In this recently recorded one-hour podcast, I am interviewed by Alex of “Natural Born Alchemist” about the book, Being of the Sun, which I co-wrote with composer/philosopher Ramon Sender Barayon, and the historic and cultural movements that surrounded its birth.
Listen to the podcast here.
My dear friend, celebrated director/screenwriter SJ Chiro, who, right now, is launching her latest masterpiece, “East of the Mountains,” just took the time to review my first, and most likely, only, movie, “Living on the Earth – The Musical.”
Here is what she wrote:
I watched Alicia Bay Laurel’s one woman show, “Living on Earth – The Musical,” with rapt attention. The 1-hour-47-minute running time flew by.
As a child of her contemporaries, growing up on one of the communes on which Alicia herself lived in her early years, I listened as she unwrapped her history, a history I had never known. Tales of when she was a girl. The experiences which shaped her, including a fraught relationship with her mother.
As children, we only know what we experience of people in the present. I saw adults who had already made the decision to break with their straight, uptight parents and go back to the land, living simply and illegally, eating brown rice and vegetables communally, and walking down long dirt roads with bare feet. This was their present, but how did they get here? And now that they were here, what did living on the land mean to them? What were they eschewing? Why had they created a new paradigm?
Alicia tells the answers to these questions, and more, as she sings and plays her guitar in the style that brought me back to my childhood, her mellow voice, sometimes soothing, sometimes full of energy. I saw a portrait of a strong-willed and clever independent teenager who lit out for San Francisco and eventually made her way North to Sonoma County.
Always energetic and creative, Alicia decided to make a book illustrating Life on the Land. She called it Living on the Earth and it was surprisingly a huge success. As a young woman she was suddenly famous, and had money. A lot more money than most of the people around her. Alicia doesn’t shy away from honestly recounting how this imbalance caused some problems and resentments among her peers, but the show keeps on truckin’.
Soon Alicia is in Hawaii and other locales. The stories keep coming. At one point, she is joined on stage by her great long-time friend and collaborator Ramón Sender Barayón. How beautiful to see two artists who have known each other for so many years, respect each other’s company and make music together.
Some of Alicia’s rawness may shock, some inspire laughter, some elicit “Wow!”s from the audience. That is the glory of the unvarnished truth of a lifetime, and we are so lucky to get to hear all this from the master artist Alicia Bay Laurel.
SJ Chiro
Director East of the Mountains
Director Lane 1974
lane1974film.com“
East of the Mountains” is available from practically all Video on Demand outlets . It’s poetry in cinema.
Here is a particularly wonderful review:https://www.rogerebert.com/…/east-of-the-mountains…
Here’s the link to see “Living on the Earth – The Musical.”https://vimeo.com/ondemand/livingontheearthmusical/
Here is the link for the online event, which is free, and available to viewers both on and off Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/events/3074234512900074/
Here is the link for the movie:
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/livingontheearthmusical/
The trailer is already available at the same link.
There is a modest paywall of $7.50 US to “rent” the movie for 48 hours.
The movie will remain available on Vimeo for a few years, at least.
The autumn equinox event will include Q&A with Alicia about the movie (so please see the movie first), as well as about the two new editions of her 50-year-old books, Living on the Earth and Being of the Sun. She might tell some stories that aren’t in the movie, too.
Alicia will create and send (via email) free illustrated, personalized book inscriptions (normally $10 each) for either of these books if purchased from the Indigo With Stars online store during the event.
Here are the links to purchase the books:
https://indigowithstars.com/products/living-on-the-earth-5th-english-edition
https://indigowithstars.com/products/being-of-the-sun-1
Please send the names to be inscribed, the email address of the recipient of the inscription page, and any special message you’d like included, to Alicia at alicia@aliciabaylaurel.com
Here is a time zone converter to help determine when the event will occur in your time zone:
https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter-classic.html
Monday! Monday! THIS Monday! I am sooooo excited about this!The truly, utterly divine work of my friend and lifetime shero Alicia Bay Laurel is coming to LIFE in a video. A musical, no less! I would not miss this for the world. Join the celebration!
