Elvis Presley, the most successful solo artist in history and an emblematic cultural figure of the Western world, has been widely perceived as a conservative Southerner Christian. However, the truth about the man has been missed.

Elvis was a profound mystic, occultist, and shaman. Beginning with the unusual circumstances of his birth—including his stillborn twin brother, Jesse—Conner traces the diverse thread of mysticism that runs through Elvis Presley’s life, drawing on firsthand accounts from the people closest to him, including his wife, Priscilla, friends and family, the Memphis Mafia, and his spiritual advisors.

Elvis studied seminal nineteenth- and twentieth-century occultists, including H. P. Blavatsky, Manly P. Hall, G. I. Gurdjieff, and P. D. Ouspensky, and was a devotee of Indian yogi Paramahansa Yogananda. Conner argues that Elvis was well-versed in esoteric practices including sex magic, meditation, astrology, and numerology and had a deep familiarity with Kabbalah, Gnosticism, Theosophy, and Eastern traditions. He also reveals how Elvis was a natural healer, telekinetic, psychic, and astral traveler who had significant mystical experiences and UFO encounters. Looking at the conspiratorial and paranormal aspects of Elvis’s life, the author explores the “Elvis visitations” that have occurred since the King’s ostensible death and the general high weirdness of his life. As Conner convincingly argues, Elvis was not just a one-of-a-kind rock-and-roller. He was the greatest magician America ever produced and a key player in transforming Western culture forever.