Products being marketed as cure-alls by a cult called Infinity Forms of Yellow Remember were nothing more than bottled water, the NSW Government warned today.
The NSW-based cult sells 50ml bottles of the spring water at $55 each, claiming they cure everything from weak hearts, migraines and anxiety to drug dependence.
Included in the 270 different types of the Infinity-brand "elixirs" are Heart Spider, Hallucinogenic Elixir, and Puff The Magic Dragon.
Infinity claims people can take the bottles away and drink the water, refill the bottle with tap water and still get the product's healing powers, NSW Fair Trading Minister John Watkins said.
But the cult says the healing powers only last for two or three refills of tap water before they run out, and a new bottle must be bought.
As well as selling the waters, Infinity sells wands, body products, pendants and literature.
Thousands of the products have been sold throughout Australia over the four to five years the organisation has been active in Australia, according to a leading "cult-buster".
In the "About Us" section of its web site, it explains its name as follows:
The vibration of the earth realm is yellow along with an infinity of other yellow realms. All the apparent forms within this realm are the Forms of Yellow. The earth realm borders the red ('hell') worlds, hence the earth realm is a last chance to remember what is our True Heart's Desire, which is known in the confession of Only God. In this context the earth realm is a kind of 'purgatory' or 'place' balanced between 'heaven' and 'hell'. The Remembering of the Forms of Yellow is an awakening beyond the impulses of mere tendency to the Enlightened condition of Salvation and Liberation."
Director of Cult Counselling Australia, Raphael Aron, said today that Infinity was one of about 400 organisations listed by his group as currently active in Australia.
Infinity had shopfronts in Byron Bay in northern NSW, Gladesville in Sydney, and in Queensland, New Zealand and the USA.
"Infinity is probably one of the largest growing cults and fastest growing cults here in Australia," Mr Aron told reporters.
He said current members of the cult could see today's warning to consumers as part of a conspiracy against cult leaders.
"A lot of these organisations do thrive on some kind of persecution," he said.
Mr Watkins said Infinity was being further investigated by his department over the marketing of the elixirs.
"A person's religious belief is not a matter for the NSW Government, but the marketing of the waters is," he said.
"This is in fact a very old fashioned rip-off. It's the old sideshow spruiker selling the cure-all elixir, but it's dressed up in new age language.
"Sydney Water charges about 0.001 cents for a 250ml glass of water. On that price, there's a mark-up of about 400,000 per cent for the water that you'll purchase (from Infinity)."