International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 1, No. 1, 2010 23
tightly knit group begins with “br[eaking] the
bonds of silence: first with each other then
revealing to the rest of the members what really
had been going on behind the scenes” (Lalich,
2004:204). The result of the disclosure was that
Kabalarian women began to disobey Shearing’s
demand for secrecy about their relationships
with him. The Kabalarian devotee who first
heard her friend’s revelation approached other
female members of the Kabalarian Philosophy
who had “come to her [earlier] with problems
linked to sexual abuse … [but] [a]t the time
didn’t think that it was with Shearing” (Defense
quoting Witness #3, R. v. Shearing, 1997:278),
asking them if their sexual abuse was linked to
Shearing. Interestingly, although the other
women the witness approached never originally
claimed that they had any sexual involvement
with Shearing, it appears that these women did
recognize that their relationships with Shearing
were abusive. Support for this argument emerges
in the transcripts when one reads about the
women having spoken their concerns about
sexual abuse to another member of the group,
without disclosing Shearing’s name.
At this point, however, the disenchanted women
were still struggling between revealing the true
nature of their relationship with Shearing and the
demand for secrecy that he as their deified
leader had continually reinforced. As the
feelings of uncertainty and confusion were
starting to erode Shearing’s authority, the
stability of the group began to deteriorate, which
consequentially began to adversely affect group
unity and cohesion (see Lalich, 2004:207–218).
Even when there was a group of six or eight
women who had admitted that Shearing abused
them, these women did not want to involve the
police in the matter, preferring to confront
Shearing on their own terms. To accomplish this
goal, the women approached a well-respected
member of the movement, who was also a
lawyer, to seek advice.
The lawyer, a member loyal to Shearing and the
movement, took “sworn statements from [the
women and] … state[d] that he was [going to]
try … to contain the situation with regard to
complaints being made to the police” (Witness
#1, R. v. Shearing, 1997:27). Not surprisingly,
the lawyer did not offer to bring these statements
to an outside authority, believing that he should
report the dissension amongst members directly
to Shearing. By informing Shearing of this
growing dissatisfaction within the group,
Shearing could then choose how best to handle
the situation to his advantage. While it appeared
that Shearing would have to placate the women
in some sense to regain his control over them, he
believed that this was possible, since the
disenchanted members continued to demonstrate
some allegiance to him by wanting to deal with
him within the confines of the Kabalarian
Philosophy.
Continuing to act on Shearing’s behalf, the
lawyer recommended to the women that they
declare what they would like to see as a final
resolution to the situation. In response, the
women believed that if Shearing, his wife, and
the instrument11 “resign[ed] as members of the
Philosophy … [and] that Ivon [Shearing] le[ft]
Canada and [did] not return” (Witness #1, R. v.
Shearing, 1997:28), then the situation would be
resolved. At the same time that the lawyer was
trying to deal with the women, however, he also
was advising Shearing that “if he had any travel
plans abroad, now would be a good time to take
them” (Witness #1, R. v. Shearing, 1997:12).
The lawyer’s loyalty to the women, therefore,
seems to have been secondary to his loyalty to
Shearing, since his actions suggested that his
main concern was protecting his leader from
police action.12
11 In Kabalarian vocabulary, ‘the instrument’ is a Kabalarian
woman who supposedly possessed the ability to act as a channel
for disembodied minds, and it is a term that can be interchanged
with the term channel. According to Kabalarian beliefs, the
instrument had the ability to channel disembodied minds only in
the leader’s presence, and only when Shearing deemed that he
needed to contact a disembodied mind or negative mental
interference (Witness #3, R v. Shearing, 1997:237). There is no
information in the Kabalarian literature describing the official
process of becoming a channel, nor is there any information
concerning the selection process. One could infer, however, that
the instrument would need to be a loyal and dedicated member of
the movement, since she was constantly in the leader’s presence,
and in intimate situations with Shearing and fellow Kabalarian
women (as described in numerous examples throughout this
chapter).
12 To my knowledge, the police did not bring any charges of
obstruction of justice against anyone else in the movement.
