Doreen Virtue

Doreen Virtue (born Doreen Hannan), is an American author, formerly writing exclusively about New Age topics. Virtue states that in 2017 she rejected her New Age spiritual beliefs and became a born again Christian.

Early life and education
Doreen Virtue was born Doreen Hannan in 1958 in Southern California. She spent the early part of her childhood in North Hollywood until her family moved to Escondido, California when she was 10 years old. When Virtue was growing up, she and her family practiced Christian Science and followed the teachings of Mary Baker Eddy.

Virtue earned a master's degree in counseling psychology at Chapman University, a private research university located in Orange, California. Through distance learning, she later was granted a PhD in psychology from California Coast University. At the time she received the degree, the school was unaccredited.

New Age practice and writing
Before 1995, Virtue worked as a psychotherapist. Following her experience of being the victim of a carjacking, 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, 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, Celtic mythology, and Native American spirituality.

Conversion to Christianity
In February 2017, Virtue was baptized by an Anglican priest at Kawaihae Beach, Hawaii. Later that year, she publicly announced she was renouncing her New Age beliefs and was embracing born again 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, Apple TV, and American Gospel TV. The channel was created in February 2024.

Virtue also has a long-time monetized YouTube channel called "Doreen Virtue". With over 350,000 subscribers, the channel hosts Virtue in teaching videos. The video content 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 and Steven Furtick, the late author Sarah Young, as well as megachurches such as Elevation Church and Bethel Church. Some of her teaching videos contain content where she criticizes various Contemporary Christian Music 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, claiming it has New Age themes and music embedded in the storylines.

Personal life
Virtue has been married multiple times and has three children: two sons and one daughter. Currently, she and her fifth husband live in Hawaii.