Alejandro Jodorowsky

An inner link has always connected the artistic avant-garde with acts of insurgency carried out by socially disenfranchised populations insofar as both embrace the possibility of an emancipated future that is radically at odds with the present (picture Gustave Courbet
helping to topple the Vendome Column in
1871), except something about such historical repetition and reenactment at this time  –a moment best described as an uncanny present: a present unfamiliar in its very presentness (Rebecca Bryant)– cries out for something like verification. The essay (published in ASAP Journal 3.2 2018) asks is such a thing as proof of authenticity even possible?

Symbolism, allegories and myth-making permeate all of Jodorowsky's creations - films, books, graphic novels - making his idiosyncratic and singular style and aesthetic immediately recognizable. Carnivalesque, transgressive, subversive, grotesque, corporeal, sensual, surrealistic, provocative, mad are the ingredients boiled in his psychomagical realism.

EL TOPO (Alejandro Jodorowsky, 1970) has been acknowledged to be one of the first -- if not THE first -- of the "midnight movies" of the 1970s. Its status as an early independent film can be based on its financing, distribution, and exhibition; its thematic uniqueness; and its surrealist cinematic techniques.

This essay situates EL TOPO within its historical place in the Midnight Movie "genre" and provides an interpretation of it many symbolic and ambiguous features.

Après une première sortie annulée en 2013 pour des raisons obscures (a été mentionné un blocage de la part de la veuve Giraud en raison d'une possible violation des droits concernant les dessins de son mari, largement présents dans le film), le documentaire de Frank Pavich sur l'adaptation cinématographique avortée en 1975 du planet opera culte de Frank Herbert (Dune, publié en 1965) par le réalisateur d'origine chilienne Alejandro Jodorowsky, est finalement sorti dans les salles françaises en mars 2016 (après avoir été largement visible depuis 2014 et son édition en Blu-ray).

S'il permet effectivement d'entrevoir des esquisses inédites du fameux story-board de mille pages dessiné par Jean Giraud/Moebius (et d'imaginer à quoi celui-ci ressemblerait si on l'adaptait sous forme d'anime), le documentaire de Pavich ne fournit aucune révélation particulière à l'endroit du projet « donquichottesque » du réalisateur : son histoire ayant été moult fois relatée, à commencer par Jodorowsky lui-même (qui en publia un compte rendu dès 1985 dans le supplément au numéro 107 de Métal Hurlant : « Dune, le film que vous ne verrez jamais »). Malgré son aspect « bonus DVD d'un film qui n'existe pas », Jodorowsky's Dune permet tout de même d'apprécier la place que tient ce ratage légendaire au sein de l'histoire hollywoodienne, ou dans l'imaginaire cinéphile contemporain.

Enfin, étant entièrement acquis à la « cause » du réalisateur, il offre l'opportunité de se confronter à une nouvelle version des faits et de découvrir ainsi de nouvelles failles au sein de la « légende officielle » du projet ; de confirmer - au cas où cela serait encore nécessaire - que tout ce qui est dit à son sujet doit être pris avec prudence.

After the original one was canceled in 2013 for obscure reasons (it was speculated that the widow Giraud objected due to alleged copyright infringement concerning her late husband's drawings, prominently featured in the film), Frank Pavich's documentary, centered on the failed 1975 cinematic adaptation of Frank Herbert's cult classic planet opera (Dune, 1965) by Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky, finally premiered in French theaters in March 2016 (although it has been widely available since 2014 through its Blu-ray edition). While it does offer new glimpses of the famous thousand-page storyboard drawn by Jean Giraud/Moebius (and allows us to envision what it might have looked like as an anime), Pavich's film doesn't unveil any significant revelations about the director's quixotic project, the story of the latter having already been recounted numerous times, primarily by Jodorowsky himself (who published his own account as early as 1985 in the supplement to issue #107 of the French magazine Métal Hurlant: “Dune, le film que vous ne verrez jamais”).

Beyond resembling a “DVD bonus about a movie that never came to fruition”, Jodorowsky's Dune allows us to appreciate the significance of this legendary failure within Hollywood history, lingering in the depths of cinephile memory. Moreover, by fully immersing us in the director's cause, it offers an additional perspective on the project's backstory, allowing us to uncover potential new flaws within its official legend. This reaffirms, if there was any doubt, the need to approach everything told about it with much caution.

