Notable persons involved with Halcyon and the Temple include composer and pianist Henry Cowell (see also The Tides of Manaunaun), Irish poet and fiction writer Ella Young, and mystic poet and writer John Varian (1863-1931).
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It was founded in 1898 as a Theosophical intentional community and is the home and headquarters of a religious organization, The Temple of the People (not to be confused with Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple).
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Pearl Dower served as the third Guardian, during whose tenure the William Quan Judge Library was established, until her death in 1968.
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The Temple of the People was founded in Syracuse, New York in 1898 by William Dower and Francia LaDue, members of the Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society.
The production was staged in the summer of 1917 at a convention of the theosophical community of Halcyon in coastal San Luis Obispo County, California; Varian was a leader of the group, to which he had introduced Cowell.
Other new organizations fissioned from his, including the Temple of the People (whose library bears his name) during 1898 and the United Lodge of Theosophists or ULT during 1909.
Halcyon, California | Halcyon | '''Halcyon''' Kingfisher | Halcyon (genus) | Halcyon Days EP |
TS Eliot draws from this myth in The Dry Salvages: "And the ragged rock in the restless waters,/Waves wash over it, fogs conceal it;/On a halcyon day it is merely a monument,/In navigable weather it is always a seamark/To lay a course by: but in the sombre season/Or the sudden fury, is what it always was."
Among the colourful family of kingfishers, who preferably occur near open water, the Woodland Kingfisher, Pied Kingfisher (Ceryle rudis), Swallow-tailed Bee-eater (Merops hirundineus), Giant Kingfisher (Ceryle maxima), Malachite Kingfisher (Alcedo cristata) and the Blue-breasted Kingfisher (Halcyon malimbica) are notable.
Lalo Schiffrin, notable movie composer, and composer of the Mission Impossible Theme, was commissioned to compose a Triple Concerto for the Halcyon Trio, which was premiered at The New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, New Jersey with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra conducted by Anne Mason.
It was founded by Hugh O'Hagan, now commonly known as Hugh Reed, circa 1990 from an amalgam of members of The Harlequin Cabbage Bugs, Halcyon Days, The Rhythm Kittens and the Trouser Coughs including at different times Lawson Campbell, Stewart MacDonald and Lindsey Watt.
Another close associate of Varian and his family was fellow Irish immigrant and theosophist Ella Young, who lived in Halcyon in a cabin behind the Varian's home in 1928 while she was finishing her book, The Tangle-Coated Horse and Other Tales, and working on her poetry.
According to the Morrison biography No One Here Gets Out Alive by Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugerman, Morrison wrote "Moonlight Ride" during his halcyon days on a rooftop in Venice Beach, Los Angeles, California in 1965.
"Halcyon" refers to Halcyon, a genus of kingfishers (specifically, those of the Halcyonidae family) in scientific classification, as is evident by the opening moments of the song, where a kingfisher's call is heard before the tempo starts to pick up and the song begins.
Shortly after the recording of Halcyon Days, "I'll Love You Until My Veins Explode" and "Milkrun" from the Veins Ep were released in the UK as the double-A side single, "I'll Love You Until My Veins Explode/Milkrun" on the Longest Mile label, owned in part by Ross Millard of The Futureheads.
:The name Chestnut-bellied Kingfisher can also refer to the Grey-headed Kingfisher (Halcyon leucocephala) of Africa.