Is this cult only located in the L.A. and Apple Valley areas? Maybe thats why its not covered elsewhere?

Hmmm.. why did this thread die? I was very intrigued by all that was written here. I attended a "retreat" recently...if anyone is interested in my thoughts, please let me know!

Please tell us about the retreat and your thoughts on it. or message me if you don't want to post. I'm very interested in learning more about this group.

I too would be interested in what you have to say.... I have been disappointed that more people have not come out and spoken on this forum, as it seems to be the only information available on this cult.

It would be interesing to hear those first hand accounts.

Also remember, even though a thread is not getting lots of posts at a certain time, it can be read by a lot of people. For example, this thread has had about 18,000 views, and the numbers were reset a while back. So the thread is very alive!

Royal Way is an extremely secretive group, if it were not for this thread, there would be nothing on the internet about them. They obviously train their people not to say anything or post on the internet.
Being secretive and hidden seems to be a major technique Royal Way uses on people.

Ok, since you asked... ;)

At the encouragement of a work colleague (whom I respect, but don't know very well), I decided to attend a retreat. Initially, the way in which things were described to me....in that vague way....leaving much for interpretation... I thought I was going somewhere where this colleague would be along with some other like "spiritually minded" folks to wax philosophically and perhaps meditate or something.

It wasn't until I was given the registration form that I saw the words..."first level retreat" and had my first twinge of apprehension. At this point, I had already committed financially and decided, "What the hell. I will just see what happens". But, my curiousity got to me and I found this forum. I only read a few messages and decided to stop reading and just have the experience.

So, off I went...driving into the desert.... The grounds of "the ranch" offer a nice oasis out in the middle of nowhere. There are beautiful, peaceful gardens and hiking trails, etc. I was a bit weirded out by certain things...there's a tai chi "field", which is more like a large, circular matted area with two enormous sculpted gold hands at the top of the circle. There's a painting of two large eyes in one garden and some rock formations painted purple and gold. Kinda weird.

I spent some time walking around since I arrived fairly early. I met some other attendees...who seemed nice enough, "normal" enough. The room I was to sleep in, I was also sharing with someone. This person was very nice, open and talkative. We shared a lot of stories..... Still not feeling very threatened at this point. Off to dinner we went - the food was good. As the time approached for the first session, I was a little anxious, but I've been through lots in my life...so I wasn't really worried.

About 1/2 hour after the session was to begin, attendees were finally let in to a large room...pillows along the sides of each wall. In the front of the room was a large leather recliner/rocker, some pillows, some shelves w/stereo equipment, a gong and other miscellaneous things that were never really used during the retreat. This was where Michael came out and sat.

I would say this was an introductory type of session, where we all were ominously looked over (or gazed up, depeneding on what you thought of the host). We had to say our names - which were repeated by Michael many times - every time we spoke. This got a little tiresome for me - especially as we were approaching hour 4 (about 1 am). Remember my name already.

We were asked to disclose personal stories and ask other participants personal questions - but to me, this is NOT A BIG DEAL. I am an open book. I have done this so much it's not even funny. It's very hard for me to "stretch"...lol. A few people were confronted, mostly because they were trying to be right (about themeselves) or were somehow defensive or sarcastic. Again, not nearly as confrontational as other things I've experienced.

I can't recall if he talked about "setting the mind aside" on the first night, but this was definitely part of the training. Anyway, neither myself or several other attendees came away from the first session feeling "enlightened". So, off to bed and more chatting with my roommate. I think I finally fell asleep at 2.

Good thing I have an internal clock, since there aren't any in the rooms and cell phones are a no no. I woke up early and took a walk. I had breakfast and more talks w/my roommate and then we were ready for session 2! Unfortunately, we had to wait about 2 hours because - well, we were never really told why he was late.

Anyway, on day two there was more lecturing and experiential exercises. None of them were what I would consider to be "brainwashing". To me, it was just rehashing of a lot of things I had already read or heard or done. I didn't see anything overtly (or covertly) special about Michael and wondered to myself, "If you became enlightened on your own, tell me again why I need you to guide me?" At one point, we listened to a recorded lecture of his while he sat in his chair. Not so powerful if you ask me.

We broke for lunch and came back nearly 2 hours off schedule. This really aggrivated a lot of people....We ended with a four part meditation, which has been somewhat described in this thread. It was a good meditation and I felt more relaxed and in a deeper state than in previous meditation attempts. That right there was the most I got out of it. As soon as it was over, Michael hugged everyone and encouraged them to do a few things - 1) write for 1 hour within a 24 hour period about your experience, 2) don't talk about your experience since it will "diminish" it - obviously something i totally disagree with 3) keep the experience going by attending the classes and 4) study his letters.

