Closure with Doreen Virtue
In a couple of past blog posts, I've mentioned an author named Doreen Virtue. For the uninitiated, Doreen Virtue used to be a psychic who worked primarily with angels. She wrote many books and created many courses on the topic, as well as teaching her readership how to work with elementals, crystals and other cool New Age-y stuff.
Now, I say "used to" not because she's left this world, but because she's left her niche with the New Age crowd. Allegedly, she had some kind of spiritual experience at church one Sunday that led her to switch her material and her readership towards the exclusively Christian crowd. Now, she completely renounces New Age practices, including working with the good Lord's angels. (I think she still believes in them, but she sends all her prayers exclusively to God now.)
I've told you before, but I'll tell ya again: I am a Christian. Make no mistake, I worship our Lord and Savior. But I'm also incredibly open to all religious practices. That's why I resonated with the old Doreen Virtue so much. She was like a role model to me, showing me that I could be Christian while not completely shitting on everyone else's religious practices. She showed me that I could still cling to the comforting religious tradition of my childhood while still venturing into the other schools of spirituality and broadening my experience.
There's a YouTube video out there, in which she tells the story of her journey. Apparently it involved a vision she had at church and the threatening presence of a demon called "Python". She also goes on to explain that she had excluded her Christian practices too often from her spiritual practice. Apparently, she felt that it was important not to "throw the baby out with the bathwater" by hiding her Christian background from her readership. (Ironic, because isn't that exactly what she's doing by abandoning many of her healing, high vibration New Age practices and convincing her followers to suddenly turn against them?)
I can't tell you for sure why Doreen chose to pursue the exclusively Christian path. I can't tell you why she now shits on the practices that have brought comfort and understanding to so many people. That's for her to discuss with God.
But I will tell you that this change shook up my moral and spiritual foundations. For so long, Doreen Virtue was one of the main gurus I relied on to enlighten me in spiritual practices and to show me how I can be a source of light in this world. Oftentimes, we talk extensively about experiences like heartbreak or the death of a loved one. Of course, I'd never want to devalue those experiences. But there are more subtle experiences that aren't discussed as often, such as "breaking up" with a friend or with a mentor.
This experience frustrated me, confused me and cleaved me. I was forced to re-evaluate everything I learned from Doreen over the years, which had been a huge foundation of my spiritual practice.
Of course, this is old news. (Rule 1 of Lit Savvy, dear reader: everything on this blog is late.) But here is how I've grown from this experience:
Truly, I believe Doreen is entitled to have her own individual experience and to grow however she sees fit. She's allowed to change and to switch her readership to a different crowd. That is her right as a human being.
My or anyone else's frustration or anger towards her is valid. But it's not her responsibility. She isn't the cause of those feelings and she isn't responsible for making any of us feel better about this change.
Nevertheless, here are a few things I've done to process these feelings of betrayal and frustration that I've experienced:
1.) I've taken Doreen down from the pedestal and looked at her objectively. Yes, she was an extraordinary medium. But she doesn't have the exclusive patent on working with angels or elementals. She contributed a good amount of information towards that body of work. But it doesn't cease to be relevant just because she's left the field. Also, I've taken inventory of the things she's done that I couldn't reconcile with. For example, I was always majorly perturbed by the visceral fear she always displayed against negative feelings. Even though she acknowledges that it's okay to talk about hard things and to have negative feelings in her explanation video, her actions during her career as a medium were often contrary to that sentiment. (As I mentioned in a previous blog post, she overreacted to the imagery of the original tarot cards, compelling her to make the Angel Oracle cards. According to her, she wanted to create a "teddy bear deck" with soft, soothing imagery that didn't invoke the icky nasties.)
2.) I rely on myself from now on. Gurus and teachers aren't meant to be with us for life. They're meant to appear when you need them and to leave when you've proven that you've understood their lessons. No matter what, I honor that time for what it meant to me and I'm moving on.
3.) Again, I just feel my feelings. I'm entitled to my anger and sorrow. Losing a teacher or a role model is a big event that brings about big growth. If I feel betrayed, I think that's perfectly valid.
4.) I don't feel like I have to go with Doreen in any capacity. This goes in with number 2. I'm entitled to keep believing what I believe, even though my teacher/role model moved in a different direction.
I wish Doreen nothing but the best. But ultimately, with her blessing or not, I know that my spirituality is a lot bigger and broader than the limited beliefs she now espouses. When I look at my highest self, I see myself being above such a dualistic, fear-based practice. That is why I can't spend another year of my life beholden to fear, shame and self-hatred being beaten into me by a community that claims to care about my wellbeing or spiritual development.