I read this story recently, after a conversation with a work colleague about the Tarot led to a recommendation of these graphic novels written by Alejandro Jodorowsky and illustrated by Jean Giraud (aka Moebius).

It's hard to know where to start with Jodorowsky's created Universe, so I purchased the original Incal story which is split into three volumes, and have been translated from French to English.

Thus I began my journey into this strange 'Jodoverse'.

My perception of reality has not quite been the same since, but I feel that my personal viewpoint of the world around me has been changed positively by this meta-physical science-fiction fable and its deeply resonant themes, which I feel are an aid by the authors to a discovery of the Self by the reader. 

It is a meditational story which is the basis of a form of self initiation to the process of individuation which seems so desperately needed amidst the disconnection of the technological and authoritarian age. 

This psychedelic fable seems directed towards easing the loss of our humanity and compassion, and it represents an attempt to reconnect with the lost archaic world of the subconscious and decode its lessons and meanings.  I feel that this work is an experiment to give us back our own minds whilst searching for meaning in our collective existence, and to anchor ourselves in the ever present now. 

Of course the skeptical view would be that this is just a work of fiction,  but even fiction has a role in the voyage of self discovery.  I hope this analysis can illuminate the authors' work satisfactorily.  I will try not to reveal too much of the intricacies of the story, but will concentrate more on thematic elements, as I feel this story is worth reading, and do not want to detract from enjoyment by revealing any major spoilers.

The work has a strong spiritual subtext, with elements of the Tarot, Alchemy, and the Universal Tree Of Life grabbing my attention from the pages upon the first reading.  It is a reflection on paper of Jodorowsky's own brand of 'psychomagic', a blend of eastern philosophy and Hermetic alchemy.

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RESEÑA: (81049)
«Los Evangelios pueden quitarnos miedos.». Manteniendo el lenguaje directo de las conferencias originales que ofreció en la Universidad Jussieu en París, el autor va citando fielmente, casi uno a uno, los versículos de los cuatro evangelios («cada frase del Evangelio es perfecta y contiene una enseñanza») para realizar a continuación una interpretación, completamente nueva y radical, de lo que éstos pretenden decirnos. Como el propio autor señala, «esta nueva interpretación, que afecta tanto a la sexualidad de Jesús o de María, al nacimiento y muerte del Cristo, a las bienaventuranzas o a los milagros, intentará proponer una Moral satisfactoria basada en la salud y la belleza, y enseñar, a los que estén listos y prestos a mutar, el sagrado regreso a sí mismos».

La investigación tiene como objetivos centrales, primero, situar y reconocer a Naruto como un producto de la llamada subliteratura adolescente y juvenil, surgido desde la industria cultural y propagado mediante los medios masivos. Segundo, exhibir las principales ideas respecto del valor (o no) literario del comic o novela gráfica. Tercero, revisar las principales influencias literarias presentes en la obra de Kishimoto, tales como el monomito del héroe de Joseph Campbell y la novela de formación occidental. Y cuarto, vislumbrar los elementos y atributos propios de nuestro objeto de estudio que disciernen de las tradiciones literarias anteriormente mencionadas.
A través de un análisis de fuente, concluiremos que el valor literario de Naruto está dado por su componente curativo: apela al autoconocimiento y a la autoestima, a valorar las cosas que tenemos en el presente, al mutuo entendimiento y a la unión con el mundo, a la resiliencia y a la sanación como la superación del narcisismo infantil. Su orientación sanadora dignifica a la obra a pesar de su contexto industrial y comercial.

Abstract: This article aims to show the relationship between psychology, tarot and astrology in Buenos Aires. We study how tarot and astrology could develop a therapeutic perspective by borrowing and transforming certain categories from psychology. In particular, we are interested in how the concept of the unconscious could create the idea that there is an unknown part of ourselves that it is very difficult to handle and that is taken by both tarot and astrology. Also, we show how certain categories of junguian psychology, such as the shadow and idea archetype, could endow tarot and astrology with a therapeutic role.

Resumen: Este artículo analiza la relación existente entre psicología, tarot y astrología en Buenos Aires. Muestra como el tarot y la astrología pudieron desarrollar una perspectiva terapéutica tomando y transformando ciertas categorías de la psicología. En particular, el foco está puesto en la manera en la que el concepto de inconsciente pudo generar la idea de que existe una dimensión desconocida dentro de nosotros mismos, la cual es muy difícil de manejar y que es retomada por el tarot y la astrología. También se muestra como ciertas categorías tomadas de la psicología jungiana, tales como sombra, o la idea de arquetipo otorgaron al tarot y a la astrología un rol terapéutico.