Beth Owl’s Daughter
Author, Writer, Seer,
Sun/Wheel/Magician. Anti-dystopian
Durham, North Carolina
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I watched the trailer, and I think your film is going to be incredible. You are such a wonderful storyteller, as I learned the day we spent walking around the arboretum and talking. And you are so funny! I will watch the movie once it comes out. What a wonderful story about how the movie came about with Luis Olano.
Barbara Light Lacey
Author, Singer/songwriter
Dallas, Texas
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I loved Living on the Earth and have followed Alicia Bay Laurel a bit, but had not heard of this new work. I count myself incredibly lucky to ended up at Star Mountain, and the amazing communities in the area in the very early eighties. My life was forever changed by those times, and I am so grateful. Thanks for the recommendation.
Kelli Kennedy
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Hi Alicia,
Alan and I watched the movie last week. Wow! I love it! I enjoyed hearing your story and songs. It brought up many memories – a lot was familiar to me, but some was not and your story tied it all together. I’m glad I was able to see it – thanks for sending me the link! Your art is continuing to evolve and expand!
Lani Harriman
Santa Cruz, California
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Echo Point Books & Media, of Brattleboro, Vermont, expects to release the book in July 2021. Pre-ordering the book is available here.
In 1973, Ramón recorded himself and Alicia performing some of the songs, chants, drone pieces and improvisations in the book. In 2013, Alicia had these archival tapes remastered to create an album, Songs from Being of the Sun.
The original 1973 Harper & Row edition of Being of the Sun is available here.
The Soshisha, Ltd. Japanese language edition is available here.
History and reader comments about Being of the Sun here.
Living on the Earth: The Musical, is an original one-woman, two-act show of quirky, edgy stories about the birth and aftermath of the book, Living on the Earth, plus some of the songs I wrote during these times.
During the year 2000, I performed the show 75 times during a twice-cross-country road tour plus five shows in Hawaii. I performed the show occasionally in succeeding years as well, including three shows in California and Arizona in 2016.
No two shows have been entirely identical, since I chose which of the stories to tell while on stage and interacting with the audience. And, as I accrued additional life experiences, I added a few new stories to the end.
Following are comments from audience members, emailed to me after seeing the show:
“Great performance by our legendary friend Alicia this afternoon in Venice, California. It was amazing!”
Pauline Adamek, Theatre Critic, Los Angeles, California
“Alicia Bay Laurel is a wealth of storytelling! What an amazing trip she’s taking us on….”
Gwendolyn Sanford, Film Composer and Singer/Songwriter, Los Angeles, California
“My Beautiful Alicia, Thank you for a fabulous evening! We all loved it and you are Beyond Brilliant…your show was so much fun and filled with so much love, it was a happening and wonderful to behold.”
Brenda Lowy, Legal Secretary and my beloved cousin, who brought her entire household to the show
Los Angeles, California
“I am so glad that I went to hear Alicia Bay Laurel’s show tonight. The songs were great, but the story telling was amazing. She shared the life journey that led to her writing Living on the Earth and beyond. It was a fascinating history lesson and a peek at what my parents were doing just before I was born.”
Amanda Timbermoon, teacher, mother and community leader
Occidental, California
“I was so glad to be there and hear Alicia perform. No wonder the Japanese are such fans!”
Erin Sheffield, co-curator of the open land commune exhibition, “The Hippies,” presented by the Sonoma County Historical Society at the West County Museum
Sebastopol, California
“It was such a special, intimate event! An honor to be there, especially as it is the last of the kind! Alicia, your guitar playing, storytelling, songwriting and singing are authentic,uplifting, humorous,and enchanting. For me, it was a real validation of my/our/ the counter-cultural collective/ choices, experiences, and commitment to natural living, in the many forms that takes. And to see the on-going creativity, insights, and awareness you embody is very inspiring! Within minutes I was drawing again! Thank you!”
Andrea McShane Radoccia, bed and breakfast owner and natural gardener
Clarkdale, Arizona
“Dearest Alicia your musical words moved me beyond measure. I had tears in my eyes while listening to some of the lovely lyrics that you wrote. Thank you for sharing your heartfelt heartstrings last evening, it was positively divine!”
