Cults to Consciousness

Demetria is a survivor of an Oregon New Age group called TwinRay. She describes her journey into spirituality after reading Eckhart Tolle's works and being drawn to an online guru who claimed to have achieved spiritual liberation and later claimed he wasn’t even human. He introduced a woman (a former actress) to the leadership and claimed they were 'twin rays' with special spiritual knowledge. Dem...

Feeling worthless as a young single adult in the Mormon church, Katie was sucked into a relationship with a “worthy priesthood holder” from her ward. Once he discovered her SA, a trauma that others were blaming and shaming her for, he claimed he could cure her using OneTaste’s Orgasmic Meditation. Vulnerable and left in the dark with all things sex related, he groomed her into thinking she needed...

Born and raised in a Mormon majority town, Katie was doing her best to be the most righteous and worthy Mormon she could be. Everything came crashing down when she was blamed by her mother and shamed by her bishop for being SA’d. They claimed her “purity was tainted” and she needed to repent. Upon graduation, she went to the Young Single Adults ward, where she was primed to be targeted by a “worth...

Amanda Rae joins us to talk about the ways in which her former polygamous cult weaponizes ignorance and purposely withholds information about reproduction to keep women submissive to their husband.  Click here to watch on YouTube Watch Pt 2 on Amanda's channel:  https://www.youtube.com/live/Q_vdflUQ69Y?si=oyE3eTaPp0QMpbim Find Amanda: YouTube:   @TheAmandaRaeGrant   &...

Daryl Davis has spent decades infiltrating and befriending not only Klan members but Klan leaders, even going as far as to attend their rallies. On a quest to do nothing more than explore racism and gather information for his book, Klan-Destine Relationships, Daryl Davis eventually became the recipient of numerous robes and hoods given to him by Klan members who rescinded their beliefs after comin...

Isolated in the Apostolic United Brethren, Janae’s father went unchecked when exploiting the nature of the religious group. With 4 wives and over a dozen children, he misused his power to control them all. “Life lessons” laced in traumatic experiences would leave the girls feeling helpless, scared and vulnerable without him, even when he was the true source of danger. Essentially acting as a cult...

In the Apostolic United Brethren, a break off from the mainstream Mormon (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints), polygamy is not only expected, but a requirement to get into the highest level of heaven per the original prophet Joseph Smith. Women are also expected to “multiply and replenish the Earth”.  In this 2nd part to Emily’s interview, she delves into what it was like getting mar...

In the Apostolic United Brethren, a break off from the mainstream Mormon (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints), polygamy is not only expected, but a requirement to get into the highest level of heaven per the original prophet Joseph Smith. Women are also expected to “multiply and replenish the Earth”. Emily’s mother (the second wife) had 11 chiIdren and had to work 3 jobs to put what littl...

Born in 1968, Sarito spent her formative years constantly on the move with her mother, a young hippie in search of spiritual meaning. At just nine years old, what was intended to be a brief summer trip to India took an unexpected turn. Sarito and her mother joined the ashram of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, transforming that fleeting visit into a seven-year journey within the commune—first in Pune, Indi...

Kevin James Thornton grew up in a small Christian town in Indiana. His early life started at a Baptist church, but once he discovered a Mega Church focused on rock bands and the youth, he became enamored and doubled down on his faith. A Jesus loving, self motivated chiId then teen, he loved his fully immersive church and heavily partook in extremely questionable youth events, but something inside...

Many of you have gotten knocks on your door lately (us included) by the Jehovah’s Witnesses inviting you to attend their upcoming weekend long convention in July. Our friend Jake at @altworldly found a LEAKED copy of their propaganda and promised it would deliver in absurdity and disgusting takes on the “apostates” who have left the religion. Join us as Shelise blind reacts to these videos. Click...

As a 4th generation Jehovah’s Witness, Alissa Watson followed the path laid out before her and married young at a month past 19. Against the recommendation of the doomsday cult, she had chiIdren. During the birth of her first chiId, a pool of lost blood scared her husband into looking into the doctrine of blood transfusions being a punishable sin. Unwilling to lose the life of his wife or baby dur...

