THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SATANIC CULT INVOLVEMENT: AN ...

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experience a sense of euphoria and omnipotence. In subject three's words, "It felt
wonderful at that moment. Ifelt very elated, on a high. As though I could do anything".
The above discussion of satanic recruitment and initiation highlights the power of
Satanist ritual to consolidate and formalise the adoption of a new identity, based upon a
pre-existing autonomous complex, within a framework of mythical symbolism and
spiritual significance. Having grown up without the experience of fatherly love or
familial belonging, the initiation ritual provides participants with a longed-for surrogate
father, a welcoming family, and a target (Christianity) for directing hatred and hostility.
An intoxicating state of inflation, based on identification with Satan, infuses initiates with
a sense ofomnipotent power, expunging the former anxiety-provoking self representation
ofbeing an impotent victim ofa cruel and rejecting father.
15.3.3 Experience of satanic cult involvement
The research subjects' accounts of their cult experience supports the claim that a variety
of antisocial and criminal activities occur as a matter of course in underground Satanist
organisations (see Chapter Three). What is important for the purposes of this study,
however, are the meanings that these activities have for the cult participants. For the
subjects participating in this study, the experience of satanic involvement occurred in two
phases, distinguished by a dramatic attitudinal shift in their perception of the cult, from
strongly positive to exceptionally negative. In this section, the factors contributing to the
initial positive experience of Satanism will be discussed, while the negative experiences
contributing to subjects leaving the cult will be outlined later. Although many aspects of
subjects' experience warrant comment, I wish to focus on the magical, ritual, and
hedonistic aspects ofcult involvement.
At first, for reasons indicated in the previous section, the experience of cult belonging
induces a state of hypomanic inflation. Egos-yntonic identification with the personified
destructive subpersonality creates feelings ofomnipotence, bolstered by the acquisition of
"magical" powers, which create the conviction that material reality, one's own body, and
the thoughts and actions of others can be controlled by thought alone. Such belief in their