A cult to find your twin “flame”: Escape Twin Flames, the Netflix documentary that dismantles a terrible digital sect

There are times when reality exceeds fiction, and the case of Escaping Twin Flamesone of the last docu-series in the 2023 catalog of Netflix corresponds perfectly to this statement.

The principle is relatively simple. A few years ago, the Americans Jeff and Shaleia Divine They decided to found an online coaching group. The objective? Helping people find their “flame – or soul mate”, whom they consider to be the person created by God as a divine counterpart, with the promise of accompanying them on the path to initiation and maintenance of a harmonious relationship, definitive and healthy with whom, they say, is the love of their life. That’s how he was born Twin Flame Universe (TFU) the organization led by the American couple which is now capturing the attention of the whole world thanks to its arrival in streaming.

At first glance, this may seem like an unusual but harmless business. However, it is enough to delve into the testimonies of members who left the group to realize that the story of the soul mate was only the tip of the iceberg.

Coercion, psychological abuse, labor exploitation and even pressure to perform a sex change are some of the accusations against Twin Flames Universe and the Divine, which are today presented by the media as a veritable sect of the digital age.

The first alarms were sounded by the media. The report of journalist Alice Hines For Vanity Fair was one of them. It is there, and through the testimonies of people who resigned from the group, that what really happened during the TFU meetings took place.

The case of Elle, a young chemist who also shared her story with Netflix filmmakers, is probably one of the most exemplary. Her life was good: she worked as a DNA researcher in a laboratory, she was a fan of techno music and she had found love.

But everything changed when she was in a car accident that almost left her paraplegic. He had to undergo several spinal surgeries and begin a long rehabilitation which his partner was not prepared to face. Financial losses led her to lose her apartment and spend nights in her car. AND That’s when she came across Jeff and Shaleia’s YouTube channel, among the videos on astrology, tarot and healing crystals. From there, he connected with the Facebook community and his website.

“Twin Flame Union is a spiritual state in which both Twin Flames awaken their connection and have mutually agreed to commit exclusively to each other,” states the group definition delivered on site . “In the Union, at least one Twin Flame studies Teachings of the Union and they actively participate in the spiritual work of aligning their consciousness with Love, with the aim of achieving their permanent Harmonious Union. All this, through advice, coaching consultations, group meetings and books that result in expensive monthly payments.

So, and still with some doubts on this subject, She decided to pay for a private coaching session to find out if her last romance had been true love and, if so, why she had ended up alone.

“‘How do you feel?’ Jeff asked via Google Hangouts. It seemed distant and there were delays and occasional crackling, but he watched it through the screen. Katie – the fake name Elle used in the written report – paused to s “express. She was afraid to receive advice from Jeff, she explained, because most of her past romantic experiences were followed by pain. Jeff told her that only she could fix herself. He suggested that she “she was not alone because she was not made alone and asked her to give herself to God”, says the Vanity Fair investigation .

“At one point, Katie told him, ‘My twin flame doesn’t want to talk to me and thinks I’m crazy, and she’s told everyone in my family…’ ‘He doesn’t love me not!’ Jeff repeated in a high-pitched, mocking voice. As the session continued, Katie cried, lashed out, laughed and stared. None of this seemed to satisfy Jeff. Exhausted, she remained silent. “She had made progress, Jeff said,” the story continues.

In this way, The couple confirmed to her that, in fact, her ex was her “twin flame”, even if he showed no interest in her. So much so that they even got to a point where, after an argument, the young man filed a restraining order against him. And although they processed this information, Jeff and Shaleia insisted on the need to force this reunion and restart a relationship already decided by God.

Disconcerted, his ex-partner reported each of these interactions to the police, until the day they met by chance at a party. Given all this context, She ended up in jail for 30 days without anyone helping her.

On the financial side, the couple behind TFU also managed to come up with a plan to make the most of the situation. Not only did they keep a significant percentage of the payments that clients made to the various certified coaches themselves. They also made band members work for free, and even They registered their brand as a religious cult to avoid paying taxes.

Both in the digital reports and in the documentary mini-series, it is more than clear that Twin Flames Universe meets all the characteristics of a cult, although brought to the digital world. Among them, the definition of a clear and indisputable leader (at one point in the Netflix production it is shown how Jeff compared himself to Jesus to call himself the second prophet on Earth ) to the separation of families and the total coercion of members.

However, one of the most serious accusations left by the Vanity Fair and streaming investigations is the pressure exerted by marriage on certain members to convince them to carry out a sex change.

“’Literally a week ago I would have sworn to you, and I did to many of you, that I was 100% female,’” Gabe wrote in a blog post. After almost two years as a member of the Twin Flames universe, Gabe had yet to find his harmonious union. Then two community members came up to chat and said they had spoken to Jeff and Shaleia. They had an important question to ask Gabe: ‘In your sex life, do you like to give or receive?'” Vanity Fair’s note compiles.

After a few guided meditation sessions, the coaches suggested to him that he was actually a “divine masculine,” which effectively meant that his spiritual energy was contrary to his biological sex. “As soon as I decided to let go and get that energy back, there was an immediate change. I felt more peace and calm than ever in my entire life,” he adds on the blog.

But this reassignment also had a practical reason: Unable to manipulate group members’ reciprocity with people outside the group, Jeff and Shaleia’s solution was to begin pairing up their students. . The problem is that the majority were cis, heterosexual women. It is precisely for this reason that gender reassignment proved to be a solution and led several members to undertake this transition in the operating room, even if they had never before felt like trans people.

As easy as Googling the concept “twin flames”. This is how most TFU members met Jeff and Shaleia Divine and their community. The history between the two is known, since that is precisely the promise they sold through their courses.

On YouTube, Facebook and their website, the Divines present themselves as a match made in heaven, with a level of complementarity that every couple should aim for. “I remember what it was like to feel incomplete without my man,” begins Shaleia’s story on the TFU page. “I felt lost, alone, longed to be complete, fought to keep the light of hope alive in my heart. But I decided to continue because I knew there was something deeper in my heart calling me. “I decided to answer the call of love.”

He continues: “This love has fundamentally changed me on a level so profound that it is transcendental. It is a very real life experience, a life lived in love, in Harmonious Union with my Twin Flame. I no longer look at the stars longing for someone to share them with because I am completely in love with him. My ideal person.

Even Before the pandemic and the widespread use of tools like Zoom, TFU meetings had already established all their bases on the Internet . One of its largest communities runs on Facebook, which at the time of the Vanity Fair report had nearly 11,000 members in a closed group that Today, it has more than 51,000 members.

Even though Netflix documentary series and news reports have shown what was happening within the group, the truth is that this revelation was far from affecting the group’s functioning. In fact, all of their channels are still active, and even They have a division responsible for recruiting new participants in Spanish-speaking countries.

Negar las acusaciones y apuntar a que dos los los testimonios eran de personas enojadas por su expulsión fue suficiente para Jeff y Shaleia, que hace poco se convirtieron en padres por primera vez de una hija que, según anunciaban en sus cultos, criarían para que sirviera a God. At the time of publishing this article, Twin Flames Universe is still active on all of its channels.