In this essay I will attempt to introduce Surrealism’s relationship with the elements of Western European traditions of thought that have come to be defined as ‘esoteric’. The
historical and social impact of this union draws into focus the direct concerns of the ‘esoteric’ within art and its perceived ability to impact on society as well as the individual. A short analysis of Alejandro Jodorowsky’s The Holy Mountain then aims at identifying further key features of ‘esoteric’ art, as well as add further answers to some important questions. Can ‘esoteric’ art be defined by a simple re-presentation of ‘esoteric’ symbols and images? Are there any pre-requisites that exist for creators as well as viewers of ‘esoteric’ art? This analysis aims to answer such questions, but firstly a clarification of the term ‘esoteric’, and its place within western religious thought, becomes necessary in order for us to refine our definition of what is esoteric art.

La fecunda influencia de Samuel Beckett y Eugene Ionesco en las primeras piezas de Fernando Arrabal es el tema de este artículo, que busca subrayar asimismo el papel central que jugó el contexto bélico del que surgirá la obra de este original autor español, una coyuntura traumática que también compartirán sus modelos precursores. La infancia transcurrida en medio de la guerra civil española será llevada al escenario a través de una propuesta teatral que, aunque se inscribe en la corriente del Teatro del Absurdo, tendrá dentro de la misma un sello distintivo que resultará importante dilucidar.

Este artículo relaciona las cartas del Tarot denominadas El Loco y El Ermitaño como vínculos creativos de la poética jodorowskyana. Se relacionan a estas figuras los conceptos de “pensamiento viajero” y “escritura fragmentaria” como tópicos del clima cultural posmoderno y se revisan fragmentos de la escritura poética de Alejandro Jodorowsky a través de la estrategia deconstructiva derrideana.

Abstract. In the crucible of the Renaissance aesthetic, one of the main elements of the alloy was hieroglyphic image, which defined both its formality and the theoretical substratum that shapes it. That kind of image influenced some of the most characteristic visual structures of the 16th and 17th centuries, such as emblems. However, far from disappearing, in the subsequent years, that kind of aesthetic pursuit had several reappearances, especially during the 20th century, with advertising, comics (Jodorowsky, Promethea), some of the incursions in the new languages of the avant-garde movement (Torres-García) or contemporary artists, such as Laffoley or Bruskin. All of those artists
share some essential traits, with a framework that merges Hermetism, Neoplatonism, Kabbalah, Western esotericism, etc. In both the Renaissance and now, it drifts into a style that takes hieroglyphic
writing as mythical model. Therefore, in the present text, we will analyse one of the least investigated roots of the avant-gardes and contemporary art, whose influence should not be underestimated. In said root, we can find a development of what we could call thinking in images.

Resumen. En el crisol de la estética renacentista uno de los principales elementos de la aleación fue la imagen jeroglífica, que definió tanto su formalidad como el sustrato teórico que la configuraba. Ese tipo de imagen influyó en algunas de sus estructuras visuales más características del XVI y XVII, como los emblemas. Pero, lejos de desaparecer, en los siglos posteriores se tipo de búsqueda estética ha gozado de diversas reapariciones, especialmente en el siglo XX, con la publicidad, el cómic (Jodorowsky, Promethea), algunas de las incursiones en nuevos lenguajes del vanguardismo (Torres-García) o artistas contemporáneos, como Laffoley o Bruskin. Todos estos artistas comparten algunos rasgos esenciales, con un marco conceptual en el que confluyen hermetismo, neoplatonismo, cábala, esoterismo occidental, y que tanto en el renacimiento como ahora deriva en un estilo que toma como modelo mítico a la escritura jeroglífica. En el presente texto se analizará, por tanto, una de las raíces menos investigadas de las vanguardias y del arte contemporáneo, y cuyo influjo no debe subestimarse. En dicha raíz encontramos un desarrollo de lo que podríamos llamar pensar en imágenes. Abstract. In the crucible of the Renaissance aesthetic, one of the main elements of the alloy was hieroglyphic image, which defined both its formality and the theoretical substratum that shapes it. That kind of image influenced some of the most characteristic visual structures of the 16th and 17th centuries, such as emblems. However, far from disappearing, in the subsequent years, that kind of aesthetic pursuit had several reappearances, especially during the 20th century, with advertising, comics (Jodorowsky, Promethea), some of the incursions in the new languages of the avant-garde movement (Torres-García) or contemporary artists, such as Laffoley or Bruskin. All of those artists share some essential traits, with a framework that merges Hermetism, Neoplatonism, Kabbalah, Western esotericism, etc. In both the Renaissance and now, it drifts into a style that takes hieroglyphic writing as mythical model. Therefore, in the present text, we will analyse one of the least investigated roots of the avant-gardes and contemporary art, whose influence should not be underestimated. In said root, we can find a development of what we could call thinking in images.

