Appropriation of The Source Family Narrative

To say that I am disgusted by the most recent appropriation of The Source Family by one person who now has created an embarrassing exhibit at The Museum of Sex in New York City is an understatement, and I am not alone in feeling that way.  It was bad enough having to actually endure the sexual practices imposed by Jim Baker while being in The Source Family and suffering from years of residual shame and embarrassment from that experience, but to now have one woman who was never in The Source Family appropriate the entire story and adapt the narrative to suit her own purposes which seem to be only about promoting herself is just too much.  Many of us who were actually in The Source Family have tried to put the awful occult sexual practices imposed by Jim Baker that he adopted after reading books by Aleister Crowley and The Golden Dawn behind us and forget about them.  Yet, one person continues to take and use the story of The Source Family for her own personal purposes never considering the impact that her actions have on many of the former members especially women like myself.  Exploitation of every aspect of The Source Family appears to be the only purpose of one person, and her most recent exploit is the most egregious yet.  One woman has adapted and attached her own narrative to that of any entire group of people, as though she had firsthand experience.  To present the sexual practices imposed by Jim Baker as being something that everyone willing participated is the farthest thing from the truth about what was really going on.  No one willingly wanted to participate in the sexual occult practices which Jim Baker decided to impose!  It was never a group decision, or something that any of us had a say or choice in doing!  But, that's what happens in a cult when you've adopted the transcendent belief system of a man whom you considered to be your earthly spiritual father and is exactly what happened in The Source Family.  The only willing participants were the most diehard entrenched devotees of Jim Baker's.  The rest of us (especially the women) just obeyed Jim Baker's directives.  The majority of family members didn't want to participate in Jim Baker's sexual practices which I doubt is reflected in the exhibit at the Museum of Sex.  Please don't present something that was just not true and create an exhibit around the sexual abuses that many of us endured while in The Source Family, because it is a painful thing for someone like me to see happening.    

Who Were We?

Jim Baker left Kauai with a handful of family members that included Makushla and a couple of his other women who did not have infants, because the women with infants were left behind. A small handful of sons went along; Damian primarily to take care of arrangements along the way.  Baker and the small entourage went to San Francisco to plan his escape to Nepal, under the guise of searching for a new place for the rest of the family to move.  When in reality, it was only Jim Baker wanting to escape the worsening conditions on Kauai.  So, when another former family member recently suggested that I listen to the taped recording of Jim Baker at The Fairmont Hotel in San Franciso on 3/1/1975 because they had listened to it recently and were appalled at how callous, uncaring and self-absorbed Jim Baker actually sounded listening to him speak all these years later.  The tape is available here https://www.gragroup.com/sourcefamily.html on Series I for anyone who wants to listen for themselves.

I will summarize what is on that tape.  Jim Baker is sitting in a luxury hotel room at The Fairmont Hotel in San Franciso with not more than 7-8 people in the room sitting around him and are considered the "we" who Jim Baker continually refers to when he said the following to one of his wives/women who answered the phone at the Kauai compound, after she tells him that everything is going smoothly; Jim Baker says, "Everything is going smoothly?  Alright we're going to take care of that.  You know that money that Ahom asked for the other day, well we're not going to send it and the reason we;re not going to send it is not because we don't have it.  We have it.  But, we're not going to send it. Whaddaya think of that?"  he says laughing along with those around him.  Again, who were the "we" he was referring?  If the majority of the family members were still on Kauai; then he must have been referring to himself and the handful of family members there with him in San Franciso.  He created a smaller version of an us vs them scenario where "we" were the small handful of family members with him at the hotel in San Franciso, and the "them/they" the remaining 100 family members left on Kauai.  Although, no one would have questioned anything that Jim Baker did or said at that point; especially if you were lucky enough to have escaped Kauai with him and be staying at The Fairmont Hotel in San Franciso enjoying the perks that went with all of that!  While the rest of us were abandoned and left behind on Kauai to fend for ourselves by prevailing upon the island of Kauai for welfare support.  That is what Jim Baker was counting on.

The tape begins with Jim Baker talking about welfare for the family members on Kauai may come through because, "For the life of me, I don't know what else they can do."  Jim Baker believed the island of Kauai should be held responsible for the remaining family members on Kauai.....not him.  One minute he's saying, "Now with everybody here taken care of with a safe place, a legal place to live; for just a few thou (thousand dollars); I can go to Nepal and check that out and begin the wheels turning over there to bring us all over there." Then the next minute he's telling Atla not to deposit a $1,000 check, because he's not going to send the money to Kauai.  He says "So, those in Hawaii are alright....they're alright.  However, we cannot afford $1,000 to send over there.  (Again, who were the "we" that he was referring to?)  Atla, so you redeposit that check and next time you talk with Ahom you drop the sad news to them."

