As a child, whenever I was alone and afraid in the dark of night, I whispered aloud “The Lord is always with me.” It got me through many a night, but still to this day, uttering that mantra brings a shiver up my spine. Saying the words just reminds me of those moments of fright, as it seems to invite back in that childhood terror. At the start of my twenties, I replaced my Catholic-born phrase with a more New Age one I extracted from the teachings of “Angel Lady” Doreen Virtue. My new mantra was a prayer, “Archangel Michael, please make and keep happy energy in and around this space.”
At the age of 38 I have used this prayer for nearly 20 years and it always brings me peace. I use it at night while readying for bed, while smudging with a sage wand to clear harsh energies of a stressful day or a tense visitor, and generally, whenever I feel the need to pray for protection. It brings me peace. It signals to me like a superstitious knock on wood, that I can abandon all fear, for I have given it to God’s legions.
Last night, however, I began quickly to question my mantra and so many aspects of my life influenced by Doreen Virtue when I began to try to make my way through her latest work of non-fiction, The Joy of Jesus. Admittedly, I am late to the game in realizing that the self-proclaimed medium and successful author has shunned her former works for her growing commitment to Christianity. Why does this matter? Are teachers not allowed to evolve in their beliefs? I suppose they are. In my new book Work Pray Allow, I myself even touted the benefits of raw cacao for energizing through life’s more taxing times, only to later begin to question its true health benefits after committing to Medical Medium health protocols. But last night as I swiped through the introduction of Virtue’s latest book, I was stopped dead in my tracks upon reading, “Although I lost my ranch, publisher, radio show, and most of my income because of my conversion, my heart remained filled with the joy of the Lord and the faith that God was in charge.”
Was sweet, sensitive Doreen now shunning Louise Hay’s legacy and her longtime publisher, Hay House. What of her former works–was she now rebuking the seemingly light-filled tarot cards and books that shaped so many of our adult belief systems.
I was no stranger to Doreen’s own admission of false teachings. In my early days with mediation, her Chakra Clearing book and accompanying CD became my go-to tools to help my mind and body reach clarity and alignment. Only a year or so later did I read her own words in a newer work admitting that she was wrong about chakras, that they were meant to be of a unbalanced collection of different shapes and sizes. I felt betrayed; I trusted Doreen and was loyally devouring any book she put out. Now she was admitting that even with her mediumship and intuitive abilities, she was wrong. I truly believed Doreen had access to some realm beyond my own earlthy mind.
Today you can find articles and videos about Virtue’s 2017 conversion to Christianity, and read mixed reports on how her devout followers are taking it. I never paid big bucks for her Angel Therapy courses and workshops. I did not build my whole life on a career based upon her own certification program. But the ways she has influenced the tarot, yoga, crystal, and New Age communities today are vast beyond the lives that followed her most closely. When her angel cards launched in the late 90s and early 2000s, they created a movement. Before then, tarot often came with warning messages, and certain stigmas.
The angel decks were printed on quality cardstock, coated with a lush shiny finish, and decorated with beautiful messages and images. No matter which card I picked from a deck, there was some reassuring text and artwork there to comfort and guide me. Had the angel decks never have existed, I am not sure that today the beautiful cards of The Illest Tarot by Kristi Prokopiak, Miracles Now cards by Gabrielle Bernstein, Work Your Light Oracle Cards by Rebecca Campbell and Danielle Noel, or any of the gorgeous tarot, oracle, and affirmation cards would have ever gone to print. I would hope they would have found their way into our days and lives, but Doreen did make an indelible footprint on this industry. She showed us new ways of opening up to spirituality, new mediums for daily belief practices, and she experienced incredible success in the process.
To be honest, I have always found the woman behind the angel brand to be a bit of a flake. Her personal sensibilities did not resonate with me at all, and so I suppose I should not be surprised that her journey has led her far away from the angel-loving, oracle card flipping, crystal wearing community she helped to shape. I do not at all pretend to have any meaningful investment in how she lives her life, spends her days, or practices her beliefs. I understand that we are all on a journey, and the further down the road we get, the wiser we shall be. But I am sad at her renouncement of her former, beautiful works, whether they be fiction or not. I am sad that last night as I said my mantra, and ask Archangel Michael for his protective guard, I began to question my prayer’s validity. I tried out my old childhood reminder, “the Lord is always with me,” only to be transported back to a fearful shiver of youth’s darkness fright.
For now, I’m sticking with my pleas to Archangel Michael. God and I have our times, in the morning, throughout the day, and every night before I sleep, I take time to pray, and thank, and plead. And when life’s beauty amazes me, it’s God’s hand I attribute it to. I don’t think I will read this new Doreen book after all. I like my beliefs, and I am far enough down the road to be wise enough for that to be all I need to know.
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