CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE

Ojai: the Crucible of Southern California’s Cultic Milieu

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements

For the degree of Master of Arts in Anthropology

By
Cody Beckley

December 2015
The thesis of Cody Beckley is approved:

_________________________________ __________
Dr. Christina Von Mayrhauser Date

_________________________________ __________
Dr. Kimberly Kirner Date

_________________________________ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _
Dr. Sabina Magliocco, Chair Date

California State University, Northridge

ii
 Acknowledgments

I couldn’t complete this thesis on my own; there are many people whose advice,

guidence, and support have contributed to make this thesis a reality. First of all, I thank

my familiy, especially my mother Paula Beckley, whose love, support, and paitence I am

eternally grateful for. To my grandfather Calvin and my uncle Clifford, who I have both

lost during this time, and who were both very proud of me. To Arden Schaffer, for the

hours of conversation and as someone I can turn to to bounce ideas off of. To my home

parish of All Saints Episcopal Church in Oxnard, California, and my campus

congregation at Northridge United Methodist Church for all their prayers and support.

I of course owe a debt of gratitute to my wonderful thesis committie for their

direction, support, feedback, and faith in my ability to finish this accomplishment. My

thesis chair Dr. Sabina Magliocco, who not only helped me formulate the theoretical

orientation of my thesis and gave me advice on analyzing the cultic milieu, but was of

tremendous moral support during the darkest hours of my journey. Dr. Kimberly Kirner,

who has helped me in the right direction of how my data was to be analyzed. And for Dr.

Christina Von Mayrhauser, whose advice on applying ethnohistory in my research is very

much appriciated.

In addition, I wish to thank my collegaues in the Department of Anthropology at

California State University, Northridge. Foremost being Kevin Zemlicka, who

practically from the start has given me the advice, guidence, and support needed to

manage my way through graduate school and the thesis writing process; without him I

wouldn’t be where I am now. I also thank Garrett, Victoria, Karleen, Sophia, Madlen,

Stephanie, Hugh, Katie, Paige, and many more; all of whom have been through the

iii
trenches with me during our turmoils with grad school, and who have given me the

support needed to carry on; I can only hope that I have been as reciprocal to them during

this time. The communitas we established in the past few years will last a lifetime. I also

wish to thank my editor Anna Henry for her extensive revisions, which have made my

work easier to read and digest.

Of course, many thanks go to those in the Ojai Valley, who have graciously

provided me with the information, insights, and time which support my thesis’

arguments. To Julie Lynn Tumamait-Stenslie, a Chumash elder, who in addtion to being

among my informants has also honored me by showing and describing some of the Ojai

Valley’s sacred sites to me. To Joseph Ross, whose archival research was vital to my

historical chapter. As well as to Dr. Robert Elwood, who not only gave me valuable

information on the milieu of alternative spirituality in the Ojai Valley, but whose

published research has inspired me throughout the research process. I also wish to thank

the members of the Krotona Institute of Theosophy, especially Joy Mills, James Voirol,

Steve Walker, and Olga Olmin, for their contributions and for voluneteering to

particiapte. In addition, I thank “Sue Hart” of Meditation Mount, along with Hiroji

Sekiguchi, Anne Kerry Ford, Alison Stillman, and Marcia Doty for their valuable

information. To James Santucci of California State University, Fullerton for his advice

on the history of the Theosophical movement. To the staff of the Ojai Valley Museum

for their tremondous help in accesseing their research library.

iv
 Table of Contents

Signiture Page ii

Acknowledgements iii

Abstract vii

Chapter 1: 1

Outline of My Thesis 4

Notes 6

Chapter 2: Theory and Methodology 7

Methodology 7

Modes of Analysis 10

Theory 12

Chapter 3: Esoteric History of Southern California and the Ojai Valley 28

Southern California’s Cultic Milieu 29

Early History of the Ojai Valley 33

Becoming Shangri-La 41

Chapter 4: The Particular Cultic Milieu of the Ojai Valley 59

News about Ojai From Elsewhere 60

Ojai’s Sense of Place: Past Research 61

Ojai’s Sense of Place: Current Research 63

Theosophy as the Hub of Alternative Spirituality in Ojai 66

The Diversity of Alternative Spirituality Within the Ojai Valley 67

Non-Exclusive Membership and Dense Networks 70

v
 Famous Spiritual Teachers 71

Community of Artists and Thespians 74

Festival and Recreational Activities 77

Activism and Conservation 79

Health Culture 80

Ojai as the Shangri-La of Southern California 81

Chapter 5: Conclusion 82

What the Available Evidence Suggests 82

Next Steps 92

Concluding Thoughts 94

Bibliography 97

Appendix A 100

Appendix B 101

vi
 Abstract

Ojai: the Crucible of Southern California’s Cultic Milieu

By
Cody Beckley
Master of Arts in Anthropology

While Southern California is home to a cultic milieu of alternative spirituality

there appears to be a particular concentration of these beliefs and practice within the Ojai

Valley. For decades, the Ojai Valley has been the setting of a rather bohemian and idyllic

environment, a place to which significant people (mostly artists and actors) have

gravitated. Yet, it has also become a home or retreat to many spiritual teachers and

seekers, including Jiddu Krishnamurti, the Theosophical Society, Beatrice Wood, and

Aldous Huxley. My research broadly asks how alternative spirituality has infiltrated and

influenced mainstream culture in Southern California to form a regional cultic milieu. I

am specifically exploring why the Ojai Valley has a concentration of these beliefs and

practices, and is so magnetic in drawing these groups and individuals. I rely upon Colin

Campbell’s concept of the cultic milieu as my primary theoretical orientation, aided by

Primiano’s concept of vernacular religion and Ellwood’s notion of frontier

vii
experimentation. For my methodology I use an ethnohistorical analysis of both semi-

structured interviews and archival materials (periodical articles, photographs, letters,

official documents, etc.) I have found that a combination of environmental and cultural

factors have made the Ojai Valley an attractive location for practitioners of alternative

spirituality.

viii
 Chapter 1:

Introduction

We arrived at Meditation Mount around 6:45 PM, several people were already

present. For about a half hour classical music was performed on a piano in the

auditorium where the full moon meditation for Leo was to be soon conducted; in the

meantime guests either chatted with each other, browsed the selves of the reading room,

or were in the International Garden of Peace overlooking the Ojai Valley with the sun

setting in the west. The demographic of participants appeared to be mostly middle-aged

with some elders and young adults, there were about 40 of us in attendance. The event

began at 7:35 PM with a synopsis of the service we were to conduct together. This was

followed by a brief lecture on the individual consciousness associated with the

constellation of Leo; of finding the individual’s true vocation; and of the spiritual

evolution from the mass consciousness of Cancer, to the individual consciousness of Leo,

to the group consciousness of Aquarius.

Another member from the group then led us into a guided meditation; which first

involved relaxing our physical bodies, filling our emotional bodies with loving-kindness,

clearing our mental bodies of its daily baggage, and connecting to our soul or Higher

Self. We were then told to remove the boundaries in our outer and inner lives which

separated these four bodies; once done we formed a group thought-form which was

composed of our built-up energies, encompassing first the room, then the valley, and then

the world and cosmos. A bridge was formed between our earth energies with the divine

and angelic energies from the higher realms. We silently focused on these energies, and

1
after a while thrice chanted a deeply resounding OM. We were then told to focus back to

our physical bodies in order to silently walk outside to the terrace overlooking the valley

and transmit the healing energy to humanity and the world. The view of the valley by this

point seemed magical with the twilight glow of pink, purple, and orange at the horizon

beyond the dark blue and green of the wooded valley. The energy was focused through

our palms and fingertips as we chanted the following invocation: LOVE to all beings;

North, South, East, West, Above, Below; LOVE to all beings. The chant was repeated

using the words compassion, joy, and harmony. After which we were then dismissed,

ending around 8:30 PM.

This was the first time I participated in a full moon meditation, I wasn’t sure what

to expect. By that point I had an essential intellectual comprehension of the general

belief system associated with Alice Bailey’s teachings, which in certain regards is similar

to my own eclectic belief system, allowing me greater empathy with the beliefs and

practices of my co-creators of the healing energy we transmitted to humanity. During

this time I dabbled in meditation and was still going through the stumbling blocks all

beginners face. With that said, during this particular group meditation I experienced a

sense of tranquility and peace I rarely experience on my own attempts. Perhaps we did

contact higher realities and build up healing energy, or that we called up the energy from

within ourselves in conformity with our expectations, ultimately I’m not certain one way

or the other. What I am sure is that by the time it was over I felt tranquil and felt good

for what we did that night.

(Author’s journal entry, August 9, 2014).

2
 Southern California is associated with many iconic images in the popular

imagination: Disneyland, surfing in Malibu, film studios in Hollywood, affluent Beverly

Hills, the American Rivera of Santa Barbara. Related to these settings are notions of

different kinds of people who inhabit them: actors and celebrities, surfers, hipsters,

tourists, and those who practice alternative spiritualties: New Agers, Rosicrucians,

contemporary Pagans, ceremonial magicians, Theosophists, those who follow gurus from

the East or shamans from the Third World, those engaged with mind-body sciences such

as yoga and tai chi, and so on. It might not be surprising that in Southern California there

is an underground subculture which co-exists with mainstream culture and serves as a

repository of alternative religions and sciences, while it is at best left alone by

mainstream orthodoxy, is actually accessible to the mainstream and in turn influences it.

The region has a long history of being home to alternative spiritualties which have

influenced or impacted the mainstream culture of the region. Exotic words such as

karma, chakras, astral plane, reiki, and Namaste are well known, having virtually become

a part of mainstream culture’s vernacular. Perhaps this is the reason for the corny joke

about California being the granola state: full of nuts and flakes. While examples of

alternative spiritualties occur throughout California as a whole, one community that

exemplifies this aspect of California culture is Ojai, which has earned itself the nickname

of the Shangri-La of Southern California.

The Ojai Valley is located in Ventura County, just north of the county seat of

San Buenaventura, and a few miles from the coast. The small rural town of Ojai is well

known for being an oasis amidst an industrial sprawl; a haven for bohemians, activists,

environmentalists, seekers of health and recreation, and Hollywood thespians. Yet more

3
than that, it is internationally recognized as a mecca for the New Age and related

alternative spiritualties. Go to virtually any bulletin board inside or just outside the shops

and public meeting spaces in town, and it will be covered in posters, flyers, business

cards, and other advertisements for upcoming workshops, lectures from a visiting

spiritual teacher, reiki work, light-based healing therapies, tarot sessions, as well as stacks

of free New Age periodicals with advertisements for events and services both within Ojai

and in the broader cultic milieu of Southern California. There is a diversity of alternative

spiritualities present in Ojai, including Theosophists, New Agers, practitioners of

Transcendental Meditation, Zen Buddhists, Christian Scientists, practitioners of

indigenous traditions, devotees of avatars and gurus, Scientologists, and so many more;

though I would have to say that the overall orientation of Ojai’s corner of the cultic

milieu is of a predominantly Theosophical and New Age character. In addition, an

interesting element of local folklore has developed about the Ojai Valley: the claim that

the Valley is somehow a nexus of metaphysical or spiritual energies, with a stronger

concentration than what might be considered typical elsewhere. Why has this particular

lore emerged, and what roles does it serve?

Outline of my Thesis

With that in mind, while this subculture is certainly present throughout Southern

California there are few places in the region that have such a concentration of alternative

spiritual beliefs and practices, and the place is generating such an explicit awareness in

the popular imagination; in other words, many people both within and beyond Southern

California are aware of Ojai’s status as a New Age mecca. The first and foremost

question which drove the research for this thesis was: why Ojai? What is so unique about

4
this valley that, of all the places in the region, this concentration occurs there? In order to

tackle these questions, I reformulated them in the form of three research queries: 1) how

has alternative spirituality influenced and become a part of mainstream culture in

Southern California? 2) How have the alternative spiritual communities developed in this

location? 3) Why was the Ojai Valley chosen in particular, and 4) what qualities or

factors make Ojai a suitable location for alternative spirituality and contribute to the

folkloric belief that the Ojai Valley is a nexus of psychic, occult, and other spiritual

energies?

In this thesis I will argue that the Ojai Valley gradually became a magnetic

concentration of alternative spiritual belief and practice because of a combination of

geographic, historical, and cultural factors. That the early healing culture based on Ojai’s

springs and climate made it fertile ground for new forms of spiritual practice. In

addition, with Theosophy serving as a hub fostering a diversity of alternative spirituality.

Also, that Ojai’s landscape and artistic culture has contributed to the perception of Ojai as

a real-life Shangri-La. In the second chapter I will describe the methodologies that I

employ, including ethnohistory, and the interrelated theories used, foremost being Colin

Campbell’s theory of the cultic milieu. In the third chapter I present both the history of

the broader underground culture of alternative spirituality in Southern California along

with the history of the Ojai Valley and its own history of esotericism. Then in the fourth

chapter I will describe in detail the particular elements that together enable this magnetic

concentration to occur in the Ojai Valley. Finally, in the last chapter I will summarize

my findings and conclusions.

5
 Ultimately, this research will contribute to both sociocultural anthropology and

the anthropology of religion through its exploration of non-mainstream spiritual beliefs as

a part of a regional sociocultural identity. While my thesis investigates Eastern,

Theosophical, and New Age groups within Ojai, it has broader implications. The

examination of alternative spirituality in general along with other elements of marginal or

underground subcultures and their cultic milieu, will provide a relatively more holistic

portrayal of both Southern Californian society in particular and American society in

general, of which an examination of merely the mainstream culture(s) can only give us a

partial comprehension. Also, observing how alternative beliefs and practices become a

part of the mainstream will contribute to this portrayal. In the end, this research will aid

anthropology in understanding how particular beliefs, worldviews and practices deemed

alternative are a part of a larger culture.

Notes

First and foremost, any and all feedback along with constructive criticism I

receive from the academic community, the informants I interviewed, and any other

interested parties from Ojai would be very much appreciated, and I would give all due

consideration to their responses and incorporate them into these next steps as best I can.

Any errors or inaccuracies are entirely my own. Informants who wished to use an alias

will have their chosen identity within quotation marks (e.g. “John Smith”).

6
 Chapter 2:

Theory and Methodology

The purpose of my research was to understand how Ojai came to be considered a

mecca for esoteric new religious movements in Southern California. More broadly, I

sought to identify what made Ojai unique in the larger Southern Californian cultural

matrix which has historically drawn the creative, artistic and esoterically-inclined. Colin

Campbell’s idea of the “cultic milieu” (Campbell 1972: 14) provides a useful framework

through which to understand Ojai’s emergence as a crucible for esoteric movements in

Southern California.

The mode for analyzing the data gathered for this research is predominantly

interpretive in its approach; however, a more refined theoretical orientation is needed in

order to gather meaningful information from the raw data. I decided that I needed to use

several complementary theoretical orientations in order to accomplish this objective. One

of my main theoretical orientations is ethnohistory, defined by Barber and Berdan as “an

interdisciplinary field that studies past human behavior and is characterized by a primary

reliance on documents, the use of input from other sources when available, a

methodology that incorporates historiography and cultural relativism, and a focus on

cultural interaction” (Barber and Berdan 1998: 12).

Methodology

In order to collect the data on which this thesis is based, I used a variety of

methods. I conducted eleven semistructured interviews, consisting of eight open-ended

questions lasting anywhere from 20 to about 90 minutes in length, with representatives

from major esoteric groups in Ojai, including the Krotona Institute of Theosophy and

7
Meditation Mount. Interviews centered on my informants’ views on the Ojai Valley as a

concentration of alternative spirituality, the folkloric belief of the place as a nexus of

metaphysical energies, and Ojai’s impact or influence on the broader Southern California

culture. I chose the semi-structured form of interviewing, both in order to give myself

enough structure to gather the desired information, and to give my informants enough

freedom to provide as much detail as they were willing and able. This also gave some of

my informants the opportunity to provide more information than I expected. When I felt

it was necessary, I also asked them to elaborate or clarify their points. These open-ended

questions are included in Appendix A.

I recorded these interviews on a digital audio recorder in order to transcribe them

for analysis. My informants were all adults, and while some were members of particular

alternative spiritual groups, others were not or did not necessarily identify with these

groups. The means of recruitment included participant-observation at events, chain-

referral sampling, and asking organizations for permission to interview members who

volunteered. I also conducted participant-observation at various lectures, meditations,

festivals, and discussion groups, either organized by particular organizations or taking

place at various public locations throughout the Ojai Valley. In addition, I used archival

materials (e.g. periodical articles, photographs, emic historiographies, microfiche, blog

posts, newsletters, flyers, information packets, and published letters and

correspondences) from the research library of the Ojai Valley Museum, the archive at

Meditation Mount, the microfilm collection at the Ojai Library, and the Krotona Archives

series of books compiled by former Ojai resident and historian Joseph Ross. I recorded

my informants’ views on the history and development of alternative spirituality in the

8
Ojai Valley, and compared the data from those interviews with the data collected from

the archival materials.

My interviews and opportunities for participant-observation took place in several

places throughout the Ojai Valley. For the most part my meetings with Theosophists

took place at the Krotona Institute of Theosophy, two of these informants live at Krotona

as members of the Esoteric Section and have their individual living quarters. Many of

my other interviews took place in my informants’ residences, each of which reflected

their personal beliefs, on two separate occasions I had the additional honor of viewing

two of my informants’ shrine rooms. My interview with “Sue Hart” took place at

Meditation Mount; while with Julie Lynn Tumamait-Stenslie my first interview took

place at Libby Park during the Ojai Day festival, on the second interview I was taken

around the valley having been shown various sites held as sacred to the Chumash, or

elsewise held as being special. I conducted two separate events at Meditation Mount, a

full moon meditation service as mentioned in the last chapter, and an interfaith Christmas

Eve service held by representatives of seven faith communities in the Ojai Valley. I once

attended a monthly discussion group at the Krishnamurti Foundation; along with

attending the Ojai Day festival, where I noticed several alternative spiritual groups

advertising or else providing information on their beliefs and practices to the public. On

the day before Easter Sunday of 2015 I participated in the second half of the workshop

“Cosmic Sacrifice of Christ” held at the Krotona Institute, in which the Passion of Christ

was interpreted through (East) Indian mysticism.

9
Modes of Analysis

For my research I decided to use analysis of discourse within the framework of

narrative analysis. The latter is concerned with regularities in the stories told, while the

former involves taping interactions and coding them. Since I treated my interviews,

participant-observation, and the archival data I incorporated into my analysis as

narratives, I turned to Bruner for a theoretical understanding of ethnography as a form of

narrative itself. He states that ethnography is informed by narrative, which has three

elements: story (the systematic structure), discourse (the medium in which the story

manifests), and telling (the action “that produces the story in discourse”) (Bruner 1986:

145). He asserts that ethnographies are tempered to fit in with the dominant narrative

structure of mainstream culture, and that the ethnographer and the informants are subject

to the dominant narrative that influences the interpretation of data. This has helped me to

keep in mind how my interpretation of the data could be subtly influenced. As I searched

for themes in my data I relied on Fernandez’s theory concerning tropes, where he

explains how tropes are used within expressive culture to create identity by a mutual

appropriation of quality space or a matrix of shared experiences and ideas. He advocates

participant-observation within these quality spaces to gain “an awareness of the many

different domains of experience in a culture to which expressive events may […] be

making a linkage” (Fernandez 1986: 60).

In my analysis of discourse I identified three primary themes or tropes (marked as

A, B, C), three secondary themes where two primary themes overlap (marked AB, AC,

BC), and a singular tertiary theme which combines all three primary themes (marked

10
 Figure 1.1 Intersecting Themes and Concepts

ABC). Each of these themes were arranged to cover various though related sub-themes.

The first primary trope is concerned with sense of place (A), and contains these sub-

themes: east-west orientation of the Valley, remoteness, rural/low industrialization, and

Mediterranean climate. The second primary theme is alternative spirituality (B); the sub-

themes contained are: famous teachers, community of Theosophical “allied” groups, and

diversity of belief systems. The final primary theme is the culture and history of Ojai (C)

with the sub-themes: artistic community, thespian community/residents, various festivals,

small business community, emphasis on Mission-style architecture, and recreational

pursuits.

