Take a quick stroll down Lake Ave in Lake Worth, FL. You’ll find clothing stores, antique sellers, pet groomers, and enough restaurants and bars to keep your nightlife busy for quite some time. If you pay close enough attention, you might just notice one corner shop with signs for “Crystals,” “Tarot” and “Books” hanging in the windows. Congratulations! You’ve found The Dancing Elephant.
The front of the store. Photo courtesy of Shane Logan.
Walk through the front door and you’ll find the largest collection of metaphysical, spiritual, or otherwise interesting books that I’ve seen anywhere in the area. Outside of books, you can also pick up incense, tarot decks, and crystals here. Pay particular attention to the back right corner of the store — that’s where you’ll come across shelves of Crowley (we remember how to pronounce this, right?), Bardon, Skinner, and more.
Shane Logan, owner of The Dancing Elephant. Photo courtesy of Shane Logan.
You’ll probably also find Shane Logan, the shop’s owner, standing behind the front counter. Shane worked his way through college as a valet, saving and investing his earnings. In 2022, he purchased the inventory of Rainbow Books from Tamas Burger, a notable local figure who held shops in various locations throughout the area over the past 50 years. I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting Tamas, but I have met Shane.
At our last encounter, in typical “me” fashion, I decided to bombard him with questions. Being the nice guy that he is, he humored me and gave some pretty damn good answers.
Ah, but first? A quote.
“The true use of music is to become musical in one’s thoughts, words, and actions.”
-Hazrat Inayat Khan
We’ll come back to that later. Read on to learn more about Shane and The Dancing Elephant!
Q&A
What’s the meaning behind The Dancing Elephant’s name?
The store name “The Dancing Elephant” actually came from the store’s previous owner, Tamas Burger. His store was named Rainbow Bridge and was around for 50 years before I bought it in 2022. He told me that he wanted to rebrand the store to reinvigorate it and start a new chapter. He told me he had dreamed up the name one day and that I should name it “The Dancing Elephant.” I thought it sounded great! The name is a reference to the Hindu deity Ganesh, who removes obstacles and brings good luck.
Shelves of cool books. Photo courtesy of Shane Logan.
Just in case you needed a visual. This is Ganesh.
What sparked your interest in the occult?
My interest in all things esoteric or spiritual began with my admiration of great artists as a young kid. My favorite musicians, singers, authors, painters, actors, filmmakers, etc. all seemed to share an interest in various mystical traditions or spiritual practices.
For instance, Jim Morrison would be referencing Nietzsche, Aldous Huxley, pagan deities like Dionysus, and William Blake in his work. Whether they were followers of Aleister Crowley like Led Zeppelin and the Beatles, or simply advocates for transcendental meditation like David Lynch, I was being led down various rabbit holes very early on. And these were my heroes growing up so I figured I should look into whatever they were looking into. Around the age of 18, I was introduced to both astrology and vegetarianism and that just opened the floodgates for me to look at the world differently.
Is that interest purely academic or do you practice?
My interest is a bit of both. I study and read all kinds of things which I don’t actually put into practice. For instance, I might read books on alchemy or kabbalah without doing much with either of those in a practical sense. They broaden my worldview and change how I think, but they are more academic for me.
Things like astrology, tarot, and ceremonial magick are areas I practice in. I use the tarot a few times a year to help guide me in big decisions and it’s been extraordinarily helpful. With astrology, I am constantly learning more and trying to put it into practice as much as possible. We planned our grand opening to be on a very auspicious day astrologically speaking. And I use my own chart for personal inquiry and so on. I also use it to try and bridge gaps between cultures when studying mythology, religion, history, and language. Astrology is more or less universal so it is a common language which lends me a lot of insight into world mythology and religion. With magick I like to study the Golden Dawn and Aleister Crowley’s Thelema. I practice some basic exercises.
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Shane, the shop’s owner, sitting amongst his inventory. Photo courtesy of Shane Logan.
Has owning a bookstore always been a dream of yours?
Owning a bookstore was a dream of mine, but a very far off dream I never thought would actually happen. I always loved books and reading, but I was on a path towards the financial industry. Until March of last year I was on track to be running my own hedge fund of all things! But my specialty in investing was always finding opportunities where no one else wanted to look so a bookstore fit into that filter perfectly.
How exactly did you come to acquire all of Rainbow Bridge’s inventory?
I had worked full time doing valet parking throughout college. During those years, I had saved and invested as much as possible and it went very well for me. I spent a lot of my time studying the stock market and the great investors. Around the same time, I had found Rainbow Bridge and quickly became a patron. It was almost unbelievable that such a fantastic metaphysical bookstore was within a few miles of my house. I befriended Tamas and we became very close. In 2022 the Palm Coast Plaza was sold to new owners and he was forced to move the store. At the age of 82, it was time for him to retire and sell the business. He asked me first if I wanted to buy it and I said “yes” immediately. Even two weeks earlier I had no idea I would own the store. It really happened quickly.
