Sales of books on esotericism have increased sharply in Russia

Mysticism has become one of the main trends of 2024

According to VTsIOM, people began to believe less in the supernatural. However, we decided to find out whether this was so, talked with representatives of book publishing houses and requested statistics from marketplaces. The results were contradictory.

Magical thinking is the belief that thoughts, signs, or rituals can directly affect reality. It arose in ancient times, when people were looking for answers to questions about the causes of natural disasters, diseases and other phenomena. Despite scientific progress, there are still many inexplicable things around today. And people, like centuries ago, turn to otherworldly forces.

VTsIOM found out that fans of mysticism, which flourished vigorously in the 1990s, have become much smaller over the past 15 years. Now every fourth Russian does not believe in anything supernatural. Over two decades, the number of purely rationalists increased by one and a half times: 2004 – 15%, 2005 – 14%, 2008 – 19%.

The main skeptics are men. According to the survey, there are 28% of them, but 20% are women. Young people were in second place: 33% in the group of 18-24 years old and 27% in the group of 25-34 years old; the third position was taken by citizens with a poor financial situation (31%). Next up the steps are active Internet users, as well as residents of cities with a population of up to a million people.

Let us note that they have become much less likely to believe in fate (2004 – 40%, 2024 – 16%), omens (2004 – 21%, 2024 – 10%) and retribution for sins (2004 – 18%, 2024 – 10%), but the percentage of believers in God and supernatural forces remained unchanged. And only a small number of Russians are convinced of the afterlife (8%), 7% believe in horoscopes, 6% in the transmigration of souls, 5% in witchcraft and magic, 4% in the existence of aliens. At the same time, 37% of respondents watch TV shows or videos on the Internet about supernatural abilities, sorcerers, magicians or performances by astrologers.

The editor of one book publisher confirmed that most buyers view mystical literature from the point of view of entertaining leisure:

“Esotericism is one of the main trends of 2023-2024. She’s on the rise and people are very interested in her. However, there is a point here: not everyone who is interested in esotericism is a person who is interested in it seriously. Very often, Tarot cards are perceived as entertainment. Therefore, it is difficult to assess the seriousness of intentions here, but esotericism really sells very well. But here, too, you need to understand that it is not always about books: it is also book products, for example, in the form of the same Tarot cards, which make up a huge percentage of sales,” the editor told the MK correspondent, asking not to indicate his name.

To complete the picture, we turned to online marketplaces and found that the demand for esoteric goods is also gaining momentum. Thus, we were informed that for the period from 2022 to 2023, the sales dynamics are as follows: ritual candles are the most popular (number of sales – 283%), Ouija boards (185%) receive well-deserved silver, Tarot cards take the bronze medal (147%). ). Less popular were books of layouts (100%), as well as amulets, spiritual notebooks and other items (52%)

A paradox emerges: on the one hand, the percentage of people who do not believe in anything supernatural and inexplicable (or say so) is growing, but at the same time the demand for esoteric literature is higher.