The Divine Madman: Inside Shantam Nityama’s “Tantric Sex Cult”

Several women have come forward with stories of abuse by Neo-Tantra teacher Shantam Nityama who calls himself “The Divine Madman.” Women report being sexually violated by him during sessions and trainings. They describe a “sex cult” environment where Nityama’s inner circle of women recruit other women to have sex with him and pressure women during trainings to sleep with him. He teaches that AIDS and sexual diseases are an illusion so he doesn’t use a condom. Nityama has no lineage or teacher other than having spent time in Osho’s ashram. He lives in Australia in a home with ten women who service him sexually and work for free. He says several “crazy” women have lawsuits against him and he’d be arrested if he returned to U.S. says a former member.

By Be Scofield

11/15/18

When Ashley Morgan (not her real name) went to Shantam Nityama for a healing session she believed it’d consist primarily of energy work based on what she had read on his website. She wanted to learn about tantra and had put a lot of trust in him given his status as a teacher.

Ashley said the session started immediately when he entered the room. He didn’t explain what would happen, discuss boundaries, ask her about her background or ask consent to touch her sexually. Rather, he walked in and began with a 30-minute “orgasmic hug.” They then moved to the bed where he used a variety of energy techniques along her spine and body. After about 3 hours he told her it was time to undress.

Once she got naked and laid on the table he consulted with his OBI’s (a Voodoo divination device) and then turned to her and said “Apparently I don’t need to penetrate you.” She was struck with confusion. “I was like ‘what?’” She had no idea what OBIs were. She didn’t know why he said he didn’t need to penetrate her. He asked her if she was married or had a boyfriend. She said he made it seem like he was trying to figure out why the OBIs said no penetration. During the session she says he sexually violated her.

“He did something with his tongue in my mouth. He put his tongue under my tongue. He then began kissing me on my mouth, neck, arms and was sucking on my nipples. As he was sucking on my arm he said ‘pretend it is your clitoris.’ He never asked or warned me. Nothing was explained before the session.

And then he put his fingers inside of my vagina without saying anything. I could feel he was trying to make me ejaculate and I did within five minutes of him pulsing my g-spot. When he entered my vagina, my system went to a “freeze state.” It was a bit like being in a shock. The moment I went on the table naked, I felt his energy was much more taking from me. I could feel like it’s not for me, it’s really for him. Again, none of this was explained nor did he ask consent to do any of it.”

Ashley was offered a free second session — something she is glad she did not agree to in hindsight. She learned later that this is when Nityama would often have sex with women. She said the first session served as a testing ground to groom her, steal her energy and plant his. She said it seemed how he determined if he thought a woman would eventually have sex with him.

Ashley’s account is one from several people who have come forward with stories of abuse by Nityama. They are speaking out now to warn other women of the potential dangers of working with him.

“He told us that during the tantric initiation the teacher plants his seed of transformation in you.” — former student

Video of Shantam Nityama

Kelly Jones (not her real name) told me she knew nothing about tantra and wanted to experience deep healing when she booked a session with Nityama on the advice of her friends. He didn’t explain anything to her about the session before hand she said.

“The first session consisted of energy work while I was laying on the table naked. I felt energy moving and tingling sensations and when I started to cry he said ‘don’t worry baby, I got you.’ I thought this was strange. He then put his tongue in my ear and said ‘are you afraid?’ to which I said ‘no.’

After this session I felt very sexually aroused and I would randomly have orgasms throughout the day. I would go to the supermarket and get wet for no reason days after the session. It was unexplainable. He would just pop in my mind.”

She says Nityama told her that she needed a second session and it’d be free — something she appreciated because she didn’t have the large amount needed (sessions can cost as much as $1,000).

“One day before the session he called me and told me ‘tomorrow I’m making love to you.’ He said that this was the path of initiation in Tantra. I paused and said ‘oh, ok.’

I was really nervous during the second session. He went down on me for a few minutes and then we had sex. It lasted for 7 hours. He stayed inside of me the entire 7 hours. The sex was not enjoyable in anyway. I felt a lot of energy moving but pleasure was not one of them.”

In explaining how he kept his penis inside of her for 7 hours straight she said she did not need to eat, drink, go to the bathroom or sleep. It “was strange” she said.

