Santa Claus Rage

I'm going to relate an experience I had at SRF. It involves a certain individual who I will not name. The intent here is not to expose that person's behavior or cause embarrassment, but to illustrate and give some background to SRF's response and one of the ways that they discourage good medical care.

Some years ago, the Academy for Psychic Studies operated a Santa Claus booth at a local Christmas Fair. I attended as often as I could. We would let any kid sit with Santa and charged a few bucks if the parents wanted a picture. I got to take pictures of dozens of the cutest kids in the world sitting on Santa's lap. It was a great time for me.

We had guys rotating as Santa, as the fair lasted some 10 hours and that's a long time to sit in a Santa suit. Usually we would have them sit for no more than an hour as that suit gets pretty hot. Steve Sanchez was one of the booth's more popular Santas. He just had a way of engaging the kids and making them feel like they were with Santa Claus himself. He would do a deep ho-ho-ho and a hearty Merry Christmas while ringing his sleigh bells. The kids would run to him and wouldn't leave until they had given him their whole Christmas wish list for the next ten years. Taking pictures of the kids sitting with him was a lot of fun.

One of the guys playing Santa was truly a maniacal member of SRF. This fellow was a hard-core and fairly new student in the basic level of the Clairvoyant Training Program (which I attended) and frankly, he scared the crap out of me. This guy not only took every single class that was offered, he listened to the SRF-published recordings and watched all the videos while not in class. His "dedication to the teaching" made him a very popular guy there. The church leadership held him up as an enthusiastic learner and that he was succeeding practicing meditation and induced trance states. Every unattached female (and a few attached ones) were eyeballing him for a mate and a few were making moves on him. He not only scared the crap out of me, he had a certain way of making me feel like crap when in his presence.

At the Christmas Fair, he pulled nearly a double shift in a hot Santa suit. Instead of doing the ho-ho-ho and Merry Christmas thing letting the kids come to him, he'd try to persuade kids to come sit on his lap. He would shake a basket of candy canes, tell the kids "Hey, it's Santa! Come sit on my lap". He'd even work on the parents, speaking to them directly to drop their kids on his lap. There weren't a lot of takers, as I recall. Hell, if I were one of those parents, I'd pull my kid out of there as quick as I could.

Why he was so aggressive?

After the fair closed for the day, I had dinner at a local steak house with "Santa" and an SRF minister. While tearing through his Porterhouse, old Santa there went on and on about how it was his calling to be the real Santa and he was to bring to message of the spirit of Christmas to the parents of the kids he was pulling in. He went on to talk about how he saw that people were getting a "healing" from his presence as Santa and punctuated his speech with a hearty "THAT'S BECAUSE I'M SANTA CLAUS".

Whoa.

The minister present (perhaps wisely) said nothing.

I finally had enough. I had to do something to get his feet back on the ground. So I said to him, "Maybe you can let those people find their own Spirit of Christmas. It will be a lot easier on you." He said something that I couldn't understand then went back to ripping up his steak, miffed at the affront to his ego.

I thought it would be a great time to head for the Men's room. While I was gone, (as the minister present related to me) "Santa" leaped from his chair, reached across, grabbed the minister by the shirt with both hands and while pulling him over the table and his half-eaten steak bellowed:

"YOU'VE GOT TO OWN YOUR MINSTER SPACE AND SHUT THAT GUY UP!"

The minister then went to the Men's room himself. Not to find me, but to check his underwear.

Two days later, "Santa" went berserk at the SRF headquarters saying that he was sent to save the church from evil influences (probably me) and while running through the building, worked himself into a frenzy shouting about the tidal wave of evil spirits and other threats to SRF and society and that he would be the one to save SRF and the world. He was then quickly heaved out the door. He was left on the street, pounding on the gate shouting about his mandate to save us from evil.

I was not there at the time, so this is a second-hand account of the event. I did hear from several people, including my wife, talking about that event and how scary it was. So, I guess I wasn't the only one who was scared by "Santa".

Now, anyone with a brain would have looked at this event would think: "psychotic episode" - a serious medical event, and would immediately dial 911 for the psychiatric emergency team. He could get the help he needed and you would truly have saved a soul.

But no one at SRF believes in psychiatry or in mental illnesses. So no call was made and no help was obtained. It was blamed on the usual cast of evil spirits and he was just dismissed from our world.

I learned that Santa had a reputation for somewhat disturbing behavior. At one time, the founder said that he could not handle Santa and that it was now the membership's task to keep him in control. He did have a history of drug abuse and some behaviors that ranged from unsavory to potentially dangerous. He was also in a extraordinarily contentious divorce with his wife. 
The court allowed Santa only short, supervised visits with their child due to some concerns about the child's safety. The stress of all that was huge.

I once came to SRF, entering from the rear and going into the basement (as we lower-vibration students who were constantly on the shit list were asked to do). As I approached to basement door, I heard a loud, animated and very angry voice booming from the room. It was Santa, on the phone, bellowing about his frustrations about his divorce and child custody battles.
Santa was working up to this momentous event. Psychosis happens more often that not when someone is under a lot of stress. I saw that happen three times by the time I was 26 years old. It never left my memory.

Later, after a cooling-off period, he was allowed back in to SRF and was given some conditions to observe. Apparently, they realized this fellow had been through a very bad divorce with severe problems with visiting his child. He lost his house in the divorce and was living in his car. There was nowhere else he could go where he could be accepted.

The stress on this guy was enormous. He was having a very hard time because of his divorce but still came up with enough money to buy everything SRF. Seeing an opportunity, they told him that if he would settle down and be humble, he could stay. He later returned the favor by signing over to SRF a plot of land he owned. Whether that was part of the deal, I don't know.
Santa's return was kept quiet. No one knew about it for a while. It later leaked that Santa would return. Back to the Clairvoyant Training Program, where I was still a student. One night in class, a fellow student (somewhat concerned about safety, I think) asked about him and his status. It was confirmed that Santa would return and that certain conditions would apply. It was also said that although he was not yet finished with his fundamental-level training, he would advance to the higher level of training immediately. There was a palpable sense of relief in the class upon hearing this news. He scared the crap out of us all.

