Thursday, February 23, 2023

Rewriting History

The definition of rewrite history is the following:  select or interpret events from the past in a way that suits one's own particular purposes.  So, if Charlene Peters aka Isis Aquarian who claims to be the record-keeper and historian of The Source Family along with her other self-appointed titles such as High Priestess and Temple Keeper could be accused of anything; it's the fact that she has rewritten the history of The Source Family to suit her own sanitized, whitewashed and embellished storyline leaving out any mention of the sexual ritual called qudosh, along with her efforts to minimize or underscore the fact that babies died at The Father House in Los Angeles and were buried on the hillside.  Babies who might have survived had they been given medical treatment of any kind.  But, dead babies is a subject which Charlene has tried to underplay, as if those infant deaths had been unpreventable and 'just happened'; when the truth and reality is the fact that no one dared go against Jim Baker's tenet that no one seek or use outside medical help of any kind.  But, Charlene knows the public would not look kindly upon a cult leader who allowed infants to suffer and die, under his watch.  Which is exactly why Charlene went to extremes to obliterate any mention of qudosh when she had the person copying the cassette tapes labeled 'meditation tapes' remove any parts of the tapes where Jim Baker talked about qudosh.  Hide or obfuscate have been her modus operandi. 

Covering up and hiding the truth about something that became the most important of Jim Baker's so-called 'aquarian teachings' became very important to Charlene Peters for two reasons:  1) because she wanted to promote herself  2) because Jim Baker warned that anyone who revealed the practice of qudosh would face a lifetime of regret.  Charlene was banking on the fact that no one who was in The Source Family who was either ordered by Jim Baker to perform qudosh or who participated in any way; would never publicly talk about such a thing or admit to having performed.  She was counting on the silence of former members not to reveal the practice of qudosh.

Charlene has a book signing coming up at UC Santa Barbara for her most recent Source Family scrapbook, but I can't help but wonder how the UCSB library would feel about sponsoring and helping promote Charlene's sanitized, whitewashed and embellished version of the history of The Source Family, if they learned that a sexual ritual where a man ingested a woman's menstrual blood was the central most important 'teaching' of Jim Baker's.  Charlene has managed to get UCSB to have an ongoing exhibit titled Lifting the Veil which is so ironic considering she would never want the veil to be lifted enough to reveal the practice of qudosh! 

Concealing the truth about what really went on within The Source Family is unethical in my view, because isn't truth a cornerstone of ethics?  Charlene should have just told the truth about the practice of qudosh, instead of continuing to hide the fact, or using the lame excuse how it was not to be revealed, because of it being some kind of sacred teaching not meant for anyone outside of The Source Family.  

I was sent a copy of the unedited film from 2012 shortly after it premiered at SXSW in Austin, and there was an interview segment with former member, Zinaru who talked about how things changed 'with the introduction of blood', but Charlene had that part of his interview edited out from the final version of the film.  Another example of Charlene's machinations to remove any mention of the practice of qudosh.

The practice of qudosh has left the majority of former Source Family members like myself with feelings of shame, regret and remorse for allowing ourselves to follow Jim Baker's misuse of his power over all of us and performing something that nobody wants to ever talk about.  I know what it's like to admit to having performed qudosh and the embarrassment that goes along with that, but I also feel anger towards Jim Baker for ordering and subjecting me to perform that sexual ritual.  I would rather my adult son not ever learn about or know about qudosh, but it's the truth.  Leaving out the sexual ritual of qudosh from the story allows Charlene to continue promoting herself and her sanitized narrative.  Which is also why I made the decision to speak out and tell the truth about the practice of qudosh, because I feel the public have the right to know.  I understand wanting to present The Source Family as being some New Age benign, harmless rock and roll communal group from the early seventies, but that is simply not the whole truth.  The truth is The Source Family became a cult around the personality of Jim Baker where we all obediently followed and obeyed his orders and directives.  When Jim Baker ordered anyone in The Source Family to perform qudosh with whomever he chose; you did what was expected of you.