The goal, says Dorothy Schmeling, a minister in Morningland from 1973-1978, is not only to reconnect with former friends, but also to help others accept, heal from and understand their shared cult experience.

"As a group, we would like to show people that it's a good thing to reconnect with former fellow cult-members," says Schmeling, who was known as Pathena while in the cult.

"One of the unfair and harmful policies of Morningland and other cults is that they order people they evict to have 'no contact' with any active or ex-member," Schmeling says, stressing that the 'no contact' order, faithfully kept by so many, isolates the individual, disabling their healing process. It also keeps them in a state of fear while enabling the cult to keep its secrets. "In Morningland, that no-contact order extended even further. Members being evicted were ordered to never talk about Morningland to anyone, including their families, not to refer anyone to Morningland, and not to contact the temple. They were, however, Śallowed' to periodically write to the temple to notify them of their whereabouts. Some members faithfully sent reports on themselves for over 10 years, waiting for a call to come back that would never come. The premise for this restraint was a "Vow of Silence" taken when one became a disciple. Reintegration into life outside of the cult is difficult enough, but isolation compounds it horribly. As a group, we are breaking through the bondage of those fears together and are taking our power back," she says. "In addition to just plain enjoying being in contact again, we are sharing our stories - sharing the tools that have helped us to heal and recover those parts of ourselves we left behind. We hope to extend that discovery, and ourselves, to anyone who has ever spent time in Morningland."

To date, the ex-member group has contacted more than 200 of an estimated 1,000 people who left Morningland, many of them during damaging purges in 1978 and later. The ex-members began finding each other in 1997. This effort was enabled by a Web site and an associated Web mailing list to help ex-Morninglanders communicate with each other in the relative safety of cyber-space.

"People who have been wounded by or are ashamed of their cult experiences sometimes find it difficult to talk to others about any of it," says Al Stone, another former member and creator/owner of the Web site. "We share an experience that few can understand who haven't been through something similar themselves. Our goal is to open a venue for communication and to help each other however possible."

Another former member, Lucy Vincze, adds, "These reunions are wonderful experiences for us. Some of the best and worst events in our lives happened while in Morningland. It's been important for us to sort those out, gain much needed insight from each other and come to a more balanced perspective. The best part of the reunion itself is to feel once again, the love and caring from so many wonderful people who shared such an important time in each others' lives."

The right handed lotus basking in a purple light. Don't ask me what that means.