Their Satanic Majesties Request [The Process, Church of the Final Judgment, part 5]

I have not written on our dear friends Bobby and Mary for a while, due to lack of inspiration.  But tonight, I am going to give it a shot.

However, this will not strictly be about the Process, but about other groups that were around at the same tme, and much later, and how their existence brought the Process unwanted infamy.

I suppose the best time and place to start would be Frisco, on April 30th, 1966.

According to Germanic folklore and superstition, April 30th was the night when witches and demons ran amok on the mountain known as the Brocken, the tallest mountain in the Hartz mountains.  It is called Walpurgisnacht, after the Anglo-Saxon saint who preached to the Franks, Walburga.

She was canonised on May 1st, which was traditionally the first day of spring in the Germanic countries, and the evening before May 1st was celebrated even by witches and demons - this is probably a holdover from older pagan spring rituals that would call in the spring throughout the night.

On April 30th, 1966, Howard Levey shaved his head, declared himself to be 'Anton LaVey,' and founded his 'Church of Satan.'

The Church had its origins in Friday evening get-togethers that Levey would hold in his home, wherein he and his guests would discuss topics of an occult nature.

Levey claimed he had a colourful history long before he founded his church.  He said that he quit school to join the circus, that he was a photographer for the Frisco PD and photographed a number of homicide scenes, and even claimed he slept with a pre-fame Marilyn Monroe while he performed music at a burlesque house called the Mayan.

It's likely that these were all lies.  There's no record of any of his supposed career as a SFPD photographer, or for his claims that he was involved in the circus.

While Miss Monroe has long since passed away, no one from Monroe's crowd - agents, friends, family - have any knowledge of this supposed affair.  Furthermore, the owner of the Mayan has stated that not only was the place not a burlesque house, but that no Howard Levey performed there, nor did a pre-fame Monroe (birth name:  Norma Jean Mortenson, then changed to Baker while still a child).

According to neo-pagan Druid Issac Bonewits, Levey had no real grounding in the occult arts.  From his article, "My Satanic Adventure" (located on the web here: http://www.neopagan.net/SatanicAdventure.html):

During this time, I became a regular at the Church of Satan. I attended LaVey’s lectures, went to his Friday night rituals, and quickly became one of his regular altar boys and a “Satanic Minister.” I’ll never forget the evening when I decided to ad lib some fake “Enochian” invocations during one of the ceremonies. I dramatically intoned a lot of gibberish, using the same guttural tones that Anton always used, and everyone in the ritual acted very impressed. Afterwards, I asked Anton, “How’d you like my Enochian?” and he gave me a look that would have melted sheetrock. He did not, however, warn me of the dangers of mucking with this ceremonial language, as any real Enochian magician would have done out of sheer self-preservation (since they all believe that it is a terribly powerful magical tongue), nor did he complain that I had ruined his magical intent, as he would have done if he had actually been doing any magic. It was at that point that I realized two important things about Anton: he really didn’t know very much about Enochian and he wasn’t actually trying to do magic in his supposedly magical rites. I began to wonder if he even knew how.

...

To me it was all just another part of the adventure. I continued to listen admiringly to Anton’s tales, though I was somewhat shocked when he claimed that his huge library of occult books had been swindled from rich widows. I was more shocked when I realized that he had read only a tiny fraction of them, and that at seventeen I had read far more books on parapsychology, comparative religion and the occult than he had, despite his twenty years’ head start.

Nevertheless, an organisation known as the "Church of Satan" gained quite a bit of publicity, leading to LaVey becoming the poster-boy for the emergence of Satan in the so-called Age of Aquarius.

Another group, far less influential, but far more notorious in the annals of 60s cults was The Solar Lodge.  Founded in 1962 and based loosely on Aleister Crowley's Ordo Templi Orientis, the Solar Lodge became best known for the controversy surrounding the "boy in the box" incident.

This incident involved a six year old named Anthony Saul Gibbons, whose parents were members of the group, in 1969 - just a few weeks before the Manson murders made cult-based crime a topic on everyones' lips.

At that point, a woman by the name of Georgina "Jean" Brayton was then head of the Solar Lodge, and according to press reports, she ruled the group with an iron fist.

The boy reportedly set a fire - whether it was accidental or intentional has not been fully resolved.  According to members of the Solar Lodge, it was intentional.

The official Lodge story (as reported in the LA Free Press, September 17, 1971, in a piece by an Ed Hoffman) is thus:

The group had established a base of operations 38 miles north of Blythe, California, in the desert.  From humble beginnings, they had established a main office, areas for livestock, and apartment buildings (reportedly built from piano boxes and A-frames).

While the group had originally all lived together in the main office building, growth forced the building of more areas to live.  These areas were certainly not up to code or very habitable, but the members of the Solar Lodge moved to them anyway.

