7 Cult Control Tactics You’ve Never Heard, a List and Examples

Cults rely on confusion and vagueness to stay in power. In this article, I reveal 7 cult control tactics I personally experienced inside the Love Has Won cult — and for the first time, I name them. If you’re looking for real-world examples of spiritual manipulation, coercion, and psychological control, this is for you.

These aren’t just theories. These are the tactics I lived through. And now I’m naming them, because it’s time we get more precise about how cults work.

I’m doing interviews and podcasts for my new book, and I’ve been working to name and define the patterns of manipulation I experienced inside the Love Has Won cult. These terms weren’t in any textbook. But they were everywhere in practice.

Here are seven original terms I coined, based on firsthand experience, that I believe need to become part of the larger conversation.

List of 7 Cult Control Tactics and Examples You’ve Never Heard

1. Piggybacking
When a leader hijacks someone else’s personal story or emotional moment and uses it as proof of their own divinity or importance.

Example: I once described a spiritual experience I had before joining the cult. Amy (Mother God) interrupted and claimed it was actually her higher self guiding me the whole time.

2. Past Polishing
The gradual rewriting of one’s personal history to create the illusion of destiny or divine purpose.

Example: Amy told the same stories night after night, and every time she’d tweak them to prove she was always meant to be Mother God. “I was putting love into the hamburgers at McDonald’s and dissolving dark energy from the inside.”

3. Name Casting
Assigning followers grand spiritual titles to lock them into the belief system and give them a false sense of purpose.

Example: I was called “Father God.” Others were dubbed Archangel Michael, Horus, or Saint Germain. It gave us status, but it also trapped us. We felt pressure to live up to the name — and keep playing along, or risk losing everything.

4. Shame Casting
Publicly labeling defectors or dissenters as evil, fallen, or demonically possessed to discredit their judgment and destroy their confidence.

Example: When someone left, Amy would say they’d become “Lilith” or “Crowley.” Friends were turned into villains overnight.

5. Etherdumping
Blaming harmful behavior on a spirit guide, entity, or channeled being to avoid responsibility.

Example: Amy would insult or scream at someone, then say, “That wasn’t me, it was Robin Williams,” one of her so-called guides.

6. Wallet Washing
Convincing members to give up all their money or assets as a spiritual cleansing. Generosity was framed as ego death.

Example: I watched people hand over their life savings, believing it would help them “ascend.” It was manipulation wrapped in enlightenment.

7. Bridge Burning
Isolating members by cutting them off from family, finances, or support. It keeps them stuck and afraid to leave.

Example: Anyone who tried to leave got zero help. No money, no resources, nothing. Most ended up crawling back, or starting from zero.

These 7 cult control tactics are just the beginning. Cults thrive in the shadows of vague language. When we name the tactics, we take back power.

Again, if you’ve seen these tactics in other groups, name them. Let’s blow the lid off this together.