„POPROŚ WODĘ O PIENIĄDZE”. TRADYCJA ZNACHORSKA WE WSPÓŁCZESNYCH PORADNIKACH MAGICZNYCH W ROSJI
‘ASK WATER FOR MONEY’. HEALING TRADITIONS IN CONTEMPORARY RUSSIAN GUIDEBOOKS ON MAGIC

Summary/Abstract: Since the 1990s, there has been a back-to-the-sources trend in post-Soviet Russian society. The publishing industry responded by issuing Russian folk magical texts that were written and signed by alleged ‘witch doctors’. In the current era of wide availability of print, radio, television and the Internet, folk and pseudo-folk spells in Russian publications have become a part of the information circle spanning the sphere of traditional folklore, contemporary popular culture, and contemporary folklore. In this article, I analyse the guidebooks on magic that belong to this sphere of popular culture. These publications were based partly on traditional folk magic analysed in ethnographic research, and magic practised by contemporary female ‘witch doctors’. These publications draw on traditional folklore and render it for contemporary readers’ needs. Collections of magical texts represent a kind of ‘commercial magic’. It combines various cultural and religious traditions in order to form an attractive product for clients who seek help in critical situations in their lives. In this article, I characterise a number of modifi cations to magical folk tradition and ways of presenting it in chosen guidebooks available on the Russian publishing market.

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