Thanks so much for the welcome, and yes I was worried you might switch off at the length and think I was one of THEM.
Unfortunately the big picture of this group is very serious and far reaching - now also in Europe, the UK, NZ and North America.
Serge Benhayon's activities re EBM and other intimate massages are very familiar to me from other cults who use the same MO to groom and brainwash (for want of a better word) young women in preparation for a life of "sacred prostitution".
The typical strategy is to combine intrusive intimate massage as a form of healing to "burn bad karma", "awaken femininity", "activate chakras" and even to destroy invisible psychic worm infestations in the reproductive organs generated by past traumatic sexual experiences (yes really).
The indoctrination process is usually conducted by females in various "women's groups" that teach that women have become too identified with men in the modern world and lost touch with their femininity. The concept of "femininity" in these cults is typically based on the idea that women should be more "feminine" (translate as submissive / playful) and that once she has attained a proper feminine state, cleansed of bad karma, sluggish chakras and psychic worms she will be in a constant state of bliss (translate sexual excitement).
Once a woman is conditioned to accept these invasive "treatments" and deranged concepts about femininity she is considered "awakened" or "open" and thus knows to true meaning and purpose of her life - usually to save the world by performing "chakra activations" on men (I believe generally referred to as a "rub and tug" in Australia) and thus generating revenue for the cult in the process.
I suppose I am wondering whether you know whether any of the females in the cult work in the sex industry?
That's interesting, and I think I read about a cult in California (?) that encouraged 'flirty fishing' among its young women recruits.
RJ Lifton's definition of cults includes financial and/or sexual exploitation from above. Yes, UniMed's recruitment gateway is certainly through the women's health market with all kinds of New Age deceptions.
However, sex workers would be frowned upon in UM. UM is extremely puritanical and negative about sex, and Serge's schtick is to neuter sexual function rather than portray it as sacred. He thinks sex, and especially female sexual pleasure, is only acceptable if one is making Esoteric 'love', which is devoid of emotion (see the Esoteric Relationships post on the UMA blog - emotion is the cause of all disease). Women are taught that their husbands need to ask permission to touch their breasts, and I've had cult husbands tell me that if and when they were 'allowed' to make love to their partners, they were made to feel as if they'd violated their lover - even when there hadn't been problems in the past.
Part of the programming is to portray all men as sex fiends and abusers, particularly husbands and partners who ask why their wives personalities have changed and where the money is going. The response is invariably passive aggression, seeing the cult's ideal of 'femaleness' is gentle, nurturing, sexless, docile, inactive, non intellectual and non argumentative.
In other words, I'm out.
But at bottom, it is a commercial imperative. The cult specializes in breaking up relationships/marriages. They even have cult lawyers on hand to assist with divorce settlements and securing AVOs against emotional, cancer causing husbands. The proceeds from the settlements are often donated wholesale to the cult's questionable 'charity' or slowly siphoned via the ******** therapies and endless 'healing' workshops.
And it all begins with a self loving Esoteric Breast Massage practitioner gently massaging your hardened, objectified, loveless breasts and telling you your body is riddled with evil energy and men are pricks.
