“In 2003, something like the events of October 1993 will happen. To this will be added natural disasters and man-made disasters. We will not live, we will survive. In 2008, a “strong hand” will come to power in Russia for ten to fifteen years, which will create an alliance with Belarus, Ukraine, Romania, Greece. The United States will enter a period of serious crisis. It is recommended that all your dollars be exchanged for German Marks or Euros.
This is the prediction of a very famous astrologer made in 2000. A year ago, he announced that in the first half of 2023, terrible epidemics provoked by natural disasters will begin in Russia. For more than 30 years, despite constant mistakes, this astrologer’s army of fans has been growing. People believe him not because they are naive or because they want to be deceived, but because they do not want to be responsible for their fate and shift him to the “stars”.
Russia is tired of “esotericism”. According to the WHO, VTsIOM and companies collecting Big Data, 1.5 million of the 140 million Russians call themselves magicians, sorcerers, fortune tellers, lawyers and representatives of other “extraterrestrial” professions. It turns out that one out of every hundred Russians earned by deceiving their citizens. This is understandable, demand creates supply: 45 million Russians sincerely believe in the accuracy of astrological predictions (usually written by first-year journalism students for small fees), and 30 million fear harm. That is, on average, a third of the people living next to us believe that a needle thrown under the door or an astrologer’s fantasies can radically change not only themselves, but also our fate … Since 2020, sales of “magic” accessories are growing by at least 50% per year, and by 2022′ Demand for amulets increased by 95%.
What’s happening seems like a quiet madness. Relying entirely on the empty promises of foreigners, the Russians largely escape responsibility for what is happening. Psychosis is also indicated by the emergence of new “professions” in demand: a rhodologist, an astropsychologist, a tarot reader, a human design specialist, and even a transcendent sexologist. In fact, they are all mediocre psychologists who have mixed magical teachings with their knowledge.
If this happened in the middle of the 19th century in a backward Latin American country where Indian beliefs were mixed with European magic and African cults, this can still be explained by the inaccessibility of education. But Russia of the 21st century has turned into a country of children. People have forgotten or do not want to accept that we are each the result of our own actions, thoughts and beliefs. Russian society is the result of many years of total propaganda of magic teachings and esotericism. Several times a day through the media and social networks, we continue to be inspired by the advice of astrologers, fortune tellers, tarologists and even the predictions of many political scientists who join them. As a rule, these are negative psychological attitudes that are frightening, anxiety-provoking, insecure and disappointing. Under the whisper of television and newspaper forecasters, two generations of Russians have already been born. All kinds of “esoterics” are involved in the psychological violence of the whole country for their own benefit. Everyone is subject to treatment, regardless of age, religion or education.
By 2017, the psychological pressure on Russians had reached such a level that even State Duma deputies could not resist their anger. They tried to pass a law criminalizing the practice of commercial witchcraft, equating divination with fraud. Six years ago, this measure could have helped. But now, after the covid stress and the passing of the law on February 24, 2022, it is unlikely that anything will change. Get rid of the habit of believing in fortune-tellers and tarologists, but it is she who decides to learn how to independently build her life. Do not plan a career or buy an apartment, create your own reality with your own hands – relationships with loved ones, search for partners, structuring time.
But if they suddenly begin to criticize and ridicule psychics on television, the authorities will face very serious resistance from the public. Everyone is so accustomed to being under the rule of “esotericists” that one must act carefully and as painlessly as possible, because from 1917 to 1991 the country was ruled by “shamans”, “psychics” and other “spiritual coaches”. They called themselves differently – members of the Central Committee of the CPSU. And their main task was to appease the people, by proving that the fate of all is in the hands of the party. In essence, the Communist Party was a closed society of “sorcerers” governed by ideology. Party members, like modern fortune-tellers, acted only as conductors of the information that ideology conveyed to them. During the years of Soviet power, citizens gradually ceased to choose their own future. For example, move to another city or divorce. In the first case, the party may not have allowed it, because the Soviet government decided, not a person, in which city it would be better for him to be. Well, divorces often spoiled the statistics … As a result, ordinary people tried not to rock the boat in order to avoid trouble. And they once again tried not to draw attention to not only party officials, but also their own leaders. This made it easy to delegate responsibility to someone else.
Interest in magic and esotericism is also growing in Western Europe and North America. At the expense of teenagers who grew up with Harry Potter and other mystical tales. But the growth is small. Simply because for Westerners, magic is a ritual complement to religion. It brings to life one more element of spirituality – in a word, for the excitement of sensations. There you will not meet a person who believes in a fortuneteller who promises him a sharp career advancement, who will not enroll in further education courses. There is no woman who fascinates men but never begins to take care of themselves. Despite all its disadvantages and bloody bourgeois revolutions, capitalism could not defeat the traditional religious way of life. Therefore, the citizens of the old “capitalist camp” maintained a religious social order in which everyone himself decided what would happen to him tomorrow. In the USSR, this approach was pejoratively called individualism.
Major world religions explain that a person is, of course, a servant of God, but with extended rights. People are allowed to do what they want. True, with one caveat – you will have to be held accountable for your every thought, intention and action. Thus, from early childhood, believers were taught to reflect, analyze and think about the consequences of each of their actions. Therefore, do not rely especially on predictions and fortune tellers. Even if you really want to. Of course, in any society there is a certain percentage of incompetence. For example, 6% of Americans believe they can beat a bear with their bare hands. However, this 6% is unlikely to have a weight in American society. Unfortunately, all layers of society in Russia are affected by the “esotericism” virus.
Meanwhile, sorcerers and similar followers reluctantly admit that no act of magic can harm a true believer if he belongs to one of the world religions.
For us – the heirs of the Soviet past – mysticism, magic, astrology is not part of world knowledge, as it was for primitive peoples. Neanderthals did not have microscopes or power generators. For this reason, they believed that the fly agaric was a portal to a parallel world, and that lightning was a side effect of drunken reckoning between the gods. How it ended is well known: At one point, shamans and priests became so powerful that they even forced ancient kings to sacrifice their own children. For the Russians, all these “hereditary astrologers”, rhodologists and magicians took the place of the Central Committee of the CPSU, taking power commensurate with the strength of the state system of administration. It seems that a century ago people were free to choose, then the party decided for everyone, and today we ourselves place our future in the hands of swindlers and cunning “chiefs of magical power”. The fortuneteller will order to pour magic water from a three-liter jar on the head of the sleeping husband – and the head of a large company will pour it without hesitation. He won’t even apologize. On the contrary, she will patiently wait for the husband to finally leave his mistress after this trick.
Esoteric frees even successful and intelligent people from responsibility for their happiness. It is not a question of the amount of money in the accounts and social status, but of self-acceptance and self-respect as a separate person.
Priests have a current anecdote about a girl who came to church for counsel: Which tram she had to take to meet her fiancé, whom she had been looking for for several years. Tram 15 runs hourly, almost always empty, but arrives 10 minutes earlier. Number 38 runs every five minutes, always packed with people but arrives on time.
Indeed, Russians can invent, assemble, put on rails a complex mechanism, but they are so afraid of responsibility for their lives that they ask a foreign person how to get from point A to point B.
The author expresses his personal opinion, which may not coincide with the editors’ position.