The Chilean-French avant-garde filmmaker and self-styled spiritual teacher Alejandro Jodorowsky's film, The Holy Mountain (1973), is often referred to as a 'surrealistic' exploration of Western Esotericism, and was a pivotal cinematic moment for what Christopher Partridge (2004, 2005) has termed 'occulture'. It is often claimed in secondary literature and informally online that the film is based on the unfinished novel Mount Analogue (1952) by René Daumal, French writer and follower of the esotericist G.I. Gurdjieff. The Holy Mountain is thus a clear candidate for testing theories about the cultural production of 'Gurdjieffian' film adaptations. A closer reading, however, shows that the two texts share few ideological or even structural elements. In the wake of the film's reception and Jodorowsky's growing cultural importance, this article maps the congruence of the film to the novel by focusing on the role played by the eponymous mountain as the only invariant symbol in both. Some of the biographical contours of the two artists' relationship to Gurdjieffian and wider occultural esoteric discourses will also be traced to reveal the pre-critical and largely self-referential narrative of the film adaptation in the secondary literature as a species of academic urban legend-making.

This investigation takes as a starting point the monstrosity in Alejandro Jodorowsky’s  filming, wich, through two particular scenes description’s from the movie La Danza de la Realidad (2013) propose a dialogue with the Imbunche’s net metaphor. The mentioned metaphor defines the chilean identity as it is exposed and specified according to Fidel Supelveda’s book Patrimonio, Identidad, Tradición y Creatividad (2010).  This association tries to highlight Jodorowsky’s work by giving the Imbunche’s net metaphor an artistic support, a concrete example and a materiality; allowing to perceive the way in wich both elements dialogue and challange the  hypothesis of a  national identity. The intertwining dialogue analysis takes place in the context of fantastic cinema in a general way as well as Jodorowsky’s filomography in a particular way.

Key Words: Jodorowsky, Sepúlveda, Imbunche, Monstrosity, Identity.

El capítulo se centra en la obra fílmica del chileno Alejandro Jodorowsky quien, tras casi 20 años sin rodar, volvió al cine con sus filmes La danza de la realidad (2013) y Poesía sin fin (2015), obras en las cuales se centra este texto. Ambas películas son decisivas en su filomografía, puesto que posen un vínculo con lo autobiográfico; más aún, aquí se considera que establecen una autoficción fílmica (Gasparini 2004; Lejeune 1989, 2005) , articulada a través una estética disruptiva, marcada por la centralidad del discurso plástico y del teatro en el cine (Abuín 2015). Pero, principalmente, se sostiene que es a partir de la estética de la performance (Fischer-Lichte, 2008) -del cual Jodorowsky ha sido un iniciador en Latinoamérica con sus efímeros pánicos-, que el cineasta deviene el centro del discurso, en una búsqueda por crear su mito, a la vez que ejecuta la performance de sí.

An ode to Tarology, 'Turba philosophorum' is a lyrical, atavistic poem written and performed in response to SEVENTH Gallery’s 2018 ‘Utopian Tongues’. Spellbinding and confessional, Stephenson abandons and indulges in the mediation of Tarot and text in hopes of diffusing idealistic dualist thought.

The Chilean-French avant-garde filmmaker and self-styled spiritual teacher Alejandro Jodorowsky’s film The Holy Mountain (1973), is often referred to as a ‘surrealistic’ exploration of Western Esotericism, and was a pivotal cinematic moment for what Christopher Partridge (2004; 2005) has termed ‘occulture’. It is often claimed in secondary literature and informally online that the film is based on the unfinished novel Mount Analogue (1952) by René Daumal, French writer and follower of the esotericist G. I. Gurdjieff. The Holy Mountain is thus a clear candidate for testing theories about the cultural production of ‘Gurdjieffian’ film adaptations. A closer reading, however, shows that the two texts share few ideological or even structural elements. In the wake of the film’s reception and Jodorowsky’s growing cultural importance, this article maps the congruence of the film to the novel by focusing on the role played by the eponymous mountain as the only invariant symbol in both. Some of the biographical contours of the two artists’ relationship to Gurdjieffian and wider occultural esoteric discourses will also be traced to reveal the pre-critical and largely self-referential narrative of the film adaptation in the secondary literature as a species of academic urban legend-making.

