When a store selling glass bottles of gold-flecked 鈥渓iving water鈥� for $111 apiece opened on a busy downtown Ashland arterial in 2022, people in town started whispering.
Main Street is a bustling avenue that reflects the hobbies and cultures of the small Southern Oregon city, which has a population of around 21,000. A bike shop and a running shoe store cater to the outdoorsy set. The city鈥檚 famed 鈥� headquartered a block away from the main drag 鈥� is even reflected in business names: the Bard鈥檚 Inn, Oberon鈥檚 Restaurant, Three Penny Mercantile.
But The Haven, which sells that gold-flecked water out of one of the largest retail storefronts on Main, seems aimed at another part of local culture: the spiritual side that seeks yoga, natural food and New Age ideas, and that has a long history in the region.
The shop once housed a clothing store. Now it鈥檚 run by a spiritual group called TwinRay, which relocated its operations to Ashland from California in 2020. Blank-faced mannequins swaddled in pashminas stare out from the store鈥檚 front windows. Inside, tall crystals glitter underneath spiral chandeliers. Dressing rooms have been converted to meditation booths. Ceremonial teas, pyramid-shaped candles and 鈥渂io-jewelry鈥� are for sale, as well as TwinRay-branded 鈥渂ioceuticals.鈥� With names like 鈥淚mmortal Monotomic,鈥� 鈥淧oseidon鈥檚 Power鈥� and 鈥淢ermaid Magic,鈥� the packages of ingestible supplements purport to have myriad health benefits, including 鈥減reventing and treating cancer.鈥�
Everything 鈥� from picture frames to packaging to TwinRay鈥檚 own logo 鈥� is outlined in gold.
TwinRay鈥檚 leaders are hard to miss when they appear in the store or around town: a white man and woman who wear long white robes and headscarves. He changed his name to Akasha Sananda and sometimes goes by Sanandaji; she changed her name to Miananda Maitreya Shekinah, but is also known as Shekinah Ma. They drive a white Mercedes G-Class SUV and, oftentimes, the people who accompany them wear all white too. The store is often closed for months at a time.
鈥淵ou cannot go to a dinner party or a gathering here without it coming up,鈥� said local resident Alexis Mixter. The opening of the downtown store inspired Mixter and others around Ashland to do their own online research about TwinRay, and what they found was a group grounded in talking about prophecies, mystical mentorship programs and genetic liberation. It seemed like a spoof of the Twin Flame Universe 鈥� a cult-like group that was recently the subject of a Netflix documentary and preaches that each person has a soulmate called a 鈥渢win flame.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 basically just red flag after red flag after red flag,鈥� Mixter said. 鈥淚t looks like a joke. It looks like it can鈥檛 possibly be real, but it is.鈥�
If TwinRay is a joke, it鈥檚 an elaborate and, at times, well-funded one. In 2020, TwinRay Illuminations purchased an 11,000-square-foot gated home on 96 acres for $2.6 million ( from its list price of $5 million). Last fall, the property went into foreclosure after the leaders failed to pay $1.6 million plus interest to the original owner, Neuman Hotel Group 鈥� a company that owns the Ashland Springs and Lithia Springs hotels.
TwinRay did not respond to phone calls or emails from OPB requesting comment for this story.
People who say they are former followers of the group 鈥� including one who documents show gave TwinRay more than $80,000 鈥� speak of their fears that the leaders exploit people, promising enlightenment during life鈥檚 difficult times in order to grift them for cash. More practically, they expressed deep concern over the group鈥檚 鈥渆lixir ceremonies,鈥� which were recently reported on by Guru Magazine. At those events, unregulated psychedelic substances are dispensed to sleep-deprived followers during retreats at the leaders鈥� Ashland mansion.
For other observers around Ashland, the group conjures up memories from Oregon鈥檚 past, when leaders of new religious movements sought land and followers in the state, clashing with local residents and, in one case, resorted to violence.
One Oregon woman who posted a series of TikTok videos about the group shared with OPB a cease-and-desist order that she was served from a New York law firm representing TwinRay, demanding she take her content down. The language was foreboding:
鈥淧lease be advised that we have been investigating you and your family in the last year,鈥� the order read. 鈥淲e will continue to investigate you and your family and take any legal action necessary to protect our client.鈥�
Spirituality in Oregon
TwinRay is the latest in a long line of New Age spiritual groups that have chosen to make their home in Ashland, and Oregon.
