Fool's Gold: Discernment in the Age of Grift

In a world where everyone sells sparkles, how can we tell the glitter from the gold?

Fool's Gold: Discernment in the Age of Grift is a podcast about spiritual seeking, coercive control, and how we learn to recognize manipulation.

I'm Cara Cordoni—leadership coach, cooperative worker-owner, and someone who's been caught up in multiple cults, including the International School of Temple Arts (ISTA). I spent two years trying to work things out privately through an activist group called 3SC (Safer Sex-Positive and Spiritual Communities). When mediation failed and caused more harm, I started having public conversations instead. This podcast is one of those conversations.

Why "Fool's Gold"? I am the fool. We are all fools. Most of us have been fooled. How do we learn to sort the gold from the glitter?

I talk with people who've lived through these experiences, researched them, reported on them, or tried to create change around them. We ex