No-food guru in deaths inquiry

By Jason Collie

A spiritualist who says she has not eaten for five years and whose teachings have been linked with the deaths of followers overseas is now spreading the word in Auckland.

Jasmuheen - who says she lives on light and does not need food for nourishment - was lecturing in the city at the weekend as Scottish prosecutors questioned her teaching's part in the death of a woman found half-naked in bleak moorland.

The Brisbane-based new-ager's book Living on Light was found among the possessions of the 49-year-old Scotswoman, who died of hypothermia and dehydration, according to the Sunday Times of London.

The newspaper also reported the deaths of two other women - 53-year-old Lani Morris, of Brisbane, and Munich kindergarten teacher Timo Degen - who were following Jasmuheen's programme of not eating for 21 days.

Jasmuheen - real name Ellen Greve - told the New Zealand Herald yesterday that she had not needed to eat for five years and received nourishment from her internal power source. She also claimed that her programme could solve world hunger.

She said she started lecturing in New Zealand four years ago before moving most of her business to Europe.

The 43-year-old author of 10 books, in Auckland to speak at a three-day, $300-a-head conference, the International Gathering for Higher Consciousness, denied any responsibility for the deaths.

She had not told people to take up "living on light," she insisted. If they did, they had to be well-trained.

She said she only drank liquids, although she admitted to occasionally eating food to be sociable.

"As much as I can tell people to be careful when they do this, they will do exactly what they want to do," said Jasmuheen, who weighs 52kg.

"The Scottish woman who died knew that you did not go out when you begin this process, and she did what I would never do, which is trek through the Highlands, not eating and drinking, and then collapse of exhaustion and die.

"All I have done is come on the international scene to tell people to be careful. I don't need people dying around the planet. It's driving me nuts."