Upon reading this article’s title, you might wonder how in the tarnation there could be any similarities between Elvis Presley, history’s most famous rock star, and Philip K. Dick, one of the 20th century’s most impactful sci-fi authors. How could a Memphis rocker parallel a California dreamer?
Welcome to the world and process of The Occult Elvis. As mentioned, the book wasn’t exactly channeled, but I became quantum entangled with Elvis. During this techno-theurgical process, my favorite speculative author descended from some celestial data cloud or mothership. I can assure you there was no projection or shoehorning.
Understanding the similarities between these two giants in their fields helps us comprehend the arcane forces that elevated Elvis to America’s Magician. Moreover, their connection allows a snapshot of the era that shaped the Silent Generation and the rise of the postwar American empire. I hope it provides clues to close the loop and discover what manifestation the Empire (that never ended) will take once it collapses along with a large part of Western culture. Best of times, worst of times kinda vibes.
Here is a brief listicle I think you’ll find as startling as I did once the downloads arrived.
The Elvis Presley and Philip K. Dick Parallels
Elvis and Dick lost twin siblings as babies, Jesse and Jane respectively. The tragic events tormented them throughout most of their lives, even as their dead twins doubled as their constant guides/daemons (voices in their heads, dream visitors, consciences). What they underwent is sometimes known psychologically as a Twinless Survivor (or Womb Twin Survivor). Briefly, the condition is a mixture of survivor’s guilt and constant seeking of the greater questions of life (especially destiny). As I write in the book:
Phil survived, but like Elvis, he was “haunted for the rest of his life by his missing Other.” And like Elvis, the most monumental event of his life happened very early—including the damage that came with it, the nagging, eternal guilt of surviving. As Phil said: “I felt guilty—somehow I got all the milk.”
Twinless Survivors are often creative souls and profound thinkers, but on the shadow side, they tend to be workaholics, addiction-prone, and self-destructive.
Elvis and Dick had dysfunctional relationships with their mothers, while their fathers were beta males sidelined at many points in their lives. The King suffered the disorder known as lethal enmeshment, a destructive and extreme codependence when a mother smothers a child and makes them a de facto proxy spouse. Raised by Gladys, he found himself eternally on the poles of being a responsible adult and a mischievous child, unable to establish healthy boundaries or a firm sense of self. On the other extreme, Dick’s mother, Dorothy, was distant and cold, which also caused psychic damage to the author while growing up. What are the effects of these types of maternal abuse? Let’s do it again: They tend to be workaholics, addiction-prone, and self-destructive.
Due to the loss of their twins, bouts of harsh poverty, and abusive parental dynamics, both Elvis and Dick were never able to maintain healthy, intimate relationships with other people, especially women.
Elvis and Dick were self-taught researchers and voracious readers who delved into many religious traditions and created their unique, eclectic, and esoteric systems. The duo left few theological stones unturned—from Eastern Mysticism to the Western Esoteric Tradition to nascent New Age. They embraced several divinatory practices, including Tarot, astrology, and numerology, while believing in reincarnation and that the world was some type of illusion or simulation. Both read the Gospel of Thomas and enjoyed meditation.
Elvis and Dick experienced in the mid-sixties a mystic vision where a demiurgic entity appeared in the sky. With Elvis, it was the face of Stalin formed from the clouds in the Arizona desert, a force of pure iniquity that threatened to destroy him while revealing it existed in his heart. With Dick, it was a metallic visage that mockingly showed him that it ruled the world and he was insignificant. As Dick wrote:
I looked up at the sky and saw a face. I didn’t really see it but the face was there, and it was not a human face; it was a vast visage of perfect evil. . . . It had empty slots for eyes—it was metal and cruel and, worst of all, it was God.
The events brought them closer to Jesus and an inner Christ. They considered themselves Christian, regardless of how far out they engaged with alternative spirituality.
Elvis and Dick experienced several extraterrestrial encounters, and both mentioned they might be aliens. They also gained heightened psychic and prophetic abilities during that period.
Elvis and Dick believed in a secret brotherhood of mystics fighting for the sake of humanity (Elvis the White Brotherhood/Ascended Masters; Dick the Secret Three-Eyed Christians battling the Empire).
Elvis and Dick took enormous amounts of amphetamines to sustain their workaholism. Elvis started taking the stimulant when he was in the army to cope with the demanding double duty of being a soldier and a celebrity. Dick found that the drug allowed him to push out novels at a speed fast enough to pay his bills. Ultimately, the two abused prescription drugs to the point they were walking pharmaceutical labs, ending up in hospitals at times because of the maltreatment of their bodies/minds.
Elvis and Dick were known for their paranoia and conspiracy theory mentality. Dick’s distrust of normative reality is legendary, and too many viewpoints to mention. With Elvis, some include denying the official narrative of the JFK assassination, seeing foul play in the death of Bruce Lee, and believing the Vatican held ancient secrets in his archives.
Elvis and Dick urged the Nixon administration to ramp up The War on Drugs. Both viewed street drugs as dangerous but pharmaceuticals as safe and effective (go figure). The King actually met Nixon on this issue at the White House while Dick wrote a letter to the president. Both were tired of a crumbling culture and losing friends to drugs.
Elvis and Dick understood the massive technological shifts in postwar America. Elvis exploited and rode that wave, while Dick would warn against its dangers for most of his career. I write in the book:
We can almost envision Elvis and Phil as a sort of two-headed god, like Janus, one looking backward and one looking forward in their views of technology and how it affected the population. The two men had their differences. Phil called himself a “Berkeley beatnik” who migrated from liberal-left to traditional libertarianism. Conversely, Elvis was a Southern boy who championed traditional values when not acting as a reckless rock star. Nevertheless, both were open-minded about complex issues when not struggling with drugs or mental disorders.
Elvis and Dick had their lives cut short because of constant narcotic use and unhealthy lifestyles. What is startling is that they predicted their deaths with alarming accuracy.
And Elvis and Dick changed history and human reality because of their work and self-destruction.
They Couldn’t Walk Out
I delve deeper into these parallels and cover more in The Occult Elvis. I’m still rather surprised at their connection sometimes. I also highlighted the significant differences that shaped their destinies. I wish they had lived longer, but a key theme in the book is fate and creating some sort of destiny with the cards dealt to us.
I’ll end this post with a heartfelt part of the book concerning the two American giants:
The salient lesson in this chapter might be that both Elvis and Phil were “caught in a trap.” As much as they studied and explored, they couldn’t notice their blind spots, like drugs, dysfunctional relationships, and tunnel vision on specific issues. They were “caught in a trap” of their culture, believing pharmaceuticals were safe, wars were a necessary part of the civic order, and being alone was the great failure of the male sex. The trap was fate, and from early on, their fortune was sealed because of a lost sibling, abusive mothers, irresolute fathers, economic hardship, and a society lacking mental health support for children. All the theophanies and therapies couldn’t build back their Humpty-Dumpy psyches, and this gave them a life of shattered relationships and mental breakdowns.
Are you better at playing dice with Lady Fate?
