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Symbols, realities, the unseen - by Cilla
It always seemed to me that what we regard as orthodox or acceptable ways of examining or explaining human behaviour don't actually do the job too well. They can be good hypotheses but isn't there something else?
We may not believe in clairvoyance or clairsentience ourselves, but many people admit to a few instances in their lives when something tipped them off to potential danger, an event involving someone close, or something like that. Sometimes when joggling along on a bus or train thinking nothing in particular, an image pops into my head which I'm sure is not mine. Once I felt a chap opposite me was boring a hole in my calf with his eyes. I got off at the next station and ran to another carriage! Another time, in a peaceful frame of mind on a nice sunny day I felt suddenly panicked and squeamish and clutched my bag over my stomach. When the chap next to me got off I looked closely and saw nothing but an ordinary young man in smart casual clothes. I've no idea why there was that reaction in me. Another time I sat next to a woman and felt incredibly depressed which vanished as soon as she left.
It seems certain symbols, constructs or psychological constellations, occur idiosyncratically to people, and their train of thought takes them towards something they interpret in ways that may be meaningful to others. Some people can be accurate for a significant percentage, then go off on some sidetrack which proves meaningless or just wrong.
The reason for listing some books written by far better writers experienced in their field is so that you can follow up anything mentioned that seems worthwhile. A long time ago I got hold of books written by Dion Fortune and was fascinated by her claim that sensitives can see or pick up complexes or aspects that people shut off from themselves. She said these dissociated parts could take on independent life of their own. To see or sense those would be a lovely time-saving way to carry out counselling or therapy, I thought, and what if you could photograph them?
Another concept is that of auras or chakras, and we may be picking up on those in some way even though not seeing them or even believing in them. I mention them because they may be the mechanics of how we get affected by others, or affect people ourselves. You may prefer a different framework such as Chinese or Ayurvedic Medicine but there are many common themes.
Although I became somewhat disenchanted with some of her approach, Dion Fortune wrote a classic book about psychic attack and methods of defence, which caught my attention because of experiences I had while moving around different work-places and environments, particularly where another person was not acknowledging a problem for them. I'm not psychic but am quite empathic. She describes problem areas, or attack, as taking the line of least resistance, the more sensitive people being first to be affected. It's like a circuit: remove the most sensitive person or the 'weakest link' and the next most sensitive is likely to suffer. Make of it what you will or find useful, but basically if you feel someone is putting psychological or psychic pressure on you, find a mental strategy to fend it off. Or wear leather round your waist, or on the feet, hands etc.
Before I close I'd like to mention a point relating to Asperger's Syndrome which is often described as being at the less extreme end of a continuum of Autism. I don't know, and don't wish to offend anyone here but it may help someone. I knew someone with Asperger's for a long time till it became apparent she suffers problems with psychic flashes or visions when meeting people. When I followed this up it seems this sometimes goes along with other aspects of Asperger's. I feel this type of experience of my friend has quite a lot to do with psychic sensitivity, or not being able to filter out as much as most of us do naturally.
Dr Arthur Guirdham wrote similarly about his own psychic sensitivity and many of the other things he writes on seem to fit. There is more on these areas under 'Possession approaches', 'Influence approaches', 'Spiritual approaches'.
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John Keel writes on UFO's and other phenomena, and see his writing on the Mothman for ideas about people's fears or expectations affecting their experience
'Unseen Beings: Unseen Worlds' by Tom Dongo gets into a variety of scenarios, some of which you may find far-fetched
See quantum physics relating to observer effects on experiments
See 'Natural Symbols' by Mary Douglas, an anthropologist
See 'Daimonic Reality: Understanding Otherworld Encounters' by Patrick Harpur
As far as I recall the author suggests people tend to see or experience things in terms of their frame of reference and expectation. There's a similar concept in a book by some psychic researchers who experienced entities appearing along the lines of what they'd been seeking in the first place. Some crop circle researchers have tried to influence future designs or make contact with other levels in this way.
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Shamanism - by Cilla
Nowadays people are more familiar with this concept which was used in the field of psychic research or Anthropology but was not so much in general usage.
