Thanks to the internet, everything seems knowable.
All of those little mysteries that
used to fuel conversation — Who
was that guy in that movie? How big is the Pacific Ocean?
Do you think that TV dog is dead now? —
are so easily solvable.
Now everyone can just check their phone.
But there is one part of the internet that is drawn
to things that cannot be Googled.
The mystical internet has arrived.
New apps like Costar Astrology
and the Daily Hunch are part of a suite
of internet products rebranding the zodiac
for the digital set.
Astrological sign memes dominate Twitter.
The Hoodwitch, an online retailer who
sells everyday magic for the modern mystic,
has amassed over 260,000 Instagram followers
for her hashtag #witchtips and beautifully
staged tarot readings.
Even Spencer Pratt, the arch villain of "The Hills," has
reinvented himself as a crystal outfitter.
"The tiger's eye, I wear for protection,
and it worked, because I wore this in the 'Celebrity Big
Brother' all-star house, and I was super-protected."
But a lot of the appeal of this stuff
isn't really based in any strong held belief
in the occult.
You don't have to actually believe
in astrology to be into it.
Putting aside whether planetary alignments actually
influence the personal lives of human beings,
astrology and other nonscientific practices are
sometimes less about predicting the future than
they are about helping to understand ourselves.
Posting a hermit tarot card to Instagram
is a way of signaling introversion.
A piece of rose quartz stone is an expression
of unconditional love.
"Love is who I am."
And astrology, it's basically the cosmic Buzzfeed quiz.
In other words, this is a content business
as much as it is a spiritual practice.
There are for sure enterprising capitalists
who are eager to profit off of all of this.
[singing] "These eggs are on fire."
Goop has built a whole online retail empire
serving what it calls, "the divine feminine."
"The egg is in, I think."
But online mysticism is also filling a legitimate need.
This is a turn to emotion in the face of all of the data
that dominates the internet.
It's a rejection of all the algorithmic, data-driven,
hyper-logical, crypto-libertarian values
that run so much of what we do online.
In their place it carves out room
for intuition and empathy.
And yeah, it all feels pretty girly,
but men have their online mysticism, too.
It just looks a little more like this.
"And this is some satanist imagery here
that goes over the connections of this symbolism."
And if masculine mysticism is obsessed with
conspiracies, drawing connections between
historical events and random images,
feminine mysticism, on the internet at least,
seeks to draw spiritual connections
between human beings.
"I'm a Gemini, so there's two sides of me."
I'm a Gemini, too, so I'm of two minds
about this whole trend.
My curmudgeonly twin points out
that this is all a ploy to get women to spend more
money on useless stuff, but my more compassionate twin
appreciates a corner of the internet that
values justice and empathy.
"The horoscopes are meant to be healing."
After all, the woo-woo crazy of a vagina
jade egg pales in comparison to this.
"We believe the Earth was a flattish disk surrounded
by a solid dome barrier called the firmament."
In this context, retreating into the mystical internet
actually feels like a quite rational move.
Hey, this is Amanda.
This is Shane.
He edits the videos.
She writes the videos.
You watch the videos.
And if you like the videos,
please like, comment and subscribe here.
And then tell us:
Who's worse?
Geminis or Scorpios?
That's easy.
Virgos.
Leave your answer in the comments.
We are very thirsty.
[singing] "Internetting with Amanda Hess."
I said Scorpios' weird.
For more infomation >> John McCain is on the minds of voters today - Duration: 1:37. 
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