From Laurie Denman's office:
My resignation letter to the Correllian Nativist Church:
"Those of you who know my Pagan origin story know I investigated many religions before joining the Correllian Tradition in 2010. I always explain there was always a “Yes, but” for all the religion I explored until Correllianism. However, in 2023 I realized my “Yes, but” and it is time for me to walk away from teachings I love dearly because our leadership has forgotten or chosen not to follow them. My “Yes, but” is that I have finally realized we are not a religion, but a personality cult built around Donald J. Lewis.
1. Since 2/12 I have watched Donald Lewis lie repeatedly to others, in front of multiple witnesses. He and Edward Hubbard made living in my home a nightmare with the hostility and rage that they generated. By the end of March my children wanted me in therapy because of what they were doing. I lost my kidney in 2010 and for the first time ever I must work with a nephrologist to avoid dialysis. The only change in my life is the stress the Tradition has put me under.
2. On 4/5 Don ignored the Board authorized removal of him as the sole signer on the Correllian Nativist Church (CNC) corporate banking account and the addition of the then Chancellor, the CNC CFO, and the backup CNC CFO. He closed the account without written authorization from the CNC Board of Directors and lied to the banker who was working on the accounts with us. The CNC CFO was handed a bank envelope with $22.55 in it and was told by Don that it contained the closing balance of the account. What is he trying to hide by not granting access to the corporate banking account?
3. Don also broke two vows to me regarding the trip to Powder Springs which he knew were needed to protect my mental health. My being his “sister” in the High Correll family and housing, feeding, clothing, and phone expense for eight years meant nothing to him. He has always and will always do exactly what he wants to do no matter how many people it harms. This behavior has driven Ed out of his life for years at a time, so it is not new with his illness. He is simply an oath breaker.
4. On 7/12 Edward notified the CNC leadership that he had incorporated the Correllian Church, Inc.(CCI) to provide local Correllians in Danville a center and to house a museum. The Board of Directors consists of 5 Board of Directors of CNC, two of which apparently hold the imperium of our 1st Priesthood Regents in the Tradition. CCI is not affiliated with CNC, having not applied for any Temple or other group status.
5. Don started public hate broadcasts on 7/13, exactly one month until the Tradition would be representing at Parliament with the largest contingent ever and a booth. His EGO could not let him walk into Parliament not in control of the Tradition, so he broke his Clergy vow to protect the serenity of the Tradition which led to an emergency board meeting being called. Phoenix Coffin-Williams even participated in these hate broadcasts.
6. On 7/16 I had to remind Don that a CEM Board meeting was not the appropriate place to air his personal grievances when he was very hostile to me in the entire meeting and accused me of stabbing him in the back.
7. On 7/18 Phoenix, Allyssa Maxon Kemp, and Lori Blackman met privately with CNC Board Members to let them know Phoenix was calling an emergency Board meeting to remove Stephanie Neal as Chancellor. She had dared to use the power of her office as documented in the Bylaws, just as Donald Lewis used them before placing Stephanie in that role. The changes she made dared to expand democracy in a Tradition the Ancestors had guided us all to take public. These meetings were highly unethical and probably illegal as Lori is on the board of CCI. In these meetings half-truths and misinformation were fed to the CNC Board members prior to the vote.
8. On 7/18 Phoenix held the emergency Board meeting and bullied the board into an immediate vote because Alyssa quoted the Bylaws which said “immediate”. He had already had a temper tantrum prior to the vote and those of us who were not included in the pre-meetings were aghast at the hostilities.
9. On 7/20 Krystal Highcorrell removed Stephanie as 1st Priestess, replacing her with Alyssa accusing Stephanie of “crimes” that never occurred. As Master of Records I have never been approached to remove Ed from the Tradition. There are 14 executions in the Tradition Registry and none of them are attributed to Stephanie as Chancellor. However, there are 3 records that simply read “See Lord Don for more information.” So who did the “purge”? I was never interviewed as part of Stephanie’s deeming where I could have provided volumes of information pointing to the harassment of her by Don and Ed.
10. On 7/20 Phoenix announced the removal of Stephanie as Chancellor for “crimes” that, again, cannot be proved because they didn’t happen. He used inflammatory language like “Hitler like/Stalin like”.
11. The 7/20 announcements were not done through the normal communication channels like the Correllian Membership Hub but rather through Don’s Facebook page, showing the world who was behind the removals.
