Vandari shirt and tattoo

Vandari Pride 😈

The story of how people born into the Children of God / Family International cult reclaimed a term used to literally demonize them.

Once upon a time, I grew up in a doomsday cult. One of the cult’s sillier beliefs was their crazy mythology that included hundreds of good and evil spiritual beings. Most of these angels, demons, and other spirits had specific domains of responsibility (or maybe hobbies?), and the cult believed that referring to spirits by name gave their prayers extra power. So, for example, instead of simply praying to overcome an addiction, a member might call on Boheme (a good guy) to sever the tentacles of Bacchus (demon of addiction and nemesis of Boheme) with the Key of Resolve.

This was all well and good fun (call it a culty version of collecting Pokémon), but sometimes it devolved into outright madness. For instance, there was the aboriginal demon Hong Kong Goolagong whose preferred attack was to choke missionaries to Australia with disembodied flying boobs. …I can’t even.

Vandari demon with dripping blood
Official depiction of a Vandari demon, by the Family International in 2002

Things turned darker when in 2002 they invented a new breed of demon called the Vandari that they claimed were infecting their kids who left the cult. You see, a lot of kids who grew up in the cult had a really bad time of things, and were speaking out about their experiences and abuse. But now you know why! It’s not that the cult had done anything wrong—rather, their kids were possessed. The Vandari were making them talk to the press and lie about their upbringings. Oh and by the way, the Vandari were the worst of the worst. Even other demons refused to hang out with them, so they lived in the sewers with their rat buddies.

This revelation came with helpful instructions for what the parents of people speaking out about their experience should do. They should pray for Jesus to “take them out of the way.” Or, if you prefer an explanation without cult euphemisms, they should pray for their kids to die.

The Devil’s Advocates

When this first came to light thanks to someone who leaked the text of the new publication/doctrine, I used the secret agent powers I had at the time to get my hands on a copy with all the images included, then posted the depiction of these Vandari demons on the internet. Years later, I’d visit a cult commune and steal a physical copy for my personal collection, but that’s a different story.

The Vandari prophecies united the second-generation ex-member community—partly in sadness, partly in anger, but mostly in endless jokes. There were new parody prophecies received (this time from Hitler instead of Jesus) explaining what the cult had gotten wrong about the Vandari. The website MovingOn held a Vandari logo contest (which I won!) and sold t-shirts, hoodies, and thongs with the winning logo. There was even a Flash game (created by a friend named Stephan) called Vandari’s Revenge, which allowed players to “take on the Family queens and kick some cult ass, Vandari style.”

And thus, “Vandari” was reappropriated as a term of protest, identity, and pride.

Inked Imps

As an example of Vandari pride in action, I’ve heard of several people getting tattoos of the Vandari imp I designed all those years ago. In the photo from 2011 at the top of this post, for example, you can see my friend Melissa with a Vandari wrist tattoo, next to me in a Vandari t-shirt. Friend and personal hero Peter Frouman also got a tattoo of the Vandari logo, which you can see a photo of here from when it was still fresh. And just recently I found out that new friend Mia got one 16 years ago.

Vandari logo
The Vandari imp logo I created in 2002 as part of a contest for second-generation ex-members
Peter's Vandari tattoo
Peter Frouman: “Naturally, I chose the Vandari logo (designed by Steven Levithan) for my first tattoo”
Mia's Vandari tattoo
Mia’s tattoo, fading after 16 years

For more than a decade now, I’ve wanted my own Vandari tattoo. I’ve decided to finally get it done, and I’ll add a photo here when it’s finished. (Since I’ll be incorporating Japanese elements, I’m waiting to find a Japanese artist so they can get the kanji strokes just right.)

Vandari for life.

Want your own Vandari t-shirt? Get them at my Vandari store.

4 thoughts on “Vandari Pride 😈”

  1. Love, love, love this! Steve, you’re the master of cool. I’ll be getting this tat soon, too, I hope! ♥️

  2. I don’t have any tattoos yet, always have been waiting to find something with meaning and now I have! This definitely is going to be my first tattoo

    1. You are the first person I have found to refer to ‘keys’ and that’s important to me. I was not born into COG, but was a toddler when my mother helped form it in Huntington Beach. I was an ‘incorrigible’, which I guess was the precursor to Vandari. I was an early subject for Berg & Zerby in their fascination with ‘bending’ the will of children and creating perfect servants. I have not been able to find others who were children in those first years and can still remember or talk about what that was like.

      Anyway, I am proud of you and hope that you continue to fight.

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