-Caveat Lector-
[note : I am *not* the author of this article] M.F. Abernathy 10/20/00
---------------------------
How the Cult Programs People
Author: Svali </profile.cfm/svali>
Published on: June 15, 2000
How the Cult Programs People Part one
This article, consistent with others I have written, is a very difficult one
personally. Why? Because it touches on some of the things that I am most
ashamed of in my own life. I used to be a cult programmer, or "trainer" as
they are called, and here I will share some of what I did or witnessed while
in that role. I also went through these things as a child, so this article is
also quite autobiographical as well. Autobiography can be a moment of
boasting, of quiet joy, or intense pain. Mine falls in the latter category,
to say the least. But I am hoping with all of my heart that sharing my pain
will help others avoid this pain, or will help society better understand what
survivors go through.
This article will in no means be a complete treatment of the subject. Cult
programming is a complex subject, one that would fill volumes and volumes if
dealt with beyond a surface description. Also, I can only write from my own
experiences with the Illuminati, which is one of several groups operating
today, and about the techniques used in the Washington, DC area and in San
Diego, Ca. Other localities might use very different techniques.
This article does NOT take the place of advice from a qualified therapist,
and is meant to be informative only. If you are a survivor of cult abuse,
please be aware that this article and the subject it covers could be
extremely triggering, and keep yourself safe.
Why does the cult train or program people? In earlier articles, I have
mentioned the goals they have of:
making money
secrecy
unquestioning loyalty in their members
Programming, or training, is one method that the cult has found that will
ensure that these goals are met. In the Illuminati, the programmers are
called "trainers" because the belief is that they are not abusing, but
"training" the future generation. The trainers actually believe that they are
doing a good thing, "strengthening" the children, helping them to get in
touch with their "potential."
Some of these methods have been around for hundreds, perhaps thousands of
years. I will divide cult programming into five major categories, and address
each one separately:
1. training to be silent
2. training to be strong
3. training to be loyal
4. training for jobs in the group
5. spiritual training
The first category, training to be silent, begins at a very young age,
frequently preverbal. This is accomplished in several ways, depending upon
the child and the trainer, and can include:
Being asked after a ceremony what the child saw and heard. The very young
child may just say "bad things", and is punished severely and brutally, and
told that no, they didn't really see those things. This is repeated at
frequent intervals, until the child learns to block the ceremonies. Often, a
"protector" or "guardian" alter will be created from the abuse, whose job is
to ensure that the child will not remember what is seen. This protector is
told that if the child does remember, brutal punishment will follow.
Another method involves electroshocking the child, and placing them into a
deep hypnotic trance, where they are told that they will not remember what
they have seen or heard, that it is all "just a bad dream." The child WANTS
to forget, and will be eager to agree.
Psychological torture may be used: mock burials, being placed in cages,
abandonment, being hung over a bridge, with the child later being "rescued"
and told that if they ever tell, they will be returned to the punishment.
Being forced to watch mock or real punishment or killing of a traitor who
"told". When I was four years old, I was forced to watch a woman be skinned
alive. Her crime: she disclosed to an outside person "family business".
Talking to those outside the group is considered one of the worst crimes or
betrayals a person can commit. A "traitor's death" is one of the most
horrifying imaginable, and will vary from crucifixion upside down, to other
gruesome scenarios. Young children do not forget seeing these things, and
they become convinced that not disclosing is the safest way to continue
living.
These set ups are done to ensure that a young child will not disclose the
criminal activities that they are seeing in the course of group activites, or
even as an adult, when they are more actively engaged in them.
Another set up also is frequently done: The "no one will believe you
scenario" (this is usually done with school age children). The child is told
repeatedly that even if they DO disclose that no one will believe them. The
child is taken by a mental hospital, or even taken to visit an inmate
briefly. Later, the child is told that people who disclose are considered
"crazy" and sent to institutions, where they are punished severely and can
never leave. These lies are told to reinforce once again the importance of
not telling.
Another set up may include the "everyone is part of it" set up. The child is
told that actually, everyone is secretly part of the group, but people are
just good pretenders during the daytime. The child will be taken to dinner at
a member's house, where everyone acts normal, then later a ritual or ceremony
follows. The child will then believe that there is no escape, since everyone
is part of the group. Since most of the adults close to his/her parents are
part of the group, there is no reason to question the logic of what they are
told.
The set ups and psychological conditioning to not tell are endless, limited
only by the cruel creativity of the adults around the child.
Training to be strong:
This type of training will also begin at a very young age, often in the
toddler years. The child is put through a series of conditioning exercises
whose goals are to: increase the pain threshold increase physical fitness
increase dissociative ability force quick memorization of material (school
age child) create fear and the desire to please.
