a number had breakdowns.As bad as that may have been for some, let's all remember Father Yod this way, because it's a remarkable achievement to have led a spiritual sex cult as an allegedly divine being without it completely exploding in everyones' faces:
Labels: New Age™ Gurus
posted by guruphiliac @ 6:20 PM
9 Comments:
For anyone who's interested in ordering the book from which these excerpts were taken, the LA Weekly site has an incorrect link to "processmedia.com"... it's actually processmediainc.com, and here's the book.
It's much better to die early in your career, like this guy did,as far as damage control goes , but you can't assume damage wasn't done just because there wasn't a big public scandal. people becoming homeless and turning to drugs , feeling lost and shocked,that is not a success! obviously no one else felt empowered to carry on the legacy Mr. God there.
"allegedly divine being without it completely exploding in everyones' faces"
Actually, it sounds like it all exploded on a Mexican cliff...
KER-SPLATT!
Ive not yet had time to read the articles or books, but I had this funny feeling, a tug and all at once realized that perhaps these folks ran a restaurant, also known as 'The Source.'
If so, it was temporarily a chic place. I remember that a fashionista friend of my mother's took us to the place for lunch. It was around 1970 to 71, right when hippie/organic/granola chic was all the rage in LA.
I recall it was the first restaurant I'd ever been to. The servers wore white, and what my school pal and I found unnerving was that there were one or two beehives in close proximity to the outdoor dining area.
I was scared shitless of bees when I was a kid, and all during lunch was on edge. What amazed me was that the servers walked back and forth through the bees, seemingly unperturbed.
But if this restaurant was run by the Source commune, I guess the servers had a lot more on their minds to fret about than the risk of being stung by bees.
Correction--it was the first vegetarian restaurant I'd been to.
It wasnt until the Moosewood and Tassajara cookbooks came out that we really began getting guidance on how to cook vegetarian food that tasted good and did not rely on huge quantities of cheese, honey and butter to make it palatable.
Jody:
The picture you posted made me repent for days. I was soooo close to becoming a guru myself, but I under-estimated the opportunities!
I think many here are looking at The Source with too critical an eye. The fact that after Yod died some former members became homeless and/or drug addicts is not necessarily an indictment of Yod, in fact it could very well be those individuals had problems PRIOR to meeting Yod, and joining his group only postponed their problems (indeed, aren't the "lost" among us more likely to join a cult in the first place?). From what I know of them, most members eventually assimilated back into society OK, still look fondly on their time with Yod and harbor no hatred towards him. That is not to say Yod was god on earth, but neither was he necessarily a charlatan-- while he was around he provided a pretty stable life for his group, and satisfied some spiritual need of theirs.
Freefall:
Think positive. There's still time. You have to identify a niche market of folks to concentrate on, then figure out what your approach will be.
Four years ago, I went to hear Andrew Cohen give a lecture. He was so nasty that I kept looking around the room, thinking this was a huge joke being perpetrated. That some bored psychology students got together and decided to have someone claim guru status, act utterly obnoxious in public, and see how many people would show up, listen, and not throw rotten vegetables and walk out.
If someone with such ghastly manners could find a and keep a following, any of us could.
Repeat, ANY OF US COULD BECOME GURUS.
And..that is truly scary, and why we need people like Jody to stay on the job, BBQ-ing abusive sacred cows.
am no entity on such topics ..but i must say any thing thats happenning around must be discussed n debated without prejudice n predicaments ...in civilised way ..across all sex creed caste n faith..
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