Strange Attractors Podcast

About Strange Attractors Podcast

Childhood friends Christine Veasey and Nicole Igarashi press back on the pressing issues of our time and ask the oracle for a look at the week ahead every Saturday in Strange Attractors Podcast- your weekly Akashic forecast. strangeattractorspodcast.substack.com (https://strangeattractorspodcast.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)

Publisher

Strange Attractors Podcast

Category

society & culture · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

4 May 2025

Latest episode

13 Jul 2026

Latest episodes

20 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   13 Jul 2026

   The Cult in the Cathedral

   Today, we need to talk about a very specific kind of mind-f**k. We need to talk about what happens when you wake up one day, as a fully formed adult, and realize you were raised in a cult. When society talks about “cults,” we have a very specific aesthetic in mind. We picture isolated compounds in the desert. We picture Kool-Aid, matching tracksuits, and weird robes. When we hear phrases like “speaking in tongues,” “spiritual warfare,” or “demonic possession,” we immediately picture the Deep South: a guy in a sweaty tent in Alabama handing out snakes. But that wasn’t my reality. My cult didn’t have a compound. It had marble floors, stained glass windows, and the official, globally recognized stamp of approval from the Roman Catholic Church. Respectability Politics and the Velvet Rope To understand the cognitive dissonance of my childhood, you have to understand my environment. This wasn’t rural, fringe religion. My parents were wealthy. They owned a highly successful restaurant right here in Philadelphia. We were respected members of the community. My dads best friend was the US Ambassador to Italy under Bill Clinton. My family was deeply integrated into the fast-paced, high-status, politically connected culture of the Northeast. We didn’t look like cult members. We looked like the local elite. But behind closed doors, our reality was dictated by high-demand, high-control spiritual paranoia. My parents genuinely believed they were privy to the “hidden teachings” of the Roman Catholic Church. And to be clear, this wasn’t some rogue, underground basement sect. Every single Wednesday, my mother attended Charismatic Catholic meetings at the prestigious Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, right on the Parkway in Philadelphia. You cannot get more mainstream. But the theology we practiced inside those walls, and inside our home, was something else entirely. A Step to the Left: The Cosmology of Paranoia If you grew up “regular” Catholic, you know the drill. It’s highly structured. It’s bureaucratic. You stand up, you sit down, you recite the Creed, you eat the wafer, you go home. It is quiet, it is guilt-ridden, and it is entirely devoid of spontaneous emotion. Charismatic Catholicism is the exact opposite. In my house, Heaven wasn’t an abstract place in the clouds you go to when you die. It was described to me as another dimension. I was literally taught that you could just take a step to the left, and you would be in Heaven. The veil between realities was exactly that thin. And because the veil was that thin, my very existence was framed as a constant, active battle for my soul. The spiritual world wasn’t a metaphor. It was immediate, it was violent, and it was happening right in our upscale living room. Everything was boiled down to this absolute, high-stakes binary of Heaven and Hell, and my parents were constantly warning me about the Devil. Because we believed the spiritual realm was just a step to the left, we also believed that anything could cross over. People could be possessed, yes—but so could things. Which brings me to the magic. Vatican-Approved Witchcraft If you look at Charismatic Catholic practices through an anthropological lens, it is straight-up folk paganism. My reality was saturated in ritualistic protection. There was holy water everywhere, all the time. My mother would actively anoint me. She spoke in tongues. I have vivid memories of her literally chasing me around the house with a rosary. In my family, every single time we bought anything, the priest had to be involved. * New business? Blessed. * New home? Better bless it. * Family dog? Once a year, bring them to church for a blessing. * A lamp from a thrift store? Absolutely needed to be blessed. Why? Because in this branch of Catholicism, we implicitly believed in animism. We believed that a used sweater or a piece of jewelry could carry a demonic attachment, a curse, or negative spiritual residue from its previous owner. Think about that for a second. The belief that an inanimate object holds spiritual energy, and that you must perform a ritual using specific elemental tools—like salt and water—to cleanse that object and protect your home... That is witchcraft. That is warding. That is the exact same foundational logic used by pagans, shamans, and ceremonial magicians to banish negative energy. At least once a week, we would go to church and do what was essentially candle magic. We would write our intentions on a little piece of paper, put them in a slot, light a candle, and sit there candle-gazing for five minutes before going home to do homework. We just called it a “blessing.” We used Holy Water instead of moon water. We used a Vatican-approved priest instead of a coven. But the mechanics of the magic were identical. We were casting protective circles around our material possessions because we lived in constant terror of the unseen world. Pathologizing the Body & Mind The most insidious part of being raised in an environment of constant spiritual warfare is that the war never actually ends. And if you step out of line, or if you suffer, it is framed as your own fault for leaving the protective circle. Worse, I was taught a horrific theology of suffering. I was told that before I was born, I chose my struggles to earn “extra points with Jesus.” If I complained, I was told I was too fresh and needed to speak to a priest. Because of this, my entire life, my autism and my chronic fatigue syndrome were never treated as medical realities. They were treated as spiritual failings. I was told I was just lazy, or that I was stubborn. My neurodivergence was just me refusing to submit. The Weaponization of Tragedy Recently, this theology reached its violent, logical conclusion. I survived a horrific dog attack. I lost my right hand to amputation. My left hand is barely functional, held together with internal fixators after multiple surgeries. As an autistic person with fibromyalgia, the sensory nightmare of having my bandages changed in the hospital was agonizing. To manage the pain and the sheer terror, I used what actually works for me as a yoga teacher. I played a beautiful track of a woman singing a Sanskrit heart protection mantra. I was using sound to ground my nervous system in the face of unspeakable tragedy. My mother and I are very low-contact—I essentially have to “grey rock” her to protect my peace. But she visited me once during this hospital stay. Big mistake. Besides policing my food the entire time to make sure I didn’t get “too fat,” she went behind my back. Without my knowledge or consent, she pulled the doctor aside and told them I would have no support at home and that they needed to put me in an institution. And then, before she left, she looked at me and dropped a bomb. She told me that instead of putting on a Sanskrit chant, if I had gotten on my hands and knees and begged Jesus, maybe I wouldn’t be lying in a hospital bed. Think about the sheer cruelty of looking at your child, who has just survived something that could have killed her, with metal bars screwed into her forearms, and telling her she was maimed because she didn’t grovel hard enough to the right God. And then she left me alone with two disabled children to take care of. That is not love. That is a hostage situation. Taking the Magic, Leaving the Cult It is a massive pill to swallow, realizing your reality was built on a foundation of theological paranoia and abuse. But naming it is the first step in dismantling it. I am no longer afraid of their Devil. I do not blame the universe. And I no longer believe the universe is a war zone between angels and demons fighting over my soul. Most importantly: I will never, ever get on my hands and knees to beg for anything from anyone. But I still believe in the weird and the wonderful. I believe our thoughts shape our realities. The difference now is that I have stripped the fear, the punishment, and the dogma out of it. I can look at a chanting ritual not as a desperate defense against a vengeful God, but as a highly effective, practical psychological tool that regulates my nervous system. I took the magic, and I left the cult behind. If this resonates with you—if you are unpacking your own religious trauma, or if you just want to explore the esoteric without the guru-b******t and the dogma—subscribe and stick around. We have a lot of untangling to do. Stay weird. Stay grounded. And I’ll catch you next time. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit strangeattractorspodcast.substack.com (https://strangeattractorspodcast.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

