I came home early from a cut-short business trip, eager for hugs and laughter. Instead, silence greeted me. The kids weren’t around, and John, who worked from home on Wednesdays, was missing too. Then I saw it: a dome-shaped tent in the backyard. Curious, I stepped outside just as John crawled out, sweaty and disheveled. My heart raced—until I peeked inside and froze.

Sitting cross-legged on a yoga mat was John’s mother, Sylvia, surrounded by incense and crystals. She calmly explained she was performing an “ancestral energy rebirth” to cleanse our family of my so-called “corporate darkness.” John, embarrassed but defensive, admitted that every Wednesday, while I thought he was working, he and Sylvia held spiritual cleansing sessions. The kids were sent to his sister’s house to avoid disrupting the ritual.

At first, I tried to understand. But then I discovered the financial damage. John had been paying Sylvia’s business, Higher Vibrations LLC, $1,000 a month for nearly a year. Worse, he attempted to take out $50,000 from our home equity to fund her new wellness center—all without telling me. When confronted, he dismissed my anger, saying I had “too much negativity in my aura” to understand.

That was the final straw. The mortgage papers required my signature, so I froze our joint accounts and contacted a divorce lawyer specializing in financial fraud. By Friday, John was served papers—while still sitting in that ridiculous tent.

I exposed Sylvia’s scam in local groups, sharing proof of John’s payments. Her business collapsed overnight. Now, John lives with her in a tiny apartment, selling “energized” crystals online.

The kids and I stayed in our home, their college funds safe again. Sometimes I still picture that tent in the backyard, not with anger, but with gratitude—for revealing the truth I needed to see.