The Cult Dossier · No. 103 · Commercial / Therapy / Lgat

Twin Flames Universe

TFU; Mind Alignment Process

2017 – present · Leelanau County, Michigan (south of Suttons Bay since 2020); online

XI. THERAPY, POLITICS AND THE SMALL GROUPS

Quasi-religious — online relationship coaching

Who led it

JEFF DIVINE (born Jeffrey Ayan) and SHALEIA DIVINE (born Megan Plante, formerly Shaleia Ayan).

What it worshipped and taught

The doctrine that every person has one TWIN FLAME — a single destined partner — and that the Ayans can identify yours. Members paid for escalating courses — the Twin Flame Ascension Course cost 4,444 dollars in 2020 — and did unpaid work. Documented practices: instructing members to pursue people who had explicitly rejected them, in some cases to the point of stalking and restraining orders; assigning members new genders and instructing them to transition medically in order to fit an assigned pairing; and severing members from their families of origin. Members were also recruited as coaches, producing a pyramid structure.

Who was in it

Jeff and Shaleia Ayan; the former members featured in the 2023 Netflix series Escaping Twin Flames and the Amazon Prime series Desperately Seeking Soulmate; the Vice investigation of February 2020 by Sarah Berman; Alice Hines's Vanity Fair profile of December 2020; Michigan Attorney General DANA NESSEL.

How it ended, or where it stands

Active, and under criminal investigation in Michigan since July 2025; no charges reported.

The dead

—

Of note

Included as the leading example of the fully-online coaching cult, a category that now vastly outnumbers residential communes. It requires no compound, no shared meals and no physical isolation — the isolation is achieved by instructing members to cut off everyone who disagrees, which social media makes trivially easy.

Its timeline

2017 Founded online by the couple.
FEBRUARY 2020 Vice publishes the first major investigation; Vanity Fair follows in December.
2020 They move the operation to a property south of Suttons Bay, Michigan.
NOVEMBER 2023 Netflix's Escaping Twin Flames and Amazon's Desperately Seeking Soulmate: Escaping Twin Flames Universe are released within weeks of each other.
MARCH 2025 Canada's CTV W5 airs We're Not a Cult: Inside Twin Flames Universe.
1 JULY 2025 MICHIGAN ATTORNEY GENERAL DANA NESSEL ANNOUNCES A CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION. Search warrants are executed at two properties, on a judge's finding of probable cause that crimes have been committed. She gives few details of possible charges.
AS AT SEPTEMBER 2026 NO CHARGES HAVE BEEN REPORTED. The couple deny wrongdoing and the group continues to operate.

Its people

Jeff Divine

born Jeffrey Ayan; formerly Ender Ayanethos

Co-founder, Twin Flames Universe · born c.1980s · active 2017–present

Co-founder with his wife of an online coaching operation built on the doctrine that every person has one destined partner and that the Ayans can identify yours. Former members have described being instructed to pursue people who had explicitly rejected them — in some cases to the point of restraining orders — being assigned new genders and encouraged to transition medically to fit an assigned pairing, and being cut off from their families of origin. The Ayans deny all allegations. No charges have been brought.

Before the law. NOT CHARGED WITH ANY OFFENCE. In July 2025 the Michigan Attorney General announced an investigation and search warrants were executed on individuals and properties linked to the organisation. THE ATTORNEY GENERAL DID NOT SPECIFY WHAT CRIMINAL ACTS WERE UNDER INVESTIGATION, and no charges have followed. The Ayans deny all allegations.

Where things stand. Living. Still operating; investigation open, no charges filed.

2017 Founds Twin Flames Universe online with Shaleia.
FEBRUARY 2020 Vice publishes the first major investigation; Vanity Fair follows in December. The operation moves to a property south of Suttons Bay, Michigan.
NOVEMBER 2023 Netflix and Amazon documentaries released within weeks of each other.
1 JULY 2025 MICHIGAN ATTORNEY GENERAL DANA NESSEL PUBLICLY ANNOUNCES AN INVESTIGATION into Twin Flames Universe. Search warrants are executed on individuals at the top of the organisation and on associated properties in LEELANAU COUNTY, by special agents of the Attorney General's office together with the US DEPARTMENT OF LABOR OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL, the MICHIGAN STATE POLICE, and the LEELANAU and GRAND TRAVERSE COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICES. Allegations reported include the use of COERCIVE CONTROL over members. THE ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE DID NOT SPECIFY WHAT CRIMINAL ACTS IT WAS INVESTIGATING.
Present NO CHARGES HAVE BEEN FILED AGAINST ANYONE. The investigation is open, no criminal acts have been specified publicly, and the group continues to operate. THE LEADERS NOW USE THE SURNAME DIVINE rather than Ayan.

Checked 2026-09-17 · living: health details are kept at home

Shaleia Divine

born Megan Plante; formerly Shaleia Ayan

Co-founder, Twin Flames Universe · born c.1980s · active 2017–present

Co-founder and co-teacher, and the source of much of the group's relationship doctrine and its 'Mind Alignment Process'. Former members describe her as the more directly involved of the two in assigning pairings and in the gender reassignments. She and her husband deny all allegations, and no charges have been brought.

Before the law. NOT CHARGED WITH ANY OFFENCE. Named in the July 2025 Michigan Attorney General investigation and associated search warrants; the Attorney General did not specify what criminal acts were under investigation. Denies all allegations.

Where things stand. Living. Still operating; investigation open, no charges filed.

2017 Co-founds Twin Flames Universe.
2018–present Co-delivers the coaching tiers; members are recruited as coaches, producing a pyramid structure.
NOVEMBER 2023 Featured in two streaming documentaries.
1 JULY 2025 Michigan Attorney General announces a criminal investigation; search warrants executed.

Checked 2026-09-17 · living: health details are kept at home

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