‘Escaping Twin Flames’: Where Are Jeff and Shaleia Divine Now?

While there has always been the concept of a person searching for their other half, one true love or soulmate, in recent years it seems that the idea of ​​finding a “twin flame” has taken over. But what if someone goes too far?

Twin Flames Escape, a new Netflix docu-series, follows what happens when two people who were supposedly in a twins union turn a concept into a business. The three-episode series delves into the story of Jeff and Shaleia Divine’s Twin Flame Universe, an organization that claims to help people find their twin flame through a series of courses, coaching and exercises.

What seems simple enough – helping people find love – is exposed in the documentary as former members uncover the darker underbelly of the highly controlling group and the harmful practices members are allegedly forced into.

“They’re very good at identifying people who might be in a moment of transition or vulnerability, baiting them in and then slowly indoctrinating them,” directors Cecilia Peck and Inbal B. Lessner — Emmy-nominated film team Seduced: Within the NXIVM cult — he told PEOPLE.

By making Twin Flames Escapethe filmmakers hope the series will “help prevent more people from joining this and other high-control groups” and “see former members of the Twin Flames Universe as survivors of intense, systematic coercive control.”

“The main motivation we all shared was to stop the ongoing abuse and help current members leave and recover,” they added.

Read ahead to learn more about Jeff and Shaleia Divine and where they are today.

What is the Twin Flames universe?

Marlee in ‘Escaping Twin Flames’.

Courtesy of Netflix

Twin Flames Universe is an online community and organization first created by Jeff and Shaleia in 2017 that claims to help people find their twin flame community through a series of teachings and exercises that will draw that person to them. They run the business from their home in Michigan, where they moved a few years after starting their relationship in 2012.

Entry into the Twin Flame Universe comes from the “Twin Flame Ascension Course” run by Jeff and Shaleia, including regular online courses full of other members dissecting Twin Flame Unions.

Through Twin Flames Escape, these regular courses are shown as one of the main ways Jeff and Shaleia made people do their bidding and kept control over them. Jeff often became more demanding and even aggressive towards members when they did not immediately follow his advice. These courses cost thousands of dollars to attend, with “The Everything Package” costing $8,888, according to the Twin Flames Universe website.

Jeff and Shaleia have since expanded the Twin Flames Universe to include ways for members to become trainers at the Twin Flames Ascension School; a cookbook that claims to be the perfect diet for living in a twin flame community; a process of mind alignment that they claim helps repair trauma; and even a new religion called the Union Church.

Who is Jeff Divine?

Jeff Divine.

Courtesy of Netflix

Jeff Divine, whose last name was previously Ayan and for a time was Ender Ayanethos, is a native of Michigan and graduated from Western Michigan University with a degree in business. He first became interested in personal development, spirituality and New Age concepts in college.

On the Church of Union website, Jeff claims that he first began having a “transcendental, mystical and spiritual” experience after being awakened to yoga and meditation, skills he learned from his first spiritual teacher. He later moved to Hawaii where he first started styling as a lifestyle guru under the name Ender Ayanethos.

Prior to founding Twin Flames Universe, Jeff also dabbled in several different personal growth and healing companies, including one where he purportedly was a healer who cures cancer for free, as seen on Twin Flames Escape.

Jeff delved deeper into personal growth practices before meeting Shaleia, who introduced him to a spiritual teacher they both studied with. The two then decided to become gurus together and began offering relationship coaching before launching Twin Flames Universe.

Who is Shaleia Divine?

Shaleia Divine – Escaping Twin Flames.

Courtesy of Netflix

Shaleia Divine, born Megan Plante, was born and raised in Canada. She lived in Sedona, Arizona, and learned from a spiritual mentor after a series of relationships in which she did not feel true love, according to her biography on the Union Church website. Around the same time, she connected with Jeff online and the two officially met in person when Jeff traveled to her place in Sedona.

There, Shaleia introduced Jeff to many spiritual concepts, including tarot cards and intuitive readings. They married and went into business together just a few years later, and Shaleia became Jeff’s main support. Together, they claimed to offer proof that twin flame unions really do exist.

What is a twin flame union?

Twin Flames Escape.

Courtesy of Netflix

Finding a twin union is the ultimate goal of people who join Jeff and Shaleia’s organization. The term refers to a relationship where there is a deep connection that goes beyond just normal attraction.

On the Twin Flames Universe website, Jeff and Shaleia go a step further and describe union as “a spiritual state in which both Twin Flames have been awakened to their Twin Flame connection and have mutually agreed to be solely devoted to each other.”

The documentary shows how the concept evolved from the two of them simply giving advice to people who want to attract or fix things with their supposed twin flame, to Jeff and Shaleia exercising full control over who the members’ supposed twin flame is.

“Having been in Harmonious Union for years, we’ve pretty much achieved the miracle of being able to see and confirm someone’s Twin Flame,” Shaleia says in a video featured in the series.

This allowed Jeff and Shaleia to exert more control over the members, and even allegedly forced some of them into “twin flame unions” with other members in recent years.

What happened to the members of the Twin Flames Universe?

Keely in ‘Escaping Twin Flames’.

Courtesy of Netflix

Many of the people who profiled themselves Twin Flames Escape have since left the organization, including Keely, a former high-ranking member who is now dealing with the damage she caused to the members she led. Keely is now no longer with Colby, her ex-husband with whom she was in the first successful “twin union,” and she said in the document that she plans to go to law school.

Angie, one of the most watched members of the series, is recovering from her time in the Twin Flames universe and now realizes how wrong it was for Jeff and Shaleia to lure vulnerable people with the promise of true love.

“What Jeff and Shaleia are doing has nothing to do with love. It’s control,” she says in the series. “When someone tries to control you, that’s not love. When someone abuses you, when someone calls you names, that’s not love.”

Unfortunately, not all of the people shown left the organization, including Paula’s twin sister Stephanie. She is still featured as a prominent twin union on the website along with her “twin flame” Kiran, whom she is seen marrying in the documentary.

She still lives in Switzerland with Kiran, and she said Vice 2020 that Twin Flames Universe taught her “how to have happy, healthy relationships” and that she now feels “the full spectrum [her] emotions for the first time in [her] whole life.”

Other members such as Marlee (Keely’s sister), Arcelia, Sara, Victoria, Elle, and Jessi all left the Twin Flames Universe between 2019 and 2021 – around the time allegations against the organization began to become widespread.

Where are Jeff and Shaleia now and how have they responded to the claims?

Jeff and Shaleia Divine.

Courtesy of Netflix

Jeff and Shaleia continue to run Twin Flames Universe and Church of Union from their home in Michigan and are still accepting new members. They don’t seem to have slowed down at all, and as of November 2023, their Facebook group has over 67,000 members. They still post frequently about twin flames on their social media pages and continue to advertise their services.

The two welcomed their first child, daughter Grace, in April 2023, and both frequently post about their family. In Jeff’s first pinned post on Instagram, he shared a video montage of the family and a description of their twin union.

“Family is everything to us. A loving world is built on loving nations made up of loving families. Loving families are built on the Harmonious Twin Flame Union. Be the change you want to see in the world,” he wrote.

In response to the allegations against them, Jeff and Shaleia released a lengthy statement on their website offering a blanket denial of all the allegations.

“The allegations leveled against Twin Flames Universe not only misrepresent our true goals, methods, and curricula, but also misrepresent the autonomy of our community members, who are free to use our resources as they see fit. We are committed to dealing with these allegations in an open and responsible manner,” the statement said.

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education