So, basically one minute Jim Baker has agreed to send $1,000 to the remaining group of family members on Kauai where all of the women and children still remained, including his own three women/wives and his three babies!  Because he refused to send money.  Why, because it would be less for him to spend on hotel rooms and room service and first-class tickets to Nepal with Makushla?  He proceeded to say, "I want them to really suffer."  Everyone around him laughed.  It didn't seem to matter that 'them' included his own babies!  It was really disturbing to listen to Jim Baker rationalize his actions while trying to present it all as spiritual lessons that he wouldn't want to deprive the family members on Kauai of.  Dress it up as a spiritual teaching or lesson and your followers will believe anything you say and so he proceeds to tell the members on Kauai, "Sweethearts, now you can teach like never before.  I think you hear me."  Telling the handful of followers surrounding him at The Fairmont Hotel, "I want the island to see it.  If they (the family on Kauai) left there now; if we pulled them out now when they're in a position to teach like that; it would be a tragic mistake. Provided we don't get weak and pull them out through our concern in the matter."  Concern in the matter??!!  What the hell!  How could Jim Baker and the small group of followers not be concerned with the welfare of all the children left on Kauai?  He continues on saying, "The matter is perfect.  Let it fulfill itself now that the city (meaning the welfare department on Kauai) is going to have to feed them. What are they going to say about that?  What if they're all out there on the road and they've moved them out with no food, no place to lay their head.  What's the island going to do?"  The tragic mistake was how Jim Baker was using some made up spiritual bs how the women with babies and small children three of whom were his own needed to fend for themselves while he sat in a nice comfortable hotel room in San Franciso being waited on hand and foot and obeyed by the small contingent of followers lucky enough to have escaped the worsening conditions on Kauai. 

It was difficult listening to the tape of Jim Baker from 1973 of him shouting in a very loud, bombastic voice telling Atla, "Get them on the phone for me.  I want to talk to Ahom.....or Isis, or any of the women.  I will talk to the first woman of Yahowhaho's who picks up the phone. If she's not a woman of Yahowhaho's, if she's not one of my wives then she's to get the nearest wife.  Now is the time for the champions" in Jim Baker's usual histrionics.  Because throughout the length of the family, Jim Baker would continually create distinctions between people in the family to make some feel more chosen and special to him as in "my wives" to evoke their loyalty and obedience to him and by showering praise on them.  Loud and bombastic, literally shouting into the phone.  But, Jim Baker had become so deluded in his role as Yahowhaho which made it easy for him to tell the little group of "we" sitting in front of him in San Francisco, "What a learning experience for my children.  What a tightening experience.  No, no I wouldn't deny them or they, they or them that; so you're not to send them that $1,000."  Money that would have gone to feed the children, his own three babies among them.  

Jim Baker was literally shouting into the phone, "Now is the opportunity for my children to learn so rapidly it will blow their minds.  Now, do you have the stomach for it?  If they move you out on the road, it's the best thing that could happen.  If they allow you to remain there without food; it's the best thing that could happen.  There's the situation.  You're there on the property. You are without food.  You are without sustenance."  Making it all sound so nonchalant. Then he says something unbelievably petty, "Listen, I'm not going to pay for a lot of long distance phone calls.  Now, when you call me, I want it to be something heavy.  See?"  Laughing he says, "I'm a news hound" When he gets off the phone he addresses the small group in the hotel room saying, "Ahom still thinks she's married to Jim Baker (which she legally still was) He continued saying, "See, Ahom has never quite been ready for this much spirit."  

Sounding even more unbalanced he starts saying, "Even if they (the locals on Kauai) come with guns we're ready for that too.  If they come with guns, they ain't ever going to arrest them (meaning the sons at the compound) if they kill em all. You know what I mean?  Man comes on your property with a gun; you can shoot his ass off."  Then he began shouting about a No Trespassing sign that he wanted posted on the gates of the compound on Kauai with the exact size and color and where to post it!  Insisting that it included Absolutely No Trespassing telling the woman on the phone, "You better put that absolutely in woman.  I'll have your head when you get off the phone.  I don't care if you're pregnant or not."  It was all so insane sounding saying things like, "Nobody's going to get hurt.  Even if they get hurt know what I mean?  Somebody gets killed it's just a release.  They've just been granted release peace."