The Secret Teachings of All Ages by Manly P. Hall. Photo courtesy of Shane Logan.
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Sorry I just have to interrupt this Q&A session for one brief moment. Do you see the awesome book above? And do you see what page it’s turned to? Click on the picture to see it at full resolution. How cool is that? I only have the audiobook of The Secret Teachings of All Ages, but it’s an excellent source of information. When I imagine myself sitting in a room surrounded by great books like this, it makes me feel comforted. Alright, enough about me… back to Shane’s answers.
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What’s the most prized book in your collection?
The most prized book in my personal collection is a first edition copy of “Seven Pillars of Wisdom” by T.E. Lawrence left to me by my father who has since passed away.
Out of all the events you’ve hosted so far this year at the store, which has been the most memorable?
The most memorable event was probably one of the Sound Meditation events we hosted. Andrew does a terrific job and brings in an enormous amount of equipment to make it worthwhile. We also had some great author events.
What would you hope to accomplish within the community?
I hope we can give people a refuge to come talk about books, spirituality, philosophy, etc. And to generally open people’s minds up to all the different schools of thought. There are a lot of customers who think their area of interest is very niche and they feel a bit isolated, only to discover we have a whole section on it and have tons of other customers with that same interest. We hope to inspire people to read more and educate themselves on whatever grabs their attention. Mark Twain said “I have never let schooling interfere with my education.”
I heard you’re getting into publishing. What can you tell me about that?
Earlier this year I started a publishing company called Gallowglass Books with my business partner Tony Ferry. We saw a hole in the market between publishers and book enthusiasts. Collectors were willing to pay hundreds of dollars for books with beautiful covers and interesting content. Yet, modern publishers are not feeding the collectors beautiful hardcover books. They are chasing consumers by trying to make cheaper paperbacks with no emphasis on the cover art. Take “Magick Without Tears” by Aleister Crowley for example. The hardcovers go for $350+ while the PDF online is free! So clearly book buyers are not prioritizing the content on the inside they are prioritizing the packaging of it. The cover art and the materials the book is made with, etc. So we set out to publish books with a huge emphasis on the cover art, materials, typesetting, etc. To make the most beautiful books we could dream up, but deliver them at an affordable price. We are primarily focused on books in the public domain because they are more or less free to use.
Our first project is called MONAD and it’s a hardcover collection of Neo-Platonic philosophy. It includes works by Plotinus, Porphyry, and Proclus. All of them translated by the great Thomas Taylor. We commissioned an oil painting for the cover and are printing it in the United States using high quality materials.
Do you have any other projects you’re working on at the moment?
No, the store and the publishing company are it for now.
Is there anything else you’d like to mention?
I think that’s all!
Are you feeling the vibe? Go check this place out. Photo courtesy of Shane Logan.
How do you use sound or music in your personal practice?
I am a lifelong musician. I started playing trumpet and reading music when I was 8 and picked up guitar when I was 10. I use music to set the tone for whatever I’m doing. It totally shifts your mind into a different mood or space, so that can be used to your advantage and your enjoyment.
How do you think music interplays with spirituality?
I think music is as spiritual as it gets. I read a Sufi master who said “the true use of music is to become musical in one’s thoughts, words, and actions” – Hazrat Inayat Khan. It is a cosmic harmony and innate beauty. Order out of chaos and a realm of pure principles. If there is a way “up”, it can probably be found through music.
Location, Location, Location
Now that we’ve talked about it so much, let me tell you exactly how to get there. You can visit The Dancing Elephant in person at 801 Lake Ave, Lake Worth, FL 33460. Just follow roads until you wind up at the big red dot on this map.
Are you at 801 Lake Ave? Good. You’re in the right spot.
If that’s too far for you, you can also see some of their inventory of rare books online at dancingelephant.shop.
And of course, they’re also on Facebook and Instagram (@thedancing_elephant).
Conclusions
Not all bookstore owners are occultists or musicians. To help better understand this fact, I’ve included a diagram.
Everything makes more sense with diagrams. Unless of course… you fall on the right-hand side of this next one.
I actually had no idea that Shane was a musician or an occultist until after he answered all of these questions. I was pleasantly surprised to hear his whole story.
I heard there’s going to be a launch party in a couple months when the first book is published. Shane gave me a sneak peak of the cover art and I have to say it looks pretty awesome. I’m sure details will follow on Facebook when the date gets closer. On a personal note, I’m also incredibly interested in going to one of the Sound Meditations.
I know we’ll be back to The Dancing Elephant soon!
Hey, what are you doing all the day down here? Congratulations, you made it to the fine print. Look guys, I honestly can’t even remember, but there’s a possibility that I included an Amazon referral link in this article, so I might as well give you the obligatory disclaimer. If you use that link to make a purchase, Amazon pays me a tiny, almost nonexistent comission. There. I said it. Are you happy, Amazon?
Aerik Arkadian 
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