“Miguel is as gifted a wordsmith as I’ve ever encountered in the nonfiction realm. In terms of style, his book reads like something out of ROLLING STONE, only far more conscious and daringly metaphysical. THE OCCULT ELVIS takes a topic that some might consider trivial or even chintzy—the kitschy trickster King of Rock ‘n’ Roll—and makes it not just timely but absolutely relevant for today’s would-be spiritual freethinkers.” —Yours Truly
Sol Luckman
Several years ago I listened to a number of super fascinating and uber intelligent interviews by author Miguel Conner on his Aeon Byte Gnostic Radio YouTube channel before being invited on as a guest to discuss my own highly “Gnostic” novel I’d recently written.
He must have thought I was a reasonably swell guy because this was followed by a second interview in which Miguel and I discussed an equally “Gnostic” nonfiction book I’d just published centered on cults and cultishness as integral aspects of a worldwide hive mind.
Recently, I approached Miguel to propose Round 3 on my latest (also highly “Gnostic”) book, this one on inner alchemy. In the process I learned that his own new book had just been made available for pre-sale by Inner Traditions (a publisher that, to begin a string of fortuitous connections between my work and Miguel’s) used three of my paintings on Itzhak Beery’s bestselling trilogy of books on shamanism.
Miguel’s instantly fascinating new book on the “Mystical and Magical Life of the King,” THE OCCULT ELVIS, instantly piqued my interest so much that I requested a review copy, which he kindly forwarded.
Reading (rather, devouring) it, I was struck by further examples of—to use a term associated with Carl Jung, who features prominently in both our soon-to-be-published books, and popularized by the Police—synchronicity.
Both texts were framed by the context of rock ‘n’ roll. Both featured male rock icons who died tragically young (Jim Morrison in my case). Both looked the Grim Reaper square in the eye. Both examined the MATRIX-esque idea that we’re living in a kind of simulation and explored such “fringe” concepts related to a mentally constructed “reality” as egregores and tulpas.
In brilliantly scrutinizing Elvis’s and author Philip K. Dick’s relationship to their deceased twins, Miguel’s book also delved deeply into a constellation of ideas having to do with one’s relationship with the other-self: daemons, spirit guides, etc. And while my latest book doesn’t focus on this subject matter, some years ago I published a novel focused on dopplegangers in the parallel Otherworld of dreams. So add yet another striking serendipity to the list.
Little did I know, when I reached out to Miguel to return to his show, that we’d been working on, well, practically the same book!
Joking aside, and acknowledging the many important differences in our texts, I was nevertheless reminded of the concept of zeitgeist and infectious ideas seeming to surf the morphic wave field from one mind to another—which may be why multiple inventors who’d never heard of each other created the telephone at exactly the same time.
Be that as it may, if I might summarize what I found most compelling (among many attributes I might mention) about THE OCCULT ELVIS, it was this:
Miguel is as gifted a wordsmith as I’ve ever encountered in the nonfiction realm. In terms of style, his book reads like something out of ROLLING STONE, only far more conscious and daringly metaphysical. THE OCCULT ELVIS takes a topic that some might consider trivial or even chintzy—the kitschy trickster King of Rock ‘n’ Roll—and makes it not just timely but absolutely relevant for today’s would-be spiritual freethinkers.
Are you a Beatles or Elvis person?
Echoing Uma Thurma in the role of Mia Wallace in PULP FICTION, Miguel asks this question toward the beginning of his splendid opus. Much like the author before encountering the esoteric Elvis, I absolutely “knew” I was a Beatles person. Now I “gno” that I’m not. In a sense this book changed me. What more can one ask for?
🎸 BOOK DESCRIPTION BY INNER TRADITIONS 🎸
An esoteric and magical portrait of Elvis Presley
• Draws on firsthand accounts from Elvis’s wife, Priscilla, his friends and family, the Memphis Mafia, and his spiritual advisors
• Looks at key teachers who influenced him, including Yogananda, H. P. Blavatsky, and Manly P. Hall
• Examines Elvis’s efforts as a natural healer, the significance of his UFO encounters, and his telekinetic, psychic, and astral traveling abilities
Elvis Presley, the most successful solo artist in history and an emblematic cultural figure of the Western world, has been widely perceived as a conservative Southerner. However, the truth about the man has been missed.
Writer and researcher Miguel Conner reveals how Elvis was a profound mystic, occultist, and shaman. Beginning with the unusual circumstances of his birth—including his stillborn twin brother, Jesse—Conner traces the diverse thread of mysticism that runs through Elvis Presley’s life, drawing on firsthand accounts from the people closest to him, including his wife, Priscilla, friends and family, the Memphis Mafia, and his spiritual advisors.
He reveals how Elvis was a student of seminal nineteenth- and twentieth-century occultists, including H. P. Blavatsky, Manly P. Hall, G. I. Gurdjieff, and P. D. Ouspensky, as well as a devotee of Indian yogi Paramahansa Yogananda. He argues that Elvis was well-versed in esoteric practices including sex magic, meditation, astrology, and numerology and had a deep familiarity with Kabbalah, Gnosticism, Theosophy, and Eastern traditions. Conner also reveals how Elvis was a natural healer, telekinetic, psychic, and astral traveler who had significant mystical experiences and UFO encounters.
Looking at the conspiratorial and paranormal aspects of Elvis’s life, the author explores the “Elvis visitations” that have occurred since Presley’s ostensible death and the general high weirdness of Elvis’s life. As Conner convincingly argues, Elvis was not just a one-of-a-kind rock-and-roller. He was the greatest magician America ever produced and a key player in transforming Western culture forever.
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