![]() ![]() ![]() “We believe the Earth was a flattish disk surrounded by a solid dome barrier called the firmament.” In this context, retreating into the mystical internet actually feels like a quite rational move. “The horoscopes are meant to be healing.” After all, the woo-woo crazy of a vagina jade egg pales in comparison to this. My curmudgeonly twin points out that this is all a ploy to get women to spend more money on useless stuff, but my more compassionate twin appreciates a corner of the internet that values justice and empathy. “I’m a Gemini, so there’s two sides of me.” I’m a Gemini, too, so I’m of two minds about this whole trend. “And this is some satanist imagery here that goes over the connections of this symbolism.” And if masculine mysticism is obsessed with conspiracies, drawing connections between historical events and random images, feminine mysticism, on the internet at least, seeks to draw spiritual connections between human beings. And yeah, it all feels pretty girly, but men have their online mysticism, too. In their place it carves out room for intuition and empathy. It’s a rejection of all the algorithmic, data-driven, hyper-logical, crypto-libertarian values that run so much of what we do online. This is a turn to emotion in the face of all of the data that dominates the internet. “These eggs are on fire.” Goop has built a whole online retail empire serving what it calls, “the divine feminine.” “The egg is in, I think.” But online mysticism is also filling a legitimate need. There are for sure enterprising capitalists who are eager to profit off of all of this. ![]() In other words, this is a content business as much as it is a spiritual practice. “Love is who I am.” And astrology, it’s basically the cosmic Buzzfeed quiz. A piece of rose quartz stone is an expression of unconditional love. Posting a hermit tarot card to Instagram is a way of signaling introversion. Putting aside whether planetary alignments actually influence the personal lives of human beings, astrology and other nonscientific practices are sometimes less about predicting the future than they are about helping to understand ourselves. You don’t have to actually believe in astrology to be into it. “The tiger’s eye, I wear for protection, and it worked, because I wore this in the ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ all-star house, and I was super-protected.” But a lot of the appeal of this stuff isn’t really based in any strong held belief in the occult. Even Spencer Pratt, the arch villain of “The Hills,” has reinvented himself as a crystal outfitter. The Hoodwitch, an online retailer who sells everyday magic for the modern mystic, has amassed over 260,000 Instagram followers for her hashtag #witchtips and beautifully staged tarot readings. Astrological sign memes dominate Twitter. New apps like Costar Astrology and the Daily Hunch are part of a suite of internet products rebranding the zodiac for the digital set. But there is one part of the internet that is drawn to things that cannot be Googled. All of those little mysteries that used to fuel conversation - Who was that guy in that movie? How big is the Pacific Ocean? Do you think that TV dog is dead now? - are so easily solvable. Thanks to the internet, everything seems knowable. Is it all irrational nonsense - or is it a necessary corrective to the data-driven, hyper-logical, crypto-libertarian values that rule the internet? Transcript Astrology Is Fake but It’s Probably Fine From astrology memes to Instagram crystals, mysticism is taking over the internet. In fact, studies have shown no correlation between the behavior of planets and of people.Īstrologers and their many loyal followers are not persuaded about that.īut two prominent astrologers we spoke to said there was some exaggeration in the popular mind about the chaos caused by Mercury’s motion. And they vigorously dispute the core belief of astrology, that the motion of the planets can influence events here on Earth. Of course, actual scientists point out that any “retrograde” motion by Mercury is an optical illusion. The phrase has become a go-to explanation - or scapegoat - for when things go a little haywire. That’s the advice from astrologers while the planet Mercury is in retrograde, which lasts until March 28 this time around. ![]() And be mindful: You’re liable to forget something, like your glasses or phone. Do not be surprised if the mail is screwed up, or something goes awry when you’re in transit. Do not buy electronics, or anything with moving parts or gears. ![]()
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