Conspirituality

Derek Beres, Matthew Remski, Julian Walker

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. read less

Our Editor's Take

The Conspirituality podcast has an interesting theme. Hosts Derek Beres, Matthew Remski, and Julian Walker examine conspiracies. They talk about how new-age wellness movements become harmful and misleading. These movements come from religious organizations and supposed health products. Wellness and spirituality seem helpful for anyone wanting to live a healthier life. The allure of solutions for mental and physical health may be an illusion, though.

The Conspirituality podcast hosts discuss the intersection of conspiracy and spiritualism. The modern "conspirituality" movement arose from a combination of right- and left-wing beliefs. The right saw conspiracies everywhere. Those on the left sought spiritual solutions. The movement has led to many unsubstantiated claims. Con artists sell the healing power of reiki, supplements, and yoga. Yet the remedies often have no proven benefits.

Many of the practices discussed on the podcast do have health benefits. But the belief in overblown results is cult-like. Conspirituality explores the danger of unwavering trust in wellness. Listeners get to hear about the cultic practices of deluded groups. Fans of the show enjoy how the hosts challenge conspiracies believed by many.

Misinformation is all over the internet. This show offers insights into the truth. Rather than attacking what they dislike, the hosts research topics. They then present them with an unbiased tone. The show is a thoughtful place to discuss harmful yet widespread beliefs.

To help dismantle conspiracies, the podcast features expert guests. The hosts interview scholars and academics. The academic perspective allows the show to stay factual. Conspirituality views topics through the lens of skeptical journalism. The podcast covers a variety of cult-like followings. The hosts also discuss real cults like Scientology.

Listeners ready to challenge their beliefs may enjoy this show. Conspirituality has critical discussions of everyday conspiracies. The hosts have an understandable approach to topics and prepare with extensive research.

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Religion & SpiritualityReligion & Spirituality

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Bonus Sample: Long Haul Stories: Matthew Stillman

Bonus Sample: Long Haul Stories: Matthew Stillman

Following up on our Long COVID episode with Tara Haelle, Matthew will be expanding the Listener Stories portfolio with stories from listeners about navigating Long COVID. Why? Because there’s nothing like a mysterious disease, denied by some, stigmatized by others, and politicized by multiple interests, that will bring a person closer to the appeal of alt-med conspirituality. Matthew Stillman is our guest today. Author, documentary filmmaker, and lifelong New Yorker, Stillman grew up in an eccentric family of spiritualism and alternative medicine, but which also fostered a healthy respect for evidence-based medicine. So what happens when experts at Mt. Sinai Center for Post-COVID care reach the end of their capacity to help him with not one but two strains of Long COVID? Red light therapy! Chinese herbs! And a bracing contemplation of what it means to explore the tension between hope and knowledge. Show Notes Matthew Stillman The major genetic risk factor for severe COVID-19 is inherited from Neanderthals | Nature How Genes from Neanderthals Predispose People to Severe COVID-19 | The Scientist Magazine Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episodes

Bonus Sample: Long Haul Stories: Matthew Stillman

Bonus Sample: Long Haul Stories: Matthew Stillman

Following up on our Long COVID episode with Tara Haelle, Matthew will be expanding the Listener Stories portfolio with stories from listeners about navigating Long COVID. Why? Because there’s nothing like a mysterious disease, denied by some, stigmatized by others, and politicized by multiple interests, that will bring a person closer to the appeal of alt-med conspirituality. Matthew Stillman is our guest today. Author, documentary filmmaker, and lifelong New Yorker, Stillman grew up in an eccentric family of spiritualism and alternative medicine, but which also fostered a healthy respect for evidence-based medicine. So what happens when experts at Mt. Sinai Center for Post-COVID care reach the end of their capacity to help him with not one but two strains of Long COVID? Red light therapy! Chinese herbs! And a bracing contemplation of what it means to explore the tension between hope and knowledge. Show Notes Matthew Stillman The major genetic risk factor for severe COVID-19 is inherited from Neanderthals | Nature How Genes from Neanderthals Predispose People to Severe COVID-19 | The Scientist Magazine Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

