People usually recourse to esotery when they feel they do not get answers to questions from science, or religion. Times when former securities??? disappear and the uncertainties of a social and economic crisis have to be faced are especially favorable for the expansion of mystic doctrines. As a concomitant of the phenomenon, people often begin to disbelieve   the representatives of the related areas and shamans. Magicians and gurus take the place of masters, priests, scientists and doctors.

During recent decades Hungary's historyis especially suitable for giving plenty of rope to ideologies contrasting with the governing beliefs. During the years of socialism, alternative medicine was prohibited, religion was suppressed, and lies were taught concerning our most recent history. No wonder ideologies poured in indiscriminately after the change of  the regime, and - as was the case with the previously unavailable "Fa" soap - we could not get enough of the previously prohibited ideologies. Following the years of Marxism-Leninism, wonderful perspectives were opened by the books of the Swiss Erich von Däniken, according to which even the Pyramids were built by aliens. János Déri's TV program entitled Nulladik típusú találkozások (Close Encounters of the Zero Kind) was just as popular, and even its permanent invited guest, György Egely, has acquired a fan club by searching for the answers toparanormal phenomena (crop circles, magic wand, ball lightening) that cannot be explained by our physical theories. All of these were published in book format, but - together with the magazines Ufómagazin (Ufo Magazine), Színes UFO (Colored UFO) or Harmadik szem (Third Eye) -, the paper of the same title was also selling like hot cakes. Judit Trethon, who recently died in a car accident and used to be the editor of the Griffin fantasy book series and the Galaktika magazine (Galactica Magazine), recommended sci-fi books in the program. At the dawn of alternative medicine in Hungary, people disappointed with medical science were queuing for the osteopathic doctors, also propagated in Tamás Vitray's program.

From fashion to religion

We encounter a similar phenomenon nowadays. Those who question natural sciences and believe that the perpetual motion machine can be created, appear less in the media nowadays but have a more stable supporting group. At a time when the health care system is close to collapsing, faith in medicine seems to be wavering more than ever. This isillustrated by the distrust some patients hold against the influenza vaccination, which is so strong that even irrational theories were formulated against it. History also remained within the questionable sciences: there is a growing supporter base of those redefining Hungarian prehistory, and this goes hand in hand with the spreading of the new paganism condemned also by the catholic episcopacy. Its advocates question the competency of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and at the same time give a signal to historical churches, politics and media: what they are conveying is not satisfactory. For some it is fashionable to seek the formalities of alternative prehistory, others are interested in the cultural and traditional aspects. Many are longing for a community and experiences, but there are others who religiously believe in these theories.

In many cases practising catholics turn to these dogmas that are irreconcilable with catholic doctrine. According to Antal Spányi,thebishop of Székesfehérvár, the reason for this might be that  Hungarian society has poor religious knowledge (Heti Válasz, 1 October 2009). The years of socialism limited access to the message of the Bible.Thus starving society of transcendent ideologies. As a result, many people would like to believe in high-sounding doctrines offering easy solutions together with Catholicism. However, even before the circular issued by the episcopacy four weeks ago, the citation from the 5^th book of Moses could be heard from the pulpit many times: there shall not be found among you any one that "useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord." "That is why we have to mention other dangers jeopardizing the truth of our faith, such as occultism, spiritualism and the different forms of idolatry".

Populists and urbanists

While the traditional right-wing part of the society turns to populist esotery, urbanist people, claiming themselves to be more enlightened and "religious in their own ways", turn to the eastern mystery or the well-known "masters". According to an article of Magyar Narancs (a cultural and political magazine) published in May, it is the company directors who choose which marketing strategy to be used, and it became stylish to see an astrologist or a fortune-teller. Many religious people admire Péter Müller - who, after having sold hundreds of thousands of books, last week got a program on Hungarian television to talk about "love, hatred, friendship, fortune and providence" -, although the connection with spirits, for example, is evident in his writings. M1 TV channel "undertakes to formulate the writer-dramaturge's silent, deep and magical thoughts well-known from Szeretetkönyv (Love Book) or the podium of Mesterkurzus (Master Course)", since Müller - together with psychologists Péter Popper, Imre Csernus and András Feldmár - is a permanent lecturer of the program series entitled Mesterkurzus. The founders of this venture had an intuition of the social demand for spiritual nutriment. The entrance tickets cost 3000 HUF, and their books and DVDs can be purchased on the internet as well. They help in choosing a "master" in newsletters, since there are a number of spiritual leaders (gurus, oracles, witches, kinesiologists, trainers etc.) volunteering to fill the emptiness of our hearts, and they forewarn us of the self-appointed prophets.