In the late 1970s, two astrology-obsessed, wide-eyed gurus came to Waldport, along Oregon鈥檚 coast, and held meetings to discuss their belief in UFOs and a heavenly kingdom. Eventually, the group became Heaven鈥檚 Gate, and it made international headlines in 1997 when police discovered 39 followers dead inside a California home. It was an act of mass suicide by people who believed their bodies would be carried away on the Hale-Bopp comet.
In the early 1980s, Indian mystic Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh purchased property near Antelope, Oregon, eventually renaming the town . He and his deputies recruited thousands of loyal followers to help build a free-love utopia, but the group鈥檚 progress was continually stymied by county permitting processes. As tensions rose between Rajneesh鈥檚 followers and the local government, the group attempted to sway local elections in their favor. In 1984, followers sprayed salmonella on salad bars in The Dalles in hopes of sickening people before Election Day 鈥� an action that poisoned more than 700 and remains the largest bioterror attack on American soil.
According to Marion Goldman, a University of Oregon professor emeritus in sociology and religious studies, alternative religion groups have long come to Oregon because land was fairly cheap. But the Northwest鈥檚 well-known irreligiosity also made it attractive for people looking to offer spirituality outside the norm. Data collected last year by the Association of Religion Data Archives found that of residents in Washington and Oregon counties considered themselves a part of any faith tradition.
鈥淭he shape of new religions has changed,鈥� she said. Groups like TwinRay, which mostly offer spiritual teachings online, are a way people supplement their faith. 鈥淧eople can have more than one religion. 鈥� A lot of people who are in these online groups belong to several different ones, and they鈥檙e all related into this sort of New Age idea.鈥�
Ashland, specifically, has also long pulled in spiritual groups like TwinRay. Penny Torres was known in the mid-1980s for channeling a reincarnated spirit she called Mafu at her Ashland-based Foundation for Meditative Studies; later, she created the Oregon Tiger Sanctuary.
More recently, in 2021, a woman who called herself Mother God and led the spiritual group Love Has Won 鈥� which primarily existed online 鈥� brought her closest followers to Ashland; they attended to her when she died of liver failure in Callahan鈥檚 Mountain Lodge.
Online and open for business
Like many modern alternative religious movements, TwinRay largely exists online; the group operates a members-only portal on its website, offers online classes and mentorship programs that take place over Zoom. They also host in-person retreats in Ashland and at locations around the world that are popular with New Age groups, like Mount Shasta; Sedona, Arizona; and Tulum, Mexico.
鈥淎ll religions start as alternative religions,鈥� Goldman said. And she said it鈥檚 often common for alternative religious groups to enter a community and open a storefront or restaurant, which can serve as a way to recruit new members.
She points to Portland鈥檚 鈥� a vegan restaurant chain found by Ching Hai, leader of the Guanyin Famen spiritual group: 鈥淭hey鈥檒l invite you to dinner or lunch and stuff like that. And it鈥檚 an opening.鈥�
And yet, despite TwinRay鈥檚 in-person and online presence, the group鈥檚 leaders shroud themselves in mystery. Several years ago, both took on new names and new identities, and began positioning themselves as spiritual beings, and their marriage as a divinely appointed one.
A 501(c)(3) called the Church of the Holy Sacrament is registered by one of the TwinRay leaders, which lists the pair鈥檚 Ashland home as its address, but receives mail at a strip mall mailbox in Lake Oswego. In 2021, TwinRay received a Paycheck Protection Program loan for $15,688 from the Small Business Administration. Tax paperwork shows TwinRay claiming more than $1 million in contributions in 2021 and 2022 as a 鈥渘ondenominational religious organization whose purpose is divinely inspired holistic services.鈥�
An LLC called 鈥淭winRay Ventures鈥� is registered to an office inside 30 Gould Street in Sheridan, Wyoming. It is a 3,700-square-foot brick building. The building has been at the heart of multiple investigations by because it is home to several businesses registered to 鈥渃ommercial registered agents.鈥�
According to The Press, 鈥淐ommercial registered agents are registered agents who represent more than 10 businesses in Wyoming.鈥� Registered agents offer a way for businesses to legally set up shop in the state of Wyoming. Because businesses must have a physical location in the state, registered agents create that.
In the case of the property at 30 Gould Street, a commercial registered agent called 鈥淩egistered Agents Inc.鈥� represents 53,267 businesses from inside the small building, according to The Press.
Commercial registered agents also smooth the way for anonymous shell companies to incorporate in the state, anonymizing company ownership.