These exercises might include: mock military training, with marches, and
playing "prisoner and guard"; shocking the child; physical abuse and torture,
drugging the child or adult; placing the child into cages, where they are
shocked; deprivation of food, water, or sleep; abandonment for varying
amounts of time; forcing the child to watch brutalities and the abuse of
others. The child is taught to be completely silent during the above; to
endure it without question. If the child screams, they are punished
extremely, and told that this is "weakness". The child is taught to fear
their own emotions, since they are quickly and mercilessly punished for
expressing them. The scenes go on and on, the above are just a few methods
used.
Training to be loyal
The third area of training encompasses a broad area of behaviour. Loyalty
involves agreement with the group, espousing its doctrines and beliefs. This
training is at times more subtle, but it also is one of the most powerful
pulls to the group.
Adults in the group model complete loyalty to their children. Getting out,
leaving, or questioning the group's beliefs are rarely or never seen, and the
retaliation for questioning those in authority is quick and brutal. A person
seen questioning the rightness of things, or balking at doing their job might
be sent in for "retraining", ie being shocked and tortured back into
submission.
But often adults often believe the goals of the group are GOOD. They are
convinced that they are helping the children, and in classes children are
taught why these beliefs are good; about the coming agenda for the group,
where they will be the new leaders. Much discussion of the time when the
group will "rule the world" is done, to show that they are actually ushering
in a new order, when things will be "better for all."
Status and leadership are held out as carrots to group members to work harder
and acheive. The rewards of leadership, of moving up, are real, and every
member tries to advance themselves. Being higher means less abuse, being able
to order others around, and more control in a life that has had precious
little control.
Set ups, where a child is allowed to sit in a leader's seat, and is told that
one day they, too, will lead, are often done, to increase the loyalty to the
group. Awards ceremonies, where those who do well receive badges, jewels, or
other rewards in front of others, are frequently done. A child who works
hard, who performs well, is praised and allowed to join the adults for coffee
or a meal, while the other children look enviously on.
As the child progresses through the system, they do move higher, since adults
are always higher than a young child. Now the child who is growing older can
boss the younger children, can tell them what to do, can even abuse them with
the approval of the adults around. Being very young means being very abused
and wounded in these groups; growing older means the chance to finally act
out on the rage the abuse has caused. The child begins to identify with the
abusing adults, since they are hurt less, and becomes invested in a cult
identity as a perpetrator. This is strongly encouraged, as long as the
perpetration is not directed at members older or higher than the child or
teen.
This locks the child in, as having become "one of them", like them, and the
child is bonded to the group by his/her own guilt and shame, as well as the
need for outlets for rage and pain that the group allows. The child may feel
ambivalence, but also extreme loyalty.
The group or trainer will also tell the child that they are the only ones
that really know the child, having seen them act out. That they are the only
ones who could see this, and still love them, that no one loves them the way
"family" does. The child is bombarded with messages that the group truly
accepts them, all of them, knowing the worst about them, to cement the
loyalty. The group uses sophisticated techniques based on behavioural
psychology to ensure that the child/teen/adult will not even consider leaving
the group.
Another form of loyalty programming is "specialness programming". This is
where the child is told by the adults or trainer that: they are "high",
hidden royalty, or a "hidden" or "adopted" member of a high family line. The
child may be told that they will be a world leader who is hidden for now; a
special CIA agent, or "one in a thousand, a wunderkind" who will lead as an
adult. They may be told that there are very few like them; that no one else
can fill their special role; that they are of a special bloodline that is
unbroken for thousands of years. This is to increase the child's loyalty to
the group. If the child believes that they are merely waiting now for the
revealing of their "true, elevated status" one day, they will be much more
likely to develop loyalty bonds to the group. This is one of the cruelest
tricks the group plays on children, since they have deprived them of normal
love and caring, and instead replace it with a false sense of "specialness"
or status.
Very few survivors getting out of these groups believe that they were low;
almost all believe that they were high, or were adopted, but their real
family is high, for this reason. This was done to me as well, and as an
adult, when I had to tell lies like this to children, I became more and more
disillusioned with the group, one of many reasons I finally chose to leave
it. I could no longer bear to listen to other trainers and scientists
laughing about the gullibility of the people they worked with. I had once
been a child, eager to please, and gullible myself. I had believed the lies,
and it was a rude awakening to find out I was NOT adopted from a royal line,
as I had been told. That I had been manipulated and deceived intentionally to
increase my loyalty to the group.
