Sylvia Browne's Church of Novus Spiritus

[bpobst]

Has anyone heard of this religious group started by psychic Sylvia Browne? A family friend posted the tenets on their page and I had never heard of it before. It was indeed started by Sylvia Browne in 1986 and appears to be fairly small but they have gone international up into Canada.

 

"A Gnostic Christian Church, that believes in reincarnation, the duality of God as both masculine and feminine, and in tenets that explain how we can best advance our souls for God -- while living with the negativity here on Earth. Founded by psychic Sylvia Browne on 1986-APR-14, Novus Spiritus is based on a long line of Gnostic churches that have existed for over 7,200 years. The first church service was conducted on 1986-JUL-12. Gnostics believe in finding their own truth, and don’t believe in “hell,†“sin,†or that Jesus came to die for our sins -– but was a human messiah who served as a living example of how we should think and behave. Church members believe in an all-loving, all-merciful and benevolent God, in the power of prayer, and that we write a 'chart' for each life, to learn the life lessons we have chosen to learn through experience – to reach our own desired level of perfection for God, who loves us unconditionally and equally."

 

As an aside, now that Sylvia Browne is getting some attention for the fact she told Amanda Berry's mom she was dead, did anyone know she was convicted of securities fraud? I knew she seemed very shady (apart from the psychic BS) but didn't know about any of that. I am curious about this "church".

[Jezebel]

I didn't know about this church, but given that it's Sylvia Browne, my first thought was that she uses it to dodge paying taxes.

[lilwriter85]

I heard about this a few years back. A friend of mine went through phase where she was a huge Sylvia fan and she read up on gnostics literature for awhile.

[Just_Jane]

Strangely enough I heard about it this past week although not in depth. I have a hobby of astrology and tarot reading. anyway my astrology/tarot teacher was talking about Sylvia Browne. she doesn't like her or how she delivers her message. A classmate had gotten a free ticket to one of Sylvia's talks a few years ago. she said that sylvia spent most of the time complaining about her health and the IRS. I hadn't known about the church thing either until this last week. I'd say that it's probably some sort of tax dodge.

[GeoBQn]

A guy I went to high school with bought into the Sylvia Browne shit. I think he and his entire family started with it when the father got cancer. He went from being a Metallica-loving, heavy-metal-band-fronting, sarcastic young man to being a Stuart Smalley parody. When OWN was allowing people to submit videos to pitch ideas for talk shows, he submitted a video about how the purpose of entertainment is to BE POSITIVE and make you FEEL GOOD, and he was going to bring on psychics to help people get in touch with themselves. The whole transformation was deeply unsettling to watch.

[keen23]

My neighbor just invited me to go with her to see Sylvia Browne when she plays Arizona (neighbor is a big gambler, and gets free tickets to stuff like this all the time). I'm totally going.

[LadyBlue]

I do believe there are real psychics (long story, but personal experience from a reading from an acquaintance) and at one point I though Sylvia might be one of them. Many years ago (10 or 15, at least), I read a couple of her books and learned about her church. It sounded pretty good at the time, but I never looked into it much. I'd bet it's a tax dodge, although I'm surprised it spread to Canada. Wonder if she was trying to become the next L. Ron Hubbard?

I've since read more than enough about her to realize she's quite the fraud. It's pretty sad that she's apparently taught her son and young granddaughter how to defraud people, too.

[Lainey]

Wow, I didn't know about this. I got curious about where the Canadian branch was located--silly me! Of course, it's in Calgary. All the weird shit happens in Calgary. :oops: I guess they broke away from Sylvia's original church, though: http://www.stopsylvia.com/articles/novu ... away.shtml

It's a pity it was ever connected with Sylvia, though. As much as I dislike her, I have always liked her concept of an afterlife. This "church" would have been interesting to me.

[lilwriter85]

I do believe there are real psychics (long story, but personal experience from a reading from an acquaintance) and at one point I though Sylvia might be one of them. Many years ago (10 or 15, at least), I read a couple of her books and learned about her church. It sounded pretty good at the time, but I never looked into it much. I'd bet it's a tax dodge, although I'm surprised it spread to Canada. Wonder if she was trying to become the next L. Ron Hubbard?

I've since read more than enough about her to realize she's quite the fraud. It's pretty sad that she's apparently taught her son and young granddaughter how to defraud people, too.

I'm mixed on the topic of psychics. I do believe that some people have certain forms of sixth senses in which they get bad feelings about people, places, or the feeling that something will happen. With Sylvia Browne, she is a fraud. She said that Shawn Hornbeck and Amanda Berry were both dead. She also had some prediction that Jennifer Lopez was never going to have kids.

There was recent thread on here were someone said that they wished Theresa Caputo aka Long Island Medium would meet with the Duggars. I really don't know what to think of Theresa and her "gift". I have looked around online and there are a few sites where people from LI say she is the real deal and I found the following forum where a few people said they or people they knew went to her for readings prior to the show.

lifamilies.com/chat/topic.aspx?&P=1&ID=757911&Highlight=#P8541034

I don't get the creepy fake vibe with Theresa that I have gotten from from Sylvia Browne over the years. I remember reading a blog posting years ago, where a woman paid to have a phone reading with Sylvia's son Chris. I can't remember everything she said about what Chris told her. One of the things he told her was that she had dental problems. The woman went to a dentist soon after, for a checkup and xrays and nothing was wrong. That woman said that over time she did more research into Sylvia and Chris. I think it was on the stopsylvia site where many people talked about their BS readings done by Chris. Many people who were desperate for readings were turning to Chris because he doesn't charge as much as Sylvia.