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

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 History of the Gay Right. Young’s riveting storytelling shows how, beginning in the aftermath of WWII, many American gay men—born into socially conservative and religious families from which they had struggled to individuate—hitched the wagon of their political hopes to a Republican party they believed would champion their privacy and individual civil rights. Ground zero for their fiercely libertarian clubs and action committees was San Francisco, where a culture of rugged entrepreneurship fostered the slogan “Keep the government out of our bedrooms, and out of our wallets.” It was an individualist politics that looked to Civil Rights and women’s rights movements for inspiration, but not allyship. In time that same GOP would lead a culture war against everything queer—paradoxically led by closeted gay politicians who, with deeply conflicted motives, legislated against their fellows. But even as the tide turned, many gay Republicans kept their shoulders to the unforgiving wheel of respectability politics. Young illuminates the flashes of bravery and self-reliance in these men’s stories, but also shows what happens when a marginalized group seeks acceptance and political power—instead of liberation—within a culture built on exclusion. Neil writes for WaPo, the Atlantic, CNN, the Los Angeles Times, Vox, Politico, Slate, and the New York Times. Show Notes Coming Out Republican: A History of the Gay Right, Young Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

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

When Moms For Liberty attacks libraries with demands to ban books about MLK Jr and age-appropriate sex education, and claims that librarians are grooming their children into the trans agenda, they’re enacting the worst forms of neo-fascist bullying. But they’re also paradoxically defending a troubled American legacy against a librarian culture attempting to course-correct towards greater inclusion. To discuss this problem, Matthew talks to Heath Umbreit, a reference librarian who works at a public library in the northeastern U.S. Mis- and disinformation has been a professional and personal interest of theirs for several years; Heath's study of the phenomenon focuses on a critical examination of popular narratives about disinformation, the concept of epistemic supremacy, and the ways in which information and disinformation intersect with systemic power differentials in American society. Show Notes Derek gives the Keynote Address at the 2023 Oregon Library Association's Annual Conference Library Bill of Rights | Advocacy, Legislation & Issues Students, authors fight censorship in PA schools Kuo & Marwick, "Critical Disinformation Studies" Morales & Williams, "Moving Toward Transformative Librarianship: Naming and Identifying Epistemic Supremacy" danah boyd, "You Think You Want Media Literacy... Do You?" PEN America, 2023 Banned Books Update: Banned in the USA Kelly Jensen, Trauma, Book Bans, and Libraries: A Resource Guide for Library Workers, Library Supporters, and Beyond Kristen Browde, Who's Making News for Sex Crimes Involving Children? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bonus Sample: Project 2025's Disdain for Public Education

Bonus Sample: Project 2025's Disdain for Public Education

Project 2025 is the libertarian conservative Heritage Foundation’s systematic governance plan for the next Republican president. The 920-page plan aims to implement the "unitary executive theory," which would give all of the power of the US government to the executive branch—Donald Trump, if he wins in November. Derek and Julian read the chapter on the Department of Education, which focuses on unlocking public funds for Christian schools while banning any discussion on DEI, CRT, or gender theory. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brief: The High Cost of Wellness

Brief: The High Cost of Wellness

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 certainly true, Derek and Julian discuss why a lot of products and services in wellness land is really just another form of extractive capitalism. Head to factormeals.com/conspirituality50 and use code conspirituality50 to get 50% off your first month plus 20% off your next month! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

200: Rogan-Rufo Reality Check

200: Rogan-Rufo Reality Check

This week we take stock of the full entrenchment of the Mirror World, where conspirituality influencers bask in the rays of confident delusion. After a little stage-setting on the heterodox mediasphere, we open with a snapshot of conspirituality Valhalla as we listen in on Joe Rogan and Chris Rufo talking about unhoused people as though they are children who haven’t been given good boundaries. Then we’ll look at four instances in which the spectacle brokers meet reality. What happens when Chaya Raichik gets bodied by Taylor Lorenz? What happens when the Moms for Liberty have to explain themselves on 60 minutes? What happens when Destiny rejects Jordan Peterson’s bullshit? And what happens when the mack daddy of it all, Alex Jones, gets confronted by Sandy Hook parents, face to face? Does reality break through? Head to factormeals.com/conspirituality50 and use code conspirituality50 to get 50% off your first month plus 20% off your next month! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

