Esoteric remedies, facile world views – where the woo-woo fad turns nasty

We currently find ourselves in the midst of a New Age explosion. From magical herbs, to glittering stones, to spiritual teapots, there’s apparently no such thing as «not a thing». It’s like society has collectively decided that the answers to our deepest questions are to be found in an obscure online shop in a dark corner of the internet or in a quirky holistic goods store.

Stars from the spiritual life-coaching scene as well as so-called ritual designers are gaining an ever-increasing following. However, it’s not just «good advice» that these people are touting on social media – it’s all sorts of supposedly magical wares. And some of them are really cashing in on the gullibility and naivety of their victims customers. From online witches who claim to be able to predict the future, to shamans who communicate with the spirit world, the market is apparently flooded with people endowed with supernatural powers. Shout out to the late Mike Shiva, Switzerland’s infamous TV clairvoyant.

Black magic: death by barcode

Look, I’m not trying to say it’s totally impossible that some people have special abilities. That there aren’t people out there in possession of emotional insight who’re genuinely helpful. However, anybody who submerges themselves in the depths of esotericism (with zero scepticism) will end up stripped of their cash, intelligence or both. Navigating life based on cards, crystals or crude predictions (or letting others do it for you) will run youinto serious problems.

It’s a slippery slope leading towards ever more outlandish theories, the so-called barcode conspiracy being one of them. The theory goes that barcodes on tins of soup, beer and frozen pizza emit toxic radiation, charging the food with «negative energy». Printing out codes and symbols such as the infinity symbol and sticking them over the original barcode will supposedly combat this.

Naturally, this fear is a money-spinner too. You can, for instance, get «barcode suppression pens» (page in German) online. I recently discovered something similar on a «bio balance technology» website (whatever that is) for a cool 52 euros. Along with it, there were other handy items such as «vision boosters» and anti-electrosmog chips for kids.

The dangerous thing about esotericism

Author Katharina Nocun says esotericism is a form of entertainment, not an alternative religion or life philosophy. Last year, Nocun teamed up with Pia Lamberty to publish the book «Gefährlicher Glaube – Die radikale Gedankenwelt der Esoterik» (English: Dangerous beliefs – the radical beliefs of esotericism). With her penchant for plain language, she says: «The problem is, people can become psychologically dependent on these kinds of products. They lose trust in their own ability to make decisions.» Instead, New Agey remedies «satisfy a certain longing for a better, different and easier life.» She continues: «After all, we’re all familiar with this. We all feel unhappy sometimes. Then esotericism comes along and promises to make everything better, everything new. Some remedies also evoke a very romanticised notion of the 'good old days', basically implying that medicine used to be more natural, more magical even. However, this completely ignores the fact that life expectancy used to be much lower, for instance, during the time before vaccines.»

Why magical beliefs are more common in women than men

Nocun also points out that women seem to be more open to some aspects of esotericism than men, an assumption backed by studies. According to the population-representative Authoritarianism Study conducted in 2020, 18.4 per cent of female respondents agree with statements about superstition.

Research has also been conducted on this in the US: «I was really intrigued to understand why, across the world, women tend to be more likely than men to report beliefs in magical phenomena,» says Sarah Ward, study author and Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois. Several studies, the results of which were also published in Psychology Today, confirmed what Ward had suspected. Women reported relying more on their intuition and scored lower on a cognitive reflection test – an assessment of a person’s tendency to ignore an incorrect gut reaction. Both are associated with stronger magical beliefs. Interestingly, the studies revealed that men were also more likely to agree with magical beliefs when the experiment inflated their trust in their intuition.

So let’s not go jumping to make any daft jokes about the results: «Although some antiquated stereotypes have portrayed women’s higher magical beliefs as caused by lower rationality or intelligence, this was not supported in the data,» says Ward. «Women and men did not differ in analytical reasoning capacities or intelligence in these studies.»

Be strict with yourself and keep your eyes open

Let’s be real for a sec. Pretty much everybody has taken a lucky charm into an exam, or has special rituals for certain occasions, such as falling in love or the death of a beloved pet. So where do you draw the line between soul-cleansing and dangerous superstition? Author Nocun says: «It becomes dangerous when there’s an entire world view underlining it. A view based on the assumption that there are invisible forces you can control, onto which you then pin all your hopes.»