There's a photo of Gary Smith at with a biog: excerpt: "Gary's in-depth spiritual journey began with learning Transcendental Meditation from Charlie Lutz in 1968. He personally received his teaching certification from Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 1972 and was invited to join Maharishi's personal staff. Gary left TM in 1980 to began a spiritual odyssey to find Enlightenment and
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Here: Gary Smith writes that he was a TM teacher 35 years ago. In this article: he discusses how various "New Age" teachers ripped off his "Sacred Merkaba" Techniques. He gives their names as Johan van Lier, Rianne van Lier, Cathy Norris, Marie Fischer and Kevin Core, none of whom I've ever heard of but maybe someone else has. Certainly a form of hypnosis is being ca
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

To file a complaint with the police in Pietermaritzburg, I don't think it would necessarily have to mean having had direct contact with the Desteni group, but it would have to be based on facts to make it worth their while in terms of being able to identify criminal activities. The Desteni scam is at least to some extent successfully being deterred by a number of individuals online as the
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Yes, but uh, the police are not going to accept Warren Jeffs as evidence against Desteni.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Posts were made regularly at the previous Desteni forum by people who admitted they are under 18, but that forum was deleted without explanation in July this year. Current members aged around 20 first got into it when they were under 18. Many of them first got involved aged around 18-23. Desteni started in 2007. Ryan Paul Franklin was making Desteni promo videos when he was about 15...
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Here's another piece from Sondag dated 19 Sept 2011... If anyone has the full texts of these articles from the newspaper please post. Thanks. Google translation: Cult father and his two wywe The leader of Pietermaritzburg's Bald CULT, Bernard Poolman, is apparently a polygamist like much of a bald-cock to the hens cult Trouble! On Sunday last week reported on the
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Desteni will try to cash in on any news item going, but when it comes to their own story in the press it's another matter... The South African newspaper, Sondag published a piece on Desteni but Poolman refused to speak to them: http://www.sondag.co.za/artikels/Nuus/LES-BES-BLES-PES- An English translation: "Bernard Poolman, the mysterious father figure of the Desteni cult,
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

That "MultiLevel Marketing will End w/ Equal Money" video (where Poolman's saying that MLMs will end even if his MLM is at present necessary to help establish EMS) is a re-upload of one of a series originally released on deleted Desteni YT channels, some of which were mentioned in this post: There are a few of them, including: Science will completely change in an Equal Money
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Darryl Thomas of Desteni's hatchet job on Rick Ross: http://darrylthomas.wordpress.com/2011/09/14/the-cult-of-the-deprogrammer-rick-ross Why he's bleating on about Rick Ross, I don't know. Ross' contribution to the discussion in this thread has been so minimal as to be practically non-existent. An attempt at a character assassination of Rick Ross has nothing to do wi
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

The Desteni Vimeo channel has now been banned because the Desteni I Process is Multi-Level Marketing, which on Vimeo is illegal. http://desteni.co.za/n/desteni-video-material-moving-to-a-new-place I've also been informed that the web host for desteni.co.za and other Desteni websites, Hetzner.co.za have removed: Apparently, a Desteni member has said that the group may b
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

After Ferdi Poolman posted at this forum claiming his brother stole the "vocabulary purifier" software from his company Bernard Poolman released videos discussing the matter... Process Support - Brothers of the Past Process Support - Do not make fires unnecessarily In this one: Process Support - Rick Ross Phenomena he states that Ferdi Poolman has a criminal record f
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Looking at Esteni De Wet's introduction at the Desteni Introduction Forum Esteni's Introduction we learn that her fiancé and herself "had just closed our business in micro financing and we were both looking at other avenues of business that we were able to pursue.My fiancé made contact with Bernard who had a business in Educational Software to see whether this would be a prof
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

From a blog by Lindsay Lee Craver with a photo of people wearing t-shirts with the slogan, "Destonian, Guardian of the Universe": Desteni America Meeting - Aliens Touch Down in Houston, TX: Plan-It Earth: "Man, what a treat - for us all to come together under one roof in order to plot how we will take over this world. Really. Take it over and return it to Life. Give Life Back t
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Slightly, I watched some of their videos and skimmed their website some time ago. They guy who does the "channeling" has pictures of Sai Baba and other Indian gurus behind him and talks in a strange voice. I don't know where he's from, but I think they were based in London. Have you been involved in that group?
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Desteni are contemptuous of the efforts of millions of people all round the world helping the diseased, the starving, the disadvantaged, the war-torn or those struck by catastrophe etc. What do they expect people should do when there is for example, a devastating earthquake? Not offer any help, just ignore the situation, and pay money for the upkeep of a farm in South Africa instead? Here'
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Regarding the Desteni I Process Multi-Level Marketing scheme (which the Desteni group actually claim will lead to a complete overhaul of the global economic infrastructure with their equal money system), here are links to information on MLM ... What's Wrong With Multi-Level Marketing? (article) MLM Watch Skeptical guide to Multilevel Marketing Page on filing complaints on: MLM
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Especially for members of Desteni who may still be under the false impression that the Desteni I Process Multi-Level Marketing pyramid scheme is NOT a pyramid scheme, the following blog post gives a clear outline of the situation: The Desteni I Process: Amway for Conspiracy Theorists. Also on video: The Desteni I Process: Amway for Conspiracy Theorists (Part 1 of 2) The Desteni I Pr
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

