Hi, no I did not go with him to any of those places-he went to that one and loved it, but it didn't work out as he hoped-Priscilla didn't "come around" to accepting what he wanted to do. None of them did actually, other than Larry Geller, who was not "welcomed" warmly by the rest-he was getting too much time with Elvis etc:. And I do know Elvis was pleased and eager to join that group in the mountains but of course, he had to put that aside more to less to please his family, real and employed. The Col. was running scared-he was afraid he would lose his
star to "hocus-pocus" nonsense etc:. Thank you so much for your insight and inspiration. I appreciate hearing from people who want to know more and who can ask questions -I am sure there will be many I do not know the answers to, but I hope everyone can get some insight into the spirit, heart and soul behind that image and that smile! I loved that smile and still do-he just lit up inside out sometimes. Even toward the end, it could still knock the socks off most people. Best to you, WJH

Hello Julie, The Impersonal Life is a little book, my daughter keeps it by her bed and reads before going to sleep-she gets up very early to leave for work and goes to bed early so she reads a little. She likes that book a lot and says it gives her inner peace and strength. She also likes one called This Thing Called You and I haven't the author right now. May Mann gave that book to Elvis and he passed it on to us in 1966-he had read it quite a bit also. There was a snapshot in the book of May Mann that he apparently used as a bookmarker and she had autographed it to him also. She in case you may not know was a Hollywood jouranlist that got to talk with him quite a bit and was very pro Elvis and still is though she is getting up there - in fact I'm not sure she is still with us here so many people from Hollywood have gone on in the past frew years. I am so happy you are reading some of his books-they are inspirational and sometimes must be read more than once. You can't hurry through them and get everything the first few times. At least I've found that so. And like my daughter Starla, (her name is Julianne Starla and Elvis called her "little Julie" all the time-even after she turned 16) likes to reread the books and does often. They and he has guided her life and given her hope, peace and love even now. If not for his guidance she may have turned out pretty rowdy as that was the norm when she was growing up and his influence on her was every bit as much as ours, if not more so. She turned out to be a great kid, understanding, smart, compassionate and forgiving and has a crew of 8 younger guys working under her-she is a merchandising specialist and uses her artistic talents designing store layouts and has more than 600 stores as clients. All of the things Elvis taught her she uses in dealing with such a diversity of personalities and genders that she encounters and works with. I couldn't do it. wjh

I had to reread several of them also. He had gone so far in his "quest" that he understood-plus he also had that memory. Some of his family members have said he read the books but "didn't understand them"... sure-a person spends that much time reading and getting the books and then didn't understand them? Why bother reading them and sticking to it if he didnt? Over a 1000 books-mostly on spiritual things-
I married a Creek Indian and have always loved that type thing- and still do. More so now that I'm older than before- I think because I look at the spiritual side and the lore of the Indian beliefs. And too, I was always in to the western side... I must have been a cowboy in a past life because I've always felt comfortable and very safe on horseback. Now I'm too stiff and afraid of a broken hip or something, to ride the horses I have now- mainly the stallion who is a sweetheart and so kind and gentle-but he's highly trained and expects me to "know" what is what. He's great with beginners and kids though. he is with me also, but I sure don't want to spend time in a cast again! Been there, done that-and not because of a horse either-not directly anyway. wjh

Julie, as a follow-up to Sue's comments re "The Best of Elvis" by Cindy Hazen and Mike Freeman, I am in the middle of reading that book & highly recommend it. It really shows the humanitarian side of Elvis. And there is so much, most of it done privately w/o publicity. It's a shame that books on Elvis usually do not adequately show this side of him, but this book certainly does! It's out of print, though, but Maia has a link on ELC to the Amazon marketplace for that book, so that you can get it used.

Thanks Laurie, I haven't bougt a book in years-but I think I would like to read that one- and there are a couple others too. You all probably know about what has gone on and is going on- I haven't a clue-kinda been living in an owl burrow for some time now. But I'm seeing the "light of day" now! thanks. wjh

You can also check out ELC's "recommended Reading" Amazon links:

http://www.elvislightedcandle.org/recommended.htm

Hey Maia! yeah, I will do that. I may have some $$ to spend if my boarder pays me this month...she usually does these days. Anyway, about crystals Julie, yes Elvis was into that too. He liked natural stones etc: and wore them for different things he needed personally. He also had a cross made of crystals-natural crystal from some deep cavern that I do not know the name of-but it might have been Carlsbad but I think it was from European source. He wore it often and it was a tad smaller than the big diamond one he wore the last couple of years.
It may even have been the one he gave the little girl-It was expensive and had diamonds in it also. But the main cross portion was that crystal that cost a mint to have cut etc: and mounted. The jewler made it to Elvis' specifactions...and he wanted it to hang just in a certain place on his body- I don't know what chakra that was-but it was something to do with his ability to sing notes
it seems like-it was way over my head at the time- he tried to explain in layman's terms but his layman and mine was quite far apart on that subject! Anyway, if you see in pictures one hanging way down his shirt front-that's it. It had another stone exactly in the middle-it was not diamond but equally expensive and I think it was amethist maybe? Or opal? Maybe opal, it seems to me that was what it was. A very big, expensive kind of opal...of course...not your usual opal stones. wjh He also used crystals for different purposes, healing etc; and he told me something about some guy (not Larry) who came to the set once and did a healing thing on him using crystals of various sizes and lengths and that he felt their viberations and it helped his back which he had sprained doing something and thought he wasn't going to be able to get around well enough to finish the scenes coming up in a movie. But that session did the trick, he thought. He also soaked in a tub of hot water and clorine (bleach) via grandma Suzy's instructions-she was a lic. thearpist who know what to do about lots of things. wjh.

Thanks RainBowLight for bringing this back up, I think it was Something to See how people reacted when they would Interview Elvis and found out how much he Loved to Read that they were Very Shocked. But if they knew just what Type of Books he was Interesated in would have really Blowed their Minds!

You Are So Very Right!