New DocuseriesSeveral high-profile cult documentaries and docuseries have premiered recently, focusing on dynamics of demand across a variety of groups—ranging from fundamentalist sects to New Age isolationists and modern digital-first movements.
The most prominent releases include:
1. Trust Me: The False Prophet (Netflix)
Premise: Directed by Rachel Dretzin (who previously helmed Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey), this highly acclaimed four-part series explores a modern, abusive splinter group of Mormon fundamentalism.
The Narrative: The series follows cult expert Dr. Christine Marie and her husband, Tolga Katas, as they embed themselves in the Short Creek community (Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona) amid the power vacuum left by Warren Jeffs' imprisonment. It tracks how they infiltrated the inner circle of Samuel Bateman—a self-proclaimed successor to Jeffs—ultimately collaborating with The Salt Lake Tribune and collecting critical evidence for the FBI to halt severe cases of child exploitation and human trafficking.
2. Bring Me the Beauties: A Model Cult (HBO)
Premise: Directed by prominent documentary filmmaker Chris Smith (Tiger King, Fyre), this three-part series investigates a highly specific, lesser-known New Age group called Eternal Values.
The Narrative: Led by the charismatic Frederick von Mierers, the group specifically targeted, recruited, and financially exploited young, successful fashion models and professionals in the late 1980s and 1990s. The series centers on the experiences of top male model Hoyt Richards, utilizing interviews with industry insiders (including Fabio Lanzoni and John Pearson) and former members. Rather than a standard true-crime exposure, it plays out as an exploration of how intelligence, success, and spiritual vulnerability can make individuals highly susceptible to sophisticated coercive control.
3. Devotion: Obedience or Betrayal (Paramount+)
• Premise: Directed by Emmy-winner Nicole Rittenmeyer, this three-part series takes an intimate look at Gloriavale, an ultra-insular, self-sustaining Christian community in rural New Zealand that has operated for over 50 years.
• The Narrative: The series balances historical archival footage with testimonies from recent escapees and current, defensive members. It dissects the strict patriarchal hierarchy where absolute obedience is demanded, detailing recent legal reckonings, labor exploitation, and systematic cover-ups of abuse. (Pop culture note: The community's uniform, rigid dress code famously served as a primary visual inspiration for the costume design of The Handmaid’s Tale TV series).
4. The Cult of NatureBoy (Hulu / ABC News Studios)
• Premise: A four-part investigative docuseries directed by Ben Zand that chronicles the dark evolution of an online-recruited group.
• The Narrative: The series charts the rise of Eligio Bishop (known online as "NatureBoy"), who initially used social media platforms to recruit followers into a group called Carbon Nation, pitched as a self-proclaimed, eco-friendly Black utopia. Using extensive video footage recorded by the members themselves, the series illustrates how a digital-first community rapidly devolved into physical isolation, total financial control, extreme psychological manipulation, and severe escalating violence under Bishop's self-proclaimed messianic rule.
Stories about cults and high-control groups often raise an important question: How do intelligent, capable people become involved in organizations that later prove harmful?
Researchers who study cults note that recruitment is rarely based solely on deception. Many groups initially offer friendship, purpose, a sense of belonging, spiritual growth, or answers to life's difficult questions. Concerns typically arise when a group begins to discourage independent thinking, isolate members from family and friends, demand unquestioning loyalty to a leader, control access to information, or use fear and guilt to maintain compliance.
While not every unconventional religious or social movement is a cult, it is wise to evaluate any organization by its actions rather than its claims. Healthy groups generally welcome questions, respect personal boundaries, allow members to leave freely, and encourage relationships outside the organization.
A federal judge has ruled that the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo may use 150 million portion of a settlement for sex abuse survivors.
Key details from the report include:
Property Sale: The 117-acre seminary site in East Aurora was sold at auction in 2024 to the World Mission Society of God.
Background: The seminary had closed in 2020 following years of declining enrollment and financial difficulties, which were compounded by the fallout from the abuse scandal.
