In 1976, pioneering underground newspaper the Berkeley Barb published the below article on a then 44-year-old Robert Anton Wilson written by Ray Ramsay. The article posted below contains some interesting history on the writing and publication of The Illuminatus! Trilogy.
Greg Hill was thoughtful enough to stash a copy into the Discordian Archives.
Hail Eris!
Berkeley Barb article on Robert Anton Wilson, March 12-18, 1976 edition. Click to Embiggen. Courtesy of the Discordian Archives.
The Kabouters article in question.When researching the roots of Discordianism, I’ve found that one rabbit hole inevitably leads down another and so it’s best to just keep on burrowing.
Such is the case of our last post about an article on the Kabouters that Lord Omar (aka Kerry Thornley) co-opted and redistributed (via kopyleft) under the auspices of the Ancient Seers of Bavaria, all of this part of Operation Mindfuck (OM), the Discordian Society’s covert campaign to illuminate the masses.
While reviewing the Kabouters article in question, I noticed that in the right margin Thornley wrote: “Stolen for you by the Erisian Liberation Front of the Lemuel P. Grant Lodge” which I figured was just some vague reference that popped out of Lord Omar’s pineal gland to confuse us all the more.
Kerry Thornley's Paranoid Flash Illuminator zine, July 1970. Courtesy of the Discordian Archives.Kerry Thornley's Paranoid Flash Illuminator zine, June 1970. Courtesy of the Discordian Archives.Afterwards — in the same section of the Discordian Archives where I’d discovered the Kabouters article — I came across a couple copies of Thornley’s Discordian newsletter The Paranoid Flash Illuminator, one of which stated: “Lemuel P. Grant Influence Lodge grows rapidly on both fronts presently active, E.L.F. and the Uncle Remus Chapter of the Black Lotus Society…” and that “…Operation Mindfuck is gathering momentus…”
Of course, none of this helped clarify what the Lemuel P. Grant Lodge actually was until I read through the next copy of Paranoid Flash Illuminator, which elaborated further:
In case you were wondering, Lemuel P. Grant Lodge of the Bavarian Illuminati is named after its founder: “At 327 St. Paul Avenue SE stands what remains of a house which survived the burning of Atlanta only to be consumed 100 years later by the ravages of neglect. It was built in 1858 by Col. L.P. Grant…When General William Tecumseh Sherman’s forces put the torch to Atlanta on November 14, 1864, they left the engineer’s mansion unscathed despite that fact that it had been used as a Confederate hospital because paraphernalia used in Masonic rituals had been found inside. They had instructions not to harm the homes of Masons.”
Kerry Thornley during his Sacred Mind Ashram period in Atlanta, 1972. Courtesy of the Discordian Archives.All of which suggests a Freemasonsic conspiracy of epic proportions that continues to this very day!
Although it’s sometimes near impossible to separate fact from fiction with much Discordian Society propaganda, the Sacred Mind Ashram referred to later in the above newsletter was an actual concept that Kerry and his wife Cara entertained during the period they lived in Atlanta in the early-70s. However, this idea of a “hip school for little kids” apparently never progressed beyond the concept stage.
As for the Good Vibe Machine, I have no idea what that actually was, though it would have made a great name for a 1960s sex toy.
Kabouters were a Dutch anarchist group in the 1970s. It was founded by Roel van Duyn and one of its objectives was to set up an alternative society based on Van Duyn’s ideas as stated in his book,“De boodschap van een wijze Kabouter” (The Message of a Wise Kabouter). Van Duyn for some time worked at an organic farm and asked the farmer if they were going to get a harvester. “No,” the farmer responded “Noisy machines chase away the kabouters [Dutch gnomes, elves or leprechauns], and we need them to keep our plants healthy.” That is why Van Duyn used this image.
While once again wading through the Discordian Archives the other day, I stumbled upon this startling document produced by the Ancient Illuminated Seers of Bavaria which demonstrates that Greg Hill at least had a clue as to who the Kabouters were.
Greg Hill's note on the difference between the Church of the Subgenius and Discordianism. Courtesy of the Discordian Archives.
While wading through the Discordian Archives the other day, I came across a hand-written note by Greg Hill commenting on the difference between Discordianism and the Church of the SubGenius.
Sayeth The Polyfather:
“The SubGenius is more DADA, while Discordianism tends to be more Surrealist. It is like having two different delicious flavors of the same revolting ice cream.”
Another Greg Hill sketch for Kerry Thornley's Church of the Laughing Christ. Courtesy of the Discordian Archives.A Greg Hill sketch for Kerry Thornley's Church of the Laughing Christ. Courtesy of the Discordian Archives.
