Cults to Consciousness
Survivor stories of claiming independence after leaving high-control groups & people. Cults to Consciousness is a YouTube channel and podcast, hosted by Shelise Ann Sola—a former devout Mormon / CSA survivor—and her Producer husband Jonathan. They delve into the nuanced experiences of individuals who have escaped a broad spectrum of high-control groups and coercive environments. Their mission is not anti-religious but firmly anti-abuse, aiming to shed light on manipulative practices and systems, while promoting compassion, understanding, and accountability. C2C has attracted a kind and engaged community who thoughtfully support their guests. Subscribe to join them on their advocacy mission.
Episodes
July 8, 2025 • 86 mins
Anneke Lucas was born in Belgium where, at the age of 6, she was sold by her mother to a s*x traff*cking p*dophile network for European elites. Her family’s cleaning lady ab*sed and gro*med her before colluding with a relative to pimp her out to the exclusive club for dr*g-fueled orgies. She would continue to be ab*sed and tortur*d as a s*x slave for years. She had never gone to police with her claims because she was scared into ...
Mark as Played
As a follow up to her incredible interview, we are joined today again by Lydia Knight, who grew up in a pioneer stock Mormon (LDS) family, but layered on top of that was a twisted, fabricated reality that her father was actually the leader of a Satanic cult who had violently abused her as a baby.
Lydia’s mother said she had received revelations of these horr*fic things and Lydia’s grandmother capitalized on this by gaining love a...
Mark as Played
July 7, 2025 • 87 mins
Lydia Knight grew up in a pioneer stock Mormon (LDS) family, but layered on top of that was a twisted, fabricated reality that her father was actually the leader of a Satanic cult who had v*olently ab*sed her as a baby. Lydia’s mother said she had received revelations of these horr*fic things and Lydia’s grandmother capitalized on this by gaining love and adoration from the LDS church members by appearing as a savior to the ab*sed ...
Mark as Played
July 4, 2025 • 69 mins
Sami's grandfather, who lived with Schizophrenia, compiled a 2422 page book of holy scripture in a failed attempt to start his own religion. Heavily inspired by Mormonism, yet drawing from almost every religion, it's full of many surprises. We can't wait to crack it open with all of you and find out what's inside.
Click here to watch on YouTube
Watch the full interview with Sami and her father, Adrian, here
Sami’s go fund me...
Mark as Played
July 3, 2025 • 40 mins
Watch the first half of this episode at @OwenMorganTelltale here
The youth have become more and more of a target since adults are leaving religions at an exponential rate. If they can indoctrinate them young enough, they just might have tithe paying members for life. Shelise and Owen Morgan from @owenmorgantelltale will be reacting to a Jehovah's Witness animated series called Caleb and Sophia and will discuss just how psycholo...
Mark as Played
July 2, 2025 • 127 mins
Celebrating 200 episodes with these 7 other incredible women! We explore ways in which women are harmed, silenced and exploited within 8 different cults from their unique perspectives. The stories and wisdom were beautifully shared amongst survivors supporting each other. They also share ways in which they believe women can take back their power in or outside a cult and gain clarity and freedom.
Click here to watch on YouTube
...
Mark as Played
July 1, 2025 • 67 mins
"The Order" or the "Kingston Clan" is known for their incestuous practices of polygamy in an effort to keep their "bloodline pure". They are a fundamentalist branch of Mormonism in Salt Lake City, where marrying 1st cousins and even half siblings, is seen as perfectly fine. Amanda Rae @TheAmandaRaeGrant , who was raised in this group, escaped at 17 and was seen on the TV show "Escaping Polygamy" helping others to do the same. Aman...
Mark as Played
July 1, 2025 • 55 mins
Forced to suppress who he really is, Val Snow escaped the cult that almost put him through conversion therapy, and is now living a fulfilled life. Ask him your questions!
Click here to watch on YouTube
Resource for those escaping polygamy: Holding Out Help
Check out our in depth interview with Val here
Val's youtube Channel
IG: @valiantunicorn
Get more of Val's story on Amanda Rae's channel
How Do People Get Brainwashed
Un...
Mark as Played
June 30, 2025 • 78 mins
CW: CSA, SA, mentions of suicide…. Philip Seibel was born into the Children of God sex cult and survived many instances of CSA at the hands of his own parents. This was all part of the cult’s mentality “God is love and love is sex”. Our first episode together details his childhood and escape attempts. When he was able to get out successfully, he had no idea about the outside world. At the age of fifteen he ran away from his abusi...
