THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SATANIC CULT INVOLVEMENT: AN ...

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he savagely murdered a man he alleged was a satanic high priest, claiming that this man
had abducted, raped, murdered and cannibalised his lover at a satanic meeting. After
abducting this man, the subject drove him to a deserted spot and killed him. He claimed
little recollection of his actions, and maintained that when he regained awareness he
found himself standing over the deceased's body, having stabbed him nineteen time and
nearly severing the victim's head with the ferocity ofhis attack. Psychiatric witnesses for
the prosecution argued that this subject had executed a cold-blooded and premeditated
murder. This author, appearing as an expert witness for the defence, argued that the
murder had been committed in a dissociated state that would temporarily have overridden
normal ego functioning and, therefore, the exercise of restraint, judgement, and reason.
The relative merits of these opposing arguments were never tested, however. The
perpetrator, fearing conviction and a lengthy jail sentence, absconded while on bail, and
fled the country at the beginning ofthe trial. His murderous behaviour, subsequent to his
Christian conversion, is grim testimony to the fact that apparent religious salvation does
not preclude regressive re-identification with the destructive parts ofthe self.
Summary
The discussion began with a critical examination of the credibility of subjects'
retrospective accounts of their satanic involvement and the cogency of this researcher's
interpretation of their accounts. The status of these accounts as narrative constructions
was emphasised, along with the attendant implications this has for hermeneutic
methodologies, which themselves are metanarrative schemas. The archetypal object
relations model, proposed in Chapter Twelve, was then summarised and applied to the
five research questions. The author drew on both psychological and sociological factors
to explain the apparent demographic characteristics of South African Satanists. It was
argued that the contemporary generation of white, working class adolescents have grown
up in a turbulent socio-economic climate that has witnessed the overthrow ofwhite racial
privilege, political power, economic stability, and traditional ideologies. Feeling,
disempowered, anomic, marginalised, resentful and dispossessed, these youths and young
adults are predisposed to find a magical solution to their plight. Satanic cults