We’ve heard from multiple sources that at Friday night’s weekly graduation celebration at Flag — Scientology’s spiritual headquarters in Clearwater, Florida — Kelly Preston celebrated her completion of Operating Thetan Level Seven.
OT 7 is known for being one of the toughest levels to complete on the “Bridge to Total Freedom.” We’ve heard stories of church members being stuck for years while they’re “on the level,” and during that time they have to report to Clearwater every six months for expensive interrogations known as “sec checks” (short for “security checks”). And it’s a big relief to finally finish the level not only because it takes so long, but also because finally, you are done removing “body thetans” — unseen alien entities that hover around you — which takes up all of levels OT 3 to 7.
We’d love to know what Preston told the crowd at Friday night’s event. Graduation speeches are usually very entertaining for the word salad church members put together as they try to explain how this level was the greatest ever. (For a fun example, check out this speech we posted last year.)
And Preston is in good company. We’ve seen reports that Nancy Cartwright and Kirstie Alley also both recently completed OT 7 in what appears to be something of a push going on. And now, they can all take a sail on Scientology’s private cruise ship the Freewinds for the highest level of them all, Operating Thetan Level Eight.
If you haven’t seen it already, make sure you look at our report on the original version of OT 8, which was available only for a short time in 1988. We hope to have our report on what people get in today’s OT 8 soon to finally finish up our series, “Up the Bridge.”
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New lawsuit in South Africa
We’ve actually known about this new lawsuit against Scientology in South Africa for some time, but the plaintiffs didn’t want us to write about it. Something about not being fans of the Underground Bunker’s rough treatment of a certain Mr. L. Ron Hubbard. Well, whatever. We still wish them the best, and we will be interested to see how their lawsuit develops.
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Tennessee facility that housed Barbara Cordova in the news
You may remember our stories about Barbara Cordova, the middle-aged Scientologist who was whisked away to a Tennessee Narconon-like Scientology retreat after she suffered a nervous breakdown in Los Angeles. Her mother, Arlene, has been very concerned about Barbara’s condition, and hasn’t heard from her daughter in months.
Now that Tennessee facility is in the news for being the source of some license violations. There’s not much to the story, but it would be nice if the media in Tennessee started looking around for Barbara Cordova as well as what sound like some pretty minor variances by the rehab center.
UPDATE: We brought our Barbara Cordova stories to Tennessean writer Tommy Wilemon’s attention, and he let us know that he’s now posted the actual state inspection reports for the Woodbury facility. Give them a look!
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Posted by Tony Ortega on October 13, 2014 at 07:00
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Learn about Scientology with our numerous series with experts…
BLOGGING DIANETICS (We read Scientology’s founding text) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25
UP THE BRIDGE (Claire Headley and Bruce Hines train us as Scientologists) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48
GETTING OUR ETHICS IN (Jefferson Hawkins explains Scientology’s system of justice) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14
SCIENTOLOGY MYTHBUSTING (Historian Jon Atack discusses key Scientology concepts) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49
PZ Myers reads L. Ron Hubbard’s “A History of Man” | Scientology’s Master Spies | Scientology’s Private Dancer
The Underground Bunker’s Official Theme Song | The Underground Bunker FAQ
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