Raquel goes New Agey

[Terrie]

From her latest blog entry:

Quote

 I try to keep any arguments, negative emotions I'm feeling, anything that triggers bad memories, books/movies I don't like, etc. out of my space.  If they do end up in there for some reason, I use essential oils and crystals to purify.

The oils are as much fundie these days as they are hippy, but "purifying" and crystals had me raising an eyebrow.

[clueliss]

I've noticed the crystals in some of her Instagram stories.   

[formergothardite]

It seems like Raquel is trying to rebrand herself as some sort of self-help person. She has revamped her blog and is now writing posts about healthy eating(has she gone vegan because in the not so distant past she was mocking vegans) and advice for people in their 20's. She also has a nose ring and a new tattoo that says "love her but leave her wild". 

She also has a link to her "novellas" but those aren't novellas. They are maybe short stories, some very, very short stories. Her bucket list is still ridiculous with things like order pizza on the phone and have a blue eyed child. 

[clueliss]

But is there a link to the novella/story involving the magic penis ferret?

[Anonymousguest]

She's 23 today. 

Essential oils are new agey, no matter how many fundies may try to convince you otherwise. Any time you mix a bunch of stuff together and sniff it to have improved spiritual, physical, or even financial health, it's a magic potion, no? 

[artdecades]

The resurgence of crystals in the last few years baffles me. I think they are pretty and I like them but come on. There are so many otherwise reasonable people who believe that.

[acheronbeach]

1 hour ago, clueliss said:

But is there a link to the novella/story involving the magic penis ferret?

Or my very favourite slut-shaming shaming fictional, "Life's Choices"?

Has there been any mention of college lately?  She seems as self-absorbed and ill-educated as ever.

[Black Aliss]

1 hour ago, Anonymousguest said:

She's 23 today. 

Essential oils are new agey, no matter how many fundies may try to convince you otherwise. Any time you mix a bunch of stuff together and sniff it to have improved spiritual, physical, or even financial health, it's a magic potion, no? 

 

https://imgur.com/gallery/28jvM

[clueliss]

And whatever happened to Xaqurie?

[Rachel333]

Crystals surprise me. I remember hearing a lot growing up about how using crystals and new age stuff in general is evil.

Now that I think about it, though, essential oils are basically just as new agey as crystals, so it's weird how many fundies are into them.

Essential oils are the worst of the MLMs to me. Not only are the companies your typical predatory MLM scams, rather than just selling you lipstick or ugly leggings they actually encourage people to use essential oils instead of getting proper health care. I saw a page with directions on how to treat things like depression and PTSD from sexual assault with essential oils. (For the sexual assault, you were supposed to put the oil on the area where you were assaulted.) I saw a reddit post a few weeks ago where a NICU doctor said that essential oils have become a real problem for them because the oil salespeople say to put essential oils on your baby, which is bad for any baby but especially for preemies.

[catlady]

Apparently Xaquerie ran off with Bryttneigh to have a baby named Khrysstahlle, leaving our poor heroine all alone with her EOs, fake eyelashes, and self-published poetry.

[Rachel333]

I found the post I was thinking of.

I was looking for it on /r/antimlm and saw a bunch more terrible examples.

Someone advises a mother to use oils for her child's dangerously high fever and avoid medication:

Spoiler

Someone suggests oils if you're sad about school shootings:

Spoiler

And directions for treating infertility with EOs. The instructions are to put oils on a tampon and insert it.  (Note: Don't do this to your vagina!!!) 

Spoiler

 

[Terrie]

12 hours ago, artdecades said:

The resurgence of crystals in the last few years baffles me. I think they are pretty and I like them but come on. There are so many otherwise reasonable people who believe that.

I have a good sized collections of rocks and minerals from when I was a kid. Nothing mystical about it. I just think they are nifty and soothing to look at,

Raquel recommends EOs for flavoring, which is a terrible idea. Yes, some are safe and used in trace amounts in commercial products, but her claim that YL oils are "therapeutic" grade (a meaningless marketing term) and therefore okay to use in food is awful. Many are toxic in even in small amounts and the "safe" ones are only safe in limited amounts. If you want oregano in your food, try using actual oregano. 

[JMarie]

34 minutes ago, Rachel333 said:

I found the post I was thinking of.

I was looking for it on /r/antimlm and saw a bunch more terrible examples.

Someone advises a mother to use oils for her child's dangerously high fever and avoid medication:

  Hide contents

Someone suggests oils if you're sad about school shootings:

  Hide contents

And directions for treating infertility with EOs. The instructions are to put oils on a tampon and insert it.  (Note: Don't do this to your vagina!!!) 

