The realization is slowly dawning on me: especially when Alyb45 put the signs of a cult leader on there, it's a cult and they're frauds. If you substitute Abraham for "cult leader", everything qualifies. I didn't want to believe it because the majority of people say the teachings are so loving, how could it be a cult? There's always an answer for everything and so ma
Forum: Multi Level Marketing and Commercial Schemes

Hey Alyb45, Wow, Esther sounds like a fraud if she screwed up that bad! I don't mean to be argumentative, and I'm only asking out of curiosity, but if she is so fraudulent, how come hardly anyone's picked up on it? I mean, people have tried to spot inconsistencies so they could make the case of her being a fraud, but even they have trouble finding them because everything is so roc
Forum: Recovery from Destructive Cults and Groups

Hey Alyb45 it's me again, When and how did you realize Esther Hicks was a fraud, and the Abraham teachings were a lie? One of the things that is tough for me is being in the minority and standing up against the majority. Even though the teachings are rock-solid consistent that nobody can find a thing wrong with them, and something doesn't feel right to me about them, even though I can&
Forum: Recovery from Destructive Cults and Groups

Hey Alyb45, I was in it for 5 years. Karen Bishop's energy alerts, Sal Rachele, lightworkers, LOA, the Abraham teachings, Caroline Myss, Eckhart Tolle, channeling. Lots and lots of channeling. All the messages said, "beware of channeled messages, because there's so many chances for inaccurate information. Except ours. Ours is accurate, and only for loving beings." I even had
Forum: Recovery from Destructive Cults and Groups

Hi Alyb45, Depressed. Yeah, that's what I am. I don't know why. I wasn't really happy in the new age, but reality is depressing too, although it feels much better than new age ever did. How long were in the new age, and how long did it take you to start feeling like yourself again? It screws with your mind, and as you know, it has no concept of right and wrong. Well, according to
Forum: Recovery from Destructive Cults and Groups

Hey Alyb45, Thanks for the advice! It's the best I've gotten, and thanks to all of you for putting up with my rantings. I'm at the point where I can say I was involved with a cult, even though it's not like the ones you see on the news. Instead of money I gave my time and energy over to it, and did not know how deeply I was immersed in it until I'm now just starting to
Forum: Recovery from Destructive Cults and Groups

Wow, guess I'm gullible. I actually believed it and sent that girl a private message. Feel embarrassed now...
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Hi Pegasus, Part of me wants to believe so much that it's a cult, but another part of me believes these channelings. I know it's awful, and feel so confused. So what I decided to do was to post a channeling I read, and put my thoughts in parenthesis as I read each idea. They're all like this and if the majority of people believe something, I was taught to believe it's true. I
Forum: Recovery from Destructive Cults and Groups

Somebody posted this on the message board on another thread. My God, the new-age that I was involved in... the mental breakdown disguised as spiritual awakening, the guilt and fear that I didn't recognize because it wasn't blatant, the love-bombing whatever that is, the promise that they have the answers and can solve your problems if you do the techniques long enough, the fulfilling of
Forum: Recovery from Destructive Cults and Groups

Another way it's affected me: My sleep patterns are screwed up. I used to be able to sleep 6 hours a night, regular, and felt fine. Now I only sleep 4-4 hours. They say I'm ascending, but I think, "I'm supposed to be happy with this? It makes me feel worse, not better." And they're kinda like, "oh well, that's the way it is. It'll get better soon."
Forum: Recovery from Destructive Cults and Groups

Hi Pegasus, Wow, you're really making me think here... How have the teachings affected me? I was dependent on them, like I needed them, like a drug, like I would be doing my daily activities but my focus would be gone because my mind would be somewhere else, thinking about new-age stuff. Every problem or situation I had in my life, I'd rush home and constantly check to see if there
Forum: Recovery from Destructive Cults and Groups

Hi moderator, Could you please send me the links you gave me to read regarding the various ways in which members are coersed into joining and staying in groups? My browser did not link to them directly. Thanks!
Forum: Recovery from Destructive Cults and Groups

Hi Pegasus, I think I can sum up the new-age movement in a nutshell. It seems to be saying: "we aren't saying this to scare you, but to make you aware of the truth. Ascension is going to happen, whether you like it or not. (list of justifications as to how it's already happening.) The ascended earth is a wonderful, glorious world! (gives a sharp contrast between this world and the
Forum: Recovery from Destructive Cults and Groups

Hi Pegasus, I've been trying to go back and look at this new-age stuff with a critical eye. Here are some examples of sites I used to frequent, in case you wanted to see them. www.lightworkers.org www.salrachele.com If I were to think for myself, I'm afraid you'll see me as immature, but here goes: If you look at all these sites, they say, "look at how great the ascen
Forum: Recovery from Destructive Cults and Groups

Hi Pegasus, Thanks for your post. It gave me a lot to think about. I was reading another post along these lines, I think it was Recovering from New-age Mumbo-jumbo, and one of the posters, I think it was Quackdave, said something like, "If you want to stop, then stop. Just don't look at them anymore. It's simple." I felt when people say things like that, "just do it. It&
Forum: Recovery from Destructive Cults and Groups

I'm trying to find Carl Sagan's book in Braille. Thanks for the tip. I've never heard of those military tactics. What are they? I never knew there was such a thing as thought reform/persuasion tactics. I thought those channeled entities were telling the truth when they said "if you want to ascend, you must change your way of thinking and being." That's what Karen Bis
Forum: Recovery from Destructive Cults and Groups

Hi, All my life I looked for somewhere to belong, and though I tried Christianity and Paganism, they didn't fit, and someone suggested my beliefs were too "fluffy" for Paganism, and "there's the new-age movement. Go join that." So I did. Uh-oh... Now I wished I never had anything to do with it, because I'm mentally and psychologically screwed up, and I don
Forum: Recovery from Destructive Cults and Groups