Out of the Woods Molly Frances
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- Society & Culture
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Out of the Woods is a podcast for stories about not-quite-cults but not-quite-not-cults. People share their experiences being strong believers in something--a religion, an ideology, a community, anything--and share how they came to realize it was, well...cult-ish. Stories of all kinds of these beliefs & experiences are welcome, with a particular interest in those in the digital world.
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Ex-communicated from the cult of toxic social justice with Poplar Rose
Poplar Rose shares their story of being a social justice activist, a witch, and their eventual major fall out and extreme crisis of faith in social justice. As they say, "social justice broke up with me." This came after experiencing two back to back call outs. The stress of these coupled with moving to a plot of land in the forest, exposed to the elements after their shelter fell through, led them to shut down their business for the last 2 years. They share the before, during, and after of this experience, and reflect on what social justice means for them now.
There is mention of active suicidal ideation in this episode. -
Heart-Centered Spiritual Gatherings with Aliza
Aliza, at age 40, ended up undergoing a series of distressing life events that threw things into disarray. It was at this time, while dealing with the aftermath of bed bugs, she ended up in a heart-centered, new age spiritual gathering at her mysterious massage teacher’s house. Aliza attended these gatherings as make up sessions for massage school classes she missed while in the midst of all the chaos. Things got peak weird in the group when her teacher’s guru came into the picture. Aliza eventually left the gathering behind, but not before some heartbreak.
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New Age Priestess LARPing & Self-Actualizing with Avery
In this episode I sit down to talk with Avery, who shares their story about being involved in a new age spiritual cult-y group. They got involved with this cult and felt like after so many years struggling to find solid queer community—that they had found a home. Their story details the ups and downs and struggles of being embedded in such a cultish community, their mental anguish, and their eventual break out into a new life: getting the right support for their neurodivergence, pursuing a degree in STEM, and coming out as trans.
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Cancel culture and identitarianism with Clementine Morrigan
In this episode, we hear from Clementine Morrigan, a writer who has recently started speaking out against “cancel culture.” Her story begins with her as a teenager who dropped out of high school because of homophobia, then started attending a queer alternative school in a new city. This is where her entry into social justice & identitarianism began. After years of active alcoholism she got sober, re-entered social justice culture and gradually her career as a self-employed writer creating zines about trauma, sobriety, being queer succeeded big time on social media. This summer, she was, in her words, Fucking Cancelled. We hear her story, but we also talk together extensively about cancel culture and social justice.
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Attending a conservative Christian college & being queer with Gabi
Gabi shares her experience growing up as an evangelical Christian and then choosing to attend a nearby wealthy conservative Christian college. Although she was deeply tied to her faith growing up, and found meaning in it, the homophobic and repressive culture of the school onset not only mental heath struggles but a crisis of faith in her religious beliefs. Gabi reflects on this time in her life and shares what happened after leaving campus and graduating.
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Fat Acceptance and the Amberlynn Reid Community with Megan Anne
YouTuber Megan Anne shares her story getting involved the fat acceptance movement, then leaving it behind after developing health issues and undergoing weight loss surgery. She also talks about getting out of the Amberlynn Reid community.
Customer Reviews
LOVE THIS POD!
I totally love this podcast. As someone who has exited the cult of evangelical Christianity, I am thrilled to see someone exposing the cult-like dynamics of many ideologies while sharing that these stories often have very happy endings.
Heartfelt and accessible!
This podcast is honest, accessible and heartfelt—and fresh, new and relatable!