Touched by the Presence: From Blondie's Bowery and Rock and Roll to Magic and the Occult

A memoir of magic, rock and roll, and becoming who you are

• Traces the author’s journey from bassist and founding member of Blondie to writer on consciousness and the esoteric tradition

• Explores his involvement in Gurdjieff’s Fourth Way, Crowley’s Thelema, and his relationship with the bestselling author Colin Wilson

• Reveals how an early love of comic books, science fiction, and fantasy led him to the esoteric tradition

Not many members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame are also recognized authorities on the western inner tradition. Gary Lachman is. In 1978, Blondie released the top-ten hit, “(I am Always Touched by Your) Presence, Dear.” Gary Lachman (then Gary Valentine) had written the song for his girlfriend after the series of shared dreams and telepathic experiences they had. Thus started his life-long obsession with the potentials of consciousness.

In this memoir, Gary recounts how he went from being a successful rock and roller to a writer on consciousness and the western inner tradition. He shares encounters with rockers such as the Ramones, New York Dolls, Patti Smith, the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Iggy Pop and also Timothy Leary, William Burroughs, and Allen Ginsberg. Living with Blondie’s Debbie Harry and Chris Stein on New York’s Bowery, a block from the birthplace of punk rock, CBGB, Gary discovered occultism via a follower of Aleister Crowley. Post rock and roll, Gary’s occult studies brought him to the Golden Dawn, Manly P. Hall, Gnosticism, and a stint in Crowley’s O.T.O. He details his time in the Fourth Way, including a visit to the site of Gurdjieff’s Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man in France, and his years studying philosophy and literature and working as a Science Writer, while managing a famous metaphysical bookshop at the height of the New Age. Excursions to Stonehenge, Avebury, and Glastonbury in search of ley lines, and pilgrimages to Colin Wilson’s home in Cornwall, are a few of the highlights of this introspective, humorous account of a nascent writer’s struggle from rock and roll to individuation.