Paper short abstract:

A spiritual web-forum "The Nest of Angels" in Estonia provides rich ethnographic material for analyzing the place of New Spirituality in secular Western countries. Guarded by angels, the atmosphere of support and positive emotions helps users to create spiritual meanings and supportive networks.

Paper long abstract:

An increasingly popular Estonian web-forum "the Nest of Angels" provides rich ethnographic material for analyzing the place of New Spirituality in secular Western countries. The present paper is based on the ethnographic study in the web-forum and in-depth interviews with the forum users in Estonia - the country that according to several comparative surveys shows the lowest level of importance of religion both in Europe and in the world. Spiritual ideas, however, enjoy high popularity, especially when not labeled as religious.

Spiritual practices and ideas offer new ways for people to overcome insecurity or to regain control of their lives. The web-forum guarded by angels offers the atmosphere of total support and positive emotions, where users are actively creating spiritual meanings and supportive networks. Angels themselves are also seen as a strong source of support. Like a common formula for signing a letter or a forum post - "Me and the Angels" indicates: people feel never alone. The usage of angels characterizes well the bricolage-like nature of New Spirituality: angels are taken out of their Christian context and embedded into spiritual teachings as guards of holistic worldview and symbols of goodness and harmony.