I went viral on tiktok. What changed?

Greetings, my astral companion. It’s so good to see you again.

If you are anything like me, you’re insufferably dramatic and crave attention at all costs. Just kidding… kind of.

This is just a taste of the limiting beliefs I had to grapple with back in April of 2024, when I checked my TikTok app during my lunch break, and was shocked to discover a video of mine was going viral in real time.

In the next few weeks, I would refresh the app every 15 minutes - and 2000+ more “likes” would flood my notifications. It was the first time I really truly understood the addictive nature of social media, because that shit felt like a high.

I had been posting videos of myself doing tarot readings since January, and in just four months I had amassed upwards of 8,000 followers on TikTok. That one viral video went on to accumulate 1.2 million views - more people than I can honestly comprehend.

So, did anything change?

You may be surprised to hear that, no, nothing really changed at all. Besides the immense blessing of getting connected with more like-minded people in the form of my followers, I began to receive hundreds of inquiries about how to book personal readings with me… and at the end of the day, only three people actually paid me.

This phenomenon is actually pretty common among viral creators. We just so happen to be conditioned to put people who are “known” on pedestals and expect that, as soon as there are more eyes on them, it inherently equates to massive personal success. On the contrary, I have logged onto the app plenty of times to come across videos of content creators pleading for help, on the verge of homelessness, losing their day jobs because of their virality, leaving them no other choice but to hit “record” and speak to a sea of virtual strangers with tears in their eyes.

Luckily, nothing like that happened to me!

But what I did find out, and what at first felt like a marker of positive growth for my exposure, was that fake accounts started to appear out of the blue - using my name, face, and brand to try to scam my followers out of their money. They would even include a link to this website in their bios!!! These accounts had usernames like @auronellie_ …and that little underscore makes a HUGE difference.

From April to July, I dealt with a steady increase in direct messages from concerned followers and friends, asking me earnestly: “are you aware that someone is impersonating you?” By early July, I was getting at least one message like this. PER. DAY.

What started out as fun and exciting, soon turned into something that pissed me off and thoroughly creeped me out… these scammer strangers were downloading my videos to their devices and re-uploading them to these fake accounts. I am no stranger to cyber-creeps and usually wouldn’t let them bother me, but this pushed me over the edge.

I laughed at first, and joked: “Wow, I guess this means I’ve made it!” Because why would scammers waste their time impersonating me if they didn’t believe I had something of value to offer? You wouldn’t piggyback off of an unsuccessful business, right? That’s what I kept telling myself to brush it off and keep making content. But ultimately, I was called to stop completely.

I know YOU know, my astral companion, that I am so much more than a fortune teller. Where that was my foot in the door for social media and business alike, it is only a small fraction of the skills I bring to the table as an artist and an entrepreneur. I intend to show you so much more.

So, last week, I announced with a short video that I would be retiring from TikTok tarot reading forever. It also occurred to me that I was contributing to a culture of “outsourcing intuition” - making people feel as though they needed outside validation for their feelings and life choices in order to feel okay. While that has the potential to be helpful, I feel like there are much better ways to help people achieve wellbeing. And once I realized that, it was no longer aligned with me.

I started out as a tarot reader on TikTok because I thought it would be easy. And lo and behold, IT WAS!!! I made a hypothesis, tested my theory, and it turns out I was incredibly successful. But then I found out it was too easy… too easy for strange, dark energies to intercept the vulnerable energies of the people I intended to serve.

So, if you were to check out my TikTok today, you won’t see a tarot reading until a few videos back. Because I don’t do that anymore. And yes - I did lose quite a bit of followers once I stopped posting readings. Some people only followed me so I could tell them how to live their lives, and giiirrrrll, that ain’t me!

Don’t worry - I am still taking tarot clients. You can book a one-on-one with me in my shop, just a click away in the navigation above. What changed, though, is that I can no longer offer free readings on your FYP. But it was fun while it lasted. Unfortunately, the scammers just ruined the fun for everyone, and I won’t let them win.

If you or someone you love has ever been affected by scammers, please contact a cyber-security company for support and repair.

Or, better yet, just don’t be a dumbass.

I will leave you with this: going viral doesn’t really mean anything. Other than, of course, you will always know that two million eyeballs have seen your face online. Once that happens, there’s not much you can do about it. But what you DO have control over, is what you choose to show the world. Are you proud of it? Is it authentic to your mission? Would you do it again?

Sadly, my answers to the above questions… was no.

And also, thank God my viral video wasn’t an embarrassing one!!! I just have way more to offer than that, and it was a good experiment. So I’m done.

But I hope you and I can stay in touch. :)

Much love,