How or through whom did you come into contact with ritual abuse?

Yes, that’s interesting. So, my name is Allie, and I myself am a survivor of sexual abuse and domestic violence from a very young age. And within the scope of what I’ve done with victims’ advocacy, I’ve encountered several individuals who have been victims of Satanic ritual abuse. And the ones that I’m talking about come from the western region of the United States. And their experiences have had a lot of similar threads. And not totally dissimilar to a run-of-the-mill survivors experience with specifically sexual abuse. But they were very young of age and they’re very vulnerable within their stories. It usually started with a family or within a cult family and it lasted for a period of years. It was not a singular incident, but it was an ongoing thread. And they were basically programmed by people to sometimes carry out nefarious acts and certainly to disrespect their fellow humans. I mean, they’ve been victimized from such a very young age and have internalized that and have grown up to have to shed a lot of the lies that they believed growing up.

What are the typical experiences your clients have had as a victim?

Primarily they described sexual abuse. They described being passed around from person to person. So there were a lot of times within those situations multiple perpetrators, same victim. And that they were not alone in that. They were usually not the singular victim, but that there were multiple victims in the same place. Also, it was something that was known within the community, or at least within, certainly, the cult or the community. People knew what was going on. So it was not something that was done primarily in secret. It was not just between one, two people. Right. It was it was within the context of a community.

How do the perpetrators get the children to comply?

Yes, in one such case that I’m thinking of in particular, it was sort of the status of the parents that was at stake within the cult community. And so it was not an option for these kids. They had no choice. This was just sort of the way of life as they knew it. And in order for the parents to maintain some sort of status within that community, they had to be subjected to it, and they had no choice in the matter. There was no debate or arguing it. It was just the culture. And the culture was so steeped in it that there was no way of breaking free, especially at such a young age.

Where and in what context did it take place?

So one, without going into highly specific details, one was essentially a commune, if you’re familiar with that term, just sort of like a place where multiple families live and reside. So that was typical. And it’s in a pretty rural area as well. So obviously it’s not in the middle of a city, although that can happen there too. It was in a rural sort of place where you’re not going to just stumble across it, I suppose.

What was your worst experience?

I think one of the — for me personally, just hearing these testimonies — some of the most awful things is realizing these toddlers are essentially trafficking victims. They’ve been raped by multiple adult perpetrators in their world whom they loved and trusted. I mean, these were their only protectors, the people charged with protecting and defending them were the very ones exploiting them and abusing them. And so, the ongoing nature of that, like I said, it didn’t happen once or twice. It was an ongoing pattern by multiple adults. What that does to a child in that situation is it gives this question of who can I trust. When the protectors, the people who I’m supposed to call for help, tell me everything is fine and it’s okay. What that does to someone’s trust is it puts you at odds with the world. Because instead of being someone who has confidence and is willing to be assertive and know your rights and know your voice, you become very defensive. And it puts you in a posture against the rest of the world that sets you up — not for great success in later years in life. As I mentioned, there was one local author from my region who did describe that at age eight, he was commissioned to kill someone and followed through with it. He ultimately did escape that life, but it took a lot of years, and he’s, still to this day, targeted.

Finally, do you have a personal concern or message?

Those survivors are some of the bravest people I’ve ever met. Because it’s difficult for any survivor to come forward. I think it’s particularly difficult when someone who’s experienced satanic ritual abuse comes forward because of the fear of retribution. And the very, not just fear of retribution, but the very real retribution that they may experience for doing so. But for all survivors out there, regardless if you’ve been specifically a survivor of SRA, or domestic violence, or sexual abuse, or emotional abuse, it’s very important to tell your story and break the silence. Because the one thing that these perpetrators are most terrified of is the truth. And so if you keep wielding that sword of truth and keep engaging in the truth, in your own story, you will see so much more healing. You will feel more integrated and whole. You no longer have to keep anyone’s secrets. And so for that, your life is worth living. I’ve had women in their 60s tell me that they survived sexual abuse from age ten. And they’ve, for decades, for five decades, kept that a secret. But the moment that they tell someone for the very first time, you see a thousand pounds lift off their shoulders. And so you can have freedom today.