The Blue Sky Ranch just keeps confusing...

Looks like the Contra Costa County Building Inspectors took a gander at the plans for the Blue Sky Ranch.  Just like us, they were pretty darn confused at what in hell the Witches of Ellsworth Street intended when they built the thing.  In fact, one of them calls the project "a very confusing project"

What did they expect?

It's confusing to understand what this place is all about as well as why it was constructed in the first place.

Well, I'll just leave it at that.

Why The Blue Sky has a purpose or reason for being is beyond me too.

I can't tell if this is another of the Witches' labyrinthine and convoluted schemes to dodge whatever they want to dodge or if it's just another Blue Sky Ranch blue sky ideas.

Either way, the work to undo the evil that was done is underway.

I just hope it won't be re-done later.

Drop Dead Divas

Well, the diva part isn't a question with these two...

Well, it looks very much like the bell is tolling for the Witches of Ellsworth Street.

Their tax haven is starting to crumble and their cash cows have decided there are far better pastures than the weed-infested and dilapidated confines of the Academy for Psychic Studies compound in Berkeley.

It's now well-known that the two most eager and formally-loyal members of the official Academy staff were not only doing well with their respective hypnosis practices and healing consultations, they were also being squeezed hard by Angela Silva and Robin Dumolin to turn their heads and cough up enormous cuts of the revenue they earned without Angela and Robin investing one thin dime or offering even one moment of labor to help.

Of course, those of us who have seen Angela and Robin in action know they really like to make buckets of money by sitting in a comfy chair and intimidating their victims into "agreeing" to a business arrangement that profits only themselves, then adding even more threats and intimidation if the money hose starts to slow down.

The way Angela and Robin conduct their "business" practices is so much like the Mafia, I'm surprised there aren't hit men out for anyone who isn't paying those two a tribute.

That Angela Silva and Robin Dumolin (especially Angela) do all the mean, nasty and idiotic antics the can think of to instill fear and intimidate anyone who won't go along with their program of exploitation is legendary.  Every person who has been involved with the Academy lately has felt they were giving more and more and more and getting less and less in return.  Even those who were staunch supporters of the Witches of Ellsworth and those who have helped stir the cauldron were not spared.

Students read on their contract the Clairvoyant Training Program would last less than or about a year.  Instead the CTP would extend from one year to two to five and up to a decade, depending on how much control you were under and for how long you can pay for it.  After you realized you spent tens of thousands and wasted a decade you'll never get back... well, maybe you'll write a blog too.

People who found success on their own were pressured to give more and more of their earnings for the Witches' cauldron of evil.  One person had a thriving business.  His business thrived so much, he was compelled to give more and more and more of his earnings and profits to the Witches, who in return would give him, uh, well, I guess they really didn't give him anything.  They did goad, cajole and finally threw a barrage of insults at him to not only make him cough up the Benjamins, they had him work for them for no pay as well.

The bishop's child had been keeping a horse on Angela and Robin's farm with Angela's permission and knowledge.  When the bishop finally had enough and pulled the ripcord, Angela retaliated by demanding the horse be removed from her farm immediately or she would take it to auction where the animal would be sold and turned into dog food.  She also threatened to liquidate all the horses kept there as well - that they would all wind up in a can of fido food didn't matter to Angela.

After over a week of hard work by the bishop's daughter, the horses were adopted and taken to good homes.

That wasn't enough for Angela.  Once informed the horses were removed, Angela demanded she be paid any money realized from the sale of any animals.  It didn't matter to her that most of the animals didn't belong to her, Angela wanted the money anyway.

Anything, anyone, any animal having even a slight association with Angela Silva will find him or herself having to fill Angela Silva's open palm for something, real or imagined - usually imagined.  Angela does not accept credit cards and checks will be accepted only after your funds are verified.  To her, whatever she sees, whatever she wants, whatever she believes she can get away with will be consumed and converted into cash to pay off her Macy's card.

When we hear people who succeed in their own businesses are compelled to pay out a big cut of their income to the Witches for no good reason besides "It's God's law." somehow, we never really questioned it.  Oh, did I say "God's Law"?  I meant "Bill Duby's Law".  my bad....

But now we do question it.  We question why the Witches think they can get away with it. We question how they can get away with it.  I think there will be more people asking how and why shortly.  Maybe they will be the last of the faithful or maybe it will be someone else.

Whoever they may be, those questions will have no concrete answers until the Witches are called to task and compelled to reply.

As the Witches and the Academy in general won't speak publicly about a damn thing anymore, there's really no way to see or hear what their positions on anything happen to be.  However when it comes to reaching in your pocket for your lunch money, they have only one answer:  because we can.

They can because their spiritual lover and founder of the Academy for Psychic Studies was a con man.  He set up the con and they profited from it.  He told them they were entitled to collect money from every follower in any amount and for any reason.  He was the one who made them vow to put "business first" by collecting money and operating their warm and nourishing environments with the kind of ruthless pursuit of profit that would make Donald Trump proud.  Kind of an odd mission for a non-profit church, don't you think?

I found it telling that the Witches complained their "business" began to drop off because of what is said in this blog.  Again, complaining to a court that their non-profit church was "losing money" kind of takes the blush off of their position of being a warm and nourishing kindergarten of spiritual growth, doesn't it?  It does characterize them as an organization that puts money first, kind of like BP ignoring the safety of their drilling operations because there's no money in being safe.

You have to wonder just how they see the purpose of their organization. Is their purpose to be warm and nourishing to those who seek solace and understanding or is it to warm and nourish two insatiable women who have sold out themselves, their children, their siblings and their very soul to achieve a position of power over those who are by and large good and decent people who are happy to serve and happy to give.

And you have to wonder why Angela Silva and Robin Dumolin would abuse that position for their own personal gain.

Oh, right...  it's for the money.  my bad...

New pages of old shite.

So, at the top of the page are two links to new pages of old crap.

It's not because I'm tired of writing (I am tired for other reasons, though - you figure out what that's all about).  It's because with the hundreds of pages of rambling, it's getting tough to find a post that actually has something to say.

So, these two new pages have some Hot Topics (which is anything I think is hot) and Blogger's Choice posts (which is anything I think is hot).

So, please enjoy the new pages of old crap.  You might find something worth reading again.

Crappy Birthday

Since this article was first posted, there were at least a few people left at this idiot cult to have a birthday celebration for the perverted leaders.  Now, there's no one left and the two Witches of Ellsworth Street will have to figure out how to celebrate their respective birthdays on their own, with no one to share the joy with.

And no one to lavish them with presents, either.

So let them now experience the kind of birthday celebration we had to endure while involved with this cult: isolated and alone.

Now as fun as this shit is, I'm going off line for a bit of Downton Abbey.  I'll be back shortly.

While perusing the SRF official interweb page, I ran across the following:

Rev. Ang's Birthday

When Sun, August 16, 4:30pm – 6:30pm

Description

Rev. Ang (Angela Silva) turns 60 next month! To celebrate - and watch her face turn red with embarrassment, we're having a surprise party!

Date: August 16

Day: Sunday

Time: Aprox. 4:30 pm

Where: Macaroni Grill, El Cerrito Plaza, El Cerrito

NO, I am NOT asking anyone to crash the party. But I can't stop you from attending or having your own celebration at the same time and place.

I was, however, thinking about birthdays. The birthdays of the members. Everyone there has a birthday, obviously. And like Angela Silva, they all have a birthday every year. And a few of them have celebrated their 60th. Many more look forward to celebrating their 60th. But few have had a birthday party in their honor.

