L.A.'s occult roots: Master of the Mysteries

Process Media publisher Jodi Wille says: If you're in Los Angeles this coming weekend or next week, we have two very special happenings to celebrate Los Angeles' occult heritage and our upcoming new Process release, Master of the Mysteries: The Life of Manly Palmer Hall by LA Times writer Louis Sahagun.

This is one of the most mind blowing books I've ever worked on, and a perfect followup to The Source.

200806201910.jpg In the early 20th Century, Southern California became home to one of America's most powerful occult scenes. Alternative religions, Eastern gurus and esoteric societies compelled thousands to seek enlightenment while mystically inclined civic leaders, artists, and mavericks shaped Los Angeles into a world-class metropolis.

Manly P. Hall was a focal point of this subculture, a striking, self-educated scholar who became the 20th Century's most prolific writer and speaker on ancient philosophies, mysticism and magic. He was a confidante of celebrities and politicians, and in 1991 he died — some say he was murdered — in what remains an open-ended Hollywood murder mystery.

Master of the Mysteries unfolds the dramatic life story of this enigmatic visionary while revealing the occult roots that built Los Angeles and invigorated the rest of the nation for decades to come.

Master of the Mysteries Events Schedule:

Saturday, June 21st, 12pm-3pm
Master of the Mysteries release party and lectures
Philosophical Research Society

3910 Los Feliz Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90027
phone 323.663.2167
tickets: $(removed)

This historic celebration includes a slideshow and lecture on the life of Manly Palmer Hall by Louis Sahagun; a talk on Los Angeles' Freemasonic heritage by of Rex R. Hutchens, PhD., author, historian and 33 degree Grand Cross former Grand Master of Arizona; and an appearance by Manly P. Hall's surviving step daughter JoAnne O'Connor.

Tea and Manly Hall's favorite snacks will be served.

Tuesday, June 24th, 8 p.m.
Screening of "The Magician"
The Silent Movie Theater
611 N. Fairfax Avenue
Los Angeles, California 90036
(323) 655-2510
Tickets – $(removed)/ $(removed) for members

In celebration of the creation of the new Manly P. Hall biography Master of the Mysteries by Louis Sahagun, Process presents a special screening of Ingmar Bergman's 1959 supernatural classic The Magician with an original score composed by string arranger Yvanne Spevack and a live ensemble of improvising magicians.

Bergman's film is a mystical contemplation of a magician and his vagrant troupe of medicine-show performers as they travel through the country in the mid-nineteenth century and are hounded by a skeptical public. Utilizing a combination of traditional orchestral string instruments, electric guitars, keyboards, accordion and electronic beats, the ensemble will be led by Ysanne on acoustic and electric violin, musical saw, midi-synthesized electronic textures and processing. The Magician marks the second time Ysanne has scored a film and performed it live, the first being Gillo Pontecorvo's The Battle Of Algiers. Master of the Mysteries author Louis Sahagun will be present before and after the show to meet guests and sign books.

Dir. Ingmar Bergman, 1958, 35mm, 97 min.