Coral Anika Theill
Author, BONSHEA: Making Light of the Dark
Salem-News.com Staff, Reporter & Advocate
Contributing Writer for Leatherneck Magazine

"Every so often a book is written that touches the heart. This is such a book. BONSHEÁ is an unforgettable story that will leave an indelible mark on your psyche." - Addie Archer, Washington

"Just when you thought you knew what was going on in your community, here comes a story that just may shatter the security of your American Dream. This is a story about abuse, survival, false religion and dubious court systems in a state that may be advanced on some levels, but sometimes proves to be a miserable failure in terms of equity and fairness and conventional thinking. -Tim King/Editor/Salem-News.com Theill, Author, Adv
    • ocate & Free Lance Reporter Salem-News.com Staff & Reporter Contributing Writer for Leatherneck Magazin
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    NEW BOOK RELEASE - April 2013       
                                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                                 


             BONSHEÁ
      Making Light of the Dark
     
                   by Coral Anika Theill

     

      A startling memoir of one woman escaping an abusive marriage and oppressive religious cults and trying to find "justice" in a failed system.

     

    Anyone concerned with issues of abuse and injustice in America should read this book.

     

     

    BONSHEÁ – Yaqui Indian – meaning ‘out of    the darkness into the light’

     






    The story of Coral Anika Theill is possibly one of the most flagrant, outrageous examples of small town injustice in America. - Tim King/Editor/Salem-News.com


    (Dallas, Oregon)       Just when you thought you knew what was going on in your community, here comes a story that just may shatter the security of your American Dream.  This is a story about abuse, survival, false religion and dubious court systems in a state that may be advanced on some levels, but remains a miserable failure in terms of equity and fairness and conventional thinking.  - Tim King/Editor/Salem-News.com, War Correspondent & Author


    Read first 40 pages of Coral's 2013 memoir
    BONSHEÁ Making Light of the Dark     at Amazon.com 
     
    http://www.amazon.com/BONSHE%C3%81-Making-Light-Dark-ebook/dp/B00C85WM74/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1365560552&sr=1-1&keywords=Bonshea+Making+Light+of+the+Dark


    The price for my own safety and freedom in 1996 was an imposed, unnatural and unwanted separation from my eight children. The injustice committed against me is not just the physical separation from my children, but the willful desecration of the mother-child relationship and bond, a sacred spiritual and emotional entity.

    Forcibly taking a mother's children, and then controlling her emotionally by withholding contact must be publicly recognized as one of the greatest forms of 'mis-use' of the American justice system and one of the greatest hidden vehicles for wide-spread socially approved physical and emotional abuse and control    .

    Nothing justifies the minimization or removal of a fit and loving parent from a child's life. NOTHING.

    LIFE Magazine, USA Today and many other magazines have featured articles on women in prison in America. They report that women prisoners are allowed to keep their babies with them for eighteen months while serving their sentences, (Florida Statute 944.24).  I am haunted by this single question. Why was I treated lower than a criminal by Oregon's judicial law system? Presently, I have fewer rights than a criminal in America and I have no criminal record and have no history of alcohol, drug or child abuse.


    Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/BonsheaMakingLightOfTheDark


    Subjects addressed in Coral's 2013 memoir BONSHEÁ Making Light of the Dark:
    trauma recovery and healing, societal violence, poverty, homelessness, domestic violence, child abuse/molestation, rape, marital rape, Stockholm Syndrome, post-traumatic stress, depression, mental, emotional and physical abuse, spiritual and ritual abuse, cults, People of Praise, Bridgeport Community Church, Bill Gothardism, patriarchal religions, therapist abuse and exploitation,  the Quiverfull Movement, spirituality, quantum physics, judicial injustice, legal stalking, impairment of judges, and "non-custodial mothers" - the new scarlet letter.