He had the same attitude towards the infants at the Father House who were in dire need of medical help; that if they died it was just a release.....no big deal.

Stretching the Truth

I recently listened to a podcast by two young women about Jim Baker and The Source Family, and to the credit of one of the young women she had made an effort to find newspaper articles in search of factual information about Baker, and she talked about finding this article in the San Bernardino Sun from 1955 https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6134211/1955-nov-6-zimm-judo/ about the time that Jim Baker judo chopped and killed his neighbor in a dispute about the way that Baker took care of the guy's dog, while the guy was in jail, and she also referenced the article saying how Baker had claimed to the reporter that he had won 'the 1948 World Judo Championship with Wild Bill Zim of Argentina' fueling my interest to find out if that was a valid claim made by Baker.  Here's another newspaper clipping from 1955 where Jim Baker made the same claim.

With a simple google search I found a website about Wild Bill Zim, a wrestler from New York (not Argentina) who did participate in a judo exhibition with Baker in 1948 and quickly lost to Baker, for obvious reasons such as Wild Bill was a wrestler and did not practice judo and wasn't proficient at it, as was Jim Baker.  So, the exhibition wasn't a World Judo Championship by any means which makes you wonder why Jim Baker would make such a claim.  I don't recall Jim Baker ever talking about any of his past exploits and if he did, I was not present and only learned about them years after The Source Family had disbanded and one person took it upon herself to try and resurrect the whole thing.  I had never heard of Jim Baker being called 'the world's strongest boy', as my old friend, Robert aka Omne stated in the 2012 film.  But, considering Jim Baker's younger days growing up during the Great Depression in Cincinatti at a time when people would often claim being 'the strongest' of this or that; it came as no surprise that Baker may have elaborated about himself.  Here is an interesting link about 'the world's strongest men from around the time when Jim Baker was growing up https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/early-strongmen-photographs/#:~:text=21-year-old%20Swansea%20tailor%20Harry%20Pelta%2C%20winner%20of%20the,supports%20a%20200-pound%20motorcycle%20and%20its%20rider.%201932..  Baker was trying to make a name for himself, and so I can understand why he might have embellished his past accomplishments in order to appear as the strongest or a world champion of something.

Wild Bill Zim's son found several newspaper articles in the Cincinatti Times from 1946 through 1949 about Jim Baker and sent them to me and I've included links to those articles.  I found contradictions about Baker's father, where in the San Bernardino Sun article Baker told the reporter that his father was a Chicago detective killed by gangsters, and in another article it states that Baker's father was a professional wrestler and that Jim lived with him in Vallejo, California in 1938.  It was my understanding that Jim Baker's father left him and his mother in Ohio when Baker was very young, and that was what the majority of former members like me understood to be true.  In Charlene Peter's book about the Source Family she wrote that Baker's father was a firefighter. 

There is also the claim that Jim Baker earned a Silver Star at Guadalcanal during World War II for shooting down 13 Japanese bombers, although some have searched the Army database for Marines awarded a Silver Star and could not find a citation for James Edward Baker.  Although, an article about weightlifting in Strength and Health magazine from 1945 about Jim Baker mentions him 'sporting a decoration for conspicuous gallantry'.  Here is that article: 

 Another version was that Baker had punched his commanding officer while on the USS Chicago and was being taken to the brig when the Japanese began to attack the ship, and that he didn't actually receive a Silver Star citation, due to him assaulting an officer. 

At least these newspaper articles from 1940's Cincinatti gave me more insight into the kind of young man that Jim Baker was and how in one article he was described as being 'a hustler in capital letters' https://www.newspapers.com/clip/20267738/1949-jan-26-jim-baker-judo-champ-muscle/?fbclid=IwAR1FFOz-e31eieBuMePXS0eI1IeasoyB-ibf6838FSO5uNpjXgNhusHThU8---a young man into weightlifting and physical fitness who taught judo and joined the Marines who may have stretched the truth about his accomplishments and titles.  It's easy to see how stretching the truth served Jim Baker's purpose again when he gathered a group of much younger, adoring followers around him convincing them that he was their 'earthly spiritual father' and then deciding to have multiple 'spiritual wives' in addition to his only legal wife at the time, Robin Baker to have them all wait on him and pamper him in obedience and supplication.    

Here are more articles that mention Jim Baker from The Cincinatti Times.

