As a kid I wanted to be like Elvis. I'll admit it. I listened to the records of Elvis my folks had, learned guitar, and even became a Christian to sing gospel songs like Elvis. Of course, as with my spiritual journey I've written about that took me from a Christian, to Atheist, Pagan, and finally, Buddhist from Zen to Nichiren where I finally found the answers I was looking for, I outgrew Elvis with the Beatles.
As I grew I viewed Elvis as a materialist lost in the Christian myth. I turned away from him and elevated my Rock and Roll tastes to the esoteric sounds of Led Zepplin, and thought Elvis was part of the exoteric problem. Of course, now, after the book The Occult Elvis, I see I was wrong for it has come out that Elvis was a closet Esoterist.
As Miguel Conner explores in his book The Occult Elvis: The Mystical and Magical Life of The King, Presley had a deep interest in spiritual matters from the time he was young, and it did not take long for him to look beyond the tight confines of traditional Christianity. His roots were in Pentecostalism, an evangelical Protestant movement centered on speaking in tongues. Yes, those Christians that even other Christians think are weird.
Elvis may not have spoken in tongues, but as Conner's book explains, "To deepen this direct connection, Presley turned to non-Christian texts like Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet, which he read while stationed with the Army in Germany shortly after his beloved mother’s death in 1958. Though he had been only a fair student, he was a voracious reader, next turning to the essential texts of Theosophy—he loved H.P. Blavatsky’s Voice of the Silence so much that during his later career, he occasionally read from it on stage to a bemused crowd—and the very challenging works of Alice Bailey."
According to Peter Orvetti of the Theosopical Society review on Esoteric Elvis: "...there was one special reason why Elvis was so taken with Blavatsky: she strongly resembled Elvis’s late mother. On seeing a famous portrait of Blavatsky, Elvis remarked, 'Look at the eyes . . . The shape of the face, the cheekbones. I’ve never seen anything like it.'"
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| Madame Blavatsky |
Presley met Geller in 1964, and they got to talking about spiritual stuff during a lengthy salon session. Geller was a self-taught student of the occult, and in him, Presley had finally found someone he could discuss these questions with. He gave Elvis books to read and got him into meditation, and with the exception of a brief falling out after Presley’s controlling manager, Colonel Tom Parker, convinced Elvis that Geller was a bad influence, he would remain Presley’s friend and guide until the latter’s death.
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| Elvis with his mom, not Madame Blavatsky, or was it?.... |