In the so-called Western world we tend to think in linear fashion for want of a better description. Something either is or it is not. It either did or did not happen. That makes for scrutiny and analysis but not any 'space-between', the different ways things get experienced where it's hard to tell any more than that. If we say something happened and someone else says 'It can't have because ...' they may make a valid point. The danger of an overly analytic or sceptical approach is it can generalise to a claim that something never happens at all if there is any doubt or an alternative explanation. Truth can be relative, in the eye of the beholder or experiencer. Psychological experiments testing people's observations are well-known for showing how inaccurate the process is, and people in a group setting often experience a group event very differently.
A divide or split in arguments can happen around any subject, and people may use this to distance themselves or deny something they prefer not to think possible. Therefore they claim it could not happen, or it does but only in specific situations, or only if people aren't smart enough to avoid them. And so on.
So there tend to be beliefs and counter-beliefs with maybe a few 'space-between' theories. It also depends on whom one wants to be accepted by, a reference person or group, or a mental construct of such. If the reference person or group is not accepting, there may be counter-claims of beliefs or a backlash, for instance my reality against yours or vice versa. These can also be orchestrated by someone with a vested interest, or just happen naturally.
To get back to Shamanism as a general concept, more has been learned about psychoactive substances taken as part of ritual or practice to expand awareness, see visions, contact other types of being, or experience different planes or realities. It's 'acceptable' now because many people have heard of it, tried it for themselves, or know of someone who has, and it is written up in plenty of research.
There's a concept similar to astral projection or astral travel where people may be able to commune with others in some way although their physical body doesn't budge. This is what witches in medieval times were said to achieve by smearing on fly agaric or ingesting something. And there's a word 'entheogen' describing the 'space-between' realities that people may be aiming for in seeking experiences.
On the next page (click Older Posts to the right at the bottom) are a couple of sections I'll briefly mention so you know what to expect. They deal with ritual abuse which is a difficult subject in more ways than one. The first section is entitled 'Ritual abuse' and has a trigger warning. The second section is entitled 'Urban legend and ritual abuse' which should not be taken to imply that I think ritual abuse is just a myth or urban legend. Read either or both of those sections if you want to. I feel they link to this post on the subject of 'Shamanism' and also to the one on 'Symbols, realities, the unseen'.
Ritual abuse - by Cilla
This is not intended to upset anyone, it is not comprehensive, and you may not agree with what is written. It continues into the next sections and pages.
With experiencers of ritual abuse, sometimes they may actually attend rituals but it's too hard to prove to anyone. Other times they could be being accessed to attend in a mental or astral sense, and are not likely to be believed anyway.
Other times they could be hypnotised in the usual way, or maybe they go somewhere following a post-hypnotic suggestion given earlier. They might act on a psychological trigger or association from an email or phone call, which sends them into an altered state of consciousness like floating and which sounds like descriptions of astral projection. The person might just leave their home and get collected and taken somewhere. There are various possibilities, again hard to prove.
There's a similarity between the term 'altered state' and 'alter state', the latter term being used in connection with different ego states, alter personalities, dissociation, DID (dissociative identity disorder), MPD (multiple personality disorder).
Clearly it is difficult to pin things down but these are important concepts with far-reaching implications, i.e. that someone with knowledge of triggers and association can switch people in and out of alter/altered states, or into dissociation. Some of those alter states or ego's may be religious in an orthodox sense, some may be quite the opposite, some are likely to remember certain things while others are unaware or in denial. One of the issues concerning ritual abuse relates to whether people are actually remembering from the past, or some other process is paramount. As implied above, people may still be attending rituals in one persona or state, while the rest remain unaware or know a little about it. And if this is happening to them, it isn't memories from way back that we're talking about.
All or any of these aspects can be used to confuse not only those involved, but also people working to understand and help. If you're not happy with concepts like astral projection, they are just a way of describing things that are meaningful to some people but not to others. Sometimes an experiencer of ritual abuse describes an event in some detail, subsequently saying it was a dream (this could be a natural defence mechanism or one instilled into them). Other times they get a waking-dream or vision, which could be a form of psychological access, or something suggested beforehand which now comes into play.
You may not consider remote psychological or psychic access possible and I won't go into it here: There are plenty of books and references on remote viewing or mental influencing. An interesting book from over thirty years ago 'Experiments in Distant Influence' by L.L. Vasiliev describes hypnosis at a distance. See also experiments conducted by Dr Rupert Sheldrake on the phenomenon of sensing that one is being stared at, and on morphogenetic fields.