He made it through fairly quickly, graduating as a minister. All graduates were given a final exam known as the Ordination Review Board. We were all present at this event as it was touted as a "validation of your knowledge". Basically, it was just theater. Bad theater.

"Santa" took that review. Despite some strange and incomprehensible answers to the questions posed and despite not knowing the basic tenets of the teaching, he passed. Bad theater indeed.

In the days following, several people commented on how bizarre the "Santa" ordination exam was. There was doubt that he was ready to be a minister. More telling was that each person said "that was the scariest graduation I have ever seen here".

Well, now I can feel I was right all along. He scared me from the beginning.

He's still there and he is teaching classes and doing whatever other work the church asks of him. They say they chased all the wolves out of his space and he is clean.

I wonder, though. Had that call to the psychiatric emergency team been made the day he had an episode, would he have still scared the living crap out of everyone through his behavior in the following years? Wouldn't some treatment for the enormous stress, delusions and uncontrolled behavior been in order? This guy wasn't just acting out, he was in pain. Mental pain. And he needed more help than a place like SRF can provide.

Well, to SRF medicine can't help. Prayer does. Meditation does. But "Santa" was praying and meditating and learning all the SRF techniques available. And he was practicing with all his might and consuming all his time with it. So, with all that learning, all that devotion, all that practice and all the validation that he is doing it right, how does it happen that techniques that are said to be beneficial aren't? Why is it that a man could be driven to a psychotic episode by faithfully using calming and soothing meditation?

Margaret Singer described a condition called "relaxation-induced anxiety" that is recognized by the American Psychiatric Association. This happens when someone meditates and sees uncomfortable or disturbing mental imagery or may have physical pain or other discomfort. She cites cases where people can enter psychosis and delusions from practicing meditation. Some can meditate for a few minutes without problem, some cannot meditate at all without problem.  I'll bet "Santa" continued to meditate and enter trance states while experiencing psychosis because he didn't know any better. It probably made things worse for him and likely put him over the edge.

The same meditation and trance techniques are still in practice at SRF today. And all ministers, including "Santa" practice them faithfully.

The wolves may be in hiding.

The ISHI Hypnosis Shuffle

One of the many things there we were "encouraged" to participate was hypnotherapy certification. This course of training and certification cost some two thousand dollars and resulted in a big certificate printed on parchment proclaiming that the bearer is a certified hypnotherapist.

The training was conducted in day-long classes held over a series of weeks. The training was part lecture and part practical application. There was a lot of practice with fellow students and many practice sessions. Not much in the way of books to read outside of a binder labeled "BASIC STUDENT MANUAL" and a spiral-bound book of scripts. The BASIC STUDENT MANUAL was created and issued by the National Guild of Hypnotists (NGH) and was available from any of the NGH-recognized hypnotist training programs. One of the script binders were written by a local hypnotist, not affiliated, trained or otherwise connected to ISHI Hypnosis. The other was a standard set of scripts, also issued by the NGH. I don't recall seeing any material originally developed by ISHI Hypnosis. It appears that the study material would have been available anywhere.

We were told that certification was accredited by the National Guild of Hypnotists and was sufficient to engage in the practice of hypnosis and hypnotherapy. Starting one's own practice was mentioned but mostly, participation on the ISHI Hypnosis clinic and continuing education was encouraged. Hypnotherapists practicing in the ISHI Hypnosis clinic were not paid (even though clients coughed up fees for treatment) and continuing education classes were actually regular ISHI Hypnosis training classes opened up for "graduates".

After the arduous process of practice, study (most of which was memorizing hypnosis scripts, not studying theory) and sitting in lectures, the certification exam was administered. That exam was a fairly large document with pages and pages of questions, some multiple choice, some short answer. There were so many questions, it took some two to three hours to complete it. Once you passed that exam, you would be a real, certified hypnotherapist.

I took that training. Once the training was finished, I took that exam. Once the exam was over, I was presented with a certificate proclaiming me as a Certified Hypnotherapist and was presented with materials for membership with the National Guild of Hypnotists with the blessing of ISHI Hypnosis.

There was one problem, though: I failed the exam.

That's right. I failed.

On the day of the exam, I was running a fever. I was sick to my stomach, had a pounding headache, coughed frequently, was sore all over and somewhat disoriented. I obviously had the flu.

The text started to take on that moving, shimmering quality that you see after your third boilermaker. Not only did I not have the answers, I couldn't even understand the questions! I left about 20-25% of the answers blank. BLANK! The rest, I guessed at.

At best, I estimate I got 75% of the answers right - ONLY if ALL my guesses were correct. And if they were, I think my next stop should be a Keno table. More than likely, I got half or fewer of the answers correct.

I never knew how I actually did. No one ever got back their test. No one. And to my knowledge, no one ever failed the certification exam. No one. There was no provision for a second pass after a failed exam - no one needed a second chance. I recall that everyone who took the ISHI Hypnosis certification course was, indeed, certified.

So, if you failed the test, would you complain? Probably not. There was so much encouragement and reward for participation in the ISHI Hypnosis training program you just could not fail. Literally. What are the odds that 100% of those taking a certification exam passed on the first try each and every time?

I didn't complain. I never practiced hypnotherapy either. At least not on my own. I was required to practice in the ISHI Hypnosis clinic for no compensation, though. If my test results were as dismal as it appears (and by leaving much of the answers blank, I'd say that was pretty dismal) you wouldn't want me putting you into trance no matter what that parchment said.

But that leads me to a question: If I failed miserably but still obtained certification, how many others failed? How many of them have received certification despite failing their final exam? How many of them are in practice today?

Would you want to receive hypnotherapy from a practitioner who has not fulfilled the requirements for certification? Would you trust an ISHI Hypnotherapy graduate with your mental and emotional well being?

If you do, give me a call. I'll trance you. No guarantee that I can get you into trace. Hell, there's no guarantee you'll come out of trance even if I could get you in it!

