The quick answer is: not very well.
For the long answer, read on..
Every so often I take a look at Google Trends, where you can see whether the interest in a given topic is going up or down. The idea is simple: when more people are searching Google for a certain word, it indicates that interest in it is going up (which can happen for all kind of reasons). If people lose interest in something then there will be less search for it on Google.
So how is it going? This are the worldwide trends for astrology (blue) and feng shui (red) since 2004:
Astrology has always had a bigger audience than feng shui, which is not unexpected as feng shui is fairly new in the West. But we can see that both astrology and feng shui have seen a 60% drop in interest since 2004.
I looked for possible reasons. Is it because people have lost interest in forecasts? This is the search trend for "forecast":
People have actually become more interested in forecasts, and we see high interest during 2009 and 2010, probably because of the economic crisis that struck. But astrology doesn't seem to have taken any advantage of that. It looks like people have given up on finding answers in astrology.
Then I thought this decline is perhaps part of a general decline in everything "new age". But, looking at the trends for topics like yoga, meditation and tarot, I found this:
The interest in yoga has been going up. Tarot gained popularity until 2009 and has since fallen back. And the interest in meditation has been fairly constant for many years.
Fashion can obviously play its role in all this, and it are worldwide trends so in certain countries or regions the picture can differ. But clearly not everything "metaphysics" is seeing a worldwide decline in interest.
Putting it all in perspective in one chart showing the relative popularity:
While things can always enjoy a temporary boost in popularity as a result of fashions and other factors, long term popularity of a service or product usually depends on whether the people experience clear benefits from it. That doesn't seem to be the case with astrology and feng shui services, as evidenced by a steadily declining interest in them.
Some people have suggested that simplified Westernized methods of feng shui are to be blamed for its declining reputation in the West. Sounds plausible, but then why are the trends for feng shui and astrology also down in places like Singapore and Hong Kong, where one would expect "authentic" feng shui to be readily available? Here is the trend for Singapore:
And here we have Hong Kong:
It looks like Chinese people are equally losing trust in feng shui and astrology. In fact in Hong Kong, sometimes called the capital of feng shui, the decline is even more dramatic.
Does anybody have other explanations for this evolution?
PS: here you can play with these google search trends: http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=feng%20shui%2C%20astrology%20%2B%20astrologia%2C%20tarot%2C%20yoga%2C%20meditation&cmpt=q