Gothic Bite Magazine is not a place for religion. However, if we see people pulled in wrongful places we want to speak up. Cults are surfacing and using Gothic terminology and demonology. So what is a cult?

Let’s Talk About The Overall Dressing

The New Age Spiritualist movement has been a catalyst in the lives of society ever since Wicca became a broad spectrum in the 1960s. Earlier derived as Witchcraft by Gardner in the 1940s and 1950s.

Many societies and groups of people have been seeking enlightenment established within the last hundred years, including those seekers and societies that stem back to the Freemasons, the Templars, and the Illuminati.

Questions have long been denied and revered by the church concerning the divine as sinful because, with questions, you question the God of their mythological texts. Mystery schools for thousands of years have taught that questions lead you deeper into spirituality than reveling in the unknown.

For people new to spiritual seeking as opposed to religious devotion, it can be overwhelming with knowledge, lack of knowledge, and cults widely available online.

Is There A Difference Between Religions And Cults?

What is the difference between a spiritual movement group and a cult? If you have studied anywhere outside of normal religion and into spirituality, then you have an understanding of the different practices of spirituality.

Wicca can be considered the groundbreaking religion of the spiritual movement. However, what sets Wicca apart from the cults that began developing much earlier in the 1900s is the fundamentals of the religion and what it asks of its followers.

Since the early 1900s, cults have become a widespread ‘phenomenon’ among spiritual seekers. Many do not realize the particular group of people they are joining is indeed a cult or, to their tragic dismay, dangerous to their well-being and livelihood.

There are many types of cults out there, such as Doomsday cults, Polygamist cults, Political cults, and Religious cults. Some of these cults even interchange among themselves. Sociologist Howard P. Becker broke down religious behaviour into three types: church, sectarian, and mystical. Of those three, church and sects were further broken down as well.

The church was divided into ecclesia and denomination, while sectarian was divided into sect and cult. What sectarian cults apart from sects is the lack of organization and the emphasis on the private nature of personal beliefs.

What Are The Rules And Red Flags?

These markers are where Wicca and other organized religions can subtly be seen as cults. However, religious societies such as Wicca kept their personal beliefs private out of fear rather than being told they had to due to the Salem Witch trials and other demonizations of Witchcraft and Paganism.

“First rule of Fight Club: No one talks about Fight Club.”

Fight Club

The counter-cult movement of Christianity helped differentiate between actual spirituality within their religion and the cults that were false guises of new denominations or new techniques of following Christianity.

There are many other red flags for cults as well. The first and foremost is asking for money. Throughout the last hundred years, cults that have sprung up have asked their followers to dump every single dime into the movement because that’s the calling of the spiritual movement.

They will reference historical religious figures that were poor after giving up riches to achieve enlightenment or even started their spiritual journey poor. Jesus was born poor. Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism, was born into a wealthy family and then rejected his riches.

And The Beat Goes On…

Everyone of religious significance was poor. People gave up their money to attain enlightenment and freely gave up their personal liberties, freedoms, family, friends, and livelihoods. They quit their jobs. They emptied their 401k (American profit-sharing.)

They gave away their savings to forward the movement that had hooked them. Many even gave up their actual lives through mass suicides after their leader, who never ‘drank the Kool-Aid‘ first, made them think the next step to spiritual enlightenment was through death, and they would resurrect.

Nowadays, these types of cults are red flags for the common person. Many people see these signs and know to avoid the cult. It is still an issue in modern society but is more easily averted.

However, many different types of cults are gaining traction that flies under the radar because the obvious signs aren’t there, like the recently rising Qanon political cult. Another sign flying under the radar is paying someone to teach you to unlock your spirituality.

They’re not asking their followers for money but charging them for services. If money has to be paid upfront to learn something from a spiritual leader because it is a secret and only they can help you unlock that secret, then it’s not spirituality that they are spreading, and they are running a scam.

Kasey Hill