I wonder if ISHI Hypnosis graduates have come out of their trance?

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Secret Psychics

Gee, if the Academy for Psychic Studies had fundraisers like this...

Found the article below at: http://tinyurl.com/6jg2s7m

The article below is an editorial written by Mitch Horowitz and is a great use of Steve Hassan's BITE model for identifying a cult or controlling group.  Mr. Horowitz describes the Academy for Psychic Studies so well, I'd swear he was right there with us.

It's probably the best description of our experience at the Academy for Psychic Studies I have seen.
The key is secrecy.  Keep the goings-on behind the iron gate a secret.  Be sure the members don't find out what is happening a the top of the heap.  Never allow anyone from the outside (like a journalist) to look behind the gate - unless you have complete control over what they do and do not see.

Yes, we did have an extreme leader and extreme leader-etts who kept the Academy on it's mission of exploitation.  Sure, information from the outside was controlled, our thinking was modified, our behavior closely modified and our emotions were controlled with the taunt to "stay neutral" while we were tortured, humiliated, blackmailed or pummeled with insults and deeply degrading healing sessions that were more like an interrogation at the hands of the Gestapo.

The founder, Bill Duby was fond of saying "Don't fuck with me when it comes to money!"  The Academy's finances were a dark secret.  They had money.  A lot of it.  They got it from their followers.  The Academy for Psychic Studies never released an annual report nor were anyone besides certain members of the Board of Directors were allowed to know where the money came from and were it was going.  Maybe those select board members were the ones raking it in for themselves.

How could we say this?

Did we know how the leaders (who had no jobs) could tell us they were poor as dirt but were able to drive luxury cars?  Were we told how Bill Duby could acquire apartment buildings, a farm and other properties while he slumped in his chair moaning about how broke he was?   Did anyone know how it was possible that the leaders could use Academy money to pay for whatever the hell they wanted?

I remember accompanying Bill Duby and Angela Silva to an RV dealership.  Bill wanted a new RV.  The one he wanted cost over $60,000.  Bill made the deal on the spot, then asked to use my phone, explaining he had to call a board member to say he's making the purchase.  Obviously, the deal was already done so the board member couldn't do a damn thing to object anyway.  When he returned from his shopping spree, Bill told everyone he mocked up his new toy and that he bought it personally.  There was no mention that he used church funds to buy it and I was too smart to talk about what actually happened.

Bill's own personal history was also distorted and exaggerated.  Bill's accomplishments were much more than any one person could have achieved in the time he had.   Computer programmer, construction expert, soldier, father, husband, preacher, gambler, lady's man, businessman, prophet, scholar and spiritually perfect being were only some of the claims he made.

Why was the public history of Bill Duby so fantastic and superhuman while the truth behind the tall tales told an entirely different story?  And why was any question or doubt about the supernatural accomplishments of the leaders met with an overwhelming wave of degradation and hostility from the leaders and their deluded followers?

Take a look at this comment from a former member:

Anonymous said...
I know many secrets at SRF and would be oh to happy to tell everyone who reads this, including those who are on the fence still at the cult. 

1. Rev. Bill molested a person who was associated with the church. 

2. Rev. Bill took money out of the donation box for his own needs. He would take out all the large bills and leave just the dollar bills in there. 

3.When Rev. Bill took his name off all the legal documents regarding the whole corporation including all umbrella companies, he did so to not draw attention from the IRS, and any possible future lawsuit regarding molestation case against him. 

4.Rev. Angela and Rev. Bill were lovers then Rev. Bill dropped Rev. Angela full time after she got jealous over Rev. Bill's attention towards Rev. Robin. Rev. Angela went out and got drunk and picked up some stranger in a bar for a night of self destructive behavior. Oh yah, she was on the board of directors of the church. Nice example! 

5. Rev. Bill made sure that all properties and assets associated with the church, are to benefit two people and only 2 people....Rev. Angela Silva and Rev. Robin DuMolin. So, if they want to pull the plug at anytime, they would walk away with all the assets.

If they sell off the many properties, or liquidate any stock or bonds bought with church monies, they would go to Rev. Angela Silva and Rev. Robin DuMolin. 

NO ONE ELSE IN THE CHURCH, INCLUDING THOSE WHO ARE NOT ON THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS GETS A DIME! 

Any student who is going through the training right now or in the future doesn't get a thing. 

Any current or past minister associated with the church doesn't get a thing if the place goes under. 

And believe me, many old and new ministers don't know this! 

Those who do know, are so conditioned to look the other way, because if they spoke up they would get verbally beaten down and isolated. 

They were told to shut down the place and start again with all new people. 

The current church bishop basically is a yes man for the two current top leaders, so not to catch the heat from above. Nice....! 

Piling on is an art form at the cult. If you don't agree or are put into a position not to agree with the agenda, you are isolated and verbally abused in the staff meetings once a week, or at the beginning of each month. But this is called cleansing of the bad negative energy that is in the church. Trying doing an exorcism on yourself first! 

Its like OJ saying when acquitted for murder, "I will look for the real killers". Yeah on the golf course, in Vegas and the bars you frequent. Try looking in the mirror. 

The same goes for the negative energy in the church building, try looking in the mirror before you hold a staff meeting to dispense with the made up negative energies you did a reading on...oh clairvoyant one.....What a made up con of cons! 

No different than the televangelists claiming something bad will happen if you don't cough up some money. Extortion through guilt, emotional blackmail and verbal abuse. 

Happy Holidays everyone, and hope you learn from these accurate insights.

=====================================

And how about this one from a student (who thankfully got out before she got cooked alive):

Anonymous said...
So much for the sick and psychic. What a joke this place turned out to be. I was a student in SJ and witnessed what only perceived as hanky panky and arm twisting going on during the school break periods at night. That Rev. Steve was always under stress and felt like this place hardly ever had any students. That Sandi person I remember taking classes from, and in hindsight, I wished I could hug her now, as she probably needed one or many. 

Wow, I came up to take some classes in there Berkeley school and had a few encounters with these woman that are talked about. 