Mardy Bee, antique collector and scholar
Prescott, Arizona
“I am so grateful for being able to attend an intimate home concert with beautiful music created by Alicia Bay Laurel. Her music has different sounding elements, from hippie folk style to Hawaiian to bluesy sounding magic. I love her hippie stuff – Oh Sweet Self and Mandala are two of my favorite songs. I am smiling and spinning around my home this morning getting all my chores done. Feeling so blessed.”
Jennifer Price, Artist
Sedona, Arizona
“Alicia, we loved your concert! You should write a memoir! Seriously! Thank you for coming to Sedona and sharing your clear presence with us– come back soon! My daughters will love their t-shirts and cds, as will my husband and I. We remember those ‘Paisley Days’!”
Elizabeth Oakes, Writer and Professor Emeritus of Literature
Sedona, Arizona
In 2021, I collaborated with Spanish filmmaker Luis Olano on the movie version of “Living on the Earth: The Musical,” which he filmed on November 13, 2016 while gathering footage for Sender Barayón – Viaje Hace la Luz, a documentary about the life and work of Ramón Sender Barayón, who made a guest appearance in the show.
Sophia Rose, very creative herbalist, writer, photographer, designer, life artist, and my good friend, assembled this video collage of art from my books and photographs of me and my communal friends in the early 1970s in Northern California, to a fragment of my autobiographical jazz waltz, “1966.” You can savor Sophia Rose’s divine herbal and artistic offerings at La Abeja Herbs.
You can obtain a new copy of Being of the Sun here!
Interview of Alicia Bay Laurel on “Natural Born Alchemist” podcast about Being of the Sun:
https://www.naturalbornalchemist.com/episodes/2021/11/29/episode-297-being-of-the-sun
October 1, 2021 – the first new English edition of Being of the Sun since its first edition was published in 1973 by Harper & Row, published by Echo Point Books & Media, is released, at last!
On May 1, 2020 Ramón Sender Barayón and I signed a contract for the first English edition since 1973 of our book, Being of the Sun, with Echo Point Books & Media, a small publisher based in Brattleboro, Vermont.
On December 31, 2018: El Mundo, one of the most esteemed journals in Spain, published an article about Ramón Sender Barayon, and the documentary film about his life and work written and directed by Luis Olano.
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In the early ‘70’s, while living in on a mountain farm near Popayán, Colombia, Ramon and I wrote Being of the Sun, released as a companion volume to Living on the Earth. The book’s central premise is that each person can find his or her own to way to a dialogue with the Divine, without middlemen, hierarchy, or externally imposed rules of living, while borrowing practices from many traditions to enhance this dialogue. We then offered, as an example, various practices that we found useful, especially practices honoring nature and its cycles, the vibrations of music, and the life-giving light of the sun.
Ramon’s unique contributions stem from his practices of meditation on sunlight and his background as an avant-garde composer and musician. He was, along with Mort Subotnick, Pauline Oliveros and Terry Riley, one of the composers who formed the San Francisco Tape Music Center in the early 1960’s, and collaborated with audio engineer Don Buchla and Mort Subotnick in the invention of first synthesizer built on the West Coast, the Buchla Box (which was contemporary with the Moog, built on the East Coast).
My illustrations in Being of the Sun are far more lush, imaginative and colorful than those in Living on the Earth, and I bravely offered a drawing of a beautiful young woman defecating into a hole in the earth.
Twenty-seven years after its publication, I recorded three of the songs from Being of the Sun on my first CD, Music From Living on the Earth. In 2013, Ramón and I released Songs from Being of the Sun, a CD remastered from Ramón’s 1973 reel-to-reel tape of the two of us performing songs, chants and improvisations from our book, just before it was published. In 2015, I recorded three more of my songs first published in Being of the Sun on my seventh CD, More Songs From Living on the Earth, and, in 2018, on my eighth CD, Alicia Bay Laurel: Live In Japan, I perform a medley of the four chants for the solstices and equinoxes. I also performed this medley in the film I made in collaboration with filmmaker Luis Olano, of my live one-woman two-act storytelling and musical stage performance, Living on the Earth – The Musical.
