Just Energy Radio Interview About Francisco Madero's Secret Book

I was honored to do a very fun interview with one of my favorite Texans, Dr. Rita Louise, on her "Just Energy" radio show, about the secret book of Francisco I. Madero. 

(Just to say, only Dr. Rita would ask, "But did he chop down the cherry tree?")

> Listen to the interview
My mic was a little too sensitive, alas, so if you listen in, you might want to drop the volume. Better yet:

> Read the transcript 

> Visit the webpage for my book Metaphysical Odyssey into the Mexican Revolution: Francisco I. Madero and His Secret Book, Spiritist Manual.

In case you haven't been following this blog, this book-- which is my book plus my translation of Madero's book--recently won the National Indie Excellence Award for History. It's also been getting some good reviews from historians, but what is most interesting to me, and I think should be for historians, is that the, shall we say, metaphysically-inclined have been telling me that Madero's book is something very special, very advanced for its time. (Check out my interview with a modern medium about Francisco Madero as a medium. I haven't met him or ever worked with him in any way, but since Rev Steven Hermann gave the book a great review, and he just published his own book, Mediumship Mastery, I thought his take on Madero as a medium could be very interesting, and indeed it is.) 

Here's the introduction to Dr. Rita Louise's show:

"Welcome to "Just Energy Radio" with your host, naturopath and medical intuitive Dr. Rita Louise.

We have learned from Einstein's theory that matter and energy are one. Physicists believe that all systems of nature have their own particular way of vibrating. From the swinging of a pendulum to the waves of the ocean to the light that brightens the sky each day, each of these oscillates at its own unique rate. The same holds true for every thought, feeling, event or word we speak: each has its own frequency or rate of vibration. What many of us don't realize is when we take everything in our universe down to its simplest form, it is all just energy.

Join Dr. Rita Louise on a journey through time and space where past, present and future collide. Today what you believe may be called into question. What we want to know is: Who made up the rules? Be brave and step outside the box. We are about to turn our world upside down and venture into the unknown. Hold on! We are departing our own beliefs and entering alternative realms. Enjoy the possibilities."

I'm fine with "entering alternative realms," and considering possibilities; otherwise, I never would have been able to write the book I did. (And on that note, I invite you to check out my podcast about the Marfa Lights, and blog post about Maestro Amajur and the Smoking Signatures.) For the extra-adventurous among you, I can recommend these "Just Energy Radio" interviews:

Tobias Churton on Aleister Crowley

Jonathan Goldman on Sound Healing

Russell Targ on Scientific Proof of ESP

Susan Shumsky on the Power of Chakras 

John Michael Greer on the (Supposed) End of the World

My talk about Metaphysical Odyssey into the Mexican Revolution

for the UCSD Center for US-Mexico Studies

My Q & A page about this book (with many resources for researchers)

In Mexico City's National Palace: Dr. Yolia Tortolero 

and Her Path Breaking Work on Francisco I. Madero, 

El espiritismo seduce a Francisco I. Madero

Catherine L. Albanese's A Republic of Mind and Spirit: A Cultural History of American Metaphysical Religion

FRANCISCO I. MADERO
Author of Spiritist Manual
Leader of Mexico's 1910 Revolution
President of Mexico, 1911-1913

A couple of months ago, for Tony Payan's class on Mexican Politics and Culture at Rice University, I gave a talk-- my first for this newly expanded work--- on Metaphysical Odyssey into the Mexican Revolution: Francisco I. Madero and His Secret Book, Spiritist Manual. Lots of bright kids, lots of good questions. One of them was, "Did Madero have followers?" After a blink, I realized what a telling question this is.

Of course, Madero had legions of followers-- after all, he was the leader of Mexico's 1910 Revolution and President of Mexico (1911-1913). But as a Spiritist? I explained that he did not set himself up as a kind of priest or guru; he was a healer and a medium (never working for pay) and, pseudonymously, the author of an evangelical text, which is the Manual espírita or, as I translated it, Spiritist Manual.

