Episode notes
In this episode I'll wrap up a two part series on black magic, cults and witchcraft:
- The Children of God cult was founded by David Brandt Berg in 1968 as Teens for Christ and grew to have 15,000 members worldwide.
- Joaquin Phoenix and Rose McGowan, both celebrities, spent part of their childhood in the cult.
- The cult's controversial "flirty fishing" policy played a role in driving Phoenix's parents to leave the group.
- Black magic and witchcraft have a historical background, with early witches practicing magic and being misunderstood as healers or pagan practitioners.
- The Salem witch trials in the mid-1600s in Salem, Massachusetts, resulted in the execution of accused witches.
- Scapegoating and creating distractions are compared to political strife, and the concept of modern satanic beliefs in karmi ...