[GodsKnickers]

Sylvia Browne can shove her church up her anus horriblis, along with her 'psychic talent/ability.'

[Irishy]

Wow, I didn't know about this. I got curious about where the Canadian branch was located--silly me! Of course, it's in Calgary. All the weird shit happens in Calgary. :oops: I guess they broke away from Sylvia's original church, though: http://www.stopsylvia.com/articles/novu ... away.shtml

It's a pity it was ever connected with Sylvia, though. As much as I dislike her, I have always liked her concept of an afterlife. This "church" would have been interesting to me.

Me too

[Koala]

Sylvia Brown is a fraud that preys on tragedy stricken families during a time when they aren't always strong enough to sort out who has their best interests at heart and who doesn't. She should be absolutely ashamed of herself.

[sarahbrownie]

She's such a hack. Her son does "readings" as well and will often call you back after a few months with some "important information" if you want to pay him for it. youtube.com/watch?v=OBJlxKTNzYM. This is probably the funniest thing I've seen in a long time.

[Claddagh]

I've seen her on TV a few times and always thought "Fake!"

If you read through this site it really has some horror stories how she and others have taken advantage of people in their darkest hour. It is sad reading in so many spots.

stopsylvia.com/articles/

[flyawaystray]

I'm mixed on the topic of psychics. I do believe that some people have certain forms of sixth senses in which they get bad feelings about people, places, or the feeling that something will happen. With Sylvia Browne, she is a fraud. She said that Shawn Hornbeck and Amanda Berry were both dead. She also had some prediction that Jennifer Lopez was never going to have kids.

There was recent thread on here were someone said that they wished Theresa Caputo aka Long Island Medium would meet with the Duggars. I really don't know what to think of Theresa and her "gift". I have looked around online and there are a few sites where people from LI say she is the real deal and I found the following forum where a few people said they or people they knew went to her for readings prior to the show.

lifamilies.com/chat/topic.aspx?&P=1&ID=757911&Highlight=#P8541034.

I said this in another thread, but I'll comment again on LIM for those who weren't in it.

I went to a reading with my friend. It was at Glo about a year or so ago. I went because it was free for me (my friend bought two tickets), and I know my friend loves the show. I've watched a few times but was pretty skeptical because hey, anything can be edited to look legit, especially on TLC.

Two things really stuck out to me during the reading. One was when she said: "whose love one committed suicide by hanging?", and "who has the ashes of so and so with them today?"

She just outright says stuff, so I think she is legit. Sure, some people may think she's preying on people but let's be real, it's the people that are buying her tickets and having private readings that WANT stuff like this to happen.

She doesn't do cold readings unlike John Edwards. She may say stuff out loud initially like: "is there someone who had a family member with a heat problem?", but she quickly delves into specifics which is kind of hard to fake. It's not like a one on one where she knows the persons name ahead of time. This was maybe 100+ people.

That's just my two cents, though.

I hate Sylvia Browne. She went on Montel once and told someone that their loved one who died in 9-11 died by drowning.

[greentree31]

Why does Ms. Browne use Latin in the name of her church? Couldn't she just call it the Church of the New Spirit?

[Rescinded and Mended]

Years ago, when my aunt was still alive, she got on the waiting list to consult with Sylvia Browne. She had to wait 18 months before an appointment opened up. When they met, my aunt wanted to ask specifically about my father, her youngest brother, who died when I was young. Based on what my aunt told me, Browne spoke in generalities and didn't give a lot of specific information. What was interesting, though, is that she gave my aunt a computer-generated printout of the session. I think it's something you pay extra for.

My aunt sent me a copy of the full session printout, it was around 30-40 pages. I never cracked it open and read through it. Hmm, maybe I should do that...

[bpobst]

I think you are all probably right that this is some sort of a tax dodging enterprise for her. I can't seem to find much info about what it is like inside the church though. I am mostly seeing things about how horrible of a person Browne is and how there were financial implications for the Canadian separation, and things like that. Is there just not much known about the inner workings of this group or is it just a very mundane group that tries to accomplish tax dodging and is a very basic religious set-up? Lots of info and stories about how she is a fraud and how she has an awful attitude towards others but I want to know more about the actual church and what they do. What types of people are involved in her group?

I think she is an awful person, always have. Do people join this BECAUSE of her or do they usually join and realize later? I figured since her name has been in the media a little bit lately that more people would know about this "church" but nobody I have talked to has any idea (minus the one on FB that posted the tenets).

Rescinded, I think it would be super interesting to crack open those pages and see what all is inside. If you want to share, feel free! ;)

I don't know anything about the LIM as I have no television and am not much into the psychics or anything like that but if some of you get the chance to go then I would love to hear the experiences.

[Rescinded and Mended]

bpobst, I will see if I can find it. :)

If memory serves, I once tried to get through it and stopped because Sylvia Browne cross-referenced all her reading information with a bunch of astrology star charts - it was very odd and written in a confusing manner. But I will look for it.