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120347408/1946-oct-21-baker-teaches-co-eds/?fbclid=IwAR10dbiWcRojF1eAHkyrtJqm4Z6HuqSek_Z8gY1NzmTvt_vV8fA_EHyHXCw

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120349123/1949-feb-8-jim-baker-vs-zim-judo/

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120349333/1949-feb-9-baker-vs-zim-judo/

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120349444/1949-feb-11-baker-vs-zim-judo/

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120349605/1949-feb-12-judo-jim-beat-zim-quickly/

I found this website with historical photos taken at Venice Beach from 1949 when bodybuilding and weightlifting were hugely popular which shows the health and fitness culture that Jim Baker had become a part of when he was in Los Angeles. https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/original-muscle-beach-1949/?fbclid=IwAR26MEWky-LZic1A7CaH_pMiChiYFYdK_-jcATxxrORb2XG_akM_qFE3XuM

Anyway, I believe in giving credit where credit is due to Jim Baker for whatever he did accomplish in his life.  It's just that I cannot give him credit for being 'an earthly spiritual father' or a 'wise and enlightened spiritual teacher' when he repeatedly transgressed the personal and sexual boundaries of many of the women, after he formed The Brotherhood of The Source; especially young women who were 14, 15, 16 and 17 years old.  Whether or not it was the early seventies when 'free love' and 'sexual liberation' abounded as part of the counterculture; it doesn't excuse the fact that Jim Baker, the father of a daughter should have known better.

Retrospective

One of the most telling tracks recorded of Jim Baker's cacophonous singing (mostly yelling and wailing) was a track titled A Kind of Depression.  Because Jim Baker could only draw on his own feelings, emotions and past life experiences; the words he spoke, yelled and wailed throughout this track were very telling.  Here are Jim Baker's painful and remorseful words on that track:

This love of mine goes on and on.

Life's been so empty since you have gone.  

You're always on my mind though out of sight.  

It's lonely through the day and all the night. 

I've cried my heart out it's goin to break. 

What does it matter let it break.  

I walk---I walk alone til I walk with you what else can I do. 

I'll talk---I'll talk to none without you what else can I do.  

Tears of pain and tears of remorse.  

Oh, baby come back put me on course. 

I've a very strange feeling I ain't felt before.  

It's tearing my heart out. I ain't me anymore. 

It's grinding it's an upside shot. 

Give me some compassion.  

Now my heart it's acting strangely it felt rather sore.  At least it gave me that impression.  

Without you I don't want no more. 

Yeah, I fell in love with some girl.  She put my heart in a whirl now badly by some girl. Got me in a knot don't know what's what.

So, I'm in a kind of depression.

I reached out to Chris Johnson aka Octavius for his input/feedback about this track and specifically about Jim Baker's tortured lyrics and singing.  Here is what he wrote back.

Definitely about a woman before Robin. Seems to be an opposite message from the norm.  I will share what I noticed even then while mastering the selections I dissected from the chaos that now are hailed as the genius of Jim Baker the musician artist.  He had no natural talent other than being willing to throw himself off the cliff into the unknown and BS his way in real time.  He was good at that.  Example:  becoming a judo instructor from a book.  Health club gym owner when there were none. Sandalmaker when there were none.  Health food restaurant when there were none.  White male western guru figuring out what he believed on the fly.  Frontman for a spontaneous band.  Could not play an instrument so he got the biggest drum to beat.  Could not keep time.  Singer of whatever came to mind.  Was NOT a singer.  But, he could whistle better than most....I guess?  So, to your question: (I asked Chris about the tortured, wailing yelling words on the track) He could only draw from the experiences he had.  Like we all do.  His melodies, whistling, and constructs were all bits and pieces of music from the 40's.  I would think to myself, "Where have I heard that before?" Lil kitties, gonna take you home, the whistling, and some of his lyrics were all drawn from things in his past.  Shipmates stand together???  So, my best guess is he was singing about his girlfriend (forgot her name) who helped him build The Source.  Just his expression and body language testifies to his happiness.  Before Robin.  I don't know if he was a happy soul.  He once said something to the effect of, "What a mess I've created."  Yup, he did.  I think he was probably happier before the 'family'.  He actually was a young soul trying to figure out what had more value: The Material or Spiritual.  So, he was a prisoner to his own habit pattern.  Becoming bored with where he found himself and abandoning it in the end.  Restaurants, marriages, children, lifestyles, friends, beliefs, and life in general.  This is why he did what he did.  Pushing and testing limits and norms.  This is the same burden our generation suffers.  Single parent homes.  No examples.  Guess this is why he needed to be the 'Father' he never had.  This is why we all do the things we do.  My opinion for what it's worth.  With every myth comes the point where 'the rubber meets the road'.  Outside of all the machismo, he could have been a friend.  But, it still remains the biggest lesson in post graduate Sociology one could not imagine.  The masculine Father image for better and for worse.  And I am grateful to the universe for it. His ego had never felt so much pump.  He fell for the temporary, lost sight of the eternal.  It happens.