The thing is, when we think of "religion" we usually think of priests or ministers, large edifices, approved rituals, degrees of belonging or status, and so on and so forth-- in short, a social and physical architecture as a machinery of power. Though they had and have their temples and seminars and conferences, Spiritists did not then and do not now necessarily organize in this fashion, precisely because they believe that the individual can communicate directly with spirit and the Divine-- without the intermediation of an earthly authority. They have some temples, some congregations, (google and you'll find them in Mexico, the US, Brazil, Portugal, the Philippines, and Spain, and many more) but there are also many informal circles that meet in private homes. Like Wiccans, it would seem that some few (or many?) are solitary practitioners. Data? Well, that is precisely my point: there aren't much. It boils down to hearsay or, as in the case of a public figure such as Madero, careful archival research. And even still, the picture remains patchy.

Quick backtrack for those of you shaking your heads and asking, um, what's a Spiritist? 

An offshoot of American Spiritualism, which first appeared in upstate New York around 1850, Spiritism developed in France in the the 1860s. (There's so much more to say about it than that, and I do in my book.) The basic idea is, a human being is really an immortal spirit in a temporary body, and it is possible while in an earthly body, either by natural or cultivated talent, to communicate with spirits. Since one is immortal, one's earthy life should serve one's immortal life-- in a nutshell, don't take materialism too seriously and always try to do good. The basic ritual is the séance, which invokes the dead, inviting communication from them by a variety of means.

Before I get to my answer to the question-- did Madero [as a Spiritist] have followers?-- a note on religious organization.

A Republic of Mind & Spirit: A Cultural History of American Metaphysical Religion

One of the most illuminating books I came across in my research is Catherine L. Albanese's A Republic of Mind & Spirit: A Cultural History of American Metaphysical Religion (Yale University Press, 2007). From the dust jacket description:

"This path-breaking book tells the story of American metaphysical religion more fully than it has ever been told before, along the way significantly revising the panorama of American religious history."

What has this to do with Mexico, the gentle blog reader might ask? Well, all the very same metaphysical religions that came to the US also arrived south (via various paths, not invariably from the US) in Mexico.

Continuing with the dust jacket description:

"Catherine L. Albanese follows metaphysical traditions from Renaissance Europe to England and then America, where they have flourished from colonial days to the twenty-first century, blending often with African, Native American, and other cultural elements.

The book follows evolving versions of metaphysical religion, including Freemasonry, early Mormonism, Universalism, and Transcendentalism-- and such further incarnations as Spiritualism, Theosophy, New Thought, Christian Science, and reinvented versions of Asian ideas and practices. Continuing into the twentieth century and after, the book shows how the metaphysical mix has come to encompass UFO activity, channeling, and chakras in the New Age movement and a much broader new spirituality in the present. 

In its own way, Albanese argues, American metaphysical religion has been as vigorous, persuasive, and influential as the evangelical tradition that is more often the focus of religious scholars' attention. She makes the case that because of its combinative nature-- its ability to incorporate differing beliefs and practices-- metaphysical religion offers key insights into the history of all American religions."

Rather than considering these religions / ideas mere esoterica or superstition, mere footnotes in the grander history of denominational and evangelical churches (Roman Catholic, Baptist, Congregationalist, Pentecostal, Presbyterian, Lutheran, and so on), Albanese argues that the metaphysical religions are (p. 4) "at least as important... in fathoming the shape and scope of American religious history and in identifying what makes it distinctive-- the sign, in religious terms, of an emergent American ethnicity."

In other words, metaphysical religions have played a far more important role in our history than has been previously recognized. But it is difficult to research secretive groups that meet informally in private homes, and, on the other hand, relatively easy to research the history of denominational and evangelical churches.  (p. 8)

"There are central headquarters and archives, public buildings and structures with observable rituals, written personal testimonials, letters, and journals aplenty, with numerous press accounts of religious presence, to cite only the most obvious and accessible sources. To write the metaphysicians' tendencies into history, however, requires harder work."

In other words, it's all a big, ever-morphing muddle of a mosaic. And indeed, this was a big problem for me in trying to figure out Madero's ideas. He was a Spiritist but also a Mason, and some Masons were Spiritists but some were not, and some Spiritists were Theosophists, but Madero was not… and so on.

And both before and especially after Madero's death, Mexican Spiritism melded with folk beliefs and indigenous shamanism. (One example is the mediumnistic healer and folk saint Niño Fidencio, who was mentored by a German Spiritist but apparently did not consider himself a Spiritist.)

So, back to the question, did Madero, as a Spiritist, have followers?