Perhaps the lack of any other charges being laid suggests that the
prosecution did not believe that there was a high degree of
probability of convicting any of Shearing’s accomplices.
tightly knit group begins with “br[eaking] the
bonds of silence: first with each other then
revealing to the rest of the members what really
had been going on behind the scenes” (Lalich,
2004:204). The result of the disclosure was that
Kabalarian women began to disobey Shearing’s
demand for secrecy about their relationships
with him. The Kabalarian devotee who first
heard her friend’s revelation approached other
female members of the Kabalarian Philosophy
who had “come to her [earlier] with problems
linked to sexual abuse … [but] [a]t the time
didn’t think that it was with Shearing” (Defense
quoting Witness #3, R. v. Shearing, 1997:278),
asking them if their sexual abuse was linked to
Shearing. Interestingly, although the other
women the witness approached never originally
claimed that they had any sexual involvement
with Shearing, it appears that these women did
recognize that their relationships with Shearing
were abusive. Support for this argument emerges
in the transcripts when one reads about the
women having spoken their concerns about
sexual abuse to another member of the group,
without disclosing Shearing’s name.
At this point, however, the disenchanted women
were still struggling between revealing the true
nature of their relationship with Shearing and the
demand for secrecy that he as their deified
leader had continually reinforced. As the
feelings of uncertainty and confusion were
starting to erode Shearing’s authority, the
stability of the group began to deteriorate, which
consequentially began to adversely affect group
unity and cohesion (see Lalich, 2004:207–218).
Even when there was a group of six or eight
women who had admitted that Shearing abused
them, these women did not want to involve the
police in the matter, preferring to confront
Shearing on their own terms. To accomplish this
goal, the women approached a well-respected
member of the movement, who was also a
lawyer, to seek advice.
The lawyer, a member loyal to Shearing and the
movement, took “sworn statements from [the
women and] … state[d] that he was [going to]
try … to contain the situation with regard to
complaints being made to the police” (Witness
#1, R. v. Shearing, 1997:27). Not surprisingly,
the lawyer did not offer to bring these statements
to an outside authority, believing that he should
report the dissension amongst members directly
to Shearing. By informing Shearing of this
growing dissatisfaction within the group,
Shearing could then choose how best to handle
the situation to his advantage. While it appeared
that Shearing would have to placate the women
in some sense to regain his control over them, he
believed that this was possible, since the
disenchanted members continued to demonstrate
some allegiance to him by wanting to deal with
him within the confines of the Kabalarian
Philosophy.
Continuing to act on Shearing’s behalf, the
lawyer recommended to the women that they
declare what they would like to see as a final
resolution to the situation. In response, the
women believed that if Shearing, his wife, and
the instrument11 “resign[ed] as members of the
Philosophy … [and] that Ivon [Shearing] le[ft]
Canada and [did] not return” (Witness #1, R. v.
Shearing, 1997:28), then the situation would be
resolved. At the same time that the lawyer was
trying to deal with the women, however, he also
was advising Shearing that “if he had any travel
plans abroad, now would be a good time to take
them” (Witness #1, R. v. Shearing, 1997:12).
The lawyer’s loyalty to the women, therefore,
seems to have been secondary to his loyalty to
Shearing, since his actions suggested that his
main concern was protecting his leader from
police action.12
11 In Kabalarian vocabulary, ‘the instrument’ is a Kabalarian
woman who supposedly possessed the ability to act as a channel
for disembodied minds, and it is a term that can be interchanged
with the term channel. According to Kabalarian beliefs, the
instrument had the ability to channel disembodied minds only in
the leader’s presence, and only when Shearing deemed that he
needed to contact a disembodied mind or negative mental
interference (Witness #3, R v. Shearing, 1997:237). There is no
information in the Kabalarian literature describing the official
process of becoming a channel, nor is there any information
concerning the selection process. One could infer, however, that
the instrument would need to be a loyal and dedicated member of
the movement, since she was constantly in the leader’s presence,
and in intimate situations with Shearing and fellow Kabalarian
women (as described in numerous examples throughout this
chapter).
12 To my knowledge, the police did not bring any charges of
obstruction of justice against anyone else in the movement.
Perhaps the lack of any other charges being laid suggests that the
prosecution did not believe that there was a high degree of
probability of convicting any of Shearing’s accomplices.
