THE AQUARIAN FOUNDATION TIMELINE

1878 (July 25):  Edward Arthur Wilson was born in Birmingham, England.

1912:  Wilson claimed to have undergone a “Ceremony of Dedication,” revealing to him that he had “a work to do” of a spiritual nature in the world.

1913–1918:  Wilson joined the American Section of the Theosophical Society in Victoria, British Columbia.

1924:  Wilson underwent a second ceremony of dedication in southern France, becoming an amanuensis of his Master.

1925 (September):  The commencement of “the Work” took place, with the Master dictating The Three Truths to Wilson and informing him of the plans of the Great White Lodge.

1926 (February):  The Master gave Wilson the name “Brother XII” and told him that the Work should be known as “The Aquarian Foundation.”

1926 (April):  Wilson received “The Invocation of Light,” an important prayer for Aquarian Foundation members.

1927 (February­–March):  Wilson left England for Canada, arriving in British Columbia, where he purchased property at Cedar-by-the-Sea on Vancouver Island, south of Nanaimo.

1927 (May 16):  The Aquarian Foundation was given legal status by the government of British Columbia under the Societies Act.

1928 (January):  Wilson attempted to set up a Third Party in the United States by endorsing  Senator James Thomas Heflin of Alabama as presidential candidate and by forming the Protestant Protective League to consolidate the anti-Roman Catholic and anti-Jewish sentiment.

1928 (July 5):  The Second Annual General Meeting of the Aquarian Foundation took place at Cedar-by-the-Sea.

1928:  Valdes Island, where the Mandieh Settlement was later established, was purchased.

1928 (October–December):  Wilson was charged with the misappropriation of Aquarian Foundation funds, among other illegalities. He won his court cases.

1929:  DeCourcy Island was purchased and the Brothers’ Center was established.

1929 (Spring):  Mabel Skottowe arrived from Florida and became Wilson’s mistress, adopting the letter “Z” as her occult name.

1929 (November 15):  The Aquarian Foundation was dissolved by the British Columbia government.

1931:  Wilson and Mabel Skottowe changed their names to Amiel de Valdes and Zura de Valdes.

1932 (May 15):  Abused disciples drafted a “Declaration of Independence,” seeking a meeting with Wilson to discuss conditions at the colony.

1932:  Mary Connally and Alfred Barley sued Wilson for the return of their monies, claiming they were the victims of a confidence game

1933 (April):  Mary Connally and Alfred Barley won their legal actions. Wilson didn’t appear in court to defend himself, but vandalized the settlements and disappeared to parts unknown.

1933–1934:  Wilson returned to England with Mabel Skottowe, living anonymously in Devon. He made a will, leaving all of his assets to her.

1934 (November 7):  Edward Arthur Wilson (aka Brother XII, Amiel de Valdes, and Julian Churton Skottowe) died in Neuchâtel, Switzerland.

FOUNDER/GROUP HISTORY

The Aquarian Foundation and its subsequent iteration, the Brothers’ Center, were short-lived millenarian organizations primarily based upon the Theosophical teachings of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831–1891) and secondarily upon selected teachings of Charles Webster Leadbeater (1854–1934) and Annie Besant (1847–1933), the president of the Theosophical Society from 1907 to 1933.

The Aquarian Foundation was established by a self-described Messenger of the Masters (The Brother, XII 2012, “Message”: 2, 5 and 6; Letter II: 13; Letter XIV: 58; Letter XVI: 62) who called himself “Brother XII,” who was born Edward Arthur Wilson in Birmingham, England on July 25, 1878. [Image at right]

In his childhood and early adulthood, Wilson claimed to possess psychic abilities giving him the ability to communicate with “angels,” entities that he later identified as “Masters.” This faculty, together with his early training in astrology and later, his exposure to Theosophical teachings, notably as a member of the Theosophical Society from 1913 to 1918, provided him with the esoteric knowledge to attract a number of wealthy and well-educated individuals to his cause.

By his own account, Wilson passed through a number of initiations, beginning with a “ceremony of dedication,” which was followed by “twelve chaotic years of testing and wandering in all parts of the world” (The Brother, XII 2012, Letter IX:39).

Twelve years later (1924), Wilson underwent a second ceremony of dedication in the south of France that resulted in his attaining a higher consciousness allowing him to become the amanuensis of his Master. The following year, he received material for what eventually would become The Three Truths. Completed by Wilson in February of 1926, this short work contained a summary of the teachings of the Master revealing the “plans of the Hierarchy for the present Work” were completely revealed (The Brother, XII 2012, Letter IX:39). [Image at right]

Wilson, now identified as Brother XII, became the Master’s personal disciple or chela, serving as his intermediary in conducting his “Work” on earth. His immediate goal was aimed at recruiting those who would be receptive to the message in order “to link and to bind” them to work toward similar ends (The Brother, XII 2012, Letter IX:39–40).

The vehicle introduced to reflect the Work of the Masters on the outer planes was identified as “The Aquarian Foundation,” the name given to Wilson by the Master. The Aquarian Foundation was described (The Brother, XII. The End of Days 1928: “What is the Aquarian Foundation?”) as “the pattern and substance of The Great White Lodge Itself.”

The Aquarian Foundation was incorporated as a society in British Columbia, Canada on May 16, 1927. Prior to being granted legal status, a community was already flourishing on a 126-acre piece of waterfront property located at Cedar-by-the Sea in the district of Cedar, a few miles south of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island (Oliphant 1993:200). The Foundation’s purpose was to serve as the location where the souls of the incoming sixth sub-race could incarnate. Shortly after the Foundation’s incorporation, the First Annual General Meeting was held with a governing body of seven Governors present. [Image at right]

Wilson claimed that the confraternity of Masters, the Great White Lodge, consisted of twelve groups specifically concerned with the evolution of humanity, with the work of the Aquarian Foundation being especially an expression of the Third, Ninth and Twelfth Houses (The Brother, XII 2012, Letter XVI:64–66).  Wilson’s initiate name, “Brother XII,” reflected the House of his Master and his assigned duties, which were both spiritual and temporal in scope.  The temporal role of both Brother XII and the Aquarian Foundation reveals the purpose why he took such an active interest in the 1928 U. S. presidential election.  During that year, he attempted to form a Third Party with Alabama Senator James Thomas Heflin as its presidential candidate. He also formed the Protestant Protective League to rally anti-Roman Catholic sentiment against the Democratic Roman Catholic candidate, Alfred E. Smith, while claiming that Herbert Hoover was the tool of the Jewish money hierarchy.

A major part of Brother XII’s political platform was his emphasis on the dangers posed by monopoly capitalism, for he repeatedly warned against the increasing consolidation of power in the hands of a few sinister individuals whose ultimate goal was to set up a “WORLD DICTATORSHIP.” He can be considered one of the first to speak out against the threat of contemporary globalism as well as the influence of the “deep state” and its clandestine manipulation of national and international affairs.

Brother XII’s ambitious political objectives were ultimately unsuccessful as both the Third Party and the Protestant Protective League did not generate the support that he expected, an outcome that caused his followers to question his status as the chela of the Master and his ability to implement the plans of the Great White Lodge.

In August, 1928, Brother XII returned from a political trip to Chicago to the Foundation’s headquarters at Cedar-by-the Sea with a female companion, the estranged wife of a New York physician, whose presence he initially attempted to keep secret. He later introduced her as Myrtle Baumgartner and revealed that the two had undergone the “Sixth Initiation” together, a disclosure that caused consternation among the colonists since he already had a wife at the Cedar.

To complicate matters, Myrtle was pregnant, though Brother XII claimed that the relationship was not based upon sexual attraction, but had been entered into for the purpose of generating a physical vehicle for an incoming soul; in this case, the soul of a known adept of the more advanced incoming sixth sub-race that, according to Theosophical teaching, would emerge in the forthcoming Aquarian Age. As participants in this higher marriage, it was the special task of Brother XII and his soulmate to become parents of this special child, who was also identified as the World Teacher, and metaphorically, if not literally, the reincarnation of Horus, the offspring of the Egyptian gods Osiris and Isis.

The issue over Brother XII’s illicit relationship was compounded when he was accused by the Foundation’s Secretary-Treasurer of misappropriating funds. There were various amounts and donors involved, but the sum total represented over $1,000,000 in today’s currency (Oliphant 2006:84, 165–66). The court cases that resulted tore the Foundation apart, and though Brother XII proved victorious in all the cases, the legal actions effectively spelled the end of the Aquarian Foundation as a functioning organization, with many members tendering their resignations as a result.

Brother XII had already used a portion of these funds to purchase 400 acres on nearby Valdes Island, where he proceeded to establish the Mandieh Settlement, which he claimed would serve as an “Ashrama” or “school for occult training” though it was also intended to be his, Myrtle’s, and their successor son’s residence. The name “Mandieh” was likely an allusion to the birthplace of Osiris in the Nile Delta (Oliphant 2006:114).

The Mandieh Settlement was subsequently renamed the Brothers’ Center (“An Elder Brother” 1970, “The Brothers’ School”:81) and reserved only for those qualified to be shown the “real plan” set forth by the Masters. In Unsigned Letters, it was described as a spiritually more advanced community, one that would consist of only those who had “survived the earlier tests” and “from whence a knowledge of the ancient Mysteries shall go forth, and from whence shall come a restoration of Knowledge and just government” (“An Elder Brother” 1970, “The Brothers’ School”:213).

Brother XII considered the Brothers’ Center to be a “City of Refuge,” or “Center of Safety” a self-sufficient community and sanctuary where members would be protected from the catastrophes that were soon to befall the world, as Brother XII was adamant that “THE SYSTEM” was about to be destroyed (“An Elder Brother” 1970, Letter VII: 115). He proved his prescience by predicting the stock market crash of October 1929, three months before it occurred, and the ensuing worldwide Depression.

The requirements for admittance to the Brothers’ Center were demanding and included “THE SURRENDER OF PERSONAL POSSESSIONS, an actual, not a theoretical surrender.” An additional important requirement was the candidate’s appropriate nativity (“An Elder Brother” 1970, “The Brothers’ School”:214–15). This latter condition was explained in an interview given by the disciples’ lawyer, Victor B. Harrison, in which he stated that the candidates and their parents “must be born under the correct signs of the zodiac” (Victor B. Harrison interview). Brother XII claimed that future members of the group would take physical embodiment specifically to do the work: “Our answer to the question, ‘Who may qualify?’ is—THE CHILDREN” (“An Elder Brother” 1970, “The Brothers’ School”:15).

One of Brother XII’s wealthiest patrons was Mary Worthern Thomas Connally, an Asheville, North Carolina socialite who had given him $25,000 following a three-hour meeting in a Toronto hotel in 1927. She now arranged the purchase for him of DeCourcy and Ruxton Islands, two of the five islands in the DeCourcy Island group and comprising 699 acres for the sum of $10,000, thereby increasing the area of the colony to approximately 1,200 acres. This purchase was followed by a building initiative that included roads and fences, the development of a farm to supply food for the colony, numerous dwellings, and an anticipated imposing stone residence for Brother XII, to be named Greystone (Oliphant 2006:233–47).

Problems remained, however, for Wilson’s relationship with Myrtle Baumgartner had ended catastrophically; she had suffered two miscarriages and had an emotional breakdown, leaving the colony for her original home in Toronto. Meanwhile, Wilson’s common-law wife Elma, with whom he frequently argued, also departed the settlement, though at this juncture another woman appeared on the scene who would play a major role in Brother XII’s life and the affairs of the colony, ultimately contributing to its breakup.

Mabel Skottowe (née Edith Mabel Rowbotham), was one of the two divisional secretaries of the Aquarian Foundation in Florida, the other being her romantic partner, Roger W. Painter. Both arrived at Cedar in mid-1929, declaring their allegiance to Brother XII, and in Painter’s case, surrendering his life savings of $90,000 to Brother XII. Both were to play a significant role in the colony’s affairs; in fact, so important were the pair regarded by Brother XII that he elevated them to the status of Brother III (Mabel) and Brother IX (Painter) (Oliphant 2006, 240). With Brother XII’s attentions focused on Mabel, Elma departed the colony, and Mabel became Brother XII’s secretary, mistress, and eventually the co-leader of the settlement, with authority equal to his own. “Her orders are my orders,” he announced to the disciples. “Whatever she says, you are to take as coming from me.”

In March 1931, Brother XII legally changed his name from Edward Arthur Wilson to Amiel de Valdes, Mabel changing hers six months later to Zura de Valdes, indicating that the two had undergone some kind of occult marriage. Wilson’s choice of the name Amiel may have been a reference or even a tribute to the Swiss essayist Henri Frederic Amiel (1821–1881), with whom he perhaps identified.

Brother XII and his new consort both had exhibited explosive tempers, unleashing their anger upon the other disciples, often without provocation. Their harsh and uncompromising demands were extended to Mary Connally, who nonetheless remained loyal to the cause, but was now destitute, having been stripped of her assets by Brother XII. Because of her impoverishment, Mary was singled out for particularly callous and heartless treatment. In her early sixties (she was born in 1870) and despite her aristocratic status, she was forced to do demanding physical labor without the assistance of the other colonists on the pretext that these tasks were a form of spiritual test that she must pass in order to become a fully-fledged disciple of the Brotherhood.

It was understood that the three separate physical locations of the colony represented three stages or degrees of discipleship. Cedar was reserved for the merely interested, Valdes Island for the neophytes, and DeCourcy Island for the accepted disciples (Oliphant 2006:283). Mary was moved from location to location frequently and on short notice, disruptions that conveyed to her and others that she had failed the tests given her, thereby demoting her in spiritual status. The psychological impact of these moves upon her was devastating, leaving her with feelings of failure and shame.

One particularly disturbing account of Brother XII’s pitiless behavior involved a retired seventy-year-old retired schoolteacher, Sarah Puckett, who was encouraged to throw herself out of a rowboat and drown herself on the pretext that she could return to give Brother XII information about the afterlife. As outlandish as this seems, and though the account may be exaggerated, it is emblematic of the abuse that came to be perpetrated upon the disciples by their increasingly irrational and demented leader and his female accomplice (Victor Harrison interview).

The mistreatment of Mary Connally and Sarah Puckett outraged many of the disciples, especially those who were long-time members of the community and major financial contributors to the cause, their donations having helped to build the settlement and to increase Brother XII’s personal fortune. His penchant for amassing wealth was not lost on the disciples.

Brother XII typically instructed those he invited to the Brothers’ Center to liquidate all of their assets beforehand and to bring only cash or gold with them, which they subsequently surrendered upon arriving at the colony. This directive was in keeping with his injunction that “none may live THIS life in part and the life of the outer world in part” (“An Elder Brother” 1970, “The Brothers’ School”:214). He converted the often-large sums of cash that he received into gold coins, preferring twenty-dollar American gold Eagles, which he eventually stored in forty-three-quart mason jars, sealing them with molten wax and secreting the jars at various locations throughout the colony.

What were viewed as unbrotherly, unseemly, and even criminal actions led Alfred Barley to drew up the equivalent of a “Declaration of Independence” on May of 1932 in the form of a letter demanding that Brother XII meet with the disciples to discuss their grievances in order that “the state of things which we find unendurable shall come to an end” (Oliphant 2006:321). Brother XII rejected this overture; instead, he proceeded to evict the dozen disciples who were living on DeCourcy Island by having Edric Douglas Agate, one of his loyal henchmen, take them two or three at a time to Cedar on Brother XII’s tugboat, the Khuenaten. 

Shortly thereafter, a group of disciples led by Roger Painter met with Nanaimo lawyer Victor B. Harrison with the intention of bringing a court action against Brother XII, charging him with fraud. Mary Connolly filed a claim against Wilson and Mabel Skottowe under their legal names Amiel de Valdes and Zura de Valdes for the sum of $52,100, $10,000 of which was for personal damages (Blake 1939:13). A second lawsuit was filed by Alfred Barley for $14,232, in which he claimed that he was the victim of a confidence game.

