I would like to thank the Secular Student Alliance at Wayne State University for inviting me to speak for their Separation of Church and State week. My host Hassan was gracious and attentive and Tiny, the Coordinater of Student Activities, saw to it that my travel and comfort were well attended to. A special thanks to Tova, for her pleasant conversation, and everyone who attended my lecture.
I have quickly cut together a short section of my lecture as a preview. I plan on editing it together over the next two months to release it in the beginning of 2012. Underworld Amusements may be hosting a small premiere for those on the East Coast that were unable to attend in Detroit, details to be announced.
One of the perks of lecturing on a college campus, having your talk promoted in sidewalk chalk! Touring the campus, I saw at least 4 or 5 of these in different high-traffic areas, and I appreciate the effort!
There were large banners posted around campus as well, this one is at the Barnes & Nobles:
The day after my lecture I appeared on what was called an “Interfaith Discussion Panel”, and it was a rather frustrating experience because all the religious folks asked specifically that it not be a debate, so nobody would engage one another.
You can see the line-up was Christian, Muslim, Jew & Sonofabitch. I was ready for some old-style bare knuckle boxing, but I just got some milquetoast sophistry.
Kevin I. Slaughter will be speaking at Wayne State University on Wed. November 16th, for their Separation of Church and State Week, sponsored by the Secular Student Alliance.
The given title of the lecture is “THE GREAT SATAN: How Satanism is the Most American Religion”, and topics discussed will be Satanism and the fight against puritanism, old and new.
The next release from Underworld amusements is produced to coincide with the Things That Go Bump in the Night
gallery exhibition at Gallery Provocateur in Chicago, IL.
The cover art was painted for this annual show
by G. Edwin Taylor. Copies will only be available from
Oct. 29th, 2011, to January 31st, 2012.
Underworld Amusements is pleased to release the video of a lecture given on March 1st of this year when Kevin I. Slaughter was invited to speak on the topic of Satanism for a class at the Maryland Institute College of Art. Filmed in HD and edited to include quite a few graphics not presented in the original lecture, we hope that for those already familiar with Satanism there is enough to still keep you interested and possibly entertained, and those who aren’t familiar with the subject will be informed.
The lecture is roughly one hour long. We recommend you view in full screen and HD.
Below are two parts of the Q&A session that followed:
If you enjoyed the lecture and would like to make a voluntary monetary donation, please do so below:
Satanism as Weltanschauung
Ch. 1 “Please Allow Me To Introduce Myself…”
Rev. Kevin I. Slaughter introduces himself and gives a short biographical background to establish his long-held interest in Satanism explicitly, but also the occult or hidden aspects of culture.
Ch. 2 “A Brief Overview of Satanism”
Rev. Slaughter gives a very brief overview of Satanism, what a Satanist is, and how it is viewed by society.
Ch. 3 “The Satanic Bible”
Rev. Slaughter discusses the first High Priest of the Church of Satan’s book “The Satanic Bible”. He reads “The Nine Satanic Statements” and other pertinent selections from it.
Ch. 4 “The Satanic Scriptures”
Rev. Slaughter discusses the current High Priest of the Church of Satan’s book “The Satanic Scriptures”. He reads pertinent selections from it.
The natural world is stratified, the weak, slow and stupid tend to be worse for wear. The smart, quick and strong tend to have a better time of it. In the animal kingdom, the world that we exist in, it is eat or be eaten.
Rev. Slaughter makes reference to Kurt Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron”, and reads an excerpt from Theodore Dalrymple’s book “Life at the Bottom”.
Ch. 6 “Lex Satanicus”
Satanism takes few overtly political positions, and there is absolutely no affiliation between the Church any political party. The Satanic philosophy positions itself as a third side, rejecting the simplistic dichotomies of good vs. evil, republican vs. democrat, liberal and conservative. The one position most clearly associated with politics is Lex Talionis.
Ch. 7 “Magic”
Magic, in the Satanic sense, is not about shooting fireballs or riding on broomsticks, we do not have “spells” that guarantee sex or death – the two things people always seem to want a spell for. When the Satanist performs greater magic, it is an emotional psychodrama, intended to charge the participant with a specific feeling or to put him in a specific emotional state. It’s made clear in the writings that Greater Magic is an emotional working as opposed to intellectual. Like the power of a masterfully written book or piece of music has, this productive fiction is useful and possibly necessary to the human animal.
Ch. 8 “A Few Unkind Words…”
In this part of the lecture Kevin discusses Christian Child Abuse, a blog that collects stories about pedophile priests. He discusses religiously motivated atrocities committed by Islam and Judaism in the name of their religion and accepted by their communities.
Satanism isn’t merely a reactionary stance, it is about knowing ones self and building real relationships with worthy people. Rev. Slaughter recites a poem titled “Love” that was written by freethinker Robert Greene Ingersoll, to illustrate this and other points in the Satanic worldview.