If you scroll down, you’ll find a chart I made for the new edition of Being of the Sun, showing the pages on which the songs, chants and improvisations appear, and the locations of existing recordings of them.
Being of the Sun was initially not well received; in 1973, Rolling Stone declared it “the worst gift book of the year.” However, in the intervening years, it became a cult classic, often referenced on Pagan/Wiccan websites, the illustrations pirated into various alternative journals. People spiritually attuned to nature, for example, practitioners of Shinto, love this book. The Japanese translation of this book has been in print from 1974 to 1980, and from 2007 to the present. And some visionaries, like author/journalist/professor of design Alastair Gordon, saw the magic in it right away: “I still cherish the original editions I have of these magical works… Being of the Sun should be required reading for all earthlings. I truly love your spirit and vision…”
Since then, I’ve been licensing the illustrations to fashion designers in Japan. The Hayashi Sisters did a write-up in Japan Vogue Online, published May 25, 2015, about the Salon de Balcony summer fashion line (photo above), which includes clothing and accessories printed with illustrations from Being of the Sun.
Here is the synopsis/review on Amazon dot com:
“A do-it-yourself spirituality and music book, Being of the Sun (Harper and Row, 1973), is the sequel to Alicia Bay Laurel’s classic, best-selling guide, Living on the Earth (Random House 1971 and 2000.) Co-written with author, avant-garde composer and solar yogi Ramón Sender Barayón, Being of the Sun provides a guide to creating one’s own religion, and also offers a compendium of spiritual practices the authors found valuable. Similar to Living On The Earth, Being of the Sun is entirely handwritten in Alicia’s flowing cursive script and illustrated on every page with her line drawings, a shining example of her immensely influential original book design. However, unlike the simple brown lines and cover of Alicia’s first book, Being of the Sun’s design features purple ink throughout, a colorful cover, plus eight full color illustrations within. Ramón created sheet music of the original spiritual songs and chants he and Alicia wrote for the book. Being of the Sun offers a window on hippie life in the early 70’s, and remains a cult classic among nature-worshippers to this day.”
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Here is the cover for the still unpublished Spanish edition. Still hoping to release it!
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In 2013, Indigo With Stars, Inc. released “Songs from Being of the Sun,” a remastered version on CD of an archival reel-to-reel recording made by Ramón Sender Barayon in 1973, of me and Ramón performing some of the sacred nature chants we created for Being of the Sun, just before it was published. It’s available as a physical CD here.
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5 star review on CD Baby of “Songs from Being of the Sun” by Gordon Kennedy, author of Children of the Sun, an astonishing book that reveals the 19th century European roots of the hippie movement in the USA:
“In The Sunshine Of Your Love”
“Being of the Sun is an enchanted Solar Mass of relaxing, charming, seductive sounds. If I could pop into the book version like a superflex Gumby, this musical soundtrack would rejuvenate me – and I can’t wait to meet all of the colorful sun children. I visualized Gods-dog and even she sports a nice tan.
“Inside my sauna, the harmonies feed my inner sweat glands with radiant waves of helio-therapy. I surrender.”
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Here are some reviews the book, Being of the Sun, from Amazon.com, as of February 2014:
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Our friend, organic food product pioneer and philosopher Gregory Sams, author of a wonderful solar praise and scientific information book called Sun of gOd, received a copy in April 2017, and posted:
“Being of the Sun” was written 25 years before Sun of gOd. This beautiful book by Alicia Bay Laurel and Ramon Sender taps into the same spirit. Inspirational! All lovingly hand-written and illustrated.
