Pizzagate has fired the curiosity of people across the world. If you haven’t been following the Pizzagate story, you would be forgiven for thinking that it is a story about bad pizza, but the truth is much more weird and disturbing.

Pizzagate began when WikiLeaks started to release emails that showed Hillary Clinton’s links to a Washington Pizza joint called Comet Ping Pong. The emails proved that Comet Ping Pong owner James Alefantis had links to Clinton through her long-term friend and advisor John Podesta.

After WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange released emails showing the links between Podesta and Comet Ping Pong, a group of internet sleuths began to look into what they saw as some very worrying links. As reported by the Inquisitr last week, matters soon took a very odd turn.

The Guardian reported that the Ecuadorian Embassy had cut off Assange’s internet access over what it claimed was WikiLeaks interference in the U.S. election. It has been widely claimed that Assange has either been assassinated or taken into custody, and many believe that Pizzagate is the reason behind his disappearance from the public eye. It has even been suggested that WikiLeaks has been taken over by government agents who are trying to hide Assange’s lack of visibility.

Of course, the supposed takeover of WikiLeaks isn’t the only claim relating to the alleged suppression of Pizzagate by the rich and powerful. Reddit CEO Steve Huffman was forced to admit that he had altered the content of some of the posts on the Pizzagate subreddit. Reddit also banned Pizzagate subreddits, something that has infuriated many people and spawned a new community on VOAT, a site that refuses to censor people’s content.

In essence, Pizzagate claims that Comet Ping Pong, a pizza joint described as “a dive,” is at the center of a network of satanists and pedophiles, including some of Washington’s most powerful people. Oddly, GQ Magazine lists owner James Alefantis as one of the 50 most powerful people in Washington. Some of the emails between Podesta and those associated with Pizzagate seemed bizarre in the extreme. Conversations about lost handkerchiefs and food items seemed totally misplaced and contextually disjointed.

Internet detectives claimed that the odd language was code commonly used by pedophiles and those interested in sadomasochistic sex as a screen for their activities. Posts on Alefantis’ Instagram account were seen by many to be very disturbing. In one post, Alefantis is holding a child and the message is tagged #Chicken, a slang term often used by pedophiles to describe children.

Search all Podesta emails for these keywords. We are uncovering a child sex ring.#PodestaEmails28 pic.twitter.com/h6N6O76sAw — Jared Wyand ???????? (@JaredWyand) November 3, 2016

The Pizzagate theory claims that in the context of Podesta’s emails, references to “cheese pizza” meant pedophile sex, while references to “sauce” meant an orgy. The Pizzagate emails also show links between Clinton, Podesta, and convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

So Who Is Marina Abramovic And What Does She Have To Do With Pizzagate?

Abramovic is a performance artist known for her gory performances and occultist rituals. Abramovic is connected to Pizzagate through the WikiLeaks emails because she invited both John and Tony Podesta to a “spirit cooking” dinner at her home. Back in 2014, long before Pizzagate, the Guardian reported on Abramovic’s often disturbing visions of art, something she claims is designed to shock her audience out of “normal thinking.”

“Marina Abramović did a terrifying experiment. At a gallery in her native Belgrade, Serbia, she laid out 72 items on a trestle table and invited the public to use them on her in any way they saw fit. “Some of the items were benign; a feather boa, some olive oil, roses. Others were not. ‘I had a pistol with bullets in it, my dear. I was ready to die.’ At the end of six hours, she walked away, dripping with blood and tears, but alive.”

That story goes on to claim that Abramovic’s performances frequently showcase her cutting herself and slamming into walls. Abramovic is well connected. Among her celebrity friends, she mingles with Lady Gaga, Beyonce, and Kim Kardashian.

The Podestas' "Spirit Cooking" dinner?

It's not what you think.

It's blood, sperm and breastmilk.

But mostly blood.https://t.co/gGPWFS3B2H pic.twitter.com/I43KiiraDh — WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) November 4, 2016

So, What’s The Deal With Spirit Cooking?

The WikiLeaks emails revealed that, in her messages to Podesta, Abramovic mentions “spirit cooking.” Spirit cooking is an event and central ritual started by Abramovic some years ago. She claims it to be a central element of her artistic expression. The origins of spirit cooking can be found in the preludes to production of the “Cake of Light” material, a sacrament in the religion of Thelema which was founded by Aleister Crowley who was believed to be a satanist.

The Cake of Light is a ritual sacrament consumed during occultist rituals and its ingredients are said to include honey, oil, menstrual blood, breast milk, and sperm. Spirit cooking is said to be a modern version of the Cake of Light ritual.

What Abramovic describes as an artistic outlet is claimed by others to be at the very heart of Pizzagate. True Free Thinker suggests that Abramovic and Podesta are at the center of a satanic cult involved in pedophilia, child trafficking, and even cannibalism. They even claim that John and Tony Podesta resemble the police sketches of men suspected of having kidnapped Madeleine McCann in Portugal back in 2007.

Abramovic denies any links to the occult and satanism. She recently told Art News that Tony Podesta has been collecting her art for many years and that the spirit cooking dinner was a perfectly ordinary dinner, a thank you to people who had supported a crowd-funding appeal.

“It was just a normal dinner. It was actually just a normal menu, which I call spirit cooking. There was no blood, no anything else. We just call things funny names, that’s all.”

Of course, it is easy to write off Pizzagate as just another wild conspiracy theory, and most of the media does. In many ways, Pizzagate shows that people are so disenchanted with politicians and with the rich and powerful that they are prepared to believe anything that shows them in a bad light.

We may never get to know the real facts about Pizzagate or about Abramovic, Podesta, or Clinton’s links to the scandal. Those who believe that Pizzagate has uncovered a satanic pedophile ring will see any claims to the contrary as an establishment cover-up. Those who stand accused in the Pizzagate affair will doubtless continue to dismiss the allegations as a mad conspiracy theory.

[Featured image by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP Images]