Chet Helms with friends on Haight Street
But it [ego] is also something that - and the ancients knew this very well - it outlives its utility. Any particular form of the ego outlives its utility. -Chet Helms
S A N F R A N C I S C O
The seven hills of San Francisco, central-core spiritual power of the Haight-Ashbury, connect with each other to augment The City's unshakeable underpinnings. The network has facilitated the mystical energy undercurrent that rolls in back of, behind, and underneath visual patches of geography inside Hashbury. Emotional atmosphere in The Haight has an ambiance akin to Columbus Circle in New York City, where at least 13 water lines converge. The Haight also has an overwhelmingly powerful solar intersection @ Haight between Cole and Shrader ~ renown Straight Theatre site ~ and is linked with the forces of truth, commuity, and wisdom as part of the Golden State.
Roughly sixteen square city blocks in size, the Haight-Ashbury is technically bound on the north by Fulton Street with Jefferson Airplane's landmark black-gold mansion [now classic ivory-white.] The southern edge at Buena Vista Park and east area along Divisadero Street is connected to the ancient Temple of Saturn, similar in frequency and ambiance to the last scene of The Matrix Revolutions, a smoky quartz vibration. The entry park to Haight territory represents the treaty Neo established between The Architect and The Oracle. In alchemical terms, The Architect is lead ore and The Oracle is copper.
"But just as the work of transforming lead into gold was in many cases a chemical symbolism for a spiritual transformation of man himself, so the immortality to be conferred by the elixir was not always the literally everlasting life but rather the transportation of consciousness into a state beyond time." - Alan Watts
Several paranormal events have been verified in early Haight, south of Masonic, common within the traditional pre-quake Victorian blueprint. In many respects, the structure of the phenomena is usually akin to serial North Beach installments, fundamental to the Bohemian lifestyle of many Golden Gate poets, artists, and filmmakers. San Francisco landmark homes of Big Brother and the Holding Company [corner of Page & Broderick], the Grateful Dead, and The Charlatans, are exemplary of modern styles cultivated in the tradititonal, vibrant San Francisco ambiance. Stain glass door and window remnants, fireplaces, and traditional hand carved wood embellishments of classic pre-quake City life, still endure as examples of "real" San Francisco history.
A tone of the prevailing pilgrim mindset during America's search for El Dorado, Utopia, and Shangri La increased after the loss of Camelot. The Seven Ancient Temples of San Francisco [SF2 page] provide basic energy management maps of Northern California. During the time of alternative cultures in San Francisco, Pomo Indian excavations were underway by Golden Gate Bridge. The outstanding impression we pick up from all these digs emphasizes the early inhabitants of Northern California wanted to be 'invisible' - they left almost no trace there was a vast population in the area. It stands out. The energy field of Northern California seems to combine with any group of people drawn to the shores of the Pacific Ocean, around San Francisco harbor.
Built on seven ancient hills, in keeping with Le Plongeon's [and others] theory, the City energy grid corresponds with myths, prophecy, and rumors that re-surfaced in the well-known Edgar Cayce readings. Predictions include Atlantis rising, in sync with the 1968 Virgo planetary alignment, when the Hopi Indians in Flagstaff first invited 'white people' to their Autumn Equinox ceremony. The alignment may suggest San Francisco is a post-Lemurian, Mayan, or Atlantean site. Several points of evidence support the theory that the West Coast of the United States once belonged to a different land mass - especially the wide variety of plants and trees that are unique to the West Coast. Hopi and Havasupai believe the knowledge and inter-linking phenomenon is handed down from Anasazi, which means "people of the blue-green waters." These Native American legends are two thousand years old.
Descendents of the Anasazi [Ancient Ones] predicted an underground West Coast culture thread would be stimulated during the cultural changes that began in the 60s, prompting both physical and spiritual exchanges with the Hopi who live near the Grand Canyon.