Two children, Anthony Saul Gibbons and Kathy Myer, set fire to the apartment building they lived in, because they wanted to go back to living in the main building.  However, the fire soon went out of control, and before long, much of the group's construction had been destroyed, and two goats were killed.

The children were said to be 'problem children,' from broken homes.  The mother of Kathy, Marge Myer, could not support her daughter, and begged for the group to keep her.  Gibbons' father, Jim Gibbons, did the same.  Jim was a probation counselor in Los Angeles who was separated from his wife, Beverly, who lived with the Lodge.

The children were separated, and two months went by, while construction was underway on rebuilding the apartments.  Finally life was settling back to normal, when Saul was found once more trying to set a fire, this time in a kitchen of a new building.

The group contacted his father again, who was enraged, and told them that he'd be there to pick up Saul in the morning.  He told them to lock him up somehow, so that he could no longer get into trouble, and leave him be until the next morning.

Saul was therefore put into a storage shed and locked in for the rest of the night.

I want to end it on that note, because, well, it's a good note to end a story on!  There's more to it, and even more weirdness coming.

You may wonder what any of this has to do with the Process Church.  The answer is:  nothing and everything.  There were lots of fringe religious groups in California, many of which were later tied to Manson, or tied to the Process Church, or both.  These are just two.  There are more, and to get a fuller understanding the Process Conspiracy, and the final collapse of the Process Church, it is important to understand that.  I hope that in coming entries, I can tie this all neatly together to make a well-rounded story and, of course, to share my own bizarre obsessions wtih long-gone cults and genuinely strange personages.

In the Time of Abaddon I [The Process, Church of the Final Judgment] (part 4)

When the Process Church opened a branch in San Francisco, they were just a strange, new religious movement that was looking to make converts.

They stepped into a cultural tinderbox.

San Francisco was where Haight-Ashbury was, and in 1967, thousands of young people followed the lyrics of a song written by John Philips of the Mamas and the Papas, to wear flowers in their hair and come to San Francisco.

Expecting to meet some "gentle people,"" many kids instead found themselves homeless, addicted to drugs, involved in prostitution and underground pornography, members of cults, and worse.

When it became clear that young, idealistic kids were migrating to San Francisco, a lot of less than pure-hearted people flocked there too, to exploit them, and lots of other people used the freedom and idealism to act out their darkest fantasies and desires.

The Process first tried to enlist the San Francisco Oracle, a leading underground paper, to their cause, but the paper declined, being far more interested in sex, drugs, and rock and roll than Jesus and Satan.  They reportedly also tried to interest Anton LaVey, founder of the Church of Satan, but he was less than impressed.

Still, the Process set up shop at 407 Cole Street.  They were just up the road from 636 Cole, which was the address of a 32 year old ex-con named Charles Manson who was surviving by panhandling, and also preaching his own Scientology-influenced  Biblical message to anyone who would listen.

While Moor and MacLean - the future DeGrimstons - studied Scientology in London's Hubbard Institute, Charlie Manson was  studying it in various prisons.  Since he was a child, Manson had been in and out of juvies and prisons, and learned  everything there - indeed, it was in prison where he learned how to play guitar.

The natural question is - did Manson ever meet up with Processeans?  More to the point, did he ever meet up with "The Omega"?

No actual evidence exists for any sort of meeting, and dates are extremely hard to come by.  Manson didn't keep his flat at Cole forever - he was living on the road, cashing at the pads of his followers, etc.  

Given the stringent rules for joining - celibacy, obedience, giving everything one owns to the church - it seems very unlikely that Charlie Manson ever joined the Process Church proper, or any church, for that matter.

He loved to have sex with underage girls, which makes celibacy very unlikely.  He never had much to his name, relying instead on aid from his followers and petty crime.  Most importantly, Charles Manson was not the sort of man who would permit others to boss him around.

One can imagine that if Manson and Mary Ann ever did meet, the results would be hilarious, with Mary Ann attempting to make Charles obey her with threats, manipulation, intimidation, whatever, and Charles spouting off a line about how women have their place, and to shut up and make him some money or give him sex.

Further, simply because the Process Church existed in name in San Francisco, that doesn't mean that "The Omega" was there  much.  If Charlie, or the other family members, crossed paths with Process members, it is very unlikely that those members would have been Robert or Mary Ann.

In addition, the mere fact that Mary Ann attempted to make the Process appear wealthy and classy to outsiders - a fact that Wylie reiterates when he writes about her spending above the group's means - it seems very unlikely that they'd care one iota about some scroungy 32 year old ex-con.

It's not hard to imagine Charlie or one of his girls getting Process material, reading it, assimilating it, turning it to his own ends, and using it that way.  It is extremely hard to imagine that someone like Charlie Manson had any real dealings with the Process beyond the superficial.

