Conspirituality

Brief: Is God Necessary in Spiritual Practices?

25 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

There’s been a growing acceptance of religious belief from the previously religious-averse, especially in the Covid contrarian space. This comes in ...

207: Gaming Realities (w/Thi Nguyen)

23 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Philosopher Thi Nguyen first visited us 150 episodes ago (!!) to discuss how social media gamification exploded online conspiracy theories and audienc...

Bonus Sample: Russell Brand Is Christian Now?

20 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Russell Brand has accepted Jesus into his heart and been baptized in the spirit. But does his conversion to Christianity make sense along the New Age ...

Brief: The Outside Agitator Conspiracy Trope (w/Dr. Peniel Joseph)

18 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Two weeks ago, several university administrators asked militarized police units to smash pro-Palestinian encampment protests on quads and in occupied ...

206: Surviving Modern Yoga (w/ Matthew Remski)

16 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Matthew is in the guest seat today! Why? Because in 2019—just months before the pandemic and this podcast kicked off—he published a book titled Pr...

Bonus Sample: The Force That Divides Us All

13 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 2020, former NY Times journalist Isabel Wilkerson published Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. The book tells a compelling story: that the roo...

Brief: An Honest Discussion About Food (w/Dr Sarah Ballantyne)

11 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Dr Sarah Ballantyne forged a career in science communication and health education advocating for autoimmune solutions in food and the paleo diet. In 2...

205: Dismantling Movement Dogmas (w/Laurel Beversdorf & Sarah Court)

09 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We have a real treat today for listeners who love all forms of movement, especially yoga and strength training. Derek and Julian talk to Movement Logi...

Bonus Sample: Imaginary Children #1: Fetal Remains

06 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In the first full episode of this ongoing series, Matthew looks at the anti-abortion arcs of two men: Rob Schenck and Frank Pavone. Both leaders inves...

Brief: Religion is Not Belief? (w/Blair Hodges)

04 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The late historian of religion James Carse (1932-2020) made a radical proposal in his 2012 book, The Religious Case Against Belief. He argued that bel...

204: What the Hell is RFK Jr Doing?

02 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Robert F Kennedy, Jr isn’t backing down. You can’t get away from his voice or his endless content stream. He’s banked on tech world oligarch ant...

Bonus Sample: Let's Talk About Gary Brecka

29 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

"Human Biologist" and life coach Gary Brecka's star rose after biohacking UFC President Dana White's health. Yet Derek has a few questions this week: ...

Deep Cut: On Belief

27 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A Deep Cut from our Patreon archive (July 2023) What do we mean when we say that we believe something? When the QAnon Shaman got dressed on the mornin...

203: Is This a Joke? (w/Neal Brennan)

25 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Neal Brennan has upped the artistic ante in stand-up comedy. In Netflix specials like "3 Mics and Blocks" he’s explored loneliness, isolation, and t...

Bonus Sample: The Dark Sun, The Red Cow, and The End of Days

22 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Tensions between Israel and Iran escalated as supernaturally-charged conspiracy theories about the solar eclipse flooded the internet. And so Julian s...

Brief: Yoga Teacher’s Survival Guide (w/Theo Wildcroft & Harriet McAtee)

20 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Matthew is joined by Theo Wildcroft and Harriet McAtee, co-editors of The Yoga Teacher's Survival Guide: Social Justice, Science, Politics, and Power ...

202: Steve Hassan and the Trans Cult Conspiracy Theory

18 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

“Cult expert” Steve Hassan has been publicly concerned with the complex sociology of trans youth since 2020. We track that interest back to his co...

Bonus Sample: Long Haul Stories: Matthew Stillman

15 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Following up on our Long COVID episode with Tara Haelle, Matthew will be expanding the Listener Stories portfolio with stories from listeners about na...

Brief: A History of the Gay Right (w/Neil Young)

13 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Matthew is joined by historian Neil J. Young, co-host of the excellent Past Present Podcast, to talk about his new book: Coming Out Republican: a Hist...

201: Librarians Are Not Groomers (w/Heath Umbreit)

11 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When Moms For Liberty attacks libraries with demands to ban books about MLK Jr and age-appropriate sex education, and claims that librarians are groom...

Bonus Sample: Project 2025's Disdain for Public Education

08 Apr 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: The High Cost of Wellness

06 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A common sentiment in wellness spaces is that people turn to alt-med practices due to the exorbitant costs of American healthcare. While the latter is...