How the Cult Programs People: Part Two
Author: Svali </profile.cfm/svali>
Published on: June 16, 2000
Part Two
Training for jobs in the cult
The fourth category of training or programming is towards doing a job in the
cult. Each person has a specific job(s) that they are given, from earliest
childhood on in the Illuminati. Often, the child is tested at intervals
during their early years for aptitude and ability. The parent's status, as
well as the child's intelligence and dissociative ability, will also factor
in to the final role. Jobs in the cult might include, but are not limited to:
cleaners (clean up after ceremonies, set up)
spiritual (lead meetings, high priest or priestess, or acolytes)
punishers (punish members who are out of line or make mistakes)
scholars (learn cult history, ancient languages, do readings and history set
ups)
prostitutes
couriers
assassins
trainers
scientists (trained in behavioural sciences)
doctors, nurses, medical personell
military leader (for military exercises)
The list goes on and on. The Illuminati are a complex group, with interwoven
roles. The amount of training the child will need for their adult role will
often depend upon the complexity of the final job. Sometimes, jobs overlap,
or a person will be cross-trained for several. A child raised with child
pornography may as an adult be taught to run a video camera, for example. A
nurse or doctor may also help as a trainer, or learn sciences. A person
trained as a military leader in the group will frequently also have assassin
training (MK-ULTRA) as well.
These jobs are taught using operant conditioning principles from early
childhood on. The child is shown how the role is done by an adult or older
teen, ie "modeling" the behaviour is done. The child will also see the jobs
done in the course of being part of the group. After the behaviour is
modeled, the child is told that they will be learning it. Clear directions on
what is expected are given. The job is broken down into steps, and each step
is put in sequentially. The child may be shocked, or tortured, to create a
"blank state" or tabula erasa personality who will do anything asked of them.
Then, the behaviour is elicited. If the child does well, they are praised and
petted. If they do not, they are punished severely. The child learns it is
much less painful to demonstrate the asked for behaviour. Afterwards, once
the behaviour is shown, the trainer "bonds" with the child, praising them,
telling them how valueable they are, and what a wonderful job they are doing
for "family". The child is given the validation and caring that they so
desperately crave, and a trauma bond is created. The personality state in the
child will WANT to do well, it has bonded with the trainer or adult, and
seeks approval again and again. This bond will last into adulthood, and often
the personality states that seek approval will stay in a young state inside
of an adult body. After the "job" is done, they will come out and still ask
for approval at times. Another reward for the adult will be perceived moving
up in status if they do well.
Spiritual Training
At its foundation, the Illuminati are an intensely spiritual group. They
worship ancient deities including those of Babylon and Assyria (Baal and
Ashtoth) and of Egypt (Ra, Horus, Isis, etc.). They believe that the
spiritual is the root that feeds its many manifestations today. Because of
this, all children will undergo some form of spiritual training, or
programming. This is to ensure their bonding to the group as well as coerce
or frighten them into fearing leaving.
Spiritual programming begins with the first ceremony that an infant is taken
to, when they are dedicated to a deity, or even prenatally, when the fetus
may be dedicated in utero to the "mother of heaven" or other deities. The
young toddler's world will include seeing the adults around him/her going to
ceremonies, and they will be forced to imitate the activities they see.
There may be blood baptisms, using animals. There will be many, many
dedications and rites, including the passing on of familial spirits from
mother or father or grandparent, to the young child. These can be intensely
frightening experiences. I do not want to argue the existence of the demonic
here, but I will say that the group certainly does believe it is real, and
that the manisfestations seen at these rites go beyond that which can be
explained scientifically or rationally. As a child, I believed intensely that
the demonic was real, as did all of the adults around me.
There will be ceremonies in which the demonic is invoked, and manifestations
of power, including channeling, foretelling, or psychic slaying of animals.
Objects may be moved, or a tree felled, using psychic abilities/demonic help.
Adults will be involved in power battles. "Reading" people will be done. And
in all training/programming sessions, the demonic will be invoked to help the
trainer, to guide them, or to give energy to the programming being done.
Often, before important programming sessions, trainers will perform a
ceremony asking for demonic aide.
The child will be told that the demonic has been placed within them, and that
if they ever try to leave, or break the programming, the demonic will "kill
them." The terrified child believes this. "Psychic surgery" may be done,
where an "eye" is placed in the abdomen, and the child is told that the "eye"
can see them wherever they go, and will tell them if the child tries to
escape or questions the group. Implants may be placed, small thin metal rods,
used to call up demonic forces. If the person tries to leave, or break
programming, the implants are to cause intense pain or torment.
