Ritual abuse involves abusive physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, or sexual activity done in a repetitive pattern often incorporating violence, ceremony and/or religious rites.

Ritual abuse functions in an atmosphere of secrecy and complicity and exists covertly in many social, economic, cultural, religious and/or ethnic communities. Ritual abuse can be hidden under the guise of acceptable social organizations.

Individuals and groups practicing ritual abuse do so in secrecy. The abusers are primarily motivated by power, status and personal or spiritual gratification.

The degree of cruelty and bizarreness of these activities make reports of ritual abuse difficult to comprehend and accept.

A safe environment can be created within our communities by informing and educating the public and criminal justice system.

Survivors need to be provided with therapeutic and social support as well as civil and criminal amnesty when reporting ritual abuse.

Ritual abuse is any physical, emotional, mental, spiritual or sexual activity done in a repetitive pattern, often involving violence, ceremony and/or religious rites.

I REMEMBER

I died as I was born.
I saw the light,
Quickly my soul was torn.
Softly in the night,
Pain became my friend.
Sadness and devastation my end.
Clutching at beauty of rock and tree,
To ease the cold within.
Searching for the light,
Finding the fire.
Burned again and again.
Fireflies, flowers, snakes and rats,
Never will it end.

I remember when butterflies were free,
When sap ran sweetly from the tree,
I held my puppy close to me, for comfort.

I remember when blood ran from my mouth
Like ice cream dripping
From a cone on a hazy afternoon.

I remember riding my horse in the shade of the wood
Picnic lunches all alone
My fantasy land of Robin Hood
Castles and guard we all stood.

I remember people all dressed in black
Incense burning
I want to turn back

I remember the knives
The will of the group
The chanting, the dancing
This was no fun group.

I remember the sounds, of screams in the dark
Of death and destruction
On a Saturday night.

I remember crucifixions
In God's Holy name
Face up on the floor
Nailed in my pain.

I remember the joy of an evening bonfire
The songs so softly sung
By beetles in the tree.

I remember the soft glow
Of candles lit for me.
The blindness I embraced, so I could not see
The complete and utter desolation before me.

I remember droplets falling like tears from a child
Blood warm and salty
In remembrance of me.

I remember words in a kind gentle tone
This is the body and blood
I lift up my eyes unto the Lord
Take ye and eat this in remembrance of me.

I remember the pain searing my soul
We locked it in the deepest hole.
An everlasting kingdom, not for she.
Deliver me from evil
Thy rod and staff will comfort me
I lift her up unto the Lord
Have mercy on me.

I stand today before you
Naked in my truth
Pain of my life
Coursing and ripping through my soul
Binding me to self.
I am empty and alone
Trusting in no one
Never to share?

I learn in the warm embrace of others
To stand united
In my reality and yours
To feel the warmth of their being
Pulsating with life.

Discussion - Ritual Abuse

How and why?
Why is it so hard to believe that ritual abuse happens? This is not new. Its techniques are well known and used in other areas, for example during W.W.I and II. People need to stretch their level of awareness.

Perpetrators are motivated by power, money and status. Ritual abuse involves violence, pain, and control. It is covert, and sometimes profit making. It is sometimes hierarchical, and involves manipulation. It is reality distorting, morality destroying, and is generational, extending over a lifetime.

Ritual abuse is any abuse carried out in a ritualistic way. It can be repetitive and involve mind control, programming and multiple perpetrators. It is not necessarily religious.

The pattern of abuse sets up fear, and can trigger reactions in survivors. Some rituals are satanic in nature. Public disbelief and denial exist.

This type of abuse is subversive and destructive. It is secretive and silent. People do not believe it could happen to them. They need something to relate to in order to understand the issue. There is inequity in the way society views these issues.

Ritual abuse is justified in the minds of its perpetrators. They possess a subversive morality, a twisted spirituality or motivation, and have a need to belong. Ritual abuse is about survival, for the survivor, but for the perpetrators - it’s about power and status.