Fortune tellers in the media

On the surface, populist esoterics differ from the New Age Movement, popularized by the books of Édesvíz Publishing House and seasoned with eastern mysteries, but the roots of searching for the routes is the same. What's more, the ideologies combine in the most diverse ways: religious people go on a pilgrimage to Dobogókő, to the "heart chakra" of the Earth; art historian Gábor Pap, considered to be an advocate of populist esotery (whole nursery-school and school programs are already built on his ideas), searches for astrological signs - which are unfamiliar to the Hungarian culture and Christianity - within the folk motives.

According to Antal Spányi, the spreading of new paganism can also be explained by the fact that people try to escape from reality. And indeed, as people used to turn to the world of the aliens at the change of the regime, a part of society now turns to the ambiguous prehistory, where we do not know the explanation for several questions and therefore these can be formulated according to specific interests. The escaping nature is strengthened by ceremonies, (thought to be) period clothes and tools, which can be apprehended as a kind of folk "fantasy-role play". In turn, Hungarian prehistoric religion strengthens the nationalist feeling against "global" Catholicism, which can be an answer to the strained ambition of the European Union: more and more people think "Brussels cannot tell us what to do", just as they do not accept "having received" a religion from Rome.

Magnifying our heroic past is by no means a unique phenomenon. Other nations also have similar ambitions, so, if you like, this is also a "global" phenomenon (see our article in the box). Paradoxically, turning away from consumer society is not realized either, since the new doctrines mean new industries and new markets. A two-day-course in András Kovács-Magyar's shaman school for example (topic: acquirement of fourth dimension creation codes for realizing our ideas, developing an inner vision, cosmic catharsis) costs 20 thousand HUF. The belief inherited from socialism, that what appears printed must be true, also plays a part in the expansion of esotery, and even the media has an ambiguous role. On the one hand, it cannot be believed since it "tells lies", on the other hand it becomes an advertiser of popular fallacies. Besides the programs of Péter Müller and Sándor Pörzse from Echo TV, a morning program on TV2, entitled Mokka, also invited an oracle to explain the news in relation to an airplane disaster, however, esotery has recently lost a bastion with the termination of Budapest TV, operating with distant healers and card fortune tellers.

Witches do exist

Sz. Sz. | itthon@hetivalasz.hu

In Hungary, for many Christians it is a recent American and therefore reprehensible cosmopolitan tradition; overseas many people emphasize its Christian origin, others remind us: this is a present-day version of a pagan Celtic festival. Halloween is the Catholic all Saints' Day - just like Christmas that is "cross-organized" at the same time as the pagan feast of the winter solstice - illustrates well how the different religious traditions are integrated with each other. 

Reconstructionists refer to such movements with a collective name that wish to call forth the ancestral Greek, Roman, Celtic, Germanic and Slavic traditions from under the Christian elements settled on them. Slavic neo-pagans for example cherish a romantic idea about an idyllic Arcadia that existed before Christianity, while the Celtic Catholic Church sets the ancient pagan world of Ireland before the appearance of the Roman proselytizers as an example to be followed.

In the United States hundred of thousands of people consider themselves to be pagans while in Great Britain fifty thousand people do. Their common denominator is the love of nature, their festivals are usually linked to the changing of the seasons. Polytheism is common and they believe that their ancestors gave "knowledge" about real faith from generation to generation that could be present only as an intermittent stream for centuries. As neo-paganism does not require exclusivity, many people become believers of a number of ideas. In Malta for example the Catholic Church is present as a particularly strong identity formulator and more and more people are members of it while they are also committed to the Wicca movement that uses witch craft.

Wicca, the most widespread neo-pagan religion of the world developed in the 1950s. A God and a Goddess are the centre of Wicca - and among the members of the trend who particularly hold the latter in reverence there are many feminists and lesbian groups. The second most important neo-pagan idea is neo-druidism; the movement was given its name after the Celtic priests also known from the Asterix cartoons. The „descendants" of druids show a predilection for holding gatherings during the Summer Solstice at Stonehenge, the biggest mysterious place in England. Germanic mysticism also has a measurable effect; the Nazis derived a lot from it between the two World Wars.