A child will be forced to participate in rites, including the mutilation or
killing of animals or even an infant (although some of these are set ups,
using a corpse, as mentioned in a previous article). Visits to sacred groves
or holy areas may occur, where statues to the deities are garlanded with
flowers and robed followers chant before a rite.
In some groups, the child will be turned against Christianity with purposeful
programming. Since Christianity is the antithesis of the dark occult
practices of the Illuminati, they often will want their members to be unable
to reach out for the hope that it offers. Special sessions may include
torturing a child. Often, the child will cry out for help, or to God. At that
point, the programmer will tell the child, "God has abandoned you, He could
never love you, that is why you are being hurt. If He was so powerful, He
could stop this." They will even ask the child to ask God to stop it. The
child will, and then the trainer will hurt the child more. This will create a
deep sense of hopelessness and despair in the child. He or she will truly
believe they have been abandoned by God, that He has a deaf ears to their
call for help.
The child may be tortured or shocked when the name "Jesus" is said, to create
a barrier to hearing His name. Hymns may be used in sessions, to create
aversion. Spiritual programming will cover a variety of areas. I have only
briefly covered some here.
This has been an overview of some of the areas that the cult, specifically
the Illuminati, program people in. It is by no means all-inclusive, and there
will be many, many variations in specific techniques used. Also, I am sure
that different groups use different methods. If a survivor has memories that
are different from what I have described here, they should believe their own
memories. I am only sharing what I do remember about the Illuminati, the
specific group that I was associated with, in the Washington, DC and the San
Diego, Ca. areas from 1957 until 1995.
My hope is that this article will help those who work with survivors, or who
wish to know more about how these groups operate, understand more about them.
That it will increase compassion for the immense amount of suffering that a
member of these groups undergoes and for the struggle, once they leave, to
overcome years of conditioning from infancy on. It takes tremendous courage
to leave such a group, to say "no" to the pull of all the person has known,
to decide to question values that lay unquestioned for years. To look at the
pain underlying the programming, and to grieve over the manipulations and
betrayals that have occurred from infancy on.
copyright 2000 svali
============
Cults that abuse
Author: Svali </profile.cfm/svali>
Published on: April 18, 2000
Groups that abuse
Before I address survivor's stories in later articles, I believe it is
important to understand how groups that ritually abuse operate.
Cults can be abusive or non-abusive, and there are many fairly benign
cult-like groups that exist today. But for the purposes of my article, I want
to look at cults that abuse, specifically, in the sense of ritual abuse.
What are the characteristics of an abusive cult? There are many studies that
have defined controlling cults. Dr. Margaret Singer, Phd, U.Ca. Berkley, has
written one of the definitive articles on cults that employ mind control and
their characteristics (1).
She states that thought reform, as employed by controlling cults, involves
the entire anthropological/social spectrum of behaviour, including language
use, social environment, and influence of the leader and peers on the member.
This often involves attacking the person's self concept.
I would like to take the six conditions that she has identified as being
pre-requisites to exerting mind control, and compare them to experiences of
survivors in ritualistically abusive groups. The two correlate completely.
1. CONTROL OVER TIME : this is Singer's first condition. The cult group must
get some of the person's time, as much as possible, and have the individual
think about group idealogy. Survivors report spending time during the week in
contact with the cultic groups that abuse them. Contact is by phone; by
verbal discussion, or going to meetings. Survivors state that group meetings
often occur weekly, monthly, or as frequently as two to three times a week
for intensive training sessions. The group that I was involved in (the
Illuminati) met two to three times a week for normal teaching times, and had
large group meetings on a monthly basis ("ritual times") as well as
leadership meetings once a month to plan the activities for the next few
weeks.
2. CREATE A SENSE OF POWERLESSNESS Most groups involved in ritual abuse do
this to the nth degree. Through pain, degradation, tying up victims, and
experiences created to show there is "no escape" from infancy on, the victim
of cult control soon comes to believe that he/she is trapped, can never break
free, and should just "give in" to what is asked of them.
3. MANIPULATE REWARDS, PUNISHMENTS, EXPERIENCES IN ORDER TO SUPPRESS OLD
SOCIAL BEHAVIOR BEHAVIORS REWARDED: Participation, conformity to
ideas/behavior, zeal, personal changes BEHAVIORS PUNISHED: criticalness,
independent thinking, non-conformity to ideas/behavior From earliest
childhood in generational ritual groups, to later childhood or adulthood in
other groups, the use of rewards and praise, as well as punishment have a
name: training. Cult type groups believe strongly in the use of praise if the
person does well, including merit badges, ceremonies of reward, and high
status if the person conforms to the expected behaviour, and severe
punishment, even death threatened if the person refuses to perform. Often,
abusive and coercive groups will take this concept to its outermost extremes.
