• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

Satanic Ritual Abuse therapist loses job amidst claims of malpractice

douglas mesner

Thinker
douglas mesner
Joined
Dec 27, 2009
Messages
241
This little piece about False Memories of Satanic Ritual Abuse has already caused an uproar. As concise and straight-forward as possible, I tried to convey the story of one Mark Schwartz, co-founder of Castlewood Treatment Center (an eating disorders clinic), being taken off the clinic's staff amidst claims of malpractice, while also giving a coherent overview -- for first time readers -- of the broader issue at-hand. In order to do this, I found it necessary to mention other individuals and organizations that subscribe to recovered memory therapies and debunked notions of Multiple Personality Disorder (now known as Dissociative Identity Disorder). One of the parties I mentioned is an organization called S.M.A.R.T. (Stop Mind-control And Ritual abuse Today). Unfortunately, Neil Brick, the organizer of S.M.A.R.T. (a fellow who claims to believe that he was a brain-washed assassin for the Illuminati/CIA/Satanic conspiracy) seems to have both the time and lack-of-dignity to harass the editorial and legal staffs of Examiner into removing content that, while factual, presents the facts (factual facts, as opposed to conspiracist fictional facts) that fail to support, or outright debunk, some of his most cherished notions. Examiner pulled the article today, but I've reposted it. (It may be gone by tomorrow, in which case you should follow the second link):

http://www.examiner.com/article/mark-schwartz-accused-of-malpractice-removed-from-castlewood-clinic-staff-1

http://www.process.org/discept/2013/05/25/mark-schwartz-accused-of-malpractice-removed-from-castlewood-clinic-staff/
 
Last edited:
Thanks for letting us know about this, Doug. You do fine work for the poor people (mostly women) who are led astray by therapists who instil false memories of child abuse and satanic ritual abuse. These claims by the victims have been proved by numerous lawsuits in their favour.

I'm still not sure whether the therapists are wilfully deluding their patients, or whether they are just deluded themselves and causing inadvertent damage.

Nevertheless, that damage needs to be highlighted and word spread of it, in the hopes that no more damage is done.

I encourage readers to share your article. I suggest sharing the process.org article at this stage, since I have no trust in Examiner and expect them to pull the story out of fear and laziness.
 
Altus said:
Neil just was apparently "honored" by this organization. http://theawarenesscenter.blogspot.com/2013/04/honoring-neil-brick.html

The advisory board includes Richard Schwartz whose therapy was profiled in the article. http://theawarenesscenter.blogspot.com/2011/01/board-of-directors-and-international.html

That an org with so many mental health professionals apparently endorses this man is concerning. :-(
Click to expand...


I spent far too much time on that website today, and it is interesting that it has come up on this thread.


The founder is a Jewish woman, Vicki Polin, who claims to have been Satanically abused by her family as a child and who apparently had / has MPD/DID.

Old video of her on Ophra here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFVHqp4CdHQ


The website is controversial as it names names of alleged sexual predators within the Jewish community even when there have been no convictions. Many Jewish groups have expressed concerns that Polin's claims about the ritual sacrifice of babies gives credence to the Blood Libel myth.

from the Ophra video and from perusing the Awareness Project website it seems to me that Polin genuinely believes that she was abused by Satanists and I think she is trying to do a good thing. Obviously I find her claims about baby sacrificing Satanists to be incredible. I suspect she is well intentioned but unwell.

I discovered her website as it has lengthy and detailed allegations against a former rabbi and notorious sexual predator Marc Gafni.

I do not know if the allegations against Gafni are all true, certainly many of them are repeated elsewhere on cult awareness, sexual abuse survivor websites, various Jewish websites and some racist /anti-Semitic websites. I am familiar with Gafni due to his involvement with the highly controversial religious movement (many say it is a cult) EnlightenNext.

Anyway, here's a link to the Awareness Project page on Gafni

ttp://theawarenesscenter.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/case-of-dr-rabbi-marc-gafni-aka.html

This is interesting to me because Gafni is a friend and associate of none other than Dick / Richard Schwartz of Internal Family Systems notoriety.

Which is surprising then you consider that Dick Schwartz is on the advisory panel of the Awareness Project.

By Marc Gafni
In a long discussion with my friend and colleague Richard Schwartz, founder of Internal Family Systems Theory, I shared with him my perspective on the relation of Ego and Unique Self and the larger set of core distinctions that comprise Unique Self teaching. Dick excitedly concurred and added important empirical validation from his clinical perspective and sent me this written communication after our conversation:
Click to expand...

blah blah blah

source:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...nternal+family+systems"&gbv=1&spell=1&ct=clnk

Thus the Awareness Project has a long and detailed page of accusations against Marc Gafni while a good friend and colleague of Gafni is on its advisory panel.

An unusual situation. Interesting though.
 