Manson did have connections to some strange folks in those days, and when I write on Manson, believe me, they'll be covered - but not the Process.

Unfortunately for the Process, they did become forever linked with Manson in the popular imagination due to the efforts of one beatnik author/musician to figure out how the hippie movement went so wrong, and while the Process probably never counted Manson as a member, they made their own connection to him after the murders which, in retrospect, was a very, very bad move.

We Give Our Lives (The Process, Church of the Final Judgment) [part 3]

After Inez devestated Xtul, the Process members contacted their families and returned back to England.  Inez had destroyed everything, at least on a material, physical level, but it had been a transformative experience for the group on a spiritual level.

They had taken the advice of their spirit guides, their 'gods' as the guides were called, and gone to Xtul.  The gods had seen them through the hurricane.  The gods had saved them.  Then, Robert wrote - or channeled - the "Xtul Dialogues," which created a more concrete theology for the Process.  When they returned to England, they returned with an evangelical furor.

They returned to their digs in the Mayfair district, the Balfour Mansion, and set up shop.  Now, however, the leaders, Robert and Mary Anne, were making themselves more and more separate from the general members.  Robert and Mary Ann dubbed themselves "The Omega," and kept to themselves, working through intermediaries.  Most of the power, according to Wylie, was possessed by Mary Ann, and she used a chain of women of varying levels of authority to keep tabs on the management of the group.

The members of the Process would spend their days panhandling and selling their newly-created magazine to interested passerbys.  Those who were interested in the group went to the coffee house that the Process ran, which had either been opened recently, or re-opened (Wylie implies that the coffee house was a post-Xtul development, while other sources suggest otherwise).

The food there was, according to Wylie, both tasty and nutrtious, and reflected the interest in organic products that the hippie generation first kindled in America.

The days for the Processeans developed into a steady rhythm of morning meditation, breakfast, work on telepathy or proselytising, dinner, evening meditation, sleep.  The only break in this routine was on Thursday afternoons and evenings, which the members were allowed to themselves.

Of course, Wylie makes clear that this, while cultic, was a necessary element of the religion, and not at all unwelcome.  The Process would also put on theatre shows, give talks, host speakers, and show films, all on a variety of esoteric topics, from Aleister Crowley to UFOs.

However, becoming a Processean was not an easy job.  One had to be committed.  Giving up all of one's possessions to the group was but the first step.  Strict celibacy was enforced, and joining the group was a process that, at minimum, took two years.  People were interested and intriguied, but they didn't join.

To the Process, of course, that just proved their own elitest beliefs about themselves, as spiritually advanced beings.

The first magazine was a, "two-color  broadsheet , focused  for  some  unaccountable  reason  on the Common  Market" that demanded, in angry, Apocalyptic terms, that England not join it.  Wylie has no idea where this sentiment came from, and chalks it up to Mary Ann.

The Process also founded their own printing press, and began publishing books by Robert, which articulated and expounded on the Process' unique theology - unfortunately for the Process, this theology would get them into trouble.  Therefore, an exploration of this theology is needed.

In traditional Christianity, Jehovah/YHVH is the single god of the universe.  However, with the doctrine of the Trinity, this god's son, Jesus - who was born in the first century CE - is also the same as this god.  Wars have been fought over the intricate relationship between Jesus and YHVH.  The orthodox view of Catholics, Eastern Orthodox Christians, and most mainstream Protestants is reflected in the words of the Nicene Creed, a Creed written to settle disputes over this very issue.

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.

In this cosmology, there is an evil figure, commonly called Satan, but also called Lucifer, though their exact distinction, if any, is less precise.  While God/Jesus stands for righteousness and goodness, correct moral order, justice, truth, Satan/Lucifer has a variety of functions, from an accuser of the righteous to someone who actively tries to harm humanity.

In DeGrimston's theology, however, things are different.  In his theology, there are three primary gods - Jehovah, Lucifer, and Satan.  However, while they may be opposites, they have been unified in Jesus Christ.

As DeGrimston wrote in As It Is:

Christ said: Love thine enemy. Christ's Enemy was Satan and Satan's Enemy was Christ. Through love, enmity is destroyed. Through love, saint and sinner destroy the enmity between them. Through love, Christ and Satan have destroyed their enmity and come together for the End. Christ to judge, Satan to execute the judgment.

This isn't an entirely original thought.  A Church Father by the name of Origen proposed a similar scheme, whereby Christ forgave Satan and all sinners.  He was duly attacked by the orthodox members of the church, and those teachings were deemed heretical, but the idea of Christ forgiving Satan was not original to the Process.

The Process, however, took that idea, and made Satan into a key player in both the end of humanity and the judgment thereof.

