• Anke Richter - Author of "Cult Trip: Inside the world of coercion & control"
    Nov 1 2023

    Anke Richter is a German-born, New Zealand-based journalist and author of the book "Cult Trip: Inside the world of coercion & control" published by Harper Collins in 2022 covers three high control groups, Centrepoint and Gloriavale in New Zealand, and Agama Yoga in Thailand. With stops along the way at Osho's "cashram" in India, the Taste of Love Festival in Byron Bay, an "OM House" in San Francisco, and the International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA) Conference in Manchester.

    Anke's website: www.ankerichter.net with a list of relevant articles ⁠https://ankerichter.net/articles/⁠

    Culty Conversations group on Facebook.

    to buy Cult Trip in Australia and NZ: https://www.harpercollins.co.nz/9781775542032/cult-trip/

    to buy the international paperback: https://www.amazon.com/CULT-TRIP/dp/1802471766/

    Cult Trip Audio book is available now.


    Cult Chat Podcast mentioned with Dr Caroline Ansley, Lindy Jacomb and Liz Gregory: https://www.centrepointrestorationproject.com/cultchat

    FACT Fight Against Conspiracy Theories and https://www.facebook.com/factaotearoa


    Follow Anke here:

    https://www.instagram.com/ankerichterwriter/

    https://www.facebook.com/ankerichterwriter/

    https://www.linkedin.com/in/anke-richter-writer/

    Follow Annie at:

    www.melbournecraniosacral.com and on instagram www.instagram.com/consciouslycreatingchange/

    and www.instagram.com/thebabyinthebathwater/


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    1 hr and 26 mins
  • Episode 9b: Culty Behaviour in Spiritual Circles with Freya Vajra
    Oct 31 2023

    In Part 2 of my chat with Freya we cover: Why I don’t want to learn from any more white men. Why compassionate/empathetic people are attracted to cults. The “rescuer” archetype and the “drama triangle” Fawning/friending/pleasing/fornicating/“tend and befriend” and your nervous system. The danger of unchecked charisma. How to use charisma responsibly and not become a cult leader. Using “presence” as a weapon. The difference between energetic states and stages of psychological development. “Human-denying philosophies.” The difference between victim consciousness and victimization. Hyper personal responsibility. Critical race theory and epigenetics. Schizotypal personality disorder and “ideas or reference” and “creating your own reality.”

    The lack of medical research on female bodies and the lack of research on safety of Intermittent fasting in menstruating people (see https://www.drstacysims.com/).

    Stanley Milgram's experiments: https://psychology.fas.harvard.edu/people/stanley-milgram

    You can find Freya at www.freyavajra.com and on Instagram at @freyavajra

    Find Annie McCasland-Pexton on Instagram @consciouslycreatingchange and @thebabyinthebathwater.

    Annie's book: Invisible Work: an Ex-Lawyer's Guide to Self-Care is available from Amazon and Lulu Press or via Annie's website: www.melbournecraniosacral.com/links

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    1 hr and 8 mins
  • The Indigenous Voice to Parliament with Daniel James
    Sep 20 2023

    Welcome to Season 2 of The Baby in The Bathwater Podcast. Exciting things are coming! Stay tuned for chats with Taylor Lorenz, Anke Richter, Mangala Holland, Darrin Drda and more. In this season opener Annie talks with award-winning writer and broadcaster Daniel James. Daniel is a Yorta Yorta man based on Wurundjeri land in Naarm/Melbourne. They discuss the upcoming Australian Constitutional Referendum which seeks to create an Indigenous Voice to Parliament. Sadly, this issue has become a hotbed of disinformation and conspiracy theories from the far right, including influences from far beyond Australia's shores.

    Daniel’s work explores notions of empathy, intergenerational trauma, hidden history and the political landscape that continues to shape the lives of Aboriginal people across Australia. You can hear him on the radio on 3RRR FM on Tuesdays at 7pm (AEST) and read his weekly column in The Monthly. Daniel has also done a series of podcast episodes about the Referendum with the 7am Podcast,


    You can find Daniel's work here:

    https://www.rrr.org.au/explore/programs/the-mission

    https://www.themonthly.com.au/author/daniel-james

    https://7ampodcast.com.au/episodes/reporter:Daniel%20James

    https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/contributor/daniel-james

    https://www.danieljames.com.au/

    https://www.patreon.com/mrdtjames

    https://www.instagram.com/mrdjames/

    Follow Annie at www.melbournecraniosacral.com and on instagram www.instagram.com/consciouslycreatingchange/

    and www.instagram.com/thebabyinthebathwater/

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    1 hr
  • Episode 9a: Culty Behaviour in Spiritual Circles with Freya Vajra
    Apr 4 2022

    Part 1 of a chat with Freya Vajra, a Melbourne-based trauma-informed sex and empowerment coach for women. We had a great chat covering a bunch of fascinating topics ranging from cults to neurodivergence, addiction to peak states, conspiracy theories, and US politics. We disscuss the differences between benign cults and malignant cults, dopamine seeking through cults, gatekeeping information in cults, the illusion of empowerment in cults, personality disorders and sensation-seeking in cult members and cult leaders, high trait-openness and attraction to cults, and cult leaders who are paranoid that their students will “steal” their work, amongst much, much more, and that's only part 1! Part 2 is available (with other bonus episodes) when you subscribe to The Baby in the Bathwater here: https://anchor.fm/annie-mccasland-pexton/subscribe.

