(RNS) — “Are you a starseed? Do you feel like you’re an old soul?” asked influencer Elizabeth April, smiling with understanding in an Instagram video on Feb. 13, 2020. “Well, you’re definitely not alone, because there are many of us out there, and we’re all struggling, and we’re all feeling awkward on this planet, and we all feel like the cosmos are our home.”

April’s post got 451 likes six years ago, but these days, her videos about aliens, clones and “chosen ones” regularly rack up tens of thousands of likes. Now age 33, April describes herself as an alien inhabiting an earthly body to aid humanity — and if you’ve ever felt out of place, she tells her nearly 400,000 Instagram followers, you’re probably one, too.

Starseeds identify as galactic souls fighting a cosmic battle between good and evil, often by disclosing hidden truths via social media posts. The New Age phenomenon has been around for decades, but online interest skyrocketed during the pandemic, and content with #starseed has over a billion views on TikTok. Not quite an organized movement, starseeds are building their own mythologies — galactic histories, lore about alien species, conspiracies about reptilians — and online rituals that, for some, have taken on the trappings of religion. Instead of praying to saints, speaking in tongues or learning from priests, starseeds channel galactic beings, communicate in light language and follow starseed influencers online. Experts say most starseeds are harmless but warn the ideology can overlap with conspiracies that, in extreme cases, create risk.

Awakening

In a February Zoom call, April told RNS she grew up feeling alienated. Raised in a Catholic household in Ontario, she recalls seeing ghosts and spirits from an early age.

“I didn’t realize that they couldn’t also see those things,” she said about the other kids at her Catholic elementary school. “It made me an outcast.”

Her extrasensory abilities as a child seemed at home within Catholicism; she remembers feeling close to God and wanted to become a nun so she could “be God’s messenger.” Then, when she was 16, her father introduced her to past life regression, a controversial technique that’s said to use hypnosis to help participants access memories from previous lives. The experience unlocked something for April, who said she began encountering past lifetimes on Earth and, eventually, “off planet.” Soon after, she said, she was introduced to her “true self.”

“I sat my mom down and told her I was an alien,” April said. “I chose to sign up to be a human, and now I’m here.”

The notion of “starseeds” is often traced back to American paranormal author Brad Steiger’s 1976 book “Gods of Aquarius: UFOs and the Transformation of Man,” which popularized the idea of humans with cosmic origins ushering humanity into a higher state of consciousness. Though starseed beliefs are fluid and ad hoc, many starseeds see themselves as benevolent, intergalactic beings who opted to be reborn as humans. Their mission, nearly universally claimed among those who identify as starseeds, is to awaken others to realize they live in a limited state of reality often referred to as the Matrix or “the system,” and through personal enlightenment, can ascend to more idyllic dimensions.

Is it religion?

Many starseeds share beliefs about planets and alien species — the wise, large-headed Arcturians, the malevolent reptilians — and have developed mythologies about the galaxy’s history. Some experts argue these decentralized beliefs are acting as a pseudo-religion.

“Most starseeds no longer participate in organized religion, because they see that as a man-made institution,” said Noelle Cook, author of “The Conspiracists: Women, Extremism, and the Lure of Belonging.” “But it does operate much like a religion, because it is basically a system of faith.”

Those beliefs sometimes echo end-times religious teachings. Instead of believing in a rapture, some starseeds believe in an imminent Great Awakening where advanced souls will shift into a higher dimension. Ismael Perez, an influencer who describes himself as an awakened starseed and galactic historian, compared this better reality to teachings in Christian millennialism, which describes a 1,000-year earthly kingdom of peace.

“Humans, animals and nature are once again in harmony, and of course, in direct connection with the divine,” Perez said.

Even online, starseed beliefs can include ritual. Some channel light language, a vibrational form of communication said to be from extraterrestrials and expressed through sounds and hand gestures. Others, like April, say they channel an alliance of peaceful aliens called the Galactic Federation of Light, sharing their messages with humanity. The federation members, often depicted via artificial-intelligence images, almost function as prophets or saints; viewers submit questions to a federation member with a certain specialty, who then, through the channeler, dispenses guidance and predictions.