REFERENCIA:
ITINERARIOS DE LO HUMANO AL INTERIOR DE LA FILOSOFÍA.
Entre el parque humano y las comunidades espaciales “aladas”:
“La Filosofía ha sido suplantada por libros de auto-ayuda”.
Dr. Adolfo Vásquez Rocca
Eldiario.com.ar Edición Impresa. Paraná Año CI – N.º 37, 118 – Lunes 23 y  Martes 24 de Mayo de 2016
Redacción, Administración y Talleres: Urquiza y Buenos Aires - Paraná [ Argentina ]
RESUMEN:
La Filosofía ha sido suplantada por libros de auto-ayuda, por los tratados de coaching ontológico (en lenguaje hermético y términos en sánscrito), donde no se ejercita, precisamente, el pensamiento y la crítica. Las librerías abundan en obras de Paulo Coelho, novelas de Isabel Allende, Psicomagia, ambientalismo (fundamentalismo ecológico), cocina gourmet, diseño (minimalismo japones), orientalismos en todas sus versiones, récord deportivos, surf, nuevos tablet, iPhone y demás gadget propios de una generación  hiper-conectada.
Por su parte, la filosofía no ofrece soluciones facilistas, y en rigor, ni siquiera procura dar respuestas, su vocación es formular problemas, perplejidades y despertar asombros y maravillas; incita a formular preguntas, que son el cultivo del pensamiento. Una pregunta perspicaz conlleva la mitad de la respuesta (salida);  los problemas no se resuelven, se disuelven (dirá Wittgenstein). Así que, si bien la Filosofía no ayuda en lo inmediato, pone las cosas en perspectiva, enseña a tomar distancia para saber qué hacer o no hacer. Para algunos deterministas (fatalistas, estoicos o budistas Zen –según se les quiera considerar) existen sólo dos tipos de problemas: los que no tienen solución y los que se resuelven solos;  en ninguno de los dos casos hay que algo que se pueda hacer, salvo seguir en las ocupaciones diarias, esperando que la realidad se recomponga a sí misma.
Dr. Adolfo Vásquez Rocca

The term coined by the multifaceted filmmaker, artist and tarot reader of inner healing Alejandro Jodorowsky alludes to a psychotherapeutic trick that consists of staging in real life and in a waking state a repairing event of a trauma, incapacitating emotional programming or manifest negativity in the life of the querent.

Resumen.

El presente trabajo intenta, a partir de la revisión de las obras fundamentales de Jean Baudrillard, dar cuenta del origen de la personalidad narcisista, que no conoce límites entre ella misma y el mundo que exige la gratificación inmediata de sus deseos, así como la erosión de la vida íntima tenida lugar en la sociedad del espectáculo. El American way of life aparecerá caracterizado como el imperio de la seducción y de la obsolescencia decretada; un sistema que rinde culto al fetiche de la mercancía y la pornografía de la información. Finalmente, se buscará dar cuenta de cómo el consumo no es, en absoluto, la base sobre la que descansa el progreso, sino más bien la barrera que lo estanca o, al menos, lo lanza en la dirección contraria a la de la mejora de las relaciones sociales.