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

Project 2025 is the libertarian conservative Heritage Foundation’s systematic governance plan for the next Republican president. The 920-page plan aims to implement the "unitary executive theory," which would give all of the power of the US government to the executive branch—Donald Trump, if he wins in November. This week, Derek and Julian investigate the chapter on the Department of Agriculture, which aims to strip funding for food stamps and welfare programs and further deregulate Big Ag. And if you think the author is part of a climate change denial think tank, you'd be correct. Head to factormeals.com/conspirituality50 and use code conspirituality50 to get 50% off your first month plus 20% off your next month! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brief: Woman, Life, Freedom (w/Negin Shiraghaei)

Brief: Woman, Life, Freedom (w/Negin Shiraghaei)

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 movement. Jina’s crime was wearing an “improper” headscarf in public. The slogan, “Woman, Life, Freedom,” which first emerged in the fight for Kurdish equality, was used by thousands of brave, defiant women in Iran (along with male supporters), who called for an end to oppression, discrimination, tyranny, and dictatorship. Eighteen months later, the Iranian government has increased video surveillance and morality police patrols, imposed even harsher penalties for female disobedience, and leaned even further into brutal torture methods and daily executions. Meanwhile, Ali Khamenei’s administration floods the population with propaganda and conspiracy theories. Julian talks to Iranian human rights activist and former BBC World Service reporter, Negin Shiraghaei, about the Woman, Life, Freedom movement, which she says remains active and unstoppable. Show Notes Iran one year after Woman, Life, Freedom Iran: Alarming Surge in Executions Khamenei Refuses US Help, Citing COVID Conspiracy Theory Iran’s Supreme Leader Calls Gender Equality a Zionist Plot Iranian Singer Sentenced to 3 years in Jail for Mahsa Amini Protest Anthem Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brief: Yes, Huberman’s Behavior Matters

Brief: Yes, Huberman’s Behavior Matters

In response to Kerry Howley’s meticulous reporting on the deceptions of Andrew Huberman in New York Magazine, Huberstans around the world are braying that the man’s private life has nothing to do with his virtue as a science communicator. Not so, we argue in this brief. Deception in one mirrors deception in the other, and there is no private life for the influencer who wants to influence your private life. Beyond shilling for Athletic Greens and saying that sunscreen winds up in your brain, Huberman opines on relationships, sex, and addiction issues as if he is an expert—instead of (an alleged) hot mess. Pseudoscience and pseudotherapy are parallel harms—both using manipulative jargon to convince consumers or women respectively that the influencer is well-researched and using best practices to be of service. So we advise all Huberstans to view their hero… holistically. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

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

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 crisis, used fetal remains as political props, and helped wage a covert war of moneyed influence over federal officials to end abortion access. Now, in a return to his deeper religious commitments, he is repenting his past. In an interview with Matthew, he discusses his blissful conversion experience as a teenager rooted in what he believed was a radical social justice movement. And he describes what he now sees: an anti-abortion movement helping to galvanize the Christian Nationalism poised to wreak havoc on American politics, and what we can do to push back against its aggression. Show Notes Fresh Air for July 11, 2018: An Evangelical Minister's Change Of Heart On Abortion Former Anti-Abortion Leader Alleges Another Supreme Court Breach Former Anti-Abortion Lobbyist Rev Robert Schenck Statement on "Operation Higher Court" Robert "Rob" L. Schenck About - Truth Revealed — Rob Schenck’s blog Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