Well, as a Spiritist, he played a leading role in organizing and evangelizing through magazines such as Helios and his book, Manual espírita. Certainly, as we know from his archives, he was in touch with and well-regarded by his fellow Spiritists, mostly Mexicans but also some Americans and Europeans, including Léon Denis, whose book, Après la mort, he published in Spanish (that translation by Ignacio Mariscal, then serving as Mexico's Minister of Foreign Relations.) Certainly people read Madero's works, but how many we do not know. He wrote them under pen names, mainly Arjuna and Bhima, both taken from the Hindu holy book, the Bhagavad-Gita. 

Bottom line: As a Spiritist, Madero was looking to evangelize, but not necessarily to build a movement around his person, as he was in the political arena. 

COMMENTS always welcome.

+ + + + + 

SURF ON 

> Catherine L. Albanese, professor of Religious Studies, University of California Santa Barbara  

> Metaphysical Odyssey into the Mexican Revolution: Francisco I. Madero and His Secret Book, Spiritist Manual (website for the book)

> Francisco I. Madero: A Cien años de su muerte

> Una ventana al mundo invisible or, Maestro Amajur and the Smoking Signatures

> Greg Borzo's article about my book for the University of Chicago Social Sciences Division newsletter

Exploring the Burned-Over District Blog

Few people, and extremely few Mexicans have heard of the so-called Burned-Over District-- yet a vital root of the Mexican Revolution of 1910 lies in this very place. I go on at length about this in my new book, Metaphysical Odyssey Into the Mexican Revolution. Apropos of that, a most extraordinary blog I surfed onto the other day: Exploring the Burned-Over District, in which "Chris and Luke visit all the sacred sites that will let them in." On the "about" section they state:

In the Fall of 2011, we made a plan to visit as many spiritually significant sites in the Rochester, NY area as possible. The goal really was to explore all of the different spiritual and religious cultures, and learn more about their history in this particular geographical area. Then we realized, it would be incredibly short-sighted to only stick to Rochester. Western and Central NY was once referred to as the “Burned Over District” because so many religious movements were born, and many died, in the area. This blog takes you along our travels to visit and explore as many places as we possibly can. 

*Public Service Announcement: Neither one of us endorse any particular religious belief system over another, we treat each of them with equal amounts of skepticism and open-mindedness. Neither one of us claim to be a member of any one sect, denomination or organization–other than simply being humans.

Exploring the Burned-Over District
T-Shirt shop on CafePress

By the way, they'll sell you a T-Shirt with their logo-- a backpacker engulfed in flames. Check out their Exploring the Burned-Over District shop on CafePress.

A few highlights from their blog:

Hydesville Memorial Park

Site of the Fox cottage, birthplace of Spiritualism

Lily Dale

Includes pix of Fairy Village

Plymouth Spiritualist Church

(check out the orb under the chair!)

Hill Cumorah

Includes a picture of the bedroom where the Angel Moroni reportedly appeared. (No orbs at this time, alas.)

First Church of Christ, Scientist-- Rochester

Guys, great concept for a blog. Happy travels!

***UPDATE: I just surfed upon a very informative blog post about the Burned-Over District by Universalist Phil Ebersole.

COMMENTS

The Burned-Over District

One of the fun but sometimes crazy-making aspects of putting together a book is finding the right images and maps. I was fortunate to have worked with expert map-maker Bill Nelson when I did the anthology Mexico: A Traveler's Literary Companion for Whereabouts Press. So I brought him on board again for The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire (Unbridled Books) and now, my latest, Metaphysical Odyssey Into the Mexican Revolution: Francisco I. Madero's Spiritist Manual Introduced and Translated (Dancing Chiva). For the latter, what I needed, apart from a map of Mexico, was one of the so-called Burned-Over District-- of New York State.

To me, one of the strangest things about Spiritism (and there are many) is that its origins, in large part, can be found in upstate New York. Given that Francisco I. Madero, leader of the Mexican Revolution of 1910, was not only an ardent Spiritist but one who saw his political action in spiritual terms, well, we can say then that one of the many roots of the Mexican Revolution lies in the Burned-Over District. Does this sound too fantastic? It did to me-- at first.