Where?
Ritual abuse exists everywhere, usually evil masking as normality. It could occur in churches, public buildings, cemeteries, the woods, morgues and other similar locations.

Who?
Everyone is capable of ritual abuse: doctors, lawyers, politicians, priests...

What can be done?
Survivors must speak out and inform the public. The signs and symptoms of this type of abuse appear in music, types of movies, and may also be physical, such as repetitive reproductive problems, weight problems to hide pregnancy, bed-wetting, interest in feces and/or fascination with blood and others. The facts need to be distributed constantly.

We must create a safe environment within our communities for survivors by informing and educating the public and criminal justice systems.

The system must provide therapeutic and social support as well as civil and criminal amnesty for survivors.

REFERENCES ON RITUAL ABUSE:

Beckylane. Where The Rivers Join: A Personal Account of Healing From Ritual Abuse. Press Gang Publishers.

Burnham, Rebecca. “Ritual Abuse and The Rites of Passage.” BC Report, June 22, 1992, vol. 3 no. 42, p. 38-9.

Clay, Colin. “More Than A Survivor: Memories of Satanic Ritual Abuse and the Paths Which Lead to Healing. Anglican Journal, April 1997, vol. 123 no. 4, p. 14.

Fennell, Tom. “Satan Factor: Bizarre Cults Promote Child Sex Abuse.” Maclean’s, June 22, 1992, vol. 105 no. 25, p. cover, 29.

Jadelinn. Spirit Alive: A Woman’s Healing From Cult Ritual Abuse. Women’s Press, 1997.

Kendrick, Martyn. Nobody’s Children - The Foster Care Crisis In Canada. Toronto: MacMillan of Canada, 1998.

LaRoche, Michelle. “Healing From Ritual Abuse: Reaching for the Light.” Healthsharing, Spring-Summer 1993, vol. 14 no. 1, p. 30-3.

Marron, Kevin. Ritual Abuse. Toronto: Seal Books, 1988.

Oksana, Chrystine. Safe Passage to Healing: A Guide For Survivors of Ritual Abuse. New York, N.Y.: Harper Perennial, 1994.

Olson, Lorna. “Community Responds to Ritual Abuse (Stone Angels Are Committed To Raising Community Awareness Of Childhood Ritual Abuse).” Windspeaker, March 1995, vol. 12 no. 23, p.10.

Richardson, Anna. Double Vision: A Travelogue of Recovery From Ritual Abuse. Trilogy Books, 1997.

Smith, Margaret. Ritual Abuse: What It Is, Why It Happens, and How to Help. San Francisco, Calif.: Harper San Francisco, 1993.

Steacy, Anne. “Questions of Satanism: Tales of Ritual Abuse are Common.” Maclean’s, November 27, 1989, vol. 102 no. 48, p. cover, 62.

WaterWomon, Cheryl. “Healing From Ritual Abuse: A Personal Journey.” Canadian Woman Studies, Fall 1991, vol. 12 no. 1, p. 28-9.

----------. “One Survivor’s Experience of Ritual Abuse (Satanism).” Canadian Woman Studies, Summer 1991, vol. 11 no. 4, p. 70-72.

Wright, Lawrence. Remembering Satan. New York: Knopf, 1994.

THE WAY IT WAS

I was born with No Name,
I was useless to Them all.
Hope was lost forever,
being lied to made me fall.

Backward I fell
feeling insignificant and wrong,
Only wanting to gain hope
feeling tired and afraid all along.

With faith I gain hope
as I look up for rainbows in the sky
Being lied to and tricked so much
only makes me want to die.

Cherlyn

HANDS

His hands hurt
Slap, steal
Held her down
Tied her up
Waved her away
Passed her by

Her hands hurt
Bent, broken
Clinched in pain
Scarred and bruised
Cut and bled
Cracked and dry

His legacy to her
He can keep
Her hands healed
Helped, held and freed
Pulled close and reached out
His legacy, her reality

Monica