Dream Life
remembering my friend
“A word is a bud attempting to become a twig. How can one not dream while writing? It is the pen which dreams. The blank page gives the right to dream.” -Gaston Bachelard
In this post, I’ll share from my book Dream Life, about Iona Miller:
“The afterlife is an imaginative creation. The dead live on in an imaginal realm, constructed from the stuff of memories. They live on in our hearts and personal and imaginative memories. This memory of Nature is the World Soul -- the dwelling-house of symbols. They still live beyond time and space.”- Iona Miller
How do I even begin to write about an icon such as Iona Miller? Everything about her is beyond the scope of what I am able to grasp as she was so dynamic. All I have are my experiences with her. To start with, I’ll let her describe herself in her own words, as her mountain of work is certainly quite an achievement:
“Iona Miller is a nonfiction writer for the academic and popular press, clinical hypnotherapist, and multimedia artist.”
Those who wish to learn more can dive into her website, where they discover more, such as the sample below:
“Iona Miller is a nonfiction writer for the academic and popular press, clinical hypnotherapist (ACHE) and multimedia artist. Her work is an omni-sensory fusion of intelligence, science-art, new physics, symbolism, source mysticism, futuring, and emergent paradigm shift, creating a unique viewpoint.
Ms. Miller has taught numerous community education classes (RCC) on Jungian Studies, Biofeedback, Hypnotherapy and related topics. She also oversees numerous curatorial, archival and genealogical projects. She has served in a professional capacity at Southern Oregon Hypnotherapy, Asklepia Foundation, Institute for Applied Consciousness Science, the Wisdom Center, Science-Art, USA, and Life Energies Research Institute.”
In 2015, Iona Miller was awarded the SARCA medal for Creative Physics, science-art. and bridging the cultural gap. She was a renaissance woman. I’m in awe when I look at all that she has done. Even her publishing list is extensive:
“Ms. Miller is published by Phanes Press, Destiny Books (Inner Traditions), Autonomedia, Nexus Magazine, Paranoia Magazine, Alchemy Journal, Green Egg, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Jungian Analysis Journal (Moscow), ECODITION (Geneva), DNA Decipher Journal (DNADJ), Scientific God Journal (SGJ), Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research (JCER), Journal of Nonlocality & Remote Mental Interactions (JNLRMI), Science-Art Research Centre Australia (SARCA), Dream Network, Chaosophy Journal, OAK-Publishing, PM&E, DNA Monthly, Antibothis, Pop Occulture, and more.”
After swimming through swirling dimensions of information found online regarding her, I wonder if I have finally discovered the magnitude of her work? As I’m still working on this tribute to her work, the final book is what will materialize out of this search. But will it have any relevance? As this is more about my memories of her, it won’t be the same as a biography, which I don’t feel qualified to write. I’m not sure if there is interest in that from someone like me. Maybe to those who knew her. To me, it has relevance. You see, I can’t get these vague memories out of my mind. Maybe it is because they have already had a huge impact on me. I’m not sure I will be able to relay that to those who don’t know her. She really was mind-blowing.
I might as well face the fact that trying to capture an accurate portrayal of Iona Miller is going to be hard when I never met her in person. If space and time don’t exist, like some people say, then it doesn’t matter anyway. Besides this is Iona we are talking about, and I’m sure space and time would never get in her way. Come. Let us see where it takes us. To begin, we need some background. We’ll start with a tour of a mysterious labyrinth as if with an invitation born out of her words, given below:
The Labyrinth
You have reached a passageway between the past and the future.
You are not lost, but what you are looking for has not yet been found.
You may have to dig deeper. The way out is in.
Here is some about her life:
“My first exposure to metaphysics was in the 60's. When I was a teenager for the fun of it we used to go see many of the mystics and psychics in California, land of fruits and nuts. Roadside psychics, card-readers, hypnotists and channels peppered the SoCal dreamscape. There was everything from a budding Scientology and Eckankar to a variety of personality cults and mystic schools, such as BOTA, Brotherhood of Light, and SRF. There were also the UFO buffs who either welcomed or feared the Space Brothers. We were warned every weekend at the matinee about the perils of Aliens, a thinly-veiled metaphor of Communist threat.”
