Customer Reviews

Lessons In Evil, Lessons From the Light: True story of Satanic Abuse and Spiritual healing

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This is my all-time favorite book on the subject of satanic ritual abuse.

Dr. Feldman's own painful emotional journey as she and her client uncover the realities of abuse is very touching.

It is impossible to read this book and not be touched very deeply.

First and foremost, this is an excellent book and absolutely worth an out-of-print search. I read this book in a little under 3 days - I just couldn't put it down, it was practically addicting!! It is very violent and gruesome but don't let that scare you away from buying it because there's a whole other side to it. First, it's up-lifting and it makes you look at things differently. And also, the fact that it is not a work of fiction is even more frieghtening considering what the lead character had to endure as a child and young woman. This is among my top pick of books, definitely one of my favorites on the book shelf. This book really opens your eyes to what people are capable and DO do to each other - leaving out the fact that in this book, it's family. Buy it and I promise you whole-heartedly, you will NOT be dissappointed! :)

In one of the reviews for this book, a reader expresses outrage that such a book should exist, and that the therapist/author was not put out of business by daring to do such work with a client and have it published. I'm not too surprised by this. There are people who would prefer to have this "fad" disappear. But... the subject of SRA cannot just be swept under a rug, and the furious backlash against survivors and therapists has caught the eyes of some people, who wonder why there was such an extreme response. Could there be something to it?

In my experience, people come to realize important truths in stages. First there is awareness, surprise, denial. Something is wrong, something is out of balance. For some, the goal at that point is to restore the balance, make everything appear smooth again. Others decide to look further in an attempt to seek the truth. This can be a very unpopular choice. In personal healing, if the choice is made to return to normal as soon as possible, to appear to be functional and capable of doing everything expected by society, then there can be little further truth-seeking. The search has to stop there, or people are going to be upset. But some people decide to go further, to find a deeper level of truth and healing. Seeking the truth, in a society that doesn't encourage or acknowledge it, comes at a high personal cost.

Finding validation of Ritual Abuse experiences is not always the therapeutic goal for everyone, but it is likely to come up. Sometimes, it is not possible. Other times, it is not safe. But in some cases, there is validation of at least parts of the experiences. Prosecution is still very rare. The very nature of the crime, shrouded in secrecy, and the types of injuries to survivors, almost all of whom have some amnesia, make it so for now. But one day this may change, as more people make the courageous journey towards healing, like Barbara did.

I highly recommend this book.


In Stillness Conquer Fear: Overcoming Anxiety, Panic, and Agoraphobia
Secret Survivors: Uncovering Incest and Its Aftereffects in Women
Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence--from Domestic Abuse to Political Terror
Safe Passage to Healing: A Guide for Survivors of Ritual Abuse
Breaking the Circle of Satanic Ritual Abuse: Recognizing and Recovering from the Hidden Trauma
Suffer the Child: Suffer the Child
Other Altars: Roots and Realities of Cultic and Satanic Ritual Abuse and Multiple Personality Disorder

Wow! I agree with the other reviewer that this book is most definately worth searching for!

This is one of those books that haunts you. In fact, I don't think I'll ever forget Barbara Maddox and all that she went through.

This book makes us realize that there really is evil lurking about - quite possibly in people we would consider to be up-standing individuals (a really scarey thought!). But it also shows that the light of God is an ever-present source - that doesn't give up easily!

This book also points out the fact that law enforcement just isn't ready to take these claims seriously - what a sad state of affairs for those who've been tortured by satanists to then be tortured by the system as well!

Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in psychology - however, one must have a strong stomach to handle many of the gory details involved.

This is the only book that I have read that is about satanic ritual abuse where they actually go to the authoritys and try to report the crimes that have taken place.
Gail's patient Barbara lived a childhood worse than anything most of us have ever heard of. I beleive that there are satanic cults out there that do the terrible things described in this book. I have read about to many cults to blow it off as a bunch of hog wash.
If your interested in reading about survivors of terrible abuse then you might like this book

This book is true crime in the true sense of the word. Depending on what your appetite for the truth is, the book is either a page turner or one that will drag you through reality kicking and screaming. Gail Carr Feldman is the author/therapist that shares with the reader her own journey of discovery while working with Barbara, a client whose own awareness unfolds in the course of therapy. Implanted memories? I think not...while prior to reading this book I myself questioned the appropriateness of hypnosis in this kind of work, Dr. Feldman so clearly explains her technique that in now way could I feel that the client's integrity had been violated in any way. I'm still not a big fan of hypnosis, but I do think that Dr. Feldman was as professional as could be expected under the circumstances. My main issue with hypnosis in these circumstances is that it puts the credibility of the client/survivor into question at a time when s/he needs to be believed more than anything else. The other issue I have with hypnosis under any other circumstance is that it makes the client very vulnerable to mind control, which, as I am coming to understand, is a lot more prevalent than any of us wants to believe. I also think that hypnosis can uncover memories that the survivor is not yet ready to deal with, creating a dangerous vulnerability to psychosis, but again Dr. Feldman, in her practice, creates a system of subconscious communication gestures that keeps her from delving deeper than the client is willing to go at any given time. She also uses examples of the client correcting any misperceptions she, the therapist, expresses while the client is under hypnosis. That is, if Dr. Feldman attempted an explanation that didn't ring true to Barbara, Barbara would correct her even while under hypnosis...memories could not, therefore, be suggested. I hope this reassures the client, it certainly reassured me.

Even more food for thought is presented in the epilogue and closing essays of the book, where Dr. Feldman and Barbara do what they can to bring the issue of what happened to Barbara in her childhood to the proper authorities, with all the evidence they are able to accumulate. The way they were both dismissed is more horrifying and more evil and more satanic than the trauma of the abuse itself, if you ask me.

Lessons in Evil, Lessons from the Light is worth an out of print search, I can assure you.

It's probably no accident that Dr. Feldman's current website contains little mention of this book when discussing her publications. The Satanists-Are-Eating-Our-Children fad, has, thank goodness, faded somewhat into an embarrassing, I would even say, shameful memory that I suspect Feldman and others would like us all to forget entirely.

To put it bluntly, the Lesson in Evil one derives from this book is that of therapist, drunk with unquestioning self-righteousness, convincing a patient that her (the patient's) family is guilty of child molestation and murder. Little evidence is offered to support these claims and, of course, the patients' accused family is nowhere around to refute the disgusting allegations.

It's outrageous to see that Dr. Feldman's career is apparently perking merrily along after she took part in what is now remembered by many of us as a modern day witchhunt that destroyed God knows how many lives and families.

Maybe if more people knew about this book, that would change.