Terry Taylor's life after Thee Satanic Church

I've posted a few times before regarding local figure Terry Taylor, who was behind the local Satanic organization Thee Satanic Church during the 1970s (also known as The Orthodox Satanic Church, and Thee Orthodox Satanic Church of the Nethilim Rite).  Taylor also ran the esoteric bookstore House of the Occult.  After splitting with his partner in the church, Dr. Evelyn Paglini, Taylor seemed to have disappeared. 

I'd searched for information on Taylor regularly and never had any luck until finding his obituary this week.  It looks as though Taylor passed away in 2009.  He turned from Satanism in the late 1970s and moved on to hypnosis, spiritual psychology and past life regression.

Terry Taylor of Schaumburg A memorial service for Terry Taylor, 64, will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, at Willow Creek Community Church, 67 E. Algonquin Road, Barrington. Cremation was private for the family at the Countryside Crematory. Born Oct. 3, 1944, the son of Walter and Hazel (nee Dennis), he died Sunday, Aug. 30, 2009, in Schaumburg. Terry owned Spiritual Awakening Center, where he helped to change many lives. Survivors include his former wife, Janice; children, Suzie (Andrew) Hofer, Myles and Brittany; grandchildren, Jessie and Justin; sister, Pamela; and several nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents. - See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/dailyherald/obituary.aspx?n=terry-taylor&pid=132908914#sthash.5V9TM3LL.dpuf

Terry Taylor of Schaumburg A memorial service for Terry Taylor, 64, will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, at Willow Creek Community Church, 67 E. Algonquin Road, Barrington. Cremation was private for the family at the Countryside Crematory. Born Oct. 3, 1944, the son of Walter and Hazel (nee Dennis), he died Sunday, Aug. 30, 2009, in Schaumburg. Terry owned Spiritual Awakening Center, where he helped to change many lives. Survivors include his former wife, Janice; children, Suzie (Andrew) Hofer, Myles and Brittany; grandchildren, Jessie and Justin; sister, Pamela; and several nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents. For information, 630-529-5751 or www.countrysidefuneralhomes.com. - See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/dailyherald/obituary.aspx?n=terry-taylor&pid=132908914#sthash.5V9TM3LL.dpuf

Terry Taylor of Schaumburg A memorial service for Terry Taylor, 64, will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, at Willow Creek Community Church, 67 E. Algonquin Road, Barrington. Cremation was private for the family at the Countryside Crematory. Born Oct. 3, 1944, the son of Walter and Hazel (nee Dennis), he died Sunday, Aug. 30, 2009, in Schaumburg. Terry owned Spiritual Awakening Center, where he helped to change many lives. Survivors include his former wife, Janice; children, Suzie (Andrew) Hofer, Myles and Brittany; grandchildren, Jessie and Justin; sister, Pamela; and several nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents. For information, 630-529-5751 or www.countrysidefuneralhomes.com. - See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/dailyherald/obituary.aspx?n=terry-taylor&pid=132908914#sthash.5V9TM3LL.dpuf

Terry Taylor's Obituary

Terry Taylor, 64, of Schaumburg died Sunday, August 30, 2009 in Schaumburg. Born October 3, 1944. He was the son of Walter and Hazel, nee Dennis. Terry owned Spiritual Awakening Center where he helped to change many lives.

Survivors include former wife Janice; children Suzie (Andrew) Hofer, Myles and Brittany; grandchildren Jessie and Justin; sister Pamela and several nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents.

A memorial service will be Friday, September 18, 2009 at 11 a.m. at Willow Creek, 67 E Algonquin Rd, Barrington. Cremation was private for the family at the Countryside Crematory.

erry Taylor of Schaumburg A memorial service for Terry Taylor, 64, will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, at Willow Creek Community Church, 67 E. Algonquin Road, Barrington. Cremation was private for the family at the Countryside Crematory. Born Oct. 3, 1944, the son of Walter and Hazel (nee Dennis), he died Sunday, Aug. 30, 2009, in Schaumburg. Terry owned Spiritual Awakening Center, where he helped to change many lives. Survivors include his former wife, Janice; children, Suzie (Andrew) Hofer, Myles and Brittany; grandchildren, Jessie and Justin; sister, Pamela; and several nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents. - See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/dailyherald/obituary.aspx?n=terry-taylor&pid=132908914#sthash.ZxptxWhD.dpuf

After learning this, it was much easier to learn of Taylor's activities over the years.  Some of his writing can be found online, including an essay on the Spirit of Ma'at website:  What is Ascension? The Pathway To Your Next Consciousness

