The Gentle Wind Project/Site Created By Former Cult Members

If you are new to this forum and are looking for information that is particularly helpful and relevant to those who have recently left RSE and are starting their recovery process, this is a good place to start.
QuestionGirl
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Joined: Tue May 19, 2009 3:25 pm

The Gentle Wind Project/Site Created By Former Cult Members

Unread post by QuestionGirl »

This is another good site on the net created by former members of a cult group called the "Gentle Wind Project." Lots of good information on this site too!

http://www.windofchanges.org/
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David McCarthy
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Unread post by David McCarthy »

QuestionGirl,

Welcome to EMF and thank you.........
for posting this excellent resource website link.

Jim Bergin and Judy Garvey successfully defended themselves against a lawsuit by the ?Gentle Wind Project ?(GWP) in the State of Maine, after they were sued continuously from May 2004 - Nov 2006.
The (GWP) is a new age ,?spiritual" group that recruits its members through seminars with offers of free ?healings?.
They sold "healing instruments" designed from so called ?channeled information? from $400 to upwards of $20,000.

It is people like Jim Bergin and Judy Garvey that make the world a safer place from ?spiritual predators?.
They came under attack for standing up for their rights to free speech, and to speak out against the GWP, a coercive ,deceptive and destructive group, they stood their ground and WON against a very powerful and wealthy "spiritual group".
Jim Bergin and Judy Garvey are true heroes.
From my understanding.... after the GWP lost its lawsuit against Jim and Judy, they quit doing business in Maine, but set up shop elseware.... :cry:
Perhaps Joe may have some updated info on this group...?

EMF received this message from Jim Bergein and Judy Garvey when we first launched EMF..

David.
Enlighten Me Free
As former followers of Gentle Wind Project, a group that claimed to have an exclusive connection to the "spirit world," we applaud any public service website dedicated to providing alternative perspectives.
While we were involved with GWP we believed that the individuals channeling what they referred to as the "brothers and sisters of the inner world," the "company," the "spirit world," among other nomenclature, had special powers. When we woke up, we published a website titled Wind of Changes to share our personal stories with anyone searching for more information.
We are pleased to note the growing dissemination of information originating from your new website and many others. Enlighten Me Free offers a valuable service that will contribute toward informed choices.

Jim Bergin and Judy Garvey
From the original EMF forum
Link...

http://pub43.bravenet.com/forum/static/ ... 3&cmd=show
********************************

Also From the original EMF forum
Link...

http://pub43.bravenet.com/forum/static/ ... 6&cmd=show



The Gentle Wind Project violates the Maine Unfair Trade Practices Act.


NEWS FROM MAINE
ATTORNEY GENERAL STEVEN ROWE
STATE ENTERS INTO CONSENT DECREE WITH THE GENTLE WIND PROJECT FOR DECEPTIVE PRACTICES AND VIOLATIONS
AUGUST 14, 2006

CAROLYN A. SILSBY, ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL, (207) 626-8829

Attorney General Steven Rowe announced today that the State has entered into a consent decree with The Gentle Wind Project, a Kittery-based charitable organization, and six named defendants (collectively, ?GWP?) who served as officers or directors for many years. The consent decree resolves violations of the Maine Unfair Trade Practices Act relating to GWP?s claims about its so-called ?healing instruments,? and violations of law relating to the mismanagement of the charity and its funds by those who held positions of fiduciary responsibility.

The ?healing instruments? were manufactured and distributed by GWP from designs that allegedly came from the ?Spirit World? via telepathic impressions received by the charity?s founder, John Miller. GWP claimed that the instruments repair a person?s ?etheric,? or invisible energetic structure, which then improves one?s emotional, mental, and even physical functioning. The instruments were sold to consumers via GWP?s website and through ?seminars? for requested ?donations? of often hundreds or thousands of dollars, depending on the design. The research that GWP claimed to have done on the instruments does not support their alleged benefits. The Unfair Trade Practices Act, as interpreted by the Federal Trade Commission and the federal courts, requires that any express or implied health claims be substantiated by objective and reliable scientific evidence. In the absence of such evidence, the claims are deceptive.

The named defendants have agreed to pay civil penalties and costs and to an injunction that prohibits them from making certain health and research claims about the ?healing instruments? or from serving as fiduciaries or advisors for any other Maine nonprofit. The parties have also agreed that GWP will be dissolved, and its remaining assets distributed by the Attorney General as restitution to consumers who purchased a ?healing instrument? since 2003 and to a Maine charity whose charitable mission is to provide services to those with mental health disabilities.

?We believe that this is a just resolution of the violations of law committed by the defendants. People who give money to a Maine charity should be able to trust in its integrity, and in the integrity of those who are charged with its operation. This charity damaged the public?s trust and it should not be allowed to continue,? Rowe said.

The consent decree and order that were filed in the York County Superior Court late last week will become final once approved by the Court. Attorney General Rowe praised Assistant Attorney General Carolyn Silsby for her work in the case.

From
http://www.maine.gov/ag/press_release_p ... ess_id=317

Gentle Wind Project http://www.gentlewindproject.org/
**************
"Most often those who became involved...could not conceive of themselves
as subject to authoritarian manipulation.
They saw themselves rather as true spiritual adventurers unafraid
to push against the boundaries of convention.
For them, the very fact that they were capable
of going beyond social constraints was a sign of liberation...That many discontented and innovative people were unwittingly seduced into submission and conformity (visible only to others) indicates the depths of people's susceptibility to authoritarian control...people who are being callously manipulated believe they are freer than anyone else...the underlying message is that they are on the cutting edge of evolution." -- Kramer & Alstad (Resources)
But he has nothing on at all, cried at last the whole people....
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