11
 The secondary and tertiary themes are not named, but relate to their lettered

coding to designate which combinations of primary themes are involved. The sub-

themes of AB are: hot springs, hill-top centers, and New Age legends about Ojai. BC

sub-themes concern: Ojai’s health culture, theatre and performances, and emphasis on

organic and natural foods. AC deals with Ojai’s green/eco-friendly emphasis, and what I

call the “dark side” of Ojai’s history and folklore. Finally, ABC’s subthemes are:

“Shangri-La,” Chumash folklore, the bohemian/hippie “vibe,” and activism/charity

outreach. If there was a significant piece of information that did not fit neatly within any

of the sub-themes, then it was consolidated under the nearest approximate primary theme.

Theory

First among the theories I used was Colin Campbell’s theory concerning the

cultic milieu, which was his attempt to offer a more satisfactory explanation for the

nature, rise and fall of cults. Before continuing, it is necessary to define the words “cult”

and “sect” as Campbell used them; because while these terms were of relatively neutral

value in the early 1970’s they have since become problematic in their usage, often with

negative connotations. For Campbell, the distinctive feature of “cults” is that they

possess a heterodox position in relation to mainstream culture, while mysticism is an

important although not necessary element in cults within America and Britain. In

addition, cults were seen as being individualistic and loosely structured, making few

demands of members, and being generally tolerant towards other groups and traditions

(Campbell 1972: 13). Meanwhile, the then current sociological literature on “sects” saw

these units as having a “communal and cohesive organization,” “specifically formulated

12
belief systems,” varying degrees of exclusivity, and “a tendency to persist over time”

(Campbell 1972: 13-14).

For Campbell, the cultic milieu is a cultural underground of a society, containing

all those beliefs, practices and other elements of heterodox religion, unorthodox science

and medicine that are not accepted, or are at best tolerated by mainstream religion and

science; along with all organizations, media outlets, and seekers which move, and live,

and have their being within this milieu (Campbell 1972: 14). Some of the unifying

factors which maintain the cultic milieu include: mutual support and tolerance offered by

members to each other in the need to defend and justify their views to mainstream

society, belief in the diversity and equal validity of paths leading to Truth, overlapping

media outlets which review and advertises other groups within the milieu, and an

ideology of seekership which encourages the search for a satisfactory interpretation or

system of meaning (Campbell 1972: 14-15). According to Campbell, a key component

of the cultural makeup of the cultic milieu is mysticism, which he characterizes as a

religious response “concentrating solely on the individual’s relationship with the divine

and through an emphasis on first-hand experience,” the individualistic nature of which

serves as an antithesis to the sect’s fellowship. In addition, mysticism co-inhabits the

cultic milieu with esotericism, modern Paganism, and alternative sciences, medicines,

and technologies (Campbell 1972: 16-17).

In his Essay “The Cult, the Cultic Milieu, and Secularization” (1972), Campbell

observes that up until the mid-1970’s the available sociological theories of cults placed

their emphasis on either the cults’ “mystical” nature, deviant or heterodox beliefs, or their

individualistic and loose structures; in essence, using the model of the sect in order to

13
define cultic nature (Campbell 1972: 12-13). However, he argues that due to the

ephemeral, fluid beliefs and practices and undefined boundaries of cults, he advocates

instead for a model of milieu which “if not conducive to the maintenance of individual

cults, is clearly highly conducive to the spawning of cults in general,” whereby new

alternative spiritual movements or groups assimilate elements of defunct movements and

groups, with the recognition that while these movements and groups are transient the

cultic milieu itself is a permanent feature of society (Campbell 1972: 14).1

The organizational format of institutions within the cultic milieu is various, but is

usually united by an ideology of seekership, which has been “defined as ‘searching for

some satisfactory system of religious meaning to interpret and resolve [the seekers’]

discontents’” (Campbell 1972: 15) and the format is based on the nomenclature of the

cultural traditions the organizations derive from (Campbell 1972: 17); for example,

organizations focused on heterodox science tend to form as colleges and institutes

offering courses, lectures and outreach facilities, an example of which might include the

World University in Ojai whose degree programs include consciousness psychology and

thanatology.2 Those groups with heterodox religion or alternative spirituality as their

focus will tend to form as orders and fellowships; an example of this would be the

1
I should perhaps point out that while I will use the term cultic milieu to describe the
sociocultural matrix of alternative spirituality, I will attempt to avoid using the word
“cult” to describe the groups and movements within it due to the negative connotation
associated with the word. At least once I have had to explain the meaning of the cultic
milieu to an informant who was concerned with the word “cultic” used in the description
of my thesis.
2
http://worldu.edu/ (accessed June 18, 2015)
14
Bhagavad Gita As It Is Fellowship of Ojai.3 Two additional forms of groups within this

milieu are the revelatory cult which claims an exclusive monopoly on truth, and personal

service institutions of some alternative technology such as faith healers, astrologers,

diviners and so on (Campbell 1972: 18). Campbell observes with regard to these

personal service outlets, that “[i]t is probably at this point that the cultic milieu comes

most directly into contact with the larger society as a consequence of a general demand

for the unorthodox services which it offers” (Campbell 1972: 18). He also notes that

alongside the seeker-based society there is also a substantial commercial subculture

present within the cultic milieu, consisting of those passive consumers who merely have a

mild interest in the alternative and purchase the periodicals and personal services the

milieu offers; and this subculture is one of the principal reasons that the cultic milieu

continues to survive” (Campbell 1972: 19). While Campbell makes a clear distinction

between the active seekers and the passive consumers it is quite probable that some

seekers begin their path within the cultic milieu by launching from their role as passive

consumers.

Campbell also looks at the relationship between the cultic milieu and the broader

society of which it is a part, along with the religious and scientific orthodoxy which

dominates that society. He does this by using the historical process of secularization as a

rationale to examine the cultic milieu’s continued existence. Structural changes have

occurred in the broader society which have reduced orthodox religion’s (i.e. Christian

churches in Western societies) power, influence, and perceived monopoly on truth; and

while some forms of orthodox religion still condemns alternative spiritual beliefs and

3
http://www.meetup.com/Bhagavad-Gita-As-It-Is-Fellowship-Discussion-Meetup/
(accessed June 18, 2015)
15
practices, “these condemnations remain unsupported by secular sanction and [are]

unnoticed by the general public in general.” The relativism, tolerance, and cultural

pluralism of the secularization process has caused the beliefs and practices found within

the cultic milieu to be perceived as merely variant as opposed to deviant (Campbell 1972:

20-21). Meanwhile, the theory of secularization would seem to suggest that scientific

orthodoxy would become the new rationale by which the cultic milieu would be

condemned; however, that assumption is based on the narrow presumption that science

and religion are incompatible, and in practice this is not always the case. In addition

(Campbell 1972: 21-22), he argues that it would be difficult for scientific orthodoxy to be

enforced beyond the scientific community due to its democratic ethos, and that in the

cases of applied science and medicine, any “secular sanctions against those who practice

a ‘false’ art or science of healing are not very severe or all-embracing and the trend is, if

anything, toward greater tolerance of such heterodox systems” (Campbell 1972: 21).

Ergo, this makes scientific orthodoxy less effective as a means of enforcing cultural

conformity, as opposed to religious orthodoxy.

Here it is perhaps appropriate to briefly discuss the epistemological

foundation of my theoretical orientation. This begins with Primiano’s concept of

vernacular religion, an inductive approach which “generates a theory of and method for

the study of religion based on criteria of religious validity established by the inner

experience and perception of the believer” (Primiano 1995: 40). That is to say that I have

attempted to embrace an empathic understanding of my informants’ worldviews to

produce an interpretation which is acceptable to both them and to academia. Primiano

observes that in the formation of religious beliefs in a specific environment, both ecology

16
and culture influence individuals. This method gives me an analytical tool to examine

how the vernacular religious lives of both my informants and of the voices recorded in

documentary evidence have been influenced by the Ojai Valley’s cultural and ecological

environments. In addition, through an empathic understanding, this method will allow

me to gain a better comprehension of these vernacular religions and how they contribute

to the form and essence of the cultic milieu of both this particular place and the region.

In addition, I used phenomenology as part of my conceptual foundation,

particularly after reflecting on the strengths and weaknesses of this method observed by

Knibbe and Versteeg. Reviewing the role phenomenology has played in the changes that

have happened within the field of the anthropology of religion, they noted that this

method allows anthropologists to engage as capable actors within the lived,

intersubjective life-worlds of their informants. Ultimately, Knibbe and Versteeg found

that phenomenology “enabled us to clarify our subjection and our resistance to a partly

shared religious embodiment” (Knibbe and Versteeg 2008: 55), thus making them able to

shift between serious researcher and believer. Yet, they noted that in the end

anthropologists describe not what the people they’re studying experience, but what they

themselves experience, and that is what they present in their research; this makes a self-

reflective critique necessary in the analysis stage. For my thesis, I needed to become a

capable actor in these life-worlds in order to participate in similar experiences so I could

empathize with my informants’ experiences, while also recognizing that what I

experienced during participant-observation was my unique experience related to but

separate from my informants’ experience.

17
 Like Campbell, Wouter Hanegraaff also looks at how the secularization process

has reinterpreted alternative spirituality. In his article “How Magic Survived the

Disenchantment of the World” (2003), he applies this specifically to Hermeticism’s

tradition of magic; his choice in using Hermeticism as his contextual example is in part

due to its emic terminology coinciding with academic etic terminology, and also because

the practices of Hermetic magic rely explicitly on particular worldviews or theoretical

orientations (Hanegraaff 2003: 360). Like Campbell, Hanegraaff uses secularization not

as a theory of religion’s gradual disappearance or marginalization, but as a historical fact

about “a profound transformation of religion” in society (Hanegraaff 2003: 358). He

recognizes magic as “dynamic, diverse, and subject to continuous historical change,” and

more importantly that the magic appearing after this disenchantment process “will no

longer be the same magic” found in previous periods (Hanegraff 2003: 359-360).

Hanegraaff turns to Levy-Bruhl’s work on participation: that as instrumental causality

became the dominant cultural force some people sought a validation of participation

through magical practices. He uses Tambiah’s succinct summary of participation, which

says that it:

signified the association between persons and things in primitive thought to the point of
identity and consubstantiality. What western thought would think to be logically distinct
aspects of reality, the primitive may fuse into one mystic unity. … This sense of
participation is not merely a (metaphorical) representation for it implies a physical and
mystical union. The primitive mind, said Levy-Bruhl, is indifferent to ‘secondary’ causes
(or intervening mechanisms): the connection between cause and effect is immediate and
intermediate links are not recognized (Hanegraaff 2003: 373).

Hanegraaff also suggests that participation “should be recognized quite simply as a

spontaneous tendency of the human mind. As such, it is an immediate and irreducible

datum of human experience, which neither permits nor requires further explanation but

18
has to be noted simply as fact” (Hanegraaff 2003: 374). When instrumental causality

became in itself a worldview, some sought out the Hermetic magic of the occultist as one

set of means to legitimize participation within a disenchanted worldview (Hanegraaff

2003: 378). An application of this in my thesis includes recognizing that many come to

Ojai believing it is an overall sacred place, seeking the “sacred feeling” which occurs

there; thus Ojai serves as a place of participation in a disenchanted society.

I would further agree with Campbell that the nature of the cultic milieu as a

sociocultural underground “is clearly a product of the form of orthodoxy itself”

(Campbell 1972: 20), so in our examination of Southern California’s cultic milieu we

must look at its relationship with the dominant culture of the region and how the later

shapes it. To do so I had to examine how California’s mainstream regional culture has

enabled alternative spirituality to flourish in the Golden State, in particular in its southern

portion. In his essay “California Civilization: Beyond the United States of America?”

(2006) Josef Chytry argues that California’s unique biodiversity, its “island” ecosystem

protected by an ocean, a mountain range, and a desert, and its Mediterranean climate rich

with various vegetation, has influenced settlers’ perception of the region as a sort of

terrestrial paradise. He asserts that part of California’s reason for being a major

civilization is that it still fulfills a symbolic role as a paradisiacal “island,” it is “the

ultimate object of that endless quest to the West” (Chytry 2010: 28), set up as a challenge

for Californians and the rest of the globalized world to achieve. Chytry’s analysis of the

development of California’s regional culture and its cultic milieu will be further

discussed in a later chapter.

19
 Reducing my scope even further down to Southern California I have turned to

Wade Clark Roof’s article “Pluralism as Culture: Religion and Civility in Southern

California” (2007), in which he asks, “what historical conditions for the region gave rise

to this culture of religious pluralism, and in what ways does this pluralism today intersect

with more recent religious and ideological trends?” (Roof 2007: 84). He begins to

address this question by explaining that Southern California never had a strong religious

establishment, and that Southern California’s idyllic physical environment also played a

role in the development of its culture of pluralism, which had an eroding effect on any

imported puritanical temperaments and made them more willing to experiment. The

strengths in Roof’s argument include his recognition that the rapid pace of social changes

in California’s history and in its environment had an impact on its social solidarity, which

had no strong religious establishment to determine the nature of Southern California’s

spiritual landscape.

A detour through New Zealand has proven fruitful in examining the late

nineteenth century settler society of California and the conditions it had which

encouraged this pioneer experimentation in alternative spirituality. It involves looking at

an observation made in the concluding chapter of Robert S. Ellwood’s tome Islands of

the Dawn: The Story of Alternative Spirituality in New Zealand, where he draws parallels

in the accommodation of alternative spirituality among the former “white” British

colonies of New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and the United States, in addition to their

“mother country,” the United Kingdom. Ellwood’s research is based on the arguments of

both Stark and Bainbridge, who argue that alternative spiritual traditions appear more

frequently in places where traditional religion has a weak hold, making Europe more

20
receptive to these new religions than the US; and Wallis’ argument that “British settler

societies, particularly New Zealand, lead among comparable first-world societies in

receptivity to new religious movements” and that “although cult activity may increase

with declining church attendance, it is also particularly high in Anglo-Saxon, Protestant-

dominated, immigrant-based societies, despite continuing high rates of church attendance

as in the United States” (Ellwood 1993: 185). While Ellwood examines New Zealand’s

long-standing alternative spiritual traditions (e.g. Spiritualism, Theosophy, the Golden

Dawn, and derived or related groups) and the historical/sociocultural development of the

nation, I’m more interested in his comparisons between New Zealand and the American

West (particularly California) as spaces of frontier experimentalism.

Both the US and New Zealand, along with their sister nations in the

Commonwealth, have inherited Britain’s pluralistic, denominational society as the

spiritual foundations of their nations, where if there is no single denomination responsible

for the overall spiritual welfare of the national community, then “it should be

supplemented by some sort of supra-denominational national spiritual identity and

purpose” (Ellwood 1993: 187-188). Ellwood points out that not only are these five

nations the best examples of the denominational society, but also that their religious

pluralism “and the capacity for tolerance they have perforce developed, have made them

relatively accessible to new religious movements seeking … their own slice of the

multidenominational pie” (Ellwood 1993: 189). He then illustrates the difference

between New Zealand and the American West vs. the United States which was already

present as the former lands were being formed: the US was the product of the

Enlightenment with its “rational, individualistic, Lockean, and Jeffersonian”

21
characteristics, while these new frontiers were formed in the mid-Victorian world of

Romanticism, and thus were exposed to “utopianism, reformism, and spiritual

experimentation” (Ellwood 1993: 189-190).

In addition, while both the US and New Zealand share Britain’s sect-forming

disposition; the role of religion played out differently between the two nations. The

Atlantic colonies which formed the early US were built by sects seeking freedom from

the sectarian violence they experienced during the English Civil War, while the

Victorian-era Kiwis didn’t come to their new home for religious reasons, many were of

the working class who felt alienated by religious institutions back home (Ellwood 1993:

190). In this regard, the long journeys to settle in California or New Zealand seemed to

give these immigrants the “permission” to experiment with new lifestyles they couldn’t

practice before (e-mail correspondence with R. Ellwood August 17, 2013); as in the case

of some American immigrants coming from strict religious backgrounds, who found

themselves drawn across the desert “to magnets of renewed life, and of the esoteric, like

San Francisco and Los Angeles” (Ellwood 1993: 191). Yet, unlike their Kiwi

counterparts, Americans maintain a strong sense of the importance of religion, whatever

its form, to their lives; this is due to the virtually apotheosized religiosity of the first

settlers and the supposed religiosity of the founding fathers (Ellwood 1993: 191-192).

Ellwood concludes by examining the common elements of British and Western American

settler societies that have made them fertile grounds for new religious movements to take

root. Some of these elements include: originally few churches and clergy ill-adapted to

colonial settings, “utopian dreams that promise to justify all the hardships they have

undergone in making a new home in a new land” along with a commitment to progress

22
and modernity that rejected religious authority of the past, the pragmatic mentality of

immigrants favoring the empirical phenomena of NRMs, gender and democratic

egalitarianism, isolated pioneers responsible for their own subjectivity, relative closeness

to Asia and its spiritual traditions, and interaction with indigenous religious traditions

(Ellwood 1993: 198-199).

Ellwood’s argument actually works in conjunction with Roof’s in making the

case that mass immigration to a new region during an era when ideas of progress and

modernity were abuzz, caused a sort of sea change in individuals’ religiosity, thus

establishing a personalized quest for spiritual fulfillment with their fresh start.

In my research I examined how the Ojai Valley’s landscape, climate, and other

natural features have been perceived to influence the milieu of alternative spirituality

found there. To this end, I have relied on Sarah McFarland Taylor’s proposal that there is

an interdependent relationship between natural environments and religions. In her essay

“What if Religions had Ecologies?: The Case for Reinhabiting Religious Studies” (2007)

she recognizes that people’s worlds are not only shaped by the natural environments they

find themselves in but they also have an impact on those environments, and that the

recognition of interaction between people and environments “have the potential to

revolutionize the very ways in which we think about religion, nature, culture, and human

experience” (Taylor 2007: 130). She sees potential in engaging religious studies with

ecocriticism, an important aspect of which is that it sees the natural world as not merely a

stage where humanity is acted upon nature, but that nature is indeed an actor within those

stories as well. She would like scholars to not only ask how places impact religious

imaginations, but also addition “how does an environment in crisis give birth to

23
imaginative responses, and how are these responses ascribed meaning” (Taylor 2007:

131). She also makes the argument that religions, like cultures in general, are not static

things but living and evolving entities. The concept of religion as something that is

unchanging is due to the framework of doctorial orthodoxy and the revelatory nature of

Western religion, specifically Christianity, which shapes the academic study of religion.

Therefore, Taylor advocates that scholars adopt an organic conceptual framework which

sees religion as both living and lived (Taylor 2007: 134). In my research I have

considered the interrelationship between environment and religion, as I examined how

the Ojai Valley’s culture and ecology have influenced alternative spiritual beliefs and

practices. In addition, I adopted the organic conceptual framework in order to better

examine how these alternative spiritual traditions have adapted to and in turn impacted

the changing conditions within the Ojai Valley.

As I examined the influence of environment and culture on alternative spirituality

and vernacular religion and vice versa, and as I was determining the particular method of

this examination, I decided to reflect on a more famous example of a place well-known

for being a magnetic concentration of alternative spiritualties where they reside relatively

peacefully alongside more mainstream creeds, a place believed to be particularly sacred:

Glastonbury in the United Kingdom. Folklorist Marion Bowman attempts to depict how

differing religious groups in Glastonbury promote their own ideas about the past and the

future by creating a tradition though the performance of processions (Catholic, Anglican,

and Goddess-worship). This gave me a context of performance analysis to reflect upon

my own analysis of the festivals, group meditations, discussion forums and workshops

where I conducted participant-observation. In her article “Arthur and Bridget in Avalon:

24
Celtic Myth, Vernacular Religion and Contemporary Spirituality in Glastonbury” (2007),

Bowman explores the interplay among Celtic myth, belief story (an informal story that

validates beliefs and experiences of a community), vernacular religion (the geographical

and cultural contexts of beliefs and practices), and contemporary spirituality taking place

within the environment of Glastonbury. One of the great strengths of this article was that

Bowman collected her data from both collective and personal narratives, performances,

and material culture in order to track how these narrative figures are re-invoked and

reworked to fulfill particular roles in different spiritual realities. Also, the recognition

that vernacular religion, belief stories, and contemporary spirituality can serve as a lingua

franca among various groups is an important consideration. Based on my fieldwork I

found such a vernacular religion in the Ojai Valley, which I would classify as being

predominantly, but not exclusively Theosophical, New Age, and Eastern in orientation.

