The Cult of Performance: Calling Out the Fakes in the Healing Industry

Healing isn’t a lifestyle brand. It’s not about curated aesthetics, robes, or a buzzword-laced bio. It’s about truth, self-awareness, connection, and the courage to face your darkness, not sell it to someone else wrapped in a crystal and a six-week package.

The Cult of Performance: Why Real Healers Don’t Ghost or Gatekeep

I’ve contacted dozens of people who call themselves healers or life coaches. Not to fan-girl, not to ask for discounts, but to genuinely connect, to build something rooted in shared purpose. I thought they'd be excited by that. Instead, most ignored me, some ghosted, and a few got defensive when I asked anything that required depth.

Real healers don’t fear connection. They don’t compete with other lightworkers. They understand we all carry a piece of the medicine. So when someone ghosts you while preaching spiritual connection, that’s not healing. That’s branding. That's the definition of cult performance.

Spotting the Snake Oil in Spiritual Spaces

Let’s talk about how to spot a fake before you get emotionally or financially invested:

1. They only respond when they smell money

You try to connect, and they respond with a newsletter link or offer. They treat people like leads, not humans. That’s not healing energy. That’s sales funnel energy.

2. They use spiritual jargon to position themselves as above you

Someone recently posted that “The Earth has an algorithm. You play by the rules, you get results.” Then they went on about four types of “magic” and how you need to be initiated by a teacher (read: them) before you can evolve spiritually.

No. You are not a video game character. You don’t need to be unlocked by someone else to grow. That’s spiritual ego, not divine wisdom.

3. They crumble when you ask honest questions

Real ones want to be asked questions. They value curiosity and discernment. If someone becomes defensive, accusatory, or silent the second you hold up a mirror, they aren’t in alignment; they’re in performance mode.

4. They ignore or dismiss other healers

True healers welcome the community. They don’t compete; they collaborate. If someone only engages when it benefits them or their bottom line, they’re not doing spiritual work; they’re doing PR.

What Real Healing Looks Like

Real healing doesn’t ask for loyalty. It doesn’t need you to pay first. It doesn’t label you uninitiated or unworthy. It says: “Let’s figure this out together.”

Real healers don’t operate from ego. They don’t build platforms from people’s pain while ignoring their peers. They don’t get scared when you show up with the same depth they claim to carry.

And they sure as hell don’t sell sexual magic like it’s a subscription service.

If You’re a Healer, Show Up Like One

You don’t need someone else’s approval to start healing. You don’t need a robe. You don’t need a ritual. You don’t need to be someone’s client to be seen.

You need discernment. You need honesty. You need to trust yourself more than you trust someone’s highlight reel.

So, if you call yourself a healer but ghost people who reach out with depth, ignore fellow lightworkers, and sell exclusivity as divinity, I have one request: remove the word “healer” from your bio.

You’re not healing. You’re performing. I see you.