The point about Shamanism is that people tend to accept that shamans 'visit' or experience in other ways from mundane consensus or conscious reality, whether due to ingestion of plant substances, the trauma of initiation, or a different basic way of life.
You may not feel comfortable that people might act on triggers or associations, because that would imply an unknown or scarey area. There is some consensus that hypnosis is a meaningful term, and that post-hypnotic suggestion works sometimes. Ask hypnotists about rapid induction techniques - they probably know a few even if they don't use them. Or ask about 'convincers' which can be an actual physical object, or something they say to convince people that something is true or likely, which then can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. And remember that advertising is probably used so much because it works.
All of the comments on this website are intended to open up discussion on things that a lot of people don't believe in. They may not have come across it, or it is too hard or confusing, or maybe they read something by someone that persuaded them against it or encouraged scepticism or disbelief.
I feel we should be taking the stance that 'If this phenomenon happens, surely we should take note'. One of the inherent problems is that someone may be accused rightly or wrongly, taking things into a different arena.
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'May 33rd'
Pasted below is text from a BBC press release about a drama shown in Spring 2004 called 'May 33rd' by Guy Hibbert
http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2004/02_february/19/may_33rd.shtml
19.02.04
TV DRAMA
May 33rd - a film by Guy Hibbert for BBC ONE
In Guy Hibbert's film May 33rd, Lia Williams stars as Ella, a young woman whose disturbing and tortured upbringing forces her into a living nightmare.
The film is an exploration of the consequences of repeated ritual abuse as seen through the eyes of a young woman whose personality has fragmented into five different people.
A fictional drama based on extensive research, May 33rd follows Guy Hibbert's previous film No Child Of Mine, a true story about child prostitution and abuse, supported by child protection agencies, which caused much controversy when it was screened in 1996.
It is directed by David Attwood (Fidel!) and produced by Hilary Bevan Jones (State of Play) for BBC ONE.
While trying to escape her family - a small group of relatives and their friends who have abused her since childhood - Ella visits an osteopath to relieve the pains in her body.
When Edward (Soren Byder) applies pressure to certain parts of Ella's body, it triggers her into different personalities.
Through Ella and her other identities the drama explores the chilling and shocking condition Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), formerly known as Multiple Personality Disorder, which is a condition associated with ritual abuse.
Writer Guy Hibbert says: "Five years after writing No Child Of Mine, I learnt of the condition of Dissociative Identity Disorder and the real life cases of young women from all over the UK who had suffered from it as a result of ritual abuse.
"The research led me to professionals working in this field and the victims of this horrific cruelty."
He continues: "One of my reasons for writing this drama is to encourage a greater understanding of both the condition of Dissociative Identity Disorder and its causes.
"Through my research I discovered that because these causes are so cruel, society prefers to disbelieve the victims because it cannot cope with the truth."
Producer Hilary Bevan Jones says: "This story describes a personal nightmare. As Ella herself says, 'It's like living in a world that doesn't exist in anyone else's world, like it's May 33rd or something and everyone else is in the real day'."
Jane Tranter, Controller of Drama Commissioning, says: "May 33rd is a bold and subtle exploration of a condition that affects many women in the UK yet remains shrouded in mystery and fear.
"It follows dramas such as Care, Out Of Control and England Expects - risky films which examine contemporary issues in an uncompromising way."
May 33rd is an Endor production for BBC ONE. The executive producers are Guy Hibbert and Julie Gardner, Head of Drama, BBC Wales.
Notes to Editors
Dissociation is a mental process, which produces a lack of connection in a person's thoughts, memories, feelings, actions, or sense of identity.
Dissociative disorders are often referred to as a highly creative survival technique because they allow individuals enduring 'hopeless' circumstances to preserve some areas of healthy functioning.
Over time, however, with a child who has been repeatedly physically and sexually assaulted, defensive dissociation becomes reinforced and conditioned.
Repeated dissociation may result in a series of separate entities, or mental states, which may eventually take on identities of their own. These entities may become the internal 'personality states' of a DID system.
For more information about dissociative disorders, visit the Sidran Foundation website - www.sidran.org.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites
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End quote
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Urban legend and ritual abuse - by Cilla
As well as the concept of urban myth or legends you may have come across the notion of folk devils or moral panics, where analysis and research appear to indicate that what people accept as reality or the cause of something, is due to other factors of a sociological or anthropological kind. This work is clearly important because it's easy to fall into a belief system that we actually know something whereas it is something we have come to believe.