Terry Taylor of Schaumburg A memorial service for Terry Taylor, 64, will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, at Willow Creek Community Church, 67 E. Algonquin Road, Barrington. Cremation was private for the family at the Countryside Crematory. Born Oct. 3, 1944, the son of Walter and Hazel (nee Dennis), he died Sunday, Aug. 30, 2009, in Schaumburg. Terry owned Spiritual Awakening Center, where he helped to change many lives. Survivors include his former wife, Janice; children, Suzie (Andrew) Hofer, Myles and Brittany; grandchildren, Jessie and Justin; sister, Pamela; and several nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents. For information, 630-529-5751 or www.countrysidefuneralhomes.com. - See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/dailyherald/obituary.aspx?n=terry-taylor&pid=132908914#sthash.5V9TM3LL.dpuf

Terry Taylor of Schaumburg A memorial service for Terry Taylor, 64, will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, at Willow Creek Community Church, 67 E. Algonquin Road, Barrington. Cremation was private for the family at the Countryside Crematory. Born Oct. 3, 1944, the son of Walter and Hazel (nee Dennis), he died Sunday, Aug. 30, 2009, in Schaumburg. Terry owned Spiritual Awakening Center, where he helped to change many lives. Survivors include his former wife, Janice; children, Suzie (Andrew) Hofer, Myles and Brittany; grandchildren, Jessie and Justin; sister, Pamela; and several nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents. For information, 630-529-5751 or www.countrysidefuneralhomes.com. - See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/dailyherald/obituary.aspx?n=terry-taylor&pid=132908914#sthash.5V9TM3LL.dpuf

Terry Taylor's biograpy read:
Terry has worked in the Spiritual Community for 35 years, owning two metaphysical Bookstores and the School of Advanced Esoteric Studies. Degreed in Clinical Psychology, he has operated within a private and group practice since 1975. His residencies consist of Madden Mental Health Center, Phobicare Group Practice, Garret's Wellness Center, Mel Doerr's Health and Holistic Center and now the Spiritual Awakening Center. Terry Taylor's practice is an integration of psychotherapy, clinical hypnosis and spiritual psychology leading towards your ascension into your next level of consciousness. He can be reached at: TerryTaylor@Ameritech.net, www.SpiritualAwakeningCenter.com.

While the Spiritual Awakening Center website is no longer active, it is archived on the archive.org site.  Many PDFs of his writing can be found in the archive of the Spiritual Awakening Center's "Archives" page: 

https://web.archive.org/web/20080702223438/http://www.spiritualawakeningcenter.com/archives.html

While Taylor publicly moved away from Satanism during his later years, that doesn't mean that he avoided controversy.  One exposé on CBS2, as archived on the website "Cult Education Institute" is particularly damning. 


Critics also worry that Taylor's technique could result in false memories being implanted in the minds of his clients -- like those who now believe they had relatives in a past life who sexually abused them.
"The danger is that they believe these things and they may carry some of these feelings into the current life," says Stephen Kahn.
Taylor says he's qualified to handle possible dangers telling potential clients, "You have to make sure you are with a hypnotist who knows how to work with that. Remember I am also a psychologist too."
But he's not. Taylor only has a Master's degree in psychology -- but no Doctorate degree and no state license. Both are required for Taylor to legally call himself a psychologist.
"I'm told you can't say that," Zekman says.
"No probably not," he replies.
In brochures, Taylor calls himself a transformational psychotherapist.
"Is that a name you made up?" asks Zekman.
"Yes, yes. That's the name I put out there to show what I'm doing," says Taylor.

Like many other Chicago occultists (such as L.W. de Laurence) Terry Taylor seems to have walked the line between being an influential leader and shameless huckster.  As always, I would love to have more information about Terry Taylor, to learn more of his work.

Another location related to the Process

In going through previous posts, it occurred to me that I had accidentally omitted one location that had previously been home to the Process.  The previous post regarding the presence of the Process in Chicago is located here.

Located just down the block from the other locations associated with the Process and related groups, this Deming street home (associated with the Process in 1976) is yet another beautiful home in another affluent area.

Satanism in the Suburbs: Exploring previous locations of Thee Satanic Church

Terry Taylor's Thee Satanic Church operated in and around Chicago in between 1971 and 1974, under a variety of incarnations including The Orthodox Satanic Church, and Thee Orthodox Satanic Church of the Nethilim Rite.  Previously I've posted an introduction with newspaper articles (including the involvement of Dr. Evelyn Paglini), and a magazine advertisement for the organization.  Thee Satanic Church was operated in conjunction with Taylor's bookstore, House of Occult (not to be confused with the Occult Bookstore, as many books and websites erroneously report).

