Conspirituality podcast

Conspirituality

Dismantling New Age cults, wellness grifters, and conspiracy-mad yogis. At best, the conspirituality movement attacks public health efforts in times of crisis. At worst, it fronts and recruits for the fever-dream of QAnon. As the alt-right and New Age horseshoe toward each other in a blur of disinformation, clear discourse, and good intentions get smothered. Charismatic influencers exploit their followers by co-opting conspiracy theories on a spectrum of intensity ranging from vaccines to child trafficking. In the process, spiritual beliefs that have nurtured creativity and meaning are transforming into memes of a quickly-globalizing paranoia. Conspirituality Podcast attempts to bring understanding to this landscape. A journalist, a cult researcher, and a philosophical skeptic discuss the stories, cognitive dissonances, and cultic dynamics tearing through the yoga, wellness, and new spirituality worlds. Mainstream outlets have noticed the problem. We crowd-source, research, analyze, and dream answers to it.

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.

 

#649

Bonus Sample: The Bethesda Declaration

In October 2020, three contrarian medical professionals published The Great Barrington Dec... more

16 Jun 2025

07 MINS

07:22

16 Jun 2025


#648

Brief: The Ghost Lab

Cable travel channels are filled with haunted houses and other paranormal activity, beyond... more

14 Jun 2025

40 MINS

40:18

14 Jun 2025


#647

261: Where Are They Now?

From 1999-2002, VH1 ran a show called “Where Are They Now?” The irregularly produced serie... more

12 Jun 2025

1 HR 05 MINS

1:05:22

12 Jun 2025


#646

Bonus Sample: Watching Andor with the Kids (Pt 2)

Matthew continues the Antifascist Woodshed series with a two-part analysis of an extraordi... more

09 Jun 2025

06 MINS

06:15

09 Jun 2025


#645

Brief: Watching Andor with the Kids (Pt 1)

Matthew continues the Antifascist Woodshed series with a two-part analysis of an extraordi... more

07 Jun 2025

39 MINS

39:07

07 Jun 2025


#644

260: Aubrey Marcus's Polyamory God Bomb

Megamillionaire supplements and New Age life coach tycoon Aubrey Marcus recently claimed t... more

05 Jun 2025

1 HR 14 MINS

1:14:13

05 Jun 2025


#643

Bonus Sample: Has Nonviolence Been Debunked?

[Support Conspirituality on Patreon] (https://www.patreon.com/c/conspirituality) . Does th... more

02 Jun 2025

05 MINS

05:36

02 Jun 2025


#642

Brief: The FDA Amateur Hour Podcast

Marty Makary and Vinay Prasad claim they're going to open the "black box" at the FDA, an a... more

31 May 2025

34 MINS

34:23

31 May 2025


#641

259: MAHA is Project 2025’s Trojan Horse

We’ve been talking about RFK Jr for years, and even dedicated an entire chapter to him in ... more

29 May 2025

1 HR 07 MINS

1:07:00

29 May 2025


#640

Bonus Sample: A Master Class in Wellness Propaganda

Calley Means is one of RFK Jr’s top advisors. Alongside Tucker Carlson, Means has claimed ... more

26 May 2025

07 MINS

07:04

26 May 2025


#639

Brief: The Gospel of MAHA Apologetics

After being confirmed as Secretary of HHS, RFK Jr started installing his cabal of wellness... more

24 May 2025

34 MINS

34:43

24 May 2025


#638

258: Pope Bob Vs. Trump World

The most annoying convert TradCath in the world, JD Vance, whose cherubic face belies all ... more

22 May 2025

1 HR 20 MINS

1:20:13

22 May 2025


#637

Bonus Sample: Beyond Violence and Nonviolence (Part 2)

Matthew is back today for more with Ben Case: profiling Gene Sharp and the (non)politics o... more

19 May 2025

06 MINS

06:07

19 May 2025


#636

Brief: Beyond Violence and Nonviolence (Part 1)

You may have grown up with the term “nonviolence” shining like a pole star over every disc... more

17 May 2025

47 MINS

47:48

17 May 2025


#635

257: AI Gurus

The chat bot flashes its elipsis at the bottom of the screen. What is it thinking, what do... more

15 May 2025

1 HR 14 MINS

1:14:31

15 May 2025


#634

Bonus Sample: The UFO Race-War Apocalypse is Coming!

It begins with a failed human sacrifice in Detroit in 1932. Some would say it actually sta... more

12 May 2025

05 MINS

05:42

12 May 2025


#633

Brief: What Will Universal Healthcare Actually Require?

In 2022, Oregonians passed Measure 111, which amends the state constitution to declare acc... more

10 May 2025

33 MINS

33:10

10 May 2025


#632

256: Quacks, Cancer, and Kangen Water (feat Mallory DeMille)

Cancer, as physician and author Siddhartha Mukherjee writes, is the emperor of all maladie... more

08 May 2025

1 HR 03 MINS

1:03:20

08 May 2025


#631

Bonus Sample: How Did Gen X Go MAGA?

Gen X went from leaning slightly right in 2016 to become, as one analysis puts it, “the be... more

05 May 2025

06 MINS

06:55

05 May 2025


#630

Brief: The New Media Order

The White House Correspondents’ Dinner was a little different this year. No president. No ... more

03 May 2025

27 MINS

27:54

03 May 2025


#629

255: A MAHA Wellness Scam at Ontario Place

Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative government in Ontario has leased the public space of ... more

01 May 2025

1 HR 05 MINS

1:05:16

01 May 2025


#628

Bonus Sample: How To Talk To Your Son About Fascism (Pt 2)

Part 2 of Matthew’s conversation with historian Craig Johnson (PhD Berkeley), who hosts Fi... more

28 Apr 2025

07 MINS

07:47

28 Apr 2025


#627

Brief: How To Talk To Your Son About Fascism (Pt 1)

Historian Craig Johnson (PhD Berkeley) hosts Fifteen Minutes of Fascism, which covers the ... more

26 Apr 2025

46 MINS

46:32

26 Apr 2025


#626

254: The Great MAHA Purity War of 2025

Someone’s got dirt on RFK Jr. MAHA voters went MAGA because Bobby said he was going to end... more

24 Apr 2025

1 HR 19 MINS

1:19:46

24 Apr 2025


#625

Bonus Sample: God is a Cloned Alien Love-Machine!

When the aliens landed, they told a young musician and wannabe race car driver that he was... more

21 Apr 2025

06 MINS

06:01

21 Apr 2025


#624

Brief: The Cult of Crossfit

When cultural and psychological anthropologist Katie Rose Hejtmanek set out to study Cross... more

19 Apr 2025

36 MINS

36:19

19 Apr 2025


#623

253: The Politics of Abundance

"In order to have the future we want, we have to build and invent more of the things we ne... more

17 Apr 2025

59 MINS

59:08

17 Apr 2025


#622

Bonus Sample: We Already Know What September Will Bring

It's been quite the week at HHS with Robert F Kennedy Jr in charge. Derek considers what's... more

14 Apr 2025

06 MINS

06:06

14 Apr 2025


#621

Brief: Karma & Christ at the NIH

Jay Bhattacharya, Covid contrarian and co-author of the Great Barrington Declaration, is n... more

12 Apr 2025

38 MINS

38:21

12 Apr 2025