Vibrational Escrow By Any Other Name

Oh, hey! I cult I haven’t heard of, or heard of a long time ago and forgot about them!

Kyra’s reviews totally kick ass:

Yes, there are many things that I love, but nothing pleases me more than speaking out against those who I believe are deliberate frauds. It’s not a big deal, though. You can see that my voice is a tiny speck on a very big dog. Most will be like you. They will see my reviews and not make much of them. But I like to think that there will be those who are looking to see what this Esther Hicks thing is all about, and will come across my reviews, and see that there are those who have not had such great success with their teachings. I only wish those had been around when I was first looking into their materials, many many years ago. I’m not here to convert anyone. I’m just here to speak my piece.

For your reference, here are some things I like: Midnighters by Scott Westerfeld, spending time with my beautiful niece. The latest Harry Potter movie was absolutely amazing! I was just in the woods yesterday and nearly cried because I thought it was so beautiful. I was watching The Office earlier and laughing hysterically straight through. I think Steve Carrell is hilarious, and I loved Get Smart with him and Anne Hathaway. I have been nibbling on the most delicious chili all day long (I added some cheese for extra delight), and I just finished writing on a project that I am particularly proud of. I also had a peculiar interest in marshmallows. I can’t explain it, but I just couldn’t stop eating them, and they were the best dessert I could have had. I spoke to the most pleasant woman on the phone who was eager to meet with me tomorrow, and I am so excited about the upcoming Thanksgiving weekend! This was probably more than you wanted to know, but I enjoyed it.

@JNOV: A day long chili nibbler* with a peculiar interest in marshmallows? Something tells me that the “most pleasant woman on the phone” was really from county health services.

/sips coffee, breathes/

*ADD: muffled juvenile snicker

@peggynooner: Haha! That was her response to one of the Abers (as she calls them) who told her she would never find happiness because she’s dissing the CD (and all their books in other reviews) and the Abraham-Hicks cult in general. Sounds like she was an adherent back in the day, and she was being snide — she finds happiness is simple things like chili and marshmallows. For me it’s campfires and s’mores. ;-)

/goes in search of coffee/

ADD: :-) @ your *

Oh, wow. They’re also into MLM (multi-level marketing), and Hicks is from UT. MLMs are a big thing in UT, as is Woo. Imma see what the exmos have to say about Hicks after I read the Rick Ross discussion page.

TJ Sort of/ Anyone ever been to Skepticon? It’s being held this weekend in some gawdawfully cold place, but I wish I were there. Maybe next year. If anyone is interested, it might be a fun place to Stinque up in 2011. Just know I’ll be accosting PZ Myers at some point.

Haha! These are the folks behind The Secret! Or they stole The Secret and modified it or something. And you can go on one of their LoA (Law of Attraction) cruises and get brainwashed at sea. How long does it take to get brainwashed on a floating prison? About 13 days and 12 nights. How much does brainwashing on the high sea cost? From $600-10,000 not including additional fees, like the $500 seminar fee, natch. Ugh.

Vortex is code for “Your Bank Account.”

@ManchuCandidate: EXACTLY! Man, I hate these types of scams. My mother used to tithe heavily (relative to her income) under the belief that her tithe would be “returned to [her] tenfold.” I’m not sure where this delusion originated (I’ll Google it later), but when all we had in the fridge was some cheese, mayo and maybe bread (often bought by me with my babysitting money), I think we could have put that $20/week to better use.

ADD: And not only is it code for getting into your bank account, it’s also code for getting into your head and isolating you from non-believers.

Oh, for fuck’s sake. It looks like my mother was/is tithing based on some kooky shit called SEED MONEY: The Law of Tenfold Return and How It Works. I know how it works: not so much.

ADD: And after reading more about it, now I know why she dragged me to church four times a week for 3-6 hours stretches. She was “watering and fertilizing” her seed money. Unbelievable.

@JNOV:

WTF is it with cults and boats? The Scilons have a long and tawdry history of naval hijinks as well…

@al2o3cr: Yep. I think L. Ron hid out on a boat until he died. IIRC, it was some sort of tax dodge, and his death was kept a secret for some time. And those kids that contract their souls for 2 billion years…Sea Org? Ugh.

The really scary thing about Scientology is their rehab program. There have been reports of people dying there for many reasons — usually they are taken off prescription medication and made to go through a harsh dietary plus sauna sweat regime in order to detox. I haven’t been following the scilons like I used to, so I don’t know if any of the families of the dead or disappeared were able to receive any legal help.