Last edited:
douglas mesner said:
This is all great material that I was not aware of, Ellen. Thank you.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your post Doug

I was thinking that maybe I had gone off on a bit of a tangent, so it is reassuring to know that my ramblings are helpful.

My main concern is to help the victims of the various Castlewood therapists. To a great extent my posts on the JREF have been (in my mind at least) an experiment in interactive journalism.

Basically I always try to provide just enough information to inspire others to do more research. I do this not because I have not already done a lot of research, because I have, but because the truth is so bizarre and the trail of connections so complex that IME, just providing the data is too confusing and too difficult for people to digest.

Also some of the ancillary and tangential subjects are highly emotive and sensitive and IME people can get very emotional very quickly making it difficult to maintain a friendly dialogue.

Finding ways to give people just enough to help them to find the truth themselves is often IME a highly effective way of bypassing the resistance and emotional impediments to understanding.

I will post more when I have a moment, and thank you for your work in support of the Castlewood victims.
 
I was just reading some of the comments in this piece and I felt extremely angry with Felicity Lee who made this highly insulting and insensitive comment to the parent of a Castlewood victim.....

Felicity Lee · Top Commenter
Quote:
How do you know what goes on behind the walls of Castlewood? I don't see any evidence for anything that you wrote here -

I do understand your distress - if your daughter loses - what does that say about you? I would be worried and upset also - but, I would not go around the web writing foolish statements of which I had no evidence whatsoever. Just my humble opinion.
http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/h...?mode=comments


I would like to respond to Felicity's post here ....................



Felicity Lee - I'll tell you what goes on behind the walls of Castlewood.

Richard Schwartz, Mark Schwartz and Lori Galperin present their close friend and colleague, the notorious sexual predator Marc Gafni, to the rest of the world as though he is an authrority on treating addictions. They even arranged for Gafni to present at a conference hosted by Castlewood entitled "Complex Trauma and Treatment of Addictive Behavior" in Monterey, California.
http://www.castlewoodtc.com/2012/07/...tive-behavior/


Galperin and Gafni have been working togehter on a new model of therapeutic intervention called "Unique Self" - based upon the principles in Gafni's book of the same name - that was to be provided to patients suffereing with addictions at Castlewood. I think that we can all breathe a collective sigh of relief now that this will no longer happen - at Castlewood at least.

Quote:
Unique Self Recovery (Lori Galperin) – TO BE COMPLETED IN 2014
This project consists of four distinct parts: one, Lori Galperin, clinical director of Castlewood Treatment Centers and her team are developing Unique Self therapeutic models based on Unique Self and other dimensions of World Spirituality. These models will provide an advance system of personal development that is specifically designed for those in recovery, which awakens and enlivens all parts of the human being to generate exceptional health outcomes and authentic spiritual realization. The Unique Self Recovery modules are currently being deployed and refined in the therapeutic process. Appropriate professional evaluation of the efficacy of the models is being conducted by experts in the recovery/treatment world. Upon accumulation of sufficient clinical data, a book outlining the key principles of Unique Self Recovery theory and practice will be published.
http://www.ievolve.org/publications/books/


Various cult leaders, unorthodox psychotherapists, "tantric healers", new age commentators and persons of dubious reputation have acclaimed Gafni's Unique Self book:

Dr. Mark Schwartz, Clinical Director, Thought Leader in the Fields of Eating Disorder, Trauma, Sexual Addiction, Clinical Director, Castlewood Treatment Centers:

“Unique Self is a truly important book which can potentially take the conversation between psychology and spirituality to the next level. The crossroads of so many psychotherapies is facilitating the differentiation of self, moving beyond the false self that fears the disappointment of others, and opening the full capacity of the human to be intimate. This book integrates in an original and important way Eastern and Western spirituality in a way that provide therapists and their clients with critical new tools and insights for the assault on self hatred that blocks integration internally and confidence and competence externally.”


Richard C. Schwartz, Ph.D., clinical psychologist and author of Family Therapy: Concepts and Methods:

“I am usually stingy with superlatives because their meaning has been so diluted by overuse, but I cannot control myself regarding this book — it is truly brilliant. If offers an engaging and erudite corrective to tendency in the spiritual community to disdain personal uniqueness and worship transcendental oneness; the striving to rise and remain above the ego and the material world. Instead, Gafni says go ahead and transcend but then reclaim your uniqueness no the other side of transcendence and bring your unique enlightened consciousness back to this world with you, and use your unique gifts to change it for the better. It would be entirely accurate to say that Internal Family Systems and Unique Self are overlapping models which recognize each others insights while each excels in its own domain. The integration of these two models fosters a creative synthesis that is nothing short of revolutionary in its implications for healing and transformation.”


