The secret women-only inner circle was commonly called a «sorority» by its members, which famously consisted of Smallville actress Allison Mack, that was Raniere’s go-to for recruiting brand-new members.
Among the ways the females pledged their loyalty to the team was by obtaining Rainiere and Mack’s initials branded with a cauterizing pen in a ritual event. In a previous interview with ABC’s Nightline, former NXIVM member Sarah Edmondson claimed the branding was Mack’s idea and that they were at first told the design was a Latin symbol, though she later realized that wasn’t the situation.
«The four aspects were Keith’s initials from one side and ‘AM’ for Allison Mack from dead on,» Edmondson clarified. «But I really did not see that at the time.»
«Imagine someone taking a lit suit to the most sensitive location of your body as well as dragging it throughout your flesh gradually,» Edmondson later told Inside Edition, adding that the branding lasted in between 20 to 30 mins. «It was dreadful. The whole factor was to experience pain as well as to overcome the pain to be truly strong, so they reduced our flesh open without anesthetic.»
HBO’s newest docudrama, The Vow, draws back the drape on the scary world of NXIVM and its founder, Keith Raniere, that was charged of running an abusive sex cult via the Albany-based «self-help» company. The nine-episode series reveals a number of the cults internal operations, which included a subgroup called DOS (Dominus Obsequious Sororium) that was recognized for branding its participants.
Along with the branding, other ways of showing ones sisterhood involved copulating Raniere, serious weight loss, and also quiting a type of «collateral,» such as a significant secret confession or specific pictures, to ensure that members wouldn’t expose any one of the sorority’s tricks.