Some people attempt to track the path of beliefs or trends in a similar way to the approach of aetiology in ascertaining the development and spread of disease, and it can make fascinating reading! But like any 'scientific' method, much depends on the information being processed and what is not taken into sufficient consideration. Again this can be a natural process, or it can be engineered by people with a vested interest, financial or otherwise, or it can be part of a denial system - perhaps because it is simply too hard to believe, or it's inconvenient to try to fit it into other parts of our belief. There is a dissonance and we'd have to change other beliefs we hold dear.
Then there's 'splitting' which is a concept used in psychoanalysis to describe a developmental stage, or it can describe a process where for instance a group splits in its opinions or behaviour. This can be a natural process as part of the group's development or process, or it seems that one or more individuals act as a catalyst and set things off. Here's a tip from a group course I did where I raised this issue because it was on my mind: To get the situation into a non-splitting one, move things into a more introspective ('depressive') mode so that people accept more responsibility for themselves and take others into consideration; then you can get people really angry at you - and move things on.
The point of mentioning this is also to draw in the fact that our political and legal systems are largely adversarial with expertise and rhetoric, propaganda and denials along the way. What can happen then is a split on a large scale.
What we believe will naturally hinge on the sort of people we are, the sort of individual experiences, and the setting or situation now. We also need to take into consideration beliefs that are around at the time, and beliefs that are being projected. This can happen with literally anything.
Here I am touching on urban legends or myths and what are sometimes called moral panics, and more particularly on ritual abuse and what is said about it. I'm not going to call it satanic ritual abuse or SRA. To my mind it's XRA for extreme ritual abuse. For whatever reason, a belief system, an addictive need, a paraphilia, sadism, a fetish or what-have-you, some people engage in practices designed for their own needs. That means other people get induced or forced into activities they either don't want or can't avoid. And that means there's a power-thing going on.
More problems arise with a wider airing, and people tend to take up positions to try to fit everything into one category or another:
It did happen (because I believe the survivor or expert)
It didn't happen in case 'A' so throw out all cases (i.e. a claim that it never happens)
It happens but only as part of pornography, sadism, paraphilia
I have a 'what if' kind of mind and take that into consideration when making up my mind, because I know how easy it is to follow a train of thought up blind alleys. I'll mention some useful books in passing here and continue below:
'Out of Darkness: Exploring Satanism & Ritual Abuse' by David K. Sakheim & Susan E. Devine
'Spiritual Warfare: The Politics of the Christian Right' by Sara Diamond
'Ritual Abuse in the Twenty-First Century: Psychological, Forensic, Social & Political Considerations' editors Randy Noblitt & Pamela Perskin Noblitt
'The Secret World of Cults: Inside the Sects that Take Over Lives' by Jean Ritchie (Chapter 12)
'The Politics and Experience of Ritual Abuse Beyond Disbelief' by Sara Scott
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Continuing here:
Writing in 1991 around the beginning of the 'satanism scare' Jean Ritchie, mentioned above, gave an excellent outline of the rise of interest in the phenomenon - and the ensuing likely backlash of disbelief.
'Out of Darkness' contains a selection of writings looking at various aspects of this phenomenon, and you could read the first two chapers 'The History of Satanic Religions' by Martin Katchen, and 'Satanic Beliefs and Practices' by Martin Katchen & David Sakheim.
Chapter 3 is' Alternative Hypotheses Regarding Claims of Satanic Cult Activity: A Critical Analysis' by George B. Greaves
Also by Martin Katchen is a chapter in 'Ritual Abuse in the Twenty-First Century' entitled 'Interrelated Moral Panics & Counter-panics: the Cult Brainwashing Panic and the False Memory/Ritual Abuse Moral Panic' which is a summary of social history and movements, beliefs and systems.
See too a book by Benjamin Zablocki and Thomas Robbins 'Misunderstanding Cults' dealing with differing attitudes towards the phenomenon of cults or new religious movements/NRM's, and hypnosis, brainwashing etc.
Booklist
Some concepts mentioned here or that are closely allied are mentioned in the following books.
