CultNEWS101 Articles: 12/13/2024 (Scientology, Guru Jagat, Documentary, Witchcraft, Australia, Solar Temple)

Scientology, Guru Jagat, Documentary, Witchcraft, Australia, Solar Temple

ENDEVR Documentary: The Dark Side of the Scientology Cult

"It is one of the world's most secretive and controversial cults… brought to light by one of Hollywood's biggest stars, Tom Cruise. Since its creation in 1953, Scientology has won millions of disciples, up to 40,000 in France alone, according to its leaders.

Scientologists follow the teachings of a former bestselling Science Fiction author, L. Ron Hubbard. They believe in reincarnation and undergo extraordinary practices to gain enlightenment. Scientology is also an institution plagued by headline-grabbing scandals when former members go public about their experiences with the sect. While it is recognized as a religion in some countries, others consider it a dangerous cult.

How does this organization, often convicted of fraud, manage to recruit and retain followers? What are its beliefs? Who was L. Ron Hubbard, its charismatic proto-messiah? How did Scientology become a recognized religion in the United States? And what influence does it have in France? Join experts and former high-ranking scientology members as they unmask one of the most powerful self-proclaimed religious organizations on the planet… the church of scientology."

Not The Good Girl: The Scandalous Celebrity Cult Leader From Suburbia | Guru Jagat and Yogi Bhajan Documentary

"In a spiritual world dominated by men, a young girl from Colorado was determined to be her own guru, and that's what she did… Katie from the suburbs became Guru Jagat. Having been anointed by a spiritual Kundalini master, Guru Jagat was ready to change the world. She wrote a book, spoke at Harvard, and was CEO of 7 businesses - including three global yoga studios where Hollywood housewives and celebrities like Kate Hudson and Alicia Keys flocked. But somewhere along the way, the girlboss facade began to fade… This is a story about luxury, fraud, businesses becoming massive empires, a cult-like work environment and much more… This is the story of a guru's fall from grace."

Daily Mail: Horrifying cult 'massacre video' shows final moments of mass-murdering leaders and their disciples

" ... The cult drew people in with slick propaganda videos showing families enjoying simple lives on an idyllic farm in Canada, while other videos featured Jouret, who regularly did speaking tours, pontificating on the benefits of 'dying to be reborn'.

OST convinced many of its more than 600 followers that they could live in a utopian community and when the time was right shed their Earthly bodies to be reincarnated on an unnamed planet orbiting the Dog Star, Sirius.

But in reality, many handed over their life savings to Di Mambro and Jouret, with the sect's conniving leaders living off their followers' wealth as they lived frugal lives.

'While the followers were breaking rocks and growing lettuce, the leaders were really enjoying themselves,' Swiss journalist Arnaud Bedat, who worked extensively on the case, told the BBC documentary.

'They travelled first class, they went to beautiful hotels, famous restaurants. For more than ten years the cult leaders lived in opulence, accumulating villas all over the world, collecting Ferraris and Lamborghinis with the followers' money,' he said.

But the early 1990s, the mask began to slip. Cult members began to leave, and many wanted the money they had invested back.

One of the key members to turn his back on the cult was Tony Dutoit. He had been loyal to Di Mambro for some 15 years and served him as a special effects technician, turning ceremonies into mystical experiences to trick the cult's followers into believing their 'masters'' powers.

Before he left, he revealed the truth to Di Mambro's son Elie, who went on to confide in other cult members and was branded a traitor by his father.

Di Mambro went into a 'paranoid spiral', insiders said, and started monitoring everyone, even wire tapping their phone calls.

'Those who were living their lives with the followers' money knew that they had to be held accountable and that they couldn't do it anymore,' Swiss police chief Pierre Nidegger said."

News AU: Modern-day witchcraft is on the rise in Australia as support for organised religion plummets

A new "religion" is rapidly becoming mainstream, with tens of thousands of Australians suddenly embracing the exploding trend.

