The energy only works when the money flows — welcome to #SpiritualTikTok

Let me set the scene: it’s a random Thursday afternoon, let’s say 4pm. You open TikTok and scroll your FYP to pass some time. After twenty tutorials, outfit checks, and shocking storytime videos, one video catches your attention. You see someone looking directly at you with crystals in their hands. The sound and the feel are reminiscent of ASMR — you feel instantly relaxed. Their eyes almost gleam with hope and usually, they’re sitting in front of a calm nature setup or cosy room, awash with candlelight and decorated with a tapestry on the wall. The narrator usually says something like, “There is a reason this video has landed on your page today,” or “You need this crystal in order to heal” in a very determined voice. 

This type of content is pretty much the opposite of viral lip-sync challenges, dances or filters. When you ask Google what you need to do in order to make your videos go viral, it advises you to use popular sounds. Barely any spiritual creator used Charli XCX’s “Speed Drive,” or “What Was I Made For?” by Billie Eilish. Yet, creators in this field cultivate loyal and large audiences — why?

#SpiritualTikTok or #CrystalTikTok is the more crystallised, pun intended, sister of the more nebulous #WitchTok, mostly dominated by influencer-adjacent figures like Roxana Karissa, who shares manifestation videos to help you become a millionaire, or Vanessa the Wonder Worker who tells you which crystal to address different life situations. They’re focused on giving you your daily dose of spirituality, reading your future with their tarot decks and telling you which crystals you need. They’re also ready to capitalise on your deepest fears and desperations.

Depression? Rub the clear quartz. Heartbreak and loss of energy? A rose quartz necklace and bracelet will make you the happiest human alive, open to love like never before. Seriously ill? There's nothing the black quartz can’t fix. Directionless in your life or career? Book a tarot reading, for only $100. In the summer of 2021, Lorde sang, “I can’t feel a thing, I keep looking at my mood ring” — now, we still can’t feel a thing, but have a collection of various crystals, tarot decks and cleansing incense in our homes. There are plenty of TikTokers in this niche, for example, Manifest with Gabby, who not only shares crystal healing tips, but is also a self-proclaimed Wealth Expansion Coach.

Mysticism and spiritual gear have been increasingly popular since the early 2010s, fuelled by millennials’ desire to reject traditional forms of religion. Yet, the nature of the seller has changed — in the 2010s, esotericism was nowhere near as big as it is now, and what brands and people capitalised on was the aesthetic, not the meaning. For example, Urban Outfitters sold crystal necklaces because they looked cool, not for a “healing effect.” Now, millennial (and increasingly, Gen Z) mysticism has codified into a kind of alternative, solutions-oriented religion. If you buy a crystal, it has to be of use, it has to bring you something, i.e., erase your anxiety or heal your attachment style. 

In a 2021 article from the LA Times written by Jessica Roy, the astrologer Chani Nicholas claims that young people have grown up under immense pressures from (climate change, recession, crumbling political systems) and they have a lingering feeling that the system hasn’t benefited them. So, they turn to alternative methods of spirituality. In the article, the astrologist describes the rising popularity of crystals as a physical symbol of rejecting a broken system, and a yearning for something more. All of this isn’t new — but we’re now yearning for solutions and salves that neither technology nor capitalism can deliver, an attitude that gained traction in times of uncertainty, post-pandemic and mid-cost-of-living crisis.

“There is no harm in making a viewer feel better,” says the stylist Naomi Madigan, who considers herself spiritual and a believer in crystals and tarot cards. “But you have to bear in mind that the viewer has to be mentally in the right place, since they can be very literal. People can get invested and end up paying money for something that is not legit,” she continues. Of course, the power of the chakra, the body’s energy field crystals are said to positively interact with, or the meaning of the crystals is in the eye of the beholder — a study in 2001 confirmed this.

In July, the German YouTuber Marvin did an experiment. He targeted German esoteric TikTokers and influencers and sent them crystals as a prank, to see if they would promote them. He prepared a kit filled with a few stones and a personal note. And the influencers fell for it. One such influencer, Tanja Makarić, promoted the crystals, claiming that they could “heal depression,” She received huge backlash and later apologized for her statement. 

“Promising that a crystal can heal depression is a serious and incorrect statement”, says Maya AIZaben, journalist and astrologist. “I think there used to be a trend during the pandemic when everybody had no choice but to go within themselves, since we couldn’t go out. It seems to have died down since the world has opened back up and everybody is back in their normal lives,” she says. Even post-pandemic, we’re all still time poor and burnt out, so we expect a tool like a crystal to work like a painkiller. If we engage with it, our problems will be solved.

Yet still, when some people feel the crystals touching their palms, they feel vibrations. Like little lightning bolts zipping through their veins, they confuse magic with the placebo effect. In an interview with Time on spirituality and the placebo effect, Christopher French, a professor at Goldsmiths University, said: “If people believe that a treatment will make them feel better, many of them do feel better after they have had the treatment, even if it’s unknown to be therapeutically worthless,” he says. The placebo effect usually affects small illnesses like a headache — capitalising on the outcome of the placebo effect when it comes to serious illnesses is not only morally wrong, it can also be dangerous. Crystals won’t heal you through the screen, but promising this to someone who is desperate to get healthy, could make them stop treatment that actually heals them. 

For more content like this, explore the rest of the Digiverse, or connect with us on TikTok or Instagram. If you’re a brand or business and want to inspire your audience in innovative ways, reach out to our strategic & creative lab eve@thedigitalfairy.co.uk.