'World of the Spirits' by David Burnett
'Folk Devils & Moral Panics' by Stanley Cohen
'Subtle Energy' by Dr William Collinge
'Subtle Energy' by John Davidson
'Out of Darkness' by David K. Sakheim & Susan E. Devine
'Unseen Beings - Unseen Worlds' by Tom Dongo
'Space, Time & Medicine' by Larry Dossey
'BodyMind' by Ken Dychtwald
'Hungry Ghosts' by Joe Fisher
'Archaeology of the Mind' by George Frankl
'The Psychic in Medicine' by Dr Arthur Guirdham
'Daimonic Reality' by Patrick Harpur
'Portals' by Lynne Hume
'The Healing of the Gods' by Peter Lemesurier
'Sinister Forces by Peter Levenda
'Never be Lied to Again' by David J. Lieberman
'Body Time' by Gay Gaer Luce
'Not All in the Mind' by Dr Richard Mackarness
'Secrets of Stage Mindreading' by Ormond McGill
'Mysteries of the Hopewell' by William F. Romain
'Between the Gates' by Mark Stavish
'Shaman, Healer, Sage' by Alberto Villoldo
Cilla's Blog on 'Unseen Aspects of Behaviour' can be accessed via the following link:
http://unseenaspects.blogspot.com
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Groups, cults, indoctrination, exiting - by Kaytrin
During life we go through periods of being a part of some grouping, in a family, at work, in the neighbourhood. Sometimes it works well, sometimes not! But we gain knowledge about ourselves and others, and have a tendency to seek situations which offer us something meaningful. Perhaps that is a role we can play, or a general feeling of being accepted.
Without that, we can feel alone in the world, and some groups take advantage of that. They may home in on people, offering what they want to hear, that they will be liked or taken care of, that the group provides answers of a philosophical or religious nature. We won't be just zizzing around without a clue or a base, because there'll be someone to act as friend or family.
This can work to mutual advantage. I recently ordered a book written by someone who spent 20 years living in different communal settings, and await that with interest. However, books and advisory centres range in their attitude about particular groups, or on the phenomenon of cults as a general principle and how harmful they are likely to be.
I think it's good to have an enquiring approach, but recently I came across a book in an Oxfam shop where the author had joined some groups or cults that he found strange, amusing, stupid, awful. He seemingly implied that neither he nor anyone else actually got hurt in the process. How can he know that? That is an interesting phenomenon in itself. It would be interesting to undertake research into how groups such as juries come to a consensus opinion - or not.
If we are on our own in the world, to some extent we can make up our own minds and not get swayed into something different by another person, or in a group setting of a natural or contrived kind. Once we are involved with other people, there has to be some give-and-take or negotiation, and there are likely to be subtle changes that can be built on or further altered, becoming quite profound. Some businesses work on this in terms of team-work, company ethos and so on. It always used to be like that up to a point, but I can't help thinking it has become more deliberate and invasive. One may find oneself not fitting in - and not being able to do much about it!
Bullying in the workplace (and elsewhere besides) has become an issue to the extent that both the Samaritans and Joseph Rowntree Foundation have prepared information on it. Without harping on about 'the old days', perhaps we had more respect for each other's strengths and weaknesses, and the boundaries surrounding another person's job, and personal or working space. Perhaps the decrease in physical area around someone's workstation plays a part in how things have changed. In many places there isn't even a personal desk with a little drawer one can lock or that no-one would think of going through!
A couple of other observations and I will aim to wrap this up. Firstly, if you're in a supermarket and there are say 20 other shoppers and trolleys, maybe you don't cross paths too closely too often. Increase the number to 40 and maybe it's a bit harder. Increase it to 60 and the shopping process doesn't work so well. Walk around a small town during a weekday and you might not meet many people. You may recognise some faces and even greet a few. Walk around a large town or city when people are heading to work or leaving, or racing around in their lunch break, and people are much less likely to stand back and smile. It becomes a survival situation - they need their job or to catch a train, and pit their survival against anyone else's.
So we tend to think we'd rather be in a group than on our own, in this maelstrom of humanity, because there's safety in numbers plus we'd like some personal recognition. Personal recognition can indeed still come with a job situation, but perhaps less than years ago, and less when job security is so decreased. Perhaps this is why workplace bullying increases, but it seems to have spread wider through society and neighbourhoods. It's not as cosy and supportive as 'Coronation Street', although there's plenty of that around.