In my 14 years at SRF, I only remember a few times where a birthday was celebrated. A couple of times, a cake was brought in (usually by the b-day boy or girl) to be served and quickly gobbled down during a 30 minute class break. I've only remembered one damn birthday party for any one of the members. Actually it was for three or four of them. It was the only way people would show up.

The rest of the parties were for the leaders or for Bill Duby's daughter - just like the party the last few deluded individuals at SRF are throwing for Angela Silva.

At the Academy for Psychic Studies/Spiritual Rights Foundation, no one has birthday parties. Certainly nothing like I had lately with great people, great food and a great time. It's not because no one wanted to have a birthday party (certainly, a few of us would sneak out for a beer to celebrate a birthday - then sneak back before anyone found out).

No one was celebrating their birthdays for a simple but strange reason: no one dared have a celebration of anyone as an individual - unless that person is one of the leaders or Bill Duby's daughter.

To acknowledge a mere member as an individual, as a person of value, as someone who's life and friendship was valued and honored was well beyond the thinking of the average SRF-ite. Only the leaders (and the golden child of Bill Duby) were worthy of a celebration and acknowledgment.

Only a cult of personality would elevate the status of the leaders to the detriment of the members. Think about North Korea: Kim Jong Il's birthday is a national holiday. His crazy dad's birthday was too. How about Saddam? And those birthdays aren't a day off either, bucko. You'll spend the day toiling in the sun or otherwise slaving away while the leaders swim in a pool of champagne and eat caviar from a nubile lass's, well, eat caviar from a nubile lass.

Anyway, birthdays of SRF members aren't celebrated at the Macaroni Grill or any other place for that matter. And as for presents, forget about it. Hey, all the member's money is tied up in classes, tithing, and donations for this, that and Angela's birthday parties at the Macaroni Grill. (how in hell do you grill macaroni?). If someone remembers, you'll get a card from Safeway's "lame-ass birthday cards for the desperate" aisle because the members are so busy with classes, tithing, work hours, love projects and earning enough money for tithing, classes and Angela Silva's party at the Macaroni Grill they can't make it down to the mall to get a Hallmark.

But the leaders enjoy a much higher level of birthday prosperity than your average dirt-eating, lowly cult member. I remember every year, for Bill Duby's birthday, we were cajoled, prodded and nearly kicked to "donate" money for a lavish birthday gift to be presented on the great day. These gifts usually cost in the thousands of dollars. Bill especially liked gold coins. Real gold coins. He also liked equipment he could use to ride around his farm. Like a big lawnmower, a big horse, a big tractor and so on.

Angela was more modest. She enjoyed big gift cards for Macy's (a few hundred bucks was the norm), jewelry and handmade, golden nick-knacks costing mere hundreds of dollars.

Bill's "wife" and daughter weren't forgotten. Every year, they were lavished with gifts from every member.

And giving was encouraged. Strongly encouraged. So encouraged, you might find yourself in the SRF doghouse for weeks on end for not being an enthusiastic giver.

Because you have to give to live. You have to give even if you are so tapped out, you are wondering how you are going to eat or sleep in a bed with a roof over your head.

After a few years of seeing the members foist shovelfuls of gifts on the leaders while eschewing their own birthdays, I started to wonder what the hell that was all about.

It's all about the cult of personality. It's all about gaining attention and favor from the leaders. It's about the culture of losing your sense of self while you honor the people who stole it from you.

You have to see it to believe it. And if you don't believe it, well just head on over to the Macaroni Grill on Aug 16.

And enjoy this video of the personality traits of cult leaders.

Ding, Dong the Cult is Dead! Which Old Cult? The Wicked Cult!

A little while ago, Steve Sanchez made the observation that the Cult of the Spiritual Rights Foundation is now DEAD.

I happen to think the head of the SRF chicken is chopped off but the body will continue to twitch and run in circles for a while longer.  It's probably too early to say they are dead once and for all.  However, that this evil mass of sewage is about to be flushed is not in doubt.

Of course, I will have to make the following statement to the remaining SRF idiot (well, actually there are many SRF idiots but only one of them is still active with them):
The statement that the cult is DEAD does not refer to the extinguishing of the Witches corporeal presences.  It is, in fact A FUCKING METAPHOR for the cult becoming impotent (which in this context is NOT a condition treatable with Viagra) to the point of being unable to resurrect a membership that can sustain the kind of income the Witches aspire to and certainly unable to restore the cult's former perverted glory.

Sorry about that but there are idiots everywhere still reading this blog.

One thing the Witches will continue to do this year is make lame attempt after lame attempt to pull in more and more and more followers for the purpose of rummaging through their wallets and handbags at class breaks.  
Most of the prospective members are turning to the interweb to conduct due diligence and have the good fortune and remaining mental capacity to find this blog and the many not-so-warm-and-nourishing media articles about the Spiritual Rights Foundation.

Occasionally, there is a hit for ISHI Hypnosis.  Not many, but a few come in.

Amazingly, the Witches of Ellsworth continue to use whips, chains and Robin Dumolin's old lady shoes to beat their last remaining sycophant into promoting classes that have no available instructors, and hypnosis sessions that have no one to facilitate them.

If they had just been the slightest bit compassionate and humane, they'd still have at least two quite successful and supportive people who could bring in quite a bit of new members and the loot those members brought with them.  

Unfortunately for the two supportive members, the Witches have made it such a habit of picking up the nearest cheap QVC knick-knack or one of the shoes they bought from Macy's geriatric support department and use it to teach an opportunity for learning, well, there's only so much a downtrodden follower can take, you know.

The Woman at the Well might have been ecstatic at being a prominent ISHI Hypnosis hypnotist and instructor.  Unfortunately, the Witches only saw her as just another bag of loot they were trying to open up so she ran like hell, leaving the former bishop standing alone.

When you have that one person and that one person only who can be the pack mule who can carry your cult back into the good graces of the public, it would make an enormous amount of sense to increase her prominence, give her a larger salary and a generous expense account.  Creating a publicity campaign around the ex-bishop would quickly erase the bad memories left behind by Bill Duby and cover up the misdeeds of the Witches.  If they were to properly utilize and promote the ex-bishop, the Spiritual Rights Foundation had its best chance for a renaissance.

Even those who left the cult were expecting it to happen.  Current and ex-members alike were expecting to see her explode onto the scene with a tidal wave of enthusiastic and energetic followers in tow.  It was the right choice and the best choice.  Elevate the bishop, increase her visibility and the cult will rise again and the critics of the Spiritual Rights Foundation would have little to no audience for their cries.

So of course, the Witches did the following:

June 9, 2012 marks the one year anniversary of my unexpected resignation from the non-profit organization I was deeply involved with for thirty years. This was probably one of the most frightening decisions I’ve ever made and I was filled with fear and anger.

My reason for leaving? My monthly stipend was taken away and I was offered a mere 20% of all the hypnosis work I was doing.

What’s funny to me in hindsight is that I did not see this coming at all – so much for my psychic abilities!

But it wasn’t funny at the time. At first I felt like I had been kicked in the stomach and couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t wrap my mind around what had taken place nor could I imagine how I was going to pay my rent and take care of basic living expenses.

