More and more millennials are moving away from both traditional Christianity and secularism. John Paul Ferguson writes, “As millennials continue to leave traditional Christian religions, interest in Wiccan and pagan practices have seen increased interest in recent years, a trend also spotted among young people and on college campuses.”

The more things change, the more they stay the same. With each passing generation, this cliché takes on deeper levels of truth. Many have noted just how different the so-called millennial generation (the 18-30 demographic) is from the generations that came before them: their lack of respect for authority, their obsession with entertainment, and their penchant for social media. Yet, for all these differences (and many of them are greatly exaggerated), one thing has remained consistent. The millennial generation is as much under the spiritual attack of paganism as every generation reaching as far back as the Garden of Eden.

Now, I can imagine that some may read those last few sentences with a jaundiced eye. Maybe I’m simply being a Pollyanna, a conservative alarmist warning the masses that the bad people are “coming for your children.” The fact is I’m also skeptical of fanciful claims with a conspiratorial bend. But it appears paganism, and by this I mean “out-and-proud” occultism is making a comeback among young people, and is backed with all the promotional punch of the Internet, social media, and Youtube.

A number of recent articles have recently acknowledged that a kind of spiritual awakening is taking place among millennials. Back in 2005 Catherine Edwards Sanders wrote Wicca’s Charm: Understanding the Spiritual Hunger Behind the Rise of Modern Witchcraft and Pagan Spirituality[1]. There she defines Wicca as,

monistic and pantheistic beliefs that all living things are of equal value. … Humans have no special place, nor are they made in God’s image. … Wiccans believe that they possess divine power within themselves and that they are gods and goddesses. …Consciousness can and should be altered through rite and ritual.[2]

These beliefs are not unique to Wicca, though it does appear that witchcraft is the predominant form of the Oneist resurgence among millennials. Parties on all sides of the worldview spectrum increasingly recognize the trend. Jason, Mankey has authored a piece titled, “Why Millennials Love Paganism,”[3] and Alden Wicker, in his article, “Witchcraft is the perfect religion for liberal millennials”[4] remarks that“ modern witchcraft [is] a movement that is being propelled out of the forest and into the mainstream.” He continues,

Search Meetup and you’ll find dozens of spell-casting covens in your area. The hashtag #witchesofinstagram brings up more than 360,000 posts from practitioners like @TheHoodWitch, who posts pictures of her long, lacquered nails hovering over tarot cards; @witcheryway, a Canadian witch who sells spell kits and incense burners out of her shop, and @light_witch, a self-described feminist in New England who spends her time swanning through outdoor landscapes in capes.

Bri Luna, the “Hoodwitch,” is the founder of the website thehoodwitch.com. The site promotes “everyday magic for the modern mystic.” It has been featured in Vogue Magazine, The Huffington Post, and the New York Times. She has even been featured on the popular Youtube channel Mitú, “a digital media company that brings a Latino [point of view] to mainstream entertainment across multiple platforms.” Luna fully embraces Brujeria, a Spanish-America word for witchcraft. In the video clip she says, “Being a bruja [witch] is not about becoming, it is about already acknowledging what is already existing within you”[5]

More and more millennials are moving away from both traditional Christianity and secularism. John Paul Ferguson writes, “As millennials continue to leave traditional Christian religions, interest in Wiccan and pagan practices have seen increased interest in recent years, a trend also spotted among young people and on college campuses.”[6]

College campuses in particular are fertile breeding grounds for open occultism among millennials. Back in 2010, Syracuse University appointed its very first “Pagan Chaplain” of Hendricks Chapel, an interdenominational place of worship. Further Sarah Sloat highlights the links between increasing liberal collegial causes and paganism.[7] Kari Paul, explains,

Half of young adults in the U.S. believe astrology is a science. Compared to less than 8% of the Chinese public. The psychic services industry — which includes astrology, aura reading, mediumship, tarot-card reading and palmistry, among other metaphysical services — grew 2% between 2011 and 2016. It is now worth $2 billion annually, according to industry analysis firm IBIS World.[8]

This is no alarmist fad. The signs are clear for those with eyes to see. Millennials are our future. If paganism can take root among them it will firmly establish occultism for the foreseeable future among a generation that has never known the vestiges of a Christianized America. The mission field is ripe for harvest. Christians must take a zeal for the truth, seasoned with empathy and love, to these beloved image-bearers who have experienced the disappointing emptiness of secularism’s false promises.

[1] Colorado Springs: Shaw Books, 2005.

[2] Wicca’s Charm , 5, 6.

[3] http://www.patheos.com/blogs/panmankey/2013/08/why-millennials-love-paganism/

[4] https://qz.com/821298/witchcraft-is-the-perfect-religion-for-liberal-millennials/

[5] You can find the find video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwTOBvDNOw0. Note: There is brief profanity at the 2:36 mark.

[6] “More students, young Americans turn to paganism” https://www.thecollegefix.com/post/38436/

[7] See her article, “As Students Tackle Privilege and the Environment, Paganism Grows on Campus,”

https://www.inverse.com/article/9144-as-students-tackle-privilege-and-the-environment-paganism-grows-on-campus

[8] Kari Paul, “Why millennials are ditching religion for witchcraft and astrology,” https://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-millennials-are-ditching-religion-for-witchcraft-and-astrology-2017-10-20

This article appeared on the truthXchange site and is used with permission.