Art

The Process Church of The Final Judgement

Published

August 25, 2016

The Process Church of The Final Judgement started its operations in the 60’s, an odd cult which has been viewed as Satanic and has created much speculation – including that the Manson Family took some of their philosophical ideas from the Process Church (as it is better known by non-Processeans). The church started with Robert De Grimstone and Mary Anne – they splintered from Scientology to found their own church.

They moved to Xtul in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, where Robert began to have contact with three entities: Jehovah, Lucifer and Satan, the Three Great Gods of the Universe. De Grimstone formulated Processean theology from these encounters (enhanced by psychedelic drugs, of course, as Timothy Willie affirmed in an interview).

Sex Issue

What called my attention to them in the first place was the subversion of three Judeo-Christian archetypes, and no doubt that’s the reason they gained so much notoriety in their time. In this they created a genuine gnostic philosophy in the Process Church; the Three Great Gods represented universal forces, but also spiritual currents in the human soul – each person was ruled by one of this currents, be it Luciferian, Satanic or Jehovian – but what did this mean? Let’s take a look to each of the Great Gods:

Jehovah: The God of discipline and righteousness, he’s also a god of war. The holy wars come to my mind when thinking about the description of this god. His people are supposed to be very disciplined, ascetic and of high moral values.
Lucifer: The God of love and light, he’s a sensualist as well; according to the Process Church he’s the one responsible for creation of women. His people are passionate, life-loving, generous and artistic. Sex is also under his purview as the ultimate act of love and life.
Satan: The God of darkness, magic and transcendence. He urges people to go beyond or below the human condition, and this role as tempter and corrupter is well known to humanity. Few are the ones who know him in his transcendental role.
Christ: He’s the emissary to the other Gods, he’s transcendental love, he was believed to come a second time in the end of times, when Jehovah and Satan declare war on humanity and destroy it, in the end Christ and Satan will unite as one being and pass judgment on humanity.

Representations of the Great Gods and the Grey Forces from the Sex Issue:

: Satan from the Sex Issue

: Jehovah from the Sex Issue

: Grey Forces from the Sex Issue

: Lucifer from the Sex Issue

Sex Issue

The goal of the Process Church was to wake up humanity before this Apocalypse came to pass, as to them the majority of humankind was deeply lost in what they called the Grey Forces – the forces of conformism and mediocrity. According to Process theology, the Grey Forces were the people too soft and lazy to choose one god as their path; too afraid to let them gorge in the darkness and mystery of Satan, too lazy to take the required discipline and will of Jehovah, too hypocritical to lose themselves in Lucifer’s passion and sensuality.

As I said before, their peculiar theology attracted all kind of attention to them. It is said Mick Jagger was part of the Process Church at some point, and rumors existed that Charles Manson borrowed some part of his ideas from them. The Process Church even sent representatives to see if Manson indeed took ideas from them, and from this encounter he contributed to one article to their famous magazine about Death.

Death Issue

Robert De Grimstone was expelled from the Process Church in 1974 and all his later attempts to recreate it were met with failure. The original church was transformed in something more orthodox Christian, and all references to Satan and Lucifer were erased from it. Today they’re an animal care organization – how did they come to this? It is unknown to me.

Fear Issue

Obviously, the Process Church has created a huge fascination in culture, specially among artists, bands and people interested in the bizarre and the occult. Examples of these influence are:

Hagen von Tulien: among my personal favorite occult artists, he’s an illustrator, plastic artist, painter, among other things.
Genesis P. Orridge and Psychic TV: Although she was never a member of the Process Church, there’re a lot of references in her work, there’s a chapter entirely dedicated to process symbology in her book Thee Psychick Bible.
Integrity: The hardcore band was one of the first bands in this genre (to my knowledge at least) to incorporate satanic and occult references in their lyrics and outlook; lots of Process Church references in their albums, see the album “Humanity is The Devil” specifically, a name taken from an article in one of the church’s thematic magazines.
Sabbath Assembly: A psychedelic rock band dedicated to restore Process Church hymns in the form of rock songs, they have succeeded in this giving these hymns and prayers a new form and restoring a 60’s and 70’s atmosphere to them.
New Processean Order: An Italian dark ambient project led by Alessandro Papa which incorporates ideas from Robert De Grimstone and serves as a vehicle to a new Process Church.
Vector Galley: An art gallery currently based in Los Angeles (formerly New York) where the work of visual artist JJ Brine is shown. The installations and found objects in the gallery are informed by satanic imagery and Processean symbols while alluding to Charles Manson and the Antichrist.