Esotericism | Popular Inner Quest

Is it an effect of the pandemic, a desire to reconnect with one’s spirituality in a world losing meaning or the decrease in adherence to religions? Probably a bit of all of that. The tarot, astrology and the practices of alternative medicine are experiencing a craze that does not seem about to run out of steam. A look at the phenomenon, beyond clichés and received ideas.

Iris Gagnon Paradise
The Press

For the second year in a row, sales of esoteric books experienced the strongest increase of the 22 categories of the Bilan Gaspard of the book market in Quebec.

The word can make you smile. For many, the tarot, astrology, crystals, it’s all just crazy. But the occult sciences are growing in popularity, especially among the younger generation. Why ?

Vanessa DL’s interest in tarot dates back to her early childhood. The one who describes herself as a “modern-day witch” has just published the book with KO Éditions The art of tarot. For her, tarot cards are not so much a divinatory tool as allies to get to know each other better.

“My approach is evolutionary and less focused on prediction. The cards are used to illuminate the present, to look at our shadows, our blind spots; they become a mirror of the self and can help nourish our spiritual life. With this book, I wanted to encourage people to create their own relationship with their tarot deck,” she explains, sitting on the pretty velvet sofa at the Café des Habitudes, in Rosemont.

KO Éditions is best known for its cookbooks. Why publish a book on tarot? “We choose our projects according to our affinities, our passions and what’s in tune with the times,” explains Sophie Banford, partner, general manager and publisher at KO Éditions/KO Média.

“You can believe it or not, but I like how Vanessa presents it: a moment to stop, do a little check-in,” she adds.

Dominique Spénard works in communications. Taking tarot cards is part of her morning meditation ritual. « The tarot in my life is a beautiful guidance, which is part of a personal quest for healing and consciousness. I visited Bali, India, I met shamans in Peru. What is beautiful in this new spirituality is that we can take lessons from all these traditions, choose what makes us feel good. »

look to the stars

Humans have always looked to the stars to find their bearings. No wonder the stars still hold that sway over us, says Hanna Hurr, content director for Co-Star.

Launched in 2017, the app has been a huge success, with over 20 million downloads to date. Using information such as date, time and place of birth, which is triangulated with NASA data, the user gets a detailed and personalized sky map.

Each day, Co–Star sends a notification to meditate according to the alignment of the stars. We can connect with friends to test our compatibility – and even as a couple with the new Eros feature.

Sabrina Ferdi is 27 years old and works in marketing and advertising. Customer experience in a digital world, she knows very well. For her, apps like Co–Star or The Pattern (another astrology app that provides insights to better understand one’s personality and connections to others) takes the experience of personalized notifications, used by many businesses, to another level. These “positive thoughts” add for her a little “lightness in the unbearable heaviness of the world at the moment”.

Expand your consciousness

We often oppose science and spirituality. But more and more of them are bridging the gap.

Among them are Stephanie Kersta and Carolyn Plater, founders of Hoame, a meditation studio in Toronto. The first is a psychotherapist and the second, a social worker. Seeing how epidemic stress had become, they began to use meditation and mindfulness from a clinical perspective. “We opened the studio to make this practice more accessible to a large number of people. There are so many benefits! “says Carolyn.

Along the way, the two friends began to take an interest in a more holistic approach and various alternative practices, which they discuss with their guests in their podcast. Hoame. Ayurveda, crystal or sound therapy, tantrism, mycotherapy… They explore these subjects with curiosity and without judgement.

“We are really starting to see an opening in the medical world, the tide is turning. We always rely on science first, but we like to look at both sides of the coin. Talking to these different people on the podcast, some of whom are also health professionals, has certainly changed our perspective,” notes Stephanie.

An occupational therapist by training, Claudine Langlois is the founder of Doshayoga, a company that offers retreats and therapeutic treatments, training and various products such as gratitude cards, an initiation book to Ayurveda and the Anatha outdoor festival, devoted well-being and mindfulness.

Six years ago, a serious accident turned his life upside down. Post-traumatic stress, anxiety, identity crisis… She turned to alternative medicine such as meditation, yoga or Ayurveda.

For her, science, especially quantum physics, can be used to understand the invisible, the energetic. Far from being opposed to science and medicine, she says she especially wants to show people the range of resources that are available to them to regain health, happiness and vitality.

The Doshayoga community has grown with the pandemic: the young woman says she now reaches 20,000 people. “There is a whole quest for identity that has been brought about by the pandemic. People started looking inside. It is normal that esotericism took more place. »

“With the pandemic, people have touched despair, emptiness. Spirituality is there to catch up with us when there is nothing else. I think that in the next few years, we will need new mechanisms to generate hope,” concludes Vanessa DL.