Sunlight is the best disinfectant

Extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence

About a month ago, I got a text from Nichole Bigley— the host of the A Psychic’s Story podcast. She asked me to check out a recent episode of her podcast titled “Spiritual Ascension Through the Sophia Code (with Kaia Ra):

Apparently, listener feedback was unusually critical of this particular guest and her organization, with many writing emails to Nichole about just how “culty” this individual was and how “disappointed” they were that Nichole “platformed” her on the podcast. Nichole, a sincere psychic practitioner and a genuinely good person, cares about her listeners and clients and was rightfully concerned, ultimately seeking out another point of view.

Given my “brand” as The Skeptical Shaman, as well as my history of interviewing cult survivors, writing about spiritual grifters, and effectively calling out the bad behavior of my New Age “peers”, Nichole thought I was the right girl for the job— and wanted me to give her my unvarnished take on the interview.

After I listened to the episode, Nichole and I connected on the phone and I shared my initial impressions, leaving Nichole concerned to the point of considering taking the episode down. I argued that censorship (or self-censorship, for that matter) is never the answer to bad speech. Rather, in my opinion, more and better speech is always the best response.

In other words: sunlight is the best disinfectant.

I suggested that a transparent podcast discussion on this topic might create a real opportunity for listeners to learn, engage in the discussion, and level-up their own discernment— an opportunity that would not be possible if the episode was removed.

After all: Nichole is just a podcast host. She’s not everyone’s spiritual “mommy”, and it’s totally inappropriate to expect her to be omniscient or get a private detective to research every guest. She uses her best judgment and approaches her show in good faith but, as we’ve written about extensively here on Substack, the Business of Woo is unusually thick with con artists and delusional crazy people. In this paradigm, it’s inevitable that a few bad actors are going to get through even the best of defenses on occasion.

Said another way? Shit happens.

So it’s probably best that the audience understand their role in exercising their judgement and personal agency regardless of the guest, the topic, or the host.

And, as scary and disorienting as it may seem, we are all adults and ultimately responsible for our own spiritual, mental and emotional wellbeing. It’s on us as individuals to use our own discernment, and to take accountability for our own choices— regardless of what podcasts or TV shows feature these individuals.

I mean, Oprah spent a week promoting and platforming “spiritual healer” John of God, who would later be convicted of widespread child sexual abuse, rape, and even selling babies born from a warehouse of kidnapped women under his control:

So, you know, someone getting on a big TV show or podcast doesn't necessarily mean they’re the good guys. And that is a fact that more people would benefit from understanding.

So, let’s talk about…cults

Nichole agreed that a transparent discussion was the best solution, so we did— and this discussion is available via the newest episode of A Psychic’s Story that can be found HERE:

I hope you can all take a moment to listen to both the Kaia Ra interview and our subsequent discussion of it in today’s episode. I also encourage you to check out this very robust piece of investigative journalism from Guru Mag on all things Kaia Ra:

https://www.gurumag.com/sedona-guru-kaia-ra-family-speaks-out/

And please share your thoughts, experiences and more in the comments on this post or elsewhere on social media or Apple Podcasts. The more input and dialogue, the better for everyone involved.

After all: it’s scary dragging things out into the sunlight. Many other guru-type individuals helm organizations boasting large cadres of flying monkeys, defined as: “Flying monkeys serve as a buffer between the leader and the outside world, allowing the leader to maintain an aura of mystique and unapproachability.”

Outside of the flying monkeys and their targeted harassment, there’s also the latent threat of vexatious litigation, defined as: “Litigation that is meant to bother, embarrass, or cause legal expenses to the defendant. A plaintiff who starts such litigation either knows or should reasonably know that no legal basis for the lawsuit exists.”

