Intrepid chronicler of fringe culture (and Darklore writer) Adam Gorightly has a fantastic new project, a website (and future book releases) dedicated to documenting the origins and history of the Discordian Society: Historia Discordia. Discordianism is a philosophy – some might not even call it a religion – dedicated to the ‘worship’ of the principles embodied in the Greco-Roman goddess of chaos, Eris/Discordia (more cogently, Discordianism is somewhat of an ‘anti-religion’, rejecting dogmatism and parodying many of organised religions’ more ridiculous practices):
And what are the Discordian Archives? Geez, I thought you would never ask.
The Discordian Archives are, of course, Greg Hill’s archives, who — along with Kerry Thornley — co-founded Discordianism in the late 1950s. Not only was Greg one incredibly gifted individual, but he meticulously saved damn near every project he ever worked on. And that was a good thing.
After his death in July of 2000, Hill’s archives were rescued from being potentially tossed into a dumpster by one Dr. Robert Newport, another seminal Discordian and good friends with Hill and Thornley. For a few years, Dr. Bob — as I fondly call him — entertained the notion of creating some sort of online Discordian Archives, but eventually became more interested in pursuing his passion of landscape painting. That’s where I come in. My name is Gorightly, I carry the Chao.
…In the years to follow, I periodically checked in with Newport inquiring if, at some point, I could use these materials to produce a book on the history of Discordianism. Newport, bless his heart, always gave the thumbs up to this potential project, which sat on the Gorightly Productions backburner for the next several years. Every now and again I would touch bases with Dr. Bob just to make sure he was still OK with my eventual use of the materials, and the answer was always positive and supportive. Then, in 2009, as I started getting a bit more serious about moving forward with the project, I yet again contacted Dr. Robert and as always he was totally down with whatever I wished to do. Additionally, Newport suggested that the next time I was down L.A. way I should drop by his place and he would give me the collection and “whatever else I wanted.” Granted, I’m a little dense at times, so I wasn’t quite sure what Newport meant, as I had assumed I’d seen the entire Discordian Archive contents back in 2001 at Wilson’s apartment. Never one to let an opportunity pass, I took Newport up on his offer, and — at that time, by the grace of Goddess Eris — he passed on several boxes of rare Discordian artifacts including the original versions of the Principia Discordia, editions 1 – 5.
At the top of this post is a video of Adam with the ‘Bible’ of Discordianism: the complete, 60 page first edition Principia Discordia (one of only five copies).
For updates regarding the Historia Discordia website and the related publishing project, follow @AdamGorightly on Twitter.
Link: Historia Discordia
