No, I’m not talking about a certain politician…I can’t bash a man just because he married a gorgeous, rich, woman!

No, I’m talking about Sylvia Browne!  Spiritual teacher, world renown psychic and scammer of the desperate and those who just can’t break out of the sheep mentality. <but there’s always hope>

A lot of people have read in her books or discussion groups or they’ve heard it in lectures that Sylvia Browne lives in a modest home in the California hills that her son bought her and that she drives a beaten up old car.   We should send her money!!
WRONG!!

A friend of mine did some research <thank you!> that uncovered approximately $15,000,000.00 <yes, that 15 million>in Residential property in the state of California bought by Sylvia C. Browne.  She co-owns a few properties with her son, Chris Dufresne.  This does not include properties elsewhere such as Utah and Hawaii.
<To those who have this information, feel free to correct my math .  I suck at it!!>

Not to mention that everyone knows that Sylvia travels in limos or large cruise ships!! 

Why do I care?  Because there are a lot of people who, like myself, fell for Sylvia’s money-making scheme!  I spent 10 years freely advertising Sylvia Browne’s books and “religion” in an on-line discussion group, defending (to a point) the inaccuracies and inconsistencies until it just got overwhelmingly wrong to do!  I read Robert Lancaster’s research and I now feel a sense of responsibility to correct that or at least balance out the last decade!  And I DO fully support Robert Lancaster of StopSylviaBrowne’s efforts and yes, HE WILL BE BACK!!!

Be offended if you will…I was that way too at one time just like the other well-known outspoken former supporters of Sylvia Browne’s were.  There was a time when many of them would have done anything for her!  Too bad that their reciprocation was blatantly unkind from Sylvia Browne and her faithful, large posse.  [Check out "Novus Spiritus: "These Freaks Only Come Out at Night" for starters on that topic]

Please don’t fall for this modest, old woman disguise that she puts on.  It isn’t true!!  Please, don’t fall for that, “All of my money supports my church” bullshit!  It isn’t true!!  She couldn’t care less about the church.  It was just a backdrop for her scheme…a prop!  She’s taking all of our money and investing it in real estate!! 
I guess that it’s safer than that Gold Mine fiasco felony that she was convicted of in 1992 for duping people out of their money!!  She blames that all on Dal, of course.  Sylvia couldn’t possibly have been smart enough to have concocted that scheme!  Read Interview: Gary and Ree Dufresne and see how innocent Sylvia really is! 

And YES!  The woman has a right to make money but she’s making it by bilking people out of their money by pretending to be a fortune-teller and not giving them the services that they’re paying for!  She’s flimflamming you all!! 

If you are considering giving any money to this woman, do yourself a favor and head on over to StopSylviaBrowne.com and read the articles.  Check out, “Browne’s Money – Part 1″ for one! 
Then, read about the people like Shawn Hornbeck or Opal Jennings or the horrible things she’s said on Montel, like when she told that woman in the audience that her father wasn’t her father!!

Sylvia Browne has a firm grip on the supply and demand concept and she has figured out that scandal sells!  So she goes around whipping people’s minds up so that they will spend more money for the cure.  And then apparently, she drops every penny into real estate!  After all, she said it herself in the July/August Newsletter!

…Then Sylvia launched into the day’s topics, covering relationships, nutrition and how we handle our money. She mentioned the economy and our financial heartaches and urges the women in the audience to watch their investments. “Don’t depend on anyone to take care of your money,” Sylvia advises. “There isn’t a penny that drops that I don’t know where it is.”

I would have never guessed that to be one of Sylvia’s personality traits!  I would think that she’d be counting her blessings rather than every penny! Sheesh!

Be Free Of Sylvia Browne’s Greed!

