A journey into the mystical and spiritual side of the famed Doors front man Reveals Jim Morrison as a shamanic initiate and esoteric teacher who used his role as a rock singer to promote the adventure of the spirit and express the power of inner experience Examines Morrisons deep occult and artistic influences, including Kurt Seligmanns The Mirror of Magic, Colin Wilsons The Outsider, and the works of Jack Kerouac Draws on Morrisons lyrics and poems, his intimate writings, and the recollections of friends like photographer Paul Ferrara and Doors keyboard player Ray ManzarekThe groundbreaking 1960s band The Doors, named for Aldous Huxleys The Doors of Perception, achieved incredible acclaim and influence, ultimately serving as a key group in the development of psychedelic and progressive rock. At the center of it all was front man Jim Morrison, who died in 1971 at age 27. Yet, as author Paul Wyld reveals, despite Morrisons reputation as a lewd, drunken performer, he was a full-fledged mystical, shamanic figure, a secret teacher of the occult who was not merely central to the development of rock music, but also to the growth of the Western esoteric tradition as a whole.Wyld looks at the mystical works that inspired Morrison, including Kurt Seligmanns The Mirror of Magic, Colin Wilsons The Outsider, and the writings of Nietzsche and Jack Kerouac. Drawing on Morrisons lyrics and poems, his intimate writings, and the recollections of friends like photographer Paul Ferrara and Doors keyboard player Ray Manzarek, the author makes the case that Morrison was not simply a superficial dabbler in the occult but an actual secret teacher transmitting knowledge through the golden thread stretching back to Egypt and Thoth-Hermes.Explaining how Morrison sought to use his role as a rock singer to express the power of inner experience, Wyld shows how praxis was at the heart of Morrisons approach, revealed in his journey through the arduous ordeals of shamanic initiation. He was a shaman, mystic, and sageand an essential part of a great spiritual awakening to which he gave himself over fully.