Hollywood picked up on the influence and infused the high soul powers of Native Americans in some provocative movie scripts in the current millennium. The link/prophecy that binds Mt. Shasta in Northern California with The Sacred Mountain in Arizona is also evident in the Strawberry Hill locale, above the waterfalls, looking out to the ocean. The power of the Strawberry Hill Deva [Temple dedicated to Neptune/Poseidon, the Earth Shaker] is transformative, an experience to be absorbed first hand. The event is both internal and objective. The environment feels like a place designed for earthquake prediction. Recognition of our interdependence with the nature world via second sight activates psyche ties with sacred animals known for sensitivity to land tremors, such as horses. The feeling strongly resembles the presence of the shaman in
the caves at Lascaux, France.
I don't think about time.
You're here when you're here.
I think about today, staying in tune.
-John Lee Hooker
 Golden Gate Park provides the western border of San Francisco's mystic triangle. The Children's Park & carousel [Summer of Love local bands opened The Carousel Ballroom], Hippie Hill, and Strawberry Hill are within the triangle. Haight Street has always attracted the shaman, elf, traveler, and mage. During the cultural revolution, members of the extended community [represented by Tolkien as hobbits, dwarves, (orcs - sometimes known as blue meanies), and other races] were drawn to San Francisco for the unique, varied, and sundry qualities we attribute to 'the land of the West.' Haight-Ashbury mystic, author, and magus, Ophiel, penned books about astral projection and creative visualization, two of them published in the mid-60s, when he lived in his Page Street hideaway between 1090 Page and Haight Street. True to his reclusive hermit character, Ophiel welcomed any wayfarer who knocked on his door though he was rarely seen in public - classic
Saturn-Jupiter social behavior.
The
mystique that begins at Market Street, well known for various space-and-time warp phenomenon sites [an area that embraces Neal Cassady's Oak Street pad], stretches up the Haight Street hill. Haight Street connects with Divisadero, at the base of what is traditionally the beginning of 'The Haight,' the intersection near the Both/and (where you could just walk in anytime and hear Monk, John Lee Hooker, and John Handy in rehearsal for a show), Thelma's Soul Food [Rodney Albin next door neighbor], and other generally cool places.
Haight Street proceeds up past Buena Vista-Corona Heights Park. Cross Central and you see an instant karma Ziggy Marley mural on the corner. Continue on into the wrap of 1090 Page Street [Big Brother & The Holding Company - the house no longer stands] residential zone, straight into the heart of "the Haight." The corner of Haight and Masonic, once graced by The Psychedelic Shop [later the Holistic Center] is now the address of popular Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream shop, once The Drug Store Cafe [before it became the Drog Store Cafe when LSD went to prohibition status.] Further on most head shops lined both sides of the street -and The Print Mint, the Straight Theatre, the full spectrum of eatery delights, etc. Now there is a stone wall mural where the Straight Theatre once existed. Across the street, 1711 Haight Street is still open, the shop where I once did counselling and readings for tourists passing through Haight-Ashbury wonderland. It felt like the Middle-earth described by Tolkien in, The Lord of the Rings!
 On the road to Stanyon Street door to Golden Gate Park are more power sites listed below: the Sun [Straight Theatre between Cole & Shrader] Temple, nebulous Mercury Temple zoned near Quicksilver's rehearsal hall, and
Digger's Free Store, an experience in creative commerce and trade. Free trade meant the store carried only free merchandise ... based on the theory of spontaneous requirement [like Hogwarts 'Room of Requirement' that provides for a specific need at the time.] If you want something, expect the store to have it - bring something you can give in exchange that matches the value of what you take. Sort of like, when the student is ready, the teacher will appear. When the answer is ready, the question will be asked, and so on.
 
On to Gabriel's Feed, near Sun and Mercury temples, where the infamous "international bust," happened during one of Gabriel's renown community dinners. He welcomed all in the community to regularly scheduled, public [same night each week] celebrations of his unequaled spaghetti repast. Although this location is marked on the 'must see' wayfarer map, it is not a sacred and ancient temple in a traditional sense of the word. The reminiscent scrapbook should honor this event nevertheless, since Gabriel's Feed nurtured so many of San Francisco's finest - as well as the culturally devout and brilliant international community.