I caught a comment by a psychiatrist on a radio show some years ago. He was of the opinion that his work would be reduced by 80 per cent, if people had another person they could confide in. The fact that Samaritans and other organisations have helped so many people through difficult times in their lives seems to bear this out. Sometimes people 'go it alone' either because they need to or have to, but at other times they need contact. They may seek it in a close personal relationship or in more of a group setting.
One of the things about groups is that we like to identify with certain things about them, or some of the people in them, at the same time as needing to retain some of our individuality. Unless that can be negotiated there can be difficulties.
In a cult-type setting, people may find their days mapped out and may be told what to believe, how to behave with their partner - even if that is allowed, children may be cared for by others, and contact with the outside world is restricted. If someone tries to buck the system and do their own thing, pressures are brought to bear on them to conform. If they want to leave, some cults will allow this and some don't. However one of the main problems is that, living in a situation which is isolating in some way, members may not see the invisible walls around them, and that they even could still access the outside world.
This is why it is important, if you can, to maintain some form of contact with someone you know who has joined a group or cult, so that a part of their reality is that there is someone who knows them and will talk to them. And if the person manages to leave, depending on how they have been affected, it can take several years for their thinking to gradually get back onto other tracks. That process may never completely 'undo' all the changes, so one does need to be realistic and do what one can.
Sometimes people have attempted to 'rescue' someone from a cult and forcibly change their attitude and beliefs back. This was called deprogramming and it fell into disrepute, sometimes involving legal battles for kidnap. The term now used is exiting a cult with perhaps the facility of some exit counselling. As is often the way of things though, this has also been called into disrepute by those who say it's just a euphemism for the deprogramming of the past that could be quite a violent process.
Find out what form the exit counselling will take and see what options there may be. It is tempting sometimes to want to extract someone from a group which seems harmful, but it may not be possible or advisable.
Something you could perhaps explore is the concept of what is termed intervention, and this approach sometimes gets used with an addiction or other problem. Family or friends arrange to meet in a neutral setting like a hotel room, and invite the individual to join them, along with a professional who takes control of the interaction. The dynamic seems to be that the individual with the problem is faced with an irrevocable choice: to give up their problematic behaviour, or never to see their family and friends again.
It can be highly emotional, but the tug of family and friends and their promise of continuing support can just swing the balance.
Intervention can also be taken more generally to describe anything which breaks, or might break, into a cycle, pattern, or mode of thought or behaviour. It may mean waiting until someone questions for themselves.
Certainly battering your own reality up against theirs is unlikely to be productive, and they have rights about leading their lives. We have known the person when they were different, or we believe what has happened to them is wrong. 'Someone else' has entered the scene and had a devastating effect so the individual does not seem in control - and may in fact not be in control because 'someone else' or some other 'reality of belief' is.
A Friend's Journey - by Anonymous
Regarding what follows
Not all of these things happen to all Survivors
Some of the material may be triggering. It is not meant to upset you
The aim is to show how easy it is for some people to manipulate other people
It is not your fault if things happened to you
If it happened to someone you know, it may help to read about it
Search on the Internet and find books or sites that suit you
Be careful when following up on information or help for yourself or someone you know
. . .
My friend whom I will call Lindsey, had not had a carefree childhood playing with children her own age. She always seemed to have been looking after someone else, which transferred to her present situation as a mother to two young children.
She was an apparently ordinary and good mother. But her life was far from ordinary. If I had not been around when she needed to talk, I would not have realised the full extent of what she was trying to cope with.
Lindsey felt she did not cope well at all. I think you will see why she felt like that. None of what happened was her fault. She did everything she could to help her children and anyone else who needed help.
When things got too much for Lindsey, a young part of her personality chatted to me, and I call her Maisie. She was a lively and intelligent young person, and I could imagine her stamping in frustration when I could not understand her.
Lindsey did not have many alters. She dissociated into different alters sometimes, or simply withdrew from our chats for a while. Maisie was the alter who fronted for Lindsey when it was too hard to talk, or she was not sure if I would still help.
An older alter often came through, saying she was just an interpreter of Lindsey's feelings, or if Maisie couldn't explain something. I call her Jasmine. She was rather quaint and formal, and said she didn't know what it was like to be 'human', but when she was stressed she did express her needs.