I was so angry that the two people I had called friends for thirty years had treated me this way, and then filled with sorrow when I realized they had never been my friends at all – friends don’t do that to each other

It's amazing.  When the Witches are given a golden opportunity, they take a dump on it.  What's not so amazing is that the Witches used a false sense of friendship, hollow esteem as well as empty loyalty to exploit someone who gave them the friendship, esteem and loyalty they could never give to anyone.

Our confidence that the ex-bishop could turn around the Spiritual Rights Foundation was so strong, I believed her enthusiasm and strength of personality would be just too much to overcome. I could not fathom how powerful the Spiritual Rights Foundation might have been if the ex-bishop was the face of the cult and its guiding light.

Fortunately for the world and society at large, Robin Dumolin and Angela Silva were still in charge and if there is one thing they have absolute expertise with it's fucking up.

As the interpersonal skills of Robin Dumolin and Angela Silva are so bad, corporate HR departments would like to use them as examples of the kind of people who should never be hired, all of the departures of the last few years can be traced right back to them and prospective members will need to be kept away from them if SRF has any hope of anyone coming back for more.

So, if the Spiritual Rights Foundation has any hope of a comeback they will need to recruit the kind of people who have built a relationship of trust with Angela Silva and Robin Dumolin as well as having a confident and charismatic presence with the public.  Kind of sounds chicken-and-egg, doesn't it?

There is no one left at SRF who can have the kind of charisma of the ex-bishop. No one has their trust.  No one in his or her right mind and who has the charisma the Witches need would trust those two anyway (especially the enigmatic Robin Dumolin) without the kind of intense mind control only the dead founder could practice.

Since Robin Dumolin and Angela Silva are less skilled at mind control as they are at the old game of cheating at cards, I think they won't find a new confederate to attract fresh new faces to their den of iniquity.
Besides, they'll be up to their eyebrows trying to dodge or appease the Contra Costa County building inspectors.

That'll cost them plenty.  It may be a drop in the SRF bucket but think about this: can't you drain a bucket a drop at a time?  What if you put a lot of holes in the bucket?

With all the departures and with openness and truth beginning to emerge, the holes in the Spiritual Rights Foundation bucket are becoming more and more numerous.

If this keeps up, there will be enough to start a storm.

Want to make some rain?  If you run into someone looking for some spiritual awakening, tell them to stop at Peet's for a nice latte and come back after their eyes are open.  Then you can tell them what to expect at a place like SRF.

I do ask that you give the ex-bishop and all former members of this insidious and destructive cult the kind of support they will need to overcome the obstacles that hounded them earlier.  Those who are establishing their own hypnosis or psychic reading practices deserve a chance to do what they do without our interference.  In fact, they deserve our best to help them become established and prosper no matter what you think of the place they learned their craft.

It's not the ex-members we have a problem with.  In fact, they went through the same things we did (the ex-bishop too).  The ex-members deserve the chance to overcome and begin to heal just like we did.

It's the victimizers we need to expose.  It's the people at the top who exploit and abuse those who would have served with pleasure.  It's the Witches we need to stop.

And since the Witches' traffic light of life has gone from green to yellow to red, we can now be happy that even though the Witches of Ellsworth Street are trying to run the light in the lumbering SUV called the Spiritual Rights Foundation, there's an 18-wheeler about to enter the intersection.

    

Healings Done with Love, SRF style.

I don't think they are going to church.

I started thinking about the implications of the Spiritual Rights Foundation's failed lawsuit against us.

It's never an easy thing to be sued. Even by idiots. Actually, if you are being sued by idiots it's a lot scarier. Idiots can't be reasonable. Idiots don't understand the law. Idiots want things that make no sense and are impossible to deliver. Idiots can't be satisfied.

So as far as the Spiritual Rights Foundation goes, their lawsuit claiming defamation and accusing us of everything short of assassinating President Kennedy pretty much was all that.

It was crazy. And claimed things that made no sense. They claimed I did things I didn't do (and that was obvious to everyone but SRF). They misapplied the law to make a false claim - just like they've been misapplying the Bible all these years!

The lawsuit kept both Joy and I up at night for many a night. Some nights were spent preparing our defense (which would have been impossible without our brilliant attorney, Josh Koltun). Many nights were spent lying in bed staring at the ceiling swinging between anger and fear.

So, that's the personal effect of the lawsuit. Of course when they dismissed their suit, I was happy, sad and frightened all over again.

I was happy we beat them, of course. I was sad to find that others who would speak out were even MORE afraid of the wrath of the SRF Cult.

But the fear came in the form of the Spiritual Rights Foundation's habit of revenge and suppression of their opponents.

The original whistle blower, the previous wearer of the King of Evil crown endured SRF's campaign to discredit him and ruin him. At the direction of the Spiritual Rights Foundation leadership, ministers of SRF wrote letters claiming child abuse and molestation then sent them to his employer, a local elementary school district.

The claims were false, of course. Their intent was to create an air of suspicion around the whistle blower and compel his employer to fire him. That action would ruin the man's career - which the Spiritual Rights Foundation intended. I remember that. Several people said they wrote letters to "get him fired".

Their next target endured something less oppressive but every bit as false and scandalous. Steve Sanchez wrote a tell-all book honestly depicting life in the cult. SRF responded with a statement on their web site claiming Steve's writings were made in the throes of mental illness. It's still there (but you have to search for it. Google: Steve Sanchez SRF to find out).

Any member, no matter if they were man or woman, if they left quietly or in rancor found that the leadership depicted them as demons, malcontents, cretins, thieves or any other derogatory or degrading description could be concocted.

Some of that made it to the public (as I describe above).

I'm not too worried about that, though. After all, lately the Spiritual Rights Foundation has been losing members and their own credibility as quickly as water runs through a sieve. No one (at least no one with two brain cells huddling together for warmth, anyway) believes their claim of being a beneficial and nurturing organization who's selfless leaders are dedicated to the advancement of their brokerage accounts.

Uh, sorry that was supposed to be the advancement of your spiritual growth. My bad...

It's still a pain in the ass to have to explain your side of the story to complete strangers who ask about the things an obscure cult in Berkeley have to say about you, though. If those strangers care to read this blog, they might have the opportunity to make up their own minds. Those strangers who start to cry, complain and beat me over the head with Bill Duby's "Cosmic Acid" aren't exactly in their right mind in the first place. So forget about them.

Anyway, it's more along the lines of the physical level. I know at least one person currently affiliated with SRF owns several firearms. One SRF official has proclaimed on the air (on their radio show "Total Prosperity") that he was tempted several times to get in his car to deliver a "healing" to certain persons.

To give you an idea of what I'm feeling right now, I was reading about Susan Atkins, the dead Manson Girl. When asked if she thought killing actress Sharon Tate was wrong, Susan Atkins said "How could it be wrong if it's done with love?"

And people wonder why she was locked up so long.

Well our own experience with an SRF "healing" had to do with love as well - the kind of love you might have run into if you were in Sharon Tate's shoes.

I'm thinking if there is trouble on the horizon, we do have a lot of things going for us. First, we live in an area that is patrolled by two law enforcement agencies. Since some local yahoos dropped in uninvited a while back, the police stepped up patrols and have been more aggressive about stopping people who look like they don't belong in an upper-middle class neighborhood. A car load of SRF dorks looking like day laborers might fit the bill. And both the Campbell and San Jose police know who lives here and who doesn't.

And those dorks know I have mad skills with the net and electronic stuff because I have buck teeth, laugh like a constipated mule, wear coke bottle glasses and wear my pants too high. Other than that, I'm like every other stereotype those SRF bucketheads can imagine.

