JLL Book / Bio Notes

Comparative mythologist, author and teacher John Lash is one of the foremost exponents of the power of myth to direct and shape an individual’s life, as well as history itself.

Robert Sardello, co--founder of the Dallas Institute of Arts and Humanities, called John "the true successor of Mircea Eliade." Others compare him to Joseph Campbell, whose trailblazing work on Parzival and the Grail Quest has been extended by John. He is a lifelong student of world mythology, Tantra, Buddhism, Gnosticism, the pre--Christian Mysteries, alchemy, astrology, and naked-eye astronomy. His latest book, Not in His Image, introduces the concept of Gaian experimental mysticism, or telestic shamanism, as a recovery of the pagan Mysteries.

John has traveled widely throughout the world and lived in Japan, the UK, Greece, Norway, France, Spain and Belgium.

Published works:

The Seeker’s Handbook: The Complete Guide to Spiritual Pathfinding (1991)
Twins and the Double (Thames & Hudson, 1993)
The Hero - Manhood and Power (Thames & Hudson, 1995)
Quest for the Zodiac (Starhenge Books, 1999)
Not in His Image (Chelsea Green, November 2006)

The Seeker’s Handbook, which Jean Houston called “a remarkable cartography into the mazeways of the spiritual journey... at once intellectually exciting and a lot of fun to read,” was a Book-of-the-Month Club and Quality Paperback Book Club Alternate.

In 1981 John founded the Institute for Creative Mythology in Santa Fe, New Mexico. ICM offered an open forum to explore “directive”—psychologically active—myths and their expressions in culture and daily life. At ICM John gave lectures and interactive seminars on a broad range of subjects, including Gnosticism, the erotic psychology of the Troubadours, Mesoamerican calenders, and Goddess rites of participation in the seasonal cycles of nature. Over several years he developed a course in alchemy that resulted in an extensive syllabus and study guide entitled “The Great Work: Alchemy and PsychoEcology.”

Little Red Schoolhouse, Friendship, Maine
where all the trouble began

His unpublished and in-progress works include original studies of alchemy, the Dendera Zodiac, the World Ages, and Gaia-oriented, entheogenic shamanism. He is the leading exponent of metacritique (the radical analysis of belief systems).

John Lash is also co-founder and principal author of metahistory.org, sponsored by the Marion Institute. The purpose of this site is to challenge unexamined beliefs and foster a future myth melding the Sophianic vision of the Gnostics with Gaia theory. Consistent with John's previous work, the site emphasizes the Divine Feminine and gender balance. Metahistory.org presents unique views on alien intrusion (the Gnostic Archons) and develops the third-generation perspective on the entheogenic shamanism that originated with Robert Graves, Aldous Huxley, and R. Gordon Wasson.

India, February 1966
"Hey, up there, have you lost your fuckin' mind?"

In spring 2006 metahistory.org introduced a twin site futureprimitive.org, dedicated to discussing the role of entheogenic practices in neotribal life and sustainable communities of the future. The site is directed by Joanna Harcourt-Smith.

For over 35 years, John Lash has specialized in studies of sidereal mythology, that is, myths found in all cultures around the world relating to the patterns in the skies. He has developed original techniques of observation, combined with a method of reading those patterns and relating them to the way we live and view the world. In Quest for the Zodiac, he shows how the mythic images encoded in the constellations register the place of each individual on the learning curve of the human species. John is recognized as one of the leading scholars on ancient astronomy, the Zodiac, and precession of the equinoxes (World Ages).

With Romy Kundun, Fall 2004
"Left to the human perspective alone,
we cannot even know what it means to be human."

John's latest book, Not in His Image: Gnostic Vision, Sacred Ecology, and the Future of Belief, was published in October 2006. It presents an expose of the suppression of the Pagan Mysteries, including the entheogenic rites at Eleusis and elsewhere, and proposes the Sophianic vision of the Gnostics as a framework for “a story to guide the species,” compatible with Gaia theory, the new science of emergence, and telestic (non-recreational) shamanism.

personal legend

John Lash was married to Jan Michele Kerouac, the only child of Beat Generation icon Jack Kerouac. Upon meeting in New York City in 1967, he and Jan became close friends for 28 years. When Jan died in 1996, John inherited her share of the Kerouac literary legacy, including rights to such works as On the Road and Dr. Sax, which he has rendered as a screenplay. John is also writing a memoir of Jan, entitled Lonesome Daughter.

In 1987 in Santa Fe, New Mexico, John met Joanna Harcourt-Smith. During the 1970s Joanna was married to Timothy Leary (who died in June 1996, a few days after Jan Kerouac—so it happened.) Today Joanna and John work closely on metahistory.org, futureprimitive.org, and other projects relating to Joanna’s extraordinary life story and their common interests.

Contact: jll@metahistory.org