On February 2, 1933, Wilson filed his defense (Oliphant 2006:324-28), but when the cases were heard in the Nanaimo courthouse on April 26 and April 27, 1933, he failed to appear in court. The judge ruled in favor of the disciples, with Mary Connally being awarded her claim in full, including ownership of DeCourcy Island and the 400-acre property on Valdes Island. Alfred Barley was also awarded the full amount of his claim, along with the legal title to the community’s property at Cedar- by-the-Sea (“Finis Written to Long Search for Man of Mystery”; Oliphant 2006:328–35). [Image at right]

Following the court cases, Brother XII decamped from DeCourcy Island, but prior to abandoning the premises he vandalized the buildings and equipment in a vindictive act of rage against the disciples. This destructive frenzy was perhaps a measure of his own disillusionment at the failure of a spiritual work that had held such promise, though he blamed the disciples for being unworthy of the cause to which they’d been summoned.

Escaping on the Khuenaten to Prince Rupert, Brother XII and Mabel Skottowe took the train to Montreal and returned by steamship to England, living anonymously in Devon, where Wilson made a new will on July 31, 1933 under the name of Julian Churton Skottowe, using the surname of Mabel’s former Canadian husband, and leaving all of his assets to Mabel Skottowe.

According to Swiss records, on August 24, 1934 Wilson and Mabel Skottowe arrived in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, where Wilson sought medical aid from a former member of the Brothers’ Center, Dr. Roger Auguste Schmidt, who was practicing medicine at the Clinique de Chanet. From August 24 to his death on November 7, 1934, Wilson resided in Neuchâtel at 19, Rue des Beaux-Arts. It seems probable that his death took place on this date, since the death certificate was signed by Dr. Schmidt, though he may have been induced to falsify the certificate, since he was not a disinterested party in the matter.

This possibility exists because Donald Cunliffe, the son of Brother XII’s former lawyer, Frank Cunliffe, recounts that in 1936, on the instigation of Mary Connally, the family made a special trip to San Francisco, where his father met and transferred a large sum of money to a man he later identified as Wilson, also receiving a phone call from him the following year from Gibraltar, though nothing more is known of these contacts. They suggest that Wilson may not have died in Switzerland in 1934, while other less concrete accounts appear to support this possibility as well. The mystery surrounding Brother XII’s death remains another tantalizing aspect of this fascinating tale in the history of the occult.

DOCTRINES/BELIEFS

Brother XII’s doctrines. as noted, were primarily based upon the writings of H. P. Blavatsky and secondarily on selected teachings of Annie Besant (1847–1933), Charles Webster Leadbeater (1854–1934), and their cohorts. For both Blavatsky and Brother XII, however, the ultimate source of these teachings originated with the Masters, identified by Brother XII as perfected men comprising the Great White Lodge (The Brother, XII 2012, Letter X:47), a group consisting of twelve Groups or Houses (The Brother, XII 2012, Letter XVI:64) corresponding to the twelve astrological houses. Each of the Masters was responsible for conducting particular aspects of the “Work” intended to advance the evolution of humanity. To achieve this end they have chosen twelve disciples, one for each of the Masters, who have achieved a certain level of illumination to qualify them to serve collectively as “a Chalice which the Masters will fill with their Power and Knowledge” (Wilson 2012, “The Message”:3). This “Inner Group” of equals, a “Band of Brothers,” will become the “centre of Their Work.”

In the case of Edward Arthur Wilson, his occult name, “Brother XII,” indicates that he was associated with the Master of the Twelfth House and so was assigned to carry out the plans peculiar to this House. These plans and their underlying rationale first appeared in two short works, The Three Truths and “A Message from the Masters of the Wisdom in 1926,” both supposedly dictated to Brother XII’s Master.

The first, The Three Truths, revealed in September 1925 and published in late 1926, established the underlying philosophy upon which the plan was executed. These are presented as the three basic truths of all existence. These truths, quoted from Mabel Collins’s The Idyll of the White Lotus (1919: 149), read as follows:

the unity of all life,
the true essence of “man” is not the body nor even the mind but the eternal “soul or Spirit,”
the “Law of Retribution.”

The second communication, “A Message from the Masters of the Wisdom in 1926,” is a 4,000-word document that revealed a more comprehensive expression of the new teachings, adding more focus on the “Work” that was planned and which “has now commenced upon the physical plane” (The Brother, XII 2012, “Message”:1). It communicates a sense of urgency, not only because of the conditions that have already transpired over the past fifty years (1875–1925) but also of what is predicted to occur in the near future. The past ordeals are listed in subsequent communications, including social unrest, labor troubles, conflicts, and World War I. Equally frightful occurrences will follow in the near future, including a period of chaos, general collapse of society, the weakening and disappearance of religious teachings, the collapse of commerce and production, unemployment, anarchy, Bolshevism, and dictatorship resulting in an “Empire of Evil” are examples of this time of troubles (The Brother, XII, The End of Days 1928: “What is the Aquarian Foundation?”).

To counter these destructive tendencies, the Work initiated by the Brothers or Masters will generate an “Ark of Refuge” that will safeguard those who survived this destructive period (The Brother, XII 2012, “Message”; Letter III:18). On a more positive note, their work will lead to a spiritual advancement of humanity, articulated as the reintroduction of the “Standard of Universal Brotherhood” (The Brother, XII 2012, “Message”:1-2). This action alludes to H. P. Blavatsky’s earlier, failed, attempt to introduce this “Standard” in 1875 due to opposing ideologies that were becoming dominant during the latter part of the nineteenth century (The Brother, XII 2012, Letter 1:9–10 and “Things We Ought to Know”:121). Although this Work refers specifically to all actions necessary to facilitate the incoming sixth sub-race during the twentieth century, Brother XII was mindful that this advancement was not limited to this century. In its broadest sense human evolution has been occurring over an immeasurably long period of time. Theosophical literature divides this totality of human evolution into seven Root Races, a designation referring to divisions of major evolutionary epochs. Within these major epochs are shorter, albeit distinct evolutionary periods identified as the forty-nine sub-races, with seven assigned to each Root Race,

The concern of the Masters and the Aquarian Foundation occupies that evolutionary period progressing from the fifth to sixth sub-races belonging to the current fifth Root Race, the evolutionary advance clarified in the sixth sub-race’s possession of the attribute of Universal Brotherhood. The “Message” and The Three Truths declare this advancement of sub-races to be necessary if Universal Brotherhood is to be fully realized, for it is only this sub-race which possesses a higher level of consciousness capable of realizing Brotherhood (The Brother, XII 2012, “Message”:5; The Three Truths, Part 2).

The appearance of the sixth sub-race is explained through the “Truth” of karma and reincarnation. According to the teaching, both offspring and parents must possess compatible karma in order to qualify, thereby allowing parents to train their children properly and effectively and their children in turn receptive to that training. Some sixth sub-race children have already appeared while the vast majority would be born in the ensuing years of the twentieth century (Unsigned Letters 1979, “The Brothers’ School,”:215). The souls of the unborn would qualify in two ways (The Brother, XII 2012, “Message”:2):

1) those who have had a very long Devachan [that period of bliss or heavenly experience between death and rebirth, during which the Ego, accompanied by good karma, participates] (2000 years or more) and are therefore unconnected with the Christian era [equated with the Piscean Age connected with the fifth sub-race], and
2) those whose bodies perished during the recent European war [World War I], and who have therefore balanced the account of their respective national karma.

According to Brother XII, these children, karmically free from the national karma of their native lands, will continue to increase in numbers until the year 1975, when the Messenger will stabilize the new sixth sub-race (The Aquarian Foundation 1927, General Letter No. 1), after which the grandchildren of their parents (the disciples or chelas within the Aquarian Foundation) will continue the Work to the year 2000, establishing a kingdom of “Righteousness” (The Brother 2012, “The Message”:2–3”; “The Tocsin”:137).

The sixth sub-race could only become dominant in the next great cycle of development, the Age of Aquarius. It is only during this age that consciousness can function on the “Higher Mental Plane” and Universal Brotherhood be realized. This reference to cycles harkens back to Blavatsky’s “Law of Periodicity,” which states that the Universe and everything within it is subject to cyclic waves “of flux and reflux, ebb and flow” (Blavatsky 1974:17). Brother XII accepted this interpretation but emphasized that all the significant events which had occurred as also those which he foretold would occur within two specific cycles: the centennial cycle and the great cycle. The centennial or one-hundred-year cycle concerned the (re-)introduction of the Universal Brotherhood of humanity. The individual responsible for its introduction and ascendency, according to Brother XII, is the Messenger who appears at the beginning of the centennial cycle. In the present centennial cycle (1875–1975), it was H. P. Blavatsky in her capacity as “centennial Messenger” (The Brother, XII 2012, “Things We Ought to Know”:124). Her failure to succeed in doing so led to a renewed attempt by the Masters in mid-cycle (1925), preparing the path for the coming new Messenger in 1975 and the emerging sixth sub-race.

This arrival of the New Age will not be uneventful. Brother XII writes that “the first signs of the dawning Day of Aquarius will be marked by the destruction of much that has preceded it.” This destructive period has only just begun according to his letter dated September 1926 (The Brother, XII 2012, Letter XII:52). On a grander scale, he recognizes that all creation is a duality manifested as “Positive and Negative” on every plane of existence, and so if there are “Powers of Good” there must also be “Powers of Evil” (The Brother, XII 2012, Letter XIII:55).

At the conclusion of this period will arise the Messenger of the White Lodge, the coming “Avatar,” who will usher in a period when who have been prepared will be “the Rulers and Governors” who will be an era of righteous government, when the people of the Earth will be justly ruled.”

RITUALS/PRACTICES

The Aquarian Foundation was founded in order to realize the “preparatory work for a new Race—the Race of the future” (The Three Truths, Part 2). Wilson asserts that he came to know of this work as early as 1912, when he underwent a “Ceremony of Dedication.” Not knowing when the work would be initiated and what the nature of the work was, he underwent twelve years of “wandering the world” and undergoing testing that culminated in a second ceremony of dedication in Oct 1924, resulting in a “very marked widening of the normal consciousness.” (The Brother, XII 2012, Letter IX:39). In September of the following year, his Master revealed the contents of The Three Truths, in which the Work was announced, later setting down these revelations in writing in February 1926 in a heightened state of consciousness, what is mentioned elsewhere as a “Higher Mental Plane.” Additionally, Wilson’s Master appeared again and revealed the “the plans for the present Work,” and Wilson’s role in its implementation. It was at this moment when Wilson was chosen to be the Master’s personal disciple or chela, serving as his messenger and aid in carrying out the Master’s Work (The Brother, XII 2012, Letter IX:40).

The Work to be undertaken reflected the Master’s special area of responsibility, Twelfth House Work (hence the occult name of His chela “Brother XII”) which is explained to be Work “to be hidden from the world at large, to be done in quiet retirement and secrecy, in the privacy of the heart rather than though public propaganda” (The Brother, XII 2012, Letter I:10). In Letter XVI, Brother XII adds that this House also has as its concern retributive Karma or the consequences of previous actions as a connection “with the adjustment of National and Racial affairs” (The Brother, XII 2012, Letter XVI:66).

Brother XII devotes a great deal of space in explaining the nature of the Work throughout his writings, all of which are remarkably consistent and sometimes repetitious. It is not possible to include a full account of his views, only some of the more important observations. Chief among these observations is that the Work of the Great White Lodge does not take place only in a brief moment of time but throughout “the whole history and development of humanity on this planet—and beyond it” (“An Elder Brother” 1970, Letter VII:101). Indeed, the Work of the Great White Lodge “commenced…millions of years ago” with its main concern “the progress and development of the whole human race.” The Work of the Aquarian Foundation, as already stated, “is concerned with Foundation of the succeeding Age and Cycle and sub-race—the Sixth or Aquarian (“Monthly Instructions,” Instruction 8).

The Work of the Aquarian Foundation must be conducted “collectively in small GROUPS for the helping and enlightenment of all.” These groups will be in “direct contact with a Group of these Divine Beings, and will form a physical basis through which they can work in the material world. That is, in essence, The Aquarian Foundation” (“Monthly Instructions,” Instruction I).

Brother XII declared that this earthly Work began on January 1, 1928 (The Brother, XII 2012, Letter IV: 24; “Monthly Instructions,” Instruction V) with the purpose of transferring the “Center of Consciousness from the region of the lower mind to that of the Higher Mind” or the Causal Plane, “the world in which the true life of the advanced Disciple, the Initiate or the Adept is lived.” It is on this level of consciousness wherein the “Brotherhood of Humanity” is realized (“Monthly Instructions,” Instruction I). The expression of this more advanced consciousness reveals knowledge of not only of the present and past but also the future, an important observation because the Work can only be conducted on all three planes (“Monthly Instructions,” Instruction I).

In order to achieve this state and to work effectively, three underlying principles must be recognized:

The Law of All Group-Work is Harmony.
The Object of All Group-Work is to contact the Egoic Consciousness.
Consciousness of the Personality Destroys Egoic Consciousness.

Monthly meetings were established in order to realize these realities. They consisted of the following:

A new subject for study for each month will be chosen, an example being the powers and virtues of silence;
Study of the subject will be through reading, discussion, and through one’s own Higher Self.
       Arrive five minutes early.
       Appoint a door-keeper in order to admit late-comers:
       Read a sentence or two bearing upon the subject.
Each should comment upon the reading.
A twenty-minute silence observed with contemplation on the subject under discussion. “Direct enlightenment” or spontaneous insights will ensue which should be recorded in a notebooks.
The subject for the Month
       Persons or personalities
Bring to the current meeting a synopsis of one’s thoughts in the previous meeting which came during the twenty-minute period of silence.
These summaries will be read and discussed after the meeting.

Procedures were established for individuals to qualify for entry into the Group, These procedures included signing an application for membership, and taking “The Obligation,” joining an active Group that has been chartered and sealed (“Monthly Instructions,” Instruction IV). The Work undertaken includes both individual and Group Work. For the individual, it pertains to a spiritual quality whereby one’s spiritual vision is broadened, one’s understanding is increased, and one’s service is rendered more affective. Group Work, on the other hand, is directed toward facilitating the “incoming of the children of the new Race” (“Monthly Instructions,” Instruction V).

This Work, as it is portrayed on a grander scale, is intended to establish “the Kingdom of Righteousness” and to destroy the existing “Kingdom of Unrighteousness,” an obvious reference to past and coming disasters and calamities that have occurred and will occur in the twentieth century (“Monthly Instructions,” Instruction V). It is a Work that requires the destruction of the existing order followed by a reconstruction of those “ideals, institutions, and methods which make up the outward life of individuals and nations” and an understanding of “Spiritual Laws and their application to the affairs of the outer physical world” (“Monthly Instructions,” Instruction 6). To accomplish these ends requires the control of one’s mental process followed by the overturning of the present system by means of this newly-acquired knowledge. Following this inner work, the disciple must support the work in the political sphere in order to realize Justice, Truth and good government.

Part of the Work involved the preparation of the individual and the group to execute successfully the goal of the Masters and the Aquarian Foundation. This preparation involved mental work involving visualization exercises (“Monthly Instructions,” Instruction VI). The goal of engaging in the Work for the individual was to achieve the status of “perfected men and women, a perfected humanity—…to be achieved during the present Great Cycle.” an obvious reference to the status of Master (“An Elder Brother” 1970, Letter VI:95). This statement appears in the context of an exercise cited in this same Letter. The instructions or suggestions offered by Brother XII, are summarized as follows (“An Elder Brother” 1970, Letter VI:97–99): [Image at right]

Quiet the mind upon awakening.
Recite The Invocation of Light both verbally and mentally:
Devotion should be uppermost during the day: the lower self “shall do the Will of the Higher”:
Resolve not to do any unnecessary action;
Try to keep silence or at least do not speak necessarily;
“Pay attention to the body”:
“Read little, reflect much.” Maintain solitude, be cheerful and serene;
Close the day with a little reading and reflection, and repeat The Invocation of Light.

One final observation concerns the importance that Brother XII placed on Mabel Collins’ work, When the Sun Moves Northward, which investigates the significance of the sacred months of December through May and the mysteries of Life and Death. This work, as also Collins’s Light on the Path and Blavatsky’s The Voice of the Silence indicate that the “way of the Heart” is of special significance in acquiring a higher mode of consciousness, especially for this present Age (“An Elder Brother” 1970, Letter I: 16–17; III:47–50; IX 139–41; XI:170–77).      Much of the work of the Aquarian Foundation was intended to impart spiritual truths (“An Elder Brother” 1970, Letter I: 112), some of which are in this book regarding the mysteries of human birth and death (“An Elder Brother” 1970, Letter III:49).