I didn't do any of these things. As soon as the sessions were over I couldn't wait to get home. I thought it was ok, but no big deal and I did not take Michael seriously... HOWEVER, I did notice several people who did. There was one woman who was even kneeling at the foot of the chair...tres distrubing to say the least.

I plan to continue my own spiritual path and do not desire a guru or teacher who runs an organization. Spirituality should not be for sale. Nor should it be secret.

Espiritu, please tell us about your retreat. I know someone who went on a silent retreat recently and seems quite different now. I find this whole thing so disturbing and strange.

Espiritu, thanks for the info.

Royal Way is charging people large amounts of money, so people have a right to know what they are being sold. Informed consumers of anything have a right to know what is going to happen to them.
But this is the exact reason why Royal Way keeps things so incredibly secretive, as that is part of their persuasion strategy.

One general point I might make, is that there are some unfortunate words we use to describe what these groups do to people. One of the words is "brainwashing" which is a powerful word, but it conjurs up images of bright lights and forced repetition.
We need new words to describe what these new groups are doing to people.

The description of the Royal Way entry level retreat shows how sophisticated they are in certain ways. Now of course, their methods do not work on everyone, and they know that. Its all about Targeting. The people with stars in their eyes, and who are kneeling at the feet of the Master are being reached on a very deep level. (they may put some True Believers into the retreat to lead people down the path).

But what these groups are doing now is highly subtle and refined. It really could more accurately be called "Seduction" or a very soft persuasion. Voluntary self-persuasion, the illusion of choice by using double-binds, and many other techniques.
They know if they come on strong, many people will resist. So they come on very soft, and plant SEEDS in people minds, like the gold rocks, and Daddy Michael's leather recliner/throne, the repetition of names, late night sessions, being late on purpose(many do that method), Trance states with meditation, and many other things. Its all designed.

Also, notice the DECEPTION they use right off the top, not telling the person its a retreat.

So its a way for Michael to sort the sheep from the goats, so to speak, that is why he is gazing at people, and sizing them up, telling personal stories, etc. They weed out people who are not going to play along.
Later on, they will figure out who has money, and who is broke. If a person is rich, they are going to get special treatment from Michael, and if they are broke, they will get the boot or perhaps end up cutting the grass, etc.

Even in this very thread, the Royal Way people made some serious mistakes and showed some of their true colors, in some very ugly exchanges, the worst from a poster named PAPRIKA, which could have been the leader of the sect. Put it this way, whoever was posting as PAPRIKA on this forum, was someone very skilled in psychological manipulation.

Hopefully more and more people will come and post specific details of what goes on in the secret Royal Way retreats. People have a right to know what is going to happen, and what is being done to them.

Also, we need a new vocabulary, as the words Brainwashing and Mind-Control are powerful, but they throw people off. The modern techniques are basically invisible and just seem like almost normal talking and situations, but are actually more powerful than old techniques that are triggered by the words like brainwashing.
One image that comes to mind is often the public think of child molestors as being some monster in a raincoat, but in reality the biggest threat from child molestors are the ones who are the nicest to the kids, the friendliest, and who build trust with the single mothers, cut the grass for the single mom, and then months later start to babysit the kids, etc. (Oprah did many shows on this).

I think its the same thing with these modern cult groups, most have moved far away from hard coercion, and now operate in very soft seduction that is almost invisible. (except for that creepy feeling people get, which they try to dismiss).

By the way, did the disclaimer for the Royal Way Retreat give them the rights to video-tape those sessions? Royal Way uses a lot of video-recording of people's private information.
So if the Royal Way disclaimers says they are going to record those intro sessions, people have a legal right to know that, and to deny Royal Way the right to record their intimate personal details.
Where does all that stuff end up?
It reminds one of Scientology, who record all those audit sessions, for "later use", if needed.

It sounds like the Royal Way methods reached that person more powerfully, each person is unique.
Without being too glib, out of many techniques Royal Way uses, Michael Gottlieb clearly targets folks who are dealing with Daddy issues, and Michael becomes the Dad-Therapist-Master, which is set-up even from the first moments of the first retreat. Michael is using Transference to control people, which is beyond unethical. He knows exactly what he is doing to people. Its a power-trip.

Royal Way is very disturbing, but many of the TECHNIQUES they are using are very common. One can see several dozen techniques being used even from what is known so far. They very carefully groom and seduce their targets slowly and indirectly, until the time is right to take it to a deeper level.

One of the best ways to expose these groups is to post their techniques, so people can read about them beforehand. It won't save everyone, but it will cue many people that something is not right.
Even members of Royal Way with private doubts will read about it, and some will just quit the group without fanfare.

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daniel asher
Espiritu, please tell us about your retreat. I know someone who went on a silent retreat recently and seems quite different now. I find this whole thing so disturbing and strange.

Royal Way's official website (according to Google) is www.royalway.org. The pictures of the ranch are impressive.