A few years ago OpenCulture.com posted a lecture that Jazz legend Sun Ra gave at UC Berkeley during an artist-in-residency there. Of interest to occultists would be his reading list which overlaps with something The Prophet of the Lovely Star might come up with. The post states
“Combining Afrocentric science fiction, esoteric and occult philosophy, Egyptology, and, with his ‘Arkestra,’ his own brand of free jazz-futurism that has no equal on earth, the man is truly sui generis. In 1971, he served as artist-in-residence at UC Berkeley and offered a spring semester lecture, African-American Studies 198, also known as ‘Sun Ra 171,’ ‘The Black Man in the Universe,’ or ‘The Black man in the Cosmos.’ The course featured readings from—to name just a few—theosophist Madame Blavatsky, French philosopher Constantin Francois de Chasseboeuf, black American writer and poet Henry Dumas, and ‘God,’ whom the cosmic jazz theorist reportedly listed as the author of The Source Book of Man’s Life and Death (otherwise known as the King James Bible).”
Read the whole post – which includes a video interview with Ra – here:
And here’s audio of the lecture: https://ubusound.memoryoftheworld.org/ra_sun/Ra-Sun_Berkeley-Lecture_1971.mp3.
Here’s the Arkestra’s website: http://www.sunraarkestra.com/. Surviving members of the Arkestra live in a group house in Philadelphia, PA.
Thanks to Sister Joy for the tip!
