Why do so many Russians turn to psychics?

[Larry1]

That is the title of a BBC world service article written by Olga Smirnova, which I have excerpted here:

Why do so many Russians turn to psychics?

Large numbers of Russians are consulting mystics and psychics - up to a fifth of the population has done so at least once, according to one polling organisation. And there are signs that this tendency is increasing amid economic crisis and conflict in Ukraine.

I have never visited a psychic. So as I stand in the huge metal lift of a multi-storey building in a Moscow suburb, I am filled with curiosity, scepticism and some trepidation. My appointment is with Alexander Sheps, a celebrity psychic.

I grew up in St Petersburg, the city once home to Russia's most famous psychic, Rasputin.
But Sheps looks nothing like the bearded beady-eyed priest. Young and tall, he is rather as I would have imagined Count Dracula in his youth, but more softly spoken. His black T-shirt sports a picture of a ghostly skull.

Sheps is a winner of the The Battle of the Psychics, a reality TV show that attracts more than four million viewers per episode in Russia, even now into its 16th series.
"My main focus is communicating with the dead. I practise the art of magic,
I practise ritual magic, spells. I can search for people who have disappeared," he tells me.

Opinion polls by the independent Levada Centre estimate that a fifth of Russians have visited a psychic. Another polling organisation, Sreda, estimated in 2013 that 63% believe in either astrology, fortune telling or the concept of the evil eye.

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34593780

The author goes on to discuss more examples.

Do you think lots of Russians are interested in psychics?

I've had only one conversation that touched on these things. A few years ago I was talking with my fiancee before she and her parents took a trip to visit her grandparents who lived in a village in Russia. She told me that her grandmother believed in the evil eye. She did not.

[alex330]

Do you think lots of Russians are interested in psychics?

Yes, an unusually high number of Russians I know believe in psychics and astrology.

[calmissile]

Larry, it is not only Russians.  Ukrainians believe in this stuff as well.  I had the pleasure (?) of attending a session with my former fiancé in Ukraine.   Needless to say, I am not a believer.  Fortunately my wife does not subscribe to any of this including the superstitions we hear so much about.   I am wondering if level of education has something to do with it.

[Muzh]

My sister-in-law is a physics major and she teaches that at school. 

[jone]

Larry, it is not only Russians.  Ukrainians believe in this stuff as well.  I had the pleasure (?) of attending a session with my former fiancé in Ukraine.   Needless to say, I am not a believer.  Fortunately my wife does not subscribe to any of this including the superstitions we hear so much about.   I am wondering if level of education has something to do with it.

Yeah, she believed that the Gods were going to provide a scooter for her.

[Larry1]

Yeah, she believed that the Gods were going to provide a scooter for her.

He moves in mysterious ways.  And she got her scooter after all.

[calmissile]

He moves in mysterious ways.  And she got her scooter after all.

OK, rub in in.   

[Gator]

I would say most of the FSUW I met believed in the supernatural.  More than once I have been with a FSUW who wanted to have a golden toothed Gypsy read her future. I would pay the old bats, and the stories were worth the price. 

My wife is very superstitious, and we practice them all from not leaving empty bottles on the table to some that leave me speechless.   I was witness to an episode involving her best friend, Tarot cards, etc. That particular  prediction was horrific and came true, unfortunately.  So I don't even try to dismiss the concept. 

Their  practice of religion is related to this IMO.   Go to Kiev catacombs and watch a UW kiss the glass casket holding the skeletal remains of a saint.  Italian Catholics also like to parade the ancient bones of  dead  priests.

Raised a Protestant,  I am not accustomed to praying to pictures of saints.  Two years ago I had total knee replacement surgery.  When recovering in the hospital I found a small icon card in my clothing, which she had placed to protect me.  I appreciated the attention,  spiritual support, and blessing of a replaced functioning knee, albeit a highly accomplished surgeon quite possibly had much to do with the success. 

[mendeleyev]

This goes back long before the Eastern European lands were Christianized. Some of those practices still live on today.