    BONSHEÁ Making Light of the Dark New Book Release
    April 10, 2013 Article by Tim King/Editor/Salem-News.com

    Read Article:      http://www.salem-news.com/articles/april102013/bonshea-release-tk.php

     

     "Coral’s book, BONSHEÁ Making Light of the Dark, is the saga of her attempt to seek justice for marital rape, emotional, ritual and physical abuse that not only resulted in no prosecution, but led to threats that she would be charged with crimes if her allegations continued."
    -     Tim King/Editor/Salem-News, War Correspondent & Author 



    TO ORDER:  BONSHEÁ Making Light of the Dark

    Signed copies $25.00 – plus $5.00 shipping and handling 
    Email Coral Theill:  coraltheill@hotmail.com



    Two hundred years ago a system of legal slavery allowed for the ownership of human beings as if they were livestock. Children were ripped away from their mothers with as little consideration as separating a calf from a cow. In this country today, extreme forms of paternalistic religion promote an institutional form of slavery where a woman must be totally obedient to a husband who has absolute control of her life. The wife’s lot is to obey and bear children. If she rebels and chooses to save herself by escaping from this life, the father – supported by the church community and often by the court system, can forcibly strip a child away from the mother    .

    Loving non-custodial mothers face a stigma in society that is reprehensible and unjust.  People assume these mothers do not have custody because they are drug addicts, alcoholics, child abusers, or they just didn't want their children.  While there certainly are cases of abusive mothers who give up their children and walked away, in more and more cases today, fit and loving mothers are losing custody of their children against their will. 

    Keeping the faith and hope for future changes is often all that "non-custodial mothers" have. 
    It is said that Lady Justice is blind, but she should not be mocked.


    How I Became a Brood Mare & Egg donor for the Church & State: Rape is Torture Part 3 by Coral Anika Theill  http://www.salem-news.com/articles/august202012/rape-state-cat.php

     


    I will continue to seek justice from a corrupted system that protects those in power and rejects those without the resources to seek redress from the corrupters.  Our judicial system needs "our voice" so that injustices that others and I have suffered will not continue to occur."



    April 2013 NEW BOOK RELEASE Flyer
    http://www.thelizlibrary.org/liz/bonshea.pdf


    BONSHEÁ Making Light of the Dark shares my search for freedom and light in a society based on patriarchal religion and laws. It openly speaks about the ideas and beliefs in our society which foster sexism, racism, the denigration of human rights and the intolerance of difference. My documentation exposes the dark side of human nature when all people are not valued. A healthy society must have the courage to address these issues, speak about them, examine them and bring them to light. Indifference encourages, "silent violence"-the type of violence I experienced in my home, in the community, religious circles and judicial system. Nobel laureate, Elie Wiesel states, "The indifference to suffering makes the human inhumane.

     

    Documentary including audio court hearing tapes will be available in 2013.


    The moment we begin to fear the opinions of others and hesitate to tell the truth that is in us, and from motives of policy are silent when we should speak, the divine floods of light and life no longer flow into our souls.     - Elizabeth Cady Stanton


    Therapist Abuse and Exploitation 1998-2005 

    Keeping secrets binds up our energy and impacts our health and well-being.  The freedom that I gained when I broke my silence about the abuse I suffered from Mr. George Amiotte and Dr. Charles Kuttner I wouldn’t trade for anything.  My voice is more important to me than my safety.  Once secrets are exposed to the light, they lose their power over you.


    Dr. Kuttner’s betrayal of me, dismissing my pleas for help regarding his associate Mr. Amiotte, then becoming annoyed with me when I reported I was being threatened, financially exploited and abused, has caused me much reflection.

     
    There would not have been any professional consequences to Dr. Kuttner had I been murdered on August 6, 2000 by George D. Amiotte. I would have only been a "statistic." - Revised 2013 Edition BONSHEA Making Light of the Dark

                                                                            *****************

    The Washington Post article May 10, 2013:
    Conference Shines Light on Plight of Battered Mother's Seeking Custody

    The entire schedule of this weekend's conference was included in the article. Coral's bio, website, and workshop presentation     can also be found under The Battered Mothers Link in The Washington Post article - 2nd paragraph.

    What a wonderful birthday and Mother's Day Gift today - Thank you Washington Post!

