What is a cult? Are you or someone you know possibly being pushed into joining a cult or are you just interested in how to identify them? And what makes a cult leader? All these questions are answered and more on the first episode of 2023! Throughout this episode, some thoughts may be controversial and some content may be upsetting or triggering for anyone who has been affected by the actions of a cult group currently or historically please seek help from professionals I am not a professional nor do I pretend that I am I simply want to learn more. If you feel comfortable please reach out at the links below if you want to share your experience or discuss anything from this episode I am also happy to discuss offline. Thank you for listening I would love to hear from you all. Also please check out our network www.straightupstrange.com and follow us on Twitter @strangepodcasts Also buy some Merch at TeePublic Follow me on Twitter- @AussieOddball and LIKE, SUBSCRIBE and turn on NOTIFICATIONS on YouTube The Oddball Aussie Podcast - YouTubeFacebook- Oz OddballEmail me at - [email protected] me where all good podcasts are foundI am also on iTunes- The Oddball Aussie -Please rate and review also on the Apple iTunes appand Spotify- The Oddball AussieYou can also find my show on www.greataustralianpods.comCheck out Liminal.Earth Some online groups for resources Cult Info Since 1979 (icsahome.com) cult recovery 101 – Cult Recovery, cult counseling, cult professionals, mental health professionals with cult recovery experience, former cult member counseling, cult recovery therapists, experienced cult recovery counseling.   Cult group checklist -The group is focused on a living leader to whom members seem to display excessively zealous, unquestioning commitment.-The group is preoccupied with bringing in new members.-The group is preoccupied with making money.Questioning, doubt, and dissent are discouraged or even punished.-Mind-numbing techniques (such as meditation, chanting, speaking in tongues, denunciation sessions, debilitating work routines) are used to suppress doubts about the group and its leader(s).-The leadership dictates sometimes in great detail how members should think, act, and feel (for example: members must get permission from leaders to date, change jobs, get married; leaders may prescribe what types of clothes to wear, where to live, how to discipline children, and so forth).-The group is elitist, claiming a special, exalted status for itself, its leader(s), and members (for example: the leader is considered the Messiah or an avatar; the group and/or the leader has a special mission to save humanity).-The group has a polarized us- versus-them mentality, which causes conflict with the wider society.-The group's leader is not accountable to any authorities (as are, for example, military commanders and ministers, priests, monks, and rabbis of mainstream denominations).-The group teaches or implies that its supposedly exalted ends justify means that members would have considered unethical before joining the group (for example: collecting money for bogus charities).-The leadership induces guilt feelings in members in order to control them.-Members' subservience to the group causes them to cut ties with family and friends, and to give up personal goals and activities that were of interest before joining the group.-Members are expected to devote inordinate amounts of time to the group.-Members are encouraged or required to live and/or socialize only with other group members.   Cult leader checklist They tend to be charismatic and seductive with a penetrating, boundary violating gaze and leave you feeling like a spell has been cast on you. They promise miracles and exaggerate their claims. They are self-inflated, grandiose, deem themselves “special” and think they have the 411 direct to God. They often have a fascinating origin story that can’t be proven or disproven. They often claim to