TwinRay Ventures is one of the thousands of businesses represented by Registered Agents Inc. A recent investigation by found that, in addition to helping set up secretive businesses, Registered Agents Inc. also owns an internet domain registration site that hosts myriad white nationalist, QAnon and conspiracy theory sites.
The origin story
The woman who calls herself Shekinah Ma was born Mia Terez Deuschle in 1977 in Ohio. For most of her life she was a registered Republican. The daughter of a prominent Miami, Florida, news anchor, she smiled beside her father at party photos that would later run in the society pages of the Miami Herald. Thin and blonde, she acted in the role of 鈥淧arty Girl鈥� in a 2009 episode of the spy series 鈥淏urn Notice.鈥�
By 2017, she had cycled through a series of new names: Miananda the Cosmic Priestess, Lady Nanda, Shekinah Ma and Miananda Maitreya Shekinah. She began sometimes speaking in a British-flecked accent.
During a ceremony that took place in Egypt, she married Sananda: a younger man born in 1990, who hails from Adelaide, Australia. He wore a full beard and his brown hair long.
Sananda 鈥� who has also gone by the name Akasha El Ra El Sananda 鈥� was born Harley Forster.
Since at least 2014, Sananda had been a regular traveler to Ibiza, the island off the coast of Spain known for electronic music and spiritual retreats. He snapped photos of himself lounging by pools and posted about UFOs to his Facebook page. He said that he was on a 鈥渢our of service missions around the world. Unplugging people from the matrix and embracing the quintessence of sovereign life.鈥�
For a time, Sananda co-led a group called 鈥淭he Innerversity of Divine Perfection,鈥� or IODP, which hosted spiritual retreats, and modeled for a clothing company that created flowing robes and headscarves. In 2017, he was the registered director of a company called 鈥淜rystal Star Creations鈥� in the United Kingdom.
Ma and Sananda often tell a story that they met while visiting the Sphinx, in Egypt, and saw each other when a ray of light hit the ancient statue. This meeting was them 鈥渞euniting in this lifetime鈥� 鈥� not just twin flames, but 鈥渢win rays.鈥� They believed they had found each other after lifetimes apart.
Jocelyn Sacco, who considered herself a follower of the group, remembers when Ma came into the picture; she slowly acquired a British accent and began describing herself as an enlightened being.
Sacco鈥檚 spiritual awakening, as she calls it, began after she left a marketing job in Boston, sold her condo and all of her belongings, and started attending New Age retreats. First, she became an avid follower of the actor Jared Leto鈥檚 band 30 Seconds to Mars, and for two summers paid to attend Camp Mars, a camping experience in Malibu, California, for superfans of the band.
Then she found Sananda. After hearing him speak on a popular New Age podcast in 2017, Sacco 鈥� who is from Massachusetts 鈥� immediately signed up to attend a monthlong retreat he was hosting in Peru. On the retreat, attendees toured rainforests and sacred sites, and participated in multiple ayahuasca ceremonies, which involved the consumption of a powerful psychoactive substance that has long been used by South American Indigenous people, but has become popular in American New Age circles.
Another longtime follower, who requested to be referred to as 鈥淪arai鈥� because she fears retaliation from the leaders, began attending TwinRay workshops and classes when she was in her 40s. Raised an Orthodox Christian, she had recently gone through a divorce and left a federal government job when she heard the same podcast episode Sacco had, the one featuring Sananda.
鈥淚 was at that place in my life where I鈥檓 just like, 鈥極K, what do I do next?鈥欌�� she said. 鈥淚 was in a desperate place.鈥�
She found Sananda鈥檚 voice hypnotic.
鈥淚t was just clear. Like a clear signal,鈥� she said.
She looked him up: 鈥淚f you look at his picture, he looks like the Evangelical Christian pictures of Jesus. So, I鈥檓 like who is this guy?鈥�
Sarai signed up for his 鈥淧ortals of Liberation鈥� course. 鈥淚鈥檓 like, 鈥楬e鈥檚 the second coming.鈥� Because that鈥檚 what I grew up with. Any Christian, you hear about the second coming of Christ,鈥� she said, 鈥渁nd so I鈥檓 thinking 鈥極h my God, I don鈥檛 think people know this. He really is like the second coming.鈥欌��
After Ma began appearing at his side, and the couple rebranded themselves as TwinRay, the leaders offered hourlong sessions for around $1,300 in which they鈥檇 talk to people about issues they were grappling with. Some came to the leaders wanting help with chronic pain conditions. Others, like Sarai, were hoping for spiritual direction.
