Are you telling us that nobody who once believed in "stupid stuff" can ever be believable again? I daresay a lot of us believed in a lot of stupid stuff --until we learned better. Perhaps you've been superior since birth.
Where's the ironic tone? I don't see it.
(1) she puts "healer" (as in "New Age 'healer'") in quotation marks. That might be a teeny-weeny hint she's being ironic;
(2) "...pretty standard fare in training courses I mastered to some degree or another..." - I think "pretty standard fare" exudes a detectable whiff of irony;
(3) "being in the business of the new science of the mind" - likewise.
But if, in the whole context of her article, you don't "see" (or perhaps hear) the irony, that's OK. Some people are tone-deaf, not their fault.
Geez, I guess it's just my superior attitude, but if somebody tells me she is an expert on the evils of Harry Potter because she trained in time travel and telepathy, I tend to think a little less of that person's judgment. It's like an adult taking classes in the reality of the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny giving me a lecture. It's like listening to the opinion of somebody who gets their advice from Miss Cleo.
But if, in the whole context of her article, you don't "see" (or perhaps hear) the irony, that's OK. Some people are tone-deaf, not their fault.
Could you possibly be any more condescending? Can you please make an argument without your smarmy, patronizing attitude? You act as if I personally insulted you in thinking this writer is full of it. What, are you the author of the article?
And you know what I see in this article? I don't see irony -- I see a writer who has a hard time distinguishing fantasy from reality. I give her opinions about as much weight as I would give to the opinions of Shirley MacLaine.