Father Yod

Early life

James Edward Baker was born on July 4, 1922, in Cincinnati, Ohio. Baker earned the Silver Star as a United States Marine in World War II and became expert in jujutsu. He moved to California to become a Hollywood stuntman and was influenced by the Nature Boys, a Los Angeles-based group of beats who lived a natural lifestyle, maintained vegetarian diets, and lived "according to Nature's Laws". Baker also studied philosophy, religion and esoteric spiritual teachings, even becoming a Vedantic monk for a time. He later became a follower of Yogi Bhajan, a Sikh spiritual leader and teacher of Kundalini Yoga.

In 1969, Baker founded the Source Restaurant on Los Angeles's Sunset Strip. The restaurant served organic vegetarian food, with such celebrity regulars as John Lennon, Julie Christie and Marlon Brando. Jim Baker had two other successful restaurants on Sunset Strip: the Aware Inn and the Old World.

Despite the claims that he had fourteen different wives, he had only one legal wife, Robin Popper, to whom he was married in 1970. They had a daughter together, Tau, born August 14, 1974. Robin said at the time he was "a dirty old man on a lust trip".

Source Family

Baker left Yogi Bhajan in the late 1960s and created his own philosophy based on Western mystery tradition. Changing his name to Father Yod and Ya Ho Wha, Baker became the patriarch of a commune of young people, who considered him their spiritual father. The group, known as The Source Family, lived together in a Hollywood Hills mansion and was supported by the earnings of the Source Restaurant, which grossed $10,000 a day during its peak popularity.

Some of the doctrines of the Source Family were kept secret; however, they generally adopted a way of life that promoted natural health, organic vegetarian diets, communal living and utopian ideals. Father Yod/Ya Ho Wha had a core communal group of 150 people living in the Hollywood Hills. He had 14 wives and 3 children.

Music

Music was an integral part of the Source Family and many members were musicians. Father Yod formed an improvisational psychedelic rock band called Ya Ho Wha 13, with himself as lead singer. In 1973 the band began making limited pressings of their jam sessions, eventually releasing nine albums that were sold at the Source Restaurant for ten dollars each. The original recordings have become valuable to collectors of underground music. Celebrities such as Earth, Wind & Fire would buy Source records out of the back of the restaurant. Other family musicians formed various bands including "Spirit of 76", "Savage Sons of Yahowha" and "Breath".

Death

On December 26, 1974, the Source Family sold their restaurant and moved to Hawaii. On August 25, 1975, despite having no previous hang-gliding experience, YaHoWha used a hang glider to leap off a 1,300-foot (400 m) cliff on the eastern shore of Oahu. He crash-landed on the beach suffering no external injuries, but was unable to move and died nine hours later. After three days of vigil, YaHoWha was cremated and his ashes put to rest at Lanikai Beach in Hawaii.

Legacy

In 2006, two Source Family members, Isis Aquarian and Electricity Aquarian, wrote the history of the religious group. A revised version of the book entitled The Source: The Untold Story of Father Yod, Ya Ho Wa 13 and The Source Family was released in 2007 by Process Media, and included a CD with live Ya Ho Wa 13 performances, radio interviews, and Family recordings. The Source Foundation was set up at www.yahowha.org and released lost family music through Drag City Records, Fathers Morning Meditation Tapes through Global Recording Artist, a comic book, and The Source Family in 2012, co-directed by Jodi Wille and Maria Demopoulous.