P'ikareum or p'ikareun or pigareum (Korean: 피가름 or 피갈음), literally "blood purification" or "blood exchange", is a controversial religious practice in some new religious movements of Korea. As defined by British religious scholar George Chryssides, the practice consists "of a female neophyte engaging in ritual sexual intercourse with the messianic leader [of the movement], in order to restore - either literally or symbolically - the sexual purity of the woman." Chryssides also notes that there were cases where the messianic leader was female and the neophyte male. The person so initiated will then have intercourse with his or her spouse, and the purity acquired from the messianic leader will be transmitted to both the spouse and the progeny.