Cults to Consciousness

Shelise Ann Sola hosts Cults to Consciousness as a former devout Mormon and childhood sexual abuse survivor, bringing firsthand understanding of high-control environments to every conversation. The show features nearly 400 episodes of interviews with survivors who left coercive groups and people, maintaining a clear stance: anti-abuse, not anti-religious. That distinction matters, because it keeps the door open for guests who might feel defensive about their backgrounds while still holding abusive systems accountable. The podcast has earned a 4.9 star rating from nearly 500 Apple Podcasts reviewers. Shelise’s interviewing style is warm and patient, creating a space where guests share things they might hold back in a more confrontational setting. Recent episodes have featured Warren Jeffs’s son Jaden Jeffs, Olivia Plath from TLC’s Welcome to Plathville, and survivors from Amish, Mennonite, and polygamist communities. The show publishes weekly and episodes run long, often over an hour, which gives guests room to tell their full stories. Her husband Jonathan Rosales co-produces. For NXIVM listeners specifically, the value is understanding how the manipulation tactics NXIVM used mirror patterns across dozens of other groups. Once you hear enough of these stories, you start recognizing the playbook. Shelise makes those connections without ever reducing someone’s personal experience to a talking point.