Diocese Statement: A diocese spokesperson welcomed the ruling, confirming that the proceeds will be directed to the settlement fund as previously agreed with the Creditors Committee.
EventsThe US premiere of A Maternal Exorcism will be staged in Nashville and L.A.
Zoe Lambert performs her award-winning solo show at 7 pm on the 28th of June 2026 at The Filming Station, 501 8th Ave S, Nashville, TN 37203.
Then she takes her show to L.A., where you can see a second performance on the 9th of July 2026, 7.30 pm at The Fanatic Salon, 3815 Sawtelle Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90066
Tickets are free/donate at the door. Call 615-400-5620 for more info.
The psychological harms and manipulations of the Law of Attraction and manifestation-based groups
ICSA CONFERENCE 2026
Date: July 1-4, 2026
Hilton Bayfront, San Diego
Session summary
This presentation critically examines the psychological and spiritual impacts of the Law of Attraction and manifestation-based belief systems. Drawing on lived experience, clinical practice, and psychological theory, Andrew Jasko explores how these frameworks can promote hyper-responsibility, emotional suppression, magical thinking, and victim-blaming while contributing to anxiety, shame, and distorted decision-making. Attendees will gain a deeper understanding of the mechanisms through which manifestation-based systems can become psychologically harmful and learn trauma-informed approaches to recovery and rebuilding autonomy.
Full Abstract
The Law of Attraction (LOA), also known as manifestation, functions as a quasi-religious framework within self-help, New Age, and entrepreneur communities. Promoted by bestselling authors, coaches, and speakers as a universal principle for creating wealth, health, and personal transformation, LOA claims that individuals literally attract life outcomes through thoughts, feelings, and intentions. While LOA is widely accepted in spiritual circles and can produce certain subjective benefits, it has received relatively little critical psychological examination despite its cultural prominence.
This presentation examines the psychological and spiritual harms embedded in LOA and related manifestation practices. LOA’s core doctrine—that individuals are fully responsible for everything that happens to them—promotes hyper-responsibility, victim-blaming, and emotional suppression. It encourages adherents to interpret suffering as personal failure, guilt for negative emotions, and fear of attracting misfortune. LOA fosters obsessive cognitive patterns, compulsive thought-monitoring, and a suppression of honest emotional experience, reinforcing avoidance rather than authentic processing of pain. By privileging personal agency over systemic factors, relational context, and multicausality, LOA also contributes to isolation, hyper-individualism, and a diminished capacity for compassion toward others' suffering.
Drawing on lived experience with manifestation and LOA-oriented groups, along with trauma-informed clinical practice and psychological theory, this talk identifies specific mechanisms through which LOA teachings exacerbate anxiety, shame, and psychological distress. It outlines implications for recovery, including reestablishing balanced decision-making, developing a healthy relationship with intuition, gaining a realistic understanding of the roles of thought, behavior, and circumstance in life outcomes, and restoring autonomy after long-term cognitive and spiritual manipulation.
Speaker
Andrew Jasko, MPhil, MA, MDiv, AMFT
Founder and Psychotherapist | Life After Dogma
Andrew Jasko is a psychotherapist, comparative religion scholar, and founder of Life After Dogma. Raised in a high-control Pentecostal environment as the son of a minister, he trained for ministry, served as a missionary in India, and later underwent a profound deconversion and recovery from religious trauma. He holds degrees from the University of Oxford, Princeton Theological Seminary, and Golden Gate University. Andrew specializes in religious trauma, cult recovery, and high-control groups, integrating approaches such as Internal Family Systems (IFS), EMDR, mindfulness, and depth therapy. Through Life After Dogma, he provides educational and therapeutic support to individuals recovering from coercive belief systems and rebuilding their identity, agency, and psychological well-being.
The Unarius Academy of Science
The Unarius Academy of Science is a non-profit spiritual organization founded in 1954 and headquartered in El Cajon, California. Its name is an acronym for "Universal Articulate Interdimensional Understanding of Science."The group is best known for its unique blend of "fourth-dimensional physics," past-life therapy, and a belief system centered on benevolent extraterrestrials, often referred to as "Space Brothers."
