The Dedalus Book of the 1960s: Turn Off Your Mind

by Gary Lachman

It is the 60s ? yes it is magic, sex, drugs and rock and roll. Uncovers the 1960s Love Generation roots in occultism and satanism. In The Dedalus Book of the 1960s: Turn Off Your Mind, Gary Lachman uncovers the Love Generation's roots in occultism and explores the dark side of the Age of Aquarius. His provocative revision of the 1960s counterculture links Flower Power to mystical fascism, and follows the magical current that enveloped luminaries like the Beatles, Timothy Leary and the Rolling Stones, and darker stars like Charles Manson, Anton LaVey, and the Process Church of the Final Judgment. Acclaimed by satanists and fundamentalist Christians alike, this edition includes a revised text incorporating new material on the 'suicide cult' surrounding Carlos Castaneda; the hippy serial killer Charles Sobhraj; the strange case of Ira Einhorn, 'the Unicorn'; the CIA and ESP; the new millennialism and more. From H.P. Lovecraft to the HellOCOs Angels, find out how the Morning of the Magicians became the Night of the Living Dead."

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Occult, Music, Religion, Conspiracy Theories, Philosophy

647 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Gary Lachman is an American writer and musician. Lachman is best known to readers of mysticism and the occult from the numerous articles and books he has published.

Reviews

[Riley · Rating 1 out of 5]

"The Empire Strikes Back at the Sixties"
The subject is fascinating and needs more attention, but Lachman has an ax to grind. Is he disgruntled or just out for a buck? His criticism of the book "The Morning of the Magicians" in reality applies to THIS book. It is "badly researched, poorly documented and full of inaccuracies". Lachman's book is written in a superficial tabloid conspiracy buff style. You may recognize a phrase here, a phrase there, lifted from others.
Lachman makes the most tenuous connections to build his argument. For example, Bobby Beausoleil wore a top hat (not unusual at the time). So did Mick Jagger on a concert tour. Therefore the Rolling Stones are connected with the Manson family. One use of the word "magic" is enough for him to label a writer as magical. He labels the Marxist philosopher Marcuse a Gnostic, who wanted to bring magic to politics. Lachman follows the common newspaper editorials of the day in equating student activism with Nazism. He also argues that occultism=Nazism and environmentalism=Nazism! He finds Anton LaVey's philosophy "revolting" although I doubt he knows anything about it. He supplies untruths, such as that LaVey had a "dope-smoking lion" and "often appeared in the buff" in girlie magazines.
The book has a British slant, although he is unaware the Picts were not fictional. Some terms will be unfamiliar to Americans. He is unaware California has a long history of religious cults, and never mentions Ravi Shankar in a discussion of the sitar. The first 200 pages are hard to get though, as it is a historical survey through books - who wrote what, and who turned who on. Writing about Jack Parsons, he uses the term "South Orange Grove Avenue" for his house at least 8 times in 10 pages, and "spit and image" for "spitting image", showing the need for an editor.
A final example - he feels the movie "The Matrix" continues the sixties tradition, and the characters wear black clothes, which Lachman terms a "Gestapo-like dress code". He's not simply being descriptive here, but equating the two. This type of guilt by remote association is the main current of the book.

[Tom Cöle · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the vein of Colin Wilson's The Occult but with a much more limited scope, this book is a decent comprehensive look at the occult underpinnings of the 1960s counterculture in the west. While the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Donovan and Kenneth Anger do get a look in (though not until about page 300 or so), Lachman is principally interested in literature and ideas, and so the book is weighted far more heavily in its coverage of pulp horror writers, fringe philosophers and iconic occultists (think Madame Blavatsky, Aleister Crowley, George Gurdjieff etc.) than more typical '60s icons. Hendrix, to take just one example, isn't mentioned at all.

The writing moves along at a fair clip but at times Turn Off Your Mind reads more like a series of potted biographies than a coherent narrative, and Lachman waits until the very end of the book to give anything like a verdict or analysis of the ideas, thinkers and creeds he's spent 400 pages invoking. As such, those readers who aren't already familiar with the lives of famous occultists and the weird wonderland of occult ideas might find the author's apparent credulity in the face of Hollow Earth theories, Secret Chiefs and black masses a little eyebrow-raising.

