Cult News

In a recent interview plugging her new CD Madonna once again sought to promote the so-called “Kabbalah Center,” a controversial group led by Philip Berg, which has been called a “cult.”

The “Material Girl” even brought along her “rabbi,” for the NBC interview with Matt Lauer.
She thus provided a media platform for the Berg-man to plug himself and his leader’s teachings.

However, despite claims that the group is somehow engaged in the study of historical “Jewish mysticism” one former member says, “The whole system is based on them getting as much money out of you as they can under the guise of teaching this very watered-down system of spirituality.”

One article called Philip Berg’s version of “Jewish mysticism” called it “McWisdom,” implying that Berg’s teachings are more like fast food than digesting anything with meaningful depth.

But Madonna seems to love this alleged junk food. The star even brings her six-year-old child to the Kabbalah Center for “Happy Meals.”

The pop icon claims that the little girl is learning the “power of words” and that classes have “changed her immensely.”

Other celebrities have also raised their children in controversial groups called “cults,” such as Priscilla Presley, who began Lisa Marie’s Scientology indoctrination at an early age.

Much like Presley Madonna apparently has chosen to ignore the troubled history of the group she has become involved with.

Former Berg followers say the Kabbalah Center can be abusive and often exploits its full-time workers called “Chevra,” some are reportedly paid as little as $30.00 per week.

One ex-member opined, “We all know about physical rape…But we don’t have any protection for spiritual or emotional rape.”

But Madonna doesn’t seem to care about such things. The “Material Girl’s” approach to spirituality seems as narcissistic, self-serving and devoid of any serious sensitivity as her earlier pop image conveyed.

For example, she offers as partial explanation for her last movie flop the “evil eye.” The effects of the so-called “evil eye,” which is a superstition often discussed within the Kabbalah Center.

Madonna wants the public to believe she’s changed, reinventing herself once again. She insists, “[Once] I wasn’t interested in what I could do for other people. I looked at people and said, what are they going to do for me?”

But after seven years in a controversial “cult,” it seems that Madonna still isn’t “interested in…other people” and remains focused upon “me.”

Madonna’s makeover into the “Spiritual Girl” lacks the same depth of her previous personas. And it looks like the same old self-indulgent narcissism.

Madonna told Matt Lauer, “I’m a Kabbalah,” much like the old Dr. Pepper motto “I’m a Pepper.” Perhaps that’s an appropriate title for a pop diva.

The singer gives herself a “C” concerning her “Kabbalah” studies with the Berg group, though the “rabbi” she brought along quickly upgraded her to a “B.”

However, it seems like Madonna’s exploration of religion should receive an “F.”

Her understanding of the potential harm that she may cause, by promoting a purported “cult,” appears to rank right along with her latest movie effort as another example of her personal failure.

Madonna is out plugging her new CD and increasingly strange beliefs, reported within USA Today.

The 44-year-old mother of two who started her pop career in the 80s belongs to a controversial group the “Kabbalah Center,” which has also been called a “cult.”

Why is it that celebrities like Madonna seem to think their talent to entertain, is somehow accompanied with a gift for religious discernment? Maybe it’s just the byproduct of spiritual sycophants?

USA Today reports about “Madonna’s epiphany,” but her claimed insight looks more like a blind spot.

The singer says, “We live in a society that seems to value only physical things, only ephemeral things…We’re obsessed.”

Yet it’s she that seems “obsessed” with bizarre beliefs that include the metaphysical properties and supernatural powers of bottled “Kabbalah water.”

Madonna, once known for her strident cynicism, apparently buys it.

In her interview the star claimed, “Every person on the planet is living in a kind of bubble, trapped into programmed thinking.”

But isn’t it Madonna herself that increasingly seems to inhabit just such a “bubble,” “trapped” within “cult”-like “programmed thinking”?

Perhaps the pop diva should consider bursting that “bubble” before preaching to others.

After all, wasn’t it Madonna that once sang “papa don’t preach”?

Why doesn’t the star practice what she sings?

Madonna claims that her “songs are about letting go of illusions.” And insists, “I was guided by selfish desire…but I’ve woken up.”

Berg, a former insurance salesman, who founded the so-called “Kaballah Center,” apparently sounded that “wake up call.” His teachings have been derided by reputable Kaballah scholars around the world and called the “pop-minded bastardization of a sacred text.”

This latest “vogue” or makeover by Madonna appears to be a “pose” of spiritual maturity. And “illusions” and “selfish desire” appear to animate, what increasingly looks like Madonna’s mid-life crisis.

She claims, “Studying has given me clarity.”

However, it doesn’t appear that the diva has studied the deeply troubled history of the Kaballah Center.

Doesn’t she care about the many former members of the group that have alleged serious abuse? Or is apathy the byproduct of her newfound spirituality?

Wouldn’t someone sincere have sympathy for those abused, instead of selfishly refusing to look outside their “bubble”?

Madonna rambled to USA Today, “I’m a speck, an atom. Everything physical is an illusion, but it’s there to guide us or test us or deter us. Our job is to navigate through this world while understanding the only thing that matters is the state of our soul…Any success I have is a manifestation of God. It’s my ego that wants to claim ownership. It’s hubris, arrogance and greed.”

This rambling stream of consciousness itself sounds a bit like “hubris” and “arrogance.”

