Welcome to my writing page. I am Wendy Millgate Stuart, an editor and writer living in Brisbane, Queensland. At 19 years of age I joined a cult. Well, I didn't think of it as a cult. I didn't sign a membership form to 'The Cult'. It was to the Unification Church or Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity. Say that without drawing breath! A shorter nickname is 'The Moonies'.

We called ourselves 'the Family' or 'the Movement' and we had 'True Parents' (the new Messiah Couple), 'the new Truth', 'the Completed Testament'. We were building the Kingdom of Heaven, somehow. My reality included some real positives: some great friends, world travel, some good values, how to cook for large crowds and drive a van, and I had three wonderful children. But I also experienced conditioning, sexual abuse from elders, false theology, coercive control, psychological and financial abuse, and a failed volatile arranged marriage. 

This blog reveals my ongoing recovery and healing from cult and abuse trauma and includes posts on the dynamics of cults, memoir writing, and my 'whacky and wonderful, spiritual journey. I hope to help others in their cult/high-demand group recovery, or their family and friends. These blogs are a foundation for my upcoming memoir, Over the Moon. This is my story. Other members, past and present, of this organisation will have their own.