So, I think they know how well my house is "connected". The next video I post may have some guest stars from Berkeley. And they'll take their publicity shots wearing stripes, holding a number board in front of them. The profile shot will be done at no extra charge!

I'll get into the SRF version of healing later on. But for now, the house is well-lit, the streets well-patroled, and we remain vigilant.

Pump Up The Volume

Talk hard, I like that. It's like a dirty thought in a nice clean mind. 

Truth is a virus.

Remember my dear, I can smell a lie like a fart in a car.

You know what empowers me?  It's watching films like Pump Up The Volume.  Gaining inspiration from the likes of Christian Slater giving voice to not only teenage angst and young adult confusion but also suburban men in mid-life crisis.

The strength of the human voice, the power of expression, the long-lasting and pervasive impact of words are the things that sustain me and give me the kind of enthusiasm for life in all its glory I had as a teen and a younger man.  

So, if you want to know what keeps me going, what compels me to write and propels me into the inner depths of our collective experience at the parasite-infested Spiritual Rights Foundation go take a look at Pump Up The Volume.  What kept Christian Slater going is what inspires me.

As far as the Witches of Ellsworth Street go, as they continue to flog the dead horse that is the Academy for Psychic Studies, now is a great time to expose all the half-truths, mendacities and all out lies we were told.  It's also a good time to expose their failed initiatives and let the world know what goes on behind the iron gate of the Academy.

They have one person left to operate both the San Jose and Berkeley locations.  This guy is spread thin between his duties as the lone officer of the detention facility in Berkeley where the most recent ex-followers reside, half-witted promoter of classes and activities, lame-duck member of whatever remains of the governing board of directors and his duties as the main purveyor of Academy for Psychic Studies poison I would be surprised if he can keep it up for much longer.

As they are so blind to their situation they continue to make the pretense of great activity and interest in this odd and idiotic cult, I would expect him and his leash-holders to maintain as high a pace of frantic and unorganized activity for a while, though.

Think about what happened to us and our colleagues.

Weren't we all stretched to the breaking point with attending county fairs, local fairs and whatever else the leaders could get a cheap booth at so we can provide psychic readings and healings to an unsuspecting public?  How about the money they charged for those services?  Was that distributed to anyone who took their time to provide the actual work?  How obsessed were the on-site organizers with money?  Wasn't a trusted minion assigned to collect the day's take?

After a while, it looked a lot like these public presences were anything but an opportunity to "shine our light unto the world".  It looked a lot more like we were running a lemonade stand to fill another person's pockets.

What about Health and Wealth.  H&W continues to sell helpful recordings and publications on topics such as meditation, hypnosis, self-healing and overall spiritual awareness and growth.  The CD's were about $17.  Video recordings started at somewhere around $25 and went up from there.  Don't ask about the books.

The public saw a full line of products to increase their psychic awareness and prosperity.  They saw products that just might make them feel good.

We saw something different.

Late at night, the faithful followers of the Academy for Psychic Studies spoke into microphones to create the recordings.  Other times, they acted like giddy fools for a Health and Wealth video recording or three.  And when those recordings were completed, those same followers happily packaged the goods into cases, creating the disks, copying the tapes, printing the cover sheets and placing them in a spiritually-correct way in the Academy for Psychic Studies storefront.

That work was vaunted as the highest spiritual work, outside of throwing all your cash and assets at the leaders.

What was hidden from the public, not spoken within the iron gate of the cult compound or ever even approached as a topic of conversation was the people who did the work never got paid a nickel nor were they provided with even a complimentary copy of the products they created.

Well, where is my charity, you might ask.  After discovering Health and Wealth is a separate entity from the Academy for Psychic Studies and was intended as a for-profit and TAXABLE money-making enterprise, my sense of charity faded faster than the hair color on Robin Dumolin's grey roots.

The revenues are controlled by Robin Dumolin.  It's pretty clear.  Robin is listed as the "manager" and presumed CEO of this conglomerate of psychotic products and services in several public listings.  It's also clear Health and Wealth loves to avoid taxes.

I remember one day I ran into the head psychotic, Bill Duby.  He came up to me, reeking of too-much of that cheap after shave he liked to use.  Bill related that Robin ran up to him in a panic saying the revenues of Health and Wealth was so high, they'd have to pay their fair share of income tax.

Most business owners wouldn't be bothered by that as paying income tax means they, you know, have income.  Enough income to have made a good profit.

Robin, however was in a funk.  How dare the government ask for taxes when she preferred to keep the money? 

Bill Duby, the genius founder of the cult, resident financial expert and tax guru had a brilliant plan:  just give a huge donation to the non-profit church and watch the taxes disappear.

Brilliant!  Bill had a tremendous talent for making all kinds of money disappear.  Money he threw into so many businesses, toys, cars, trucks, farm equipment, farm animals and whatever the hell else he wanted (like a King-Sized commercial satellite dish that allowed him to watch foreign language channels and other crap he couldn't understand) disappeared faster than Angela's wrinkles after her fourteenth Botox treatment.

His heirs to this perverted empire are no different.

We all know some hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent at the Blue Sky Ranch to create was was ultimately an illegal structure and unsafe environment.  We also know it will take up to a hundred thousand more to correct it, now that the county government caught on to them.

Still, they pamper themselves in trips to the spa and shopping sprees.  Religious retreats are the order of the day, allowing Robin and Angela to ease away the stresses of their busy days.  The cult headquarters was painted and re-decorated just a few years after it was painted and re-decorated.  Boxes from QVC and online shopping sites arrive regularly as well.

Through it all, Angela professes her dedication to keeping alive a spiritual place for sensitive beings.  A schedule of classes continues.  Open house healing clinics remain open.  Promotions for the elite Clairvoyant Training Program are continually held.

The voice of the Academy for Psychic Studies remains in the public eye, although it's sounding a little hoarse and ragged these days.

The class descriptions are lame and the usual class enrollment is about, oh, ZERO.  A few special classes are held, usually for female issues.  No teacher is listed for those classes, though.  I doubt the corpulent remaining follower would teach it as one look of him will clear the room.  If one of the Witches has the will to pull away from Oprah re-runs or QVC long enough to face a room full of quizzical faces, there is a chance they'd have one or two people who'd attend.  But as that requires exposure to the public, maybe not.

A few retreats to places like Calistoga and the "healing center" in Berkeley (which is the insect infested back yard of the Academy) are offered for prices that would cause a stroke.  Public appearances are rare.  In fact, you'd be hard pressed to find any event the Academy for Psychic Studies attends, except for whatever they do in their own compound.

Still the voice of those who have been there and have seen the inner workings of this cult and have been the victims of its abuse, exploitation and bad practices remain strong.

I have no stats on how many people read the Academy for psychic Studies site but I can tell you my perusal of this blog's stats show people are reading intensely and regularly.  A few of them make comments.  Most read.

Like Christian Slater's character, the volume of the readers are pumped up and moves them away from the remains of abuse into the path of recovery and true freedom.  With the Witches of Ellsworth Street being shown as having no clothes and the public now seeing their true nature, what was once a small voice crying out from your inner being has the freedom to shout.

Or maybe all it really needs to do is say "now, things are better.  much better".