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/conference-shines-light-on-plight-of-battered-mothers-seeking-custody/2013/05/10/8a2830fc-b8f1-11e2-92f3-f291801936b8_story.html



    Battered Women, Abused Children, and Child Custody: A National Crisis     was created in 2003 by two mothers, Mo Therese Hannah, Ph.D. of Albany, NY, and Liliane Heller Miller of Charlotte, NC. Our on-going goal is to host a national public forum to address the many complex issues facing battered women as they strive to protect themselves and their children     during divorce, custody, and visitation disputes. 

    Battered Women, Abused Children, and Child Custody Conference, May 10-13, 2013, Washington, D.C.,  A National Crisis     http://www.batteredmotherscustodyconference.org/

    Coral Theill attended the National Battered Mother's Custody Conference at George Washington Law University, May 10-11, 2013.  Coral presented a workshop on trauma recovery, May 10th at 5:15 - 6:15 pm.  She also had a book signing event at the conference.

    Casting religion in a negative light, can often invite a strong reaction mixed with accusations of heresy and un-Godliness. Such reactions can have a chilling effect on those who might wish to express a negative human experience, namely domestic abuse, where religion has been used as a vehicle to enable the abuse. In BONSHEA, Coral Theill confronts this troublesome dynamic in an anecdotal account, which underscores the degree to which religion, and the legal system, can be used to enable systematic domestic abuse. In doing so, Coral Theill has ventured into relatively uncharted territory in a manner which may well draw detractors, but at the same time offers great validation for those who find themselves entangled in an abusive relationship buttressed with religious justification.


    In addition to broaching this form of religious distortion, BONSHEA also illustrates the degree to which the legal system can also be used as a vehicle to further perpetuate abuse even after the victim has chosen to take a stand against the abuse. In BONSHEA, Coral Theill has clearly chosen to take a courageous stand. It is a stand that comes with a cost, but whose dividends are measured in the strength of the soul. – John Haroldson, District Attorney, Benton County District Attorney's Office, Corvallis, Oregon


    BONSHEA     pierces through the darkness that hides the legal system's routine abuse of mothers and children.

    BONSHEA is a work of immense courage, a true tale of heartbreak and salvation. By exposing what was done to her by the court system, by the religious authorities and by their enabling cronies as she took the moral high ground by leaving an abusive husband, the author gives readers the tremendous gift of her hard-won insight and spiritual awakening. As shocking as it may be, Coral's story resonates with the truth. I hear pleas for help from protective mothers like Coral every day, week after week, year after year--all of them pleading for their very birthright, their greatest right, which is to be a mother.

    She pinpoints, with heart-piercing accuracy, the historical hatred of females and of the feminine that has permeated societies, including our present one, for eons. Her personal story of living with and divorcing an abusive "religious" man who was cheered on by the community's religious, governmental, and legal authorities mirrors the persecution of all women who, like Coral, choose to say "no" to male dominance and power. These include Middle Age "witches," midwives, mothers who protect their children from a father's abuse, mothers who dare to have careers and mothers who elect to stay home with their children. Coral also calls out for the only true cure for the dark side of human nature, and that is to live in the light.

    Coral's work is a special blessing for me and for my sisters throughout this country. Not a single particle of the wisdom Coral shares misses the mark. - Maureen T. Hannah, Ph.D. Chair, Battered Mother's Custody Conference, Albany, New York 


    You stand TALL amongst many. We're all wounded but some choose to heal so that they can heal others.     Continue your incredible work. It shines the light across the seas… Even here in Africa, we tell your story… I am equally touched and indignant at the same time. Your story, because it’s written from the heart, is so painful but very, very empowering because you saw the light. God bless you for this gift to all womenfolk. Look at what it’s doing for all of us in the world. It’s reaching beyond the seas and cultural divides. I’m at a loss for words. Thank you, Coral, for your light... - Nana Ngobese-Nxumala, Director, Woman Forward Political Party, South Africa
    BONSHEÁ Making Light of the Dark sheds light on one of the tragedies of our time: that protective parents often lose their children to the parent with power. Unfortunately, there is no oversight of the family court system, nor is there any standard for determining justice in custody cases. I hope this will change."- Patricia Evans, Author, "The Verbally Abusive Relationship"