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

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 conspirituality anxiety and discourse. There are two types of imaginary child in conspirituality. One is an object of dread. The other is an idol of aspiration. In the realm of dread we have fetuses murdered by late term abortion, children who are trafficked, made autistic by vaccines, sexualized by pornography in elementary school, or mutilated by trans activist doctors. In the realm of idols we have newborn babies sliding like dolphins into warm birthing tubs after a mere hour of ecstatic, medically-unassisted home births. We have little girls in prairie dresses or first communion veils who must be protected from library drag queens or woke grade school teachers. We have starseeds and indigo children who carry prophecies from the great beyond. We often reflect on the problem of authority on this podcast. Who are our leaders, and what gives them power? Why do conspiracists default to God to corroborate fantasies? What gap in cultural fatherhood is Jordan Peterson trying to fill? With this series, Matthew looks in the other direction: what does the conspirituality crowd do with its own authority? How do misgivings, regrets and shame in relation to children get inflated and projected into moral panics? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brief: Unmasking Jay Shetty (w/John McDermott)

Brief: Unmasking Jay Shetty (w/John McDermott)

Former monk turned spiritual influencer to the stars, Jay Shetty, has amassed 15 million followers on Instagram. He’s interviewed Michelle Obama, Kim Kardashian, and Kobe Bryant on his popular podcast. Shetty has received accolades from Gwenyth Paltrow and Ellen Degeneres. He even officiated J Lo and Ben Affleck’s wedding. Yet when LA-based writer John McDermott was assigned to cover Shetty for Esquire, something seemed…off. When he started pulling at some threads, Esquire pulled out of the feature. Fortunately, The Guardian agreed to publish McDermott’s investigative reporting, in which he found little of Shetty’s origin story holds up to scrutiny. John joins Derek and Matthew to discuss. Show Notes Uncovering the higher truth of Jay Shetty ‘Very few have balls’: How American news lost its nerve Jay Shetty Is Full Of SH*T! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

198: Holy Food (w/Christina Ward)

198: Holy Food (w/Christina Ward)

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 American History by independent food historian, Christina Ward. Ward’s survey of American religious groups and cults through the foods they grow, source, and prepare leads into an in-depth discussion about cults and high-demand groups that use food, and food restrictions, as a method for control. That’s not all she tells Derek—they also discuss the ritual of sharing a meal. Matthew and Julian offer their own reflections on food in high-demand settings before Christina joins to discuss her excellent book. Show Notes Holy Food Christina Ward Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bonus Sample: Ketamine Soul Mates

Bonus Sample: Ketamine Soul Mates

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 the nineties that intersects with the work of prolific scientist, inventor, and psychonaut, John C. Lilly. The belief that we can contact extraterrestrial civilizations, which are waiting to usher humanity into a golden age of light and love, is now a hugely profitable and popular commodity. Apparently these extraterrestrials also want to help us vanquish the forces of Deep State darkness. This is evidenced by the QAnon-and-alien-disclosure-style of programming on Gaia’s spiritual subscription platform (which brings in roughly $80 million annually). Yet: Gaia is currently embroiled in a legal battle with a former host who claims that his stories about secret space programs and eight-foot tall “blue avian” aliens are actually part of his trademarked creative IP. When it comes down to dollars, he admits it’s all make-believe. Has he really ever dropped acid in a flotation tank though?! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

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

Masculinity, in all its wounded and preening anxiety, is the perennial currency of American populism. America’s foremost public historian on fitness and education, Natalia Petrzela, returns to the pod to discuss her recent study, with Ilyse Hogue, of the appeal RFK Jr. has with young men, and what progressives can learn from it. Show Notes Bio – Natalia Petrzela RFK Jr. has a distinct appeal when it comes to young male voters — Petrzela and Hogue Robert F. Kennedy Jr | "My Plan To Heal Addiction" | News Nation Prior coverage of RFK Jr. Brief: RFK Jr Flirts with Body Fascism (w/Natalia Petrzela) — Conspirituality 164: The Two Faces of Robert Francis Kennedy Jr. — Conspirituality Brief: The New Age Origin Story of RFK Jr’s Campaign — Conspirituality Brief: RFK Jr’s New Director of Propaganda — Conspirituality Special Report: RFK Jr.’s Independence Day — Conspirituality Brief: RFK's Health Propaganda Roundtable — Conspirituality Brief: RFK Jr., The Anti-Vax Candidate — Conspirituality Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

