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A lifelong educator, Gerette brings discernment, compassion and understanding to the psycho-educational journey of cult recovery.
Gerette Buglion published An Everyday Cult in May 2021 and is currently working on a new project Misunderstood .
An educator most of her life, Gerette’s focus on coercive control and cultic dynamics ignited in 2014 after emerging from eighteen years in a controlling self-help group. Self-study combined with introspection, therapy and a commitment to unflinching honesty were the pillars of her recovery process. Her passion for community education and awareness gradually formed into a profession when others began to turning to her for help. Gerette’s educational offerings have developed over the years and now include her signature class: Writing to Reckon, personal retreats, consultations, workshops and speaking engagements.
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Whether you purchase my two-book bundle, the Writing to Reckon Journal PDF, schedule a 20 minute chat, or attend one of my speaking events, I look forward to connecting with you!
Purchase a personalized and signed copy of An Everyday Cult AND Writing to Reckon Journal here
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Ongoing Writing to Reckon Classes take place on Tuesdays and Fridays.
Gerette Buglion’s true-life story shows how her innocent quest for meaning is hijacked by a teacher who recognized her thirst for spiritual knowledge…awakening insight while simultaneously eroding her capacity for critical thinking. An Everyday Cult follows the arc of her journey through young motherhood into a group that welcomed her but also captured her mind, her heart, and her money. She shows us how a mind and psyche can be compromised by a controlling leader, using techniques that fly under the radar of human awareness—and she implores readers to wake up to these ever-present abuses of power. Gerette vividly describes a personal journey that became increasingly treacherous, culminating in tragedy. In the telling of her story, she exposes the impact of cultic manipulation on daily life.
Written in an engaging, self-reflective style, rich with insight into techniques common to cults the world over, An Everyday Cult increases the reader’s understanding and awareness of destructive dynamics that just might be closer to home than anyone ever imagined.
And I’m proud to now offer my book in audio format…narrated by yours truly!
"An Everyday Cult" Audiobook is Now Available!! ~~~
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"An Everyday Cult" Audiobook is Now Available!! ~~~ CLICK HERE TO ORDER!! ~~~
These stories, combined with commentary by respected and experienced therapists are directed towards helping professionals of all kinds. This anthology is dedicated to providing a platform for survivors who have been misunderstood to let their voices be heard by those who are in a position to create change and improve how survivors’ needs are met. This collection seeks to inspire and support those who support others by offering concrete examples of what worked, what caused further harm and what simple changes can go a long way towards authentic healing.
We are seeking stories where a survivor of religious trauma or cultic coercion sought help from a therapist, social worker or any other helping professional after getting out. We are specifically seeking stories where the help that was hoped for was not effective, or even harmful. Where being misunderstood created further shame, confusion, or pain that led to alienation instead of support.
Are you a survivor with a story about being MISUNDERSTOOD? If you have had this experience and would like to contribute your story, please use the contact form to start the conversation!
When Donald Trump exited the courtroom on January 25, 2024 after testifying in his own defense in the E. Jean Carrol defamation suit, he shook his head and said repeatedly, “This is not America. This is not America.”* (Classic DT multi-purpose statement.)
The Pacific NorthWest (PNW) - and the Portland area in particular - have wowed and nourished me these past two weeks with stunning beauty, engaging people and hard-to-put-my-finger-on-it-qualities that make me certain this will not be my last rodeo here. I feel a sense of being held in a way that I normally only feel at home. With my first official book tour and events behind me, I feel a gentle tug back East - but not before sharing this with you.
My friend Jane had the coolest book launch party ever. Her memoir, Spirit Traffic brings readers into the saddle of her motorcycle as she rides cross-country with her college age son and husband – before returning home to an empty nest. In addition to the expected reading of enticing excerpts from her book, Jane included a Moth-style storytelling hour with the topic, What Adventure Looks Like to Me. While driving to the event, I mapped out my adventure story and hoped I’d have the nerve to tell it – but lucky for me – the slip of paper with my name on it wasn’t picked. Today however, in honor of my mother and the fact that none of us would be here without our mother, I want to tell my Mothering Adventure Story.
It’s a “working from home” day and I have the house to myself for once: just me, my thoughts, my work and the gently drifting snowflakes outside. I’m productive and focused until I receive a disturbing message from a client that sets my mind spinning. I feel like a caged animal. A brief conversation with a colleague helps me gain perspective that I want to write about. I grab my notebook, cup of tea and head to my favorite chair. But the phone rings and it’s someone I’ve been playing tag with, so I answer. After that call, I pause. Do I write or do I go outside for a walk? Can I afford to do either when I have a mountain of work to do?
