| The Process Church of Tthe Final Judgment holds a special place in occult lore. Supposedly borne of disaffected Scientologists and later accused of being the inspiration for both the Manson family and the Son Of Sam shootings, the Church faded from view in the 1970s. Now however it is back where it belongs, on the World Wide Web alongside every other crazy religion. The Process Church combined community activism with a peculiar set of beliefs: Jehovah, Christ, Satan and Lucifer were not enemies, but all equal parts of Creation. These four personalities were all venerated, though only the 'good guys' were truly worshipped at first. Like many cults that formed in the late 1960s, the Processeans depended on both youthful enthusiasm and cultish practices of separation, unquestioned beliefs that they were the chosen ones, and an apocalyptic worldview. The Church's use of Scientology 'techniques' in order to determine the subconscious drives of members (drives personified by the four archetypes), and its misuse of Alfred Adler's view of the subconscious, helped keep members in line while 'The Teacher' Robert DeGrimston and 'The Oracle' Mary Anne Maclean waited for the end of the world. The world didn't end, but the 1960s did, with the Manson murders. Manson was originally associated with the Process by several writers (he contributed a meditation on Death to a Process newsletter), most notably in The Family: The Manson Group And Its Aftermath (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1971), a book about Manson written by Ed Sanders, and now available in a revised form as The Family: The Story Of Charles Manson's Dune Buggy Attack Battalion (New York: Panther, 1973). By the early 1970s, the group was beginning to collapse in on itself. DeGrimston's increasing fascination with group sex, a neo-military social hierarchy and the increasing importance of Satan in his writings, alienated many unsuspecting Processeans, and Satan really made fundraising difficult as well. Predictably, it was DeGrimston's exploration of Satanic/Luciferian archetypes which attracted the most interest from critics, although Processean philosophy was closer to the Jesus Freak phenomena than neo-religious Satanic institutions like the Church of Satan or Temple of Set. The best scholarly study of this period is Satan's Power: A Deviant Psychotherapy Cult by William Sims Bainbridge (Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 1978). DeGrimston was ousted and a new group arose from the ashes. The Founders kept going until the late 1970s, but were little more than a newsletter. The David Berkowitz slayings of 1977 didn't help the splinter group, as both the Process and a supposed Satanic fringe group were implicated in the murders. This worldview was widely promoted by Maury Terry's The Ultimate Evil: The Truth About the Cult Murders: Son of Sam & Beyond (New York: Barnes & Noble, 1999), a sensationalistic book written at the height of the Satanic Ritual Abuse rumour panic in 1987, and later released in a revised edition. Terry was succesfully sued by the Solar Lodge of the Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO) for being erroneously linked to David Berkowitz and Charles Manson. There is no evidence that The Process had anything to do with David Berkowitz or the Son Of Sam murders, outside of Berkowitz's own confused and contradictory testimony. Today, the Church is back, as the largely secular Society Of Processeans. Interest in the group has been bouyed by magician Genesis P-Orridge's sampling of DeGrimston in the Psychic TV classic track 'Smile", which enabled Processean aesthetics to subtly infiltrate the Industrial subculture. The Society Of Processeans group is secular (having swept Satan under the rug), but still quotes DeGrimston liberally. Their projects include Safe Houses for battered women and Retrieval Networks which solicit donations from official nonprofits. This may sound good at first, but some hallmarks of a cult are isolating vulnerable people from the world at large, and depending on the "comfort of strangers." The views expressed above represent the writer and not necessarily those of The Disinformation Company Ltd. |
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The Society of Processeans
The Internet is so vast that, no matter how silly or discredited an idea or belief, supporters of that idea or belief will be found. Hallelujah. The Society Of Processeans is back, and online. Their beliefs haven't changed, but their way of expressing them sure have. Instead of howling "Humanity is the devil!" now the Processeans explain that they are interested in the unity of the opposites. Like humanity. And the devil.
The Process
A very good history of the cult, with a special emphasis on Process' unique brand of psychotherapy and its religious rituals. The Process' use of the P-Scope, a device not unlike the Scientologist E-Meter, managed to get the church on Scientology's list of Suppressive Persons. SPs have been targeted by Scientologists for harassment, protests and invasions of privacy.
