A few points about life inside cults

Steven Hassan's chilling, depressing and best-selling book Combating Cult Mind Control was written from personal experience. It provides independent confirmation of and supporting evidence for some of the material in various cult articles.

The first article inspired by this book is about people who join cults; this one highlights some of the things that Steve Hassan has to say about life inside cults. He provides a lot of disturbing information about how cults control their members, information that people should be aware of before even considering joining certain groups and organisations.

B.I.T.E. The four elements of mind control 
Steve Hassan says that cults control four key elements of their members' lives: their Behaviour, the Information that they are given, their Thoughts and their Emotions. 

This systematic and comprehensive approach makes sense and is very effective. It is designed to prevent cult members from leaving – or even wanting to leave.

'BITE' makes me think of the attack-dog syndrome! 

Life as a cult member

In the worst cases, every aspect of cult members' day-to-day lives is controlled. 

They are ordered to eat less, sleep less and work harder. 

They are ordered to hand over their belongings and the contents of their bank accounts to the cult.

They are encouraged or instructed to break all contact with family and friends.

They are denied access to much non-cult reading material and information.

Defence Against the Dark Arts Part XXIII: Anthony Horowitz’s Diamond Brothers stories

I discovered Anthony Horowitz’s Diamond Brothers around 14 years ago. I read the seven books that were available at the time and even reviewed some of them on Amazon. I soon forgot all about them as I was concentrating on setting up this blog. 

I recently remembered these entertaining little stories. I decided to go through them all again - this time around in publication sequence. I found enough commentary-inspiring material for an article; I also detected a possible connection with another series of books, a series that has been featured in several articles.

The first of Jonathan Stroud's books about the Lockwood & Co. psychical detection agency had yet to be published when I first encountered Anthony Horowitz’s books about the Diamond Brothers' private detective agency. I have since read the Lockwood books several times. I noticed a few small similarities in the two series recently while re-reading the Diamond books; I now suspect that Jonathan Stroud read and was slightly influenced by them.

Something about the Diamond Brothers series
The Diamond Brothers stories are light and amusing; they are a parody of classic detective fiction. They are cleverly constructed and contain subtle clues. They are full of wisecracks and witticisms; the plots are preposterous and the villains are caricatures. 

The main characters are Tim Diamond and his brother Nick, who is 13 years old in the first book and is the main narrator. Tim is exceptionally dim; Nick is very bright. After being thrown out of the police, Tim sets up as a private detective. The brothers have some intriguing cases and mysteries to solve; they have many adventures and are often in great danger. They always win through in the end.

Although they are marketed as children's books, the Diamond Brothers stories have a much wider appeal. The main attractions for me are some elements that they have in common with Leslie Charteris's Saint books - the humour and the many descriptions of London features that I know well for example. I also like the background information and small details that add authenticity to the stories and balance their incredible, outrageous, unrealistic and over-the-top elements.

There are now eight Diamond Brothers books. The stories vary in length, but each one can be read in one sitting; it would even be possible to read the lot in one day. Such short stories are not very suitable for being described in detail or extensively quoted, so I will give just a few examples of the attractions and Lockwood similarities.

Humour in the Diamond Brothers books
There is a scene in South by Southeast in which Nick Diamond in desperation bids one million pounds for a painting at Sotheby's auction house. The auctioneer exclaims: "You're just a boy!", and Nick replies: "I know, but I get a lot of pocket money."

Threats follow temptation in Jonathan Stroud’s Creeping Shadow

The main reason for producing articles that go into great detail about the temptation scenes in Jonathan Stroud’s Lockwood & Co. books is that they remind me of similar scenes in other books, which changes the perspective and adds to their significance. 

Looking at such scenes objectively and highlighting some common elements is a very useful exercise: it educates us and helps us to see through and build immunity against such efforts to manipulate us. Knowledge is power.

The article about temptation in The Creeping Shadow ends at the point where Anthony Lockwood has resisted all Penelope Fittes' inducements to merge his psychical detection agency with hers. This defiance is asking for trouble, but she refrains from taking immediate revenge. 

This article carries on with the story; it also mentions yet another book that contains some typical temptation scenarios.

Lockwood & Co. make some discoveries
People who have rejected a tempter's flattering offer would do well to get ahead of the game by trying to deduce what the next enemy action might be, but Anthony Lockwood and his colleagues haven't reached that stage – yet. 

An exciting – and distracting - new assignment comes along; they all leave London and for a while think no more about Penelope Fittes' proposition and what her reaction to its rejection might be. This is a big mistake, one that older and wiser people might not have made. They do however realise that she is up to something.

While on the case, Anthony Lockwood and his colleagues make some very sinister discoveries. Penelope Fittes soon learns that they have seen things they are not supposed to see, and this changes her attitude and behaviour towards them for the worse. Her real self starts to emerge; she shows her ruthless side and makes some threats.

A few more words about witches and witchcraft

The article about a very good definition of a witch was created to highlight a short but spot-on passage from an otherwise irrelevant novel. 

This article contains a few more short quotations about witches. This time around they consist of yet more wise words from writers who have a lot to say about witches and witchcraft and whose books have inspired many articles.

A few thoughts from Robin Jarvis
Robin Jarvis's Witching Legacy series succeeds his Whitby Witches series. Although the Legacy books don't inspire long articles the way their predecessors did, they do contain a few good and thought-provoking statements about witches.

The Power of Dark, the first book in the new series, has this definition of a witch:

“...witches exist...people with special gifts, special powers, special responsibilities. They can see and do things that other folks can’t.”

