Here’s an assortment of goodies Roldo Odlor sent to Greg Hill around the mid-80s during the same period he created the cover artwork for Historia Discordia: The Origins of the Discordian Society (Amazon). Roldo is also known for his artistic work with Kerry Thornley on the Goetia Discordia.
And, in case you missed it, check out these other letters to Hill in Part 00001 of this series.
Letter Package from Roldo Odlor to Greg Hill, mid-1980s. Courtesy of the Discordian Archives.Envelope postmarked 1984 from Roldo Odlor to Greg Hill. Courtesy of the Discordian Archives.Letter from Roldo Odlor to Greg Hill, mid-1980s. Courtesy of the Discordian Archives.
In the Roman Empire’s eternal era of superior gleaming, the Dog Days were popularly believed to be an evil time when “the Sea boiled, the Wine turned sour, Dogs grew mad, and all other creatures became languid; causing to man, among other diseases, burning fevers, hysterics, and phrensies. And then there was the perpetual godsawful smell of boiling cabbage.”
— Clavis Calendaria; or a Compendious Analysis of the Calendar: illustrated with ecclesiastical, historical, and classical anecdotes, 2 vols., 1812 by John Brady
Caught in the Crossfire: Kerry Thornley, Lee Oswald and the Garrison Investigation Pre-Order The Chaos Now! This Sirian Summer of Discontent has been revealed to be distinctly Discordian. Chaos Reigns!
Hail Eris!
Here’s the latest on what Eris has procured for Her Enjoyment:
Jesse Walker’s io9 review of Historia Discordia, “The Greatest Fake Religion of All Time.”
RAWIllumination.net review: “Adam Gorightly’s Historia Discordia is a very useful book for anyone who wants to understand Illuminatus! and/or Robert Anton Wilson’s literary career.”
ICYMI: John Higgs review: “Adam Gorightly’s new book is hardcore… But it was clear from his earlier biography of Kerry Thornley that if anyone was going to pull this off, it would be Adam Gorightly.”
Red Dirt Report Review of Historia Discordia: “I had a blast digging into all things Discordian and Adam Gorightly was just the guy to don the conductor’s cap on this smoke-belching loco-motive!”
Reason Magazine review of Historia Discordia, “The Prankster Politics of the Discordians.”
Now that I’ve gotten Adam Gorightly’s excellent Historia Discordia (Amazon), I’m starting to see some really intriguing parallels between the Discordians and the Gnostics (the latter of whom I’ve always been very interested in).
One of the central principles of Discordianism is that “the only thing you can know is that you cannot know anything…” reminds me of the gnostic concept of the nature of the “Source” or “Pleroma,” which was also ultimately unknowable as well. The Pleroma created from pure thought Sophia, or “knowledge,” the source of enlightenment for humans, who through the medium of the “fruit of the tree of knowledge” causes Adam and Eve (mankind) to become self-aware. Now it’s interesting that Sophia uses an apple, or that the fruit of the tree is most often represented as an apple; and the “original snub” of Discordianism is a golden apple with the word “Kallisti” (to the most beautiful) which Eris tossed into the wedding feast of Thetis and Peleus, and eventually would lead to the Trojan War as a result of a jealous tiff among the Greek Goddesses. Sophia was usually associated with the soul by the gnostics, and the soul was often thought to have its seat in the pineal gland. The Discordians speak to Eris via the pineal gland (coincidence? I think not…). 🙂
Old Greyface of the Discordians is really parallel with the demiurge, who the Gnostics associated with Jehovah or YHWH. Both of them try to convince mankind that there is an “order” to the cosmos, and they were responsible for creating it (which they were) but being imperfect themselves, their creation was inherently imperfect (thus, we get cruelty, ignorance, hot dog buns, and chiggers). What they really don’t want mankind to know is that Sophia actually created us (or our soul personalities), and that we are in fact closer to the Pleroma than they are. Of course, there were those who wanted to stick to orthodoxy, and for them the Church of the Sub Genius was created by Bob Dobbs, with JHVH-1 being essentially the embodiment of Greyface.
