In 1977, during Thanksgiving vacation of her freshman year at Swarthmore College, Elizabeth, at her mother's insistence, attended a "stress-reduction" session with a biofeedback technician on staff at a Manhattan psychologist's office. During that first visit this man filled her ears with prophetic visions of a glorious future, the inheritance of those fortunate few who might choose to accompany him. His confidence and charisma were so entrancing that she soon recruited two of her college roommates. When the psychologist fired his assistant two years later, Elizabeth and her mother followed. Over the next decade this man, a malevolent genius and master of twisting spiritual truth to benefit a self-serving agenda,organized a small dedicated band of followers. "The Group" evolved into an incestuous family a cult. Their minds were fused with brainwashed doctrine of distinctly New Age philosophies. An intimate group of spiritual "Navy Seals", they scrambled in terror, preparing themselves to survive an approaching spiritual catastrophe, one man's divine vision of Armageddon. Subsequent to a momentous event in August 1994, "The Black Dog Religion" was born with their leader as high priest. Elizabeth sank lower and lower into a pit of despair, darker than she ever could have imagined. She became so deeply buried that escape seemed impossible. From the childish gullibility that seduced her astray, to the enlightenment which led to her freedom, you will travel an incredible journey. For anyone who has ever been trapped by a person who would not let them go, within this book lies a message of truth and hope.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
I laughed, cried and cheered. Fascinating and intelligent. After reading this I truly understand how a normal, decent person can get trapped in a cult. As an outsider, one would think it's easy to leave, but it's not. This book shows you why. Very enlightening. -- Jean Rubin, Bronx, N.Y.
Prepare yourself for a spiritual experience. Burchard's story exposes the deeper mechanics of being involved in a cult and the triumph of good over profound, yet frequently invisible, evil. Even if you have never believed before, at the end of this book you will probably realize that there must be a God. His hand will turn the pages with you. -- Edward Marshall, N.Y., N.Y.
This book was compelling and emotional. It pulled at my heart strings and invoked powerful feelings - rage at injustice, empathy and hope. I recommend this book to anyone who has ever been oppressed by another person. -- Richard Barton, Bergenfield, N.J.
Prepare yourself for a spiritual experience. Burchard's story exposes the deeper mechanics of being involved in a cult and the triumph of good over profound, yet frequently invisible, evil. Even if you have never believed before, at the end of this book you will probably realize that there must be a God. His hand will turn the pages with you. -- Edward Marshall, N.Y., N.Y.
This book was compelling and emotional. It pulled at my heart strings and invoked powerful feelings - rage at injustice, empathy and hope. I recommend this book to anyone who has ever been oppressed by another person. -- Richard Barton, Bergenfield, N.J.
From the Publisher
This books speaks to students of psychology, spirituality and human nature in general. It clearly exposes the intimate mechanics of seduction, deception, emotional addiction and recovery, yet reads like a novel, not a textbook. The story is bizarre and engrossing and truly personifies the statement that truth is stranger than fiction.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A painstaking, sometimes painful, insightful case study,
By Watashi (United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Torn From The Arms of Satan: A True Story of Seduction and Escape from A Contemporary New Age Cult (Paperback)
The author shows how cultists' entire lives, prior to falling victim to charismatic cult tactics, sensitizes them, almost as a form of preparatory indoctrination. The reader will find a clear explanation as to why a cult member becomes so extremely gullible and so submissive to a single authority, while resistant to other seemingly more reasonable ways of thinking. After all the preparation and indoctrination, the surprising part of this tale is that the author could be de-programmed and by a dedicated single individual at that. The grit, patience and determination displayed by Judith Carlone (the "de-programmer") had me mixing metaphors by describing her in conversation as "an avatar of St. Michael". In the end, "Torn From the Arms of Satan" teaches three lessons; the elements which draw a person toward a life draining cult; the extreme and insideous durability of cult "membership"; and a tribute to the equally persistent efforts and steadfast people needed to bring about the successful escape, that produced this story.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Insightful, Thougt provoking, and Fascinating,
By William Goldberg (Englewood, New Jersey) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Torn From The Arms of Satan: A True Story of Seduction and Escape from A Contemporary New Age Cult (Paperback)
Many personal experiences told by former cult members are written in a simplistic fashion. They describe their life in the cult as a living Hell and express gratitude that they are out, but they do not describe their struggles, their ambivalences and their confusion. Their stories are interesting from the point of view of learning about the beliefs of the cult, but they do not offer insight into the human condition. This book does offer those insights. Most of the narrative is written by Ms. Burchard, who was innocently unwary of a manipulative sociopathic cult leader who could seduce people, exploit them, and discard them with no sense of the fact that he was destroying people's lives. Ms. Burchard's explanation of her entry into the cult, her life within it, and her subsequent leave taking is honest, self-revealing and complex. Outsiders can easily see that the group members' beliefs are bizarre and absurd. Ms. Burchard helps us to comprehend how an intelligent, insightful and well read individual could be manipulated into accepting those beliefs. Her long struggle to leave and her initial reluctance to give up those beliefs, even after she knew they were false, help us to understand the complexity of mind control and manipulation. Ms. Carlone's struggle was not to come to grips with the truth or falsity of the leader's claims. She was not caught up in the cult leader's web and could clearly see the absurdity of the group's beliefs. Her problem was how to convey that insight to Ms. Burchard without alienating her. Ms. Carlone's dilemma is that which is faced every day by family members and friends of cult members. Her consistent, loving approach to helping her friend realize that she was in a destructive situation is a blueprint that others can learn from and emulate. This book is not about dangerous minds still in dark places. It is about normal human beings caught up in a hurricane of manipulation and exploitation. Any of us, under the proper set of circumstances, could get caught in a cult. This book helps us to understand how that could happen. It is insightful and thought-provoking. The fact that it is also fascinating is a tribute to the story-telling skills of the authors.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An incredible story,
This review is from: Torn From The Arms of Satan: A True Story of Seduction and Escape from A Contemporary New Age Cult (Paperback)
This is a story of tragic introduction to a new age guru through the victim's mother and of a friendship that prevailed to enable leaving the cult. Her friend, who coauthored this work, was a constant source of support. She provided observations, rarely noted, of a victim while under the confines of cult influence. It is excitingly written. The reader wonders why didn't she get rid of this guru much sooner then she did. We learn again and again how difficult it is for any victim to disentangle themselves of the cult burden. We see clearly the intimidation and self justification of the guru. His actions are decidedly that of a sociopath. He exploited her almost to the point of financial ruin. She is faced with many unresolved issues in her contacts with this "wisdom" filled rogue, but our writer manages to lay aside the scars of her brutal treatment and salvages a life of her own. I consider the care and direction given by her friend as close to miraculous. Judith Carlone prodded with sensitivity, and considered her actions humbly as no more than a duty to a friend. I thank the authors for providing us with the subtleties of cult involvement along with the agonizing decisions to break the spell. An incredible story.
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