The original title of this article was “True Crimes of True Believers”.  The reasoning behind the title? Research into the phenomenon of ritual (or occult murder) sperate the activity into those crimes committed by criminals (true criminals) and crimes committed as part of a religious ritual (true believers).  My opinion on the topic is this, it matters very little if the ritual crime are part of an actual religions ritual (for example one conducted by a religious satanic group) or a ritual crime committed by a self-styled or youth subculture group.  I am not implying that ritual type crimes are existing on an epidemic level (they aren’t) however, human sacrifice as part of religious ritual has a long history.

This article will cover the history of the phenomena of human sacrifice.

History of Sacrifice

·         Symbolically blood represents both purity and impurity the sacred and the profane and death

·         Blood is extremely significant in religious ideology.  There are specific rituals, attitudes and prohibitions on blood in almost every society (Perlmutter (2004) p 10 )

·         Rituals entailing blood sacrifice existed at least 20,000 years ago until Biblical prohibitions on idol worship abolished communal rites and made human and animal sacrifice morally repugnant,

·         The use of blood in ritualistic crimes is more revealing than other forms of evidence

·         In occult crime the physical pattern is not as important as the symbolic meaning of blood

·         Additionally the level of experience of the perpetrator is immediately evident in the cleanliness of the crime scene or victim

·         In ancient times and today the role of the sacrifice is an honored and privileged position and he will most likely be the leader of the group

·         The term sacrifice derives from the Latin Sacrificium meaning to make holy.  It carried the connotation of a religious act in the highest or fullest sense it can also be understood as an act of sanctifying or consecrating on object.

Historically theologians have proposed four purposes of sacrifice:

1)      Homage or praise a form of pure adoration

2)      Thanksgiving  giving thanks for a favor granted

3)      Supplication asking for material goods to divine intervention

4)      Expiation placating or requesting forgiveness or the removal or prevention of evil and misfortune

·         Traditionally the recipients of sacrifice are divine beings such as gods, spirits demonic beings and sometimes humans who are either worshipped or feared although sacrifice in the proper sense is offered to humans only after they die and are considered to possess superhuman power (Perlmutter (2004) p 11)

·         Religious scholars have proposed nine basic purposes for human sacrifice.  In addition to the four previously cites reasons for sacrifice they include a form of transformation, communion, regeneration, divine assimilation and a method of achieving immortality

·         The significant ideology behind sacrificial ritual is that blood consists of life force energy consisting the highest offering to the gods or ancestors

·         In malevolent occult worship bloodletting or imbibing blood from a victim represents the assimilation of raw power

·         Additionally the longer a victim is tortured and the pain is prolonged the more life energy/power is emitted (Perlmutter (2004) p 12)

Human Sacrifice as part of religious ritual was an important part of pre-Christian religion.  Groups such as the Ancient Pre-Zoroaster Persians, Druids, Aztecs, Mayans, and Ancient Egyptians, Ancient Judaism (pre 70 AD and the destruction of the Temple of Solomon) just to name a few engaged in ritual human sacrifice.

Human sacrifice has been practiced on a number of different occasions and in many different cultures.  The various rationales behind human sacrifice are the same that motivate religious sacrifice in general

Aztec

The Aztec culture is one in which human sacrifice was of importance to their religious life. 

·         Presently scholars largely accept that human sacrifice was practiced in the Aztec empire as well as throughout pre-Columbian Mesoamerica.  Since the late 1970s excavations of the offerings in the Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan Teotihuacan’s Pyramid of the moon and other archaeological sites have provided physical evidence of human sacrifice among the Mesoamerican peoples

·         The practice of human sacrifice was widespread in the Mesoamerican and in the south American cultures during the Inca Empire

·         Like all other known pre-Columbian civilizations of Mesoamerica the Aztecs practiced human sacrifice

·         Sacrifice was a common theme in Mesoamerican cultures.  In the Aztec legend of the five suns all the gods sacrificed themselves so that mankind could live

·         Everything earth, crops, moon, stars and people springs from the severed or buried bodies, fingers, blood or the heads of the sacrificed gods

·         Human Sacrifice was in this sense the highest level of an entire panoply of offerings through which the Aztecs sought to repay the best to the gods

·         Even the stage for human sacrifice the massive temple pyramids was an offering mound crammed with treasures,  grains, soil and human and animal sacrifice that were buried as gifts to the deities.  Adorned with the lands finest art, treasure, and victims these temples had become buried offerings under new structures every half a century.(Human Sacrifice in Aztec Culture (n.d) Wiki)

·         At the root of these Aztec rituals was the belief that the gods needed to be nourished by human beings this was accomplished through human blood