They also used the figures of Jehovah, Lucifer, and Satan as archetypes for each human being.  Due to the Process' origins in the psychoanalytic community, it is reasonable to assume that "The Omega" came across Jung's psychology types (which later formed the basis for the MBTI).  The three gods are a similar exercise in determining personality type.

• Jehovah, as a god, is rigid, demanding, righteous but unmerciful, and aesetic.  He is also a god of extreme self-reliance, of duty, of discipline.
• Lucifer is more of a "party animal," but with harmony and peace as the goal.  Lucifer could be best seen as a hippy, a figure who believes in free love, enjoying all that life has to offer, but living in harmony and love with others.
• Satan is more complex.  He is devoted to abandonment and filth, in the hopes of trascendence.  He is destruction and fury and hate - but not as ends of themselves, but as methods of transcending mere humanity, transcending all limits.

While each person had elements of all three gods in them, each person was more in tune with one of the gods than with the others.

The much touted "Satanism" of the group had little to do with 'gothic' Satanism, as portrayed by the church, therefore.  It wasn't 'Catholic' Satanism (inverse masses, defrocked priests, etc.), nor was it LaVeyan Satanism.  Their Satan was more in tune with the Hindu aghori - those who indulge in what is vile so as to transcend it.  They might be interested in such unpleasant ideas as cannibalism and necrophilia (topics brought up by Satanists in the magazines), but they were not interested in having a black mass or sacrificing goats to the devi, or similar nonsensel.  It was religion mixed with psychology, all designed to bring about transcendence and the destruction of emnity.

Christ was not considered a 'god' so much as an emissary, but people identified with him anyway.  Wylie recounts that he never considered these gods to be truly divine, but took them as psychological archetypes, and feels that other members of the Process felt the same way.

Unfortunately, the media has never shown much ability to grasp the subtleties of religion, so this new theology, coupled with the Process' attire - black capes, black robes, goates of Mendes patches - quickly led to them being labeled "Satanists," even though they really were not.  Highly unorthodox, definitely, but 'Satanists'?  Please.

The notoriety didn't necessarily hurt, however.  By their third magazine, the Process had managed to get an interview with Mick Jagger.  Placing Jagger's face on the front cover of the magazine no doubt earned some sales, but also earned the ire of Mary Ann, who was enraged that Robert was not on there instead.

Mary Ann continued to rule over the Processeans in other ways, too.  While celibacy had been the norm for the Processeans up to this point, as more people joined, it became more and more evident that some sort of sexual outlet was required.  The plan, therefore, was that The Omega subdivided the men and women into four seperate groups.  Daughters, Sons, Mothers, Fathers.  Sons and Daughters were those who were more inexperienced in the religion, and needed a guiding hand.  Fathers and Mothers were those who were more advanced, and could guide.  The Sons and Daughters could choose which Father or Mother they wanted to be with, and the couples could spend a week alone in a bedroom without being required to work.  Therefore, a "daughter" might choose a "father," and they would spend a week together engaging in whatever they wanted to - in most cases, people spent that week having sex!

These initial "relationships" led, later on, to more long-term partnerships, even marriage and children, for some couples.  After that week, however, it was back to celibacy for the Processeans, although there were odd ceremonies that would appear that were reminiscient of sex magic, according to Wylie - such as a man masturbating himself to orgasm, emptying his sperm into a sacred bowl, and then having that sperm along with kerosene burnt while prayers were said.

While London remained the base of operations for the Process, by 1967, it had begun to branch out into the United States, first in New Orleans, then in San Francisco.  While other chapters opened elsewhere in 1967 and 1968 - Munich, for example, or Greenwich Village - it is the San Francisco branch that will forever ensure that the Process is remembered, because in 1969, an fairly small event, statistically speaking, would nevertheless forever traumatise the United States and lead to the Process' eventual decline.

We Come From the One (The Process, Church of the Final Judgment) [part 2]

According to official Process doctrine, spirits - the "gods" - recommended that the Mayfair Mindbenders escape England and go elsewhere.  More likely, it was the negative publicity and legal woes that prompted this exodus, but the result was the same - in mid-1966, the de Grimstons, about 35 followers, and a pack of German Shepherds left England.  The group believed that they were leaving England for good.

By this point, the conflicts with parents, legal "authorities," and the general collapse of the Western World led the group to believe that the end was near - and getting nearer by the day, and it led to an us vs. them mentality.

The Processeans first left for Nassau, then the Bahamas.  Then the spirits led them to Mexico, and finally to Xtul, where they formed a community.  Miles from civilisation - miles even from a populated town - the group continued their spiritual work, and got down to the work of survival in the jungle.  Considering that all of the members were from England at this point, the fact that they even survived in this wilderness is amazing unto itself, and the group took that was validation that the gods were with them.