"Dressed head-to-toe in black, Owlvine Green's fingers hover over a steaming cauldron as a cat looks on, ominously.

Candles flicker, casting eerie shadows on the wall. Incense smokes, and a spell book — filled with mystical, arcane symbols — is laid open in front of her.

It's a scene that wouldn't look out of place in a Harry Potter film. But this isn't a movie. This is an unassuming home in suburban Melbourne, and Owlvine is a real-life witch.

"We're everywhere — young and old, in the inner city and out in the middle of the bush," the 36-year-old told news.com.au.

"You could be sharing a desk with one of us, or living on the same street."

From the Wizard of Oz to The Craft, the black-caped, cackling witch has been a fixture in popular culture — sand a subject of fascination and fear — for centuries. But if you think that these magical beings belong only within the pages of a storybook or on the big screen, think again.

Today, tens of thousands of Australians identify as witches and globally, we're in the midst of a bona fide witchcraft boom."

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CultNEWS101 Articles: 3/1/2023 (Children of God, Guru Jagat, 3HO, Sextortion)

Children of God, Guru Jagat, 3HO, Sextortion

Mary Mahoney: Abnormal Normal: My Life in the Children of God - Kindle edition by Mahoney, Mary (You can read this survivor memoir for free!)

"A rational look into a very irrational group mentality.

The early 1970's was a turbulent time in the US. Anti-war protesters took to the streets, countless students dropped out and became hippies, and drug use spread among the young. As if to offer the youth a way out of this societal storm, there arose a rebirth of Christianity, the Jesus People. The Children of God was at the cutting edge of this movement. It is behind the curtains of this enigmatic group that our story unfolds.

Mary was only 16 when she was swept into the Children of God. The hugs, the camaraderie, the sincerity of the members touched her deeply, and she fell in love with their pure ideology of living simply and freely for Jesus. She threw herself heart, mind, and soul into what she saw as a noble life of self-sacrifice. Her days were filled with studying and memorizing the Bible and the group's texts, and telling others of her new-found faith. From that naive and well-meaning beginning, her world ever so gradually transformed through the years into a veritable house of horrors. But by then, she could not see the abuse, the exploitation, and the cruelty that surrounded her for what it was. Her sense of normal had also been transformed. Determined to never go back on her initial commitment, she continued on in denial, doing her best to be what she had been told "the Lord wanted her to be."

Imagine the shock she felt when the curtain was lifted after 31 years and she saw the Children of God for what it was. The guilt she felt for having been part of that abusive and exploitative group, the years she had lost, the family she had given up—all these had been sacrificed on the altar of her misplaced idealism. But worst of all, what weighed the most heavily on her broken spirit was the horrific realization that she had raised her children—the ones she loved the most in the world—in that toxic atmosphere.

How Mary pulled herself out of the darkness of despair and rebuilt her life is a tribute to the power of education and the indomitable strength of the human spirit."

Not The Good Girl: The Scandalous Celebrity Cult Leader From Suburbia | Guru Jagat and Yogi Bhajan Documentary

"In a spiritual world dominated by men, a young girl from Colorado was determined to be her own guru, and that's what she did… Katie from the suburbs became Guru Jagat. Having been anointed by a spiritual Kundalini master, Guru Jagat was ready to change the world. She wrote a book, spoke at Harvard, and was CEO of 7 businesses - including three global yoga studios where Hollywood housewives and celebrities like Kate Hudson and Alicia Keys flocked. But somewhere along the way, the girlboss facade began to fade… This is a story about luxury, fraud, businesses becoming massive empires, a cult-like work environment and much more… This is the story of a guru's fall from grace."

BBC: What is sextortion?

" ... The scam typically consists of someone posing as a woman on social media and luring people into sending explicit images of themselves. The scammer then threatens to make the images public unless the victim sends money.

Children are being targeted in their homes using gaming devices and other apps, officials said, adding that scammers often encourage victims to move to a secondary messaging platform after making initial contact.

