New Age Spirituality Criticism Must Also Be Extended to Science

‘Are psychics legit’ is a legit question, but we have other questions to also ask.

I am not really an active participant in the spirituality vs science discourse (it’s overdone, and it’s so binary), but I wanted to add some thoughts here.

I’ve been a critiquing voice of low-nutrition McSpirituality, of charlatan mediums, of New Age scams and opportunism, of watered-down, co-opted traditional teachings, BUT it doesn’t mean that malpractice and extraction are exclusive to the psychic or spiritual. 

While we’ve been told to “trust the science”, modernity’s god, science is also filled with fraud (and biased methodologies). Explain medical malpractice. Explain why we were told Teflon coated cookware is safe (and has now contaminated 99% of North Americans’ blood steams and adulterated our waterways), how science can continue to invent stronger munitions in the name of “security”, how we were told testing on animals was not harming them, and that spraying chemicals on our food would not denature it. 

To worship science and science alone is a form of cultural hubris, and to discount the paranormal (which in fact is very normal), and to discredit the oracular vision in the exclusive name of a narrow definition of science is a form of witch hunting.

The greatest charlatan is the de-animated, modern System itself. 

While I will continue to engage in healthy critique of New Age practices, it’s also important to not limit the conversation to this domain, as fraud and malpractice can be found everywhere, and most importantly, to move beyond the ‘what’ and into the ‘how’ in reshaping and re-animating the System.

Mimi
Animist spirit medium + occult practitioner

PS. If you’re longing for a community of occultists and mystics, a place where we share a common heart-language, and practice spirit work and magick, all the while traversing conversations around ethics and responsibility, consider Homing Coven.