Mark as Played
June 27, 2025 • 78 mins
Within The Children of God, also known as The Family International, the members blindly followed the leader David Berg. They weren’t even allowed to know what he looked like. Only a select few were chosen to be in his presence and can tell the story of who “Grandpa” really was. He was a twisted man who married children, including our guest Serena Kelley who was only 3 years old. Serena is the only person left who is able to tell th...
Mark as Played
June 27, 2025 • 90 mins
CW: CSA, SA, Mentions of drug use- From the ages of 6 to 12, up to when the cult leader, Berg, died, Serena Kelley hid her identity. She was born as a chiId celebrity in the notorious The Children of God cult, known for their extreme abuse practices of polygamy, pedophilia, forced chiId marriages, religious prostitution, and chiId trafficking. Daughter to Sara Kelley— part of leadership, and writer of “The Davidito Book”(CSA man...
Mark as Played
June 27, 2025 • 88 mins
CW: CSA, SA, ChiId Trafficking- David Brandt Berg, also known as King David, Dad, or Grandpa to followers, was the founder and leader of the cult generally known as the Children of God. In 1968 it began as a new religious movement focused on spreading the Christian message. As the decades progressed, the group targeted vulnerable people and devolved as a counter to purity culture in which Berg pushed the idea that God is love, a...
Mark as Played
June 26, 2025 • 64 mins
Ryan Fisher, former confidant of Tim Ballard (founder of Operation Underground Railroad), is a key witness in the latest Kely Suarez case. She is suing Tim for her portrayal as a child traff*cker in the controversial “Sound of Freedom” film. With the case just a few weeks away, Ryan opens up about his experience working closely with Tim, as well as the details of the case in which he’ll be a witness in.
Click here to watch on Yo...
Mark as Played
Carah Burrell blows the lid off Tim Ballard's scandals with new insider information. Shocking testimony reveals the mystical Mormon beliefs behind everything.
Catch Carah’s full breakdown of Tim Ballard's scandal here:
pt.1 https://youtu.be/sSyGDPoWjBo?si=1sTjrAFZrQepXzAk
pt.2 https://youtu.be/6Sxo4ogVRiI?si=_kji5ngd6fg0RoZg
Click here to watch on YouTube
Follow and Support Carah!
YouTube: @carrahburrell
YouTube: @c...
Mark as Played
June 26, 2025 • 48 mins
Tim Ballard has been in the news for the past few months but it just keeps getting worse. You may know him for founding Operation Underground Railroad where he claims to have saved hundreds of kids from s*x trafficking and the movie which falsely depicts his heroism, "Sound of Freedom".
We have discussed a multitude of false claims, backing then shunning (as well as rumored excommunication) from the LDS/Mormon church, sneaky "get...
Mark as Played
June 25, 2025 • 102 mins
Timothy Ballard is an American activist, speaker, author, and founder / former CEO of Operation Underground Railroad, an anti-sex trafficking organization. The 2023 American action film Sound of Freedom starring Jim Caviezel was inspired by his work.
Documents recently obtained by VICE News show Ballard claimed that a revered and powerful figure in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints played a secret, central role in Op...
Mark as Played
June 24, 2025 • 91 mins
Dainy describes what life was like for them growing up in their Ultra Orthodox community and going to an all girls’ school. Life was black and white when it came to gender roles and expectations and because of this, boys and girls even got different education. Pushing back and asking questions got them into trouble multiple times when conformity and compliance were demanded.
Click here to watch on YouTube
We want to meet you in ...
Mark as Played
June 23, 2025 • 50 mins
Following up her initial interview, we go LIVE with famous Hasidic comedian, Leah Forster. After being outed and ostracized from her Ultra Orthodox family and community, Leah, who always felt silenced and repressed, details how comedy clubs and restaurants were forced to ban her from performing, how she took to social media and went viral, and ultimately, how she turned pain into comedy.
Click here to watch on YouTube
Watch he...
Mark as Played
Growing up in an Ultra Orthodox Hasidic family, Leah Forster always felt silenced. Ab*sed at the hands of her father, she began to turn pain into comedy. Later on, performing for Jewish female only crowds, Leah crossed boundaries within her community and became famous. Things took a dark turn when she was outed on social media and then fired on the spot from her teaching job of 13 years. When comedy clubs/restaurants were force...
Mark as Played
CW: graphic talk of sex, marital rape, miscarriage, pedophilia
Born into a strict Ultra Orthodox family and the daughter of a Rabbi, Chasya’s life was under complete control. In this 2nd part of her interview, we discuss the shady dealings of the community with law enforcement, judges, hit men, reproductive coercion, internalized misogyny, sexual distortion and more.
Click here to watch part 1 on YouTube
Click here to watch...
Mark as Played
Popular Podcasts
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!