ORGANIZATION/LEADERSHIP

The Aquarian Foundation was incorporated by the government of British Columbia on May 16, 1927 and dissolved on November 1, 1929 by the same governing body. Because the Foundation was a legal entity, formal governance was required. In the case of the Foundation, seven governors directed its policies and actions. The seven original governors included Edward Arthur Wilson (Brother XII); Edward Lucas, a leading Vancouver attorney who advised Wilson on legal matters; Joseph Benner, author of The Impersonal Life and head of the Sun Publishing Company in Akron, Ohio, which distributed and printed many of Brother XII’s writings; Coulson Turnbull, a prominent American astrologer and author of The Solar Logos, among other highly regarded works; Will Levington Comfort, a well-known novelist and short story writer for The Saturday Evening Post; Maurice Von Platen, a wealthy retired Chicago manufacturer; and Phillip Jutson Fisher, the son of a wealthy family in Birmingham, England, and an early supporter of Brother XII’s work.

In 1928, the Mandieh Settlement was established on the newly acquired Valdes Island, which was founded as “a school for occult training” and a “Center of Safety” or “City of Refuge.” By 1929, the Mandieh Settlement was renamed the “Brothers’ Center” (Oliphant 2006:231), a community with higher level of spiritual training than the Aquarian Foundation, thereby far more challenging for candidates to be admitted. Unlike the Aquarian Foundation, the Brothers’ Center was never incorporated. Therefore Brother XII maintained complete control, later aided by Mabel Skottowe, who was for all practical purposes a co-leader, especially over the women of the colony.

In addition to this secular leadership, there was a “spiritual” hierarchy that extended from the Masters of the White Lodge, to chelas or disciples, aspirants, and ordinary but earnest followers (The Brother, XII 2012, Letter X:47). Chelas were divided into Accepted and Probationary disciples. An Accepted disciple is chosen by a Master, to whom he is under His supervision though not necessarily conscious of this fact. As an Accepted disciple, he becomes a member of the Great White Lodge or younger Brother of the Great Brotherhood (The Brother, XII 2012, “On Chêlaship:”91). An Accepted disciple may be either initiated or uninitiated. An uninitiated disciple is unaware of any connection with a Master. An awareness of such a connection would indicate that a Master is preparing him for the First Initiation. Once initiated, he attains the special status of Initiated Chêla (The Brother, XII 2012, “On Chêlaship:”92). This was the status of Brother XII, who also claimed to be a Messenger of the Master because of his claim for speaking on behalf of the Masters.

The Accepted chelas are especially important since the work so often mentioned by Brother XII includes the training of individuals (especially aspirants and probationary chelas) to achieve this status, since it is on this level that one becomes an “accepted member of the White Lodge,” a “younger Brother of the Great Brotherhood” (The Brother, XII 2012, “On Chêlaship”:91). Lastly, those who are accepted may fall under one of two categories: initiated (as was Brother XII) and those who are not initiated (The Brother, XII 2012, “On Chêlaship”:92). An uninitiated disciple is unaware of any connection with a Master. However, an awareness of such a connection would indicate that a Master is preparing him for the First Initiation. Once initiated, he attains the special status of Initiated Chêla (The Brother, XII 2012, “On Chêlaship”:92). This was the status of Brother XII, who also claimed to be a Messenger of the Master because of his claim for speaking on behalf of the Masters.

ISSUES/CHALLENGES

The Aquarian Foundation was a short-lived organization, having come to the attention of the public in 1926 and all vestiges of the colony dissolving in 1933.  There is no doubt that the Foundation would have enjoyed many years of success due to Brother XII’s prophesy of events that bore a resemblance to the popular and contemporary expectation within the Theosophical Society of the imminent arrival of the World Teacher and the growing appearance of the sixth sub-race. Perhaps even more importantly was his ability to infuse a sense of urgency, preparation, and fear due to the transitional period of devastation and death followed by a new age of heightened consciousness culminating in the realization and practice of universal brotherhood by the successor sub-race. This message would surely have maintained a vibrant organization until, perhaps, those times when major events were forecast: 1975, with the appearance of the Messenger and dawn of the Age of Aquarius. Had these events failed to manifest by 1975, there can be on doubt that the Aquarian Foundation-Brothers’ Center would have been seriously weakened.

Its actual demise, however, was sparked by the actions and personality of Brother XII, who acted in a manner that was in total contradiction to how an accepted chela of the Master was expected to act.

IMAGES

Image #1: E. A. Wilson in a portrait with his sister Elsie (left).  The date is sometimes in the late 1880’s.
Image #2: E. A. Wilson at age 47 in 1925 at the inception of his public work.
Image #3:  The Governors of the Aquarian Foundation.  From left to right:  Edward Lucas (back to camera), Joseph Benner, Maurice Von Platen, E. A. Wilson (with hat), Phillip Fisher, Will Levington Comfort, and Coulson Turnbull.  Photo taken during the first Annual General Meeting of the Aquarian Foundation on July 25, 1927.
Image #4: Map showing the areas of Brother XII’s activities, including Cedar-by-the-Sea, Valdes and the Mandieh Settlement, and DeCourcy Island.
Image #5:  The Invocation of Light.

REFERENCES

Monthly Instructions [Twelve monthly “Outer Orders” written by Brother XII from September 1927 to October 1928]. Unpublished. Instructions I, IV, V, VIII.

The Three Truths:  A Simple Statement of the Fundamental Philosophy of Life.  As declared and shown to “Brother XII” (the personal Chêla of a Master).

“An Elder Brother” [E. A. Wilson], 1970.  Unsigned Letters from an Elder Brother.  Second edition.  Montreal: Aura Press [Originally published by L. N. Fowler (London), 1930]. “The Brothers’ School”; Letter VI.

Blake, Sydney. 1939.  “Connally vs. de Valdes,” The Lawyer 311, September:13.

Blavatsky, H. P.  The Secret Doctrine. Volumes I and II.  Los Angeles: The Theosophy Company, 1974 [Facsimile of the original edition 1888).

Collins, Mabel. 1923. When the Sun Moves Northward.  Wheaton, Ill.: Theosophical Press.

Collins, Mabel. 1919. The Idyll of the White Lotus.  Fourth Edition.  Adyar, Madras: The Theosophical Publishing House.

Harrison, Victor B. “Brother XII Affair.” 2015.  Interview transcribed by Jennifer Bolstler, Vancouver Island University.  January 24, 2015) [Private collection, unpublished].

Oliphant, John.  2012. “Brother XII’s Early Years: The Letters of Edward Arthur Wilson.”  Theosophical History XVI:29–64.

Oliphant, John.  2006.  Brother XII: The Strange Odyssey of a 20^th-Century Prophet and His Quest for a New World. Second edition. Halifax, Nova Scotia: Twelfth House Press.

Oliphant, John.  1993.  “The Teachings of Brother XII.”  Theosophical History  IV:194–219.

The Brother, XII. 1928.  The End of Days.  Nanaimo, B. C.: The Chalice Press.

[The Brother, XII]. 1927. The Aquarian Foundation: A Movement for the Unification of All Men of Good Will. Akron, Ohio: Sun Publishing Co. (E. A. Wilson), 1927: General Letter No. 1., 1926.

The Brother, XII. 2012.  Foundation Letters and Teachings.  York Beach, ME: The Teitan Press  [Originally published in 1927 by E. A. Wilson].  Cited sources: Letters I, II, III, IX, X, XI, XII, XIII, XIV, XVI, XVII. “On Chelaship”;“Concerning the Nature and Use of Higher Consciousness”; “The Message” (“A Message from the Masters of the Wisdom in 1926”); “The Shadow”; “The Significance of Earnestness: Part II: “The Tocsin”; “Things We Ought to Know”;

Publication Date:
18 February 2024

CHURCH OF THE SUBGENIUS TIMELINE

1953 (July 2):  Douglas St. Clair Smith, who would later become known as Ivan Stang, a key co-founder of the Church of the SubGenius was born.

1979:  Ivan Stang and Philo Drummond (born Steve Wilcox) co-founded the organisation in Dallas, Texas.

1980:  The church’s first pamphlet titled “Pamphlet #1” was published.

1980s:  Throughout the decade, the church grew its membership through a grassroots campaign that utilised a range of media forms.

1983:  The Book of the SubGenius one of the main scriptures of the Church, was published.

1984:  The “High Epopt” or “Overman First Degree” of the church, J.R. “Bob” Dobbs, was reportedly assassinated by a disgruntled follower.

1992:  Arise!: The Church of the SubGenius indoctrination videotape was released.

1994:  Revelation X: The “Bob” Apocryphon was published as the second testament of J.R. “Bob” Dobbs.

1998 (July 5):  The “X-DAY” FESTIVAL was held.

2000s:  The SubGenius Foundation continued to host annual festivals and devivals (evangelical rallies or parties), keeping the church culture alive.

2006:  The SubGenius Psychlopaedia of Slack: The Bobliographon  was published as the third testament of J.R. “Bob” Dobbs.

2009:  The “Bulldada Time-Control Laboratories” online store was launched.

2009:  Ivan Stang announced that he had transferred his apostolic powers to a three-person “Bulldada Time-Control Laboratories,” signalling a leadership transition.

2019:  A feature documentary, “J.R. ‘Bob’ Dobbs and the Church of the SubGenius,” premiered.

FOUNDER/GROUP HISTORY

In examining the origins of the Church of the SubGenius, one encounters a fascinating interplay between the founders of the mock religion and its central icon, J.R. “Bob” Dobbs. The lines between the founders [Reverend Ivan Stang (born Douglas St. Clair Smith) and Reverend Philo Drummond (born Steve Wilcox)] and the enigmatic figure of “Bob” are deliberately blurred, creating a rich tapestry of myth and meta-narrative that both enhances and confuses their individual identities and contributions to the Church’s creation.

J.R. “Bob” Dobbs emerged as the perfect satirical prophet, an irreverent figurehead around whom the Church could construct its lore. Decorated with a perpetually affixed, knowing smile and a pipe clenched between his teeth, Dobbs represented at once both the ultimate everyperson and a subversive saviour. [Image at right] He came to be known as the salesman par excellence, peddling not wares but rather a path to obtaining the elusive Slack that the Church espoused. “Bob” is married to “Connie” Dobbs, the only entity in the universe that may yield power greater than “Bob”’s, and the Church’s appropriation of feminist ideology as part of its overall worldview (SubGenius Foundation 1983). [Image at right]

As “Bob”‘s grandiose legend grew, he became inseparable from the Church’s narrative. The Church purported that “Bob” had a fateful divine encounter with the god-like alien JHVH-1 (pronounced Jehova-One) in 1953, leading to the establishment of the Church on January 2, 1980, by Stang and Drummond. However, it is crucial to note that “Bob” might be a fictional character (a concoction of Stang and Drummond) who provided the ultimate blank slate upon which the Church could project its riotous mix of beliefs.

The founders themselves, Reverend Ivan Stang  and Reverend Philo Drummond, crafted an intricate and self-obfuscating history for the Church, often inserting themselves into its narrative in ways that blurred their real-life personas with their adopted ecclesiastical ones. [Image at right] Stang, whose persona became synonymous with the Church’s proselytising and organisational efforts, took on the mantle of primary spokesperson and writer, reveling in the Church’s esoteric jargon and ensuring its message maintained its mix of levity and critique (Boone 2019).

Drummond, on the other hand, remained somewhat more enigmatic, paralleling the traits of their invented deity.  As the co-conspirator in the Church’s founding, Drummond’s contributions were crucial in establishing the philosophy of the organisation. Both founders created a space where their real identities and their religious alter-egos were intertwined to such an extent that deciphering the truth of their individual roles became an inexorable part of engaging with the Church.

This deliberate confusion served to elevate both the mythos of “Bob” and the Church’s appeal. Followers, or “SubGenii,” found themselves participating in a sort of “sacred game” where knowing smirks were exchanged over the conflation of creators and creation (Robertson 2016). It is in this playful ambiguity that the Church thrives, with Stang, Drummond, and “Bob” serving as symbol and substance, interchangeable parts of a whole, whose very indistinguishability underscores the Church’s larger commentary on the fluidity of myth, identity, and religion itself.

The Church of the SubGenius has a history as unconventional as its beliefs. The group’s inception dates back to January 2, 1980, but the seeds were sown earlier through the mingling of countercultural creativity between Ivan Stang and Philo Drummond, including relations with members of the Discordian Society, with elements of it featuring on the Church’s texts and imagery. As a new decade dawned, they launched a religious parody that would become a phenomenon in the subculture scenes of the United States and beyond.

Initially distributing humourous pamphlets mocking the religious tracts of the time, the duo tapped into a zeitgeist of disillusionment with mainstream culture and its institutions. The Church’s growth was fuelled by participatory involvement, where members, energised by the Church’s unconventional ethos, contributed their own art, literature, and narrative expansions. This approach to community engagement paralleled the rise of zine culture and prefigured many aspects of digital age participatory media.

The 1980s saw the burgeoning Church of the SubGenius wedged firmly within the underground punk and hacker movements. This countercultural alliance found a shared spirit in subverting norms and delighting in the fringe. Over time, the Church would seamlessly integrate with the rise of the Internet, where the participatory nature of its doctrine and the meme-like stickiness of its iconography found fertile ground (Logan 1998).

Moving beyond printed and mailed newsletters, the Church embraced the possibilities afforded by the digital revolution (podcasts, online forums), and social media allowed SubGenius teachings to disseminate more widely. This expansion has not compromised the Church’s commitment to pushing boundaries; if anything, it has sharpened its satirical edge, allowing it to adapt and remain relevant in an ever-shifting cultural landscape (Logan 1998).

Throughout its history, the Church of the SubGenius has celebrated its anti-establishment stance through festivals and gatherings like the end-times-themed “X-Day,” defying easy categorisation and embracing an evolving, playful spirit (Robertson 2016). This dynamism ensures that, even as it moves further from its initial inception, the Church of the SubGenius retains the power to challenge, amuse, and inspire those who encounter its enduring campaign against “the Conspiracy” and the pervasive pinkness of modern life.

DOCTRINES/BELIEFS

The Church of the SubGenius has been characterised as an “invented religion” (Cusack 2016), bearing many of the term’s characteristics: it is a melting pot of satire, absurdist humour, and a pastiche of religious tenets. At its core, the “church” is a send-up of organised religion, consumerism, and conspiracy theories, wrapped up in the guise of a religious movement. Its beliefs are deliberately outrageous and contradictory, crafted to lampoon the very nature of belief systems while simultaneously offering a sort of “meta-religion” where followers are in on the joke. Many of the doctrines (and associated rituals, see below) are exercises in subverting mainstream social traits in a way that resembles post-Marxian Situationist political approach (Cusack 2018). In the same way that in Situationism art, politics, and everyday life are to be treated as inseparable, the Church further includes religion in this list. The SubGenius doctrines and rituals, thus, are political and artistic acts, to be found in the members’ everyday life (Kirby 2012). The lists presented in this and the following section are derived from Cusack (2018) as well as from the Book of the SubGenius (SubGenius Foundation 1983), Revelation X: The “Bob” Apocryphon (SubGenius Foundation 1994) and the 2019 documentary (Boone 2019).

Slack: One of the most important concepts within the Church is “Slack.” According to SubGenius doctrine, Slack is an indefinable quality that represents ease, satisfaction, freedom, and an intrinsic understanding of the universe’s absurdity. Originating from the mystical visions of the figurehead J.R. “Bob” Dobbs, Slack is seen as the ultimate goal for all SubGeniuses (or SubGenii – the Church is bridging the etymological schism). Slack represents a form of spiritual liberation from societal expectations and conventional norms, embodying the very boundary-shifting between humour and religion, as it resists a clear definition and mocks the pursuit of more traditional forms of enlightenment.

