Conspirituality

Brief: Plandemic Takes the Promenade

17 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

An anti-vax, COVID-grievance, climate-science denying, communism panic-generating film by Mikki Willis just won “Best Documentary Feature” at the ...

193: Speaking Truth to GOOP (w/Dr Jen Gunter)

15 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When she’s not talking to her angel guides, Christiane Northrup says that taking Vitamin D is better than the HPV vaccine for preventing cervical ca...

Bonus Sample: Living in the Enema Times

12 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Selling enemas to replace psych meds, or treat cancer, or cure autism is some dangerous shit. But Matthew has a tingling sense that the wellness enema...

Brief: The Culture Warrior to Wellness Pipeline (w/Dax-Devlon Ross)

10 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Wellness influencers are quite capable of inventing and spreading health misinformation. When it comes to culture war issues, however, they're incapab...

192: Coffee is Your Friend, Not Your Enema (feat Mallory DeMille)

08 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This episode has been brewing for some time. This week we ask: which hole is coffee really supposed to go in? Because, in the contrarian and conspirat...

Bonus Sample: The GOP Takeover of Media

05 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Project 2025 is the libertarian conservative Heritage Foundation’s systematic governance plan for the next Republican president. The 920-page plan a...

Brief: Deep Church Conspiracy (w/David Lafferty)

03 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

From the Supreme Court to Project 2025, reactionary Catholics are on the frontlines of this year’s war on democracy. Many of them bend the knee to a...

191: Extremely Online (w/Taylor Lorenz)

01 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The internet has changed not only how we communicate with each other, but how we understand the world. All technologies reorient how we navigate the w...

Bonus Sample: The Plan to Dismantle Health Care

29 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Project 2025 is the libertarian conservative Heritage Foundation’s systematic governance plan for the next Republican president. The 920-page plan a...

Brief: New Year, Same Old Conspiritualists

27 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Do people radicalized into conspiracism or cults ever admit their errors? When the prophecy fails and evidence shows they were wrong, do they come cle...

190: Females Drive Evolution (w/Cat Bohannon)

25 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Science evolves, often through fits and starts. Yet for most of medical history, there’s been one consistent theme: most science has been conducted ...

Bonus Sample: Post-Catholic Music (w/Julia Tucker)

22 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Julia Tucker is a professional church organist in Savannah, Georgia. She grew up homeschooled in a TradCath home presided over by a father who is now ...

Brief: Being Muslim Amidst the Wars (w/Dr. Taslim Alani-Verjee)

20 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Dr. Taslim Alani-Verjee joined us last January for a Brief on Jordan Peterson’s professional status as a shitposting registered psychologist. She re...

189: Leftists Who Turn Right (w/Jeff Sharlet)

18 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Nothing will stop Republicans from lining up behind Trump. But the left? It's in crisis. Fragmented. Perhaps in times of great flux fascists reflexive...

Bonus Sample: Swamp Creatures 6: Leonard Leo, Judicial Kingmaker

15 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Control the Court. Overturn Roe. Funnel anonymous donations and shady gifts. Deregulate for Jesus. Roll back the cultural clock. Celebrate. Rinse and ...

Brief: Fascia Facts vs Fictions (w/David Lesondak)

13 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The online pseudoscience clearing house, Human Garage, treats fascia as a cure-all to nearly every disease imaginable. Yet as today's guest, David Les...

188: Everybody Wants to Save the Children (feat Esme Providence Brown)

11 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What happens when white knights role-play at saving all the children? What impacts do they have on the actual realities faced by trafficked children a...

Bonus Sample: Chris Rufo Wants America to Return to 1776

08 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Rightwing activist Chris Rufo recently led the charge in helping oust Claudine Gay from the Harvard presidency. While the charge is plagiarism—a cha...

Brief: RFK Jr’s New Director of Propaganda

06 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On January 6, 2021 Del Bigtree took the stage at the MAGA Health Freedom Rally a few blocks away from where Donald Trump had just instigated a riot. H...

187: Project 2025: An Authoritarian Conspiracy

04 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Last year, the Heritage Foundation published a 920-page document that lays out the conservative organization’s road map for the next Republican pres...

Bonus Sample: Secular Person of Faith: pt 2 (w/Brad Onishi)

01 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Friend of the pod and Straight White American Jesus host Brad Onishi returns to pick up with Matthew where they left off in their discussion of post-r...

Brief: Secular Person of Faith: pt 1 (w/Brad Onishi)

30 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Friend of the pod and Straight White American Jesus host Brad Onishi joins Matthew for a New Year’s discussion of post-religious spirituality. Onish...

186: Coaches Coaching Coaches

28 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Life coaching is big business. The life coaching industry was worth $1.5 billion in 2022 and is considered one of the fastest growing industries in Am...

