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: No Really, They’re Coming For Your Pets
Recently, “holistic veterinarian” Marcie Fallek, whose latest book, “Little Miracles Everywhere: My Unorthodox Path to Holistic Veterinary Medicine," is the #1 bestseller on Amazon in the Alternative…
00:25:30 |
Sat 02 Nov 2024
230: How Did We Get Here?
With days left before the most consequential US election in our lifetime, we reflect on the last 4.5 years of this podcast while expressing our hopes–and our own reporting goals—for the future.
Learn…
01:28:07 |
Thu 31 Oct 2024
Relief Project #3: Michelle Cassandra Johnson
Matthew here with the third installment of Five Big Questions Posed to an Extremely Thoughtful Person.
Michelle Cassandra Johnson was an early guest on our show and helped us lay the groundwork for …
00:31:33 |
Tue 29 Oct 2024
Bonus Sample: Tucker Carlson's Daddy Issues
Derek discusses Tucker Carlson advocating for corporal punishment as a way to discipline children in his appearance at the Turning Points USA MAGA rally.
Show Notes
Stephen Colbert: Tucker Carlson’s …
00:06:07 |
Mon 28 Oct 2024
Brief: Leonard Leo’s Plan to “Crush” Democracy
Billionaire legal activist Leonard Leo has had a role in placing all six conservative justices on the SCOTUS, and so therefore is in large part responsible for the overturning of Roe V Wade. But his …
00:37:36 |
Sat 26 Oct 2024
229: Stanford Has Fallen
On Oct 4, Jay Bhattacharya, a professor of medicine, economics, and health research policy at Stanford, held a symposium at his university. Titled “Pandemic Policy: Planning the Future, Assessing the…
01:10:32 |
Thu 24 Oct 2024
Bonus Sample: The Apocalyptic Portal
As the world watches, Israel and Iran are squaring off for a potential war. Meanwhile, a Texas evangelical preacher, who runs the biggest Christian Zionist group in the world, is cheering on the comi…
00:06:09 |
Mon 21 Oct 2024
Brief: Trump Temple Playlist
Trump’s Town Hall DJ love-in stumped a lot of folks. From the conspirituality angle, however, there’s something familiar about this improvised ritual. Because the world we cover is strewn with the wr…
00:35:12 |
Sat 19 Oct 2024
228: Hurricane Trump
People will reach for anything to relieve the stress of climate anxiety.
There’s outright denial: this can’t be happening. It doesn’t fit in with my understanding of the world. The science must be w…
01:07:03 |
Thu 17 Oct 2024
Bonus Sample: Surviving Modern Yoga Panel (w/Ann Gleig & Michelle C. Johnson)
Matthew fields excellent questions about his new book from colleagues Ann Gleig and Michelle C. Johnson.
NAB Show Notes
This event includes discussions on sensitive topics related to abuse; sexual a…
00:06:01 |
Mon 14 Oct 2024
Deep Cut: The OG New Age Grifter: Madame Blavatsky
Born in 1831, Helena "Madame" Blavatsky pioneered the New Age grift. The Russian aristocrat plagiarized her books while claiming to be channeling the “Masters of Ancient Wisdom” to tell a dodgy heroi…
00:51:49 |
Sat 12 Oct 2024
227: Rescue Remedy for The Republic
On September 29, a predicted one million people were going to show up for the Rescue the Republic event in Washington DC. Founded by the libertarian party chair, the Defeat the Mandates founder, and …
01:09:58 |
Thu 10 Oct 2024
Bonus Sample: What Are We Doing About Health?
With MAHA taking over stages nationwide, we’re experiencing a deluge of wellness influence and contrarians screaming about systemic issues with food, medicine, and government. Yet the solutions they …
00:05:36 |
Mon 07 Oct 2024
Brief: RFK Jr Screws His Followers
Finally: a dedicated, concise report on RFK Jr’s sordid history with women, with all the sources.
Why?
Because now one of the allegations involves a criminal act.
And because it’s becoming clearer …
00:23:05 |
Sat 05 Oct 2024
226: MAHA Storms the Capitol
Cleanse the soil! Purify the blood! Save the children! Make America Healthy Again!
On Sept 23, Jordan Peterson, RFK Jr., rising alt-health stars Casey and Calley Means, and many other nutrition non-e…
01:08:54 |
Thu 03 Oct 2024
Relief Project #2: Natalie Wynn/Contrapoints
Matthew here with the second installment of Five Big Questions Posed to an Extremely Thoughtful Person.
Does Natalie Wynn need an introduction? Or do we simply know that every frame of every Contrap…
00:30:24 |
Tue 01 Oct 2024
Bonus Sample: Faith: Unearned and Earned
An essay from Matthew exploring the problem of authenticity which plagues every investigation we do on the spiritual influencer beat.
There are queasy questions we’re always contending with when we’…
00:06:11 |
Mon 30 Sep 2024
Brief: The Actual Biggest Losers
On Monday, Senator Ron Johnson sponsored a congressional panel entitled "American Health and Nutrition: A Second Opinion." Unfortunately no actual health or nutrition experts were invited. Instead, t…
00:43:10 |
Sat 28 Sep 2024
225: Trauma Healing for Trump
Tens of people will be flocking to Washington DC this Sunday as Rumble comes to life during Rescue the Republic, a one-day event featuring RFK Jr, Russell Brand, Jordan Peterson, Bret Weinstein, Tuls…
01:09:34 |
Thu 26 Sep 2024
Bonus Sample: The Child Messiah Fantasy
The British occultists took the thin and sickly but beautiful boy away from his family. Groomed him for 20 years to become the savior of humanity. Trained him between 1909-29 to be a serene guru and …
00:06:08 |
Mon 23 Sep 2024
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