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Here is a quilted fan letter from fiber artist Tomoko Yamada, which she sent to me in 2008:
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Tigger Wheel was a child living at Wheeler Ranch commune while I was writing Living on the Earth. We’ve stayed in touch all these years; now she and her husband are retired special education teachers in Texas. She sent me this a few years back:
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Another letter to me and to Ramon Sender Barayon from deLIGHTful Gregory Sams:
“After an initial delightful rush into it, I have now finally got to the end of your incredible testament, Being of the Sun. Sorry it took so long, but maybe I was waiting for the Summer to kick in. I’m just amazed at how tuned in you two lovers were, and to what a depth, all those years ago! Thinking that perhaps those sacraments and the light of our Sun gave a helpful and loving hand. It is at once a beautiful spiritual work of art and a practical guide to living a good life – a fitting accolade to the true light of all our lives.
“I was thinking, going through it, that there were so many pages I wanted to post-it note that it would be silly to do so. And then I see the hand-written index at the back. Astounding! The book covers so very much, even how to hand-make your own musical instruments and wind chimes. Got me wondering if you ever assembled that drone orchestra. Loved your words on food and your expression of the consciousness that pervades all. You both really deserved to retire on that book but hey, you’re happy and Sun still blesses us. I’m really happy to know that a copy of my book is in your hands. They are so different in approach, yet complement each other so well.”
Gregory Sams
Cultural Change Agent, Organic Food Pioneer
Author of Sun of gOd
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VIVIENDO EN LA TIERRA & SER DEL SOL
“Living On The Earth” (Viviendo en la Tierra) es una guía o manual para la vida sostenible, comunal y alternativa creada por Alicia Bay Laurel en el rancho-comuna Wheeler, en el norte de California, a finales de los años sesenta. Fue un éxito de ventas a principios de la década siguiente, y sin ser un libro de cocina, fue incluido en un prestigioso recopilatorio como uno de los 100 libros de cocina más influyentes de la historia de los EEUU. Está traducido al japonés y desde que el año pasado Kachina Ediciones se lanzara a editarlo en español, manteniendo los dibujos originales, podemos tener esta verdadera obra de arte en nuestra biblioteca. Pocos años después de su publicación, Alicia viajó con Ramon Sender a Colombia para investigar a fondo los cultos solares y en 1973 publicaron juntos otra maravilla: “Being Of The Sun” (Ser del Sol), una especie de manual para crear tu propia religión y vivir de una forma más consciente con la naturaleza. Está construido como un diario, e incluye las partituras y los cánticos asociados a diferentes rituales. No tuvo el mismo éxito que su predecesor, y la revista Rolling Stone llegó a catalogarlo como “el peor regalo que puedes hacer estas navidades”. A nosotros nos parece sin embargo, además de una obra de arte, un documento histórico de gran valor. Muy recientemente hemos conocido la fantástica noticia de que Kachina Ediciones se va a encargar de su edición en español para el próximo verano.
Luis Olano
Writer and Director of the documentary, “Sender Barayon: A Trip into the Light”
December 2018
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その黄色の本は(たぶん ボロボロになった)今見つからない。その次にでた「太陽とともに生きる」だけ今、手元ある。
ローレルの葉っぱが好きで この名前をつけたことも書いてあった。
真理をいつもとなりでささやいてくれた本だった。
一緒に行かないかしら✨
That Yellow book [“living on the earth”’] I can’t find it now.
The next, “being with the sun” is now on hand.
I liked Laurel’s leaf, and it was written that I put this name on it.
It was a book that was always whispered and whispered to the truth.
I wonder if I’m going to go with you ✨
Ai Kaga
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Singer-songwriter Keiko Ao Aqua Jimbo and her best friend, Sen, love Being of the Sun!
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Certain books influenced me profoundly as a young teenager. I remember pouring over The Last Whole Earth Catalog and planning a theoretical venture into the wilderness. When I was thirteen, my brother gave me a book called “Being of the Sun”. I studied that book for months and began a process of developing my own traditions as a result. I don’t know what happened to my original copy, but a few years ago, I found a new one. Here are a couple of pages:
Suzie Hall Rosse
Alliance For Sustainable Communities – Lehigh Valley and Morning Star Center
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
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That book was my bible as a teenager!
I colored in it and hung out with it in a sacred space I set up in my room to do my yoga…oh, that’s right! That’s where I learned many yoga poses too!
At the time, I didn’t really know anyone who shared that world with me…it was a window into my dreams for my life and really stimulated my imagination and added magic and warmth, color and joy to my days and nights….
