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Lynn Brunet |Ripping back the veil on Masonic abuse
doi: 10.54208/1000/00092/03
Ripping back the veil on Masonic abuse:
Five leading creative thinkers express their struggle
Lynn Brunet1
Abstract: This paper summarises the author’s project since 1999, which has been asking whether the work of several leading
visual artists, creative writers and key figures of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries might tell us something about a
practice that Western society has found exceedingly difficult to contemplate: ritual abuse. The case studies included here deal
with the work of the contemporary American artist Matthew Barney, the English artist Francis Bacon, the Irish playwright
Samuel Beckett, the Swiss psychiatrist C. G. Jung and the English novelist William Golding. In some cases, these creative
individuals recall being sexually abused, but also seem to struggle with something else, something even more confusing and
terrifying that pervades their work. Some also describe frightening but inexplicable childhood experiences, which in one case
resulted in nightmares throughout his life. The work of all five creative individuals references Freemasonry, and all but one
have known family connections to the Masonic Order. The research reveals extensive references to the plots, imagery and
symbolism of Masonic rituals in their work, suggesting that they may have been exposed to abusive versions of these secret
rites at some point, possibly in childhood or adolescence. The paper will address these case studies through theories of trauma,
current research into documented cases of ritual abuse and anthropological insights into initiation rituals, fraternal practices
and secret societies.
Keywords: Masonic abuse Matthew Barney Francis Bacon Samuel Beckett C. G. Jung William Golding.
1 Corresponding author: Lynnchthonianartist@gmail.com. Independent researcher, Australia.
Introduction
Since 1999, the author has been researching the works
of several leading visual artists, creative writers, and
influential figures from the twentieth and twenty-
first centuries. The inquiry centres on whether these
individuals may be telling us something about a
practice that Western society has found exceedingly
difficult to contemplate. This practice is ritual abuse,
and its existence has been the subject of periodic
debate since the 1980s. The case studies cited here
deal with the work of contemporary American artist
Matthew Barney, English painter Francis Bacon, Irish
playwright Samuel Beckett, Swiss psychiatrist C. G. Jung
and English novelist William Golding. The research
reveals extensive references to the themes, imagery
and symbolism associated with Masonic rituals within
their works, prompting questions about whether they
may have been exposed to abusive variants of these
secret rites at some stage in their lives.
The American Psychological Association (2018)
defines ritual abuse as:
organized, repetitive, and highly sadistic abuse
of a physical, sexual, or emotional nature,
perpetrated principally on children. The
abuse is reported as using rituals and symbols
from religion (e.g., upside-down crosses),
the occult, or secret societies. It may also
include the creation of pornography or the
selling of sexual access to children.
Victims may be forced to engage in
heinous acts, such as the killing of animals, as
a means of coercing their participation and
silence.
Reports of ritual child abuse first appeared in the early
1980s and were, for a long time, entirely discredited
as false. Nevertheless, a substantial body of research
conducted by psychologists, sociologists, social workers
and criminologists has consistently examined the
evidence to confirm the existence of these cruel practices
targeting minors (Becker, 2008 Epstein, Schwartz &
Schwartz, 2011 Lacter, 2011 Lacter &Lehman, 2008
Miller, 2012 Noblitt &Perskin Noblitt, 1995, 2008,
2014 Sakheim &Devine, 1992 Salter, 2018 Scott,
2001 Terr, 1994). These practices are repeatedly used