J.R. “Bob” Dobbs: The smiling, pipe-smoking visage of “Bob” is the central figure within the Church. Presented as a salesman who achieved divine revelation, “Bob” serves as the prophet of Slack. His deliberately constructed image as a 1950s-style corporate archetype satirises the conformity of the era and invokes the kind of man who might appear trustworthy, while his philosophy inverts those appearances. “Bob” promotes indulgence in human desires and individual thinking, positioning himself as an anti-prophet for an anti-religion. “Bob”’s image emerged in an effort to parody the numerous pamphlets and flyers scattered throughout Stang and Drummond’s surroundings in Fort Worth – according to the documentary, their lacking of artistic skills and funds for an illustrator, led them to utilise clip art, specifically choosing a 1950s image of a smiling man with a pipe from a book directed to salesmen, to serve as the deity of their religion.

The Conspiracy: The Church rails against what it calls “The Conspiracy.” This is a catch-all term for the forces in society that rob individuals of their Slack. From governments and big businesses to organised religion and mainstream media, The Conspiracy is responsible for the constant suppression of the human spirit through work, consumerism, and the dissemination of pinkness, a derogative term for conventional, mundane thought patterns and behaviours devoid of originality or rebellion. Members are encouraged to resist conforming to the manufactured desires and expectations of these pervasive systems and hijack them by demonstrating their consequences by drawing them humourously to their extremes (from a 2003 online SubGenius newsgroup: “Don’t just EAT a hamburger. Eat the hell out of it and something from the$0.99 menu instead of buying the COMBO.” – Agent Lloyd).

“Pink Boys” and “Pinkness”: Those who unthinkingly adhere to the values imposed by The Conspiracy are often derisively termed “Pink Boys” or said to have succumbed to “Pinkness.” In SubGenius doctrine, these terms imply a lack of true Slack, a nature bereft of the Church’s revered sense of subversive humour and distinctiveness. Pinkness is seen as the antithesis of the Church’s teachings, and it is the pinkness of society that the SubGenius stands in opposition to (SubGenius Foundation 1983).

X-Day and the Rupture (not to be confused with the Rapture): X-Day, held on July 5 of each calendar year, is both an end-of-the-world prophecy and the most important holiday in the SubGenius calendar. It hilariously ciphers the Christian concept of the Rapture into the Rupture, promising that faithful SubGenii will be whisked away by extraterrestrials from the Planet X or “X-ists” (SubGenius Foundation 1983). While the original prophesised date of X-Day in 1998 came and passed without incident, the Church humourously adjusted their narrative to claim that either “Bob” got the date wrong or that the year 1998 refers to a calendar other than the Gregorian, and therefore should be stylised as “1998” (in quotation marks), leading to an annual celebration of the non-event as a testament to the Church’s adaptability and humour (SubGenius Foundation 1994; Cusack 2018).

Rewardians and Emergentiles: Within the tongue-in-cheek ideology of the Church, “Rewardians” are individuals who suggest that the only path towards achieving the absolute reward of Slack is to avoid work at any cost and exercise laziness. In contrast, “Emergentiles” are those who achieve Slack by working constantly, often under heavy pressure (even if self-imposed), albeit only to achieve the aims of their inner desires. The two approaches are considered to be a schism within the Church (SubGenius Foundation 1994).

“Short Duration Personal Saviors” (ShorDurPerSavs): This humourous doctrine encourages SubGeniuses to adopt or invent temporary personal saviours of any kind, to channel their devotions and aspirations momentarily before moving on. These saviours can be animate or inanimate, sensible or absurd (SubGenius Foundation 1983). This practice mocks the phenomena of worshipful transference so common in organised religions, highlighting the transitory nature of personal idols and ensuring that SubGeniuses remain sceptical of long-term spiritual leaders or gurus while playing on the idea of iconoclastic schisms in Christianity.

Bulldada: In the SubGenius lexicon, “Bulldada” refers to the surreal blend of the banal with the extraordinary, the culture jamming and appropriation of various elements of society to create something bizarre yet strangely meaningful. Bulldada is employed within the Church to create art, events, and literature that defy traditional categorisation, reinforcing the sense of irony and parody central to its worldview (SubGenius Foundation 1983). It is often a verbal expression of a universal synchronicity or coincidence, for example, when the sounding of a flat tire blowout coincides with that of undesired public flatulence, the SubGenius member can be heard saying “Bulldada!”

Yeti Origins: The Church espouses a belief regarding the origins of its members, linking them to the mythical Yeti. According to church lore, true SubGenius followers are actually descendants of these ancient Yetis, suggesting that their nonconformist attitudes and disdain for mainstream society are inherited traits from these elusive ancestors. This connection to the Yeti underscores the church’s broader narrative that champions individualism and resistance to societal norms. In this light, being a SubGenius is more than a spiritual choice; it’s an acknowledgment of one’s unique, prehistoric lineage, in a way which hijacks various widely circulated books from the 1970s-1980s period concerned with various types of sacred ancestry, or even extraterrestrial ancestry. It is of particular interest that the Yeti imagery is also used as a feminist device to comment on societal expectations as to bodily and facial hair (SubGenius Foundation 1983).

Patriopsychotic Anarchomaterialism: The SubGenius political party or ideology based on the rejection of all parties and/or ideologies (SubGenius Foundation 1983).

The Church has always thrived on the fringes of popular culture, delighting in its role as a cultural gadfly. It is a religion of sorts that not only lampoons other religions but also turns the mirror on itself, revelling in an eternally shifting pantheon of inside jokes and mythologies. While it might be easy to dismiss the Church of the SubGenius as nothing more than a complex joke, it does touch on some aspects of religious experience, most notably the human need for community and the quest for meaning in a seemingly indifferent universe—but it addresses these needs with a smirk rather than a solemn vow.

The Church of the SubGenius’s doctrines, its blend of hallowed humour, and its subversion of sacred tradition exemplify the fluid boundaries between what constitutes “real” religion and satire, ultimately challenging adherents and outsiders alike to question where one ends and the other begins. Through its ever-evolving narrative and irreverent take on spirituality, the Church creates a playful space for philosophical exploration, cultural criticism, and personal discovery, all within the orbit of Slack.

RITUALS/PRACTICES

The Church of the SubGenius, with its satirical, countercultural, and absurdist ethos, celebrates its rituals and practices with an oddball blend of subversion and sincerity. These customs not only reinforce the Church’s principles and philosophies but also provide a shared experience for its adherents, who are brought together by a love of the irreverent and the anomalous.

Devivals: Devivals are SubGenius revivals, events that parody religious services while remaining unique celebrations brimming with performance, ranting sermons, music, and art. They are designed to re-energise the spirit of “Slack” within participants and ridicule the solemnity often found in traditional religious gatherings. At Devivals, one can expect to see preaching by SubGenius clerics, bizarre rituals, and live performances, all skewering the self-importance of structured religious worship (Cusack 2018).

X-Day Celebrations: One of the most significant rituals in the SubGenius calendar is the celebration of X-Day. As previously mentioned, X-Day was originally predicted to be the apocalypse for non-SubGeniuses and a day of salvation for the Church members. Each year, leading up to July 5, SubGeniuses gather to commemorate this ongoing non-event. The gatherings are filled with performances, mock proselytising, and tongue-in-cheek doomsday prophecies, culminating in collective countdowns that revel in the anti-climax of another survived year (Cusack 2018).

The Salute: As several secret organisations, SubGenii recognise each other by an official greeting. This “salute” is performed by raising one’s left hand and placing the right hand on one’s throat, uttering a vocal sound transcribed as “Eyiyiyi yah-e-e” or “Iyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyi” (or another derivative) by juggling the vocal chords up and down. The sound is originating from vintage Warner Brothers cartoons and is usually heard when a character finds one’s self in a situation of sudden danger, for example, while Wile E. Coyote is running too fast, suddenly realises there is no firm ground underneath. For a split second, gravitation rules do not persist until the realisation (signalled by the sound) comes, rules come into application, and the character falls into the void, only to continue their Sisyphean quest.

Short Duration Personal Saviors (ShorDurPerSav): As part of the Church’s doctrine to evade the grasp of The Conspiracy, SubGeniuses are encouraged to find or invent a series of temporary personal saviors (SubGenius Foundation 1983). This ritual practice enables members to focus their devotion or blame on a rotating cast of characters and concepts. This could be as nonsensical as declaring a toaster as one’s savior for a day or as pointed as satirising a political figure. This ritual emphasises the ephemerality of fixation and the humour in devotion to anything less Slack-filled than “Bob”.

Short Duration Marriage (ShorDurMar): Within the Church of the SubGenius lexicon, ShorDurMar (Short Duration Marriage) is a ritual that satirically nods to matrimonial practices by facilitating temporary marriages for an explicitly brief period. The duration may vary based on the participants’ whim, emphasising the SubGenius dictum of personal liberty and the pursuit of immediate Slack. Unlike the traditional lifelong commitment, ShorDurMar is the Church’s irreverent answer to the fleeting nature of some relationships, yet it is celebrated with a semblance of ceremony and festivity SubGenius Foundation 1983). Ordained ministers of the Church, who are virtually any member that has paid a nominal fee for ministerial status, are eligible to officiate these ceremonies. These unions are not recognised legally at a universal level and in various regions hold no official validity outside the Church; being thus reduced to purely performative and parodic gestures representative of the Church’s subversive spirit. Upon membership acquisition, new members receive information about the latest updates as to which States in the US are recognising ShorDurMars.

The Rant: The Rant is a ritual practice where SubGenii let loose a stream of consciousness diatribe, often live before an audience SubGenius Website 2014). This is an important outlet for expressing frustrations with the world or The Conspiracy. For SubGeniuses, The Rant is both therapeutic and performative, an act of purging pinkness while entertaining their peers with impassioned vehemence.

Confessionals and ‘Frop Sanctuaries: The Church hosts parody confessionals where members air out not sins, but rather instances where they feel The Conspiracy may have gotten the best of them, where they inadvertently lost their Slack, or simply share absurd stories from their lives. (SubGenius Foundation 1983). This practice might be coupled with enjoying the sanctity of the Church’s “sacred herb” known as “’Frop,” which is facetiously claimed to be a powerful mind-altering substance, adding to the experiential aspect of these confessionals. ‘Frop, short for “habafropzipulops mariphasa lupina” is the herb that according to SubGenius cosmology only grows in Tibet or Dobbstown, Malaysia, where “Bob” has received his mystical indoctrination. ‘Frop is said to be grown by, and blooming in, moonlight while is consumption is associated with “Bob”’s grin, although there are multiple views within the Church as to whether “Bob”’s pipe has ‘Frop as its content (SubGenius Foundation 1983).

Ordinations, Cynisacreligion, and the Ministerial Hierarchy: The Church of the SubGenius allows members to become ordained ministers after paying a nominal fee (see also below). This process, in and of itself, is a ritual that pokes fun at the ease of achieving religious status in some circles. Once ordained, members are free to take on ecclesiastical duties and invent their religious hierarchy and title within the Church, hosting their events and contributing to the ever-expanding Slack of the universe (SubGenius Foundation 1983). Exercising the practice of inventing a religion forms an act of “cynisacreligion,” a devotional faith to cynicism and sacrilege that is dogmatically opposing any dogma including its own. Cynisacreligion is itself one of the Forbidden Sciences revealed to “Bob” in Malaysia.

“Bobtisms”: A riff on traditional baptisms, “Bobtisms” are SubGenius initiation and purification rituals. Rather than solemnly sprinkling holy water, Bobtisms involve dousing new members with beer or other preferred beverages, symbolising their cleansing from the seriousness of a conspiracy-ridden world SubGenius Foundation 1983).

Puzzling Evidence and Disbelief: A unique practice of the Church is embracing the concept of “Puzzling Evidence,” which involves the collection and often public display of the bizarre, incongruent, or unexplained phenomena. It is a ritualistic reinforcement of the Church’s view that the world is stranger than any traditional religion acknowledges (SubGenius Foundation 1983). Coupled with this practice is the ritual of disbelief, wherein SubGeniuses are encouraged to question everything, even (and especially) the tenets of their own Church, ensuring a culture of perpetual skepticism and reflection. Puzzling Evidence is also the pseudonym of a SubGenius member who has been active as an artist for the Church and SubGenius-related content creator on the YouTube platform under the same moniker.

Dobbshead Iconography: The image of “Bob” serves as a central icon in many rituals. Whether the Dobbshead is printed on materials, worn, or displayed during gatherings, it serves as a rallying point for shared consciousness and group identity. The act of creating Dobbshead art is itself a form of ritualised expression within the Church, allowing members to materially connect to the abstract concept of Slack SubGenius Foundation 1983). This and the above rituals (such as ‘frop ceremonies) are all further associated with opening of SubGenii’s “third nostrils,” as opposed to the more widely discussed more-or-less metaphorical concept of the “third eye.” Dobbsheads have appeared in various circumstances and unexpected places, in the form of street art or video references (a notable example is the short appearance of J.R. “Bob” Dobbs’s head in one episode of the cartoon series SpongeBob SquarePants) while the creator’s affiliation to the Church has not been confirmed.

Anointment of the Luck Plane: The Church teaches of different planes of existence, one being the “Luck Plane,” from which SubGenii can draw positive fortunes. Certain rituals involve activities designed to increase one’s attunement to the Luck Plane, such as gambling, risk-taking, or the pursuit of odd coincidences, with a jovial acknowledgment of the arbitrary nature of luck itself (SubGenius Foundation 1994). One can enter the Luck Plane by meditating on “Bob”’s smile, pipe, or eyes. It is almost synonymous with the opening of one’s third nostril (SubGenius Foundation 1994).

In reflecting on the rituals and practices of the Church of the SubGenius, it becomes evident that they are crafted to defy traditional religious orthodoxy while creating a space for community, parody, and creative expression. Through these practices, the Church continues to tread the fine line between humour and heresy, offering a release from the unyielding seriousness of conventional religious observance and from the burdens levied by societal norms.

ORGANIZATION/LEADERSHIP

The Church of the SubGenius, in keeping with its satirical nature, takes a playful and intentionally convoluted approach to organisational structure and leadership (Robertson 2016). The organisation defines itself with a pseudo-hierarchical framework that parodies established religious institutions, yet at the same time operates as a decentralised entity that largely empowers its members to define their roles within the church.

Leadership and Titles: The Church’s pseudo-hierarchy is crowned by the figurehead of J.R. “Bob” Dobbs, signified as the “High Epopt” or “Living Slack Master.” However, since Dobbs is a fictional character, the operational leadership historically fell to the original founders: Ivan Stang, also known as Reverend Ivan Stang, and Philo Drummond, also styled as Reverend Doctor Philo Drummond. These titles themselves are lampoons of formal religious designations, highlighting the Church’s approach to spoofing the trappings of organised religion while engaging a serious critique of it. All formal memberships of ordainment are signed by both “Bob” and Stang.

Other leaders within the Church often take on grandiose titles that they either create themselves or are humourously bestowed. These self-styled designations, ranging from hyperbolic religious appellations to absurdly bureaucratic monikers, reflect the Church’s encouragement of individual expression and autonomy. For instance, a member might choose to identify as a “Doktor [sic] of the Forbidden Sciences,” a “Saint of Slack,” or more bureaucratically, a “Divine Liaison of Celestial Ministries.” Ordainment packages contain a certificate of one’s doktorate [sic] of the Forbidden Sciences, thus extending to every member the knowledge acquired by “Bob” during his own mystical ordainment in Tibet and Malaysia.

System of Titles: The system of selecting one’s own title is a hallmark of the Church that confers instant “ministerial” status upon any member willing to pay the membership fee, which includes ordination. The process is intentionally devoid of formal vetting or qualifications, underscoring the Church’s challenge to the legitimacy of ecclesiastical authority structures. Once ordained, members are encouraged to adopt or invent titles that resonate with their personal interests or humour, be it reverends, doctors, or any creative variation thereof (Holland and Smith 1992).

This system also serves to mock the commercialism and ease with which religious titles can be obtained in the real world, further blurring the lines between genuine belief systems and the SubGenius’ crafted “anti-religion,” akin to early 20^th century “anti-art” movements such as Dadaism (cf. “Bulldada” above) (Robertson 2016, Kirby 2012).

Membership: Becoming a member of the Church of the SubGenius primarily involves paying a membership fee, which symbolically represents a transactional mockery of salvation (Holland and Smith 1992). [Image at right] In exchange for this fee, new members receive an ordination package that includes a membership card, an official minister’s card, and various Church literature (pamphlets, stickers, doctrinal information, and more). The price varies according to financial periods, and by the time writing it surmounts to fifty U.S. dollars.

