The Mississippi Studios is hosting a Process Church of the Final Judgment ritual on Sunday night, led by Timothy Wyllie, who has just written a book about the church, based on his experiences with it. The cult spun off from Scientology in London during the early 1960s, and went through a series of bizarre permutations, including a connection with Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithful, not to mention George Clinton, who reproduced Process material in two Funkadelic albums. Here, however, is all you need to know about how creepy the whole deal was:
Wyllie has just published Love Sex Fear Death, through Feral House publications out of Port Townsend, Washington. It includes lots of reproduced artwork from when Wyllie was art director of the Church’s magazine, as well as music from process church hymns, which will be sung on Sunday night at the Miss, if you’re into that. I particularly enjoyed “Christ and Satan Joined In Unity.” Very subtle. I figure any cult that span off from Scientology has to be a little interesting, no matter how bizarre.
Why go to a “real life” Satanic ritual only once a year? Sekhet-Maat Lodge performs one for the public every week–on Sunday, no less–written by the Great Beast of the Apocalypse himself, Sir St. Aleister Crowley. If the Scientology connection piques your interest, it’s worth noting that L. Ron Hubbard was a disciple of Crowley.
Here’s more information on the show at Mississippi studios. A live band is performing actual Process Church songs as part of the ritual. This from the Feral House website:
Tonight, to celebrate the recent release of LOVE SEX FEAR DEATH, Feral House, Process Media, and Sound@One present a simulation of an actual Process Church “Sabbath Assembly” ritual. The Sabbath Assembly band, comprised of Jex Thoth (I Hate Records), Sophie Gonthier (Anything Maria), Anders Nilsson, Daniel Shuman, and Dave Nuss (of No-Neck Blues Band), and others will perform Process hymns and songs throughout the ritual.
Also presented is an excerpt from a full-length documentary of the group directed by William Morrison of the band Skinny Puppy. Author Wyllie (Father Micah) will follow to discuss the cult and his time within it in a multimedia presentation, and Adam Parfrey will guide a Q&A with the audience.
L. Ron Hubbard was not a disciple of Crowley. Crowley actually only refered to Hubbard twice in letters, and neither mention was very kindly to say the least. Though he (Hubbard) did help one of Crowley’s disciples (Jack Parsons) perform the famously ridiculous Babalon Working.