Ritualism

Ritualism is the act of performing, taking part in, or overseeing a ritual or ceremony. Usually, these actions apply to religious or occult observances.

In film

 * Satanic Rites of Dracula, The: A Satanic cult, presided by a priestess named Chin Yang, conducted a ritual to invoke the power of Satan. The ritual involved the sacrifice of a cockerel, slicing its throat open and allowing the blood to spill onto the naked body of a cultist lying upon an altar. Each of the attending cult members placed their finger in the blood and then anointed their brows with the sign of the inverted cross. Following this, the cultist was sacrificed as well when the cult leader plunged a ritualistic dagger into her stomach. She was resurrected shortly thereafter as a vampire.