197: Psychic Surgery (feat Brad Abrahams)

197: Psychic Surgery (feat Brad Abrahams)

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 blood shoots out from between his fingers. After a few more finger wiggles, he appears to pull several bloody cocktail shrimp out of an invisible incision. The patient is healed. Of something. Welcome to “psychic surgery.” Documentarian of the uncanny, Brad Abrahams, takes our correspondent seat this week to explain how Shirley MacLaine, Burt Lancaster, Andy Kaufman, Charlie Mingus, and tens of thousands of Americans got drawn into the morbid healing craze that kicked off in the 1970s, and which may have seen its last hurrah with the imprisonment of Brazil’s John of God. Centuries of colonization in Brazil and the Philippines, Brad explains, made conventional medical care basically unavailable for anyone poor or outside of major cities. This left a void for traditional and alternative healing to fill as the only real options, as well as provide a connection to a cultural identity that had been systematically repressed. And of course, charlatans rode the wave. Brad brings his characteristic curiosity, empathy, and cultural competence, holding the door open for us to imagine why this abject form of medical and spiritual fraud speaks so deeply to so many. Show Notes Brad Abrahams Love And Saucers — Brad Abrahams Do you see what I see? | Short Doc about Controversial Conspiracy Theorist Artist David Dees — Brad Abrahams 72: John of Fraud (w/Lisa Braun Dubbels & Mirna Wabi-Sabi) — Conspirituality Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

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

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 don’t like? Multiple encounters? If you disagree with someone on one point, do you write them off entirely, or can you consider other points of agreement? What if your initial encounter with a thinker is disagreeable? What if you really like someone and then find them increasingly disagreeable over time? Have they really changed that much? Or have you? And would you know it if you did? Derek meditates on these questions while working through his own process of consideration. Most importantly, he lands on one certainty: racists, bigots, transphobes, and misogynists need to be stamped out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

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 redundant. All the conspiracy theories, outrage farming, and dietary supplements seem boring; your manic salesmanship starts to feel hollow. Maybe you’re also wondering about whether you’ve sold your soul, or who you may have hurt along the way. What will you turn to? Who will help you? What will your ultimate piece of content be? From time out of mind, there’s only ever been one answer: GOD. Russell Brand, Joe Rogan, and Andrew Huberman have all recently made such confessions of faith. Derek and Matthew discuss. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

196: Julian Goes to the New Age Expo!

196: Julian Goes to the New Age Expo!

For 22 years, astrologers, channelers, and UFO enthusiasts have run booths next to crystal healers, purveyors of esoteric books and pseudoscience products, and paranormal enthusiasts at Los Angeles’s Airport Hilton. More recently, this event—the Conscious Life Expo—has increasingly featured speakers spouting red-pilled conspiracy theories about COVID, vaccines, and the Satanic alien reptilian cabal coming for your children. To get an insider’s view, Julian donned his gray baseball camp and grabbed his recorder to do his own research on the latest iteration of conference room conspirituality. Show Notes Introduction to CymaTones cymatic sound therapy Activate your Pineal Gland: An introduction to your third eye and exercises to awaken the higher mind: Ruehlig, Bianca Shawn Buckley, Trucker Lawyer Ottawa's use of Emergencies Act against convoy protests was unreasonable, violated Charter, court rules Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bonus Sample: “There Are Worse Things Than Dying”

Bonus Sample: “There Are Worse Things Than Dying”

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 what he could to minimize and bypass, carries a lot of American spiritual—or maybe pseudospiritual—baggage. Digging into what he means and what his demographic hears when he says “There are worse things than dying,” can tell us a lot about the status of Death, Grief and Belief in the American psyche—and even global capitalism—in this volatile time. This episode is a recording of a talk Matthew gave at the 2024 Symposium on Death and Bereavement Studies in January, organized online by Terri Daniel of Portland, OR. Show Notes 2024 Symposium - Death, Grief, and Belief Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices