New Warriors – New Age Nonsense
I recently met a man who is a member of the "New Warriors." When asked if the New Warriors was a New Age movement he said, "No." And so it begins with a lie.
The New Warriors Training Adventure initiation includes a lot of North American Indian spirituality. In other words, it's a New Age thing. It's also about mind control. It's impossible to get any official information from New Warriors about the specifics of what occurs at a New Warriors Training Adventure weekend. About all they will tell you is that it is expensive. It runs about $650 (US). You must pay a deposit before you take the "course," and that deposit is non-refundable. You'll probably wish you could get a refund after about 10 minutes into your "training adventure."
What should you do to be a happy and successful human being? The New Warriors say their weekend "training adventure" is just the thing. They say they will "empower" you, they will help you "identify your issues," and take responsibility for "satisfying your own needs, while serving others."
The New Warriors is a new-age therapy cult more than anything else. A lot of high-sounding platitudes and vague statements about "growth" and such.
If you want to be challenged and transformed maybe Promise Keepers would be the answer. And Promise Keepers is free. This New Warriors Training Adventure is expensive — and they proudly proclaim to be a not-for-profit organization.
One of the rites-of-initiation includes standing with your back turned at the top of a flight of stairs. The initiate is to fall over backwards — down the stairs — and trust that his Warrior buddies will catch him. Supposedly they always catch you – it's a matter of trust. You are however, required to sign a waiver before attending the initiation weekend. If they don't catch you and you fall and break your back — tough. You signed the waiver.
There is also nudity involved. The New Warriors won't tell you this either. You sit in a circle with a bunch of strange men — in the nude. Doesn't sound like "empowering." It does sound like weird.
One of the graduates of the Training Adventure weekend was going through a divorce. (It seems a lot of the Warriors are divorced.) He somehow determined that his soon-to-be ex-wife's aura was fouling his home. An exorcism was in order. He and a bunch of his Warrior buddies brought over the smudge pots and burned herbs in the different rooms of the house to smoke out the woman's vile aura.
The Woman Within
An offshoot of the Warriors is a group called "Woman Within." It perhaps would have made more sense to call them "The New Squaws" but political correctness ruled the day. The Woman Within initiation weekend is similar in many ways to a Warrior weekend. The women are warned before the weekend starts that no sexual activity is allowed. Why that should be a problem is unclear, although there seem to be a lot of women may be — let's say — struggling with their identity, sexual and otherwise.
One graduate of Woman Within coerced her live-in boyfriend (marriage seems to be somewhat rare in these two groups) to take the New Warrior weekend. If he didn't take the initiation he was out on his ear. If he had been smart he would have walked out as soon as she suggested such a thing. She had a very manipulative "woman within." There is a lot of manipulation, persuasion and coercion in both the New Warriors and Woman Within groups.
The New Warriors and Women Within weekends involve a lot of one-on-one coaching. All new initiates have their own individual "mentor" for private "counseling" and assistance with the communal hocus pocus. It's an intense weekend (and some might say, approaches brainwashing). Too bad the weekend costs so much. If it is such a valuable learning experience it should be free. One wonders how much the leaders earn for conducting the weekend. That — and plenty of other information — is not available.
For a study in vague writing try the New Warriors home page — www.nwn.org/brochure.htm. There is precious little information on what the New Warriors is really about.
The New Warriors has many similarities with the Life Training Therapy Cult
"Life Training" is one of several 'therapy cults' that have emerged in America and Europe recently. These cults stem from 'est' (Ehrhard Seminar Training), founded in California in 1971. Life Training uses intense weekend courses of anger-provoking humiliation, sleep deprivation (16-hour days) and mass hysteria to break down the inhibitions and fears that prevent people from achieving success. Though course participants are encouraged not to mix socially with the unenlightened, except for recruiting, Life Training (as with all est spin-offs) considers career and material success to be central to self-realization.
There are over 20 Life Training communities around the world. Though formed by two est-trained Episcopalian priests, Life Training preaches that Man (rather than God) is the center of the universe and that fate is choice. The weekend courses are exhausting and emotional affairs (sick bags are reportedly provided during some training sessions) and the courses are expensive. Those who subscribe to Life Training after this initial weekend, but who cannot afford the price of additional courses, can offset the cost by working for the organization during subsequent recruitment weekends. Jobs include escorting participants to the toilet, since no one is allowed to spend time alone.
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The Main Differences Between Religious Cults and Therapy Cults
| Religious Cults | Therapy Cults |
| Communal living is common | Communal living is rare |
| Members may leave or not join
society's workforce |
Members usually stay in society's workforce |
| Average age at recruitment is the 20's | Average age at recruitment is the mid 30's |
| Registered as religious groups | Registered as 'not-for-profit' groups |
| Offer association with a group
interested in making for a better world via political, spiritual or other means |
Offer association with a group
offering courses in some kind of self-improvement, empowerment, or self-help technique or therapy |
Interesting articles about "Lifespring" therapy cult: http://www.ex-cult.org/Groups/lifespring
Learn more about new-age spirituality: http://192.211.16.13/individuals/strump/pwna.html#na
General information on religious cults: http://www.watchman.org/
Beware of cult manipulation: http://www.infoman.demon.co.uk/manipul.html
Beware of cult recruiters: http://www.infoman.demon.co.uk/question.html
Persuasion techniques used by cults: http://www.irsociety.com/cults.html
Expert teaches students to avoid dangers of cults: http://www.rickross.com/reference/Art9.html
Shamanic therapy cult: http://www.netonecom.net/~shaman/
Shamanic therapy cult – family practice: http://www.aracnet.com/~lochness/
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