facebook
twitter
pinterest
expert@trans-siberian.co.uk UK: +44 (0)345 521 2910 USA: 1 8665 224308
  • Journeys
    • Trans-Siberian Classic
      • Journey Planning Guide
      • Trans-Siberian Classic – departing St. Petersburg
      • Trans-Siberian Classic – departing Moscow
      • Trans-Siberian Classic – departing Beijing
      • Trans-Siberian Classic – departing Vladivostok
    • Trans-Siberian Rail Cruises
    • Luxury Trans-Siberian Rail Cruises
    • China Trips
  • Destinations
    • Russia
      • Ekaterinburg
      • Irkutsk & Lake Baikal
      • Moscow
      • Novosibirsk
      • Perm
      • St Petersburg
      • Ulan-Uday & Buryatia
      • Vladivostok
    • Mongolia
      • Bayan-Gobi
      • Elstei
      • Erlian
      • Huhehot
      • Naadam Festival
      • Terelj National Park
    • China
      • Beijing
      • Guangzhou
      • Guilin
      • Harbin
      • Hong Kong
    • Interactive Map
  • Expert Help
    • About
      • No Ordinary Travel Company
      • Our People
      • Our Small Print
    • Responsible Travel
    • Flights
    • Visa Info
    • Trains to Russia
    • Life on board Classic Trans-Siberian
    • Traveller’s Checklist
    • Booking
    • FAQ
    • Hints & Tips
  • Gallery
  • Blog
  • Contact

Blog Post

Minefields of the soul #1

13 Mar 2020
Comment are off
Bernard H. Wood
communism, magic

The removal of Russia’s Soviet government was a catalyst for far-reaching change, the results of which are still felt today, for better and for worse – depending upon whom you ask.

I’m interviewing AM, a woman with special sensitivities who witnessed the chaotic boom-time of the 1990’s –The Wild East– and who now lives with its legacy.

Services rendered

The Communist system regulated, controlled, and often restricted many aspects of Russian life – although the extent of its overbearing nature varied across its 70 year history. The most draconian regime existed under Stalin, and the least (ultimately resulting in its disintegration) under Gorbachev.

Personal enterprise was declared illegal, as all business was subject to control by the state. Any attempt to garner private wealth was considered exploitative, selfish theft that robbed the citizenship. Worse (and most dangerously for the perpetrator) it was anti-communist and a crime against the state itself.

So did this force everyone into line and create a uniform top-down economy? Of course not; the grey and black economies thrived (and still do), party membership bestowed personal privileges  and corruption boomed. Communism finally accepted religion – after failing to eradicate it, and after the Communists left; even older, more arcane practices rose into full view once more.

Now, that’s magic

“People present themselves as a Kaldun or even a Ved’ma!” AM tells me, of those offering specialist services via the small-ads. We’re talking about magic here, not stage sleight-of-hand, but practices and rituals whose roots predate Christianity. Communism would not have not tolerated these either, of course – but similarly, could not eradicate them.

A Kaldun (or Kaldun’ya if female) is a witch or sorcerer that practices white or black magic. The term is broad enough to also encompass wise woman: someone to consult for insights or even healing during times of difficulty. A Ved’ma is a term that is much more specific: an evil witch -and female.

Out of the woodwork

It’s a form of private enterprise that started to appear once the Communist watch dogs had left. AM relates: “Advertising services as magic was more common in the 1990’s, before then it would never have been allowed.” That’s only because of the self-employment aspect, incidentally, not the nature of the business itself. She continues: “Usually there were a lot of adverts in magazines and newspapers. Today, it is also advertised online, especially through social media.” We’ll look at Russia’s supernatural boom-time, plus the paranormal’s relationship to officialdom in the next article.

AM then sends me a link to a dedicated site offering numerous magical services for hire -and no, I won’t be posting it here. She advises me against ever using any of the services listed and is very doubtful about the motives behind (at least some of) the advertisements.

Sure enough though, miracles are ostensibly available at a price; a variety of options, some sold plainly as magical spells to resolve a variety of issues. Common issues that believers seek supernatural help for are “alcoholism, drugs, family issues and love spells” according to AM.

Customer demographics

Those purchasing supernatural assistance are usually ordinary people, pure and simple it seems. AM notes a bias away from those living modern, relatively sophisticated city lives.

Magic and superstition is more common out in the wilds, in villages and small towns where traditional ways are more likely to survive. It wasn’t so long ago that such beliefs were more prevalent however, as Marc Bennetts of New Humanist discovered:

“Soviet-era dissident Andrei Sinyavsky detailed a pervasive Tsarist-era belief in superstition, magic and pagan gods, as well as the widespread popularity of sorcerers and faith healers. ‘In Old Russia, almost everyone resorted to elementary magic help,’ wrote Sinyavsky. Magic was used on a daily basis.”

“Of course, a lot of those people move from such places to the city” AM tells me. They still have a desire for such familiar services in spite of their modern surroundings. This in turn allows providers to exist, or even flourish within a ‘sophisticated’ setting. Not everyone that lives in a city embraces modernity wholesale.