That sense of validation would receive a tremendous boost in late September of 1966, when Xtul was battered by hurricane Inez.

Timothy Wylie gives a vivid description of Inez in his book LOVE SEX FEAR DEATH.  The hurricane battered the home of the movement and destroyed much of their work.  For three days and nights, the Process was under siege.  When the hurricane left, and the rubble was cleared, all members had survived.  This was a storm that claimed quite a number of lives (1000, accoring to wunderground.com).  Clearly, the gods were with them.

During this period of time, a piece of work known as the Xtul Dialogues was composed - or, perhaps, channeled by Robert from the gods.  It was in fact written in November of '66, after Inez, and consists of seven dialogues and a epilogue called "Diversion."

In the first Dialogue, the new purpose of the group is established - love.  To establish love, one must combat the enemy of love, that is, ignorance.  The psychiatric underpinnings of the group are still present here.  The unconscious is ignorance.  Consciousness is love.  The unconscious is rejection, whereas the conscious is acceptance and truth.  God is identified with the conscious mind.

14 But is that possible when there is unconscious conflict?

By the conscious separation of the two. Just as beings have one choice only withregard to GOD, to include or to exclude ,so they have one choice only with regard to the unconscious, to identify or to detach,to be submerged or to separate.
With GOD the valid choice is to include. With unconsciousness the valid choice is theinversion, to exclude. to detach.

15 Why is this?

Because whereas GOD is truth and acceptance, unconscousness is lies and rejection.It is motivated by conflict andresponsibility, both of which are rejections of the truth.

16 How has this come about?

Through the exclusion of GOD. All doing, thinking and feeling which are motivated byunconscious pressure areproduced in order to fill the gap left by the exclusion of GOD.

17 What is valid then?

Being. The only choice which is not motivated by unconscious conflict, is the choice ofinclusion or exclusion of the unconscious. If the unconscious is deliberately and consciously excluded, then all doing,thinking and feeling become valid. Exclude the unconscious and replace it with GOD.

It is here that the Process first  established its identification with God - and first established its first deity, Jehovah.

Jehovah is an English rendition of the holy name of God which in Hebrew is spelled out by the Hebrew letters YOD HEH VAU HEH, or, YHVH (or YHWH).  The Hebrews, like many ancient peoples, considered the name of their god to be too powerful to be spoken.  If one knew the true name of a god, one could gain power over the god, thus the injunction against using the name of the "LORD" in vain.

The origins and etymology of Jehovah are too involved to get into here, and there is much debate over whether or not Jehovah is even an acceptable way of pronouncing the holy name (Yahweh is a far more popular term in scholarly circles).  Still, it was clear that the Process doctrines identified God with Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews, Jews, and Christians.

In the first Dialogue, the believer in the Process is told to simply be.  Stop struggling, stop trying to figure things out, and just be.  Determining things on one's own excludes God.  This is, of course, beneficial to any sort of religion or cult that aims to establish control over the mind of the believer and is a standard doctrine taught in a number of 'mainstream' Christian and Islamic churches and mosques to this day.  The Jews, of course, tend to be far more interested in arguing and fighting over minute points of Talmudic lore for this to ever work on them!

Communication with the spirits and gods is recommended, but of course, such a practice will eventually to divisions.

The second Dialogue sets out the cosmology of the Process.  There are multiple universes, with multiple gods, but those gods are all parts of the True God.  Each god is also a universe unto itself.  Jehovah is "the knowledge of the physical universe."

Humans posesses five physical senses, but there are up to thirteen in the physical universe.  Humans can only truly grok a small element of the physical universe.  Telepathy is a pre-requisite to all consciousnesses, not a "sixth sense."  Sorry, M. Night Shamalyan!

The second Dialogue continues to differentiate how physical consciousnesses can and cannot be part of god.

In the third Dialogue, a new term comes into play - xtummer (pronounced "shoo-mer").  According to the notes:

(7) To xtumm (pronounced 'shtoom'; oo as in 'good') is to kill either physically, spiritually ormentally, depending on the context.The extent of the 'death' can vary. For example: to xtumm someone can mean simply meanto silence him, to knock him senseless or to destroy him completely. Also atmospheres can be xtummed, contactbetweened people can be xtummed,etc. In the present context a 'xtummer' refers to one who kills contacts and atmospheres on aspiritual level, with heavy deadening projections and attitudes.

In other words, this Dialogue is about how to deal with someone who is an outsider, or a nonbeliever.  The way to deal with this person is simply to ignore him or her.  People are at different levels of spiritual awareness and ability, and it is foolish to let yourself be inconvenienced in any way by someone who cannot, or will not, contribute spiritually.