She became one of his lovers after this session. “Our relationship moved super fast. I felt so special and very loved. He said I had potential, I’m beautiful and was so powerful.”

Kevin Ness (not his real name) said that in a workshop he witnessed Nityama make a woman ejaculate during a hug. “He was starting to get her really aroused and she started ejaculating and then he moved aside and laughed at her for ejaculating in front of the group. She then burst in tears in shame. There was no support for her at all.”

“I could be on this side of the world and have a woman on Skype on the other side of the world and make her [ejaculate], make her shoot out across the room.” — Nityama

Sophia Brown (not her real name) hosted Nityama for a training in her home in 2017. She said a young 21-year old woman in the training had a healing session with him where he sexually penetrated her without her consent. She told Brown about it the next morning. “Hours into the session his dick came out and he penetrated her. She was so in a freeze. She allowed it to happen because she was so scared.”

Julia Reed went to Nityama for what she thought would be only an energetic healing and he ended up asking to kiss her and then berated her for not obliging.

“He talked to me and touched me, like a massage on my back, with clothes. But then he asked me if I was ready for my first kiss? No, I wasn’t. It was then that it started. He tried to frighten and manipulate me, telling me that I was weak, childish, that he could feel better what I needed and that if I didn’t have the courage to break through my boundaries, life would present me very difficult situations until I finally learned my lessons. He talked to me for hours and afterwards I realized that it was almost hypnotizing. It asked a lot from me to resist him. After all, he was famous and highly recommended by people I trusted (Sasha Cobra).”

Coercing Women into Sex

“He’s taking my energy. He’s wanting something from me. I felt that the most when he made me ejaculate.” — former client

When Kelly Jones was part of the group and assisting Nityama she said she’d help recruit women to have sex with him. She recalled a story during a training when he told the women they could have sex with him to clear the past energy of men they had slept with.

“Nityama told us that the energy of every man that women have sex with is stuck with them for life. He said ‘If it is a crazy man you become crazy, if it is a nasty man you become nasty.’ And he then says there are two ways to deal with this: you could not have sex for 7 years or you can have sex with an IFA priest. ‘Everything is gone after having sex with an IFA priest’ he said. Nityama claimed he was an IFA priest, but I know he was only a student. I noticed women became concerned about the past men they had slept with.”

Nityama would end up sleeping with nearly every woman that came to that training she said. Many did not want to and were pressured into it by other members. Jones ended up talking some into having sex with him.

“One of the participants in the retreat came with his girlfriend and daughter. Nityama ended up having sex with the man’s daughter and girlfriend. This man was very confused. Nityama spooned his daughter in front of him. Touched her private parts in front of everyone. He cuddled on the floor, he put his hand on her chest like lovers. Her father walked in and he grabbed his plate and quickly walked out. A few days later Nityama had sex with her. I talked her into having sex with him. She told him ‘I’m not sure I want to. The OBI said no.’ He told her to check again she said.”

Jones told me she wasn’t the only one who pressured women into sleeping with Nityama. She said there was a group chat message where women would send pics of women they’d groomed to have sex with Nityama saying “this girl is ready.” His long-term partner of 15 years, Roxanna Minnona, would also pressure women she said. If they refused she would flip on them. “If you ever question Nityama she turns her back on you so fast.” She said she called her crazy and that she shouldn’t say no. One woman did not want to be sexual with Nityama but his assistant told her that she “needed a man that could lick” her and that was “strong enough for” her. When she kept refusing Jones said Nityama got harsh. He said ‘You know what you need, but you keep finding a reason to say no.’

Jones described how Nityama would groom women to have sex with him during his trainings. “He talked to each of them privately” she said. “He would talk intimately with a woman with his arm around her. And then the next night he’d take her up to his room.” She said “Every night we could hear everything. Screaming, moaning. Sometimes two women at a time.” Another woman said “During workshop breaks he’ll have sex with the women participants.” Jones said they all felt special when he approached them individually. “He hugged them and was moving the energy.” Jones said “Women had no idea this was going to happen to have sex with him. They just wanted to learn tantra. Along the way we were told ‘initiation’ was a part of it.” This was in the context of Nityama teaching them “Women are so jealous, selfish and want to take” and that “One of the ways to give back is by sharing love.”