2. 

   22 Dec 2025

   2026 Predictions: The Great Bifurcation, Bunkers & The Anti-Ambition Economy

   This week on Strange Attractors, we ask: What if the internet isn't a library, but a crystal ball? We treat public data streams—search queries, housing permits, and infrastructure sensors—as the "exhaust of civilization" to predict the shape of 2026.Using the framework of Chaos Theory, we identify the "Strange Attractors" that society is flocking toward. The data suggests we aren't heading for a single collapse, but a Great Bifurcation- a splitting of reality into two parallel timelines.We break down the four major attractors defining this split:The Architecture of Withdrawal: From billionaire doomsday bunkers to the "Neoluddite" movement of digital ghosting.The Synthetic Social Contract: The migration of intimacy from humans to AI loops.The Adversarial Interface: The war between thermal surveillance/neural data harvesting and the resistance tactics of data poisoning (Nightshade/Glaze) and adversarial fashion.The Anti-Ambition Economy: The global rise of "Lying Flat," "Act Your Wage," and the thermodynamic limits of hustle culture.Finally, we discuss the crumbling infrastructure, the "Forever Sick" season, and turn to the Oracle for a reading on Sacred Inner Space as a survival tool for the coming year. Here are three sci-fi writing prompts based on the themes of the “Great Bifurcation,” “Adversarial Interface,” and “Anti-Ambition Economy” from this episode: 1. The Luxury of Disconnection In 2030, the internet is a “Dark Forest” filled with AI-generated noise, scams, and aggressive thermal surveillance. The only way to access “The Quiet”—a clean, verified, human-only network—is to buy expensive hardware that physically blocks all outside signals. You are a “Signal Smuggler,” a low-level tech worker who builds illegal Faraday cages for the poor, allowing them moments of respite from the relentless algorithm. One day, you intercept a data stream from a wealthy “Sovereign Cloud” enclave that reveals their “disconnection” isn’t just about privacy—it’s about hiding the fact that they are uploading their consciousness before the infrastructure collapses. Write a story about your choice: Do you expose their secret to the chaotic public web, or steal a spot in the upload for yourself? 2. The Lying Flat Rebellion The government has passed the “National Rejuvenation Act,” mandating that all citizens with a certain “Ambition Score” must work 80-hour weeks to support the failing economy. Those who refuse are classified as “Entropic Agents” and denied healthcare. You are a “Flat-Liner,” a member of the underground “Lying Flat” resistance who has mastered the art of “Metabolic Camouflage”—using meditation and bio-hacks to lower your heart rate and body heat so surveillance drones mistake you for inanimate objects. Write a story about a high-stakes mission where you must infiltrate a corporate “Hustle Hub” not to destroy it, but simply to take a nap in the server room—an act of passive resistance that triggers a system-wide crash. 3. The Neural Rights Heist Neural data harvesting is legal, and companies can now subpoena your thoughts. You are an “Adversarial Stylist,” an artist who designs “Thought-Cloaks”—mental patterns and fashion accessories (dazzle makeup, asymmetric haircuts) that disrupt brain-computer interfaces. You are hired by a high-profile politician who needs to hide a “thought crime” from a mandatory public scan. But as you design their camouflage, you realize the “crime” they are hiding is actually a plan to permanently sever the link between the rich and the poor, creating a biological caste system. Write a story about how you encode a “poison pill” into their thought-cloak—a mental image so chaotic it will infect the scanner and reveal the truth to the world. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit strangeattractorspodcast.substack.com (https://strangeattractorspodcast.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

