Is woo on the rise or just where I live?

[HangingOver]

I permanently relocated to the South West a few years ago after being a long term weekend visitor for about 5 years....and I've noticed the rise in the amount of woo practitioners in the area has totally exploded!

They range from harmless stuff like dancing naked around the forest with no clothes on (but always mysteriously with a photographer on hand for Instagram!) to more questionable stuff like "yoni steaming" and putting their periods on their faces, to the downright alarming stuff like Kambo (if you don't know what that is it's where a lunatic with no medical training burns you then applies this stuff to the burn that comes out of a poisonous frog in the Amazon, and you really violently vomit and have the shots and sometimes your face and skin swells up). There's also a woman nearby who seems to be a sort of doula (sp?) who specialises in helping you to give birth avoiding medical intervention of any kind at all costs....which seems a bit questionable!

I thought I was quite a fuzzy live and let live type but it's starting to annoy me. My lovely housemate who had a traumatic past is into it and it makes me sad that she goes to the legnths of poisoning herself to try to vomit up "bad energy" She's not bad, she's lovely.

Is this just a local thing or are other seeing a rise in "magical" and "goddesses" near them?

Oops, yep. Sorry.

I don't know that it's much different to old ravers like me, and the feater boas etc we used to wear out clubbing.

maybe this is where the old ravers are, as I never seem to meet any!

my sister is in a women's business networking group and tells me this stuff is selling well.

Totnes is full of lentil weavers, barefoot incense wavers and vegans. It seems there are pockets of areas where like attracts like. Glastonbury is another, sounds like you're in one of those types of areas op.

Yes football, also some workplaces have similar elements to religion such as a sense of community and belonging, a code of conduct and certain rituals or procedures. So I think a lot of men get those needs met through their workplace, and a lot of women too but more women still take on the bulk of child rearing which leaves more room for religion, woo and other social connections as these aren't being made through work or sport

As others have said, woo is frequently adopted by vulnerable people, and as a person with a very dysfunctional upbringing that I still suffer from now, I'm quite wary of.
I'm not saying it's all bad, but it is very easy to get lost in and some of the practices are very misleading and toxic.

I can talk to animals.
I spend half my day talking to the dog...

My Mum was quietly embracing the woo in later life, and I think the mindset of natural healing contributed to her dying in her 60s.
Earlier (before I had to call an ambulance) antibiotics probably would have saved her.
Woo isn't always harmless nonsense.

But why is it mostly women, rather than men, who promote and partake in woo?

Men only retreats are a thing. The activities look to be a bit more on the hearty side rather than chakra balancing though.

As for an increase in interest in woo while there's a section of society that have always subscribed I think its a cyclical thing.
The last incursion into general public consciousness was probably fifteen/twenty years ago.

It's revival time. Let the crystal rubbing begin

Regarding the male / female split.

I think it depends on your definition of woo. The gong baths I do are primarily men running them I've seen lots of men attend them too.

But regarding more alternative therapies, I think many women suffer with issues like fibromialgia or any long term chronic illness which doesn't have an easy treatment path via medical options. So they might be seeking alternative support.

Some yoga students practice according to their menstrual cycle and that opens them up to the idea of moon cycles and women's circles etc.

There are also MLM companies like DoTerra that target women.

An area I know has a lot of women's sea swimming groups that involves a sort of dancing round a fire pit energy. I think that type of female energy can be really fun.

I wonder (based on no research, it's just idle musing) whether women are differently gullible to men. I.e., as a very broad generalisation, women fall for woo, men perhaps for something else (bitcoin anyone?)

Also based on zero research at all, I think you may be right.

Although there are a handful of men down here embracing it although for them somewhat predictably it seems to be based around enduring painful/challenging things (e.g ice baths, breath holding semen retention ) where as the women's stuff seems to be more about wafting around nudely...

Slightly off topic but I was recently blocked from a Facebook page selling "yoni treatments" for telling them nobody needs scented soap for their vulva. They also sell crystal eggs to put up yourself to raise energy levels.

It presumably didn’t see that coming? 🙄

Pretty much this, isn't it? The old gods are dead, long live the new gods. And, oooh, look, the new gods stuff looks great on social media.

I’ve lived in the West Country all my nearly 70 years long life and there’s always been pockets of ‘alternative’ dwellers dotted around.
Way back in the early 70’s they tended to be living on canal boats or in converted buses down quiet country lanes but also en mass around the equinoxes in Glastonbury, Stroud, Devizes, Frome, Bath etc.
Since then living off the grid has been more acceptable, rather than just hippy lifestyles.
Regarding woo, it’s always been there (witches, druids, witch hunts etc) but with social media it’s more obviously widespread and largely acceptable I guess?

Regarding woo, it’s always been there (witches, druids, witch hunts etc)

Quite. I don't think you can get more woo than the Catholic Church, even nowadays.

@Ifailed

blimey, you couldn’t be further from the truth. Unless you get your knowledge of the RCC from the Da Vinci code.

Woo is completely debunked. Superstition, crystals, anything that is against a scientific understanding of the natural world has always been criticised by the Church as the focus has been on the real properties for medicine, safety, etc.

Where do you live?! I’m probably your definition of “woo” (I’m a pagan, I read tarot) and there’s barely anyone else round here.

Catholic woo is believing that bread and wine are literally the blood and flesh of Christ, and that Christ rose from the dead?

Happy to be corrected if that's not current belief.

Interesting question about women. I was about to say that it was women who were herbalists, wise women/"witches", etc. but that's not really true, is it? Men did those things too.
I suppose there came a time where men became medical doctors and women couldn't so were still working with traditional medicine?

As for certain areas, isn't it just a thing that hippies move to the countryside?

I hope this doesn't become a religion-bashing thread. Let's stick to the subject of woo.

🤣

Mate, that's a cult.

Loads of magic in Catholicism! Transubstantiation for one thing. The practice of putting relics of the saints under the altars of consecrated churches, the folk magic of burying St Joseph upside down to sell your house and much more.

Why? Religion is just as much 'woo' as anything mentioned on this thread.

My belief is that things are worth exploring, and if they help you, great. I like certain psychedelics, and keep crystals around because I think they are pretty. I'm open to trying stuff if I think there is some convincing factual basis to it, or that I'd just enjoy it and it would benefit my life that way.

a lot of affiliation to mainstream religion is also cultural as well as social i.e. i converted to judaism as my husband's family is jewish and i was participating in all the rituals anyway. Also mainstream religions don't tend to encourage pseudo-scientific medical practices which can be dangerous for women or delay them from getting medical treatment for actual medical problems.

"Why? Religion is just as much 'woo' as anything mentioned on this thread."

Valid opinion, but it will just turn the thread into a huge bun fight and detract from what started as an extremely interesting discussion.