Rev. Robin seemed cold and calculating like a space alien scanning you, wanting to know if your intentions are threatening or peaceful. 

Rev. Angela seemed like a hot wind bag and phony. I didn't know why all the talk was about getting a reading from her or taking a class from here. I was bombarded with advertisement for her so called gift and insight. Seemed like she was one of those lady gypsy scammers who bilk large amounts of money over time form victims who want to believe. She did seem to exhibit signs of drinking or years of drug taking. 

Rev. Bill seemed like a inmate that welcomed the newly incarcerated. Scanned you up and down and wondered if he can use you to do his bidding. I'm glad this guy is not around anymore to lay waste on the rest of the poor people continuing to find fleeting thoughts of nirvana in a house of pain. 

December 26, 2008 8:23 PM

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The thing most stressed with us was to keep our light for ourselves.  We were not encouraged to go out and talk about our experience at the Academy.  In fact, it was forbidden because we might "blow people's mind" if we did.  That the Academy for Psychic Studies tried to silence me with a lawsuit that blew back in their faces (where I forced them to pay my legal expenses while retaining my right to free speech) should tell you a lot about their quest for secrecy.

When my good friend Steve Sanchez wrote his book "Spiritual Perversion", the Academy made similar threats for legal action.  "Spiritual Perversion" was still published and the truth came out anyway.
Steve and I are members of a small number of people willing to speak out against this cult.  Most take the threats, the shame, the emotional blackmail so seriously they remain in silence, huddling in the shadows in fear of a psychic attack that will never happen.

Yeah, the Academy for Psychic Studies' need for secrecy rises above all of their other needs.  Take a look at their website.  It's sparse and there's little real information about it.  The emotional control, the humiliation, the emotional blackmail, the information control and the deep shame we have all felt about being in this crazy cult are just the tools they use to keep the Academy the most secret of secret societies.

=======================

When Does a Religion Become a Cult?

America has long been a safe harbor for experimental faiths. But the unorthodox can descend into something darker.

By MITCH HOROWITZ

America has probably supplied the world with more new religions than any other nation. Since the first half of the 19th century, the country's atmosphere of religious experimentation has produced dozens of movements, from Mormonism to a wide range of nature-based practices grouped under the name Wicca.
By 1970 the religious scholar Jacob Needleman popularized the term "New Religious Movements" (NRM) to classify the new faiths, or variants of old ones, that were being embraced by the Woodstock generation. But how do we tell when a religious movement ceases to be novel or unusual and becomes a cult?

It's a question with a long history in this country. The controversy involving Hollywood writer-director Paul Haggis is only its most recent occurrence. Mr. Haggis left the Church of Scientology and has accused it of abusive practices, including demands that members disconnect from their families, which the church vigorously denies.

To use the term cult too casually risks tarring the merely unconventional, for which America has long been a safe harbor. In the early 19th century, the "Burned-over District" of central New York state—so named for the religious passions of those who settled there following the Revolutionary War—gave rise to a wave of new movements, including Mormonism, Seventh-Day Adventism and Spiritualism (or talking to the dead). It was an era, as historian Sydney E. Ahlstrom wrote, when "Farmers became theologians, offbeat village youths became bishops, odd girls became prophets."

When the California Gold Rush of 1849 enticed settlers westward, the nation's passion for religious novelty moved with them. By the early 20th century, sunny California had replaced New York as America's laboratory for avant-garde spirituality. Without the weight of tradition and the ecclesiastical structures that bring some predictability to congregational life, some movements were characterized by a make-it-up-as-you-go approach that ultimately came to redefine people, money and propriety as movable parts intended to benefit the organization.

Many academics and observers of cult phenomena, such as psychologist Philip G. Zimbardo of Stanford, agree on four criteria to define a cult. The first is behavior control, i.e., monitoring of where you go and what you do. The second is information control, such as discouraging members from reading criticism of the group. The third is thought control, placing sharp limits on doctrinal questioning. The fourth is emotional control—using humiliation or guilt. Yet at times these traits can also be detected within mainstream faiths. So I would add two more categories: financial control and extreme leadership.

Financial control translates into levying ruinous dues or fees, or effectively hiring members and placing them on stipends or sales quotas. Consider the once-familiar image of Hare Krishna devotees selling books in airports. Or a friend of mine—today a respected officer with a nonprofit organization—who recalls how his departure from the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church was complicated by the problem of a massive hole in his résumé, reflecting the years he had financially committed himself to the church.

Problems with extremist leadership can be more difficult to spot. The most tragic cult of the last century was the Rev. Jim Jones's Peoples Temple, which ended with mass murder and suicide in the jungles of Guyana in 1978. Only a few early observers understood Jones as dangerously erratic. Known for his racially diverse San Francisco congregation, Jones was widely feted on the local political scene in the 1970s. He was not some West Coast New Ager gone bad. He emerged instead from the mainstream Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) pulpit, which sometimes lent a reassuringly Middle-American tone to his sermons.

Yet every coercive religious group harbors one telltale trait: untoward secrecy. As opposed to a cult, a religious culture ought to be as simple to enter or exit, for members or observers, as any free nation. Members should experience no impediment to relationships, ideas or travel, and the group's finances should be reasonably transparent. Its doctrine need not be conventional—but it should be knowable to outsiders. Absent those qualities, an unorthodox religion can descend into something darker.


Mr. Horowitz, the editor in chief of Tarcher/Penguin in New York and the author of "Occult America" (Bantam), is writing a history of the positive-thinking movement.

The Academy for Psychic Studies: Psychic-ology 101

This article is from the Bohemian newspaper, distributed in the Sonoma County area. I have excerpted it with a link to the full article.

It pretty much speaks for itself.

----------------------------------------

From The Bohemian

http://www.bohemian.com/metro/01.02.08/cover-0801.html

Medium Cool
By Vrinda Normand

The New Year is the busiest season for psychics, and Silicon Valley has a lot of them. Even true believers are always on the lookout for fraud, and Santa Clara's Edward Carrion wants to protect the psychic consumer.

"I hate people that rip off other people," he says.