Lachman is to be applauded for tying together so many thinkers, writers, artists, tracing their intellectual histories and giving us an idea of how their minds worked. But this isn't a wholly objective book: like so many other tomes on the occult, it describes that old charlatan JB Rhine as a 'respected scientist' and in a footnote Lachman describes John Symonds' biography of Crowley, The Great Beast, as being written by 'an unbeliever.' Uri Geller is also referenced in the narrative as a credible source when giving an account of his contact with a race of extraterrestrials - and I can never take any book that gives credence to the spoon-bending shill entirely seriously.

All in all though, not bad. If you're interested in the history of ideas (especially very weird ideas), you'll find much here to intrigue you. Likewise, if you're on the lookout for a primer on the history of the occult, this will do you nicely. But if you're already au fait with the thinking behind Theosophy, know what the 'Steiner' in Steiner Schools refers to and know your Ouspensky from your Orage, you won't read much here that you don't already know.

[Bill Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thoroughly entertaining and informative book about the occult explosion of the 1960s. I knew a lot of the material in this book already but Lachman makes connections I didn't know and covers some ground in depth that I only knew in fragments. Extremely engaging in style, though occasionally given to instances of moralizing (for example, Crowley's porn is "odious" -- a judgment that may be accurate but seems out of place given much of the other material covered here), encyclopedic in its scope, and generally Fortean in its approach, the book is a terrific introduction to the 19th Century roots of the new age, by way of the Aquarian era. Nice touches include the parallel studies of the rise in fantasy fiction alongside the rediscovery of Blavatsky, Crowley, Gurdjieff , Watkins and others by the hippies. The only real element that I feel is missing is at least an aside on the Jesus freaks, who were definitely kindred spirits to their more esoteric cousins. Essential reading for anyone with an interest in the era and the topic.

[J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is phenomenal, to start the author comes at us not from perspective that is necessarily Pro-Occult or believing it, but leaves that to the reader, he simply gives us what others believe and shows us the effects of those beliefs on certain high-profile individuals and the culture around them.

If you had ever been exposed to the "meat and potatoes" of the Occult, this author will surprise you as he lays down names who you would not have known would have been associated with these darker names, they say everyone is connected by 6 Degrees of Separation from everyone else, well it seems that in this case those degrees of separation are even smaller.

For this reviewer at least, I write as someone who was very much enticed and heavily dabbling in the Occult and Western Esoterica before I had a mystical experience [which I credit to my Holy Guardian Angel] calling me out of this realm, until I have returned to where I am now as a Devout Practicing Traditional Catholic.

During that journey, I came to see the political leftism of revolutionary politics as inherently joined to the socio-cultural phenomena of The New Age Movement and Occult as 2-Sides of the same coin and saw where this was going to lead me and the world, having had such a vision 3 Years Ago, it is now only 3 Years after my Reversion to the Catholic Faith that this book has in fact re-affirmed and deepened the implications of that vision I had:

That the Age of Aquarius is in fact NOT good but in fact evil and that Revolutionary Politics of 'Progress' and The New Age Movement is merely the Popular Medium of Initiation into Gnosticism and the Occult which is a spirituality of Revolution, provides a whole and complete prison for the Body, Mind, and Heart of the Human Person and a true Culture and the seeds of a New and destructive Society.

This book is a must read for those who are able to not be tempted to fall into this world which the author writes about.

This book is for those who can spot the parallels between the Occult Revolutionary Underworld and the various philosophies we see expounded in todays world at the Popular Level of Entertainment and Academia. Much hangs in the balance and the Zeitgeist of these Latter Days dupes people into thinking that they are free individuals who are only getting swept up by such imprisoning forces of the Flesh, the World, and the Devil.

Now for those who can see the signs of the times will affirm the wisdom of this book and those who want to see the sign of the times will be enriched by this book. Highly re-readable. Highly recommended. This book was recommended by a Traditional Catholic Priest in a talk about Music, a Father Chad Ripperger of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter.