200: Rogan-Rufo Reality Check

04 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This week we take stock of the full entrenchment of the Mirror World, where conspirituality influencers bask in the rays of confident delusion. After ...

Bonus Sample: The GOP Thinks Food Stamps Are the Real Problem

01 Apr 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: Woman, Life, Freedom (w/Negin Shiraghaei)

30 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The death of Mahsa Jina Amini at the hands of the Islamic Republic’s “morality police” in September 2022 lit a fuse on a fervent global protest ...

Brief: Yes, Huberman’s Behavior Matters

30 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In response to Kerry Howley’s meticulous reporting on the deceptions of Andrew Huberman in New York Magazine, Huberstans around the world are brayin...

199: Inside Anti-Abortion Christian Nationalism (w/Rob Schenck)

28 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Reverend Rob Schenck spent 30 years on the front lines of the Evangelical war against Roe V. Wade. He blockaded abortion clinics, screamed at women in...

Bonus Sample: Conspirituality and the Imaginary Children (Series Intro)

25 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this series of audio essays, Matthew will examine how children as symbols—but not persons with their own internal lives—are at the center of co...

Brief: Unmasking Jay Shetty (w/John McDermott)

23 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Former monk turned spiritual influencer to the stars, Jay Shetty, has amassed 15 million followers on Instagram. He’s interviewed Michelle Obama, Ki...

198: Holy Food (w/Christina Ward)

21 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Does God have a recipe? That’s the first line of the blurb of Holy Food: How Cults, Communes, and Religious Movements Influenced What We Eat: An Ame...

Bonus Sample: Ketamine Soul Mates

18 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Dolphins, drugs, new age music. Isolation tanks as a portal into other dimensions. True love and fake aliens. Julian shares a personal love story from...

Brief: RFK Jr Hijacks the “Crisis in Masculinity” (w/Natalia Petrzela)

16 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Masculinity, in all its wounded and preening anxiety, is the perennial currency of American populism. America’s foremost public historian on fitness...

197: Psychic Surgery (feat Brad Abrahams)

14 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The “healer” mutters prayers, flutters his hands over the patient’s belly, then rubs his fingers close to her navel. A stream of what looks like...

Bonus Sample: How to Stamp Out Racists (and more)

11 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

At what point do you tune someone out and no longer consider them worth considering? Is their entire catalog of thought defined by one encounter you d...

Brief: The God Pivot: Rogan, Brand, & Huberman

09 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Being a chaos agent is exhausting. The internet never ends. It’s so abstract, groundless. At some point, all of your content seems stale and redunda...

196: Julian Goes to the New Age Expo!

07 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For 22 years, astrologers, channelers, and UFO enthusiasts have run booths next to crystal healers, purveyors of esoteric books and pseudoscience prod...

Bonus Sample: “There Are Worse Things Than Dying”

04 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This is a newly favorite mantra that RFK Jr is using on the presidential stump.  The subtext, uttered in the shadow of a pandemic that this guy did w...

Brief: The CPAC Pope and the Icicle Babies (w/ Brad Onishi)

02 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Brad Onishi of Straight White American Jesus sits down with Matthew to analyze the debut of “America’s Bishop,” Joseph Strickland, on the CPAC s...

195: Long COVID (w/Tara Haelle)

29 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In the early days of the pandemic, most of the cultural focus was on the necessity of quarantine measures and the distinction between mild and severe ...

Bonus Sample: Through the Looking-Glass

26 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

After going undercover at the Conscious Life Expo, Julian examines the weird synchronicities between himself and his mirror-world doppelganger, the ec...

Brief: The “Super Reasonable” Dr. Vinay Prasad

24 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A contrarian doctor “just asking questions.” Super reasonable. Certainly not anti-vax, just a regular guy who grievance-mongers about quarantine m...

194: The Power Worshippers (w/Katherine Stewart)

22 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

January 6, 2021. MAGA hats, tactical gear, American flags, poles turned into clubs. Another flag appears: white, with a blue corner square containing ...

Bonus Sample: Your Gut Isn't Leaking

19 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Cleveland Clinic's website states that leaky gut is a "hypothetical condition." Yet Cleveland Clinic physician, Mark Hyman, claims that leaky gut ...

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—...