Ep.79 – The Flying Monkey ‘High Road’ & Sugar-Coated Shame | DD #52 | Candice & Tracy

Beginning next week, we'll be shifting the conversation here on the main feed away from wellness 'cult'ure convos. But first, back in early February, Candice invited Tracy Stamper to record a last-minute Deconstructing Dogma release for Patreon, and it soon after became one of this pod's most downloaded bonus episodes to date. Flying monkey is a term popularized in cult recovery spaces.  Borrowed from the storyline of the Wizard of Oz, it...

Ep.77 – Spiritual & Religious Abuse: Raising Awareness & Supporting Black Survivors | Nikki G 

January is Spiritual Abuse Awareness Month, and this week Candice welcomes a very special guest. Nikki G is a Certified Trauma Recovery Coach, co-host of the Surviving The Black Church podcast, and a vocal advocate for spiritual and religious abuse survivors. Nikki shares briefly about her personal history growing up in a narcissistic family system, time spent in five different cults, and her personal path of healing. She speaks about the...

Ep.69 – Intersectional Advocacy: Including Racialized, Queer, & Neurodiverse Perspectives In Cult Recovery | Priscilla Eyles

This week, Candice welcomes Priscilla Eyles for a discussion on intersectional cult recovery. Priscilla, who comes to us from the UK, is a DEI/JEDI consultant who shares about their time spent in two different cults: Landmark, an LGAT offshoot of est, and OneTaste, a wellness organization that is currently under FBI investigation for sexual exploitation and forced labor practices. When Priscilla stepped away and began grappling with their...

VIDEO BONUS | Ep.69 – Intersectional Advocacy w/ Priscilla Eyles

This week's early release of Ep.69 is available to patrons of the pod in audio AND video format. You can listen in early via Buzzsprout, or watch the entire interview on YouTube! Just click on the private links provided below.I'm excited to share Priscilla's insights with you & eager to hear your thoughts.🎧 ✨ LINK TO LISTEN EARLYOR VIDEO BONUS >>>  🎬✨ WATCH on YouTube** Patrons only. Please do not share Patreon links with...

Ep.68 – The ‘Art’ of Cult Recovery: Music, Theatre, & Trauma-Informed Anti-Cult Activism | Lennox & Teruyo

Teruyo & Lennox are theatre artists in cult recovery, currently hard at work on a musical inspired by their personal experiences in a shamanic cult. They explore what it's like to break away from high-demand influence, while offering a socio-political deconstruction of the colonial headspace that informs it. Music from the play’s soundtrack is woven throughout this powerful conversation, which touches upon a whole helluva lot in an hour....

Ep.66 – Cultural Appropriation & The Hunger That Drives It | Aleyah-Erin Lennon – Part 2

As a lead-in to this week’s episode, Candice spends some time defining cultural appropriation, specifically in western spirituality and wellness spaces. Then things pick up where they left off last week, with the second half of a two-part conversation with artist, activist, and educator, Aleyah-Erin Lennon. Aleyah shares why she was so drawn into the world of wellness and contextualizes how she realized she had to step away. Spiritual...

Ep.65 – Decolonizing Identity & ‘Capital-C’ Cult Recovery | Aleyah-Erin Lennon – Part 1

Candice is back on the main feed, asking for help as she deconstructs the striking overlap between cult dynamics and colonial harm. Inspired by the work of BIPOC educators and anti-racism activists, she explores how social location factors into collective cult recovery. Then, artist, activist, and educator, Aleyah-Erin Lennon joins Candice for the first half of a two-part conversation that explores what it might mean, if we, as white women in...