The promise of membership is multifaceted. On one hand, the Church offers a belief-based promise of ‘Slack,’ freedom from the constraints and illusions perpetuated by ‘The Conspiracy,’ and salvation aboard the Pleasure Saucers of the X-ists come X-Day. On the other hand, the actual deliverable is the immediate entitlement to the Church’s cultural cache, including its unique lexicon, a sense of belonging within a community of like-minded nonconformists, and the empowerment to perform SubGenius rituals and ceremonies (Cusack 2016; SubGenius Foundation 1994).

Belief Promises and Practical Benefits: From a belief perspective, members are summoned to embrace the Church’s enigmatic and paradoxical doctrines, chiefly the pursuit of ‘Slack,’ opposition to ‘The Conspiracy,’ and a life lived in ironic contradiction to mainstream norms. The supposed benefits are largely intangible and spiritually ironic, including the possibility of escaping the mundanity of conventional existence and being whisked away by the alien X-ists. Notably, members with bought memberships are promised to receive “eternal salvation of triple [their] money back” – while salvation is associated with the mystical connection between the payee/ordained member’s bank account and “Bob”’s wallet (SubGenius Foundation 1983).

Practically, members are promised a variety of materials upon joining that are part-cultural artefacts and part-instructional manuals for participating in SubGenius life. These can include the Church’s sacred scripture, “The Book of the SubGenius,” and its sequels, as well as access to member-exclusive online fora and discounts on Church merchandise.

SubGenius groups and events are also a significant benefit, providing avenues for networking and camaraderie among members. The Church’s gatherings offer opportunities to engage in collective practices and celebrations and experience the communal aspect of SubGenius culture. Moreover, and as mentioned above, due to the ordinances that make every paid member an ordained minister, believers are given the ironic ability to perform legal wedding ceremonies in many places that recognise the Church’s ordinations as valid.

The Church’s official website serves as the central hub for all things SubGenius. It’s the digital “pamphlet” where the curious and faithful alike can dive into the lore, mythos, and satirical teachings of the Church. Packed with information on the organisation’s history, doctrines, rituals, and an oft-updated repository of resources, the website also functions as a gateway for new memberships, ordinations, and a catalogue for Church merchandise. Easy to navigate yet brimming with insider humour, the Internet presence is reflective of the Church’s ability to adapt to modern mediums of communication while retaining its foundational kitsch (Logan 1998). It should be noted that the Church has taken advantage of the Internet’s earlier days of participatory communication through USENET, notably through thealt.binaries.slack newsgroup archived on the website (SubGenius website n.d.).

Hour of Slack Radio Show and Podcast: One of the most venerable methods of outreach has been the “Hour of Slack”, a radio program that has been produced and hosted by Reverend Ivan Stang since 1985. This show is a blend of sermons, music, rants, and comedic sketches or radio plays that encapsulate the spirit of the Church. Initially broadcast via radio, “Hour of Slack” has since transitioned into the podcast format as well, making it accessible to a global audience. Through this platform, Stang and a cavalcade of other SubGenius personalities share updates, insights, and the inherently absurdist humour of the Church with listeners, keeping the community connected and informed (https://www.subgenius.com/ts/hos.html).

Bandcamp Account and Music Compilations: Understanding the importance of music in culture and connection and involving several musicians since its early years, the Church of the SubGenius also maintains a Bandcamp account where they feature compilations of songs by SubGenius members. This creative outlet allows the members not only to share their musical endeavours but also to contribute to the soundscape of the Church, further diversifying the ways in which the message of “Slack” and satire can be spread. The musical compilations range from the outlandish to the profound, often punctuated with the esoteric humour that characterises the Church’s identity. The Bandcamp webpage offers another direct way for members to support the Church by purchasing streamable and downloadable albums in digital format while becoming directly familiarised with numerous prominent SubGenius members such as Little Fyodor and Reverend Bleepo Abernathy, or SubGenius bands such as Einstein’s Secret Orchestra, Collins Kids/Media Sapiens, Buck Naked, Andrew the Impaled, Reverend Suzie the Floozey, and Mutant Mountain Boys. An accessible entry into the SubGenius history and world-system is the ‘Ballad of J.R. “Bob” Dobbs’ as performed by Dr. Ahmed Fishmonger. Several of these musicians have followed a musical career not directly related to their SubGenius identities, while the Church prides itself for being name checked a few times by eccentric musical pioneer Frank Zappa, although Zappa himself was not a member.

Dobbstown Mirror Magazine: For the more print-inclined followers, the Church publishes “The Dobbstown Mirror,” a magazine that offers a compendium of articles, artwork, and musings reflective of the SubGenius philosophy. [Image at right] It harks back to zine culture and offers a tangible piece of SubGenius culture, accepting contributions from any member and subscriber. Subscription to the magazine can be purchased through Patreon’s member-based subscription model and patreons enter in direct communication with Reverend Onan Canobite who is, by the time writing, chiefly responsible for the magazine’s editorial process

Member-Only Discord Channel and Other Social Media: In line with keeping up with the digital age, the Church of the SubGenius has embraced the interactive platform Discord by offering a member-only channel. This virtual space allows for real-time communication among the Church’s members, fostering a community that spans geographical boundaries. Here, members can engage in discussions, share media, orchestrate online events, and support each other in their quests for “Slack.” It is in this virtual meeting ground that ideas are exchanged, camaraderie is built, and the Church’s countercultural spirit is bolstered. The SubGenius Foundation has its own Mastodon domain and representations across most well-known (or lesser-known) social media platforms, while individual members upload several videos on YouTube or images on Instagram. PuzzlingEvidenceTV is a great example of a historical member’s YouTube channel devoted to SubGenius material, while the following YouTube list, curated by another member (and author of the present text) contains seven musical videos that may act as a good audio introduction to the Church’s lore.

Further Media Available for Members and Non-Members: The Church of the SubGenius website offers a host of items for individuals to purchase, from books and pamphlets to CDs and DVDs. By the time writing, the most recent addition, and with a friendly nod Discordianism, is the SubGenius Foundation’s publication of the collected “Jailbird: The Dreadlock Recollections,” one-shot edition of Discordianism co-founder Kerry Wendell Thornley’s memoir as “second-patsy” in the assassination of John F. Kennedy collecting further texts about Discordianism and an informative introduction by Stang and Reverend Onan Canobite.

ISSUES/CHALLENGES

The Church of the SubGenius, by virtue of its satirical and subversive nature, has navigated through a series of issues, challenges, and controversies throughout its existence. While the Church portrays itself with a veneer of facetious irreverence, it has not been wholly immune to the internal and external problems that befall both genuine religious groups and social movements.

Perception and Misunderstanding: Given its satire of religious culture, one of the key challenges the Church of the SubGenius has faced is the potential for misinterpretation. Outsiders have occasionally misconstrued the organisation as a genuine doomsday cult, particularly due to its emphasis on the apocalyptic X-Day. Jokes about conspiracies, alien invaders, and elaborate narratives about battling the mediocrity of mainstream society could easily be taken at face value by those unfamiliar with the Church’s modus operandi. This has sometimes led to undesired scrutiny from law enforcement or mainstream religious groups who misunderstand the Church’s parodic intent.

Literal Believers and Schisms: Despite its foundation as a parody, the Church of the SubGenius has sometimes had to address the issue of members who adopt its doctrines more literally than intended. According to the 2019 documentary (Boone 2019), there have been instances where some followers, perhaps drawn by the community and the sense of belonging, begin to blur the distinction between humour and earnest belief. This has led to some degree of schism, where factions within the Church may splinter based on differing interpretations of what the Church should represent: some more comedic, others more earnestly critical of society, and some a blend of both. There is a further perceived and declared schism which serves as part of the Church’s pro-schism approach, between Ivangelicals (led by Rev. Ivan Stang) and Holocaustals (initially led by Papa Joe Mama, and then by Dr. K’Taden Legume) and relates to the fate of humans after X-Day. For Ivangelicals, pink boys/normal humans who will survive the X-Day have to be enslaved by and serve the SubGenii species, while the Holocaustals suggest they should be completely exterminated.

The SubGenius mock dogma is prone to personal interpretations, sometimes resulting in conflicting internal narratives about the direction and purpose of the Church. The fluidity of the Church’s theology allows for a spectrum of belief, but this same flexibility has led to varying degrees of existential contention within its ranks.

The Church also has elicited controversy with its unapologetic mockery of sacred cows, courting challenges from those who do not appreciate or recognise its critiques’ satirical nature. Its use of religious parody, especially the spoofing of Christianity and other established religions, has led to accusations of blasphemy or sacrilege. The irreverent treatment of deeply held beliefs sometimes places the Church in the crosshairs of public debate over the limits of free speech and religious satire.

Furthermore, the Church’s iconography and literature deliberately provoke. This audacity has put the SubGenius in the position of answering public concerns and media inquiries about the intent and content of its materials, often needing to clarify the difference between earnest hatred and satirical commentary on counterculture.

Artwork and Copyright: Allied to this, with the exception of the initially collaged “Dobbshead” originating from the aforementioned 1950s book for salesmen, SubGenius artwork is original, with artists being commissioned to create intentionally vintage-like looking material that is copyrighted (a notable example is the artistry of Paul Mavrides who illustrated a large proportion of the Book of the SubGenius and Revelation X) (Kirby 2012). However, as Stang declared in the documentary, several people, including members, consider the entirety of this material collaged and tend to reuse them without permission (Boone 2019). Nevertheless, legal permissions about artistic content reuse are themselves an issue of controversy within Church members.

Sustainability and Membership: In terms of sustainability, the question arises whether the Church can maintain its membership numbers over time, especially as its foundational generation ages. Given that the Church’s appeal lies in its ability to attract those with alternative, often subversive, worldviews, it faces the challenge of remaining relevant to newer generations who might not share the same cultural reference points as its founders. The changing landscape of humour, parody, and social engagement has required the Church to continuously evolve to maintain its appeal.

Additionally, the ephemeral nature of the membership, where followers are often drawn by novelty more than a lasting doctrinal commitment, means retention can be a challenge. The membership experience is predicated on a sense of countercultural community, but as societal norms change, the church needs to balance its identity to remain at the vanguard of subversion.

Internal Governance: Issues within the internal governance of the Church also mirror those of other organisations. Leadership succession and the direction of the Church’s mission can be contentious. While Ivan Stang and Philo Drummond have been central figures, the question of how to sustain leadership without diluting the Church’s unique ethos has been an ongoing discussion. The less formalised structure of the Church is both a strength and a weakness, creating a versatile and adaptable organisation but also leaving room for ambiguity regarding its administrative future.

Technological Advancements and the Internet: With the rise of the Internet, the Church has found both a boon and a battleground. While the Web has allowed for broader dissemination of SubGenius teachings and easier gathering of like-minded individuals, it has also necessitated the Church’s doctrinal adaptation to a world where countercultural and conspiratorial material is more commonplace and with practical (often lethal) effects. Therefore, the Church may have to position itself more strongly as to the endorsement or not of several conspiratorial statements which would otherwise serve as a springboard for playful ambiguity (Logan 1998; Boone 2019).

External Conflicts: Externally, the Church must contend with a society that may alternately embrace it as a symbol of freedom of expression or vilify it. Certain social and political climates may view the Church’s existence as an affront, increasing the tension between its members and the public and authorities – a situation similar to other religions of this kind, such as Discordianism and Pastafarianism.

The Church of the SubGenius thus wades through a unique blend of issues, challenges, and controversies that test the boundaries of religious satire. The complexities of sustaining a parody religion in an ever-changing cultural landscape, addressing divisions among its followers, and grappling with misconceptions and external pressures create a dynamic environment where the Church must navigate cautiously. It stands as a testament to the volatile interplay between belief, scepticism, and the enduring need for critical humour in the examination of societal norms. Whether it can maintain its membership and influence will depend on its ability to adapt and continue resonating with those who seek an alternative to mainstream religiosity and its accompanying orthodoxies.

IMAGES
Image #1: J.R. “Bob” Dobbs.
Image #2: Connie” Dobbs.
Image #3: Reverend Ivan Stang and Reverend Philo Drummond.
Image #4: Church of SubGenius depiction of salvation.
Image #5: Dobbstown Mirror Magazine

REFERENCES

Boone, S. K. 2019. “Slacking Towards Bethlehem: J.R. ‘Bob’ Dobbs and the Church of the SubGenius.” Documentary. Accessed from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2Qcnuk-w7k on 10 February 2024.

Church of the SubGenius website. 2024. Accessed from https://www.subgenius.com/ on 24 January 2024.

Cusack, Carole M. 2018. “Celebrating With the Church of the SubGenius: X-Day Rituals of Bad Taste, Burning ‘Bob’, and the End of the World (Not). Enjoying religion.” Pp. 147-64. Accessed from https://www.academia.edu/download/50513323/CUSACK_Celebrate_With_the_Church_of_the_SubGenius_PRE-PUBLICATION.pdf on 02 February 2024.

Cusack, Carole M. 2016. Invented Religions: Imagination, fiction and faith. Londona: Routledge.

Cusack, Carole M. 2015. “The Messiah is a Salesman, Yet Consumerism is a Con(spiracy) The Church of the SubGenius, Work, and the Pursuit of Slack as a Spiritual Ideal. Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions 19:49-64. Accessed from  https://online.ucpress.edu/nr/article-abstract/19/2/49/71148 on 02 February 2024 on 10 February 2024.

Kirby, Danielle. 2012. “Occultural Bricolage and Popular Culture: Remix and Art in Discordianism, the Church of the SubGenius, and the Temple of Psychick Youth.” Pp. 47-57 in the Handbook of Hyper-Real Religions, edited by Adam Possamai. Leiden: Brill.

Logan, Richard. 1998. “Cults on the Internet.” (文学部紀要=). Bulletin of the Faculty of Language and Literature 11:53-165. Accessed from https://bunkyo.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_action_common_download&item_id=1053&item_no=1&attribute_id=37&file_no=1 on 02 February 2024.

Robertson, David. 2016. “SubGenius vs The Conspiracy: playfulness and sincerity in invented religions.” Pp. 212-26 in Fiction, Invention and Hyper-reality, edited by Carole M. Cusack and Pavol Kosnáč. London: Routledge.

Stang, Ivan. 2006. The SubGenius Psychlopaedia of Slack: The Bobliographon. New York: The SubGenius FoundatioSubGenius Foundation, 1994. Revelation X: The “Bob” Apocryphon. New York: The SubGenius Foundation.

SubGenius Foundation. 1983. The Book of the SubGenius. New York: The SubGenius Foundation.

Church of SubGenius website. n.d. Accessed from https://www.subgenius.com/ on 10 February 2024.

Publication Date:
11 February 2024

GENESIS II CHURCH TIMELINE

1996:  Jim Humble allegedly discovered that chlorine dioxide could cure malaria while gold mining in South America.

2006:  Mark Grenon found Humble’s book and claimed to have cured a family with MRSA.

2006:  Jim Humble released his book Miracle Mineral Supplements.

2009 (January): Grenon and Humble formed the Genesis II Church.

2010 (April):  The First Seminar of Genesis II was held.

2016:  Grenon established G2Voice Podcast and published his first book Imagine, A World Without Disease- Is it Possible?

2017:  Humble retired from his involvement with Genesis II.

2020 (April 8):  The FDA issued Genesis II a warning to stop providing GII Sacraments.

2020 (April 23):  Donald Trump suggested that bleach could be used treat the coronavirus.

2020 (July 8):  The FDA raided the main church in Bradenton, Florida and arrested Bishops Jonathan and Jordan Grenon.

2020 (August 10):  Mark and Joseph Grenon were arrested.

2020 (November):  Mark and Joseph Grenon were moved to Central La Picota penitentiary in Bogota, Columbia

2023 (October):  Mark Grenon and his three sons (Joseph, Jonathan and Jordon) all were sentenced to prison by the Florida Department of Justice.