Boys between the age of 14 and 17 are generally targeted but children as young as 10 have been interviewed by the FBI.

While the crime is estimated to have garnered millions of dollars in total, an individual scam usually results in a victim sending amounts in the thousands.

"This is a growing crisis and we've seen sextortion completely devastate children and families," Michelle DeLaune, CEO of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, said.

"The best defence against this crime is to talk to your children about what to do if they're targeted online," she added."

News, Education, Intervention, Recovery

CultEducationEvents.com

CultMediation.com   

Intervention101.com to help families and friends understand and effectively respond to the complexity of a loved one's cult involvement.

CultRecovery101.com assists group members and their families make the sometimes difficult transition from coercion to renewed individual choice.

CultNEWS101.com news, links, resources.

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Cults101.org resources about cults, cultic groups, abusive relationships, movements, religions, political organizations and related topics.

Selection of articles for CultNEWS101 does not mean that Patrick Ryan or Joseph Kelly agree with the content. We provide information from many points of view in order to promote dialogue.

Please forward articles that you think we should add to cultintervention@gmail.com.

Thanks,

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The Scandalous Celebrity Cult Leader From Suburbia | Guru Jagat and Yogi Bhajan Documentary

NOT THE GOOD GIRL
December 22, 2022

"In a spiritual world dominated by men, a young girl from Colorado was determined to be her own guru, and that's what she did… Katie from the suburbs became Guru Jagat. Having been anointed by a spiritual Kundalini master, Guru Jagat was ready to change the world. She wrote a book, spoke at Harvard, and was CEO of 7 businesses - including three global yoga studios where Hollywood housewives and celebrities like Kate Hudson and Alicia Keys flocked. But somewhere along the way, the girlboss facade began to fade… This is a story about luxury, fraud, businesses becoming massive empires, a cult-like work environment and much more… This is the story of a guru’s fall from grace."

Venice Kundalini Yoga Leader Guru Jagat Has Passed Away at 41

The celebrity yogi and serial entrepreneur suffered a pulmonary embolism following surgery over the weekend

Merle Ginsberg

Los Angeles 

August 2, 2021

Guru Jagat, who founded the popular Venice Kundalini yoga studio RA MA in 2013 and had celebrity followers like Alicia Keys, Kate Hudson, and Kelly Rutherford, passed away this weekend. Reports proliferated on social media that the 41-year-old yoga instructor and wellness entrepreneur suffered a pulmonary embolism following ankle surgery. An in memoriam message has been posted on the RA MA Institute’s website, and a rep from the institute was able to confirm the news.

Jagat was no ordinary yoga teacher. Born Katie Griggs in Colorado, friends who grew up with her told Vice in a revealing story that Jagat “always dreamt of being a rock star” and “always wanted to be famous.” She certainly accomplished that in L.A.’s yoga community, as well as in New York and Mallorca, where RA MA also had a presence. Jagat originally opened the Venice Ra Ma in 2013, and often preached, despite her commitment to spirituality, that making money—even getting rich—was not counter to those beliefs. And she lived by that principle, starting at least seven companies of her own in six years, according to WWD. “I’m a serial entrepreneur,” she told the publication in 2019. She conducted many workshops and classes all over the world, one of them on finding prosperity. And she certainly did.

Jagat initially came to Los Angeles in 2003, when controversial yoga figure Yogi Bhajan instructed her to teach at Yoga West, sending her off with a letter and the name “Guru Jagat,” Sanskrit for “Bringer of Light to the Universe.”

“What my teachers have told me is that if you serve and give everything you can,” Jagat told Los Angeles in 2015, “then all the rest of it will come.”

She conducted lectures at the Harvard Divinity School, created her own business school, created a women’s leadership society, penned several books and yoga workbooks, created RA MA TV, and even launched RA MA Records.

She is survived by her spouse Teg Nam.