I also reviewed Martin Marty’s theory of the occult establishment as part of my

examination of Ojai’s milieu of alternative spirituality. Marty’s article “The Occult

Establishement” was published in 1970, and in it he writes about what could be

considered a sub-milieu within Campbell’s cultic milieu, where he focuses on the

“respectable and established public versions” of interest in occultism and metaphysics

(Marty 1970: 213). He defines the occult establishment as “a safe and often sane

‘aboveground’ expression [of the occult underground], whose literature gives every sign

of being beamed at what is now usually called ‘middle America,’ ‘the silent majority,’ or

‘consensus-U.S.A’”; he contrasts this with the elements of the milieu associated with the

“Turned-On Generation” which involve drugs, sex, and sensationalism (Marty 1970: 216-

217). My research does observe and examine alternative spiritual groups that to some

25
degree or another have at least attempted to embody the status of relative respectability as

“occult establishments,” such as the Krotona Institute of Theosophy, Meditation Mount,

and the Krishnamurti Foundation of America. The groups I’m studying are long lived

(they’ve been in Ojai between nearly half a century to nearly a century), have for the

most part membership from the middle class, and are multigenerational.

Ultimately I have used multiple theories in my research, which serve

complementary roles in laying its theoretical foundation. The overarching theory which

drove and united it was Campbell’s cultic milieu, the sociocultural underground

phenomenon which sustains groups and activities dedicated to alternative spirituality and

heterodox science and medicine. The works of Ellwood, Chytry, and Roof provided the

historical and cultural background needed to understand the development of Southern

California’s cultic milieu since the Golden State’s incorporation into the United States

and rapid growth as a regional power. Both Campbell and Hanegraaff examine how the

historical process of secularization has allowed the cultic milieu to gain relatively more

acceptance by mainstream culture, and how participation through the spiritual

technologies of this milieu has altered and accommodated the phenomenon of

participation within these worldviews. Taylor’s recognition of the relationship between

environment and religion, along with the examination of religion as a dynamic, organic

entity, guided me in examining the Ojai Valley’s influence on the shaping of this spiritual

community and the groups composing it. Bowman provided an additional means of

examining the vernacular religion, rather than the “official” religion, of such a hotbed of

alternative spirituality and its relationship with the local environment. Martin’s theory

26
provided an additional model on the function of the groups within Ojai’s own explicit

cultic milieu.

In the next chapter, following a brief vignette of a an event at the Krotona

Institute I participated in, I provide a historical review of Southern California’s cultic

milieu, how the Golden State’s early rapid economic and demographic growth created a

culture of reformist and utopian experimentation which was conducive to the

experimentation of alternative spirituality. I then delve into the early history of the Ojai

Valley, Chumash traditions concerning the landscape of the Valley, the early health

culture which put Ojai on the map, and how the Krotona Institute’s relocation to Ojai

made this esoteric school the avant-garde of the cultic milieu to establish itself in the

Valley. It will conclude with a description of major groups that have developed in Ojai,

and the impact they have made.

27
 Chapter 3:

Esoteric History of Southern California and the Ojai Valley

It’s mid-morning of Holy Saturday, April 4th; we arrived at the Krotona Institute

to attend the second half of the “Cosmic Sacrifice of Christ” workshop led by

philosopher and physicist professor emeritus Ravi Ravindra and Priscilla Murray PhD.

The workshop was held in the hall adjacent to the library, it is a large and impressive

meeting space which like much of the complex is saturated with that lovely musty odor

that tells you the building is relatively very old, and that it must have seen a lot in its

time. The banner depicting the seal of the Theosophical Society hangs on a wall at the

interior entrance between the Masonic pillars Boaz and Jachin, perhaps this hall serves

as a lodge of Co-Masonry based on the history between the two groups.

The demographic of those in attendance was predominantly but not exclusively

European-American, and middle-aged to elderly; I noticed two others in my age group.

After a brief synopsis of the first half of the workshop from the previous night for the rest

of the four hour workshop the leaders discuss the Gospel According to St. John as

interpreted through the lenses of Indian mysticism and Theosophy. Some of the themes

included: how the physical Crucifixion was a reflection of a spiritual reality which

preceded it, how the Passion narrative is a sacred drama of the inner trials we face,

letting go of our lower desires to align with a High Reality, and how we are called to be

Mary (matter) birthing the Logos (spirit). At various points of the analysis of the Passion

narrative, different participants played the roles of Peter, Judas Iscariot, a member of the

Sanhedrin, and Mary Magdalene.

28
 For a long time I looked forward to attending this event for a number of reasons,

in part it was because I had an opportunity to participate in an event at Krotona, but also

because the theme of the workshop dovetailed with my own spiritual studies and

exploration. Being a practicing Christian whose personal beliefs have been influenced

by the broader Theosophical movement I was of course interested in taking part in it.

Already having common elements of belief with my fellow participants, assuming most to

be at least sympathetic with Theosophy, I understand how people of shared interests in

alternative spirituality and alternative interpretations of mainstream religions would seek

to form spaces where they can freely meet to discuss and foster new ideas and practices

in such a conductive milieu.

(based on Author’s field notes and journal: April 4, 2015).

Southern California’s Cultic Milieu

There are a number of factors, including geographical, but predominately cultural,

that come together to create a climate conducive to the development and maintenance of

a cultic milieu in Southern California, with the Ojai Valley as one of its more visible or

well-known epicenters. California as a region has been and still is perceived variously

from the edenic and utopian, to the dreamy and flakey; either way, the Golden State

seems to occupy a position within the general perception as a place of fresh beginnings

and dreams fulfilled. In part this is due to California’s unique geographical and

ecological diversity; compared to the rest of the United States, it is an “island of

biodiversity” with a Mediterranean climate, which is matched by its multicultural society

(Chytry 2005: 10-11). Even its name has its roots within epic romanticism: California,

29
along with its southern neighbor Baja California, was christened in 1535 by Hernán

Cortéz after a legendary island mentioned in the fiction of Garcí Rodriguez Ordóñez,

wherein he depicts a terrestrial paradise inhabited by black Amazons ruled by the Queen

Califia (Chytry 2005: 12). Yet it was not until the mid-19th century’s Gold Rush, that a

new frontier was forged where both entrepreneurial opportunity and utopian and

reformist experimentation could be conducted. These progressive experiments will be

examined briefly, with a particular focus on Southern California (Chytry 2005: 17-19).

According to Chytry, this “’utopian’ instinct to create new forms of individual and social

life… originally reflected respect for the unmatched diversity of the Californian

ecosystem: “aggressive agribusiness first exploited the diversity of soil and climate to

produce vast amounts of fruit, then portrayed California through its aesthetic advertising

as the natural place for joyful and healthy living” (Chytry 2005: 19).

In his book Orange Empire: California and the Fruits of Eden, Douglas Cazaux

Sackman examines how the citrus industry not only transformed California’s economy,

but also through advertising created a mythic and glamorous reality of the Golden State

as an agricultural Eden. One example of this was the commissioned mural painting

Allegory of California by Diego Rivera, depicting California as an Earth Mother with her

gifts of gold, petroleum, and fruits. As typical of fruit advertisements using Pomonaesque

imagery she is presented with “Grecian features,” suggesting California as a second

Mediterranean (Sackman 2005: 1-4). In addition, he describes how California was

advertised as a natural sanitarium due to its Mediterranean climate; those with failing

health, such as growers, could come to California to be miraculously cured, and become

productive members of society and industry (Sackman 2005: 40). Sackman even refers to

30
a resident of Ojai whose “brain work” related maladies had gone away due to his

participation in Ojai’s orange production (Sackman 2005: 41). This “orange culture,”

with its idyllic depictions of California’s climate and natural landscape, thus made the

state a nurturing environment for those looking for a place that left them free to explore

novel concepts, both social and spiritual.

By the early to mid-20th century, California had established a regional culture

whose edenic pursuit of pleasure and freedom of expression soon provided a home to

those experimenting with esoteric and otherwise religiously heterodox beliefs and

practices (Chytry 2005: 21). One such individual was the Canadian born writer and

occult-philosopher Manly P. Hall (1901-1990), who moved to Southern California as a

young man. Initially living at the Rosicrucian Fellowship in Oceanside before moving off

on his own to Los Angeles, affiliating with various seekers and discussion groups and

then becoming a minister in a liberal evangelical congregation called the Church of the

People, where he addressed topics on the metaphysical and the wisdom of the ancients

(Horowitz 2010: 151). In 1928, he wrote, self-published, and self-financed his magnum

opus The Secret Teachings of All Ages, a compendium of religion, mythology,

philosophy, and occultism “compiled on an Alexandrian scale,” which is quite impressive

considering his lack of formal higher education (Horowitz 2010: 149). In 1934 he

established his Philosophical Research Society (PRS) near Griffith Park, which was

modeled on the Pythagorean mystery school, containing an extensive library of 50,000

tomes and artefacts, a bookstore, and an auditorium where Hall would deliver his many

lectures. The PRS campus, with its unique architectural synthesis of Mayan, Egyptian,

and Art Deco, remains to this day a popular destination for spiritual seekers in Southern

31
California (Horowitz 2010: 155). While Hall didn’t seek to rub shoulders with

Hollywood celebrities, as many would-be-gurus had, he still had connections in the

entertainment industry. One such relationship was with his friend the folk-singer and

fellow Freemason Burl Ives; another with cinema star Bela Lugosi, who was supposedly

hypnotized by Hall for the film Black Friday (1940) (Horowitz 2010: 157-158). Hall

even made a brief appearance in the introduction of the astrology themed murder-mystery

film When Were You Born? (1938), in which he explains to audience members the signs

of the zodiac (Horowitz 2010: 157).4

Other influential esotericists who chose to reside in Southern California can be

found working in the region’s science and technology industries. An example is the

astronomer George Ellery Hale (1868-1938), who with Edwin Hubble confirmed that the

universe is endlessly expanding, while at the same time “Hale and his followers took

themselves equally seriously as members of a scientific brotherhood committed to

meditation and ritual redolent of ancient Egyptian and Zoroastrian circles” (Chytry 2005:

21-22). Another occultist and scientist was rocket engineer and Thelemite John W.

(Jack) Parsons (1914-1952), who worked at the California Institute of Technology and

lead the Agape Lodge of the Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO) in Pasadena; he also

supposedly conducted magical workings with science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard

before the latter founded Scientology (Melton 2009: 818).

4
Part of Hall’s Hollywood appearance can also be seen in the trailer for the film,
http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/313905/When-Were-You-Born-Original-Trailer-
.html (accessed June 4, 2015).
32
Early History of the Ojai Valley

I will begin by briefly examining the landscape and ecology of the Ojai Valley

and its contribution to Ojai’s sense of place. The city of Ojai lies within Ventura County,

14 miles directly north of the county seat of Ventura, its 80 miles northwest of Los

Angeles and 30 miles east of Santa Barbara. The Valley is located within the Transverse

Range Province, one of two valleys in the U.S. that run in an east-west orientation, and its

limited access through two small roads make it an isolated area (Jones 1998: 80-81). The

Valley is ten miles long, three miles wide, and encompasses 90 square miles (Fry 1999:

xviii). It is this particular geographic orientation and spatial isolation which serve as

significant contributors to Ojai’s sense of place. For example, the Ojai Valley’s east-west

orientation allows a longer duration of sunlight to enter the Valley, which gives locals a

unique phenomenon to experience called the “pink moment,” when the sunset bathes the

Topa Topa range in a brilliant pink light.(Fry 1999: 318). Some of the places in the

Valley are named after Chumash villages, or else the names come from their language.

For example, the name Ojai is derived from the village of “Awhay,” which means

“moon.” An alternative folk belief has emerged among some Euro-Americans that due to

the close, high surrounding mountains which seem to protect the Valley’s inhabitants, the

word Ojai means “nest” (interview with J.L. Tumamait-Stenslie February 1, 2015).

The latest indigenous human inhabitants of the Ojai Valley are the Chumash; the

peoples of this language family have resided in the surrounding portion of Southern

California since 1000 CE, and lived a relatively peaceful existence there for about 500

years. Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo made contact with the Chumash in 1542, after which

intermittent visits and later colonization from Spanish explorers who disrupted their

33
earlier existence (Fry 1999: 4). A popular piece of folklore about the Chumash that I

heard from my Euro-American participants is that the Chumash held the Ojai Valley to

be an especially sacred space, where warfare never occurred, and peace treaties were

established. I asked Julie Lynn Tumamait-Stenslie of the Barbareño-Ventureño band of

Chumash whether there was any validity to this romantic legend, and she responded that,

“I’m not sure if that was true, but I love the idea” (interview with J.L. Tumamait-Stenslie

October 18, 2014). She went on to describe the highly probable reality that during times

of drought and famine people from neighboring areas would naturally come to the Valley

and take food by “unscrupulous” means, and the reaction from those living in the Ojai

Valley would be, according to Julie, “the men are going to retaliate and protect by having

warfare, it’s human nature.”

Oppressive times eventually fell upon the Chumash during the Mission Period,

when Father Junipero Serra established Mission San Buenaventura in 1805, the goal of

which was to “civilize” the Chumash in part by converting them to Christianity, with the

intent that the “civilized” neophytes would work the land which would be divided up

amongst them (Fry 1999: 14). Julie told me that a lot of native people in the Valley, and

the Chumash community in general, are still trying to figure out their people’s spirituality

and recreate it as best they can, since “[w]e lost a lot of our spirituality through the

Catholic religion, through the missionization and the colonization of the,… Catholic

priests” (interview with J.L. Tumamait-Stenslie October 18, 2014). During this time,

some of the Chumash would periodically escape the mission and head into the Ojai

Valley, but then the Spanish would drive them out again. Julie told me about one account

from the mid-1800’s, which recounts that the Spanish drove the Chumash people from

34
the Ojai village of Mat’ilha out to the Cañada Larga river between the Valley and

Mission San Buenaventura, “[b]ut at night, when they saw the native peoples singing and

chanting around their campfires they got scared because they knew they were being

cursed for kicking them out of their village” (interview with J.L. Tumamait-Stenslie

October 18, 2014). Julie later showed me the approximate site of where this “voodoo,”

as she termed it, took place, near the Santa Gertrudis Chapel (interview with J.L.

Tumamait-Stenslie February 1, 2015). In 1832, ten years after Mexico gained

independence from Spain, the new government removed all non-spiritual duties from the

Missions, and confiscated their lands meant for the Chumash (Fry 1999: 14). While little

is known about the Chumash life during this time, they worked as cowboys, ranch hands,

picked fruit in the orchards, and were “lent” out among ranches.5

There are particular mountains in the Ojai Valley, such as Topa Topa, which are

of significance to its inhabitants: to the Chumash some of them are shrine-hills and power

spots (interview with J.L. Tumamait-Stenslie February 1, 2015). Topa Topa comes from

the Chumash “sitop topo” meaning “much cane;” the cane was used for arrows, for filling

two inch tubes with tobacco, and then piercing through ear lobes.6 According to Julie,

the tobacco was chewed as a pick-me-up, to quench hunger and give an extra shot of

energy, and crystals may also have been gathered from Topa Topa, which were worn as

jewelry for healing purposes (interview to J.L. Tumamait-Stenslie February 1, 2015).

Topa Topa would later become an important feature to folks from the alternative spiritual

milieu. Theosophists regard one of its knobs as the “Guardian Deva’s Seat” (Ross

2009:102). Another shrine-mountain in the upper valley is Kahus, or the Bear, called that

5
http://ojaihistory.com/my-chumash-ancestral-legacy/ (accessed June 1, 2015)
6
http://ojaihistory.com/my-chumash-ancestral-legacy/ (accessed June 1, 2015)

35
because it was a place where the Bear-Medicine was conducted (interview to J.L.

Tumamait-Stenslie February 1, 2015). Julie describes Bear-Medicine as a means of using

one’s intuition to engage with the power of the Bear, who is a gentle protector, and thus

learn to live with oneself (interview to J.L. Tumamait-Stenslie October 18, 2014). There

is also Chief Peak, just northeast of Ojai, so named because it resembles the face of a

Native American looking skyward in profile (Fry 1999: 308). There is a creation

narrative in Chumash oral tradition, Julie told me, in which the First People were very

large animals and people who were destroyed in a great deluge; when the waters receded

they turned to stone and became the mountains and hills, serving as protectors (interview

to J.L. Tumamait-Stenslie October 18, 2014). Chief Peak’s resemblance to a human face

may be a part of this narrative.

In addition to shrine-mountains, the various springs within the Ojai Valley were

also considered power spots by the Chumash. According to Julie, they used both hot and

cold springs to promote healing, for medicine, and to pray for health and well-being

(interview to J.L. Tumamait-Stenslie February 1, 2015). Two of these sites are the

Matilija Hot Springs and Wheeler Hot Springs, both of which have contributed to Ojai’s

reputation as a place of healing.7 Julie told me that the sulphur in the water makes it

good for dealing with arthritis and rheumatism, as well as with various skin abrasions

(interview to J.L. Tumamait-Stenslie February 1, 2015). She also told me that many

people both within and beyond Ojai would bathe in the Matilija Hot Springs, but that

their increasingly, disrespectful behavior polluted the site both literally and spiritually,

also noting that this is a sacred medicine site that should be approached respectfully. In

7
http://ojaihistory.com/my-chumash-ancestral-legacy/ (accessed June 1, 2015)
36
recent years the property was bought by an organization called Ecotopia which forbade

unpermitted access to the hot springs. This has allowed the water to cleanse at least

ecologically, as well as spiritually, with the help of volunteer workers removing the

excessive trash left behind by partyers (interview with J.L. Tumamait-Stenslie February

1, 2015). Ecotopia plans to create a stewardship relationship with the hot springs, where

visitors can either make a donation or participate in a work-exchange. Another place

with hot sulphur water that was formally open to the public was Wheeler Hot Springs,

and according to Julie this site is believed to be cursed due to its history of deaths:

murders, suicides, and accidents, as well as fires and floods (interview with J.L.

Tumamait-Stenslie February 1, 2015). There is a legend associated with the springs and

the surrounding land about Chief Matilija’s curse that anyone who desires to use it for ill

gain will perish.8 Despite being a figure with no historical basis, his curse is an excellent

case where a legend is employed to explain the tragic series of events that have occurred

in this place. Julie went on to say that Wheeler Blumberg came across the hot springs

after he shot a deer in the late 1880’s, and decided to establish a high-priced spa there;

thus an additional layer of the curse is that he was selfishly making a profit as a result of

a death (interview to J.L. Tumamait-Stenslie February 1, 2015). Due to both its history

of deaths and financial problems, Wheeler Hot Springs is closed to the public, serving as

a local example of expecting retribution for sacred sites being disrespectfully disturbed.9

Another major feature of the Ojai Valley’s landscape is its profusion of trees,

which many of the locals are quite fond of preserving. Journalist Charles Nordhoff

8
http://ojaihistory.com/my-chumash-ancestral-legacy/ (accessed June 1, 2015)
9
http://ojaihistory.com/my-chumash-ancestral-legacy/ (accessed June 1, 2015)
37
remarked in 1882 about “the abundance and loveliness of its woods of evergreen oaks”

(VanHouten 2014: 14). In 1922 the Arbolada section of the Valley was designed as a

means to preserve Ojai’s trees from destruction; the benefactor Edward Libbey arranged

it so that none of the trees there would be removed, and brought in six boxcars filled

with trees to plant in the 360-acre area (VanHouten 2014: 16). In addition, there are

particular trees which are of historical significance to the residents of Ojai. The first

example is the Sycamore of Libby Park: located near Libby Bowl, it is more than 200

years old, and may have been bent as a sapling by the Chumash in order “to mark the

beginning of an important trail, campsite or meeting place” (VanHouten 2014: 17). This

tree forms an arch, and among its informal names are the “Peace Tree” and the “Marriage

Tree.” In a 1953 article, George T. Channing claimed that, “over 120 years ago the

Indians called a peace conclave around the tree and agreed never to battle in the valley of

the Ojai. As a marriage tree, the Indians believe that two lovers walking together through

the arch are united by the Great Spirit” (VanHouten 2014: 17). Another tree of the same

species, called the Sycamore of the Winds, which is located at the Ojai Valley’s southern

entrance at Foster Park, also may have been incorporated into local Chumash tradition.

