Editing Elvis and Me (section)

===The Beatles' shadow, mysticism, and drugs===
By 1965, [[the Beatles]] had overwhelmed the music industry, and Presley's record sales declined noticeably. Uncertain about who he was and where his career was going, Elvis turned to [[Spiritualism (beliefs)|spiritualism]], dragging an uninterested Priscilla with him. He had not performed live for several years and labeled most of his movies a joke. By the time filming was to begin on ''[[Clambake (film)|Clambake]]'' (released 1967), Presley's growing distress with the quality of his films led to a despondency, accompanied by overeating, and his normal 170 pound (77&nbsp;kg) weight ballooned to 200&nbsp;lb (91&nbsp;kg). The [[movie studio]] ordered him to lose the weight quickly, marking the introduction of [[diet pill]]s to the already excessive regimen of placidyls and Dexedrine, which would eventually kill him.

In his search for a "higher state of consciousness," Presley became fascinated with the [[occult]] and [[Metaphysics|metaphysical phenomena]]. During his spiritual quest, everyone around them saw Presley's personality change, dramatically, from vibrant and playful to passive and introverted. Presley went through a period of celibacy, in keeping with the teachings of an Indian guru. "He was going through a cleansing period, physically and spiritually. He loved me and deeply wanted to be faithful to me, but he never felt certain that he could resist temptation. It was a persistent battle, and it even got to the point where he felt he had to resist me." For the next few weeks, Elvis felt the need to withdraw himself from the temptations of sex. He said, "We have to control our desires, so they don't control us. If we can control sex, then we can master all other desires."  When they were in bed, "he took his usual dose of sleeping pills, handed me mine, and then, fighting off drowsiness, from the pills, pored over his metaphysical books." Priscilla was not interested, and she recalled Elvis saying, "Things will never work out, between us, Cilla, because you don't show any interest in me or my philosophies."

When this phase of his life passed, she and Elvis had a bonfire and burned the stacks of magazines and books he had accumulated on the subject. They tried [[cannabis (drug)|marijuana]], during this time, but they did not like it, as it made them ravenously hungry. Although Presley abhorred street drugs, Priscilla tells how they used [[LSD]]. While they both thought it had been an "extraordinary experience," they were afraid of it and experimented, with that specific drug, only once.