Lori Galperin, accomplished leader and author in fields of marital and sexual dysfunction:

“The malady that afflicts us as a species is both prevalent and insidious. Mutating to avoid detection, it masquerades as friend. It comes bearing gifts, seducing with offers to “help us be all we can.” Giving with one hand, it takes with the other. Inevitably, we are emptied out. Shame exists where once dwelled joy. Objectification replaces sacred seeing. Celebration becomes constriction, and embodiment, estrangement. The good news is: there has always been a cure to this anti-love, anti-life malignancy. It is the delivery system that has been inadequate. At last – a safe, precise and potent infusion - Unique Self! Not so much a book, as an antidote, Unique Self stands with spiritual teacher, scholar and master, Marc Gafni’s Soulprints and Mystery of Love as a trilogy of love and healing for humanity. Read and be restored.”


John Friend, Founder of Sridaiva Yoga (currently engulfed in his own sexual scandals):

“I predict that history will note Your Unique Self as being a seminal work in helping to accelerate the evolution of the consciousness of the planet in the 21st century. In a truly momentous book of integrated philosophy by Marc Gafni, the Tantric view that we are in essence unique reflections of the Supreme Self is presented in an unprecedented way. For the masses to make an inspired personal choice to glorify the Universal as singularly diverse individuals will be the legacy of this great book.”


Bruce Lyon, tantric teacher:

“This book contains a profound healing and integration of east and west enlightenment paradigms. The individual self is not only transcended but crucially resurrected as a point of unique fire in the universal life we all share. Marc ‘s articulation of this core realization as the heart of an emergent and synthetic world spirituality is nothing less than utterly essential.”


Andrew Cohen, Founder of EnlightenNext, author of Evolutionary Enlightenment (some say notoriously abusive cult leader):

“Marc Gafni’s brilliant intellect and spiritual passion make him a force to be reckoned with. His deep knowledge and advocacy of Abrahamic mysticism, coupled with his inspired vision of a World Spirituality, offer a unique and significant contribution to the evolution of our understanding of God, religion, and Spirit in the 21st century.”


http://webcache.googleusercontent.co...&hl=en&ct=clnk


Interestingly a review on Amazon is not so enthusiastic

1.0 out of 5 stars Bullhockey, May 24, 2013
By Sparky The Hamster (AZ) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Your Unique Self: The Radical Path to Personal Enlightenment (Kindle Edition)
Alright - listen up boys and girls:

This is simply tripe; shilled to clueless individuals and even more clueless managers in corporations. Using lofty descriptors, the ivory-towered shyster attempts to peddle his wares under the guise of "personal enlightenment/development".

The lesson here is simple: how does one make money?

1) create a system
2) sprinkle lofty terms throughout
(bonus: make tenuous connection to religion for more "authority")
(bonus: use your own ambiguous, created terms for even more "authority")
(PRO TIP: acronyms are your friend)
3) write a book featuring your system
4) put it up on Amazon; charge a lofty price for your lofty sayings
5) get your ivory-towered peers to write glowing reviews
6) keep detractors and critics at bay with same said peers
7) profit $$$
(bonus: laugh all the way to the bank)

What a bunch of bullhockey. And yes, I know the individuals responsible for creating this book.

http://www.amazon.com/Your-Unique-Se...DateDescending

It is fairly obvious from the above reviews that M Schwartz, R Schwartz and Galperin are in awe of Gafni and regard him as a spiritual master or sorts.

This is extremely disturbing given Gafni's history of sexual transgressions.

Astonishingly Marc Gafni has actually confessed to molesting a child ("she was 14 going on 35 and I didn't force her" - in fact she was 13 and he was 19) and to sexually innapropriate behaviour with his pastoral and counselling clients.

Even the people who 100% belive that clandestine Satanist networks exist everhwyere, sacrifice babies to Satan and all the usual stuff, even they know about Marc Gafni. Seriously Felicity you should read the pages about Gafni on the Awareness Project website, a website that supports the SRA myth and is run by a woman who claims to have DID and to be a survivor of satanic ritual abuse. Here's a page

http://theawarenesscenter.blogspot.c...gafni-aka.html

You should read this material and ask yourself what on earth Lori Galperin and Mark and Richard Schwartz are doing supporting and working so closely with a man with such an appalling history and reputation, a self-confessed child molester.

Surely it is highly unusual for people who are providing therapeutic services to vulnerable patients who they claim are survivors of child sexual abuse (let alone prolonged, sadistic, Satanic abuse) to also be working alongside notorious sexual predators as friends and colleagues.

Of course the Awareness Project is not the only website to list the various charges and accusations facing Gafni. There is a wealth of material on the internet, news reports, victim / survivor reports, there is really no shortage at all and no reason for anyone to claim that they didn't know about Gafni and his activities. I have included some link at the end of my post FYI


Galperin clearly did know about the allegations as she signed a letter supporting Gafni in relation to them.

http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...alperin"+support+gafni&hl=en-GB&gbv=1&ct=clnk


It may be that Scwartz and Galperiin's support of Gafni is the kind of support that cult members lavish on their gurus? In fact Richard Schwartz (Internal family Systems) Mark Schwartz and Galperin are members of the "Wisdom Council" of Marc Gafni's spiritual movement the Center for World Spirituality.

http://webcache.googleusercontent.c..."wisdom+council"+gafni&hl=en-GB&gbv=1&ct=clnk


I honestly do now know or understand everything that is happening or has happened, but some things are fairly clear.


Richard Shwartz, Mark Schwartz and Lori Galperin are all deeply involved at a senior level in a controversial spiritual movement, the Center for World Spirituality, founded and headed by Marc Gafni.
Marc Gafni has been given a platform upon which to promote his aganda and his varioius business interests by the staff of the Castlewood Treatment center.
Marc Gafni has been working collaboratively with Lori Galperin at Castlewood on a business venture to develop a model of therapy to treat addictions called "Unique Self".
Marc Gafni has been working collaboratively with Richard / Dick Schwartz on a business venture to combine Unique Self with Internal Family Systems.
Marc Gafni is closely connected to an extremely controversial guru (many would say abusive cult leader) Andrew Cohen at EnlightenNext. Details about Andrew Cohen, EnlightenNext and Cohen's and Gafni's relationship can be found on many cult awareness websites and websites giving voices to survivors of abusive cults.
Gafni is friends and associates with many dubious new age healers, therapists and life coaches who use pseudo-tantra allegedly to heal people of trauma, often by using anal and genital massage (more on this in subsequent posts). Gafni himself runs workshops and retreats on "tantra".
Marc Gafni is a self-confessed child molester and sexual predator.

So Felicity, I would be interested in hearing your opinion about all of this.

further reading

http://nhne-pulse.org/rabbi-marc-gaf...improprieties/

http://www.integralworld.net/scofield1.html

http://www.jewishjournal.com/religio...ual_allegation

http://thebabarazzi.com/2013/04/22/h...lations-agent/

http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/fai...marc-gafn.html

http://forum.rickross.com/read.php?12,2579,page=1
 
Last edited:
 
oh dear

Just realised that most of my links don't work in the long post above.

So sorry, just being very tired and under resourced and with too much to do. I had C&P'd everything into notepad and because I had used cached links I think that the C&P did not go to the end of the very long chain of text in the links

Anyway, GIYF and I think that people tend to ingest information better if they engage with it actively rather then just by clicking on a link so hopefully it has worked out OK.

here are a few more links that may help to make some sense as to how the horrific situation at Castlewood ended up happening

This time I will just post the links and leave you to do the thinking :)


http://www.castlewoodtc.com/2013/01/esalen-institute-intimacy-intimacy-disorder/

http://www.esalen.org/content/schwartz-0

http://www.esalen.org/content/galperin

http://www.esalen.org/content/rechtien

http://www.esalen.org/content/wood

http://www.esalen.org/content/van-der-kolk

http://www.esalen.org/content/muir-0

http://www.esalen.org/content/bass

http://www.esalen.org/content/davis-0
http://www.esalen.org/workshop/writer’s-journey-how-write-about-what-you-can’t-remember


Marc Gafni & Sally Kempton
http://www.esalen.org/workshop/falling-love-divine-devotion-and-tantra-heart 

Leah Alchin & Charles Muir
http://www.esalen.org/workshop/tantra-art-conscious-loving 
http://tantraloveguide.com/2012/05/31/esalen-institute-big-sur-ca/
http://tantraloveguide.com/2012/10/19/womens-goddess-retreat/
 
The IFS wiki talk page is in clear need of editing / contributions if anyone has some time to spare

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Internal_Family_Systems_Model

A website definitely worth checking out in relation to all of this is goodtherapy.org

A fascinating website promoting itself as a trustworthy source of information about a diverse range of psychotherapies. In fact it promotes a hodgepodge of new age and woo based therapies as if they were properly researched and assessed, one example being Internal Family Systems
http://www.goodtherapy.org/Internal_Family_Systems_Therapy.html

If you check out Dick Schwartz's fb friend list you will find that he is a friend of Noah Rubinstein, founder and owner of goodtherapy.org

https://www.facebook.com/DickSchwartzIFS/friends

Note sure exactly what is going on with the goodtherapy.org website but I am extremely concerned that vulnerable members of the public might use the site and, as a result, end up being abused in one or other woo based therapeutic situation.
 
Just sharing a little something ....


