The Sixties and Seventies Counterculture

Between Two Worlds: A Spiritual Awakening in Fifth Grade

I was in fifth grade when a quiet awareness settled in that I was between two worlds – I hadn’t been living in what most would call the “real world.”

The moment unfolded on a sunlit playground in Los Altos, California, as curious eyes studied me with a mix of wonder and confusion.

It became clear: I was different.

One of the so-called hippie kids—born in San Francisco, raised on intuition, and open skies.

My hair was long, my stepmother walked her path with sacred herbs, and I came into this life with an empath’s gift—feeling deeply, seeing between the lines, sensing what others missed.

That day, I didn’t feel out of place—I felt awakened.

A soul realizing a different rhythm had shaped it, […]

By Doré Frances|August 5th, 2025|1161 Covington Road, Dore Frances, Relationships, Spirituality, The Sixties and Seventies Counterculture, Why Wisdom Is Harder Than You Think|0 Comments

What Happened to the Spirit of the Sixties? From Idealism to the Wellness Industry

What became of the idealism and spiritual yearning that defined the Sixties – the spirit of the Sixties? Have the seekers of a higher path vanished into the noise of modern life?

Whatever happened to the flower children and their dreams of peace, simplicity, and spiritual awakening?

Where did the spirit of the Sixties go?

What happened to the idealism, the hunger for higher consciousness, and the dream of a more enlightened society? What became of those who once turned away from consumerism, simplified their lives, and set out in search of something deeper, something more meaningful?

Where is the spark of the Sixties—the longing for meaning beyond materialism, for a society rooted in consciousness and compassion?

By the 1980s, what began as a spiritual […]

By Doré Frances|July 11th, 2025|Dore Frances, Spirituality, The Sixties and Seventies Counterculture, Why Wisdom Is Harder Than You Think|0 Comments

Woodstock: The Soundtrack of a Generation: From Monterey to Woodstock – Series

Charles Fleischer is the originator of the quote “If you remember the ’60s, you really weren’t there”, which has been widely misattributed to various other celebrities. It was the music!

Like meditation or prayer, music can lift us beyond ourselves. The sounds of the ’60s and ’70s moved both body and spirit.

The Monterey International Pop Festival, held in June 1967, signaled the dawn of the “Summer of Love” and became a defining moment in the counterculture movement. It launched the American careers of Jimi Hendrix and The Who, introduced Janis Joplin’s raw power to the world, and brought soul legend Otis Redding to a broader audience. Monterey set the stage for Woodstock and helped transform […]

By Doré Frances|May 14th, 2025|Dore Frances, The Sixties and Seventies Counterculture, Why Wisdom Is Harder Than You Think, Woodstock 1969 Series|0 Comments

Woodstock: Road to Woodstock: A Teen’s Psychedelic Journey and Coming of Age – Series

Flashback. It has been almost fifty-five years since Woodstock. Over 500,000 people came together on a 600-acre farm to celebrate peace and music in the shadow of the Vietnam War—an iconic event that redefined counterculture and reshaped rock history.

Music, Mud, and Freedom: My Cousin and I Hitchhiked Our Way Into the Wild Ride That Was Woodstock.

For many of us who came of age in the ’60s and ’70s, drugs weren’t just recreational—they were a doorway. In the right setting, with the right mindset, psychedelics like LSD or psilocybin could unlock profound experiences of awe, connection, empathy, and spiritual wonder.

As a baby boomer, I can say that some of the most formative insights of my […]

By Doré Frances|May 8th, 2025|Dore Frances, The Sixties and Seventies Counterculture, Why Wisdom Is Harder Than You Think, Woodstock 1969 Series|0 Comments

Woodstock: The Liberation Years: Spirituality, Intimacy, and the Revolution of the ’60s – Series

This is the first post in a series about the boldest adventure of my youth—running away at sixteen to attend Woodstock.

Some Sixties veterans compare Burning Man and iconic hippie gatherings like Woodstock, the Trips Festival of January 1966, the Summer of Love, and the Human Be-In in Golden Gate Park the following year.

The parallels are unmistakable: Burning Man and those early countercultural events embraced free love, wild costumes, audience participation, and the exuberant spirit of loud music and psychedelics.

I experienced Woodstock firsthand, though I’ve never attended Burning Man.

To me, Woodstock carried a deeper power. We were a community of mellow, free-spirited hippies, gentle in our energy. From what I’ve heard from those who’ve experienced it, Burning Man combines a different […]

By Doré Frances|April 27th, 2025|Dore Frances, Spirituality, The Sixties and Seventies Counterculture, Why Wisdom Is Harder Than You Think, Woodstock 1969 Series|0 Comments

From Liberation to Disillusionment: A Personal Journey Through the Spiritual and Social Upheaval of the ’60s and ’70s

Sexual liberation was at the heart of the social and spiritual upheaval of the 1960s and ’70s. With the advent of the Pill, intimacy was no longer tethered to reproduction—and everything began to shift.

Divorce shed its stigma, and single-parent households, for better or worse, became common across all walks of life. Once rigid in its doctrines, even religion began to loosen its grip, offering a more flexible, no-fault approach to faith.

Psychedelic drugs were a defining force in the counterculture of the 1960s and ’70s. Substances like LSD, magic mushrooms, mescaline, and peyote propelled countless baby boomers into altered states of consciousness—brief but profound journeys into expanded awareness and a deep sense of interconnectedness.

It’s an experience I’ve never forgotten and, if […]

By Doré Frances|April 14th, 2025|Dore Frances, Spirituality, The Sixties and Seventies Counterculture, Why Wisdom Is Harder Than You Think|0 Comments

When Love Turns Dangerous: My Escape from a Cult-Influenced Relationship

Ron had invited three members of the Rajneesh movement to move into our home. I didn’t want any part of it.

He said they were teaching him about life and wanted to include me in that journey; however, I was not interested in what they offered.

Their beliefs clashed with mine. They spoke to Ron about how society conditions us to live a certain way, but I had spent my whole life pushing back against those exact expectations.

I was raised by parents who tried to shape me into someone I was never meant to be—urging me to conceal the very gifts that made me unique.

Deep down, I had always embraced the unknown and moved through life with openness and flow.

Ron was now […]

By Doré Frances|April 12th, 2025|Dore Frances, Relationships, The Sixties and Seventies Counterculture, Why Wisdom Is Harder Than You Think|0 Comments

Living in the Redwoods: A Tribe, a Guru, and a Truth I Couldn’t Ignore

We watched the last of them drift out the door, laughter echoing faintly as the house finally quieted. Another long, lazy party had come and gone in our rambling house just beyond Big Basin State Park, tucked in the Santa Cruz Mountains off Highway 9. We were about 45 minutes from Santa Cruz, living amid the towering Coastal Redwoods—some of the most awe-inspiring trees on earth, found nowhere else but California.

The house was a sprawling 5,000-square-foot haven on eight acres, with a vegetable garden out front, composting toilets, a deep well we had to monitor, propane for heat, and a gas stove that got heavy use. An expansive wooden deck wrapped halfway around the […]

By Doré Frances|April 5th, 2025|Dore Frances, Relationships, Spirituality, The Sixties and Seventies Counterculture, Why Wisdom Is Harder Than You Think|0 Comments