Former members of Gentle Wind Project: [www.windofchanges.org]

As former members of the Gentle Wind Project, we would like to spread the word that we now have a website about our experiences with this group: [www.windofchanges.org.] Gentle Wind is a "psychotherapeutic/new age/spiritual" group.

Please share this website address with anyone who is considering a Gentle Wind seminar or the purchase of a Gentle Wind "healing instrument." The group's own websites are [www.gentlewindproject.org] and [www.eyeofthesky.org,] now largely devoted to fending off criticisms by ex-members and warning of legal action against detractors.

We would be happy to answer questions about this group.

Thanks,
G

Why are the group's own websites [www.gentlewindproject.org] and [www.eyeofthesky.org,] now largely devoted to fending off criticisms by ex-members and warning of legal action against detractors?

Were you naughty??

TO: Templar

Thanks for your question. If you've been in a high-control group or cult, you know that the leaders do not like former members to tell their stories about what happened to them during their experiences with the group. The group leaders also don't like anyone questioning their belief systems. Since we former members have done this, the leaders of Gentle Wind Project are determined to undermine our credibility by accusing us of many things; hence, their websites. If you look at their websites, and also at our website, you will probably understand this better.

Take care,
G

I took a look at the website and wow. That is some of the strangest crap I've ever seen. I have a hard time believing that this a a real group. The site seems to be a parody on LGAT's.

Hi,

Yes, it's actually a "real" group. If you want to see more, you can do a search for "gentle wind project" on [www.google.com] or another search engine. It gets even more strange!

Thanks for bringing our attention to the LGAT comparision, which we really hadn't thought a lot about before.

Take care,

Former members

Yikes!
These UnGentleWindProject people, (A Mighty Wind :D)
seem to be somewhat bizarre! Its a foul smelling wind to me.

They are trying a strategy of discrediting their critics, by calling them "con-men". Also, they are now offering "new free cult deprogramming".
THIS IS CALLED PROJECTIVE IDENTIFICATION.

Its basically the pot calling the kettle black.

How scary is that?

They even tell people to search for the "hoaxes" on Google.

This is very interesting.
It shows that the power of the internet is BADLY effecting these people.
And that's a very good thing!
Please, keep exposing the truth of what they are truly doing!
Why not post some info here about what this cultish group is doing to people?

Coz

Hello Coz,

Had a great message in response to yours, but it got lost on this website somewhere. Being new to this Forum, I should ask: is there a time-out period for those of us who take a long time to compose messages? Will try again tomorrow. In the meantime, thanks for your suggestions and support. It is very helpful to have this as a balance for the accusations, threats, and "straw man" arguments being sent out to the Internet from the gentle wind leaders.

former members of Gentle Wind Project
[www.windofchanges.org]

Sometimes messages disappear on any webboard.
What i do, is write the messages in a document software, and then cut and paste them into the browser. This way you don't write a nice message and then lose it!

You have the total right to harshly criticize ANY groups methods and tactics. That's called freedom of speech.
Refuse to be intimidated.
Tell the truth as you see it.

For instance, i checked out one person who is quoted on their website, "Ruth R. Molin, Ph.D". But on her website she says she has a M.Ed. [www.ruthrmolin.com]
Which is it?
And ALL the therapies listed by her are, in my view, a bunch of QUACK therapies.
Who knows, perhaps this woman is involved with them? And as a M.Ed. she has no psychological training, so her anecdotes are useless.

That is only a very small example of the problems i see with their site.
If i had time, i could really have a go at them.

BUT, why not continue to expose these folks, and write down all of their techniques and methods, and what they are doing?
You can then continue to release these on the internet anonymously if you have to. Post them anywhere you can.
The internet and Google are very powerful, and this is why they are trying to discredit their critics.

TELL THE TRUTH.
Its good for you, and it helps others.
Rick Ross, and folks like you, and others who take the time and risk to ask difficult questions are real heroes and potential life savers.

Coz

Hello Coz,

We expect that there are other present and former members of GWP who have stories to tell, but are fearful of receiving the kinds of treatment that the leaders are doling out in deep spades to us, and to generous individuals and organizations that host our stories on their websites. If anyone wants to read these threats, warnings, and accusations, they are at: [www.eyeofthesky.org] or [www.eyeofthesky.org] or [www.gentlewindproject.org] This is some very far-out writing.

Some ex- and present members of GWP probably feel that they have more to lose – a job or family to protect, etc. This is understandable. For some of us that are telling our stories, it took nearly four years to reach this point. Even though we were “in recovery,” we weren’t public about it. This year in holiday cards to friends and family, we publicly thanked everyone who had stood loyally by us throughout our exodus during the Gentle Wind years, and then accepted us back, no questions asked. And we apologized to anyone that we had pushed to hold the “Gentle Wind healing instruments” while proselytizing about this “very special group.” Shortly after getting over this hurdle of admitting a serious error in judgment (that lasted 17 years!) we decided to publish our first account of “life in Gentle Wind.” The freedom to do this also came from the realization that we had actually hit bottom while inside the group, and that strength and more recovery would come from telling the truth, or releasing the secrets.

The leaders of GWP are masters at twisting words. They keep stating that we former members have accused them of molesting women members, abusing children, extorting money, and so on.

