Episode 4: Heaven's Gate vs. Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh

Explicit content warning

01/26/21 • 123 min

At some point in their lives, everyone ends up asking themselves "Do I wear robes often enough? And should they be maroon? And why are all these pancakes different sizes? What the hell, Self!" Bearing that in mind, there is a 100 percent chance you'll find something relatable in this episode, when we compare weirdly touching space Jesus suicide cult Heaven's Gate to the salad bar-poisoning, small town-overtaking cult of the off-putting libertarian materialist Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. Come for the weirdly specific breakfast specifications! Stay for some deeply selfish ideas about what your kids can do while you go to group screeching-and-humping therapy!

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Episode 3: Scientology vs. The Center for the Conscious Development of Body, Mind, and Spirit

Some people like their cults real big and real ugly, and those people can fuck off! Hahaha, just not kidding. It’s the big one this week, folks. Scientology. The brain fart of L. Ron Hubbard, a man whose writing ability was only eclipsed by his Navy career, this multibillion-dollar jargon cesspit may finally answer the question: “What if I could be surrounded by insufferable batshit narcissists *and* bankrupt myself in the process?” The pile of elephant shit in the room goes head to head with a frankly quite refreshing little cult born from the visions of Terri Hoffman, a woman who refused to let the Dallas suburbs keep her from fighting creatures who weren’t there and protecting the government of Peru: The Center for the Conscious Development of Body, Mind, and Spirit. Got a lot on our plate here, folks. Get comfortable.

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Episode 5: The Source Family vs. Buddhafield

Having your own cult is about not having to decide between being a wildly successful health-food restaurant pioneer or being White Human Man God. Or between telling your gaggle of model-like Californians that sex is ridiculous while also ... uh, look, no spoilers, but the dude pushing that notion may actually have had sex.
The Source Family was a foundational southern California '60s cult; Bhuddafield was, 20 years later ... another southern California cult. They go head to head in today's episode, which includes togas, the Dorothy Chandler family mansion, something like 13 albums of psychedelia, budgie-smugglers, professional videographers, and paying a dude $50 to gently poke you in the eyes. It is yet another banger of an episode in what has become a nonstop series of bangers. Let's go!