Herewith the map:

The Burned-Over District (Roughly, between Albany and Buffalo)
Map by Bill Nelson
www.cmmayo.com
From: Metaphysical Odyssey Into the Mexican Revolution by C.M. Mayo

EXCERPT From Chapter 1: Roots, Entanglements, Encounters"  Metaphysical Odyssey Into the Mexican Revolution:

. . . Once the heartland of the Iroquois nation, this approximately 50-by-500 kilometer swath of verdant Yankee farmland between Albany and Buffalo got its name not from any fire but from the fiery passions of its nineteenth-century religious revival movements. Traveling preachers filled billowing tents with celebrants, and Mitch Horowitz writes in Occult America, “[f]or days afterward, without the prompting of ministers or revivalists, men and women would speak in tongues and writhe in religious ecstasy. Many would report visitations from angels or spirits.” A few outstanding figures in the long list of those who traveled through, settled in, or departed from the Burned-Over District include Jemima Wilkinson, aka “The Publick Universal Friend” who called herself a channel for the Divine Spirit; the utopian Oneida Community; the Millerites, who sold their worldly possessions in expectation of Judgment Day in 1844; Shakers; Quakers; Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who claimed to receive instructions from the Angel Moroni to unearth the golden plates of the Book of Mormon; and, most relevant to the story at-hand, the Fox sisters of Hydesville.

The Foxes, a Methodist farmworker family, the father a blacksmith, moved into their cottage shortly before Christmas 1847. There would have been snow pillowing up to the windowsills, and a pre-electricity sky spectacular with stars. On their straw-stuffed mattresses, the family would have been bundled in blankets and quilts. But through the cruel winter nights of 1848, their sleep suffered with odd noises, crackles, scrapings—as if of moving furniture, bangs, and knocks. By springtime the children had become so frightened by the “spirit raps,” they insisted on sleeping with their parents. As Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (yes, of Sherlock Holmes fame) recounts in The History of Spiritualism:

Finally, upon the night of March 31 there was a very loud and continued outbreak of inexplicable sounds. It was on this night that one of the great points of psychic evolution was reached, for it was then that young Kate Fox challenged the unseen power to repeat the snaps of her fingers. That rude room, with its earnest, expectant, half-clad occupants with eager upturned faces, its circle of candlelight, and its heavy shadows lurking in the corners, might well be made the subject of a great historical painting. Search all the palaces and chancelleries of 1848, and where will you find a chamber which has made its place in history as secure as this bedroom of a shack? The child’s challenge, though given in flippant words, was instantly answered. Every snap was echoed by a knock. However humble the operator at either end, the spiritual telegraph was at last working.

Kate Fox, eleven, and her sister, Maggie, fourteen, determined that the spirit they called “Mr. Split-foot” was that of a peddler who had been murdered and buried in the house. Conan Doyle, who went so far as to reprint the sworn April 11, 1848, testimony of both parents, was one of many Spiritualists, as they came to call themselves, who considered the events in the so-called “Spook House” of Hydesville “the most important thing that America has given to the commonweal of the world.” And whether one laughingly discards, ardently accepts, or finely sifts and resifts ad infinitum the evidence of the existence of said murdered peddler and any communications from beyond the veil, the fact remains that whatever happened in Hydesville ignited an enthusiasm for “spirit” phenomena evoked in the ritual of the séance—from channeling to table tipping to pencils and chalk stubs writing by themselves, or by communication by means of a planchette; clairvoyance; flashes of light and floating orbs; levitation; ectoplasmic hands, feet and faces oozing out of velvety darkness; and “spirit photography”—throughout the Burned-Over District, north to Canada, out west, south, to England and Ireland and, at full-gallop, across the European continent into Russia. 

The Fox sisters received an avalanche of press, which only increased after P.T. Barnum put them on display in his American Museum on New York City’s Broadway, charging a dollar—then more than a tidy sum—to communicate through them to the ghost of one’s choice. (As science historian Deborah Blum recounts in Ghost Hunters, among those who paid their dollar were the novelist James Fenimore Cooper and Horace Greely, editor of The New York Tribune, both of whom left convinced that they had heard from spirit.) Scores of mediums now emerged, claiming to communicate with spirits as diverse as a drowned child, Egyptian high priests, and “astral” beings; seeking them out in darkened rooms came legions of the bereaved, curiosity-seekers, skeptics on a mission, and quite a few intellectuals.

Among the celebrated mediums in this period were the English Florence Cook; Nettie Colburn, who gave séances for Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln in the White House; and Scottish-born American Daniel Dunglas (D.D.) Home, who toured France in the 1850s, which, according to historian John Warne Monroe, “seemed to mark the first step in the spread of this second, metaphysical American Revolution.” According to magic historian Henry Ridgely Evans, “No man since Caglisotro ever created so profound a sensation in the Old World.”

