Cults vs. Covens
Dear Witchful Thinking,
I’ve know most of my adult life that certain members of my family were involved with cult activity. I don’t know much about it, but I do believe it to be satanic…or basically bad magic. I don’t know if there is such a thing, but I know with every fiber of my being that they were not good people, doing not good things. This has instilled in me a fear of coven practicing., although it is something I would like to try. I’m afraid that it could end up in some scenario such as my predecessors did. Paganism has always been an undercurrent in my family, even the members who claim devout Christianity practice accidentally. I see it all the time and because of this I actually see very little difference in most religions. I feel it is time to move forward with my ceremonies, and incorporate other people, (or visa versa). How do I stop myself from getting involved with the wrong crowd? I trust my intuition on people, but with something that already has a bad connotation in my mind, I don’t know that it will reading people accurately.
Sincerely,
The Accidental Witch
Dear Accidental,
What a question! If I hear you correctly, you are interested in joining a coven, but don’t want to get mixed up in cults. You want to trust your intuition about people, but when it comes to this subject, bad family experiences have made you wary.
Let’s get some definitions out first. What is a cult according to dictionary.com?
- a particular system of religious worship, esp. with reference to its rites and ceremonies.
- an instance of great veneration of a person, ideal, or thing, esp. as manifested by a body of admirers: the physical fitness cult.
- the object of such devotion.
- a group or sect bound together by veneration of the same thing, person, ideal, etc.
- In the study of Sociology, it’s a group having a sacred ideology and a set of rites centering around their sacred symbols.
- a religion or sect considered to be false, unorthodox, or extremist, with members often living outside of conventional society under the direction of a charismatic leader.
- the members of such a religion or sect.
- any system for treating human sickness that originated by a person usually claiming to have sole insight into the nature of disease, and that employs methods regarded as unorthodox or unscientific.
I guess this looks like a cult to some people.
But I think the one you are worried about is #6. The charismatic leader can be a wonderful thing, or it can be terrible. We associate brainwashing with these scenarios, and I suspect that’s what you are really worried about. But that’s why we have (drum roll) The Advanced Bonewits Cult Device Evaluation Frame. Or ABCDEF. This is a gift from our friend Issac Bonewits, and it is widely used by police investigating cults. You can use it yourself on any group. See it below this article.
Now there's a happy coven! But is is the right one for you?
That being said, don’t make any oaths you aren’t sure you can fulfill. Always take your brain with you. If a coven asks for your devotion forever and ever, that’s a red flag. If a coven asks for your serious and earnest best effort–that’s something that is respectable that you can fulfill, and it gives you an out if you need one. This all relates back to the controlling nature of the group. Some groups will ask more of you than others, so don’t sign up for something you aren’t willing to give. It is up to you. The safety, connection, synchronization and magic all take time to build, so don’t expect to have that immediately.
The Advanced Bonewits’ Cult Danger Evaluation Frame
(version 2.6) (I got it here)
| Factors: |
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Low High
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| 1 | Internal Control: Amount of internal political and social power exercised by leader(s) over members; lack of clearly defined organizational rights for members. | 1 |
_________________________
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| 2 | External Control: Amount of external political and social influence desired or obtained; emphasis on directing members’ external political and social behavior. | 2 |
_________________________
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| 3 | Wisdom/Knowledge Claimed by leader(s); amount of infallibility declared or implied about decisions or doctrinal/scriptural interpretations; number and degree of unverified and/or unverifiable credentials claimed. | 3 |
_________________________
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| 4 | Wisdom/Knowledge Credited to leader(s) by members; amount of trust in decisions or doctrinal/scriptural interpretations made by leader(s); amount of hostility by members towards internal or external critics and/or towards verification efforts. | 4 |
_________________________
|
| 5 | Dogma: Rigidity of reality concepts taught; amount of doctrinal inflexibility or “fundamentalism;” hostility towards relativism and situationalism. | 5 |
_________________________
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| 6 | Recruiting: Emphasis put on attracting new members; amount of proselytizing; requirement for all members to bring in new ones. | 6 |
_________________________
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| 7 | Front Groups: Number of subsidiary groups using different names from that of main group, especially when connections are hidden. | 7 |
_________________________
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| 8 | Wealth: Amount of money and/or property desired or obtained by group; emphasis on members’ donations; economic lifestyle of leader(s) compared to ordinary members. | 8 |
_________________________
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| 9 | Sexual Manipulation of members by leader(s) of non-tantric groups; amount of control exercised over sexuality of members in terms of sexual orientation, behavior, and/or choice of partners. | 9 |
_________________________
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| 10 | Sexual Favoritism: Advancement or preferential treatment dependent upon sexual activity with the leader(s) of non-tantric groups. | 10 |
_________________________
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| 11 | Censorship: Amount of control over members’ access to outside opinions on group, its doctrines or leader(s). | 11 |
_________________________
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| 12 | Isolation: Amount of effort to keep members from communicating with non-members, including family, friends and lovers. | 12 |
_________________________
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| 13 | Dropout Control: Intensity of efforts directed at preventing or returning dropouts. | 13 |
_________________________
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| 14 | Violence: Amount of approval when used by or for the group, its doctrines or leader(s). | 14 |
_________________________
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| 15 | Paranoia: Amount of fear concerning real or imagined enemies; exaggeration of perceived power of opponents; prevalence of conspiracy theories. | 15 |
_________________________
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| 16 | Grimness: Amount of disapproval concerning jokes about the group, its doctrines or its leader(s). | 16 |
_________________________
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| 17 | Surrender of Will: Amount of emphasis on members not having to be responsible for personal decisions; degree of individual disempowerment created by the group, its doctrines or its leader(s). | 17 |
_________________________
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| 18 | Hypocrisy: amount of approval for actions which the group officially considers immoral or unethical, when done by or for the group, its doctrines or leader(s); willingness to violate the group’s declared principles for political, psychological, social, economic, military, or other gain. | 18 |
_________________________
|
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Low High
|
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