The Spiritual Industry Has a Shiny Object Problem

I have been sitting with something for a while, and I feel it is time for me to share it with you. It might not be a super popular opinion, but if you have been following me for a while, you know I stand strong for this industry, just as strongly as I stand for my business.

In the spiritual and complementary therapy world, we love the new thing; a new modality, a new certification, a new technique, a new method, a new way of packaging something that feels exciting, different, and fresh.... and I understand why.

Chasing the new is part of human evolution. We are designed to explore, to grow, to discover, to expand, and to keep asking what else is possible. Without that part of us, we would not have developed medicine, technology, art, philosophy, spiritual systems, or any of the beautiful things that have helped humanity move forward.

I am not against evolution, creativity, inspiration, downloads, or new ways of explaining healing. I believe the field is alive, and because it is alive, it will always evolve. But there is something happening in the spiritual and complementary therapy community that I feel we need to talk about with more honesty.

At what point does evolution become ego? At what point does creativity become confusion? At what point does creating a “new modality” begin to dilute the very work we are trying so hard to have recognised, respected, and understood?

I feel we need to pause. Because what makes complementary therapies so powerful is that many of them are not new at all. They are ancient. They come from traditions, rituals, healing systems, prayers, practices, philosophies, and lineages that have been used for thousands of years.

People have been using breath, herbs, prayer, energy, touch, sound, ceremony, meditation, movement, and altered states of consciousness long before these things became trends, certifications, brands, or Instagram content. There is wisdom, power, and also responsibility in honouring these traditions.

One example that comes to mind is breathwork. Don’t get me wrong, I love breathwork. I have seen the power of the breath. I know how quickly breathing can shift the nervous system, emotions and state of consciousness. Breath is sacred; it is life and it is medicine.

But we also need to be honest. Much of what we now call breathwork has roots in pranayama, which is part of the yogic tradition. Pranayama was never just a random breathing technique. It was part of a much bigger spiritual, energetic, ethical, and philosophical system.

When we isolate one limb of a tradition, give it a modern name, package it beautifully, certify people in it, and charge thousands of dollars for it, we need to ask some honest questions. This is not only about breathwork. It happens everywhere. Maybe it has something to do with our small attention span, shaped by the fast-paced life we live. Are we taking something ancient, cutting it away from its roots, and selling it back to people as something brand new?

It is happening with energy healing, ceremony, meditation, somatic practices, plant medicine, intuitive work, and rituals that have belonged to cultures, temples, grandmothers, healers, shamans, yogis, mystics, and medicine people for generations.

I recently watched a documentary about the use of sacred peyote, and the traditional people were worried they would not have medicine left for their children because everyone is chasing the new high. They actually had to buy land to preserve the peyote so they could continue their tradition.

We cannot say we want to honour ancient traditions while constantly renaming them, repackaging them, and pretending we invented them. There is a strange hypocrisy in the spiritual community. On one hand, we speak about ancient wisdom, indigenous healing, plant medicine, rituals, sacred traditions, and the importance of remembering what was suppressed or made illegal. On the other hand, we often rush to create fancy names, expensive levels of certifications, and new modalities out of things that have existed for thousands of years.

And then we wonder why the medical system struggles to take complementary therapies seriously. If we keep multiplying names, fragmenting methods and presenting everything as a completely separate system, we create more dilution. We make it harder for researchers, doctors, hospitals, regulators, and health professionals to understand what we are doing.

I want complementary therapies to be part of hospitals, mental health care, aged care, disability support, cancer care, nursing, and mainstream wellness. This has been part of my dream for many years. But if we want that, we need more clarity, consistency, stronger foundations, ethics and respect.

There is a difference between receiving a personal method and claiming you invented a whole new healing system. There is also a difference between creativity that serves the client and creativity that mostly serves the practitioner’s ego.

Cacao ceremonies are a good example of this. And I say this as a South American woman who deeply understands the sacredness of cacao, ceremony, and ancestral tradition. I love that cacao has helped so many people open their hearts, gather in community, and reconnect with ritual. But I also feel we need to be honest about how quickly sacred practices can become trends when they are removed from their cultural roots, repackaged, and sold for hundreds of dollars.

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I understand that we are all trying to heal, to live the life of our dreams, and to find answers. But I am here to remind you that so much of what we need is already here. It is in nature. It has already been created by the creator. Sometimes all we need to do is return to it with gratitude, humility, and respect.

Creating pre-packaged and ultra-processed food has not served us very well, so let’s not do the same with our traditions and our beautiful complementary therapy industry. Ultra-processing the traditions we already have will not serve us either.

Our industry does not need more dilution.

It needs practitioners who are willing to study, practise deeply, honour the traditions they are drawing from.

I say this with love because I have trained in many modalities myself. Tarot, Reiki, energy healing, yoga, meditation, aromatherapy, Access Bars, hypnotherapy, past life regression, intuitive development, ceremony, dowsing, and more. I love learning. I will always love learning.

But over the years, I have realised that the power is not always in adding more. Sometimes the power is in going deeper into what already works.

My hope is that we become less distracted by the next shiny thing and more devoted to depth, practice, integrity, and service.

I hope we can create a future where complementary therapies are taken seriously because we practised them well, teach them well, researched them properly and show their value through real transformation.

The world does not need more spiritual noise. It needs honest practitioners. It needs people who can hold ancient wisdom with modern responsibility.

And maybe the next step forward is not chasing but remembering what has been powerful all along.

With love and always grateful for you

Monica - The Enchantress