Now, if you want to see a bit about someone who has found him/her self much better, you should take a look at this entry in a certain blog written by someone who may be familiar to you readers.  Before you do, I will tell you if you have triggers (well, I guess if you did you wouldn't be reading THIS blog) you should take care with this link.  As this person's departure from the inner sanctum of the Academy for Psychic Studies was not discussed publicly until now, I think it would be of interest to those of us who read this blog.

http://healedhearthypnosis.com/2012/06/08/graceful-transitions-and-the-art-of-giving/

Keep in mind I take no position on this person's spiritual views.  As always, I leave those issues for you to decide.  However, the main takeaway on this thing seems to have some relationship to a couple of Witches quite likely taking revenge.  If you were to add up the things that happened in the last couple of years: the revenue ISHI Hypnosis has not realized (due to lack of interest), the fact this person joined a losing lawsuit against this blog, that the Clairvoyant Training Program evaporated as well as the Witches wanting to preserve their cut of the action at the expense of anyone else, I think it's clear the only deal you get with the Witches of Ellsworth Street is one where YOU lose.

Making a Mezz Out of the Blue Sky Ranch

The newly remodeled Blue Sky Ranch!

built like a brick... house

Well, the Witches of Ellsworth Street have their work cut out for them.  Actually, it's the crap mobile home they had us slave over at the Blue Sky Ranch in Bethel Island that's getting cut out.

The Witches built out an illegal second floor (a "mezzanine" technically) in the amazingly illegal main structure.  The second floor was finished with drywall, outfitted with a single shower and toilet and two dormitories that were intended to cram so many people in them, they would look like one of Tyson's chicken factories.  However, unlike Tyson's chickens you'd approach the bunk beds in your cramped sleeping quarters by way of an authentic hand-built oak staircase.

Any of us with the Academy for Psychic Studies Healing Retreat experience know there is less attention paid on attendee comfort and more attention paid to the Witches getting paid as much as possible.  Installing adequate facilities cuts into the Witches profits.  Why can't you twelve people learn to use that one shower and single toilet?  If you can't wait, you'll need to learn how to piss in the field and jump in the goose pond as the bathroom line could be as long as the line of convicts in the Witches Kangaroo Kourt.

Of course, the purpose of that mezzanine was to entrap as many people there as possible (one weekend at a time) so the Witches can collect $300 or so from each of them for the privilege of roasting in the hot sun, freezing in the winter's cold and being packed six at a time into rooms better suited for two.  That the windows were so small you could barely wave your hand out them in an emergency was a stroke of genius: when the people attending a retreat were caught in a flood, they would be easily eliminated and the bodies would be hidden until the surviving inmates returned to put them in the ground with the rest of the dead animals.  How about that!  No Witnesses!

So, I guess that's why the Blue Sky Ranch is still on the market for a still-outrageous price.  It's also still being touted as a luxurious corporate retreat.

I can tell you as a guy who's been on corporate retreats: this ain't no luxurious corporate retreat.  Well, it would be the first corporate retreat where I would have to dance around the goose shit and cow dung on my way to the outdoor shower and shit house (located next to the pig pen - I'm NOT kidding).  So, I guess it's got value there.  Why would we corporate types want to have a place where there are adequate facilities to feed us during the day, pour booze for us all night and allow us to nurse our hangovers in spacious meeting areas while we try to make our way through a presentation of quarterly objectives and market analysis?  The Blue Sky Ranch has a decrepit barn, Tuff Sheds smelling of horse turds and an abandoned chicken coop with a forgotten bird or two left behind.  The Witches of Ellsworth consider those to be more than adequate accommodations for those of us who know how to wear a suit as they usually consider cramming their followers in those facilities while the second floor mezzanine was under construction.

Eventually that second floor was completed but somewhat below the Witches high expectations.  To enhance the illegal second floor mezzanine to the high standards of the rest of this shithole, the Witches will be making a few minor amendments to their floor plan:

That the shower, toilet, sink, lighting, dormitories, parquet wood floor coverings, wall boards, wall studs, window trim, ceiling, insulation and white trash curtains from K Mart have to be permanently removed doesn't matter.  I mean, wouldn't the Blue Sky Ranch be still unbelievably valuable as a corporate retreat center even though there's no place to, you know, retreat?

No matter.  Such a uncomplicated and uncluttered space is completely in character for this bucolic rural retreat.  Why, plumbing, lights, ventilation, finished floors and safety from drowning and emergency exits would just plain spoil the pristine beauty of the Blue Sky Ranch and Bethel Island.  The corporate types will be glad to leave their complex world of creature comforts behind to sleep on a dirty, unfinished floor in a building that could kill them while they grope around for a light switch that isn't there.

So, when the Witches finally get to the point where they are demolishing that ground floor space, removing the cabinetry, appliances, furniture, wall boards, wall studs, ceiling, tile floor and more white trash curtains from K Mart, at least they'll still have that fucking oak staircase.  What a great thing to have in your storage space!  Imagine the value of a real, hand-built oak staircase situated in an area where you can't have lighting, plumbing, bedrooms or anyone who might see it.  I think I'll install an oak staircase in my own garage so I can show I can be as stupid, careless, and have the same disregard for safe building practices as Angela Silva and Robin Dumolin.  Oh, and wasteful too.

When Angela and Robin were able to use their cat 'o nine tales to whip the slaves into erecting this homage to exploitation, they cried of their poverty and that we of little faith and spiritual inferiority were doing all we can to take advantage of their generosity and renege on our commitment to sweat, bleed, empty our wallets, drain our savings and charge up our credit cards to create a community in the swamp.

We were always taunted with pleas to give to them so they can complete their monument.  The Witches would always be quick to take our money and slow to ever give it out.  Did they feed anyone who worked for them?  Did they pay any of the cult members who worked for them?  Were any of the cult members recognized or thanked for their hard work?

Well... no.

Instead, we were all berated for not giving all the Witches wanted us to give.  We were demeaned when slaving away on our free evenings and weekends was seen as inadequate.  We were driven to work harder than we had ever worked before to complete a demented and warped vision on a farm that (at least at the time) was the personal property of the Witches themselves.

That the Witches now have to remediate the Blue Sky Ranch at the point of the building inspector's pen is the one shining light in the dark cavern that is our experience with the Academy for Psychic Studies.

However satisfying it may be, I don't see it as comic and spiritual retribution.  It's more simple than that.  

It's just plain justice.

Salute the True Colors of the Academy for Psychic Studies

A member demonstrates the official
Spiritual Rights Foundation salute

Quite possibly the biggest complaint made by the Spiritual Rights Foundation was that no member or supporter was allowed to post a comment on this blog.

As usual, that claim was just plain false.

At about the time SRF was making the lame and incompetent attempt to sue this blog and everyone else who doesn't like them out of existence, I made a comment on Joy's blog.  I invited one of the most vocal and obnoxious persons who has ever been allowed near a computer to come comment right here on this blog.  I promised not to reply, block or delete their comments.  They could comment as much as they pleased.  However, because this person incited a major firestorm on Joy's blog and on YouTube, I asked him/her to be more thoughtful and direct about what they believed was true.  I also asked him/her to tone down the aggressive statements because all he/she was doing was igniting a flame war, which I really didn't want to have here.

Before anyone says I must have lit a fire of my own, please read the comment.  I said something like: show everyone how intelligent you really are and make a well-thought and well-formed comment in the way I know you can do.  That would keep the flamers from being, you know, flamers.

Again, as usual, this person came back with a comment that showed his/her true colors: sour and nasty.

