Speaking of Cults

This week I welcome author Sara Carson to discuss her recently published fiction story Dark Messiah, a tale based on the real-life tragedy of the Jonestown massacre at the order of cult leader Jim Jones. Sara and I have a far ranging discussion about the power of fiction, cult dynamics and Jonestown itself. Her book is now out for you to buy as well.

Sara's website: https://sarazcarsonauthor.com

Dark Messiah on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GVZMLYCR

This week I welcome film maker and cult survivor Grace Sims to discuss a recent project of hers and some of her experiences growing up in a high control group. Enjoy!

Grace's website: https://gracesims.com

This week I welcome therapist and author Veronica Thompson, a self-labelled "Christian therapist" who shares her work and opinions about where religion does and doesn't belong in the therapy space. I know people have strong opinions about this and I believe we had a very nuanced and understandable conversation about it. Enjoy!

Veronica's website: https://VeronicaThompson.com

This week I welcome therapist, author and narcissist specialist Dr. Tina Paone to discuss the psychology of narcissism and recovery from it. She is the author of a recently released book on recovery from narcissistic abuse titled Unbroken: Healing from Narcissistic Abuse and Reclaiming Me. Enjoy!

Dr. Paone's website: https://drtinapaone.com

Dr. Paone's book: https://www.amazon.com/Unbroken-Healing-Narcissistic-Abuse-Reclaiming-ebook/dp/B0GRPNKDS6?ref_=ast_author_mpb

Today I welcome back Jon Atack to continue our series of podcasts to debunk the "basics" of Scientology, one bit at a time. This week we didn't make a lot of progress in our book review as we kept it short and mainly addressed Hubbard and his very outmoded ideas about the human brain. Enjoy!

Roehampton University in London is conducting a survey into the effects of mandated shunning—or enforced
disconnection—with the aim of introducing new legal provisions to the UK's existing coercive control law. This
important study will help shift public opinion, offe...

Sorry for the delay in getting this posted this week. In this week's special live podcast episode, I am exploring where we derive meaning and order and morality, which are not ivory tower concepts relegated to an academic education but are in fact, the stuff of our daily lives. Enjoy and let me know what you think. 

This week I welcome Anne Peterson back to have a very loose discussion around the things that all cults do or the beliefs/ideas that seem to echo from one to the other. This being our first time on this topic, we cover a lot of diverse ideas rather than have a bullet list of things to discuss, but I hope you find this as fun as we had doing it. Enjoy!

Anne's channel:  @ConfrontingTheLine 

The workshop page: https://ilumn8.life/op/reclaiming-your-mind-and-life-chris-shelton/

This week I welcome back Bryce Blankenangel and Shannon Grover to help me understand what happens when people want to leave the faith of the LDS Church in terms of repercussions both personally and/or professionally. As always, we go wide on this topic and hope it brings some more clarity to why cults like the Mormon Church act the way they do. Enjoy!

Glassbox podcast: https://glassboxpodcast.com

Today I welcome back Jon Atack to continue our series of podcasts to debunk the "basics" of Scientology, one bit at a time. This week we are taking on some of the very basic ideas of Scientology with theta and the simpleton approach of Scientology's philosophic foundations. This is a wide-ranging and hopefully interesting discussion where we pull no punches on how we see Scientology. Enjoy!

This week I welcome NY Times bestselling author and investigative journalist Michael Blanding to discuss his new book, The Gospel According to Hobby Lobby, a surprising and even shocking expose of the hidden agenda behind Hobby Lobby and its owners, the Green family. When religious fanaticism is rewarded with hundreds of millions of dollars in liquid cash, what happens to our rights, laws and freedoms? Hobby Lobby is a lot more than a chain of craft stores and what your money is being used for when you contribute to this religiously fanatical organization harms all of us.

...

This week I welcome Anna Clark Miller, LMC, a licensed therapist who specializes in religious trauma syndrome and also has her own background of an abusive religious upbringing. Yet Anna hasn't let her own experience bias her views on religion or how she does her treatment and in this podcast we frankly discuss the difficulties on both sides of the therapy relationship when religious abuse is part of the picture. I hope this is as educational and informative for you as it was for me. Enjoy!

Anna's website: https://empathyparadigm.com

This week I welcome back Bryce Blankenangel and Shannon Grover to help me understand first the financial rapaciousness of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, an organization that clearly values money over morality or good works. In explaining why this is, Bryce and Shannon break down the violent origin story of the Mormon "faith" and how Joseph Smith went from one calamity to another as he conned people over and over again, committed criminal acts against children and had more than a few "enemies" outright killed. This is not a history anything like the sanitized, whitewashed nonsense...

This week I welcome Lindsey Hartzel, who is sharing her experience growing up in a family connected heavily with Landmark Worldwide (formerly Landmark Education) and the large group awareness training format of human transformation. This was not a positive or helpful experience for her as a child and young adult and we cover exactly why from her perspective. Landmark comes from Est, which was taken directly from Scientology so there's a lot of compare and contrast in this episode too. Enjoy!