Then again, both the Discordians and the Gnostics may simply have been insane… but Eris tells me otherwise. 🙂
The fellow who sent the scans, Alfred Vitale, was pleased as punch about this, and sent me a few more snapshots of this Erisian wonder, along with these comments:
LOVED the piece on your blog! Finally started Historia Discordia… it is awesome! I will write more in detail at some point soon… it makes me laugh out loud. Nobody in my house knows what Discordianism is… but I’ve tried to share Principia and whatever doctrinal witticisms I could, but they just rolled their eyes. Same thing happened when I gave a talk recently at a high school. 15 kids in the room, but ONE of them decided to go check out Principia online… perhaps a seed planted. But I think your book has made my wife and daughter believe that my lunacy is not so unique now… so thanks 🙂
I had to use my camera phone because the book’s a bit fragile and if I lay it flat it may fall apart. These are a couple of random page shots—not complete pages, but maybe helpful?
The Lost Treasure of Eris, page on the books publication. Courtesy of Alfred Vitale.The Lost Treasure of Eris, Eris Training. Courtesy of Alfred Vitale.
The Lost Treasure of Eris, page on Aleister Crowley. Courtesy of Alfred Vitale.The Lost Treasure of Eris, The Book of Gammy Grogs. Courtesy of Alfred Vitale.
Welcome to a new series here at Historia Discordia called “Greg Hill Gets Letters,” featuring chaotic correspondence sent to Hill from fellow Discordians throughout the years.
In the first episode, we present a package of happiness sent from Kerry Thornley to Greg during the period Kerry was living in a renovated chicken coop in Tujunga, California, around 1976 or thereabouts.
Detail of the Letter Package from Kerry Thornley to Greg Hill, 1976. Courtesy of the Discordian Archives.
The Lost Treasure of Eris, inside page. Courtesy of Alfred Vitale.The Lost Treasure of Eris, cover page. Courtesy of Alfred Vitale.The Lost Treasure of Eris, back page. Courtesy of Alfred Vitale. Thanks to Alfred Vitale for sharing these scans of a rare and for the most part unknown Discordian tract entitled The Lost Treasure of Eris: Or How Eris Found Me, and What She Did to Me, When She Found Me !?! published by KALLISTI Productions in 1987 with an introduction by Episcopos BOB Invisibilus Invinsicilus—which seems like an appropriate name for someone introducing a Discordian book due to the fact that darn near ⅓ of the first wave of Discordians were named Bob—and trust me that’s no exaggeration. This early Discordian Bob Cabal included Wilson, Shea, McElroy, Yeager, Newport (and I’m probably forgetting 2 or 3)—not to mention Roger Lovin, whose middle name was Robert. (Bob Dobbs is another story.)
The Lost Treasure of Eris also happens to be dedicated to a number of Bobs—including the aforementioned Wilson and Shea—not to mention a certain someone named Banner. In this case, I assume Episcopos BOB was referring to Bob Banner, former editor and publisher of the late, great conspiracy magazine Critique that during the course of its run would occasionally feature articles by RAW.
The Illuminoids and Critique magazine. Courtesy of the Discordian Archives.Here’s an excerpt from Jesse Walker’s The United States of Paranoia (Amazon) that talks about Bob Banner and Critique.
The Lost Treasure of Eris dedication page also acknowledges Neil Wilgus, author of The Illuminoids, another must-have book for one’s Illuminati Discordian-library back in the day when the Eye in the Pyramid had suddenly become all the rage.
Den of Discordian Iniquity: Magickal Childe Bookstore, late 1980s.Alfred informs me that he discovered The Lost Treasure of Eris at the Magickal Childe book store in NYC in the 1980s. If memory serves me correctly, this is where Mark Philip Steele (creator of the Illuminatus! comix) told me he came across a copy of the ultra rare Revisionist Edition of the Principia Discordia (circa ’76.)
So it appears that the Magickal Childe had an affinity for Discordian obscurities such as these.
Alfred and I would like to track down the origins of this strange relic—The Lost Treasure of Eris—that was supposedly first published 10 years or so before its ’87 re-publication. So if you have any info please let us know!