If you read our stories on [www.windofchanges.org] you will see that none of this was said. However, we definitely did say that there was/is a great abuse of power going on for many reasons, including, especially, the sexual activity between the leaders and the followers. In Gentle Wind this is called “energy work” and takes place with the top leader (a male) and his women followers, generally in a group. Nearly all of the present and former members of the inner circle and the second tier of women followers – a large group – know about this “secret” and have been entrusted “not to tell” because “the world wouldn’t understand.” Members believe that the designs and so-called power for the “healing instruments” sold by Gentle Wind come from this sexual activity – that it is a “service to humanity” to take part in this and a great honor to be “chosen.” In our stories, we never mentioned words like molestation or domestic abuse. However, on their websites, GWP is claiming that they did not “molest women or engage in domestic abuse.” By denying words that we never said, they don’t need to respond to what actually does/did take place: continuous sexual activity called “energy work,” with women participants chosen by the leader and minute details of sexual activity orchestrated by the leader, all under the guise of “spiritual growth.” True, it isn’t called “sexual rituals,” though that is the way we sometimes describe it – the true term is “energy work.”

Likewise, we never said that GWP abuses children, even though the leaders say that we did and thus can claim that Gentle Wind “never abuses children.” What we did say is that we, as parents, neglected our own children due to our complete devotion to the group. Our children were always loved, fed, and clothed by us, but the group came FIRST. Anyone who has been in such a group will understand what this means. Among other difficulties they encountered, our children – and children of other GWP followers (though many were sent off to live with ex-spouses) – were also surrounded by the gobbledegook "sacred science" of GWP, and a group of adult role models who believed they were hearing voices from the “spirit world.” Parental addiction to this group – for we believe that membership in such a group is similar to being chemically addicted – does not allow for healthy parenting. Also, parents implicitly trust any advice received from the leaders as being correct for their children, coming, it is believed, as “information from the spirit world.”

As for the money extortion, that is another thing we didn’t say that GWP leaders accuse us of writing (have they actually read our stories?). What we did say is that we were very "influenced" to donate large sums of money, as were other members. Any present or former members, or “instrument keepers,” would have to stretch very far to deny this.

All of these twists and turns of the language by GWP leaders are to throw up a smokescreen over the truth. But, like you, we believe that people can eventually find the truth by stepping back and analyzing what they read and see. Then the smoke begins to clear, a little at a time.

Take care, and thank you for your encouragement,

Former member
Gentle Wind Project
[www.windofchanges.org] (former members’ website)
Email: windofchanges@prexar.com

Depersonalization is a form of dissociation. You’re very likely to react this way after you've been pressured, against your real wishes, to engage in group sex on orders from a head chimp/guru.

[www.depersonalization.info]

Leaders of coercive groups may traumatize you, get you to dissociate and experience depersonalization, and then convince you this means you’re on the way to becoming enlightened.

*What they’re really doing is convincing you that sickness is health.

A man named Michael Hopkins described what it was like for him to grow up in a household in which adults were pre-occuppied with concerns about spirit entities and channeling.

'I grew up in a house where people claimed to see disembodied spirits, live with spirit guides, read minds, did whatever that load of people do when they hold jewelry and tell you about the owner. I dealt with psychics and indulged heavily in the 70's proclivity for "warm fuzzies."

'Other "on the same wavelength" stuff ran rampant, as did automatic writing, meditation (Red [feel your feet begin to relax], orange [your legs are floating light as air], yellow [now your stomach feels very easy. Feel the stress fade away], blue [now your forehead, every little muscle, is free from tension]…now you're with your spirit guides, and you're being bathed in white light), Tarot, and a penchant for carob over chocolate.

'I can't tell you how many years it took me to rid myself of that very harmful claptrap. I'm an intelligent fellow, but to live since childhood convinced that you're surrounded by unseen beings (you could see if you'd just tune in) and forces that drive every single atom to some purposeful end, driven by the infinite battle between good and evil, to which you yourself must play a fated part (it will become clear to you when you can get in touch with your past lives. That's when it will all become evident) — well, I can probably add up the years where that sort of thing destroyed my emotional stability — as well as my drive to live in this world and do something with this life — and I'd make it ten, at least.

'I didn't begin to live until I learned to trust my observation and intelligence over my upbringing and exposures to all that nonsense. Only it isn't just nonsense, is it? It's harmful, dangerous, and destructive.

'Others around us set up shop and taught courses in this stuff for something akin to $250 per person. Nice bit of change. I suppose I could have made a handy living, had I not been restrained by the knowledge that I was somehow unable to do those things, had I not somehow — who knows how or why — been born with an ethical underpinning that makes it very difficult for me to lie, and more difficult to cheat people, no matter how gullible they are or even how much I dislike them.

'Somewhere right now, there's a kid (thousands or hundreds of thousands, really) who is being indoctrinated into these things by people who he or she trusts and believes. A schism is developing because love and devotion can't undo the observation that these things aren't really happening. The child is terrified by the unseen or terrified that there isn't an unseen to be terrified by. The alternative is parents who are not to be trusted in the most basic and fundamental ways. If the child forces himself or herself to believe, the love for the parent can remain intact, whole, and the parent can be admired, looked up to, revered.

'Well, that's my theory anyway, born from experience. My mother, whom I have no contact with these days, used to pop up from her slouched sitting position and stare amazedly as Nefertiti (Yeah, Akhenaten's wife) walked through our kitchen. No one else saw Nefertiti, of course, but mom had this connection: she said she used to be a prostitute in ancient Egypt. Automatic writing yielded that little item, but I can't quite figure out how the queen of Egypt was connected with a common Egyptian prostitute. Must be those enigmatic fates at work again, eh?

'As an aside, not one of these enlightened, spiritually guided people lived a happy life. Not one that I can count. Eventually belief, love, and fuzzies crumbled for all of them. None walked away with any benefit from the self-deceptions. Misery, loss, hate. That's what the spirit guides failed to warn them of; that's what the white light couldn't bathe away. But I'll bet they're all still intrigued and take fleeting hope and succor from John and Sylvia.'

You can find his account if you scroll down in the article on this URL

[www.randi.org]