From - Fri Dec 25 16:37:32 1998 Path: news.clark.net!io.clark.net!europa.clark.net!208.134.241.18!newsfeed.cwix.com!152.163.199.19!portc03.blue.aol.com!audrey03.news.aol.com!not-for-mail From: shadowstri@aol.comspmbgone (Shadowstri) Newsgroups: alt.pagan Subject: Re: Susan Hileman's Interesting Way Lines: 180 NNTP-Posting-Host: ladder03.news.aol.com X-Admin: news@aol.com Date: 20 Dec 1998 19:37:24 GMT References: <367d4f59.10155391@news.cyberzone.net> Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com X-Newsreader: AOL Offline Reader Message-ID: <19981220143724.07168.00002102@ngol05.aol.com> Xref: news.clark.net alt.pagan:279261 CULT DANGER EVALUATION FRAME By: P.E.I.Bonewits Rate each from 1 to 10, with 1 being Very Low and 10 being Very High. Total all questions. The higher the score, the more danger. 1- INTERNAL CONTROL: amount of internal political power exercised by leader(s) over members. 1._____________ 2-WISDOM CLAIMED: by leader(s); amount of infalli- -bility declared about decisions. 2._____________ 3-WISDOM CREDITED: to leader(s) by members; amount of trust in decisions made by leaders. 3._____________ 4-DOGMA: rigidity of reality concepts taught; amount of doctrinal inflexibility. 4._____________ 5-RECRUITING: emphasis put on attracting new members; amount of proselytizing. 5._____________ 6-FRONT GROUPS: number of subsidiary groups using different names from that of main group. 6._____________ 7-WEALTH: amount of money and/or property desired or obtained; emphasis on members' donations. 7.____________ 8-POLITICAL POWER: amount of external political inflience desired or obtained. 8.____________ 9-SEXUAL MANIPULATION: of members by leader(s); amount of control over sex lives of members. 9.____________ 10-CENSORSHIP: amount of control over members' access to outside opinions on group, its doctrines or leader(s). 10.____________ 11-DROPOUT CONTROL: intensity of efforts directed at preventing or returning dropouts. 11.____________ 12-ENDORSEMENT OF VIOLENCE: when used by or for the group or its leader(s). 12.____________ 13-PARANOIA: amount of fear concerning real or imagined enemies; perceived power of opponents. 13.____________ 14-GRIMNESS: amount of disapproval concerning jokes about the group, its doctrine, or leader(s). 14.____________ ----------------------------------------------------------------- QUESTIONS ABOUT THE REALITIES OF POWER 1. Who has power in this group? What kind? 2. How much power do I have? 3. How much do our perceptions of power in the group agree? Do those people know they have it? 4. Do some people think they have more than they do? 5. How are decisions made in the group? Who has the power to make them? 6. How is information shared in the group? What information is private who keeps it, how is it make available to others? 7. What skills, knowledge, or experience do I have that can benefit the group? 8. How much of it can I share? 9. What's stopping me? 10. What response do I get? How does it make me feel? 11. What use are we making of each other as resources in the group? Are we squandering our gifts? What might we do differently? 12. What to people need to bring more of their strengths to the group? How can we create the atmosphere that brings them forth? 13. Who do we respect in the group? Do we abdicate power to those people? If so, how? 14. In what ways do we comply, withdraw, manipulate, or rebel? 15. Is this group really safe? 16. What expectations exist in the group? Are they clear? 17. How does someone gain power or respect in this group? 18. If this group is hierarchical, what controls, laws, rules or other factors limit the use of power? Are they effective? If not, can we make them more so? ----------------------------------------------------------------- QUESTIONS ABOUT PURPOSE 1. What is the group's primary purpose (stated in one sentence)? 2. What do I want the group's purpose to be? 3. What are my expectations? Disappointments? Satisfactions? Unmet needs? 4. Do we agree on our purpose? On what kind of a group we are? 5. What differences exist? Do they broaden and strengthen the group, or are they dividing us? Are we in transition? 6. What expectations can we and can't we hope to meet? What needs are we meeting? Failing to meet? Do we want to meet them? 7. What kinds of trust do we need in each other? 8. What structure or purpose will best help each of us to realize our visions for the group? ----------------------------------------------------------------- CHECKLIST FOR A WELL-WORKING GROUP 1. We are clear about our goals and how we intend to achieve them. 2. We know and respect each other well enough to feel very comfortable and attuned working together. 3. Our work is ethical, designed for our growth and fulfillment and the benefit of those who request help, and it never used to harm others. 4. We share the responsibilities of making the group work; every individual's contribution is important. 5. We see each other socially outside the group, and support each other through difficulties. 6. We enjoy. there is fun and laughter at our meetings. 7. We work at learning. We dig deep, compare different sources, try new techniques, ask pointed questions, do it until we get it right. 8. We keep ourselves healthy and fit in order to more readily channel power and receive insight. 9. We keep our ritual area and tools orderly and clean. 10. We constantly seek knowledge from many sources -- people, books, workshops, other paths .... including the Judaeo-Christian- Islamic. 11. We do not make a virtue of authority and obedience, but treat each other as respected equals (regardless of the formal structure of the coven). 12. We raise genuine power and channel it; our rituals are not tame readings or rote gestures, but filled with energy, vitality, will and purpose. ********************************************************************** Shadowstrider de omnibus dubitandum The life not worth dying for is not worth living