Conspirituality

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...

Bonus Sample: God Seemed Like A Dumb Reason to Break Up

26 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Today in our Listeners’ Stories installment, Lynn Short joins her partner Justin to discuss how they met, grew up in, and grew out of a branch of “...

Brief: An Atheist's Guide to Spirituality

24 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

“It’s much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers which might be wrong," wrote Richard Feynman. But does curiosity end where aw...

159: Cults & Cultures

22 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

To celebrate book launch month, we started a little “takeaway” series two weeks ago. First, Derek led us through “Science and Sensibility,” in...

Bonus Sample: Devouring Dragons

19 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The exiled cult leader, the MAGA mastermind, the Chinese con-artist billionaire, and the CCP. Insatiable dragons, all. Each claims to be at war with e...

158: Spirituality Without the Con

15 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We've spent three years tracking the slide from online wellness influencer to red-pilled conspiracy promoter, from yoga and breath work teacher to ant...

Bonus Sample: The Anti-Woke Industrial Complex

12 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

From Ron DeSantis's anti-woke presidential campaign to Bari Weiss's FAIR war on woke, the concept of "wokeness" has become an ideal devil in right-win...

Brief: Updates on Countering Hate

10 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

How can we protect ourselves and our children from online hate and misinformation? Julian interviews Imran Ahmed about the latest work the Center for ...

157: Science & Sensibility

08 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

How did “following the science” get so confusing during the pandemic? As the publication of our book draws closer, Derek shares his best practices...

Bonus Sample: Conspirituality Marches on the White House (pt 2)

05 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

After reviewing how Mother Marianne and Bobby Kennedy Jr are set to disrupt the race in Part 1, we turn now to  Mr. “Coronavirus is a Coronation fo...

Special Report: Taking Alberta Backwards (w/Jeremy Appel)

03 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On Monday, May 29, Danielle Smith, the leader of the UCP of Alberta, seized the reigns of majority government power with the help of a right-wing anti...

156: Medical Medium (w/Dan Adler)

01 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Medical Medium, aka Anthony William, gained many of his 4.4M IG followers thanks to his declaration that celery juice can heal you from many ailments ...

Bonus Sample: Conspirituality Marches on the White House (pt 1)

29 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Marianne Williamson—New Age matriarch and popularizer of A Course in Miracles—is polling at 9%. Muscular Catholic antivax entrepreneur Bobby Kenne...

Brief: RFK Jr., The Anti-Vax Candidate

27 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Another Kennedy is running for President. But discussion of his anti-vaccine activism often overlooks how it affects people with autism. Julian talks ...

155: We Want Them Infected (w/Jonathan Howard, M.D.)

25 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What "really" happened during the pandemic? Conspiracists have decided to take a victory lap. They were right, you see? The vaccines failed, and besid...

Bonus Sample: The Dangers of Slogans

22 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In 1970, farmer, writer, and environmental activist Wendell Berry published his essay, "Think Little." In it, he writes about the dangers of not makin...

154: The Truth Wars (w/Renée DiResta)

18 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In the post-truth world, journalists who report facts are disparaged as perpetuating the narrative while candidates who hold the appropriate qualifica...

Bonus Sample: The Dalai Lama Spectacle

15 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What the hell happened between the Dalai Lama and that Indian boy? The internet served up a raft of painfully inflammatory takes, so I took a month to...

Brief: Why Does Every Conspiracy Theory Lead Back to Antisemitism? (w/Ben Cohen)

13 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We've seen it over and over again: somehow, in some way, globalists are involved. George Soros is pulling the strings. Jews will replace us, with othe...

153: The Anti-Sunscreen Movement (w/Sara Aniano & Michelle Wong)

11 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Did you know that it’s not the sun that causes cancer, but sunscreen? Or that sunscreen is actually a Big Pharma creation to keep you from receiving...

Bonus Sample: Chris Rufo’s Fascist Long-Game

08 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Florida governor Ron DeSantis appointed right-wing propagandist, Christopher Rufo, along with other conservative Christian education-activists, to the...

Brief: Marianne Williamson’s Spiritual Therapy Schtick

06 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Marianne Williamson? Inexperienced? Not at all. In fact, she does have a ton of experience… in New Age, on-stage pseudotherapy, where she solves the...

152: Tulsi Gabbard’s Krishna Consciousness (w/Nitai Joseph)

04 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What does it mean for a prominent American politician to come into power as the sleeper cell of an eccentric Hindu-American cult? Does she act indepen...

Bonus Sample: Reimagining the Apocalypse

01 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Apocalyptic language is everywhere: in the marketing copy of wellness influencers and pseudo-documentary makers selling spike protein detoxes and vacc...

151: Satan Wants You Watch Party (Spoilers)

27 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

How, in the name of the Holy Virgin Mary, did Michelle Remembers—the book that started the Satanic Panic—come to be written? Who was Lawrence Pazd...

Bonus Sample: Framing George Soros

24 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

FOX News says he wants to destroy America. Candace Owens is scared to speak his name out loud. Mikki Willis is making a film about his assault on the ...

Brief: Unmasking Liana Shanti (w/Jennings Brown)

22 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Jennings Brown is becoming the Dr. Who of cult journalism. Every few years he pops up on a very different planet in the cultiverse, and tries to repai...

150: Spiritual Influencer Theory

20 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Julian and Matthew go big-picture in this tour through all the elements that construct and drive spiritual Influencers. At the center of the parasocia...

Bonus Sample: From Rabbit Hole to Research (w/Jaigris Hodson)

17 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Our Listener Story this week comes from Dr. Jaigris Hodson, Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair for Digital Communication for the Public Int...