The following text is written by a highly controversial psychiatrist Stanislav Grof regarding the hallucinatory effects of a model of therapy he created called Holotropic Breathwork (hyperventilation)

Sexual experiences occurring during BPM III typically display enormous intensity of a sexual drive; a mechanical and unselective quality; and an exploitative, pornographic, or deviant nature. They involve scenes from red light districts and the sexual underground,extravagant erotic practices, and sadomasochistic sequences. Equally frequent are episodes portraying incest and acts of sexual abuse or rape. In rare instances, the BPM IIIimagery can manifest the gory and repulsive extremes of criminal sexuality – eroticallymotivated murder, dismemberment, cannibalism, and necrophilia. Sexual arousal on thislevel of the psyche is inextricably connected with highly problematic elements – physicalpain, suffocation, vital threat, anxiety, aggression, self-destructive impulses, and variousforms of biological material. This forms a natural basis for developing the most importanttypes of sexual dysfunctions, variations, deviations, and perversions. The demonic aspect of BPM III can present specific problems for the experiencers, aswell as therapists and facilitators. While the uncanny and eerie nature of themanifestations often leads experiencers to resist the process, the therapists and facilitatorsmust have sufficient understanding to encourage the person to face it fully. Typicalthemes in this context include scenes of the Sabbath of the Witches (Walpurgi’s Night)(99, 100), satanic orgies and Black Mass rituals, and temptation by evil forces. Thecommon denominator connecting this stage of childbirth with the themes of the Sabbathor with the Black Mass rituals is the peculiar experiential amalgam of death, deviantsexuality, pain, fear, aggression, scatology, and distorted spiritual impulse that they share.This observation is highly relevant to the recent epidemic of experiences of satanic cultabuse reported by clients in various forms of regressive therapy.
Click to expand...

(scroll down to page 17/18)
http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...l=en-GB&biw=&bih=&gbv=1&nfpr=&spell=1&ct=clnk

so this got me wondering whether any bright sparks were combining Holotropic Breathwork (HB) with IFS

and I found various papers on the subject by another FB friend of Dick Schwatz, a social worker named Ted Riskin, including this one

http://www.tedriskin.com/how-i-do-it/articles/a-part-of-me-didnt-want-write-this-article.html

also see

http://moniquelanglcsw.com/node/3

and

https://www.facebook.com/events/395065860541669/?ref=22&_fb_noscript=1

so, basically, yes there are therapists combining IFS with a controversial model of therapy that its own creator claims creates hallucinations of sadistic sexual abuse, incest, Black Sabbaths and satanic ritual abuse.

Just throwing it into the mix

eta

http://www.goodtherapy.org/Holotropic-Breathwork.html

further edited
I really like this guy's writing, his mother had painful 1st hand experience of ruthless, greedy new age hippies at Findhorn and he has taken time to do a fair bit of research on various tangential issues to this thread, these pages are very informative on Holotropic breathwork and on Esalen
http://www.citizeninitiative.com/against_grof_therapy.htm
http://www.kevinrdshepherd.net/html/12___grof_transpersonalism.html
 
Last edited:
Orphia Nay said:
Thanks for letting us know about this, Doug. You do fine work for the poor people (mostly women) who are led astray by therapists who instil false memories of child abuse and satanic ritual abuse. These claims by the victims have been proved by numerous lawsuits in their favour.

I'm still not sure whether the therapists are wilfully deluding their patients, or whether they are just deluded themselves and causing inadvertent damage.

Nevertheless, that damage needs to be highlighted and word spread of it, in the hopes that no more damage is done.

I encourage readers to share your article. I suggest sharing the process.org article at this stage, since I have no trust in Examiner and expect them to pull the story out of fear and laziness.
Click to expand...

Well, looks like Examiner caved in to Neil Brick. This is nuts! The conspiracy theorists get to promote this crap until the cows come home but when someone questions it, a media outlet caves in? This skeptic blogger mapped it out better than I can. http://heresyclub.com/2013/05/a-brick-wall/

But, looks like Doug will not be deterred so easily. The article shows up again. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/...mental-health-field-s-cultivation-of-delusion along with all the details of Brick's efforts. http://www.dailykos.com/blog/Doug Mesner

How this guy can hold a mental health licence while running seminars like "The 16th Annual Ritual Abuse, Secretive Organizations and Mind Control Conference" under the guise of a "mental health" event, is a mystery to me. http://ritualabuse.ca/

It's been educational reading the balanced, logical approach that skeptics have taken regarding this subject.
 
I am extremely interested in publications like the Examiner, Psychology Today and Psychologies magazine.

While they offer opportunities for sceptical bloggers like Doug to share articles with a broad readership they also allow woo merchants and fairly dubious people to promote their agendas and businesses.

For example

Here's a piece extolling the health benefits of lingam (penis) massage as if the author was some kind of sexual health specialist.

http://www.examiner.com/article/lingam-massage-facts-and-benefits

The article recommends a "tantra temple" (when I clicked on it I ended up on the website of a London brothel). Maybe it links to different temples / brothels depending on the reader's location?

In fact the author, Candi Fox, has written a number of articles in the Examiner including this one on understanding the Law of Attraction (TM)

http://www.examiner.com/article/understanding-the-law-of-attraction-1

and, er, this

http://www.examiner.com/article/sexy-witchy-nadia-romanov-the-romance-witch



Fox's linkedin profile is here

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/candi-fox/33/176/157

stating that she is a freelance journalist.