I was curious as to the locations that these entities inhabited, and made a trek to the various houses and storefronts that used to house this local Satanic group.  One of the more interesting aspects was the incredibly quaint suburban surroundings where Taylor, Paglini & company continued to place their diabolical organizations.

This Edgewater building was listed as the home of Terry Taylor's bookstore, House of the Occult, in 1972.  Advertisements for the bookstore featured a design that included the logo of Taylor's

 This Oak Park residence was home to Thee Satanic Church, according to various advertisements and other sources around 1974.

This western Chicago ice cream shop sits on the 1974 location of Taylor's House of Occult bookshop.

This is the location in Melrose Park, listed in various sources as late as 1976 as being home to both Thee Satanic Church and the International Psychic Center (the organization which Paglini directed Thee Satanic Church into after the split with Taylor - some sources make this sound like an offshoot, some consider Thee Satanic Church to be a rival organization to Taylor's).

Dr. Evelyn Paglini, just a few years after her split from Taylor, on television advising regarding the "Curse of the Evil Devil Stone."


Dr. Evelyn Paglini has remained in the public eye, but I can find no trace of Taylor.  If anyone has any further information, it would be greatly appreciated!

Sabaen Order photograph

Without a doubt, the most popular subject here on Occult Chicago is the Sabean Religious Order. 

I've recently come across some more information about Odun Arechaga and the Sabaens, and a few people have emailed me with their personal involvement with the group.  I'll share some of this once I have a chance, but for now enjoy this photograph.

Advertisement for Thee Satanic Chuch, 1974

I recently came across this 1974 advertisement for Thee Satanic Church.

Not to be confused with the Church of Satan, Thee Satanic Church (at various times / incarnations known as Thee Satanic Orthodox Church of Nethilim Rite, among other things) was run locally by Terry Taylor.

For more information, see the previous post about Terry Taylor and Satanism in Chicago.

Does anyone know if Terry Taylor is still around? 

Ordo Adeptorum Invisiblum

While the Ordo Adeptorum Invisiblum was originally founded in England in 1979, their United States headquarters were established in Chicago in 1981.

From what I can determine, the OAI practiced a form of feminist Thelema.

The OAI also adopts feminist principles and practices—not the anti-male separatist variety—but in its non-sexist androgynous philosophy. Women are not the vehicle of a male seed, a male High Priest. They are magickal people in their own right. The history of female magickal energy is far older than that of the male, but it has been overshadowed by the masculine principle. The OAI seeks to rectify this by balancing the imbalance through women seeking to rediscover and reassert themselves, while male members minimize as far as possible their aggressiveness and dominance. In turn, this will lead to a more directly  visible equality and non-hierarchical structure within the group and in rituals.


The OAI teachings followed Aleister Crowley, Jack Parsons and an Ohio woman known as Nema, following a Maatian Current. 

From Western Esoteric Family III: Magick:

The Ordo Adeptorum Invisiblum (OAI) is a British-based thelemicist order aligned
to the Maatian magical “current.” It grew out of the proclamation of the magical
Aeon of Ma (or Maat) proclaimed in 1948 by Frater Achad (Charles Stansfeld
Jones). Maat is the ancient Egyptian goddess of Truth and Justice. The order looks
toward a planetary manifestation of the presence of Maat, whose coming has been
heralded by three twentieth-century trends: the great liberation movements lead-
ing to the recognition of human rights; the attempts to balance male-dominated
Western magic; and the nonelitist androgynous approach to magic practiced by
Maatian groups. In recognition of their acceptance of feminist liberation concerns
and the nonsexist nature of their magical workings, members of the OAI have
dropped the use of common designations of male and female members as frater
and soror in favor of the single designation persona.
 
The OAI began in England in 1979 in the informal workings of three Thelemic
magicians (two women and one man). In 1980 they made a formal alignment to
the Aeon of Maat and thus the OAI came into existence. At the end of the year, the
three original members separated. One went to Fez, Morocco, and the following
year, one came to Chicago, where the first members of the OAI were received.
 
The order has developed as a very loose confederation of otherwise independ-
ent magicians pursuing their own magical experiments in alignment to the
Maatian Aeon. Periodically, members will gather for group rituals. New initiates are
received after their successful performance of Liber Samekh He, a revised version of
Liber Samekh, a Thelemic ritual designed to promote conversation with one’s Holy
Guardian Angel (higher self). The order is nonhierarchical. Leadership can be exer-
cised by any member and teaching is a matter of sharing the results of individual
ritual workings with the larger membership. All members have access to all mate-
rials possessed by the order.
 
