63 lines
3.2 KiB
Plaintext
63 lines
3.2 KiB
Plaintext
To: alt.satanism
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From: Michael.Aquino@125-430.wmeonlin.sacbbx.com (Michael Aquino)
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Subject: THE PROCESS (9408.process.ma)
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Date: 49940813
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The Process Church of the Final Judgment was founded in 1963 by Robert
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DeGrimston, a former Scientologist. It puttered along for awhile as a sort of
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mix of Zoroastrianism and Scientology, but it came into some social/media
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prominence in the "occult revival" of the late 60s because it professed to
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worship four gods - Jehovah, Christ, Satan, and Lucifer. Although Processeans
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considered this merely a balanced approach, the media immediately seized upon
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the last two [of course] and pronounced the Process "Satanist". In those days
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the Process was the only organization besides the Church of Satan to wear this
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label, but the C/S was quite serious and sincere about it, while the Process
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was not really quite sure about it.
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The Process became even less sure about it at the time of the Manson murders,
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when prosecutors and the media were looking around for something oo-ee-oo
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occult to hang on Manson & the Family, and came up with past contacts between
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Manson and the Process. [Family member Susan Atkins had been one of Anton
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LaVey's "topless witches", but Anton was considered a San Francisco pet, while
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the Process was something "obscure and murky".]
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Then came Ed Sanders' _The Family: The Story of Charles Manson's Dune Buggy
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Attack Battalion_ (catchy title), which hyped the "occult connection",
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particularly re the Process and the Solar Lodge of the O.T.O. The Process sued
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Sanders' publisher, and the offending material was deleted from future
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editions, but the PR damage was done. The Process bent over backwards to
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change its doctrines, insignia, etc. away from anything remotely "Satanic".
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They wound up as just another colorless Jesus-freak outfit and gradually faded
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away. They were more or less gone by 1975, although one occasionally hears
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rumors that there are Process groups in New York or London.
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Cf:
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William Sims Bainbridge, _Satan's Power: A Deviant Psychotherapy Cult_.
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Berkeley: University of California Press, 1978. Bill Bainbridge was a
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sociologist at the University of Washington; we corresponded for awhile on
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this topic. His book is a reasonably fair history, with all of the Process
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names changed to protect individuals' privacy.
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Ed Sanders, _The Family_. E.P. Dutton put this out in 1971 as a hardcover,
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Avon the next year as a paperback. You'd need to look for one of these older
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editions for the Process/OTO references, as they have been deleted from the
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1989 reissued paperback.
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Maury Terry, _The Ultimate Evil_. An example of how the name of the Process
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can be used for all sorts of sinister innuendo, since it is no longer around
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to protest the inaccuracies. [The OTO was, and kicked Terry's butt
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accordingly.]
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Nikolas Schreck (Ed.), _The Manson File_. Contains a brief summary of Manson's
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contact with the Process.
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Trivia note: Sanders also headed one of the 60s' more colorful rock bands, the
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Fugs, notable for mildly [certainly by today's standards] off-color language &
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puns. My favorite song title of theirs: "Bury me Beneath an Apple Tree so I
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May Kiss Your Lips Again".
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--
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: Fidonet: Michael Aquino 1:125/430 .. speaking for only myself.
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: Internet: Michael.Aquino@125-430.wmeonlin.sacbbx.com
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