Interestingly she also has a profile here

http://www.liveperson.com/candi-fox/

stating that she is an "Expert in: Psychic Reading"

Her youtube channel is here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y49Ss95Poog

so anyway, basically my point is that the Examiner published various woo related articles including one advocating the alleged benefits of penis massage by a psychic with zero qualifications in sexual health. The same article recommends the services of a brothel (albeit of the hippy / new age variety) to the Examiners' readers.

FWIW, I have no objections at all to penis massage. I do not possess a penis so cannot speak from personal experience, but I imagine that penis massage is probably at worst quite pleasant and at best a wonderful thing.

I just feel that sexual health is an important subject and that the Examiner should be more proactive in making sure that articles on the alleged health benefits of genital massage are authored by specialist physicians, counsellors, therapists and sex educators rather than by psychics.

I don't want to go on about this particular author too much, it would be unfair on her as she is just one of countless similar woo merchants using the examiner to promote all kinds of woo

I mean just look at this for starters

http://www.examiner.com/article/tantra-evening-with-charles-muir

http://www.examiner.com/article/lightworkers-needed-to-help-raise-frequency-vibration

http://www.examiner.com/tantra-in-san-francisco/luminessa-enjara

http://www.examiner.com/article/can-shamanism-work-long-distance-and-electronically

http://www.examiner.com/article/are-you-an-indigo-child

http://www.examiner.com/article/breaking-the-indigo-enlightenment-myth


and it we are going to look at the more serious end of things, the Examiner includes a completely uncritical article about a notorious fake Native American tribe / militia / cult, the Deer Tribe, as if was a credible source of information about sexual health.

The text reads

The Sweet Medicine Quodoushka is a form of Tantra that was supposedly developed by the Cherokee Indians, but it was primarily brought forward by Harley Swift Deer, a Cherokee Indian Medicine Man. Harley Swift Deer established the Metis Deer Tribe which is a whole Native American teaching that also includes sexuality.
Click to expand...

http://www.examiner.com/article/the...nital-characteristics-does-size-really-matter

The above is a complete fabrication and Cherokee Nation threatened to sue Deer Tribe leader Harley Reagan for misrepresenting their culture and sacred traditions.

In addition to made up BS about the several different animal types of penises and vaginas Reagan also advocates that, upon puberty, adolescents should go to live with an older "fire person" of the opposite sex so that they can learn all about sacred sexuality.

Reagan claims that he was sexually initiated at the age of 14 by a "Cherokee fire woman", although this appears very obviously to be another of his deluded fantasies.

Cherokee people are appalled by this crass appropriation and misrepresentation of their name and traditions. They do not have any secret sexual trainings, do not have animal names for different types of genitals and do not advocate the molestation of minors.



some further links about the Deer Tribe that are not so uncritical

http://www.bullshido.org/Claude_Harley_Reagan

http://www.vice.com/read/a-to-z-of-sexual-history-quodoushka

http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2002-06-13/news/sacred-orgasm/

http://psiram.com/en/index.php/Deer_Tribe

http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=528.0

http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=12.msg13

http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=242.msg1023

http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=242.0

anyway, the point I want to make is that if I were Doug I would not want my piece to be published in the Examiner. Doug's pieces are great and they should be published on a website with a higher standard of quality control.
 
Ellen Travis;9280470anyway said:
I completely agree with you Ellen, Douglas Mesner is better off without being associated with the Examiner, he is above them and deserves to be respected for his professionalism and high quality journalism.
Click to expand...
 
@ Roma - Absolutely

Psychology Today, Psychologies magazine and a few other websites / on-line news portals are just as bad.

Some newspapers, magazines and TV channels in the mainstream media, at least in the UK, also give completely uncritical coverage of extremely dodgy / criminal woo peddling cults, or at least to their smiley, well groomed, "butter wouldn't melt" representatives.

It is very depressing.

On a tangent

Am I being silly or is this the same David Horan who removed Doug's article from the examiner?

http://www.examiner.com/user-dhoran

It appears to be the same person, yet somehow his profile doesn't seem quite right, er, lacks a certain something.

I was just thinking that, just going by his profile, he would not be the kind of person I would imagine to be in charge of making sensitive editorial decisions about a delicate subject with very serious implications.

I cannot find a LinkedIn profile for this person or links / references any news stories other than a series of articles about a computer game.

Am I missing something?
 