Jones noticed that the day after the women would have sex with him she saw they had a “distorted look, one of emptiness, confusion and would often be crying in the corner.”

A former student told me Nityama tells them that “young woman should have sex with him for their first time. He told us he had sex with a 12-year old.” On another occasion a former student says a young 15–18 year young girl was brought into the group to have sex with him.

“I did a workshop in the UK on Skype. One of the women came up in front of the big screen. I was interacting with her and at a certain point I saw what was going on with her so I said ‘you just need to be made love to.’ I energetically made love to her in front of the women in the group. It was powerful because every woman in the room went into orgasm with her.” — Nityama

Inside the Trainings

“He would teach us all women are insane by default and the only thing that can save them is to have sex with him.” — former student

Several former students said Nityama’s trainings and workshops did not include very much substance. One person told me “He would just say anything would come to his mind.” There was apparently no structure, no method and no formal teachings. She said it was “Just whatever the mother wants” and “he’d tell stories.” The training started whenever he showed up in the morning and often they wouldn’t know when if at all if they’d have lunch. “Then he may just get up and take one or two of the girls to his room” she said. And “then in the afternoon we’d have plant ceremony.” Kevin Ness said Nityama “had no idea what the workshop was about” and he was “sitting there just talking about himself. Saying how could they be so stupid for asking these questions.” Ness said the main purpose of the training seemed to be Nityama recruiting people into a community to live with him. One student said that he told them “There are only 12 people on earth who really know about sex. He was one of them. That’s why we need to be grateful to have sex with him. He’d say a blow job is a token of gratitude.” Another student said they witnessed shouting and humiliation.

When there was content in his teachings former members told me it was a mash up of various things. While he claimed his teachings were unique and special his students traced them back to the Four Agreements, the science of being, the enneagram, human design and the polarity process among others.

“Women Are Horrible”

Marielle Spronck attended a “Tantra” workshop with Shantam Nityama and was so shocked at what he was saying that she figured he was joking. But he was serious. Within the first few minutes of the training he was berating women she told me.

“He told us how horrible women were and what kinds of bad things they did. He said he was the only one in the world who knew how to live. He said he was channeling the Mother and that the only way to be safe was for us to do what he told us. He even told us we are all stupid because no one was questioning him. When I did speak up he used my astrology and enneagram info to attack me. He was trying to shut me up. Everyone that said something, he would say the most horrible things about them so people don’t dare to speak up anymore.”

Because of her previous experience with another cultish “Tantra” group she left the training that same night and posted on Facebook to warn others:

“I was shocked that a teacher that is praised by so many rules his group like a manipulative dictator. Teaching by spreading fear and freeze reactions in people, making them feel stupid and afraid to speak up, turning around information and questions so that it suits him and shows that the people in the room are stupid and ignorant and in desperate need to learn from him as they are all blind. Horrible it was.”

In the workshop where Nityama made the woman ejaculate Kevin Ness said he also witnessed him berating people when they spoke. He was dismissing and judging people when they asked questions he said.

Kelly Jones echoed their experiences. She told me Nityama would teach “All women are insane by default and the only thing that can save them is to have sex with him. Women are so selfish and self-centered, we just take and never give. I didn’t want to be one of these women.” She said that this manipulation led women into wanting to be in service to him.

“I’m full blooded Native American on the quiet side. I’m actually a Yama, Yamasaw…All of a sudden I got tongue tied on the name…Yamasee nation. I’m a chief and shaman in that nation. That’s just a whole other side to my being here and my personalities.” — Nityama (source)

“No such thing as an STD”

A former lover said that Nityama held a variety of strange, un-scientific beliefs. She said that he taught that there was no such thing as STD’s and “that if you have an infection it’s your fault because of something you do.” He doesn’t use condoms either. She said he doesn’t believe gravity exists, the earth is flat and that he “doesn’t believe in any kind of science about earth. If we want to know the truth we have to watch the Matrix he told us.” She also said that “Nityama said when a woman is raped she is actually enjoying it.”

“Nityama said when a woman is raped she is actually enjoying it.” — former student

Drug Smuggling

Jones said that Nityama asks women to smuggle drugs for him. They’d disguise weed in a variety of containers such as face cream. His followers would travel the world with weed and hash for him and the group.

