Mina Angotti has a Master's degree in theology, focusing her studies on Mary, the Mother of Christ. Mina is a longtime friend of the show, and a devout Catholic. She's here to tell us about the details of the Nativity deduced  from history, combined with a fundamentalist understanding of the Biblical source material. 

Learn about the shepherds and the magicians, the census and the cave, the faith and the fumbles. 

All this and more... 

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Vatileaks (or Vatican Document Leaks) caused a lot of trouble in Rome in 2012, leading directly (allegedly) to the Pope abdicating his office for the first time in centuries.

Paolo Gabriele (papal butler) snuck documents to GianLuigi Nuzzi (Italian journalist) to expose the corruption of Archbishop Carlo Mario Vigano.

The Holy See was burying sex scandals, bribery, home invasions, and overpriced home improvements and helicopter rides, and so much more. Did you know that canonizing a saint costs about half a million euros?

Vatican Spokesman, Federico Lombardi, coined the term "Vati-Leaks." Since all this drama, a few changes have helped improve things, but much has yet to be done....

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Daoism (formerly called Taosim) is the more prominent indigenous religion of China.

Daoism incorporates philosophical writings from ancient scholars, and mystic divination based on a variety of fascinating methods. The Dao-de-jing (or Tao Te Ching) is one of the most famous classics, along with the Yi Jing (I Ching).

In this episode we explore the mysterious figure of Laozi (Lao Tsu), and the complexities of the Wuxing. 

The systems of hexagrams, trigrams, and binary code are significant today to everyone living their best digital life, and the systems of heavenly stems and earthly branches affect the lives of all those who learn to understand them.

Understanding the Dao and Qi are sure ways to improve your life. 

All this and more...

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Shoko Asahara (born Chizuo Matsumoto) led a modest cultus that grew rapidly beyond the borders of its native Japan. 

A blind acupuncturist,  Asahara was convicted of selling pharmaceuticals illegally before he decided to sell people faith instead. Asahara studied many religious traditions before concocting one of his own that would appeal to the people around him, AUM Shinrikyo, and he got people to believe it so strongly that they would kill for him. 

Among other things, Asahara taught that the end of the world was within reach, and only those who followed him would survive the devastation of the coming nuclear apocalypse. When the Third World War didn't start on schedule, Asahara encouraged his followers to  do what they could to start the process. Sarin gas attacks and public violence became the modus operandi, and dozens of people were killed.  

AUM Shinrikyo has since changed their name to Aleph, but they remain under vigilant government surveillance. Hikari no Wa has split away from Aleph, and they, too, are suspicious.

All this and more...

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Literature is full of doomsday cults, but the real world is much more chilling.

This week we explore the Great Green Arkleseizure, the Cthulhu mythos, and the many gods described in the works of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. 

Douglas Adams' approach to popular culture brought us a fantastic new version of pious deism. 

H. P. Lovecraft brought us a horrifying collection of chaotic gods that might not be as incompatible with your theology as you might hope.

Terry Pratchett  and Neil Gaiman offer us the model that all the gods are just as real as we collectively think they are, and a vast collection of books explaining how that can be.

Our real-world history brings us a great collection of apocalyptic groups, too. the famed English Sir Isaac Newton had worked out dates for Jesus' eventual return, as did Americans William Miller and Harold Camping. 

All this and more....

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Hoodoo is a terribly syncretic religion, developed as a sibling to Voodoo (and there are other siblings in this family, too). 

Magickcrafts have been traded for as long as people have been trading spices and weapons, and Hoodoo Conjurers have collected a fantastic variety of tools from their neighbors. There's a lot to learn when you're genuinely interested in improving your craft.

Herbalism, including mojo bags (fetishes) and other talismans, are important to this tradition, and practitioners are often called "root workers."

Ancestor worship is a little more obvious in this tradition than in many others, but it's also terribly familiar to what you might already see in many forms of popular Christianity.

We also look at similarities with Santeria and Candomblé. 

All this and more....  

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Keith Raniere is the object of worship in the NXIVM cult, a god in the plainest sense of the word. The founder of a few MLMs, this guy knew how to make a fortune from people who turned out to be easy to manipulate.

From collecting voluntary celebrities and multi-millionaires to veritable human trafficking,  NXIVM started out looking like a simple self-help group with a complicated oath and patent, but things got dark when you got too deep. 

Faith-healing, hypnosis, and unsafe medical research should have been early clues, but hundreds of people are still committed to Raniere today. 

All this and more....  

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New Age religion is a lot more than a scheme to sell books and crystals, it's a belief that a new age of enlightenment is dawning--or did so centuries ago--or is centuries away. It might be something to fear, or something to celebrate.

Astrology is all trash, and we're happy to point out the best reasons why. But, it can also be wholesome entertainment.

The people who make your star charts don't care about what's actually happening in the sky, the signs haven't been adjusted to reflect the reality of our sky for thousands of years, and the even the best minds vary wildly on the meanings of things.

Most astrologers won't even admit that the constellation Ophiuchus is now a more relevant part of the sun's path than Scorpio.  

Despite the Christian mainstream opinion that occultism and witchcraft are incompatible with their faith (a claim that is unreasonable, to say the least) a massive chunk of American Christians are into New Age ideas that come from these occult teachings. Even atheists buy into the New Age, approximately one in five in the United States of America.

In spite of ridiculous claims made by Paul le Cour and others, this movement has brought some interesting diversity to the global religious landscape, and influenced the world's secular culture in odd ways, too.

All this and more....  

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Latin  America has managed to preserve some of its pre-Columbian religious heritage, so we're going to explore the traditions of the Olmec, Maya, Aztec, and Inca nations. 

We explore cocaine, purification rituals, human sacrifice, gods from throughout history, and Catholic syncretism. 

All this and more....  

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It's time to take another look at religion in popular culture, in particular, cults in film, and why we love telling these stories.

The Wicker Man (Either Christopher Lee's 1973 classic, or Nicolas Cage's 2006 remake) is a fantastic story about a man trying to save a girl who doesn't want to be saved from the cult of her little island town.

The Ritual  (2017) takes some liberties with Norse paganism, but so do more popular franchises, telling us a great reason to be careful in the woods, and avoid unfamiliar shortcuts.

The Ninth Gate (1999) is a bold story of a book dealer who gets in deep with dangerous people, and brushes too close to hell.

Midsommar (2019) tells us how people are attracted to cults, and shows us how tricky it can be to see danger when distracted by grief.

The Village (2004) is a brilliant tale of authoritarian control, with a typical early M Night Shyamalan twist.

Rosemary's Baby (1868)  and Apostle (2018) are horrors of what many Christians fear of their neighbors, and it makes good storytelling.

The Mist (2007) shows us how a cult can rapidly emerge when fear is the most powerful currency in the wake of disaster.

Marvel's Runaways (2017-19)  was a fun exploration of how a powerful person comes to be the foundation of a cult.

All these stories help us to understand ourselves a little better, and explore the fear of losing control.

All this and more.... 

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