John Michell (1933-2009)

John Michell, the British countercultural writer who came to fame in the sixties with a book connecting flying saucers to King Arthur, and went on to write a series of outlandish and often fascinating books on a myriad of subjects, including a book on Shakespearian authorship considered by many the best on the topic, has died of cancer at age 76. A New York Times obituary by Douglas Martin notes one of Michell’s books, City of Revelation: On the Proportions and Symbolic Numbers of the Cosmic Temple, claimed “Long ago, higher powers passed on the secrets of the numbers and geometric forms defining the shape of heaven to enlightened humans …. These forms supposedly took earthly shape at holy places like Glastonbury, Stonehenge and the pyramids.” Which led to Glastonbury becoming a hippie hangout, and site of a huge rock festival, and members of the Rolling Stones to ask him to lead them on tours to Stonehenge. Comments astrologer Jonathan Cainer, “Anyone who ever dreamed the hippie dream owes him their gratitude for adding the ‘wow’ factor to their view of the cosmos.”