An article called 'Cult Formation: Three Compatible Models' from Sociological Analysis 1979 by William Sims Bainbridge and Rodney Stark describes The Psychopathology Model of Cult Innovation The psychopathology model has been used by many anthropologists and ethnopsychiatrists, and it is related closely to deprivation theories of revolutions and social movements (Smelser, 196
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

UPI: welcome to the forum. Thanks for the link. Very interesting indeed.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Amongst all these Desteni "anti hate" YouTube videos is one from GianAntiHate called "Warning YouTube and FaceBook users"... The description states: "Here at Desteni we have already successfully banned and blocked 2000 youtube users that abuse, calls names and break people down and spread false claims and promoting themselves as the new answer. These people stopped, but
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Viktor Persson of Desteni continues to claim that the Desteni I Process (DIP) is not a pyramid scheme in a new video, Difference Between Desteni I Process and A Pyramid Scheme He describes the DIP in terms of it being a recruitment scheme. Recruiting is one element of a pyramid scheme. Again he states the DIP involves selling a substantial and tangible 'educational' product a
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Whether it's called a pyramid scheme, Multi-Level Marketing or Network Marketing, it's still a scam. Destonians: just because Poolman tells you it's all for the sake of equality doesn't mean the Desteni I Process MLM pyramid or Network Marketing scheme is not a rip-off. Here's an informative video on the subject: inFact: Network Marketing
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Here we go again. Viktor of Desteni has posted Difference Between a Pyramid Scheme and Desteni I Process http://desteni.co.za/forum/viewtopic.php?f=300&t=21539 and offers just this brief quote from European law: "14. Establishing, operating or promoting a pyramid promotional scheme where a consumer gives consideration for the opportunity to receive compensation that is derived
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Here's an animation showing how a pyramid selling scheme works: http://dillonthompson.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/pyramid1.swf Just like the Desteni I Process! This is from http://www.consumerfraudreporting.org: "Pyramid selling schemes are recognized by how they actually work, not by how the promoters claim they work.... Multi-level marketing usually involves commercial
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

In this post by Bernard Poolman's daughter, Cerise: http://cerisepoolman.blogspot.com/2011/05/pyramid-scheme-multi-level-marketing.html she says the reason why the Desteni I Process is NOT a pyramid selling scheme is that it is selling a product! Surely she is just saying that as a lame attempt at persuading other Desteni members that everything is okay, they're not doing anyth
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Here's a quick summary of the situation regarding Desteni's threats to prosecute critics. In September 2010 Cresil1HumanOST made available for download 11 Desteni Structural Resonance Alignment Lessons - Complete. http://forum.culteducation.com/read.php?12,62042,92149#msg-92149 These were made up of several videos and documents copyright on which is owned by the Desteni company (as
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

There are also critical posts on Desteni appearing at the Conspiracy Science Forum, at the Desteni Cult blog and more YouTube channels and videos opposing Desteni are turning up all the time, such as those linked to the anti-Desteni movement channel. The XfinksX YT channel, which was removed due to false DMCAs issued by Darryl Thomas of Desteni, has been restored, along with all the videos.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Yes, Desteni ticks all the right boxes when it comes to the 'cult' appellation. There's a very good post at Destenigossip re: the issue of donations for the non-existent second Desteni cult farm and the question of money in general as per Desteni... "Desteni and money… take care, we’re entering bipolar territory here. Desteni started of not really doing much except
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Process Support - Tithing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgpSJRyqJ1I Poolman states the Desteni farm is owned by a bank and that if not enough people buy holidays there then they will have to let the farm go.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteSimulacronXwhen you go to this Equal Money System money demand here, put in 0 ZAR, and proceed to the payment page, the payment/transaction page tells the following: "Merchandise: Support establishing Equal Money System Merchant: Exodec 124 Address: Ottos Bluff, Pietermaritzburg, KZN, South Africa, 3201" So, yet another, different address is being used there for Dest
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"