Jim Morrison Secret Teacher of the Occult

The author explains how the rock star experienced shamanic initiation and how his work was a conscious and deliberate attempt to guide his generation to enlightenment through the secret knowledge he encoded in his songs and poetry, and how he succeeded in developing not only rock music, but a spiritual awakening within his fan base.

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A journey into the mystical and spiritual side of the famed Doors front man

As author Paul Wyld reveals, despite Jim Morrison’s reputation as a lewd, drunken performer, he was a full-fledged mystical, shamanic figure, a secret teacher of the occult who was not only central to the development of rock music, but to the growth of the Western esoteric tradition as a whole.

• Reveals Jim Morrison as a shamanic initiate and esoteric teacher who used his role as a rock singer to promote the adventure of the spirit and express the power of inner experience
• Examines Morrison’s deep occult and artistic influences, including Kurt Seligmann’s The Mirror of Magic, Colin Wilson’s The Outsider, and the works of Jack Kerouac
• Draws on Morrison’s lyrics and poems, his intimate writings, and the recollections of friends like photographer Paul Ferrara and Doors keyboard player Ray Manzarek

The groundbreaking 1960s band The Doors, named for Aldous Huxley’s The Doors of Perception, achieved incredible acclaim and influence, ultimately serving as a key group in the development of psychedelic and progressive rock. At the center of it all was front man Jim Morrison, who died in 1971 at age 27. Yet, as author Paul Wyld reveals, despite Morrison’s reputation as a lewd, drunken performer, he was a full-fledged mystical, shamanic figure, a secret teacher of the occult who was not merely central to the development of rock music, but also to the growth of the Western esoteric tradition as a whole.

Wyld looks at the mystical works that inspired Morrison, including Kurt Seligmann’s The Mirror of Magic, Colin Wilson’s The Outsider, and the writings of Nietzsche and Jack Kerouac. Drawing on Morrison’s lyrics and poems, his intimate writings, and the recollections of friends like photographer Paul Ferrara and Doors keyboard player Ray Manzarek, the author makes the case that Morrison was not simply a superficial dabbler in the occult but an actual secret teacher transmitting knowledge through the golden thread stretching back to Egypt and Thoth-Hermes.

Explaining how Morrison sought to use his role as a rock singer to express the power of inner experience, Wyld shows how praxis was at the heart of Morrison’s approach, revealed in his journey through the arduous ordeals of shamanic initiation. He was a shaman, mystic, and sage—and an essential part of a great spiritual awakening to which he gave himself over fully.