Priscilla Presley was the only woman Elvis ever married. She was one of the great loves of his life. Still, he wanted to check to see if she was truly his soulmate. In the mid-1960s, Elvis grew interested in spirituality after speaking with his new barber. Using numerology, he wanted to see if they were actually destined to be together. Priscilla nervously awaited his discoveries.
Elvis Presley wanted to check if Priscilla was truly his soulmate
Through conversations with his barber, Larry Geller, Elvis discovered a new fascination with spirituality. He wanted to find a deeper meaning and purpose in his life. To do so, he began sifting through various books to educate himself.
“Elvis discovered there were many great masters besides Jesus,” Priscilla wrote in her book Elvis and Me. “There were Buddha, Muhammad, Moses, and others, each ‘chosen by God to serve a purpose.’ What I was now witnessing in Elvis was the emergence of that part of his nature that was thirsting for answers to all the fundamental questions of life.”
One of these questions was whether or not his longtime girlfriend, Priscilla, was his soulmate. To find out, he turned to Chaldean Numerology, an ancient numerological system.
“Then he became interested in Cheiro’s Book of Numbers, which defined people’s personality traits and characteristics according to the day of the month on which they were born,” Priscilla wrote. “To find out who was compatible with whom, Elvis added up the numbers in the birthdays of everyone within the group. I waited in terror, praying that my number would be a six, seven, or eight, so I would be compatible with Elvis, who was an eight. Fortunately, my number linked with his.”
Priscilla Presley tried her hardest to live up to what it meant to be Elvis’ soulmate
Alongside the relief that came with discovering she was Elvis’ soulmate came increased responsibility. Elvis wanted her to dive into his readings with as much enthusiasm as he had. This was not what Priscilla wanted out of the relationship.
“Although I was striving to be his soulmate and subtly becoming more aware of myself as a spiritual being, my heart longed for the very temptations he was trying to conquer,” she wrote. “While I patiently waited at home at Graceland for his returns, planning romantic interludes, he was attempting to overcome worldly temptations and believed he was going through a cleansing period, physically and spiritually. Any sexual temptations were against everything he was striving for, and he did not wish to betray me, the girl waiting for him at home who was preparing to be his wife.”
While Priscilla wanted to engage in Elvis’ interests, she wished he would pay more attention to her.
The ‘Book of Numbers’ was one of many books that Elvis recommended
Elvis began assigning reading to Priscilla to ensure she was on the same spiritual journey as him.
“He announced that in order for us to be perfect soulmates, I’d have to join him in his search for the answers to the universe,” she wrote. “To help me, he gave me several large books, including Vera Stanley Adler’s The Initiation of the World.”
The problem was Priscilla found all of these books impossibly dull. She struggled to keep her eyes open as she read them. Each time she fell asleep in the middle of a chapter, Elvis woke her up and scolded her. He warned her that if she didn’t take an interest in the books, he would find a woman who would.
