Alejandro Jodorowsky

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Biographical

Alejandro Jodorowsky is a playwright, filmmaker, composer, actor, mime, comic book writer, tarot reader and psychotherapist. Born in Chile in 1929 of a Jewish Russian immigrant family, he developed a penchant for the fine arts at a young age; at 16 he published poetry in Chile, at 18 created his own pantomime troupe and in his early twenties studied in France and toured worldwide with the Marcel Marceau theatre troupe. He settled in Mexico in 1960, where he spent the majority of his career creating over one hundred theatrical productions and films. He also spent a considerable amount of time in Paris, where in 1962 he and a few colleagues initiated an artistic movement called El Panico, which was grounded in three basic elements of terror, humor, and simultaneity. The tenets of El Panico were a major influence in Jodorowsky's later work, particularly his three landmark films: Fando y Lis (1967), El Topo (1969), and The Holy Mountain (1972). Beginning in the late 1960s, Jodorowsky began writing and illustrating science fiction graphic novels (many of which also related to El Panico). A prolific author, he has published several books on tarot, mysticism, his therapeutic methods, and personal spiritual experiences. He is rumored to currently be working on a gangster film called King Shot, starring Marilyn Manson and Nick Nolte.

Dubbed "The Magus of Cinema," Jodorowsky has always had a hand in the occult; its hard to say whether Jodorowsky is more attracted to the supernatural, or if the supernatural is more attracted to Jodorowsky. He is a scholar of mysticism, and spent over fifteen years reconstructing the original form of the Tarot de Marseille. He hasdeveloped a comprehensive therapeutic philosophy involving psychomagic - the belief that the performance of certain acts can directly act upon the unconscious mind, releasing it from psychological wounds suffered in life - and initiatic or meditative massage. He also studied meditation and koans under a Zen Buddhist master for years, which he credits with "taming his intellect." Yet more often than not it was the fantastic that came to him; during the course of his life he has been sought out by a diverse array of spiritual and mystical beings, from Panchita, the trance healer, to Maria Sabina, the Mushroom Priestess, to surrealist artist Leonara Carrington, to the sorcery-practicing supermodel La Tigresa. These magical and powerful women had profound effects on him, and succeeded in what he describes as "breaking down emotional armor so that I would finally come to see that the emptiness I longed for was a flower grounded in the root of love."