S7-E18 – Manly P.Hall, L.A. and the 80s-Tamra Lucid

Please welcome my very first guest in this new year, interviewer, producer, author and musician, Tamra Lucid as we’ll be having a wonderful time talking about her book ‘Making the Ordinary Extraordinary – My Seven Years in Occult Los Angeles with Manly Palmer Hall’ which has just been published with Inner Traditions.

This book is a rarely found gem that starts out with the touching account of how Tamra and her later husband Ronnie Pontiac met at an underground club in the 80s back in L.A. and how he – despite of not exactly looking like a prince on a white horse – literally saved her from a pretty dangerous situation. They moved in together two weeks later and soon discovered Manly P. Hall’s opus magnum, ‘The Secret Teachings of All Ages’. Both were simply amazed by the writings and when they found out that ‘Mr. Hall’ as Tamra prefers to call him to this day they decided to attend his lectures with the Philosophical Research Society.

“PRS had lovely staff-and-friends Xmas parties. Everyone looked forward to seeing Mr. Hall saunter in with a warm smile on his face, greeting everyone, causing us all to grin like idiots. The feeling was more family than any family event I’d ever attended. Cards and gifts were exchanged. I remember one year Roger Weir gave MPH a huge tome about Alexandria I was so eager to peruse, but I never got to because MPH had it in the shelf behind his desk, and I didn’t want to bother him. In this pic MPH is eyeing the cookies wrapped in red and green cellophane. Wasn’t Marie beautiful? She was over 80 then. Notice my festive holiday fashion sense: black. Capricorn much? Hovering behind me protectively is Ronnie Pontiac” *

Tamra tells how she and Ronnie became involved with Manly P. Hall and his wife Marie on an intimate level so that Mr. Hall hired her and chose Ronnie as a proof reader for his alchemical bibliography. They both became close friends with the Halls and because of that their lives changed completely which Tamra explains in detail.

In our conversation, we talk about psychological issues, alchemical transmutations, how the newly created genre of Riot Grrrl Music came into play with all that and how Tamra combined all this with metaphysics by means of a healing process. We go into great depths on Mr. Hall’s personality, his ideal to be of service and his vision of a truly happy, resilient and spiritual society and what might be needed in order to establish it.

Tamra will also talk about the break up with the Halls which was and still is a tragic and sad one and had far reaching implications on both sides. However, we proceed with some less difficult issues when we discuss the meaning of Hall’s teachings for today’s society and today’s students of the Western Esoteric Traditions.

My guest will finally explain her personal daily practice which is something she hasn’t done in her writings yet and also give some glimpses on future book projects with Inner Traditions that she or Ronnie are parts of.

“The ceremony took place in the Hall’s backyard. They picked the time and date. Look! It’s Ronnie with short hair! In a suit! He still looks like an anime villain though. If you want to know who the handsome maid-of-honor on my left is you’ll have to read my book. Let’s just say that the maid-of-honor and the best man were a lovely couple. The best man wrote Spiritualist books and the maid-of-honor was a past life regression therapist who made the most heavenly apricot jam” *

* The texts under the images are by Tamra Lucid herself, from her facebook page

Music played in this episode

The three tracks are performed by LUCID NATION, Tamra’s own band which she also talks about in the interview.

A punk rock Exile on Main Street with shades of The Stooges, riot grrrl, Pere Ubu, and even The Doors. — MAGNET MAGAZINE

Lucid Nation was more experimental than a lot of punk and Riot Grrrl bands in the late 90s. Their sound packed a punch (it can remind me of Sonic Youth, and not only because they cover “Youth Against Fascism.”) The lyrics are feminist, outspoken, and unapologetic. “The Sun Doesn’t Rise in the Slaughterhouse” is about animal rights, “Dad” is about environmental activism, and “Penetration,” a song about rape, sets my heart on fire. —ROOKIE MAGAZINE MUSIC THAT ENDURES

Songs range from aggressive screaming punk to beautifully melodic rhythm and blues, the very definition of garage-rock. Like Sleater Kinney and Bikini Kill, Lucid Nation has opened for both , her band’s music is raw, poetic, sloppy and infectious, and Tacoma Ballet is simply a bare-bones kick-ass rock and roll record. —ROLLING STONE

The jaw dropping one in a million talent of this band is poet/vocalist Tamra Lucid. Her squeals, punk howls, growls, and soft cajoling steal the spotlight. Like a Marianne Faithful full of wild abandon or a Courtney Love with more soul and a wider variety of tonal deliveries, wailing through angry, sultry, mournful, demanding, accusatory, she sounds like a demented street sage baring her soul with wide open screams while hiding angel wings of delicate beauty under a shabby, dirty raincoat. —TANGERINE MAGAZINE

1) KINDRED

(Track starts at 6:46)

2) NIGHT PROWLER

(Track starts at 52:50)

3) SHORELINE GOODBYE

(Track starts at 1:34:50)

Intro and Outro Music
especially written and recorded for the Thoth-Hermes Podcast by Chris Roberts