4. MANIPULATE REWARDS, PUNISHMENTS, EXPERIENCES IN ORDER TO ELICIT NEW
BEHAVIOR Models will demonstrate new behavior Conformity: dress, language,
behavior Using group language will eventually still the thinking mind I will
discuss this from the point of view of my experiences in the Illuminati in
San Diego, Ca. Again, "training" in the Illuminati and other highly
controlling groups (outside people call it "programming" ) is meant to create
behaviour that helps the group to continue. The goal is a member who is
absolutely committed to the group; who never questions leadership, who
strives to excel, and who scoffs at the weak. Weakness is the displaying of
emotion during ritual events; the refusal to perform an act, or the inability
to keep up with others in the group during activities. "Weak" members are
brought forward, and punished in view of all. During military exercises (the
group had a strong military basis, with forced marches at night, and mock
"battles" and "hunts" ) if a member did well, they were highly praised and
rewarded. This could be being excused from a difficult maneuver, or sexual
rewards, or moving up in status at the next award time. Members were highly
conscious of their standing in the group, and were constantly seeking to
"move up."
5. MUST BE A TIGHTLY CONTROLLED SYSTEM OF LOGIC There must be authoritarian
leaders in control, who inspire confidence and punish questioning behaviour.
In San Diego, as well as several Illuminati groups that I belonged to across
the country, the leadership looked like a "pyramid", with the top person
being head of "leadership council", then a group of two "advisors" below him.
Below these two were six administrators who coordinated finances, meeting
times, and running the groups logistically. Below them were six head
trainers. Underneath were the "sister groups" of about 50 members each, with
priests/priestesses, and others. All aspired to a leadership role, to being
allowed to move up the rigid hierarchy. Questioning of leadership was
unthought of, and considered quite dangerous. From earliest childhood on,
members were taught that seeking to leave, or questioning the group's
philosophy, would mean isolation, beratement, punishment, and possible death,
with "deaths" being staged to convince children of this reality. Survivors of
groups outside the Illuminati have also reported similar activities to
control members, with a hierarchy of leadership and leaders being given the
right to severely punish or discipline nonconformers.
6. PERSONS BEING THOUGHT REFORMED MUST BE UNAWARE THAT THEY ARE BEING MOVED
THROUGH A PROGRAM TO MAKE THEM DEPLOYABLE AGENTS A person is hard to
manipulate if they KNOW they are being manipulated. That is why techniques
used by ritualistically abusive groups are often based on a sophisticated
knowledge of human behaviour and psychology. The member's peers including
family, closest friends, and spouse are ALL members of the group in
generational cults. These people all reinforce for the member that the group
is good; has the member's "best interests" at heart, no matter how abusive
the behaviour. That they want to "help" the member. Trainers and behaviour
programmers also use these techniques, including "bonding" with the victim,
convincing the victim that they "care for them" , that "no one else could
possibly understand them the way their 'family' (the name the Illuminati go
by) does", etc. As a former trainer in this group, I used those phrases
frequently during sessions. At one time, I even believed them myself, until I
began questioning what I was doing (this will be the focus of another
article: why I left). Surrounded by members who all dress alike, act alike,
the person in an abusive cult will often question themselves instead of the
cult group, if they question at all. After all, in generational cults, this
is the ONLY reality the person has known, from infancy on, and not everyone
questions what happens to them.
In later articles, I hope to be able to incorporate survivor accounts of the
types of groups involved in this kind of abuse. On a personal note, the group
that was involved in my ritual abuse was known as the Illuminati, although
day to day they called themselves "family", "the Order", or "the Society"
depending on the circumstances. For thirteen years, at times my abuse
occurred in a Masonic temple in Alexandria, Virginia and some of the abusers
were Masons, although most of the membership of that group had no idea that
some of the members were using the temple for that purpose. All Masons are
NOT abusers, most are not, but SOME in my experience were members of the
Illuminati and abused me in that context. I was also abused in a small
abandoned Baptist church in the country in northern Virginia. One of the
abusers was a deacon in a local baptist church. All Baptists are NOT abusers,
but in this one instance, some members of the local church were members of a
group that abused during the night hours. In the daytime, these people were
respected members of the community, churchgoers, and appeared benevolent.
This shows that a person's daytime "persona" can be quite different from how
they act at night or in a different setting. All of the members of the group
that abused me were generational themselves, and had been abused in the same
way when they were children. This shows how the cycle of abuse, if not
healed, will continue generation after generation in some families.
References: (1) Singer, Margaret T. "Conditions for Thought Reform"
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