I interviewed Susan Dones, an early NXIVM whistleblower and survivor, about her decades-long legal battles with the cult (and related expenses and suffering)— you can listen to that episode here:

So, in this context, I want to state for posterity:

This post and my podcast discussion with Nichole contain views and opinions regarding public figures and their public-facing content. Any content provided is not intended to malign any religion, protected class, group, club, organization, business individual, anyone or anything. I have no first-hand knowledge or experience with any of the individuals or organizations I’ve written about in this (or other) post(s) or that I talked about in my podcast episode(s), and I’m not asserting that any of my opinions are statements of objective fact. I am leveraging publicly posted and published content provided by journalists about a public figure that is, by definition, “newsworthy”.

Whew. Now that that’s over, we can talk like civilized people again.

The playbook

The biggest thing that struck me while listening to the Kaia Ra interview was just how similar Kaia’s story— down to the precise, inside baseball terminology and wording— was to other so-called spiritual leaders that have been accused of being cult leaders and grifters: Sarah Rachel Adams, Corey Goode, David Wilcock, Emery Smith and Teal Swan— among many, many others.

All of their stories seemed to come from the same playbook: they claim that it all began at birth, at which point these exceptional beings were identified by “three letter agencies” (inferred to be the CIA, FBI, NSA, etc.) to have extraordinary “genetics” and “psychic abilities”. In each case, they claim that they were ritually sexually abused in a Satanic Ritual Abuse context, at which point some were placed in either “Secret Space Programs” and/or “Secret Psychic Programs” on behalf of these agencies.

Exactly how wide-spread is this playbook, you might be wondering? Well, there are literally TENS OF THOUSANDS of people on Youtube, TikTok and more claiming near exact experiences and abilities. And those are just the ones I know about.

Worth noting: many of them are suing each other for copyright infringement and defamation.

You know. Because if you’re a super evolved, ascended and superior spiritual being that had an experience you’re claiming lots of other people had in the same “programs”, the best thing to do would be to initiate crushing civil litigation against your fellow survivors.

Right?

Hmmm…

One example of this archetype at work? The unedited, full-length videotaped deposition of Corey Goode admitting that his similar, supernatural “experiences” were his “intellectual property” because…drumroll please…he made them up in his “mind”:

Many of these now-ascended, highly evolved spiritual beings all seem to position themselves as New Age gurus, offering services or products that are all variations on a theme: MedBeds that heal genetics through “light codes” and “advanced off-world technology”; expensive ceremonies and energy work rituals that “heal sexual trauma” without the presence or oversight of medical professionals; costly retreats and off-site events to commune with the Galactic Federation; and training videos (all behind paywalls) that offer inside info you can’t get anywhere else, usually from their “inside sources” within the highest levels of the government— or the heavens, for that matter.

There’s an inevitable multi-level marketing structure to things, with train the trainer programs and the requisite demands for up-front investment before you, too, can become an oracle of the divine or whatever-the-fuck they’re selling to the general public. Oh— and then you can make your money.

*ahem*

They trademark and copyright the spiritual beings they encounter and sell this intellectual property via comic books and movies to the tune of millions of dollars— veritable franchises rivaling that of Marvel and DC.

That’s like me copywriting Odin and selling you merch about it. And suing other people that mention Odin, because no one else can call dibs on “my” god.

Fucking hell.

Now, it’s worth noting that childhood sexual abuse and sex trauma are very real and all-too pervasive phenomena. I personally know and love many people that are survivors, and the last thing I would ever want to do is claim that this evil shit doesn’t happen.

It does happen.

And yes, unbelievably, our government is involved in this phenomenon.

The Franklin Credit Scandal, Jeffrey Epstein Scandal, and the MK Ultra Program are all matters of public record and all worth looking into. I just recorded a podcast with fan favorite and “friend of the show” Roger Oney on this topic and will be providing extensive links in the show notes for anyone wanting to dive deeper into this particular hellscape when this episode comes out later this summer.

So, my issue is not that the dark, abuse-oriented stuff is impossible. Or even improbable. And I’m not without compassion for the survivors.

