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“I Am the Lizard King, I Can Do Anything”
“There are Things Known and Unknown and In-Between are Doors.”
~Jim Morrison~
“I don’t think his behavior was random. I think it was calculated – experimenting with friends and guaging their reactions, just like a social scientist would. There’s No rational reason for it, but he got some sort perverse pleasure out of it.” – Former High School Classmate 1
Jim Morrison loved to study but not school work. Death, darkness and the “other side” were held in great fascination. Those deep dark pursuits remained with him his entire life. As a high school senior living with his parents in Maryland, he reported on certain books he was reading in such a way that his teachers thought he was making it all up. His reading material was so obscure, specifically regarding 16th and 17th century demonology and arab sexuality, that his teacher had another educator verify the existence of these texts at the Library of Congress. The Librarian confirmed the books existed, confirming Morrison’s advanced off-beat research. Almost two years prior to that move tp Maryland, while living in California, a neighbor told Jim’s mother that a woman committed suicide in the basement of the house the Morrisons had recently moved into. Jim heard the conversation and immediately moved his room to the basement. When asked why, he stated that he wanted to “get that vibe!”- 2
That “vibe later showed up in his poetry, music lyrics and even films. He often wrote and spoke of a demon and other spirits that he claimed possessed him and inspired his work like dark muses. He also spoke of dark personal incidents that happened to him to shape who he was. For example, when he was about 3 1/2 years old he claimed that while his family was driving in New Mexico, they encountered an accident with who he thought were Native Americans. He claimed that the soul of one of the deceased attached itself to him. (The accident did actually occur on October 17, 1947 whereby a Hispanic man did die, however, without proof one can only say that to such an impressionable child it was most likely an incorrect core memory, however, it was most likely the actual origin of his future shamanic interests. Later, his schoolmates would escribe him as a detached loner and risk taker, walking on high building ledges or balancing on dangerous bride railings. He acted the way he wanted to be seen as a mysterious and enigmatic figure who was hard to reach. This was the same persona that showed in his image as the Lizard King. 3
Jim Morrison approached rock music as a form of shamanic ritual and occult incantation. He treated his concerts as trances, drew inspiration from esoteric texts like Kurt Seligmann’s The Mirror of Magic, and underwent a highly publicized Celtic pagan handfasting ceremony with witch and author Patricia Kennealy in 1970.
- Shamanic Stage Trances: On stage, Morrison often channeled a tribal shaman, emitting wild animalistic howls and utilizing movements meant to bridge the conscious world with the subconscious or spirit realm. He viewed the singer-audience dynamic as a modern equivalent to ancient tribal rituals.
- “Auditory Occultism”: Morrison and The Doors structured their music to induce altered states of consciousness. Epic compositions like “Celebration of the Lizard” were designed to replicate trance states and shift listeners’ perceptions.
- Esoteric Literature: He was an avid reader of Western esotericism, alchemy, and myth, regularly drawing inspiration from figures like Friedrich Nietzsche, French symbolist poets, and occult scholars.
- The Pagan Marriage: In June 1970, Morrison and Celtic Wiccan high priestess Patricia Kennealy engaged in a private, self-styled pagan handfasting ceremony. While the nature and seriousness of the ceremony have been debated, it reflected his deep immersion in occult subcultures.
- “The Lizard King”: His famous alter-ego, the “Lizard King,” was tied directly to his fascination with ancient mythology, the subconscious, and the primitive magic present in prehistoric cultures.
As author Paul Wyld reveals, despite Morrison’s reputation as a lewd, drunken performer, he was a full-fledged mystical, shamanic figure, a secret teacher of the occult who was not merely central to the development of rock music, but also to the growth of the Western esoteric tradition as a whole.
1. https://connectionnewspaper.com/news/2006/aug/02/jim-morrison-the-high-school-years/
2. ,3. Celeste Teal LPMAFA – Today’s Astrologer 2026, Volume 88, Number4, April 19, 2026
https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Jim-Morrison-Secret-Teacher-of-the-Occult/Paul-Wyld/9798888500804
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