Girl, log off

 

If you are a privileged White American suburbanite LARP-ing as a Wiccan and feel "offended" or even "oppressed" by the recent conversion to Christianity of Alex-Reads-Tarot...GROW THE FUCK UP. 

Isis of 10,000 names

 

Doreen Virtue´s friend "Jac" talks about her experiences in the Golden Dawn, or rather a modern American version of this 19th century British esoteric order. "Jac" later became a Christian fundamentalist, so don´t expect any objectivity. Put somewhat mildly.

But...

When I listened to this video, I couldn´t help noticing the parallels between the Golden Dawn system (or this particular version of it) and certain forms of Tantrism. The masculine and the feminine must be balanced, the only way to worship a deity is to *become* the deity, Isis is a symbol of primordial matter (among other things), complex rituals are important and yes, it´s all secret (or nearly so).

Wtf, I love Golden Dawn now. 

Alien addiction

 

I recently linked to a video in which Doreen Virtue and her friend Jac discussed (and attacked) Steven Spielberg´s recent film "Disclosure Day". In that video, Virtue claims to have had an alien abduction experience as a child! In the video linked above (from two years ago), Virtue says that she isn´t sure whether it was a dream or a real experience. However, in the more recent video, she seems to be suggesting that it was real but (of course) demonic (not literal aliens).

About half of the 2024 video is all the usual fundamentalist Christian pep talk (I´ll get back to it in a moment). The other half is more interesting. For instance, Virtue talks about her involvement with controversial ufologist Steven Greer. Apparently, she partially financed his movie "Sirius". During her New Age period, Virtue used to believe that she was a mermaid from Sirius (!!) and would even pray to the Dog Star. Jac assumed she was from Orion, was into Alternative Egypt, Golden Dawn ritual magic, Crowley and so on. Sure, her experiences (or delusions?) do sound disturbing and "demonic". But...

Isn´t the fundamentalist Christian worldview both Virtue and Jac have adopted equally disturbing? First, the demons seem extremely powerful. They can manifest or create physical objects, including cars and buses. And perhaps UFOs? Indeed, their deception is literally everywhere. Second, God seems strangely aloof. Why didn´t God stop the demons from attacking Doreen Virtue *when she was an innocent child*? Or Jac for that matter. Why doesn´t God show himself to people during near-death experiences? Instead, the evil spirits seem to have full control over all or most NDEs! 

And if you don´t believe in Christ - in the right way - you will end up in "the lake of fire" and be tormented forever, vividly described by Virtue at one point in the video. A scenario which simply becomes worse when the oblivious nature of God is taken into account.

It´s almost as if Virtue and Jac have just replaced one delusion with another one. Delusion. Or deception...      

Doreen disclosure

 

I didn´t know that Doreen Virtue is an alien abductee. I´m not joking. She actually says so in this video. Of course, Virtue now believes that the experience was demonic. 

Yes, Doreen Virtue is on the war-path against Steven Spielberg´s "Disclosure Day". She and her friend "Jac" does say some interesting things. For instance, is the deer in the movie really a Wiccan symbol? But overall, it´s all very predictable.

As usual. 

I aint no Doreen Virtue, dude

 

Three years ago, I took a short Religious Typology Quiz from the Pew Research Center and got the (surprising) result that I´m "Spiritually Awake", which apparently means that I was close to liberal female New Age believers?! Ahem...

Here is the summary definition from the quiz: "All Spiritually Awake Americans hold at least some New Age beliefs (views rejected by most of the Relaxed Religious) and believe in God or some higher power, though many do not believe in the biblical God and relatively few attend religious services on a weekly basis."

Here is another take: "For purposes of this report, the term “New Age” includes belief in psychics, astrology, reincarnation, and the belief that spiritual energy can be contained in physical objects like trees, mountains and crystals".

So I recently took the quiz again, and guess what? I´m *still* a darn Spiritually Awake person!

I don´t know, man. That category feels wrong, somehow. I just can´t see myself putting on the discarded New Age mantle of Doreen Virtue...  

