Too Much “Woo” and Not Enough to “Shew” for It
AUTHOR’S NOTE: Another rant, just when you thought it was safe to come out. This has been in the queue for a while and I debated whether to post it because it could burn another bridge or two between me and those who might have had an interest in following my work. But that work increasingly shuns the “woo” of starry-eyed mysticism in favor of a literal appreciation of the divinatory arts. Blame it on my more recent fascination with Lenormand reading and horary astrology.
Before you get too annoyed, recognize that I’m not a mean-spirited hater of “pop metaphysics,” just a hype-weary critic of the sort of posturing that is at risk of turning into a major social-media circus driven by showmanship without the substance to back it up. At some point, sincere and exuberant but weakly-scripted mystical performance art (the storytelling we do is private theater, after all, it’s just being packaged as advice) can degenerate into self-parody, and it looks to me like the credentials and credibility of some would-be “influencers” are highly suspect. (Watch the documentary Desperately Seeking Soulmate for some sobering testimony in this regard.)
Humor me here. In the Victorian parlance of Arthur Edward Waite the archaic term “shew” meant to show or reveal (a “shew-stone” was a crystal ball). I’ve been pondering why I’m so frustrated by the self-styled “spiritual and metaphysical” crowd I encounter in online venues. Personally, I think they’re giving metaphysics a bad name in the same way that fortune-tellers once did; as a “shew” of honesty in advertising, they might be advised to position themselves as “spiritual consultants” instead of promising — like old-time TV host Ed Sullivan — a “rilly big shew” of eye-opening enlightenment that I seriously doubt they can pull off at the individual level.
Anyone with an extensive background in esoteric study and practice can’t help but become thoroughly bemused by the range of fanciful “services” being offered by wide-eyed entrepreneurs in the name of spiritual self-discovery. I have a feeling the epithet “woo” was coined for whimsical artifice of the kind that is being passed off as wisdom by its numerous purveyors. I can’t imagine paying to sit and listen to someone “play” singing bowls under the assumption that it’s a form of exalted “sound bath.” While as a lover of music I don’t doubt the power of harmonic vibration to excite emotions in the listener, being told that it is spiritually elevating to a more profound, ethereal level is a bit much. As a participatory art-form I can see it being a rewarding experience much like the shamanistic “drum circle,” but not as a second-hand spectator event. (Full disclosure: I use mantras, but to instill inner peace — they’re an effective antidote for insomnia — and not to intentionally raise my consciousness.)
I think what I’m seeing is a concerted effort on the part of a well-meaning but marginally-qualified (I’m being charitable here), self-anointed, ad-hoc priesthood to assuage the nagging emptiness afflicting those who have rejected all forms of religious orthodoxy in their quest for spiritual fulfillment. What seems to be true is that, in an increasingly materialistic age with its cynical solipsism that offers little in the way of a moral compass, many seekers feel rudderless and disconnected from anything that resembles higher truth, and they are being told that their malaise can be magically erased by opportunistic “presenters” who purport to hold the key, as long as the bedeviled are willing to pay for the exorcism. (Although they wouldn’t dream of admitting it, they sound much like the “I’ll-remove-your-curse-for-a-fee” charlatans.) We’re getting dangerously close to “gimme a break” territory here. The obvious question that should be put to these tyros — and one that I suspect no-one among their tractable target audience will think to ask — is “Why should I believe you?” Of course, as tarot readers and astrologers we may confront the same skepticism, but at least we have an historical tradition to fall back on.
In closing, I have to acknowledge that — like tarot historian Ronald Decker’s mysterious author of the Hieroglyphica — in “forcing the issue” I may be “spoiling the credibility” of my own work. But I really don’t think so. Even though the more dignified-sounding word “metaphysical” has replaced the shopworn and justifiably discredited hippie slogan “New Age,” it can still be subjected to the same indictment as its predecessor: misuse and abuse in the name of commerce are likely to become just as rampant as they were before. Maybe we should simply go back to the innocent days of “I’ll shew you my epiphany if you’ll shew me yours” (something I try to do free-of-charge in these essays).
Originally published at http://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com on June 14, 2024.
