Self-proclaimed witch doctor Natalya Malinovskaya has gained a new clientele: men fighting in eastern Ukraine who, like a growing number of Russians, are turning to the supernatural in the face of conflict and economic uncertainty.
In her darkened Moscow apartment, Malinovskaya, who claims to have inherited her powers from her grandmother, offers services ranging from love spells to protection from evil. She has also appeared frequently on Russian television.
Demonstrating how he detects bad energy that supposedly indicates someone's health condition by waving a lit match over a glass, he says that most people seek help for love problems, including soldiers who fear whether their partners will remain faithful to them.
"They're contacting me, and there are a lot of them," Malinovskaya said, noting that she can only cast spells in person, when the soldiers are on leave. "It's impossible to perform a ritual at the front. Where would someone light candles and how would I even send them there?"
The rise of mysticism
Orthodox Christianity, mysticism, and folk superstition coexisted in Russia through centuries of imperial rule and religious repression during the Soviet period.
Interest in it surged in the final years of the Russian Empire, when the influence of the healer Rasputin on the imperial family sparked public outrage, and then during the chaotic years following the collapse of the Soviet Union. After a period of decline, it is on the rise again.
"Today's geopolitical and economic challenges in Russia and around the world are increasing anxiety, which is fueling the growth of mysticism," the state research center VCIOM said in March, publishing a survey that found 85 percent of Russians had experience with some form of magical practices.
"In such conditions, especially in the context of military threats, belief (regardless of which gods are involved) becomes a means of psychological defense," it states.
Russian forces have been on the offensive in Ukraine for more than four years, fueling a crisis that has damaged Russia's international standing, slowed the economy and raised the cost of living.
Almost half of Russians believe that certain people can predict the future or have supernatural powers, the survey found, up from less than a third in 2019.
Demand for crystal balls and protective amulets more than doubled last year, while sales of aspen stakes, believed to protect the owner from evil spirits, quadrupled, Russian company ATOL, which manages fiscal registers, said, citing consumption data.
At the Witch Store in Moscow, which sells crystals, tarot guides and other magical paraphernalia, several customers browsed the shelves looking for incense to purify the air or bring good luck.
"Black obsidian balls are very popular and in high demand. Obsidian is considered a stone of security," said shop co-owner Yulia Gusanova, referring to volcanic glass.
Marie Laveau Bar, decorated in a voodoo style and offering tarot readings, also benefited from the zeitgeist, said owner Evgenia Shasanjar. "It turned out that we fit perfectly into this moment," she said.
For the church, fortune telling is a "diabolical force"
This trend has its detractors. Last year, a group of lawmakers introduced a bill that would ban advertising services like astrology and energy healing, warning that they could lead to financial exploitation of vulnerable people.
Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, supported the idea of a ban last year, and in January condemned the "massive manipulative influence" of fortune tellers and psychics.
"There is a dark force present in fortune-telling. If miracles imply divine power and grace, then fortune-telling implies devilish power," he said in a separate interview with the state-run TASS news agency, alluding to the link to "Satanism," which the Supreme Court banned last year.
Asked whether the church, which sometimes performs exorcisms, sees psychics as rivals, church spokesman Vakhtang Kupshidze told Reuters that such a view was wrong.
"We don't really see them as competition, because competition means... fighting for customers," he said.
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