Re: Aiping Wang
Date: February 22, 2008 08:00AM
Really interested in hearing more about this cult. Any contact, stories, advice etc. much appreciated.
I've seen them first hand, and am trying to get two people OUT.
They are dangerous. I've seen Aiping Wang, Sascha, Sarah McCrum (or whatever she's called now Dujmovic?), Sascha's son, Claire Sutton, Joel Sutton, Sonja, Lele Sun, etc. -- they are all brainwashed and desperately trying to do her bidding -- which largely means raising more money for her.
They want to roll out "Eden Phenomena" clinics, to spread the "energy". Eden Phenomena is the new front for what was The Energy Bank (then the Energy Clinic) and the Takai Lodge. They've had lots of names over the years Phenomena Academy, Eden Phenomena, 903 Phenomena etc.
If you google Sarah McCrum you will find lots of information on her and you'll be able to find details on the BBC documentary and the 20/20 documentary that exposed this cult for what it is.
They are now charging 30,000 Euros a month for "training", with small "energy parcels" (special food?!?) for 1,000 Euros a time. Further sessions with Aiping Wang? A mere 5000 Euros. If you're not in Europe and your wondering how much that is, take it from me -- that's a lot.
I don't want to offend anyone, from any faith, but I do want to warn people to run a mile from this crazy brain washing cult. They suck you in and bleed you dry...
Any stories out there, or any people struggling to cope, please contact me and I'll try to help if I can.
The companies and associations I have found that are linked to them:
ENERGY CLINIC / ENERGY BANK
TAKARO LODGE (New Zealand) - cult HQ
LIFE'S 4 LIVING charity London
Rejuvenation centres in: London, Hamburg, Zagreb or Te Anau
PEACE CLUB - UK
World Education Foundation for the Disabled
There have been good articles on them in The Independent (UK) and The Guardian - who followed WARWICK POWELL, an HIV sufferer, who dedicated a year to them (maybe more), ended up with credits cards maxed out (35,000 sterling -- that's 70,000 dollars US) -- and still, his T cells stubbornly remained at exactly the same level as when he started. Aiping and Sarah's reaction == of course, he wasn't trying hard enough, or he didn't believe enough... he just needed to give it more time.
NO -- wake up and smell the coffee -- speaking to someone does not send them magical energy... magical energy does not slow down HIV...
If Warwick Powell had stayed on his drugs, HIV's progress would have been slow, he would have had many years (search life expectancy and HIV if you don't believe me). He didn't, under their suggestion he came off the drugs. Where did that get him? It certainly hurt his wallet, and his health...
And he is not the only one.
Other good articles have been written in Croatia and New Zealand
An article:
Brits distance themselves
from controversial past
NEW owners of FiordlandÕs Takaro
Peace Resort say they want to
distance themselves from its
controversial past. UK couple Joel
and Claire Sutton bought the former
Takaro Lodge, near Te Anau, a
month ago.
The lodge became embroiled in
controversy when it was the base of
the Phenomena Academy, a learning
centre based on the teachings of one
Aiping Wang.
Mrs Sutton, the lodgeÕs former
marketing manager, say she and her
husband had experience running
similar operations in Britain.
A little snippet for you, from one of the articles:
According to Sarah McCrum, Aiping was born in China in 1953. McCrum claims that Aiping was an actress with the Peking Opera at 18, then head of a state insurance company for 17 years, and that she began to heal in her early 30s after studying Qi Gong.
In 1989, Aiping left her first husband and China and moved to Yugoslavia where she became involved with Sasha Fulepp, a Croatian whom she had met previously on a Chinese trade mission. McCrum says, without a trace of self-consciousness, that when Fulepp saw Aiping healing one of his relatives, he recognised a great "business opportunity". With Sasha's help, Aiping was soon conducting huge healing sessions for thousands of devotees in Slovenia and Croatia. She set up a chain of schools to train instructors. Then things went sour. The Slovenian Catholic Church attacked her growing influence, and the money she was making. Bank members claim she was victimised by the "cynical" Slovenian media.
