(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 influen …
