Rage rituals are one of the latest trends circulating on the internet, with women paying thousands of dollars to participate in screaming ceremonies and breaking objects.
Mia Banducci, known better for her online persona, Mia Majik, is a cybersecurity engineer-turned-self-proclaimed "intuwitch" who hosts rage ritual retreats for women so they can unleash lungfuls of deafening shrieks in the middle of the woods while beating sticks and other objects on the ground.
"It's like, 'Don't be a bitch' or 'Don't be angry' or 'Don't be aggressive' or 'Don't stand up for yourself,' 'Don't protect your integrity,' 'Don't tell anyone that they don't have consent to touch your body or speak to you in a certain way.' There are particular emotions that are accepted in the gender binary that we each need to feel. Men need to cry − and it's so healthy for men to cry − and women need to be able to get angry," Banducci told USA Today.
Banducci has hosted several of these ceremonies over the years, which have evolved from small events for friends to overnight retreats. Her latest temper-fueled endeavor is set for August in France, ranging from $6,500 to $8,000 in cost.
The "intuwitch" encourages ritual participants to think of situations in which they were wronged while screaming and beating sticks into the ground until their arms go numb.
Past ritual-goer, Kimberly Helmus, told USA Today that she still remembers her first experience at one of Banducci’s retreats.
"There's no place where you can see women be able to be angry like that and it not be condemned: 'She's just hormonal. She's just unhinged. She's just crazy. She's just on her period. She's just, whatever.' This was a place where you were, probably for the first time in a really, really long time, if ever, able to scream out loud things about how you felt," Helmus said.
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Banducci isn’t the only creator carrying influence in the rage ritual realm. Jessica Ricchetti is another woman in this self-help space, hosting getaways with bonfires and "magical workings" to help her clients experience "sacred rage" this June.
Women on TikTok have weighed in on these offbeat retreats, writing that they "need" getaways like the ones Banducci and Ricchetti offer.
One woman commented, "Why did I have an immediate visceral reaction and start crying?" and another wrote, "[A]s a now middle aged woman with even more rage, I need this!!"
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Celebrity medical professional Dr. Arthur Janov is credited with the birth of the scream therapy technique that Banducci, Ricchetti and other spiritual gurus utilize.
While the target demographic of these ceremonies are receptive to how emotionally charged gutturals could alleviate some dissonance in their lives, The Independent reports that "experts note that rage rituals likely won’t work for everyone."
"When people do this and give themselves permission to release their anger, their capacity for joy actually expands," Banducci told USA Today. "They're able to feel more happiness and pleasure, and they go home to their families with more gratitude and ease and peace."
