I Joined a Cult Accidentally

Being ordained into a cult seems like something that you might notice, or maybe even an event that would be classed as unforgettable. But what happens when you’re accidentally accepted as a member of a cult? Well that changes things in ways that you may never expect. 

I work at a vape shop (now for privacy and confidentiality, I won’t be naming the shop or the man in question. Instead I will refer to them as either Mick Doe or Authentic Vapes.)

Have you ever felt like you were truly understood by someone? Truly accepted without any hesitation? Well I have, and on a number of occasions. The most recent one (as of the time I'm writing this) is when I was ordained into a cult. 

I was serving Mick Doe without any hesitation. We’d previously chatted for a while and gained a very stable professional relationship between shop clerk and customer. We’d laughed and joked with one another and even formed the vestiges of a friendship.

Now I constantly try to be a proficient and proactive employee of Authentic Vapes. I try to ensure that I either know or learn the most up to date literature about vaping, I keep up with the news on the subject and even try to go above and beyond for any and all customers.

Mick Doe was no different. We’d talked about the military, about his and my dad’s service time as they’d served in the same sector of the armed forces. We even started talking about people we knew and what we were both interested in. 

It was during one of those conversations that the topic at hand began to meander towards outer space, we expressed interest in extraterrestrials and UFOs, we both have a fascination with ancient Egypt and even have stars from the same constellation named after one another (I won't name the constellation in question for the same privacy disclosure as before). 

I am an avid writer - as you may well see here - and I decided to let him know of a book I was working on at the time. It was during this conversation that he began to ask me about a very specific organisation. At first, I thought he was talking about a movie or another book series. With the way he was talking, I was almost certain that he was referencing a novel.

He gave me the name of the organisation and his number so I could then talk to him about it after I’d read up on the subject. At this moment, we were in a deep conversation about history and ancient ruins or structures that may have paranormal or scientific properties that no one had truly delved into researching. For a nerd like myself, this was my catnip. 

But I was also still very unaware of what I was being accepted into. I was a lamb being led for slaughter as I handed him my phone to him, upon his request. Mick then added an app to my phone, logged into it with his details and then saved those details to my logged passwords. This should have been one of many red flags, five points to anyone who guessed I was still clueless.

He stayed with me talking about these strange otherworldly happenings right up until I was about to close the shop for Authentic Vapes. Mick Doe even decided to wait as I cashed up and locked the shop.

When I arrived home, I delved straight into my housework for the day and it was after this that I decided to text him and ask for the link to the organisation we were talking about. My curiosity and childlike inquisitiveness drove me further down this odd rabbit hole. 

He was all too happy to offer the links and immediately I began to read through it, all the while sat at my dining table writing Christmas cards.

I delved further and further into this culture and finally found myself ordained as what they called an Andromedan Rainbow Child. I was officially a part of it.

I won’t lie to you. I was still unaware of what any of this meant. I was still blind to what this truly was and I felt more accepted and understood than I’d ever felt before. But, it was getting late and my fiancèe was about to finish work, so I put dinner on and prepared the table to serve.

It was during dinner that I gleefully told her about my new friend, my new group that I’d joined so innocently and I even had a giddy air to my words. My future wife, bless her heart, sat patiently listening, her face stoic and unreadable. 

It was after my speech that she began to explain what had truly happened to me. The blank notes on her expression very suddenly changed to one of worry and anxiety as she told me that it sounded very much like a cult.

“Darling, I don’t want to upset you, but I really think you need to block this man and delete the app.” 

I, all too quick, felt downtrodden. One of the few people I cared about, had rejected what I was very fast holding dear to my heart. She then began to grow agitated, but still in her motherly tone told me how it sounded like a cult and then even offered the suggestion that if it was my younger sibling in my place, what I would then say to them.

I’ll admit, if my sibling came to me, all too excitedly telling me that they’d become an Andromedan Rainbow Child and their new friend had installed an app on their phone and had even talked to them about this unorthodox organisation, the part of my personality that can only be labelled as: 'protective-big-brother' would almost certainly emerge. I would force them to delete the app and stop all communication with the man who claimed to be their friend.

It was at this moment that I realised what I’d done. I had been lulled into joining a cult, I had so readily accepted the ideology of the organisation and even began to mentally refer to myself as an Andromedan Rainbow Child. 

So it is now that I conclude my online ramblings. 

Firstly, if someone comes to you and tries to convince you about joining something, research it heavily and don't delve into it too quickly. Because, it wasn’t until I strayed from the links Mick Doe supplied that I found out just how cult-like this organisation was.

Secondly, please don’t be too hard on those poor sods out there who join these organisations. Being indoctrinated into something so scandalous or even so horrific is something that we are all a possible victim to.

Feeling understood and accepted is the way that they catch you. The NHS, UK and US governments are all educated on how to recognise when someone is being brainwashed by terrorists, but they may not know when someone is being led astray into a different factional cult. 

Please stay vigilant and question everything - Devs out!