Supposedly this tree was held as being sacred by the Chumash, where worship was

conducted and offerings of skins and feathers were left (VanHouten 2014: 18). It earned

its name from the belief that it was the source of the winds, perhaps because it is located

where coastal winds first enter the Valley (VanHouten 2014: 18). More contemporary

folklore about the Sycamore of the Winds has also emerged; that wishes made

underneath its branches become realized, hence becoming the “Wishing Tree,” and also

being dubbed the “Kissing Tree,” for “[l]overs who met in the shade of the great

38
sycamore would whisper vows together. Some have even gotten married beneath it”

(VanHouten 2014: 18).

When the Mexican government confiscated the Mission’s lands, they divided and

distributed them to those of political value. One such individual was Fernando Tico,

whose civic responsibilities at Mission San Buenaventura included to managing the

whipping post used to deal with troublesome neophytes (Fry 1999: 14-15). In 1837,

Governor Juan B. Alvarado granted Rancho Ojay to Tico. In 1853, three years after

California became a state, Tico sold his rancho to politician Henry Storrow Carnes;

ownership of the Valley then changed hands several times before it was purchased in

1864 on behalf of Thomas A Scott who was looking for an oil strike (Fry 1999: 17). The

first wave of Euro-American settlers to the Ojai Valley came looking to strike it rich in

the “black gold” of petroleum, the tar-like substance oozing up out of the ground in some

areas of the Golden State. Along with them came pioneers willing to make a home in

Ojai’s then harsh environment (e.g. bears and cougars, flea infestation, and the dense

forests making travel difficult) (Fry 1999: 19-22). The next wave of immigrants from the

East Coast came to the Ojai Valley seeking improvement in their health. One Lorenzo

Dow Roberts arrived there with severe bronchitis, which made him speak at a whisper,

and weighed 124 pounds; in less than a year he gained 40 pounds and could be heard

shouting. This seemingly miraculous recovery made such an impression on him that he

desired to bring others to this “mecca of health restoration” (Fry 1999: 24-25). He made

plans for developing a town (initially to be called Ojai) in the Valley and advertised

Ojai’s benefits to local newspapers. Ventura businessman Royes Gaylord Surdam took

interest and mailed brochures to East Coast doctors recommending that they send their

39
incurable patients to Ojai to become cured of their aliments (Fry 1999: 25-26). In 1871,

journalist Charles Nordhoff toured Southern California, including Ventura County, and

his descriptions were printed in The New York Herald and later compiled and published

as California for Health, Pleasure and residence: A Book for Travelers and Settlers (Fry

1999: 31). Those back East who had read Nordhoff’s book were enticed by his

descriptions of California’s health benefits and a place where the “summers are endless,”

and soon migrated there. One such immigrant was Catherine Blumberg, who initially

moved from Iowa to Los Angeles with her husband Abram, and it was only within a year

of relocating to Ojai that her health drastically improved. She was so impressed, that

when the matter of naming the new town came up, she suggested naming it after

Nordhoff who ultimately brought them to this miracle valley (Fry 1999: 26-27, 31).

Although Nordhoff never mentioned the Ojai Valley in the first edition of his book he did

so in the 1882 printing, wherein he stated that “[t]he valley is famous even in California

for the abundance and loveliness of its woods of evergreen oaks. It presents the

appearance, in fact of a magnificent old English park,” as well as its miraculous healing

climate (Fry 1999: 31). Yet during the First World War it was decided to change the

name of the town to Ojai, principally because its former name was too Germanic

sounding for many residents’ comfort (Fry 1999: 206-207).

With more people moving to Ojai, the little one horse village was growing into a

small town; but its major transformation would come about through the efforts of Edward

Drummond Libby, who moved to Ojai from Ohio, and as the years passed, became more

and more enraptured by the Valley’s rustic charm, yet felt that “the village itself typified

most western towns and it lacked distinction…He wanted to find a way to preserve the

40
rustic characteristics of Nordhoff while changing those features not in harmony with the

lovely landscape” (Fry 1999: 196). Beginning in 1914, Libby had his improvement plans

greenlighted by civic authorities. His designs included a Spanish style arcade for

shopping, the land in front of the arcade to be cleared of everything but its oaks (later to

become Libby Park), the iconic sixty-five foot post office tower, and tennis courts (Fry

1999: 197-198). The community wanted to show its gratitude to Libby by holding an

event initially called Libby Day, but Mr. Libby would not have it; honor would go to the

town itself, hence in 1917 the first annual Ojai Day celebration was held, which continues

to this day (Fry 1999: 199).

Becoming Shangri-La

Now I will turn to the series of events which initiated Ojai’s transformation into a

mecca of alternative spiritual beliefs and practices. The esoteric movement which had

probably the strongest impact on Southern California and Ojai is Theosophy. The

Theosophical Society (TS) was founded in 1875 by Madame Helena Blavatsky (1831-

1891) and Colonel Henry Steel Olcott (1832-1907). The mission of the TS can be

summed up in its three objectives: “1) Brotherhood without distinction of race, creed,

sex, caste or color. 2) Study of comparative religion, philosophy and sciences. 3)

Investigation of unexplained laws of nature and powers latent in man” (Woolman 1956:

36). Yet, after Annie Besant became the international president of the TS, a schism

occurred over who should succeed Blavatsky and Olcott, in addition to scandals

involving Bishop C.W. Leadbeater and Jiddu Krishnamurti’s status as World Teacher,

which divided the American branch into those who followed Besant’s leadership (the

Theosophical Society of America), and those who saw William Q. Judge as the legitimate

41
head (the Theosophical Society in America). From this schism came various other

Theosophical groups which can be found throughout Southern California, including

Judge’s TS under Katherine Tingley, which established a utopian colony at Point Loma,

and Besant’s TS through the Krotona Institute in Ojai (Melton 2009: 695-696, 711-712).

In 1909, Annie Besant, then the international president of the Theosophical

Society, came across the 13 year old Jiddu Krishnamurti in India. She was so impressed

with the young man - the Theosophist, Liberal Catholic bishop and clairvoyant Charles

W. Leadbeater was able to see Krishnamurti’s magnificent aura – and saw such potential

in him, that she took young Krishnamurti under her wing, believing him to be the next

World Teacher (Fry 1999: 287). The World Teacher was to be an avatar, a new Christ,

ushering in the next stage of spiritual evolution (Melton 2009: 695). It was in 1922 that

Krishnamurti first came to Ojai (Fry 1999: 288).10 Uncomfortable with the messianic

image he was expected to fulfill, he continually refused his status as World Teacher,

saying that he only “found a way of living ‘intelligently, happily and without sorrow,’”

and hoped others would achieve this themselves without relying on external teachers (Fry

1999: 288).

Around that same time as Krishnamurti’s initial visit to Ojai, another group

affiliated with the TS, specifically its Esoteric Section, was moving to the Valley. This

was the Hollywood-based Krotona Institute of Theosophy. Originally, Theosophist and

lawyer Albert Powell Warrington was inspired to create Krotona as a sanctuary of rest for

both “cultivated people and overworked city folk” to enjoy; it was named after

10
This was when he accompanied his brother Nityananda, who suffered from
tuberculosis. Local historian, Joseph Ross, told me that Ojai’s dry climate, which was
even drier before the Casitas Dam was built, was hoped to remedy Nityananda’s
tuberculosis (interview with Joseph Ross January 10, 2015).
42
Pythagoras’ school and colony of philosophers, and the modern Krotona was originally

planned to be established on the James River in Virginia (Fry 1999: 286). Annie Besant

then asked Warrington to set up the esoteric school in California; he consented and in

1912 he purchased 15 acres of land in the foothills of Los Angeles (Fry 1999: 286).

According to Joseph Ross, while it was in Old Hollywood, the Krotona community had a

significant impact on the neighborhood: they founded both the Hollywood Bowl and the

Pilgrimage Theater, in addition to producing plays such as The Light of Asia and The

Light of Christ (interview with J. Ross January 10, 2015). The music of the latter drama

was composed by Dane Rudyhar, who also played the role of Christ in Cecil B.

DeMille’s silent version of The Ten Commandments, and became a foremost astrologer

(Ross 2009: 65-66). However, their new neighbor was the film industry which soon

made Hollywood world-renowned, and feeling that the new environment was unsuitable

the TS moved Krotona to Ojai in 1924 (Fry 1999: 286). According to Steve Walker, a

resident at the Krotona Institute, the movie industry brought in bad energies, which made

the Theosophists uncomfortable with the area (interview to S. Walker December 29,

2014). The decision to relocate to Ojai was primarily influenced by their belief that the

Ojai Valley was “impregnated with occult and psychic influences” (Fry 1999: 286). I

was told by James Voirol, a member of the Krotona Institute, an apocryphal story of how

Annie Besant and Krishnamurti were sailing off the coast when they saw a great angelic

presence up by the Topa Topa mountain range and over the Ojai Valley, and based on

this vision decided Ojai was a good place to set up shop (interview to J. Voirol July 9,

2014). However, in an April 1924 edition of the American E.S.T. Bulletin Warrington

claims he initially suggested the Ojai Valley to Besant as the location for the new

43
Krotona (Ross 2009: 146). In 1924 Krotona’s move from Hollywood to Ojai takes root

with the construction of its library and music room accomplished.11

While Krotona was in Old Hollywood there was an internal dispute as to whether

the school should benefit members of the TS or those of the Esoteric Section of

Theosophy (Ross 2009: 7). The Esoteric Section (ES), since renamed the Esoteric

School of Theosophy, was established in 1888 by Madame Blavatsky originally as a

branch of the TS, and then as an independent organization, yet consisting only of

members of the TS, designed “to encourage among its members the practice of the

spiritual life based in Theosophical teachings, while at the same time protecting the

nonsectarian quality of the TS as a whole.”12 With the relocation to Ojai it was decided

that the new Krotona would be dedicated as a school and retreat of meditation and

training for members of the ES (Ross 2009: 126, 147).

In 1925, Krotona’s development in Ojai progressed under the management of

George H. Hall, whose energy and efficiency brought forth the landscaping which has

made Krotona an aesthetically attractive place, along with the construction of the

roadway leading up to the hilltop nexus of the property (Ross 2009: 233). A year later,

Dr. Besant planned to spend three months in America to advocate the cause of Universal

Brotherhood; among her activities was the laying of the cornerstone ceremony for the TS

American branch headquarters in Wheaton, Illinois (Ross 2009: 348, 381). During her

stay in the United States, she initiated her special projects in Ojai, “where her intuition

led her to start a new utopian colony and school for the children of the ‘sixth sub-race’”

11
http://www.ojaivalleymuseum.org/ovm/history.html (accessed June 6, 2015)
12
https://www.theosophical.org/publications/quest-magazine?id=2951 (accessed June 7,
2015)
44
(Ross 2009: 386).13 One of these projects for developing these evolved children was the

Happy Valley School, “a non-sectarian, co-educational senior high school” whose

emphasis “is on teaching the students how to think not what to think through a flexible

curriculum” (Fry 1999: 76). The essay “The Master’s Plan,” written by Theosophist and

Ojai resident John A. Roine, reports on Dr. Besant’s visit to America and how she

received inner guidance from one of the Masters from Theosophy’s cosmology on

forming the school, and colony for the sixth sub-root race children (Ross 2009: 390-391).

Later in 1946, the writer Aldous Huxley became one of the directors of this school.14

While in Ojai, both Dr. Besant and Krishnamurti addressed the 150-200

Theosophists present in the Valley’s remarkable environment (Ross 2009: 386-387). On

the evening of celebrating Dr. Besant’s 80th birthday at Krotona, Krishnamurti delivered

a speech on world peace; Dr. Besant was convinced that “at last the Lord

[Maitreya/Christ Principle] had definitely come and spoken.” Two weeks later, shortly

before Krishnamurti delivered another speech, a different presence was reported, this

time of Lord Buddha (Ross 2009: 387).

In April of 1928 Krishnamurti returned to Ojai, and the Star Camp Congress was

organized so that for a week or so a little over a thousand Theosophists from around the

world could camp out in a tent city near Meiners Oaks, since neither Krotona nor the

village of Ojai could accommodate so many, in order to listen to Krishnamurti’s lectures.

13
In the cosmology presented by Madame Blavatsky human evolution consists of seven
Root Races, each made up of seven subraces. At present is the fifth Root Race, thus far
only five of its subraces have appeared. Theosophists await the upcoming sixth subrace
“[f]rom this point, humankind will evolve into spiritual adapts” (Melton 2009: 693).
14
http://www.ojaivalleymuseum.org/ovm/history.html (accessed June 8, 2015)
45
Among the 1,200 visitors twelve nationalities were represented at this event.15 A tract of

land near Krotona was purchased by George Hall, which became the Oak Grove, where a

cafeteria and bath houses were constructed for the Star Camp Congress, and where

Krishnamurti would later deliver his lectures every May.16 A year later, Krishnamurti

had become uncomfortable with the guru-devotion many Theosophists had toward him,

so he publically walked away from his role as the vehicle for the World Teacher, and

dissolved the Order of the Star of the East that was designed to facilitate the coming of

the World Teacher (Fry 1999: 287). Historian Joseph Ross told me in an interview that

Krishnamurti didn’t walk away from Theosophy, but from the Theosophical Society

which had become fossilized, or “crystallized” to use my informant’s exact wording

(interview with J. Ross January 9, 2015). While Krishnamurti’s renouncement of his

exalted status had shaken the TS, it still continues on to this day, though it “is no longer a

progressive messianic movement” (Ross 2012: xxvi). The Krotona Institute still remains

a popular place to visit for its lotus pond and gardens, along with its impressive bookstore

and library, the latter of which is arguably “one of the largest occult libraries in the

world” (Fry 1999: 287).

Krishnamurti continued to live in the Ojai Valley at his house called Arya Vihara

at the east end of the Valley (Fry 1999: 287). The core of his teaching can be summed up

by a statement in a lecture he gave in 1929, that “Truth is a pathless land,” that the seeker

cannot find Truth by following a teacher, nor by a prescribed creed or method, but that

the seeker “has to find it through the mirror of relationship, through the understanding of

15
http://ojaihistory.com/star-camp-congress-1928/ (accessed June 8, 2015)
16
http://ojaihistory.com/star-camp-congress-1928/ (accessed June 8, 2015)
46
the contents of his own mind, through observation and not through intellectual analysis or

introspective dissection.”17 Despite having a quiet life in the Ojai Valley, it has been

suggested that he nonetheless had an indirect influence on Ojai’s intellectual and social

milieu; people from all over the world came to listen to his annual talks held at the Oak

Grove, including some well-known individuals, such as Aldous Huxley, Dr. David

Bohm, Jackson Pollack, Christopher Isherwood, Ann Morrow Lindbergh, along with

Hollywood stars such as Charlie Chaplin, Elsa Lanchester, Greta Garbo, and Charles

Laughton.18 Whereas esotericism is often treated as a marginal subculture in the US,

numerous well-known authors and artists have been influenced by it, and Ojai’s history

contains many examples of this pattern.

In 1969 Krishnamurti and some of his trustees founded the Krishnamurti

Foundation of America, part of a group of Krishnamurti foundations throughout the

world, all of which have been charged by him with a mission “of preserving, protecting,

and disseminating Krishnamurti’s teachings. He asked that this new foundation and the

existing foundations do nothing to interpret or explain the teachings.”19 In 1975, he

established the Oak Grove School, which is based on the ancient Indian educational

concept of gurukul, where “students came to the home of a teacher to learn and

participate in all activities of living;” so that at Oak Grove School students and parents

17
http://www.kfa.org/coreofteachings.php (accessed June 8, 2015).
18
http://ojaihistory.com/krishnamurti-and-the-ojai-valley/ (accessed June 8, 2015)
19
http://ojaihistory.com/krishnamurti-and-the-ojai-valley/ (accessed June 8, 2015)
47
work collaboratively to create a nurturing environment for the cultivation of both mind

and heart.20 Krishnamurti died at the age of 90 in Ojai on February 17, 1986.21

Another offshoot of Theosophy which has its origins with Krotona and maintains

a presence in the Ojai Valley, can be termed the Alice Bailey movement (Melton 2009:

696) and the group being Meditation Mount. Alice A. Bailey, a member of the

Theosophical Society, made her initial contact with the Tibetan Master, Djwhal Kuhl on

a November day in 1919 (Moore 1990: 1).22 This particular Master commissioned her to

write down and publish the books he would dictate to her. Initially hesitant, Bailey

accepted and wrote Initiation, Human and Solar, which would become the first of 19

books to be composed under the Tibetan Master’s guidance (Moore 1990: 1). A year

later, Alice Bailey and her husband Foster were dismissed from their positions within the

Esoteric Section due to a conflict of interests, which left them available to continue their

dedicated work with the Tibetan Master (Melton 2009: 696-697). Alice Bailey’s

teachings share elements with the broader Theosophical movement (e.g. a hierarchy of

Masters, the Seven Rays, and the evolution of humanity toward higher levels of being)

but also developed an eschatological orientation, that a new age would be ushered in by

the “reappearance of the Christ [which] will be accomplished by the power of the divine

hierarchy descending into this world and by service based on the love of humanity….To

20
http://ojaihistory.com/krishnamurti-and-the-ojai-valley/ (accessed June 8, 2015)
21
http://ojaihistory.com/krishnamurti-and-the-ojai-valley/ (accessed June 8, 2015)
22
A common element found in the broader Theosophical movement, including the Alice
Bailey branch, Western esotericism, and the New Age movement is the belief that “the
greatest help to human evolvement are the masters. These are spiritual giants, men and
women who have progressed far beyond the human race, who no longer need to
incarnate, but who do so in order to aid the struggling race. They form an intermediate
hierarchy between man and” the Divine (Melton 2009: 693).
48
encourage the advent of the Christ, meditation groups were set up to help channel the

energy from the hierarchy. Each group or person is seen as a point of light radiating the

power of the world” (Melton 2009: 697).

Toward the end of Mrs. Bailey’s life, the Tibetan Master suggested forming a

global group of meditators dedicated to promoting and fulfilling the Laws and Principles

of the New Age, these being: the Law of Right Human Relations, the Principle of

Goodwill, the Law of Group Endeavor, the Principle of Unanimity, the Law of Spiritual

Approach, and the Principle of Divinity (Moore 1990: 1). Mrs. Bailey died on December

15, 1949, before this work could commence; seven years later the father of

psychosynthesis Dr. Roberto Assagioli, took up the challenge of making this global

meditation group a reality (Moore 1990: 2). Meditation Groups, Inc. is an umbrella

organization for three separate meditation groups, in which Florance Garrigue served as

President and Treasurer of the overall organization (Moore 1990: 5): 1) The Group for

Creative Meditation focusing on “preparing the Way and the Climate for the ‘Coming

One,’ [i.e. the Christ] for the externalizing of the Hierarchy, and for the establishment of

the Kingdom of God;” 2) the Meditation Group of the New Age with the goals of “first,

to impulse and energize the minds and hearts of those who were working for the

betterment of human relations and an improved quality of life; and second, to express the

deeper esoteric truths and disciplines in ordinary, everyday language;” and 3) the

Specialized Group, working under the guidance of the Tibetan Master would gather “for

the purpose of working together to form a nucleus of spiritual power and energy in order

to lay the foundation for the group work to be done in the world in the coming years”

(Moore 1990: 3-4). Originally Meditation Groups, Inc. distributed booklets on

49
meditation, but production stopped in the mid 1990’s, and Meditation Mount has since

become an educational center offering spiritual programs.23

Initial meetings of this endeavor occurred in continental Europe and Britain, and

in May of 1968 the headquarters of what would become Meditation Groups, Inc.

relocated to Ojai under Florence Garrigue’s direction (Moore 1990: 3, 6). The first Ojai

headquarters was in a redwood house on Elmer Friend’s orange grove; that same year

they purchased the current hilltop property at the east end of the upper valley (Moore

1990: 6). In 1970, Garrigue, Francis Moore, and Georgia Cooper traveled to Florence,

Italy to meet with Dr. Assagioli to “plan the next cycle of the work” (i.e. the contents of

the booklets for the meditation course work), and also to Munich, Germany to discuss the

future of their work in Germany and the US (Moore 1990: 7-8). These discussions in

Europe initiated the next stage of Meditation Mount’s development into a physical center,

with the complex completed by April 11, 1971, in time for both its formal dedication and

for the Third Annual Transpersonal Conference (Moore 1990: 9)24 From its beginning,

Meditation Mount has offered public participation in its monthly full moon meditations,

which since its move to the Mount have taken place within the Great Hall, and daily

meditations toward energizing the work in the Meditation Room (Moore 1990: 9).