Young at heart

 

A young Doreen Virtue when she promoted "New Age occultism" at the Oprah Winfrey Show. 

Affirmation

 

"My" AI tools never told me crazy shit like this. But perhaps you don´t get what you don´t pay for?  

Make it plain on tablets

 

Vision boards are dangerous, apparently. Never even heard of them before, but our sistah in Xrist Doreen Virtue have the receipts. Please note that Virtue actually say that vision boards may work. But since they aren´t Biblical but rather occult, you shouldn´t use them anyway. 

I didn´t think I would have to defend "positive thinking"!

That being said: I´m sure Virtue is right when she said that everything she got from vision boards "felt wrong" in some way. Well, yes, that´s because the material world is imperfect. In that sense, "turning to God" might indeed be a better option if you want "eternal peace". But while humans can´t live by bread alone, most of us do need that darn bread somewhere at the base of Maslow´s pyramid. And if the good lord doesn´t provide it, well...  

Witches in the wardrobe

 

A rather bland and predictable criticism of Rudolf Steiner´s Anthroposophy c/o Doreen Virtue and a former Waldorf School teacher. There is one funny quip: Virtue at one point wonders if Ahriman is a character from "Lord of the Rings"! 

But sure, I suppose Steiner really was an occultist. Although my main problem with Steiner Schools is that the students don´t actually seem to learn anything...

Not even occultism.

Doreen Virtue forever

 

Doreen Virtue on Jeffrey Epstein. Apparently, Deepak Chopra is in the files. Virtue toured the world with him during her New Age period and therefore decided to comment the situation. So yes, we´re back in the Epstein swamp! Note Virtue´s comment that the elites would often hobnob with popular New Age teachers, that many in Hollywood are into occultism, et cetera. 

A remarkably moderate comment for a fundamentalist Christian, tbh. 

ChatGPT on Doreen Virtue

 

Credit: Theproudhindu.com

So I just had to ask ChatGPT about Doreen Virtue...

The Christian fundamentalist Doreen Virtue often claims that yoga is worship of Hindu gods on the authority of ex-Hindus who converted to Christianity.

This claim is well known, and it’s worth addressing carefully, because it mixes real elements of Hindu history with serious distortions.

Below is a clear, academically grounded assessment of the kind of argument made by Doreen Virtue and similar Christian fundamentalist writers.

---

1. What the claim usually says

The argument typically runs like this:

Yoga postures are acts of worship of Hindu gods.
Ex-Hindus who converted to Christianity testify that each pose invokes a specific deity.
Therefore practicing yoga—even without intent—is spiritual participation in Hindu worship.

This framing sounds authoritative because it appeals to:

• insider testimony

• religious conversion narratives

• fear of involuntary spiritual contamination

But authority ≠ accuracy.

---

2. Where the claim has a grain of truth

There are elements that make the claim superficially plausible:

(a) Some postures are deity-named

As discussed earlier:

• Naṭarājāsana (Śiva)

• Hanumānāsana

• Garuḍāsana

• Kurmāsana

So yes:

• Hindu mythology sometimes retroactively maps symbolism onto postures

(b) Some tantric yoga traditions were explicitly religious

Especially:

• Nāth Śaiva yoga

• Kaula / Śākta contexts

• Ritualized body symbolism

So yes:

• Yoga can be religious in some contexts

---

3. Where the argument collapses academically

3.1 Yoga ≠ a single tradition

There is no single “yoga system” in Hinduism.

Historically, yoga has been practiced by:

• Śaivas

• Vaiṣṇavas

• Śāktas

• Buddhists

• Jains

• Ascetics hostile to temple worship

• Non-theistic philosophers (Sāṃkhya, Yoga)

Claiming yoga is intrinsically worship of Hindu gods is like claiming:

“All prayer is Catholic because the rosary exists.”

That’s a category error.

---

3.2 Most āsanas are not ancient or devotional

Key point often ignored:

• The majority of postural yoga practiced today:

  • developed in the 19th–20th centuries

  • draws heavily on European gymnastics

  • was systematized by figures like Krishnamacharya

Many poses have no premodern textual pedigree at all, let alone deity associations.