Membership: In 1985 members of the order, reported to number less than 100,
could be found in England, the Chicago metropolitan area, and California.
 



While their history and manifesto is easily found online as a PDF, their many other writings are much more difficult to find.  I've yet to find a listing for their Chicago headquarters, or any other information for that matter.  As always, those with information are encouraged to make contact.

Terry Taylor and Satanism in Chicago during the 1970s

In 1966, Anton LaVey founded the Church of Satan in San Francisco.  He would publish the Satanic Bible in 1969.  CoS "grottoes" would pop up across the country, though oddly enough it appears that there was not one in Chicago.  Instead Chicago had Terry Taylor.  To introduce Taylor, I'll quote from Arthur Lyon's sensationalistic-yet-level-headed 1988 book Satan Wants You.

"The Orthodox Satanic Church, in existence from 1971 to 1974 in Chicago, which at its height claimed more than five hundred members, taught a similar system of beliefs (to The Lady of Endor Coven, located in Ohio).  The group's anti-LaVey philosophy taught that God the Creator created Satan, who, in turn, became the teacher of all knowledge.  Through ritual, prayer, and songs, held every Saturday night at Chicago's Occult Book Shop (*), members were exhorted to absorb as much of Satan's wisdom as they could.

"In 1974, this group broke up after its leader, Terry Taylor, owner of the Occult Book Shop(*) was taken to court by his ex-wife to keep him from bringing his daughter to the cult's rituals.  Taylor, she claimed, not only drove the girl to the shop in a hearse but also slept in a coffin.  A splinter sect, Thee Satanic Church, was started by Dr. Evelyn Paglini, of the International Psychic Center, but it folded shortly thereafter."

Taylor's store was actually called House of the Occult, located near Belmont and Central Avenue.  He did not own the Occult Bookstore.

Despite only having been in existence for a few years, Taylor seems to have gotten quite a lot of press.  I've found very little regarding his beliefs, or anything incredibly specific regarding The Orthodox Satanic Church (which at one point was known as Thee Satanic Orthodox Church of Nethilim Rite).  Still, his name shows up in quite a few publications.

Below is the beginning of an interview with Brad Steiger:
"We've had our windows at the House of Occult smashed six times in the last six months," he said.  "Salt has been dumped in our gas tanks.  We've been threatened twice with a gun.  Someone set street gangs on us.  We wrote to the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., and now we have police protection."

Despite the fact that Taylor is regularly described as being a Theistic Satanist (and at least one local organization claims to be following in this lineage), Taylor has this to say:
"...(W)e just do not believe that there is a devil.  There is an active and a passive section in our minds, but neither is necessarily good or evil, plus or minus."

Chicago Tribune - March 8, 1974.

"They think I'm in league with the devil and have an 'in' with him," he said.  But Taylor neither believes in the devil - "a Christian invention" - nor performs exorcisms.

Chicago Tribune - March 26, 1974

http://newspaperarchive.com/singleviewer.aspx?pdfid=76797676

Anyone with more information about Taylor and associated organizations is encouraged to make contact. 

Psychics - card found in local 2nd hand book

The person who owned this book previously seems to have been taking notes regarding some local readers, most likely in the late 1970s.  Kimchen was a local palm reader. 

Process Church of the Final Judgement in Chicago

Much has been written about the Process Church of the Final Judgement.  Most notably as of late, Feral House has published a book on the Process, "Love Sex Fear Death," along with reprinting their themed magazines.

In short, Mary Anne and Robert De Grimston met in London through the Church of Scientology, which they split from rather quickly.  In 1965/66 the Process began in earnest, having chapters in many cities around the world.  They attracted a good deal of controversy for their belief system, which involved a "worldview that accepted Lucifer, Jehovah, Satan and Christ as partners in a larger godhead." (Quote courtesy the Gnostic Liberation Front, whose information regarding the Process is quite extensive)  Some referred to them as Satanic, some as a cult.  It was alleged at one point that Charles Manson was a member, though this was found to be untrue.  

This image from the "Death" issue of the Process magazine, blatantly stolen from Gnostic Liberation Front.

 

I've found three locations in Chicago which somehow related to the Process in the 1970s.  According to Feral House, the Chicago Chapter was founded in 1970.  As a testament to the prevalence of Processians in Chicago during this time period, I happened upon an article in a friend's zine collection which described how the black-caped Processians would be seen around town, spreading the word (if I can track this article down again, I'll post it here).  Another mention of both their capes and their magazines made its way into the Chicago Tribune, August 11 1974.