The Process: Church of the Final Judgment
A good page that lists, then critiques, accusations that Processeans have faced. The page contends that Processeans visited Charles Manson in his prison cell and discovered that he had never been a member, but should we expect them to honest if Manson had whipped out a wrinkled, faded membership card? The section on Berkowitz is better.
Process Archives
Available as Adobe Acrobat PDF files, this site contains a number of Process and Founders newsletters as well as the text of 'Exit' by Robert De Grimston. Like the literature of many cults, Process material is more interesting than it is readable, and De Grimston was especially bad. The site makes for good research material. If this stuff starts making sense to you, watch out!
Satan on War
A transcript of Robert DeGrimston's pamphlet, which he 'recorded' rather than wrote. Not surprisingly, Satan comes off looking like a bit of a creep. Long story short: he likes war, and hates the victims of war. This text formed the basis of the evocative track 'Smile', recorded by lysergic rave icons Psychic TV, and spoken by the enigmatic magician Genesis P-Orridge. One wonders if the modern Process Church would hand out this pamphlet at their abused woman shelters.
Suppressive Persons And Suppressive Groups
A 1992 Scientology list of Suppressive Persons and Suppressive Groups. SPs and SGs are targeted with nuisance lawsuits, protests, dirt digging by private eyes and other fun stuff like that. Almost all the groups listed are splits from or variations of the Church Of Scientology, and the Process Church is included.
The O. J. Simpson Affair: More And Better Conspiracies
Could the Process have been responsible for the murder of Nicole Simpson? This malignant meme is again prominent in underground occult literature, the same writers claim that Charles Manson and the 'Ordo Templi Orientis' (OTO) wanted to start a race war. Both are connected to Process in some way, according to books by Ed Sanders and Maury Terry, which were heavily cut due to subsequent legal action. Manson's followers killed Sharon Tate and tried to make it seem as though the Black Panthers did it (Manson wasn't physically present at the Tate/La Bianca murders; 'Helter Skelter' refers to a Confusion enveloping contemporary technocratic society, not a race-war, which was a worldview promoted by state prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi), even though the Panthers were too busy feeding school children in Oakland. There were also rumours circulating in the occult underground that the OTO projected 'psychic energy' at Watts to start race riots. And Marcia Clark has some connection to Scientology, another Process link. Plus, Philip Taylor Kramer, the bassist for 'Iron Butterfly', insisted that 'they' rather than OJ, committed the Simpson murder just before disappearing. We will all have to join OJ in the hunt for the real killers, as who knows what really happened?
Holy War Now!
Did you know that Tony Alamo is the most widely read preacher on the planet? That he sold more records than Elvis, The Beatles, Michael Jackson and The Ramones combined? Okay, how about this: "Today, the sinister Catholic Bill Clinton rules our country with a Satanic fist, linked with the sodomites, feminists, Vatican, Process Church of the Final Judgment (PCFJ, or simply Process), Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Cult Awareness Network (CAN), Bureau of alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), the Jewish-controlled media, the Mafia-run, proto-legal gambling, drug and prostitution rings, the Jesuit cult eradication syndicate of anti-Christian propaganda infiltration, and the Son of SAM/Satanic Cathedral of Greater New York." I was surprised too. Well, back to being a baby-eating psychopath. Or, this page may be a complete hoax. Fnord.
The Watchman Fellowship's 1998-99 Index of Cults and Religions
A rather sedate version of a neo-Inquisition index. The Watchman Fellowship examines the beliefs of others and, if they don't match the Fellowship's own views, places them on this cult index. In addition to the Process, the Watchman Fellowship lists the religion of 'radical feminism' and the Presbyterian Church Of Elvis The Divine.
Son of Sam! Exposes His Connection To Satanic Church Of Sacrifice!
A confused mish mash of pseudo-facts, WORD GAMES and right-wing conspiracy RANTING by someone with a stuck CAPS LOCK key. Did you know that David Berkowitz's apartment number reveals his connection to EL, the Old Testament god of sacrifice? Neither did I! Neither did EL, I bet.
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