The fourth dialogue continues in similar wise, about how one should be focused on the physical and let the spiritual take care of itself.  Working on the spiritual on your own is futile.  The spiritual is the domain of God.  Let God deal with it.  One's responsibility is to the physical only, and even on that level, the responsibility is minimal.

7 What do we do about demands we instinctively make on ourselves and those around us, that give us agony and frustration?

At the stage the group has reached, these can only be spiritual demands, presumptuous demands, demands that haveno relevance to your environment whatever. Physical demands can be made and met without pain or frustration.The most prominent physical demand is security. This is best met with discipline in the formof set formulas of living thatthat eliminate choice in the primary areas and make it as wide and free as possible in the secondary.

8 What are the primary areas?

Sleeping, eating and working.The less choice in these areas as regards time, quantity, quality, etc., the more freedom you feel in these areas, and that includes freedom from demand, requirement and expectation, as well as rigid control, the better.

Notice that the demands made in the primary areas should be physical and most definiyely not spiritual.

The other dialogues continue in similar wise, with emphasis on focusing on the physical demands and letting the spiritual take care of itself, because it is the domain of God.  In some ways, this is analogous to the doctrine in some Churches to not "try" to be good, but to let Christ "work" on that for you.

The Dialogues were not meant for outsiders.  These were meant for people already inside.  These were the "Rule of St. Benedict" of the Process Church.

The final part of the Dialogues is called "Diversions," and attacks coincidence, but from what I read, it appears to be more along the lines of a, "huh, what a funny coincidence" line of thought rather than a more meaningful understanding of synchronicity.

4 Why is humanity fooled by Coincidence?

Because Coincidence offers himself as an escape route from the ever present threat of Recognition.

'Down this alley', he cries, and off the terrified human goes, choosing to be amazed by the antics of Coincidence rather than face the overwhelming evidence of Significance and thus fall into the waiting arms of Recognition.

Unfortunately for the Process, even before Inez, parents and lawsuits were still plaguing them, and once Inez had destroyed Xtul, the Process decided to return to London, and back to the Balfour.

They had come to Xtul as kids caught up in the occult craze of Swinging London, and they mixed that with psychotherapy and Scientology.

Now, they were a religious community with a sense of direction and doctrine, and now their duty was to draw in other lost souls.

MY AMITYVILLE HORROR - A Film Review

After the DVD player on my computer stopped working last night, midway through THE HORROR OF DRACULA, I decided to jump on to Netflix, and watch something.

I realised that MY AMITYVILLE HORROR, a documentary featuring Daniel Lutz, one of the three children at the Amityville hauntings, was now on Netflix and of course, I had to watch it.

I'm always up for a good ghost story, but I've never believed the story of the Amityville Horror.  It's always seemed too trumped up - pardon the pun, considering some of the events said to have happened in the home - to be real.

I remember watching a rather ridiculous Amityville movie about a demonic lamp  the night before my dog was to be put to sleep when I was a child, so I have a negative association with Amityville through that - and I am very superstitious with movies, to the point that I have never watched Mark of the Devil since I was in my mid 20s and a pet bird of ours passed away the next day.

However, Amityville as such has always struck me as being a ridiculous hoax.  I read the book in my late 20s and found it tedious and unbelievable, and aside from the Jodie shot (red glowing eyes freak me out no matter what) I found the movie likewise laughable.

So I was interested in what Daniel Lutz had to say about the Amityville horror case.

It turns out that Daniel, Christopher, and Missy, the three children who lived at the Amityville house at the time of the hauntings, were not the children of George Lutz, the father.  He was in fact their stepfather, Kathy Lutz having married a man before George who fathered all three of the children.  

After Kathleen divorced the children's biological father, she dated around for a while, until meeting George Lutz, a bearded ex-marine with a temper and money.  Kathleen and George dated for a while, then got married.  As a condition for the marriage, However, George wanted to legally adopt the children.  The biological father agreed, and stepped into the shadows.

It is important to note this, because the conflict between Daniel and George is a running theme throughout this film - and Daniel is, from what is captured on film - a very troubled, tortured man, who was let down by everyone in his childhood.

Daniel and George clashed constantly, especially because according to Daniel, George had no parenting skills.  All that George had were Marine skills, and that was what he employed to discipline the children.  The situation became worse when Kathleen and the children moved in with George, and the conflicts only intensified after they moved to the infamous Amity House at 112 Ocean Avenue.

A year before the Lutzes moved in, a man in his early 20s named Ronald "Butch" DeFeo murdered his entire family with a rifle.  After murdering his family, DeFeo went to a local bar he frequented and alerted the other patrons that someone had gone in and murdered his family.  He claimed he had just discovered their bodies, and was terrified.

When he was arrested, his defense was an insanity plea, claiming that he 'heard' his family plotting against him in their thoughts.