  Hide contents

 

Nobody should be taking advice from D. Gary Young!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Gary_Young

Quote

Career

In the early 1980s, Young briefly studied therapeutic massage, although he did not complete a course of study.[1] In 1982, Young opened a clinic in Spokane, Washington which offered unlicensed medical services, including childbirth. In early 1983 when Young was 33 years old, an undercover Washington State police officer approached Young about performing an underwater birth, as part of an effort to "police all registered professions".[2] Young reportedly offered to provide prenatal services, and treat the cancer of the officer's mother,[1] and was arrested for practicing medicine without a license, leading to a misdemeanor conviction.[2][3]

In 1986 while promoting himself as a naturopathic doctor,[1] Young was operating the Rosarita Beach Clinic in Tijuana, Mexico, offering "detoxification" for cancer and lupus using treatments whose efficacy was questioned in an investigative report by the Los Angeles Times.[4] To test the veracity of Young's clinical diagnosis, a reporter submitted cat and chicken blood to a clinic employee, who failed to determine that the samples were non-human, and further diagnosed that the "patient" had an aggressive form of cancer and liver disease.[1][4]

In 1989, Young started cultivating plants in Spokane, Washington and built two distillation units.[5] In 1993, he founded Young Living Essential Oils in Riverton, Utah.[6][5] Young later moved the company to Lehi, Utah, and focused on employing methods of harvesting and extraction, which the company marketed without evidence as "customs that were practiced during the period of Christ."[7] Young Living is reported to be one of the largest vendors of essential oils in the United States with over three million customers.[8] It operates as a multi-level marketing company in which 94% of Young Living's two million active members made less than a dollar in 2016.[8]

Besides selling essential oils to its members, Young Living operated a clinic in Springville, Utah which dispensed essential oils and other alternative medicine treatments for numerous conditions, including cancer and depression.[8] After settling a lawsuit with a former patient who claimed the clinic's vitamin C therapy had caused renal failure, the clinic closed its Utah branch and re-opened in Ecuador.[8]

The company's essential oil sales grew quickly in the 2000s.[8] The company's largest competitor, doTerra, was started in 2008 by executives who had left or been fired from Young Living.[8][9] Both Young Living and doTerra have been cited by the Food and Drug Administration for making misleading claims about the medical benefits of their products.[8][10]

In 2014 while Young was Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Young Living, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned him and his company about illegally marketing products that had not been FDA approved as possible treatments or cures for Ebola virus,[11] and other diseases, including "Parkinson’s disease, autism, diabetes, hypertension, cancer, insomnia, heart disease, post-traumatic stress disorder, dementia, and multiple sclerosis, that are not amenable to self-diagnosis and treatment by individuals who are not medical practitioners."[12] In 2015, he stepped down as CEO with his wife assuming the role.[13]

Personal life

Young was born around 1950.[2] In his late teens, Young moved to Canada with the intention of homesteading in British Columbia.[14] At the age of 24, he suffered a near–fatal logging accident, and had to use a wheelchair for a time.[14][5] While rehabilitating, he studied alternative medicine, which eventually led him to use essential oils in an effort to relieve his pain.[14]

In 1982, Gary and Donna Young attempted to give birth to their daughter in a whirlpool bath located in Young's "health club", but the child drowned during delivery.[15] While the death was ruled accidental, the county coroner's report stated that the child would likely have survived if a conventional delivery had been performed.[8] Young later married Mary Young, the CEO of Young Living[13] and the author of Young's biography, published by Young Living.[8]

 

[refugee]

1 hour ago, Terrie said:

I have a good sized collections of rocks and minerals from when I was a kid. Nothing mystical about it. I just think they are nifty and soothing to look at,

Raquel recommends EOs for flavoring, which is a terrible idea. Yes, some are safe and used in trace amounts in commercial products, but her claim that YL oils are "therapeutic" grade (a meaningless marketing term) and therefore okay to use in food is awful. Many are toxic in even in small amounts and the "safe" ones are only safe in limited amounts. If you want oregano in your food, try using actual oregano. 

Yes, YL oils for flavoring because they’re so pure—I heard it from the mouth of Stacy McDonald herself at a large YL party where half the women in the church were there. (It was a big event because Stacy was visiting the area.) Kind of like a Tupperware/Pampered Chef party, only EOs. Not only in spray bottles (room fresheners) but in the baked goodies and beverages for the social time after the presentation.