    BONSHEÁ engaged my attention immediately, and then enraged me. The author has endured huge suffering at the hands of brutalists hiding behind the masks of pseudo Christianity and "justice for all." The author continues to stride toward the light in her own life-at huge personal cost-and to bring her story forward for all to consider and

    act upon. – Karen Goldammer, South Dakota


    As usual, those who don't have the resources to defend themselves are the ones who pay: the children, the poor, the shunned - all the abused. We put or leave them out there as human sacrifices, and instead sing the praises of the rich, the famous, and the well-connected. Can't we have a heart and justice for those without a means of defense? Is it a form of Stockholm Syndrome that we so often want to identify with the powerful and the abusers? - Susan West, Virginia

    Dear Coral,


    Even if your children choose not to have further contact with you (that is always our greatest fear as estranged parents); it doesn't mean that our children won't know -unconsciously at the minimum - that they are cherished and loved by someone outside their lives with the perpetrators. They may not be able to remember that we were the source of that love, but they will still have a strong sense that it's out there. They may equate the big, powerful outside with a god or goddess; that's okay. It still works to help them to feel truly loved, and protected, and cared about - in the most secret compartment of their soul, where it is not touched by any invader.

    Even if our children are too young to remember when they're removed from us, or if they have been brainwashed by their new caregivers to think of us as other than who we really are - and criminal sociopaths are usually quite good at that - our children's earliest sensory memories of our love and nurturing will remain a mental/emotional protective factor for the rest of their lives.

    I've learned enough about childhood neurobiological development and secure attachment to understand why it happens that way. Our conscious memories of our parents' love - if we experienced such love - may fade away completely or be suppressed out of necessity to conform with our new family system and keep them from turning on us in anger. Still, the neurobiological/sensory imprint of our parents' love is like a fossil imprinted deeply in a dense rock. The nonverbal neurological/sensory imprint remains for life and is a part of everything we are and do; even if we're completely aware of its influence.

    Nobody can erase the imprint without killing us because the imprint of love is strong, more natural, and more resilient than the effects of human evil. And so, even if you are not able to connect with your children now; you've already given them their most important protective factor: "early-onset" love and nurturing." - Kathleen A. Sullivan, MSW, Chattanooga, Tennessee 



    "On March 10, 1996, I was forced, by an Order of the Court, and by my ex-husband, his attorney, his family and religious supporters, to do something that raged against my good conscience, my common sense and against all my motherly instincts. After a temporary custody hearing, a Court Order signed by Judge Norblad forcibly removed my nursing baby and two youngest children from me. I obeyed the Court Order and gave my children over to my ex-husband. I drove to the hospital, rented a breast-pump and later collapsed and went into shock. I could not understand what had happened and why. I have not yet recovered from the shock; perhaps I never will.... 
    "I believe that domestic violence is a crime. It is a complex problem with roots in an oppressively hierarchical, patriarchal violence-accepting society. The fundamental evangelical Christian movements (cults) that thrive today refuse to speak out against domestic violence, rape, incest and abuse because their doctrines are the foundation for conditioning women and children to accept abuse. 
    "Battered & Raped in the Name of God" by Coral     Anika Theill
    http://www.salem-news.com/articles/october092012/raped-for-god-ct.php


    "I went to the judicial system for help and was not prepared for the horrors I experienced within our legal system. I found a system which treated me as deplorably as my former husband and his religious supporters. I have extensive documentation, including affidavits, court transcripts, tapes and videos, medical reports, and witnesses to substantiate and elaborate on this story. I believe that when this case comes to light, someone will have to answer for the abuse and silent violence I have suffered in the Polk, Marion, and Wasco County courts in Oregon. Marital and ritual abuse evolved into legal abuse. I wrote the Oregon Governor in 1999 if he knew where I should go for help. I received no reply.
     
