INDIANAPOLIS — You've likely heard the phrase "there's someone out there for everyone" when it comes to dating.
Award-winning journalist Alice Hines uncovered an alleged online love cult for a Vanity Fair article and is now sharing the story in a three-part Prime Video docuseries, titled "Desperately Seeking Soulmate: Escaping Twin Flames Universe."
"A twin flame is like a super spiritual soulmate," Hines said. "They basically are the other half of your soul. This is somebody who you're magnetically attracted to, who your love will last across multiple lifetimes."
Hines came across the Twin Flames Universe in 2019 while looking for story ideas on Reddit.
"There were a lot of people who were talking about 'maybe this organization is a cult,' they were financially abusing people, people were volunteering for the organization, and there was even a weird conversion therapy people were talking about," Hines said. "I logged on to the private Facebook group that was maintained by the organization. It's led by a married couple named Jeff and Shaleia (Divine), and they actually say they are twin flames. In the open forum, Jeff was saying he's the 'master Christ.'"
As part of her investigation, Hines met Jeff and Shaleia for a weekend at their Michigan home.
"Most people who are members of this organization that a lot of people think is a cult, they never interact with the leaders in-person. This purely on Zoom," Hines said. "What I wanted to do was actually go behind the curtain of their online persona and meet them in-person."
In the docuseries, former participants of the Twin Flames Universe describe the extreme — and sometimes dangerous — lengths they went to in order to find their twin flame.
"Jeff and Shaleia are a straight, cisgender couple who pretend to be allies of the trans community but really are not because what they're actually doing is practicing a super harmful version of conversion therapy, where they say 'in order to find your twin flame, in order to find your ultimate lover, you actually need to change your sexual orientation or gender identity, and we're the ones who decide that' — or they say they got a message from God," Hines said.
It's no secret America has an affinity for true crime and cult documentaries, such as Charles Manson, NXIVM and Waco — but the scariest part about the Twins Flame Universe is it's still happening today.
"Most cults in the past, people are gathering on a farm or in-person," Hines said. "What is different about Twin Flames Universe is that all of this is happening online, so this is really a unique group. This is not something that's happened before."
"Desperately Seeking Soulmate: Escaping Twin Flames Universe" begins streaming on Prime Video Friday, Oct. 6.