The events took place in Morningland, Long Beach, CA, in the 1980s. The following paragraphs are from the original article posted in Signal Tribune. After decades of silence, a woman is sharing her story of growing up...
Cult survivors and writers Karla McLaren and Janja Lalich PhD (author of Take Back Your Life) outline the following four components that, in their opinion, create a cultic group: charismatic authority, transcendent...
Transparency builds trust and encourages accountability. Those who use secrecy or deception to build trust know very well that if they revealed their workings, very few people would join or even trust them. If...
Donato’s Marriage(s) This image is labeled August 29, 1968, however their marriage certificate is dated July 15th 1964 in Los Angeles County Below are pictures of Patricia and Donato at Disneyland. That’s...
People do not join cults - they are recruited. Cult members are not stupid or weak-willed - large majority are highly intelligent, open-minded, adaptable, and often very idealistic.
Most of these groups began or experienced a peak in the 1970s, the golden era for various fringe sects. Their former members’ stories and disillusionment sound unsurprisingly similar, signifying similar underlying...
The purpose of this website is to honor and share the experiences of Morningland Monastery’s former members. Morningland is also sometimes referred to as the Urban Monastery or the Monastery, located in Long Beach, CA...
There are many stories about this woman who co-created and changed the face of Morningland. She affected the lives of hundreds and will be remembered by many. The Gopis (Chokru, Saravati, Ona-Ali) and Kamazi X5...
The original version of this website was posted in 1997. I came to Morningland a few years later, shortly before Patricia / Sri Donato passed away. I left more than a decade later. When I met with those who left...
The events took place in Morningland, Long Beach, CA, in the 1980s. The following paragraphs are from the original article posted in Signal Tribune. After decades of silence, a woman is sharing her story of growing up...
I believe that the uncritical acceptance of spiritual authority can perpetuate unhealthy relationships and contribute to a lot of suffering. My critique about Daniel Sperato aka Master Donato is based on published...
Running an organization where members know nothing about the hidden activities of their leader creates very different realities and experiences within the group. This strategic structure can safeguard the leaders when...