Ironic that she wanted to be a rock star. Jagat was sometimes called “the punk rock Kundalini teacher,” and incorporated some of that into her teachings. On the RA MA homepage she’s quoted as saying: “May the Punk Rock, Constant Questioner, Rebel with a Cause, immediate Intellectual, Community Organizer, GrassRooter, Boot Strapper, Warrior, Winner, Victor, Real Friend, Enlightened Leader, & Don’t Stop til you Drop Ethos keep you.”

https://www.lamag.com/culturefiles/guru-jagat-death/

The Booming Business of Spiritual Entrepreneurship

Jason BinnDuJour
March 16, 2016

Somewhere outside Sequoia National Park—and somewhere inside a yurt—a group of more than 50 turban-adorned women, clad in all white, are laughing uncontrollably. One of them is kicking drugs. Another is reeling from the dissolution of her 25-year marriage. Two are pregnant. And then there’s the famous face in the sea of sheepskin mats, along for the ride on this bunk-bed-filled retreat—until she departs abruptly the next day after being outed as an A-lister. Overseeing the giggling exercise from atop a perch on a lifted stage built specially for the occasion is their spiritual guide, Guru Jagat. The 36-year-old Los Angeles–based Kundalini master is here as part of just one of several stops on her six-month, sold-out, all-female “Immense Grace” program, offering guidance on matters that span from sex, money and career to body image and aging gracefully—for just $2,900 per person.

Welcome to the booming business of spirituality and wellness, an industry set to rake in beaucoup bucks this year, and especially so in Los Angeles, where more than ever people are spending less on material goods like watches and clothes in favor of more “meaningful” experiences and products. “They view it as a 360 approach to having a better life,” says Milton Pedraza, CEO of The Luxury Institute. 

Seeded amid the rarefied beachside air of Los Angeles’ Westside, a new breed of female entrepreneurs has emerged to cater to this discerning, beauty-from-the-inside-out consumer, a spiritual sorority that has launched everything from juiceries to yoga studios to organic skin-care lines, all within close proximity of one another. They are the new and improved L.A. ladies who lunch, uniquely positioned to leverage their locally sourced, all-organic lifestyles into not just profits, but a form of status and air of superiority over their lounge-about contemporaries.

With Gwyneth Paltrow as their de facto inspiration, many of these women are financially independent moms who choose to work, compelled to espouse their good-for-you secrets to glowy skin, shiny hair, weight loss and—ultimately—happiness to an ever-eager-to-ape audience. “Any time a woman finds something that helps her, she’s wired to want to share and help others,” says Guru Jagat, whose teachings have served as a sort of post-grad course in spiritual entrepreneurship to women throughout Los Angeles. “That’s why it’s a good thing for women to take over running the free world.”

Naturally, entry into this sisterhood does not come easy. It requires an all-consuming devotion to the lifestyle, with work as a mere extension. Any signs of charlatanism are cause for immediate expulsion, or at least some really nasty gossip. For example: “My ex-husband’s girlfriend founded one of the first juice companies that really went big, and she was a New York partier drinking every night,” snipes Guru Jagat. “The New York spiritual mafia is very tenuous as best. Behind closed doors, that’s not what’s going on and you can feel it.”

The L.A. crew, on the other hand, “walk the walk and talk the talk,” she insists. And they pull strings to help one another succeed. “It’s only a denaturement that women catfight and are competitive and weird,” insists Guru Jagat, who declines to reveal her birth name; the “guru” moniker was given to her by a teacher some 10 years ago, back when she was just a “nice Jewish girl” from West Virginia. “That is such heavy programming that successful women should be at each other’s throats. That’s not how real successful women roll.”