Then there was a Robot alter. He was a complete opposite to Lindsey and we used to get into arguments during which he revealed some of the cult's secrets. So I got him angry deliberately!
Lindsey herself often did not know what was going on in her life. This was a naturally occurring protective mechanism - that she dissociated away from her difficulties. We are all a bit like it, but not so clearly defined.
When I wondered why Lindsey was not around when we'd arranged, or she could not explain something, it helped having input from young Maisie, interpretations from Jasmine, or the Robot who swore at me and made awful jokes. Robot's function was to make me give up trying to support Lindsey. One day he simply vanished, being replaced by others of his type.
Who was putting these Robot types in place? I believe it was cult-related, an attempt to infiltrate Lindsey's small DID system with a control mechanism to report back to the cult. Robots could send emails to the cult or to other people. They handled straightforward tasks, sometimes involving being very devious. When challenged by argument or logic or a new situation, they couldn't handle it and a new updated version would appear.
Apart from Lindsey, young Maisie, Jasmine and some Robots, there would be occasional adult alters who appeared to carry out a specific role almost like a temporary office worker, cook or cleaner.
There were also some teenage and younger alters who filled in gaps about Lindsey's past. Lindsey did not remember whole areas of her past, some of which seemed relevant to the present. It helped when the cult tried to scare Lindsey or to get her to go somewhere, because the teenagers were not a part of that situation and they could carry on chatting so Lindsay was safe.
Sometimes I encouraged Lindsey or Maisie to take an active step to avoid cult meetings and was told 'It's not Lindsey who goes'. Sometimes it seemed to be the Robot who attended as he played a specific role in what took place.
There were times when Lindsey would visit a friend, or she tried to sleep through attempts to get her to attend meetings such as various sounds being played, triggering emails, or direct threats shouted through her door.
On occasion I believe the cult would have let Lindsey leave it, but other factors came into play, other people involved in the drama and lifestyle who said that she couldn't do that.
The Robots were cult alters, the term Robot or Bot coming from computer jargon.
There was another cult-compliant alter who opened the door to go to meetings. Maisie said that person was like a doormat because she did what she was told. 'Doormat' wanted to know what I was offering because in some strange way the cult offered a feeling of security, despite everything.
Lindsey lived in the same general area most of her life. She knew there was a cult and that it involved ritual abuse. She sensed things about some of the people involved or could recall a detail like a ring someone wore. The cult met well away from habitation. Local people told Lindsey they knew there was a cult but that nothing could be done about it.
She knew little about the cult's ideology so we could not discuss it. It seemed she would have nothing to do with them unless coerced or tricked. Sometimes they tricked her that there was a full moon when there wasn't and she began to check it out for herself.
People like Lindsey have no say in their lives. The fly in the ointment is people like you or me. Cult people can't do entirely what they want if we persist; they may have to change some of their ways. They fear exposure.
They blocked my emails and told me that Lindsey was in hospital, and they told Lindsey I was going to live abroad. A constant theme was that no-one would believe Lindsey because she was confused. I was told that some of the people that we both knew were in the cult were merely part of Lindsey's DID system, created by her.
Young Maisie was tricked into spying on Lindsey and manipulating her in some double-game. But Maisie saw through it and changed allegiance. Lindsey herself could often see through the double-binds imposed, and avoided them without my intervention or with just a little back-up.
The cult can only work with what they have. They don't hold all the cards, however much they cheat and deceive. A number of people in the locality were emotionally supportive towards Lindsey, and she to them. Other things can also work in favour of a survivor.
Lindsey had a period of being relatively cult-free and she gained strength and confidence. The cult then 'reclaimed' her as if she had no rights herself. People like Lindsey are told they don't have any rights, and it is hard for them to believe otherwise.
They are told that bad things happen to them 'because they are bad'. Lindsey and those like her are not 'bad' or 'weak'. Support from others is helpful.
These cults are like an outdated feudal system designed to maintain the 'status quo' of their society. Drugs, blackmail and threats go a long way towards helping them maintain control, as well as providing an income and contact with people who are useful to them.
What is described on these pages is an attempt made by many people to control Lindsey and other vulnerable people. Their aim is to get other people to believe they aren't doing any of it, and make it all seem too ridiculous or impossible.
So it will help if it is discussed more openly and people can see it for what it is, a manipulative system.
