IndigoChildren
From New Age mysticism to scientific scrutiny. An investigation into the belief that some children are born with supernatural traits — and what happens when spiritual labels replace real-world support.
Featuring real stories from Reddit, investigative journalism, and expert analysis
Where It All Began
The origins of a belief system that would captivate millions of parents worldwide
The story begins with Nancy Ann Tappe, a parapsychologist and self-described synesthete who claimed she could perceive the color of people's "life auras." In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Tappe began noticing what she described as a new color appearing around certain children — a deep indigo blue she had never seen before.
In 1982, Tappe published a comb-bound booklet about her observations, later expanded in 1986 as Understanding Your Life Through Color. But the concept remained relatively obscure until Lee Carroll and Jan Tober published The Indigo Children: The New Kids Have Arrived in 1999. The book sold over 250,000 copies and transformed a fringe idea into a cultural phenomenon.
"Nancy's DNA heritage provided her with a combination of synesthesia and 'the sight,' as her Scottish grandmother might have said. Today scientists define her abilities as accessing a part of the brain that others cannot."
The timing was not accidental. The late 1990s saw a perfect storm: rising rates of ADHD diagnoses, growing parental anxiety about Ritalin prescriptions (which jumped from 92,000 in the UK in 1997 to 208,000 by 2002), and a cultural appetite for spiritual explanations that offered more hope than clinical labels. As Robert Todd Carroll noted, "The hype and near-hysteria surrounding the use of Ritalin has contributed to an atmosphere that makes it possible for a book like Indigo Children to be taken seriously."
The Categories
The New Age child classification system has expanded well beyond its original "Indigo" label. Each category comes with its own set of traits, its own proponents, and its own critical blind spots.
Click any card to reveal the critical perspective
Indigo Children
"A kid who challenges rules and needs respectful structure"
The original category, popularized in 1999. Indigo children are described as warriors here to break down old systems. They are said to have a deep sense of purpose and an innate resistance to conformity. Critics note these traits describe most children at some point.
The trait list is so broad it triggers the Forer effect — psychologist Russell Barkley found the descriptions could apply to virtually any child.
Crystal Children
"A kid who's sensitive and needs calm + safety"
Popularized by Doreen Virtue in her 2003 book. Crystal children are said to be the generation following the Indigos — peacemakers with large, penetrating eyes. Some proponents claim they communicate telepathically, which conveniently explains delayed speech.
Autism researcher Mitzi Waltz warned of 'inherent dangers to these beliefs, leading parents to deny the existence of impairments' — many Crystal traits overlap with autism spectrum characteristics.
Rainbow Children
"A kid who brings optimism and emotional reset"
The newest generation in the hierarchy. Rainbow children are said to be born to Crystal parents and represent the highest level of spiritual evolution. They are described as fearless, joyful, and radiating unconditional love.
Descriptions vary enormously by source. The category is so loosely defined that it functions more as an aspirational ideal than a meaningful classification.
Star Children / Starseeds
"Souls from elsewhere, incarnated here to help"
A broader New Age concept: souls from other planets, star systems, or galaxies who have incarnated on Earth to assist with humanity's spiritual evolution. It functions more as a spiritual identity label than a consistent child type.
The 'not belonging' feeling is extremely common in adolescence and among neurodivergent individuals. Reframing normal developmental experiences as cosmic origin stories can delay appropriate support.
Diamond, Golden & Others
"Community-created labels with no consistent definitions"
An ever-expanding set of labels created by various authors and communities within the New Age movement. These categories are even less standardized than the main types and often seem designed to ensure every child can be classified as 'special.'
The proliferation of categories suggests the system is unfalsifiable — there's always a new label available, making it impossible for any child to not fit somewhere.
A Timeline
Five decades of a belief system — from a synesthete's vision to a global movement, and its eventual unraveling
Nancy Ann Tappe's Discovery
Self-described synesthete Nancy Ann Tappe begins claiming she can see a new indigo-colored aura around certain children. She links personality traits to 'life colors.'