That didn't work, and around the time that it looked like DeFeo might actually get the death sentence, the haunting transpired.  Interestingly, DeFeo's defense attorney was aware of, and involved with, the purported haunting.

Daniel, like his brother Christopher in other interviews, maintains that something did happen at the home, but that the books and movies blew it out of proportion, turning the haunting into something that it's not.

Nevertheless, his memory appears to be, at times, confused.  For example, he references a "Father Ryan" - that's the name of a Catholic priest in the film, but not the name of any priest involved in the actual case.  The priest involved was a Fr. Ralph Pecoraro, who stated that he only conversed with those involved in the Amityville situation over the telephone.

This priest supposedly went to bless the home before the Lutzes moved in, which is a strange move for non-practicing Methodists to take (at least, I think they were Methodists - I can't quite recall, but they were definitely American Protestants, not Roman Catholic), though a wise one considering the murders.

To be fair, Fr. Pecoraro has changed his story over the years (he has since passed on), claiming more involvement than he originally stated he had, up to and including the notion that he saw flies in the room the family turned into a sewing room.

However, the Father's original testimony is that he only spoke to the Lutzes over the phone once, due to the murders.

At another point, he claims to have seen a "cartoon pig" with "laser eyes" and "wolf's teeth" - the infamous "Jodie," a supposed demonic pig that was Missy's childhood friend.  It appears that "Jodie" was in reality just a neighbour's cat that liked to wander around the neighbourhood and was obese, causing Butch DeFeo to call her a "pig."

Daniel also claims that he would take a newspaper to the sewing room, and spend time killing dozens of flies, drop the newspaper, run to tell his mother, only to return and find the newspaper gone, along with the corpses of the flies.

I should note that Daniel appears very sincere.  I do not doubt a word of it - or rather, I do not doubt that he believes it.

Daniel claims that when he first moved in with George Lutz, that he was digging through George's books and found books on witchcraft, demonology, and transcendental meditation.  Christopher, Daniel's brother, has claimed that while the events in the book and film are hoaxes, that George Lutz would do transcendental meditation  but instead of chanting a mantra of peace or love, he would chant the name of a demonic entity from one of those old demonology books.

Of course, I myself own books on witchcraft, demonology, and TM, and in the film, Daniel doesn't appear to know much about the books except that they were about those subjects - no titles or details are given, except the general sort of information of "witches worshiping the devil" stuff that is in a number of books on the subject.

Daniel also claims that George could move things with his mind, and cites seeing George do just that with a wrench, when Daniel wasn't supposed to see it happen.  When he saw it, he ran to his mother, but his mother felt it was just an overactive imagination at work.

It appears that, whatever happened at 112 Ocean View, the real Amityville Horror was the behaviour of the parents.  It is evident that George Lutz was not cut out to be a father, and was abusive towards the children, and that the mother did little to protect them - in fact, Daniel said, he felt he had to be there to protect his mother.

In my own experience, I know how traumatic this can be.  While my father is supposedly my biological father (I'd prefer it not be the case), my mother was often either not around or trying to be peacemaker, forcing me to also try to protect her from him.  While George was physically abusive, my father only was once - and ceased immediately after I pulled a knife on him and told him to go ahead and hit me, I remember all too well what it made me feel like, and like Daniel said, he's still protecting the 10 year old inside.

His original father had abandoned him, his step-father was abusive and vicious (to be fair, Daniel made it clear that he instigated plenty of trouble, but that he hated George and that George was cruel - Christopher detests him as well) and, when the family became famous, Daniel (and presumably his siblings) were dropped off  at a Catholic school for a year while the parents went around the world, onto talk-shows - when they returned, Daniel says, his mother wasn't the same woman and once he was 15, she let him simply walk out and walk away from her and the rest of the family.

He traveled around the country, was homeless in the desert, worked odd jobs and got small apartments, and learned how to play the guitar.  He now works for himself in upstate New York.

In a story this tragic, you don't NEED demons.  The biological father, George, and Kathleen are evil enough without involving the denizens of hell - if you define utter selfishness as evil, which I certainly do.

I feel sad for Daniel, because he has spent his life as "the Amityville Horror guy," and he tried very hard to escape it, but he could not escape it - that's who he is, through no fault of his own.  All of the adults in his life failed him completely.

I can't say that I doubt their stories that George Lutz was involved in some less than positive spiritual activities.  I don't believe that the place was necessarily haunted, but it wouldn't surprise me if George Lutz was trying to invoke something that he shouldn't have been messing around with and that it caused some chaos for the family.

No-one living at the home after the Lutzes have reported anything of note happening, and everyone involved does seem to think that whatever was going on, George was the center of it.