Kevin has participated in two oratory contests where contestants read their choice of Ingersoll’s work, and won first place in 2010. The video can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8UPNFcnYIM
Rev. Slaughter is an official representative of the Church of Satan. More information can be found on the website http://www.churchofsatan.com
Henry M. Tichenor was a writer and magazine editor prominent in the socialist and freethinking movements during the Progressive Era of American history. His writings frequently condemned organized religion, Christianity in particular, as a tool used by the upper classes to maintain control over the working class. In the realm of opposition to religion, he has been ranked beside Clarence Darrow and Madalyn Murray O’Hair as a leading American freethinker of the twentieth century.
In “The Sorceries and Scandals of Satan”, Tichenor employs the figure of Satan as a literary symbolic character to represent rebellion against tyranny — a symbolism with a robust tradition in literature and political works. In his book, the character symbol of Satan is employed as a foil against which to compare the horrors of organized religion, especially Christianity. More importantly, however, Tichenor reminds us all that there was a time in American history that open skepticism and opposition to religion was a major facet of social political discourse so Americans certainly should not shy away from it today. Vocal opposition to religion is not novel or new.
What is new is the Underworld Amusements republication of this important work. This edition uniquely includes a valuable and critically acclaimed foreword by Robert Merciless which details Tichenor’s biography as well as the times and trends which shaped his penetrating writing.
3. Some of Satan’s Sinners and Jehovah’s Saints 57
4. Satan and his Transformations 70
5. Our Inspired Insanity 86
6. The Wonders of Christianity 99
7. Enchantments, Transformations and Familiar Spirits 107
8. Where Did Satan Come From? 118
9. Satan’s Sorceries in New England 128
10. Massachusetts Under the Rein of the Doctors of Delusion 142
11. From the Beast to the Human 168
Works by Henry M. Tichenor 172
LIVE TALK!
October 3rd, the publisher and the author of the foreword will be presenting a talk titled “Satan As Rebel Hero: Henry M. Tichenor and the Radical Anti-Religious” atSkepticampDC at 3pm.
SkepticampDC will be held inthe Benjamin Banneker Room in the Stamp Student Union at the University of Maryland from 12 to 6pm.
For more information and to register to attend (free), visit the SkepticampDC website.
“Some “Debsians” who think of Eugene Debs only as a pioneer labor and Socialist Party leader may not be aware of some of his more radical associates. Marx expressed the role of religion in justifying structered inequality by referring to it as the “opiate of the masses”. Tichenor chooses, in the “Sorceries and Scandals of Satan”, to develop the fictional struggle of “good” and “evil” from the vantage point of a “Good-seeking” personna called Satan.The books by Tichenor are a challenge worth undertaking, and we are fortunate to have this lesser known of his books re-released. It is fortunate also to have included the highly informative 21 page Foreword by Robert Merciless. Don’t dig into the text without first reading the Merciless essay which locates Tichenor’s work in the late 19th and early 20th century progressive movement.”
-Charles King
Secretary, Eugene V. Debs Foundation
and Emeritus Professor of Sociology, Indiana State University
“Tichenor’s “The Sorceries and Scandals of Satan” is a withering and ironic indictment of Christianity wrought with passion and wry humor. Slaughter’s handsome re-publication resurrects an almost forgotten monument of diabolical rhetoric. Exposing the lunacy inherent in twisted tales of Christian saints and surreal biblical fables, Tichenor climaxes the book by detailing the horrors of European persecution of heretics and the murderous madness of the New England witch trials. He extols anti-Christian writing from Milton to Ingersoll with deft quotations, and even champions the pagan Greek deities over the foul phantasms enshrined by Christ-lovers. The informative foreword by R. Merciless places this classic of free-thought in a historical context, listing predecessors and descendants, offering a pithy guide to literate thinkers who have embraced Satan as an image inspiring joy in life and liberty of mind.”
“In the forward to the new edition of SaSoS, Merciless discusses the author, Henry M. Tichenor, known today only to a few scholars, mostly in the study of Socialism. Meticulous research into Tichenor’s life and works is presented in the foreword of this “lost” work, and Merciless puts the book into the context of Tichenor’s lifetime, and into today. Those who research the areas of freethought, atheism, non-theism and works controversial to organized religion should read this work.”
-Timothy Binga
Freethought Historian
Contributor, New Encyclopedia of Unbelief
Director of the Center for Inquiry Libraries
Yes, we’re airing a special episode before we air the first episode. When convention clashes with pragmatism, convention loses. This is part one of two!
The podcast overall has been officially dubbed “Underworld Amusements Variety Hour” and in part one of this very special episode we will be talking to some of the artists that are featured in the show opening at Germ Books in Philadelphia in August of 2009.
Born and raised in rural Pennsylvania, Jack Donovan has lived and worked in New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego. As Jack Malebranche, he wrote a controversial book about homosexuality and masculinity titled Androphilia, released by Scapegoat Publishing in 2007. Velvet paintings by Malebranche have been shown at the Seattle Erotic Art Festival, the UnPop art movement’s web site, and most recently on the set of the hit HBO television series True Blood (Season One). His second book, Blood-Brotherhood, was published during the summer of 2009.