    "I have witnessed ongoing suppression, control and violence perpetrated by organized patriarchal religion and our judicial system. Our judicial system needs "our voice" so that injustices that others and I have suffered will not continue to occur." - Coral Anika Theill


    Coral Anika Theill's published works address abuse and trauma recovery and most recently, wounded Marines and Montford Point Marines.  Her writings have encouraged and inspired numerous trauma victims and wounded Marines and servicemembers recovering from PTS and TBI.  Coral's postive insights as a survivor have also earned the respect of clinical therapists, advocates, professors and authors.  BONSHEA has been used as a college text for nursing students at Linfield College, Portland, Oregon.  In July 2011 Coral received the Lester Granger Award from the National Montford Point Marine Association.  In 2002 she received a Writer's Award from iUniverse Publishing Co.  Her October 2011 Leatherneck Magazine article, "Invisible Battle Scars," is cited in the U.S. Army War College "Psychological Health Notes."


    "Coral Theill's BONSHEÁ is intense in its effort to "open the doors" behind which many domestic violence perpetrators have stood for so long in the name of "privacy." She dispels painful secrets about the abuse and the violence in her life and the lives of her children, which is chilling to read about because of its pervasiveness, its limitlessness and its consequences. At every level-family and friends, key people in her community, the health care system, the legal and judicial system, and the culture which socializes us all-she met with adversity and re-victimization. In the telling of her recovery, which is truly remarkable given her circumstances, the reader gets a vivid sense of the indominability of her spirit and light. The strategies she shares with the reader can make a difference between being a victim and being a survivor.


    “Her story is compelling reading for anyone living or surviving this experience. I recommend this book for health care providers, those in the criminal justice system, and volunteers or helpers of any kind to get insights and clarity about the complex dynamics of domestic violence and its toxic effects to individuals and society-and what needs to be done to eradicate this pandemic problem."     – Barbara A. May, PhD, RN PMHP, Professor of Nursing, Portland, Oregon

    BONSHEÁ – coming out of the darkness and into the light is a lifelong journey as Coral illustrates in her own journey that she has so courageously shared with all mankind. She is among the deep and profound minds of our time; her story will provide you with enlightenment… or at the very least questions to ponder on your own journey. Rebecca Leslie Weathers MS, Counselor, Hamilton, New Zealand


    Photo: Coral Theill with her eighth child, Zachary David, July 1995, months before he was removed from her per Court Order, due to Coral seeking safety from domestic violence. May-8-2010:     A Mother Does Not Forget Her Children: First March on Washington for Mothers of Lost Children - Coral Anika Theill Salem-News.com 
    BONSHEA provides incredibility disconcerting insights into the labyrinth of self-proclaimed morally self-righteous communities within our society. No article about Coral's crusade to correct the injustices she has suffered can truly capture the personal strengths which Coral demonstrates on every page of her book. It is very difficult to feel Ms. Theill's pain without actually reading her story, although many of us can empathize with people in abusive relationships. Very little occurs which does not provide insights into other conflicts. Gang violence, the death and destruction Sunnis and Shiites perpetrate upon each other daily around the world, the hate between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland, are all variations on the "cultism" which has caused Coral so much pain. Without this understanding, some could say Coral is the victim of isolated acts of violence by one person. That is not the case. She is the victim of a morally tainted community within an uncaring broader society.

    Regardless of the future, nothing will allow Coral to recapture the past. Yes, she can pray for having some of the burden taken from her shoulders, and indeed, she has lost much, but clearly Coral is not saying "stop my suffering" because stopping the pain is something only she alone can do. Ms. Theill is asking for others to understand how she has suffered, and the truth of why she has suffered.

    The power of her life is not that she escaped from a "cult", but that she continues to serve as an agent of change. This is not a "she said/he said" tale of abuse, but rather a self-damning expose of her struggle to survive. She is not a martyr. She is a victim of the too frequent chasm between a blind adherence to an interpretation of laws and a true understanding of justice.   