AM continues: “The people that go (to witches etc) are usually those with a weak faith”. She is referring to faith in Christian Orthodoxy -or rather the absence of it. It is, after all, an institution that wholeheartedly opposes such occult practices.

“Those with a strong faith would go to their priest and ask for help from God. Atheists would not go (to a witch) either” AM concludes: “As they don’t believe that anything supernatural exists!”, so the customer base is apparently composed of a low-faith, relatively unsophisticated middle-ground? That seems a little unfair, maybe the desperate are there too; those who have exhausted all conventional options and who only have extremes remaining.

The treatment of such customers is a particular bone of contention for AM, as we will discover next time.

Next post

About the Author

Social Share

  • google-share
Ready to Book? Speak to an Expert
Feefo logo

Travellers Checklist

Visa Info » Flights » Trains to Russia » The Checklist »

Hints, Tips & Fun Facts...

Don’t take a suitcase. Take a soft bag with wheels and a pulling handle.
2018 certificate of excellence tripadvisor

Your payment is protected: everything is held in a trust account until you've completed your trip.

Explore the blog

  • Celebrations and Events
  • ►Destinations
    • China
    • Hong Kong
    • Mongolia
    • Moscow
    • Russia
    • St Petersburg
  • ▼Life
    • ►Arts & Culture
      • Food and Drink
      • Stories – Folklore -Superstition
    • History
    • Life in Russia
  • News
  • Russian Language
  • ▼Series
    • (Moderately) Superstitious
    • A and L in Irkutsk
    • A Few Choice Words
    • Alien Visitors
    • All About The Bottom Line
    • All In The Game
    • All In The Preparation
    • All Quiet on the Eastern Front
    • Almost Medieval
    • Ancient Traces Revisited
    • Animated Russia
    • Anomalous Zones
    • Arrival: Beijing
    • Baba Yaga Revisited
    • Backwards and Forwards
    • Baikal at Last!
    • Business in the City of Extremes
    • By the time you read this
    • Captured Fragments
    • Chasing the spirit
    • Cheaper – Better – Easier
    • Christmas Leftovers
    • Doomed Utopias
    • Dreams Made Concrete
    • Easter Variations
    • Eastwards To Novosibirsk
    • Feline Exhibits
    • Fragmentary Views
    • Free Knowledge for the Proletariat
    • Free Russian Cinema
    • Gobi and Steppe Wanderings
    • Good Advices
    • Good Traditions
    • Grandfather Frost
    • Here Seeking Knowledge
    • Hiking – Cooking – Tick Picking
    • How Cold?
    • How Hot?
    • Igor the Shaman
    • In and Out of Ulaanbaatar
    • In and Out of Ulan Uday
    • International Womens Day in Russia
    • Irkutsk Now
    • Is It Safe?
    • Joanna Lumley’s Trans-Siberian Adventure
    • Kizhi: Scattered Memories
    • Kvas – The Good Stuff
    • Language and literature 2016
    • Last stop: Vladivostok
    • Life On Rails
    • Loveless
    • Low Season Traveler
    • March Of The Immortals
    • Maslenitsa
    • Matilda: A Russian Scandal
    • Minefields of the soul #1
    • Mongolia By Proxy
    • More on Krasnoyarsk
    • Mythological?
    • Nightmare Fuel
    • Non-Verbal Confusion
    • Opposing Worlds
    • Over The Border
    • Pagans On Ice
    • Pronunciations and Tribulations
    • Random Freezings
    • Remembrance Day
    • Russia Sells Alaska
    • Russian Language: Ways and Means
    • Russian things to see and do
    • Scam-Tastic
    • Scrapbooks and Backpacks
    • Sculpting the National Character
    • See You In The Bunker
    • Shadow Man in Circumspect
    • Shot By Both Sides
    • Siege Fatigue
    • Something about Cossacks
    • Sort Your Life Out
    • Stretching the Ruble
    • Survivalist
    • Sweeping generalisations
    • Systems of Control
    • Taking Care
    • The Bear Thing -and Other Interlopers
    • The Ghost at Your Shoulder
    • The Other 10%
    • The roll of the egg
    • The Silent Anniversary
    • The Snow Maiden
    • The Spirits of Winter
    • The Temple at the Border
    • There’s a Russian in my House
    • These Four Walls
    • Thespian Pursuits
    • This Word “Defective”
    • Trans-Siberian Offshoots
    • Trips and Tales
    • Unknown Territories
    • Unseen Unheard
    • Visitations
    • Vodka
    • Voices of Experience
    • Welcome to Magnitogorsk
    • When a lobster whistles on top of a mountain
    • Words are Hard
    • X-rays and space ships
    • Yes They Mean Us
    • Your Cash In St.Petersburg Now!
    • Zaryadye Park
  • Tourist Tips
  • Uncategorized

Quick Links

Ready to Book
Speak to an Expert
FAQs

Destinations

Russia
Mongolia
China
Interactive Map

Journeys

Trans-Siberian Classic
Trans-Siberian Rail Cruise
Luxury Trans-Siberian Rail Cruise
China Trips

Contact Us

E: expert@trans-siberian.co.uk
T: +44 (0)345 521 2910

facebook twitter
© 2018 Russia Experience - All rights reserved