This week I welcome therapist, author and narcissist specialist Dr. Tina Paone to discuss the psychology of narcissism and adjacent topics. She is the author of a recently released book on recovery from narcissistic abuse titled Unbroken: Healing from Narcissistic Abuse and Reclaiming Me. We cover a lot of territory. Enjoy!

Dr. Paone's website: https://drtinapaone.com

Dr. Paone's book: https://www.amazon.com/Unbroken-Healing-Narcissistic-Abuse-Reclaiming-ebook/dp/B0GRPNKDS6?ref_=ast_author_mpb

Today I welcome back Jon Atack to continue our series of podcasts to debunk the "basics" of Scientology, one bit at a time. This week we are taking on self-determinism, pan-determinism and "games" theory in Scientology. This is a wide-ranging and hopefully interesting discussion where we pull no punches on how we see Scientology. Enjoy!

This week I welcome former Scientologist and Sea Org member Mat Pesch, someone who joined up in the 1970s, was early friends with Marty Rathbun and had decades of experience in Scientology at its highest levels. This is the first of a series of interviews with Mat to discuss not only his own time in Scientology but also the flavor of the subject and the times in which it has existed. In this episode, we cover Miscavige's early days and how he rose to power, who Marty Rathbun was and how he got involved and what things were like...

This week I welcome back former Scientologist Natalia Hirsch, originally from Ecuador but who had a wide-ranging life and Scientology experience she is sharing with us. In today's final episode, we cover her experience in WISE and at the Delphi School in Oregon, both Scientology front group operations which are just satellites of Scientology churches. Natalie's story has been fun to feature and I hope you enjoy this one.

Join me for my book workshop starting this month! https://ilumn8.life/op/reclaiming-your-mind-and-life-chris-shelton/

This week I welcome back former Scientologist Natalia Hirsch, originally from Ecuador but who had a wide-ranging life and Scientology experience she is sharing with us. In today's show we cover what life and belief is like for Scientologists who are broke or in the lower bands of the socioeconomic ladder. This level of cult membership is a whole different thing from what the rich Scientologists experience.

This week I welcome Ru Marshall, author of the new book American Trickster which is on sale now, about the infamous 1970s cult guru Carlos Castaneda, a man who is still fooling professional academics at major universities with his schtick about Native American spiritualism. This was a sexual predator who gained an outsized amount of influence despite not ever really showing up in public. Ru Marshall breaks it all down for us. Enjoy!

Ru Marshall's website: rmarshallstudio.com

American Trickster book: https://orbooks.com/catalog/american-trickster/

This week I welcome Carol Merchasin, the Board President of the International Cultic Studies Association and also known as the "Cult Assassin" for her legal work against cultic enterprises in successfully suing them for ex-members. We have a frank discussion about the difficulties of taking on cults legally but why it is so important and necessary to do so. Enjoy!

ICSA: https://internationalculticstudies.org/

Carol's email: Carol (at) Merchasinlaw.com

This week I welcome back former Scientologists and musician Geoff Levin to discuss the Art Series and L. Ron Hubbard from a different perspective, that of an artist. There's a lot to say and some interesting analysis which comes out of this. Enjoy!

Geoff's website: https://geofflevin.com

This week I welcome back former Scientologist Natalia Hirsch, originally from Ecuador but who had a wide-ranging life and Scientology experience she is sharing with us. In today's show we cover a lot more about WISE, her time as a Golden Age of Tech trainee at Flag and what happened when she became a poor Scientologist in Clearwater along with her family. It takes a heartbreaking twist.

Today I welcome back Jon Atack to continue our series of podcasts to debunk the "basics" of Scientology, one bit at a time. This is a wide-ranging and hopefully interesting discussion where we pull no punches on how we see Scientology. Enjoy!

My new book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GWJ2VXWV

The workshop page: https://ilumn8.life/op/reclaiming-your-mind-and-life-chris-shelton/

Jon's channel:  ⁨@jonatackfamilyfriends6176⁩ 

This week I welcome former Scientologist Natalia Hirsch, originally from Ecuador but who had a wide-ranging life and Scientology experience she is sharing with us starting in today's first part. We cover her beginnings in the mission of Ecuador and run-ins with "higher level" Scientology in Venezuela and with WISE. More to come - enjoy!

This week I welcome back former Scientologists and musician Geoff Levin to discuss a period of time in Scientology when L. Ron Hubbard was fascinated with and was producing music for PR purposes back in 1974. Geoff has an on-the-ground perspective of Hubbard and the Sea Org at that time which I think you'll find very interesting and entertaining too. Enjoy! G

eoff's website: https://geofflevin.com

Today I am sharing some recent observations and learning on the subject of narcissism - a timely topic given our current world situation - and relate observations of political philosopher  @VladVexler  to cult leaders and why things are always so madhouse insane around them. Enjoy!