Worrying that their work would become a mere social group, Garrigue always stressed

the “Ashramic nature” of their meditation work and the lives the participants led, and saw

23
https://meditationmount.org/history/ (accessed October 2, 2015)
24
“ A previous, informal dedication of the site to the work of the Tibetan, Djwhal Khul,
had take place early one morning when Florence, Francis, Robert and Eleanor Moore,
Georgia Cooper, and Grace Petitcleric had stood within the ‘skeleton’ pf the Great Hall
and Grace had led a meditative dedication” (Moore 1990: 9).
50
“the future thrust of the work as the growth of understanding and responsibility in

strengthening this Ashramic connection” (Moore 1990: 10).

The members of Meditation Mount had friendly, even reciprocal relations with

their spiritual neighbors; speakers from both the Mount and Krotona would deliver talks

at each other’s centers (Moore 1990: 23). The Mount soon became a beloved beauty spot

in the local community, with both the “Ojai Chamber of Commerce and the Theosophical

Society regularly [advising] visitors to visit Meditation Mount;” in addition, it gained an

international reputation with visitors who were advised to not only experience its natural

beauty but to explore their meditation work as well (Moore 1990: 11-12). One of the

columnists for the Ojai Valley News, Kay Michael, later became a staff member at the

Mount and worked on its publicity by “explaining the thrust of the work, the nature of the

Three Annual Spring celebrations of Easter, Wesak, and the Festival of Humanity… as

well as placing announcements of the monthly World Service meditation meetings for the

public” (Moore 1990: 12).

Over the course of its existence, Meditation Mount has attracted not only spiritual

seekers, but also has been visited by many prominent individuals within the milieu of

alternative spirituality, “some briefly, some staying overnight, and others making longer

stays” (Moore 1990: 14). These teachers include not only Dr. Assagioli, but also: David

Spangler, formerly of the Findhorn community in Scotland and currently of The Lorian

Association in Santa Barbara; Peter Caddy, also from Findhorn; Mary Bailey of the

Arcane School and Lucis Trust; Frank Hilton and Jan van der Linden of the School for

Esoteric Studies; New Zealand Theosophist Geoffrey Hodson; Manly P. Hall of the

Philosophical Research Society, who visited the Mount on several occasions; and H.

51
Torkom Saraydarian of the Aquarian Educational Foundation in Agora, CA and Sedona,

AZ (Moore 1990: 15-16).

I believe it is necessary to briefly mention an additional significant alternative

spiritual group which helped define Ojai’s cultic milieu: Meher Mount. Founded in the

1940’s as a result of Avatar Meher Baba’s request that a retreat center be established, the

site chosen by devotees was on top of Sulphur Mount in the upper valley (Fry 1999: 289).

Its website advertises it as “a 172-acre universal spiritual center dedicated to Avatar

Meher Baba. Visitors come to Meher Mount for pilgrimage, for celebrating Divine Love

and Oneness, for loving God through nature, and for service.”25 On August 2, 1956,

Meher Baba visited the mount dedicated to him, saying “I love Meher Mount very much

and feel happy here.”26 The presence of a site dedicated to Meher Baba along with

Krishnamurti’s residence could be seen as forerunners to the wave of interest in eastern

gurus that would come to pass in the following decades.

The next historical stage of the cultic milieu in Ojai was initiated in the 1960’s,

perhaps as a localized expression of the explosion of interest in alternative spirituality

that began with the counterculture of the 1960’s, and has since become more mainstream.

“Sue Hart” of Meditation Mount informed me that during this decade “there were lots of

alternative spiritual teachers here coming and going, pretty non-stop for that period of

time,” and many gurus from India went through Ojai then (interview with S. Hart January

13, 2015). Historian Joseph Ross described that there was something going on in the

Ojai Valley during the 1960’s, “like an energy-field that was attracting multiple young

25
http://www.mehermount.org/a-gateway-to-the-divine/ (accessed October 12, 2015).
26
http://www.mehermount.org/meher-babas-1956-visit-to-meher-mount/ (accessed
October 12, 2015).
52
from all over the world, and they all seemed to gather here in the Ojai Valley for some

reason” (interview with J. Ross January 9, 2015). He went on to describe how he was

part of this mass migration to Ojai which eventually dissipated after the 1960’s:

so we had a health food store downtown, we had a book store, we rented a house, and we
had an ashram where young persons could come in who had no place to stay you could
stay there – you had to be vegetarian, we requested – and no smoking, no drinking. Uh,
and that lasted for…gosh, I guess ten years. Um, and then of course everything changes
as again as you come in if you’re 20 years old, I mean you get enthused with all these
metaphysical, New Age… And then you meet your partner, your mate or partner,
whatever, and then off you go to get married to have children, ta da da da, and then pretty
soon everything mellows out again – and so today most of all of the ones that came here
in those days have all gone, they’re all living their lives somewhere else; they’re just not
in the Valley. There’s only three of us left, out of that same whole group that came, um
that just stayed here (interview with J. Ross January 9, 2015).

While the Woodstock crowd and spiritual seekers came to Ojai at this time, a

development was occurring within the Old Guard of alternative spirituality which

eventually became part of Ojai’s more mainstream community. This was the Taromina

community, a dream of Ruth Wilson that was designed to be a retirement community

with a health center for all those people, not just the wealthy but workers as well, who

have devoted their lives to working for the cause of Theosophy (interview with J. Ross

January 9, 2015). Originally the plan was to have Taromina near the Krishnamurti

Foundation, but in 1967 the ranch next to the Krotona Institute became available, and so

little houses were built there with the intent that these would be exclusively for retired

Theosophists. Since then this exclusivity was challenged and it became a private

community for anyone to reside in; as Ross said in his Taromina home “the Theosophists

that were here they’re almost gone now, there’s very few of Theosophists left from those

early days; most of everybody in here is from outside” (interview with J. Ross January 9,

2015).

53
 There are other examples of how during this period alternative spiritual groups

made impacts both direct and indirect on the mainstream culture of the Ojai Valley.

James Voirol told me that Frank Kilburn was appointed editor of the town’s newspaper,

owned by Annie Besant, in addition to being the founding rector of the Liberal Catholic

parish there (interview with author July 9, 2014). Ross has recorded in his own research

the ways in which the Krotona Institute and its unofficial and implicit network of like-

minded groups in the Valley have made contributions. For example, a resident at

Krotona named Catherine Mayes built the adobe houses on Signal Street, as well as the

building that would eventually become the Monica Ros School. In addition, the Meiners

Oaks community was originally designed in the late 1920’s to be a colony for

Theosophists (interview with author January 9, 2015). Fry offers an alternative account

where Meiners Oaks was originally designed as a recreational resort before becoming

incorporated as a residential area in the 50’s (Fry 1999: 230-232). However, she does say

that there “was an active Meiners Oaks Theosophical organization then which was

considered just as much a part of the community as the garden club and the traditional

church groups” (Fry 1999: 236).

At this point, I feel it is important to point out an interesting episode which has

not only inspired folk narratives both locally and in underground culture, but also speaks

of the bohemian quality of the Ojai Valley which helps foster the milieu of alternative

spirituality there: a time when for at most three weeks John Lennon and Yoko Ono

resided in Ojai. In 1972, John and Yoko travelled to Southern California from New

York in a station wagon for a number of reasons, primarily because they were looking for

Yoko’s 8-year old daughter Kyoko, whose custody was being fought with Yoko’s ex-

54
husband Tony Cox. Their team of private investigators reported that Tony was hiding

with Kyoko in Granada Hills, outside of Los Angeles (Lewis 2015: 126-127). John and

Yoko’s lawyer found them a house to rent in Ojai to serve as a base camp for their search

for Kyoko, and as a private setting offering sanctuary from the FBI after John and Yoko’s

anti-Nixon campaign (Lewis 2015: 127). After a few weeks in Ojai they received word

that Tony was hiding in Sausalito, so John and Yoko left in a hurry leaving the house

they stayed in a mess (Lewis 2015: 130).

John and Yoko’s brief stay in Ojai, where they’d go into town for lunch and John

would sing at a nearby bar in Ventura, sparked a number of legends, such as that they

visited Krishnamurti, despite the fact that at the time the latter was away in Europe (nor is

there evidence that they met anywhere else) (Lewis 2015: 129). Another related legend

takes place several years earlier, in 1966 or 1967, that one evening after visiting

Krishnamurti while John was “seeking enlightenment (allegedly with the help of LSD) he

met a pretty young girl as the sun set over the Ojai Valley inspiring the lyrics to Lucy in

the Sky with Diamonds.”2728 Despite the lack of evidence, these legends persist perhaps

because the notion that these two giants in the counterculture pantheon may have met in

such a special or sacred place as Ojai is a meaningful narrative to some.29

27
http://strahbarysfields.com/tag/ojai/ (accessed October 14, 2015).
28
During the research stage of my thesis I found a more detailed version of this legend on
an Ojai community website, although since then that resource has disappeared, because
the website was hacked.
29
It can be argued, though, that Krishnamurti and Lennon occupied the same space at
different times, in the sense that several years previous to this episode the former would
spend several evenings at the house John and Yoko stayed at when the previous owners
had the house (Lewis 2015: 129).
55
 In 1975, another significant mountaintop retreat center was established in the

form of the Ojai Foundation, whose land has an interesting history. In 1927, Annie

Besant purchased 450 acres of upper valley land in order “to provide for an eclectic

community devoted to artistic, agricultural, and educational projects that would

encourage a rich cross-cultural environment in a spiritual climate.”30 Lack of water on

the property changed those plans and now it is home to both the Happy Valley School

and the Ojai Foundation, the latter using 40 acres of it (Fry 1999: 289). In 1979,

anthropologist Joan Halifax became its director; she had an extensive background of

personal study with various Mahayana Buddhist teachers and Native American elders,

and her “wide-ranging ties with indigenous peoples and her Western academic

connections helped to draw an extraordinary faculty to the rustic facility that came to be

known informally as the “‘Wizard's Camp.’”31

The following excerpt from the Ojai Foundation’s website shows how it has

impacted the broader cultic milieu:

The faculty over these years included: Joseph Campbell, R.D. Lang, Jean Houston,
Rupert Sheldrake, Jill Purce, Ralph Abraham, Terence McKenna, Ralph Metzner, Francis
Huxley, Andrew Weil, Heymeyohsts Storm, Jose Arguelles, Pir Vilayat Khan, Joanna
Macy, and many Native American, Tibetan, Zen and Judeo-Christian teachers.

The many "firsts" of the Wizard's Camp included: seminal Men's Gatherings with poet
Robert Bly (author of Iron John); Women's Gatherings and conferences whose faculty
included Mary Catherine Bateson, Naomi Newman, Deena Metzger, Tsultrim Allione,
Vicki Noble, Riane Eisler, Terry Tempest Williams and Laura Simms. Conferences on
cutting-edge topics such as chaos theory, hospice work, plant shamanism, ethnobotany,
psycho-immunology, dream research and mind-body studies made for a rich stew. The
Foundation was also one of the first institutions in North America to explore an ongoing
dialogue between Tibetan and Native American spirituality (an exploration undertaken at
the request of elders from both lineages). Several of the first American retreats for vets,

30
http://www.ojaifoundation.org/about-us/our-history (accessed October 12, 2015).
31
http://www.ojaifoundation.org/about-us/our-history (accessed October 12, 2015).
56
for children, for artists and for environmental leaders, led by noted peace activist, poet,
and Vietnamese Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh were held at The Ojai Foundation.32

The Ojai Foundation’s experimentation with methods of spiritual practice, holistic

education, and communal living has influenced the mainstream culture as well. A

particular practice which defines the Ojai Foundation is what they call Council, a means

of communication adopted by indigenous peoples whereby “each person learns to offer

their personal story from their heart, not their head, and to listen with full attention. In

Council, there are no fixed leaders, but rather facilitators; the group's emerging spirit and

the process itself are the primary guides and everyone in the circle shares responsibility

and leadership for what evolves.” In the past couple of decades increased demand for

these Council-based programs have seen them expand beyond the Ojai Foundation’s

retreat-space and now are taught and practiced “in Southern California schools, in social

service agencies, businesses and community based organizations, locally and around the

world.”

In this chapter I have given a detailed history of the cultic milieu in Southern

California and on the development of the Ojai Valley and how it became a hotspot of

alternative spirituality. I have described how as a result of the reformism and utopianism

that shaped California in the late 19th and early 20th centuries the Golden State was fertile

ground for people to experiment with new forms of spirituality and to form communities

of like-minded seekers, and that it became home to spiritual giants such as Jiddu

Krishnamurti and Manly P. Hall. In addition, the history of Ojai was depicted, as well as

the waves of alternative spirituality it has experience, from the indigenous traditions and

32
http://www.ojaifoundation.org/about-us/our-history (accessed October 13, 2015).
57
early health culture, through the establishment of a theosophical hub, the explosion of the

counterculture in the late sixties, to the contemporary period. In the following chapter, a

deeper exploration of alternative spirituality’s relationship with the Ojai Valley will be

presented. Specifically, I will examine my findings about Ojai’s sense of place, and

compare it with past research on the matter; look at how Theosophy serves as an axial

hub in Ojai’s diverse corner of the cultic milieu; examine its dense networks of non-

exclusive memberships; and review how Ojai’s culture oriented toward the arts, health,

and activism has contributed to make Ojai fertile ground for alternative spirituality.

58
 Chapter 4:

The Particular Cultic Milieu of the Ojai Valley

In the deep midwinter, on Christmas Eve, we drove after sunset through the

darkness of the Ojai Valley’s eastern portion where there is much agriculture and

woodland, our destination was the summit of Meditation Mount. The Ojai branch of the

Center for Spiritual Living was to perform its sixth annual Christmaka Celebration, in

the hall room where we meditated in before. This was an interfaith service, and after a

note of welcome followed by a candle lighting ceremony, we heard representatives from

seven different religions talk about the beauty of their respective traditions, with music

from each faith performed after each (including “Shalom My Friend” and “Lord of the

Dance”). On the northeast corner of the room was an altar set for the ceremony, with

candles lined upon it. Above it were the golden symbols of the faiths present: Native

American, Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity, Sufism, and New Thought. We

concluded with an African chant: Ise O lu wa Kole Baje-O; which followed by the hymn

Silent Night, with a benediction concluding the service.

On a phenomenological level, the fact that it was Christmas Eve, and to get to the

event we drove through pitch black woodland was magical enough, especially when I’m

used to seeing streetlights at night. What I gained from the event was a sense of

community and peace, where members of various spiritual traditions came together at an

axial time of the year, to share and celebrate what each tradition has to offer; the event

was an example of the non-exclusive membership which occurs in Ojai, a refreshing

relief from the religious divisions and conflict which plagues our modern world.

(From the Author’s field notes and journal entry, December 24, 2014)

59
 We have seen how the period of reformism and utopian ideals made a quickly

developing California fertile ground for a cultic milieu, and how the Ojai Valley in

particular experienced waves of alternative spirituality. In this chapter, I will argue that

as a result of these historical developments, the Ojai Valley came to possess a specific

cultic milieu which has led to its identification as one of the premiere New Age centers in

California, the United States, and indeed the world.

News about Ojai From Elsewhere

While Ojai is well known in Southern California as the region’s Shangri-La, it has

also received recognition in newspapers across the US and Canada. Toronto journalist

Jim Kenzie has written about Ojai, un-charitably though when talking about the Valley’s

community of alternative spirituality; he refers to the joke about California as the granola

state, full of nuts and flakes.33 A headline for an article in The Washington Post

describes Ojai as the anti-L.A.,34 while a travelogue in Boston’s The Jewish Advocate

gives a favorable review of Ojai, though focusing more on recreation and resorts than the

alternative spirituality.35 What many of the news articles about Ojai that I found have in

common are their coverage of the following: Frank Capra’s use of Ojai as a setting for

The Lost Horizon, the Pink Moment (i.e. when the Valley is bathed in the pink light of

sunset), Bart’s Books, Krishnamurti, Meditation Mount, the Mission-style architecture,

33
http://search.proquest.com.libproxy.csun.edu/docview/1515289377?pq-
origsite=summon (accessed November 30, 2015).
34
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2005/10/14/AR2005101400834.html (accessed October 30, 2015).
35
http://search.proquest.com.libproxy.csun.edu/docview/757375577?pq-
origsite=summon (accessed October 30, 2015).
60
the hiking trails, the “sleepy town” level of activity, and the “New Age” vibe about the

place.

Ojai’s Sense of Place: Past Research

In the early 1990’s Kris Jones, a graduate student of geography at California State

University Fullerton, conducted research for his thesis which attempted to discern what

the Ojai Valley’s sense of place was, critical issues it faced, and concerns about its future;

based on interviews, surveys, and his field observations. In his thesis, he notes that

Ojai’s unique cultural distinctiveness is based in part on the diversity of its inhabitants

and the social groups they form, which combined with its ethos of small town

preservation has united them against their mutual adversary of growth and urbanization.

In fact, Ojai has the strictest small growth policies in Southern California and has the

smallest population growth in Ventura County (Jones 1998: 81). Jones also points out

that “Ojai’s strong local identity and spatial isolation from the surrounding region make it

a microcosm of community place-making dynamics in the face of change” (Jones 1998:

81).

Jones used a phenomenological-humanistic approach for the survey/questionnaire

in order to better enable his informants to describe the Ojai community in their own

words, without any theoretical filters; he then correlates this data set with government

statistical data (Jones 1998: 85). He places the results of his surveys under three

categories: topophilia, topophobia, and genius loci. For topophilia, or love of place,

Jones notes the informants’ strong identification of Ojai as home for reasons that include

small community, large number of family and friends in the area, climate, and so on; but

61
what interests me the most is what his informants have to say about Ojai’s spiritual

dimension:

A sizable majority (83%) of the respondents feel that Ojai is a spiritual place.
However, they have differing interpretations as to the meaning of spiritual. These
include: the power of Ojai as a New Age energy center; spirituality of nature and
wilderness; the sunset; and the presence of Jesus and God everywhere. This
overwhelmingly affirmative response to a question on spirituality marks its
importance as a factor in the respondents’ topophilia and Ojai’s genius loci (Jones
1998: 86)

Jones continues by describing how Ojai’s religious and spiritual diversity and

concentration has contributed to the Valley’s “culture attitude that views nature,

spirituality, and preservation as being more important than development and materialism”

(Jones 1998: 87). The Ojai Valley’s physical setting and scenery also play strong roles,

including its imposing mountains and valleys, plentiful citrus and oaks, Spanish

architecture, and association with the film The Lost Horizon. A communal portrait of the

imagination depicts the Valley as a beautiful and tranquil Shangri-La, or slice of heaven

on earth (Jones 1998: 87). When asked the question, “Is there anything about Ojai which

makes it a special (unique) place to live?” Jones’s respondents gave mostly positive

responses, the most common being “descriptions of the mountains, valley, and

community; isolation from, yet proximity to, a city; mix of people; variety of activities;

rough terrain which inhibits future development; social tolerance; and Ojai’s artistic and

spiritual atmosphere” (Jones 1998: 87).