Bonus Sample: Under the Xmas Starship

25 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The joys of Xmas, the wonder of parenting, the complexities of family, the distinctions between religions and cults, and the compassionate dignity of ...

Brief: Cop(Out)28 (w/Maya Lilly)

23 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

COP28, the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference, recently took place in the UAE. The controversial conference included 2,500 fossil fuel indu...

185: Light in the Growing Darkness

21 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this annual meditation and reflection, the trio consider the past year's significant happenings in conspirituality, discuss their biggest influence...

Bonus Sample: Rife-Wing Misogyny

18 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In November, the comedian Matt Rife released his first Netflix special, "Natural Selection." Early in the show he made a joke about domestic violence ...

Brief: The Mother God Cult

16 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Amy Carlson’s metallic blue body was covered in glitter, wrapped in a sleeping bag, and draped in Christmas lights when police found her on the nigh...

184: Lies That Take Lives (w/Scott Kennedy)

14 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Measles was declared eliminated in the US in 2000. Fast forward to 2019 and the nation experienced the largest number of cases since 1992. Globally, t...

Bonus Sample: Post Lapsed Catholic?

11 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Matthew follows up on his interview with Mike Lewis about Bishop Strickland with thoughts about: 1) Building a bridge with progressive elements of a r...

Deep Cut: The Final Battle

09 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Why did Trump kick-off his 2024 presidential campaign in Waco, Texas? Who were the Branch Davidians, anyway? Julian unpacks the incendiary streams of ...

183: Woke Pope Cancels America's Bishop (w/Mike Lewis)

07 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Conspiracy Theory Catholicism is back, bringing together Satanic Panickers, anti-vaxxers, tradwives who think (or at least say) birth control is an ab...

Bonus Sample: Goliath & Narcissus: A Brett Weinstein Breakdown

04 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What if every important world event, regardless of how tragic or distant, is really part of a secret plan that only a handful of contrarian podcast pa...

Brief: The Twin Flames Story (w/Alice Hines)

02 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Soulmates gone wrong. High-pressure sexual orientation and gender conversion in an MLM coaching cult. Journalist and producer Alice Hines discusses th...

182: Recovering from Conspiracy Theories (w/Stephanie Kemmerer)

30 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What is it like to get red-pilled, find a fragile community of peers, and then come out on the other side?  What are the personal, social, and politi...

Bonus Sample: Anti-vax Lifestyle Brands Are Here

27 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In 2021, the anti-vax dating site, Unjected, appeared on the scene. Between Unjected's conservative marketing campaigns, which leans conspiratorial an...

Deep Cut: The Eyes Always Watching Us

25 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Derek interviewed journalist and researcher, Arthur Holland Michel, after the publication of Michel's 2019 book, Eyes in the Sky: The Secret Rise of G...

181: YouTuber Redpills Preteen Boys

23 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Sign up today at butcherbox.com/conspirituality and use code conspirituality to choose your free steak for a year and get $20 off. If you’ve never d...

Bonus Sample: So Marianne Williamson Really is the Peace Candidate

20 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Sign up today at butcherbox.com/conspirituality and use code conspirituality to choose your free steak for a year and get $20 off. If you’ve never d...

Brief: RFK Jr. Loses New Age Support Over Israel

18 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Butcherbox promo: Sign up today at butcherbox.com/conspirituality and use code conspirituality to choose your free steak for a year and get $20 off. R...

180: Is This the Next Andrew Tate?

16 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Iman Gadzhi is a rising YouTube superstar. A high school dropout and supposed self-made multimillionaire, the 23 year-old marketing guru started his Y...

Bonus Sample: Swamp Creatures 5: Trump Davidians

13 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Butcherbox promo: Sign up today at butcherbox.com/conspirituality and use code conspirituality to choose your free steak for a year and get $20 off. Y...

Brief: Neoliberal Psychedelics

11 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

ButcherBox is offering our listeners turkey FREE in your first box plus $20 off your first order. Sign up at butcherbox.com/conspirituality and use co...

179: The Conspiracy of…Cities? (w/Doug Gordon)

09 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Close your eyes and imagine exiting your front door. Within moments, everything necessary for your life is a few blocks away, except perhaps your job....

Bonus Sample: A Prescription — To Fix Healthcare

06 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Derek spent nearly a month trying to get a flu shot. During the same period, he has yet to secure an updated Covid booster. There are many problems wi...

Special Report: QAnon Fantasies Look Like Colonial Realities (w/Julian Brave NoiseCat)

04 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Julian Brave NoiseCat is a writer and film doc maker, and a member of the Canim Lake Band, Tsq'escen. In May of 2022 he posted this Twitter thread. Ma...