    You can find Freya at www.freyavajra.com and on Instagram at @freyavajra

    Find Annie McCasland-Pexton on Instagram @consciouslycreatingchange and @thebabyinthebathwater.

    Annie's book: Invisible Work: an Ex-Lawyer's Guide to Self-Care is available from Amazon and Lulu Press or via Annie's website: www.melbournecraniosacral.com/links

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    1 hr and 13 mins
  • Episode 8: Recovering from new age spirituality and cults with Andey Fellowes (part 1)
    Feb 16 2022

    Part 1 of a chat with Andey Fellowes, ex-New-Ager and online cult survivor. Annie and Andey delve deep into the toxicity and conspiracism of New Age ideology including Andey's experience with Teal Swan and how to reconcile life and spirituality after leaving the cult. Part 2 is available (with other bonus episodes) when you subscribe to The Baby in the Bathwater here: https://anchor.fm/annie-mccasland-pexton/subscribe.

    Books referenced:

    * Eric Hoffer's 'The True Believer'

    * Anna Merlan's 'Republic of Lies'

    Websites referenced:

    https://www.patreon.com/AndeyFellowes

    https://www.instagram.com/andeyfellowes/

    https://www.youtube.com/user/AndeyTheFellowes

    https://andeyfellowes.wordpress.com/resources/

    https://freedomofmind.com/cult-mind-control/bite-model/

    Find Annie McCasland-Pexton on Instagram @consciouslycreatingchange and @thebabyinthebathwater.

    Annie's book: Invisible Work: an Ex-Lawyer's Guide to Self-Care is available from Amazon and Lulu Press or via Annie's website: www.melbournecraniosacral.com/links

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    1 hr and 5 mins
  • Episode 10: Recovering from new age spirituality and cults with Andey Fellowes (part 2)
    Feb 16 2022

    Part 2 of a chat with Andey Fellowes, ex-New-Ager and online cult survivor. Annie and Andey delve deep into the toxicity and conspiracism of New Age ideology including Andey's experience with Teal Swan and how to reconcile life and spirituality after leaving the cult. Topics discussed include purity culture, vaccines, veganism, Teal Swan, JP Sears, Del Bigtree, right-wing politics, racism, “lizard people”, conspiracies vs conspiracy theories, and gaslighting.

    Books referenced:

    A Lot of People Are Saying: The New Conspiracism and the Assault on Democracy by Nancy L. Rosenblum and Russell Muirhead.

    Websites referenced:

    https://www.patreon.com/AndeyFellowes

    https://www.tiktok.com/@andeycultinfo

    https://www.instagram.com/andeyfellowes/

    https://www.youtube.com/user/AndeyTheFellowes

    https://andeyfellowes.wordpress.com/resources/

    https://freedomofmind.com/cult-mind-control/bite-model/

    Find Annie McCasland-Pexton on Instagram @consciouslycreatingchange and @thebabyinthebathwater.

    Annie's book: Invisible Work: an Ex-Lawyer's Guide to Self-Care is available from Amazon and Lulu Press or via Annie's website: www.melbournecraniosacral.com/links

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    1 hr and 9 mins
  • Episode 7: Sex Workers: Caught in Conspiracy Theory Crossfire with Leilah Vision
    Aug 30 2021

    This is a co-produced episode with Leilah Vision of "The Stripper's Guide" Podcast. Leila is a life/leadership/relationship coach for queers/creatives/sx workers. In this episode Annie and Leilah cover everything from neurodivergence and late diagnosis autism to human design, astrology, sx work, sx trafficking, conspiracies, antisemitism, the history of witch hunts, to cults, relationship dynamics, self-care and much more.

    The graphics Leilah created for this episode are available on instagram @thebabyinthebathwater. You can find Leilah on instragram at @leilahvision

    The book Leilah mentions is called Cultish by Amanda Montell.

    The podcast Annie mentions is called The Orgasm Cult by Nastaran Tavakoli-Far on the BBC. The book Annie mentions is called Laziness Does Not Exist by Devon Price.

    You can join Leilah's Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/astrippersguide



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    1 hr and 40 mins
  • Episode 6: Analysing Anti-lockdown protests with Tom Tanuki
    Aug 14 2021

    Tom Tanuki is an Australian activist, comedian, writer and YouTuber who has been doing in depth analysis of the anti-lockdown protests in Australia.

    Annie mentioned the "Sounds Like a Cult" Podcast episode about the connection between Betsy DeVos and Amway: https://www.soundslikeacult.com/episodes (Episode 7: The Cult of Multi-Level Marketing).

    Tom mentioned the book: "Suspicious Minds: Why We Believe Conspiracy Theories" by Rob Brotherton.

    You can find Tom's latest writing at: https://linktr.ee/tomtanuki and his latest videos at: https://youtube.com/TomTanuki

    Please consider supporting Tom on Patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/tomtanuki

    You can follow Tom on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/tom_tanuki on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/tomtanuki/ and on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/tommytanuki/

    You can support "The Baby in the Bathwater" Podcast via a monthly donation here: www.thebabyinthebathwater.com

    Or via a one-off donation at PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/tbitbw

    Find Annie McCasland-Pexton on Instagram @consciouslycreatingchange and @thebabyinthebathwater.

    Annie's book: Invisible Work: an Ex-Lawyer's Guide to Self-Care is available from Amazon and Lulu Press or via Annie's website: www.melbournecraniosacral.com/links

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    1 hr and 39 mins