Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 15, No. 2, 1998, page 82
One insight Saliba makes about ―rites-of-passage‖ (p. 93) as a conversion motif might be
an avenue for research about the intervention process that helps cultists reevaluate their
devotion to a controversial group. He ignores the possibility, attested to by hundreds of
case histories, that social or familial intervention with a cultist might well be a ―completion‖
of a rite of passage, if we define that rite (as he does citing Gennep and Turner) as the third
stage of reintegration back into the community from which they separated. Traditionally,
rites-of-passage have not been comfortable transitions.
In conclusion, I liked most of this book and it is an excellent reference for the sociological
model that the author favors.
Joseph Szimhart
Thought Reform Consultant
Pottstown, Pennsylvania
Cult Encounter and An International Story of a Family’s Experience of Exit
Counseling (Ethical “Deprogramming” of the Nineties) Helen &Rick Larsen,
PO Box 90, North Beach 6020, Western Australia. RCS Books, 1997.
This story has many unique aspects, but what is most unique for me is to read about myself
as a character in a book. The two major players in this family tale are the authors who
describe and analyze their dramatic ‗rite-of-passage‘ through a painful mid-life separation in
December of 1992 and difficult reunion several months later. The story is as true as stories
get, told by eye witnesses. It reads a bit like a play with didactic digressions that represent
the insights the authors gained from the drama of a real life ―cult encounter.‖
Rick Larsen, a member of the Australian Psychological Society who works in the school
system, plunged into the formidable task of writing this book soon after he successfully
―rescued‖ his wife, Helen, of twenty four years from her brief life as ―Xanthe‖ with the
Extra-Terrestrial Earth Mission (ETEM). Helen, then in her early forties, had raised three
children into their young adulthood and struggled emotionally to support a husband who
suffered from ―anxiety.‖ Often she had to be the ―strong one‖ in the family. She was a
realist, a practical woman who somehow responded to the bizarre teachings of a new age
sect. If you ask what kind of people join cults, Helen will tell you it was not a matter of
joining but one of esoteric interest and unfortunate opportunity. As her vulnerability is
everyone‘s vulnerability, Cult Encounter exposes the reader to a host of questions about
freedom of choice that have no easy answers.
Helen began her cult passage with an interest in new age and channeled works introduced
to her by a ―beauty therapist.‖ Later, during a stay in England with her husband, Helen
explored the abstruse writings of Theosophist Alice A. Bailey among other esoteric
directions. Then Helen encountered the Extra-Terrestrial Earth Mission, an American group
then centered in Arizona. Through them she was given an opportunity to ―experience‖
higher states of consciousness at a workshop in Sedona, Arizona. ETEM‘s leaders at the time
were ―interdimensional beings‖ who had taken over (walked into) the human bodies of a
pudgy, middle-aged man named John, and a new age seeker named Ellen. The new names
for these body-vehicles were Zavi and Ziva. Later, John and Ellen adopted other aliases
from ―higher dimensions‖ like Silarra, Akria, Arthea for Ellen‘s body and DraKar for John‘s.
By the time Helen left for Sedona, Rick knew his marriage was in trouble. When she came
back she had had a transformational experience, a redefinition of self and purpose as a
result of the ETEM sessions. She was now a ―wake-up,‖ a soul that was alerted to the higher
dimensional self-the leaders were ―walk-ins‖ or completely new spirits in abandoned bodies.
Hindsight humor from Helen about this occasion: ―Rick dreaded the thought of calling me
―Xanthe‖ and continued, as he had for twenty-four years, to call me by various pet names-
One insight Saliba makes about ―rites-of-passage‖ (p. 93) as a conversion motif might be
an avenue for research about the intervention process that helps cultists reevaluate their
devotion to a controversial group. He ignores the possibility, attested to by hundreds of
case histories, that social or familial intervention with a cultist might well be a ―completion‖
of a rite of passage, if we define that rite (as he does citing Gennep and Turner) as the third
stage of reintegration back into the community from which they separated. Traditionally,
rites-of-passage have not been comfortable transitions.
In conclusion, I liked most of this book and it is an excellent reference for the sociological
model that the author favors.
Joseph Szimhart
Thought Reform Consultant
Pottstown, Pennsylvania
Cult Encounter and An International Story of a Family’s Experience of Exit
Counseling (Ethical “Deprogramming” of the Nineties) Helen &Rick Larsen,
PO Box 90, North Beach 6020, Western Australia. RCS Books, 1997.
This story has many unique aspects, but what is most unique for me is to read about myself
as a character in a book. The two major players in this family tale are the authors who
describe and analyze their dramatic ‗rite-of-passage‘ through a painful mid-life separation in
December of 1992 and difficult reunion several months later. The story is as true as stories
get, told by eye witnesses. It reads a bit like a play with didactic digressions that represent
the insights the authors gained from the drama of a real life ―cult encounter.‖
Rick Larsen, a member of the Australian Psychological Society who works in the school
system, plunged into the formidable task of writing this book soon after he successfully
―rescued‖ his wife, Helen, of twenty four years from her brief life as ―Xanthe‖ with the
Extra-Terrestrial Earth Mission (ETEM). Helen, then in her early forties, had raised three
children into their young adulthood and struggled emotionally to support a husband who
suffered from ―anxiety.‖ Often she had to be the ―strong one‖ in the family. She was a
realist, a practical woman who somehow responded to the bizarre teachings of a new age
sect. If you ask what kind of people join cults, Helen will tell you it was not a matter of
joining but one of esoteric interest and unfortunate opportunity. As her vulnerability is
everyone‘s vulnerability, Cult Encounter exposes the reader to a host of questions about
freedom of choice that have no easy answers.
Helen began her cult passage with an interest in new age and channeled works introduced
to her by a ―beauty therapist.‖ Later, during a stay in England with her husband, Helen
explored the abstruse writings of Theosophist Alice A. Bailey among other esoteric
directions. Then Helen encountered the Extra-Terrestrial Earth Mission, an American group
then centered in Arizona. Through them she was given an opportunity to ―experience‖
higher states of consciousness at a workshop in Sedona, Arizona. ETEM‘s leaders at the time
were ―interdimensional beings‖ who had taken over (walked into) the human bodies of a
pudgy, middle-aged man named John, and a new age seeker named Ellen. The new names
for these body-vehicles were Zavi and Ziva. Later, John and Ellen adopted other aliases
from ―higher dimensions‖ like Silarra, Akria, Arthea for Ellen‘s body and DraKar for John‘s.
By the time Helen left for Sedona, Rick knew his marriage was in trouble. When she came
back she had had a transformational experience, a redefinition of self and purpose as a
result of the ETEM sessions. She was now a ―wake-up,‖ a soul that was alerted to the higher
dimensional self-the leaders were ―walk-ins‖ or completely new spirits in abandoned bodies.
Hindsight humor from Helen about this occasion: ―Rick dreaded the thought of calling me
―Xanthe‖ and continued, as he had for twenty-four years, to call me by various pet names-