The Devil's Paintbox, the second book, has this to say about what being a modern-day witch entails:

“It's part of being a witch...It’ll turn your life inside out and sometimes you lose those dearest to you. They can't handle what you really are, but if you try to stifle it, pretend you're somethin' you’re not, you’ll make yourself miserable.”

These extracts  sound like something that Terry Pratchett  might have written!

Temptation scenes in Jonathan Stroud’s Creeping Shadow

In the article about two temptation scenes in Jonathan Stroud's Lockwood & Co. books, people are advised to beware of anyone who tries to influence them by telling them that they are cut out for better things and enlist them by tempting them with the offer of a powerful position. 

The tempters offer whatever they think will work: instead of or in addition to power they might offer money or secret knowledge for example, or they may tell their victims that they will get a chance to help others or have better opportunities to show what they can do.

In these situations it is essential to think about what might be in it for the tempters and what their underlying motives are. It is also important to prepare for the worst after rejecting the tempters' offers: saying 'no' is asking for trouble. All hell may even break loose! 

The behaviour of Penelope Fittes, glamorous head of the great Fittes Agency and a major character in the books, towards Lucy Carlyle and her fellow members of the Lockwood & Co. Agency provides a good illustration of these points. 

After the first, unsuccessful, temptation of Lucy Carlyle, Penelope Fittes becomes increasingly determined to get what she wants from Lucy and her colleagues. This article gives some details of the attempts she makes in The Creeping Shadow, the fourth book in the Lockwood series, to manipulate the young agents and gain control of Lockwood & Co. 

Penelope Fittes get to work
After her agent fails to tempt Lucy into working for her,  Penelope Fittes gets on the case herself. 

At the start of The Creeping Shadow, Lucy has left Lockwood & Co. to work as a freelance psychical investigation agent. She has not seen her old colleagues for several months, but that soon changes.

Penelope Fittes, who has been monitoring the activities of  Lockwood & Co., offers a big, difficult and dangerous ghost-hunting assignment to Anthony Lockwood, who persuades Lucy to work with him on the case. 

Lucy is rather suspicious of Penelope Fittes' motives: after all, she has a huge number of her own Fittes agents at her disposal so why would she want to involve Lockwood & Co? Lucy is quite right to distrust Penelope, but she realises that this assignment would be good publicity for her and she wants to help her old colleagues out so she puts her doubts aside and decides to take on the job. 

She goes with the others to Fittes House for a briefing. Penelope Fittes tells Anthony Lockwood that they can do great things together in the future. She also flatters Lucy, revealing that she asked for her specifically: she had told Anthony Lockwood that he would get the commission only if he could persuade Lucy to come back and work for him. 

Charles Lamb's sad words about the New Year

There are two very promising titles among the works of the poet and essayist Charles Lamb: Satan in Search of a Wife and Witches, and Other Night-Fears. However, he is of interest here because of some topical quotations. 

Alfred, Lord Tennyson wrote a poem about the bells that ring in the New Year.

Charles Lamb too had something to say about bells and the New Year:

“Of all sound of all bells… most solemn and touching is the peal which rings out the Old Year.“

This quotation comes from a rather depressing essay about the past and the future called New Year's Eve, which was published in the London Magazine on January 1st 1821. 

Charles Lamb also said that New Year's Day is every man's birthday and that -

“No one ever regarded the First of January with indifference.”

This is the time of year when we think about people who have gone for ever. This even more depressing quotation is from Charles Lamb's best-known poem The Old Familiar Faces:

“How some they have died, and some they have left me,

And some are taken from me; all are departed -
All, all are gone, the old familiar faces."

Two temptation scenes in Jonathan Stroud’s Lockwood books

This article has something to say about what might be called the temptation of Lucy Carlyle, a major character in Jonathan Stroud's Lockwood & Co. books, by a whited sepulchre of a woman who goes by the name of Penelope Fittes.

The two featured temptation scenes are of particular interest because there are similar scenes in other books that I like, many of which have previously been featured or mentioned on here.

Penelope Fittes is head of the Fittes Agency, the oldest and biggest psychical detection agency; she is one of the most powerful and influential people in the country.

She is a very glamorous and elegant businesswoman. At first she appears to be a good person and well disposed towards Anthony Lockwood and his colleagues, but she is not what she seems. She is gradually revealed to be a ruthless exploiter and destroyer of people, living and dead. She has many dark secrets; she has much blood on her hands.

The first temptation of Lucy Carlyle
In The Whispering Skull, the second book in the series, a member of the Fittes Agency flatters Lucy Carlyle and tries to lure her away from Lockwood & Co.: 

“Ms. Carlyle, you’re clearly the most intelligent of your team. And you’ve some Talent, too, if everything I’ve heard is true. Surely you don’t want to hang around with these losers any longer. You’ve got a career to think of. I know you had an interview with Fittes a while ago; I know they failed you, but in my opinion”— he smiled again— “they made a bad mistake. Now, I have a little influence within the organization. I can pull strings, get you a position within the company, just think: instead of eking out a living here, you could be at Fittes House, with all its power at your disposal.”

This makes Lucy very angry. She likes her life as an employee of the Lockwood Agency and she likes her colleagues Anthony Lockwood and George Cubbins, who are in any case very far from being losers. She tells her tempter that she is quite happy where she is.

This offer may seem relatively harmless if rather patronising: the Fittes man recognises talent when he sees it and just wants to recruit a good person for his team. However, it is Penelope Fittes who is behind this and further attempts to recruit Lucy: she wants to make use of her gifts, and whatever she wants she is determined to get.