EDITED TO ADJUST DOLLAR AMOUNT.  9/30/08

Robert Lancaster posted an article yesterday, Email: “What Sylvia told my Grandma” ~ An account of a “reading” which had an impact on an entire family. 
The following is the opening of the article:

“I wish I had more details for you, but this is so painful for my family that they refuse to talk about it…”
- email author

As I read about how Sylvia, in her fog of flagrant disregard for anyone’s well-being other than herself and her family, told this widow that her deceased husband cheated on her, I wondered if I were in the audience if I would have been able to control myself from going off on Sylvia!  Seriously!!!  She couldn’t give a shit about any of us as she’s proved time after time!!  

And as I read the rest of Robert’s article, I felt like I was going to be sick because there was a time when I might have actually persuaded people to go to Sylvia Browne!  Even though I did it in order to support my Sylvia Browne book discussion group, “Master Peace” I may have had a hand in someone believing in her…maybe I eradicated a doubt they had or something EVEN THO I used to tell people the truth in emails.

I am seriously hoping that someone will share a true story of how Sylvia helped them soon and I know that Robert will publish it if given the permission!  I know that there are die-hards out there who make blanket claims of her wonderful Sylvia Browne is so PLEASE do share!!  It’s getting ridiculous!!

Thank you to the person who submitted this email to Robert for publishing and as usual, great job Robert! 

Join the Discussion on JREF’s Forum HERE
and Have a Nice Day!

I love waking up in the morning and finding an email from Robert Lancaster telling me <and the others on his mailing list > that he’s got a new article up on his site, StopSylvia.com!  It’s sort of like Christmas without the hub-bub!  <sort of but not quite>  You can’t wait to open it, you know?

In “I Speak With Sylvia Browne,” Roberts tells how he and his lovely wife Susan and a few folks from the JREF Foundation went to see Sylvia Browne at the Excalibur Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas!  <What a God-given coincidence to have a JREF meeting and a Sylvia Browne show in the same town at the same time, huh??!! >I think that this is probably one of Robert’s top 10 articles (there are so many)!  I absolutely LOVE it!!  The first-hand account shows us how things really are at these types of shows rather than how they appeared to the faithful who’s eyes are clouded <speaking from experience as a former cloudy-eyed person> or how misleading fans may portray them!

I was especially sickened to read about the woman who had just lost her mother and hadn’t even buried her yet (and still went to the show) and was told by Sylvia that her mother loved her funeral service! That’s really sad!!  Going there looking for answers from someone you admire and getting that?!  Why didn’t that woman speak up and say, “What service?  We haven’t buried her yet!” but I expect everyone there to be a little leery of contradicting her.  I just feel really bad for that lady…and she’s just one out of the crowd who’s going through turmoil and is looking for someone to help them…not some con-artist!  

My friends and I have seen the other side of Sylvia Browne. 

(See “Did I Tell Ya About When Sylvia Browne Called Me?“) 

One woman (good friend of mine…former Novus minister?) had 4 (or so) of the Society’s higher-ups yelling at her at one time over the phone and the language they used just because she rented (with her own money) a different place to hold church services!!!!! OMG!!  And remember how Rob Samuels received several harassing phone calls?  Mine wasn’t harassing so much as it was intimidation.  So, yeah, I can see why people might not want to contradict her face to face!! 

<I always envisioned the scene in The Wizard of Oz where the smoke and thunder sounds come from behind the curtain but trust me, there is no curtain that can hide her!  Between vanity and ego, she keeps peeking through the curtain an exposing herself!!  She’s just a small woman…small in so many ways!  No reason to fear.>

I am not surprised at how Robert kept his cool because that’s how I’ve always known him to be, but I am surprised at Sylvia going through the all of the trouble to segregate him from the rest of the audience and try to goad him into an altercation!  What a lunatic!!  I can almost see Sylvia’s people giggling backstage as they come up with the plot!  IMAGINE SYLVIA’S FACE WHEN SHE WAS TOLD THAT THE LANCASTER’S WERE THERE?  OMG!!!!!!!!  Sorry for yelling but I get so excited!

