The Forefather

by Joseph Rex Kerrick

Introduction

Readers of Ram Arising know the good news that the White Avatar heralded by the planetary alignment of May 2000 has arrived, and is fulfilling his mission in dramatic fashion. Readers of R. Marcus are aware of some remarkable events that took place in the preceding century, but the direct line of connection between the stories chronicled in the two documents has not yet been publicly revealed. The Marcus book is only Volume One of what Victor Noble intended to be a complete epic, continued in two or possibly three more volumes. The work came to a halt in 1995 for reasons that I’ll explain further along in the narrative. Suffice it to say that it was not caused by mundane factors, but was directed from above. And now the fiat to resume the tale in a different format has been given into my hand, for Victor has dropped the body and returned to the numenal sector of Thule.

The man who became known to his friends and followers as Marcus Geist prefigured the coming of the Ram in a dramatic way, and in fact was the grandfather of the man whom many now believe to be the Avatar, Gavin Paneskos. Back in the 1980s many fervently hoped that Marcus would prove himself to be an Avatar; in fact Victor’s title for Volume I was The Making of an Avatar. But the mission was cut short in the most tragic way: Marcus was killed in martial combat against the forces of the adversary. That was not the end of the story, though, which is why I now undertake the task of telling it all for those who have a need to know and an ear to hear.

My format will be a chronology of events interspersed with stories highlighting key developments and dramatic happenings. Each story will be summarized as a chapter of the chronology, providing more options for the reader. Victor’s presentation of the world conflict between “Solarians” and “Ophidians” will be clarified and updated.

 

1. The White Side of the ‘Sixties

At the end of Victor’s book Marcus is about to leave Vietnam after having gotten engaged to Gail, a nurse with whom he had shared harrowing war experiences as well as the heights of love. He told her that since he had fulfilled his intent to experience mortal combat, he would now get out of the Marines even though he had three years remaining in his term of service. He wasn’t sure how he would pull it off, but back in the States the immense contrast between “normal” peaceful life and the grim realities of war showed him the way. He acted out some of the primal behaviors he had learned in Vietnam in a way that caused no harm to anyone, but led his superiors to believe that he was suffering from what would later be termed post-traumatic stress disorder, and was no longer fit for active duty. To shorten the bureaucratic delay for a medical discharge, Marcus signed an agreement that he would not apply for a disability pension.

Marcus and Gail were married in California on April 20, 1964. Not a single person guessed the significance of the date, and even Gail was shocked when Marcus told her. As a wedding present her parents gave the newlyweds their summer house in the high-end hills of Berkeley. Gail was expecting the baby they had conceived in the aftermath of a battle in Vietnam. Faced with the need to find employment, Marcus returned to Pennsylvania to inquire about a position with a friend of the family, the industrialist Theodore McHenry. Marcus was surprised to find out that the man was a conscious Solarian. He had fought against the Japanese in World War II, and was transferred to Germany immediately after the end of hostilities. His awakening came when he saw that the Allies were trying to exterminate the helpless defeated Germans. He made observations and talked to key people, and learned how the Ophidians were behind the war.

Marcus told McHenry of his visions and his plans to start a revolutionary movement to oppose the Ophidians. McHenry was impressed, and so gratified by the idea of overthrowing the Ophidians that he decided to invest in Marcus personally: he would pay him a salary just to go back to California and do whatever he deemed necessary to carry out his plans. Officially he would be McHenry’s consultant on the Solarian Revolution.

Berkeley’s Telegraph Avenue had just begun to flower with its menagerie of colorful characters in those early days of the acid-fueled counterculture. Marcus’ psychic perception enabled him to see the strong numenal energy being generated, and to spot the exceptional individuals amongst the motley throng. One day he met a man wearing a medieval jester’s costume and calling himself John Harlequin. He told Marcus about a group called the Merry Pranksters, and took him to their hangout in LaHonda where he met Ken Kesey and his circle of friends. Marcus dropped acid with the Pranksters, his second trip. Because of the deep primal root he had developed from his yogic training and war experiences, he stood out as an almost superhuman presence among the trippers, outdoing Kesey in a friendly battle of charismatics. Marcus saw that some of the Pranksters had potential, but that the basic thrust of the group was juvenile and socially destructive, and that they would be used by the Ophidians for their deadly ends.

Ken Kesey and his bus

On the first test-drive of their new bus, the Pranksters dropped off Marcus in Berkeley. Two of them, a young couple named Theseus and Hyppolita, decided to go with Marcus. After awhile they moved into his house, which thereby became a commune.

In September of that year the Free Speech Movement started at Berkeley. Marcus challenged it, saying that they only wanted the right to talk dirty, and that they wouldn’t tolerate real revolutionary speech themselves. To prove his point, at an event on Sproul Plaza he made a speech about the secret rule of the Ophidians, naming certain national-level figures as well as some Berkeley professors. Members of the Free Speech Movement booed and shouted him down, and its leaders demanded that he get off the platform. Two students in the crowd were impressed by this demonstration, and became friends of Marcus. Soon they, too, moved into his house, and took the names Polaris and Venus.

The Free Speech Movement and its leader, Mario Savio

In October Gail gave birth to a baby boy, who was given the name Eric. When he later came of age, Eric adopted his father’s native Norwegian custom and surnamed himself Marcusson.

The First Tale: Conjunction with Venus

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