Leaving Mormonism to Join Teal Swan’s Cult - Jared Dobson Pt. 2 - Mormon Stories

When someone loses their faith in Mormonism, there are several paths often followed. One is to become agnostic or atheist, and never to rejoin a religion again. One is to re-join a Christian church. One is to follow a more fundamentalist Mormon path (e.g. Denver Snuffer, Preppers, Julie Rowe). And one is to become susceptible to new age beliefs and other gurus or cult leaders. Today we will be talking about the last option.

Teal Swan (born Mary Teal Bosworth) is described on her web site as an American spiritual teacher, author, and social media personality. She was raised in Logan, UT, and as a teenager was connected to controversial Mormon therapist Barbara Snow, who was at the center of the Satanic Ritual Abuse panic in the 1990s and 2000s. After a very turbulent childhood, which involved self harm and suicidality, Teal pursued modeling for a time, and eventually began pursuing the path of becoming a spiritual guide.

Teal's teachings on how to manage mental health issues have often been described as unconventional and she has received criticism for how she attracts fans, with some critics nicknaming her "The Suicide Catalyst". At present she has 700,000 followers and has been covered by the BBC, and in several documentaries, including a recent documentary on Netflix.

Her history of work is highly controversial because it incorporates various super controversial and problematic ideologies and practices such as:

The cultivation of repressed/recovered (false) memories.
Claims of Satanic ritual abuse.
Energy healing.
Clairvoyance.
Numerology.
The Law of Attraction.
A belief in a "Third Eye."
The usage of crystals to "raise your vibration or frequency."
A belief in multiple lives.
A belief that she is an alien from another planet.
A belief in spiritual projections/possessions.
When dealing with suicidal clients, referring to suicide as "pushing the reset button" for a future life.
Communal living.

Jared Dobson was raised LDS, served an LDS mission, got married and divorced, became suicidal, and started searching for answers in New Age Spirituality. He came across Teal Swan, and became a follower in her movement (a "Tealer") for 2 years. He ended up moving in with Teal and became a part of her communal family in Park City, Utah. They were romantically involved for 5-6 months, were set to have a child together, and as the relationship began to fray, Jared was kicked out of the commune and checked himself into a psychiatric ward (UNI at the University of Utah).

He has been recovering ever since.

This is Jared's story of his experiences with Teal Swan. This story also has important connections to other cult-like phenomena occurring in recent times, including the Lori Vallow/Chad Daybell/Julie Rowe/Prepper phenomena. It also is an insider's view into the emergence of a modern cult.

Chapters
00:00 Watching Teal's videos
07:00 Promise to have special powers. Relation to mormonism
07:55 Teal could detect that Jared was in a really severe state
09:58 Getting his first healing from her. What it felt like.
13:16 Rapid weight loss
13:55 Living with his mom and stepdad. Being a nutcase to them.
16:07 Jared mad about her using multi-level marketing to finance her business
17:14 Volunteering to create her website & moving to her commune
19:25 What Jared remembers about Teal's youth. She didn't want him to check her story. Stories get crazier and crazier
23:38 What is it that makes you now feeling it isn't true?
25:48 Comparing with mormonism, First Vision story
26:32 Negative implications of the implanted beliefs movement
29:50 'Remembering Satan' book. Parents having a hard time to stand up to a teenage daughter
31:40 Teal supposedly having been a super model and dating famous people
36:29 Jared telling about what he did for Teal & getting close to her
41:27 Comparing to Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow. Turn out to be dangerous cults
42:59 Focus on money. Business side of it all
44:32 Jared getting a job and making her good money
45:00 Comparing to Martin Harris and the early Mormon history
45:26 Donate button, selling anthing, books
45:52 It's easy to fake stuff, Jared giving an example live on camera
47:02 How Teal would use this
47:35 How is the following growing? Another example Julie Rowe
48:30 People need people
49:27 John comparing to the OSF, MSP, and his own practice. What's the difference?
51:18 The root of all evil is pain. Jared now laughing at his experiences then. Wishing Teal the best
53:00 Things to call out

Mormon Stories #1328-1331: Leaving Mormonism to Join Teal Swan’s Cult - Jared Dobson
   • Mormon Stories #1328-1331: Leaving Mo...