VOLUME 7 |ISSUE 1 |2016 3939
Correspondents
,
Reports
Montevideo, under the title of “Yoga
and Meditation Project,” as being in
fact directed by Romanian Octavian
Fercheluc, and further that he was
using the course as a platform to recruit
members into his Spiritual Academy of
Traditional Yoga, Ananda. Said academy
is in reality the Uruguay branch of the
Movement for Spiritual Integration into
the Absolute (MISA), led by Gregorian
Bivolaru, also Romanian. This is a group
that mixes various Asian, Christian,
and esoteric doctrines and predicts a
“planetary catastrophe” the leader has
been accused of making pornographic
movies with his followers, among other
crimes. Based on these accusations, the
university suspended the project.
Esoterica, Shamanism, and Afro-
American Cults
The Ecumenical Council of Mexico,
composed of Christians, Evangelicals,
and Orthodox, released a statement
in June 2015 to the effect that “the
worship of the ‘Santa Muerte’ is totally
opposed to Christ’s message and to
the Christian Tradition in its different
expressions. It therefore exhorts the
People of God to stay away from all the
various manifestations of veneration
that spring from this sect.”
In July 2015, the Ministry of Education
in Panama cancelled an agreement
between the government body and
Spirituality for Kids (SFK), which was
planning to do workshops based on
the Kabballah in public schools. SFK
president, Michal Berg, is the wife of
Yehuda Berg, director of the Kabballah
Center of Los Angeles. The project
claimed to “offer children universal
spiritual tools to help them discover
their potential.”
On August 31, 2015, a 6-month-old
baby was found dead in a hotel in
Santiago de Compostela, Spain. The
mother was immediately accused of
the crime she and her husband were
attending the XXII Gnostic Conference
of Anthropology, organized by
the Samael and Litelantes Gnostic
Anthropology Institute. This is a sect
that continues the legacy of Colombian
Victor Manuel Gómez Rodríguez (called
Samael Aun Weor). The baby girl was
found on the hotel bed, covered with
a white towel with two stones on top.
This evidence, together with the gnostic
sects’ obsession with “sexual magic”
(sexual relations in which the man
holds back ejaculation, which would be
a major sin), led the Argentine lawyer
Héctor W. Navarro to present a writ
to the court stating that the murder
was not an individual irrational act,
but rather the execution of actions
sanctioned by the sect.
On September 3, 2015, a man was
murdered in San Martín, Buenos Aires,
Argentina, after an argument in an
open field where he, his wife, and
two other women were going to an
Umbanda rite. According to lawyer
Javier Miglino, the victim was killed at
the behest of a “pai” (Umbanda priest).
The lawyer added that “the number of
legal cases against Umbanda, Umbanda
Blanca, Umbanda Kimbanda, and
Umbanda Santos has been increasing.”
On September 4, 2015, Matthew
Dawson Clarke, a 24-year-old New
Zealander, died in Iquitos, in the
Peruvian Amazon rainforest, after
participating in a “tobacco purging,” a
preparatory rite for the ritual ingestion
of ayahuasca. The purge consists of one
drinking a mixture of tobacco and water
until one vomits. In Peru there have
been reports of psychological damage,
assaults, robberies, and rapes of persons
under the influence of ayahuasca.
Report From Sweden
Noomi Andemark
Fall Conference
This fall, Sweden follows up on the
2015 ICSA conference, which was
a collaboration with the Swedish
help organization Hjälpkällan. On
November 20th, Hjälpkällan is
arranging a conference day focused on
strategies for helping former members.
The program will start with a basic
presentation on cults—what defines
a cult, who joins cults and why, and
what the psychological and practical
consequences may be for those who
leave. During the day, we will create
a dialogue between former members
who have experiences related to trying
to find help through the society, and
professionals who may meet former
members in their field of work. The
program will also involve people and
organizations with experiences from
honor cultures and political extremism.
The program will wrap up with a
presentation on new and ongoing
research in Sweden. Barbro Westerholm
from the Swedish parliament, who
also gave the welcome speech at
this summer’s ICSA conference, will
talk about her new parliamentary
motion regarding help for former cult
members.
The whole program will be recorded
by a national educational broadcast
company and (we hope) will be
distributed to universities as an
educational package about cults
and disengagement. Our aim is to
make this a yearly event to present
current research and progress in the
field, and as a meeting point for both
former members and professionals in
Scandinavia.
Top-Selling Book by Former
Scientology Member
A thriller written by a former member of
Scientology, Sekten på Dimön (The Sect
on Fog Island), by Mariette Lindstein, has
been on the Swedish book top-seller
list for several weeks. This recognition
has resulted in many interviews for the
author on morning shows and in news
magazines, and has put the spotlight
on cultic issues and the challenges that
former members have to deal with.
