Ritual abuse - see the trigger warning

Trigger warning for the subject of ritual abuse and rituals mentioned below on this page and in articles on the following two whole pages.

This is not intended to upset anyone, it is not comprehensive, and you may not agree with what is written. It continues into the next sections and pages.

If you feel uncomfortable with the material, there is a list of other articles at the top righthand side of each page, or you can go to another website that you like.

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With experiencers of ritual abuse, sometimes they may actually attend rituals but it's too hard to prove to anyone. Other times they could be being accessed to attend in a mental or astral sense, and are not likely to be believed anyway.

Other times they could be hypnotised in the usual way, or maybe they go somewhere following a post-hypnotic suggestion given earlier. They might act on a psychological trigger or association from an email or phone call, which sends them into an altered state of consciousness like floating and which sounds like descriptions of astral projection. The person might just leave their home and get collected and taken somewhere. There are various possibilities, again hard to prove.

There's a similarity between the term 'altered state' and 'alter state', the latter term being used in connection with different ego states, alter personalities, dissociation, DID (dissociative identity disorder), MPD (multiple personality disorder). See also Dissociation or DID which has now been posted on this blogsite as well as at Toukanalia.

Clearly it is difficult to pin things down but these are important concepts with far-reaching implications, i.e. that someone with knowledge of triggers and association can switch people in and out of alter/altered states, or into dissociation. Some of those alter states or ego's may be religious in an orthodox sense, some may be quite the opposite, some are likely to remember certain things while others are unaware or in denial. One of the issues concerning ritual abuse relates to whether people are actually remembering from the past, or some other process is paramount. As implied above, people may still be attending rituals in one persona or state, while the rest remain unaware or know a little about it. And if this is happening to them, it isn't memories from way back that we're talking about.

All or any of these aspects can be used to confuse not only those involved, but also people working to understand and help. If you're not happy with concepts like astral projection, they are just a way of describing things that are meaningful to some people but not to others. Sometimes an experiencer of ritual abuse describes an event in some detail, subsequently saying it was a dream (this could be a natural defence mechanism or one instilled into them). Other times they get a waking-dream or vision, which could be a form of psychological access, or something suggested beforehand which now comes into play.

You may not consider remote psychological or psychic access possible and I won't go into it here: There are plenty of books and references on remote viewing or mental influencing. An interesting book from over thirty years ago 'Experiments in Distant Influence' by L.L. Vasiliev describes hypnosis at a distance. See also experiments conducted by Dr Rupert Sheldrake on the phenomenon of sensing that one is being stared at, and on morphogenetic fields.

The point about Shamanism is that people tend to accept that shamans 'visit' or experience in other ways from mundane consensus or conscious reality, whether due to ingestion of plant substances, the trauma of initiation, or a different basic way of life.

You may not feel comfortable that people might act on triggers or associations, because that would imply an unknown or scarey area. There is some consensus that hypnosis is a meaningful term, and that post-hypnotic suggestion works sometimes. Ask hypnotists about rapid induction techniques - they probably know a few even if they don't use them. Or ask about 'convincers' which can be an actual physical object, or something they say to convince people that something is true or likely, which then can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. And remember that advertising is probably used so much because it works.

All of the comments on this Blog, and particularly in this section and the next one below on 'Urban Legend and Ritual Abuse' are intended to open up discussion on things that a lot of people don't believe in. They may not have come across it, or it is too hard or confusing, or maybe they read something by someone that persuaded them against it or encouraged scepticism or disbelief.

I feel we should be taking the stance that 'If this phenomenon happens, surely we should take note'. One of the inherent problems is that someone may be accused rightly or wrongly, taking things into a different arena.

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'May 33rd'

Pasted below is text from a BBC press release about a drama shown in Spring 2004 called 'May 33rd' by Guy Hibbert

http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2004/02_february/19/may_33rd.shtml

19.02.04

TV DRAMA

May 33rd - a film by Guy Hibbert for BBC ONE

In Guy Hibbert's film May 33rd, Lia Williams stars as Ella, a young woman whose disturbing and tortured upbringing forces her into a living nightmare.

The film is an exploration of the consequences of repeated ritual abuse as seen through the eyes of a young woman whose personality has fragmented into five different people.

A fictional drama based on extensive research, May 33rd follows Guy Hibbert's previous film No Child Of Mine, a true story about child prostitution and abuse, supported by child protection agencies, which caused much controversy when it was screened in 1996.

It is directed by David Attwood (Fidel!) and produced by Hilary Bevan Jones (State of Play) for BBC ONE.

While trying to escape her family - a small group of relatives and their friends who have abused her since childhood - Ella visits an osteopath to relieve the pains in her body.

When Edward (Soren Byder) applies pressure to certain parts of Ella's body, it triggers her into different personalities.

Through Ella and her other identities the drama explores the chilling and shocking condition Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), formerly known as Multiple Personality Disorder, which is a condition associated with ritual abuse.

Writer Guy Hibbert says: "Five years after writing No Child Of Mine, I learnt of the condition of Dissociative Identity Disorder and the real life cases of young women from all over the UK who had suffered from it as a result of ritual abuse.

"The research led me to professionals working in this field and the victims of this horrific cruelty."

He continues: "One of my reasons for writing this drama is to encourage a greater understanding of both the condition of Dissociative Identity Disorder and its causes.

"Through my research I discovered that because these causes are so cruel, society prefers to disbelieve the victims because it cannot cope with the truth."

Producer Hilary Bevan Jones says: "This story describes a personal nightmare. As Ella herself says, 'It's like living in a world that doesn't exist in anyone else's world, like it's May 33rd or something and everyone else is in the real day'."

Jane Tranter, Controller of Drama Commissioning, says: "May 33rd is a bold and subtle exploration of a condition that affects many women in the UK yet remains shrouded in mystery and fear.

"It follows dramas such as Care, Out Of Control and England Expects – risky films which examine contemporary issues in an uncompromising way."

May 33rd is an Endor production for BBC ONE. The executive producers are Guy Hibbert and Julie Gardner, Head of Drama, BBC Wales.

Notes to Editors

Dissociation is a mental process, which produces a lack of connection in a person's thoughts, memories, feelings, actions, or sense of identity.

Dissociative disorders are often referred to as a highly creative survival technique because they allow individuals enduring 'hopeless' circumstances to preserve some areas of healthy functioning.

Over time, however, with a child who has been repeatedly physically and sexually assaulted, defensive dissociation becomes reinforced and conditioned.

Repeated dissociation may result in a series of separate entities, or mental states, which may eventually take on identities of their own. These entities may become the internal 'personality states' of a DID system.

For more information about dissociative disorders, visit the Sidran Foundation website - www.sidran.org.

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites

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