In order to get an accurate portrayal of Ojai’s sense of place, Jones also examined

the topophobia, scorn of place, of its residents; the survey’s results in this area were

mostly concerned with “the growth issues of tourism, building, traffic, and the perceived

amount of change taking place” (Jones 1998: 88). Some respondents saw economic

62
growth in Ojai as potentially positive if it is tightly controlled and is in a long-tern

context, and believe tourism to be a mixed blessing; while a significant source of income

in Ojai, tourism makes boutique merchandise overpriced for residents and brings an air of

artificialness to the place (Jones 1998: 89-90). Locals fear the looming “Carmelization”

process, a local term for what befell Carmel, California, a small town “with strong

growth policies, where most of the downtown consists of expensive boutiques catering to

tourists” (Jones 1998: 90).

In order to determine Ojai’s genius loci Jones used the results “with the highest

incidence of agreement” from both the topics of topophilia and topophobia (Jones 1998:

92). The highest common agreements were: “Ojai is a spiritual place (83%); the physical

setting of Ojai is important (93%); Ojai is undergoing many changes (65%); and Ojai is

not changing rapidly compared to the rest of southern California (91%).” Residents

expected continued growth for the next 20 years, but hoped that little would change; and

many were “fearful of continued change; development; environmental degradation;

increase in trinket type tourism; and being overrun by problems from the outside” (Jones

1998: 92).

Ojai’s Sense of Place: Current Research

My own research has shown that in examining Ojai’s sense of place, the physical

setting of the Valley plays a significant role in Ojai’s status as both a concentration of

alternative spirituality and in the folkloric belief of the Valley as a nexus of metaphysical

or spiritual energies. The surrounding mountain ranges, for instance, are tall and

imposing, yet they surround the Valley in a sort of visible bowl formation, which gives

the residents, both past and present, the impression that they are titanic sentinels

63
protecting the Ojai Valley and its inhabitants, much as they do in Chumash narrative.

Ojai’s spirituality is connected with its landscape, as evidenced by the legend mentioned

in an earlier chapter of Annie Besant and Krishnamurti sailing up the coast of Ventura

when they perceived an angelic presence over the Ojai Valley, specifically over the Topa

Topa mountain range, which peaked their interest in the Valley (interview with J. Voirol

July 9, 2014). When I first heard this account from one of my informants, he also told

me about the belief that ley-lines run through the Valley, and that some of them run

through the major mountaintop centers of alternative spirituality such as Meditation

Mount and the Krotona Institute (interview with J. Voirol July 9, 2014). Many prominent

and well-established centers of alternative spirituality in the Ojai Valley (e.g. the Krotona

Institute of Theosophy, Meditation Mount, Meher Mount, the Ojai Foundation) are either

located on some of these mountaintops, or at a high elevation; because of this they have

been compared to other mountaintop temples and monasteries elsewhere, such as those of

the Tibetan Buddhists in the Himalayas and those of the Greek Orthodox on Mount Athos

(interview with J. Ross January 10, 2015). When I asked historian Joseph Ross about

these mountaintop centers he gave an explanation for why they are often to be found at

these relatively high altitudes:

that’s because of the spiritual energies that’s up there, and goes through these
mountains and the higher they are the more spiritual they consider it to be, so
that’s why they built these… temples and shrines and, if you go onto pilgrimage
in Tibet and you go to up, you go onto these higher mountains to get to the higher
spiritualties (interview with J. Ross January 10, 2015).

In an earlier interview, he also told me a related interpretation that at these high places

both the air and spiritual energies are “lighter” and more refined, whereas at the ground

64
level of the Valley the energies are more gross due to the “density” and concentration of

negative thoughts and emotions (interview with J. Ross August 22, 2014).

Ross also mentioned a local legend or rumor of some Theosophical origin about

the fault line connected to the San Andres fault that runs beneath the riverbed, where

according to what he describes as the gossip, “if there’s this big, big earthquake that

could come someday, the Valley, the Ojai Valley would become more like an island. Or

it would be, it would break off from on the other side,… [at] the Ventura [River], that

will all become water, and the water would be coming up this way, this would become

beach front property. But this would be more like an island” (interview with J. Ross

January 10, 2015). He told me that according to this local legend, this new island would

be the seedbed of a colony for the “new race” (i.e. the sixth sub-root race, the evolution

and appearance of which is anticipated within much of the Theosophical movement).

Ross thinks this particular legend/rumor could be a reference to Annie Besant’s prophecy

that a Baja California cut off from the mainland would become the home continent for

this new sub-root race of humanity (interview with J. Ross January 10, 2015).

Another informant, Anne Kerry Ford, described the essence of the Ojai Valley to

me as having a bucolic veneer:

it’s peaceful, complacent, there’s not a lot going on here at first sight, but then
when someone actually engages or lives here, and engages with the energy that’s
here, it starts to become extremely challenging… on a spiritual level. I think that
spirituality by its very nature is challenging, it challenges who you are to expand
or open up, uh, it’s an awakening process (interview with A.K. Ford, September
28, 2014)

When I interviewed her in her home office, we discussed her use of feng shui and that a

Daoist master told her that the mountain range was a “dragon,” and the small office we

65
were sitting in was built over its eye (interview to A.K. Ford September 28, 2014).

Elaborating on what she learned about the spiritual properties of her home, she said:

I think that the valley has inherent spiritual energy, coming back from the
indigenous people who lived here. And the prayers and practices that went on
here, I have three pounding stones on my property that are huge they’re as big as
this table [knocks on table], uh where they ground the corn, and those were not
moved here clearly, when you see them you know that they’ve been her forever,
and one of my friends who has Native American heritage said, “You have to
understand,” he was saying this to me, “every time they grind the corn they put a
prayer in the grind, everything they did had a prayer that went along with it.” So
these rocks that are even on my property are filled with thousands of prayers.
How could you erase that energy, it’s going to vibrate forever, you know, it’s in
the rock …, where did that come from, why did it start like that I don’t know …
but it’s powerful, and if you’re sensitive to it you can feel it, you can feel it and
access it (interview with A.K. Ford September 28, 2014).

Theosophy as the Hub of Alternative Spirituality in Ojai

Despite the vast diversity of forms of alternative spiritualty that are present in the

Ojai Valley, it would appear that the broader Theosophical movement, and the Krotona

Institute of Theosophy in particular, serves as a visible focal point around which Ojai’s

milieu of alternative spirituality revolves. This was suggested by a handful of my

informants, one of whom was Marcia Doty, a Buddhist and self-professed “Theosophical

fundamentalist” who has resided in the Valley for at least 20 years (interview with

Marcia Doty October 18, 2014). This seems highly plausible after looking at the

historical chain of events: the Krotona Institute of Theosophy is the first known Western

form of alternative spirituality to settle in the Ojai Valley in 1924, with organizations

with shared memberships (i.e. the Liberal Catholic Church and the International Order of

Co-Masonry, Le Droit Humain) moving in shortly thereafter; Krishnamurti branched off

from the Theosophical Society and established a foundation for his teachings; former

member of the Theosophical Society Alice Bailey received communication from the

66
Tibetan Master in 1919 on the premise of Krotona and initiated what can be called the

Alice Bailey Movement, which practices her interpretation of Theosophy as dictated by

the Tibetan Master (Ellwood 1993: 145); then in 1971 Florence Garrigue established

Meditation Mount as a center of Alice Bailey’s teachings; and in 1975 the Ojai

Foundation was established on a site originally purchased in 1927 by Annie Besant “ to

provide for an eclectic community devoted to artistic, agricultural, and educational

projects that would encourage a rich cross-cultural environment in a spiritual climate.”

In addition, the Theosophy Society’s motto and affirmation that “There is no Religion

Higher Than Truth” has quite probably helped foster an inclusive and welcoming

environment for practitioners of various traditions, both orthodox and alternative, to pray,

meditate, and work as they see fit.

The Diversity of Alternative Spirituality Within the Ojai Valley

Part of the Ojai Valley’s cultural diversity lies in its religious and spiritual

diversity. There are mainstream religions which have a presence in the Valley, as well as

religious groups, such as the Latter-Day Saints and Christian Scientists, that originally

began as new religious movements that have since become part of the denominational

society.36 And of course there is a plethora of alternative spiritual groups and

practitioners to be found in Ojai; historian Joseph Ross told me that virtually every

religious tradition is present within the Ojai Valley:

you’ve got: Buddhism, Hinduism, Muslim, Jewish, Catholic, Protestant… they’re

all here, but they’re in small groups, maybe a hundred [people], maybe smaller,
maybe larger. But they’re all here in the Valley somewhere, and they’re usually

36
The website for the City of Ojai has a directory page for many of the houses of worship
within the Valley, both mainstream and a handful of alternative worship spaces,
http://www.ci.ojai.ca.us/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC={7A5BB6E7-6933-4F63-
B87C-22866469AAD8} (accessed July 4, 2015)
67
 in homes, or they have little rentals where they meet once a month… you’ve got
[Co]-Masonry, you’ve got masculine Masonry, you’ve got all these different
Rosicrucians, there’s hundreds of them, but they do meet (interview with J. Ross
January 10, 2015).

In short, not all of the available alternative spiritual groups can be found listed in the

local Yellow Pages, or the Events section of the Ojai Valley News. Apparently some

groups are more often known by word of mouth rather than public advertisement; for

example, it was only through this same informant that I learned that recently a

Scientology group has moved into the Valley. A quick internet search revealed a couple

of local news articles describing that Social Betterment Properties International, a non-

profit affiliated with and using the methods of The Church of Scientology, purchased a

32-acre property on Sulphur Mountain, which belonged to actor Larry Hagman. 37 The

Church of Scientology transformed the former actor’s home into an alcohol and drug

rehabilitation facility, thus establishing the latest mountaintop center to become a part of

the Valley, while further contributing to Ojai’s status as both a place of alternative

spirituality and of healing.38

In an e-mail correspondence with Ojai resident and Shinto priest Hiroji Sekiguchi,

he gave me his categorization of the kinds of spiritual communities to be found within the

Ojai Valley: Chumash elders, Aztec dancers, European-Americans influenced by

Hinduism, European-Americans influenced by indigenous religious traditions, healers

and “spiritual” people, and artists and musicians who work on “intuition” (e-mail

37
http://www.vcstar.com/business/scientology-linked-nonprofit-buys-larry-hagmans
(accessed July 6, 2015)
38
http://www.vcstar.com/business/real-estate/larry-hagmans-ojai-estate-to-become-a-
scientology-rehab_61239216 (accessed July 6, 2015)
68
correspondence with H. Sekiguchi December 18, 2014). The Ojai Valley has also

become known for its spiritual teachers, those who have become residents, such as

Krishnamurti and Tibetan Buddhist teacher Ösel Tendzin; those who have visited at least

once, such as Meher Baba; and those who visit the Valley on a regular basis, such as

Ecuadoran shaman Don Alverto, West African shaman Malidoma Patrice Some, and

Most Rev. Stephan Hoeller of the Ecclesia Gnostica. It is worth reaffirming here that

“Sue Hart” from Meditation Mount, notes that beginning in the sixties “there were lots of

alternative, um spiritual teachers here coming and going, pretty non-stop for that period

of time … when there were a lot of Indian gurus, especially coming to the United States,

there were lots of them coming through Ojai” (interview with S. Hart January 13, 2015).

One of the gems I found in my archival research was a newspaper supplement

entitled “The Essene of Ojai,” from the August 1979 issue of the Ojai Valley News.

What I find fascinating about this periodical piece is that it showcases and describes the

various forms of alternative spirituality that were then, and in many ways still are

available in the Ojai Valley. While it gives more detail for the “big name” organizations

(i.e. Krotona Institute, Meditation Mount, Krishnamurti, World University, and the

Liberal Catholic Church) it also gives sufficient details on some of smaller groups whose

beliefs and practices have contributed to Ojai’s cultic milieu; including the Tzaddi School

of Metaphysics, the Radix Institute, Church Universal and Triumphant, a branch of the

Sufi Order founded by Hazrat Pir-O-Murshid Inayat Khan, Ojai Holistic Health Center,

groups that have since become part of the denominational society (i.e. Unitarians and the

Baha’i Faith), and others. It also provides a directory of information and a calendar of

weekly meetings for those readers interested in participating in any of these groups. The

69
fact that this supplement was published at this time and is devoid of sensationalism

demonstrates how influential and integral alternative spirituality has been to the essence

of Ojai.39

Non-Exclusive Membership and Dense Networks

Residents of the Ojai Valley and surrounding arears who engage with the local

subculture of alternative spirituality often participate through a standard practice of the

cultic milieu, namely non-exclusive memberships in more than one of the groups, beliefs

and practices available. Referring to the diversity of religious and spiritual traditions

present in Ojai, historian Joseph Ross notes that “when you’re into these groups then

sooner or later one of them will say, ‘Have you heard of such-and-such a group?’ ‘No I

haven’t.’ ‘Oh they meet in Meiners Oaks’ or they meet somewhere [else]” (interview

with J. Ross January 10, 2015). For example, James Voirol, one of my informants from

the Krotona Institute of Theosophy, is also the rector at the local parish of the Liberal

Catholic Church, Province of the United States (LCC), as well as a member of the local

lodge of the International Order of Freemasonry for Men and Women, Le Droit Humain

(interview with J. Voirol July 9, 2014).

In fact, within Ojai there appears to be a sort of overall Theosophical community

of groups which are in a sense connected with each other due to Theosophy’s early

historical presence in Ojai, though they have no official relationship with each other

beyond often sharing members; this is a concrete and localized example of the non-

exclusive membership which often occurs within the cultic milieu in general. This

Theosophical community includes not just Krotona, the LCC, and Le Droit Humain, but

39
Michael, Kay. “The Essence of Ojai,” in Ojai Valley News. August 8, 1979.
70
also includes groups who may trace their “descent” from the Theosophical Society, but

have different, yet related belief systems and practices. These include: the Krishnamurti

Foundation of America, Meditation Mount, World University, and even private schools

founded by prominent members of this localized alternative spiritual sub-culture such as

the Oak Grove School and Besant Hill School. Although it is not always the case that an

individual in this community or in the broader alternative spiritual community, is a

member of all the groups involved; as Rev. Voirol told me, “I have church members who

are not interested in Theosophy at all… Which is actually refreshing and keeps us alive”

(interview with J. Voirol July 9, 2014). Before continuing I believe it is necessary to

reaffirm the non-exclusivity of membership between these groups, and the dense

networks formed by these members, along with their general emphasis of cooperation

over competition between each other; taken together these elements reinforce Ojai’s

identity as a spiritual center, where the different groups can work together in relative

harmony, and where the seeker is free to experiment in the available beliefs and practices

with little to no restriction.

Famous Spiritual Teachers

Ever since Krishnamurti and the Krotona Institute relocated to Ojai in the 1920’s,

Ojai has become a sort of sanctuary for philosophers, gurus, and other spiritual teachers

who have either settled down to take in Ojai’s serenity and work with students, or visited

on a regular basis offering workshops and other sessions to residents and students. One

such famous teacher was Avatar Meher Baba, who in April of 1956 visited Meher Mount,

the Ojai center dedicated to serve as a gateway to the Divine; Meher Baba’s visit having

supposedly left an invisible fountain of spiritual energy that touches all who come to

71
Meher Mount.40 One of my informants, Alison Stillman claims that Paramahansa

Yoganada, founder of the Self-Realization Fellowship, also visited the Ojai Valley with

Meher Baba and meditated underneath one of its oaks (interview with A. Stillman

October 5, 2014).41

In an earlier chapter, I mentioned that during the twenties both Annie Besant and

Krishnamurti visited the Krotona Institute and delivered lectures there, the latter doing so

as well at the Star Camp Congress and later through his own foundation. To this day,

Krotona invites various teachers and authors from around the world to deliverer lectures

and workshops, many of which are open to the public. Often these lectures, seminars,

and workshops are advertised by both the Krotona Institute in brochures and by the Ojai

Valley News. Going through the newspaper clippings archived in the research of library

of the Ojai Valley Museum allowed me to see a sample of the spiritual teachers to have

passed through Krotona, just in the past couple of decades. These include: the Most Rev.

Dr. Stephan A. Hoeller of the Ecclesia Gnostica; philosopher of religion Huston Smith;

Robert Ellwood, PhD. professor emeritus of religion at USC and former vice president of

the Theosophical Society in America; Martin Leiderman, an international speaker who

advocates a worldview of a living cosmos; Polish eco-philosopher Henryk Skolimowski;

Joy Mills, lecturer and resident at Krotona; and Tibetan Buddhist Master Dzogchen

Choga Rinpoche. An examination of the collection of photographs archived at

Meditation Mount also reveals that center’s own pantheon of visiting spiritual teachers ,

including: Roberto Assagioli, developer of psychosynthesis; Manly P. Hall, the

40
http://www.mehermount.org/a-gateway-to-the-divine/ (accessed July 20, 2015)
41
According to the Meher Mount website, Paramahansa Yoganada visited Meher Mount
in November of 1946. http://www.mehermount.org/ojai-valley/ (accessed July 20, 2015)
72
philosopher-occultist mentioned earlier, Peter Caddy, a co-founder of the Findhorn

Foundation community in Scotland; and musician and religious author Torkom

Saraydarian.

In its 40-year history, the Ojai Foundation has also had its share of spiritual

teachers as either a member of the on-site team or a faculty member; one of the

Foundation’s earlier leaders was anthropologist and later Zen Buddhist nun Dr. Joan

Halifax, while some of its faculty have included: author Joseph Campbell, psychiatrist

R.D. Lang, author and philosopher Jean Houston, researcher of parapsychology Rupert

Sheldrake, voice teacher and therapist Jill Purce, mathematician Ralph Abraham, author

and ethnobotanist Terence McKenna, psychologist Ralph Metzner, anthropologist Francis

Huxley, author Andrew Weil, author Heymeyohsts Storm, author and artist Jose

Arguelles, Sufi teacher Pir Vilayat Khan, environmental activist and scholar of Buddhism

Joanna Macy, and many Native American, Tibetan, Zen and Judeo-Christian teachers.42

When I interviewed Anne Kerry Ford she told me that she and her husband were

students of the American Buddhist teacher Ösel Tendzen, who was diagnosed with AIDS

and came to Ojai in order to “die with his high consciousness,” because in Tibetan

Buddhism death is seen as an opportunity for awakening or enlightenment, so “he was

laying down the ground to have the best death possible” (interview with A.K. Ford

September 28, 2014). Many of his students came to be with him in his final two or three

years, which is how Anne and her husband came to settle in Ojai. They recognized that

the energy or feeling of Ojai was different and it felt good compared to that of Los

Angeles where they were before (interview with A.K. Ford September 28, 2014). Anne

42
http://www.ojaifoundation.org/about-us/our-history (accessed July 20, 2015)
73
also told me of a couple of shamans who come from different parts of the world to visit

Ojai on a regulat basis, in order to teach and perform rituals: one is from Ecuador, Don

Alverto, the other comes from West Africa, Malidoma Patrice Somé (interview with A.K.

Ford September 28, 2014).

Community of Artists and Thespians

Setting aside Ojai’s status as a notable concentration of alternative spirituality, the

Valley is also well known for its culture of the arts, entertainment, and recreational

pursuits. In her tome The Ojai Valley: an illustrated history (1999), Patricia L. Fry

observes that the Valley “seems to have more artists per capita than many communities.

Some attribute this to the valley’s aura or energy. Others say it’s the natural beauty here

that inspires artistic endeavors. Whatever the impetus, many artists claim that their sense

of creativity didn’t blossom until coming here” (Fry 1999: 220). One need only turn to

the Artists & Galleries section of the quarterly Ojai Valley Visitor’s Guide to see a

sample of the plethora of arts present in this small idyllic town.