For your general amusement, here are a couple of rough sketches Greg Hill produced inspired by a Discordian Cabal that Kerry Thornley cooked up called the Church of the Laughing Christ.
This is a photo of RAW and yours truly from the spring of 2001. In it he is sporting a shirt that says “I have seen the fnords” and of course wearing his famous ring with the spiral on it. A couple years back I had a dream with RAW in which we engaged in a deep discussion about the meaning of his ring, and how it was an allegory to The Buddha. Photo courtesy of Greg Bishop.
Yesterday I was reviewing a list of potential posts for Historia Discordia, one of which is a piece I wrote on Robert Anton Wilson’s passing back in 2007. So I got to wondering what day RAW died, and thought it would be apropos to coincide posting the piece on that date.
I did a quick Google search and, as our crazy Goddess would have it, RAW died on the date of January 11th, which is just the sort of stone cold synchronicity one encounters when pulling cosmic triggers and rolling golden apples. Perhaps a day late and a dollar short, we share with you now my RAW eulogy. —Adam Gorightly
Poster from the Seattle stage production of Illuminatus!, 1978. Courtesy of Iona Miller.In a recent Historia Discordia post we mentioned the London stage production of Ken Campbell and Chris Langham’s famed Illuminatus! as well as the duo’s lesser known Seattle production.
Shortly afterwards, visual artist, psychedelic chronicler and all around multimedia magus Iona Miller posted the following images to my facebook page of which she has agreed to share here.
Though not the crispest images, they document the Illuminatus! Seattle production in all its chaotic grandeur.
As I learned from Iona, the Seattle stage production took place at The Empty Space Uncommon Theatre in 1978. At this link is a listing of The Empty Space Uncommon Theatre productions for 1978/79, listing Illuminatus! in three parts. Also listed were a couple other Ken Campbell productions with such interesting titles as Skungpoomery and Psychosis Unclassified.
Promotional poster for the Seattle stage production of Illuminatus!, 1978. Courtesy of Iona Miller.In the promotion poster below, British Sci-Fi author Brian Aldis had this to say about the Illuminatus! play:
“Nobody is going to believe this… I can’t recall ever sitting in a theatre sweating with suspense while laughing my head off…. here is Genius with a Gee!”
From the late-60s through the early-70s, Greg Hill published a newsletter called The Greater Poop aka The Greater Metropolitan Yorba Linda Herald-News-Sun-Tribune-Journal-Dispatch-Post and San Francisco Discordian Society Bulletin and Intergalactic Report & Pope Poop, a networking tool of sorts where Hill kept his fellow Popes and Momes informed about new initiates, cabals, projects and other current Discordian doings.
The early issues were a one page long sheet that was folded four times and mailed. The first few issues composed in long hand and later issues typed, often including hand drawn illustrations by Malaclypse himself.
Back (mailer) side of Issue #29 of The Greater Poop. Courtesy of the Discordian Archives.Front side of Issue #1 (archive copy) of The Greater Poop. Courtesy of the Discordian Archives.
As The Greater Poop evolved, it sometimes encompassed several pages, such as Issue #30, a ten page monstrosity that we’ve have posted here in its entirety.
This issue includes an announcement of the printing of the 4th Edition of the Principia Discordia and the official rescinding of the 1st thru 3rd Editions… along with the rest of reality.
Kerry Thornley’s Senior Class photo, CalHi, 1957. Photo courtesy of Sylvia Bortin.In The Prankster and the Conspiracy, Kerry Thornley’s high school friend, Sylvia Bortin, recalled an infamous hoax which occurred in Drama Class at CalHi (Whittier, California).
Apparently the perpetrators — Kerry, Greg Hill and other unnamed cohorts — made a recording of what, at first, appeared to be a regular radio program, with music playing innocently from a radio positioned on the apron of the stage. In actuality, the sounds were projected from a reel-to-reel tape machine hidden backstage. Inserted into the seemingly mundane radio program, our merry pranksters had planted a series of interruptions, made by a newscaster, to the effect that Soviet planes were invading the U.S. and dropping bombs.
Photo of Greg Hill with the CalHi (Sophomore Class) Drama Club in 1957. Greg, who over the years cultivated a fetish for rubber stamps (featured prominently in the Principia Discordia), applied a stamp over his picture in the photo (center, top row). Photo courtesy of Sylvia Bortin.As Sylvia recalled:
“Somebody had told me early on that it was a joke, but some of the students didn’t know and got really scared… What made me feel bad was that one of the boys in the class was so scared that he was praying.”
