What I'm starting to see many of these charlatans promote hoodathunkit is psychedelic drugs. These would seem to be the present day Philosopher's Stone.
Well spotted nauticant
They love their "plant healers” / “teacher plants” / "plant medicines”.
It is very easy to get inside someone’s mind and inside their pants when they are in an altered state.
I should state my personal beliefs in respect of psychedelic drugs before commenting further.
In my 20s and 30s I experimented extensively with psychedelic and entheogenic drugs, largely in an attempt to deal with multiple appallingly traumatic experiences. I have no doubt that psychedelic and entheogenic drugs can be used in a therapeutic manner and can help some people who are deeply troubled and traumatised, at least some of the time. I first took LSD as a minor and, as a deeply traumatised, extremely unhappy teen, I found it to be immensely therapeutic and helpful. However….
Just because I found LSD to be therapeutic does not mean that it would be helpful for others. Some drugs that help some people are very harmful for others. I have had extremely adverse reactions to prescribed painkillers and anti-depressants that many people find very helpful. I am also neuro-atypical. We are all different. What helps one may harm another. I do not recommend that people randomly attempt to self-medicate for trauma or other mental health problems by using hallucinogenic drugs.
The other very obvious issue is that mind altering drugs have been used since antiquity to influence and incapacitate vulnerable people. It is important to understand that politicians, royalty and other persons of influence all have vulnerabilities and are like to be approached by mountebanks and charlatans of this kind. The fate of former President Park of South Korea and of the Russian Imperial family illustrates destructive such influence can be.
Sexual predators and other criminals who spike people's drinks to take advantage of them are known and discussed as a threat, but people are far less aware of the slow drip drip of brainwashing that arises from repeatedly placing a vulnerable person in an altered state, as can happen in a therapy cult or religious cult.
Also therapy movements that started as an attempt to challenge some of the abuses of psychiatry via the use of LSD and other drugs (see RD Laing) can evolve into abusive and possibly cultic / criminal groups.
Some of the worst criminals actually enjoy tormenting their victims using a combination of gaslighting and drugs or other mind altering activities.
I don’t know if you have seen the BBC drama series The Serpent about the serial killer Charles Sobrhaj? It is incredibly disturbing and definitely not a series to watch while eating, however it does portray very well the mindset and activities of a ruthless, psychopathic / sociopathic, predatory criminal who enjoys isolating victims from their loved ones, gaslighting them, drugging them and either recruiting and exploiting them or murdering them.
Many of the crimes depicted in The Serpent are a very accurate depiction of Sobrhaj’s crimes. The depictions of his relationships with his lovers are questionable, as the women in his life were both victims and perpetrators (as often happens with cults) and their complicity, or lack thereof, is disputed and may never be fully understood.
Other criminals who have used psychotropic drugs to influence vulnerable people include Charles Mason, Anne Hamilton Byrne, Benjamin Field, “Bhagwan" Shree Rajneesh (later known as Osho) and associates, and various cult leaders and criminals throughout time. Sadly I think that much of this kind of crime goes on unnoticed.
If there's one thing the new age gurus love it's ways to break down people's personal boundaries.
Absolutely. One of the central identifying themes of such cults is that they seek to erode and even destroy people’s sense of self and personal boundaries and integrity. Important, loving relationships with others are undermined and destroyed. The only relationships permitted are those defined by the Leader.
Cults and criminals using this MO love to use certain words and phrases that indicate this, including but not limited to; oneness, limitless, lost borders, without boundaries, without limits, multiple, etc. Some of the most dangerous cults are motivated to undermine the boundaries not only of people but of nation states.
The below documentary details the crimes of Anne Hamilton Byrne, an Australian cult leader who used a variety of brainwashing techniques, including psychedelic drugs, to gaslight her victims and to commit appalling crimes.
Understanding Hamilton Byrne’s MO is important for anyone who wants to understand about statutory capture. She recruited police, psychiatrists, social workers and other people of influence into her cult and used them as accomplices.