15 May The Church of Synanon

“Our religious posture is: Don't mess with us. You can get killed dead, literally dead... These are real threats … I am quite willing to break some lawyer's legs, and next break his wife's legs, and threaten to cut their child's arm off ... I really do want an ear in a glass of alcohol on my desk."  In 1978, LAPD reported a tape recording of Synanon founder, Chuck Dederich, stating the above in response to its

08 May We Let, We Let it Be

If you’ve never been to a service at the Agape International Spiritual Center, you ought to go if just for the music. Or the sense of joyous celebration, or for the fact that your neighbor will greet you with loving kindness. Services are definitely a finely crafted show: the entertainment value is enormous. Agape was founded and headed by the charismatic

01 May The Scarlet Woman

A retrospective of the artwork of Marjorie Cameron (April 23, 1922 – June 24, 1995) entitled “Cameron: Songs for the Witch Woman” was held at LA’s Museum of Contemporary Art in 2014. Although she had been established within the artistic and avant-garde communities for decades, it was only after her death that her reputation grew. Before that time, Cameron, as she chose to be called, was perhaps most well-known as

24 Apr Flirty Fishing

In 1968, during the height of the hippie and sexual liberation era, a group of Jesus Freaks began baptizing new converts near the Huntington Beach pier. Four years later, by 1972, the Children of God had moved to Laurel Canyon and expanded to include 130 communes around the world. At its peak it claimed eighteen thousand members. How did they grow so quickly? Part of their recruiting method was

17 Apr The Mount Helios Love Cult

The neighbors found Edith suspicious on account of her hair being “bobbed in true radical style.” They fussed about “weird proceedings reported to be of lurid character.” The misfits over there on Mount Helios flew a “crimson love flag,” and participated in “revels and weird rituals.”  Further evidence of dubious activity was that a red light was kept

10 Apr Z for Zsuzsanna

In 1975, a “sting” was arranged by an undercover policewoman against a lone Tarot card reader at her store in Venice, CA, “The Feminist Wicca.” It is hard to believe, but only such a short time ago practicing “fortune telling,” including Tarot, astrology, and psychic readings, was against