178: Silicon Valley Veda

02 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

5 am. Day 4 of executive plant medicine retreat. The venture capital tech bro sits on a metaverse mountaintop, immersed in deep meditation. He hears a...

Bonus Sample: RFK Jr. and Deconstruction Ecstasy Syndrome

30 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Matthew’s essay about the transient, disorganized, purificatory pleasure of RFK Jr's campaign for his wellness/yoga/biohacker demographic.  A works...

Brief: Bari Weiss's Sexual Revolution (w/Michelle Lhooq)

28 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Bari Weiss recently held a "debate" about the failure of the sexual revolution. Expensive tickets to the Theater at the Ace Hotel in downtown LA allow...

Bonus Sample: Swamp Creatures 4: Let We The People Say “Amen!”

23 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Get full access to all of our episodes and listen ad-free on Patreon. Today’s profile by Julian is of a man who connects the dots between the gun-nu...

Brief: Sovereign In Sedona (w/Isaac Stone Simonelli)

21 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Arizona’s recent increase in “sovereign citizen filings” connects to a New Age spiritual center called the Ultimate Light Mission. Julian talks ...

176: Russell Brand’s Man Stans

19 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Women journalists spend years meticulously investigating, corroborating and fact-checking allegations that Russell Brand is a serial sex offender. The...

Bonus Sample: Inside the Church of Bleach

16 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Four members of the Florida-based Grenon family were recently sentenced to between 5 and 12 years of prison for selling bleach. The problem? They clai...

Special Report: RFK Jr.’s Independence Day

14 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On October 9, RFK Jr. brought his three-podcast-bros-in-a-trench-coat campaign to Philadelphia. On a dias across from Independence Hall, he announced ...

175: Diagonalism (w/William Callison and Quinn Slobodian)

12 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Quinn Slobodian teaches Modern German History at Wellesley and William Callison teaches Political Theory and Human Geography at Uppsala. We first came...

Bonus Sample: Swamp Creatures 3: The Pirate Palace

09 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Our main character this week is the six-degrees of authoritarians—more like one or two degrees, in fact. He’s made millions playing footsie with m...

Special Report: Stealing Indigenous Voices in Australia (w/Tyson Yunkaporta)

08 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On October 14, Australians will vote in a referendum on a simple question: should Indigenous peoples be invited to form an advisory council—a Voice—...

174: Everything is Chemistry (w/Drs Andrea Love & Jessica Steier)

05 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Butcherbox Deal! Sign up today at butcherbox.com/conspirituality and use code CONSPIRITUALITY to receive ground beef for life plus $20 off your first ...

Bonus Sample: Matt Christman & the Silence

02 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On September 19, Matt Christman was hospitalized with, in the words of his colleagues on the podcast Chapo Trap House: “a sudden, severe medical eme...

Deep Cut: The Dalai Lama Spectacle

30 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Deep Cut pulls from our bonus episode archive to unearth previous ideas that remain relevant today. What the hell happened between the Dalai Lama and ...

173: Psychedelic Capitalism (w/Psymposia)

28 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The market for psychedelics is projected to grow from $2 billion in 2020 to $10.75 billion by 2027—a growth rate that could outpace the legal US can...

Bonus Sample: A Theory of Motivation

25 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We’ve spent the last three-and-a-half years criticizing a range of wellness ideas, charismatic charlatans, abusive self-styled gurus, and conspiracy...

Brief: Russell Brand

23 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In light of the recent allegations, Matthew offers a backgrounder on what we’ve learned about Brand through conspirituality and cultic studies and f...

172: Why Always the Jews? (w/Mike Rothschild)

21 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Who could be a better guide through the fever dream of modern anti-semitism—the socialism of fools—than a scrappy young scion of the House of Roth...

Bonus Sample: You Can’t Just Take Things Away from People

18 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

When we deconstruct harmful ideas and beliefs—from antivax positions to reactionary social views—we will inevitably be seen or felt as attacking t...

Brief: The Planet is Burning, Man (w/Tommy Diacono)

16 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

171: Cracking the Mirror World (w/Naomi Klein)

14 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 com...

Bonus Sample: Swamp Creatures 2: Roger Stone

11 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 cote...

Brief: Review of Naomi Klein’s "Doppelganger"

09 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World is an exuberant, polymathic effort, in which Klein develops several new political heuristics that pack the ...

170: The Age of Insurrection (w/David Neiwert)

07 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 med...

Bonus Sample: The Perils of "Free Speech"

04 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 crit...

Brief: Slavery is Not a Form of Hustle

02 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 the...

169: Neo Tantra & Sex Work (w/Esme Providence Brown)

31 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 intervie...