There were people who replied to this person asking him/her to stop telling us his/her father was a dirtbag as he had his kid's best interest at heart and truly cared for them.  He/she made up a story about our activities making things even worse for them.  It's just another example of a Spiritual Rights Foundation member adopting the SRF edict of blaming everyone else for all the things they don't like.  I mean, if the leaders could blame all the followers for all the things the leaders did wrong, why can't the followers blame everyone around them for all the things the followers didn't like?

The remaining few at this wacky cult are still blaming us and the world for their current travails.  I am sure if I were to go out for a dinner near the secluded SRF storefront in San Jose, the remaining corpulent sycophant will give me the SRF salute if he were to see me.

The habit of withdrawal and the shifting of responsibility is so strong with the former members, most won't acknowledge any other former member or they will associate only with a small circle of familiar culties who have nothing really good to say or hope someone will take the blame for their travails.

I'll take the blame!  Why not!  I get to feel vindicated, and those guys will go away to the same kind of wretched existence they've always lived!  I have heard of those who still sing the praises of the cult even though they secretly loathe it.  I know of some who are practicing the wicked art of psychic reading and healing in the same perverted manner.  Even more still do the daily mind-erasing practices of energy running and the futile attempt at picture blowing.  All while they continue to harbor enmity against all of us who speak out in public or listen to those who do.  

So many of those raised at this idiot cult and who were indoctrinated in their ways were trained to respond to Spiritual Rights Foundation enemies with the same kind of vitriol and unrestrained adolescent bullying tactics it's a wonder to me how anyone got out of there with a few embers of humanity still glowing.

Of course, those tactics are the ones employed by none other than the current leaders of the cult - the DEAD one too.

A recent comment here by a prospective caretaker of the infamous Blue Sky Ranch confirmed they kinds of soul-crushing and demeaning verbiage used with we former members were utilized on anyone the leaders thought was an enemy or otherwise.

And speaking of the Blue Sky Ranch, they have applied for a permit for that Death Row style second floor dormitory.  They'll have to remove the cells, the San Quentin toilets, the double-tier cots and otherwise bring it into compliance (or pay a hefty fine) but the permit is applied for.  Who knows if they'll follow through with the repairs, though.  Wouldn't you want to pay a half-million for a structure that is illegal and would have to be repaired or torn down at your expense?  Looks like the Witches of Ellsworth are thinking just that.  This damn place is back on the market and it is unlikely any corrections have been made.

So what do you think Angela Silva will say when a prospective buyer tells her the Blue Sky Ranch isn't worth the price she's asking and that the illegal work will have to be corrected or the price reduced to reflect the true value of the property?

Probably something like what the commenter below has to say:

1. Mike KawaharaJanuary 20, 2009 1:17 AM

   ****** and ***** are commenting on this and other forums, especially the ISHI and SRF related YouTube pages that Joy has put up. And when they comment, the follow-ups that appear have been fierce.
   
   You two are grown women now so it's not appropriate for me to tell anyone to lay off you as it was when you were children. But I will tell you that you really ought to leave any arguments between parties not involving you alone. If you get caught up in that stuff, you'll make yourself a target.
   
   That has happened already in a previous post. Don't go through life with a kick me sign on your back. But by changing the way you comment, you can change the kinds of responses you receive.
   
   You've both been reading my blog. You haven't commented yet. I won't stop you from commenting and I won't delete your comments if you do. In fact, I won't even make a response if you care to comment.
   
   But I can't do anything about anyone who responds in the vicious manner you guys seem to attract with the kind of sarcastic, unfocused and sophomoric comments you have been making.
   
   I'm betting that the people who slammed you on this blog are now furiously searching my blog and YouTube for your comments and are plotting their attack.
   
   Get off that radar screen. You just don't need it. Lay low for a while. Then if you want to post a thoughtful comment, do that instead of trying to incite the kind of responses you have been getting. Thoughtful comments will make you look good. Thoughtful comments show you in your best light. Thoughtful comments won't give people a reason to flame you.
   
   Show them how smart you really are. Show them how you can address the issues. Show them you can write clearly with a point to communicate.
   
   I know you can. ***** writes for the school paper. ****** supervises workers. You two can work together to make a great and passionate statement instead of making two sarcastic, unfocused, unorganized ones.
   
   It's your choice now that you are adults. How would you like to be remembered? As two talented young women with a good point or two little girls with a bad temper?

   Reply
2. 
   ***** **** **********January 25, 2009 10:42 PM

   Whoa, looks like I’m pissing someone off. Hit a nerve, did I?
   My status on this blog went from being the poor victim of forced child labor and abuse, to a bitch and whore. I guess you guys don’t like it when people point out the flaws in your concocted stories.
   
   On the note of this blog being one big ridiculous invasion of my life, I’d like to request that you leave out ******** too. I realize in all you peoples renditions of the past, he is cast as a helpless victim. Which makes sense, because you’re all friends and its much more fun to tell fairy tales about big bad Bill ruining everything.
   But bringing him into this is unfair to him, and to our relationship. It only adds stress to our relationship. I can absolutely guarantee that none of you know the full story behind everything that happened between us, and you sound naïve pretending you do. I don’t need anyone to tell me to give him a fathers day card, or that I should thank him for my ‘freedom.’
   My dad and I agree on this so if you can’t show me the respect (since many of you perceive me as a evil bitch), at least show it to your friend, ********.
   Thanks for looking out for me Mike, Laying low was never my style, but I appreciate the concern. I can take the fierce comments. They’re entertaining, but kind of a let down. I would enjoy being dragged over hot coals so much more if I at least knew who it was the feels such hatred towards me.
   As for my writing style, I am sorry if it comes off too sarcastic for your taste. I’m trying to tone it down. (No joke, my mom, dad and even my boyfriend tell me I need too.)
   Hopefully you remember that I’m a very sarcastic person, and when it comes to responding to the ridiculous stuff I see on here I guess that tone comes out a bit too strong.
   I do disagree with you on my writing skills. I feel I come across clearly enough.
   You said I am unfocused, unorganized and sophomoric. I don’t think so.
   If I may quote your wife “But like, Its like, you know, ummm, it obviously shows... ummm, you know, ummm, yeah. I don’t know. It shows a lot. Yeah. So, anyways. . .”
   If I am unfocused, unorganized and sophomoric, then surely we can categorize Joy’s communication skills as infantile?
   (That’s a real quote. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nxy3atB5_3Q. . . I realize you may suffer a boredom induced coma from trying to watch the entire video, so just go to 8:22)
   
   As for how I would like to be remembered by the writers and commenters of this blog, that’s not something I am really concerned about. I highly doubt there is anything I can say that will change your perceptions of me.
   I’m not fooling myself into thinking that anything I have written on here will change your guys’ mind. Don’t worry, I know I am wasting my time. It hardly matters if I come off eloquent or a mess, either way it will be twisted to suit how you all choose to view me.
   
   Anyways, this little Internet exchange is hardly entertaining for me. I post with my name, and willingly take the online beatings that inevitably follow. Yet all of you who are so quick to throw me under the bus post your thoughts anonymously. BORING.
   As I said before, I have nothing to hide or be ashamed of. You all apparently do.
   Then again, if I where a adult posting trash like: “If you girls were stone cold drunk, I wouldn't even want to take advantage of you. Wouldn't want to soil myself on such piece of trash. I might catch something.” or “LETS TURN UP THE HEAT AND SEE HOW LONG IT TAKES TO MELT THESE BARBIE DOLLS!”
   I guess I would have something to be ashamed about. Have fun hiding.

