Scientology?

[Shakanaka]

Has Scientology or the Church of Scientology ever been mentioned in Mage before?

Also, how exactly OP would the Church of Scientology be as a Mage faction in Ascension; considering the fact they are hands deep in the American government, tax exempt because they count as a "religion" (IIRC), has enough pull in certain law enforcement institutions to cover-up crimes they commit, crazy Paradigm, has vast connections among traditional media, etc. Also if they were an actual Awakened faction the context of Ascension, I'd be in the belief they'd be one of the most successful right next to or above the Technocracy.

Also what would be their primary Sphere? I'm deliberating between either Spirit (because of their wide belief of strange post-modern spirituality) or Mind (for how they are able to amass such a huge and distinct base of adherents; of which haven't really fizzled out like most other Cults face).

[Heavy Arms]

Scientology makes more sense as a Technocracy op to discredit faith based groups than as some sort of Craft that is its own thing (esp. with how young it is).

[IanWatson]

Has Scientology or the Church of Scientology ever been mentioned in Mage before?

Given how litigious the CoS is, it's unlikely.

[glamourweaver]

Awakening did a thinly veiled spoof in the 1e Banishers book, but names and such were all changed.

[Black Fox]

Scientology can be seen as a form of Gnosticism where secret knowledge is the key to enlightenment/salvation. Possessing that knowledge along with "auditing" is what propels them on the Bridge to Total Freedom. If they get their mind right (become "Cleared" and then "Operating Thetan" or "OT"), then everything else follows including the superpowers they are supposed to develop. So I would make Mind the primary Sphere. If I was going to implement some group based on them that actually had an Awakened member, they'd either be an Orphan to reflect they don't have an established group yet, or a very small Craft that is just beginning to develop. In Mage terms, they'd probably have some Rotes, but have a long, long way to go before they sufficiently develop their Paradigm that allows them to perform magick to the scale of any of the Traditions or most Crafts.

I think the power of Scientology is completely overstated in the original post. They certainly have a lot of money, and money gets you things. But their primary influence is based on suing people and threatening to sue people, or threatening disconnection to former members. And that can only get you so far. They have many prominent members in Hollywood, but their actual membership appears to have hit a plateau and has likely been in decline for some time. It's leadership is probably best seen as a kind of organized crime faction that currently has sufficient barriers to keep law enforcement at bay along with a lot of unwitting dupes in denial about its true nature that act as fronts. They could potentially be larger than any of the Crafts because of it, but they'd be very tiny compared to the Technocracy or even the Celestial Chorus (due to its ties to the major Abrahamic religions). There are likely even lots more Wiccans and other neo-pagans out there than Scientologists. The advantage Scientology has is a centralized leadership since its run like a business. So it can organize things at a much larger and faster scale. But large, centralized enterprises have disadvantages of their own.

[HorizonParty2021]

Marauders.

[Konradleijon]

I don't think a small company like OP will risk angering Scientology. They did successfully sneak into the United States government.

Fun fact but L. Ron. Hubbard was friends with the occultist and rocket science Jack Parson.

[No One of Consequence]

I think the power of Scientology is completely overstated in the original post. They certainly have a lot of money, and money gets you things. But their primary influence is based on suing people and threatening to sue people, or threatening disconnection to former members. And that can only get you so far. They have many prominent members in Hollywood, but their actual membership appears to have hit a plateau and has likely been in decline for some time. It's leadership is probably best seen as a kind of organized crime faction that currently has sufficient barriers to keep law enforcement at bay along with a lot of unwitting dupes in denial about its true nature that act as fronts.

It's speculated that a lot of their influence, especially over celebrity members, has to do with the "auditing" process, in which a trained "auditor" "guides" a member through events in their current (and past) life(lives) in order to rid them of the negative spiritual and physical influences of these past events/traumas. Part of this apparently involves confessing personal secrets and discussing people one may have victimized. This is very much like Catholic confession, and the CoS insists is treated as such for purposes of confidentiality. However, these sessions are recorded, and while the auditor may be under some code of conduct not to use such information to punish or blackmail the person, this may not necessarily hold true to the rest of the organization.

[Bluecho]

It's speculated that a lot of their influence, especially over celebrity members, has to do with the "auditing" process, in which a trained "auditor" "guides" a member through events in their current (and past) life(lives) in order to rid them of the negative spiritual and physical influences of these past events/traumas. Part of this apparently involves confessing personal secrets and discussing people one may have victimized. This is very much like Catholic confession, and the CoS insists is treated as such for purposes of confidentiality. However, these sessions are recorded, and while the auditor may be under some code of conduct not to use such information to punish or blackmail the person, this may not necessarily hold true to the rest of the organization.

Not to mention they could simply be lying, using the blackmail they just gained to silence members about the blackmail itself. Especially with wealthy or famous members, they have much more to lose by calling the bluff than your random CoS initiate.

You know, even before litigation enters the picture.