Surma Karen Ollice
Paia, Maui, Hawaii
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I will introduce you to the book that touched the heart.
This is my forever Bible.
In the light of the sun that lives us,
Feeling the wind and nature
To live comfortably and live,
For us now
That’s exactly what I need.
The author of this book
Live by Alicia Bay Laurel
How to live primitive
Yoga, mantra and breathing
It’s new when you look at it!
It is also the magic of the scales from the eyes,
It is also my life of the past.
Alicia Bay Laurel 💛
I felt you’re really magical of using all of nature 🌈🌲💖!
One words about ‘’Mekarauroko’’ ,
the scale from the eye is a Japanese Proverb,
To see the light ,
to be awakened to the truth,
to have the scales fall from one’s eyes
are the meetings .
Thank you for blowing your wonderful wind into my life!
Ako Usugi
Yoga Instructor
Owner of Natural Style Yoga salon ナチュラルスタイルヨガサロン
Kaga, Japan
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The peacenik holy book.
Nancy Taylor
Holistic chiropractor
Charlottesville, Virginia
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I read your book, Being of the Sun, and I got inspired by the life you wrote about in this book. These days, I spend more time in nature, and it brings me much calm and peace in my mind.
Lei Aloha
Smile Communicator
Izumo, Shimane, Japan
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I have my old copy. It has been such a beautiful influence in my life. Alicia Bay Laurel, I am truly beholden to you for your countless gifts, books that changed my life, set me on my path, and were friends to me when no one else understood. Treasured with all my heart.
Thank you.
Beth Owls Daughter
Teacher, Writer, Seer, and Dream-whisperer
https://www.owlsdaughter.com
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Alicia Bay Laurel: So thrilled to see the harvest goddess smiling in your winter solstice altar, dear Hecate Doe!
Hecate Doe: Alicia Bay Laurel, you already know I love me some toilet paper roll Goddesses! You should have seen my Mabon one dancing on my altar, and my Imbolc one was quite cheeky ! I’ve made various Yule ones for 50 years (ack) but this is the first year I’m diligently making one for each Sabbat. Although I design and change up the skirt and blouse on each one over the years, the original inspiration came from your beautiful book.
Alicia Bay Laurel: Wow, I am very honored that a page from Being of the Sun has become so deeply woven into your spiritual life, dear Hecate Doe!
Hecate Doe: Alicia Bay Laurel… and then some. Because it was before scanners, my books are all cut up, the pieces carefully guarded. My 50-year-old son was thrilled to hear that I’ve “met” you; he still remembers the words to [the song] “Receiver Believer” and can play Winter Solstice chant on the old recorder. For the last 50 years, we’ve always sung and played “Receiver Believer” every Yule!
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Here are the two pages from the new edition of Being of the Sun that give the locations of the existing recordings of the music in the book. All of these recordings are available from our online shop (there’s a link in the horizontal menu bar at the top of each page of this website).
Dear Alicia,
Just thinking about you this morning as I was going through an old box of books I used for research on SPACED OUT and came across these two beauties…I’d completely forgotten about them!
Your work still inspires and brings joyto so many… (moi meme)
Much Love, Health and Beatitude for 2021
Alastair Gordon
Author, Architecture Critic, Visiting Professor at Harvard Graduate School of Design
New York, New York
Dear Alastair,
Thank you for this loving message, which brings me joy. And beatitude!
I have great respect for you and your work, and am thrilled to have had my work be part of it.
Last year, I finished the layout for the first new English language edition of Being of the Sun since 1973. I thought of you while I was restoring the color drawing that you used in your great book, Spaced Out.
Wishing you and Barbara every blessing,
Alicia
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Being of the Sun was so amazingly influential for me. I saw a copy in the Lafayette CA library when I was 14 in the ’80s, checked it out and based a large part of my life on it. My approach to spirituality was influenced by your book.
Neil R. Rasmussen
Los Angeles, California
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Beautiful Extraordinary Book!