The entrance of the recording industry into this phenomena, the San Francisco scene, if you will, people speak of it now as the rock n roll business or the music business, and at that time, it was not. People came to the ballrooms without knowing who was going to play, just that someone was going to play.
It was possible to bury the band entirely in the light show, so that no individual was recognizable, and the audience loved it, and the band loved it.
-Chet Helms
Mimi Farina and Elizabeth Cotton
click pic for heartwarmers
Digger Space - the Panhandle
The Festival Spirit
"Let Tellus, fertile in fruits and herds, present Ceres with a crown of wheat
stalks; let the healthy waters and breezes of Jupiter nourish the offspring."
- Horace, Carm. Saec. 29- 32
Tones of the festival atmosphere were supported by master poster, mural, and silkscreen artists. Rick Griffin, one of many famous L.A. surfers who decided to migrate north,
eventually traded his Southern California surfboard for a day-glo paint set, and made history during the psychedelic era. [Check The Unknown Museum and my interview with Mickey McGowen for other LA contributors.] Psychedelic era dance-concert posters represent the emerging community celebrations of the monad and global collective consciousness.
Earlier we enjoyed, Notes From Underground, Herb "Mr. San Francisco" Caen, and Charles "Peanuts" Schultz. They helped inspire a North Beach literary link with current events related to Haight-Ashbury origins. Still, long before Caen coined the term "beatnik" in 1958, Bohemians were "in" around town. During the 40s and early 50s, the bohemian first wave was out and about long before the 'rent a beatnik' notice appeared in the 'party-up' want ads. Anais Ninn gave lectures in downtown art galleries followed by her parade of "groupies," now known as the entourage. Dali set up his first San Francisco exhibit featuring, 'bread' and spoke of nothing but Gali. "Everyone" met in their own or neighborhood galleries. Later, as people migrated like wood elves to the Grey Havens of San Francisco, they were sustained by store fronts, bookstores, and coffee shops. The "I and Thou" near the Straight Theatre on Haight Street, carried over this North Beach aroma of espresso, fresh breakfast, and Italian soda that seemed to flourish during the Summer of Love.
Frodo Lives!
So, what was the Haight-Ashbury really like? Perhaps it was described as the cutting edge, convergence point where multiple global collective feeds continually streamed to meld in a tight, hip community.
The festival atmosphere at the Haight-Stanyan entry to Golden Gate Park felt like the Baggins party in The Lord of the Rings. People had buttons, signs, and stickers that said, "Vote for Bilbo," "Frodo Lives," and "Welcome to Middle-earth."
J. R. R. Tolkien included many ancient mystery symbols in Bilbo's party scenario that were happily embraced by Hashbury residents. Just about everyone was invited to the party tree to celebrate Bilbo's amazing one hundred eleven years. Frodo [who shared the same birthday] played drums in the folk band for hobbits dancing in a free moving circle.
The sense of it all rings true to mystery play rituals that opened the door to the 'other world.' In fact, wherever you were in the Haight, if you were within a few blocks of Golden Gate Park, the tall African drums were heard. The beat would go on calling people to the park throughout the daylight and starshine hours. We all knew the Bridge of Kinvat, the etheric bridge that joins all Terrans with the energy of the star Sirius, connects with Earth near the Golden Gate Bridge - even if the knowledge be purely intuitive.
The party day, September 22, is one we call the Autumn Equinox, though the Shire calendar reckons time a bit differently. The song remains the same though, and so does the dance style that was popular at the Fillmore, Carousel, and Avalon Ballroom. The circle dance is celebrated around the world at the May Pole, as a mainstay for agricultural festivals, and for the Solstices.
Interview with Chet Helms coming here soon!
Middle-earth Inn
Rudolph Schaeffer The Need for Beauty
The Bus
Allen Cohen poem
BACK to Immortals ~Digger Space
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