Beautiful people, are you looking for your next podcast obsession? You'll be sure to find it in the new season of Witness, Mystic Mother, and we've got a great listen directly from the show to share it with you. The story follows the rise and fall of the Phoenix Goddess Temple, which for years claim to offer seekers healing through sensual touch. But when an outsider

exposes what's happening behind closed doors, the temple unknowingly welcomes a new kind of

seeker, undercover detectives. What some saw as a spiritual home, the state saw as a brothel

operating under the guise of religious freedom.

So what happens when your religious beliefs might be against the law?

If you drive down 24th Street in central Phoenix, past the car wash and the pawn shop and the fast food drive-thrus

throughs, they'll come across a nondescript office building on the west side of the road.

Nestled between the bustling traffic and a wide, slow-moving canal, there's a place that many

once considered an oasis.

When you walk in, there's a big picture of a goddess, and she's standing with her legs open.

I think her hands up in the air, and their sunlight was coming right through her genital area,

like just a big burst of light.

It was all dim lights and pastel colors and candles and incense and goddess statues

and the sounds of falling water, little fountains and that sort of thing.

I think there was about eight rooms,

but each room was different and had its own name.

They were the colors of the chakras.

The orange room was the Hindu room.

The rainbow room was the Persian room.

Everything was swathed and crepey cloths and it was really very serene, peaceful.

So there were some different areas where they go and pray.

The ceiling was painted with sky, just really beautiful.

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