Cult Reading! (The Secret World of Cults: From Ancient Druids to Heaven's Gate - Sarah Moran)

Member Name: Burning_Darkness

Product:	The Secret World of Cults: From Ancient Druids to Heaven's Gate - Sarah Moran
Date:	28/07/09 (82 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Well presented and written with balanced views

Disadvantages: Not an in-depth study, though great for a quick read

Sarah Moyan's 'The Secret World of Cults' is an intriguing little book full of colourful illustrations and information regarding various obscure and unusual religious orders and secret societies that have existed down through the centuries.

The first chapter looks at ancient secret societies such as the Knights Templar, Rosicrucians, Freemasons, Illuminati and Priory of Sion, providing speculation on their supposedly far-reaching global influence as well as suggestions of links to the Holy Grail and alchemical science. The next chapter is given over to Christian offshoots such as the Mormons, as well as standalone religious orders such as the South Korean-based Unification Church or 'Moonies'. It also looks at esoteric cults with links to Mystic Eastern traditions such as the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, the yoga-based Natural Law Party and the Indian Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, looking at how these cults have assimilated themselves into Western culture and influenced numerous famous public figures such as The Beatles.

Chapter three deals with UFO cults such as the Aetherius Society of the 50s and the infamous Heaven's Gate Cult, who believed that they were about to be taken away by an alien spacecraft that was following the Hale Bopp Comet that passed by the earth in 1997, culminating in a mass suicide in a San Diego villa where police found 39 bodies of cult members all of whom were wearing identical black shirts, trousers and Nike trainers, wrapped in purple shrouds and sporting androgynous cropped hairstyles and arm badges stating "Heaven's Gate Away Team", the victims having taken a fatal mixture of vodka and Phenobarbital in shifts in order to exit their 'earthly vehicles' and return to the approaching mothership.

Chapter four looks at other infamous doomsday cults such as that of the people of Jonestown, a group whose deranged leader Reverend Jim Jones forced his 1200 strong congregation to commit mass suicide with poison-laced cool-aid in the Guyana jungle in 1978, and the Branch Davidians, a bizarre Christian offshoot headed by Messianic figure David Koresh whose insistence on stockpiling assualt rifles and allegations of child abuse led to the FBI storming of the cult's Waco compound in 1993 with tanks and specialist troops, ending a standoff that resulted in multiple deaths on both sides including those of numerous women and children who were burned to death in the ensuing flames after the tanks set the compound's roof alight with flamethrowers. The AUM supreme truth is also covered, a doomsday cult headed by Shoko Asahara, a mystic and psychopathic figure who convinced numerous graduate scientists and engineers to unleash deadly Sarin nerve gas into the Tokyo Subway, killing 11 or 12 commuters and injuring many others.

Chapter five deals with sects based around magic and often involving murder, including the infamous Californian Manson Family cult of Charles Manson, who subverted the hippie movement to his own warped ends, convincing a number of his young and impressionable followers to carry out several murders including that of the Sharon Tate, the pregnant wife of film director Roman Polanski. There is also a section on Carribbean Voodoo and the curse of zombification, which actually has some truth to it as victims were often placed into a drug-induced coma and given a funeral only to be resurrected as heavily doped-up slaves by their masters. The racist Klu-Klux Klan organisation is also explored, looking at the symbolism behind its rituals and aesthetics and including a rather perturbing picture of a US flag-waving KKK parade marching on Washington DC in 1925. There is also a section on Satanism, looking at the Abbey of Thelema sect of Aleister Crowly and his associated 'Magick' traditions, as well as the Church of Satan of Anton Lavey. Rather than launch into tabloid hysteria, Moran takes a balanced look at these societies, and dismisses 'Satanic Panic' views to arrive at the conclusion that Laveyian 'Satanism' is an atheistic and hedonistic system that rejects the dogmas of Christianity in favour of essentially pagan concepts of man as an animal with associated animal instincts, the overt suppression of which is deemed unhealthy. Indeed, Laveyian Satanism is revealed as being based around freedom of thought, self empowerment and self-indulgence rather than the heinous criminal acts with which The Church of Satan is often associated, though Moran acknowledges that it does reject of the Christian notion of turning the other cheek in favour of an animalistic notion of the prevalence of the strong. As Moran Puts it, "Satanists do not, contrary to popular opinion, murder or physically harm their enemies, but they do believe in survival of the fittest and the power their self-gratification gives them." However, Moran does point out that whilst mainstream Satanism is considerably more innocuous than its blackened reputation would suggest, there are always those who read what they want into any given belief system, such as self-professed satanist and serial killer David Berkowitz, aka the 'Son of Sam' murderer, and numerous other small groups of unhinged individuals who have formed into their own depraved 'Satanic Sects' with no connections whatsoever to Lavey's group.

The final chapter looks at militant organisations such as black power group The Nation of Islam and anti-semitic fundamentalist Christian US militia group the Posse Comitatus as well as The Michigan Militia, a US patriot group believed to consist of tens of thousands of white, right-wing Americans. Its another interesting chapter that brings the book up to the present day and provides as an appropriate closer.

Whilst quite a light read, 'The Secret World of Cults' is informative and well written and presented, and eschews a sensationalist approach in favour of a more balanced view of the frequently bizarre societies it discusses, making a concerted effort to separate fact from fiction throughout. It wont take long to read but as an introductory guide to the world of Cults its an excellent little book.

Summary: A great introduction to the bizarre and often frightening world of Cults.