https://youtu.be/xgA0GEuzchs

Thanks to the input from former members like Chris and the others whose voices I've included on this blog, it helps give the viewing public a more honest and authentic view of Jim Baker, as opposed to the embellished and exaggerated (and often erroneous) narrative that's continually being put forth.  There are a few former members who are not afraid to share their memories and experiences of Jim Baker that portray the man as being flawed and human.

Lovely To Look At But Not Heard

Jim Baker continually spoke about Jesus and even sang "you are Jesus, are you ready for that" on a Ya Ho Wha 13 track.  His daily morning meditations or class would often contain references to biblical parables, and his favorite film was The Ten Commandments.  There was a distinct Christian theme or reference to almost every aspect of Jim Baker's so-called 'teachings', and yet when Lovely Previn was interviewed for the 2012 film about The Source Family; her interview was cut and not used, because she talked about her strong Christian faith.  

Per Lovely, she spoke about how much she enjoyed joining The Source Family and finding a family, and a father-figure in Jim Baker---two things that had been lacking in her own life.  Lovely also talked about how the things that Jim Baker was teaching weren't getting her to the place that she knew she was going; which was the life of a devout Christian.  I saw firsthand how Lovely was shunned and ridiculed by some former Source Family members, because of her strong Christian views which they felt did not align with whatever they believed Jim Baker's 'aquarian teachings" to be.  What hypocrites!

I only just recently learned from Lovely that she had been interviewed for the film, and how when she found out that her interview wasn't included in the film; she instinctively knew why.  Jim Trattner aka Magus had been interviewed extensively and his interview segments were used in the film, and yet he left The Source Family early at the Mother House.  Whereas, Lovely had been in The Source Family much longer and had felt very close to Jim Baker because he supported her music and inspired her to improvise musically.  Lovely was a very accomplished violinist and vocalist who played and sang on many of the albums released.  Also, she was present on the day that Jim Baker died recording everything he said after he crash-landed on the beach.  I would have thought that Lovely would have been the perfect former member to interview!  But, it was only because Lovely expressed her strong Christian views and values that her interview segment was not used in the film, because whomever was controlling the direction of the film didn't like what Lovely had to say.

Here is what Lovely had to say in her own words:

I got a message from Isis asking if I’d like to do an interview for the upcoming Source family documentary. I arranged a time for Jodi and her two-man crew to come over to my house. They rearranged my dining room area as the best place to film and made it look nice, then Jodi began the interview. I don’t remember the questioning exactly but asking me about my time in the Source family and what I thought of it now is probably a general guideline. 

I can say at that time in my life as a young teenager probably age 15 I felt a very strong need for a family.  I experienced my classmates’ homes and spent many happy overnight stays with their families.  I came from a divorced family; my parents were already divorced when my mother was three months pregnant with me, so there was the lack of father and lack of warm togetherness living with my mother and my older sister. 

The Source offered me a big family, father-type figure and spiritual teachings I longed for as I searched for God. I was taken away after the first year to go and finish high school in the countryside of England. I had no choice because I was not 18 yet. Once I had graduated I came home to Los Angeles to get a job a car and be normal but soon felt the pull of family and went back. Many were in Hawaii and the restaurant was being sold so I helped the manager train the new owners and workers and was eventually able to join everyone over in the islands. 

Fast forward to Jim Baker taking the hang-gliding adventure that eventually caused him to pass away. I felt very close to him because he was an older man well educated, a great businessman, knowledgeable about so many things and I too had my good British education. He also encouraged me with my music which my parents never did; he told me to go out on the deck in Lanikai and just play my violin however my heart led me to play which is how I began improvising. That was very crucial for me to have that support. The day of the hang gliding I was the one carrying the tape recorder recording everything he said from when he took off on the cliff down on the beach, as we drove him home and during those eight hours until he passed away I was right next to him recording every word. Then when we laid him out in his bed there was a 24-hour vigil so I played my violin next to his bed in the wee hours of the morning.

This is probably the story I told the day I was interviewed for the documentary which brings me to my faith and belief system I spoke about in the next portion of the interview.