First Publication
Tappe publishes a comb-bound booklet about her color system, later expanded in 1986 as Understanding Your Life Through Color.
The Book That Changed Everything
Lee Carroll and Jan Tober publish The Indigo Children: The New Kids Have Arrived. It sells 250,000+ copies and launches a movement.
First International Conference
The first international conference on Indigo Children is held in Hawaii, attracting 600 attendees. The movement goes mainstream.
Crystal Children & Film
Doreen Virtue publishes The Crystal Children. James Twyman releases the feature film Indigo. The taxonomy expands.
Peak Media Attention
Jon Ronson investigates for The Guardian. Channel 4 airs My Kid's Psychic. The Indigo Evolution documentary releases. Skeptics push back hard.
Academic Study
Researchers study parents who label ADHD children as 'indigos' — finding they perceive behaviors more positively but still experience more negative emotions.
Vice Documentary
Vice produces a documentary exploring the movement. Big Think publishes 'Indigo Children: When ADD Becomes a Cult.' Critical voices grow louder.
Doreen Virtue's Recantation
The woman who popularized Crystal Children publicly renounces all New Age beliefs, converts to Christianity, and publishes Deceived No More.
Reddit Reckoning
Adults who were labeled as children share their stories online. Many connect their 'indigo' labels to undiagnosed autism, ADHD, or other neurodivergent conditions.
Under Scrutiny
What happens when you examine the Indigo Children claims through the lens of science, psychology, and critical thinking? The evidence — or rather, the lack of it — is striking.
The Forer Effect
Russell Barkley, Research Psychologist"The descriptions are so vague that they could describe almost anyone. This is a textbook example of the Barnum effect."
When journalist Jon Ronson took the 'Is Your Child an Indigo?' quiz for his 7-year-old son, the boy scored 16 out of 21 — well above the threshold of 15. Questions like 'Does your child refuse to do certain things they are told to do?' and 'Does your child get frustrated with systems that don't require creative thought?' describe virtually every child on Earth.
Delayed Diagnosis
Mitzi Waltz, Autism Researcher"There are inherent dangers to these beliefs, leading parents to deny the existence of impairments."
The Crystal Children concept explicitly reframes autism spectrum traits — delayed speech, sensory sensitivity, social differences — as evidence of telepathic abilities. A 2011 study found that parents who labeled their ADHD children as 'indigos' perceived behaviors more positively but still experienced more negative emotions, suggesting the label doesn't actually help.
No Scientific Evidence
Wikipedia's Assessment"No scientific studies give credibility to the existence of indigo children or their purported attributes."
Despite decades of claims, not a single peer-reviewed study has validated the existence of indigo children as a distinct category. The concept relies entirely on subjective aura readings, self-diagnosis through online quizzes, and unfalsifiable spiritual claims. There is no testable hypothesis and no measurable criteria.
Commercialization
George Sachs, Clinical Psychologist"Saying that you, without doing anything, are unique and special, and different than every other child, is not helpful."
The movement has generated enormous profits through books, DVDs, conferences, counseling sessions, special camps, and online courses. The first international conference in Hawaii (2002) attracted 600 paying attendees. Lee Carroll's book sold 250,000 copies. The financial incentive to expand the taxonomy — adding Crystal, Rainbow, Star, Diamond categories — is hard to ignore.
"The view in medicine is that ADHD is a defect. It's a disorder. If you're a parent, the idea of 'gifted' is much more appealing than the idea of a disorder."
— David Cohen, Researcher
Real Stories
Across Reddit, a pattern has emerged: adults who were labeled as Indigo or Crystal children are sharing their experiences — and many are connecting those labels to undiagnosed conditions that went unsupported for years.
Quotes are paraphrased from real Reddit threads to protect anonymity
Anyone else called an Indigo Child as a kid?
"I was called an indigo child growing up. Turns out I'm just autistic. The 'special abilities' were hyperfocus and pattern recognition. The 'old soul' thing was just me being socially awkward and preferring adult conversation because I couldn't relate to kids my age."
The Indigo Child to autism pipeline
"My mom was deep into it. She told me I was special, that I could see auras, that I was here to change the world. What I actually needed was occupational therapy, social skills support, and someone to explain why fluorescent lights made me want to scream."
Parent obsessed with Indigo/Crystal children
"My mother pulled me out of school because the teachers 'didn't understand my gifts.' She homeschooled me with crystal healing and chakra alignment instead of math. I'm 28 now and still catching up on basic education. The indigo label wasn't empowering — it was isolating."
Do you think Indigo Children actually exist?
"I used to believe I was one. Then I realized the trait list describes literally every teenager who's ever felt misunderstood. 'Resistant to authority'? That's called being 15. 'Feels like they have a special purpose'? That's called being human."
Inside the strange psychic world of Indigo Children
"The whole thing is a masterclass in confirmation bias. Parent thinks kid is special → finds indigo quiz → kid scores high because the questions are designed so everyone scores high → parent feels validated → buys more books. It's a self-reinforcing loop with a profit motive."
The harm of the Indigo label
"Being told you're 'too evolved for this world' sounds nice until you realize it means no one is going to help you learn to function in this world. I spent years thinking my sensory issues were psychic powers instead of getting the accommodations I needed."
The Emerging Pattern
Across these threads, several consistent themes emerge. The most common is the autism-to-indigo pipeline: children displaying autistic traits — sensory sensitivity, social differences, intense focus, preference for adult conversation — were reframed as having supernatural gifts rather than receiving appropriate support.
The second pattern is educational harm. Parents who embraced the indigo framework sometimes withdrew children from school, rejected professional evaluations, or replaced evidence-based interventions with crystal healing and chakra work.
The third is the long-term identity crisis. Adults who were told they were "too evolved for this world" describe struggling with basic life skills, relationships, and self-worth when the spiritual framework eventually collapsed.
The Recantation
When the woman who popularized Crystal Children renounced everything
Doreen Virtue was one of the most influential figures in the Indigo/Crystal Children movement. A former psychotherapist turned New Age author, she published over 50 books on angels, crystal children, and spiritual healing. Her 2003 book The Crystal Children defined an entire generation of the movement and sold hundreds of thousands of copies worldwide.
Then, in January 2017, Virtue publicly announced her conversion to Christianity and her complete rejection of all New Age beliefs. She described her previous work as spiritually dangerous and began systematically renouncing the very concepts she had spent decades promoting.
"I was deceived. I was channeling demons, not angels. Everything I taught about crystal children, indigo children, angel therapy — all of it was a deception."
— Doreen Virtue, after her 2017 conversion
In 2020, Virtue published Deceived No More: How Jesus Led Me Out of the New Age and Into His Word, in which she described her previous career as a form of spiritual deception. She asked her publisher, Hay House, to take her New Age books out of print — a request they declined, as the books remained profitable.
The Impact
Virtue's recantation sent shockwaves through the New Age community. For many parents who had built their parenting philosophy around her teachings, it raised uncomfortable questions: if the person who defined "Crystal Children" now says it was all a deception, what does that mean for the children who were raised under that framework?
The Paradox
Critics noted an irony: Virtue's recantation itself followed a familiar pattern of absolute certainty. She went from being completely certain about New Age spirituality to being completely certain about evangelical Christianity — the same all-or-nothing thinking that characterized the movement she left. The capacity for self-doubt remained absent.
The Investigation
When journalist Jon Ronson went undercover inside the Indigo Children movement
In 2006, journalist and author Jon Ronson — known for his investigations into fringe movements — traveled to the world of Indigo Children for The Guardian. What he found was a mixture of genuine parental concern, commercial exploitation, and troubling medical neglect.
The Quiz Test
Ronson took the standard "Is Your Child an Indigo?" quiz for his 7-year-old son Joel. The quiz asked questions like "Does your child refuse to do certain things they are told to do?" and "Does your child get frustrated with systems that don't require creative thought?" Joel scored 17 out of 21 — well above the threshold of 15 needed to qualify as an Indigo. Ronson noted that the questions were so broadly worded that virtually any child would score high.
The Parents
Ronson met parents who were deeply invested in the Indigo framework. One mother described her son as having "the eyes of an old soul" and being "here to break down the old systems." When Ronson gently suggested the boy might benefit from an ADHD evaluation, the mother became visibly upset. "He's not disordered," she said. "He's gifted. The system is the problem, not my child."
The Conference
At an Indigo Children conference, Ronson observed a mix of earnest believers and what he described as "opportunistic entrepreneurs." Speakers charged hundreds of dollars for workshops on how to parent your Indigo child. Books, DVDs, crystals, and "aura photography" sessions were sold in the lobby. One speaker claimed that Indigo children had a different DNA structure — a claim with zero scientific basis.
"The Indigo Children movement sits at the intersection of two powerful forces: parental love and commercial exploitation. The parents I met genuinely wanted the best for their children. The problem was that 'the best' had been defined for them by people selling books."
— Jon Ronson, The Guardian, 2006
Ronson's investigation highlighted a fundamental tension at the heart of the movement. The parents were not villains — they were people trying to make sense of children who didn't fit neatly into conventional categories. The problem was not the desire to see their children as special, but the specific framework that channeled that desire away from evidence-based support and toward a commercial spiritual industry.
The Verdict
What can we actually take away from all of this?
After examining the origins, the categories, the science (or lack thereof), the real stories, the recantations, and the investigations, a nuanced picture emerges. The Indigo Children phenomenon is neither a simple fraud nor a harmless spiritual belief. It sits in a more complicated space — one where genuine parental love, real childhood differences, commercial exploitation, and scientific illiteracy all intersect.
What the movement got right
The core impulse — wanting to see your child as special rather than broken — is understandable and even healthy. The movement correctly identified that many children don't thrive in rigid, one-size-fits-all educational systems. It gave parents a vocabulary for advocating for their children's differences, even if that vocabulary was pseudoscientific.
Where it went wrong
The movement became harmful when it replaced professional evaluation with spiritual diagnosis, when it delayed or prevented children from receiving support for real conditions (ADHD, autism, learning disabilities, anxiety), and when it was commercialized by authors and speakers who profited from parents' fears and hopes.
A safer way to use the metaphors
If someone finds value in these labels, a safer approach is to treat them as metaphors rather than diagnoses. "Indigo" = a child who challenges rules and needs respectful structure. "Crystal" = a child who's sensitive and needs calm and safety. "Rainbow" = a child who brings optimism and emotional reset. These are useful shorthands — as long as they complement, rather than replace, real-world support.
The bottom line
If a child is struggling — with school, emotions, attention, social interactions, or anything else — the most helpful move is still real-world support: a pediatrician, a therapist, school accommodations, and evidence-based interventions. Whether or not you like the spiritual framing, the child's needs are real and deserve a real response.
"Every child is unique. You don't need a pseudoscientific taxonomy to see that. What you need is the willingness to meet each child where they are — not where a book tells you they should be."
Sources & Further Reading
Every claim in this investigation is sourced. Here are the materials we drew from.
Books & Primary Sources
The Indigo Children: The New Kids Have Arrived
Lee Carroll & Jan Tober (1999)
The book that launched the movement
The Crystal Children
Doreen Virtue (2003)
Defined the Crystal Children category
Understanding Your Life Through Color
Nancy Ann Tappe (1986)
Original aura color system
Deceived No More
Doreen Virtue (2020)
Virtue's recantation of New Age beliefs