12. Since these announcements the Tradition has been in a tailspin. The Board of Directors along with the Elders and Witan want proof of wrongdoing on Stephanie’s part and they are being ignored.
13. On 8/05 Phoenix threw yet another temper tantrum and yet again bullied Witan Members in the Witan Council Facebook group, resorting to calling people “racists” and that their words were the kind that got “black people killed”. No amount of reasoning with him stopped him from cowing Witan members into submission or forcing their decision to leave the Tradition.
14. On 8/06 Phoenix and Alyssa held a Witan Meeting that gave no answer other than if you don’t feel comfortable here anymore leave the Tradition. Phoenix responded to a question as to when he knew he would call for the vote to remove Stephanie and his response was not until he was in the emergency meeting. Please see bullet 5.
15. Also in the 8/06 Witan Council meeting Don was specifically asked if he would release the financial records for the CNC Corporate Account and the personal account he used prior to opening the CNC Corporate Account so that the CNC CFO could respond to the legal request of a CNC Board Member and the response form Don was that this was a legal matter, and he would not respond in the meeting. The request was made in the CNC Board of Director’s Facebook group on 8/5, Since that time several other Directors have added their name to the request and there is still no response from Don.
Well known signs you are in an organization that is a cult are as follows:
1. Opposing critical thinking – Anyone asking for proof of Stephanie’s wrongdoing or challenging how people are being mistreated are attacked by leadership in public forums.
2. Isolating members and penalizing them for leaving – It’s the temples/shrines/ and Orders that build this organization. Those who leave are vilified in public forums and lose years of investment of time, talent, treasure when they leave to uphold their honor and mental health.
3. Emphasizing special doctrines outside scripture. – The use of lifetime Imperiums is not documented anywhere in our Bylaws but that was the weapon used to remove Stephanie.
4. Seeing inappropriate loyalty to their leaders – Correllians are expected to follow any directives given by our leadership, without question. Those that question, get attacked.
5. Dishonoring the family unit – purposefully blowing up the Tradition a month before Parliament dishonored us all
6. Children are groomed to not question leadership – both Phoenix and Alyssa have told me that they are getting advice to follow that their guts are telling them is wrong, but they are following it anyway. First rule of being psychically aware is that you always follow your gut.
7. Lack of financial transparency – Don has not provided the three years of financial statements as legally requested by multiple CNC board members. Since he as the only signer on the accounts there is no other legal alternatives except serving subpoena.
8. Members attacked by leadership – as we have seen day in and day out from leadership and other board members since the 7/13 Don Lewis hate broadcasts began.
I previously committed to trying for a smooth transition as I hoped to fade into retirement, for other than my Temple and my students, which was communicated to the then 1st Priesthood on 05/30. However, with the success of Ed carrying out the revenge plan he spoke of for months in my home, which included the below items, I can no longer hope for that and maintain my physical and mental health.
1. Destroying Stephanie – Check
2. Started his own rival Correllian Church – Check
3. Destroy the Tradition – Pretty much there.
Before this situation we had 7 people resign from the Tradition since the Tradition Registry was started. As of this evening when I finished processing all the withdrawals we have lost:
a. 50 Members
b. 13 Temple / Shrines
c. 10 Orders
d. 5 WSI Deans and Mentors
e. 16 Clergy Students
I realized I was repeating the lifelong pattern of sacrificing my physical and mental wellbeing for others by staying. I was staying for my replacements and my students. I cannot take this pattern into my next life cycle so I must break it.
Therefore today I am resigning from the Correllian Nativist Church. I relinquish my titles as Arch Priestess, Elder, Joint Temple Head, Joint Order Head, CNC Directorship, President of Witch School, Dean of Mentors of Witch School, English Head of the Remote Initiation Team, Co-Host of International Pagan World Café, and CFO of Correllian Education Ministries. Since my Joint Order Head and Joint Temple Head, Bowen S. Barrs, has already left the Tradition, I am de-chartering both Chosen Path Church as a Correllian Temple and the Order of Web Weavers as a Correllian Order. Please remove all information about the Temple and Order from all Correllian outlets including Correllian(dot)com. All files for all my roles are on the Google Drives.
I regret not being able to support my replacements and to guide my Witch School Students, but I must do this to protect my physical and mental health. I will always treasure most of the people I have met in the past 13 years in the Tradition, and I believed in the work I did for it. But the Tradition is a cult and I never want to engage with its leaders again. Please do not contact me in any manner, written or verbally.
I hope all of you involved see the lessons the Universe is teaching you,
Laurie A Denman"