During WWII the horrific extermination of religious and ethnic groups forced people to denounce their faith and hail Hitler for their own survival. Owen Morgan, former JW and successful YouTuber   @OwenMorganTelltale  dove into the rabbit hole to extensively research the position and stories of the JW people at the time. He explains how Joseph Franklin Rutherford, the second leader of th...

Bethany was raised in the Jehovah’s Witnesses, only to realize she had been part of a cult for thirty years. The psychological pressure cooker exploded in her 20s with quickly deteriorating mental health. The faux perfectionism drove her into an eating disorder as a means to gain any form of control over her life. When she could no longer pretend anymore, questioning authority and pursuing her per...

Bethany Leger was raised in the Jehovah’s Witnesses, only to realize she had been part of a cult for thirty years. The psychological pressure cooker exploded in her 20s with quickly deteriorating mental health. The faux perfectionism drove her into an eating d*sorder as a means to gain any form of control over her life. When she could no longer pretend anymore, questioning authority and pursuing h...

Melanie and Cory grew up in the Apostolic United Brethren (AUB) at the Montana compound. They wouldn’t  meet, however, until long after leaving the cult and all their family behind. Almost a polygamous wife, Melanie had a horrible arranged marriage at a young age and did whatever it took to get out and become free. Now, we look at what happens when a funeral brings them both back to the compo...

One of the polygamous offshoots of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the Apostolic United Brethren (AUB) where the famous Kody Brown and Sister Wives come from. Melanie grew up in this group with 4 mothers and 34 and counting siblings. Her Father was an apostle when she was growing up, but would go on to become the prophet. A position that is said to commune directly with God and...

Shannon Foley Martinez was a vict*m of CSA at age 14.  Never quite able to meet her parent's expectations, Martinez sought out other angry teens. By 16 she was a sk*nhead spouting white supremac*st rhetoric, giving stiff-armed N*zi salutes and tagging public property with swast*kas. Fortified by the love of an adopted family, Martinez left the sk*nheads behind, and today is committed to devot...

Shannon Foley Martinez was a victim of CSA at age 14.  Never quite able to meet her parent's expectations, Martinez sought out other angry teens. By 16 she was a skinhead spouting white supremacist rhetoric, giving stiff-armed Nazi salutes and tagging public property with swastikas. Fortified by the love of an adopted family, Martinez left the skinheads behind, and today is committed to devot...

Christian Picciolini found himself stumbling through high school, struggling to find a community among other fans of punk rock music. There, he was recruited by a notorious white power sk*nhead leader and encouraged to fight with the movement to "protect the white race from extinction." Soon, he had become an expert in rac*st philosophies, a terror who roamed the neighborhood, quick to throw fists...

A Happy Mother’s Day to everyone tuning in! This is an honest conversation between a mother and daughter about the crippling expectations placed on mothers in high control groups. Lisa explains her experience growing up in Mormonism which shaped her view of her options after high school and directly led her to becoming a young mother leaving her dreams behind. Shelise chimes in about what she reme...

From a desperate mother in poverty to an American Romani family, Amanda had no trace of who she was. All of her documents were either destroyed or hidden and any trace of her biological mother was gone. Her life was a paradox of luxury coupled with ab*se and isolation. Kept out of school and othered for being adopted, she felt completely alone. Amanda was pushed into an arranged marriage which tur...

In our previous interview, Gina exposed many ways in which she was trained from birth to scam as a fortune teller. Some of the schemes her family ran on unsuspecting or vulnerable people garnered over $100k. Gina explained how the American Romani family she was a part of, was not living up to the beautiful culture of her persecuted people, but were greedy, ab*sive and scammers. Forced to become on...

Gina Merino grew up in California with a very strict family which identifies as “Gypsies”. Her life was strictly controlled and she experienced harsh ab*se at the hands of her step mother. At elementary age, before being pulled out of school, she would begin telling fortune, understanding she was lying to people, but had no other choice. She uncovers ways in which her and her family scammed people...

Born a Romani girl in the US, in a very insulated group, Paulina Stevens had her future laid out for her. She was set in an arranged marriage to her cousin at 14 years old and after her dowry was paid, her new family claimed they “owned her”. Things got dark and possessive very quickly and no one would help her. After having chiIdren and realizing she needed to escape, she would spend years fighti...