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.

Sabaean Religious Order update

Luckily for us, a reader named Esu Miwa responded to a previous post, letting us know that the Sabaean Religious Order is still thriving.


Hi, as a member of the Sabaean Religious order for the last 15+ years, the Temple off the Belmont Elevated has been closed and turned into condos, the lions tho, from the temple are still in front of the building.

Sadly, Odun has past away, however his 200+ god-children, I being one of them, still practice and guide the Sabaen religion.

The rumors of human sacrifice are greatly exagerated......

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.

El Sabarum update - Yes, the Tonic Room knows

In my previous post regarding Frederic Odun Arechaga, his store El Sabarum and organazation the Sabaean Order of Amn, I wondered whether the Tonic Room knows what used to take place in their building.

Thanks to an anonymous response, I know the answer.  Yes, they know very well.  Not only do they know, but they've found artifacts of the Sabaeans who once occupied the space.  They also have a nice concise history posted.

Thank you, anonymous poster!

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!