3. 

   13 Dec 2025

   Artaud's Body Without Organs: The Rhizome & the Occult War on the Self

   This week on Strange Attractors, we are recovering from sickness, autistic burnout, and the general stress of the holiday season. But through the brain fog, we dive deep into the origins of Schizoanalysis and the radical philosophy of the forgotten surrealist, Antonin Artaud.We explore the true meaning of the “Body Without Organs”—not as a physical emptiness, but as a rebellion against the “Protestant Body” that capitalism demands we inhabit. We discuss how Western medicine pathologizes the soul’s refusal to be productive, viewing spiritual “healing crises” as inconvenient sicknesses rather than necessary transformations.This episode tears down the “colonial sensorium” (where vision is just surveillance and hearing is for commands) and contrasts the embodied, tortured authenticity of Artaud against the “corporate occultism” of figures like Aleister Crowley.Finally, we turn to the Oracle for a reading on Community. We connect the nature of trees and roots to the philosophical concept of the Rhizome,, finding hope in the underground, interconnected networks that sustain us when the surface world falls apart. Writing Prompts Inspired by This Episode 1. The Organism Update 9.0 In a future where the “Protestant Body” is literal, citizens receive mandatory neural firmware updates that filter sensory input for maximum economic efficiency. Your eyes don’t see colors that aren’t relevant to your trade; your ears auto-mute sounds that don’t contain instructions or warnings. You are a “scraper”—a hacker who uses illicit, Artaud-style audio files (screams, dissonance, chaotic noise) to crash the firmware. Write a story about the moment you accidentally “brick” your own sensorium, dissolving the software that defines your organs, and for the first time, you experience the terrifying, chaotic, and infinite “field of potential” that the government calls Psychosis, but you recognize as Reality. 2. The Stabilization Ward “Enlightenment” has been classified as a Class-A contagion by the World Health and Productivity Organization. The symptoms—dissolution of the ego, a sense of timelessness, and a refusal to perform labor—are treated in high-tech “Stabilization Wards” designed to shock the soul back into the rigid confines of a “useful” worker unit. You are a top-tier Stabilizer, an expert in chemically inducing the fear of death to re-bind consciousness to the body. Write a story about your toughest patient: a woman who isn’t resisting your treatments, but absorbing them, and who is slowly convincing you that you are the one who is catatonic, and she is the only one who is awake. 3. The Rhizome Protocol The “Surface Web” is monitored by an omniscient AI known as “ The Judgment of God,” which predicts and punishes dissent before it happens by analyzing linear data trails. To survive, the Resistance has gone offline—literally. They have developed a bio-punk communication system based on the root systems of ancient forests (the Rhizome). Information isn’t sent as binary code, but as chemical signals and emotional impulses passed through the earth. Write a story about a courier who must transport a message that cannot be written down—a pure, raw feeling of insurrection—across a deforested wasteland without letting the AI’s drones detect the spike in their nervous system. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit strangeattractorspodcast.substack.com (https://strangeattractorspodcast.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

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YouTube views

1,881

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Podcast Authority Score: 55 / 100

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Quality

85

Social presence

0

YouTube

65

Engagement

0

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