There is one part of the film that is darkly comical, and that is the visit to Lorraine Warren, who is a purported demonologist and medium.  For some reason, she keeps caged roosters in her home, and the place just looks weird and creepy (and that's ME saying it - I want to live in the Addams house, and I think this place is just weird and creepy).  She has a cross with a supposed piece of the 'true cross' in it, and an image of Padre Pio with some of Padre Pio's hair taped to it - the latter of which she credits with keeping her from being destroyed at the haunted house, and claims that an apparition of Padre Pio appeared to her.

I'm a fan of Pio myself, and I borrowed one of his images or holy cards or whatever it was from Mark McDonough when I was going through the terrible spot in my life after I was put in the hospital, lost my flat, etc.  and it comforted me - but I find her story of the Padre appearing to her, etc. questionable at best.  She seems rather... loopy.

And her home does look very very creepy, and not in a fun or good way.

I genuinely enjoyed the movie as a character study of a man who had a very traumatic and miserable childhood that has led to a lot of pain in his adult life.  As an illustration of how badly parents can ruin their children by being selfish and pathetic, you couldn't do better.  As far as proving or disproving anything about the haunting - not so much.  Again, I believe that Daniel is telling the truth as he believes it.

I just don't necessarily think that anything paranormal happened there.

Gay marriage, adelphopoiesis, and Saints Sergius and Bacchus

Just now I read a story on io9, by Annalee Newitz, about John Boswell's theory that Saints Sergius and Bacchus were joined in a "gay marriage" ceremony (located here: http://io9.com/gay-marriage-in-the-year-100-ad-951140108)

There are numerous problems with this theory, but first, a bit about the saints.

According to their Passion, they were two high-ranking soldiers serving under Maximian (Roman Emperor from 286 to 305).

One day, Maximian was informed that Sergius and Bacchus were Christians, a doctrine outlawed in Rome at the time.  Since they were both high-ranking and trusted members of the military, and much esteemed by the Emperor, he disbelieved the claim.

To prove it in error, however, he decided to enter a temple devoted to Zeus and see to it that Sergius and Bacchus sacrificed with him and consumed the meat of the sacrificed animal.  Certain that this was mere slander, he told the supposed slanders that they would instead be treated as Christians, and killed accordingly, should Sergius and Bacchus sacrifice as expected.

Of course, Sergius and Bacchus refuse to sacrifice and declare their faith in Christ, so the Emperor strips them of their Roman army clothing, bounds them in chains, dresses them as women to disgrace them, and parades them in the marketplace.  All this time, S&B are singing psalms and reciting Biblical passages, quoting St. Paul and Christ.

The Emperor tells them that Christ was born out of wedlock, was a bastard, was executed by the Jews for His crimes, etc, and S&B and reply with the standard Christian doctrine of virgin birth, atonement, etc.

They are eventually brought to trial before a Duke Antiochus (I have no idea who this person is - he does not appear to exist outside of this Passion).  Bacchus is executed, Sergius is crushed by the loss of Bacchus, then Sergius is executed.

There's no real hint at any sort of romantic union, nor is there any suggestion that the two were engaged in any sort of "adelphopoiesis" ceremony.  In fact, many scholars think that the Passion was based on earlier martyrologies of other saints - in other words, the saints may not even EXIST as historical people.

Newitz admits that the ceremony is probably not the same as "gay marriage" as we understand it, and even Boswell decried efforts to link gay marriages with the ceremony.

Most likely, it was a form of blood-brotherhood in a Christian context.  Blood brotherhood was a popular, albeit long lost in the modern world, rite, in which two men would vow to take care of one another, and would literally 'adopt' one another, legally.  However, there's no reason to assume that there was anything sexual in this.  In fact, in early Christianity, there were cases of heterosexual couples who would be married but live chastely.

While I suppose Newitz's point - that 'marriage' is a flexible term - is taken (and is true).  Defenders of "traditional marriage" generally take the point of view that marriage is inflexible and firmly established - when, of course, marriage can be used to solidify alliances, to make financial deals legal, etc.  But it isn't necessary, or advised, to make things up to justify homosexual marriage.

There's this curious notion in her writing that "love" by definition involves sex - but people can love one another without sex, and in chivalry, the highest form of love is a completely unfulfilled devotion to a woman (this is heterosexual in perspective, of course).

Lancelot was not wrong for being devoted to Guinevere - Lancelot was wrong for consummating that devotion.

Of course, this is an ideal and by no means something that was likely routinely practiced - and even the advocates of courtly love varied in whether or not consummating the relationship was the end goal or if spiritual adulation of a woman, leading to further spiritual quests and purification was the purpose.

Some used devotion to a living woman to aid them in their devotion to the Blessed Virgin.

It may seem quaint or even absurd to-day, but there are many variations of love, not just the purely sexual that dominates modern society.

Also, no-one should use the term "Dark Ages," ever again.