Autobiographies represent a specific genre, a character in the Nathan Hill novel The Nix (2016) exposes the hidden allure and the high-demand behind them as them being really masked self-help books. But that might be just one kind of biographies, the other type wields an intrinsic value of documenting or reporting on notorious and obscure events in a first-hand witness account. Chilean-born author Alejandro Jodorowsky weaves the both strands together turning the autobiography genre into a therapeutic session, philosophical lecture and eventually a myth. According to his semi-autobiography The Dance of Reality (Park Street Press, 2014), Jodorowsky lived his life to the fullest and beyond as he rose to become a poet against all odds, the highest artistic rank in his perspective. Besides being an author, he is notorious as the godfather of midnight movies, a sage, a tarot master, an actor, a mime, a graphic novel scribe, a healer, a scholar, a philosopher, a playwright and even a spiritual guru, all the professions contributing to the rich patchwork of his truly renaissance persona larger than just the sum of its parts and a testament to artistic reinvention. The book had an afterlife in the form of cinematic retelling of Jodorowsky's childhood and its materialization is a product of circumstance or twist of fate. The production got underway after the filmmaker reunited with his former producer Michel Seydoux, who backed The Dance of Reality without, allegedly, even seeing a single word. The union of two friends separated by a disastrous film project in the 70s was prompted by director and producer Frank Pavich, who aimed to tell the behind-the-scenes story in Jodorowsky´s Dune. Pavich´s documentary heralded Jodorowsky´s rehabilitation on the silver screen and, most importantly, documented and augmented the process of myth-making at the end of which Alejandro Jodorowsky rose as the mythic filmmaker: a visionary way ahead of his time, and as a prophet (as he famously declared in the spiritual acid western El Topo), whose unfinished film Dune was supposedly so revolutionary ("the greatest film never made"), it was doomed to fail. Pavich single-handedly conjures the aura of a genius, and a misunderstood one at that. Take for example the case of the abandoned project Abel and Cain, rumoured to star Marilyn Manson and Johnny Depp as the biblical brothers in a sequel to El Topo (first part of the sequel The Sons of El Topo was published recently as a graphic novel or in its creator´s words "film graphique" 46 years since the premiere of El Topo).

Rad predstavlja pokušaj geopolitičke kontekstualizacije i real-političkog čitanja strip-stvaralaštva Alehandra Žodorovskog. U fokusu analize nalazi se tzv. Žodoverzum-segment njegovog stripovskog opusa u koji ulaze tri velike naučnofantastične sage-Inkal, Kasta Metabarona i Tehnooci. Ova dela, koja žanrovski možemo odrediti kao "svemirske opere", slikovito dočaravaju futurističku viziju jedne od mogućih kosmičkih budućnosti čovečanstva. Cilj rada je da u pomenutom fiktivnom univerzumu mapira one motive koji inspiraciju crpe iz tradicije klasične geopolitike, odnosno prakse političkog realizma. Autorova polazna pretpostavka je da je Žodoverzum osmišljen tako da funkcioniše kao (popularno-kulturni) odraz ovozemaljskih geopolitičkih principa u ogledalu kosmosa, te da stoga viđenje astropolitike u delima Alehandra Žodorovskog nije ništa drugo do preslikavanje real-politike na beskrajni prostor izvan Zemljine orbite. Da bi potvrdio ovu pretpostavku, autor kao ključ za odgonetanje tajni Žodoverzuma koristi geopolitičke i astropolitičke koncepte Karla Šmita i Evereta Dolmana. U tu svrhu biće upotrebljen Šmitov koncept nomosa zemlje, kao i učenje o tehnološkom determinizmu prisutno kod oba teoretičara. Primenom ovih koncepata na navedena ostvarenja, autor će pokušati da dokaže kako ideje klasične geopolitike imaju svoje parnjake u kosmičkim fantazmima pomenutog velikana devete umetnosti.

The Chilean-French avant-garde filmmaker and self-styled spiritual teacher Alejandro Jodorowsky’s film, The Holy Mountain (1973), is often referred to as a ‘surrealistic’ exploration of Western Esotericism, and was a pivotal cinematic moment for what Christopher Partridge (2004, 2005) has termed ‘occulture’. It is often claimed in secondary literature and informally online that the film is based on the unfinished novel Mount Analogue (1952) by Rene Daumal, French writer and follower of the esotericist G.I. Gurdjieff. The Holy Mountain is thus a clear candidate for testing theories about the cultural production of ‘Gurdjieffian’ film adaptations. A closer reading, however, shows that the two texts share few ideological or even structural elements. In the wake of the film’s reception and Jodorowsky’s growing cultural importance, this article maps the congruence of the film to the novel by focusing on the role played by the eponymous mountain as the only invariant symbol in both. Some of the biographical contours of the two artists’ relationship to Gurdjieffian and wider occultural esoteric discourses will also be traced to reveal the pre-critical and largely self referential narrative of the film adaptation in the secondary literature as a species of academic urban legend-making.

El término acuñado por el multifacético cineasta, artista y tarotista de la sanación interior Alejandro Jodorowsky alude a un truco sicoterapéutico que consiste en escenificar en la vida real y en estado de vigilia un suceso reparador de un trauma, programación emocional incapacitante o negatividad manifiesta en la vida del consultante. aquí sus principios y un ejemplo, según Fernando Baena Vejarano.