After believing in the teachings I learned from the family for 25 years I felt spiritually bankrupt. I wasn’t sure with the methods I’d been given whether I would reach liberation or whatever was the goal where my soul and spirit would end up. I spoke about being in a band that was a Christian band and travelling around every weekend sometimes to 2 or three different churches, praying with everyone before we went out and presented special music to the congregation. I was able to ask lots of questions about some of these lesser gods and teachings I’d been believing. Finally I said to the band leader look, I know that I am a Christian, but what have you done to become a Christian you’ve done something what is it?  The leader wouldn’t really answer me and then one day we performed the special music at a Calvary Chapel church.  After over a year none of the churches had ever given an “altar call” asking if anyone wanted to receive Christ, but this Pastor did and I had the realization that to become a Christian I needed to raise my hand publicly and declare my love and desire to follow Christ for what he did for me. Everyone in the church was crying and rejoicing and I ended up playing in that worship team for five years. I read the Bible 9 times and grew in grace and understanding of what I had now become. I even took most of the books that I had followed all those years before and threw them away because I did not need them anymore.

Jim Baker had us all use Bibles and marked certain red letter words that Jesus spoke. I learned that my interview was not going to be used in the Source documentary. My guess is it happened because I didn’t support the old teachings and source ways. 

When I eventually saw the documentary I was so overjoyed to hear something Jim said that I never knew he said, which was that he had given all that he could to all of us, there was nothing left he could give and now he was placing his whole life into the hands of God and that he was surrendering everything. That gave me a lot of hope that I will see him again someday. I believe in his heart he was trying to help a lot of very lost people and he eventually went into wrong directions and led some people astray but I believe that he meant well and that statement is a form of repentance remorse and feeling sorry for what he did. 

The censure and exclusion of former Source Family members is the kind of thing that I cannot stand about the continuing promotion of Father Yod and The Source Family by one person who has tried to control the entire narrative, and how if something or someone doesn't conform to some fabricated 'Source Family values' then they are dismissed and excluded in the same way that Lovely was dismissed and excluded in having her story told and her voice heard in the 2012 film.

Jim Baker is heard saying the following in the 2012 film, "I am completely dependent upon the God of all to take care of me" and one of the very last things he said after he crash-landed on the beach was, "I thought that I was going to fly the kite.  I guess it was God's last lesson he had to teach me."  Jim Baker was a deep believer in God, and yet there are former Source Family members who mock Lovely for having the same deep belief in God.  

Life Comes First

One of the most detrimental beliefs of Jim Baker's so-called ''teachings' was the one where he spoke against anyone in his Source Family seeking or using medical help, especially against anyone undergoing a blood transfusion.  Jim Baker adopted a belief that blood platelets contained a person's memories or what he called 'the river of life' that would supposedly playback at the moment of death, in order for that person to learn from their mistakes made in life, before being reincarnated into another body.  That was the belief that Jim Baker adopted taken from something he had read, and became a fundamental part of Baker's 'aquarian teachings'---that his followers abstain from seeking or using medical help and modern medicine, but most importantly at all cost to not allow a person's blood to be removed from their body upon death, but allow the body to remain undisturbed for three days to allow that person to view their 'river of life' and learn their life lessons, before being reincarnated.  It was that belief system adopted by Jim Baker which prevented infants from receiving medical treatment, and why Baker was persuaded from having medical treatment himself, after crash landing on a beach and being reminded of his own 'teaching'.

I recently learned about the rabbinic principle pikuach nefesh in an article that challenged the belief of Jehovah's Witnesses against blood transfusions.  It is essentially the argument that Jesus was to have used with the pharaohs that the preservation of life clearly has to come first, before all other considerations.  A principle that seemed to have been lost on Jim Baker.  Here is a definition of that principle: https://www.gotquestions.org/pikuach-nefesh.html.  It basically says that 'life comes first' and everything should be done to preserve life, beyond any religious belief of any kind.  Who knows, perhaps Jim Baker never knew or read about the principle of pikuach nefesh, because it was certainly not applied after Jim Baker crash-landed on the beach and asked the women around him, if he should go to the hospital.  That principle was also not in play when infants born in The Source Family at The Father House did not receive any medical help and subsequently died, because seeking or using medical help would have been going against one of the fundamental 'teachings' or beliefs put into place by our 'spiritual' leader, teacher and ersatz father figure, Jim Baker.  So, two infants and Jim Baker himself died being held to the flawed 'teachings' put into place within The Source Family, by the man.  Historically, you don't have to look back very far to see how many people have died following and obeying the harmful beliefs of zealous religious and cult leaders, which is what happened in The Source Family.