In 1972 the Process was operating out of a home on W. Deming place, only a couple of blocks from the Sabaean Order of Amn and El-Sabarum Occult Store which was in operation at the same time (I'm not posting the full address as I believe it is someone's residence now).  At this location they held weekly meetings open to the public on Fridays, from 9 to 10 pm. 

After this, the exact timeline of Chicago residences gets a bit hazy. 

Feral House states that the Chicago chapter was founded on Wells Street. I have an address for the Foundation Church of the Millenium (a later variant of the Process after a schism erupted when Mary Anne and Robert DeGrimston separated) in 1976 at 1529 N Wells St. This location is now home to a Subway sandwich shop.

At some point the local chapter of the Process was located a mile away from the Wells location, on Burling Street.  This is a 1892 square foot home built in 1869.  This area of town is very affluent now, though I've seen some mention of it being "slums" at one point.  There is a mansion across the way, but I found that it wasn't built until 2001.

A quick Internet search finds a poster going by the name of "stubby" on a Chuck Palahniuk message board who says that he was a member of the Process for three years in Chicago.  He says that the chapter house was on Deming and the Process's coffee house was in Old Town, which I assume to be the Wells location.  The fact that the Process was potentially operating out of two locations simultaneously in the city says something about their size.

I'm posting another article about the Process below, though it is only related by a single woman who murdered a man.  The woman in question appears to have joined (or claimed to have joined) every occult organization possible in Chicago, and the local community speaks out.  Chicago Tribune, February 4th 1981.

Sabaean Religious Order

One of the main reasons why I started this blog in the first place is my desire to learn more.  Not only is this motivation for me to document the things that I've learned about the city (and share them with others), but by being public people might contact me so that we can share knowledge.  This has started to happen, and I can't be happier.

A reader by the name of John Christensen wrote last week, asking if I knew much about the Sabaean Religious Order, which he remembered from quite a few years ago.  I'd heard of them, having a couple of older addresses and a few kernels of information, but not much more.  John did some research of his own and sent it my way.  So we have him to thank for the majority of the information which follows.

The Sabaean Religious Order was started by Frederic "Odun" De Arechaga, whose family originated in Spain.  He took over his mother's occult supply shop,  El Sabarum.  I've found 3 different addresses for either El Sabarum or Arechaga's Sabaean Order of Amn over the years:

At some point the Sabaean Order was located at 3221 Sheffield. 

Sabarum Occult Store
2553 N Halsted
This location was documented in 1974

I don't know what the building on this location used to look like.  This eyesore of a hardware store was put in its place in 1990.

Sabaean Order of Amn and El-Sabarum Occult Store
2447 N Halsted
Both operated in this location, documented in both 1970 and 1976

This is now the location of the Tonic Room.  I wonder if they know the history of the building that they are located in.

Arechaga's beliefs appear to draw largely from Egyptian beliefs and symbolism, amalgamated with Babylonian, Sumerian and African schools of thought.  He used the word "Sabaean" rather than "Pagan," which he saw as having negative connotations.  

Arechega is interviewed as a part of this article from the Chicago Tribune, July 26 1970.

From the "Sunday's Best" television listings in the Chicago Tribune. Sunday June 17, 1972.  Chicago had a television program called "News of the Psychic World?"

The Sabaean website is no longer operational, though you can access some archived pages through Archive.org.  Here is one example. 

A bit of Arechaga's history can be gleaned from this 1961 article, which mentions his designing of a cafe, the Alhambra, for the jazz musician Ahmad Jamal.

This article from 1974 discusses the occult revival of the time, interviewing Arechaga.  Unfortunately I had an issue saving the rest of the article.  I will post it soon, as it involves an interview with Terry Taylor, who was behind a couple of local theistic Satanic organizations and occult stores in the 1970s.  I doubt that Arechaga appreciated the connection.

This article in the "Walking Tour" section of the Chicago Tribune from 1969 discussed the El Sabarum shop in context with the neighborhood and shows an image of the front of the store.

In 2009, Marassa / Alafia started a SABAEA blog.  In this post they discuss much of the history and philosophy of the group.  In the comments on this post, it is revealed that Odun passed away on January 13, 2011.

I'm sure that there are some readers here who remember Arechaga and this organization, if they weren't a part of it themselves.  Please feel free to make contact and help fill in the blanks!

College of Occult Studies

 

from The Circle Classifieds, May 19, 1971

I've only been able to find minimal information regarding the College of Occult Studies.  The most that I currently know is this:  it was around in the late 1960s and early 1970s and was located at 410 S Michigan Avenue, later to relocate to 505 N Michigan. 

Does anyone else have more information?