The Writer
The Pentacle
For a brief period of time in the 1980s I used to publish articles on yoga, and esotericism. The first magazine I had brief sucess with was The Pentacle. This was not meant for the popular audience, but essentially for those who might be regarded as scholarly minded. It had a print run of only 2,000 copies. I had sent some articles on Meher Baba, the Brahma Kumaris, Hare Krishna, and Kundalini all of which were accepted, and appeared in the magazine.
My main beef though with the Pentacle was not the quality of the articles which tended to be pretty good, but rather the illustrations. These appeared to be too amateurish from my point of view. As a response, I sent in some of my more skilled artwork which Mr Potter the editor described as being "superb." One of my line and ink drawings was that of the famous image of Madame Blavatsky staring out into the world with her magnetic eyes. She was quite a character to put it mildly. Another line and ink drawing was notably of Ron Hubbard the founder of Scientology. An article on him, and his organisation was also sent, and drew a comment from Mr Potter. He was keen in exposing Scientology but was concerned about any legal comeback as the Pentacle had little in the way of funds. Indeed, it was also not selling well, and sadly folded after a short lifespan circa 1985, or thereabouts. Unfortunately, my "superb" illustrations were not returned either...They may have got lost in the post but I will never know.
Yoga Today and Yoga and Health
Yoga Today was possibly the first, or at least one of the very first magazines trying to popularize Yoga and Meditation in the Western world. Towards the end of 1980s I contributed a number of articles to it in succession for a short period. They were on 3HO Yogi Bhajan, Hare Krishna, the Radhasoami Faith (a two part article), Theosophy, Sree Sree Mentu Maharaj, Shiva Bala Yogi, Ananda Marg, TM, Shiva Yoga (Opening the Third Eye), Meher Baba, Swami Sivananda, Rajneesh, Sathya Sai Baba, et cetera. I also did a number of "yogic" quizzes. This notably included the publication of pen and ink drawings of the faces of certain gurus. One had to name them all correctly to win a prize. Also some of my other artwork appeared in a number of my published articles. I also transcribed my interviews with Ma Yogashakti, and the famous Swami Chidananda both of whom were visiting London. Some excellent photos of them appeared in the resulting published articles.
During my stint with Yoga Today I was informed that I could not be paid a fee for my articles as the magazine was not doing too well. Moreover, it was to be re-named Yoga and Health in an attempt to widen its scope, and reach to a wider audience concerned with alternative medicine.
Brian Netscher who was the editor of Yoga Today itself once apologized to me about the publication of my article entitled Theosophy Unveiled. The reason being was that he had not edited it, and hence, any spelling and grammatical errors publicly appeared in it...! He claimed that he had not been paid to do his job...! He was later replaced by a lady editor who "headed" Yoga and Health. She was very easy to get on with, and was always open to suggestions about possible improvements for the magazine from my good self. I even introduced myself to her at some "New Age" exhibition where there was a stand for Yoga and Healing.
One memorable aspect of all this was contact with Richard Matthews who was keen to get the teachings of Shiva Yoga as taught by Swami Kumarswamiji better known. This involved the opening of the Third Eye. He sent me a whole load of material on the subject via the post. It proved most helpful, and the article was published. Also, my intervention allowed him to successfully get sections of his proposed book on the awakening of the Third Eye published in Yoga, and Health.
My articles generated quite a bit of feedback some of which were published in the letters section. I also gave my responses to them. These too were published. I also had one letter specifically asking for help in finding "new" guru movements. This got some response notably from a member from the Dayalbagh group who gave my London friend John Pyman a copy of the book by Maharaj Sahab entitled Discourses on Radhasoami Faith. Apart from letters in the public domain I even did two book reviews as well.. though I could have done a lot more.
During my research into an article connected with Ananda Marg, and Kriya Yoga I met Mr Friedmann in London whose speciality was making industrial films for business. He was an interesting chap, and very helpful. He also seemed upset by the recent death of his guru...who had actually been murdered! I cannot recall his name unfortunately. But this guru had split from Ananda Marg and formed his own group. It is believed that AM as it was sometimes called was responsible for his murder. There is though a lot more I could say on a more positive note but I think what has been said is enough.
Apart from Kriya Yoga I came across a philosophy originally inspired by Sree Sree Mentu Maharaj. I wrote an article on the subject which was co-authored with Nadine Wood who produced Soluna which was an influential magazine in its day. What surprised me was that I discovered that her teacher had a connection with the Radhasoami Faith, and used the word Radhasoami in his meditation technique. I met, and interviewed her at home in Amersham very close to Chesham Bois itself. It transpired she was a television researcher among other things, and was keen on spiritual matters. Sadly, I have been informed that Nadine Wood had recently died (2017). She was a very nice lady, and I feel privileged to have met her...so many years ago..
There is though a lot more I could say on a more positive note but I think what has been said is enough.
Giving out a moody look in this pic...
