Doreen Virtue (née Hannan, born 1958) is an American author, formerly writing exclusively about

New Age New Age is a range of Spirituality, spiritual or Religion, religious practices and beliefs that rapidly grew in Western world, Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclecticism, eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise d ...

topics. Virtue states that in 2017 she rejected her New Age spiritual beliefs and became a

born again To be born again, or to experience the new birth, is a phrase, particularly in evangelical Christianity, that refers to a "spiritual rebirth", or a regeneration of the human spirit. In contrast to one's physical birth, being "born again" is d ...

fundamentalist Christian Christian fundamentalism, also known as fundamental Christianity or fundamentalist Christianity, is a religious movement emphasizing biblical literalism. In its modern form, it began in the late 19th and early 20th centuries among British an ...

Early life and education

Doreen Virtue was born Doreen Hannan in 1958 in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

. She spent the early part of her childhood in

North Hollywood North Hollywood is a neighborhood and district in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California. The neighborhood contains the NoHo Arts District, El Portal Theater, several art galleries, and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Th ...

until her family moved to

Escondido, California Escondido (Spanish language, Spanish for "Hidden") is a city in San Diego County, California, United States. Located in the North County (San Diego area), North County region, it was incorporated in 1888, and is one of the oldest cities in San ...

when she was 10 years old. When Virtue was growing up, she and her family practiced

Christian Science Christian Science is a set of beliefs and practices which are associated with members of the Church of Christ, Scientist. Adherents are commonly known as Christian Scientists or students of Christian Science, and the church is sometimes in ...

and followed the teachings of

Mary Baker Eddy Mary Baker Eddy (née Baker; July 16, 1821 – December 3, 1910) was an American religious leader and author, who in 1879 founded The Church of Christ, Scientist, the ''Mother Church'' of the Christian Science movement. She also founded ''The C ...

. Virtue earned a master's degree in

counseling psychology Counseling or Counselling psychology is an international discipline. It is practiced in the United States and Canada, the United Kingdom and Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, Hong Kong and Korea, and South Africa. Counseling psychology in th ...

Chapman University Chapman University is a private research university in Orange, California, United States. Encompassing eleven colleges, the university is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity". The school maintains its foundi ...

, a private research university located in

Orange, California Orange is a city located in northern Orange County, California, United States. It is approximately north of the county seat, Santa Ana, California, Santa Ana. Orange is unusual in this region because many of the homes in its Old Town District ...

. Through distance learning, she later was granted a PhD in

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

from

California Coast University California Coast University (CCU) is a private for-profit online university based in Santa Ana, California. It is accredited by the Distance Education Accrediting Commission and approved by the State of California. It enrolls approximately 8,000 ...

. At the time she received the degree, the school was unaccredited. In 2017, Virtue earned a Master’s Degree in Biblical and Theological Studies from Western Seminary in Portland, Oregon.

Spiritual beliefs

New Age practice and writing

Before 1995, Virtue worked as a psychotherapist. Following her experience of being the victim of a

carjacking Carjacking is a robbery in which a motor vehicle is taken over.Michael Cherbonneau, "Carjacking," in ''Encyclopedia of Social Problems'', Vol. 1 (SAGE, 2008: ed. Vincent N. Parrillo), pp. 110-11. In contrast to car theft, carjacking is usually i ...

, she attributed "angelic intervention" for preventing her from harm in the incident. Following the event, Virtue closed her therapy practice and began performing tarot readings. Between 1995 and 2015, she published more than fifty books and her divination cards through

Hay House Hay House is a publisher founded in 1984 by author Louise Hay, who is known for her books on New Thought. ''The New York Times'' dubbed Hay "The Queen of the New Age," noting that she became "one of the bestselling authors in ...

, a New Age publishing company. The primary focus of Virtue's spiritual practice at that time was "angel spirituality", a form of New Age thought that attributes esoteric and occult qualities to Christian angelic beings. Her works drew from symbolism across several religions. These included Christianity,

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

Celtic mythology Celtic mythology is the body of myths belonging to the Celtic peoples.Cunliffe, Barry, (1997) ''The Ancient Celts''. Oxford, Oxford University Press , pp. 183 (religion), 202, 204–8. Like other Iron Age Europeans, Celtic peoples followed ...

, and Native American spirituality.

Conversion to Christianity

In February 2017, Virtue was baptized by an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

priest at Kawaihae Beach, Hawaii. Later that year, she publicly announced she was renouncing her New Age beliefs and was embracing

Christianity. She encouraged her followers and readers to do the same. Along with two other former New Age adherents, Virtue hosts a YouTube channel called, "New Age to New Heart". The trio talks of their former lives in the New Age movement and current lives as Christians and is also available on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

Apple TV Apple TV is a digital media player and a microconsole developed and marketed by Apple. It is a small piece of networking hardware that sends received media data such as video and audio to a TV or external display. Its media services include ...

, and American Gospel TV. The channel was created in February 2024. Virtue also has a long-time monetized

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel called "Doreen Virtue". With over 350,000 subscribers, the channel hosts Virtue in teaching videos. The video content, which assumes a

fundamentalist Fundamentalism is a tendency among certain groups and individuals that are characterized by the application of a strict literal interpretation to scriptures, dogmas, or ideologies, along with a strong belief in the importance of distinguishin ...

perspective, contains criticism of New Age practitioners and beliefs in addition to Christian groups, pastors, churches, and ministries she claims are connected to New Age beliefs and what she says are anti-Christian practices. She also speaks against those in Christian ministry, to include

Rick Warren Richard Duane Warren (born January 28, 1954) is an American evangelical Christian pastor and author. He is the founder of Saddleback Church, an evangelical Baptists, Baptist megachurch in Lake Forest, California. Since 2022, he serves as execut ...

and

Steven Furtick Larry Stevens Furtick Jr. (born February 19, 1980), known professionally as Steven Furtick, is an American evangelical Christian pastor, author, and composer of Elevation Worship. He is the founder and general overseer of Elevation Church, base ...

, the late author Sarah Young, as well as megachurches such as

Elevation Church Elevation Church is an Evangelical non-denominational multi-site megachurch based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Weekly church attendance was 17,061 people in 2024. Elevation has 20 locations. Its senior pastors are Steven Furtick and Holly Furti ...

and Bethel Church. Some of her teaching videos contain content where she criticizes various

Contemporary Christian Music Contemporary Christian music (CCM), also known as Christian pop, and occasionally inspirational music, is a genre of modern popular music, and an aspect of Christian media, which is lyrically focused on matters related to the Christianity, Chri ...

groups and artists in addition to Christian books and devotionals. Virtue has also released several videos on YouTube where she strongly criticizes '' The Chosen'', a popular TV series on the life of

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

, claiming it has New Age themes and music embedded in the storylines.

Personal life

Virtue has been married multiple times and has two children: two sons. Currently, she and her fifth husband live in Washington state after moving from Hawaii in 2017.

Bibliography (selected)

* * * * * * * * * *

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Virtue, Doreen Living people 1958 births American spiritual writers New Thought writers American self-help writers American motivational writers Writers from Los Angeles Women motivational writers American women non-fiction writers New Age writers Angelic visionaries Chapman University alumni California Coast University alumni 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American women writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers Conservatism in the United States Conservative media in the United States