I wish that there was something to have leveled the playing field for me back in 1998 before I got involved with the Sylvia Browne Corporation and the Society of Novus Spiritus but now I can do my part in helping others by helping Robert in any way in order to expose the real Sylvia Browne and help people from giving her their hard-earned cash without sacrificing their spiritual growth!

I do want to further elaborate something that is in Robert’s article that got my attention…

“Browne also mentioned at this point that her churches were the only schools in the USA which were licensed to train hypnotherapists. I find this difficult to believe, and a Google search for the phrase “train hypnotherapist” seems to indicate otherwise, but I have not researched it in any depth.”

Back in April I had written an article, The Society of Novus Spiritus Hypnosis Training which you may want to check out.  There’s a comment there that contains a link to a neat hypnosis training site.  I also thought it cute that she mentioned “not being like Cher”.  I wonder if she reads my blog because I had written “Aw Man!! Is Sylvia Browne going to be like Cher??” back in April.  Cool…one step ahead.  Ha Ha!!

I am not a mean woman by a long-shot!  And neither are the Lancasters or Nancy Williams or Rob Samuels and the countless others who work toward this common goal! I really cannot stress that enough! But, after having been through what we’ve been through with Sylvia and her “people” and knowing people who’ve gone through worse (Hornbeck’s and the Jenning’s for instance), this is righteous anger and justified justice seeking!!

Anyway… GREAT job to Robert and Susan for being who you are and for doing what you do!!!  I can only imagine that 4 hour ride home after having this happen!!  I can almost feel the excitement!!  And, thanks also to Larson and the others who assisted! 

TruthBeTold

Join the Discussion on JREF’s Forum HERE
and have a Nice Day!

But at least there’s no 8 year waiting list that his mother, Sylvia Browne claims to have!  According to their [Sylvia Browne] website their fees are as follows:

“Phone reading with Sylvia – $850
Phone reading with Chris – $500
The length of time for your reading varies with each individual depending on your questions to a maximum of 30 minutes. Most readings average between 20 to 30 minutes.”

Can you believe that?  In my mind, there are very few people worth that kind of money and if I’m going to pay that kind of money, which for most of us is a lot of money, I’d better get quality and a lot of it!!

Well, Robert Lancaster of StopSylvia.com has a new posted a new article, “Chris Dufresne: “His psychic ability is equal to Sylvia’s“ that you won’t want to miss!!  In his latest article, Robert answers burning questions such as:

 Is Sylvia Browne positioning her son to take the reigns?
 Is he really worthy of the extreme description of him and his abilities that their website claims?
 If there is such a long waiting list for both, why did one woman get a reading with Chris just a few days after requesting it?
 Is Chris’ reported rudeness during his interactions with the faithful be because of what his father, Gary Dufresne said during an interview with Robert Lancaster?  “…and he said basically, he was talking to me about the fact that he hates what he does, but you know, the money’s good, and his mother pushes it, and actually, what else is he going to do? And um, but he did state that he really disliked what he was doing.”

Robert details how Sylvia and Company are touting Chris’ abilities as nothing short of spectacular and yet, and I quote from StopSylvia.com, “The volume of complaints I have received about Dufresne’s readings come as no surprise. Several ex-ministers with Browne’s church of Novus Spiritus have told me that people who work in Browne’s office often complain about the volume of complaints and requests or refunds they get from Dufresne’s phone-reading customers.”

I also loved what he [Robert] wrote in his conclusion for this article!  Too cool, Dude!

Check it out, become informed and save your money!! 
If you really want a psychic reading, there are plenty of people out there who will give you what you want for less than what a good meal for two costs!  <I always used to write on my discussion group, Master Peace, “Don’t go to a psychic to ask how your financial situation is going to be!  The fact that you’d spend money on a psychic tells you the answer!!!”>

There is a new article up on StopSylvia.com entitled “Sylvia and a 9/11 Widow“.

This one really got me angry and a bit sick to my stomach.  It points out that Sylvia Browne has NO psychic ability and NO compassion and realistically, little or No brains (except for when it comes to her ability to scheme people out of money). 