For a brief period of time in the 1980s I used to publish articles on yoga, and esotericism. The first magazine I had brief sucess with was The Pentacle. This was not meant for the popular audience, but essentially for those who might be regarded as scholarly minded. It had a print run of only 2,000 copies. I had sent some articles on Meher Baba, the Brahma Kumaris, Hare Krishna, and Kundalini all of which were accepted, and appeared in the magazine.
My main beef though with the Pentacle was not the quality of the articles which tended to be pretty good, but rather the illustrations. These appeared to be too amateurish from my point of view. As a response, I sent in some of my more skilled artwork which Mr Potter the editor described as being "superb." One of my line and ink drawings was that of the famous image of Madame Blavatsky staring out into the world with her magnetic eyes. She was quite a character to put it mildly. Another line and ink drawing was notably of Ron Hubbard the founder of Scientology. An article on him, and his organisation was also sent, and drew a comment from Mr Potter. He was keen in exposing Scientology but was concerned about any legal comeback as the Pentacle had little in the way of funds. Indeed, it was also not selling well, and sadly folded after a short lifespan circa 1985, or thereabouts. Unfortunately, my "superb" illustrations were not returned either...They may have got lost in the post but I will never know.
Yoga Today and Yoga and Health
Yoga Today was possibly the first, or at least one of the very first magazines trying to popularize Yoga and Meditation in the Western world. Towards the end of 1980s I contributed a number of articles to it in succession for a short period. They were on 3HO Yogi Bhajan, Hare Krishna, the Radhasoami Faith (a two part article), Theosophy, Sree Sree Mentu Maharaj, Shiva Bala Yogi, Ananda Marg, TM, Shiva Yoga (Opening the Third Eye), Meher Baba, Swami Sivananda, Rajneesh, Sathya Sai Baba, et cetera. I also did a number of "yogic" quizzes. This notably included the publication of pen and ink drawings of the faces of certain gurus. One had to name them all correctly to win a prize. Also some of my other artwork appeared in a number of my published articles. I also transcribed my interviews with Ma Yogashakti, and the famous Swami Chidananda both of whom were visiting London. Some excellent photos of them appeared in the resulting published articles.
During my stint with Yoga Today I was informed that I could not be paid a fee for my articles as the magazine was not doing too well. Moreover, it was to be re-named Yoga and Health in an attempt to widen its scope, and reach to a wider audience concerned with alternative medicine.
Brian Netscher who was the editor of Yoga Today itself once apologized to me about the publication of my article entitled Theosophy Unveiled. The reason being was that he had not edited it, and hence, any spelling and grammatical errors publicly appeared in it...! He claimed that he had not been paid to do his job...! He was later replaced by a lady editor who "headed" Yoga and Health. She was very easy to get on with, and was always open to suggestions about possible improvements for the magazine from my good self. I even introduced myself to her at some "New Age" exhibition where there was a stand for Yoga and Healing.
One memorable aspect of all this was contact with Richard Matthews who was keen to get the teachings of Shiva Yoga as taught by Swami Kumarswamiji better known. This involved the opening of the Third Eye. He sent me a whole load of material on the subject via the post. It proved most helpful, and the article was published. Also, my intervention allowed him to successfully get sections of his proposed book on the awakening of the Third Eye published in Yoga, and Health.
My articles generated quite a bit of feedback some of which were published in the letters section. I also gave my responses to them. These too were published. I also had one letter specifically asking for help in finding "new" guru movements. This got some response notably from a member from the Dayalbagh group who gave my London friend John Pyman a copy of the book by Maharaj Sahab entitled Discourses on Radhasoami Faith. Apart from letters in the public domain I even did two book reviews as well.. though I could have done a lot more.
During my research into an article connected with Ananda Marg, and Kriya Yoga I met Mr Friedmann in London whose speciality was making industrial films for business. He was an interesting chap, and very helpful. He also seemed upset by the recent death of his guru...who had actually been murdered! I cannot recall his name unfortunately. But this guru had split from Ananda Marg and formed his own group. It is believed that AM as it was sometimes called was responsible for his murder. There is though a lot more I could say on a more positive note but I think what has been said is enough.
Apart from Kriya Yoga I came across a philosophy originally inspired by Sree Sree Mentu Maharaj. I wrote an article on the subject which was co-authored with Nadine Wood who produced Soluna which was an influential magazine in its day. What surprised me was that I discovered that her teacher had a connection with the Radhasoami Faith, and used the word Radhasoami in his meditation technique. I met, and interviewed her at home in Amersham very close to Chesham Bois itself. It transpired she was a television researcher among other things, and was keen on spiritual matters. Sadly, I have been informed that Nadine Wood had recently died (2017). She was a very nice lady, and I feel privileged to have met her...so many years ago..
There is though a lot more I could say on a more positive note but I think what has been said is enough.
Giving out a moody look in this pic...
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