The Shocking Truth About The Avatar Course

Avatar too doesn’t like to see courses on the interentAll Avatar courses are online now, to the great irritation of its mother organisation Star’s Edge. When a newsgroup published the integral texts of the Wizard Course in march of this year, they were removed from the Google Usenet archives after one month after judicial threats of Star’s Edge lawyers.Since then the texts are available through www.avatarscam.com. Responsible for this are the Dutchmen Ronald Cools and Jeta Eggers.“Avatar is Scientology-light,” says Eggers, who earlier published confidential Scientology materials on the internet together with Karin Spaink, which caused an international row. The lawsuit that Scientology then started against Spaink, lasted for years and was decided last year in her advantage.When publishing the Scientology materials, Eggers used a skillful manoevre to avoid legal traps. “Quotes from this kind of material, the way Karin Spaink did by just publishing a few important pages and commenting on them, are permitted by law. But integrally publishing these kinds of texts is infringing on copyright.”“In 1999, when the legal intimidation reached a highpoint, I put the Scientology materials on a URL that constantly changes. People who want to read it, can email me and get the texts themselves from the web.”Eggers then designed a website for former Avatar Master Ronald Cools where the interested can get the secret course materials in a similar fashion. Cools has been in a bitter fight with Avatar for years. According to him, the end justifies the means. He says he received anonymous death-threats, and the Avatar organisation published a ‘Situation Report’ in three languages with very personal details about his life on the web. “Character murder”, according to Cools. “Avatar did everything to silence me.”Cools was introduced to Avatar in 1990. Two years later he got his Masters’ certificate. He got second thoughts when he heard that Avatar founder Harry Palmer had been active in Scientology. “Much of the course materials do seem like the Scientology creed. What Scientologists call a Body Thetan, Avatar calls an entity.”When Cools went public with his doubts, very quickly he became unwelcome. “During a three-day course I was sent away.” By the, Cools had invested 12,000 guilders1 in Avatar.Not long ago Cools sent a letter of alarm to the UWV2 expressing his concern that the social security agency exposes people to Avatar. “Course followers are given a belief-system which teaches them that they are possessed by astral ghosts that are responsible for their illnesses, non-functioning organs, compulsive behavior and psychological problems”, wrote Cools: “In the basic course this vision is kept a secret. Participants don’t know what they’re getting into.”The UWV was not amenable to the criticism.’Clients that are re-integrating using Avatar, are not discontent about the approach and service-level of Avatar,’ they told Cools.On the internet Cools and Eggers continue their struggle against Avatar. Over the last months a few thousands of people received the secret Avatar materials: “This will cost them a lot of customers.”1 About 5,000 euros.2 The main agency dispensing disability pensions and unemployment benefits in the Netherlands.