Yod can be heard to say: "Some ascetics out there will not have our pleasure... but we will use it fearlessly." The story of a hippie cult centered around a Los Angeles vegetarian restaurant sounds destined for infamy, but the Source Family has largely remained underground. Soon after that, the Family teachings got deep into apocalypse. On December 26, 1974, the Source Family sold their restaurant and moved to Hawaii. As well as the unparalleled joy of keeping the publication alive, you'll receive benefits including exclusive editorial, podcasts, and specially-commissioned music by some of our favourite artists. John Lennon and Yoko came by, as did Goldie Hawn. Woody Allen even used the restaurant for a scene in Annie Hall, where his character Alvy orders the "alfalfa sprouts and a plate of mashed yeast", whilst wearing a disgusted look on his face. After spending some time under the tutelage of Yogi Bhajan, Father Yod now had his own group of acolytes: his employees. In short, I want to believe. However, it begs the question: How does a group of … Batman Beyond Proves [SPOILER] Will Always Have a Place In the Bat-Family. [3], Baker left Yogi Bhajan in the late 1960s and created his own philosophy based on Western mystery tradition. Mildly NSFW photographs. On this point, at least, it’s hard to fault his thinking. He didn’t espouse racist gibberish or covetous envy of the rich like the moronic Charles Manson, nor did he regard his followers as toys for psychological manipulation like former Scientologists and Process Church of the Final Judgement founders Mary Anne MacLean and Robert DeGrimston. If some grandiloquent Santa promised me new colors, plus secret wisdom handed carefully down through the ages, plus a variety of mind-bending experiences — well, I’d love that. In a sense, Jim Baker (born in Cincinnati in 1922) personally embodied the change taking place in America due both to the influence of psychedelic drugs and the influx of new Eastern ideas, having been a part of the military machine himself during his time as a US marine in World War II before his "spiritual illumination." Yod commented on the effects of the move by saying: "This is a very tight family man! Meditation sessions often saw Yod holding forth on a variety of topics, like "a cross between Lenny Bruce and Krishnamurti." Ranging from slightly too-saccharine sweet, very obviously West Coast, attempts at melodic ballads that still sound, due to their blissed-out lyrical content, somewhat sinister, to full on ritualistic freak-outs like 1974's unambiguously titled Penetration: An Aquarian Symphony, which anticipated a lot of the freeform hedonistic/occultist vibes later peddled by the likes of Sunburned Hand of the Man and No Neck Blues Band. Hawaii, however, turned out not to be how the family had imagined it. Alexandra Molotkow is a writer and senior editor at Hazlitt Magazine. Not only did Bob and Robin pull The Source out of debt, they established a Family bond among all who were working there. [citation needed] The original recordings have become valuable to collectors of underground music. "A MAN CALLED YOD WHO THOUGHT HE WAS GOD: The Source Family", Heavy Living: Father Yod and the Source Family, "'70s commune band YaHoWha 13 opens the fold with a Drag City collection", http://www.laweekly.com/2007-08-30/news/father-yod-knew-best/, GQ&A: Sean Lennon and Charlotte Kemp Muhl on Mark Ronson, cults and the end of techno, Interview with Isis Aquarian in The Writing Disorder, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Father_Yod&oldid=984238373, American military personnel of World War II, CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown, Articles with unsourced statements from May 2018, Articles with unsourced statements from May 2012, Articles with unsourced statements from March 2014, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, The Source Family are also the subject of a 2012 documentary, This page was last edited on 19 October 2020, at 00:46. Please whitelist our site in order to continue to access The Quietus. Although he said he had been awarded the Silver Star while serving in the Marine Corps during World War Two, the Corps does not carry his name in its official listing of Silver Star recipients. Robin said that at the time he was "a dirty old man on a lust trip". He also commented on Family member, Mother Makushla’s "appropriate" black dress, a colour not usually worn by Family members. The Source Family was a radical experiment in '70s utopian living. (Actually it is, but there’s more to it.) Father made Damian vice president of The Source Corporation. Here we are treated to one of the film’s less convincing recollections, that Baker robbed "between 2 and 11 banks" in order to finance his next venture. Hip 20-somethings don’t really join cults anymore; everyone knows too much to buy into one guy’s idea of utopia. It is worth noting here that Baker’s own father had not been around when he was growing up and that it was his own close friendship with health-food pioneer Paul Bragg that had inspired many of his own choices in life. Unconvinced at the safety of giving birth without adequate medical supervision, Elaine one day went to a doctor. He later became a follower of Yogi Bhajan, a Sikh spiritual leader and teacher of Kundalini Yoga. There is a famous scene in Woody Allen's Annie Hall in which Alvy begrudgingly orders "alfalfa sprouts and mashed yeast" while on a trip to LA. Their outlandish style, popular health food restaurant, rock band, and beautiful women made them the darlings of Hollywood’s Sunset Strip; but their outsider ideals and the unconventional behavior of their spiritual leader, Father Yod, caused controversy with local authorities. Baker appeared to relish the role which he had found himself playing, realising that there were numerous young people out there seeking a proper father figure (unlike perhaps the one they had quarreled with at home) and deciding that this was something he could provide. Lists about cults around the world, charismatic cult leaders, and warning signs that—uh oh—you might already be in a cult. Every morning, after meditation, the band would meet and record spontaneously composed music, (over 65 albums-worth it is claimed). Harvey, Doug (2007-08-30). The story of a hippie cult centered around a Los Angeles vegetarian restaurant sounds destined for infamy, but the Source Family has largely remained underground.