Rise of the Spiritual Influencer
In the swirling vortex(or cesspool, depending on who you speak to) of spirituality and self-improvement, a new trend has emerged, one that mixes dubious ancient wisdom with modern marketing plus the lure of an unrealistic, aspirational lifestyle to create something that feels egregious to those who quietly do spiritual work to better themselves and the human collective. The rise of the spiritual influencer/healer/teacher, is a role often celebrated, denigrated, critiqued, and most certainly profited from in the last 10 years.
What I have seen on social media in the spiritual community in the last 5-7 years has saddened and angered me. The Universe knew I needed this type of inspiration to break my silence and use my voice for good. Hence, this blog was born. For the last ten years, I have remained silent about many things I shouldn’t have. My silence is tantamount to a permission slip. The silence ends now.
This blog explores how false light predatory spiritual influencers work and how to avoid being caught in their seductive traps.
Insta-Healers
A new healer/teacher is excited because they’ve just unlocked a superpower through a very short training (maybe as short as a weekend). Hopped up on excitement and ego, they decide to market their new superpowers to anyone and everyone. That might be fine if they weren’t charging what their teacher charges. With a modicum of marketing skill and a dash of personality, anyone can look like the most amazing healer. Smoke and mirrors work in social media, and entire brands have been built on illusion.
People who know little about something are usually the most dangerous. There is science to back this up. The Dunning-Kruger Effect illustrates this phenomenon perfectly. Spiritual influencers take their little knowledge and experience and run with it in a public forum. Depending on the modality and the individual seeking help, this is potentially very dangerous. Experience and practice are needed. Any modality worth its salt has practice time available for the program.
I have found that these healers get triggered when asked who trained them, what the initiation process was like, what the training consisted of, or how long they have been practicing. It is up to you to ask these questions. Pay close attention to the answer. The answer and how they respond to the question speak volumes. Some influencers respond with nebulous or nonsensical answers, claiming innate or divinely "downloaded" skills. My favorite answer is, “I have been doing the modality in question for many lifetimes.” My response: “Didn’t you finish your training last weekend?” This attitude undermines the rigorous work needed to be proficient within a modality and cloaks their practice in a veil of mystery that's more about allure than genuine skill.
It's a red flag when healers cannot or won’t acknowledge their lineage or the sources of their knowledge, suggesting a lack of depth and respect for the traditions they claim to represent. I wholeheartedly believe that downloads happen, but when the download in question is a knockoff of someone else’s work or causes harm to another, then it is an issue.
Moral of the story: Ask the questions. If you get the vibe that asking them the questions would upset or trigger them, that’s information, too. You have the right to ask people who will work on you energetically, even if it’s virtual work, about their training and experience.
The Business of Spirituality
Two thousand-plus years ago, we had Oracles, Seers, and Temple Priestesses. You’d be hard-pressed to find any Oracles wondering how they would make rent this month. Nor did your friendly local Temple Priestess of Athena have to wonder where her next meal would come from. These revered and highly skilled individuals were taken care of by their community. These skilled healers and teachers would be financially taken care of, just like the butcher and baker of the town. If you believe that those working in the spiritual realm should not be financially compensated for their services, I invite you to please release that belief from your mind. Doctors are healers, too. Would you expect them to give you their care for free?
When it comes to spiritual teaching and healing, integrity is central here. There is a line. When the line between sharing wisdom and being compensated fairly is crossed into the land of exploitation, control, and fostering dependence, there is a problem. If you need real-life examples of this, simply get on your streaming service of choice, and you will find a plethora of documentaries detailing financial, sexual, and physical abuse perpetrated by all manner and flavors of spiritual healers/teachers. Having a fleet of Rolls Royce does not a holy person make(see Bikram Choudhury of Bikram Yoga). Nor does being branded with a soldering iron to prove allegiance to a sociopath, self-improvement cult leader make you an ascendant being(see Keith Raniere of NXIVM).
When spirituality becomes a high-ticket item only accessed through select blessed and highly favored healers, to only those who can afford it, we're not just selling a product; we're selling the idea that enlightenment is something you can add to their cart and buy with a click of a button. You should not have to take out a second mortgage on your house, go into debt, or put yourself in a bad financial spot to gain enlightenment.
