Chantal Moss reveals her journey out of a new age cult
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Chantal Moss never imagined she’d find herself under the spell of an online cult delivered under the guise of New Age wellness. Growing up in Paparimu, a tiny country settlement south of Auckland, she always felt most at peace outdoors and, at 19, decided to train as a naturopath.
Little did she know that working in holistic health would eventually plunge her into a dark counterculture.
“Twenty years ago, it was my dream for the wellness industry to become more widely known,” explains Chantal, 39.
“I still love working as a naturopath, but over the years, as more people have adopted this way of life, I’ve become aware of its toxic online underbelly. “I call it a New Age cult because the ideas and subsequent behaviours are like those of a cult.”
While most people think of a cult as a group ruled by a charismatic leader – where members dress alike, live together, and follow strict rules that control how they think and behave – there are modern movements that don’t fit this traditional description yet include the same dynamics, as Chantal discovered.
When wellness turns dangerous
She says, “The New Age cult holds beliefs from the most benign, such as the natural world being where we can experience God, to outright harmful, like cancer being treated with detoxes instead of proper medical care. “You can see how people start down this path – the medical system isn’t perfect and holistic wellness can be incredibly transformative, but it becomes dangerous.”
The indoctrination was slow and subtle for Chantal.
What she was taught to believe
“This ideology slowly moulded me into someone who didn’t question the ‘truths’ I was absorbing,” she tells.
“Vaccines were the cause of chronic illness. Anything unnatural was harmful. Pharmaceutical companies are corrupt, therefore all medications are bio-weapons to control our minds and keep us unwell.”
As with all conspiracy theories, Chantal says there are grains of truth, which is what makes them so compelling and insidious.
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