Conspirituality cover art

Conspirituality

Conspirituality

By: Derek Beres Matthew Remski Julian Walker
Listen for free

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.© 2023 Conspirituality Philosophy Science Social Sciences
Episodes
  • 319: Climate Conspirituality

    319: Climate Conspirituality
    Jul 30 2026
    Support the podcast and keep independent media alive Climate reality keeps colliding with denial, erasure, and rebranding — across media, politics, and religion. Temu conspiritualists weave melted stories about the origins of wildfires, while the high-class guys run meditation-and-regenerative-farming spectacle backed by Exxon money. Julian’s on that angle. Derek will be telling us about how climate journalism is collapsing faster than the climate itself with mass environment reporting layoffs at NPR, CBS, the Washington Post, and the LA Times. Trump gutted the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. EPA webpages have been scrubbed of human-caused warming language. Are religious institutions doing any better? In 2015, five world religions — Jewish, Catholic, Islamic, Hindu, and Buddhist — independently issued climate statements ahead of the Paris COP21 talks. Matthew looks at how they struggled to challenge the global economies they depend on. Show Notes What Is Happening to Climate Journalism? Where Climate Coverage Goes to Die How will NPR layoffs affect climate stories? CBS axed its last climate reporting pillar How do you report on the weather when data is disappearing? NOAA stops tracking cost of extreme weather and climate disasters NOAA monthly media calls on climate change suspended EPA websites now downplay link between humans and climate change A Rabbinic Letter on the Climate Crisis Rabbis Against Climate Change "Laudato Si'": Encyclical Letter on Care for Our Common Home Islamic Declaration on Global Climate Change Hindu Declaration on Climate Change The Time to Act is Now: A Buddhist Declaration on Climate Change "Laudate Deum": Apostolic Exhortation to All People of Good Will on the Climate Crisis Al-Mizan: A Covenant for the Earth (full text PDF) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 17 mins
  • Bonus Sample: Reality, Monsters & Brain Glitches

    Bonus Sample: Reality, Monsters & Brain Glitches
    Jul 27 2026
    Listen to the full episode What do films like Dracula, The Truman Show, The Matrix, Invasion of the Body-Snatchers, Being John Malkovich, and Night of the Living Dead all have in common? Science fiction and horror bend our everyday experiences and beliefs around mind and body, sensory perception, identity, and reality itself. But it turns out that many fictional tropes (zombies, vampires, cloned imposters, reality-simultations, and shapeshifters) may be rooted in rare brain disorders. These conditions, often caused by injury or disease, can make people prone to becoming convinced that their loved ones are imposters, the same person (in elaborate and convincing disguises) is following them everywhere, their surroundings are an artificial duplicate of a real place, or even that they themselves are already dead. Once our perceptions are sufficiently distorted, our minds invent explanations that confound reality. Might these overlap with supernatural and conspiratorial beliefs? Julian blends storytelling, cultural references, and observations from psychiatry and neurology to take you on a fascinating journey. You’ll learn about: A woman in a 1903 Prague clinic who patiently explained to staff that the clinic was a perfect replica—not the real clinic itself A man in 1970’s Sacramento who believed he was a real-life zombie and went on to commit a series of grisly crimes A woman in 1920’s London who believed that two famous French actresses were following her everywhere in hyper-realistic disguises—and controlling her mind One man in LA and another in Utah that tragically killed their own family members because they believed they were imposters These cases drive to the core of how humans experience self, relationships, and the structure of reality. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
    Show More Show Less
    9 mins
  • Brief: The Chiropractors Are Coming

    Brief: The Chiropractors Are Coming
    Jul 25 2026
    Support the podcast The MAHA Chiropractic Hub had a big launch in Washington DC this week, with RFK Jr extolling the benefits of the practice—and promising to redirect research funds their way as his movement attempts to spread chiropractic throughout the American healthcare system. But can back cracks really "reset the entire nervous system," as one MAHA-endorsed speaker claims? Or is the profession just dressing up subluxation theory, which has never been clinically validated, for the modern age? Derek and Julian discuss the four objectives of the Chiropractic Hub, what this could mean for American healthcare, and how Kennedy is likely helping funnel money earmarked for actual scientific research into this ghost religion. They begin with a brief history of chiropractic. Show Notes Subluxation Theory: A Belief System That Continues to Define the Practice of Chiropractic Chiropractic Vertebral Subluxations: Science vs. Pseudoscience Subluxation: dogma or science? Chiropractic subluxation is still "unsupported speculation" Chiropractic: A Skeptical View Effect of chiropractic treatment on primary or early secondary prevention: a systematic review This is how science dies Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
    Show More Show Less
    35 mins
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1
No reviews yet
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.