Home’s séances, like his audience itself, attained a new level of glamour, a world apart from the Fox sisters. Attended by royalty, including the Emperor Louis Napoleon and his Empress Eugénie, and high society of all stripes, according to Janet Oppenheim in The Other World, an evening with Home might feature a spine-tingling cornucopia of phenomena:

[F]urniture trembled, swayed, and rose from the floor (often without disturbing objects on its surface); diverse articles soared through the air; the séance room itself might appear to shake with quivering vibrations; raps announced the arrival of the communicating spirits; spirit arms and hands emerged, occasionally to write messages or distribute favors to the sitters; musical instruments, particularly Home’s celebrated accordion, produced their own music; spirit voices uttered their pronouncements; spirit lights twinkled, and cool breezes chilled the sitters. If Home announced his own levitation, as he did from time to time, the sitters might feel their hair ruffled by the soles of his feet.

Let us float down from the ceiling for a moment, back to the grittier question of roots. 

Copyright C.M. Mayo. All rights reserved.

>Visit the book's webpage for more excerpts, Q & A, podcasts, videos, resources for researchers, and more.

>Get it on Kindle now

>See also the blog post Urim and Thummim: Revelation and Truth in the Burned-Over District

>Further reading about the Burned-Over District:

Albanese, Catherine L. A Republic of Mind & Spirit: A Cultural History of American Metaphysical Religion. Yale University Press, 2007.

Cross, Whitney R. The Burned-Over District: The Social and Intellectual History of Enthusiastic Relion in Western New York 1800-1850. Cornell University Press, 1981. 

Horowitz, Mitch. Occult America: The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation.Bantam Books, 2009.

>Paperback edition of Metaphysical Odyssey Into the Mexican Revolution, and Spanish edition, Odisea metafísica hacia la Revolución Mexicana, are forthcoming. have been published.

COMMENTS

Fox Cottage at Lily Dale NY

Fox Cottage at Lily Dale NY

Almost done with the revisions to my introduction to my translation of Francisco I. Madero's secret book of 1911, Spiritist Manual (for those of you who are new to the blog, Madero was the leader of Mexico's 1910 Revolution and President of Mexico from 1911-1913).

***UPDATE my book, Metaphysical Odyssey Into the Mexican Revolution, is now available***

Meanwhile, apropos of that, I found this circa 1950s postcard on ebay...

"FOX COTTAGE, LILY DALE, N.Y."Memorial to the Fox Family who lived in this cottage at the time Margaret [sic] and Katie Fox aged 9 and 11 years received the first proof of the continuity of life which was the beginning of modern spiritualism, March 31, 1848. This cottage was bought and moved from Hydesville, N.Y., its original site, to Lily Dale, N.Y., in May 1916 by Benjamin F. Bartlett.

Lily Dale is the Mecca of Spiritualism. Visit the Lily Dale Assembly website here. Learn more about the history in Christine Wicker's excellent odyssey, Lily Dale: The Town That Talks to the Dead.


Here's an excerpt from my introduction to Madero's Spiritist Manual of 1911, a bit about the Fox sisters and their haunted house:

The Foxes, a Methodist farmworker family, the father a blacksmith, moved into their cottage shortly before Christmas of 1847. There would have been snow pillowing up to the windowsills, and a pre-electric sky spectacular with stars. On their straw-stuffed mattresses, the family would have been bundled in blankets and quilts. But through the cruel winter nights of 1848, their sleep suffered with odd noises, crackles, scrapings—as if of moving furniture; and bangs and knocks. By springtime the children had become so frightened by the “spirit raps,” they insisted on sleeping with their parents. As Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (yes, of Sherlock Holmes fame) recounts in The History of Spiritualism:

Finally, upon the night of March 31 there was a very loud and continued outbreak of inexplicable sounds. It was on this night that one of the great points of psychic evolution was reached, for it was then that young Kate Fox challenged the unseen power to repeat the snaps of her fingers. That rude room, with its earnest, expectant, half-clad occupants with eager upturned faces, its circle of candlelight, and its heavy shadows lurking in the corners, might well be made the subject of a great historical painting. Search all the palaces and chancelleries of 1848, and where will you find a chamber which has made its place in history as secure as this bedroom of a shack? The child’s challenge, though given in flippant words, was instantly answered. Every snap was echoed by a knock. However humble the operator at either end, the spiritual telegraph was at last working.

Kate Fox, eleven, and her sister, Maggie, fourteen, determined that the spirit they called “Mr Split-foot” was that of a peddler who had been murdered and buried in the house. Conan Doyle, who went so far as to reprint the sworn April 11, 1848 testimony of both parents,  was one of many Spiritualists, as they came to call themselves, who considered the events in the so-called “Spook House” of Hydesville “the most important thing that America has given to the commonweal of the world.” And whether one laughingly discards, ardently accepts, or would finely sift and resift ad infinitum the evidence of the existence of said murdered peddler and any communications from beyond the veil, the fact is that whatever it was that happened in Hydesville ignited an enthusiasm for “spirit” phenomena evoked in the ritual of the séance from channeling to table tipping to pencils and chalk stubs writing by themselves, or by means of a planchette; clairvoyance; flashes of light and floating orbs; levitation; ectoplasmic hands, feet and faces oozing out of velvety darkness; and “spirit photography” throughout the Burned-Over District, north to Canada, out west, south, to England and Ireland and, at full-gallop, across the European continent into Russia. 

Meanwhile, the Fox sisters received an avalanche of press, especially after P.T. Barnum put them on display in his American Museum on New York City’s Broadway, charging a dollar—  then more than a tidy sum—  to communicate through them to the ghost of one’s choice. (As science historian Deborah Blum recounts in Ghost Hunters, among those who paid their dollar were the novelist James Fenimore Cooper and Horace Greely, editor of The New York Tribune, both of whom left convinced that they had heard from spirit.) Scores of mediums now emerged, claiming to communicate with spirits as diverse as a drowned child, Egyptian high priests and “astral” beings; seeking them out in darkened rooms came legions of the bereaved, curiosity-seekers, skeptics on a mission, and not a few intellectuals (among them, novelist Victor Hugo, chemist Sir William Crookes, and naturalist Alfred Russell Wallace—more about them in a moment).

Among the celebrated mediums in this period were the English Florence Cook; Nettie Colburn, who gave séances for Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln in the White House; and Scottish-born American Daniel Dunglas (D.D.) Home, who toured France in the 1850s, which, according to historian John Warne Monroe, “seemed to mark the first step in the spread of this second, metaphysical American Revolution.” Home’s séances, like his audience itself, had attained a new level of glamour, a world apart from the Fox sisters. Attended by royalty, including the Emperor Louis Napoleon and his Empress Eugénie, and high society of all stripes, according to Janet Oppenheim in The Other World, an evening with Homes might feature a spine-tingling cornucopia of phenomena:

. . . furniture trembled, swayed, and rose from the floor (often without disturbing objects on its surface); diverse articles soared through the air; the séance room itself might appear to shake with quivering vibrations; raps announced the arrival of the communicating spirits; spirit arms and hands emerged, occasionally to write messages or distribute favors to the sitters; musical instruments, particularly Home’s celebrated accordion, produced their own music; spirit voices uttered their pronouncements; spirit lights twinkled, and cool breezes chilled the sitters. If Home announced his own levitation, as he did from time to time, the sitters might feel their hair ruffled by the soles of his feet.

But before we segue to Paris of a few decades hence, where we will encounter our Mexican author of destiny, then with a full head of hair, let us float down from the ceiling for a moment, back to the grittier question of roots. . . . 

+++

More excerpts:

Madame Blavatsky, Messenger from the Mahatmas

Jiddu Krishnamurti and the Lives of Alcyone

Creelman Interview with Porfirio Díaz

José Fidencio Sintora Constantino, El Niño Fidencio

Francisco I. Madero's Commentary on the Baghavad-Gita

Enter Allen Kardec, Chef du Spiritisme

***UPDATE My book, Metaphysical Odyssey Into the Mexican Revolution, is now available***

> Your comments are always welcome. Write to me here.

Cyberflanerie: From Mexico to Marfa, and a Bit About Mojo

One of the houses on the recent Marfa house tour featured this nifty "poster" by John Waters, "Visit Marfa." Turns out it's a rah-ther pry-say limited edi-shun. Check it out.

