Periodically authors look to establish the impact of occult philosophy and practice on profane culture, especially rock music. Last year, Peter Bebergal published Season of the Witch: How the occult Saved Rock And Roll (check out his interview on the October 2014 edition of Thelema, NOW! http://oto-usa.org/podcast/)and in 2001, Disinformation published Turn Off Your Mind by Gary “Valentine” Lachman, former Blondie bassist addressing just that topic with varying degrees of success. But it’s hard deny that during the 60’s a certain amount of the iconography and some philosophical aims of mystical practice did turn up in “underground” rock culture. Here’s a vintage film by documentarian Peter Whitehead – mainly filmed at the UFO (pronounced “oof-oh” according to booker/promoter Joe Boyd – later producer of Pink Floyd, Incredible String Band and later, sigh, REM, 10,000 Maniacs) club in London.