My issue is that, unlike with other Satanic Ritual Abuse/ MK Ultra survivors like Cathy O’Brien and Dr. Juliette Engle, there is literally no comparable, objective proof provided by these New Age gurus. In fact, in the case of Kaia Ra, her family, friends and more sat down with a reporter to refute her claims: https://www.gurumag.com/sedona-guru-kaia-ra-family-speaks-out/

Again, this doesn’t mean she and the others mentioned above were not sexually abused. Statistically speaking, most humans on planet earth— particularly women— have at some point been the victim of a sexual crime.

But extraordinary claims should, naturally, demand extraordinary evidence. In the absence of that evidence, we should feel empowered to engage our powers of discernment and critical thinking.

Pop Quiz: Does that last sentence make you feel bad? Like you’re bullying someone that has already been through so much? Doubting a survivor and, in doubting them, retraumatizing them in some way? Participating in their abuse after the fact?

Some might suggest that’s rather the point.

To disarm you. To deter you from asking questions. To trick you into seeing the sheep’s clothing and not the wolf’s fur underneath. To appeal to your desire to be a good and kind person, and reinforce your fears of being rude or hurtful or seen as mean.

After all: what kind of a monster wouldn’t support a survivor of such horrific, harrowing abuse?

See how that works? How effective this trick is?

Anyone that grew up with a narcissist or has endured narcissistic abuse from a partner knows this little move like the back of their hand. Just ask us and we’ll tell you stories. And, unlike many others, we actually have the fucking evidence to back up our claims.

And we don’t mind you asking about it at all.

And it’s not like there aren’t other pop culture, proven cases of this fucked up form of Stolen Valor working. I mean, remember when Brooks Ayers faked having cancer on Real Housewives of Orange County? I do:

In fact, false claims such as this are so widespread they even have their own term to describe them: covert narcissism, which was the primary topic of the podcast Scamanda. Scamanda is the story of a woman that faked having terminal cancer in order to extract attention, love, compassion, support, affection and lots of money from well-meaning and kind people. She went so far into her own grift that her small children thought she was dying.

These people exist, and just because you cannot fathom ever doing anything like this doesn’t mean they don’t.

The upshot

I don’t have all of the answers, and I don’t really know the real story of Kaia Ra, whose birth name is Colleen Santoro. As I mentioned above, I have no direct experience with her or her organization.

But I do give myself permission to think independently and scrutinize, with my god-given powers of logic and common sense, the extraordinary claims that she and others like her make— and the way they all make money as a result.

And whether or not Kaia Ra is 100% legit across the board, the bigger issue is that the broader conversation around such New Age “gurus” is crucially important for us as a society. After all, we’ve seen what can happen when people haven’t engaged in an open dialogue about such leaders, their assertions or their organizations for fear of the reprisals to follow.

Spoiler alert: it ends badly.

In the case of James Arthur Ray, another one of Oprah’s golden children, people died. You can learn more about this harrowing tale courtesy of the podcast The Guru:

In the case of NXIVM, Keith Raniere was allowed to continue to molest children and use coercive control to sexually abuse and exploit women. He even took to demanding that his flying monkeys use a cauterizing pen to permanently brand his followers.

And, in the case of John of God, nearly 600 female victims — ranging in age from 9 to 67 — have claimed they were sexually abused by the medium, according to the Brazilian prosecutor's office.

When it comes to high control groups, coercive control and cult-y organizations, the stakes are really high. And, if we claim to care about our fellow humans, we just can’t afford to be cowed into silent submission.

Legitimate practitioners and organizations should be able to withstand a modicum of skeptical scrutiny. If not, they’re really fragile. And, if they’re that fragile, they’re built on some tenuous fucking bullshit.

If you want to learn more about this topic, I’ve written a number of posts linking to a number of great resources:

I’ve also interviewed a number of cult survivors and talked about related shady shit on my podcast:

Knowledge is power. Honesty is power. Discernment is power.

And yes, sunlight is the best disinfectant.

Stay alert out there, everyone. We live in the golden age of online cults. Assume nothing. Ask questions. Be skeptical and curious.

And, most important of all, trust yourself and your judgment.

You know what’s up.

-Rachel