In this Snippets of Reality in The Prodigal Band Trilogy, I will discuss where I came up with the Red Crystal Amulets worn by the members of my fictional prodigal band, Sound Unltd. And why one or more members, mostly the drummer Tom, channeled spirits, with the crystal or not, often faking it. It is occultist practice, but various New Age cults or religions had a lot to do with my use of these themes.
As a late teen I dabbled some in tarot cards, Ouija boards, and séances, but (as I had stated before) the night in winter of 1970 when a friend of mine called up ‘demons’ (because they couldn’t be anything else with what happened, which was terrifying!) using a Ouija set up (without the board, we used paper with letters and numbers in a circle, and a glass as a pointer), I decided it was best to not dabble in the occult anymore! Yet, I had to include occultist themes in my books because various rock bands of my day used some occultist themes and practices in their music careers. See my previous post on this.
But in the late 80s before I started getting ‘called’ to write the books within the trilogy, I began to associate with various New Age ideas (I was vegetarian then) what with folks I had met, one of which was supposedly ‘taken’ by ‘aliens’ in a ‘UFO’ (Note: Regardless of what this person said or believed, I never bought into the UFO-extraterrestrial aliens philosophy. Why? I need empirical proof they exist!) and was a member of the so-called Ashtar Command with Ashtar as leader and ‘Jesus Sandanda’ as another ascended master type! (Note: Ashtar sounds a lot like Ishtar, a false god/fallen angel type worshiped by ancient Mesopotamians.) I will not mention the man’s name, but he actually, in my presence, channeled some ‘god’ or other, and before doing so ‘cleansed his chakras.’
The man my Swami Negran character is actually based on, Lord Maitreya, is the guiding light of the Masters of Wisdom (among other names) supported by a New Age group called Share International. Its founder, Benjamin Crème, recently passed on, but Maitreya supposedly still walks this earth, again as a Christ-like figure, but with more Buddhist tendencies. Maitreya and Share International came up with Transmission Meditation, (as opposed to Mahesh Yogi’s Transcendental Meditation),where the ‘Masters of Wisdom’ ‘channel’ their ‘wisdom’ through the seven ‘chakras.’ As for the ‘red crystal,’ if you go to pages on Share International’s website you will see a logo with–a red diamond-shaped crystal! Yes, folks, it looks a lot like what Swami Negran’s red crystal would look like. I had first read about Maitreya in an early 90s new age magazine so that is where I came up with the idea of Swami’s red crystal amulet. Plus, red is the color of blood, right? And before I forget, I must thank JRR Tolkien as well for his Lord of the Rings series…the ‘one ring’ to rule them all became the ‘one crystal’ to rule them all, as Swami’s crystal indeed does that.
One more thing…I once read a book by an author of vegan-new age diet themed book I do not remember the name of (because it was destroyed by a rain deluge back in the 80s), but this book mentioned a wheat grass diet someone I know had practiced. Another New Age character, Swami-successor Cole Blessing, promoted this wheat-grass diet. It is somewhat popular today, but I still consider it New Age. Someone I know used it for healing purposes and it worked, but it does not always work. If it works, use it!
Now, onto the snippets.
In the first snippet from the beginning of Chapter Seven of Battle of the Band, the red crystals worn by five of the six band members at a concert in the fictitious city of Richmont has a ‘desired’ (by evil) effect on the fans. A fan (and then later a roadie) called Bobby and his friends can see the effect happening close to the stage, and talk about it upon leaving the venue.
“But listen,” Bobby said. “Did you see the crystals around their necks?”
“Yeah!” Natalie shouted. “The things were red. I saw them.”
“Did you see them glow?”
“Yeah, right, Bobby!” snickered Ralph. “That was just the lights hitting them!”
“Uh, uh. I saw the crystals glow by themselves. When the lights were shining on the crystals, it looked different than when they glowed. A bright, bright red radiating out. Like a shining sun. When those crystals glowed, I felt lighter. Right before I got hit with the bottle. I felt like I was going to be sucked out of my body. A force.”
The others kidded him.
“It’s true! Like, a force grabbed me. A wonderful, warm force wanting to pull me out of my body.”
The blonde said, “Sure! Maybe the devil was trying to claim your soul.”
Natalie jumped in. “That could be! I’ve read about how Sound Unltd is involved with the occult. That’s why they’re the top band in the world right now. They’re really devil worshipers.”
“They are not!” Bobby shouted in defense. “They follow a guy named Swami Negran. That’s who gave ‘em the crystals.”
Ralph agreed. “Yeah. Nothing wrong in that. If other huge rock bands can follow new age gurus, why can’t Sound Unltd follow the Swami?”
“Fine. I still think they’re devil worshipers. But that’s cool.”
And it was even cooler for several hundred other fans that night who allowed their souls to be sucked out of their beings by the crystals.
In the second snippet from Chapter Five of Battle of the Band, drummer Tom fakes channeling the evil god Corion after he ‘cleanses his chakras.’ The interesting part here is that what comes out of his mouth to begin the channeling closely resembles what that ‘Ashtar Command’ person channeled to me (I have the conversation on audio-tape.)
