Love, Sex, Fear, Death: The Inside Story of the Process Church of the Final Judgment

by Timothy Wyllie and Adam Parfrey

The Process Church is one of the most controversial cults of modern times. Its apocalyptic ideas and powerful literature brought on extreme allegiances and shocking accusations. Here, the secretive group's history is finally revealed for the first time. Through its various incarnations, the Process Church has kept its history sealed for decades. Though the church was not as horrifying as some made it out to be, its actual history is truly unexpected...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1932595376
• ISBN13: 9781932595376
• Release Date: June 2009
• Publisher: Feral House
• Length: 302 Pages
• Weight: 1.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 7.0" x 10.0"

Customer Reviews

Inside the Control Factory

Timothy Wyllie has written a merciless depiction of his own motives and activities during his long, strange trip with the Process Church of the Final Judgment. Half a dozen other former members contributed shorter pieces. Adam Parfrey did an excellent editing job, incorporating Process-related graphics, texts, and photographs, and a chapter by Genesis P-Orridge on the influence of the Process materials on his own work. (The graphics reproduced from the Process magazine are excellent!) After finishing the book I found myself thinking about the Process Church (and the later organizations it morphed into) as an awesome exercise in control on the part of the cult leader, Mary Ann MacLean. A prostitute earlier in life, she mastered the control techniques of the pimps she encountered, and later employed them to keep a religious order (and later an animal rescue organization) supplying her with the cash she needed to live in high style. I am not capable of evaluating the theological aspects of the Process Church. I found the reproduced texts (by Robert de Grimston) about Jehovah, Lucifer, and Satan to be tedious. I suspect a lot of the "magick" that Timothy Wyllie describes was real, but had to be encountered first-hand in live sessions in some of the more advanced Process chapters relatively early in the group's existence.

Experimenting with Life "outside the box"...

COMMONLY HELD ASSUMPTION: Cults attract mindless, feeble-willed automatons who blindly fulfill oft-deranged leaders wishes and whims. REVELATION: Highly motivated, articulate individuals of complex intelligence and unparalleled loyalty propel societies, cultures and yes, also cults to infamous achievements and horrific downfalls. Such are the revelations in this candid, intimate and disturbing look back at a dark side of the peace and love hippie years, The Process Church of the Final Judgement, written by former insider/high-ranking cult member Timothy Wyllie and other "processeans". Mr. Wyllie, both multi-talented and a highly creative intellect, writes from the head and heart exposing both his soft underbelly as well as the gaping discrepancies that any devotee to "The Process" had to rectify, ignore or dismiss in order to function in the convoluted reality created by cult leader Mary Ann MacLean - the "incarnate Goddess" all but worshipped by cult members. Having dabbled on the periphery of a number of cults and cult-like movements over my years, I was simultaneously delighted (relieved!) and yet a tad envious having never personally committed so fully to any movement as Timothy and the others did to "the Process", thus I have missed the exhilaration... and horrors of this heightened level of social experiment. For that is, in the bigger picture, the function cults have played over the millennia in "civilized" societies. Just as an individual may become enmeshed in a cult for reasons of personal need or past trauma, cults are society-specific, working out the needs or distortions inherent in the structure of each. As the "black sheep" in the family will act out and thereby absorb the brunt of a nuclear family system disorder, cults can also serve to help societies purge/decompress their systemic dysfunctions but giving voice to often unspeakable aspects, ultimately serving the societal good. This book, with all the heartfelt and self-deprecating admissions, also highlights the potential for human growth through "alternative" experiences - as challenging and absurd as they may look next to the mediocrity of "normal" socially acceptable lives and behaviors. A great read - richly revealing, engaging and provocative.