Michael Satva, the 43-year-old co-producer of an annual New Age spiritual convention that each year brings over 5,000 spiritual seekers to Los Angeles, described starseed beliefs as part of an emerging religion that’s appealing to millennials and Generation Z.

“I think what the younger generations are tuning into is more finding that story,” he said. “Who are these aliens? What are the species? Who am I? You’ll do a starseed quiz to figure out what alien you are, what planet you’re from.”

But anthropologist Susannah Crockford, who has studied starseeds since 2012, said ideas involving starseeds aren’t centralized enough to be considered a religious movement. Instead, she sees starseeds as a phenomenon those in the “wider spiritual scene” drift in and out of.

“It’s not organized. They don’t work together. It doesn’t have a leader,” said Crockford, author of the 2021 book “Ripples of the Universe: Spirituality in Sedona, Arizona.” “It’s basically a bunch of influencers and a bunch of people who are interested in it on the internet.”

Conspiracy

Starseeds often create content about love, light and raising vibrations, but Crockford observed that many have also begun pushing conspiracies in recent years. April embodies this overlap, often sharing empowering messages about choosing love over fear alongside claims of an evil shadow government.

“Conspiracies, aliens, spiritual awakening, pineal gland activation, plant medicine, quantum healing, quantum mechanics, like it’s all the same, it’s all connected,” April told RNS. “I’m a bridge for all of those topics.”

The conspiracies coming out of the starseed ecosystem often involve a satanic or reptilian cabal controlling elites on Earth. In her videos, April refers to this cabal as the “shadow government”; Perez describes them as secret societies. And in the starseed realm, these conspiracies sometimes offer conflicting messages about who is on the side of good or evil. In April’s content, President Donald Trump is not a savior, but an agent of chaos bringing about a collapse of “the old system.” Perez offers a different interpretation, framing Trump as a mouthpiece for the forces of light who is “dismantling the deep state’s most toxic instruments, the DEI, the gender identity distortion, and critical race indoctrination.”

This starseed lore is not difficult to map onto the QAnon conspiracy universe, where Trump leads the heroic charge against an elite ring of satanic pedophiles who harvest the blood of children.

“Just because you believe in UFOs or UAPs (unidentified aerial phenomena) and starseeds does not mean you’re a QAnon person, but it does probably mean that you might be more likely to believe in a lot of the same conspiracy theories,” said conspiracy movement expert Matthew Hannah.

He said battles between good and evil can provide more satisfying explanations for people’s suffering than late capitalism. And these conspiracies can give believers a sense of agency over their suffering, too; all it takes to overcome evil is being a keyboard warrior disclosing truth online (or via the channeling of an alien’s wisdom).

Beth Daviess, a researcher who studies pathways to radicalization, argues that starseed beliefs are inherently conspiratorial because they “require this belief in a secret, hidden knowledge that can be revealed to and only by a select few,” she told RNS. At the fringes, she said, believing you are obligated to fight corrupt elites can have dangerous consequences, as it did for Jacob Chansley, the “QAnon Shaman” present on Jan. 6, 2021, who saw himself as a starseed.

“I don’t think being a starseed itself is the problem,” said Cook. “It’s what you get exposed to. … If it remains symbolic and personal, it’s not a problem. It’s how it’s played out.”

Implications

Experts say that amid an escalation in AI and global wars, more people may seek solace through starseed beliefs. And as these ideas proliferate, it’s hard to predict the effects of consensus reality unraveling.

Crockford thinks the scale of the starseed phenomenon is often overblown and represents only a sliver of how spiritual people are finding meaning. Cook, on the other hand, thinks starseeds are often overlooked and says these beliefs have strong implications for how people engage with institutional religion.  

“This is replacing organized religion right now,” said Cook. “Traditional religions rely on institutional authority and interpretive structure, and starseed beliefs prioritize personal revelation, algorithmic communities, and they reward intuition.”

April, who expects starseeds to only grow more vocal, agrees with Cook. She tells her followers the truths they seek can be accessed from within, and she predicts that embracing beliefs about aliens will be tied to the “downfall of traditional religion.”

“The confirmation of extraterrestrial life on planet Earth by the government, or by your own individual experience, kind of pulls all religion into questioning,” she said.