鈥淭hey said that they would bring me into a much higher timeline reality where I would have all new people in my life,鈥� she said. They promised to show her how to live in a state of 鈥淪amadhi,鈥� or bliss, which would create financial abundance for her. 鈥淚t was the answer to all my prayers. They also of course said they would be preparing me to meet my twin flame, but in order for that to happen I had to love myself first.鈥�
A winding path
In 2018, TwinRay offered a 鈥淕olden Age Mystery School鈥� and 鈥淕olden Path Ascendantship鈥� 鈥� yearlong classes which Sarai enrolled in by depositing the $17,000 tuition fee in euros into an Estonian bank account. Sarai estimates she spent at least $80,000 on TwinRay classes, retreats, jewelry and other products during her four years with the group. Sacco shared that she likely spent around $30,000.
The Ascendantship course included a number of personal sessions with the TwinRay leaders, held over Zoom. The couple instructed Sarai to drink only water, lemon tea and 鈥減lasma pudding,鈥� made from charcoal powder, for three days, and afterward, she could integrate fruit into her diet.
鈥淚 thought this was an ascendantship. I didn鈥檛 know this was like a workout nutritional program,鈥� she said. But, still, Sarai did what they told her. She ate a restricted diet of grapes, watermelon and charcoal. She believed she was purifying herself.
Sometimes workshops were marathon-like sessions with Sananda lecturing for hours; Sarai said she once took an astrology class from him that lasted nine hours.
TwinRay also offered 鈥淕olden Elixir ceremonies鈥� at their retreats, and in their Ashland home. The group described the elixirs administered at the events as 鈥渁ncient formulas鈥� that 鈥渙pen up the channels for greater expression of the Eternal Life,鈥� and are 鈥渢he most profound and celestial substance that is available in our modern times.鈥� Sarai emphasized that the ceremonies were not required by the TwinRay leaders, but they were the reason people wanted to attend the retreats.
The TwinRay leaders mixed the substance with honey and apple cider vinegar and told people to drink.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e never told anything about what鈥檚 in it,鈥� Sarai said, but she believed it was a psychedelic substance; during retreats they were told to vomit into buckets, and the high the elixir brought on would keep them awake all night. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an intense 鈥� a very, very, very, very intense process.鈥�
鈥淢y first elixir ceremony was really kind of traumatizing. I really actually thought I was in a cult in that moment,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 shouldn鈥檛 say 鈥榯hought.鈥� I knew.鈥�
If what TwinRay is administering to its followers is a psychedelic substance like ayahuasca or DMT, which a recent report on TwinRay by Guru Magazine alleged, they wouldn鈥檛 be the first Ashland religious group to do so. In 2008, a group called the Church of the Holy Light of the Queen argued in federal court that ayahuasca was central to its belief system 鈥� and won.
Jackson County sheriff鈥檚 records show that in November 2022, a deputy was dispatched to the group鈥檚 spacious property after an anonymous caller expressed concerns of a 鈥渟uspicious Elixer [sic]鈥� being dispensed at the property. 鈥淪he believes the elixer [sic] is being produced at the location though there is no evidence proving as such.鈥�
Records from Ashland police show a similar call in January about the downtown Ashland store, The Haven. The caller 鈥渨ould like to know if law is investigating any suspicious activity at a store called The Haven.鈥� Ashland police confirmed they have not investigated the group.
The FBI, when asked for comment on if it had investigated TwinRay鈥檚 operations, told OPB: 鈥淎s a matter of longstanding policy, we cannot confirm or deny the existence of an investigation. We cannot comment beyond that.鈥�
鈥淵ou really feel like you鈥檙e a part of this huge movement,鈥� Sarai said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e creating a golden age. They鈥檙e creating a whole new world. 鈥� They held themselves as highly superior, and I believed them. I believed they were this second coming. I truly believed.鈥�
Sacco and Sarai both attended a retreat in September 2021 at the TwinRay mansion in Ashland, with about 60 other people. By then the leaders were saying they were the reincarnation of Jesus and Mary Magdalene, the women said.
Both Sarai and Sacco remember the moment they entered the spacious property, closed off by gates. 鈥淲e鈥檙e like 鈥榦h my God we鈥檙e about to enter heaven you guys!鈥� 鈥� Everything鈥檚 white and gold. Everything鈥檚 beautiful,鈥� Sarai recalled. There were giant crystals and paintings, and gourmet food. Outside, in the sprawling gardens, the TwinRay leaders claimed to have unearthed ancient jewels.