There are highly sophisticated and savvy spiritual influencers out there who know the lingo, so they may say that you are in “lack mentality” or have a “scarcity mindset” if you challenge the cost of their programs. You may very well be in a scarcity mindset, but if guilt and manipulation are employed to convince you to purchase a program or sign up for a retreat, then it is a red flag. A few years ago, my dear friend and I were a few days away from spending $15,000 on a trip to Egypt. It turns out this “healer” was a phony and was using all kinds of shady af tactics to get people to join his trip. Thank the goddess, I listened to my intuition on that one.
Moral of the story: If you are finding yourself in a place where you are being asked to give thousands of dollars without a whole lot of clarity of what you are getting, then once again, ask questions. What can I expect from this retreat, program, or workshop? Are they making guarantees? Learned this one the hard way - what’s their cancellation policy? It’s their response that gives you insight.
Aspirational Spirituality
I want to blame a certain well-known actress for creating this phenomenon, but it was around before she decided to capitalize on it. Despite proclamations of unity and equality in the spiritual community, a hierarchy of holiness exists. This spiritual elitism, whether through self-proclaimed shamans or those claiming exclusive divine lineages, undermines the collective journey toward enlightenment. It is more of the same old paradigm wrapped in prettier marketing paper. It all comes down to money and materialism. These influencers are creating the same type of hierarchy they say they are dismantling.
Just because you go to Erewhon and buy a $30 green smoothie every day, it does not mean you are closer to your divine-human birthright. Many of these influencers are selling a lifestyle lie and positioning themselves as completely unrealistic aspirational figures to get you hooked on their brand of enlightenment. These spiritual influencers, once again, are very smart and are feeding off of people’s FOMO and envy. It is consumerism. There is nothing you can buy that will get you closer to your authentic self. Spirituality is not glamorous, and clearly, it is being glamorized to sell things that you do not need.
Moral of the story: If you find yourself doom scrolling on social, and pining over how amazing the lives of others are and how they are better than you, start to bring awareness to this pattern. I can write many blog posts about this topic, but the first step is becoming conscious of what you are spending your time and energy on and why.
Spiritual Bypassing
The “Good Vibes Only” road will likely get you to “Despair Ahead Inevitable.” Toxic positivity is the chaotic, bratty basic friend of Spiritual Bypass Baddie. She’s basic and, therefore, appeals to many. Spiritual Bypass Baddie is more mysterious, seductive, and confusing. There is enough truth in her false light ways that it resonates enough, but at the core, it’s rotten.
Love and light all-day-every-day is not a thing. Quit trying to make it happen. Yet, many spiritual influencers and healers have amassed a rabid following around this axiom. If we can just ignore all the icky, dark, sad, and messiness of human incarnation and pretend that everything is sunshine, rainbows, and puppies, then we’ll be A-OK. As if! Your incessant Carebear staring into the brutalities of war will not bring peace. War, greed, and fear will be transformed into peace, generosity, and love through honesty, compassion, and divinely inspired action, not simply throwing up a peace sign in your reel. Bad things are happening in the world. Those bad things pick up speed and force when we ignore and dismiss them as being realities.
Never spiritually bypassing is impossible. No one is perfect. Perfection is impossible, and spiritually bypassing is a way people falsely(for those paying attention) virtue signal their perfection. If these influencers were fully realized ascendant masters, they would not be incarnate as humans. Even saints need to die before they go through the process of being canonized.
Moral of the story: If you are constantly forced to smile and pretend that everything is great when it’s not, or others shame you when you bring up real-life matters, it may be time to cut ties with that teacher/healer. People get so deep into spiritual bypassing that seeing out of it is sometimes challenging. I have experienced spiritual bypassing get vicious firsthand.
Is All Hope Lost?
Yes, all hope will be lost if we continue how we’ve been going. If we open our eyes and ask the tough questions, then there is hope. People seeking help of a spiritual nature are vulnerable. Even savvy and intelligent people in desperate situations get dupped by highly sophisticated influencers and teachers. Getting caught up can be relatively easy and I do not judge people caught in the web of lies these influencers have spun. It has happened to me.
The bottom line is the lack of trust in oneself. There are those who do not believe that their inner guidance is accurate or enough and are constantly going outside of themselves to find their answers. As long as we look outside ourselves for answers that can only be found internally, these spiritual influencers will have clientele and expand their influence.
Authentic, ethical, and uber-powerful healers and teachers exist. Seek them out. Find the good people. Ask questions. Trust yourself.