Christian critics often:

• treat modern yoga as if it were medieval Tantra

• then treat medieval Tantra as if it were uniform Hindu orthodoxy

Neither is true.

---

3.3 Intention matters in ritual theory

In both Hindu and Christian theology, intention matters.

In Hindu ritual theory:

• Pūjā requires:

  • mantra

  • saṅkalpa (intent)

  • consecration

• Physical movement alone is not worship

In Christian theology:

• Accidental bodily resemblance to pagan ritual is not idolatry

• Otherwise:

  • kneeling

  • incense

  • candles

  • chanting
    would all be suspect

So the idea that:

“A stretch done without belief secretly worships a god”

is not supported by Hindu ritual logic or Christian sacramental logic.

---

4. The problem with “ex-Hindu testimony”

Conversion testimonies are not neutral historical evidence.

They are:

• theological narratives

• shaped by the expectations of the new community

• often simplified for evangelistic purposes

Common patterns:

• exaggeration of uniformity (“all Hindus believe…”)

• collapse of elite, folk, and tantric traditions into one

• reinterpretation of symbolic practices as literal demonology

This doesn’t make converts dishonest—but it does make them unreliable as historians.

Academics treat such testimonies the same way they treat:

• ex-Catholic claims about “all Catholics worship Mary”

• ex-Buddhist claims about “all meditation invites demons”

As subjective religious reinterpretation, not fact.

---

5. A deeper irony

Ironically, this argument misrepresents Hinduism as much as yoga.

Many classical Hindu authorities would reject the claim outright:

• Patañjali: no gods in postures

• Advaita Vedānta: gods are provisional symbols

• Smārta tradition: forms are pedagogical

• Vaiṣṇava bhakti: yoga without devotion is incomplete

• Tantric Śaivas: ritual requires initiation

Christian fundamentalists often present a hyper-literalized, demonized version of Hinduism that no major Hindu school actually teaches.

---

6. Why this argument persists

This rhetoric serves specific purposes:

• boundary enforcement (“Christian vs pagan”)

• fear-based pastoral control

• rejection of embodied spirituality

• reaction against modern syncretism

It’s not an academic claim; it’s a theological warning narrative.

---

7. Bottom line

• ❌ Yoga is not inherently worship of Hindu gods

• ❌ Physical poses alone do not constitute worship in Hinduism

• ❌ Ex-Hindu testimony is not historical proof

• ✅ Some yoga traditions use deity symbolism

• ✅ Context, intent, and framework determine meaning

A more accurate statement would be:

Yoga originated in multiple Indian traditions, some religious and some non-theistic. Certain postures have symbolic associations with Hindu deities in specific contexts, but practicing yoga does not automatically constitute worship.

Anything stronger than that is polemic, not scholarship.

---

If you want, I can:

• dissect a specific Doreen Virtue claim line-by-line

• compare this rhetoric to earlier Christian anti-pagan polemics

• or explain how Hindu practitioners themselves would respond to these accusations

Just tell me.

Hey, Doreen, Merry Xmas!

 

Guess what happened just a couple of hours after I posted my "protest against Doreen Virtue"? Well, she posts an entire video called "Yoga and Spiritual Warfare". 

Ha ha, ok, it´s on guys...so here is my little Christmas card to Ms Virtue. Gam Hrim Shrim, Narayana-Lakshmi-Yeshu dayam dehi! 

A little disagreement

 

I´m still getting Doreen Virtue videos in my feed. The above syncretist picture is a quiet protest against most of her content...

!

 

Yes, it´s Doreen Virtue. Probably not a co-incidence that she talks about *this* topic right now...

Of course it´s Epstein.

Look who´s back...

 

I still follow Doreen Virtue on YouTube, but she seems to have been busy elsewhere for some time. Not anymore. Look who´s back...with the same negativity as usual. This time, she attacks Christians who think that heart-shaped rocks are messages from God. Not because they aren´t (I mean, really) but because Gideon didn´t have the full canon, and so on. You get the drift. 

