Conspirituality

What does it mean for a prominent American politician to come into power as the sleeper cell of an eccentric Hindu-American cult? Does she act independently, or has her God-man got her on speed-dial? Can she bridge the divide between left and right with the radiant glow of Krishna consciousness?

Joining us today to help answer these questions is Nitai Joseph. He shares some heritage with Gabbard, because he also grew up in a Hare Krishna sect. He holds an MSc. in the Psychology of Coercive Control and has worked across a range of issues connected to ideology and manipulation, including cultic awareness, child sexual abuse prevention, adverse meditation experiences, and organizational ethics and accountability. 

Show Notes

Gopala Govinda Rama Chant by Jagad Guru Siddhaswarupananda Paramahamsa Chris Butler

QAnon Anonymous Episode 211: Tulsi Gabbard P1 (The Cult) feat Mike Prysner

QAnon Anonymous Episode 212: Tulsi Gabbard P2 (The Fascist Turn) feat Mike Prysner 

Tulsi Gabbard Had a Very Strange Childhood

What Does Tulsi Gabbard Believe? | The New Yorker

Chris Butler Siddhaswarupananda Paramahamsa: on “freedom”

An Insiders Perspective on Tulsi Gabbard and her Guru | by Lalita | Medium 

Tulsi Gabbard 2016 Janmashtami Message 

ISKCON Abuse Timeline

Definition of Betrayal Trauma Theory

Archived ex-Hare Krishna message board

Nitai can be reached via LinkedIn

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Apocalyptic language is everywhere: in the marketing copy of wellness influencers and pseudo-documentary makers selling spike protein detoxes and vaccine fear-mongering videos, and in the fervent anti-trans panic stoked by right-wing Substackers. 

How we use language — and we use that how language to inspire actions — is everything. 

Derek imagines a better use of language, and of understanding, through the lens modern secular Buddhism. 

Show Notes

The World-Ending Fire — Wendell Berry

A Paradise Built in Hell — Rebecca Solnit

After Buddhism — Stephen Batchelor

Confessions of a Buddhist Atheist — Stephen Batchelor

Buddhism — Alan Watts

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How, in the name of the Holy Virgin Mary, did Michelle Remembers—the book that started the Satanic Panic—come to be written? Who was Lawrence Pazder really? Did he encourage and exaggerate Michelle Smith’s recovered memories of ritual abuse? Did Smith tell him what he wanted to hear? Or was it a little of both? 

Canadian filmmakers Sean Horlor and Steve Adams have a new documentary out called “Satan Wants You,” and it fills in a lot of the blanks in our prior “Swan Song Series” reporting with incredible archival footage and brave interviews from friends and family members. 

Today it opens at Toronto’s Hot Docs Festival, which means the reviews embargo is lifted… and our review is: “Incredible work. Must see.”

PS! If you haven't pre-ordered our fabulously interesting book, Barnes and Noble are running a 25% off pre-order promo. You can use "PREORDER25" as the discount code at checkout. Good from now till Friday!

Show Notes

Satan Wants You

Conspirituality: UNLOCKED: Swan Song Series 4 | Michelle Remembers: Context & History

Conspirituality: UNLOCKED: Swan Song Series 5 | Michelle Remembers: Themes & Framing 

Conspirituality - UNLOCKED: Michelle Remembers: Literal Symbols

Conspirituality - UNLOCKED: The Courage to Heal Pt. 1 on Stitcher 

Conspirituality - UNLOCKED: The Courage to Heal Pt. 2 on Stitcher 

 The Smoke of Satan on the Silver Screen: The Catholic Horror Film, Vatican II, and the Revival of Demonology | Journal for the Academic Study of Religion

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FOX News says he wants to destroy America. Candace Owens is scared to speak his name out loud. Mikki Willis is making a film about his assault on the American family. Dr. Christiane Northrup claims he caused the pandemic. Trump called DA Alvin Bragg a "Soros-funded animal." 

Who is this billionaire Jewish banker, a man so diabolical he can simultaneously be the greatest capitalist of all time and a communist chaos agent, so deceptive that he founded philanthropic organizations in 120 countries while supposedly being the "most evil man in the world?" And how does his financial influence in American politics actually stack up against the machinations of disciplined religious right-wing powerbrokers, supercharged by dark money?