FOUNDER/GROUP HISTORY

Genesis II is one of a number of anti-vaccination churches in the U.S., such as the Fellowship of Divine Tenets, LifeSpirit, and Illumination (Bloomfield and Willes 2023). Genesis II was founded in January 2010 by Mark Grenon and Jim Humble. Mark Grenon was born in 1957 and, according to his own accounts, served as a missionary pilot in the Dominican Republic, Nigeria and Haiti for twenty-seven years. Jim Humble [Image at right] was born in Alabama and, according to his website, served in the Marines, worked for Aerospace and as a gold miner (Humble 2017). It appears that Humble also was a practitioner in the Church of Scientology for a time. According to Grenon, he and his eight children all contracted MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), a staph infection that he was unable to treat with antibiotics. In a state of concern, he searched the internet; in late 2006 found Jim Humble’s book, Miracle Mineral Supplements (MMS) and learned about the potential for curing diseases. MMS is a solution of sodium chlorite (22.4%) dissolved in distilled water. An acid like hydrochloride (HCL) is then added to the solution to produce sodium dioxide, an oxidating process. Grenon then treated his condition with Humble’s Miracle Mineral Solution, first himself and then the remainder of his family.

Grenon [Image at right] then reached out to Jim Humble, who originally sold the “cure” through his book The Miracle Mineral Solution of the 21^st Century. Humble sent Grenon $25,000 to promote MMS and to train people how to make it. Soon after, Humble visited Grenon and his family in the Dominican Republic (G2Voice#125 2019). After many discussions, Grenon and Humble decided to create a religion. Grenon drew on his experiences as a missionary and envisioned the success of acting as a missionary for MMS. He acknowledged that a religion would give them more rights and protections. Humble, who also had various church affiliations, approved of this approach.

Together they formed Genesis II Church of Health. The name “genesis” was chosen to represent a new beginning and the “II” component because, as Grenon said, “we obviously can’t take credit for Genesis I” (G2Voice#125 2019). Grenon has described Genesis II as a non-religious spiritual health church; anyone can join regardless of beliefs. In 2017, however, Humble decided to distance himself from Grenon and the church to focus on his own research and writing. In April 2020, the FDA warned Grenon to stop promoting MMS. Grenon ignored this warning and along with his three sons (Joseph, Jonathan and Jordan) was imprisoned. While MMS is still promoted on Jim Humble’s website and various New Age channels, the church has mostly been inactive since Grenon was imprisoned.

DOCTRINES/BELIEFS

Jim Humble has made essentially religious and spiritual claims for himself and his discovery. He has asserted that he is a 1,000,000,000 year-old god from the Andromeda Galaxy. As a galaxy representative he was assigned to watch over the planet Earth (Harrison and Zane 2017; Bartley 2016, 2020). Humble has claimed that he discovered MMS while he was mining for gold in South America. He immediately concluded that MMS was a “miracle potion” and has referred to it as “the God particle” (Ono and Bartley 2016). Humble’s lofty spiritual claims have had little impact on Genesis II, however, as he left the church and the church’s focus is primarily on MMS.

Grenon and his family, as well as those connected with Genesis II, describe a world that is the product of a series of conspiracies. These include a distrust of mainstream media (leading to the Grenon’s creation of G2Voice, their own podcast), a cynicism of “big Pharma,” the belief that Covid-19 was a fabricated “Plandemic,”chemtrails release toxic chemicals, and various other beliefs. A list of some of the titles of their podcast illustrates their beliefs: “Plandemic Part 1,” “Top Doctor EXPOSES EVERYTHING The Deep State is Trying to Hide About CV,” “Fantastic Benefits of Cacao; A Powerful Super-FOOD,” “Are we being poisoned in the skies What are Chemtrails.” By creating the Genesis II church, the Grenon’s have created  a “nonreligious spiritual movement.”

These specific themes connect to a larger theme that underpins Genesis II, that Americans are truly free to the extent that they are free from governmental control. As Grenon put the matter, “If handled properly a church can protect us from vaccinations that we don’t want, from forced insurance, and from many things that a government might want to use to oppress us” (Robbins 2017). One expression of this political position is that church members are required to carry ID cards that contain the following statement (Harvey 2020):

This card signifies that this member of the Genesis II Church of Health and Healing has the God-given, unalienable right to control and maintain their personal health. All members are exempt from any means not chosen, including but not limited to: vaccinations, medications, X-rays, scans, implants, mandatory voting, and health insurance mandated by a human government or authority.

For Genesis II this translates in to the belief that the “body is the temple,” and it is every person’s right to decide what they do or do not put into it (G2Voice#125 2019).

RITUALS/PRACTICES

The Sacraments, also called the Protocols, are the foundation of MMS and is believed to cure all diseases. [Image at right] The Sacraments can be created with Sodium Dioxide and other chemical products that could be purchased from the G2Church for a donation (G2Voice#98 2018). The Genesis II Church believes that administering MMS is their right and their expression of religious freedom.

Mark Grenon has demonstrated how to mix MMS. First, 1-3 drops of Sodium Chlorite are dissolved in distilled water. An acid like Hydrochloric acid (HCL) is then added to set off the oxidizing reaction. The mixture forms Sodium Dioxide or MMS. This chemical solution, when mixed, is chlorine dioxide a powerful bleach used in a variety of different industrial processes, such as bleaching textiles. Grenon also recommends what food to ingest with MMS. There are various recommendations of what dose and what concentration of MMS to take depending on the condition for which a cure is sought. A feeling of nausea, diarrhea is considered a sign that the solution is working and the toxins leaving the body.

MMS has been sold to cure abroad range of diseases and illnesses, including HIV/AIDs, autism, cancer, leukemia and Alzheimer’s disease (Sauvayre 2023). Tens of thousands of bottles have been sold worldwide, according to the Department of Justice, Florida, the agency that prosecuted the Grenons,

ORGANIZATION/LEADERSHIP

Genesis II Church is essentially a hybrid organization, with both religious and commercial components. The church does have a spiritual origination narrative and on its website displays a church designation, and church officers (Bishop and Archbishop), ministries, Bible study, and sacraments. The church also lists  key tenets. For example, in a G2Church podcast episode, “How to start a Genesis II Church Chapter,” Mark Grenon listed major tenets:

We of the Church believe in…

Doing good deeds
Doing what is right
Good health for all mankind
Enlightening others with truth
Helping one another
Maintaining integrity of all things.

Grenon has emphasized that it is important that the Genesis II church logo should be visible for “all the world to see” on the front door of any Health Bishops house (G2Voice#98, 2020). Inside churches is the “Health office” where the key tenets above are displayed. He states that, “You want to validate the fact that you really believe – that this is your religion.” The church has adopted an inclusive bent around health as it welcomes as part of its commitment to “health for all mankind.”

While the church has surrounded itself with mainstream religious symbolism, but the church’s activity is largely organized around the production, sale, and use of MMS. The rationale for these activities is scientific and financial. For example, Humble (2016) offered a scientifically based explanation for the use of MMS:

A great deal of evidence given by the FDA, EPA and various industrial corporations prove scientifically that MMS1 (chlorine dioxide) kills and or oxidizes pathogens and poisons in food, public water systems, hospitals, and even slaughter houses. It is our belief that the same thing can and does happen in the human body.

Further, Grenon has publicly acknowledged that adoption of a church format was based on the various exemptions, including tax exemption (G2Voice#125, 2019). The commercial orientation became more apparent when the Department of Justice, Florida revealed that “donations” to Genesis II were in fact mandatory and varied by product. The seminar to be ordained as a health minister was priced at $450 in 2016 (Bartley 2016). Bloomfield and Willes (2023) have referred to this process as “religious masking:”

Religious masking involves the impersonation of religious style and substance to “pass” convincingly as a religious institution under legal requirements. Simultaneously, the performance of masking also signals to audiences that the church functions as an anti-vaccine exemption resource.

It has become more difficult to determine the reach and impact of Genesis II since the Grenons have been prosecuted and incarcerated and church websites have become largely inactive. The church itself has estimated that in 2018 there were 2,629 members, 205 health chapters and eighty-nine bishops. Genesis II also claims that it has sold over 1,000,000 MMS kits online.

ISSUES/CHALLENGES.

Genesis II became infamous on April 23, 2020 when then President Donald Trump recommended the use of bleach to cure Covid-19 during a briefing with advisors at the White House. At this time in America there were 25,000 new cases of Covid-19. On April 19 (four days before Trump’s announcement), during the G2Voice Broadcast, Mark Grenon and Joseph Grenon discussed a letter they had sent to Trump about the benefits of MMS and why they sent it. Mark Grenon explained that they wrote to Trump because the FDA had mislabeled their sacraments as fraudulent. The two Grenons stated that it was their letter to Trump that caused him to bring up bleach as a cure during his advisory meeting.

Mark Grenon also stated that while writing the letter “God was guiding me.” He stated that the sacraments are “sacred and holy to us” as they allow followers to keep their “temples clean” (G2Voice#188 2020). In addition to the letter, Grenon also sent Trump his latest book and included various biblical verses, including Corinthians 3:17 which states:

 Do you not know that you yourselves are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

The Grenons believed they had been attacked by the FDA which, on April 8, 2020, ordered them to stop selling G2 Sacraments. Mark Grenon responded with a thirty-five page letter explaining the agency has “no authority to demand any church” to stop beliefs protected by the United States Constitution. He believed that he and his family had been wrongfully accused and “kidnapped” as “political prisoners” (Grenon 2020). In his opinion, the Department of Justice, the FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were working together to purposefully control the health of all Americans and other peoples in the world (Grenon 2020).

On July 8, 2020, according to Mark Grenon, the Church in Bradenton Florida was raided, computers and important files “stolen,” and the supplies used to make the G2 Sacraments seized. According to a press release from the Department of Justice, Florida, Genesis II Church was formed purely to avoid its regulation by government and “shield themselves from prosecution” (Department of Justice 2023).

The media coverage of  Genesis II and the Grenons has been predominantly negative, focusing on the legal proceedings and arrest. In 2016, Eyewitness News went undercover to attend a Genesis II seminar in Costa Mesa. According to their accounts, Mark Grenon announced to a room of attendees that the reason for starting the church was because they “can sell them anything…Tell them Jesus heals you while you drink this” (Ono 2016). In the same seminar, reporters say that Mark claimed that vaccines are evil and used to intentionally reduce to world population, chemtrails spray poison from the sky and the planes on 9/11 were holograms (Ono 2016). As the news reporting on Genesis II has mostly diminished, Grenon has continued to take part in interviews from prison to maintain his innocence. He has stated that

There are certainly times I have said some things that I probably should have said differently. For lack of a better way to express things at the time-or because others put words in my mouth, in the past I have stated that MMS cures most of all diseases. Today, I say that MMS cures nothing! MMS serves as a tool to kill pathogens and oxidize poisons in the body which allows the body to heal the body. We live in a toxic world and we are fortunate to have MMS, as well as various other important health tools, to combat the ill effects of poor foods, and chemicals that make us sick (Ono and Bartley 2016).

Since the prosecution, conviction and incarceration of the Grenons, as well as aggressive  international law enforcement actions against Genesis II, various branches of the church have taken more defensive positions by introducing cautionary labeling of products on websites or discontinuing product sales in favor of recommending alternative suppliers (). The future of Genesis II appears to be very much in doubt given the incarceration of its leaders and aggressive control measures by law enforcement agencies across the globe (Sauvayre 2023;

IMAGES

Image #1: Jim Humble.
Image #2: Mark Grenon.
Image #3:  MMS.
Image #4: Genesis II Church logo.

REFERENCES

Bartley,Lisa. 2020. “Eyewitness News Investigation: ‘Church of Bleach’ claims to cure coronavirus.” ABC7 Investigations, April 10. Accessed from  https://abc7.com/coronavirus-covid-church-cures/6091160/ on 5 February 2024.

Bartley, Lisa. 2016. “Shameless: The High Priests of Snake Oil Offer Miracle Cures.” abc news. October 28. Accessed from https://abcnews.go.com/US/shameless-high-priests-snake-oil-offer-miracle-cures/story?id=43111532 on 5 February 2024.

Bloomfield, Emma and Stephanie Willes. 2023. “Religious Masking and the Rhetorical Strategies of Digital Anti-Vaccination Churches.” Western Journal of Communication,  February  21.

Davey, Melissa. 2020. “Australian arm of group that wrote to Trump peddling bleach as coronavirus cure fined $150,000.” The Guardian, May 13. Accessed from https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/may/13/healing-church-fined-150000-in-australia-over-selling-bleach-as-coronavirus-cure

G2Church. 2020. “How to start a Genesis II Church Chapter.” Brighteon, February 2020. Accessed from https://www.brighteon.com/962116d8-c07d-4baa-891c-5628ddc456f2 on 5 February 2024.

G2Voice #188. 2020. “Letter to President Trump and Response to FDA/FTC about their attack on our Sacraments! 04-19-20.” Brighteon, April. Accessed from https://www.brighteon.com/aedb4e1b-3a47-434f-8548-7efe585a1cf1 on 5 February 2024.

G2Voice #125. 2019. “Discovery of MMS and the History of the Genesis II Church and what it means to the world – 02-03-2019.” Brighteon, March. Accessed from https://www.brighteon.com/00000000-0000-0000-0006-005967385001 on 5 February 2024.

G2Voice #098. 2018. “G2Sacraments for Dummies 7-29-2018.” Brighteon, July. Accessed from https://www.brighteon.com/00000000-0000-0000-0005-817054721001 on 5 February 2024.

G2Voice #037. 2017. “Genesis II Church Seminars 05-28-17.” Accessed from https://www.brighteon.com/6ae75be0-eb23-4a3f-a190-13fd95c380e3  on 5 February 2024.

Grenon, Mark.  2021. “The Depravation of Rights Under Color of Law And The Conspiracy Against Rights.” Honeycolony, December 13. Accessed from https://honeycolony.com/article/the-timeline-of-the-depravation-of-rights-under-color-of-law-and-the-conspiracy-against-rights-title-section-241-242-and-the-offenders/ on 5 February 2024.

Harrison Kelly and Thomas Zane. 2017. “Focus on science: Is there science behind that? Bleach therapy.” Science in Autism Treatment 14:18-24.

Harvey Sarah. 2020. “The Genesis II Church and Miracle Mineral Solution.” Religion Media Centre, May 1. Accessed from https://religionmediacentre.org.uk/factsheets/genesis-ii-the-non-religious-church-that-wants-you-to-drink-bleach/ on 5 February 2024.

Humble, Jim. 2017. “A Word from Jim Humble.” Jim Humble, June 27. Accessed from  https://jimhumble.co/ on 5 February 2024.

Humble, Jim. 2016. MMS Health Recovery Guidebook. Jim Humble.

Ono, David and Lisa Bartley. 2016. “’Church of Bleach’: ABC News confronts founder of Genesis II Church.” ABC7 News, October 29. Accessed from https://abc7.com/church-of-bleach-genesis-ii-2-health-and-healing/1578279/ on 5 February 2024.

Robbins, Martin 2017. “The man who encourages the sick and dying to drink industrial bleach.” The Guardian, September 15. Accessed from https://www.theguardian.com/science/2010/sep/15/miracle-mineral-solutions-mms-bleach on 5 February 2024.

Sauvayre, Romy. 2023. “Dissemination of a “Fake Miracle Cure” against COVID-19 on Twitter: The Case of Chlorine Dioxide.” Social Science. Accessed from https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/12/6/320 on 5 February 2024.

U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Florida. 2023.  Press Release “Leaders of “Genesis II Church of Health and Healing,” who sold toxic bleach as fake “Miracle” cure for COVID-19 and other serious diseases, sentenced to more than 12 years in federal prison.” United States Attorney’s Office. Friday, October 6, 2023. Accessed fromt https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdfl/pr/leaders-genesis-ii-church-health-and-healing-who-sold-toxic-bleach-fake-miracle-cure on 5 February 2024.

Publication Date:
10 February 2024

BROTHERHOOD OF ETERNAL LOVE TIMELINE

1965 (Fall):  John Griggs robbed a Hollywood producer of LSD. He used the psychedelic drug for the first time shortly thereafter.

1966 (October 11):  Brotherhood of Eternal Love registered as a church in California, with LSD used as a sacrament.

1966 (December):  Brotherhood would move to Laguna Beach after a fire burned down their church in Modjeska Canyon

1968 (December):  The United States Senate amended the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to ban LSD from use.

1968 (December 26):  Timothy Leary was arrested in Laguna Beach for marijuana possession.

1969 (August 26):  John Griggs died of what many believed to be an overdose; he was twenty-five years old.

