Where would WEIRD UNIVERSE be without the New Age Movement, a belief system that has supplied us with so many great wacky incidents? Let us then pause a moment to honor the passing of Marilyn Ferguson, the woman credited with catalyzing that nascent trend toward gullible goofiness.
Here she is below in a 1992 interview, with a fellow who has a serious priest-wannabe look going on.
[From Amazing Science Fiction magazine for August 1973.]
The "Academy for Mystic Arts" which sponsored this ad seems no longer to exist, although there are other, newer organizations with that name. The original Academy has left very few traces behind on the internet, although one lead seems to point to a connection with the famed astrologer named Zolar.
I love the testimony at the end about how relations with the boyfriend have improved. Well, of course they have--you put a zombie spell on him!
Collecting novels of the fantastic as I do, I eventually and inevitably came across those of Dion Fortune, and bought a few. To this day, they remain untracked by my eyes. Nonetheless, I was sensitized to her name, and could spot her non-fiction selection Psychic Self-Defence readily on the shelf of a used-book store and snatch it up. A bargain at $5.00, I'm sure!
I haven't read it yet, but I'm much looking forward to learning how to protect myself against various types of intrusive mind assaults. Sample a few pages yourselves below.
And thanks to Google Books, you can read the whole thing online here.
Here's another strange book I purchased but have not yet read. The real author is Joseph K. Heydon, using the pen-name of Hal Trevarthen. Time has swallowed up all details related to Heydon and his book, leaving us only with the text itself.
Here's the description from the amazingly ugly dustjacket.
Here's the title page, followed by a sample of the actual bafflegab inside.
Are you having trouble getting drunk? Are your mixed drinks not having the proper effect, fast enough, or perhaps engendering too large a hangover? Does your choice of drink preclude picking up the partner you truly desire and deserve at your local bar?
That's because you are not taking astrology into account! Your zodiacal sign is all-important in determining your proper beverage!
Or so we learn from this magazine pamphlet (source unknown, but probably Playboy of a certain vintage).
Read on, after the jump, and you'll learn what cocktail you should be imbibing!
In this confusing postmodern age, when fresh cults come and go with head-spinning rapidity, it's a comfort to see one with staying power--such as Pyramidology. Perhaps you too feel you could benefit from a stay inside the mystic interior of a large pyramid, but don't have one readily accessible. Well, visiting this popular Russian site might involve a little extra travel for most of us, but surely the benefits would outweigh the expense.
Those of us who thought that soporific New Age music began and subsequently passed out of fashion with Windham Hill have not been keeping abreast of trends. According to this recent article in The Los Angeles Times, "spa music" is still big business, as various artists seek to create the most snooze-inducing tracks they can.
For a sample, listen to "Magic Forest" by David Arkenstone. He's got tons of stuff on YouTube if you're in need of a nap.
Old self-improvement schemes never die. Recently, I spotted this antique advertisement from 1954 that alerted me to the existence of Pelmanism, the brainchild of William Joseph Ennever.
The Pelman Institutes of England and America apparently once claimed over half a million followers. But now they're long gone. Yet that has not stopped at least two folks from trying to resurrect the copyright-abandoned mind-strengthening course and claim and market it as their own. You can see their pages here and here.
Oddly enough, the last vestige of Pelmanism most people know, without realizing its true origin, is the card game we call Concentration or Memory or Pairs.
Posted By: Paul | Date: Thu Sep 11, 2008 | Comments (11) 
Category: New Age, Obituaries