The right’s obsession with Soros 

Soros on right-wing conspiracies against him

GOP dark money 

Democrat dark money

An overview of dark money 

2022 biggest disclosed donor list 

Barre Seid donates $1.6B 

Harlan Crow and Justice Thomas 

Sheldon Whitehouse on dark money and SCOTUS 

Leonard Leo and SCOTUS

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Jennings Brown is becoming the Dr. Who of cult journalism. Every few years he pops up on a very different planet in the cultiverse, and tries to repair the timeline. 

These days he’s deep into the story of a cult leader who seems to have no “presence” at all. Liana Shanti has managed to recruit about 180 women into her lucrative fever dream of Satanic Panic, recovered memories, starvation diets, and family destruction—all from behind a keyboard and a podcast microphone. 

Who is Liana Shanti, and why isn’t she Liane Wilson any more? 

Show Notes

Inside Liana Shanti’s Lemurian Mystery School — Jennings Brown

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Julian and Matthew go big-picture in this tour through all the elements that construct and drive spiritual Influencers.

At the center of the parasocial storm is charisma, which covers over the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of wellness content. Charisma is the only real currency in unregulated spaces. It’s compensatory, and very anxious.

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Our Listener Story this week comes from Dr. Jaigris Hodson, Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair for Digital Communication for the Public Interest at Royal Roads University in Victoria, British Columbia. 

Dr. Hodson shares her pandemic journey with inflammatory breast cancer, and how, even as a misinformation researcher, she was vulnerable to the hope sold by alt-health grifters. After completing treatment, she turned her research attention to cancer misinformation, and is now innovating research methods for analyzing how emotion drives misinformation consumption and virality. 

Show Notes

Jaigris Hodson | Royal Roads University

The Podcast: Digital Public Interest Collective 

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Though not specifically a psychedelic — ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic — ketamine therapy is being touted as a depression treatment and, for some, a new form of spiritual healing. And indeed, some of the results are promising. But with Ketamine Wellness Centers and Field Trip Health both shutting down ketamine clinics across the country, leaving clients scrambling to find relief. Are these psychedelic entrepreneurs placing too much emphasis on scaling and shareholders and not enough on healing, even though their marketing efforts claim the opposite?

Derek looks into the sordid developments of ketamine therapy, including the botched trials that ultimately received FDA approval.

Ketamine infusion: The new therapy for depression, explained

New analysis claims the FDA rushed ketamine’s approval for depression treatment

Excessive drinking costs $249 billion. Can one dose of ketamine curb alcoholism?

‘I’m terrified’: Patients scramble for treatment after 13 ketamine clinics shut down

How ketamine-fueled dreams can promote a spiritual approach to mental health and therapy

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“I would pursue transcendence and live with its inevitable close cousins, disappointment and heartbreak, for most of my life.” So writes “Steven” (not his real name) in the first of our six spiritual heartbreak stories from our Patreon supporters. 

“The spiritual by-passing of folks like Marianne Williamson and Eckhart Tolle kept me spinning in a cycle of abuse and unable to see clearly enough to end an abusive marriage with a Unitarian minister.” That’s from Katherine—story number three.

And in our final story, Lynn writes: “I will say even though I've been through a really awful trauma and still have to deal with that residue, I am now happier than I've ever been in my life. I enjoy just being a simple person now, without the ever exhausting pressure of having to perform my religion, to awaken my consciousness.”

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JP Sears is selling CBD. His new company, Awaken, recently sent out a marketing email extolling the benefits of CBD. Derek looks at the science behind the claims.

Show Notes

CBD is everywhere. But is it a scam?

Inverted U-Shaped Dose-Response Curve of the Anxiolytic Effect of Cannabidiol during Public Speaking in Real Life

Pioneering UAMS Study Warns of CBD Supplements’ Harm to Gut Health

Can Cannabis Help Your Gut?

The Impact of Cannabidiol on Human Brain Function: A Systematic Review

Cannabis, Cannabinoids, and Sleep: a Review of the Literature

Does CBD Help With Insomnia?

Cannabidiol (CBD): What we know and what we don't

Antioxidative and Anti-Inflammatory Properties of Cannabidiol

Cannabidiol (CBD): a killer for inflammatory rheumatoid arthritis synovial fibroblasts

A single dose of cannabidiol reduces blood pressure in healthy volunteers in a randomized crossover study

Immune Responses Regulated by Cannabidiol

Can CBD Benefit Your Immune System?

CBD and Heart Health

Efficacy and Safety of Cannabidiol and Tetrahydrocannabivarin on Glycemic and Lipid Parameters in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Parallel Group Pilot Study

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