Ellen Travis; Am I missing something?[/QUOTE said:
Maybe a few things about who David Horan works for:

1st The Examiner has been criticized before:

Matt Smith of the San Francisco Weekly noted that numerous articles and photos by Sharon Gray were from other sources, including the Sacramento Bee, and constituted apparent plagiarism. Smith suggested that the case showed that "free isn't always a bargain."[22] When questioned, Jim Pimental, executive editor of Examiner said,

"They're blogs. They don't get edited. We don't give any direction to people on what to write in their blogs. And that's standard operating procedure."[4][22]

After Smith brought the issue to Pimentel's attention, the voluminous Gray material was removed from Examiner.com. Pimentel said the Examiner has "a less-strict standard for accuracy and attribution in stories that appear on the Web" than for publications in print.[22] According to Smith, Robert Gunnison, director of school affairs at the U.C. Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism, shares his own view that newspapers "should observe the same journalism standards online as they do in print."[

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Examiner.com

2nd The owner of the Examiner is a Christian Fundametalist who likely would not want any person who is accused of being a "Satanist" and "protector of peadophiles" working for him, (you know who that means, eh?):

A member of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, he is a conservative Christian.[7][9] He and his wife Nancy, whom he met when he was 16, have three children. Anschutz was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 2002.[10]

Anschutz is a somewhat reclusive man who prefers to stay out of the limelight. He has granted only two formal interviews in over 30 years.[11][12]


Anschutz has funded a number of conservative and Christian organizations including the following:[30][31][32]

The Foundation for a Better Life, organization founded in 2000 to promote "positive behavioral values;" it is neither anti-gay nor right-wing and has no political agenda; the Foundation communicates its message through television, outdoor advertising, theater, radio, and the Internet;
Institute for American Values, which campaigns against same-sex marriage and against single parenting. The Institute has received three grants to date for a total of $17,500 over the lifetime of the Foundation;[29]
Colorado for Family Values, the organization behind Colorado's anti-gay constitutional amendment, Amendment 2, approved by the voters in 1992 and later overturned by the US Supreme Court;
Enough Is Enough, whose President and CEO is Donna Rice Hughes, the major figure in the sex scandal that ended the 1987 campaign of Gary Hart, in the Democratic presidential primary. The organization claims that it is "Lighting the way to protect children and families from the dangers of illegal Internet pornography and sexual predators";

3rd The owners of the Examiner are already having serious and high profile legal troubles:

The Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) is a sporting and music entertainment presenter and a subsidiary of The Anschutz Corporation. It is the world's largest owner of sports teams and sports events, the owner of the world’s most profitable sports and entertainment venues, and under AEG Live the world's second largest presenter of live music and entertainment events after Live Nation.

The AEG is the subject of a lawsuit regarding the death of Michael Jackson, filed by the singer's mother, Katherine Jackson. The Jackson lawsuit against Anschutz Entertainment Group alleged

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Anschutz
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
I just wanted to share a video I found on the youtube channel of a young woman who works as a "sacred sexual healer"

I am sharing this because it shows very helpfully the mindset of many of the women who work in new age brothels and / or as new age body-workers, neo-Reichian body-workers (in effect it is all about "genital de-armouring" - using massage to release traumatic memories / bad karma trapped in the body).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18xuKPjwen0

The video promotes (albeit somewhat obliquely) the concept of sacred prostitution as an elevated form of spiritual discipline.

It also makes claims about various conspiracy theories, the Illuminati, etc.

I just wanted to share it as it gives a very concise and helpful insight into the mindset of the demographic of people who get coerced and manipulated into the sex industry by cultic criminal networks.

It also shows the discourses used by criminal networks to isolate people from their friends and families, the mainstream media and the outside world generally.

One of the central concepts is that of the authentic self - a wild, free, sexual, empowered person who can see beyond the veils of illusion generated by society / the Illuminati / your parents / prudish religious beliefs / the Freemasons / the lizards / whoever.

The discourses regarding the re-emergence of ancient sacred sexual traditions of the Goddess can be very attractive to many women and girls but can leave them very vulnerable to being manipulated by people with hidden agendas.

I mention all of this because Esalen in not the only common factor that various Castlewood therapists have in common with pseudo-tantric cults like the Deer Tribe, Source School of tantra and the rest of them (and there are plenty of them). One very important overlapping category in terms of shared friends and contacts is the category of people involved in promoting various conspiracy theories.

Another overlapping category is "wimmins" spirituality and the Goddess spirituality movement. Given that there have been significant numbers of women involved in both radical feminist / lesbian feminist separatist groups and Goddess spirituality groups over the years it is perhaps unsurprising that there will be a merged categories of women involved in Goddess spirituality and the Satanic Panic as both movements have some roots from within radical feminist groups.

I could spend a very long time thinking / writing about the discourses in the above video and their meaning and implications, however I will just share it for now and provide further info later.

If anyone is interested in the mindset and demographic of individuals who get involved in pseudo-tantric groups please do check this video out and feel free to post your thoughts here if you feel so inclined.

more to follow when I have a moment

eta

the above video is safe for work
 
Last edited:
Just sharing something else that is of tengential importance to the Castlewood developments

I would like to share another video

Mildly NSFW

This is a video of a qualified sexual health educator and member of AASECT Ina "Laughing Winds" Mlekush

As her middle name suggests, she is a member of a wannabe, fake Native American tribe, in fact she is a member of the Deer Tribe aka Deer Tribe Metis Medicine Society (DTMMS).