Brief: The Promises & (Mostly) Perils of Ketamine Therapy

15 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Though not specifically a psychedelic — ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic — ketamine therapy is being touted as a depression treatment and, fo...

149: Spiritual Heartbreak

13 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

“I would pursue transcendence and live with its inevitable close cousins, disappointment and heartbreak, for most of my life.” So writes “Steven...

Bonus Sample: JP Sears’s Woke CBD Grift

10 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

JP Sears is selling CBD. His new company, Awaken, recently sent out a marketing email extolling the benefits of CBD. Derek looks at the science behind...

Brief: The Spirituality of Vaccine & Mask Panics

08 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Why do so many inflammatory culture war issues crystallize around vaccines and masks? What is so compelling about these forms of public health and mut...

148: Marianne Williamson and Asshole Jesus

06 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Is Marianne Williamson’s promotion of A Course in Miracles any more relevant to her political persona than Biden’s Catholicism? If it demonstrably...

Bonus Sample: The Final Battle

03 Apr 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...

147: The Censorship Megaphone

30 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Listen… Can you hear it? All across the propagandist right and the free speech center, there's a new rallying cry: it's time to fight the “censors...

Bonus Sample: Losing My Charisma

27 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Recording the audiobook at a swanky Toronto studio sends Matthew down a memory hole to wonder about performance, self-awareness, and anxiety, and thei...

146: The Reality of Online Child Abuse (w/Håkon Høydal)

23 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Conspiritualists are not wrong that Jeffery Epstein’s downline has so far evaded justice. Or that the highest levels of the Catholic Church aided an...

Special Report: Nostalgia for the Superego (w/Sam Binkley)

21 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Matthew sits down with Sam Binkley, Professor of Sociology at Emerson College in Boston to discuss his 2007 book Getting Loose: Lifestyle Consumption ...

Bonus Sample: The Privilege of Wellness

20 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

There are a number of philosophies presented in yoga spaces as "universal truths" that turn out to be little more than directives in an echo chamber. ...

145: Fever Dream Goes Mainstream in Florida

16 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

When Disneyworld becomes DeSantisland, Eric Weinstein will be in charge of the Epcot Planetarium, JP Sears will headline the Family Values comedy stag...

Brief: Roku-Q, The Sequel (w/Alex Kaplan)

14 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

QAnon ain't over—it's on your television. It's been mainstreamed, networked, and remixed. Senior online extremism and disinformation researcher, Ale...

Bonus Sample: Hydroxychloroquine Emergency

13 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this listener story, Julian talks to disabled rights activist and journalist Abby Mahler about how the fake COVID-cure grift endangers people who r...

144: The Magic Spells of Wellness (w/Colleen Derkatch)

09 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

"Cleansing is no longer an option, it's a necessity.” From wellness influencers obsessed about the meat-body, to Christofascists obsessed about the...

Bonus Sample: Marianne Williamson for Prez. New Age Jesus for VP.

06 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Can Marianne Williamson maintain street cred as a progressive while promoting New Age Jesus? Can she hammer out functional policy while preaching out ...

Brief: Flood the Zone (w/Dr Dan Wilson)

28 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Answering the current wave of confusing vaccine misinformation. Julian is joined by molecular biologist Dr. Dan Wilson. "Died Suddenly," correlation v...

Bonus Sample: Romancing the Stoned

27 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

So much suffering occurs because we romanticize a past that never actually existed in the belief that it's destined to become the future. In the middl...

Brief: Reggae Muzak

25 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Continuing a conversation from EP142, Derek looks at the cultural damage done when musicians co-opt musical styles to promote their own propaganda, wh...

142: Destination Rabbit Hole (w/Anna Merlan)

23 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Do visiting inter-dimensional spirits and stowaway UFO passengers use the LAX Airport to touch down among us? Well they do if they're in town for the ...

Bonus Sample: Maggie the Good Conspiritualist

20 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

How does it feel to grow up in a back-to-the-land house that vibrates with the anxious passion of conspiracy theories? What would happen when the worl...

141: Does Canada Want Suffering Citizens to Die? (w/Taslim Alani-Verjee)

16 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Is Canada trying to euthanize the mentally ill? Self-professed "theocratic fascist" Matt Walsh says so. So does the OG anti-woke agitator, James Lin...

Brief: Bikram Convoy Stopped by His Survivors

14 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Hot yoga tycoon and sex offender Bikram Choudhury was set to teach his sweaty pseudoscience in Vancouver starting on February 20th. But a team of yoga...

Bonus Sample: Bad News Berenson on Brand

13 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Twitter Files are the grift that keeps on giving. This week, Derek and Julian look at Alex Berenson's recent appearance on Russell Brand's Rumble ...

140: Surviving Larry (w/Daniel Levin & Zach Heinzerling)

09 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Today, Hulu releases a 3-episode doc series called “Stolen Youth,” directed by Zach Heinzerling. The pole star for this low-dopamine, low-cortiso...

Bonus Sample: What Are We Doing Here?

06 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Sure, a big question: one Derek explores in the context of this nearly three-year-old Conspirituality project. Criticism and awareness are essential t...

UNLOCKED: Leaving S-Factor (w/Jessica Hopper)

04 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Those who fly high, fall hard. Pole dance company S-Factor crashed and burned in 2021 amidst a stack of complaints. Detractors said the company was co...

139: Comedy in the MAGAverse (w/Jordan Klepper)

02 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Can you believe that Nancy Pelosi paid people to attack the Capitol on Jan 6 in order to make Republicans look bad? Actually, I mean, Jan 6 was the mo...