    The question which may be too painful for us to answer.  Is religiously justified domestic violence the reality which our society cannot face? Making truths inaccessible does not change the truth. - Bruce McLelland, Washington D.C.


    Having known Coral for approximately nine years and recently having spent a week with her, she is legitimate! I am continually amazed that she functions at all given what she has been through in her lifetime. What I know of Coral is she is a woman with a huge heart, capable of compassion for others, who is thoughtful, resourceful and resilient, but who has endured a lifetime of abuse, poverty, homelessness, abandonment and ridicule beyond imagination. Still she keeps on fighting back seeking the validation she has never received from those closest to her!

    How she has kept functioning all these years in the face of repeated invalidation by people and systems is beyond my comprehension and a testimony to her determination and drive. It is what keeps her alive as so many people would have crumbled long ago and retreated to a world of self-destruction. (We see it every day in mental health systems and homeless shelters.) Luckily, Coral is articulate and extremely intelligent, both assets which I have found present in trauma survivors     I've worked with over the years who had survived enormous abuse and still functioned in society.

    The question remains whose side are we on--the victim's or the perpetrators? After reviewing Coral's documentation, of what has happened to her, it is quite evident whose side the system and people of power are on. What frightens me is the absolute vulnerability we all have to people in power and the values and beliefs that these individuals hold which could impact every single one of us should we become prey to the system or as Judith Herman wrote "to come face to face with human vulnerability in the natural world and with the capacity for evil in human nature." What happened to Coral is pure evil and a testimony to the vulnerability we all have. Whose side are we on? - Christine Pahl, MS, LPC, Oregon


    "LIFE Magazine, USA Today and many other organizations have featured articles on women in prison in America. They report that women prisoners are allowed to keep their babies with them for eighteen months while serving their sentences (Florida Statute 944-24). I am haunted by this single question. Why was I treated lower than a criminal in America and I have no criminal record and have no history of alcohol, drug or child abuse? Why did I lose all contact with my children when I was a VICTIM of a crime? Why was custody of these children given to the PERPETRATOR of these crimes with no questions asked?

    "My husband committed multiple crimes against me according to Oregon statutes and laws (Chapter 743, Oregon Laws 1971, 163.375), including repeated rape, sexual assault and physical assault when I was incapacitated due to abuse - but despite my extensive documentation and witnesses, he was embraced, rewarded, and faces no consequences for his actions. My children remained in his custody, forbidden to contact me in any way.    "
    - Coral Anika Theill

    Patriarchal Religion, Battered Wives & Divorce:  Imprisoned in the Name of God http://www.salem-news.com/articles/november282012/coral-survival-part-6.php

    From 1993-1994, Oregon State District 8 Senator Betsy Close phoned me, during the time of my breakdown/illness and told me God had cursed me. She sent me letters exhorting me to repent. She does not believe an abused and battered woman has a “right to divorce.” Under Betsy Close’s fundamental ideology, a wife should just call “911.” Ms. Close’s viewpoints promote domestic violence and loss of lives.http://coralanikatheill.blogspot.com/2012/12/introduction-oregon-state-district-8.html


    "During the period of my breakdown/depression in the spring of 1994, my husband, Mr. Marty Warner, and his pastors left me at the "Wing's of Love" half-way house on Killingsworth in Portland, Oregon, to punish and "break me" (their words) to the will of God. The house was a shelter for ex-cons, street people and prostitutes. It was filthy and infested with rats and lice. My husband’s debt-free estate, at this time, was over a quarter- of- a million dollars. It was a frightening experience during the period of my illness/breakdown for my “abuser” ex-husband, his Christian cult leaders and religious supporters to be in charge of my “recovery program.” Three months earlier, I had a D & C due to my 3rd miscarriage from being raped by my husband. I was helpless and physically and mentally incapacitated during this time due to my breakdown and partial stroke. 

    Photo of "Wings of Love" half-way house on Killingsworth in Portland, Oregon where Coral lived in the spring of 1994.  Photo Credits: Debbie Dresler
     
     
                                                                                                                               







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