[Derek Ellsworth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like Halbestramm's 'The Fifties' blows the lid off the quiet, sunshiny myth of that decade, this one blows the lid off the Summer of Love. It's amazing how the Satanic Church, Charles Manson, Jayne Mansfield, Mia Farrow, John Lennon, Mick Jagger and Tim Leary all cross paths in the dark alleyways of the late 60's and early 70's but they were all there and some paid more of a price than others.

[Lucy · Rating 3 out of 5]

MICK JAGGER IS A CLEAR SPIRITUAL DESCENDANT OF ALEISTER CROWLEY BECAUSE HE WORE A HAT.

This book was pretty silly and frivolous, but pretty rollicking. It's also a good prop if you're reading it on a beach or anywhere else where you or others might be in the process of mind off-turning.

[Brendan · Rating 4 out of 5]

While it doesn’t really have much in terms of an overarching central theme or thesis, and it’s extremely scattershot in presentation at times, Lachman’s stidy of the occult side of the 1960’s is a treasure trove of information. It also manages to connect some dots and trace a thread here and there. Not by any means a definitive text on the topics at hand, but an enjoyable read regardless.

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gary Lachman has a very strong interest in esoteric philosophies, having published several books on such matters. I was fortunate to read this, a critical history of some of the darker aspects of occultism as practiced by prominent persons during the sixties, before reading any of those books and forming a prejudice against him for being too credulous or unsophisticated. He is, at least, someone whose moral sense trumps his fascinations.

This is not a scholarly book, nor does it require much of the reader. Anyone brought up in the USA or in the UK should have enough background to follow and be interested in the persons and events he discusses.

Although I rate this book rather highly for its entertainment value, I certainly do not endorse it as anything like a sociology or history of the sixties. Occult fads have been current throughout history, at least in such cultures as have a class with the leisure to pursue such things. Indeed, in American history the greatest occult wave was probably at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries when spiritism was all the rage.

[James Stroll · Rating 5 out of 5]

The value of this book lies in the fact that you can read book after book, watch documentary after documentary about the 1960's counterculture and the psychedelic drug movement and hardly see anything but a passing reference to the occult. You can read book after book that devotes a fair amount of space to Timothy Leary, without any reference to his increasing identification with the cause of Aleister Crowley. I think this book seeks to remedy that "oversight".

On at least one occasion the author acknowledges that the "reality" of the occult adventure story he is recounting depends on the interpretation of events and the reliability of the source. I could be wrong, but since I assume that the author does not want to constantly repeat himself, this may be taken as a "paradigm" for many of the stories. I think this is one of the things that make histories of the occult a difficult undertaking, but Lachman seems to do about as well as anyone. He tells the stories, but of course the reader must do his own thinking.

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

While Lachman's book has its share of howlers, misstatements,gaffes and typos, it is nevertheless a fascinating and eminently readable look at the disproportionate influence pseudo-mystics, hucksters and charismatic psychopaths wielded in the quest for altered states of consciousness in the 1960s. Lachman is no prude, but one comes away with a sense that sincere seekers after enlightenment frequently ended up with bad trips, bad counsel, and bad debt. It is hard to imagine how sociopaths like Charles Manson and the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi could so easily insinuate themselves among the entertainment industry's elite today, but they clearly did so with people like the Beach Boys and the Beatles.

[Owen Spencer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Turn Off Your Mind tells all about the philosophies, drugs, charismatic leaders, magic, and mayhem of the 1960s. This book describes the influence of "the occult" and black magic on the minds and behaviors of many of the era's primary cultural figures. It's an interesting and educational read...for a while. The problem is that the author delves into too much minutiae, and all the stories have the same theme and outcome. It's basically a collection of short biographies of iconic figures and their involvement in the occult. It's enlightening if you're ignorant about this stuff, but I found myself bored with it after a couple of hundred pages.

[Pax Analog · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intriguing tour of occult influences on '60s rockers and other countercultural figures. The author is a former and founding member of the new wave group Blondie. The writing is a lucid pulp style, a la Colin Wilson, influence and friend of the author.

[Cynde Moya · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like Lachman's work. I thought I had read a lot; but this guy has his tendrils in a whole lot more. Plus he writes so clearly.

Well, off to the next one, the biography of Rudolph Steiner.

[Eryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat disappointed in this one. I've read a few of Lachman's other books and really enjoyed them yet this one felt contrived and redundant. The subject matter is fascinating and I believe Lachman did his best but ultimately it was less than brilliant.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

it's a hard read, definitely a toilet reading, like put it down and pick it up read at a clip kind of thing.

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a really fun read with a lot of great information, but the prose is messy as hell and it often gets lodged in poorly thought out conclusions.

[Rupert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very enjoyable overview of the occult roots of the mystic aspects of the sixties that have devolved into the New Age. Some sloppy editing, but covers a lot of ground and doesn't get bogged down.

[Paris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meandering prose and a number of factual errors (several within the first few pages alone), but a selectively entertaining read.

[Tomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mahtava trippi populäärikulttuurin hämärämpien osien syntyyn.

[Carole Tyrrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

From all you need is love to Altamont
The old saying is that if you can remember the’60’s then you weren’t really there but this exhaustively researched book will certainly fill in the gaps. In Turn off your mind, Gary Valentine Lachman discusses the other side of the 1960’s. The darker side in which the occult came to the fore and Aleister Crowley was referenced in the crowd behind the Beatles on the Sgt Pepper cover, the flying saucer controversy and the books on every hip hippie shelf were by Herman Hesse, Tolkein, H P Lovecraft and The Teachings of Don Carlos amongst others.
Lachman begins with the Manson family slayings which really heralded the end of the ‘60’s. Manson and his family of runaways, rejected hippies or people who had nowhere else to go had managed to infiltrate the music business and had Dennis Wilson amongst their celebrity friends. Manson had even auditioned for the Monkees – what a casting that would have been! After the Cielo Drive massacre life everyone rushed to deny ever knowing Manson. The Stones’ dalliance with the Hells Angels led to the murder of Meredith Hunter at Altamont and the ‘70’s, one of the most political and violent decades on record, was waiting in the wings. Well, if you can’t change the world with peace, love and understanding then perhaps you can with bombs and destruction. Timothy Leary’s famous quote ‘Tune in, turn on and drop out’ may have led to a lot of young people thinking ‘Now what?’
The old gods and certainties of the ’50’s had bene swept away and people were looking for new ones. Many different avenues and blind alleys to enlightenment were wandered along from the Beatles time with the Maharishi to the celebrity congregation of Anton La Vey a self-confessed Satanist. One of the first book that Lachman references from the start is The Morning of the Magicians of which my father had a copy during the 60’s and I found a second hand copy and it sits on my bookshelf now. My father was interested in flying saucers and other phenomena and some of the books that Lachman cites are very familiar.
I liked Lachman’s writing style. It’ s very like his speaking style which is engaging and informative. The book is also gossipy at times with titbits of information almost thrown in as an afterthought. A lot of these seekers after enlightenment were sailing on uncharted waters and were pioneers and experimenters. The doomed Syd Barratt from Pink Floyd is mentioned as an example as well as the others that didn’t come back from their trips.
The book has a dazzling cast featuring, H P Lovecraft, Erich von Daniken, Kenneth Anger and his effective talent with curses, R D Laing, Ron Hubbard and the beginnings of Scientology, the aforementioned Timothy Leary and Jerry Rubin of the Yippies amongst many others. People seemed to be on a endless quest for something or someone who had the answers and were willing to pursue many paths to find them. And yet I found myself thinking was this a middle class phenomenon? The 1966 film Alfie seemed to sum up attitudes to women in the 1960’s and there were several films at the time which dealt with abortion and shotgun marriages. Some things hadn’t changed and wouldn’t for a few more years. It wasn’t Swinging London for everyone.
Lachman has done his research thoroughly and although the book felt heavy going at times this isn’t meant as a criticism. I particularly liked the chapter sub-headings such as Satan’s Swinging London and Timothy Leary eats a mushroom.
Some of these obscure religions and cults have survived although Scientology might have been one that we could have lived without.. The dark hordes of Satanism are also still us and let’s not forget that the ‘60’s also led to the New Age philosophies of the 1980’s and today. Glastonbury was popularised by John Michell’s The View over Atlantis and is still a pilgrimage site now..
The chapter on Donald Cammell’s film Performance seemed to sum up again the impending end of the’60’s with it atmosphere of decadence, of where the dalliance with criminals such as the Krays was likely to lead and Mick Jagger was successful in it as he played himself more or less. Though as I write The Rolling Stones, now with a combined age of 300, show no signs of suffering Turner’s fate.
I am someone who was a teenager in the ‘70’s and expected to weep and wail at not being old enough to be part of the hippie dream. No chance. David Bowie had finally found his rightful place and was ready to break out..
At the recent V & A exhibition on the Pink Floyd and their beginnings in the ‘60’s London underground – a fellow visitor was heard to say ‘You couldn’t imagine young people being like that nowadays they’re all worried about pensions and mortgages.’ It seems like a dream now.
An enjoyable book if you want to see beyond the rehashed TV clips of fresh faced young people handing out flowers and dancing in circles. There’s other stories behind them.

