Out of the Woods
12 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 3 years ago - ★★★★★ - 26 ratingsOut 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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Episodes
Ex-communicated from the cult of toxic social justice with Poplar Rose
January 14, 2021 02:38 - 2 hours - 131 MBIn this episode we talk to my dear friend and former witch colleague Poplar Rose. Poplar and I met in 2017 when we both ran businesses online. They used to write for a site Little Red Tarot and their business was called witch cabinet. Through witch cabinet, they ran a 12-week course on boundaries called Hawthorn Heart. They share 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 jus...
Heart-Centered Spiritual Gatherings with Aliza
January 10, 2021 07:18 - 1 hour - 70.6 MBAliza, 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 ...
New Age Priestess LARPing & Self-Actualizing with Avery
January 07, 2021 04:50 - 2 hours - 110 MBIn 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 d...
Cancel culture and identitarianism with Clementine Morrigan
December 26, 2020 23:50 - 1 hour - 102 MBIn this episode, we hear from Clementine Morrigan, a writer who has recently started speaking out against “cancel culture.” She started a podcast with her partner Jay, Fucking Cancelled, and published a zine called Fuck the Police Means We Don’t Act Like Cops to Each Other. Clementine shares her story entering and exiting what she refers to in her podcast as “the nexus,” or identitarianism, what Mark Fisher refers to as “the vampire castle,” and what episode 1 of Out of the Woods would call ...
Attending a conservative Christian college & being queer with Gabi
December 09, 2020 07:52 - 1 hour - 91.5 MB(This episode includes discussion of suicide) 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...
Fat Acceptance and the Amberlynn Reid Community with Megan Anne
November 17, 2020 05:36 - 1 hour - 82 MBYouTuber Megan Anne shares how, upon discovering Tess Holliday, she became a believer in the fat acceptance movement. After receiving news that she was on track to develop fatty liver disease at age 21, she made the decision to leave the movement behind and pursue weight loss surgery. She has since lost 115lbs and quickly gained a large subscriber base on YouTube after posting her video, My 315lb Life + Why The Fat Acceptance Movement Kinda Sucks. Suffice it to say, she is out of the woods. ...
Leftbook, safe spaces, and trigger warnings with Skye
November 05, 2020 07:06 - 1 hour - 64.6 MBSkye reflects on their experience in "Leftbook," a constellation of leftist Facebook groups that were popular around 2016-2018. They started out in a group called "political aesthetics escape pod," and eventually became tied up in a group about mental illness and trauma. It was in this group where they encountered a militant approach to "trigger warnings." Follow Skye on Instagram @buttrepreneur -- Suggested reading to learn more about Leftbook Leftbook: Destroying the Leftist Movemen...
Living at anarcho-primitivist protest sites, getting sober, transitioning, and entering queer social justice community
October 28, 2020 06:49 - 1 hour - 62.7 MBFelix McLean begins his story by reflecting on his time living at anarcho-primitivist protest sites in the UK. Although he found the community unlike anything else he has found outside of the sites, he made the decision to leave after a series of site evictions and realizing that he needed to medically transition--something that sort of doesn't neatly fit into the anarcho-primitivist worldview. He quickly got involved in queer social justice spaces, and eventually got sober. Felix shares all...
Growing up Baptist; coming out as queer, non-binary, and polyamorous with Ky McGinniss
October 20, 2020 21:55 - 1 hour - 83.3 MBKy shares their story about growing up Baptist in a family that was not only deeply integrated with a local Baptist college where their father taught in the seminary, but had ties to prominent Evangelical figures. They reflect on learning how to read the Bible starting at age 5, learning about the end of the world, and constantly asking questions. When they really sat down and tried to understand why their faith was so ardently against lgbtq people, their entire worldview began to crumble. ...
Campus Crusade for Christ & The Sisterhood of the Rose with Kelly Germaine
October 14, 2020 02:55 - 1 hour - 85.5 MBKelly Germaine shares her story about being involved in Campus Crusade for Christ (now known simply as Cru) in college in the mid- to late-2000s. Initially lured in by pizza and camaraderie in shared faith, she gradually grew into a leadership role in the organization where she hosted bible studies and recruited others to join. Once her discipler suggested she consider marrying someone in the group rather than her now husband, she began to realize...it was time to leave. Some years later, ...
Shame, punishment & social justice culture with Kira Rosen
October 07, 2020 03:38 - 1 hour - 79.6 MBKira Rosen shares her story of separating from punitive online social justice culture. She recounts how the concurrent experience of her escalating bipolar disorder symptoms and a dysfunctional intimate relationship forced her to confront the reality that the shame and punishment normalized in the culture was unsustainable for her. Follow Kira on Instagram @kira.rosen.7 ---- [Kira's suggested reading] Brene Brown: Her work on shame and connection Clementine Morrigan: Clementine's writi...
Trailer - Intro to the Concept
October 05, 2020 05:12 - 14 minutes - 12.9 MBWelcome to...Out of the Woods! 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. This first episode is a "concept-trailer" that explains why this podcast exists, how it came to be, and what sorts of experiences it hopes to share. Zine about my crisis of faith that I mentioned: yr...