Like Iona, I was joining every group I could find, wanting to find “truth,” if it even exists. I longed for others like me and wanted to explore the great unknown and secret corridors. It gave life meaning and direction...and joy.
“Occult celebrities cross-pollinated one another, like professional psychic Hans Holzer and master perfumer Lady Sara Cunningham-Carter, life long secretary to diva Yma Sumac. She is widely known for magical perfume and incense blends and as founder of "Church of the Eternal Source" (Egyptian Mysteries) and "First Church of Tiphareth" (Holy Qabalah) in Pasadena. She was friend and student of Israel Regardie. Her help was invaluable to me on The Magickal & Ritual Use of Perfumes. Her oil of Abramelin is a knockout. Lady Sara is also a professional psychic and has taught alchemy, creative visualization, subliminal programming and vibrational therapy. Here artwork and jewelry is sold under the Rainbow Shaman brand.
Israel Regardie, Golden Dawn magician, was personal secretary of Aleister Crowley. He was a Reichian naturopath and practiced his healing arts in LA. The notorious Babylon Working of the OTO Agape Lodge only stopped when rocket scientist Jack Parsons mysteriously blew himself up in his lab. L. Ron Hubbard got his ideas for a personality cult from Crowley's shenanigans combined with his own sci fi fantasies. Hollywood and Pasadena were hotbeds of such cults. Rosicrucians and Manly Palmer Hall are among the more widely known influences.”
She found her way into the realm of interesting people, and I’m sure they taught her a lot along the way, which can only be gotten by first-hand experiences. It seems to have left an impression on her. One thing is certain. She was a free spirit, a child of the 60’s, dropping acid (I’m guessing) with the Brotherhood of Eternal Love (The organization was started by John Griggs as a commune), and also delving into the arcane, including Thelema. Fueled by love and a pioneering spirit, she ventured forth into the Great Mysteries of Life.
I hadn’t known there was a Brotherhood of Eternal Love and Timothy Leary connection as I hadn’t heard about the group until she passed. They made "Orange Sunshine" acid, which was the first largely available form of LSD after its possession was made illegal. I was touched that some of the members came forth to grieve at her passing. After all this time, her connections ran deep in so many places.
This was all before my time. I shouldn’t have been surprised to learn that she knew Leary. She wrote:
“Later I asked Tim Leary how do you "turn it off," but he was no help on that. Once I tapped my psychedelic wellspring it became a gusher -- an infinity of visionary imagery which continues to flow and demands its own creative emergence. My question to the answer of drugs was, "How do you do this without drugs." Many found that answer in meditation. The drug became irrelevant….
In 1968 I underwent another paradigm shift "into the mystic." Esoterics offered a holistic drug-free alternative to altering consciousness. It was the first answer to my question: "How do you do it without drugs?" Meditation was the comprehensive answer, often combined with types of magic. The third drug-free alternative is experiential therapy, either with or without a navigational guide. I followed all these paths developing them in conjunction with one another, learning the mysteries of Eastern and Western traditions. Later, this would be recontextualized in my Jungian studies and practice.”
When I met Iona, she was still very much into Jung and Hillman. I started reading what she wrote about them to get insights, as well as to explore many subjects she was creating websites for. Her mind hungered and even fed mine the leftovers she had to share. I’m still working on sampling them.
Let us hear more about her:
“I was exposed to the mothership of esoteric memes -- Theosophy, as full immersion experience. I landed in Ojai, California, an artists colony, Theosophical center and home of Krotona, which began as a Utopian oasis in Hollywood. Krotona put a premium on Forbidden Knowledge and extraordinary human potential. It was the esoteric vanguard of "Be All You Can Be," living on as many planes as you can imagine and stabilize. It was essentially a path of self-initiation, even more encouraged by Krishnamurti and his offshoot Foundation.
