2023 Conference: Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities

Dates: April 26-29, 2023

Our spring 2023 conference, "Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities: Implications for Spiritual Care of Patients and Communities," explored a twofold reality: alternative spiritualities can be enormously empowering for the persons who participate in them, but they can also be sites of deeply harmful abuses of power. We welcomed proposals that explore only one side of this reality as well as those that explore the connection between the two sides, and especially welcomed proposals designed to foster open-hearted dialogue between people who have benefited from alternative spiritualities and those who have experienced significant harm from them.

Watch these captioned videos of 2023 conference presentations, listed alphabetically by speaker, on the HDS Program for the Evolution of Spirituality YouTube channel.

• "The Memory of Camilo: Monuments of Faith and Revolution," Frias Alvaro
• "Uses and Abuses of Ayahuasca in the Upper Amazon," Frédérique Apffel-Marglin
• "Transforming the Poison of Abuse into Medicine," Dao Shr Suzy Balliett
• "Genderspecific Manipulation through Non-Violent Communication, Spirituality and Biologistic Concepts," Maria Burschel
• "Mitigating Risk in Extreme Spiritual Pursuit," Jeff Carreira
• "The Biopower of Faith Leaders as Alternative Medicine Practitioners in Spiritual Communities," Orus Mateo Castaño-Suárez
• "Song Within a Sacrifice Zone," Orus Mateo Castaño-Suárez
• "Transmuting Poison into Medicine: Intersecting Cultivation Practices and the Power of Spoken Word for Somatic Trauma Healing," Billy J. Choi-Gekas and Heather Beamish
• "Noctumonium and the Beasts of Satan: Responding to Emerging Acid Satanism Among Teenagers in Italy," Federico Cinocca
• "Investigating the Intersection Between Gender Transition and Religious Conversion," Nicole Malte Collins
• "Ancestors & Money: The Spiritual Dimension of Reparations Work for White People," Morgan Curtis 
• "Mother Earth Goddess of Kurdistan: Neolithic Spirituality, Femininity and Contemporality," Dilşa Deniz
• "Neither Kittens nor Baby Monkeys: Enhancing devotees’ Agency in Hyperlocal Guru-Bhakti Communities," Michal Erlich
• "[Un]Conscious Colonialism – Why is “Native Spirituality” a Pagan Genre?," Pegi Eyers
• "The Guru at Your Fingertips: An Exploratory Study of Spiritual Leaders on Social Media," Melissa Caicedo Farbman, Olivia Jenkins, and Petra Parvati Meedt
• "The High Cabal and the Lynch Mob: Exploring Conspiracism Through René Girard’s Scapegoating Theory," Michel Jacques Gagné
• "Indigenous Spiritualities: Cultural Appropriation or the Last Salvation?," Maria Fernanda Gebara
• "Empowerment and Agency Among Llave Mariana’s Practitioners: An Ethnographic Approach to an Argentinian Spiritual Movement," Agustina Gracia
• "The Guru Scandals: Lessons from the Recent History of Power Abuse," Phillip Goldberg
• "From Lion to Lamb: The Spiritual Humiliation of Shaker Richard McNemar," Christian Goodwillie
• "Empowerment and Agency Among Llave Mariana’s Practitioners," Agustina Gracia
• "'You Will Simply Go Nuts if You Try': A Discussion of Paradox within the Osho-Rajneesh Movement," Anna Guterman
• "Spiritual Leaders and Betrayal Trauma," Duncan Holloman
• "Cultivating Spiritual Experiences: The Chan Buddhist Ox Herding Pictures," Maria Jaoudi
• "Sorcery, African Alternative Spirituality and the Abuse of Power," Ikechukwu Anthony Kanu
• "Healthy Happy Holy? Harm and Healing in Sikh Dharma's Kundalini Yoga Community," Nirinjan Kaur Khalsa-Baker
• "Authority Over the Alternative: The Role of Social Media, Content Moderation and Secularism in Authorizing the Rise and Fall of Alternative Spiritualities," Jenn Louie
• "The Tower Crumbles, but Now You Can See the Star: Queer Temporalities, Religious Affects, and Healing Through Tarot Practice," Destiny Magnett
• "The Santal Revolt of 1855 and the Impact of Alternative Spirituality on Women," Ata Mallick and B. R. Ambedkar Satabarshiki Mahavidyalaya
• "Uses and Abuses of Power in Ritual Practice with Ayahuasca," Silje Trym Mathiassen
• "Drumming the Oppressed of the Oppressed: Spirit Survivance in Native American Ceremonial Resurgence," Delores (Lola) Mondragón
• "The Ongoing Harm of the Term Shamanism: Problematic Misnomer to Evolving Cultural Appropriation," Eric D. Mortensen
• "Association for Spiritual Integrity: Lessons from a Young Organization Making a Difference," Jac O'Keeffe, Philip Goldberg, and Rick Archer
• "'We Are Not Spiritual Masters': Narrative coding and de-coding of power structures," Katharina Opalka
• "Mysticism and Its Discontents: Does Spiritual Illumination Create Its Own Intrinsic Blindness?," Carter Phipps
• "Improving Self Improvement: Barriers to Healing for Abuse Survivors When Reading Self-Help Books," Chelsea Irys Rendlen
• "The Survivor Imperative and Neoliberal Victim Theory," Lily Kay Ross
• "Uses of Power: Individual Consciousness for Collective Consciousness," Sunita Singh Sengupta
• "Powerful is the Giving-Up of Power: The Southwark Mystery of Crossbones Graveyard’s In-Casts," Mark Schunemann
• "Empowerment and Disempowerment in Moral Re-Armament," Margaret Eastman Smith
• "A Look at Leadership Archetypes in Traditional and Alternative Spiritualities," Brian Stafford
• "The Mirror Within: Abuse and Hope in Devotional Spirituality," Izzy Swanson
• "The Cognitive Disconnect of Goddess Spirituality," Karen Tate
• "Weaponized Vulnerability and the Search for Authenticity in Modern Yoga Communities," Patricia Tillman
• "The Use of Faith Power in The Shariah Economic Movement," Karim Ullah
• "The Democratization of Power in the Spirit - A Harmonist Perspective," Bro. Johannes Zinzendorf