My Cult Experience
A year ago, I successfully escaped the clutches of a cult. I had been involved with the Patriarch Of The Sun Movement for just over 8 years, and over time, I learned just how manipulative the group was, and how they preyed on the weak, vulnerable people they did to get them to do their bidding. I will admit, that though I would consider myself a skeptic, I saw some things I cannot even begin to try to explain. I won’t bore you with an origin story, I will just give random stories of things that happened during my time in the group. If you have any interest in knowing more about the details of the group, I.E. the inner workings, earlier initiation details, how I got involved, how I got out, and other things of the sort, please let it be known in the comments and I will include those things in another post. I will answer any and all (related) questions to the best of my ability.
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About 4 years into my time with the POTSM, the higher ups, more commonly known as the Level 5 Plus Committee, abruptly changed the initiation rules and ceremony. I later found out the reason for the change, but it’s not important at the moment. To be considered for induction, you now needed to be a “distant follower” for one month, being “sponsored” by a “follower” (a full member). Your duties as a distant follower included attending church events, social gatherings, and specially organized beginner meetings.
Once you completed your month of sponsorship, there was a ritual. Here’s where things took a strange turn. You were required to get an “outsiders” (someone not affiliated with the group in any way) blood. The means didn’t matter, it could be retrieved consensually or otherwise, but it had to be at least a tablespoon worth. Next, you had to recite your oaths to the “higher power” of the group, who I will get to in a minute, while standing on “The Brass Triangles” which were literal brass triangles, which were heated from the bottom. The skin would burn off the feet, and anyone who could not handle the pain, and therefore not complete the recital of their oaths, would be denied a promotion to follower. They would then have to be sponsored by a different member and go through another month as a distant follower, but this rarely happened.
While the feet burnt and the oaths were recited, the person’s sponsor would pour the blood over the head of the distant follower, who wouldn’t be allowed to wash the blood off for a full 24 hours after the ritual was complete. This was to “let the blood of another soak into you, to show your devotion to the higher power being that of two people”. ...yeah. I don’t get that one.
After that, a big party was held celebrating the new full fledged followers induction to the Patriarch Of The Sun Movement. No alcohol was allowed, but copious amounts of LSD and MDMA were handed out. It wasn’t like a rave, though. Everyone pretty much acted like zombies. The old induction ritual and the following ceremony were much less theatrical, and much more tame.
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Onto some more odd things about this group, in no particular order. I can’t remember when I first noticed these things or when I first picked up the information. I don’t always remember what happened before and what happened after the revamping of the groups Level Five Plus Committee, save for a few things, which I will get to eventually.
______
One particular practice I found especially strange was what they did in the garden. Only members of the Level 3 Committee or higher were permitted to work in the garden; lower ranking members were allowed supervised, scheduled visits to the garden only. My initial thought is that they were growing something illegal, such as marijuana, but that was not the case.
What they would do is plant a variety of beautiful, colorful plants, and they day they bloomed, spray them with pesticides, effectively killing them. This was done as an appeasement to the “higher power”. To me, it seemed like an awful lot of effort for something you were literally going to kill as soon as you finish. It was like spending your time making an intricate painting, finishing it, then setting it on fire while the paint was still wet.
_________________
I suppose I should tell you about the “higher power” the group worships, and the group’s mythology and beliefs. The higher power is actually a demon named Paimon, who, in the leader’s mind (who I will get to after this), truly holds the secrets to enlightenment. Select Level 4 Committee members are the only ones allowed to sit-in when he is summoned, and Level 5 members are the only ones who can summon him. To disrupt that rule was considered as disrespectful to Paimon.
Summonings occurred two times per year; a brief summoning occurred in early December, simply to “appease” Paimon, and give him offerings, and the other, “main” summoning occurred in the first week of May. The summoning in May involved an entire ceremony, where others, Level 2 members and above, could view the ritual via a closed circuit camera. During this summoning, which always occurred during the day, the leader of the group would seek advice and information from Paimon, on a wide variety of subjects. I can get more into the mythology of Paimon, as well as the summoning ceremony if anyone is curious.
_______________
One strange thing I can’t explain that happened happened at the first summoning I was ever a part of (I reached my second year of being a Level 4 member). During the ceremony, we went through all the motions, and Paimon supposedly “appeared” to the leader, a man named Vaughn Leterrier (who I can get into later if there’s any inquiries), as he did every other time he was summoned. I don’t know if it was special effects orchestrated by other members, but there were 5 points in the ground that spontaneously lit on fire. Each spot was a circle with about a 6 inch diameter, and every attempt to put the flames out, failed. They didn’t spread anywhere; they just stayed in the same spot they initially appeared. We tried smothering the flames, but they just burnt through the towels and blankets we used. We tried pouring water on the flames, but the flames just kept on going, and they went until Vaughn withdrew Paimon’s invitation, when they disappeared as quickly as they had shown up. It was unbelievable. It wasn’t the first unexplainable thing that happened during my time there, just th one that always pops into my head for some reason.
