I have been crafting stories, song lyrics, and English prose for many years. The Inner Circle, concerns the years I spent pursuing a spiritual path of yoga and meditation within the American Sikh community. The Stone from Halfway Rock Revisited — a Lifetime of Adventures on the Coast of Maine, was published in March 2025. Both of these can be purchased from your local independent bookstore or ordered directly from Sheep Island Press.
Praise for “The Stone From Halfway Rock Revisited”
“Anyone who has ever prowled through life filled with a sense of wonder and adventure will love reading Peter Blachly’s latest book, The Stone from Halfway Rock. Written with spare elegance and a keen eye for dramatic detail, the first part of the narrative offers a fast-paced account of outrageous adventures Blachly and his siblings had on land and at sea during summers spent in a rustic home on remote Sheep Island in Maine. Time inevitably moves us away from the summertime rituals of our youth, and when Blachly returns to Sheep Island as an adult after a long hiatus, he offers a poignant (as well as practical) look at the ways family relationships—and the care and sharing of treasured family homesteads—can become more complicated over time. Filled with wonderful photographs that help tell the story, The Stone from Halfway Rock is a beautiful exploration of how our hearts and our most beloved landscapes become entwined, and a reminder that adventure awaits us every day if we remain open to it.” — WILLIAM F. WELD, former Governor of Massachusetts
“Peter Blachly’s The Stone from Halfway Rock reads like a modern-day Robinson Crusoe, but based on the real-life adventures of the longtime Maine resident and world-wide wanderer. In this polished, fast-moving memoir, Blachly writes about the early years he and his brothers spent on Sheep Island in Harpswell building fast boats, exploring the coast, and generally testing the patience and boundaries of their parents with their risky adventures. After following his sense of adventure around the globe, Blachly returned to Maine, reconnected with his family roots – and some of the beloved boats of his youth – and helped preserve the family cottage for future generations. The Stone from Halfway Rock is a deeply personal account of one man’s connections to a specific, sacred place, but it’s a universal tale because it represents the story of so many.” — BOB KEYES, Chairman of the Maine Arts Commission
“Luminous…lyrical..Peter Blachly’s stories of childhood summers in Maine are a wondrous reminder of what’s important in life. He has me laughing, weeping, visualizing seals and summer storms, remembering the smell of sea air, and promising myself to love the simple things.” — CHELLIS GLENDINNING, author if “My Name is Chellis. I’m in Recovery from Western Civilization.”
Here are some comments from readers:
A.B. We are loving this book! My wife and I have been reading it to each other each evening. Totally delightful.
A.W. We have been reading aloud to the whole family every night. It is so wonderfully descriptive. My boys love it—the whole family loves it!
M.P. What a great book! You write beautifully, and have captured the essence of summers in Maine. Now my son wants to build a hydroplane like yours!
An excerpt from The Stone from Halfway Rock was published in the March 2016 issue Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors.
My second memoir, “The Inner Circle — My Seventeen Years in the Cult of the American Sikhs,” was published on May 25, 2021 and can be ordered through your local independent bookstore or purchased directly from Sheep Island Press.
Here’s what reviewers are saying about The Inner Circle:
“The Inner Circle is a magical mystery tour that takes the reader through the spiritual Odyssey of a youthful musician’s quest for self-discovery, enlightenment, and mystical awakening. The quest for identity begins with the innocence and naivete of the seeker as he devotes himself to a charismatic teacher and a new spiritual practice. It is a journey full of adventure and discovery that takes us across continents and coasts, and the author’s gradual awakening that the Guru and his organization have a very dark side. After many years, as devotion devolves into painful disillusionment, the initiate finds his way out of the cult and into a new sense of himself. This is a great book, full of insight about the light and dark sides of devotion to a spiritual practice. A must read!” –Dr. Ronald A. Alexander, Executive Director the OpenMind Training Institute, Santa Monica, adjunct faculty at UCLA extension, Pepperdine University, and Pacifica Graduate Institute, and author Wise Mind Open Mind and Core Creativity: A Mindful Path to Awaken your Creative Abilities (2022)
“Peter Macdonald Blachly’s The Inner Circle is a well-written memoir—easy to read, entertaining, and hard to put down. He manages to weave together his world-traveling adventures with his own spiritual journey as one of the first people to don a turban in the early days of the Yogi Bhajan cult, which he joined in 1970. Although Blachly pulls no punches about his gradual disillusionment with the moral failings of his Guru, the book does not come off as an exposé. Rather, it is his self-awareness and clear-eyed examination of his own vulnerable sense of identity, which made him susceptible to the manipulations of a malevolent narcissist, that sets the book apart from other memoirs. Whether practicing one of the world’s religions, following a spiritual teacher, in an authoritarian cult, or in the thralls of a charismatic polit- ical leader, The Inner Circle provides valuable lessons for all of us.” –Steven Hassan, PhD, MA, MEd, LMHC, NCC Member of the Program in Psychiatry and the Law Freedom of Mind Resource Center, Inc., Newton, MA
“The Inner Circle is a magic carpet ride through a young man’s quest for spiritual enlightenment. Like a modern day Siddhartha, Peter encoun- ters the challenges, contradictions and harsh realities that occur when one surrenders to an immoral yogi. With insight, humor and rigorous honesty, Peter gives us access into a unique time in American history- when the end of the utopian idealism of the 60s converged with the flow of East Indian wise men that came to America in droves. There is a wonderful nostalgia in his recollections, a wistful taste of simpler times with the ease of world travel and ever-changing circum- stances. Peter embraces it all, with a combustible mixture of devotion, confusion and willing abandon. I highly recommend this captivating and poignant memoir.” –Suzanne Beth Jordan, Writer and advocate for Beyond the Cage: The 3HO | Yogi Bhajan | Kundalini Yoga Aftermath
Gifts from the Land and the Light–published in 1995–was praised by Stewart Udall, former Secretary of the Interior: “Gifts is just superb! You have said in photos and a few words what Willa Cather and D. H. Lawrence tried to say about the Southwest environment.” [There are a few copies of this book still available. Please write to me directly at petermacdonaldblachly@gmail.com]