·         A part of the Aztec religion therefore was to participate in bloodletting which is intentionally harming and drawing blood from the body

·         Those who are higher in status within the Aztec religion were expected to give the most blood during these Aztec rituals

·         The Aztec gods and goddesses also require the living hearts of humans for nourishment.  All hearts were good but the bravest captives were considered to be particularly nourishing to the Aztec gods

·         Sometimes those practicing the Aztec religion sacrificed just one person

·         At other times hundreds or even thousands of captives were sacrificed

·         Each Aztec sacrifice took place the same way.  The captive or captives were taken to a pyramid or temple and placed on an altar The Aztec priest then made an incision in the ribcage of the captive and removed the living heart

·         The heart was then burned and the corpse was pushed down the steps at the Aztec pyramid or temples(Aztec-Indians.com (n.d)

Ritual Murder

As the above information has shown, human sacrifice as part of religious ritual has a long history.  There is a belief among some (many) that human sacrifice is no longer taking place.  While I doubt very much that the amount of sacrifice has reached epidemic proportions, I still believe that it is still taking place.  The information outline below is one method used to identify and profile ritual type homicides.

Ritual Homicide Typology:

·         A classification system that is an endeavor to standardize ritualistic crimes

·         Symbolic analysis differs from typical criminal profiling in that is not based on Psychological methodologies but instead is based on religious concepts

·         The primary goal of this classification system is to characterize various expressions of ritual homicide through the identification of the religion, rites and intent of the offender (s) based on symbolic evidence the sacred context of objects ritualized behavior and forensic findings at crime scenes(Perlmutter (2004) p 350)

Definition of symbolic Analysis:

·         Symbolic analysis is a method of identifying the perpetrator (s) of a crime based on an analysis of the symbolic nature of the offense and the ritual manner in which it was committed

·         Various aspects of the criminal’s  belief’s are determined from his or her choice of actions before during and after the crime

·         This information is combined with other pertinent details and physical evidence and then compared with the characteristics of known symbols, rituals and practice of subcultures and/or alternative religions to develop a practical working description of the offender(Perlmutter (2004) p 353)

·         Although the crime scene characteristics may resemble actions typical of sexual personal cause or group cause homicide as described in the FBI classification system in symbolic analysis the primary motive is based on the offender’s necessity to ritually express his perception of the sacred (Perlmutter (2004) p 372)

·         An initial distinction between sacrifice and ritual murder is that sacrifice is sacred murder hence it is committed by true believers and the weapon will always be something that can ritually draw blood most often a knife (Perlmutter (2004) p 373-374)

·         The symbolic meaning of sacrifice is that is fundamental rite in the context of the belief system that sanctions sacrifice

·         Ritual murder is secular crime entailing ritualized behavior generally committed by dabblers or true criminals and the weapons are determined by the offender’s personal preference.  The symbolic meaning in ritual murder is a ritual interpretation of a personal belief system (Perlmutter (2004) p 374)

Sacrifice:

·         Ritual killing as an offering, consecration, initiation, or any other sacred act in its holiest sense.  Ritual murder is required and/or fits into a particular belief system

·         Sacred category of individual or group ritual conduct

·         Victim can be a stranger or member of the group

·         Children of members and enemies are also victims

·         Multiple victims and offenders are common

·         Weapons must often a ritual knife

·         Symbols, artifices found at the scene and on victim

·         Crime scene is designated sacred space often outdoors or possible mass grave

·         Body mutilations is common draining of blood, cannibalism, sexual abuse and dismemberment(Perlmutter (2004) p 378)

Ritual Murder:

·         Ritual Murder occurs when criminal conduct goes beyond the actions necessary to perpetrate the crime and some type of secular ritual behavior is expressed

·         Secular(non-religious) category of individual ritual conduct

·         The victim will be chosen according to the ritual need of the offender

·         Sexual assault(pre and post mortem) use of restraints and depersonalization(mutilation to the face)

·         Mutilation of specific body parts objects often inserted in victim’s body

·         Multiple weapons

·         Body parts and other souvenirs such as personal items may be missing

·         Signature or calling card(body positioning, mutilation, other symbolic gestures(Perlmutter (2004) p 380)

References:

Perlmutter, D.  (2004). Investigating Religious Terrorism and Ritualistic Crimes.  Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press LLC.

Aztec Religion (n.d.).  Retrieved October 24, 2009 from http://www.aztec-indians.com/aztec-religion.html

Human Sacrifice in Aztec Culture (n.d.).  Retrieved October 24, 2009 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_sacrifice_in_Aztec_culture