Initiations

I had free choice on my initiation presentation and I chose to do it on the Heaven's Gate cult. I started by looking into cult initiation rites, but - surprise, surprise - there is little information to be found on the internet concerning the initiation rites of cults. I did, however, find a lot of information on Heaven's Gate.

I remember when Heaven's Gate was in the news, I was about ten at the time, and all I knew was that they had committed mass suicide. It stands out in my brain still, as something to do with a comet and the world ending, but the world didn't end! Once I started looking into them, I found the leader and the movement rather fascinating. I watched the first four sections of their initiatory video and would have continued had I more time. I included the first segment below for your viewing pleasure.




In case you have no interest in watching, the above man is Do. Do is, as he says, "the mind of Jesus" in a new contemporary flesh body. He goes on and on, but long story short, the world was ready to be recycled and Do wanted to help you make the journey from Earth to heaven before it was too late. All you had to do was shed your flesh body so that you could don your extraterrestrial body when you get to the kingdom level above the human level, i.e. heaven. And that's exactly what his followers did.

There are no initiation rites to get into the cult; they did not consider themselves a cult and welcomed anyone who wanted to join them and believe. However, they did require the greatest sacrifice in order to journey to heaven. And in March of 1997, 39 followers gave up their lives in order to initiate themselves into the kingdom of God.

The reason I believe this counts as an initiation rite, rather than what it appears to be to us, a death rite, is because these people genuinely believed that they were not committing suicide. They have information all over their website about how suicide is wrong and an act against God. They followed the proper steps and killed themselves just so, in the correct manner for the soul to leave the body, unscathed, and be able to continue on its journey. They took three days to do it, a few people at a time, helping each other along the way: cyanide and arsenic, followed by a barbiturate and vodka and a nice plastic bag to asphyxiate yourself.

Sure makes the Christian initiatory rite of baptism look like a cakewalk.