“Please, Tom,” Prissy implored, “do Tina. Channel Corion for Tina like you do for me.” The clairvoyant turned to Mushroom Paul, Moira, and seven artistic masters who enjoyed the occult.
“Not like I do for you, Pris,” the erstwhile drummer said condescendingly. “I do for you once a week.”
Amazed, an artist said, “You can channel a Druidic god at will? Astounding!”
“Ol’ Skinny says he’s the god of the ancient Crag-Dwellers. Yeh. Whenever I please. Made a deal with the guy.” Tom laughed, then faced the Princess of Leandro. “You ready, Tina?”
“Ready.”
“I need absolute silence,” Tom said, then went into his trance and the cleansing of his chakras.
“I welcome your royal presence,” Tom said acting as Corion. “I am the god Corion from the planet Corion diffuse in its spiritual realm having exploded in your solar system and which now resides as rubble around your fourth and fifth planets. Do you have a question for me, Your Grace?”
Tina laughed gaily. “My parents are always bugging me to get married so they can pass on their throne to me. They say if I don’t marry by the end of 1993, I’ll have to marry the Duke of Effingchester.” Groan of displeasure.
Tom really wanted to shout obscenities, but he kept his poker face. “You won’t have to, Your Grace, because that man is not your twin flame, your eternal love. The man you seek is the man I speak through.”
Tina’s eyes jumped. “You mean, Tom? I’m supposed to marry Tom?”
Moira was about to protest, but she held her mouth.
“Marry or not marry, this channel is your twin flame.”
Agitated, Tina said, “But, I can’t marry Tom. My parents would really make a royal stink! Like, I’ve thought about marrying Tom— Skip it. Now I’m really confused. I’m going to have to end this session. Some other time.”
In the last snippet from Chapter Six of The Prophesied Band, Swami’s successor Cole Blessing is introduced, as a practicing New Age healer who uses among other methods, the wheat-grass diet. But he charges a lot of money for his ‘healings.’ The snippet begins with Blessing being interviewed on a television talk show, which is being recorded by singer Erik for his wife, Ger, who due to her bulimia (a subject I will get into later), has come down with esophagus cancer. Blessing later discusses with an assistant at his healing center that Ger has made an appointment for his ‘cure.’
“Dr. Blessing,” asked the smartly-dressed talk show host sitting at a mahogany desk opposite the wavy-brown-haired, forty-four-year-old Blessing dressed in a relaxed white doctor’s coat, “you’ve been called the homeopathic miracle worker of the nineties. Your macrobiotic food diet has been documented by traditional allopathic doctors as having cured or remitted twelve cancer cases—the most famous being that of Countess Cortesia reported last week. How did you discover this cure?”
“I myself was a victim of throat cancer five years ago.” The camera focused on his youthful, aquiline features. Not a line on his face. “I began reading how sickly old women in India were healed of their aging afflictions on a strict macrobiotic diet. No meat, no dairy products, no breads and nuts, no chemically-laden vegetables and fruits. All organic foods, primarily fruits.”
“But your main ingredient in the therapy is wheat-grass.”
“Yes. Wheat grass can be eaten, but here we make juice out of it. The body uses all of its enzymes for maximum energy. It’s one of nature’s simplest and most complete foods.”
And on and on. And for this denial of four of the five basic food groups, foods handed down to us by the Goodness of The Creator, the cost was a measly two million dollars.
…
Much later that day Blessing walked through his outdoor therapeutic jungle of Amazonian flora with a young associate, who stopped the ‘doctor’ short. “I’m setting up everything with Ger Manilow’s secretary. Including a guest cottage for the family.”
“Good. I want both Ger Manilow and Erik Manning here to witness her cure. The regimen will certainly help him overcome his alcohol problems. And she is very important to the institute. Not only can I prove again that my cure will heal cancer, but her bulimia at the same time.”
“Always thinking of the PR value, aren’t you Cole?”
“Humph. Don’t be so negative. I really am interested in her case.”
“And her money,” the associate said snidely. “That thousand acre farm you want to buy in central Florida to grow your wheat grass. That land south of Richmont, California, for your Ashram.”
Blessing turned on him. “It’s not about money. It’s about curing the sick.”
“Sure, Cole. If all you want to do is cure the sick, you can do that in Calcutta alongside Mother Theresa.”
Sigh. “I’m not interested in curing beggars. I want to help those who greatly contribute to society.”
Aside, the other said, “Like we really need more diet-queens and rock stars.”
For more about these New Age ideas in my books, here are links to the various ebook and print versions here.
The Prodigal Band Trilogy © 2019 by Deborah Lagarde, Battle of the Band © 1996 by Deborah Lagarde, The Prophesied Band © 1998 by Deborah Lagarde and The Prodigal Band © 2018 by Deborah Lagarde. Permission needed to copy any materials off this page.
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