Once again, thanks for reading! If you haven't already, please subscribe to this blog. And don't forget to follow me on all my other social media accounts:
Facebook 👍🏼: Savannah K. Salazar
Now, I say "used to" not because she's left this world, but because she's left her niche with the New Age crowd. Allegedly, she had some kind of spiritual experience at church one Sunday that led her to switch her material and her readership towards the exclusively Christian crowd. Now, she completely renounces New Age practices, including working with the good Lord's angels. (I think she still believes in them, but she sends all her prayers exclusively to God now.)
I've told you before, but I'll tell ya again: I am a Christian. Make no mistake, I worship our Lord and Savior. But I'm also incredibly open to all religious practices. That's why I resonated with the old Doreen Virtue so much. She was like a role model to me, showing me that I could be Christian while not completely shitting on everyone else's religious practices. She showed me that I could still cling to the comforting religious tradition of my childhood while still venturing into the other schools of spirituality and broadening my experience.
There's a YouTube video out there, in which she tells the story of her journey. Apparently it involved a vision she had at church and the threatening presence of a demon called "Python". She also goes on to explain that she had excluded her Christian practices too often from her spiritual practice. Apparently, she felt that it was important not to "throw the baby out with the bathwater" by hiding her Christian background from her readership. (Ironic, because isn't that exactly what she's doing by abandoning many of her healing, high vibration New Age practices and convincing her followers to suddenly turn against them?)
I can't tell you for sure why Doreen chose to pursue the exclusively Christian path. I can't tell you why she now shits on the practices that have brought comfort and understanding to so many people. That's for her to discuss with God.
But I will tell you that this change shook up my moral and spiritual foundations. For so long, Doreen Virtue was one of the main gurus I relied on to enlighten me in spiritual practices and to show me how I can be a source of light in this world. Oftentimes, we talk extensively about experiences like heartbreak or the death of a loved one. Of course, I'd never want to devalue those experiences. But there are more subtle experiences that aren't discussed as often, such as "breaking up" with a friend or with a mentor.
This experience frustrated me, confused me and cleaved me. I was forced to re-evaluate everything I learned from Doreen over the years, which had been a huge foundation of my spiritual practice.
Of course, this is old news. (Rule 1 of Lit Savvy, dear reader: everything on this blog is late.) But here is how I've grown from this experience:
Truly, I believe Doreen is entitled to have her own individual experience and to grow however she sees fit. She's allowed to change and to switch her readership to a different crowd. That is her right as a human being.
My or anyone else's frustration or anger towards her is valid. But it's not her responsibility. She isn't the cause of those feelings and she isn't responsible for making any of us feel better about this change.
Nevertheless, here are a few things I've done to process these feelings of betrayal and frustration that I've experienced:
1.) I've taken Doreen down from the pedestal and looked at her objectively. Yes, she was an extraordinary medium. But she doesn't have the exclusive patent on working with angels or elementals. She contributed a good amount of information towards that body of work. But it doesn't cease to be relevant just because she's left the field. Also, I've taken inventory of the things she's done that I couldn't reconcile with. For example, I was always majorly perturbed by the visceral fear she always displayed against negative feelings. Even though she acknowledges that it's okay to talk about hard things and to have negative feelings in her explanation video, her actions during her career as a medium were often contrary to that sentiment. (As I mentioned in a previous blog post, she overreacted to the imagery of the original tarot cards, compelling her to make the Angel Oracle cards. According to her, she wanted to create a "teddy bear deck" with soft, soothing imagery that didn't invoke the icky nasties.)
2.) I rely on myself from now on. Gurus and teachers aren't meant to be with us for life. They're meant to appear when you need them and to leave when you've proven that you've understood their lessons. No matter what, I honor that time for what it meant to me and I'm moving on.
3.) Again, I just feel my feelings. I'm entitled to my anger and sorrow. Losing a teacher or a role model is a big event that brings about big growth. If I feel betrayed, I think that's perfectly valid.
4.) I don't feel like I have to go with Doreen in any capacity. This goes in with number 2. I'm entitled to keep believing what I believe, even though my teacher/role model moved in a different direction.
I wish Doreen nothing but the best. But ultimately, with her blessing or not, I know that my spirituality is a lot bigger and broader than the limited beliefs she now espouses. When I look at my highest self, I see myself being above such a dualistic, fear-based practice. That is why I can't spend another year of my life beholden to fear, shame and self-hatred being beaten into me by a community that claims to care about my wellbeing or spiritual development.
Once again, thanks for reading! If you haven't already, please subscribe to this blog. And don't forget to follow me on all my other social media accounts:
Facebook 👍🏼: Savannah K. Salazar
Twitter 🐦: @authorsksalazar
Instagram 📸: @s.k.Salazar
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