When someone says that they lost a loved one on 9/11 it does NOT necessarily mean that they were in the Twin Towers.  Amazingly, while that horrible event was happening, life was happening elsewhere.  Babies were born and people passed away.  The fact that Sylvia assumed that this woman’s husband’s passing on 9/11/01 was due to the towers grossly shows her inability to see what she claims to see.  The fact that Sylvia hung up on this woman and then had an assistant call her just to call her a liar one more time shows the real way that the Society of Novus Spiritus handles people as this has been repeated many times.

I can understand Sylvia and her cohorts having their radars up for someone to trip them up, I really can!  But to react this way to someone who’s genuinely looking for answers, or even someone who’s not, is unbelievable.  I am sure that this story will be spun in many ways by those who are still faithful but I know of no one who wishes for this woman to be brought to justice who would ever spend any money to purposely trip her up and if she were truly psychic, she would know that.  It’s not worth it and realistically, we don’t have to do anything but sit back and watch!!

My heart goes out to the author of the letter to Robert Lancaster.  I hope that in your heart you do know that your loved ones are together, if only in your heart (although I firmly believe in Heaven and eternal life).

Warriors and Seekers of Truth, Mission Life Entities   
All of these are an example of a few key phrases used by Sylvia Browne’s books and in The Society of Novus Spiritus’ teachings.  I studied for 8 years with the Society of Novus Spiritus so I have a little bit of a grasp of the concepts and yes, I do still live them as do most of the people who’ve spoken out. 

So, anyway…I was thinking this afternoon that I want anyone who may stumble into my blog who still feels adoration for Sylvia to consider this.  Those of us who have now turned our attention from promoting her work to exposing her as a fraud must have charted to get close enough to know the truth and strong enough to expose it!  And then we all charted to find Robert Lancaster and consolidate what we knew and that’s when we realized that people need to know this stuff!  We knew that to not say anything was wrong! 

I know that a lot of people despise what we’re doing.  Balance your intellect with your emotions and think!  Why would there be so many ministers who walk away and now wish to expose the truth?  WHY?  Because they are people who, through their ministry with the Society, gained information that made them run!!!  Do you realize that many of us feared repercussion?  Let me repeat that…WE FEARED REPERCUSSION!  <SAY WHAT?>  I know…running a religion using fear against those who speak out against you!  What a trip, huh?!

What we are doing is no different than what would be expected to be done if an injustice or crime has been committed.  We’re not the bad guys here.  We once gained trust as far as the concepts went and now we ask that you trust us…because we’ve experienced the knowledge!

Sylvia Browne will tell you that if you read and study and practice the self-help topics in her books you will never need another priest again and then she offers a course for ministry and creates deacons and bishops, everything but a pope <but we all know who that is>.  She’ll tell you that you have a one-on-one relationship with God but then tells you that you need a reading which costs as much as many of our mortgages!  Read her books and you’ll see the hypocrisy in that!

I don’t blame people that I see who are still devoted, it did hurt each of us when we broke away, but we are really much better now and our beliefs are still as beautiful as they were before.  And myself and others shouldn’t be blamed for doing what is right. I am proud to be a Warrior for Truth…ALL truths. 

And in case someone close to Sylvia reads this?  Come on Sylvia!  You know me!!!  No one ever wanted this to happen to you!  God knows we tried to fend off people who doubted you but you brought this upon yourself.  Why don’t you start charging reasonable rates and admit when you’re human and apologize!  That would have kept most of any of this from happening!  You can turn a new leaf!  Lots of people have!!  It can all be straightened out easily enough.  All we want is the truth exposed and for people to be treated fairly! Who knows!  Maybe you’ll come out a hero in the end!

As my husband often says…
Don’t hate the player…hate the game.

I was leafing through Sylvia Browne’s website the other day and I was checking out the hypnosis training that is offered by her church. 
My mind was blown!!