In fact, although Guru Jagat now serves as a mentor to many in L.A.’s spiritual-wellness entrepreneurial community, it was her best friend, Amanda Chantal Bacon, the Goop-endorsed founder of the wildly popular Moon Juice shop and line of products, who first set her on her path to profit. “I was a huge fan and supporter and really egged Guru Jagat on to open RA MA,” the “Institute for Applied Yogic Science and Technology” that Guru Jagat introduced in Venice in 2013, says Bacon, a former fine-dining chef and single mother of one who sells feel-good concoctions and “all-natural enhancements” like Moon Dust—powdered supplements for better brain power, love and even sex (now also available at Urban Outfitters)—for $55 to $65 per jar.

Since Moon Juice debuted in 2012, Bacon, and her highly sought-after glowing, poreless skin, have become Internet famous, yielding many job applications. “This whole wave of ‘It’s cool to work in wellness’—I can totally attest to that,” she says. “When you decide you want to quit your job in fashion, beauty or, like, editorial, the first stop is Moon Juice.” She adds of the appeal, “It’s certainly an industry that is run by women and run around this notion of wellness, balance and happiness, and part of that is the feminine gets to be the feminine.”

Her 38.7k-strong Instagram following devours photos of her daily menu—like a recent post of toast topped with ghee, rose petal preserves and bee pollen—which she says “save lives,” including her own. “I would really describe myself as a missionary,” she says. “I work seven days a week. I don’t get tired of it. This is my offer to the world.” Although she declines to reveal Moon Juice’s financial figures, she has leveraged the aspirational fan-love of her esoteric lifestyle and exotic eats into a full-blown business, with a two-book deal and an East Coast outpost of her juicery in the works. And now she wants to see her friends succeed.

Neither woman feels conflicted about capitalizing on spirituality—or the relative misfortunes of others—to earn a living. “I have made incredible personal sacrifices on many, many different levels, from relationships to having a baby at a more appropriate time in my life to not making a penny for years on end and putting all of my money into making sure there are places on this planet where people can come and heal,” says Guru Jagat, who, now that she runs a multimillion-dollar business, admits to indulgences like twice-daily cappuccinos and designer shopping binges.

“I feel very clean about money, and it doesn’t feel like any kind of discordance. In fact, it feels like a very good thing because for me to do my job, I shouldn’t have to worry about paying my bills.” She says of the wellness boom, “I think it’s a trend of the next 5,000 years. It’s going to trickle down and people are going to buy Amanda’s juice and my book when it gets into Walmart!”

Her capitalist attitude, decidedly uncommon among most referred to as “guru,” has inspired and empowered students to pursue their own moneymaking wellness ventures, like Madeline Giles, who now offers at-home Angelic Breath Healing classes for $200; Carly de Castro, whose Pressed Juicery has more than 60 locations; and Shiva Rose, who launched her own organic, locally sourced skin-care line after taking private sessions with Guru Jagat following her split from actor Dylan McDermott. “She’s like the ‘girlfriend’s guru,’ ” says Rose, who is 46. “I was feeling lost. I wanted a community. For me, I think it was a yearning for something deeper and more complete.”

Rose says her own entrepreneurial aha moment came during one of her sessions with Guru Jagat. “I saw the vision for [my company] and the image of the line,” she says. Now, she shills her signature rose face oil for $85 a bottle in high-end boutiques and on her website. “The three of us, we’re really intertwined,” says Bacon. “We’ve all supported each other deeply. We couldn’t have done it without each other in so many different ways.”

Inside the yurt, more sisterly bonds are forming. For the first time all weekend, the women have traded their white leggings for flowy ceremonial dresses. One by one, they place onto an altar items that represent their goals and dreams, ranging from a plum to a sonogram of an unborn child. The women perform dances of gratitude for one another during the closing ceremony as their Rick Owens–clad leader smiles contentedly.

“Sat nam,” they chant together at the end of the night as they usher in the new moon with their freshly penned list of intentions. “Sat nam.” And then they all set their alarms for 4 a.m., take the recommended cold shower and start all over again.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/booming-business-spiritual-entrepreneurship-jason-binn?trk=v-feed