Jim Baker incorporated The Essene Teachings of Jesus Christ into his 'aquarian teachings', and consistently would preach/talk about and even sang, "You are Jesus, are you ready for that'; he even composed his own 'ten commandments for the aquarian age' to resemble Mose's Ten Commandments.  A large portion of Jim Baker's 'teachings' either resembled or were founded on the teachings of Jesus Christ, and he ardently embraced the Jewish term for god---Yod Hey Vav Hey, and yet nowhere in any of it did Jim Baker ever utter the principle of pikuach nefesh; otherwise a couple of infants might have lived and grown up to have happy, fulfilling lives, and even Jim Baker would most likely have survived his injuries and lived to see his own children grow up.  Life should come first, before any so-called spiritual or religious beliefs.

After reading about the Jehovah's Witness parents who allowed their 11-year-old son to die, rather than allowing him to receive a blood transfusion; it reminded me of the same, misguided and deleterious beliefs that Jim Baker had adopted about not having a blood transfusion, based on a belief that a person's blood platelets contained their entire life story to be viewed at the moment of death.  Jim Baker would simply attach the word 'aquarian' and incorporated stuff he'd read to be part of his so-called 'teachings', and who, upon crashing-landing on the beach and sustaining life-threatening injuries was surrounded by his fervent, loyal followers who reminded him of his own 'teaching' not to seek medical help, and who made sure his body was allowed to remain undisturbed for three days, in order for Jim Baker to view his own 'river of life'.  Then, blinded by her own religious, zealous beliefs; one of the more aggressive, controlling women surrounding Jim Baker would not allow Jim Baker's adult son to speak to his father for one last time, while Jim Baker lay dying and his adult son called the Glass House in Lanikai wanting to speak to his Dad for one last time, but was told, "No, you're Father doesn't want to speak to you,"----something which I find to have been a cruel thing for someone to do!  How could anyone deny a son the chance to speak to his own dying father for one last time, because of the fear that real family member might emotionally influence their parent and convince them to seek medical help----it's the kind of extremism that being in a spiritual or religious cult like The Source Family created and fomented.  When the 2012 film about The Source Family came out; there was an effort to attach the catchphrase "Just Be Kind' to Jim Baker.  What a mockery the catchphrase "Just Be Kind" is when babies were denied medical treatment of any kind and allowed to suffer and die.

It is often a tragic outcome for people who adhere to extreme religious or spiritual beliefs which deny life-saving procedures and treatments; especially when parents impose their extreme religious beliefs on infants and children who lack the experience and understanding to make that kind of choice---the same way that Jim Baker imposed his beliefs and directives on helpless infants and little children; especially two infants at The Father House in Los Angeles who should have received medical treatment and been given a chance to grow up.  Misguided, religious zealots who impose their harmful and detrimental beliefs on helpless and innocent children is the most tragic outcome of many cults, and is what happened in The Source Family.

Cinderella Sings

In this post, I want to give credit to a woman who was all but overlooked for having sung on many of the songs recorded, during the flurry of recording at The Father House in Los Angeles, and who could belt out a song with so much force and power with the most distinctive voice of all the other female singers.  Yet, she wasn't given any credit.  It's Cinderella's distinctive singing voice heard on How Long In Time and she sings the lead vocals on songs like Do Me and Sea Like Me.  Because the music that was made was marketed and sold as being The Source Family music; it made it that much easier for people to enter into licensing and distribution deals with record labels without having any kind of signed agreements in place with the individuals who actually wrote or performed on the songs.  That was the case with the box set that included every single album that was made and produced at The Father House when two former members of The Source Family negotiated a record deal with a Japanese record label without any agreements or even approval in place by any of the songwriters or musicians, and so those two individuals were paid thousands of dollars for that box set!  Ostensibly, the creation of The Source Foundation by two other former members was to supposedly protect the rights of the individual songwriters and musicians, but in reality ended up being just two people who also felt a sense of entitlement to take and use the music made at The Father House however they wanted and who entered into record deals.  So, because Stacie Altman, otherwise called Cinderella and later renamed Quintessence refused to sign any kind of agreement or release for any of the songs that featured her; she has never received any kind of recompense, and there were others.  The songs that I've included in this post were from an album released by Drag City titled Children of The Sixth Root Race specifically How Long In Time, Do Me and Sea Like Me on which you can hear Stacie's distinctive voice. Also unbelievably; the guy who put the album together neglected to include a photo of Stacie among the photos of those who performed on the album!  Below is the Source Foundation agreement that Stacie was advised by her lawyer not to sign.

