2016-06-30
In this gallery, adapted from "The Visionary State; A Journey Through California's Spiritual Landscape" (Chronicle Books, 2006), writer Erik Davis and photographer Michael Rauner show us a left coast of wild spiritual imagination. It's a land, writes Davis, filled with "utopian sects, bohemian mystics, cult leaders, psycho-spiritual healers, holy poets, sex magicians, fringe Christians, and psychedelic warriors."
 
It's no coincidence that the most populated state's motto is "Eureka!" and its slogan a multi-layered "Find Yourself Here." You may or may not find yourself in these images, but you will find an onion-shaped Unitarian church, a revered 200-foot tree, and a 50-year-old UFO welcome center.  Altered state, indeed.

Read more about the California's rich spiritual bohemianism here.
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