In addition to her conventional and nationally recognised qualification as a sexual counsellor and educator this lady is also qualified to teach "Quodoushka" - that's the fake Cherokee / Mayan / whatever so called secret sexual training courses that teach gullible hippies about the 9 different animal types of genitals as well as how to cleanse your chakras through masturbation as well as how to "initiate" and train children into sexual life at puberty.

As you can see Ms Mlekush's appearance and demeanour is, er, rather unconventional. At least for a conventional sexual counsellor. In the deer tribe and other similar groups this is what a sexual counsellor looks like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-eoAICXad4

I am sharing this as I would like readers to understand that, over the past decade or so, the professional field of sexual health and education has been infiltrated, to a very serious level, by quacks, predators and all manner of woo peddling criminals including pimps and traffickers.

I am not entirely sure about how this all relates to Castlewood but I suspect that Mark Schwartz's and Lori Galperin's purchase of the Masters and Johnson brand and website are connected to the various abusive developments at Castlewood, at least in terms of the links to pseudo-tantric cults.

I would like to point out that I worked for many years in sexual health and education and I have no objections to people enjoying a rich and varied sex life.

My concerns are with the tidal wave of woo and quackery that is undermining proper, informed sex education by drowning it in a sea of rainbows, unicorns, magic charms and dream catchers.

People who are genuinely interested in improving their sex lives should be able to access clear, factual information without having to encounter BS about chakras and sexually initiating 14 year old kids.

We have a bizarre situation in which a number of reputable newspapers have given these predatory quacks lots of uncritical coverage that has effectively promoted and endorsed them. The Examiner removes a perfectly good piece by Doug and yet publishes hagiographic vanity pieces advertising the Deer Tribe and providing direct links to their websites.

You have to admit that it is all very peculiar


eta

here's another DTMMS video - completely safe for work
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5N8TyZ7yhRc
It shows various DTMMS members training in firearms - did I mention that they are also a militia?

If you are interested in the Deer Tribe publications about sacred prostitution just check out the websites of a Mr Kenneth Ray Stubbs, a DTMMS member and "sexual shaman"
 
Last edited:
The Examiner has hit a new low with the publication of a demented article by Judy Bylington

3,000 Survivors Form Coalition with Kevin Annett to Fight Child Trafficking
CHILD SAFETYJUNE 10, 2013BY: JUDY BYINGTON

CEOs of ritual abuse survivor organizations have joined forces with Nobel Peace Prize Nominee Kevin Annett to expose national and international child trafficking networks.

Judy Byington, MSW, LCSW, ret, author of "Twenty-Two Faces" www.22faces.com, the biography of human sacrifice survivor Jenny Hill http://www.youtube.com/wat`?v=F626Lsrdwg4 and CEO of Child Abuse Recovery (CAR) www.ChildAbuseRecovery.com; Felicity Lee of Ivory Garden: a survivor support group with membership of over 1,700 www.igdid.com and Neil Brick, founder of Stop Mind Control and Ritual Abuse (SMART) http://ritualabuse.us, along with Reverend Annett's International Tribunal www.itccs.org, www.itccs.tv, www.hiddennolonger.com and http://kevinannettinternational.blogspot.fr/, are compiling evidence of crimes from thousands of survivors across the globe in efforts to bring to trial human trafficking networks and their practice of child exploitation, torture and murder.

http://www.examiner.com/article/3-0...-kevin-annett-to-fight-child-trafficking-ring


As an anti-trafficking activist with decades of experience I am enraged that these predatory individuals are presenting themselves as authorities on trafficking in human beings.

It is especially galling as cults are involved in human trafficking on a very large scale internationally. IME they are not anything to do with Satanism, they tend to operate using tantra and shamanism (or more accurately pseudo-tantra and pseudo-shamanism) as a cover for their activities. I very much doubt that anyone involved in the "evidence collecting" described in Bylington's article will mention any of these very real abuses at all, largely because so many of the people in the SRA/DID supporting bandwagon have connections with these cultic trafficking networks themselves - although to be fair to them they may have no idea about the true nature of the people and groups they are involved with.

Even so it is highly disturbing to read this kind of misleading article from Byington. To me she is just another morally bankrupt predator, a wolf in sheep's clothing.

As for the examiner - well shame on them.

I wonder how the owner and founder would react to the knowledge that his publication has been publishing articles by a member of the Deer Tribe, a fake Native American cult that promotes prostitution and the sexual molestation of children?

maybe Doug should contact him to find out?
 
Ellen Travis said:
.....Even so it is highly disturbing to read this kind of misleading article from Byington. To me she is just another morally bankrupt predator, a wolf in sheep's clothing.

As for the examiner - well shame on them.

I wonder how the owner and founder would react to the knowledge that his publication has been publishing articles by a member of the Deer Tribe, a fake Native American cult that promotes prostitution and the sexual molestation of children?

maybe Doug should contact him to find out?
Click to expand...


Oh yes, I think the owner of the Examiner would be interested, uh huh :wwt
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom