Marcia Moore

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by asoapymessromances

by asoapymessromances

Marcia Moore (May 22, 1928 –January 14, 1979) was an American writer, astrologer and yoga teacherbrought to national attention in 1965 through Jess Stearn's bookYoga, Youth, and Reincarnation. She was an advocate and researcher ofthe dissociative properties of the drug ketamine. Moore disappearedin 1979, and although her remains were found in 1981, the cause andcircumstances of her death are still unknown.

Biography

Early life

Moore was born Marcia (pronouncedmar-SEE-uh) Sheldon Moore, in Cambridge, Massachusetts on May 22,1928, the only daughter of Robert L. Moore, founder of the SheratonHotel chain, and Eleanor Turner Moore, who was an artist, illustratorand esotericist. She had three brothers: writer Robert (Robin) Moore,John S. Moore, and William K. Moore. Robin Moore wrote The GreenBerets (1965) and The French Connection (1969) among other books.

In 1947 she married Simons L. Roof, anaspiring writer, and in 1950 the couple moved from Cambridge toConcord. They had three children. In 1955, the family left for anextended trip to India, where they studied Hindu and esotericreligions. They returned to the United States in the fall of 1957.

Moore finished her studies at RadcliffeCollege in 1960. Her senior thesis was published under the titleAstrology Today: A Socio-Psychological Survey.

Drug proponent

With her anesthesiologist husbandHoward Alltounian, she became a proponent of the drug ketamine andpublished Journeys Into The Bright World in 1978. The book promotedthe existential richness of the ketamine-induced dissociativeexperience, and the possibilities for using this drug in conjunctionwith Jungian psychotherapy.

Disappearance and death

In the winter of 1979, at age 50, Mooredisappeared. Her remains were found two years later in the woods nearher Washington home. It has been hypothesized that on a winter nightin the forest, Moore had injected all the ketamine available to her,became unconscious, and died of hypothermia. Her lower jaw wasidentified via dental records. Writer Ann Rule stated that Moore'sskull had been found with a hole in it; one of her friends suspectedit was a bullet hole, but investigators believed it may have happeneddue to the skull's exposure to the elements over two years. Thisinformation was not immediately published by investigators at thetime of the discovery. The cause of her death remains unresolved.

Personal life

Moore married four times. Her firsthusband was Simons Roof, with whom she had three children, Louisa(Loulie) in 1948, Christopher in 1951, and Jonathan (Jonny) in 1953.The couple divorced in 1961, and she married Louis S. Acker in 1962.She later married Mark Douglas and moved to Maine, where the couplepublished a series of books on yoga. In the late 1970s, she marriedHoward Alltounian, M.D. (1937–2006) and they moved to Washington,near Seattle.

Legacy

Moore's personal papers, the Marcia S.Moore Collection, 1948–1999 (Bulk 1948–1964), were given toConcord Library by her son Christopher Roof in May 2009. Christoperalso died mysteriously. His body was found by a hunter in the woodsof Maine on November 4, 2010, and was not identified until September20, 2021. The circumstances around and cause of his death are stillunknown.

Publications

Reincarnation, the Key toImmortality, with Mark Douglas, Able Trust edition, ISBN978-0-912240-02-2, 1968.

Diet, Sex and Yoga, with MarkDouglas, Able Trust edition, ISBN 978-0-912240-00-8, 1970.

Astrology in Action, with MarkDouglas, Able Trust edition, ISBN 978-0-912240-03-9, 1970.

Hypersentience: Exploring Your PastLifetime As a Guide to Your Character and Destiny, ISBN0-517-52536-4, 1976.

Journeys into the Bright World,Para Research Inc, ISBN 978-0-914918-12-7, 1978.

Astrology: The Divine Science, AbleTrust edition, ISBN 978-0-912240-04-6, 1978.

Yoga, Science of the Self, withMark Douglas, Arcane Publications York Harbor, ASIN: B0006X5POC,1979.