Hot Summer reading - stunning graphics

Timothy Wyllie writes the story of "The Process Church" with both objectivity and insight. In both long-shot and close-up he takes the reader into an experience that transcends his/her previous imprints of attraction and aversion. This intense "Oh Wow"! and "Oh No"! story is told with clarity, wit and an eye for detail, a chimera of the sixties and seventies from another angle and through another filter. The book is brilliantly edited by Adam Parfrey. Complex, many-layered material is organized into three parts to offer the reader options for spontaneous exploration. Understanding deepens by dipping into the three segments at will. First; the recollections of Timothy Wyllie and other Process members. Second; excerpts of The Process Church's scripture, written by Robert De Grimston, spiritual leader. Third; excerpts from The Process Magazine" in which writing and illustration and highly avant-garde layout perform their Psychedelic Sans Drug Dance. In the cult the cream of talent rose rapidly and was readily used to profit the community. At an age impossible in conventional publishing, young Timothy was a major force in creating a magazine that, sold on the streets by the theatrically costumed Processeans, brought major revenue to sustain the community. "Lucy (was not) in the Sky with Diamonds," but the black, white and red graphics of the magazine revealed another psychic climate, The Jehovan - Luciferian - Satanic union. I recommend bathing in the stunning graphics every once in a while to color Wyllie's story and also referring to the Robert De Grimston material, which presented as an entity has saved Timothy the labor of elucidating the Process Doctrine in detail in his unfolding story. Wyllie reveals the psychological climate within the cult and the challenge of establishing The Process across Europe and the United States. All Processeans were on a constantly ascending learning curve, sometimes demanding raw survival skills. Living within the community required the development of selfless intimacy with others, and the emotional flexibility of balancing on the shifting sands of the ever-changing values and demands of the leaders, who Wyllie paints from many angles in diverse media. Out of the fertile soil of revelation and devastation, Timothy and his companions bring forth a rich and mutant crop.

fascinating read

Love, Sex, Fear and Death is a must read for anyone interested in the inner workings of a secretive organization. The late 60s, early 70s were rife with cults but this one was very different in that it still has an impact on society so many years later. Timothy Wyllie has done a remarkable job detailing the events that led up to the formation of a cult and its eventual decline. Since the people that stayed through to the bitter end now run the largest no kill animal sanctuary in the US and are worth millions of dollars, this makes the book even more interesting and relevant. I was involved with The Process for a few years, on the inside. Therefore I know that these writings are honest to the extreme. For anyone that wants to better understand that era this is a must-read.

The Process of Love Sex Fear And Death

There is no doubt that The Process Church of the Final Judgment has left a dark, indelible watermark of a sort upon the psyche of many who grew up during the 1960s and 1970s. Much of its mystique was due to the ultra-secret constraints placed upon members of the cult by the leadership, coupled with certain atrocities perpetrated by those with tenuous connections with the cult, such as the Manson family. Over the decades since the cult's ostensible demise, conspiracy theorists and yellow journalists have woven a rich tapestry of innuendoes and lies which have blossomed to monstrous proportions, from Ed Sanders' The Family to Vincent Bugliosi's Helter Skelter and to Maury Terry's phantasmagoria tale and sensationalist screed The Ultimate Evil and many lesser tomes in print and on the internet. Compounding such wild-eyed speculations were the group's own visual style and strident theological manifestos bearing such titles as The Gods On War and Humanity is the Devil. Love Sex Fear Death will, I am sure, be a big disappointment to many of those intent upon cheap thrills and titillations. The truth is generally far less prosaic, and in this case, certainly not sensationalist in any sense of the word. It is instead an insightful and factual account written by those who were there and a part of the cult. Timothy Wyllie has written a sober, heartfelt chronicle of the cult. He was there from the inception of the group and was a classmate of one of the two principal founders and leaders of the group: Robert Moore DeGrimston. Such sermons in print, whether symbolic, metaphorical or literal, certainly lent credence to such theories and provided a ready handle for paranoid speculations. Add to all of this the group's external attire and symbols, and it would be easy to feel that something wicked this way has come and arrived. In both of the two primary sections of the book written as personal accounts by former insiders in the cult's hierarchy, we are presented with the fact that, however photogenic and verbally adept DeGrimston and his writings may have been, the real leader and ultimate fuehrer of the group was his wife, Mary Ann MacLean, a former London call-girl whose specialty was the role of dominatrix. And dominatrix extraordinaire she was, taking the trade to a new level and unique application. Based upon the two primary accounts by Timothy Wyllie and Malachi McCormack, Mary Ann was a master manipulator brimming with charm and guile. She apparently had learned her stuff during her previous profession and learned its lessons well, and knew exactly how to apply these insights into human psychology to her customers and later to her followers. She knew how to seduce them and twist them around her finger and kept them coming back for more. Those who encountered Process members often spoke of the high level of intelligence and civility of its members. Unfortunately, well mannered, intelligent types with academic backgrounds were little match for