THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SATANIC CULT INVOLVEMENT: AN ...

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possessive symptoms, such as personality transformation, voice changes, verbal and
physical aggression, blasphemous tirades against God, and phobic reactions toward
religious symbols associated with God's archetypal goodness.
In Chapter Six it was noted that a criticism ofpsychological interpretations of demonic
possession was the problem of explaining associated paranormal phenomena. Within a
Jungian framework, it is quite possible that split-off complexes impact, not only on the
subject, but also the external world onto which they are projected. This could give rise
to certain paranormal events, in which inanimate objects become animated or vivified
(Meier, 1984; Redfearn, 1985). Redfearn (1985, p. 99) suggests that "parts ofthe self
can be split off to the point of taking on material existence". This would provide a
psychological explanation for the alleged supernatural influences that occur around
demonically possessed individuals.
Of course, as in the preceding chapter on object relation theory, we need to account
for the crucial distinction between involuntary satanic possession, discussed above, and
induced possession through participation in satanic ritual invocation. Far from
defending themselves against the demonic complex, these individuals actively invoke
the demonic forces and invite evil spirits to possess them in the same way as Christians
invite possession by God's divine presence. This represents the ego's identification
with the demonic subpersonality, a strategy which reverses the defensive strategy of
dissociation. Jung called the state produced by the identification with an archetype
inflation, and noted that this identification with an archetype may produce a Dionysian
frenzy in which the victim feels omnipotent and godlike. Rather than attempting to
keep Satan at bay with the defences discussed above, these individuals invite evil
archetypal forces to possess them, thereby assuming control of the autonomous
complex through deliberate association (demonic invocation), rather than dissociation.
The intuitive realisation that the tyrannical power which the demonic complex wields
over the individual can be diffused by yielding and identifYing with it, rather than
fighting it, soon loses its purely defensive quality, as the addictive experience of
archetypal inflation induces a sense of grandiosity.
The radical behavioural and