There Is No Enemy Anywhere card by Greg Hill. Courtesy of the Discordian Archives.Week 24 of the Illuminatus! Group Reading: On Page 236 of Illuminatus! (Amazon) , a mysterious business card that says
THERE IS NO ENEMY
ANYWHERE
is discovered by some cops while searching the room of an apparent suicide victim named Oedipuski.
The late Mr. Oedipuski had been a former member of the ultra right-wing militant Christian group God’s Lightning before suddenly turning into a radical left-wing revolutionary (or something to that effect) and then was found shortly after floating tits up in the Chicago River, presumably murdered for switching allegiances from the radical right to the radical left.
It can be further presumed that the Legion of Dynamic Discord had a hand in Oedipuski’s sudden transformation—from Jesus Freak to just plain FREAK—the LDD probably blowing his brain with a heavy dose of AUM, the anti-MK-Ultra psychedelic mind control drug used to deprogram/reprogram guys like Oedipuski from their previous fucked-up programs.
Envelope for the There Is No Enemy/Friend Anywhere cards by Greg Hill. Courtesy of the Discordian Archives.Another LDD programming tool—although not explicitly described as such in Illuminatus!—is the
THERE IS NO ENEMY
ANYWHERE
card, which was another method to deliver a new imprint to Oedipuski’s head—that neither the radical right or radical left were “real” enemies of one another—and that to become truly free, one needed to escape the Us-Against-Them groupthink matrix, which appears to have been (maybe) the intended purpose of this mysterious business card discovered at Oedipuski’s pad.
In the “real world” of Discordianism, this cryptic card concept was something Greg Hill played with ala Operation Mindfuck, as under the guise of Professor Iggy he’d occasionally send out just such cards—without explanation—with “There is no enemy anywhere” or “There is no friend anywhere” printed on them, each particular card going to a certain person/mindset to jolt them awake—like a zen koan, Discordian-style.
Envelope by Greg Hill: TOP CONSPIRATORIAL (Illuminated Seers). Courtesy of the Discordian Archives.The above set of photos was an odd little item I only discovered after several run-throughs/reviews of the Discordian Archives; a “There is no enemy anywhere” card inside a small envelope with “TOP CONSPIRATORIAL (Illuminated Seers)” typed on it, topped off with a red “Military” stamp.
I had intended this little oddity for inclusion in Historia Discordia: The Origins of the Discordia Society (Amazon), but it failed to make the final mix because the publisher requested that I re-shoot the photos again because they were too dark to display well. Unfortunately (Hail Eris!) I was unable to track down this little item, although rummaging several times through the archives to re-locate it. However, I was able to secure a couple of “There is no enemy anywhere” cards, one of which is reproduced in the book.
A pad of Discordian Inter-Office Memos by Greg Hill. Courtesy of the Discordian Archives.Although a Discordian, sometime anarchist and full time anti-establishmentarian, Greg Hill was also a product of the corporate world.
Due to this Dilbert-like influence, Greg created a form letter of sorts modeled after inter-office memos one would see in corporate offices of the period.
The memo in question was produced some time after the mysterious disappearance of Malaclypse the Younger when Hill adopted the persona of Dr. Ignotum P. Ignotius to oversee the Office of the Polyfather.
Discordian Inter-Office Memo by Greg Hill dated July 15, 1971, Back. Courtesy of the Discordian Archives.Discordian Inter-Office Memo by Greg Hill dated July 15, 1971, Front. Courtesy of the Discordian Archives.
For your approval, a membership affirmation that Kerry Thornley concocted in the mid-70s while attending Georgia State University as a method to induct members of the student body into the dreaded Bavarian Illuminati.
Bavarian Illuminati Membership Affirmation by Kerry Thornley, mid-1970s. Courtesy of the Discordian Archives.
In the Roman Empire’s eternal era of superior gleaming, the Dog Days were popularly believed to be an evil time when “the Sea boiled, the Wine turned sour, Dogs grew mad, and all other creatures became languid; causing to man, among other diseases, burning fevers, hysterics, and phrensies. And then there was the perpetual godsawful smell of boiling cabbage.”
Guest post by Robert Denton