In addition, our national television
channel SVT has broadcast a whole
series on cults: Den enda sanna vägen
(The Only Right Way), which can be seen
worldwide through the site SVT Play. n
Correspondents
,
Reports
Montevideo, under the title of “Yoga
and Meditation Project,” as being in
fact directed by Romanian Octavian
Fercheluc, and further that he was
using the course as a platform to recruit
members into his Spiritual Academy of
Traditional Yoga, Ananda. Said academy
is in reality the Uruguay branch of the
Movement for Spiritual Integration into
the Absolute (MISA), led by Gregorian
Bivolaru, also Romanian. This is a group
that mixes various Asian, Christian,
and esoteric doctrines and predicts a
“planetary catastrophe” the leader has
been accused of making pornographic
movies with his followers, among other
crimes. Based on these accusations, the
university suspended the project.
Esoterica, Shamanism, and Afro-
American Cults
The Ecumenical Council of Mexico,
composed of Christians, Evangelicals,
and Orthodox, released a statement
in June 2015 to the effect that “the
worship of the ‘Santa Muerte’ is totally
opposed to Christ’s message and to
the Christian Tradition in its different
expressions. It therefore exhorts the
People of God to stay away from all the
various manifestations of veneration
that spring from this sect.”
In July 2015, the Ministry of Education
in Panama cancelled an agreement
between the government body and
Spirituality for Kids (SFK), which was
planning to do workshops based on
the Kabballah in public schools. SFK
president, Michal Berg, is the wife of
Yehuda Berg, director of the Kabballah
Center of Los Angeles. The project
claimed to “offer children universal
spiritual tools to help them discover
their potential.”
On August 31, 2015, a 6-month-old
baby was found dead in a hotel in
Santiago de Compostela, Spain. The
mother was immediately accused of
the crime she and her husband were
attending the XXII Gnostic Conference
of Anthropology, organized by
the Samael and Litelantes Gnostic
Anthropology Institute. This is a sect
that continues the legacy of Colombian
Victor Manuel Gómez Rodríguez (called
Samael Aun Weor). The baby girl was
found on the hotel bed, covered with
a white towel with two stones on top.
This evidence, together with the gnostic
sects’ obsession with “sexual magic”
(sexual relations in which the man
holds back ejaculation, which would be
a major sin), led the Argentine lawyer
Héctor W. Navarro to present a writ
to the court stating that the murder
was not an individual irrational act,
but rather the execution of actions
sanctioned by the sect.
On September 3, 2015, a man was
murdered in San Martín, Buenos Aires,
Argentina, after an argument in an
open field where he, his wife, and
two other women were going to an
Umbanda rite. According to lawyer
Javier Miglino, the victim was killed at
the behest of a “pai” (Umbanda priest).
The lawyer added that “the number of
legal cases against Umbanda, Umbanda
Blanca, Umbanda Kimbanda, and
Umbanda Santos has been increasing.”
On September 4, 2015, Matthew
Dawson Clarke, a 24-year-old New
Zealander, died in Iquitos, in the
Peruvian Amazon rainforest, after
participating in a “tobacco purging,” a
preparatory rite for the ritual ingestion
of ayahuasca. The purge consists of one
drinking a mixture of tobacco and water
until one vomits. In Peru there have
been reports of psychological damage,
assaults, robberies, and rapes of persons
under the influence of ayahuasca.
Report From Sweden
Noomi Andemark
Fall Conference
This fall, Sweden follows up on the
2015 ICSA conference, which was
a collaboration with the Swedish
help organization Hjälpkällan. On
November 20th, Hjälpkällan is
arranging a conference day focused on
strategies for helping former members.
The program will start with a basic
presentation on cults—what defines
a cult, who joins cults and why, and
what the psychological and practical
consequences may be for those who
leave. During the day, we will create
a dialogue between former members
who have experiences related to trying
to find help through the society, and
professionals who may meet former
members in their field of work. The
program will also involve people and
organizations with experiences from
honor cultures and political extremism.
The program will wrap up with a
presentation on new and ongoing
research in Sweden. Barbro Westerholm
from the Swedish parliament, who
also gave the welcome speech at
this summer’s ICSA conference, will
talk about her new parliamentary
motion regarding help for former cult
members.
The whole program will be recorded
by a national educational broadcast
company and (we hope) will be
distributed to universities as an
educational package about cults
and disengagement. Our aim is to
make this a yearly event to present
current research and progress in the
field, and as a meeting point for both
former members and professionals in
Scandinavia.
Top-Selling Book by Former
Scientology Member
A thriller written by a former member of
Scientology, Sekten på Dimön (The Sect
on Fog Island), by Mariette Lindstein, has
been on the Swedish book top-seller
list for several weeks. This recognition
has resulted in many interviews for the
author on morning shows and in news
magazines, and has put the spotlight
on cultic issues and the challenges that
former members have to deal with.
In addition, our national television
channel SVT has broadcast a whole
series on cults: Den enda sanna vägen
(The Only Right Way), which can be seen
worldwide through the site SVT Play. n