In the late Nineties, Aiping operated out of the US. Three years ago, she and Sasha bought Takaro, a remote and luxurious hunting lodge at the southern tip of New Zealand's South Island, for US$2.2m. Since then, advised by accountant Paul Bernal - McCrum's former boyfriend - Aiping and Sasha have spent US$5m turning the 1,600 hectare estate into the 603 Phenomena Academy where 70 international students are currently studying Shen Qi. A year's course costs US$30,000.
A little snippet from the Guardian newspaper:
Warwick's cell-count result cut him up because - as the film shows - he had spent several months being bled of £30,000 by an organisation called The Energy Bank. Founded in New Zealand by a Chinese woman now styling herself Grand Master Aiping Wang, the Bank claims to cure terminal illness through eight hours a day of twirling around and chanting with arms in the air.
The patient worries that people will laugh at him for spending the entire savings of an ebbing life on what looks like late 60s fringe theatre. But, while the viewer might giggle, the film doesn't, although it seems to enjoy Grand Master Aiping Wang, who dispenses obscure metaphors about driving mirrors during a conference call from New Zealand to people who think the NHS is trying to kill them.
A little snippet from another site, after the NZ scandal:
The NZ Qualifications Authority (NZQA) has withdrawn accreditation for alternative health courses run at Takaro Lodge near Te Anau. The Phenomena Academy, as it is known, is run by Aiping Wang. Two of her students died of cancer, supposedly discouraged from seeking conventional treatment according to a recent 20/20 current affairs program on TV3. Aiping Wang and her students did appear to be a very flaky lot. One student, a university qualified engineer, thought he was going to learn how to fly, just like Superman. Aiping Wang claimed that she believed trained people could fly, and although she herself couldn't fly, she believed she could teach people. They seem to have this New Age belief in 'body energy fields'. Of course no one ever proves that these energy therapies work, they don't even show that these body energy fields even exist. They love to sprinkle their conversations with scientific terms, especially those from quantum mechanics. However they seldom understand the science behind them, often using contradictory terms in the same breath. They can never explain what energy really is and can never produce reports that support their beliefs, even though they all claim to know they exist, somewhere. Likewise, they vigorously deny that any scientific research has shown their claims to be bogus.
The really scary thing is that the Phenomena Academy had NZQA accreditation in the first place. Even now NZQA is working with them to have their accreditation restored. It seems they have no problem with what the academy is teaching, but only in the way they are teaching it, ie documentation etc. There are also accredited colleges in NZ that let you qualify in homeopathy. And what about the people running courses for witches. Will they soon be applying to NZQA for accreditation? It's frightening to think that people could come out of these courses with health qualifications that allow them to practise as therapists. These qualifications will give them legitimacy, putting them up there with real doctors. People will go to them rather than seeking real medical help, and lives will be lost. It makes you wonder what drives the NZQA? Are they prepared to give anyone accreditation if they pay enough money and have nicely designed courses, or are they a bunch of New Age wackos that actually believe all this stuff really works? For example, you could attend a legitimate, well structured and well taught school on the culture of Santa Claus. You would learn every thing there is to know about Santa from the names of his reindeer and where he lives, right down to his preference in clothing. You would graduate as an expert on Santa Claus and the course would have fulfilled its purpose. Does this mean that Santa actually exists? No, of course not. It's the same with alternative health courses. They may be well run, well structured, and given with the best of intentions. The may teach you everything that the tutors know about that particular alternative therapy. And your certificate may well indicate that you are now well versed in that particular alternative therapy. But does that mean that it actually works? No, of course not. It was not the purpose of the course to prove that the therapy works, but merely to impart to the student what is known about it, in the same way that the Santa course was not trying to prove Santa exists, but merely teach you about him. All it means is that you are now an expert in a fantasy.