Open Letter to Current Members of OCS

Hello,

My name is Carol Weis. As a former member of Peter's group (four long years), I hope that I may shed some light on some practices that you may be experiencing.

A bit of history...Peter is not a Master Teacher

Originally there was an Order called the Holy Order of MANS (HOOM) where much of what Peter is teaching came from. Unfortunately he has twisted those teachings to suit his own needs. The interesting thing is that Peter was never actually in the HOOM. Peter was taught by a teacher named Master Raeson, however Raeson was never given the Rights of Ordination. In other words, he didn't have the authority to ordain anyone a Master Teacher or a Bishop of teachers. He was only given the task of liaison to Mother Ruth, the wife of the late Father Paul, who was the founder of the HOOM. Raeson left the Order to start his own group outside any spiritual authority and ordained people without the blessings of the Order.

Originally the idea of going inward to the Self was intended to be an exercise only and not an end to a means. Because Peter was never properly trained and obviously did not know the fullness of these particular teachings, he consequently manipulated what he thought he understood and created other mind control mechanisms with which he could use to abuse the trust of innocent students. A frequent practice the teachers of the Christ Sophia use is measuring their guidance against the guidance of the students. The teacher requires the student to go within to get answers from Self and if the answer doesn't match the teacher's answer the student is left to feel discouraged. This technique is crippling for the student. Through this practice the student steadily learns to take on the teacher's personality and disassociate from his or her own personality. Gradually the teacher's personality takes over. In time the students learns what the teacher expects and can map his or her guidance according to what he or she feels the teacher expects

Here are questions that I often get. The answers may serve to assist your understanding of Peter's group/cult:

1. I have a close friend who was in the Order of Christ Sophia and she was told that her husband wasn't very spiritual and she should think about divorcing him. Did you experience the same? Are marriages doomed in this group?

Yes, I think any marriage is in danger in the OCS (Order of Christ Sophia). Peter himself ended his marriage many years ago and I think he expects other to follow suit. It is interesting how there are very few marriages that last in the Christ Sophia cult. The statistics are astounding. It really seems like an order of divorce rather than a community of loving healthy families. I remember how Peter insisted on knowing every aspect of my personal life–we had to divulge our finances and our private life, as well as how, when, and where we went or did anything. My marriage suffered and eventually ended.

Peter also created phobias of the outside world; unfathomable fear, getting cancer, going into outer darkness, having to come back into the next life in a miserable way for not being obedient to him. Peter made statements that anyone can leave anytime they want, but then he insinuates that if you do leave it will take a lifetime to attain what he could teach you. He also creates the fear that you will experience illness, bad karma, and sinful living if you leave.

When I left the group my health improved considerably. I think one of the main reasons is that Peter forbids people to seek out medical treatment and often serious illnesses even disorders can worsen overtime is not treated appropriately. Consequently this belief can cause a person a lifetime of illness due to the lack or early detection and preventative medicine. Peter teachers that you are karmically defective if you get ill or have any medical problems. He believes that all illness is psychosomatic and a sin. I heard a story once about another cult who forbid medical treatment to a couple who had a young baby with a high fever, the baby went into convulsions and ended up being partially blind and completely deaf. The baby had contracted meningitis. I fear for anyone with children in the group.

If you are in this group. Leave now. Immediately!

You are putting your spirituality, psyche, and perhaps your life at risk. Take care of yourself. Don't lose everything you have to this pseudo-teacher.

2. The OCS has so much control over people. What are they doing?

The OCS, and specifically Peter uses mind control. Even the most intelligent people are susceptible. Peter openly teaches mind control in the form of thought-stopping exercises. Negative thinking (particularly things critical of him, the doctrine or the group) equals sin. He also manipulates people into believing that he himself has some secret knowledge over anyone else. He uses a mystical approach to keep people guessing and creates an environment of holiness, such as wearing robes commanding authority, moments of silence and meditation, incense, and a form of cryptic monotone speech that induces a trance-like state to the listener. This holy environment is what I call "mystical hypnosis"; a relaxed student is more susceptible, therefore easily hypnotized into believing Peter's philosophy. As he speaks in this monotone voice he uses an ambiguous sentence structure to keep people guessing as though his holy words are so profound that the common man or woman cannot understand. This loaded language can often manipulate a student into believing that they must strive to attain this profound understanding.

3. It seems oddly coincidental that so many OCS members claimed that they have been molested by a parent. Also, there seems to be much hatred for parents from members who have been in for a while.

Yes, The statistics of people claiming to have been molested by one of their parents is very high in OCS. Remember, this is a dangerous cult and these are the many things that cults do. Using false memories to control and manipulate members is one of them.

How does this happen you might be thinking? There are many methods of mind control. Unethical use of hypnosis is one of them. I remember many years ago sitting out in Peter's backyard when he was learning to hypnotize people. He used us as subjects. Peter put a lot of time and effort into learning to control people. No doubt he has perfected his scam.

Peter often uses the technique of visualization, a form of trance induction, to bring you back into a childhood experience but then manipulates your psyche into believing atrocities were perpetrated upon you from your parents, the most common one being sexual abuse. Usually, after he uses this type of mind control he requires the student to write a poison letter to their parents, divorcing all contact with them. I've heard from several ex-members where this same thing took place. If he can't convince you of being directly molested from one of your parents, he or one of his other teachers will try to convince you the abuse was covert and not overt. Often he tells the students that they were a surrogate spouse either to their mother or their father. He has been doing this for years.

Peter also uses hypnosis in the form of guided meditation. Members learn to go “inside” and allow their imagination to be manipulated to his agenda.