Let’s Twalk…
Did you believe all, most or some of the QAnon schtick? Until you didn’t?
Welcome to the club.
I don’t mean the ex-QAnon club. I’m talking about a club much, much bigger than Q. I call it the Hoodwinked club, or H for short.
I’m sorry to say it, but I have to.
It had to get this bad.
Because this is what happens when mind control goes mainstream — when it seeps into our work, our play and our infrastructure — the laundromats, the buses, churches and city streets. This is what happens when mind control takes over the kitchen table and bedrooms of tens of millions of people.
Yes, the orange haired #@$!# did it. He is the one every finger can point at.
Polarization is a tried and true cult leader’s weapon. In one sweep of the sword, unethical leaders can clearly define who the enemy is while at the same time, galvanize the loyalty of their followers. Once polarization is normalized, knowing one’s enemy equates to knowing oneself — it’s like looking into a mirror of opposites.
October 6, 2020
Is it possible that one excruciating moment in the first 2020 Presidential debate could alter the course of Trump’s America? Because you never know what will cause the crack, like a door peeking open into a darkened room, a wedge of light sprouting. Sometimes, a splinter of light can change the world.
October 2020
I didn’t know how she would respond. I feared the worst but couldn’t let that stop me. I had labored over my last blog post, mostly pruning the many-limbed tree of my ideas around Donald Trump as a Cult Leader. But I couldn’t publish it until I saw her in person.
The word ‘cult’ used to be taboo. Now, like sex, everyone is talking about it. We flirt with the word, unaware of the wounds, the wounded, and the wounding just outside our back door or perhaps in our own home. For Gerette Buglion, author of the memoir An Everyday Cult, the c-word is one of the most complicated and nuanced verbs in the English language – right up there with love.
Everyday Cults. Everyday People. explores destructive controlling groups and the impact they have on everyday people like you and me. When ex-cult member Gerette riffs with author C. Jane Taylor they travel into the ‘cultiverse’ – a complex world encompassing coercion and tragic harm as well as the profound liberation of minds that have been freed from undue influence. Through broad brush strokes and intimate musings, Gerette and Jane walk with listeners around the neighborhood of everyday cults and everyday people.
C. Jane Taylor is a writer, podcaster, biker, and yoga teacher. She is the podcast cohost of 1,000 Espressos and College UnBound. Her podcast, C. Jane Reads features her personal essays and stories. She writes resumes, professional bios, and creative essays, and is the author of Spirit Traffic (to be published late 2021). She lives in Vermont with her husband John who is a yoga teacher and their dog Dewey who is also a yoga teacher.
Gerette Buglion, B.A. Elementary Education and Special Education, earned her ‘Master's Degree’ in cult awareness education from the school of life. This training occurred during her eighteen-year odyssey with Doug (Fictitious name. Real person) who was the leader of the ‘Center for Transformational Learning’ (fictitious name for a real group, also simply CTL).
Pitting birth families against “true” families is just one of many tools used by cult leaders the world over. But, in CTL, Gerette was not forbidden to speak with her family. There was no tithing, no rules about where you should live, what brand of deodorant you must use, or what clothes to wear. Instead, more subtle techniques were used. Unspoken rules were inserted into the everydayness of the CTL culture. Loyal followers like Gerette obeyed them. This is the stamp of an everyday cult. It looks and feels like a wonderful opportunity…like spiritual, social, financial, or psychological growth. Life-affirming tools are offered - but there is also something else: a perhaps unintentional, but nonetheless gripping mechanism of control, turning what could be a good thing into an environment polluted by undue influence.
As a lifelong educator, Gerette was humbled when she finally emerged from CTL at age 52. She asked herself, How did I, an educated, caring mother, wife, and business owner become that lost and for that long? Gerette dusted off her discerning mind and set to work studying cultic dynamics and mind control while reclaiming her autonomy with the help of a supportive family, therapy, and countless hours immersed in nature and writing. An Everyday Cult lifts the nuanced veil of controlling groups through its subtle weaving of personal experience with insight from recognized cultic phenomena. The mechanics of recruitment, indoctrination, and recovery are illuminated by one woman’s arduous journey, allowing the reader to discover for themselves how power-over abuse may have impacted their own lives, the lives of their loved ones, and the world at large. This is self-reflection at its best - empowering readers to embark on their own redemptive journey.
A Simple Roadmap to Global Recovery
Sometimes I find myself saying outlandish things. It feels good to blurt these days, after spending eighteen years under the tutelage of a controlling leader where I learned not to trust anything I said unless I was parroting his doctrine.