As I recall, Stacy confided in the crowd how she likes to spike her hubby’s water bottle with YL peppermint for whatever reason...

[mango_fandango]

Stick an oily tampon in my vag?? 

OH HELL NO!

*lady bits quiver in fear and disgust*

[dripcurl]

Raquel will most likely have to fall back on being a YL peddler like her Mom, since no type of higher ed or sustainable jobs have worked out for her.

 

I don't think Raquel will ever go full New Age or anything other than Christian in practice, no matter what she believes in her heart, because she holds so fastly to someday finding a Christian huband. I know she has not directly expressed that much in the past few years, but it is obvious she always keeps a toe dipped in the Church one way or another, and I can't help but believe this is for security (based on how as a teen she developed her idea of adulthood being in encapsulated by marriage). A true Christian guy will ideally be long-suffering, loyal, providing, protecting, and adoring. Raquel wants someone she can rely on (i.e. take advantage of) and who has eyes for her only (i.e. worships her). 

 

When a clean cut fundie expresses interest, she'll drop the crystals and the astrology and the bikinis and start posting more verses and wifey things. She has no true identity herself and can easily, though messily as we know, meld into whatever she needs to be for the circumstances.

[Georgiana]

Raquel thinks of herself as a unique and innovative person, but in fact she's always jumping on to the tail end of Christian trends. Essential Oils have been a "Christian" MLM forever now.  It's actually sort of comical how late she is to just about every Christian trend she adopts...

[Anonymousguest]

15 minutes ago, Georgiana said:

Raquel thinks of herself as a unique and innovative person, but in fact she's always jumping on to the tail end of Christian trends. Essential Oils have been a "Christian" MLM forever now.  It's actually sort of comical how late she is to just about every Christian trend she adopts...

Nah, she's been at the forefront of the oils trend. Her mother has been selling them for years, she was the first person I ever knew to use oils. She's been very successful at YL.a few years ago she said she made more than her husband did being a mail carrier.  Raquel used to go with her to the conferences and all when she was still a teen at home. I think it was intended at first to be a family business, but Raquel didn't work out. 

[albireo]

7 hours ago, Rachel333 said:

Essential oils are the worst of the MLMs to me. Not only are the companies your typical predatory MLM scams, rather than just selling you lipstick or ugly leggings they actually encourage people to use essential oils instead of getting proper health care.

I agree, and come to think of it, Plexus (another horrible one) does the same thing, except with unregulated "vitamins" instead of oils.

[mango_fandango]

I really don’t know much about Raquel apart from a few bits. I’ve seen that’s she’s been discussed on FJ for a long time, I assumed she was in her 30s... when she’s only a couple of months older than me. 

Dare I fall down this rabbit hole??

[formergothardite]

9 minutes ago, mango_fandango said:

Dare I fall down this rabbit hole??

There is a mystical orange penis ferret! Also animal abuse and neglect. And traveling to Peru to act very inappropriate around teen boys.  Raquel is one of those people who has the potential to turn into another Jill Rod. 

It looks like Raquel has a new boyfriend. She hasn't written anything creepy about him yet. 

[Terrie]

Let's play a game of how many of Raquel's 23 things for 20-somethings were lifted from other people.

#2: "It's okay not to be okay" Lifted from, well, everywhere.  Many, many blog and story headlines

#3: "Vulnerability isn't a weakness, it's a strength."  Huh, like #2, this pops up a headline in psychology today, as did #2.

#9: "Remember that a bad day doesn't mean it's a bad life." A reworking of a standard Pinterest quote.

#18: "There's a difference between forgiving and forgetting.." Again, super common.

#22: "People won't remember what you said, but they will always remember how you made them feel." A Maya Angelou quote.

#23: "Nothing will ruin your life more than thinking you should have your life together." A Pinterest quote again.

 

Does she have a single original idea in her head? 

[formergothardite]

40 minutes ago, Terrie said:

Does she have a single original idea in her head?

The mystical orange penis ferret might be her one slightly original idea, but she was writing that with someone. 

Her book now has one review. 

If Raquel would have stuck with college it would have done her a world of good, but it sounds like she gave up the second it became even the slightest bit challenging. It is obvious she didn't get anymore good grades in the writing class because if she had of she would have bragged about it. Instead of taking it as a sign she needs to work on her writing skills, she just quite. 

 

[clueliss]

She posted a bit on an Instagram story over the weekend about getting back to her novel writing.  Is it bad of me that I'm holding out for the mystical orange penis ferret and Xaqurie ditch Fathom and cavort with each other?