Brigitte Mars
Herbalist, Professor, Author, Plant Expert, Natural Food Chef
https://brigittemars.com/
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Intended to be a companion volume to Living on the Earth, this book goes deep into a communal way of life in 1973.
Alicia Bay Laurel and Ramon Sender share their vision of yoga, healing, sun songs, moon songs, meditation, ceremonies, communes, solitudes, and more in a how-to format connecting us back to our inner child, naked & free!
May the holy words found in this book heal the world at a time when we need them most!
Tracy Conti and Stephen McCarty
Solar Return Shop
Echo Park, Los Angeles, California
I finished reading Being of the Sun, and I loved it.
It’s beautiful, and I can’t wait to see my dad read it to my [future] children one day.
It will be a lovely bed time book.
Bianca Scott
Herbalist and Writer
Tigard, Oregon
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Meg Henschel colored some of the drawings in Being of the Sun.
She posted these on Facebook in 2016.
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We don’t own or keep much in our lives, but this is one of the most treasured. This book came into our lives and gave us such joy. Wonderful images and genuine words of love and care for the planet and each other. Gratitude each day for the arrival of the Morning Star, bringer of life and joy to each and every living being on this planet.
Neil and Ness
Getting high on nature
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Dear Alicia,
My name is Alix, from Amsterdam. Currently I am on the island of Ibiza, in Spain.
Yesterday, I had the most perfect, aligned, beautiful ceremony with the mushroom. It told me to step in to the light, for I am a light being. It told me to always search for the Sun.
Then this morning I stumbled upon a vendor with retro books. The first one I was drawn to was your book Being of the Sun. I hope that you feel, as much as I do, how your time capsule found the right place at exactly the right time.
Thank you for your wisdom, for I will hand it over to my unborn children.
With love and sunshine, also to Ramón
Alix
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Being of the Sun found me at my local used book store the other day. It was the first book I noticed, and grabbed it . Being of the Sun speaks to my soul! I’m so grateful it found me. I want to thank you personally from my soul to yours.
It is almost everything I already believe in, and soo much more. I didn’t realize that it was the sequel to Living on the Earth, which I actually just went in search for and ordered along with the new edition of Being of the Sun, because I want to be able to color it, but didn’t want to ruin the original. I’m so happy that your book had found me, and grateful for being, and to get the chance to thank you for inspiring me and soo many others.
Its like you said in your book, the human race is awakening, and the universe listens to everything that we say feel or think. I’ve recently been awakening over the past few years, which has been a blessing, yet difficult at the same time, just because of the world we live in. I find soo much comfort in your books and I’m soo happy that you decided to write and publish them.
I hope that your books continue to find their way to more beautiful souls in search of their own spirituality, just like me 
Stephanie Rose Gracon
Avon Lake, Ohio
This is the “Breathing Cloud” It has lots of openings for air and there are prisms to breathe rainbow colored light.
Caroling Wholeo Geary
Artist and creator of the Wholeo Dome
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I am loving experimenting “modes/scales” from Being of the Sun currently ( got Japanese one from second hand book store, very lucky!) Will get living on earth in Japanese soon too.
Thank you for your beautiful creation and being you.
Momo Hamada
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
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Portia F, of Todmorden, Yorkshire, UK, sent me her copy of Being of the Sun with her wonderful colorations of many of my line drawings, along with a note:
“I have cherished the lightness of touch of Being of the Sun for many years. I live near this lovely landscape [the Yorkshire Dales] in the UK and was definitely a hippie in the ’70s/’80s. Many thanks for your continuing creativity and positivity!”
Above is Portia’s coloration of page one of Being of the Sun. The heat of the sun is palpable!
Portia’s color interpretation of page 7 gave me the feeling of a divinely enlightened mime.
On the reverse of page 7, on page 8, is a miraculous serendipity of design from the ink coming through the paper from page 7. I feel the intense light and shadow of the rainforest in this one.
Thank you for sending these, dear Portia!
