Indigo and crystal children

Domain XIV · Western esoteric, divinatory & new spiritual movements · Nancy Ann Tappe, Lee Carroll, Jan Tober · 1982

What it is

Indigo and crystal children are not a therapy and not an organisation with members. They are labels from the New Age milieu that describe a generation of children as spiritually, psychically or developmentally advanced. Tappe, who described herself as perceiving people's “life colours” (aura…

Format

• This is a belief framework, not a staged therapy, so there are no published phases, session counts or criteria for moving on. Two sequences matter.

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• What it is. Indigo and crystal children are not a therapy and not an organisation with members. They are labels from the New Age milieu that describe a generation of children as spiritually, psychically or developmentally advanced. Tappe, who described herself as perceiving people's “life colours” (aura colours said to stay constant across a lifetime), reported seeing a new indigo colour in children and sorted them…
• Who you will meet. (a) Parents who believe their child is Indigo or Crystal, often after a school complaint, a diagnosis or a suggested assessment; (b) adults born from the early 1980s who identify as Indigo and recount hard childhoods and school years (Singler's ethnography found this pattern, and found community members reinterpreting ADHD and autism through the concept); (c) family members, teachers or co-parents…

Evidence status, as the guide reports it

• Claimed traits. In the primary literature, Indigos are emotionally sensitive, creative, strong-willed, resistant to authority and to guilt- or fear-based discipline, sometimes act as if they are “royalty”, and may report seeing auras, talking with non-human beings or remembering past lives; school…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• the therapist being drawn into taking sides; the family hearing silence as agreement. Working when the family and prescriber are talking.
• your own bias (reporting belief rather than harm, or holding back because of respect for belief). Working when the child's need is being met.
• pressure to choose sides between belief and science; feeling flattered into a guru role. Working when the family uses you for what therapy offers.
• advisers who claim to diagnose or treat; pressure to buy more to protect the child's gifts; isolation from extended family. Working when the parents feel in charge of their choices.
• the identity covering deep loneliness or shame; anger when the therapist does not confirm specialness; online communities that discourage assessment. Working when the person can value their…

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.