I read an interesting post this weekend about women being more open to and interested in magic and spirituality. The author puts forth a few explanations, the most compelling (to me) being that women have a tendency to view things as happening to them (vs male agency). I’ve quoted the relevant sections from the post, and then there are a few questions to kick-off the discussion!

...think of the divergence that has opened up between men and women in the modern era when it comes to such things as auguries, divination and witchcraft. In pre-modern times, men used to seek control over events, in part, by such practices as reading the entrails of sacrificed animals. The scientific era pulled nearly all men away from all this (as being ineffective).

But most modern women still give some credence to various forms of fortune telling such as tarot cards. Even highly educated, professional women will use spells or magic to try to ward off "negative energies" that exert a baleful influence over them.

Some women still go to fortune tellers to help them make major life decisions, such are those relating to marriage or divorce. Why? Presumably because they don't have the same mental focus as men on mastery or dominion but instead feel themselves, like the ancients, blindly and randomly subject to the Fates, or to Fortuna, or to cosmic energies that aren't rationally to be grasped but that can only be divined.

Most women, in their heart of hearts, are still ancients. Most men have moved on.

And in the comments the author adds:

...if the mindset is that your life is being controlled by higher level powers, then you could easily be drawn into a rage against the patriarchy. It would represent a more modern (sociological/materialist) interpretation of something more ancient.

The other explanation that occurred to me is that if it was men who broke with the ancient view, and created modernity (both for better and worse) according to their own mindset, that some women might not feel that their own reality was being represented within a "patriarchal" society. In other words, these women might have felt more comfortable within, say, an ancient Roman patriarchy, than within a more modern and egalitarian one. This would explain the wing of feminism which sees science itself as being a patriarchal construct imposed upon women.

Discussion Questions:

  • Do you agree with the idea that “Most women, in their heart of hearts, are still ancients. Most men have moved on.”? Both in general and as it applies to you personally.

  • How accurate do you think the author’s theory is regarding feminists “not [feeling] that their own reality is represented within a ‘patriarchal’ society” because men deviated from the “ancient” approach? Can feminism’s appeal be explained - at least in part - as a “modern interpretation of something more ancient”?

  • What do you make of the recent trends that are rooted in non-Christian religious/spiritual customs and beliefs? For example yoga, meditation, tarot cards, psychics, mantras, crystals, magic, etc. Do you think that female nature plays a role in a woman’s interest in these things?

  • Does this pattern apply within Christian denominations as well?

Feel free to answer any or all of these questions, or just talk about whatever comes to mind :)

P.S. The article is here and he talks about other things that are outside of the scope of what I wanted this post to be about. We can definitely discuss/debate the other ideas presented in a future post but I really would like this one to stay focused on the main topic :)