We begin a series on symbolism from the annals of the AUM Esoteric Study Center. Starting with this post, we are taking a tour through my artist’s sketchbooks and journals during the time period of the birth of the first LIGHT Bus (the Woodstock Bus).

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This drawing reveals that one of the earlier names of the band LIGHT was A TASTE, as written here inside the Eagle’s body instead of the name LIGHT, which we currently see on the driver’s side of the bus. In the lower part of the bird I added “The National Anthem Sound,” which was a sort of motto for this band. I remember it as they wanted to give their listeners “a taste of the national anthem sound.” Is that right Bob Grimm and Trudytective Cooper? (Joe Vaccarino’s book, Baltimore Sounds, has a complete profile of LIGHT including the various name changes they went through.) I remember how we were studying LIGHT meditations and practicing meditation together before their gigs, and they performed in clubs up and down the Mid-Atlantic. Some of the most memorable for me were their popular appearances in Greenwich Village. These guys were really good and almost, almost, almost got signed to a major label record deal.

Other changes of interest to note between this early concept of the Eagle side of the LIGHT bus and what ended up as we see it today include the star of “MU” as the Eagle’s eye, and a series of Zodiacal and elemental signs inside the rising Sun, as well as inside the five-pointed star on the right.