Just a few years ago, few people had heard of the self-help group/cult of personality known as NXIVM. Now the dark story has gone global, thanks to an eight-part docuseries that debuts on Neon today. This review contains mild spoilers for The Vow. What is it that people love so much that they’d join a … Read more
They call themselves the Genesis II Church of Health and Healing, but they’re not a church, and the treatment they sell is called Miracle Mineral Supplement – but it’s chlorine dioxide, commonly known as bleach. Susan Strongman reports for RNZ. A New Zealand website is advising people with symptoms of coronavirus to drink or inhale … Read more
One woman’s online mission to blow the cover of false prophets around the world is becoming more and more taxing. Anke Richter talks to guru hunter Be Scofield, who is determined to bring sexual abuse in spiritual disguise to light. On our first meeting, via video link, Be Scofield was somewhere on the east coast … Read more
After The Spinoff delved into the dubious world of cosmetics and skincare brand Arbonne, two people came forward with very different stories. One says it’s misunderstood. The other says the cult-like organisation has nearly destroyed family relationships. The consultant Lily has been a consultant for Arbonne for a little over a year. She got started … Read more
How did Conscious Light, a ‘documentary’ on cult leader Adi Da, end up getting shown at a public library? Anke Richter goes down the rabbit hole. Give me a cult doco like Holy Hell, The Family or Wild Wild Country any day. I’d happily pay a lot more than the small koha they ask you … Read more
Angel, Dove, Mercy and the rest of the flock are back, as happy as ever in blue. Writer Anke Richter, a cult observer, watches Gloriavale: The Return. This was originally published on 14 May 2018. The best thing I could do to prepare myself for Gloriavale: The Return was to catch up on the latest … Read more
Broadcaster Kim Hill reviews the year’s most sensational memoir of family dysfunction, violence, apocalyptic visions, and survival. Memoirs are by their nature spoilers. We know already that the author survived trials and hardship because here’s the book. And so many now: since the modern “misery-memoir” genre (happiness writes white, after all) was boosted in part … Read more
Angel, Dove, Mercy and the rest of the flock are back, as happy as ever in blue. Writer Anke Richter, a cult observer, watches Gloriavale: The Return. The best thing I could do to prepare myself for Gloriavale: The Return was to catch up on the latest episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale. It’d be a … Read more
For an ex-member of New Zealand’s one and only ‘sex cult’, the parallels between Centrepoint and Gloriavale raise some serious questions about the government’s handling of sexual abuse accusations in religious communities, writes Anke Richter. Three years ago I spent many afternoons on a sofa in Barri Leslie’s living room in Brown’s Bay, recording her life … Read more
The Spinoff wrangled a real-life mystery religious person to dissect the depiction of faith in The Path, a drama following members of a fictional cult. My husband and I sat down and watched an episode of The Path the other night. When you both work and have an eight month old child, sitting down and … Read more