Although Ojai’s early settlers often organized parties and socials it was not until

the days of the Great War and the following interwar years that the interconnection

between the arts and alternative spirituality would develop in Shangri-La. In 1914, Ojai

received its own movie theatre, the Isis Theatre, built by J.J. Burke; appropriately

enough, the title of the first motion picture shown there was the film adaptation of Jack

London’s Valley of the Moon (Fry 1999: 213). While the name “Isis,” from a prominent

Egyptian goddess, certainly fits well in Ojai since it has become a “New Age Vatican,” it

is probable that when first christened it was because “[m]ovie theater owners in the 1910s

thru the ’20s wished to evoke the mystery of the exotic or the pomp and privilege of

74
royalty in both the name and design of their theaters;” such may have been the case for

the Isis Theater.43

Around the same time, a community chorus (initially all-female, becoming mixed

a decade later) was started by the Ojai Valley Women’s Club, which met both at the

Presbyterian Church and at the Krotona Institute; in addition, craftspeople met at the

library, the theater group at City Hall, and the English Folk Dance Society at the

women’s clubhouse (Fry 1999: 217). The local artistic community finally gained a

dedicated space when the Ojai Community Art Center, since renamed the Ojai Center for

the Arts, was opened in November of 1939 (Fry 1999: 218). In 1940, actor Iris Tree and

her colleagues Woodrow and Erica Chambliss, all members of Michael Chekov’s acting

troupe, moved to Ojai and performed professional plays, eventually transforming an old

schoolhouse into the High Valley Theatre (Fry 1999: 218-219). One story about Iris Tree

from the mid-1940’s recounts a “‘twilight procession of man and beast’ down McAndrew

Road… [where] Iris Tree would walk with her two white dogs, Jiddu Krishnamurti, the

philosopher, often led a cow and a calf on an evening stroll and a sprinkling of Thacher

[school] boys on horseback added to… ‘the sunset parade’” (Fry 1999: 220).

Arguably, the honor of being the most iconic artist associated with the Ojai Valley

falls upon Beatrice Wood, the world-renowned ceramist. Born in 1893, she had an

excellent education at schools such as the Julien Academy in Paris and the Finch School

in New York City, and lived a bohemian life as a dancer and artist, and became an

acquaintance of artist Marcel Duchamp and others from the Dada movement.44 In 1923,

43
http://ojaihistory.com/history-of-the-ojai-theatre/ (accessed July 6, 2015)
44
http://ojaihistory.com/beatrice-wood/ (accessed July 6, 2015)
75
she joined the Theosophical Society, her interest in which eventually led her to the Ojai

Valley, where in 1928 she attended and led folk dances at the first Star Camp Congress.45

Around this time she developed an interest in ceramics, apprenticed herself to a ceramist,

and by 1940 her work was on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York

City. In 1948 she settled and set up her new studio in Ojai, where she would live the rest

of her life.46 Nearby was the Happy Valley School, whose board included Besant,

Krishnamurti, and Huxley; Wood would be in association with its foundation till her

end.47 She died at the young age of 105, in her upper valley home a week after her

birthday.48

A more recent iconic artist to have become part of Ojai’s artistic community is

world-renowned cartoonist Sergio Aragonés of MAD Magazine fame. A resident since

1982, he moved to Ojai so that his daughter Christen could attend Oak Grove School; he

said “it took me no time to realize how comfortable, how conducive to thinking, it was. I

loved it almost immediately.”49 He has since contributed much to his new hometown

where he has spoken at local schools, and does artwork for posters, the Ojai Library, and

45
http://ojaihistory.com/beatrice-wood/ (accessed July 6, 2015)
46
http://ojaihistory.com/beatrice-wood/ (accessed July 6, 2015)
47
http://ojaihistory.com/beatrice-wood/ (accessed July 6, 2015)
48
http://ojaihistory.com/beatrice-wood/ (accessed July 6, 2015)
49
http://ojaihistory.com/ojai-people-sergio-aragones/ (accessed October 19, 2015).
76
any group that asks.50 He “often subtly incorporates Ojai in his MAD cartoons: the

Arcade, Starr Market, a kid on the street wearing an Ojai T-shirt. ‘Every chance I get!’”51

Much as spiritual teachers and artists have been drawn to the Ojai Valley’s natural

beauty and small-town charm, so have Hollywood celebrities made a home for

themselves there as well. While Ojai is known for its famous thespian and producer

residents, there isn’t an official “who’s who” advertising the names of local Hollywood

stars;52 which is highly likely to be the point; following in the footsteps of the Krotona

Institute, these actors and producers came to Ojai looking for a tranquil sanctuary in order

to escape from the hectic, urban sprawl of Hollywood and Los Angeles. In a New York

Times Article, Ojai Mayor Carol Smith said, “I’ve never seen paparazzi up here… You

can stroll around town and not be harassed”.53

Festival and Recreational Activities

In addition to its artistic and thespian communities Ojai is also home to a number

of annual festivals and means of recreation. In an earlier chapter, I described the events

that led to the creation of Ojai Day, an annual event in the autumn celebrating everything

unique about the town and Valley. Its events include “music, hayrides, historical trolley

tours and an array of entertainment for all ages” (Fry 1999: 290). I went to the 2014 Ojai

50
http://ojaihistory.com/ojai-people-sergio-aragones/ (accessed October 19, 2015).
51
http://ojaihistory.com/ojai-people-sergio-aragones/ (accessed October 19, 2015).
52
The only list I’ve found of Hollywood and other celebrity residents of Ojai was on the
Wikipedia page for Ojai, which I assume to be at best partially accurate.
53

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/30/travel/escapes/30ojai.html?ex=1354165200&en=c7
0e7ec8d8948ed6&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink&_r=1& (accessed
July 20, 2015)
77
Day, in part in order to conduct an interview with the Chumash elder Julie, at the stand

for the Barbareño-Ventureño band of Chumash, where they had on display fur pelts,

sharp obsidian arrowheads, a basket of ground acorns to serve as an offering later that

day, and various artifacts used for either play or hunting. The section of Ojai Avenue in

front of Libby Park was roped off and filled with two rows of vendors, including artists

and artisans selling their products, and local organizations such as the Ojai Valley Land

Conservancy and Ojai Film Society. I had been told some of the local alternative

spiritual groups would set up their own stands advertising their activities at Ojai Day, and

I did come across some of them, including the Krishnamurti Foundation, the local chapter

of Share International54, and the Bhagavad-Gita-As-It-Is-Fellowship. The local private

schools which have their origins in Ojai’s cultic milieu were also present advertising their

unique educational methods. An impressive element of this festival is the huge mural

mandala painted on the asphalt at the intersection of Ojai Ave. and Signal Street, created

in the early morning hours by “artists of all ages” and washed away at the festival’s

conclusion (author’s field notes: October 18, 2014).

Ojai has become home to several different festivals and leisure activities which

have attracted people to the Ojai valley over the years, thus increasing the probability of

their exposure to the concentrated and explicit presence of alternative spirituality in Ojai.

It should also be noted that nearby Lake Casitas has also become home to annual events

“such as the Renaissance Faire, the Indian Pow Wow and the Ojai Wine Festival” (Fry

1999: 306).

54
Share International is an off-shoot of Theosophy led by author and esotericist
Benjamin Crème, advocating that the Maitreya, the World Teacher, has arrived and living
in London, UK.
78
Activism and Conservation

Earlier in this chapter, I mentioned that the residents of the Ojai Valley are eager

to preserve their unique culture and quality of life from the threatening barbarism of

commercialized, urban development that seems to have consumed the rest of Southern

California. Local residents are not idle in their fear of “Carmelization,” some have put up

an active resistance against this threat and formed different organizations with a united

goal of preserving their Shangri-La. Fry notes in her history of Ojai that the city “has

created commissions dedicated to various crucial aspects of the valley such as recreation,

art and historical. Volunteers are selected from the community to serve on these

commissions” (Fry 1999: 282). One such group is the Historic Preservation

Commission; since its creation the “interest in historic buildings and local history in

general has accelerated” (Fry 1999: 282).

It is not just historic points of interest and the arts that the residents wish to

preserve, the ecological conservation of their beloved Valley is of equal importance to

them. The Ojai Valley Green Coalition consists of residents and friends of Ojai seeking

to turn the Valley into an environmentally sustainable community. On their website, they

state that in “the spirit of ‘think globally, act locally,’ we exist to educate ourselves and

others about ecological issues; to promote sustainable practices to our local businesses

and organizations; to advocate environmental responsibility as a priority to our elected

officials; and to bring green consciousness into our lives and our homes.” 55 In an Ojai

55

http://ojaivalleygreencoalition.com/2008/05/welcome_to_the_ojai_valley_gre.shtml#mor
e (accessed October 19, 2015).
79
Quarterly article Mark Lewis observes that this ecological conservationism has its

indirect, origins in the hippie movement of the 1960’s present in Ojai. He states:

The political coalition that stopped the freeways and stymied the developers and
thwarted the mining companies has many components, but it rests at bottom upon
an alliance between well-to-do retirees and green-minded activists. The latter
might not be hippies per se, but they tend to draw inspiration — and some of their
tactics — from the Sixties counterculture. Over the years, they have applied that
activism to the essentially conservative project of keeping Ojai pretty much the
way it is. And the town’s old-school conservatives, such as ex-Mayor Huckins,
seem reasonably pleased with the results.56

Health Culture

When describing the early days of the Ojai community, I mentioned that the

health culture revolving around the Valley’s springs and Mediterranean climate not only

made Ojai a household name, but was also in part what made the Valley so hospitable to

the incoming milieu of alternative spirituality. That health culture has since expanded to

include a wide variety of options for those seeking alternative means of healing. For

example, in an article in the Ojai Valley Visitors Guide Amber Lennon provides a

sampling of the alternative medicine available in Ojai by interviewing and describing the

work of a medical doctor and homeopath, a holistic healer using craniosacral therapy, a

shaman and ritualist who uses music and sound in his practice, and a person who uses

direct channeling and reiki.57

56
http://ojaihistory.com/summer-bummer-ojai-in-the-turbulent-60s/ (accessed October
19, 2015).
57
Lennon, Amber. “Alternative Healing in the Ojai Valley,” in Ojai Valley Visitors
Guide (Winter 2011)
80
Ojai as the Shangri-La of Southern California

Ojai’s status as Southern California’s own Shangri-La is based on various

interdependent factors, such as the common sentiment of Ojai’s residents that the

Valley’s landscape contributes greatly to its sense of place, that it is somehow a spiritual

place, and that it’s threatened by urban growth and economic development. My own

research shows that the broader Theosophical movement serves as the hub around which

many other forms of alternative spirituality revolve, as well as the lodestone that attracted

so many forms of alternative spirituality to the Ojai Valley. While the presence of hilltop

centers and spiritual teachers significantly contribute to Ojai’s mystical sense of place,

the artistic and thespian community, festivals, and healing culture also help present the

Ojai Valley as a rather idyllic rural retreat from the urbanized and commercial madness

surrounding it. In the next chapter, I will conclude with what the evidence I have

gathered suggests about the Ojai Valley; how both the physical landscape combined with

Ojai’s culture have produced fertile ground for alternative spirituality to take root and

flourish, how the concentration of these beliefs and practices increases the importation of

these ideas elsewhere, and how continued spiritual practice along with naturalistic

phenomena have contributed to the legend of Ojai as a nexus of spiritual energies. In

addition, I will describe what the next steps would be in order to continue this research,

how it will focus on a specific area of the cultic milieu; followed by a brief segment of

concluding thoughts.

81
 Chapter 5:

Conclusion

What the Available Evidence Suggests

In the preceding chapters, I have shown how a combination of geographic,

historical and cultural factors resulted in the presence of a variety of alternative

spiritualties in Ojai; how the early healing culture based on Ojai’s springs and climate

made it fertile ground for new forms of spiritual practice, how Theosophy serves as a hub

around which other groups in the cultic milieu of the Valley revolve, and how it has

fostered this diversity, as well as how Ojai’s landscape and artistic culture has contributed

to the image of Ojai as a real-life Shangri-La. In this chapter, I will revisit my original

research questions to see what conclusions can be drawn from the evidence I have

collected.” As I was formulating the subject matter, I specifically asked four research

questions that would give my thesis purpose and relevance to both the anthropological

study of religion, to the community of Ojai, and other interested parties. These questions

were: 1) How has alternative spirituality influenced and become a part of mainstream

culture in Southern California? 2) How the alternative spiritual communities developed in

this location, 3) Why was the Ojai Valley chosen in particular? and 4) what qualities or

factors contribute to the folkloric belief of the Ojai Valley as a nexus of psychic, occult,

and other spiritual energies?

In relation to my first research question I relied heavily upon examining several

interdependent theoretical arguments and using a particular context, namely the Ojai

Valley, as a concrete example with which to verify their applicability when discussing

alternative spirituality in a regional area, in this case Southern California. Of all the

82
theories I examined, I have used Campbell’s argument about the cultic milieu is my

thesis’ foundation. To recap, he argues that within a given society there is a permanent,

underground subculture of unorthodox religions and sciences, and this subculture in and

of itself serves as a fostering environment in which alternative groups are spawned,

dissolved, and new groups assimilate elements of previous groups into their makeup.

This milieu is sustained through the mutual support and tolerance of many groups toward

one another, the pluralistic attitude that many paths to Truth are equally valid,

overlapping media outlets with mutual advertisement, and an ideology of seekership.

Concerning the case of the Ojai Valley, I have found that these traits occur in

spades. For nearly a century, Ojai has become home to a plethora of groups and

individual practitioners of various alternative spiritual, scientific, and medicinal beliefs

and practices; ranging from Theosophists and students of spiritual teachers to

practitioners of alternative medicine such as reiki and color-light therapy. To my

knowledge, none of these alternative spiritual groups claim that the path they practice is

the exclusive path to Truth. In fact, there appears to be great tolerance, if not acceptance,

of each other in the Valley, occurring in a spirit of pluralism. In some cases, there is

overlapping membership between groups, demonstrating the fluidity that occurs in a

cultic milieu. The ideology of seekership has a strong presence in Ojai; as one of my

informants, Alison Stillman described it to me:

I think there’s this rising tide of people who are doing great spiritual seeking
right now, and we’re seeing it in a way that I have never experience it before in all
my years, I’ve seen more people that are looking for answers in alternative places
that are not accepting what has been the norm, and are seeking. So to have a
center [like Ojai] where there’s so much available in one place, what a great thing,
of course people are going to be drawn to it (interview with A. Stillman October
5, 2014)

83
As stated in an earlier chapter, it has been suggested by an informant that nearly every

kind of spiritual group or practice could be found within the Ojai Valley, which fosters

the opportunity for local seeker to experiment with a smorgasbord of options until they

find their spiritual niche.

These alternative beliefs and practices have had an influence on mainstream

culture, as another of my informants, James Voirol, put it, “[alternative spirituality] seeps

in, people don’t realize it. Just the whole idea of karma, and it was an idea brought to the

West by the Theosophical movement and some others also, quite a long time ago, but it

[was] slowly creeping into the culture. [And] the idea of a holistic approach to

medicine… is related to the spiritual movements” (interview with J. Voirol July 9, 2014).

Sometimes when I asked my respondents their opinions on how the Ojai Valley may have

influenced the broader region of Southern California, the response I received was that the

concentration of alternative spirituality causes or amplifies the “vibe” of the place; as

illustrated by an excerpt from my interview with Anne Kerry Ford illustrates:

I think that everything happens as a result of many causes and conditions. Ojai
could be a spiritual hub, without Southern California being open to it, it wouldn’t
just come up in Minnesota, you know, because there’s a group uh, there’s a group
consciousness in Southern California, that people are even open to something like
feng shui or practicing meditation, or practicing yoga for spiritual reasons not just
for exercise. So, I think that Southern California has an openness to that, it’s
cultural here, where else it might not be cultural in the Midwest. And then Ojai
arises like a pinnacle point for that type of inquiry, that type of openness, uh it’s
almost like a portal. Portal to what? I don’t know, portal to higher consciousness.
And I’m not implying that higher consciousness comes from somewhere else
either. But, we’re very influenced by the people that are around us, whether we
think we are or not, whoever we talk to during the day, whatever we see around
us, influences our consciousness all the time. So if we’re in an environment
where people are open, it’s going to allow more openness for the individual who
cares about that sort of thing (interview with A.K. Ford September 28, 2014).

84
In addition, many of my informants reported that large numbers of people from not only

other parts of Southern California, but also from states and other countries visit Ojai. In

the case of more local or regional visitors, whether they come to Ojai for activities or

inspiration within the alternative spiritual milieu of the Valley or for some other purpose,

such as festivals or recreational pursuits, some of these visitors may to some degree pick

up the ideas or practices within Ojai’s milieu which appeal to them, and then import those

ideas back home, thus gradually influencing both the cultic and mainstream milieus of

Southern California. It could even be argued that while some of those same ideas and

practices are also present elsewhere, it is their concentrated and explicit presence in Ojai

which reinforces them in the minds and actions of these visitors.

My second research question was concerned primarily with Ojai’s sense of place,

in other words, the reasons that the Ojai Valley was chosen as the location this

concentration of alternative spirituality and the ways in which these beliefs and practices

developed and adapted themselves there. When I initially asked the first half of this

question, my attitude in seeking an answer was that of either/or, or as I liked to put it, it

was a “chicken or egg” question. Was there something about the landscape and ecology

of the Ojai Valley that attracted practitioners of alternative spirituality, or was it that a

group set up shop there and its reputation, or at least Ojai’s culture, served as a magnet

drawing other alternative spiritual groups and individuals to the Valley. To my pleasant

surprise, the available data suggests that both the environment and the presence of a

“pioneer” spiritual group contributed, and essentially amplified each other in drawing in

other waves of alternative spirituality.

85
 Ojai’s landscape and ecology are certainly the initial factors in this equation: the

tall mountain ranges forming a “nest” and giving a sense of protection from the outside

world, the famous “pink moment” at sunset, the Mediterranean climate, the various

healing springs of hot and cold waters, the extensive forests and groves of oaks and

willows, orange groves filling the valley with a lavish aroma, as well as the Valley’s

sense of ruralism and its opposition to a perceived threat of encroaching urbanization.

These traits, combined with Ojai’s artistic and health oriented culture, served as an idyllic

location for the Krotona Institute of Theosophy, which was looking for a new place to

establish its center as it moved away from the film industry emerging around its former

Hollywood home during the 1920’s. With Krotona relocated to Ojai, Krishnamurti

delivering his lectures at the Star Camp Congress and later through the Krishnamurti

Foundation of America, along with the establishment of Meher Mount in 1946, together

these events combined with the Valley’s landscape, ecology, artistic and health culture,

and the fame it received through the 1937 film The Lost Horizon, began to solidify in the

popular imagination the notion of Ojai as Southern California’s own Shangri-La; which

intensified with the waves of alternative spiritual seekers who came to Ojai beginning in

the 1960’s and continue to do so to the present day..

The general time period in which alternative spirituality began to infiltrate the

Ojai Valley should also be taken into consideration; according to Ellwood, during the

1920’s, not long after the mid-late Victorian period, experimentation with alternative

spirituality became a part of many frontier settlers’ lives. The Theosophists who resettled

in Ojai arguably continued that ethos of the late Victorian era, of reformist and utopian

pursuit in the brave new world of the frontier. Much like its antipodean counterpart of

86
New Zealand, the golden state of California was seen by adherents of both mainstream

culture and alternative spirituality as a sort of terrestrial paradise where new beginnings

could take place. As Roof’s work has shown, Southern California during this time

experienced rapid growth in its development, which made sociocultural conditions ill-

suited to a strong religious establishment in the region, ideal instead for religious

pluralism and greater acceptance of diversity of beliefs and practices, such as can be

found in the cultic milieu in general.

Another aspect I examined was how various traditions or currents of alternative

spirituality developed and adapted once they had settled in Ojai. This required adopting

Taylor’s approach of recognizing the interdependent influences between the natural

environments on the one hand and religions/human cultures on the other. Ojai’s ecology

has had a mutual influence on some groups, for example the Theosophists co-operate

with the physical and non-incarnate inhabitants (i.e. the devic kingdom in Theosophical

vernacular) of the land by not killing any of the wildlife, maintaining a vegetarian diet,

and believing in the universal brotherhood of humanity, with similar attitudes shared by

other practitioners. According to informants such as Mr. Voirol, it is these beliefs which

have in turn shaped a general sense of maintaining the welfare of the environment and of

people (interview with J. Voirol July 9, 2014).

Finally, my third research question addressed how the folkloric belief of the Ojai

Valley as a nexus of metaphysical energies developed, and what factors contributed to it.