This theosophical center with its huge library of metaphysics was a virtual Castaglia for the impressionable mind. Castaglia was home of the Muses and the abstract realm of the intelligentsia in Herman Hesse's Magister Ludi (aka "The Glass Bead Game"). Hesse's books were favorites of the sixties and early-seventies turned-on generation, along with those of J.R.R. Tolkien and Carlos Castaneda. Of all these works, the austere Glass Bead Game was the least approachable, yet keenly sought, as it had about it the scent of surpassing wisdom.
Still, I've always remained faithful to my main interest: the interface of psyche and matter ~ that point where psyche matters. As in chaos theory, all the creative action is at the boundary of any field, the creative threshold, the leading edge. It is in finding meaning and expressing that meaning that we exalt our humanity in our individuation. We don't actually change but our experience of reality does and this experience is largely outside of our "conscious" grasp. This is one source of the value and meaning of art, at least challenging art that goes beyond the boundaries of the frame and sofa wall. MAKE ART, NOT WAR.”
We all influence each other, like Iona said above. Though many Thelemites and other occultists fight and have stupid power struggles, real or illusionary, we all are affecting each other on some level or trying not to be affected. She affected me too. And her mentors were impressive. I think I’m lucky to have known her and to have had her guidance at times. No one was ever quite like her. She was a rose in a world of weeds.
“Again I had some great mentors to learn from on the way, including the Grand Dames of the Agape Lodge of North Hollywood, Phyllis Seckler and Helen Parsons Smith. I was born and raised in spitting distance of their notorious Pasadena workings. But I selected not to go the OTO route, with “Our Father, Aleister Crowley”, because I wanted to write prolifically LIKE Crowley, not memorize his entire catalog of works or “worship” him like another Theosophical “ass-ended master”. I am not saying I have matched Crowley in any way, but I admired his impressive body of work.
Phyllis was certainly the most serious about her work, and tried to move the teaching forward systematically. Whether her efforts survive the power wars remains to be seen. Helen had moved away from any semblance of magical lifestyle. I specifically did NOT join OTO because Phyllis said to me, "No one in the OTO has gotten their Angel, except maybe me." That didn't leave much for me there, as getting your angel is the basic point….
They were, however, dedicated preservationists in their own ways of the Crowley legacy. They taught me indirectly to keep the focus on the transformational process, not a bunch of fraternal in fighting and administration. They did not understand my contemporization of magical philosophy, much like elder scientists are loath to embrace a new paradigm.”
I think Iona no doubt affected this world and left her own legacy. She was in so many areas of research and areas of expertise that I hope others find an area that interests them. Even though she is gone, her work’s appeal will live on.
When asked about death, she said she believes you “returned to the ‘ground state’ of the vacuum potential, cosmic zero - to Nuit. Frankly, I think when you’re dead, you’re dead - fade to black.”
As something once told me, “Nothing is ever gone. Anything can exist again in some form. You just have to want it.” If you want to come back and finish your work someday, you just have to want it. Maybe we won’t be the same physical expression, but some version of ourselves, and from that void comes All potential possibilities. She knew that. She also studied reincarnation. But would she even want to after she already gave her all to this amazing life? Perhaps she transcended it to go on to even bigger things.
When looking at those who were saddened by her death, I found it interesting how pagans, Buddists, Thelemites, Druids, Jews and Christians loved her. Even fugitives from Brotherhood of Eternal Love as well as those on the side of law enforcement loved her. Unleash Iona around the world, and you’d probably have world peace in a day or two. That was her gift. She could develop a rapport with anyone. I was amazed at how she could be so well received by others no matter their background, ideology or religion. If only the rest of society could have that ability. Maybe because she was an objective observer she was so free of judgment that you felt seen and heard. She could make you feel like you mattered. I just hope someone made her feel that way.