Spirituality - Chapter 8

Anyone absorbed by the realms of alternative medicine and wellness, anyone who is in dialogue with the expansive domain of the New Age, which encompasses meditation, yoga, Chinese medicine, reiki, holistic and Ayurvedic therapies, among other practices, cannot fail to notice a curious phenomenon: many individuals who have long identified as anti-fascist, opposed to all forms of racism, champions of equality, essentially considering themselves aligned with the left, find themselves unexpectedly perusing far-right publications or sharing posts from fascist and conspiracy theorist influencers.

This phenomenon signals a transformation into supporters of movements vastly divergent from what was once considered the left. Decades-old friendships fizzle out, profound affiliations crumble, marriages implode…all against the backdrop of societal rifts taking on biopolitical nuances in the post-pandemic era.

It becomes evident that New Age has, to a certain extent, fallen prey to movements such as Covid deniers, flat earthers, or QAnon adherents – zealots convinced of the existence of a shadowy globalist cabal of paedophilic Satanists who allegedly consume children to rejuvenate themselves through the purported properties of their innocent victims’ blood.

Even some anti-vax troops, rallying under the banner of "Planedemic!" (planned pandemic), have succeeded in infecting a world of neo-mystics traditionally pacifistic but who, actually, have always flirted with the right, especially during cyclical phases of economic, social, and political crises when existential voids intensify the need for moral anchors, reawakening a thirst for spirituality.

Here come the neo-hippies, a resurgence not born from the overexcited imagination of a Hollywood comedy scriptwriter but a reality echoing characteristics of the past, blended with technological hybrids of our time.

The anti-vaccine movement didn’t solely originate from the right. Left-leaning families, from the 1960s until the Covid pandemic, have historically opposed certain types of vaccinations, fearing potential links to autism. Anti-vax positions were shared both by the left-wing counterculture and the environmentalist sphere, as much as by the far right.

However, there have also been political shifts that have distorted traditionally left and right positions, akin to a shell game. The Third Way, starting with British former Prime Minister Tony Blair in the 1990s and extending to Italian former premier Massimo D’Alema, brought the European centre-left closer to corporate and business interests, leaving the field open for the right to exploit health anxieties in Italy and in other places as a Trojan horse to capture a portion of the vulnerable left-wing New Age electorate. Traditionally conservative themes like "stability" and "security" were adopted by the centre-left, while the right championed "liberation" and "revolt," concepts long associated with the left. The counterculture was hijacked by the right, fostering a sense of dismay, betrayal, and confusion on the left.

The Roots of Conspiracy Spirituality

The symbol of this intertwining of political and spiritual threads is perfectly incarnated by the fascist shaman known as "Jake Angeli." He showed up donning buffalo horns on his head, cloaked with a coyote-skin adorned with white supremacist Odinist tattoos, clutching a nearly two-meter-long spear as he stormed the Capitol in Washington on January 6, 2021.

"The QAnon shaman," as he called himself before being arrested and sentenced to three years in prison, was one of the symbols of what is commonly defined as "conspirituality" —a blend of conspiracy, conning and spirituality that we could translate as "conspiracy spirituality."