So he's doing something about it. He created a free educational resource on his website (readingsbyedward.com) called "Psychic Consumer 101." There you'll find easy-to-read tips on what a psychic is, how to tell if a self-professed psychic is the "real thing," and how to tell if a psychic is "using you."

"Silicon Valley has the highest concentration of psychics that I know," Edward says. "The energy of readings here is huge." Downtown San Jose, he adds, is a major "reception center" for the other side. If that's true, then you're more likely to find a good psychic among the crowded phone book listings, websites and hippie fairs in the South Bay.

Still, Chapman warns, the same trend also invites wannabes who see the profession as an easy moneymaker, especially when the economy is struggling.

"Anything in the psychic realm can be misused," Chapman says.

I gathered lots of practical tips to be aware of if you plan on being a psychic consumer this year, but the most obvious and understated one was this: trust your gut feeling.

So I decided to find out about becoming a little psychic myself.

The Academy for Psychic Studies is tucked into a tiny office space off Lincoln Avenue in San Jose's Willow Glen neighborhood. On some Saturdays, the school advertises its presence with balloons and a sidewalk sign offering a free psychic consultation. 

The Academy's website includes a list of its classes, from beginning meditation to advanced aura reading. On Tuesdays, it welcomes members of the public to an open, complimentary "energy healing clinic."

Unfortunately, the Academy does not welcome members of the media, and refused to speak with me for this article.

"We're not interested because that's not what we're about," a woman from the Academy told me before she hung up the phone (and before I could ask why). The school also requires that visitors sign an agreement promising they're not investigators or journalists .

…be very wary if they respond defensively or try to hide something from you. I told Edward (author of "Psychic Consumer 101") about my strange experience with the Academy for Psychic Studies in San Jose. He raised his eyebrows and said, "Why are they so afraid of investigation?" A trustworthy psychic, he added, is willing to be transparent and should even let you record the reading."

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What's up, dork?

So, I've been occupied with tons of Christmas cheer as well as a new smartphone.  The Christmas cheer thing I get.  This fucking phone - not so much.  That should explain my absence (well, that and Angry Birds).

While exercising my new found mobile prowess, I somehow stumbled across some writings from a dingy former inmate of the Academy for Psychic Studies.  This guy's corporeal presence may be on the loose but it became obvious his thoughts (such as they are) remain tethered to the iron gate of the psychotic academy.

I won't name him as his publically available writings are embarassing enough.  However, I can say he and his spouse are two of the Spiritual Rights Foundation's elite "Doctor Reverends".  Unlike the rest of the unfortunate recipients of this dishonor, he and his spouse wear their psychotic title with pride - somewhat like a drunk proudly pissing himself while raising a glass.

One such article helpfully points out that changing one's cirumstancesfor the better is as easy as changing one's perspective from gloomy to hopeful.  Such a turn in attitude will magically and effortlessly result in such life affirming advancements in finances and more, the power of positive thought cannot be disputed.

You would think this "Doctor Reverend" is currently living the good life, driving a nice car, taking a va-ca whenever and loving life simply because he thinks well of himself and his aspirations.

You would if you shared what is in the "Doctor Reverend's" pipe.

His circumstances are no better than the average person and further, my observation is they are no better than our own post-college bohemian lifestyle (one I chose as it beat the crap out of working for a living).

It seems while the rest of us evolved and developed depite our "fuck the fucking fuckers" outlook, the positively positive "Doctor Reverend" has progressed to the point of treading water and maintaining the lifestyle we left behind after we discovered living like a fucking bo-ho, sucked hard.

As for the train of thought polluting the demented doctor's noggin, I'd have to say there isn't one.  If you have the stomach to read his writings, you may find a litany of aphorisms like "think positively so you will not be negative" among other wise and insightful advice.

What you won't find is any REAL insight or advice.  You won't even find what constitutes "positive" for the dickhead doc.

There is no original thought coming from the doctor's mind.  A quick review of his writjngs will sadly reveal what we all expected: the only fucking thing he can express are the empty and vacuous ramblings excreted from the deranged and psychotic mind of none other than William Duby himself.

That a well-intentioned but idiotic folower of the psychotic mystic is running around unchained is bad enough, that he is given apparent authority and legitimacy through an incorrectly used title and bogus doctoral degree from an unaccredited outfit while spewing worthless garbage that isn't even his own is frightening.

We all knew the Academy for Psychic Studies was founded to create mindless followers whose pockets can be picked and corpulent robotic minions who hold down the unfortunate while Robin Dumolin strip searches him and Angela Silva prys loose his PIN and PayPal password.  So, seeing an idiot who is sallying forth banging a drum hoping it would inspire us to reach into our pockets for a handout does not surprise.

In this instance, it just pisses you off.

HOLY TOLEDO!

The following was an anonymous comment posted on my wife's blog (you know, she's the one who shares Sarah Palin's lipstick).

This comment kicks ass in many, many ways.

The writer says all the things that everyone wanted to say at one time or another.

Buddy, I don't know who you are but I will say you have admirable testicular fortitude and my hat is off to you, sir!

And if this writer turns out to be female, I'll still tip my hat. But the fortitude would have to come from a different area, I guess.


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Anonymous said...

I had bad encounters with the very fat Rev. Angela Silva. She seems to be eating her way to the grave these days. She doesn't even bother to show up in the building, and when she does, she is there to dump on people.

I believe she is in a psychic panic once again, and wouldn't surprise me if they are systematically driving people out so they can pretend they have to close down shop for lack of support.

That is the plan, they are planning to retire soon and live off the millions they liquidate. I'm sure they know their days are numbered and their game only will anger those who were promised a place to retire, and will be left out on the street.

Another blimp squeezed into a male body is Rick Greer, who will drink the cool aid & make sure others are forced to drink it as well. I guess those guys are hanger-on's hoping to get some of the pie that the fat Rev. Angela Silva and ice bitch/prostitute for money Rev. Robin DuMolin will dole out.

Robin DuMolin and Angela Silva can't hold a job, yet demand the people who have 40-50 work weeks to donate another 30 hours of there time to answer phones on the bullshit, make it up as you go along psychic help line, do prayer requests, (for a donation), teach classes and get paid only if you don't owe the church anything.

Enjoy the money right now, because when you drop the body and have to look at yourselves, you will be in the society of people ordering you around and sucking your soul.

I heard Rev. Robin years ago specifically stayed away from her dying mother in order to give her so called (space) at the time of her death. Can you imagine that? Your mom wants you there and you specifically stay away.

I'm sure your daughter who looks like she's turning out just like you will return the favor. She will have already learned to prostitute herself out for money just like you Rev. Robin.

Hey did you know that the fat Rev. Angela Silva was locked up in the Oakland psyche ward 30 years ago? She is the spiritual sage that runs the place. Did you ever hear about the stories of her shoplifting to support herself and drinking and drug habit?

I only wish that you return to the life you crawled out from under and lose everything you have in your life right now. How about starting by giving back to the people you have lied to for all 26 1/2 years?

Your god daughter is going to be a gypsy psychic like you've become.

Rev.Rick, are you still telling people your fired up about losing weight and getting your diabetes under control, but still weigh 360 lbs and eating greasy, fattening foods that will blow out your organs and make your son fatherless before he turns 18?

Tough love you guys, because you always pounded it into us underlings for years.

Time to face the light.........Rev. Bill was a lying, child molester, con artist opportunist who had so much pressure put on him by the negative media, but more importantly Rev. Angela Silva and Rev. Robin who were his common law wives.

They help put all that pressure on him the last 5 years of his life. He got what he deserved, and hopefully the pressures of this blog and others who have taken up the mantle will force you through guilt to relinquish the millions you conned people out of, and give it back to them. They are the ones that made that place run and for a time great.

Angela and Robin are a couple of dried up cunts who if dumped out on the street would freak of having to go to work for a living. Quit pretending you are spiritual when you two old hags haven't done the true teaching in over 10 years!
December 28, 2008 6:14 PM

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Maybe now it's my turn to say "Jesus Effing Christ!"

Guest Post: Total Despair Is On The Air

Robin, it's a fucking radio show -
say something!

In honor of the upcoming first anniversary of "Total Prosperity" finally going off the air, I am re-posting this excellent parody of that perverted radio show.


Today's Guest Post is from "Anonymous" and it's a good one.


The Spiritual Rights Foundation has HAD broadcast their radio talk show "Total Prosperity" on KEST radio for some 20 years every Tuesday morning at 10AM. Until his death, Bill Duby was the permanent "guest" every week he felt like being there.

Thankfully, this waste of the public airwaves is off the air but when it was on, the show consisted of some small talk among the "hosts" peppered with the incoherent spiritual drool of the permanent guest.  Bill's ramblings on his world view and delusions kept the show interesting as well as the odd back-and-forth between him and the "host", his Bishop. 

It's odd because many of us noticed they engaged in the kind of exchange that you'd find between a married couple.

Even odder, Bill's wife and life partner (yeah, TWO women, not one) were usually present on the show while it happened.  Neither said a thing about it for years.

"Total Prosperity" is WAS a call-in radio show, inviting people to call for a free psychic reading that sounded exactly like the reading they gave a different caller the previous week (and each reading generally took less than a minute of air time before the "hosts" slammed the phone down on the bewildered caller).

The topics of each show varied from "family programming" to "can you unhook?" to whatever came to mind as they rambled and fumbled through the show.

In all the time I was present for the broadcast and in all the shows I listened to I never heard any caller ask a question that was on-topic. The announcement that people could get free psychic readings on the air drew callers who asked questions about their personal relationships, their work life, their home life or why their car leaked oil.  There's not a damn person I remember who had a question that was on-topic and there was a good reason for that.

The topics were so thick and so incomprehensible, I don't ever recall really understanding what in hell the "hosts" and their "guest" were talking about.

Judging from the callers questions, I bet none of them did either.

It's an expensive broadcast costing a ton to broadcast. You didn't think KEST was paying the Spiritual Rights Foundation to air that mess, did you?  SRF was able to find a sponsor for a short time but as there was no way to know how many people were really listening, there's no way a sponsor wanted to buy a commercial on their show.  That wasn't the only problem: apart from the air time, a special phone line must be maintained to connect the radio room at SRF HQ to the station.

So if "Total Prosperity" is so expensive to SRF, why keep it going?

The radio show is was seen as the gateway drug to the Spiritual Rights Foundation and the Academy for Psychic Studies.

High priced classes and workshops conducted by the Academy for Psychic Studies designed to introduce people to the anaesthesia of SRF mind control are always featured. In fact, I recall a hand-written sign in the radio room instructing all radio participants to promote classes, workshops, retreats and special events while on-air. Especially the ones that cost a lot of money to attend.

This post from "Anonymous" digs down below the surface of the "Total Prosperity" radio show and gives us a picture of what the show might be like if the hosts were indeed as candid and honest as they present themselves.

I say to anyone who is listening to "Total Prosperity" or who may be interested in listening to just call in every Tuesday and ask for a reading about your love life, your work life, your trip to the supermarket or what the hell is that stuff on my shoe and why does it stink?  They love calls. Even those that just take up time on air.

The more you call, the more excited they get that people are listening. The more they think people are listening, the longer they will pay for air time.

The more they pay, the less cash they will have to sustain their reign of exploitation.

So call in, have a Totally Prosperous Day and ON WITH THE SHOW...

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Total Despair:
A Satire of What SRF has to sell, I mean offer its lone few listeners...


Debbie: Welcome to Total Desparity I'm your host Debbie aka "Debbie the spy", "The liar".

My guest today is Angela Silva aka "LeoFire, The Molesters wife"...How are you today?

Angela:  Excellent!

Debbie: and Robin Dumolin aka "Scroogette"...How are you today?

Robin: [shrugs]

Debbie: If you'd like us to con you into coming to our crypt, give us a call at 510 549-1991 and we'll give you a reading on the air....

"Angela, What does it mean to be psychic?" ...

Angela: It means be naive, gullible , pliable, vulnerable, in other words, the perfect dupe for us to use and abuse.

Debbie: "So if we can get them in the door, with a come on that we have a free and open to the public healing clinic, we can then size you up (read) and find what classes might be helpful for you and your "spiritual unfoldment". Then we can work on your subconscious and break down the barriers, hack open your psyche and gain access to the pin number to your bank account"

Angela: Exactly!

Debbie: "In the words of Rev. Bill...Marvelous"!

Debbie: "We have beginning classes in meditation and healing coming up, where we can get you started on the road to bleeding dry your life, bank account and ultimately your self worth, while pretending to help you in your life."

Angela: We can also put you to sleep with our Monday night hypnosis clinic, so we can hypnotize you, then laugh when we talk about you with others after we tell you your session is confidential.  Did we lie about the confidential part?  No!  You are made in the image and likeness of God, so it's OK if I tell everyone about you and laugh about it because if you don't like it, fuck you.

Later after you've graduated into the year class and later in the ministers class, we can brow beat you and pressure you into taking the once a month trance retreat weekends for a mere $200.  It used to be $300 but we understand its a rough economy out there right now. But once the economy rebounds, we will raise it back to $300 again, just like the banks raising their interest rates and the oil company raise the price of a gallon of gas when they see fit.  In fact, I see a rebound coming now, so sign up for a $300 retreat before we raise it even more!

After being in the "year" class for "8 years" instead of the nine months your agreement says, (that way we can bleed you even more and have years to add fines and penalties called an "Opportunity For Learning" to punish you for anything we want - like the Happy Meal we got our Golden Child didn't have the toy she wanted) you will become a minister!!! Even before you even study the bible!!   You don't need to study the Bible because we don't either!

We will then keep you in minister's classes the rest of your life, so we can practice our hypnosis on you and slip in a post hypnotic suggestion or two of you being unfulfilled and needing to take more and more sessions and classes, workshops, and retreats at the Spiritual Rights Foundation, until you get screwed so much you start thinking about suicide like all the old ministers did.

Debbie: Yes we can help you in all aspects of your life "trust me" - all the people I screwed trusted me too!

Angela: Marvelous!

Debbie: Unfortunately, you can't have the teaching that we had with our founder Bill Duby, because he would keep you up for classes that went into late night hours or sometimes lasted for days and pound on your psyche saying what a terrible person you are. After he tore you full of new orifices, he exploited you by saying how you need to keep feeding SRF everything you have of value so you can have this teaching..

Like your time...Your energy...And most importantly, your money, inheritance, stocks, bonds, precious metals, relationships with your children.

Especially your children.  He loved children in a very special way - just ask Angela's daughter!

He wanted it all, so he'd have your fellow classmates, outside strangers read you and tell you how much of an asshole you are in your life, and how with his direction, the people will help you feel better for a price.....YOUR SOUL!

But now our classes are comprised of whoever answers our Craigslist ad, internet prayer requests, a local ad in an East bay newspaper, or this radio show to gain new victims..ur...I mean new students so now, we can say you're an asshole and you need to pay us to make you feel better (until we call you an asshole next week). 

Angela: You might just be the next dumb turd we have in our beginning classes or lab rat in our hypnosis clinic. Or why not, just sign up for the year class if you make at least $50,000 a year or more. We want your money..ur, I mean we want you and your money here at SRF.

Debbie: Ok, looks like we have a phone call. Hello your on the air. Whats your question?

Caller: My relationship is at a standstill can you see whats going on?

Debbie: Hold on a moment...........I see you need a few woman to tell you what you want to hear.  I think Robin may be seeing something too...

Robin: [shrugs]

Angela: Yes, I see the same thing...It looks like you definitely have it together, and all you need is someone like myself to direct you in your life and help you separate from this relationship,.....Unless your partner wants to join you in taking classes, if he makes good money... Then I see it would be very beneficial for both of us...ur...I mean both of you.  DO YOU HAVE KIDS?

Caller: Yes

Angela: How many?

Caller: Uhhh... 2

Angela and Debbie together: GOOD!

Robin: [rubs hands together]

Angela: Stay on the line so we can get all your pertinent information like their names, where they go to school, the color of their eyes and clothing size so we can plan how to steal them from you, Ok?

Caller: uhhhh... kaaaayyy...  Oh darn, I have to go uhhhh plunge the fucking toilet again so you guys just have a, ummm a good, err - BYE!

Debbie: Oh!  I guess that's all the time we have for today. Just a reminder, we have a full ministry of cd's and mp3 downloads or podcasts of all our radio shows, topics of everyday problems and their solutions, at prices that are way higher than this crap is worth!  Just call Health and Wealth. Our one of many shill businesses:  1 800 642-WELL.

Or what we like to refer to it as 1 800 642-SUCK!

HAVE A TOTALLY PROSPEROUS DAY!


  

Here's what I want for Christmas, Angela Claus...

Gee, this would be nice to find

under the Christmas Tree,

or anywhere else.

You know, one of the things I see so many ex-hostages of the Academy for Psychic Studies continue to practice is the useless and futile method of imagining and visualizing the things you wanted in life.

If you desired a car, the advice from the Academy is to go find the exact car you want at your local crooked car lot and sit in it.  Soon you'll find yourself driving your new car.  Of course, I know one hell of a lot of idiots who wound up with a lemon or otherwise useless car that way.

If you wanted a great relationship with a great person just imagine it and become aware of the things that block your having-ness through one of the Academy for Psychic Studies' $120 class sessions or a $60 workshop.  Then get all those blocks magically removed through an Academy for Psychic Studies $60 psychotic reading or better yet, attend a weekend healing retreat for a mere $150 (extra costs apply for meals and other luxury amenities - like a a place to sleep).

It's a basic, fundamental belief of the Academy for Psychic Studies that creation not only involves destruction, destruction is required.

Why would a "negative" thing such as destruction be necessary for a warm and nourishing place like the Academy to visualize creation?

A key concept at this psychotic kindergarten was to conduct a systematic destruction of your former corrupt and un-spiritual self.  The head psychotic, Bill Duby admonished us to die a little bit every day so that the new us could emerge through a spiritual re-birth.

That re-birth would open the doors to higher enlightenment, spiritual riches and justify the destruction of your formally-functional self, the corruption of the bonds you have with loved ones and the disintegration of the rational and reasonable thinking you formed through your formal education in the name of re-building you in the mold of the warmth and nourishment at the Academy.  All the elements that made you a warm, thriving and skillful individual had to be destroyed as they turned you into a brain-dead and compliant supplicant to the Witches of Ellsworth Street.

So it's no surprise the Academy, even without it's deranged and deceased founder continues to follow the utterly absurd and dangerous concept of destruction in the name of forging a new creation.

Take a look at this description of a current Academy for Psychic Studies "spiritual education" class:


==========================

Destroy in the Now to Create What You Want for the Future

Learn to let go of the "What if", "You never know" and "Someday it will happen".

Embrace your ability to be rid of this limited thinking and connect with your ability to create exactly what you want.

=======================

Well now, what if we were to live long enough to see a meltdown of this perverse and reviled den of iniquity and the Witches who are making the attempt to milk every drop of their remaining follower's resources for their own enrichment?

Would a public humiliation of the Witches of Ellsworth Street in a court of law validating the claims  dozens, hundreds, thousands of former members and attendees of this mass of bodily discharge happen someday?

Perhaps we may see the Witches' closest lieutenant (this organization's Bishop) and most enthusiastic female follower become disillusioned and make their departure from the Witches of Ellsworth Street's coven of deceit?  Well, you never know - it just might happen someday, but what if it did?

Oh... it DID.

All of it - and not in the distant past.  It happened in the last two years.

So, as all of those events signaling the start of the total meltdown of the Academy for Psychic Studies have occurred over the past two years, you have to wonder why it's worth all this toil and trouble for the Witches of Ellsworth Street?  Is there a revival afoot?  is there a coming renaissance of enthusiasm and dedication heretofore unknown at this den of despair and isolation?

Maybe we can start with the destruction of the Witches' humanity as an item that triggered this seminal event.  Well, maybe not - you would need to have a sense of humanity before you could lose it.  I guess that one's out.

OK, so maybe the destruction of public esteem and trust is to blame.  After all, the Witches of Ellsworth have been blaming all those who have spoken out against the continuous abuse perpetuated by the Witches for their present reversal of fortune.  Well, I guess that implies the Witches had public trust and esteem before they began to call former members mentally ill or delusional liars when they try to rescue their children from the evil practices of the Witches of Ellsworth Street.  


We all knew when recruiting new victims for the Witches' cauldron, we had to rely on trickery and charm to overcome the distrust and subterranean esteem the public would have for the Academy.  I guess destruction of public trust is out since there wasn't any public trust to begin with.

Uh, destruction from the death of Head Psychotic Bill Duby?  Probably not.  Looks like the abuse went from maniacal all-night screaming sessions conducted by Bill Duby to week-long intimidation, dehumanization and degradation sessions conducted by the Witches of Ellsworth street.  

Destruction from the laziness, idleness and overall greedy attitudes of the followers?  Oh, that's how Angela Silva and Robin Dumolin behave.  My bad...

Maybe the destruction is from the tsunami of "negative energy" and other kinds of "psychic attacks" we are blamed for having against the Academy for Psychic Studies, Angela Silva and Robin Dumolin?  Perhaps we should reform our thinking by seeing our adversaries in "pink light", blow roses and ground, run energy, be still and know?

Would our thoughts of the destruction of the Academy, Angela Silva and Robin Dumolin be the catalyst that put into motion the crumbling of Berkeley's most evil empire?

Maybe, instead, there is a process of thought turned into action.

Maybe there are forces within the wrought iron gate of the Academy for Psychic Studies that are retarding, distracting, disrupting the warm and nourishing environment created by Angela Silva and Robin Dumolin?

If things are the same as they always have been, maybe those forces are still there. 

Does anyone remember Angela's demands for compliance, her demands for regular and generous payments to her and the brokerage accounts held in her organization's name for all reasons that can be imagined by her fourth-grade educated mind?

Do we also recall the look of determined concentration on Robin Dumolin's face as she scrutinized her books for those who may be as much as a penny behind on their tribute and shakedown payments.  What expression was on her face when she realized she may not get it?

How would Angela Silva react as she discovered a malingerer who was so severely tapped out, they had no hope of paying off Angela's inflated demands for payola?

And how would the followers react as they face yet another month of scrambling to survive?  What kind of psychotic anesthesia would the followers have to use to dull the pain of knowing all they worked for was paid out and turned over to two women who never worked at all?

And with all that, what kind of environment would have been created? Warm?  Nourishing?  Supportive and communal?

Or would all that be a great place for a psychic beat-down?

And would the destruction of hope, the evaporation of individual enterprise and enthusiasm, would the washing away of opportunity and the elimination of the sanctity of personal property and self-determination create an atmosphere of enthusiastic creation?

Or would there be despair and apathy?


And if Angela Silva and Robin Dumolin have indeed created countless "warm and nourishing" relationships with former members, why wouldn't they find a renaissance by bringing back into the fold the former members who helped build the Academy for Psychic Studies into the unstoppable juggernaut of enthusiasm and creation seen in the early days?  


Oh, it's because Angela and Robin managed to piss off every former member they have. My bad...

If Angela Silva and Robin Dumolin have extinguished the fire burning in the souls of their followers and if they are systematically conducting the destruction of the Academy for Psychic Studies through their bullying and intimidating tactics, what are they building for their future?

Even those two would have to admit: the decline and fall of the Academy for Psychic Studies would be no one's fault but their own.

I'll still cheer them on, though.  Whatever future they are creating for themselves, watching them participate in, or actually: watching them orchestrate their own destruction through their own greed and playground bully tactics is better than this year's World Series.

I just love it when a couple of idiots give me all the things I wanted for Christmas without me having to do a damn thing.