___________
Some other things I can go into are the leader, the Level processes, recruitment techniques and rules, the summoning ceremonies, and anything else anyone wants to know. So ask away, if you’re interested! I’ll likely post again regardless, but I’d like to tailor my next post to reader’s specific inquiries.
Thank you.
_____
About 4 years into my time with the POTSM, the higher ups, more commonly known as the Level 5 Plus Committee, abruptly changed the initiation rules and ceremony. I later found out the reason for the change, but it’s not important at the moment. To be considered for induction, you now needed to be a “distant follower” for one month, being “sponsored” by a “follower” (a full member). Your duties as a distant follower included attending church events, social gatherings, and specially organized beginner meetings.
Once you completed your month of sponsorship, there was a ritual. Here’s where things took a strange turn. You were required to get an “outsiders” (someone not affiliated with the group in any way) blood. The means didn’t matter, it could be retrieved consensually or otherwise, but it had to be at least a tablespoon worth. Next, you had to recite your oaths to the “higher power” of the group, who I will get to in a minute, while standing on “The Brass Triangles” which were literal brass triangles, which were heated from the bottom. The skin would burn off the feet, and anyone who could not handle the pain, and therefore not complete the recital of their oaths, would be denied a promotion to follower. They would then have to be sponsored by a different member and go through another month as a distant follower, but this rarely happened.
While the feet burnt and the oaths were recited, the person’s sponsor would pour the blood over the head of the distant follower, who wouldn’t be allowed to wash the blood off for a full 24 hours after the ritual was complete. This was to “let the blood of another soak into you, to show your devotion to the higher power being that of two people”. ...yeah. I don’t get that one.
After that, a big party was held celebrating the new full fledged followers induction to the Patriarch Of The Sun Movement. No alcohol was allowed, but copious amounts of LSD and MDMA were handed out. It wasn’t like a rave, though. Everyone pretty much acted like zombies. The old induction ritual and the following ceremony were much less theatrical, and much more tame.
_______
Onto some more odd things about this group, in no particular order. I can’t remember when I first noticed these things or when I first picked up the information. I don’t always remember what happened before and what happened after the revamping of the groups Level Five Plus Committee, save for a few things, which I will get to eventually.
______
One particular practice I found especially strange was what they did in the garden. Only members of the Level 3 Committee or higher were permitted to work in the garden; lower ranking members were allowed supervised, scheduled visits to the garden only. My initial thought is that they were growing something illegal, such as marijuana, but that was not the case.
What they would do is plant a variety of beautiful, colorful plants, and they day they bloomed, spray them with pesticides, effectively killing them. This was done as an appeasement to the “higher power”. To me, it seemed like an awful lot of effort for something you were literally going to kill as soon as you finish. It was like spending your time making an intricate painting, finishing it, then setting it on fire while the paint was still wet.
_________________
I suppose I should tell you about the “higher power” the group worships, and the group’s mythology and beliefs. The higher power is actually a demon named Paimon, who, in the leader’s mind (who I will get to after this), truly holds the secrets to enlightenment. Select Level 4 Committee members are the only ones allowed to sit-in when he is summoned, and Level 5 members are the only ones who can summon him. To disrupt that rule was considered as disrespectful to Paimon.
Summonings occurred two times per year; a brief summoning occurred in early December, simply to “appease” Paimon, and give him offerings, and the other, “main” summoning occurred in the first week of May. The summoning in May involved an entire ceremony, where others, Level 2 members and above, could view the ritual via a closed circuit camera. During this summoning, which always occurred during the day, the leader of the group would seek advice and information from Paimon, on a wide variety of subjects. I can get more into the mythology of Paimon, as well as the summoning ceremony if anyone is curious.
_______________
One strange thing I can’t explain that happened happened at the first summoning I was ever a part of (I reached my second year of being a Level 4 member). During the ceremony, we went through all the motions, and Paimon supposedly “appeared” to the leader, a man named Vaughn Leterrier (who I can get into later if there’s any inquiries), as he did every other time he was summoned. I don’t know if it was special effects orchestrated by other members, but there were 5 points in the ground that spontaneously lit on fire. Each spot was a circle with about a 6 inch diameter, and every attempt to put the flames out, failed. They didn’t spread anywhere; they just stayed in the same spot they initially appeared. We tried smothering the flames, but they just burnt through the towels and blankets we used. We tried pouring water on the flames, but the flames just kept on going, and they went until Vaughn withdrew Paimon’s invitation, when they disappeared as quickly as they had shown up. It was unbelievable. It wasn’t the first unexplainable thing that happened during my time there, just th one that always pops into my head for some reason.
___________
Some other things I can go into are the leader, the Level processes, recruitment techniques and rules, the summoning ceremonies, and anything else anyone wants to know. So ask away, if you’re interested! I’ll likely post again regardless, but I’d like to tailor my next post to reader’s specific inquiries.
Thank you.