From the site:

Hypnosis Certification Training includes a minimum of 150 hours including classroom training, and practical application. Training begins with ten days of intensive classroom instruction, which will take place at our headquarters in Campbell California. Experienced Sylvia Browne Hypnosis Training Center Master Hypnotists < That must be the now infamous Vera Espana and Darren English and the like...>, who have been approved by Sylvia Browne to train you, will conduct all training.

Before completion of the classroom training at our headquarters, students will be required to take a written exam and an oral exam.

Following the initial classroom training, students must complete practice hypnosis sessions using a variety of techniques and methodologies. Practice hours will be completed at the student’s own pace, in their community or location of their choosing.

Students must successfully complete the oral and written exams before conducting practice hypnosis sessions and additional requirements to be applied toward certification as a hypnotist.

Upon completion of all requirements, students must provide evidence of all practice hypnosis sessions to be considered for certification by Sylvia Browne Hypnosis Training Center.

The first thing that got me was the cost.  The training registration costs $2000!! <say what??>
Now, because the training happens in Campbell California, you have pay your own airfare, hotel and food for at least 9 days which is the length of the course.

So, let’s see…
Airfare = (average airfare from Expedia.com from Phila. to San Jose which I believe is the closest airport equals $400 one way) = $800
Transportation from Airport to Hotel (avg for round trip to and from airport) = $200
Transportation to and from hotel to Novus Spiritus = unknown
Hotel (average fee per night for 10 nights since it’s a 10 day course $110 for lower-end hotels) = $1100
Food = I have only heard of the high cost of living in California so I can assume that 2 weeks worth of dining will run you up to about $50 a day (give or take…some meals will be quickies and I’m sure you’ll get invited along for some outings with your fellow classmates) = $500
Hypnotherapy Course = $2000
Odds and ends and souveniers = intangible but probably more than you plan on spending

$4600 <that you know of> to go and BEGIN your training ONLY to have to be recertified again in 2 years and if I understand the Training Catalog correctly, you have to go back to Campbell for the 15 hour recertification training!!!

After you’ve completed all of this, it is up to you to get your own place to conduct your skills as it is a requirement to have 50 hours of documented out-of-class or “practical” training so you’re going to have to set yourself up with somewhere to conduct these hours unless you do friends and family.

But wait!  That’s not all!

You also MUST purchase and maintain malpractice insurance plus the cost of possibly renting a small space to conduct this as many people won’t go to you house for hypnotherapy.  Some would but I wouldn’t if I were to go for hypnotherapy that is…

Any monies you collect through your practice MUST be documented and forwarded to Novus regularly (control issues?) and if you get any referrals from the Campbell office, you are required to send a percentage of the fee you collected from the referral.

It’s the same as when you become a Minister and you open your own church.  You’re contracted to send them monthly reports including a recording of your service so that they can assure that you are following their strict guidelines AND you have to tell them how much you collected.  YES!!  You’ve seen it all.  Organized Gnostics tithing!!!  A lot of people believe that Sylvia pays to keep these churches up and running but the truth is that you pay for it yourself and after one year you are required to send Sylvia 10% of your collections!!!!! 
 
It’s just another lie that is spread by carefully planted inner people of the organization…

So, back to the hypnotherapy certification

In the end, you’ve spent thousands of dollars and only wound up with the experience and a cheaply made certificate with the Sylvia Browne signature stamp on it like you receive when you’re a Novitiate with the church.  I am a Novitiate so that is first hand information although I couldn’t tell you where my certification is.  I might have burned it along with her books.  We heat with wood so it was a very spiritual “green” experience. 

And get this…
In the Training Catalog under the Refund Policy section is states that “not receiving your enrollment confirmation before the course begins is not justificaiton for seeking a refund.”
Are you freaking kidding me??
They don’t even have to confirm that they have received ALL (no partial payments allowed) of the tuition!  They don’t have to confirm that you are, in fact, enrolled in the training!  That is a trip!!!
So, if you sent in your money and you expect customer service like you get with anyone else that you give money to, lower your expectations.  And if you sent in your money and have not been notified that you’re been accepted and if you have not been told which dates you’ve been placed in and you don’t show up? YOU’RE SCREWED!!