Stacie, had she signed would have signed away all of her music rights for perpetuity ie forever to the two former members who had set up their own foundation, and so any of the musicians and singer/songwriters who didn't sign one of those foundation agreements were not compensated from any album sales which are still going on today.  As I've stated before in other posts; it was a friendly form of piracy by two people who simply took every recorded song from the early days of The Source Family recorded in the studio garage at The Father House and entered into marketing and distribution deals with record labels whether or not any of the singers/songwriters or musicians signed anything! 

But, enough about how the songwriters, singers and musicians who happened to be in The Source Family have been ripped off, because more than anything I wanted to finally give some recognition and credit to the woman called Cinderella, who sang her heart out with an intensity and vocal projection that few have and could easily sing with a rock band without even using a microphone.

Everyone who joined The Source Family had their own story to tell, but Stacie Altman had a particularly unique and interesting one.  Being the daughter of Hollywood actor and tv personality, Dick York thrust a very young girl into a wild and fast life like many kids of Hollywood actors.  Being young, beautiful and blond also made it that much easier for a young woman living in the Hollywood Hills to be thrust into a lifestyle that few other young people experienced in their early teens.  Stacie ended up joining The Brotherhood of The Source, after the handsome young man she had fallen in love with decided to join, and so in 1972 wanting to be with him; Stacie followed her future husband into The Brotherhood of The Source.  So, when female singers; primarily female backup singers were needed; Stacie's singing voice stood out more than any others, like on the song How Long In Time heard here.  

https://youtu.be/yyGUNOVsFls

But, because of the male dominated environment created by Jim Baker within his group/cult; the guy who wrote the songs that Stacie sang on wanted full credit and so her performances were merely seen as being supportive of the the main performers----the men in the group.  Things weren't much different in the supposedly new age/aquarian tribe of Jim Baker's than from how things were in the real world of recording where female backup singers were often overlooked.  But, even equally disheartening was when two music indie people involved with the production of Hair came to The Father House to hear the band dubbed The Spirit of '76 and were very interested in working with the band, and they were especially interested in Stacie, after hearing her sing.  But, Jim Baker told the two men that unless they proclaimed him to be their Earthly Spiritual Father; that he would not agree to anything.  The two men's response was no, and so Stacie along with the other band members missed out on what might have been a lucrative recording contract.  The same thing happened later to the band Breath, when Jim Baker refused a recording contract with A&M Records, because they were not willing to make it a Source Family contract giving him complete control over the money.

Here was Stacie singing a song titled Sea Like Me. https://youtu.be/LOBZaXx_RFI

Here Stacie is belting out a song titled Do Me (although album credit was incorrectly given to Robin Baker).  https://youtu.be/tqHefc06lMM

Here is Stacie knocking it out of the ballpark with her powerful vocals on Lost Dead But Hoping.   https://youtu.be/voR0iroxKEQ

Stacie was the dominate female voice heard on the song Godmen, although the woman hitting the high notes at the end were made by Michelle Scovern aka Aquariana.  https://youtu.be/bUu9sFYOD44

Below is a photo of Stacie nursing her infant son, while singing alongside Les Adam aka Rhythm at the piano.  Reminds me of how Cyd Charisse was credited with not only able to dance as well as Fred Astaire, but backwards and in high heels.  Cinderella was able to nurse her infant son and take care of him, all while still singing in the band.

Photo below of Stacie named Cinderella by Jim Baker, a name which I find to be very fitting for the woman!  I wanted to add this Wikipedia definition of the name Cinderella: The word Cinderella has, by analogy, come to mean one whose attributes were unrecognized: one who unexpectedly achieves recognition or success after a period of obscurity and neglect.  

In 1991 Demi Moore posed nude and pregnant on the cover of Vanity Fair; and here was Stacie posing nude and pregnant back in 1973 outside the teepee located at The Father House; a brave trendsetter in her own right. 

Photo below of Stacie in Paia, Hawaii 1974 holding her infant son with his father, Alex seen behind.

Photo below taken on Maui 1975

Early family photos of Stacie seen looking sleepy to the left of her Mom in the one below.

Stacie ended up marrying the film director Robert Altman's oldest son, Michael perhaps because they both had famous parents and had experienced growing up in the Hollywood Hills, and so having that shared experience; they fell in love and were married for over twenty years having two extremely talented children together.

  

Anyway, I just wanted to acknowledge the musical contributions made by Stacie aka Cinderella aka Quintessence while she was in The Source Family and also give her some personal recognition.

In memory of Stacie's sister Mandy aka White Cloud