If you are reading this and doing your best to keep clear of a similar cult or helping someone else, it may help to see how things happen in everyday terms.
The following are some examples:
Lindsey would not know how she ended up at cult meetings. She would be shopping or at an evening class, and not remember further.
Something might frighten Lindsey, and she was conditioned to go to hospital or to the police. The cult arranged for police cars to drive past her house, upsetting and scaring her.
If Lindsey went to hospital some of the staff there contacted someone from the cult, who came and whispered to her, or took her away for hours despite hospital regulations against it, and which she remembered little about.
The employment Lindsey obtained seemed to be arranged via the cult, leaving her free on cult afternoons or evenings. I might assume she was cult-free, only to hear how she was tired out, with bad bruises and torn clothing.
Much of the conditioning on Lindsey was carried out using hypnosis. It was hard to offset that by talking to her normally. That worked eventually but took some time. I did not feel it appropriate to use hypnosis in return.
Lindsey's children spent part of the week with her husband who was not cult-involved, but this was an arrangement that suited the cult. Sometimes custody days were changed and the cult were not always up-to-date and would turn up when the children were there and leave quickly.
The cult relied on keeping each other informed, dovetailing things so that Lindsey was not clear in her mind. Her clocks and computer date were often changed and she missed appointments. People entered her home and changed her medication so she became confused or hyperactive. Credit cards were applied for in her name with limits too high to manage. Other people spent on those cards and withdrew cash from her bank.
If Lindsey took items to a pawnbroker for cash or because they triggered her, they turned up in her home soon after. When she attended school meetings, her car was entered and triggering material was left inside by someone who knew the effect it would have, someone who had known her a very long time.
Lindsey went through periods of anger towards me or would only give one-word answers. I felt the cult had conditioned her into this. Sometimes an alter explained that it was intended to break our contact.
When Lindsey told hospital staff there was a local cult (something which other women said too) she was told her belief was 'psychotic' and she must retract it or she would not be allowed back home. This is a revealing dynamic with the inference that no-one would believe other things she said either.
The cult went from actively discouraging my involvement, to pressuring Lindsey into contacting me again. Lindsey would then make unrealistic demands on my time and what she wanted. I am satisfied it was not Lindsey making the demands but that they were implanted to throw a spanner in the works. Lindsey was neither demanding nor vindictive, no matter what happened. But she did take things literally.
A main factor in control is inducing fear. Cult members were told their lives were due to end, or the world would end but they would be safe if they went along with the cult. These strategies are used in other cults too, not just ritual or 'satanic' ones.
If someone says they will speak about the cult they are told 'You shall not talk about the cult and live'. If they do speak out, someone tries to ensure they are thought psychotic or too flaky to take seriously.
When I suggested to Lindsey that the cult would make an obvious mistake, she replied 'People who make mistakes pay other people to cover up those mistakes'. I find that lucid, not flaky.
The cult works via power and dis-information, with strategies for every occasion, playing things 'ends to the middle' - what we now call 'spin'. Those lower down are not involved in decisions and strategies. When they attend meetings they cannot see people's faces, or they are in an altered state, unaware of any other 'reality' than that.
Perhaps viewed in that light we can understand it more.
Often there are counter-allegations that such ritual abuse does not happen or is only minimal, and that the ideas must have been planted in people's minds, or they came to believe them when feeling vulnerable.
Such denial or dismissal makes it harder to bear; a double-dose of hardship instead of an atmosphere that helps people to heal and move on in their lives. This all upsets the lives of vulnerable people like Lindsey, making them more confused and vulnerable.
Cult-people probably have their reasons for doing what they do, but it takes up a very great deal of their time, and it also holds them in thrall to something or to someone else. How, for instance, would they break away themselves, or tell someone? They don't have much choice either then!
Perhaps some of those people are acting so inhumanly and in-humanely in the hope that they won't end up at the tail-end of a social or power system. Cults or other groupings can also undertake their 'control' machinations as a form of bullying, which is not to deny its effectiveness, or that other factors may be involved too.
Perhaps they were brought up and conditioned so that they can function in certain ways, while being largely unaware what they do and what sometimes happens to them. Two books which I feel bring this out are:
'Satan's High Priest' by Judith Spencer - based on a true story
'Morning Come Quickly' by Wanda Karriker- a novel which incorporates a number of themes
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