Chumash elder Julie compared Ojai to Sedona, Arizona in the way that legends, or “little

myths” as she called them, about a place build up as people tell and retell them to each

other:

87
 The more you believe in something it’s almost like a self-fulfilled prophecy in a
way, that when you, the more people who hear about the spirituality of Ojai, the
more they will come in that reverence. And I think when you come in the
reverence of great love and great spirit the Land reflects it. And when we do
prayer in places in our valley, the way that I treat is, you know this Land has not
heard its own language, it has not heard its own prayers or been given the gifts
that it used to get just only 200 years ago, that it wakens up (interview with J.L.
Tumamait-Stenslie October 18, 2014).

Related explanations she gave me included that people felt a sense of homecoming when

arriving in Ojai, and that the surrounding mountains provided a sense or energy of

nurturing protection; but perhaps it is a combination of these factors that has contributed

to the belief of Ojai as a nexus (interview with J.L. Tumamait-Stenslie October 18, 2014).

I asked various members of the Krotona Institute if they thought the beliefs and

practices of either their group in particular or of alternative spiritual groups within the

Valley in general have influenced or contributed to the belief of Ojai as a nexus of

spiritual energies. All were in agreement that the Ojai Valley had its own unique quality

or that energies are present, and that one way or another, the milieu of alternative

spiritualty has indeed made various contributions to this folk belief. For example, Joy

Mills believes Krotona’s 90-year presence has certainly influenced the notion of Ojai as a

spiritual center, and that Krotona has been in harmony with and contributed to Ojai’s

unique quality of “complete openness, freedom, freedom of thought, freedom to act in

accordance with one’s conscious;” her evidence for this spirit of openness and freedom of

thought is the letters to the editor of the Ojai Valley News showcasing the Valley’s

diversity of beliefs (interview with J. Mills July 25, 2014). Ms. Mills also believes that

Krotona’s purpose “which is really to aid in the enlightenment of humanity, really to

bring about a peaceful world,” a challenge that the residents have set for themselves, has

88
definitely influenced Ojai. She went on to say that “I’m convinced that, for example,

meditation by a group of people can have a powerful effect, and can in some way – not

brain-wash people – but can influence them, it can be an influence of compassion,

understanding, an influence of beauty which is an ideal. So I think in many ways we

subtly influenced the community by our presence” (interview with J. Mills July 25,

2014).

Fellow Krotona resident Olga Olmin also believes that the activities of alternative

spiritual practitioners contribute to the belief in Ojai as a nexus; she compared these

activities to how people in a church or some other sacred space direct their whole

thoughts to a Universal Principle: “if you take Ojai, people who come here or who are

living here, they are somehow involved, either through yoga or some spiritual practice,

uh we have all sorts of meditation retreats and centers here, so intentionally or

unintentionally people who come here concentrate their thoughts on that Divine

Principle, more than on material things” (interview with O. Olmin August 14, 2014).

Another resident Theosophist, Steve Walker, suggested that a gradual awareness of other

groups over the years has led to a sort of shared and informally coordinated objective for

many of Ojai’s alternative spiritual groups to focus on; in his words:

it’s a fairly small town and we know each other, so sooner or later we know what
everybody else is thinking, and believing, and where the spirituality is focused
and that sort of thing. Uh we tend to be…we’re probably more like Buddhist than
anything else. In fact two of the society’s founders were originally Buddhist
before they founded the present Theosophical Society. So we feel a certain
kinship with the peaceful way, uh Buddhist, Society of Friends which is popularly
known as Quakers, one of our members is a Quaker too. This bringing in a more
peaceful world as a possible choice, where you don’t need choose the things that
are wasteful, the things that are violent (interview with S. Walker August 3,
2014).

89
I asked a former member of Krotona Marcia Doty, this same question, and like most of

those I interviewed of the Theosophical persuasion, she firmly believes in the reality of

the metaphysical nexus present in the Ojai Valley. She also objected to my use of the

word folklore, saying “I think it’s the fact that we’ve been told by those that can see into

other dimensions. We’ve believed it on our own because of the sense of feeling, but

there are people who can see into those dimensions, and they’ve shared that with us”

(interview with Marcia Doty October 18, 2014).

When I interviewed people outside the Krotona Institute, I received similar

responses; for instance, Alison Stillman suggested that there are multiple factors which

have led to the belief of Ojai as a nexus of spiritual energies, such as the concentration of

spiritual masters and seekers:

And is it borne out of geomagnetic-energetics? I don’t know. Is it borne out of

sacred relics being buried in the Valley by the indigenous people? Could be. Is it
borne out of years, and years, and years of seekers praying and meditating and
doing ceremony here? I don’t think you could separate any of them, I think they
all play a part in it… And I think that our intention and our ceremony, and who
we are affects the energy of the Earth and vice versa (interview A. Stillman
October 5, 2014).

Likewise, when I asked Anne Kerry Ford how she thought the beliefs and activities of the

Buddhist sangha might reflect or contribute to this Ojai-as-nexus folklore, she said:

any time that someone has a genuine spiritual practice, not just a façade, but
something that people are really engaging in whole-heartedly, then it’s going to
have a ripple effect. If you’re cultivating you own sanity, if you’re cultivating
your own brilliance, and your own skillfulness, and your awareness, that’s bound
to have a ripple out to people you might just meet on the street… it’s going to
affect the others in some subtle way (interview with A.K. Ford September 28,
2014).

90
Ms. Stillman also spoke of this ripple effect, about the phenomenal experience a person

has during a ritual or listening to a charismatic teacher, how potentially mind-opening

and life-changing those events can be:

even if you don’t go and follow that tradition, it opened you a little bit to an
alternative way of thinking or an alternative way of being, and it sets you on your
own spiritual journey of discovery and your own spiritual seeking, right? And so,
that affects everything, that affects the culture, that affects the community, that
affects wherever you walk, wherever you go, and I think there’s this rising tide of
people who are doing great spiritual seeking right now…So to have a center [like
Ojai] where there’s so much available in one place, what a great thing, of course
people are going to be drawn to it, of course everything they experience they’re
going to take back out into the world (interview with A. Stillman October 5,
2014)

Meanwhile, while not denying Ojai’s spiritual quality, “Sue Hart” of Meditation Mount

offered me a relatively more naturalistic explanation for this Ojai-as-nexus belief. Based

on feedback she has received from visitors to the Mount in particular and the Valley in

general, people have a phenomenological experience of a sense of homecoming, not just

in that place, but in themselves as well. The natural beauty of the Ojai Valley’s

landscape makes an impression on their sense of place; Sue read off comments written by

visitors, which include: “I was so inspired by the power of beauty that my soul came

alive and my worries dropped away;” “awe-inspiring tranquility;” with other comments

simply being single word expressions like beautiful, lovely, serene, and Namaste

(interview with “S. Hart” January 13, 2015). She continued by saying that nothing

magical is occurring, that it has more to do with a sense of unanimity underlying the

diversity of beliefs and practices (alternative or mainstream, spiritual or mundane);

“people are all doing their activities, but […] overall there’s a love for the place and a

91
protection of it, that uh permeates the whole Valley” (interview with “S. Hart” January

13, 2015).

Ultimately, whatever possible metaphysical factors are involved, I am inclined to

suggest that it is a synthesis of naturalistic phenomena and compatible cultural beliefs,

both spiritual and secular, which has gradually developed into the folkloric belief of Ojai

as a nexus of metaphysical energies, and therefore a spiritually special place; although

having antecedents in Chumash tradition and the early health culture of the late 19 th

century, truly developed since both Krotona’s and Krishnamurti’s relocation to Ojai in

the 1920’s. The Valley’s high mountain range offers a sense of protection from the

outside world, much as in the case of the fabled Shangri-La, and its role as the setting of

the film The Lost Horizon, indirectly promoted and augmented its near-utopian status.

Perhaps Julie is quite correct in pointing out the “self-fulfilled prophecy” aspect of this

belief, in the sense that a mutual confirmation occurs in the relationship between the

Valley’s landscape and ecology on the one hand, and Ojai’s rural and bohemian culture

and milieu of alternative spirituality on the other hand. Of course, this explanation does

not diminish the deeply held belief of Ojai as a metaphysical nexus by many who come to

this tranquil valley.

Next Steps

While I have conducted several interviews, gathered much archival information,

and drawn my conclusions based on these sets of data, I feel that I have only skimmed the

surface of the cultic milieu of the Ojai Valley, along with its relationships with both the

broader cultic milieu and the mainstream culture of Southern California. In this section, I

92
will lay out my hypothetical plan for continuing and expanding my thesis research, when

I have the opportunity to do so.

It has come to my attention that many participants in Ojai’s cultic milieu,

including the majority of my informants, are of Euro-American descent. In addition,

even though I saw a fair diversity of ethnicities at the events I attended in Ojai, it seems

that the majority of the visible forms of alternative spirituality in Ojai are generally

frequented by a Euro-American demographic. More precisely, they appear to cater to or

reorient themselves to a Euro-American demographic, but not necessarily exclusively.

The predominant forms of alternative spirituality in Ojai tend to be Euro-American (i.e.

Theosophy, New Age, etc.) or Asian (i.e. Buddhist, Hindu, etc.) in their orientation. Is

this represenitive of the broader cultic milieu in Southern California? If so how, why,

and to what extent? I am aware that the broader cultic milieu of the region includes a

variety of other forms of alternative spiritualty: contemporary Paganisms, Hermetic and

neo-Rosicrucian orders, Gnostic churches, and modernistic New Religious Movements

such as Scientology. Many of these are easy enough to find advertised in periodicals,

metaphysical stores, and through internet searches. However, most of these also appear

to have originally catered to Euro-Americans. What of other forms of alternative

spirituality that may not be as apparent? What about Afro-Caribbean traditions, Aztec

reconstructionisms, devotions to Santa Muerte, botanicas offering their wares for

devotional and magical purposes, and other forms of alternative spirituality that are not as

visible in the cultic milieu as say Theosophy and the New Age movement?

My future research would attempt to address these questions, but with a much

more focused objective; specifically, given the increasing number of people immigrating

93
to Southern California from Latin America, I would want to look at forms of alternative

spirituality affiliated with the Latino/a community, and what influence or impact they are

having on both the cultic milieu and the mainstream culture of Southern California. Are

we seeing an avant-garde of alternative spirituality that is based in Latino identity, has it

already taken root and established itself beneath the radar, and to whom is it accessible?

For instance, I have learned from two of my informants about the presence in Ojai

of two groups of the Aztec danza tradition: one is presentational, while the other is more

“traditional,” which sees the dance movements as prayers. If possible, I would like to

interview members from each of these dance groups. Are they representative of a more

ethnically diverse alternative spiritual milieu within Ojai, are they incorporated in this

milieu or are they segmented within it? Also, how representative are they of Southern

California’s cultic milieu? Therefore, in the future I would like to study not only these

and related Latino/a alternative spiritual groups in the Ojai Valley, but in nearby areas as

well, and to evaluate their place and identity within the cultic milieu.

The general methodology would not change, with the exception that a separate

interview guide of questions would be developed for alternative spiritual practitioners

outside the Ojai Valley (based on questions raised above). Ultimately, these next steps

are designed to both dig deeper into the Ojai Valley’s milieu of alternative spirituality

and to better understand the contemporary influence it has had in other parts of Southern

California with more concrete examples.

Concluding Thoughts

In this section, I will speculate on the implications of my research on our

understanding of the cultic milieu’s relationship with and the impact on mainstream

94
culture, as well as its influence on community identity. In Chapter Two, I showed that

according to Campbell, elements of the cultic milieu can be incorporated into mainstream

culture through various outlets, including periodicals that cover esoteric religions,

unorthodox sciences and alternative medicines; in addition to how secularization as a

historical process reduces if not deprives orthodox religion and science of their monopoly

on truth and validity, thus opening the floodgates to experimentation with new ideas and

practices. A well-known example of this was the counterculture of the 1960’s, when

virtually a whole generation left the mainstream religion of their upbringing, even if

temporarily, to adopt the practices and worldviews of Buddhism, Hinduism,

Neopaganism, the New Age movement, etc. We can see the results of this today, when

even those people who do not identify as members of the cultic milieu can, for instance,

practice hatha yoga at a studio in a respectable neighborhood and pick up magazines

dedicated to the subject in the check-out lane of a major grocery store, or purchase a

statue of the Buddha at a home décor retailer even if they are not practicing Buddhists, or

receive a crystal-healing therapy service even if they identify with either a mainstream

religion or no religion.

I should also reflect here on how my research ties in with the broader esoteric

history of California, the US, and globally specifically in the establishment of world

centers of esotericism such as Glastonbury and Sedona. I would say that following

Taylor’s lead, instead of focusing exclusively on either religious/human culture or on

environment of a place, we should focus on how both of these form an interrelated lens

by which we can examine why a particular place gradually becomes a sacred place or

magnetic center of alternative spirituality. In the case of Ojai, it was the fusion of the

95
shape of the landscape, the geographic remoteness, and relative ruralness of the Valley,

combined with Ojai’s health culture, artistic community, and avant-garde of Theosophy,

which over time created an image of Ojai as Shangri-La into the popular imagination of

Southern California residents – that in the end sealed the deal. In her articles, Bowman

demonstrates that the vernacular religion, the geographical and cultural contexts of

beliefs and practices, together with the forms of alternative spirituality found in

Glastonbury, have gradually turned that West Country town into a magnetic center as

well.

Finally, how does alternative spirituality become heritage? I would argue that an

element which helps the cultic milieu become incorporated into the heritage of a place is

pilgrimage. Beginning in the mid-1920’s hundreds came to Ojai in order to hear the

philosopher Krishnamurti and to be in his presence. By the 1970’s, there were at least

four mountaintop centers where pilgrims came to meditate, study esotericism, listen to a

guru, or conduct related work in a tranquil and serene place. And, for better or worse, in

our modern world with pilgrimage comes an opportunity for revenue from tourism. As

the newspaper supplement I mentioned in the last chapter testified, by 1979 alternative

spirituality was advertised as being “the essence of Ojai,” and it seems that since then this

has not changed; while not every resident may like it, they acknowledge that alternative

spirituality is part of their heritage.

96
 Bibliography

Barber, Russell and Frances Berdan

1998 The Emperor’s Mirror: Understanding Cultures through Primary Sources
Tucson: University of Arizona Press

Bowman, Marion
2004 Procession and Possession in Glastonbury: Continuity, Change and the
Manipulation of Tradition. In Folklore 115(3): 273-285

Bowman, Marion
2007 Arthur and Bridget in Avalon: Celtic Myth, Vernacular Religion and
Contemporary Spirituality in Glastonbury. In Fabula 48(1-2): 16-32

Bruner, Edward
1986 Ethnography as Narrative. In The Anthropology of Experience. Victor W.
Turner and Edward M. Bruner, eds. Epilogue by Clifford Geertz. Pp. 139-155.
Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

Campbell, Colin
2002 The Cult, the Cultic Milieu and Secularization. In The Cultic Milieu:
Oppositional Subcultures in an Age of Globalization. Jeffery Kaplan and Helene
Loow (eds). Pp. 12-25. Walnut Creek: AltaMira Press.

Chytry, Josef
2006 California Civilization: Beyond the United States of America? Thesis Eleven
85(1): 8-36.

Ellwood, Robert S.
1993 Islands of the Dawn: the Story of Alternative Spirituality in New Zealand
Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press

Fernandez, James W.
1986 Persuasions and Performances: the Play of Tropes in Culture
Bloomington: Indiana University Press

Fry, Patricia L.
1999 [1983] The Ojai Valley: An Illustrated History. Ojai: Matilija Press

Hanegraaff, Wouter
2003 How Magic Survived the Disenchantment of the World. In Religion 33:
357-380

97
Horowitz, Mitch
2010 Occult America: White House Séances, Ouija Circles, Masons, and the
Secret Mystic History of Our Nation. New York: Bantam Books Trade
Paperbacks

Jones, Kris
1998 Sense of Place for Ojai California. In The California Geographer 38: 78-
94.

Lewis, Mark
2015 Lennon’s Imagi-Nation: John & Yoko’s Ojai sojourn. In Ojai Quarterly
Spring: 124-131.

Marty, Martin
1970 The Occult Establishment. In Social Research 37(2): 212-230.

Melton, J. Gordon
2009 Melton’s Encyclopedia of American Religions, 8th Edition. Detroit: Gale
Cengage Learning.

Moore, Frances Adams

1990 A Brief History of the Work At Meditation Mount Ojai: Meditation Groups,
Inc.

Primiano, Leonard Norman

1995 Vernacular Religion and the Search for Method in Religious Folklife. In
Western Folklore 54(1): 37-56.

Roof, Wade Clarke

2007 Pluralism as Culture: Religion and Civility in Southern California. In Annals
of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 612: 82-99

Ross, Joseph E.
2009 Krotona in the Ojai Valley: Volume IV, 1923-1926. Ojai: Ojai Printing and
Publishing Co.

Sackman, Douglas Cazaux

2005 Orange Empire: California and the Fruits of Eden. Berkeley: University of
California

Taylor, Sarah McFarland

2007 What if Religions had Ecologies?: The Case for Reinhabiting Religious
Studies. In Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture 1(1): 129-138

VanHouten, Perry

98
 2014 What’s with all the weird trees in the Ojai Valley? In The Ojai Valley
Visitor’s Guide Winter: 14-18, 20-21, 24-25.

Woolman, Arthur Erwin

1956 The Ojai Valley: Gateway to Health and Happiness Ojai: Kuehl Press.

99
 Appendix A

Interview Guide

1) What is your impression of the history of alternative spirituality in general within the

Ojai Valley?

2) What is your impression of the history of your group/organization in particular within

the Ojai Valley?

3) What is your impression of the Ojai Valley’s cultural and ecological environments?

What role do you think they play in the local forms of alternative spirituality?

4) What factors or qualities do you think are responsible for the concentration of

alternative spirituality in Ojai?

5) In what way do you think this concentration impacts or influences the boarder

Southern California culture?

6) In what way do you think that your group’s practices and related activities have

influenced Ojai as a concentration of alternative spirituality?

7) How have your group’s beliefs and practices adapted to changing cultural conditions

in Ojai over the years?

8) What factors, phenomenological or otherwise, led to the belief of Ojai as a nexus of

spiritual energies?

9) How do you think alternative spirituality within Ojai in general, or your group’s

practices in particular either reflect or contribute to this belief?

100
 Appendix B

Figure 1.1 Chief’s Peak in the upper valley of Ojai. Named as such because it resembles

a man’s face in profile looking skyward, and according to Chumash legend one of the

First Peoples who now protect the Valley. Photo by the author.

101
Figure 1.2 Kahosh Mountain near Dennison Park in upper valley. According to Julie

Lynn Tumamait-Stenslie, this is a shrine-mountain that is associated with bear-medicine,

a form of integrative healing. Photo by author.

102
Figure 1.3 Hot springs of Ecotopia, in the Matilija Canyon of the Ojai Valley. This site is

considered to be sacred by the Chumash, and its sulphuric, healing waters are good for

rheumatism, arthritis, and skin abrasions. Its current owners, Ecotopia, are trying to

create a stewardship program whereby those wishing to come to the springs can either

pay what they can or donate their time to maintain and cleanup the site, to restore it from

previous damage. Photo by the author.

103
Figure 1.4 Manly P. Hall (left) with Florence Garrigue at Meditation Mount, 1983. Hall

was a frequent visitor to the Mount. Photo used by permission of Meditation Mount

Archives, Meditation Groups, Inc.

104
Figure 1.5 Archival photograph of Roberto Assagioli, who was involved in the

development of Meditation Groups, Inc. and Meditation Mount; his work on

psychosynthesis plays a major whole in their beliefs and practices. Photo used by

permission of Meditation Mount Archives, Meditation Groups, Inc.

105
Figure 1.6 Picture including Peter Caddy at Meditation Mount, 1979. Caddy was one of

the co-founders of the Findhorn Foundation in Scotland. Photo used by permission of

Meditation Mount Archives, Meditation Groups, Inc.

106
Figure 1.7 Archival photograph of the Ojai Valley as seen from Meditation Mount, 1971.

Photo used by permission of Meditation Mount Archives, Meditation Groups, Inc.

107
Figure 1.8 A flyer advertising the “Essence of Ojai” exhibit at the Ojai Valley Museum,

the themes shown in its schedule of lectures, panels, and film showing revealing a sample

of the diversity of alternative spirituality in the Ojai Valley. Used with permission from

the Research Library of the Ojai Valley Museum.

108