From Manifestation To Mass: How A Survivor Contestant Ditched The Crystals For The Chalice

When Survivor 49 contestant Shannon Fairweather described herself on national television as a “hippie, spiritual, love the energy of the moon” type of person, she was putting words to something many young women recognize instantly. Manifestation, energy, astrology, “high-vibe” living. A little bit of everything, curated into something that feels personal, empowering, and entirely your own. In other words, she shared, “I basically considered myself a witch.” But just one year later, Shannon identifies herself very differently. She recently shared on Instagram , “Last Easter I was playing Survivor…I was praying to the ocean, the moon and many different ‘spirit guides.’ I had a relationship with God but it felt distant, mysterious and never complete. As many of you noticed… I was deeply searching & seeking for the Truth. Being on reality TV was a small part of a much bigger journey, a journey for peace, a journey for love, a journey for God.” This past Easter, Shannon joined a record number of converts to the Catholic Church . And her decision to walk away from New Age spirituality reflects an undeniable cultural shift . The Spirituality That Promises Everything Shannon didn’t arrive at New Age spirituality out of rebellion. Instead, she arrived there out of need. Like many women in college and in their early twenties, she entered adulthood searching for identity and stability, and instead found anxiety, depression, and a culture that left her feeling empty. “At times it felt like what the world had to offer me was failing me, but the concepts within New Age allowed me to feel in control,” she shared, “and it felt like I was making real progress and living a better life.” Through manifestation and the law of attraction, Shannon began to travel, built a business, and stepped into a version of herself that felt confident, successful, and in control. “I went from this very anxious…early twenty-something to now traveling…creating my reality,” she explained to me in a recent interview. This type of transformation is exactly why so many women are drawn to New Age practices. It doesn’t ask you to submit to anything. It doesn’t impose rules. It tells you that you are the source of your healing, and ultimately, your destiny. In a culture where women are told to take control of their lives, that message lands powerfully. When “Empowerment” Starts to Crack But what begins as empowering oftentimes becomes exhausting. As Shannon’s spirituality deepened, so did its intensity. What started as manifestation evolved into full immersion: plant medicine, breathwork, yoga, mysticism, and a blend of spiritual traditions. Her belief system became expansive, but also unstable. “I thought God was almost like a frequency…a state that I could access,” she shared. At its core, the message was simple: everything is God, everything is one, and you can become like God. But over time, Shannon began to feel something wasn’t right. “The deeper I went…the more confused I got about my life,” she said. Without any real framework for truth, everything became subjective. Right and wrong blurred. Even harmful patterns could be reframed as “growth” or “shadow work.” “You lack clarity on what is right and what is wrong” she told me. And that’s the paradox many women are beginning to face: a spirituality built entirely around the self can eventually leave you without any direction at all. Women Are Turning to Tradition But what’s happening in Shannon’s life reflects something even bigger. According to recent reporting, only about 8 percent of the roughly 53 million Catholic adults in the United States are converts, which makes what’s happening now all the more notable. Despite being a relatively small portion overall, that number is growing, and it’s growing fastest among young adults. According to America Magazine , “Dioceses widely report that the wave of new converts is disproportionately youthful, full of millennials and zoomers.” Even mainstream outlets like 60 Minutes and The New York Times have begun documenting this rise in conversions, particularly among people who once identified as secular, spiritual-but-not-religious, or immersed in wellness culture, and the timing is striking. Just last year, Pope Leo’s election marked a new chapter for the global Church—one that has coincided with renewed curiosity about Catholicism, especially among younger generations. “Research is showing that there really is a deep hunger in the hearts of young people for something that can help them with the meaning of life,” Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago recently shared in an interview with 60 Minutes. “But also, there's a woundedness on the part of young people that they are seeking healing for.” That combination—hunger and woundedness—feels familiar to Shannon’s story. The Breaking Point After returning from Survivor , “I was so broken,” Shannon shared. “ Survivor was hard, [but] not in a way that isn't expected, right? You're starving. You're out on an island. You get voted off. You're blindsided. Like that's hard. But it was everything that I signed up for.” Shannon found herself struggling and turned back to what she thought had helped her before, but this time, the experience felt different. After attending an ayahuasca ceremony (a sacred, hours-long, nighttime Amazonian ritual guided by a shaman), what once felt spiritual suddenly felt dark. “There were…people claiming to be working with demons…people having demonic dreams,” she recalled. She left in a panic. “And it was actually in a moment of pure desperation after this ayahuasca ceremony where I remember praying to God, and saying if there's a better way, please make it known to me.” As it turns out, He did. A few days later at a work event, Shannon pulled the Jesus card from an oracle deck. “My friend and I always joked that you know Jesus didn't want to have to come through to me that way, but you know he came and met me where I was at,” Shannon shared, “and that was actually the last ever oracle card that I ever picked.” For the first time, she couldn’t ignore what her life actually looked like beneath the language of healing and growth. “It took things getting really dark…for me to actually wake up.” Why Catholicism Feels Different What followed wasn’t some dramatic conversion but a steady pull away and towards something greater. A neighbor dropped off a book about the Eucharist . A friend started reading the Bible with her. She began attending Mass. And slowly, Shannon encountered something completely different from the spirituality she had built for herself. It wasn't something she could control but rather something she had to receive. And for someone used to chasing experiences, this was new. What ultimately drew Shannon in was Catholicism specifically. “I became really fascinated…and in love with the Eucharist,” she shared. And this is where the contrast becomes sharp. New Age spirituality is fluid, personalized, and always shifting. Catholicism, on the other hand, is rooted, structured, and unchanging. For a generation raised on personalization and self-definition, that difference is surprisingly compelling because while freedom feels good, structure feels stable . She shared on TikTok , “Jesus has given me stability, safety and a love like no other." The Identity Shift No One Talks About But conversion touches more than belief. Shannon had built an entire life around her former identity. “My whole career…was this ‘high-vibe’ women’s community,” she explained. Walking away meant losing more than this practice. It meant losing community, her audience and clients, her livelihood, and a version of herself that had taken years to build. It’s what the first American-born saint, Elizabeth Ann Seton, experienced when leaving her Episcopal faith to become Catholic two hundred years ago . Heck, it’s what my husband also experienced ten years ago when he converted to the Catholic Church. And that’s part of why Shannon’s story resonates. So many women feel stuck in identities they’ve curated, but aren’t sure how to leave. “Whether you are feeling lost in New Age or simply lost in the darkness that is all around this world,” Shannon wrote on Instagram , “know that there is so much peace, love and hope for you in Jesus…I tell my story to share that there is only One Way, One Truth and One Life and His name is Jesus. I believe what He is doing in my life is too good to gate keep, [and] I also know as Christians we are called to spread the Gospel, the Good News…and trust me, it’s great!!” In a culture that constantly tells women to build, brand, and optimize themselves, this kind of surrender feels almost radical. But for Shannon, and for a growing number of women, it’s also where peace is found.