It seems to me that these instances increase during times of instability, when folks begin to lose faith in their leaders. They are used to being told what will happen, what to do, how to do it, etc. When those supports are pulled out, or when trust in the familiar starts to ebb, many folk gravitate to something else for a time, until stability returns. Regardless of what the polls say, Russians are beginning to quietly question their leaders, and wonder about their future.

[mendeleyev]

Russian Beyond the Headlines has a nice piece on what they see as the 12 most common of these superstitions.

http://rbth.com/articles/2010/09/07/twelve_russian_superstitions04931.html

I must admit that it took a long time to understand why someone would be offended by handing cash directly to the cashier in a store or kiosk. They have a little pad, it looks similar to a mouse pad but with a slight indentation (to keep loose change from rolling) at the centre. The customer places money on that pad. The cashier takes the money, and then places any change due on the pad. The customer picks up the change.

I understood this more after learning about the theories of transmitting energy, including negative energy, via handing someone cash directly. Of course then that who superstition is contradicted when you board an older bus or trolley (without turnstiles) and have to pay the driver or the cashier who walks back and forth on the bus collecting fares. In those cases you hand her the money, and so it my Western mind it brings up the question of how negative energy can be transmitted in a store, but not on  the trolley. 

I also must disclose that our family does sit down for a moment before leaving home. Then we make the sign of the cross and ask God for safety before leaving.

[Gator]

Good ones Mendy.  Know most of them well, particularly sitting down in silence before a journey.  In our case we also do it returning home from a place we liked. 

I might have a new one for you.  I have collected some antiques to include a couple of fine Chippendale mirrors from the 18th C.  While valuable, my wife does not like them because the glass is original and shows oxidation, etc.  She will not look into the mirrors because many people who are now dead also have looked into the same mirror.  The mirror is a conduit for the "bad" from those times to enter her life. 

I really wish she had studied science in school, but she is a right-brained artist.  She questions why I can not be "normal."

[alex330]

I must admit that it took a long time to understand why someone would be offended by handing cash directly to the cashier in a store or kiosk. They have a little pad, it looks similar to a mouse pad but with a slight indentation (to keep loose change from rolling) at the centre. The customer places money on that pad. The cashier takes the money, and then places any change due on the pad. The customer picks up the change.

This one always struck me as odd. When I asked my wife about it she said that people play sleight of hand games and say they did not receive the correct change. Placing the money on the counter eliminates that possibility. Maybe just her way of brushing the topic off?

[jone]

I got the same explanation, Sasha.

[mendeleyev]

I certainly would not discount those explanations. That practice goes back, at least to my knowledge, to Soviet times while I've heard the other often too.

Yes, the mirror is familiar too. It is closely related to the thinking that antique jewelry from long departed relatives is also rejected by some.

[ML]

Yes, the mirror is familiar too. It is closely related to the thinking that antique jewelry from long departed relatives is also rejected by some.

Ochka wears the wedding ring of my maternal Grandmother.

She loves it, and is amazed how it fits perfectly.

I had never heard of this fear of ancient jewelry; surprised she never mentioned it.

[Boethius]

In Soviet times, I always had change handed to me directly, just as in the West, in both Ukraine and Russia. 


I don't believe Russians turn to psychics in greater proportions than do Westerners.

[deccie]

My ex and her mother believed in a faith healer.
They dragged me a long to a few of his sessions in St Petersburg while we were together.

Ironically the faith healer was a trained doctor but I think he turned to faith healing as it paid better.


I think I still have a couple of his "healing leaflets" in my souvenir stash.

[ML]

Ironically the faith healer was a trained doctor but I think he turned to faith healing as it paid better.

I know a finance professor who gave up rigorous stock market research, and turned to smoke and mirrors type advice because it paid better . . . and much easier, of course.

[mendeleyev]

Using special psychic powers available only to those of us who live in the FSU, I predict that this thread will soon be forgotten, but then months or years down the road some newbie will be going thru the pages and resurrect it for a brief time.

[ML]

I predict that your prediction is probably correct and also predictable.

[tfcrew]

I predict that your prediction is probably correct and also predictable.

I foresaw that post

[mendeleyev]

I predict that you are both capable experts in our own right and I agree with your conclusions that were undoubtedly drawn from gazing deeply into your crystal balls.