The Cult Danger Evaluation Frame, Original
For those just joining groups or looking for groups to join - in this case magickal groups - the Cult Danger Evaluation Frame crafted by Isaac Bonewits continues to serve as an excellent tool for What to Look for when joining a group. While most people apply it to religious and spiritual organizations, this frame can - and in my opinion, should - be applied to any organization. You can apply this framework to political parties, police forces, corporations, families, and even a lady’s sewing society.
Not actually a depiction of a cult, but negative cults do seem to have a way of ending up like this.
Here are the entries - this page will be updated as I post videos.
Video One
”Internal Control: Amount of internal political and social power exercised by leader(s) over members; lack of clearly defined organizational rights for members.”
Is it clear who leads the organization?
Is it clear how the organization is run and funded?
Are there justice-based processes that are clearly defined before members join the organization
“External Control: Amount of external political and social influence desired or obtained; emphasis on directing members’ external political and social behavior.”
This can be a little more tricky, and you will have to adjust the scale if you are joining an organization specifically for its political, spiritual, or lifestyle bent.
When you go out in public, do other members try to control how you dress or speak?
In an organization that is expressly not political, are you told what political opinions to hold and how to vote?
Are you chastised for friendships and relationships outside the group? Does this oversite come from concern for you, or about the other person’s potential impact on the group or its leadership - whether or not that person has any relevance to that organization?
Remember that, despite rhetoric otherwise, we don’t live in a world of absolutes. I will post links to my TikTok videos here as I create them so that you can follow along with the discussion on each and the updated version that my partner Synty and I created.
Stay Magical everyone!