Bonus Sample: What Is the Rabbit Hole?

28 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

They fell into a rabbit hole.  Matthew examines the blindspots thrown up by this common and unexamined phrase: — The assumption that we all know wh...

Brief: Softening The Turtle Shell (w/Frank Han, M.D.)

26 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 pediat...

168: Decoding the Gurus (w/Chris Kavanagh and Matt Browne)

24 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Charismatic influence thrives in online spaces, regardless of spiritual overtones. Matt Browne and Chris Kavanagh of Decoding the Gurus have traced a ...

Bonus Sample: Swamp Creatures

21 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Trump promised to “drain the swamp.” But his campaign attracted a carnival of corrupt influence peddlers and conspiracy mongerers. He pretended to...

Deep Cut: What Will Yoga Do to Our Children?

19 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

167: Straight White American Jesus (w/Bradley Onishi)

17 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Bonus Sample: The Anxiety of Wellness

14 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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,...

Brief: Documenting Michelle Remembers (w/Sean Horlor & Steve Adams)

12 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Following up on our review and coverage of Satan Wants You, Matthew talks with Canadian filmmakers Sean Horlor and Steve Adams about how they excavate...

166: QAnonAnonymous Goes to Hollywood (w/Travis View and Jake Rockatansky)

10 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 o...

Bonus Sample: Disgust Management

07 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Special Report: Marianne Williamson’s Ex- Staffers Speak Out

06 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Seven ex-staffers who worked on Marianne Williamson’s campaign have written an open letter describing her campaign as an “exercise in deception.”...

Brief: Kombucha Krash

05 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

165: Outrage Machine (w/Tobias Rose-Stockwell)

03 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Tobias Rose-Stockwell is a media researcher, writer, designer, and author of the new book, Outrage Machine: How Tech Amplifies Discontent, Disrupts De...

Bonus Sample: Psychedelic Fundamentalism

31 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Altered states exist on a spectrum, from enhancing human flourishing to perpetuating dangerous delusions. Daniel Pinchbeck’s recent comments on our ...

Deep Cut: Post-Cult Shame

29 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Deep Cut pulls from our bonus episode archive to unearth previous ideas that remain relevant today. Survivor shame over what has been lost, and how on...

164: The Two Faces of Robert Francis Kennedy Jr.

27 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We’ve been tracking Bobby’s misinformation, contradictions, and cursed networks for three years. And now he’s having his moment, and it’s anyo...

Bonus Sample: EMF and 5G and chemtrails oh my!

24 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Derek unpacks what’s really going on in conspiritualist messages about the "climate change narrative" and how they use an assault of varying degrees...

Brief: The New Age Origin Story of RFK Jr’s Campaign

22 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A granular—let’s say quantum-sized—look at how RFK Jr.’s wealthiest and most influential New Age supporters are thinking about his candidacy. ...

163: The Huberman Paradox (w/Jonathan Jarry)

20 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Neuroscientist Andrew Huberman has become one of the most popular science podcasters in the world. His regular two- to four-hour episodes feature a di...

Bonus Sample: Bobby Kennedy Scares You Shitless And Makes You Swoon

17 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Bobby provokes a “disorganized attachment” response in would-be followers.This is the emotional vortex that begins to churn when a charismatic lea...

162: Is Our Book a Conspiracy Theory?

13 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Nazis loved yoga. Rudolf Steiner set the stage for COVID denialism. Modern social justice warriors have a fondness for Hindu nationalism. Antivax acti...

Bonus Sample: On Belief

10 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What do we mean when we say that we believe something? When the QAnon Shaman got dressed on the morning of January 6, he put on his red, white, and bl...

Brief: RFK's Health Propaganda Roundtable

08 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On June 26, presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy, Jr hosted a "health policy roundtable" on Rumble. His guests included Joe Mercola, Sherri Tenpenn...

161: The Timeline is Chaotic (Conspirituality Audiobook Excerpt)

06 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Matthew narrates the first three sections of the audiobook, Conspirituality: How New Age Conspiracy Theories Became a Health Threat. More information ...

Bonus Sample: From Pranams to Pogroms

03 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Derek discusses the new Conspirituality book with filmmaker and podcaster Mike Hull at Powell's Books on June 26, 2023. Learn more about your ad choic...

Brief: RFK Jr Flirts with Body Fascism (w/Natalia Petrzela)

01 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Friend of the pod and historian of American fitness culture, Natalia Petrzela, joins Matthew to shed light on a new development in RFK Jr’s campaign...

160: Empire of Lies (w/Sofia Cherici & Jan Zabka)

29 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Chaos in Russia! Wagner’s pagan neo-Nazis. Is conspirituality unique to a failing American empire in the internet age? Does it require Californian N...