The Secret Growing: On the New Spiritual Art Canon
IN OCTOBER 2022, I received an invitation to celebrate the Scorpio new moon eclipse with a group of creative women. The invitation was illustrated with a 1915 painting by the Swedish artist and mystic Hilma af Klint, The Dove, No. 14—a rainbow sphere with a white center against a black background, astrological glyphs in each corner.... More
Corita Kent: Pop Artist, Public Servant, Rebel Nun
“To be fully alive is to work for the common good.” —Corita Kent The artist best known as Sister Corita was born Frances Elizabeth Kent in 1918. She grew up in Hollywood but she was no beach bunny or glamour girl; at 18, right after graduating from high school (and to the surprise of her... More
Exploring The Wild Unknown With Kim Krans
As Kim Krans sees it, the “deep psyche” is always trying to tell us things, and tarot is just one way to tune in and listen. A Portland, Oregon-based artist, Krans is best known as the creator of the Wild Unknown tarot deck, which began as a self-published project for herself and her community and... More
The Rise of Guru Jagat, Kundalini Yoga’s New Star (Rest in Peace, 9/02/21)
To anyone who has walked into a Los Angeles yoga studio, the scene this Wednesday morning would be familiar: white walls hung with Tibetan silk tapestries that depict various incarnations of the Buddha; leafy plants and sparkling geodes dotting the corners of the room; shoji screens that mask a busy city street; a shiny wood... More
The Witching Hour: The Occult In An Age When There Are No Secrets
IN 1692, BARKING LIKE A DOG, pretending to fly, or erupting in a spasmodic fit was seemingly enough to get a teenage girl in Salem, Massachusetts, branded a witch and hanged, as depicted in Stacy Schiff’s new book, The Witches. Today there are an estimated one million practicing pagans — a term that includes self-identified... More
Glam Rocks: L.A.’s New Crystal Movement
Every Friday night, local artists, chefs, screenwriters, fashion designers and the odd indie celebrity like the French singer, Soko, file into the Sweat Spot, a dance studio in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles, for a crystal meditation session. As they enter, Mark Phillips, co-owner of the nearby crystal shop Spellbound Sky, offers each... More
Cosmic L.A. Style: Designer and Vintage Connoisseur Katy Rodriguez
Resurrection, the bi-coastal vintage boutique that Katy Rodriguez founded with her partner Mark Haddaway, just celebrated its 18th birthday. During those years, Rodriguez launched her own clothing line, co-curated a collection of rare 20th century fashion auctioned at Christie’s, and discovered meditation through the Self Realization Fellowship—a personal shift that’s been reflected in a new cosmic... More
The World According to Willow
She was a pop princess at the age of nine and poised for movie stardom by 11, having been cast as “Annie” in an update of the beloved musical, but right now, just two days shy of her 13th birthday on Halloween, what Willow Smith wants to be more than anything is a seventh grader.... More
Altadena Shangri-La
To transform her Altadena yard into a restorative garden retreat, writer Annie Retamal called upon Melinda Joy Miller, a permaculture expert, feng shui master and healer who is the author of a new book, Shamanic Gardening: Timeless Techniques for the Modern Sustainable Garden (Process Media). Miller and her daughter Kim Colwell, also a feng shui... More
The High Priest of Los Angeles
Last Sunday evening at the Silent Movie Theater, a clip from the 1938 astrological murder mystery “When Were You Born?” was shown as part of an “Occult L.A.” program curated by the author Erik Davis. In the clip, legendary occult scholar Manly P. Hall, who had also written the movie’s script, appeared on screen to... More
A Home Unlike All Others
Earlier this summer, almost 100 psychedelic music fans, subculture aficionados, students of the occult and local literati climbed the flower-petal-strewn steps of publisher couple Jodi Wille and Adam Parfrey’s Silver Lake home for a salon celebrating the upcoming publication of “The Source: The Untold Story of Father Yod, YaHoWa 13 and the Source Family” (Process),... More
The Giving Tree
Like many boys, Roderick Romero was really into building tree forts when he was six. Several decades passed, however, before the lead singer of the band Sky Cries Mary, now 40, discovered in tree house building a passion akin to playing music. Invited to participate in an outdoor art show in a forest near Olympia,... More