And yet, attendees were told to follow strict rules during the retreat. Women were told not to expose their shoulders. No one could take photos. They couldn鈥檛 hug.
Sarai said being with the leaders for a prolonged periods, and taking more and more classes from them made them start to seem more human, and less like ethereal beings.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e like kids playing house trying to create their kingdom and their empire,鈥� she said, 鈥淎nd we鈥檙e believing they鈥檙e the king and queen. They got us to believe it because they believe it.鈥�
At the September 2021 retreat, Sacco said, she got a sneaking feeling the leaders were taking advantage of the attendees鈥� excitement to sell them more TwinRay oils and mists and jewelry. By then she had gone to several ayahuasca ceremonies, but TwinRay鈥檚 elixir ceremony just didn鈥檛 seem safe 鈥� people didn鈥檛 understand what they were ingesting.
鈥淭hey think they鈥檙e so above the law, above everything on this planet,鈥� Sacco said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think they think they would ever get in trouble for anything like that.鈥�
Both women eventually left the group. In Sarai鈥檚 case, she said the leaders berated her for 45 minutes when she told them she was leaving, and threatened her with legal action if she went on to offer services like theirs on her own website. She still believes in many New Age spiritual beliefs. But she thinks the TwinRay leaders try to recruit people who depend on them for their spirituality.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e indoctrinating people,鈥� she said. TwinRay 鈥渋s a system of power that favors them. A system of power that benefits them.鈥�
Since leaving, Sarai has come to believe she spent tens of thousands of dollars on a cult. But she said money wasn鈥檛 the only way to be a part of the group. For those who can鈥檛 afford the retreats, the leaders also have 鈥渢eam members鈥� who work at The Haven, and attend to them at their home.
鈥淚 paid with my money, but others are paying with their lives,鈥� Sarai said.
Team members answer emails, arrange retreats and make sure to always have a camera trained on the TwinRay leaders, she said.
鈥淭hey always had a camera crew at the retreats and you would always sit and watch them being photographed everywhere we went,鈥� she said. 鈥淎t one retreat, one of their team members was sitting in the hot June sun in Ashland for eight hours selling their alchemy and jewelry.鈥�
鈥淪ananda and Shekinah,鈥� she said, 鈥渨ere nowhere to be found.鈥�
鈥淭hey would just sit back like a king and queen on a throne,鈥� she said, 鈥渨hile they had their team running around looking extremely stressed doing everything for them.鈥�
Whispers turn to worries
Concern about TwinRay is not new in Ashland. But few people feel like they鈥檝e gotten any answers. Over time, the whispering about The Haven has led to worrying.
鈥淲hat if somebody had a stroke or heart attack or something? You鈥檝e got 40 people dosing all at once,鈥� said Sacco, of the group鈥檚 elixir ceremonies. 鈥淭hen what are you going to have? Police and emergency vehicles coming up their beautiful driveway through their golden gates?鈥�
Downtown, near The Haven, one Ashland business owner who asked OPB to withhold their name said Brinks armored cars come to The Haven twice per month, departing with bags from the store. 鈥淲hy do they need Brinks? It鈥檚 just odd as hell,鈥� they said. The store doesn鈥檛 appear to have that many customers, and is sometimes closed for weeks at a time.
The presence of the store, the business owner said, interrupts downtown Ashland.
鈥淚 wouldn鈥檛 be happy if a regular church or a synagogue would open up here,鈥� the business owner said. 鈥淚f a mega church opened up in Ashland downtown, I鈥檇 lose my mind 鈥� It鈥檚 not good for business. It鈥檚 weird.鈥�
But there鈥檚 no proof The Haven is causing harm. It鈥檚 TwinRay鈥檚 secrecy, and lack of transparency around the leaders鈥� identities and business practices, that seem to unsettle people.
Mixter said she has cautioned people from going inside the store: 鈥淚 have absolutely stood at the door and said to people, 鈥楯ust so you know, don鈥檛 do it. It鈥檚 not what you think it is. There鈥檚 a crystal shop at the other end of town if that鈥檚 what you鈥檙e looking for.鈥欌��
Goldman, the University of Oregon professor, did field work in the 1980s at Rajneeshpuram. And she observed the cultural collision that occurred back then between Central Oregon residents and members of the group.
The group鈥檚 secrecy only inflamed those tensions. And TwinRay, she said, appears to be mimicking that.
鈥淚t鈥檚 an information silo. And that, again, is closing the wall of contact for any kind of disconfirmation,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a big red flag. Who are these people, really?鈥�
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