Core Beliefs and Practices
Interdimensional Science: Unarius teaches that humanity is part of a vast, interdimensional universe. They believe that life exists on higher frequency planes and that humans are currently at a lower stage of spiritual and scientific evolution.
Past-Life Therapy: A central tenet is that the root cause of current life struggles lies in traumatic or unresolved events from past incarnations. Students use "past-life therapy" to uncover these memories and achieve personal healing.
The "Space Brothers": Followers believe in an "Interplanetary Confederation"—an intergalactic "united nations" of 32 advanced worlds—and that Earth is invited to become the 33rd member. They anticipate that highly advanced beings will eventually land on Earth to share technology and help humanity overcome global challenges.
Creative Expression: Unlike many other groups, Unarius emphasizes creative expression as a primary tool for spiritual growth. They believe that inspired art is timeless and that the act of creating helps align individuals with their "Higher Self."
History and Leadership
Founders: The group was established by Ernest Norman (a self-described psychic) and his wife Ruth Norman (also known as "Archangel Uriel"). Ernest acted as the primary channel for the group’s core texts until his passing in 1971.
The Uriel Era: After Ernest died, Ruth Norman assumed leadership. She significantly raised the group's public profile, appearing on national television (including Late Night with David Letterman) and advancing the mission toward "bringing Unarius to the masses."
DIY Filmmaking: Under Ruth’s direction in the late 1970s and 80s, the Academy became a prolific filmmaking collective. They produced over 100 films, often characterized by elaborate, homemade costumes, visionary sets, and experimental "psychodrama" techniques. These films were frequently aired on public-access television and have since gained a cult following as examples of "outsider cinema."
Post-Leadership: Following Ruth Norman’s death in 1993, the organization continued under Charles Louis Spiegel (Antares) until 1999. Since then, the group has had a smaller footprint, though it remains active, focusing on its educational mission and film archive.
Cultural Legacy
While the group’s beliefs regarding extraterrestrial landings (most notably a predicted landing that failed to materialize in 2001) drew skepticism and notoriety, they are often distinguished from other "cults" by their benevolent, non-coercive worldview. Observers and filmmakers like Jodi Wille have focused on their role as a creative, Warhol-esque collective, viewing their film output as a sincere, if eccentric, effort toward collective spiritual transformation.
Sociological and academic literature exploring the Unarius Academy of Science, its leadership, and its navigation of unfulfilled prophecies includes the following key studies:
Tumminia, D. G. (2007). A Square Theory in a Round Reality: Thoughts on the Study of the Unarius Prophecy. In D. G. Tumminia & W. H. Swatos (Eds.), How Prophecy Lives (pp. 173–184). Brill.
This book chapter expands upon Leon Festinger's foundational cognitive dissonance theory, exploring how the Unarius community structurally managed, reframed, and adapted to unfulfilled predictions of extraterrestrial landings without experiencing organizational collapse or group demise (Tumminia, 2007).
Roth, C. F. (2011). Alien Worlds: Social and Religious Dimensions of Extraterrestrial Contact (review). Journal of American Folklore, 124(494), 356–358. https://doi.org/10.5406/jamerfolk.124.494.0356
This review highlights academic evaluations of "contactee" and UFO-centric spiritual groups. It emphasizes how Unarians uniquely utilize channeling, historical revelation, and past-life therapy rather than relying strictly on the traditional narrative tropes found within standard alien abduction or physical contact movements (Roth, 2011).
Neal, L. S. (2025). Wearing Their Faith. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009304641
This text examines the visual culture, sartorial practices, and public-facing aesthetics of New Religious Movements (NRMs). It deconstructs how unique costuming—such as the elaborate, royal regalia worn by Ruth Norman—functions both to codify internal group status and to shape the broader media's hegemonic "cult stereotypes" (Neal, 2025).
AI Research Disclosure: To bring you the most relevant stories, parts of this newsletter utilize artificial intelligence (AI) tools to search the web, source articles, and assist with content curation. This content is for informational purposes only; we recommend verifying critical facts independently.
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