Today I welcome back author and cult survivor Tia Levings, who discuses her upcoming book "I Belong to Me" about her recovery journey and advice for anyone on the same path. Enjoy!

Tia's website: https://tialevings.com

Today I welcome Melissa Duge Spiers, author of the new book Holy Disobedience, which is her story of being raised in and dealing with the religious abuse of the 7th Day Adventist cult. We discuss how this group was founded by a literal insane person and how the values of 1850 have NOT translated well to today's world, or to how to raise children in it. Her new book will be releasing in just a few days. I hope you check it out.

Melissa on social media: @TheGloryWhole

Today I welcome back musician and artist Geoff Levin, former Scientologist, who has produced a new feature-length documentary, Brothers Broken, telling his story of Scientology abuse and disconnection, and the happy ending he got after escaping the cult. The movie itself is releasing in the next week or so. Enjoy!

Geoff Levin website: http://geofflevin.com

Today I welcome back Jon Atack for a new series of podcasts we'll be doing to debunk the "basics" of Scientology, one bit at a time. This is a wide-ranging and hopefully interesting discussion where we pull no punches on how we see Scientology. Enjoy!

Today I welcome Phil Jones, the Executive Director of the Aftermath Foundation, to discuss its purpose, activities and an upcoming fundraiser being held here in Denver on March 11th. Enjoy!

The Michael J Rinder Aftermath Foundation: https://theaftermathfoundation.org

Today I welcome back Zach Elwood to discuss body language and how it really works to "read" someone, understand their tells and how to accurately predict what they are going to do. It's a bit more complicated than you may have been told. All of this, of course, directly relates to how predators and cult leaders read their followers and use what they know against them.

Zach's podcast: https://behavior-podcast.com

Today I welcome back Dr. Clint Heacock, a former evangelical minister who was born and raised in an evangelical community and has done a great deal of research on what the Christian Nationalist agenda is and how it aligns with Trump, MAGA and Project 2025. Today we revisit these topics and answer the question "What are these MAGA Christians thinking in supporting a mad dictator?" I hope this episode helps shed some light on what is going on with these people and how to talk to them to wake them up from their Christian fever dream.

Clint's YouTube...

This week I welcome Ben Eisenberg, someone who grew up in and around Landmark and its teachings, which did not help him in his early life. He's spent quite some time sorting this out and shares his journey with us today including a surprising outcome when he pushed for some change. Enjoy!

Ben's article on Medium: https://medium.com/@beneisenberg_10514/my-experience-growing-up-in-landmark-education-landmark-worldwide-1aae2ea2582e

This week we went live for the 100th episode of the Speaking of Cults podcast. I have some personal reflections and experiences to share as a cult expert and human in this world which I hope will be of some use to my listeners.

This week I welcome back Shannon Grover and Bryce Blankenagel to discuss the details of Mormon missionaries and what they actually are called upon to do. It's straight up slave labor under the guise of religious dedication and the Mormon Church is making billions off this free labor. Tune in and find out what is going on and how the Mormons are hiding their blatant abuse and criminality in plain sight. It's quite something.

Shannon and Bryce: https://glassboxpodcast.com

This week I welcome Marissa Franks Burt and Kelsey Kramer McGinnis, authors of the new book The Myth of Good Christian Parenting, a deep exploration of the myths that permeate Christian communities throughout the world about what is "good parenting" but which is, in fact, just child abuse. I hope you'll give this one a listen and consider what we have to say. Enjoy!

Link to book on Amazon: https://a.co/d/0wrQkhl

In the Church Library podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/in-the-church-library/id1804968736

This week I welcome Cheryl Hope and Richard Marsh from the Get a Life Podcast to discuss the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church (formerly Exclusive Brethren), a religion/business group with a fascinating background and even more wild structure which survives to this day through the Hales family in Australia. Cheryl and Richard have quite a bit to share about this. Enjoy!

Get a Life Podcast:  ⁨@getalifepodcast⁩ 

We are now back for 2026. This week I welcome back Zach Elwood to discuss so-called "body language experts" and the pseudoscience they push as "infotainment" which actually creates a pretty skewed idea of how people work and what deceptive behavior is all about. We cover a lot in a little bit of time. Enjoy!

Zach's YouTube:  ⁨@PeopleWhoReadPeoplepodcast⁩ 

Munecat video: https://youtu.be/Y0VQyEY-B2I?si=Em_PyU9HGJnSyPYQ

This week I welcome ex-Scientologist Mitch Brisker to discuss his many and varied experiences in dealing with David Miscavige, the leader of Scientology, and how he would be sent to Utah to learn from the Mormons how to produce and present Scientology better to the world. We talk about a lot of things in this podcast around this, including Scientology's future. Enjoy!