http://cultalovestory.com Tue, 22 Jun 2010 02:33:37 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Cult, A Love Story is an award winning memoir, which intimately and powerfully chronicles one woman’s journey from falling under the spell of a manipulative guru to the hard-won and triumphant break with, and recovery from, thought reform. “This excellent memoir reveals how a charismatic, manipulative spirit medium can use ... http://cultalovestory.com/2009/08/02/about-the-book/ I've been reflecting lately that of all the craziness that goes on in a spiritual cult, it is the cult leader's ability to convince us that she speaks for God (or, in more extreme cases, that she is God) that is the cornerstone of keeping disciples in line. When I left ... http://cultalovestory.com/2010/06/22/the-god-factor/ New York here I come! (I can't help calling New York City the Grand Apple ever since falling in love with Debbie Reynolds as Grace's mother on Will and Grace. Remember Bobbie Adler?) Anyway, the International Cultic Studies Association has its annual conference coming up July 1, 2, 3 in New York. ... http://cultalovestory.com/2010/06/20/im-headed-to-the-grand-apple/ I was reminded the other day of the sad fact that the number of people effected by any cult leader is exponentially larger than just the number of people in the cult itself. The negative effect that a cult leader has ripples out past her disciples to the entire family of ... http://cultalovestory.com/2010/06/18/ripples/ Back in the first couple of years of this millennium I was deep, deep in my cult recovery. So deep, in fact, that I thought I'd never see daylight again. As any of you who have gone through the same experience know, cult recovery is painful, ugly and, unfortunately, there's ... http://cultalovestory.com/2010/06/16/the-dr-phil-effect/ Gavin de Becker is an occasional guest on the Oprah show, and I always appreciate hearing what he has to say. The last time he was on the program, though, something he said resonated with me so deeply that it still pops into my head almost every day. de Becker is ... http://cultalovestory.com/2010/06/14/the-word-no/ I am so pleased and proud to announce that Cult, A Love Story has won an Independently Published Book Award. I submitted the book for consideration back in February, and with one thing and another, had completely forgotten about that. Then one day in late May I returned home from work ... http://cultalovestory.com/2010/06/12/and-the-ippy-award-goes-to/ A while back I wrote this post about one of the ways cult leaders undermine the relationships between the people that follow them. Cult leaders and other abusers always make a point of ensuring that their followers mistrust everyone but the leader. It's a genius move because it keeps cult ... http://cultalovestory.com/2010/04/02/divide-and-conquer/ I had the most interesting conversation last night with my Uncle Phil. He had just finished reading my book and had some comments about it and some questions about my cult experience. Among other things he asked, "Why didn't you tell us (meaning my family) when you were involved in the ... http://cultalovestory.com/2010/03/19/when-is-a-cult-not-a-cult/ I'm a journaler. (I'm not sure that word is officially a noun but I'm hoping Webster will cult me some slack today.) Almost always have been. I began journaling as a pre-teen and continued sporadically throughout my teens and twenties, including the ten years I was with the cult I ... http://cultalovestory.com/2010/03/17/writing-and-healing/