Maybe you’ve noticed this; every space holds energy. If you’ve ever been house or apartment hunting, you know this to be true - those places that just feel… wrong but you can’t put your finger on it?

I’m a day and a half into my integration back home after landing from Austin, Texas where I was co-leading a Conscious Communication Workshop for Lawyers and Firm staff. We led the group of 25 professionals for three and a half days of combined theory and experiential learning that culminated in a profoundly transformational trajectory for most of the participants.

I’m no stranger to cultish groups; I have operated with a pretty open heart and with the belief that everyone’s potential translates into goodness. I’ve been involved with more than a couple of MLMs and, of course, am spiritually inclined, which should be obvious with the work I do! 

In recent months, I’ve experienced an increase in people reaching out because of spiritual abuse. This type of coercive manipulation is often perpetuated by so-called healers, shady psychics and false shamans who prey on people when they are most vulnerable.

Before I deleted my Twitter account, my handle was actually @JessieDoomscroll—a cheeky, too-accurate nod to what I was doing on that platform: mainlining fear content, sprinkled with moral outrage and burnout disguised as urgency.

You’re codependent and that’s a problem

I hate saying this out loud, but many practitioners have built codependency into their practice models. To be clear, I’m not talking about physical therapies that require consistent treatments like massage that contribute to ongoing wellbeing, but rather those of an emotional and spiritual flavour.