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A Facebook post from February 29, 2016 about Being of the Sun:
I received today a request from a postgraduate literature student at a university in London who is writing a thesis on spirituality in books from the 1960s to the present, and wondered if I would send her a summation of Ramon Sender‘s and my spiritual book, Being of the Sun, which was published by Harper & Row in 1973, and which is still published by Soshisha, Ltd. in Tokyo. I told her I was honored by her request, and scanned the opening chapter, which sums up the book and its intentions. In case any of you would like to read it, or just look at the pictures, I am posting those pages here.
Note from 2024:
Eight years ago I did not know I would be publishing a new edition in English of Being of the Sun in 2021. The pandemic offered an opportunity to step back from concert, art and book touring, and create new editions of both Living on the Earth and Being of the Sun.
I was thrilled to do the page layouts digitally – for the first time – with digital designer Karen Tsugawa coaching me over Zoom. Unlike the editions published in the 1970s, the colors of these illustrations are true to those of the drawings I made in 1972, because I made the scans myself and had hands-on control of the layout.
The result of this collaboration is available here.
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Oh, how I love my new copy of Being Of The Sun!
The inscription meant so much to me! Thank you! 
If I would have known in my 20 year old self that one day we would be friends, I would not have believed it!
Peace and Joy to you always
with deep love,
Mammamoon
Elizabeth Lunt
Little Farm School
Limerick, Maine
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Being of the Sun is Alicia Bay Laurel’s second book for the ages. Following on the acclaim for her consummate natural lifestyle guide, Living on the Earth, and partnering with the renowned avant garde composer and yogi Ramón Sender, Being of the Sun explores the ways in which a person can strip away the trappings of Western culture and “be here now” in a more natural and spiritual manner through daily practice, meditation, song, dance, and celebration of community.
The guidance and inspiration is presented in muted color with Alicia Bay Laurel’s flowing line drawings and script, along with 8 pages of original full-color illustrations. The information ranges from the quirky (such as how to make bagpipes) to the practical (how to make a sauna and tell time from the position of the sun) to the spiritual (with tips on breathing, mantras, and positions) to maintaining a supportive community.
Throughout this compendium are scores and songs written by Ramón Sender, with explanations of suitable instruments and occasions. The influence of the seasons of the year and astrological signs is also noted. This unique work is an invaluable resource to read cover-to-cover and fascinating to open to any page.
Amazon’s review of the 2021 English language edition of Being of the Sun
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This is my coloring from one of Alicia Bay Laurel’s beautiful books, Being of the Sun.
It’s not a coloring book. It’s about living life, but many illustrations give the opportunity to color.
I had so much fun doing it, too. I colored much of the book.
It was during my long convalesence from a crushed ankle. It was a godsend.
Sheri Bender
Yucaipa, California
“Playing music keeps the passion flowing, which keeps life flowing. I believe in love. I am a Gypsy Indian. I will always be a free spirit, till the day I die.”
This drawing depicts a Sunday potluck and music jam at Wheelers Ranch commune, circa 1970.
I love the way you colored it, dear Sheri!!
Alicia Bay Laurel
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Alicia, I would love for you to inscribe the book, Being of the Sun.
It is for my dearest friend, Talulah, on her 24th birthday.
I’m a big fan of your books!
Thank you,
Nina Tavan
Melbourne, Australia
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Your book has given me so much wisdom and joy in life!!!
I love your book soooo much!
Thank you for writing such a great book
Maya Ikeda
Nara, Japan
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Being of the Sun is clearly a book with a long standing legacy, touching lives and holding its own place in literary and spiritual history. The quality of the printing, design, and illustration speaks to the care and commitment you’ve invested, and it’s easy to see why it has become a beloved classic.
I want to express my genuine admiration for your artistry and the way you’ve continued to share it with the world over the decades.
Sandra K. May
Community Manager, Winning Waves
Bookniche Reedsy
Canisteo, New York
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Art and culture historian Karyl Newman sent me this link to the movie, Deep Listening: The Story of Pauline Oliveros, made about Pauline Oliveros, one of the original members of the San Francisco Tape Music Center, along with Ramón Sender Barayón, Terry Riley and Mort Subotnick, all of whom appear in the film.
You can watch the film here: https://thestoryofpaulineoliveros.com/
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Alicia Bay Laurel 
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