And then it gets worse!!
“If it is necessary for SBHTC to cancel a course, the full course fee will be refunded.  We do not reimburse travel or accomodation costs or any expense other than the full course fee in the event of a course cancellation.”
Again!!  Are you freaking kidding me?!
IF you get out there and they cancel the course unexpectedly, you are screwed!

Whatever you do with the training is up to you but controlled by Novus because if there’s a dime to be made, they’ll be hovering over you like the crow in Stephen King’s “The Stand” and I don’t use that book as an example by coincidence!!

These people are sick!  They are preying on people who want more out of their spiritual life who possibly out of desperation, through reading and comraderie have found Sylvia’s books and have chosen to go forward with Novus Spiritus possibly without the knowledge (and therefore power) that Sylvia Browne is a fraud, a fake and has been a con artist for as long as anyone who’s known her can remember.

If you have stumbled into my inner thoughts and think “why is this girl so obsessed with stopping Sylvia Browne?”, go to StopSylvia.com and read a few of the articles and discuss this with others on the JREF Forums.

A lot of good people get involved in this stuff.  I was lucky to have benefited from the books in a self-help sort of way but I kept my head on and had my husband holding my pant’s belt-loop in case I decided to dive into the Kool-Aid party!  Many will stumble upon one of her books and think “WOW! This is what I always believed but I never knew that somebody else did!!” The reason it sounds familiar you guys is because her Church Sanctioned Fluid Organized Tax Shelter Church has taken beliefs from many religions and concocted their own. 

Check this out…Sylvia claims to go into trances at which time Francine, her spirit guide comes through, but there have been people who have experienced first-hand Sylvia slipping during these trances and answering questions in her own voice and getting angry at her side-kick Mike McClellan for not controlling the situation (the questions) better as I believe they are pre-screened.  It’s equivalent to the magician swallowing the key to the handcuffs accidentally, you know?  She probably kicks him when one of her many contradictions makes it through the editing process and gets published in her recycled book list!  (yes, many of her books are repeated info with a new title and cover)  GASP!!

Gnosticism is a very ancient belief.  It is not an organized religion and I’ve rarely met one who is into the hypocrisy of many religions including Sylvia Browne’s lame-brain effort to make millions by creating yet another organized religion where she is the pope. 
Sylvia has been known to say that she is Satan’s Soul Mate!!  Can you believe it?!!
One of those things is a leap…one isn’t.

THAT’s why I write about it and support Robert in his effort to Stop Sylvia Browne!! 
Just in case you were wonderin’ …

CYa

I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves;
therefore, be ye wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
Matthew 10:16-23

Hey Folks!

If you read Robert Lancaster’s article, “Email: “My Experiences in the Early 70s With Sylvia Browne“ - Notes on Browne from her early years as a professional “psychic” that was posted today on StopSylvia.com, you’re probably thinking what I am.  After all of these years of practice, why isn’t Sylvia Browne better at it than this?

I applaud and give a standing ovation (which means a lot since the floor’s very low these days) to the woman who wrote the email telling of her experiences with Sylvia Browne that clearly show the hypocrisy and idiocy of Sylvia Browne!  Thank you for taking the time out of your day to deal with such a vile subject but you know as the others who help Robert do that you are doing what’s right.

Many see Robert and those who support him in his effort to expose this fraudulant woman who wears sheep’s clothing as a bad guy and those who support him are bad people but I ask you?  What if we were exposing someone peeing in the vat at Heinz Ketchup Plant?  What if we were united to save others from abuse or from getting ripped off?  If I bought a product from a store and got ripped off, isn’t it the right thing to do to bring it to light?  Well, that’s all we’re doing.  IF it rocks your spiritual foundation, it wasn’t built sturdy enough.  If the truth hurts, change it.

And if you wish to discuss it, head on over to the JREF Forum and join the group!

  Peace