One of the most dangerous techniques Peter uses is private counseling sessions to get the student to open up and express past difficult experiences that may be emotionally charged and manipulates this charge by asking questions in the form of suggestions. When a person goes back in time to past hurts, they become more vulnerable and the emotional charge can cause a person to regress even further where the subject's subconscious mind becomes vulnerable. Peter or one of his priests makes suggestions like..."maybe your father molested you" and somehow the teacher relates it to the emotional feelings the student is experiencing. This gives the pseudo-enlightened teacher a stronghold and suggestible control over the student.

I was there, it happened to me. I was one of his priests many years ago. During my participation in his previous cult I observed the many different tactics Peter used to propagate and control his students. Among his menu are exercises or thought-stopping techniques, counseling sessions (confession) and individual probing to access a student's imperfections and weaknesses. Remember, this was all done on the sly so you didn't always know it was happening. People are made to believe that Peter is all powerful and knowing.

Peter would deliberately build people up with praise and then would tear them down–often in front of others. This also is a classic technique of mind control. As a student we knew that if we didn't go to him for counseling he would reprimand us for not being obedient. He might then use the confidential personal information obtained and make ambiguous remarks about imperfections in front of everyone. Peter would spontaneously call people into counseling and demean them by saying he had some kind of guidance from the Master Jesus that they were disobedient or acting out of “ego.” He also instructed his priests to do the same. Nothing was sacred; all of your private confidential counseling sessions were and are now known by all the priests and deacons and this information is used to manipulate and control your life - you will obey Peter's rules and your private life will be used against you.

Peter even uses hands on blessing to quietly make people feel bad about themselves.

4. When I was in the group I attended both Peter and Clare's' classes. I always felt like they could read my mind and most of the time I felt bad because it seemed as though they were singling me out because I was so resistant? Why did this happen?

Because they knew your imperfections and you had been induced with that mystical hypnosis which enticed you in the first place. Peter and Clare obviously use class lessons to keep people under management, another form of mind control practiced on a regular basis.

Body language is used to trigger feelings of shame in the students. Often the class subject matter are intentionally used to trigger feelings of shame. Most students have already revealed personal business during counseling sessions. So during classes, Peter will single out people, look in their direction, raise his eyebrows and tilt his head slightly with a critical look. As a result, this look triggers shame in the students. The feeling of shame and unworthiness escalates. Consequently students think that Peter can read their minds. Peter taught priests to use body language to control the environment in the classes, thus giving the students the impressions that they know what you are thinking.

5. A few months ago I ran into some OCS members and I noticed that they were wearing black uniforms. I also noticed that they all have the same look on their faces like clones of Peter and Clare. I had forgotten how screwed up I was in that group. What's happening to make everyone the same? When I started in the group, they said they valued individuality, but I learned that this was far from true.

Yes, the OCS members do often appear with placid fake smiles and empty eyes. This is because their true individual identities are being suppressed and replaced with the cult identity. But those true identities will always be there, waiting to get out, no matter how long Peter tries to destroy them.

Peter openly uses the idea of transference to guide people through his manipulation. I remember one time he told me that unless I became just like him I would not be ordained. Peter even gives sermons on the transference openly and encourages people to take on the teacher’s personality. The natural personality of the students then becomes suppressed through the transference and the personality of the teacher takes over. This is what has been called "cult identity". This is contrary to Peter’s prior doctrine that warns against the dangers of transference.

6. Many OCS members try to change the topic or avoid questions about the group from outsiders. It's as if they’re not allowed to talk about the order to anyone. When my friend joined the group, I thought she'd be excited to share with me all she is learning. But instead, she gets immediately defensive. Why?

Because his teachings will not stand up to scrutiny, Peter has incorporated a psychological technique known as thought-stopping to keep members from saying too much to non-members. Peter knows that it is very easy for an outsider who is free of thought and not being constantly hypnotized to find many immoral, irrational and hypocritical flaws in his doctrine. When a person practices thought-stopping he or she consequently shuts down a part of the mind that is important for analyzing environments and feelings both physical and emotional. When this thought-stopping process occurs a person's mental abilities disassociate from normal thinking processes. It is very unsafe in that it disables healthy defenses and critical thinking. When you are not allowed to think for yourself, Peter's window for manipulation becomes enormous.

Consider this:

Did you know that a Master teacher can have a profound God-realized or enlightened attainment and yet be very caught up in his or her own ego? A spiritual teacher can exude a powerful illuminating presence and yet be deluded with self-concern and narcissism.

Did you know that a powerful illuminating presence and eloquent speech have very little to do with true enlightenment? A truly enlightened teacher is loving, easy to be around, freely liberated, natural, joyful and most of all kind and compassionate.

A truly enlightened teacher will never tell anyone where to live, to abandon their family, or end their friendships. The truly enlightened teacher is selflessly joyous and ethical. A truly enlightened teacher teaches liberation and non-duality that lead to enlightenment. Is your teacher telling you to do things that are not loving? Are you being taught to break the golden rule - do unto others as you would have them do unto you?

If your teacher is teaching anything but love than your teacher is a pseudo-Master and really has no skills. He or she is dangerous!

By now Peter knows people are unhappy with his abuse. But at this point he is probably escalating his tight grip on his Cult, forbidding them to talk to certain people. He probably is making an excuse by using the old martyr trick. Something like comparing his experience with Jesus as though he Peter, himself, were suffering as Jesus suffered.

Again, if you are in this group. Leave now. Immediately!

Reconnecting with family and lost friendships will help ease your loss. And get support. You will need it. Find someone qualified, find ex-members, or write or call Steve Hassan. His web site is freedomofmind.com

Teach only LOVE.

Carol Weis
Cpt. C. Th.D

If you wish to contact me, please email me at:

TwoFeathers111@aol.com