Erik Davis @ Esalen: 'The Occult in America'

Yowsa - Erik Davis alerts us to a highly interesting Esalen workshop on the horizon:

I wanted to let you know that the writer Mitch Horowitz (The Occult in America) and I will be reprising our workshop on the history of mysticism and magic in America at the Esalen Institute over the weekend of Friday, March 25 to Sunday, March 27. Esalen is a spendy place, but a beautiful and rejuvenating one as well, and the last time we did the workshop, it was a blast. I had planned to show Kenneth Anger's film Lucifer Rising, and who showed up for our workshop? None other than Marianne Faithful, who has a role in the film. Talk about mystic koinky-dink!

We'll cover a great range of topics, from colonial-era occultism and the Age of Spiritualism to the dawn of America's alternative religious cultures up through the emergence of the Aquarian Age and beyond. Along the way we'll have lively discussions about alluring personalities, such as Madame H.P. Blavatsky and Manly P. Hall, and we'll take lots of remarkable byways, from the history of Ouija to the stories behind California's weird and wonderful spiritual architecture. I cannot promise that any rock stars will show up, however.