[Caelisar · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked up this book because of an interview I heard with the author. During the course of the podcast, the author was very sharp, had a clear understanding of the history of thought, and was very articulate and challenging. I was looking forward to anything he wrote.

However, this book is a mess. It jumps from topic to topic and seems to focus more on gossip and the rumored intimate lives of key players than with anything resembling a thesis. It is also badly in need of an editor. On the plus side, it is a quick read with cameos of every major 60s character but their descriptions are tainted with a cynicism and lack of contextual understanding by the author.

I'm disappointed (and have never given a review with such few stars) but this could have been a cogent work on an interesting topic. However, it fails miserably. I'm trying to reconcile how the person I heard on the podcast could have written such a substandard work.

[Gavin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thesis: Charles Manson, Scientology, and Altamont were not horrible subversions of the 60s' ideology - but its logical conclusion. A series of pop history lessons, and is in fact a bit too full of sections like: "...and then Ram Dass went to India and met Guru McFamous who also knew Bastard McProfound who was notorious for writing a best-selling book of consciousness revolution and being racist for kicks". This is a fairly clear-eyed account of a bunch of creeps who still have lots of cultural capital, but not very deep about why anti-rationalism persists in a world so drastically improved by reason's yields.

[James Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly detailed and insightful examination of a subject that always fascinated me. I was amazed to learn that many of the impressions I had as a member of Generation X, regularly dragooned into listening to nostalgic boasts about the Glory Days of the 60's, but seeing all the weirdness and wreckage every day in the lives of my friends and community. The 60s and early 70s always struck me as a spooky time and this book proved that I wasn't imagining it all.

[Antti Kurko · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mielenkiintoinen katsaus miten 60-luvulla mystiikka, okkultismi ja saatananpalvonta breikkasi läpi ja loi oman alakulttuurinsa ja meni myös valtavirtaan. Varmasti hyvä perusteos aiheesta kiinnostuneille mutta paikoin henkilöitä vilisee sitä tahtia että kokonaiskuva hieman hämärtyy.

[Jukka Häkkinen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uskomattoman runsas katsaus 1960-70 -lukujen mystisiin virtauksiin. Näkökulmassa korostuu populaarikulttuuri, erityisesti musiikkimaailma. Tyyli on hauskan ironista.

[Donald · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book about the "mystic " side of the sixties .This author reminds me of Colin Wilson

[Antti Ahonen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tosi hyvä paketti kaikesta 60-luvun kummajaisista. Alkuun tyyli ärsytti, mutta pikkuhiljaa voittaa mukaansa

[Ronja Kantola · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kohtalaisen raskaslukuinen, paljon nimiä. Teos ei aukea, jos lukijalla ei ole ennakkotietoa aiheesta. Jos taas on, niin teos tarjoaa mielenkiintoisen ja viihdyttävänkin näkökulman aikakauteen.

[David Phillips · Rating 3 out of 5]

Curiously well researched and presented book on the occult through the ages, focusing in particular on the influence it had in the 1960s. Lots of detail and some interesting insights.

[JJHaringey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lachman has the great ability to wrap diffuse elements into an accessible and coherent narrative. He is like Colin Wilson in this respect, unpretentious and inclusive. To coin the phrase, Turn the page, tune in, and travel back.