Proximity

 

 

Judging by the recap, this is an extremely bad film. Which is probably a pity, since it contains one interesting idea: the aliens (yes, Greys) are looking for Jesus! It´s even implied that Jesus was the Son of God and ascended to heaven?! The rest of the flick seems to be the usual Transformer/ugly computer geek gets girlfriend/BAU conspiracy stuff. Since the aliens are the good guyz despite looking demonic, plz don´t tell Doreen Virtue! 

The marvel of comics

 

Doreen Virtue strikes again, this time interviewing a fundamentalist Christian who believes that Marvel Comics have a demonic and downright Satanic agenda. Well, maybe. 

I admit that his analysis of Stan Lee´s poetry and the characters "Galactus" and "the Silver Surfers" is at least vaguely interesting. The idea seems to be that the comic "Fantastic Four" has a Gnostic subtext, with Galactus being Yahweh (who is cast as an evil devil-like character) while the Silver Surfer is Lucifer. Naturally, the latter turns out to be good and even goes through a Christ-like passion! 

Sure, this may even be true. And therefore...what?  

When did the Church become Amway?

 

Sometimes even Doreen Virtue makes interesting content. This time about MLM, including its connection to charismatic Christianity. It seems all MLMs operate in pretty much the same way, make up pretty much the same claims, and have the same detrimental results for most of the participants. I didn´t know about the (presumably informal) connections to New Thought and the prosperity gospel, but it doesn´t surprise me either. After all, the underlying ideas seem to be the same: a kind of "magical thinking" about success and how to reach it, the cultic mentality, and so on. Obviously, the entire basis for these things is American capitalism and/or culture. 

In the one-hour video, Virtue speaks with two former merchandizers of "Amway", an old MLM business in the United States (and accused of being a cult for decades by critics). The couple were also involved in the Word of Faith movement. They discuss how Amway really operates backstage, and how certain Christian groups try to recruit people through the MLM milieu. 

As I said, could be of some interest. 

Don´t tell Doreen Virtue

 

HA HA HA. I missed this little controversy in San Antonio, Texas. Both Catholics and Protestants were protesting a Krampus Night parade in the city, apparently the first one ever. In a weird statement, they extoll the virtues of Saint Nicholas and attack Krampus!

Eh, come again?

In Central Europe, including Catholic nations, Krampus (alias Black Peter) is the *helper* of Saint Nicholas on December 6. Yes, really. Should I or you tell the archbishop of San Antonio? 

But OK, maybe the Krampus Night parade was anything but children-friendly, but surely there are worse problems in the Lone Star State...?   

Krampus parade debuts in San Antonio amidts controversy

Disturbing agenda

 

Doreen Virtue´s most recent YouTube video has the absurd title "Oprah´s Demonic Agenda - Insider Tells All", the insider in question being Virtue herself. I have essentially zero interest in Oprah Winfrey and her show, so it came as something of a surprise to learn that she was *so* into New Age spirituality, including channeling and similar stuff. But yes, that would explain a thing or two. Indeed, Doreen Virtue herself (during her New Age period) was one of the people propelled into mega-fame by Oprah. Another was none other than Marianne Williamson, today mostly known for her two quixotic attempts to run for US president. 

I can´t say I like this clip. Virtue´s born again Christian fundamentalism makes her condemn essentially everything else as "demonic". Oprah is apparently an abuse survivor and it seems many female survivors are drawn to New Age and New Thought, perhaps because of its magical positive thinking message, which these people may found empowering. Or at least more empowering than, say, Christian fundamentalism? 

Virtue spends a good portion of her video to argue that abuse victims should embrace her form of fundamentalism rather than the "demonic" New Age messaging, which in her estimation is simply "disassociation". The New Age believers live in a fantasy world of love, but its somehow created by the Devil himself who acts as their "sugar daddy". So survivors of sexual and physical abuse should turn to Christ instead. 

Virtue´s version of Christ, that is. Since he tortures billions of sinners in an eternal hell, somebody might argue that he is the ultimate serial abuser. And hardly a good alternative to the metaphysical sugar daddy.

Frankly, I found this video to be pretty disturbing. Maybe we should pray for...Doreen Virtue.