Karelian Heritage Editorial: Alternative Spiritual Techniques Strike Back Thanks to Millennials!

       Hey, everyone, hope all of you feel warm and cozy amidst all this winter cold. I surely do, one of the greatest advantages of living in the North – we have the warmest houses in the world. But houses are not in our topics of discussion today, I guess you’ll have to check a blog of some architect for that. However, alternative medicine trends are. On this site we like to speculate on different phenomena that start to occur in society in regard to crystals healing and spiritual development and give opinions on that, and that is exactly what I am going to do today. And today we are discussing how astrology, crystals and other spiritual practices have replaced religion for millennials.

       As you may know, a millennial is a person, born in the end of the 80^th or in the 90^th, and today this generation is in their prime and is the major source of workforce and cultural trends. Another important feature of millennials is that they are the first generation in the history of mankind to grow up in a digital environment with computers and cell phones. Yours truly is certainly a part of this generation, so I guess I know it in and out. And yes, I totally see this trend everywhere around me. But why did alternative spiritual practices have gained such a strong foothold over something so incredibly old and powerful as official religion?

       Well, to tell you the truth, it’s just that: it is old and powerful. Those are not the qualities the young people love. Bear in mind that we, millennials, grew up at very safe times, there were no big wars or disasters, the conditions of life were on the rise, so the function of religion of providing hope, faith and energy was not really needed. We looked around us as everything was fine and questioned why our parents enjoy spending their time in this grim clerical environment of churches and masses (I am talking about Orthodox Christianity here). Why can’t we have a spiritual development be joyful and happy?

       And alternative practices were colorful, offered something different and were more mysterious and exciting. We wanted to rebel, to change course, and this was a way to go. And remember that it was coming of the digital age? Yeah, that helped a lot. With Internet, any bit of information that you wanted to learn was on your screen. You want to find followers of a 13^th century Indian cult? Why, yes, sir, they reside right here in this basement in Downtown L.A. Want to get this rare crystal that possesses healing powers, which is mind only in the heart of the Ural Mountains? Sure, all we need is your credit card information and we’ll deliver it to you in 5-7 business days. Acquiring all this knowledge and items became so easy, that actually visiting a church, which is on the other side of town, seems to be more troublesome today.

       Once all that actually became a trend, everyone around noticed it right away. Right that second all of that knowledge of different spiritual techniques and practices surfaced in the western world. Reiki masters, yoga exercising, feng shui advisors, crystal shops, personal gurus and horoscopes. Oh, yeah, astrology has made a huge comeback lately, even though it was always around, technically, but now it is everywhere. Almost every newspaper or journal has a horoscope, whether it is printed or digital. Every bookstore has a wide selection of monthly/yearly astrology prognosis from a large selection of authors. And people of all ages are actually into it: they base their daily life around the predictions of horoscopes: how to behave, what to aspire, what to wear, is a Gemini a perfect couple for a Sagittarius, what type of cereals should a Virgo eat each day of the week, you name. The amount of stuff that people follow from horoscopes is truly astounding.

       And that is truly my biggest problem with astrology. For starters, how can you be sure that a person who wrote a horoscope in your favorite tabloid is actually an astrology expert and not some student copywriter working for a minimum wage? Or do you think your local newspaper has resources to hire an adept of this ancient technique? Yeah, I guess not, the budget for that will be lost somewhere in between of weather forecasts, celebrity gossips, obituaries and an endless supply of dad jokes. And even if you take some well-respected astrology experts, I often notice how their prognoses differ even on the simplest of matters. Isn’t a point of these spiritual techniques that they actually have some sort of direction, a unite and wholesome theoretical basis and kind of an encyclopedia structure on the matter?

       However, let’s imagine that you have a perfectly made horoscope from the best and wisest astrology expert in the field, who has constructed it according to the astrological practices of hundreds of generations before, the purest of horoscopes imaginable. And it states, for example, that you should focus on your professional life and put all of your romantic life on hold. Yet you, at the moment, have a perfect opportunity to get the love of your life and, what’s even more important, a desire to pursue it. Would you forget about it and do what a horoscope tells you to? As I see it, the biggest shortcoming of astrology is that it gives a person no choice: you are just expected to do it for your best only because you were born in August. I know a couple of people who were born in August and are of one Zodiac sign, and I am pretty sure they want different things in life.

       And that is why I love crystal healing. In crystal healing, we start with ourselves: we need to determine our intentions for it firsthand. What are my goals and desires? What do I want to achieve? How do I become aware of what I want? Those are the question you need to ask yourself if you wish to succeed in your spiritual journey. Crystal healing and spiritual development takes your personal feelings and wishes and works its way from that. From your intentions, you pick crystals that you will be working with and select those crystal rituals which will help you reach your goals. And your crystal healing experience will be drastically different from any other person’s experience, moreover, surprise, it doesn’t matter when you were born. This way, crystal healing gives you some of the most important things in life – a choice and freedom to decide.

       Some modern trends are better than others, which is totally natural. But anyway, all changes in our life are positive and we are happy that crystal healing gets more and more attention every day and fills the hole of spiritual needs for some people. Leave your thoughts on the topic in the comments below and see you next month!

- Pavel Kuznetsov, Karelian Heritage editor