Cult Survivor Memoirs by Chasity Jones

This blog post is a mirrored image on my experiences in making a podcast series on religious trauma experienced in cults in addition to learn how to heal traumatic experiences in cults.

First, I needed to make a really deliberate use of the word survivor, not victim. The Survivor was the apparent selection as I cringed as I believed of myself because the victim. Nonetheless, after I heal, I can honor each the survivor and the victim because they’re the identical. Nonetheless, I cannot forget to confess that some victims don’t survive, and the identical is true for the sects. Many individuals are currently in exile or are hiding from their cults once they flee, and for this reason, some people involved within the series have been forced to have interaction anonymously.

My goals on the show

• Initially, I would like to teach the collective about how common sects are and the way insidiously they will slip chains over your wrists. Many individuals think that only fools find yourself in cults, or that cults are only religious, NO. I encourage us to think more critically about this assumption. That is where we discuss traits and tactics that sects often use.
• I never had room to reflect, express, process or heal my very own cult experiences, so I used to be compelled to create them.
• I also desired to create a platform or space for other survivors to reflect, express, process and heal themselves. Within the season finale, I answered questions directly from the audience because we were capable of share the incredibly daring experience of somebody who had escaped the identical cult as me. It was probably the most beautiful features of the entire experience. Thanks for entrusting me together with your stories.
• I knew I needed to make a transparent relationship between sects and offensive relationships on the whole. After I study sects and after I study relationship abuses, but even deeper as a survivor / victim of each, I’m capable of see that they’ve the identical unequal power dynamics. Cults and offensive relationships are similar to victims, and survivors are the identical. Actually, I ponder if the incontrovertible fact that I experienced a cult made me more susceptible to offensive romantic relationships afterward. Who knows?
• As a female theologian, ex-evangelical, and decolonization consultant, I couldn’t be true to myself without risking unfamiliar and unnamed people the harm done by conservative evangelical theologies and cosmologies. Human beings with feelings, dreams, hopes, nightmares, fears (hell) and family members. The cult uses all of these items to brainwash and control the minds of its members.
• As a cult survivor (Oak Tree Life Center / Harvest Survivor in Hammond / Baton Rouge, LA) it took me 8 years to finally tell my truth. It’s 8 years of suppressing emotions and experiencing with this organization. It took me 8 years to honor my truth and permit others to see my scars that when burned my soul. Now they heal, and this podcast series has been an incredible tool in that healing. I need to respect the entire truth, including those chargeable for this cult. I also must admit my weaknesses in order that I can learn from them.
• I made a decision to call my cult because nobody ever named them. Also because in this manner I resist the intimidation and psychological manipulation (which I tell within the series) used to silence me for 8 years. I actually have decided to carry these people accountable.
• None of what I do is motivated by revenge or anger, but by love. A love that will be embodied through responsibility; the fruit of affection. It’s an act of affection for oneself and for everybody else vulnerable to cult tactics and methods (the dynamics of abuse of power). Because the daughter of enslaved Africans who weren’t allowed to read, I firmly imagine (perhaps idealistically) that education equated to empowerment.
• As an interfaith spiritual counselor, I actually have deliberately incorporated multiple treatments (clinical, therapeutic, and holistic) to heal religious trauma and psychological abuse, control and domination. I would like to encourage, catalyze and facilitate the healing of other survivors.

An overview of a podcast series

Part 1: Discusses the six sociological characteristics of the cult, the astrological event of the Lion’s Gate Portal and the Full Moon in Aquarius, and learn how to use its energy to heal us.

(Links to the hyperlink: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1995633/11142773)

Part 2: Examines the tactics and methods of sects to change into a drug for his or her members, creating dependencies, and in addition learn how to protect ourselves and making us more vulnerable to being targeted by cults. ( https://www.buzzsprout.com/1995633/11225631)

Part 3 (Sexual Healing): The Chastity Movement and How It Damages the Human Relationship with Their Own Sexuality and Sexual Energy AND The Treatment for Sexual Dysfunction (which occurs in MANY ways). We also collect lessons about our emotions and dreams through the full moon in Pisces. (https://www.buzzsprout.com/1995633/11306198)

Part 4: I answer audience questions and share a really strong testimony of somebody who was a toddler in the identical sect I used to be in (after I was 20). (https://www.buzzsprout.com/1995633/11490429)

For a Spotify podcast, click here.

I’m very grateful to have the opportunity to live fully the concept of the reality of Satyam, the Patanjali yoga school. As a black woman, it is a key a part of liberation and well-being.

BIO: Chasity Jones, M.Div originally from Louisiana and from a conservative, evangelical background, he moved to Seattle, Washington to change into an interfaith community organizer. It was here that she began to query traditional missionary work within the context of colonialism and commenced her own means of liberation and decolonization.

She holds a BA in Psychology, a History, and an MA in Theology (1922) from Boston University School of Theology and a Chartered Yoga Teacher. He’s currently a spiritual counselor at a drug recovery center.

It has recently taken off Fourth Wave Revolution, a consulting agency, attempting to each educate and decolonize! The Fourth Wave Revolution goals to dig deeper. Chastity hosts SpiritualTEA with the Chasity podcast that explores the intersection of decolonization and spirituality through the lens of Womanist and yoga. To contact, liaise with, or connect with the Fourth Wave of Revolution, send an email fourwaverev@gmail.com.