The secret women-only inner circle was often referred to as a “sorority” by its members, which notoriously included Smallville starlet Allison Mack, that was Raniere’s go-to for recruiting new members.
Among the means the women promised their commitment to the team was by getting Rainiere and Mack’s initials branded with a cauterizing pen in a ritual ceremony. In a previous meeting with ABC’s Nightline, previous NXIVM participant Sarah Edmondson said the branding was Mack’s concept and that they were initially told the design was a Latin sign, though she later on recognized that had not been the instance. “The 4 aspects were Keith’s initials from one side as well as ‘AM’ for Allison Mack from dead on,” Edmondson described. “But I really did not see that at the time.”
“Imagine someone taking a lit suit to the most delicate area of your body and also dragging it across your flesh gradually,” Edmondson later on told Inside Edition, adding that the branding lasted between 20 to 30 mins. “It was horrific. The whole factor was to experience discomfort and also to overcome the pain to be really solid, so they cut our flesh open without anesthetic.”
HBO’s most recent docudrama, The Vow, draws back the drape on the scary globe of NXIVM and its owner, Keith Raniere, that was implicated of running a violent sex cult via the Albany-based “self-help” organization. The nine-episode series discloses much of the cults inner workings, that included a subgroup named DOS (Dominus Obsequious Sororium) that was known for branding its members.
In enhancement to the branding, various other ways of showing ones sisterhood involved copulating Raniere, serious dieting, as well as quiting a kind of “security,” such as a major secret confession or explicit pictures, to ensure that members would not expose any of the sorority’s secrets.