THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SATANIC CULT INVOLVEMENT: AN ...

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submission to the omnipotent father ofchildhood, internalised in the form ofthe ego ideal 2
and projected in the figure of God, restores the paternal connection and assuages the
anxiety and guilt associated with oedipal dynamics. The ego ideal is thus "the germ from
which all religions have evolved" (Freud, 1923, p. 37). This goes some way toward
explaining the ambivalent perceptions and attitudes that adherents to monotheistic
religions have toward their respective gods. The correspondence between the child's
earthly father and the adult's supernatural god are striking, and provide evidence for
Freud's theory about the provenance of deities: God is male and referred to as "heavenly
father"; He is all-knowing and all-powerful; He is loving if obeyed, but vengeful if
challenged; He prohibits or restricts the gratification of sexual and aggressive impulses,
etc.
7.1.4 Religion as a social form of obsessional neurosis
. In Totem and Taboo (1912-13), Freud argued that the thought processes of obsessional
neurotics resembled those of primitive people. The link in this analogy is totemism,
whereby some animal is invested with particular supernatural significance, and is typically
identified with a male ancestral figure. Freud noted that a number of taboos were
associated with the totem animal. It was not to be killed, except on special sacramental
occasions, and the men were not permitted to have sex with women from the same totem
clan. From these three observations - that sexual relations with women associated with
the totem animal were prohibited, that the totem animal was regarded with superstitious
awe, and that it was only permitted to be killed under special ritual circumstances - Freud
concluded that the totem animal symbolised the oedipal father. Incestuous and patricidal
wishes were displaced from the actual clan fathers onto an animal substitute, which was
both revered and ritually slaughtered, thereby symbolically enacting every male child's
ambivalent fantasies concerning a loved and hated father figure.
2 Freud's use of the terms 'super-ego' and 'ego-ideal' was inconsistent. At this point (1923) Freud
appeared to regard the two conepts as synonomous, whereas he had earlier considered the ego-ideal to be a
distinct agency or substructure ofthe super-ego (Laplanche & Pontalis, 1973).