   Reply

Serving Up The 4th - Academy for Psychic Studies Style

Alice is your new mediator.

I'll give her whatever she wants...

Well, what a hello to the regular week:  had to deal with not one, but two clods who are stirring up trouble in their own way and doing my best to help out the people they affected.  It's interesting that these two situations are on opposite sides of the coast and that they are somewhat flip sides of similar issues.

You won't get details on those situations from me but I will say neither are directly cult-related, although one of them is peripherally related to cult issues.


Anyway, I was actually hoping to tell you about a different situation.  This was a happy situation.  It's pretty much about what we did this Independence Day weekend and some of the thoughts I had during it.

We did a good deal of things this weekend like look out the window and realize some yahoos were using really illegal fireworks in our neighborhood.  The Campbell PD came by to shut them down and that restored a little calm to the area - at least we don't have to worry about them setting the neighborhood on fire tonight.

I will admit, the fireworks they were using were pretty awesome.

A local church - actually the big church a couple of blocks away, held a 4th of July Spectacular at an outdoor concert venue.  They had musical performances, plays, exhibits and a fireworks display about as awesome as the yahoos in our neighborhood were putting on.

OK, so the show was pretty much Velveeta-worthy and the tributes to the USA, our military and our American Way Of Life were themselves cheddar-ific.  But for a evangelical mega-church, you have to admit they did a fantastic job and they included as many of the church members in the show as they could and created a fun event.

It was a big affair - the venue is the kind used for arena rock shows and big events like OzzFest and Lilith Fair.  Lots 'o people came to take in the show.

You saw polite church volunteers everywhere helping people find a seat, making sure the elderly and handicapped were comfortable and basically being welcoming and friendly to their neighbors.

Food and drink vendors were present but most of the audience brought in picnic meals of their own.

The bottom line: this whole thing was free.

Yes, free.

Free fireworks (without the threat of burning down houses or having to answer a misdemeanor charge, like the neighborhood yahoos would), free entertainment and free activities while you wait for the show to start.  This show was open to all, no matter your faith.

Everyone here was here for a good time - even those who were behind the scenes putting on the show.  Actually, I think ESPECIALLY those behind the scenes.

Why is that?  I think it's because that church has a mission to serve the community.  That church is well known here for their commitment to community service, helping those with addiction recovery, helping couples with disabled children have a night to themselves for a change, serving where needed - even helping the neighborhood dispose of the old junk you have lying around.

This is a church who gives back to where they receive their support.  Any wonder why they are so large and why they are well regarded?


During the show Joy asked what I usually did for the 4th - I told her we'd commit arson.  As a kid, I'd spend Independence Day with my grandfather in the Central Valley.  That man, 5 foot nothing and 100 pounds soaking wet, would love that holiday, despite what the nation did to him and his family.  He'd be seen standing with a huge grin on his face holding a tray of TNT, Dynamite, C-4 plastic explosive and a box of sparklers asking "Wanna blow shit up?".

That's one of those "I can't believe I survived that" stories.

After that, of course I got mixed up with a different group of hooligans and malcontents.  These guys carried the books of Rev.William Duby and smacked you across the face with them.

At the Academy, the 4th wasn't about blowing shit up (except for the rose-blowing we were forced to do when we asked to grill hot dogs instead of work).  It wasn't about having a fun day at a park or other venue enjoying a little entertainment.  It for sure wasn't about honoring the birth of our great country.

It was about working your ass off.

How many of us remember not taking the day off and celebrating as we normally would?  How many of us remember how we were assigned (did I say "assigned"?  I meant "agreed with a warm and nourishing attitude",  my bad...)  to perform psychotic readings and healings at county fairs?  How about how we were told to not only pay for our own transportation, we would have to pay for our own food and lodging. How about sleeping in smelly old tents provided by the cult - for the bargain price of $35 a night.  How about sitting in a hot, dry fair hall all day waiting to give a psychotic reading that never came. What about sitting outdoors in 100 degree heat under a barely-enough tarp that seemed to make thing hotter?  What about having to walk the fair in that same 100 degree heat in the middle of the afternoon risking heat stroke and severe sunburn to attract customers for psychotic readings who were smart enough to stay indoors?

That's what the students were told to endure as part of the fun learning experience of their psychotic training.

And if you hadn't agreed to work the county fairs with a warm an nourishing attitude or if you were a male minister, you can have fun in the 100 degree sunshine of the cult leaders' farm in Bethel Island, CA.  You would have the privilege of shoveling manure, tending to animals that will be sold for the leaders' benefit, improving the leaders' living quarters with deluxe A/C and other amenities while you get to stay in an old trailer saturated with dirt from the Delta winds, with no electricity, water, toilet or shower.  No meals either.

There was plenty to do at cult HQ.  The newspaper still needed to be published and the web site needed updating and there were more recordings to be made.  You'll have to spend the night working on all that while maintaining your warm and nourishing attitude.  You'd be happy to work all night too: the web and recordings were produced in the attic, which would become evilly hot on a summer's day.

I remember one 4th weekend I spent at SRF with Joy.  We were sent to a county fair in Northern California (which I won't name just yet).  As the weather was hot enough to cook hot dogs without a grill, we passed on the cult's generous offer of paying them to sleep in a smelly tent on a hot night and being served fried, salt-coated grease for dinner for a comfortable hotel and healthy meals.  I especially enjoyed dining at the CIA at Greystone - oops, that just gave away the location. my bad...

Sure we got a hard time for it.  It was thought we were acting like we were above the hard working followers who chose to sleep in the horse pasture the cult rented and eat the grease balls served on a bed of weeds and flour paste.  They thought we were displaying our own inadequacies by showing the arrogance of staying in a place that didn't smell of horse dung and served healthy meals.

It didn't stop there.  They women of the cult in particular gave Joy and I a hard time because we dared to stand up for ourselves.  They told me to go walk around in the 102 degree heat of a Northern California summer's day.  I told them I was recovering from heart failure and such a walk would pretty much kill me.  That remark caused several stern looks, gritting teeth, faces red with anger and knife sharpening.

Joy got a hard time because she was with me.  They women thought they could get to me through Joy.  As Joy was a bit younger and was my spouse, the women of the cult worked her over to get her to force me to comply with their desires - and those desires were focused on ensuring I was fully subservient to their needs to be honored as spiritually superior and perfect beings while I listen to them tell me all the ways I am a scumbag.

The first night after all that, Joy was up very late angry about what happened.  I was exhausted but stayed up anyway like a good spouse should.

That foul atmosphere and climate of anger was directed at us all weekend.  Why?  It boiled down to our hotel room.  Interestingly, this psychotic church emphasizes "havingness".  "Havingness" was never defined but it appeared to mean you can accept the good things that you have and can enjoy the the good things that come to you - like a cool and comfortable hotel room and healthy meals.

Unfortunately, when you are displaying a "havingness" that is a cut above what the unfortunate faithful of the Academy for Psychic Studies can "have" the faithful display their "havingness" of harassment, hatred, dehumanization and envy right at you.

You really couldn't expect the leaders to come to your aid.  If they noticed, they'd just laugh their collective asses off.  Usually though, someone would complain and you'd end up being debased in front of all the warm and nourishing psychotics who embrace the concept of "havingness" of having your ass kicked.