1970 (September 12)  Leary broke out of prison, with the help of the group the Weather Underground. The Brotherhood financed most of the operation.

1970 (September 12):  President Richard Nixon signed the Controlled Substances Act into law.

1970 (December 25-28):  “The Christmas Happening” concert took place, where the Brotherhood dropped 25,000 tablets of LSD onto the crowd. It marked a more concerted effort by law enforcement to bring about the end of the Brotherhood and the counterculture.

1972 (August 5):  The Brotherhood of Eternal Love Task Force raided establishments all across the West Coast, arresting fifty-three Brotherhood members and confiscating millions of dollars-worth of contraband.

1973 (July 1):  The Drug Enforcement Administration was formed as the overarching drug control apparatus for the U.S. Government.

1973 (October 3):  A U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing, entitled “Hashish Smuggling and Passport Fraud: The Brotherhood of Eternal Love,” presented the extensive drug smuggling operation of the group. For many, this was considered the end of the Brotherhood’s group.

FOUNDER/GROUP HISTORY

The Brotherhood of Eternal Love was founded on the idea that the psychedelic drug, LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide), was a sacrament to bring people closer to God. For many of the groups’ apostles, LSD helped them gain a greater awareness of the love and wisdom inherent in the universe. The Brotherhood’s spiritual ethos, which to outsiders was nothing more than drug-infused debauchery, was rooted in the belief that traditional religions had done little to help society. In particular, the 1950s and 1960s were marked by fear, paranoia, and chaos as numerous global conflicts raged (be it the Cold War or the war in Vietnam), as well as the countless other struggles for freedom in the U.S. and parts of the decolonizing world.  Born from the the cultural and social chaos of the counter-culture movement of the 1950s and 1960s in the U.S., the Brotherhood would eventually have a monumental impact on the use of psychedelic drugs as either a form of social and cultural resistance or revival.

The Brotherhood was largely a byproduct of the life of John Griggs. Griggs was a seemingly unlikely figure to be considered the founder of a religious group proselytizing the use of LSD as a conduit for the spread of love and spiritual awakening. Growing up in southern California, Griggs was described by many as a fighter. As leader of the gang, the Blue Jackets, Griggs spent many of his teenage years patrolling Anaheim, California looking to fight, and years later, as a member of the gang, the Street Sweepers, John spent numerous marijuana-fueled evenings racing cars and terrorizing passers-by (Brotherhood of Eternal Love1 n.d.) Street-fighting and illegal drag racing had their limitations however; Griggs wanted more. It was during the mid-60s that Griggs shifted focus, and endeavored to become one of the largest marijuana dealers in southern California. Griggs, along with Eddie Padilla, another founding member of the Brotherhood, began smuggling marijuana from Mexico and selling in Anaheim. (Schou 2010)

But in 1965, John Griggs would have an awakening of sorts. Griggs, who was using marijuana and heroin heavily, had heard of a drug more powerful than both drugs: LSD. John was intrigued, and he took it upon himself to find some. Rumors spread of a Hollywood film producer who kept a large stash of acid on the top of his refrigerator. One night, a cohort and Griggs showed up at the producer’s home, and robbed him at gunpoint, only stealing the LSD. (Schou 2010) The group drove into the California desert and proceeded to take a massive dose of LSD. Almost overnight, Griggs transformed from a rough-housing street fighter and drug-peddler into a missionary of psychedelic drugs.

Contrary to popular ideas about drug use at the time, that people only used drugs to party, or for “kicks,” Griggs fascination with LSD was rooted in his belief that it led him to God. As Brotherhood member Dion Wright  wrote:

Whatever John’s religious and spiritual roots may have been, they kicked into overdrive. He came back into this plain of objectivity with a single conviction: ‘Its God! Its all God!…The bedrock realization never left him (Maguire and Ritter 2014).

Griggs religious conviction only grew with time. Not long after discovering LSD, Griggs contracted Hepatitis from his previous heroin use, and was hospitalized. Griggs claimed to have gone through a near-death experience and that LSD had helped him feel “for the first time a powerful and humbling connection to a greater life force in the universe.” (Schou 2010) Once recovered, Griggs spread the word on the gospel of acid. His transformation centered largely on the belief that through the healing powers of LSD they could create a utopian society. Only a few months after Griggs first was revealed, to what Aldous Huxley called the “doors of perception,” would he make it his life’s work to recruit any and all people to this new higher calling. (Huxley 1954)

Eddie Padilla, like many others, was converted to the gospel of LSD. Padilla lived a rebellious life, often getting into trouble with law-enforcement, but through LSD, he found meaning and purpose. Padilla regularly accompanied Griggs to Tahquitz Canyon, near Palm Springs, to drop acid. It was there that they both increasingly believed that LSD could help people struggling with drug abuse or living a life of crime. With an evangelical zeal, Griggs and Padilla worked tirelessly to expose anyone they possibly could to the drug. They soon led communal excursions into the desert to take acid, often referring to the weekly trips as “church.” Rick Bevan, a surfer from Garden Grove, fit the profile of the type of person who could benefit from “church” with Padilla and Griggs. Bevan started taking acid with them following a stint at a work camp for delinquent juveniles. Bevan’s description of the experience is indicative of why many young people in southern California were drawn to Griggs and the sacrament of LSD, and saw these trips as something much greater than themselves. As Bevan explains:

The house had all these Buddhist statues in it, and he had incense burning and was meditating. I just wanted to get drugged out…I just broke through right away, it wasn’t like discovering something about yourself for the first time, it was like remembering something that you hadn’t remembered your whole lifetime, remembering something form a previous lifetime…We were experiencing a whole new viewpoint of life that was beautiful and loving and caring of others and the whole world, we felt connected to the source of all life. We were plugging into that source on a weekly basis (Schou 2010).

The groups started to meet on Wednesdays to help those who had reverted to conventional bad habits of drinking and using drugs. As the groups grew in size many of the members started to refer to themselves as Disciples. Griggs took it upon himself to spread the gospel further, and utilized the United States loose laws regarding tax-exempt status for churches to his advantage.

On October 26, 1966, Brotherhood member Glenn Lynd filed paperwork incorporating the Brotherhood of Eternal Love as a non-profit in the state of California. The group had become a church, with Griggs their prophet, and LSD their sacrament. The objective of the church was to “bring to the world the teachings of Jesus Christ, Buddha, Ramakrishna, Babaji, Paramahansa Yoganada, Mahatma Gandhi, and all the true prophets and apostles of God, and to spread the love and wisdom of these great teachers to all men”(Lee and Shlain 1992) The timing of the Brotherhood’s incorporation, however, would have a major impact on its future, as it would put the church and its holy sacrament, at odds with California law. Fifteen days before the group filed paperwork the California state legislature banned LSD. The confluence of legal and cultural issues surrounding LSD would make it increasingly difficult for the Brotherhood to execute their divine vision for the future of the world.

Shortly after their incorporation, the Brotherhood moved to Laguna Beach, south of Los Angeles. Laguna was ideal for the Brotherhood; the beautiful beaches were popular among surfers, artisans, and a growing bohemian hippie community. They set up a store front called Mystic Arts World and sold various products that catered to the growing psychedelic subculture. It seemed that the Brotherhood and its gospel of love and LSD was gaining traction, but to grow even further, they would need legitimation of a grander sort. Griggs began to recruit of one of the most infamous counter-cultural icons of the 1960s, Timothy Leary, the High Priest of LSD. [Image at right] Leary’s role as icon of the hippie movement was more mundane and “square” in its origins; he started his career as a Harvard University psychologist who, after a series of failed marriages began to second-guessing his career, eventually compelling him to experiment with hallucinogenic mushrooms. The trip fundamentally transformed Leary’s life, describing it as “the deepest religious experience of my life.” (Lee and Shlain 1992) Leary tried to incorporate his growing belief in the power of psychedelics with his academic work, to no avail; he would be fired from Harvard for giving LSD to undergraduates. However, Leary could not be constrained by the conventions of the ivory tower, as his books, The Psychedelic Experience (1964) and Turn On, Tune In, and Drop Out (1966), and his popular phrase, “turn on, tune in, and drop out,” catapulted him to global fame (Leary 1970). By 1966, Leary, continued his psychedelic experimentation at the estate of the heirs to the Mellon fortune in Millbrook, NY, and cemented his status as one of the most important figures of the 1960s counter-cultural movement (Greenfield 2006).

John Griggs revered Leary, and believed he would provide both guidance and legitimacy to the Brotherhood’s cause. In 1966, Griggs drove cross-country to Leary’s compound in Millbrook, NY. He was granted an audience with Leary, an event that played a major role in convincing Griggs to incorporate the Brotherhood of Eternal Love as a church. Griggs seemed to make an impression on Leary and invited him to move to the west coast. Leary,  who was facing mounting law enforcement pressure in New York, would eventually move to Laguna Beach in 1966. In Laguna, Leary and his family took root, hosting psychedelic sessions and lectures at the Mystic Arts World on Leary’s popular catchphrase: “turn on, tune in, and drop out” (Greenfield 2006). [Image at right] Leary settled into his role as the spiritual guru, bringing both academic clout and a “pop-star” like presence to the west coast, and it certainly gave the Brotherhood a sense of visibility that they didn’t have before (Schou 2010). Griggs and Leary’s relationship was mutually beneficial as they worked together to hatch a plan to find a property that would help them and others to “drop out” of society, but they did have disagreements as to where.  Griggs, and much of the Brotherhood, had always envisioned buying an island utopia somewhere in the South Pacific; Leary, on the other hand, wanted to stay on the mainland. Many members of the Brotherhood believed Leary wanted to stay on the mainland to be closer to media and publicity in order to take psychedelics mainstream. Eventually, the Brotherhood used their money to buy a ranch north of Palm Springs, and named it the Idyllwild ranch. The purchasing of the ranch foreshadowed the divergent views within the Brotherhood, as it became increasingly muddled by Leary’s fame, money from the drug trade, and the ambitions to transform society (Schou 2010).

For Griggs, and the Brotherhood, who lacked the international cachet of Leary, if not notoriety, the ambition to create a new global utopia, with LSD as its sacrament, required a much more ambitious and grander plan. By late 1966, and early 1967, the Brotherhood realized that Mystic Arts World, while providing consistent income, was not enough to purchase land and supplies for their growing membership. Furthermore, the Brotherhood needed money to finance their properties at Idyllwild and Laguna, as well as their growing membership. The answer to their financial issues lay in the illicit drug trade, something with which both Griggs and Eddie Padilla had experience. Soon Mystic Arts World became a depot for illicit drug sales; members of the Brotherhood began trafficking kilos of marijuana from Mexico, or buying LSD in San Francisco, to sell in Laguna. But the big money lay beyond California. Some, like Glenn Lynd, began trafficking marijuana to New York City, moving hundreds of kilos from the Arizona-Mexico border to Manhattan (Schou 2010).

Other Brotherhood members, like David Hall, began moving drugs on a global scale. He first started trafficking weed in planes from Mexico, realizing the real money lay across the ocean. Rick Bevan and Travis Ashbrook, both avid cannabis users, became infatuated with hashish from Asia; that infatuation  proved both profitable and perilous for the Brotherhood. In late 1967, Bevan and Ashbrook flew to Munich, Germany, purchased a car, and began the long journey east to Katmandhu, Nepal, which was later known as the “Hippie Trail.” But they never made it Nepal. To make big money in the drug business, one needed to find a cheap source for the drug, and that was Afghanistan. For many hippies and drug traffickers, Afghanistan was a drug paradise as Afghanistan had some of the best, and cheapest, hashish in the world (Bradford 2019). Bevan and Ashbrook’s first trip to Kandahar, Afghanistan yielded eighty-seven pounds of hash, and tens of thousands of dollars in profit. Not long after, Laguna Beach was flooded with some of the best hash in the world, and the Brotherhood with newfound wealth (Maguire and Ritter 2014). Given its high-quality product, as well as loose enforcement of anti-drug laws, Afghanistan would become the primary source of hashish for the Brotherhood throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s (Bradford 2019).

By the summer of 1967, the hippie movement had reached an apex in California, culminating in what was known as “the Summer of Love.” More than a hundred thousand people converged on the Bay area, especially the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, embracing sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll. The growing music scene proved essential to the growing nexus of drug use and the counterculture. An example of this was in Timothy Scully, partner chemist with Nick Sand, who lived with the infamous Ken Kesey and Merry Pranksters. As detailed in Tom Wolfe’s, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, Kesey gave LSD to hundreds, if not thousands, of people in what were known as the “acid-tests.” The musical group, the Grateful Dead, became an integral part of the “Palo Alto scene” where the Pranksters resided, often combining their “wall of sound” concerts with taking LSD (Wolfe 1968). In June 1967, at the Monterey International Pop Festival, artists like the Who, Jefferson Airplane, the Byrds, Jimi Hendrix, and the Grateful Dead played to thousands of revelers and fans fueled by LSD. Naturally, most of the artists partook as well. Most of the acid was supplied by the Brotherhood. The Summer of Love, and the myriad of live concerts that followed throughout the 1960s, provided a blueprint for the Brotherhood to expand their brand; members often dressed in orange jumpsuits would pass out Orange Sunshine at concerts by the fistful (Schou 2010).

Although the hash trade was lucrative for the Brotherhood, it did not have the sentimental value of LSD, as LSD was, in many ways, the life blood of the group. Thus, the Brotherhood remained ever-entangled in the world of LSD production and distribution; this would lead the group to Nick Sand. Like Leary and members of the Brotherhood, Sand was converted to the gospel of psychedelics after a trip of mescaline in 1961, and shortly after became one of the most notorious chemists in American history, producing much of the LSD that fueled the counterculture movement in California. (Brotherhood of Eternal Love2 n.d.) In 1968, Sand, who had been producing LSD from his farmhouse in Windsor, California, first met John Griggs and Timothy Leary. The meeting between the “outlaw chemist” and two of the most prominent figures of the psychedelic movement in California, would be transformative. Sand had produced an incredibly potent type of LSD, which after using Griggs, dubbed “Orange Sunshine.” At the time, it was believed to be the most powerful LSD ever made. Sand would end up making Sunshine exclusively for the Brotherhood and the impact was monumental; within a half-year he produced nearly 3,600,000 tablets of the drug (Brotherhood of Eternal Love2 n.d.). Unlike hashish, which was the drug that would finance their movement, Orange Sunshine was the drug that was seen as instrumental to the creation of a global utopia. In turn, many in the Brotherhood gave the drug away, rather than sell it, even though some believed they could have made a fortune in the LSD business (Schou 2010). But as the counter-culture movement grew, so too did knowledge of LSD and Orange Sunshine. It wasn’t long before the Brotherhood’s most famous drug sparked the moral panic that would bring it to its end.

On August 26, 1969, John Griggs died of an apparent overdose; he was twenty-five years old. In many ways, Griggs death marked a divergence in the various forces at play within the LSD-fueled counter-culture scene in California, but especially the Brotherhood. While the profits from drug sales at Mystic Arts World and concerts helped finance Brotherhood ambitions, the money was seductive. For some members of the Brotherhood, the drug business had become more important than the mission. Moreover, the growing role of the Brotherhood in both the LSD and hashish trade was increasingly apparent to law-enforcement. For Neil Purcell, an enterprising young patrol officer in Laguna Beach in 1968, the constant influx of hedonistic and LSD-fueled hippies was driven by Leary and the Brotherhood; they then became the primary target of police. Things would come to a head on December 26, 1968, when Purcell pulled Leary over and arrested him for marijuana possession; Leary was sentenced to one to ten years in prison. Although, the arrest of Leary was a victory for law enforcement, the war between the Brotherhood and police was only beginning. On the night of September 12, 1970 Leary broke out of prison, with the help of the anti-government group the Weather Underground. The Brotherhood played a vital role in the prison break: they had launched a “Free Timothy Leary” fundraising campaign, and helped finance his escape to Canada and eventually to Algeria (Schou 2010).

