THE SOURCE: The Untold Story of Father Yod, YaHoWha 13, and The Source Family
Isis Aquarian and Electricity Aquarian
Process Media, 2007
“The Source Family” (film, 2012)
Jodi Wille and Maria Demopoulous
Jim Baker founded some of the nation’s first health food restaurants. Opening in the late sixties, the Source Restaurant on LA’s Sunset Boulevard quickly became a popular place for hip stars to grab a vegetarian bite. With its charismatic founder and staff dressed in flowing white robes, the Source attracted a great deal of attention. Baker began offering public meditation sessions that would include his own mixed bag of spiritual teachings gleaned from Eastern religious thought and Western esotericism. The group that formed around the restaurant soon coalesced into the Family. Baker transformed into Father Yod, after the ancient name of God, and published the book Liberation that was given out at the Source.
The Source Family rented a mansion in the Hollywood Hills and began an experiment in spiritually based communal living. Thus began a unique odyssey within the explosion of spiritual experimentation, psychedelic music and intentional communities that flourished in the wake of the 60s cultural revolution.
Written by two members of the Family, The Source tells the fascinating story of this adventure from its earliest days to the founder’s hang-gliding death in 1975. Appointed Family archivist, Isis Aquarian is in a unique position to tell the story as direct witness and on-scene documentarian. The text alternates between first person narrative and other family members’ recollections and includes over 200 color and black and white photographs. Sleeved in the back is a CD of rare Ya Ho Wa 13 live performances and Family recordings.
In 2012 film makers Jodi Wille and Maria Demopoulous released the documentary “The Source Family”. The film is currently available for streaming on Netflix, which is where I caught it the other night. This led me to recall Process Media’s edition of The Source whose media packet I had received when originally released. They make a good compliment to each other. If you enjoy immersing yourself in stories of spiritual experimenters and the communities that form around them, as I do, than the Source materials are definitely something to add to your list.
Also available is a current reprint of Father Yod’s Liberation originally issued by the Source Family in 1970.