“There is a woman assigned the task of rolling the joints. Weed, hash and tobacco. Students are expected to take turns smoking. If someone said maybe not now, others would pressure them “it will help you understand him better, tune in better, different vibration.”

On one occasion she said Nityama and his inner circle asked Jones to smuggle drugs internationally knowing that because of a unique circumstance she would have been searched. It was at that point that she realized they didn’t care about her she said and began the process of leaving.

One former student said that “drug use is rampant” in the group. Some used ayahuasca, San Pedro and weed/hash. She said Nityama’s drug usage has gotten worse over the years to where he is high all the time now — including during trainings.

Kelly Jones claims that Nityama sexually assaulted her by lacing her drink and making her really high.

“He said ‘Now that you’re high I have to have sex with you.’ He just pulled out his penis and shoved it inside of me. I thought it was consensual but I’m now aware it was not consensual. I never gave him my consent to put anything in my drink. No foreplay, no anything.”

Turning Lesbians Straight

Nityama says that after hugging a lesbian woman who had multiple orgasms during the hug that he had sex with her and made her straight. After that many of the “top lesbians” in the city called him with the request to have sex. He explains.

“One day the woman calls me and says ‘ever since I’ve been seeing you and meeting you and getting hugs I have become extremely confused. I’m wondering did I quit men before I ever met a man?’ She tells me ‘I want to pay you to make love to me because I want to settle this for myself once and for all.’ We made love and she came out of it totally orgasmic. She looked at me in the eyes and said “I am no lesbian.” Two days later I get a call and it’s the wife with the same request. By the time it was over 13 of the top lesbians in the city called me with the same request.”

“Sectarian Apocalyptic Cult”

“Nityama says the earth needs to be saved and he’s one of the only persons on this earth that can do this work.” — former student

Several former members describe Nityama’s group as a sex cult. There are numerous cult like dynamics in play. One former member said he uses “hypnotic languaging” to seduce people. The combination of really slow, methodical and monotonous speaking with confusing jargon that people don’t understand leaves people in a trance like state she said. It allows him to plant his ideas and makes the grooming process easier she said.

Jones said people were brainwashed into thinking he was god.

“There would be consequences if you spoke against him. He was the only god man assigned to heal women by the Mother. As a woman it’s our duty to serve him. When we had sex he’d say ‘now show me what the mother put in you to give me.’”

Jones was terrified of leaving the group. During sex he had told her “There will be no options” and “there’s no turning back.” He said “we are in this forever” and that I wouldn’t be “able to go back to my own life.” He would plant these ideas during sex with group members because it was when they were very open and vulnerable she said. “I’d bear the consequences of it all if I left.”

A former member says Nityama has women working and servicing him sexually in a home in Australia. They are not paid she said as “It is seen as a privilege to be in the ‘Buddha field’ created by Nityama.” She said he uses a “zero frequency” device called ZEB. “It makes you feel sleepy. It is a frequency that makes you more receptible to manipulation.”

“There were about ten women in the house last year being at his service for sex and having to do work and jobs as well. Some are residential, others come during the day. When he was there he would choose a woman every night to sleep with him.”

Leaving Nityama

Kelly Jones said she began to see inconsistencies between what he teaches and practices. When she questioned them he’d get upset. “There were many red flags” she said. “He would tell me a story about a girl who he lived with and called her an ungrateful bitch. He said no period sex or any interaction with the opposite gender during periods, but would engage with women during their periods. Has five kids which he doesn’t take responsibility for. He used weed and hash a lot.” She said “In private he said I was psychotic. Tearing me down and building me up.” He would also berate her in front of others she said.

When Jones changed her mind about having group sex she said he became irate.

“He told me ‘You are weak, you are timid, you are fucked up in your mind. Women like you are messed up.’ He went on about not letting fear overcome me. I was wasting his time. I was feeling really scared. I just sat on the edge of the bed for three hours. Everyone changed on me. His assistant and his boyfriend became really cold.”

Jones is one of many women who has now left Nityama’s group. It wasn’t until she finally studied Tantra with a woman teacher that she learned what she had originally approached Nityama for. The healing journey has been long for her but she has made huge improvements. With sharing her story and the stories of other women Nityama can be prevented from abusing more people in the future.