- Jeff and Shaleia Ayan are the leaders of the controversial Twin Flames Universe.
- Their group, which former members say is a cult, is the subject of a new Netflix docuseries.
- Here’s where Jeff and Shaleia are today.
Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly arguably brought the term “twin flames” into wider public consciousness. But as Netflix’s new docuseries “Escaping Twin Flames” makes clear, the term means a lot more than “soulmate” — and has a much darker connotation for some.
The Netflix docuseries “Escaping Twin Flames” — like Prime Video’s “Desperately Seeking Soulmate: Escaping Twin Flames Universe,” released in October — focuses on the spiritual dating community Twin Flames Universe (TFU). Headed by Jeff and Shaleia Ayan (who now use the last name Divine), the organization has been labeled a cult by former members and the relatives of current members who spoke to Vice News and Vanity Fair for investigations published in 2020.
You are viewing: Where Do Jeff And Shaleia Live In Michigan
So what do the leaders of the Twin Flames Universe believe, and where are Jeff and Shaleianow? Here’s what to know.
What is the Twin Flames Universe?
According to Vanity Fair, Jeff (who previously went by the name Ender Ayanethos) and Shaleia (who was born Megan Plante) began founding businesses together soon after they met on Facebook in 2012 and became a couple. They billed themselves as relationship coaches, andtheir YouTube content started gaining popularity in 2017 when the Twin Flames Universe was founded.
Jeff has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Western Michigan University and styles himself as a lifestyle guru. Shaleia practiced new-age and spiritual techniques like tarot and oracle-card reading. As shown in footage of Jeff in the Netflix documentary, before TFU, Jeff claimed to be a healer who could cure cancer for a fee.
The community offers new-age approaches like meditation to help its members heal issues like childhood trauma and find a “twin flame” true love. A “twin flame,” by their definition, is someone with whom your connection is so deep it transcends the real world and becomes spiritual.
Former TFU members told Vice, Vanity Fair, and producers of the Netflix and Prime Video documentaries that they were encouraged by Jeff, Shaleia, and TFU coaches — TFU members who work directly with other members to transmit the teachings of Jeff and Shaleia — to pursue their twin flames at all costs, which sometimes resulted in people filing restraining orders against them.
Former members allege theywere encouraged in their pursuits through courses and coaching sessions that cost thousands of dollars each, telling Vice and Vanity Fair theywere sometimes charged upwards of $4,000 for classes. Access to all of the courses in the Twin Flames Universe costs nearly $9,000.
As seen on video footage in “Escaping Twin Flames,” a practice called “The Mirror Exercise” is at the core of TFU’s teachings.
The practice involves writing a sentence to identify your feelings and what’s causing them, and then changing words in that sentence to shift blame onto yourself.
Read more : Where Did Pole Dancing Originated
The example on the Netflix doc is as follows:
“I’m upset at Bob because he is rejecting me,” becomes “I’m upset at myself because I am rejecting myself” after practicing the mirror exercise.
The person then introspects on these feelings and provides their inner self the love that is required to heal.
Former members who spoke in the Netflix docuseries said they initially thought this exercise helped them learn self-love, but later realized it provided Jeff and Shaleia with a tool to escape responsibility when one of their students faced negative consequences for putting TFU teachings into practice.
Former members of TFU say in the Netflix docuseries that as time went on and community members were failing to either find or successfully unite with their twin flames, the couple began matchmaking members in the community with each other. They said they were receiving messages about who to match up from God.
Since most TFU members were female, many of the couple’s new pairings were same-sex couples. While the Twin Flames Universe did have queer members, the leaders believed each half of a Twin Flame couple was either a “divine feminine” or “divine masculine.” Dr. Cassius Adair, a professor and author of “The Transgender Internet,” said in the Netflix docuseries that there is no evidence to support this theory.
Angie, a former TFU AscensionCoach, said in Netflix’s docuseries that Jeff and Shaleia told her that because energies of the same gender couldn’t be attracted to each other, she couldn’t be bisexual. Around 2019, Angie and several other former members interviewed in “Escaping Twin Flames” say they were told by Jeff and Shaleia that they were “divine masculine” and needed to change their gender and begin living as males alongside their “divine feminine” twin flames.
“I was being told to change my clothes, to cut my hair, to adopt male pronouns, change my name,” Angie said in the Netflix docuseries.
Additionally, relatives of TFU members said in “Escaping Twin Flames” that their loved ones were encouraged to disconnect from them.Louise, the mother of a current TFU member, showed filmmakers what she described as a goodbye letter her daughter Stephanie sent the family.
According to former members who spoke about the group in the Netflix and Prime Video docuseries and the Vice article, many TFU followers worked many hours for the community without receiving compensation.
Jeff and Shaleia also run a meal service that members are encouraged to buy from and operate a church called The Church of Union.
Read more : Where To Stay In Iguazu Falls
Jeff and Shaleia have denied isolating people from their families and coercing anyone to change their gender. In episode three of the Prime Video docuseries, Vanity Fair reporter Alice Hinesconfronts the couple, asking them if they coerced people to change their gender. Jeff replies that they “absolutely and unequivocally” do not.
“Not once, not ever. Nor will it ever happen,” Jeff said. “And those who say that it did happen are lying about the reality and the true context of what was being communicated. They are misleading you. You are being misled, Alice.”
At the end of each episode of the Netflix docuseries, the filmmakers note that Jeff and Shaleia did not respond to their requests for comment, and that they claim that criticisms of TFU are a “coordinated effort” by former members to discredit the organization.
Before the release of “Escaping Twin Flames” on Netflix, Twin Flames Universe’s chief operations officer Christine Emerick told Insider in a statement via email that TFU hadn’t viewed the docuseries. She also wrote: “We remain hopeful the production will be inclusive of the facts and our community’s perspectives.” Emerick also shared Jeff and Shaleia’s full statement to the media, previously posted on the TFU website, which reads in part:
“We take seriously recent allegations implying we wield inappropriate control over our community members. After a careful review of both media coverage and recent productions, we are saddened that so much effort has gone into taking swipes at an organization and community founded on love and mutual respect. The allegations levied against Twin Flames Universe not only distort our true aims, methods, and curriculums but also misrepresent the autonomy of our community members, who are free to engage with our resources as they see fit. We are committed to confronting these allegations in an open and accountable manner.”
Where are Jeff and Shaleia today?
As seen on “Desperately Seeking Soulmate,” police in Farmington Hills, Michigan, visited Jeff and Shaleia’s home there in February 2020. The Netflix docuseries’ note at the end of each episode also references the Farmington Hills police department’s 2020 investigation. According to Netflix’s note, the department was “unable to determine that any crimes took place in Farmington Hills” and forwarded their report to the FBI for a review of “possible federal crimes.”
To date, no criminalcharges have been filed against the couple related to the TFU.
In June 2020, several months after the Vice investigation into TFU was published, Jeff and Shaleia filed two separate lawsuits against former TFU members and relatives of current TFU members who had spoken out against the organization in the Vice article and online. One was a civil trademark lawsuit and one was a libel, slander, and civil assault lawsuit.
Both cases were dismissed in 2021, according to courtdocuments viewed by Insider.
Jeff and Shaleia, who still reside in Michigan, had a daughter named Grace Violet Divine in April 2023, per a blog post and a post on Shaleia’s Instagram.
Twin Flames Universe still has active YouTube and Instagram accounts. There are over 100,000 members in the private Twin Flame Union Facebook group and classes on the site appear to be active.
Source: https://t-tees.com
Category: WHERE
