7 Weird Details About That 'Mummy Cult' In The News
"Cult" is not a word to be thrown around lightly when it comes to any religious group, but Love Has Won definitely checks off all of the boxes according to experts on the subject. The group's leader, Amy Carlson, known to her followers as Mother God, was an authoritarian who could pinball back and forth from the embodiment of love and healing to an absolute nightmare of a human being. Her followers spend almost more time attempting to defend her behavior as they do proselytizing her message.
This is a topic where we're gonna have to tread very lightly. On one hand, there are stories here so weird that we can't not talk about them, but bubbling under the surface of those stories are some details so incredibly bleak that there was only so far down the rabbit hole we could go without reaching for the strongest mind-eraser we had in the liquor cabinet. So buckle up, because things are about to get strange.
Let's Start With The Mummy
Despite having a population of less than 200 people, the town of Crestone, Colorado, is a popular hotspot of spiritual eco-tourism. The town is home to a number of religious groups providing retreats for their followers, including Carmelite Roman Catholic, Hindu, Buddhist (both Zen and Tibetan), and some that fall into the category of "other." Well, on April 19, 2021, police paid a visit to a house belonging to one of the "other" groups: Love Has Won.
"Uh ... or something, right."
The day before, LHW member Miguel Lamboy, who had been maintaining the property, had returned to the home to find a group of other members had arrived after traveling in from California. Those members, along with their leader, had been staying at an RV park near Mount Shasta until they were asked to leave due to overcrowding.
Lamboy was greeted and led into the house by Jason Castillo, also known to the group as "Father God." Lamboy was told that the group's leader, Amy "Mother God" Carlson, was in the back bedroom. Technically, she was there. What Lamboy found in the room was the mummified remains of Carlson, placed in a sleeping bag and wrapped with Christmas lights, with glitter on her face, in what looked like some sort of shrine. Oh, and reportedly her eyeballs were missing.
As Miguel Lamboy tried to, understandably, get the hell out of there, he was angrily confronted in the driveway by another member of the group. Miguel went to grab his two-year-old son, but the boy was snatched up by a member named Karin and taken into the house. As other members got involved, Lamboy fled the scene and went straight to the police station in Salida ... a town 50 miles away, as the local police in Saguache County wasn't exactly trusted by the group. Who would've thought, a group that'd keep a mummy in a sleeping bag would have trust issues with law enforcement?
Salida Police listened to Miguel's story, no doubt pausing him frequently to keep their brains from melting. Then, they handed the case over to the Saguache County Sheriff's Office, who sent eight squad cars over to the compound in the wee hours of the morning. Once inside, they found the mummy, and arrested seven members of Love Has Won on various charges, including "tampering with deceased human remains", "abuse of a corpse", and two counts of child abuse for each. Miguel's son was returned to him safely, and a 13-year-old girl found in the house was placed in protective custody, which is about the happiest ending we could hope for here.
An SUV on the grounds was impounded for a thorough forensic investigation, as the vehicle showed signs it had been used to transport the remains. Translation: They'd laid the seats flat. Thankfully they didn't strap her to the roof like a kayak or anything. It may be hard to imagine, but the story ending with a glitter-encrusted, eyeless mummy wrapped in Christmas lights and a sleeping bag isn't even the weirdest part of the Love Has Won story.
About ‘Mother God'
Who was Amy Carlson? Well, according to her, she was a 19-billion-year-old divine being who has been reincarnated 534 times. Her past lives have included Marilyn Monroe, Joan of Arc, Cleopatra, and Jesus Christ. She was the Mother of All Creation. She was the queen of the lost continent of Lemuria (a recurring theme with this stripe of folks). And her biological father, at least in this most recent life, was none other than Donald Trump. Sorry, but it was inevitable that a story this bugnuts insane had to include that guy somehow.
You would think a deity with this kind of resume would've had a more expansive resume in this life, but sadly no. Carlson grew up in Dallas, Texas. Her family described her as a straight-A student with a lovely singing voice. In her late twenties, she started getting really into New Age philosophy, numerology, and astrology. By the time she had joined the group that would eventually become Love Has Won, she had been married three times and had three children. She left them behind, along with her job as the manager of a McDonald's.
Abandoning her children is one of those bleak details we warned you about earlier. Her oldest son Cole Carlson, now 25, has since spoken out about his mother's death, saying, "Some of the details that have slowly continued to come out have been rather shocking to me, honestly, but they are also a cult. You kind of expect weird things to come out, and I had been expecting for her not to be around much longer."
Those are the words of a man who had to come to terms with his childhood trauma against all odds. Not every kid in group therapy has to share a story of their mom becoming a cult leader, and we admire this guy for the strength of his character, as well of his restraint by not interrupting every other kid by saying, "$20 says I got you beat."
What Is Love Has Won About?
According to Love Has Won's now-defunct website, the path to enlightenment includes such easy-to-understand instructions such as "reheart your Divine Self", "Be in service to Love", and "Help Humanity to wake up!" And that's just the soft sell.
The beliefs behind those ideas are mostly a hodgepodge of tenets pulled from astrology, new age spirituality, numerology, the Bible, with a dash of Hopi prophecy, a pinch of Reptilian conspiracy, all half-baked together with a side order of QAnon. It's like this cult has crafted its brand of spirituality the same way Moulin Rouge used classic pop songs; by sampling familiar sounding bits here and there to craft an overdramatic mess that really only makes sense when you're really, really high.
Like a lot of cult leaders, Mother God doesn't sugarcoat what's wrong with the world today, and how she is the only path to salvation. According to her, free will was a failed experiment, the world has become enslaved to the dark forces of "the Cabal", and "You are either with me or against me." All you have to do is tap into Mom's Divine Self, and don't forget to click that donate button or visit their online store for all of your "rehearting" supplies such as candles, self-published books, prayer cards, and a variety of natural supplements.