(What's up with the Marfa Mondays Podcasting Project? Slow but sure... four more podcasts, including an interview with painter Mary Baxter, a tour of Swan House, and Exploring Pinto Canyon Rd, are in the works. The latest is "A Spell in Chinati Hot Springs." Listen in anytime. I recently did an article for Cenizo Journal on Swan House-- the visionary Nubian-style mud-roofed compound outside of Presidio, which is about an hour and a jog south of Marfa. Stay tuned for more about that.)

My amigas the poet, essayist and translator, Brandel France de Bravo, and Mexican writer Silvia Cuesy have beautiful websites, ¡felicidades!
www.brandelfrancedebravo.com
www.silviacuesy.com

Wouldn't it be bodacious to drive from Mexico to Marfa in the Mojo Car?
(Scroll on down that page for the hilarious FAQs.)

(You might be wondering how I happened to surf onto the Mojo Car page. It so happened that, as part on my reading to expand and revise the introduction to my translation of Francisco I. Madero's Spiritist Manual of 1911, I was reading Mitch Horowitz's excellent Occult America, which provides an overview of the many American traditions, from Spiritualism to Mormonism to hoodoo. Yes, hoodoo. So I was reading all about those African-American root doctors and mojo and I just had to go and google. Up came the Lucky Mojo Curio Company of California and the owner's Mojo Car. Read more about the true meaning of mojo -- which is probably not what you think, you Doors fans, you-- here.)

Mary Lutyens: To Be Young

Rarely have I read anything so exquisite that has also made me laugh out loud so many times as Mary Lutyens' memoir, To Be Young. Alas, I have to agree with the author that her editor was quite wrong; the better title would have been From Maryb to Mushe (read it to find out why; this scrap of a blog post couldn't begin to explain). I read it as part of my research, very round about, for writing the prologue to my translation of Francisco I. Madero's Spiritist Manual. The connection: a bit tenuous, but Madero's Spiritist Manual was published in 1911, the very same year that Theosophist Annie Besant brought Jiddu Krishnamurti to England, placing him under the wing of Mary Lutyens' mother, Lady Emily Lutyens, an ardent Theosophist. Theosophy and Spiritism and Spiritualism (note the "u" in the latter) are similar in many respects but differ on important points. Anyway, Mary Lutyen's memoir is so delicious, I know I'll be quoting from it in my writing workshops, for it would be difficult to imagine more effective use of telling detail.

On her grandmother, who had been the Vicereine of India:

When the Rector came to lunch on Sundays, the book of memoirs (her favorite reading) would be put out of sight and a religious work substituted. She already seemed to belong to history. She pronounced cucumber, cowcumber; laundry, larndry; soot, sut; and blouse and vase, bloose and vaize. She sent her hair-combings to Paris to be made up into curls which her maid pinned to the front of her head.

On her aunt Con, who had been a militant suffragette:

I was frightened enough of her when she was shuffling about downstairs doing exquisite Japanese flower decorations with her left hand (it was her right side which was paralyzed), but very much worse was when we had to visit her, each in turn, in her very hot bedroom where she lay in bed peeling grapes for her Pekingese. She always wore purple velvet, even in bed, with her suffragette medals pinned to her chest, and she had flannel sheets which made the room feel horribly stuffy; but more dreadful than anything, she expected me to sit on a chair and converse with her... I have since discovered what a wonderful person she was, and one of my deepest regrets is that I failed to value her.

On the notorious Mr Leadbeater, aka Bishop, aka Brother:

Bishop had the merriest of twinkling blue eyes, a jolly manner and a very loud though pleasant voice. I was immediately impressed by his air of sparkling health, as if every faculty, mental and physical, was kept in perfect working order for immediate use. His teeth, although very white and apparently without decay, and certainly his own, were exceptionally long and pointed (all his visible teeth were like that, not just his eye teeth) so that the word vampire jumped to my mind. Under his cloak he wore a red cassock with a large amethyst cross dangling at the breast, and on the third finger of his right hand a huge amethyst ring. The impact of his personality was like a plunge into cold water.

Her portrait of Krishnamurti, the Theosophists' designated Messiah, is equally compelling, and strange: strange indeed to read of the "Messiah" as a teenager discovering P.G. Wodehouse.

Mary Lutyens also wrote several novels, and biographies of her father, the renowned architect Sir Edward Lutyens, and, in three volumes, Krishnamurti. She died in 1999; read her fascinating obituary here.

More anon.