Of course, the concept of "havingness" extends well past the followers.  Your "havingness" has to be acknowledged to the Supreme Being through a charitable tithe of 10% to 30% of your bounty to the church who told you to give it up.  Since we were told the church is embodied in Angela Silva and Robin Dumolin, you'd better pay them the tithe to thank them for the things you receive.

I think I'll go back and enjoy that cheese-a-rific Independence Day show our local church is putting on.  In fact, I plan to go there every year they have it.

I'll also drop a 20 in their donation bucket every time because 20 bucks given to that church is demonstrably and visibly paid back to the community in spades.

Can you say the same about 20 dollars donated to the Academy for Psychic Studies?

Your Opportunity For Learning

Rose McGowan is... uh.... ummm...

crap, I forgot what the hell I was going to say

The OFL.

It stands for "Opportunity For Learning". It's really a fine. A fine you pay any time a leader or one of their designated henchmen is offended by your words, deeds, appearance, aura, chakra, energy, or because your trousers are clean and pressed.

To reinforce the "learning" process, the students of the Academy for Psychic Studies were given special projects to accomplish. Over some retreats, Clairvoyant Training Program students were given tasks to perform on a particular schedule. Enforcement was strict. Really strict.

The amounts of the "OFL" was set pretty much arbitrarily. Usually, it ranged from $50 to hundreds of dollars per infraction. Over a retreat weekend, some students racked up over a thousand dollars in "OFL's".

How or what this fine did to help in the student's education is still not known. I have personally seen OFL's levied for infractions such as moving a clock on a table so you can answer a call on the "Psychic Help Line". Apparently, the clock was not to be touched, even if you had to move it to accomplish the cult's work. I've seen others levied because people used the front entrance at a County Fair rather than sneaking in through the back. Once, I saw a fine levied for an OFL because the offender had appeared a few minutes EARLY for a gathering. Her explanation that she was attempting to avoid being late didn't matter. Her instruction was to show up exactly at the appointed time only (which, of course, is an impossible task).

And that is the main failure of the OFL. At the Spiritual Rights Foundation, there is no such thing as a reasonable task. There is such a thing as a stupid, unreasonable, impossible and ludicrous task to be heaved on the shoulders of anyone below the rank of Robin Dumolin, Angela Silva or Bill Duby.

One happened to me. Bill had some kind of catalog for RV supplies. It was a big one full of everything for the sophisticated RV buyer like Bill. Bill handed the thing to me one afternoon asking me to take a look at it. I accepted and told him exactly how long I would have it and where it would be when I was done.

After ten minutes or so of flipping the pages (I wasn't THAT interested in it) I put the catalog exactly where I said I would put it. Ten minutes was a little less than the time I told him but it was close enough.

While no one was looking, someone came along and snatched up the catalog, probably for a little toilet reading. When Bill came to retreive his beloved catalog and found it gone, he mustered the troops to surround ME with accusations of betrayal, instant trances to force me to divulge the whereabouts of the missing catalog. Oh, and impose upon me an OFL. I don't recall the amount but it was one hell of a lot more than that damn catalog was worth.

While all this was going on and while the sludge-encrusted minds of Robin and Angela concocted the amount of the OFL and the duration of my subsequent punishment and derision, someone discovered the catalog was returned to exactly where I left it. Even those fucking half-wits had to admit I had nothing to do with the catalog's disappearance.

So, this arbitrary fine, this concoction of the SRF Kangaroo Kourt called the Opportunity For Learning has not a thing to do with learning. Or opportunty. Or anything at all. Well, nothing at all except to drop a couple of hundred into someone's pocket. And to satisfy someone's need to control. Oh, and the preverse, psychotic and sadistic desire to watch a person with few resources, someone who is dedicating much of his wealth and income to an organization that worships only money get socked for even more of his hard earned cash. Even cash he may need to survive.

Because, wouldn't you rather be in love than be right? Wouldn't you rather be giver? Isn't money no good unless you spend it? And aren't you worth an investment in yourself? So invest in that Opportunity For Learning.  Just remember you won't get your principal investment back.  Or interest.  Of anything more than a kick in the ass.

At some organizations, fines are levied in fun. I once fined a guy a pound of Kona coffee and a box of chocolate-covered macadamia nuts because he was answering his work email on his vacation in Hawaii. We shared the Kona coffee and macadamia nuts when he got back and yes, they were amazing. Sometimes, they are levied for a specific purpose. James Brown vowed to slap his musicians with a $100 fine if they came on stage with unpolished shoes. I'd say that's reasonable to expect, considering he's the Godfather of Soul.

There was no real, specific purpose for an SRF fine. It just depended on how crappy a mood the giver of the fine happened to be in and whatever that person can think of to tell someone who believes they are doing the right thing they are doing something completely wrong.

Yes, it's arbitrary. Yes it is punitive. And yes, it made no damn sense at all.

But the leaders imposed it, and people paid it.

You had to.

The leadership was meticulous about accounting for every nickel levied against you as an OFL fine. In fact, some of the figures I heard of seemed impossible, as if there were double-booking of the fines or inflation of the amount imposed on the hapless victim.

And that detailed, slightly accurate record would follow you around until it was paid. In full. If you did not pay in full, you would be denied the ministerial title you worked so hard to achieve.

Well actually, you put up with a hell of a lot of crap to get it.

OK, so it's more like you stuck a "kick me" sign on the seat of you pants while the leaders rummaged through your pockets to get it.

I'm sure someone, somewhere is just burning up with frustration wanting to ask me how I can say the Spiritual Rights Foundation can pick your pocket while slapping you in the face.

The answer is three letters:

OFL

Anonymous said...

Most of the time, the students were given a very difficult assignment that took them to camping spots, casinos and of course county or city fairs. Usually, it was a set up, as Bill would make it difficult for the unsuspecting students to complete the task. We were suppose to use our intuition in fulfilling not only the spirit of the law but of the letter.

So, he would create the rules and regulations of assignment, knowing it was going to fail because he pigeon holed the students to fail! So after a while, one of the founding members offered OFL insurance for a flat fee. Sometimes the flat fee would be 2 or 3 hundred dollars per year class student on assignment. That way, they would have no fear of screwing up and getting fined, and just enjoy the assignment and the journey through it.

Sometimes they would roll the dice and have to pay over $500 for one weekend alone! In the later years, when they realized those with less deep pockets than the early stalwarts were given a free pass. Though in return, they would lean more on the staff and especially the older ones who had their pockets picked for years in the name of "spiritual freedom".

One of the leaders was famous for emotionally black mailing ministers and students if having to collect donations for a false cause (hay for the farm which is owned by Robin DuMolin and Angela Silva not the church), a lavish birthday gift for Rev. Bill, Angela or Robin, by saying..."Don't you want to give to your church"? Implying that we didn't or that we wanted to spend it friviously on I don't know...US!

If you didn't comply, someone would smile in your face, and then report back those who were stuck in their personality and wouldn't give. In fact, our monthly staff meetings and pre church service minister class, there would be between 5 and 8 envelopes passed around with an occasional abusive verbal beat down if they didn't receive what was expected of them.

Then turn around and tell us how expectations were a bad thing and always with strings attached.

Angela Silva probably was laughing at us all for falling for her bullshit causes. As Rev. Bill would say, she is back at home marinating her fat! Lord knows she never did any work except for spew bullshit out of her mouth at meetings.

September 4, 2009 3:05 PM