These Women Say An Essential Oil MLM Has Been Taken Over By Satan. Yes, Really. - BuzzFeed News

In August 2021, influencer Madison Vining made a big announcement on Instagram. After becoming one of the top sellers for the multilevel marketing essential oils company Young Living, she was quitting.

To her more than 250,000 followers on Instagram and her Young Living team, known as the "Happy Oilers," the news came as a huge shock. Young Living is one of two of the major essential oils companies in the US, the New Yorker reported in 2017, along with its main rival DoTerra (both claim to be the largest oils company in the world, according to the magazine). Both reportedly reach $1 billion in sales annually and serve millions of customers. Vining, who had worked for Young Living for more than eight years, had reached "Royal Crown Diamond" status; sellers with that status make, on average, $1,645,692 annually or $137,000 a month, according to the company.

People online began to speculate as to why Vining and her husband, Tyler, would leave so much money on the table to start from scratch. When, a few days later, the Vinings announced that they were joining a new wellness-focused MLM, Modere, which is best known for its collagen supplements, rumors swirled that the couple had gotten a huge payout or some other incentive to leave.

For months Vining had kept her reasons for leaving Young Living opaque. But recently, she finally began to spill the tea on social media. One of the reasons the Vinings gave for leaving Young Living? Satan and his demons.

Yes, the prince of darkness. Vining is just one former top Young Living retailer who this month has either insinuated or flat-out said that they left the company after feeling, as devout Christians, that demonic forces were spreading "darkness" among Young Living members.

One former seller, Melissa Truitt, went as far as labeling the company a "cult" in an Instagram story highlight she posted to her account last week and later deleted. Truitt led the charge on the oily "satanic panic" by posting her series of Instagram stories last week accusing the company of spreading "demonic" propaganda through a New Age self-help book it sent to its members earlier this year. She urged Christians still working for Young Living to flee or risk their souls.

"This is so much bigger than money, this is so much bigger than day-to-day life, this is eternal significance," Truitt said in an emotional Instagram story.

Truitt did not return a request for comment on this story. Vining did not either, and shortly after I reached out, she blocked me on Instagram.

In response to the claims, Young Living said it "did not publish and does not endorse this book in any way." In a statement, the company said that the book's co-author, Marcella Vonn Harting, who is a top seller at the company, sent the book to "her own list without the company's knowledge or consent." The company denied providing Vonn Harting with anyone's contact information. (Vonn Harting did not return a request for comment).

"We support a culture of inclusion that we extend to our employees, customers, and brand partners world-wide," the statement read. "We appreciate and celebrate our members and their diversity of background and belief, and are dedicated to ensuring our brand partners follow our policies and procedures and code of ethics."

The influencers and former Young Living retailers' abrupt declarations that the company is satanic are odd to say the least, especially as so many of them, like Vining, have jumped ship to Modere over the past several months, before even receiving the book. Truitt, who had reached the second-highest "Diamond" status, also left Young Living five months ago to join Modere. And other big Young Living sellers slash influencers, like Liz Joy of Pure Joy Home and Monique McLean, abruptly announced they were switching to Modere recently as well.

In fact, so many prominent top Young Living sellers have been leaving that last August Young Living sued some of them, including the Vinings and McLean and her husband, for breach of contract. The lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in Utah in August 2021, was dismissed that December at the request of both sides. Still, it provides valuable insight into the breakup of the prominent Instagram essential oil sellers and the company. In the complaint, Young Living accused the McLeans and the Vinings of working to cut a deal with Modere to "raid" Young Living's business. (McLean did not return a request for comment. Modere also did not return a request for comment.)