Madonna seems caught up in a kind of spiritual narcissism. And like so many seemingly rudderless stars attempting to “navigate through this world,” beached on the rocks of another celebrity strewn “cult.”

Her odyssey comes across as both self-indulgent and self-important.

Perhaps a good dose of her once famous cynicism is in order. Then maybe this middle-aged “Material Girl” can grow up and move on with her life outside the “bubble” that apparently blown around her.

Madonna may be “shielded by psychic armor,” but the middle aged former “sex kitten” who now wants to talk about “serious issues” is getting a bit boring, or so it seems in an article recently run by W Magazine.

Could this be at least partially due to her spiritual work out schedule, which includes “several nights a week” at the “Kabbalah Center”?

Madonna certainly has become a devotee of this group that has been called a “cult.”

But she says, “I think the Kabbalah is very punk rock.”

Maybe Madonna’s right; Berg’s brand of “Kabbalah” has been criticized by scholars as more of a pop creation than traditional study of “Jewish mysticism.”

Madonna’s career is troubled. The pop diva’s film “Swept Away” was a flop and Elton John described her song for the movie Die Another Day as “the worst Bond tune of all time.”

Never mind, Madonna has more important things on her mind, “I need to stay focused on my spiritual studies,” she says. And claims to be “tired of shallowness.”

But wasn’t it the “shallowness” of the “material girl” that made her a pop icon in first place?

Madonna now even questions the basis of her stardom and says, “What was I really trying to prove.” And claims, “I’ve been given this place in the world for a reason.”

OK. But the once sharp-witted, go it alone woman looks like she may have lost her edge.

It seems that even the star’s sense of style may have been dulled by her spiritual quest.

Commenting on a recent fashion shoot Madonna said, “I can’t tell you how boring it is posing for pictures. It’s so boring. If I don’t feel like I’m creating something that means something, I don’t want to do it.”

The diva defines this mission for meaning as a “real responsibility…to bring light to the world and make the world a better place.” And adds, “That’s what I should be focused on thinking…Not-you know-being a ‘pop diva.'”

Is this just all about an aging “pop diva” trying to rationalize a fading career? Or does this reflect a transformation brought on by “cult” involvement?

Madonna says, “I change. I evolve. People can’t understand that…Maybe that’s what people find unsettling about me. But that’s so boring.”

But what seems really “boring” is this “change” and posturing produced by Madonna’s most recent evolution.

And it looks like other stars deeply involved within groups called “cults” may “evolve” that way too.

Witness the winding down of John Travolta’s career in one boring formula film after another. Even Tom Cruise’s last few efforts have been boring.

Both stars, like Madonna, constantly comment about the importance of their group and how it has changed and/or evolved their lives. Cruise and Travolta are both committed to Scientology.

However, Oscar winner Nicole Kidman who has apparently left Scientology doesn’t seem to have evolved too badly.

Maybe Madonna should call Kidman for advice and reconsider what she is “focused on thinking.”

Madonna and her husband Guy Ritchie are deeply involved in a controversial group called the “Kabbalah Centre,” which some people say is a “cult.”

One of the most bizarre aspects reported about the group is its heavily promoted “Kabbalah Water.” It is hyped as “dynamic ‘living’ water” with “a highly organized structure, crystalline formations and a fractal design.”

Jeanette Walls at MSNBC reports it’s the water “Madonna swears by.”

But one street-wise New Yorker just told CultNews.com the following:

“I was walking down 48th Street past the Kabbalah Centre, when going in through the service entrance what do I see, but a delivery person bringing in the ‘holy water.’ The kicker is that each carton was clearly stamped ‘product of Canada’ and sported a popular brand name.”

So what’s up?

Does the Kabbalah Centre use two brands of water, or is there really just one with different labeling?

Maybe Madonna is buying less than she bargained for?

Has the “Material Girl” paid a big mark up for bottled water that she might have easily picked up at the corner store?

Yehuda Berg the son of the Kabbalah Centre’s founder claims, “We charge the water with positive energy, so that it has healing powers.”

But where do they “charge the water,” inside a bottling plant in Toronto?

Madonna once sang about “getting into the groove,” but now it seems she’s stuck in a rut. The middle-aged pop icon persists in her “spiritual” trip, which includes “yoga” and “Kaballah” lessons, reports Reuters. But her teachers of these respected traditions are from controversial fringe groups that have been called “cults.” One of her yoga teachers is a devotee of 3HO and her “Kaballah” lessons come from an organization run by Philip Berg, which he named the “Kaballah Center.”

But the “material girl” apparently feels any controversy surrounding these groups is somehow immaterial.

Perhaps Madonna, like most celebrities involved in groups called “cults,” never sees or is subjected to the dark side of these organizations. Like most celebrities involved, she is more likely to be catered to and fawned upon, rather than exposed to the demands made upon regular members.

Hollywood types are known for gathering “yes people” around them and indulging in self-centered pursuits. And it seems that for some “spirituality” is not unlike using drugs or partying and is simply another journey down the road of narcissism and/or hedonism.

However, regardless of the fun Madonna and other stars may have in indulging themselves, they often become a lure used by groups to promote products, courses and recruitment. In this sense they take on some of the responsibility of the harm, which may be done to others.

Madonna is certainly not some wide-eyed naïve type, “like a virgin.” Hopefully, some day she will be a more mature mother and offer her fans a better example