This past year, the FDA had to come down hard on them for trying to sell colloidal silver, gold, and titanium tinctures as a "cure" for Coronavirus, which sadly has been a common marketing tactic among faith-healing religious groups. Colloidal metals have never been proven to have any benefit when taken internally. These heavy metals will build up in the body, often causing discoloration of the skin and permanently damaging organs. People often start taking these remedies out of a distrust of modern medicine, and the remedies wreck their body's ability to absorb actual medicine, reinforcing that distrust, so they take more of the fake remedy ... It's a strange, vicious cycle.
Toward the end of her life, Carlson was suffering from cancer, which she unsurprisingly blamed on all of the negative energy of those who refused to believe in her divine power. It is extremely likely she was self-medicating with colloidal silver, as evidenced by her bluish skin in one of her last known photos. Her exact cause of death may remain a mystery, but between the cancer and the silver it was probably a bit of column A and B.
Out-Of-This-World Surgery
The group also offers different forms of "etheric surgery" sessions with Mother God who, even in death, is still working her magic. The process consists of a "pre-surgery" phone call where you discuss what you can expect from the surgery, and a follow-up session 3-5 days later where they tell you how the surgery went. There are also an add-on package and upgrades available, as well as a surgery package for your pet! No, the "surgery" is not performed over the phone. That would be silly. It's actually "preformed in the etheric realm on your higher self by MotherGod and The Galactic A Team in the 5th dimension."
As if the idea of these etheric surgeries couldn't get any weirder, the surgical team from the 5th Dimension included the spirit of Robin Williams.
On the day the famed comedian passed away, Mother God claimed his spirit appeared in her bedroom, where he announced that he was there to help her with her mission. She has also claimed that Williams was an archangel named Zadkiel. This was just one of many celebrity spirit encounters she had claimed to have, including visits from Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Margaret Thatcher, and Nelson Mandela, but Robin Williams was the only one to join The Galactic A Team.
Those Beliefs In Action
Love Has Won's actual practices are a different story. Followers were not really adhering to any strict doctrine other than whatever Mother God's whims were at the moment, and those whims would often change based on Mother God's blood alcohol level. She forbade her followers from using alcohol, but for her it was fine because it was "organic." Former members share stories that Mother God would often start the day with beer and switch to vodka after dinner each night. Like, a lot of vodka ... a lunch meeting on Mad Men
Mother would only allow her followers to sleep 4-5 hours a night. She would deny them food. They were not allowed to sit. They had to help package and ship the group's holistic products. If anyone fell asleep or collapsed from exhaustion, they would be chastised for being weak and punished accordingly. If they got an order wrong, there would be hell to pay. Either this is a cult, or it's well on its way to being an Amazon distribution center.
Mother God wasn't exactly running the show on her own. She had the help of her Father God, a co-leader title bestowed to whichever male follower she was romantically involved with at the time. If you ask anyone who had more than one stepdad growing up, they'll tell you how well that management structure works out in the long run.
When Aloha Definitely Means Goodbye
In August 2020, as many as 14 members of Love Has Won arrived on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, moving into a rental property with plans to relocate their entire operation there. It turns out that LHW's less than stellar reputation had preceded them, and it didn't take long for the locals to start protesting their presence on the island.
Love Has Won managed to piss off Hawaiians quite effortlessly. Most of the problems the citizens of Kauai had with the cult was their predatory abuse of vulnerable people, as well as their appropriation of local cultures. Much like they did with Crestone, Colorado, and the Mount Shasta area in California, Love Has Won had made a habit of setting up shop wherever people held a strong spiritual connection to the land and acting like they belonged there. But in Kauai, where Mother God really goofed up was when she claimed to be Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of fire, as if that was ever gonna smooth things over.
LHW had posted videos claiming the protestors were throwing rocks at their house and vehicles. Protestors also started three small bonfires in front of the residence using driftwood and cardboard . Firefighters put out the bonfires after only a couple hours, and when authorities asked who set the fires, the protestors shouted "Pele!" Yeah, the cops kinda walked right into that joke.
Mayor Derek Kawakami and county officials negotiated with the cult members and they all ultimately agreed it was for the best that Love Has Won cut their losses and return to the mainland. All of the members were granted a police escort to the airport for their protection, and officers made sure all of them boarded their flight back to Honolulu. From there, the members flew to San Francisco, then reportedly traveled to the RV park in Mount Shasta, California, where it is believed that Amy Carlson ultimately succumbed to her illness.
What Happens To Love Has Won Now?
So now that Mother God has died/ascended, and the current Father God is awaiting trial for tampering with her corpse/earthly vessel, how has Love Has Won carried on? By rebranding, of course! Since Miguel Lamboy, the member who called the cops on them, was apparently in control of the cult's website and social media accounts, he shut down all of Love Has Won's online operations except for their YouTube Channel. The channel is still active, and the group didn't waste any time getting themselves back online with a new name: 5D Full Disclosure.
The cult still does multiple daily livestreams, and for the most part they're carrying on like nothing happened. Mother God has never left them, but they do go back and forth between talking about her in the present and past tense. Occasionally, they do get a little defensive about the negative press the cult has received as of late. Not just because of the glitter mummy incident, or the whole getting kicked out of Hawaii thing, but there was also the cult's disastrous appearance on two back-to-back Dr. Phil episodes in September 2020 that were filmed shortly before they got kicked out of Hawaii.
Just a word to the wise: If your religious leader was too much for Dr. Phil to fully unpack in a single episode, and that was before said leader's mummified corpse got wrapped in Christmas lights and decorated with glitter ... maybe you should start questioning your faith.
