3.31.2010

R.I.P. Cosmic John

Heard word from a Bolinas local that Cosmic John, A.K.A. Crystal John or John Urho Kemp passed away a couple months ago. May he rest in peace. He was a regular of the Marin hot springs and an interesting human. Once, when a riddle was presented in the pool, a voice came suddenly from the adjacent cave with the answer, half-scaring/surprising my friends who gave him yet another nickname, The Oracle. Although fairly quiet, he often extolled the healing powers of the springs, (which he drank), and the dangers of the toxins found in meat and dairy products.

A resident of Berkeley, Cosmic John regularly drove his VW bus to the hot springs. A former Scientologist, John dabbled in metaphysics; every time at the Springs, he had printed off copies of formulas, theorems? and diagrams that he had drawn. These two below detailing wormwood and quartz crystal are from Halloween and Memorial Day, 2009. Anyone have any more of these papers that I could post?

Click on images to see the details...



4 comments:

Anonymous said...

nice pics. John was a friend, check out this video I made during the summer. see you at the springs?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lguP6G-MXE

Fern Girl said...

thank you both for this remembrance. I would like to experience the installation if it's still available. I also have 7 beautiful postcards (2 sided as always). So glad to hear there will be a digital archive; I am still hoping to have them explained to me someday. Now I am wishing I had ased him when I had the chance.

Tom Fox said...

I just heard about his passing today , a few years after . Can anyone tell me how he died ? I recall many enjoyable times with John at the springs and at red rock nudist beach. I saw him last in '08 ,he was a tree-attarian then , since he felt foods from a tree had less karma attached due having to kill many of the vegatables for eating . I liked his broad omnipotent views on everything ! TOM FOX ( email me a reply at tmfox4 at hotmail ,thanks)

k haas said...

There's an online "Crystal John Archive" on Aram's website: http://arammuksian.com/section/358511_About.html