A Little Bit Culty

Blazing Eyes, Cult Ties, and New Age Vibes with Leah Sottile

Apr 14, 2025

Leah Sottile, a journalist and podcaster, dives deep into the murky waters of New Age cults in her conversation. She sheds light on the infamous Love Has Won cult and its eccentric leader, Amy Carlson, highlighting bizarre beliefs and the bizarre circumstances surrounding her death. Leah discusses the appeal of these ideologies to women and the patriarchal undercurrents within them. She also tackles the troubling rise of antisemitism in spiritual narratives, exposing the complex dynamics of power, devotion, and community within these movements.

01:04:19

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Leah Sottile

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Quick takeaways

Leah Sottile's exploration of New Age spirituality reveals its potential risks, including manipulation and alignment with harmful ideologies disguised as empowerment.

The episode highlights the compelling narratives that attract women to New Age movements, illustrating how community and belonging can mask exploitative practices.

Sotilli emphasizes the alarming consequences of blind loyalty to charismatic leaders in cults, posing critical questions about accountability and personal responsibility.

Deep dives

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Intro

2min

Exploring New Age Cults and Controversies

2min

Unraveling Lori Daybell and New Age Cults

20min

Exploring Cult Dynamics and Female Leadership

10min

New Age Beliefs and Their Complexities

16min

Cult Dynamics: Power, Servitude, and Luxury Marketing

4min

Navigating Spiritual Emergencies and Cult Dynamics

15min

Insights on Cults and Menopause

3min

This episode is sponsored in part by BetterHelp. New Age isn’t just sage bundles and Instagram affirmations. It can also be a fast track to conspiracy-laced belief systems, grifty gurus, and straight-up cults. In this episode, we’re joined by journalist and podcaster Leah Sottile, whose new book Blazing Eye Sees All takes a sharp look at how New Age spirituality has seeped into American culture, and not always in ways that sparkle.

We dig into the strange and disturbing world of Love Has Won, a New Age cult led by self-proclaimed deity Amy Carlson, aka Mother God, who gained infamy for turning blue from drinking colloidal silver. (Yes, really.) Leah breaks down how Carlson built a loyal following online, why her followers believed she channeled Robin Williams, and how the group continued after her death.

We also talk about the deeper issues hiding behind the crystal curtains—like why women are often drawn to New Age ideologies, the patriarchal dynamics hidden in so-called matriarchal cults, and the troubling rise of antisemitism in these belief systems.

This one is equal parts fascinating and horrifying. Come for the blue lady, stay for the sharp insight.

You can find more of Leah and her work on her website https://leahsottile.com/, on her blog, and on Instagram @leah.sottile

Also… let it be known that:

The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business individual, anyone or anything. Nobody’s mad at you, just don’t be a culty fuckwad.

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CREDITS:

Executive Producers: Sarah Edmondson & Anthony Ames

Production Partner: Amphibian.Media

Writer & Co-Creator: Jess Tardy

Associate producers: Amanda Zaremba and Matt Stroud of Amphibian.Media

Audio production: Red Caiman Studios