Segments transcribed from audio cassette sent by artist:
I always painted and drew. Â The first pictures that I made with a camera were of my many pets, 8 years old. Â They would die. Â I would bury them in the mountains behind my home, dig them up later and photograph them over and over again. Â One day my photographs were gone.
I went to art school, been a master printer, printed Weegee negs, gallery worker, archivist, film historian, exhibited my work, photo dealer, junk store manager.
Beauty and tragedy, that’s my pictures.
Sex Cats – Christopher’s book, published by Goliath (link to Atomic Books in Baltimore)
William Lindsay Gresham – The website I maintain archiving information about his work. Egalitarianism – I rant about it. This guy does to, and it looks like a joke site (though it doesn’t seem to be one), where he takes all the most retarded ideas of egalitarians and presents them as a political platform. Cohen Brothers – Wikipedia entry Edgar G. Ulmer – Noir Director Russ Meyer – Boobs
Stacey Barich is a self-trained pin-up photographer, vintage hair guru and make-up artist who lives and works in Parkville, MD.
Armed with a camera, tube of red lipstick, snug pencil skirt, and devastatingly high heels, she’s on a one-woman mission to bring glamour and sex-appeal to the yoga-pants set. She wants modern girls to discover that their sexual power is their greatest asset, and shows them just how to unleash their inner bombshell in the privacy of her suburban home studio.
8mm Bondage Peeps – A torrent hosted on The Pritate Bay featuring clips I digitized from the collection of 8mm Films Stacey and your host purchased. As with most of the things I do, this is not safe for work unless you can watch bondage porn at work, then it’s very safe. Art Frahm – A study on the effects of celery on loose elastic. NONE – I wanted to find a link describing Erotic Chrystallization Intertia
This post is to make available part 1 of the catalog preview PDF for Germophilia.
The artists featured in this truncated version of the catalog are interviewed in Part 1 of the Germophilia Special of the Underworld Amusements Variety Hour podcast.
Click the cover below to download!
UPDATE: It just occured to me that I can send the PDF out through iTunes in the podcast, so I’m doing that after the fact. Hopefully it works.
Today marks one year since I decided to take the name Underworld Amusements seriously for my current projects, though the name has been used in an informal fashion for a few years.
I chose July 6th as a ceremonial date because it’s my own birthday, and UA is my personal project. Though I have a few collaborators for each item, it’s just me steering the tiny ship. Speaking frankly, I knew I’d also be able to remember it that way as well.
To get to the point of Underworld Amusements has been a journey much longer than one or even three years, though, as it fits into a pattern I’ve exhibited since I was very young – do things my damn self.
Long before I knew what a “zine” was, when I was around 14 a pal of mine and I published a saddle-stiched, dot-matrix printed one-off called “The Dead Rat Society”. I don’t remember what was in it. Around that time I was running a WWIV BBS.
A few years after DRS and a subsequent “zine” called “The Modern Anarchist” was published I was at a friends house hanging out and he wanted to show me something. He picked up this cassette player stereo and popped the cover off to the battery compartment. Out from that he pulled my magazines! He was hiding them from his mother, and it was the most amazing feeling for me. I’m sure I’d be embarrassed now, a bit, if I were to come across copies. But at that age, at that time, producing something that was kept hidden away in secret compartment – nothing illegal, just words and paper, was a powerful thing.
Over the last two decades I’ve repeated this simple DIY pattern. It’s now websites, podcasts, and real books, but it’s just variations upon a theme for the last two decades. When I woke up this morning I started reminiscing I opened up a word document and it got to the point that I would have had to dig into old boxes of zines and ephemera (I’ve got around 40 unmarked boxes of old magazines, much less the boxes of mixed paper ephemera, and my stuff is mixed in there somewhere), checking dates etc., and I’ve given up for the time being. When did I do what? Do I have this interview or that? I haven’t been keeping notes, and I don’t have the memory. I have saved things here and there though.
I hit “save” on that document and I might get back to it later. I’m just not the reminiscing type, I’d rather be working on things yet-to-be.
I’ve got interviews and segments I’m lining up for the podcast, details to work out for the gallery show, 5 or 6 books that need my attention in various ways so they can move forward, and a back-ache that was bad enough to go to the hospital for. I wanted to type something here before the muscle relaxers kicked in and I started blogging about waffles or started telling people what I REALLY thought.
I wanted to write a thanks list for people who influenced me, but it would have gone on too long, I would have left too many people out. I’d also want to thank you, for reading this blog and being interested in what I’m doing now. Though most of my projects are borne out of a healthy dose of self-interest, I know that they’ve got to have an audience and for the most part, collaborators.
Happy anniversary to Underworld Amusements and thank you.
Date: Â Â Â Friday, August 7, 2009
Time: Â Â Â 5:00pm – 9:00pm
Location: Â Â Â Jennifer Bates Gallery @ Germ Books
Street: Â Â Â 2005 FRANKFORD AVE
City/Town: Â Â Â Philadelphia, PA
There were large banners posted around campus as well, this one is at the Barnes & Nobles:
You can see the line-up was Christian, Muslim, Jew & Sonofabitch. I was ready for some old-style bare knuckle boxing, but I just got some milquetoast sophistry.
