Conspirituality
Dismantling New Age cults, wellness grifters, and conspiracy-mad yogis. At best, the conspirituality movement attacks public health efforts in times of crisis. At worst, it fronts and recruits for the fever-dream of QAnon. As the alt-right and New Age horseshoe toward each other in a blur of disinformation, clear discourse, and good intentions get smothered. Charismatic influencers exploit their followers by co-opting conspiracy theories on a spectrum of intensity ranging from vaccines to child trafficking. In the process, spiritual beliefs that have nurtured creativity and meaning are transforming into memes of a quickly-globalizing paranoia. Conspirituality Podcast attempts to bring understanding to this landscape. A journalist, a cult researcher, and a philosophical skeptic discuss the stories, cognitive dissonances, and cultic dynamics tearing through the yoga, wellness, and new spirituality worlds. Mainstream outlets have noticed the problem. We crowd-source, research, analyze, and dream answers to it.
- Update frequency
- every 2 days
- Average duration
- 48 minutes
- Episodes
- 686
- Years Active
- 2020 - 2025
Brief: The Planet is Burning, Man (w/Tommy Diacono)
Burning Man 2023 will forever be burned in memory with two images: a group of climate activists blocking the single road into Black Rock City and the sea of mud that a climate change-induced hurrican…
00:27:03 |
Sat 16 Sep 2023
171: Cracking the Mirror World (w/Naomi Klein)
Naomi Klein’s Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World is a polymathic work that serves up new political heuristics with the firepower we’ve come to expect from the coiner of “disaster capitalism.”…
01:20:39 |
Thu 14 Sep 2023
Bonus Sample: Swamp Creatures 2: Roger Stone
The Forrest Gump dandy of right-wing dirty tricks is in the news again. Strategizing from the Willard Hotel as January 6 unfolded; protected by a coterie of now convicted Oathkeepers; captured on vid…
00:10:53 |
Mon 11 Sep 2023
Brief: Review of Naomi Klein’s "Doppelganger"
Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World is an exuberant, polymathic effort, in which Klein develops several new political heuristics that pack the punch we’ve come to expect from the originator of…
00:58:01 |
Sat 09 Sep 2023
170: The Age of Insurrection (w/David Neiwert)
Do you ever feel like American society is caught in limbo? The bardo-realm between two election cycles. The dial-up static between invasive social media and quarantine isolation. Stacking sandbags ag…
01:13:29 |
Thu 07 Sep 2023
Bonus Sample: The Perils of "Free Speech"
Claiming your First Amendment rights are being violated is a sure way to have the spotlight shone on you. It's also an effective way to shut down criticism of whatever you're selling. From the 1940s-…
00:06:56 |
Mon 04 Sep 2023
Brief: Slavery is Not a Form of Hustle
One piece of connective tissue between the right and wellness influencers we cover is their liberal use of the language of Civl Rights to describe their completely incomparable grievances. Derek cove…
00:21:51 |
Sat 02 Sep 2023
169: Neo Tantra & Sex Work (w/Esme Providence Brown)
Several months ago, we received an email from Esme Providence Brown (a pseudonym, and we’ll discuss why she’s using it off the top of the interview). Esme asked if we would like to discuss the strang…
01:43:19 |
Thu 31 Aug 2023
Bonus Sample: What Is the Rabbit Hole?
They fell into a rabbit hole.
Matthew examines the blindspots thrown up by this common and unexamined phrase:
— The assumption that we all know what the rabbit hole is.
— The assumption that right u…
00:08:42 |
Mon 28 Aug 2023
Brief: Softening The Turtle Shell (w/Frank Han, M.D.)
The anti-vaxxers have a new Bible: an anonymously published (and RFK Jr.-connected) 500+ page tome, Turtles All the Way Down. Julian talks with pediatrician and pediatric cardiologist, Dr. Frank Han …
00:25:07 |
Sat 26 Aug 2023
168: Decoding the Gurus (w/Chris Kavanagh and Matt Browne)
Charismatic influence thrives in online spaces, regardless of spiritual overtones. Matt Browne and Chris Kavanagh of Decoding the Gurus have traced a path parallel to our own; examining the popular f…
01:45:11 |
Thu 24 Aug 2023
Bonus Sample: Swamp Creatures
Trump promised to “drain the swamp.” But his campaign attracted a carnival of corrupt influence peddlers and conspiracy mongerers. He pretended to be in a holy war against the “deep state” but his ad…
00:07:56 |
Mon 21 Aug 2023
Deep Cut: What Will Yoga Do to Our Children?
Deep Cut pulls from our bonus episode archive to unearth previous ideas that remain relevant today.
News from Alabama: after a 23-year ban on yoga in schools, generated by a Republican moral panic, G…
01:14:53 |
Sat 19 Aug 2023
167: Straight White American Jesus (w/Bradley Onishi)
Dr. Bradley Onishi, is the author of Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism - And What Comes Next. He is the co-host of the excellent Straight White American Jesus po…
01:25:05 |
Thu 17 Aug 2023
Bonus Sample: The Anxiety of Wellness
Are you ready to live your best life ever? Because if you’re not always on volume 10, eating the purest foods and shouting your truth at every turn, you’re certainly doing life wrong.
Derek looks at…
00:06:15 |
Mon 14 Aug 2023
Brief: Documenting Michelle Remembers (w/Sean Horlor & Steve Adams)
Following up on our review and coverage of Satan Wants You, Matthew talks with Canadian filmmakers Sean Horlor and Steve Adams about how they excavated the origin story of the Satanic Panic movement.…
00:39:27 |
Sat 12 Aug 2023
166: QAnonAnonymous Goes to Hollywood (w/Travis View and Jake Rockatansky)
In 2017, 4chan user "Q" started LARPing as a Deep State insider with predictions about Hillary Clinton and the pedophile cabal. 10 months later, the online antifascist world assembled its emergency p…
01:28:12 |
Thu 10 Aug 2023
Bonus Sample: Disgust Management
Notes from Matthew in response to a great question from a listener:
How do you keep from hating these people? The blasé unimaginative crackpots like Aubrey Marcus, the gaslighting meanderings of RFK …
00:09:10 |
Mon 07 Aug 2023
Special Report: Marianne Williamson’s Ex- Staffers Speak Out
Seven ex-staffers who worked on Marianne Williamson’s campaign have written an open letter describing her campaign as an “exercise in deception.”
Matthew analyzes the open letter, and contextualizes …
00:17:51 |
Sun 06 Aug 2023
Brief: Kombucha Krash
GT Dave's kombucha origin story is the stuff of legend—at least how he frames it. But when the LA Times broke the story of a judge awarding workers nearly half a million dollars in back and overtime …
00:27:56 |
Sat 05 Aug 2023
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are the property of Derek Beres, Matthew Remski, Julian Walker. This content is not affiliated with or endorsed by eachpod.com.