During the late 1960s and early 1970s, as the Brotherhood continued to supply most of the LSD and hashish to California, and aided in the high-profile escape of Leary, police pressure increased dramatically. Many Brotherhood members, including Griggs, and the Mystic Arts World, were under constant police surveillance (Schou 2010). The threat posed by police prompted many in the Brotherhood to leave Laguna; Griggs fled to the Idyllwild ranch in 1969 (where he would later die), while others fled to Hawaii. Travis Ashbrook, along with Jack Harrington and Gordon Sexton, fled to Maui to escape the heat of law enforcement. For Ashbrook, the move to Maui presented lucrative opportunities to expand the drug business, not necessarily the opportunity to build the island utopia. Hawaii had transformed into a haven for hippies, surfers, and various vagabonds, all of whom had an insatiable appetite for marijuana. To capitalize on this large market, Ashbrook purchased a seventy-foot yacht, the Aafje, to smuggle hash from Asia and Mexico into Maui. [Image at right] From 1969-1972, Maui was indeed profitable, as many members of the Brotherhood raked in hundreds of thousands, if not millions, in illicit drug profits (Maguire and Ritter 2014).

The growing impact of drug money led to growing distrust among members of the counterculture movement, a distrust that would be amplified by the escalating war on the illicit drug trade. When Richard Nixon was elected president in 1969 he called the problem of illicit drugs “public enemy number one.” Nixon, as well as many members of Congress, believed that the counterculture and its embrace of psychedelic drugs was a significant threat to American society. The government needed a dramatic new policy approach to deal with the problem. The first shoe to drop took place on October 24, 1968; the United States Senate amended the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to ban LSD from use. Although, the LSD Act marked a new approach to the problem of the counterculture and illicit drug use, it was limited in scope. A complete transformation of how the government regulated drugs would be required. This would come in 1970 when Congress passed the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). The CSA fundamentally transformed the legal framework for regulating and prohibiting all drugs. Drugs were placed within five schedules, with schedule one drugs deemed the most harmful and therefore entirely prohibited. The law  granted the government, and in turn law enforcement agencies, sweeping powers to regulate legal and, in this case, illegal commerce.  By the time the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) was created in 1973 as the umbrella organization for all drug regulation, the “war on drugs” was fully underway (Frydl 2013). The counterculture, especially the Brotherhood of Eternal Love, would soon be squarely in the crosshairs of the emboldened American government.

Law enforcement agencies, frustrated by their inability to stop the Brotherhood’s role in the illicit drug trade, created the Brotherhood of Eternal Love Task Force, a collaboration between local, state, and federal law enforcement. After years of playing cat-and-mouse with Brotherhood members, the task force scored a major victory on August 5, 1972 when police raided houses in Hawaii, Oregon, northern California, and Laguna Beach. Fifty-three people were arrested that day, and the police confiscated nearly two and one half tons of hash, thirty gallons of hash oil, and 1,500,000 tablets of Orange Sunshine (Schou 2010). The operation continued through the following year. Twenty-six members of the Brotherhood, or those affiliated with its smuggling operation, were targeted by police. [Image at right] Possibly the biggest catch, Timothy Leary, was captured in Kabul, Afghanistan, and flown back to Los Angeles. He was charged with escaping prison, along with various other drug charges. The police raid, and the revelations of the depths of the drug trafficking operations, no doubt captured the media’s attention, with Rolling Stone magazine dubbing the group “the Hippie Mafia.” By October 3, 1973, the U.S. government all but celebrated its victory over the Brotherhood. That day, a subcommittee hearing, entitled “Hashish Smuggling and Passport Fraud: The Brotherhood of Eternal Love,” highlighted the extensive drug smuggling operation of the group. DEA supervisor Job Sinclair told Congress:

To date, the Brotherhood investigation has resulted in the arrest of over 100 individuals, including Dr. Timothy Leary who is currently serving 15 years in Folsom Prison. Four LSD laboratories have been seized, along with over 1 million ‘Orange Sunshine’ LSD tablets, and LSD powder in excess of 3,500 grams, capable of producing over 14 million dosage units of the drug…A total of six hashish oil laboratories were seized, along with over 30 gallons of hashish oil and approximately 6,000 pounds of solid hashish” (Schou 2010).

The victory lap was considered the first major victory in the governments “war on drugs.” Yet, for many in the Brotherhood, the victory was pyrrhic. Brotherhood member, Robert Ackerly, who served a brief stint in prison, and was released in the early 1970s, went on to become a major cocaine dealer. In fact, many in the Brotherhood, received relatively light sentences considering the quantities of drugs sold.  Some believed that the U.S. government was “thankful” for them, as it gave the government an enemy to justify the passing of the Controlled Substances Act and to create the DEA.

While the government’s war against the Brotherhood certainly marked the end of the Brotherhood of Eternal Love, many of the Disciples found its downfall to be more a consequence of the death of Griggs, or the pursuit of fame and money, than of the police. For example, when Griggs died in August 1969, numerous disciples abandoned the cause. To Robert Ackerly, “John was the Brotherhood,” and his death meant the loss of the movement’s prophet (Schou 2010). Moreover, the ambition to create a global utopia, with LSD as a sacrament, was ultimately lost to the allure of wealth, and fame. These enveloped many members of the Brotherhood and its association with various counterculture figures, most notably Timothy Leary. When Griggs opted to buy the Idyllwild ranch, rather than buy an island utopia, many believed that marked a turning point for the group, for the ranch and Leary would become a magnet for publicity and police scrutiny. Indeed, Leary’s public advocacy for psychedelic drug use, as well as his thirst for fame and fortune, garnered him a public notoriety and scrutiny from police that harkened back to the days of Lucky Luciano (Valentine 2004). Fittingly, one of the last members of the Brotherhood to evade police, Brenice Lee Smith, provides the most clarity about the downfall of the group. Smith, who fled to Nepal in 1981, married a Nepalese girl, and became a Buddhist monk. Heremarked four decades later (after serving a brief stint in jail in the U.S. for his role in the Brotherhood) that it was greed and paranoia that led to the Brotherhood’s demise. The Brotherhood of Eternal Love “wanted people to be happy and free and not like what society conditioned you to want to be….we loved everyone and wanted everyone to find love and happiness. We wanted to change the world in five years, but in five years, it changed us. It was an illusion” (Schou 2010). That illusion, just like an acid trip, had to end.

DOCTRINES/BELIEFS

When Aldous Huxley first used the psychedelic mescaline, he described it as being

shaken out of the ruts of ordinary perception, to be shown for a few timeless hours the outer and the inner world, not as they appear to an animal obsessed with survival or to a human being obsessed with words and notions, but as they are apprehended, directly and unconditionally, by Mind at Large—this is an experience of inestimable value to everyone (Huxley 1954)

What Huxley described in Doors of Perception was an experience in which people were cast off from the ordinary and mundane features of their life, and thrust into a world whereby the individual was part of something greater, if not extraordinary.

For John Griggs, the de facto leader of the Brotherhood of Eternal Love, the use of LSD was instrumental in his spiritual awakening. Prior to his use of LSD, Griggs lived a life of crime; he used heroin, picked fights, and robbed people at gunpoint. But after a near-death hospitalization for Hepatitis C, and subsequent trip on LSD, he was fundamentally transformed. As friend of Griggs, Chuck Mundell described, “Something happened to John in that hospital…he asked me to come to the hospital and take Christ in my heart with him.” For Griggs, LSD was the living incarnation of God, and it had the power to not only heal an individual but also to heal society. It was through this revelation that Griggs became an evangelist for LSD, believing that it could help create a global utopian society, built on love and happiness, and without war, pain, and trauma (Schou 2010).

When the Brotherhood of Eternal Love was incorporated as a church in 1966, it provided the sense of legitimacy that would help Griggs spread the gospel of LSD. Contrary to his friend and colleague, Timothy Leary, who coined the phrase, “turn on, tune in, and drop out,” at least for Griggs, the various illicit enterprises the Brotherhood engaged in, be it marijuana and hashish trafficking, or LSD manufacture and distribution, were done with the intent to finance and spread the gospel of LSD.

RITUALS/PRACTICES

Central to Brotherhood of Eternal Love rituals was the use of LSD. According to Glenn Lynd, who filed the incorporation of the Brotherhood as church, the Brotherhood, and LSD, would help

bring to the world the teachings of Jesus Christ, Buddha, Ramakrishna, Babaji, Paramahansa Yoganada, Mahatma Gandhi, and all the true prophets and apostles of God, and to spread the love and wisdom of these great teachers to all men (Lee and Shlain 1992).

When people arrived the Mystic Arts World, or the Idyllwild ranch, LSD trips were conducted in a way to amplify the spiritual aspects of the LSD journey. Incense was often burned, and houses or teepees were decorated ornately with statues of famous religious figures. The aim was to use LSD with the intent of spiritual growth, to meditate rather than to party.

ORGANIZATION/LEADERSHIP

Although the Brotherhood was non-hierarchical in nature, like many other counterculture groups of the 1960s, they were still centered around their inspirational leader, John Griggs. [Image at right] Griggs’ life was dramatically transformed by the use of LSD; it inspired him to abandon a life of crime to pursue a more spiritual life. Griggs became an evangelist for LSD; he believed it would bring people to closer to God, and that it could ultimately help create a global utopia. Griggs would try to recruit everyone possible to the cause.

Those that would follow Griggs (Eddie Padilla, Robert Ackerly, Chuck Mundell, Dion Wright, Rick Bevan and others) all shared similar stories of transformation to Griggs. Many had lived lives using hard-drugs, committing crime, or lacked general purpose. It was Griggs who showed them the light. It was his zeal for LSD as a conduit for spiritual enlightenment that seemed to convince many others to follow. As more people were drawn to Griggs, and moved to Laguna beach, or the Idyllwild ranch, to participate in the daily or weekly LSD rituals, they began to refer to themselves as the Disciples. The Disciples conversion to the Brotherhood was often compelled by their own revelatory experiences with LSD. Many claimed it healed them of trauma, others of their addiction, and even one claiming it cured a stutter (Schou 2010).

When it came to the Brotherhood’s illicit drug businesses, Griggs was the leader in terms of scheme and purpose; however, they remained relatively non-hierarchical in practice. For example, Griggs was instrumental in putting the sprawling global hash-smuggling operation into motion. However, Griggs was rarely involved in the drug business directly. Rather, it was the Disciples who would be instrumental in conducting the drug business. In fact, for law enforcement part of the challenge of prosecuting the Brotherhood for their illegal drug trafficking operation was that there was no clear leader of the drug business. The lack of clear leader meant that they could never pinpoint precisely the figurehead of the scheme; this partially explains the relatively short sentences served by many of the Brotherhood (Maguire and Ritter 2014).

ISSUES/CHALLENGES

By the late 1960s, LSD had emerged as “every mother’s worst nightmare” (Valentine 2004) For conservative Americans, LSD use was indicative of the growing hedonism and declining moral standards of the country. This association with the counterculture movement eventually compelled state and federal authorities to pass laws to criminalize the use of LSD. But it was the Brotherhood’s various other illicit activities that contributed to their demise.

John Griggs grandiose plans, such as buying an island to create an LSD-fueled utopian society, required major financing; the answer lay in marijuana. By the late 1960s, marijuana was ubiquitous with counterculture and social rebellion. As a result, the demand for marijuana exploded (Dufton 2017). From 1966 to 1972, members of the Brotherhood trafficked ever-increasing quantities of marijuana and hashish from Afghanistan and Mexico to feed the insatiable American appetite. The funds from the marijuana and hashish business helped finance the production and distribution of LSD. Over time, as marijuana and hashish flooded southern California, along with copious amounts of LSD, law enforcement took notice. Laguna Beach police officer Neil Purcell, spent years trying to implicate both Griggs and Leary in a conspiracy to traffic illicit drugs, and more often than not, instead busted hippies and surfers.  The leader of the nefarious drug trade flooding California’s shores remained elusive (Schou 2010).

On Christmas day, 1970 things would change. The “Christmas Happening” as it was called, was a three-day festival in Laguna Canyon, which was supposed to feature some of the biggest musical acts in the world, such as Bob Dylan and George Harrison. Although, none of the big musical acts showed up, except for Jimi Hendrix drummer Buddy Miles, the festival carried on. During one of the acts, a member of the Brotherhood flew a plane over the crowd, and police, and dropped 25,000 tablets of LSD (Ramm 2017). The audacious act embodied the chaos of the event: food ran out, people had no access to sanitation, and three people even gave birth. Ultimately, the “Christmas Happening” pushed local authorities to the limit. This marked the beginning of a concerted effort on the part of Laguna Beach, California and federal officials to root out the problem that was the Brotherhood. In particular, Purcell and fellow officer Bob Romaine, were able to convince officials of the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (the predecessor to the DEA) that the Brotherhood was more than just innocuous hippies growing vegetables in their commune, but rather the largest drug trafficking organization in the United States. The coordinated effort to bring down the Brotherhood, called Operation BEL, would eventually bring the group to its end in August 1972 following nearly two years of consistent police surveillance (Schou 2010).

Although, the Brotherhood’s role in the growth of the illicit drug trade in California played a major role in its downfall, so too did its affiliation with one of the most infamous figures of the period, Timothy Leary.  Leary believed he was the modern messiah, “the wisest man in the 20^th Century” (Ramm 2017). Initially, Leary’s presence among the Brotherhood was welcomed. As a college professor, and from an older generation, he legitimized the actions of the Brotherhood by reinforcing the idea that what they were doing (while appearing outlandish to mainstream conservative American society) was indeed the right thing to do (Schou 2010). But Leary was also one of the most visible figures of the counterculture movement, appearing on television shows, testifying in front of Congress, and meeting rockstars. As he became increasingly entrenched in the Laguna scene, with the Brotherhood at his side, their popularity began to corrupt members of the group. While, many Brotherhood members joined the group to live a simple, and pure spiritual life, they soon found that with their newfound fame, and wealth, they became local celebrities. As Travis Ashbrook stated: “if you were part of the Brotherhood? My god, you might as well be Mick Jagger” (Schou 2010). When combined with their outsized role in the illicit drug trade, it is not all too surprising that the fame, fortune, as well as constant infidelity proved to disenchant many members of the group who truly believed in the spiritual mission of the Brotherhood. In essence, over time money proved to be a more powerful force than God, a story that seems all too familiar.

IMAGES

Image #1: Timothy Leary.
Image #2: Mystic Arts World store front @1967.
Image #3: The seventy-foot yacht, the Aafje, used to smuggle hash from Asia and Mexico into Maui.
Image #4: Wanted poster of Brotherhood members and affiliates in the drug smuggling operations.
Image #5: John Griggs with his children.

REFERENCES

Bradford, James. 2019. Poppies, Politics, and Power: Afghanistan and the Global History of Drugs and Diplomacy in the 20^th Century. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

Brotherhood of Eternal Love1. n.d. “Events.” Accessed from https://belhistory.weebly.com/events.html on 26 January 2024.

Brotherhood of Eternal Love2. n.d. “History.” Accessed from https://belhistory.weebly.com/bel-files.html on 26 January 2024.

Dufton, Emily. 2017. Grass Roots: The Rise and Fall and Rise of Marijuana in America. New York, NY; Basic Books.

Frydl, Kathleen. 2013. The Drug Wars in America 1940-1973. Cambridge, UK; Camrbidge University Press.

Greenfield, Robert. 2006. Timothy Leary: A Biography. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin.

Huxley, Aldous. 1954. The Doors of Perception. London, UK: Harper & Row.

Leary, Timothy. 1970. The Politics of Ecstasy. London, UK: Granada.

Lee, Martin A. and Bruce Shlain. 1992. Acid Dreams: The Complete Social History of LSD: the CIA, the Sixties, and Beyond. New York, NY: Grove Point.

Maguire, Peter and Mike Ritter. 2014. Thai Stick: Surfers, Scammer, and the Untold Story of the Marijuana Trade. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.

Ramm, Benjamin. 2017. “The LSD Cult That Transformed America.” BBC, January 12. Accessed from https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20170112-the-lsd-cult-that-terrified-america on 25 January 2024.

Schou, Nicholas. 2010. Orange Sunshine: The Brotherhood of Eternal Love and Its Quest to Spread Peace, Love, and Acid to the World. New York, NY: Thomas Dunne Books.

Valentine, Douglas. 2004. The Strength of the Wolf: The Secret History of the America’s War on Drugs. London, UK: Verso.

Wolfe, Thomas. 1968. The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. New York, NY: Farrar Straus Giroud.

Publication Date:
30 January 2024