Scrolling in the Deep

Full disclosure, I’m a ghoul junkie. So much so, that instead of getting cosy in front of the telly over twixmas, I was off ghost hunting on the north coast of Cornwall in the pouring rain (along with Dutiful Husband who is the most rational man you’ll ever meet).

I’m not sure what triggered my obsession with the supernatural. Perhaps it was sparked by family friends having a full-on exorcism when I was a child. Or maybe it was inherited from my grandmother who was an antiques dealer specialising in creepy Victorian dolls. Or it could have emerged more academically when I studied French vampire literature at university. I guess it could have been any of those things. But mostly, I think I just enjoy scaring myself shitless.

Something I’ve noticed over the last few years is that my kooky obsession has become a bit more common place. People used to say, why have you got three tarot card decks and a bookshelf full of reversal meanings. Now they say, "Oh the Rider-Waite, such a classic Tarot edition." My crystal collection is today far from special. And you can barely watch an episode of Real Housewives without a fight breaking out at a séance, followed by an episode at a healing circle.

So what the heaven and hell is going on?

Are we living through unprecedented occult times? Or is there something a little more circular and historic at play? I thought about connecting with the other side for the answer, but, given I am meant to be a strategist, I suppose it is best to at least start with a data-driven approach. So, Google Search data it is.

Looking at search interest volumes around Tarot cards and Crystal shops (my two data-proxies for entry-level mysticism) there’s a marked pattern that emerges. A growing base with a spike occurring towards the end of the pandemic. This also aligns with the explosion of #witchtok on TikTok which now boasts approximately 65 billion views.

Observing this pattern, I remembered something from the dusty mental archives of my studies. Oh yes. Fascination with the occult in France exploded after the gore of the revolution. Because when reality becomes an unexplainable horror, we turn to the sublime. Indeed, the last time Britain had a peak in mediums and seances, it was in the aftermath of the First World War. Houses, villages, towns and cities were empty of young men who went to fight and never came back. It was trauma on a scale never experienced before for their loved ones who were left behind. People sought out the immediate spiritual hit of the supernatural to try to literally connect with those they lost, and to make sense of the void more generally. Perhaps that is part of what is going on here. Trauma, death, anxiety and confusion from pandemic years playing out through our age-old impulse of taking a transcendent turn.

However, we’re not just seeing a growing interest in the occult in the UK. It’s the whole spiritual offering. A ‘category’ effect if you will. Traditional church numbers which have been in decades-long decline are at a turning point. They have risen for a fourth year in a row, and this rise is being given a big bump by Gen Z attendance, the same group driving the #witchtok era we find ourselves in. Recent YouGov data shows that attendance in England and Wales has increased by 50% over the last 6 years and those between 18-24 are the second largest demographic (behind the 65+ gang).

All this leads me to think that the explosion in spiritual culture can’t just be explained as a pandemic trauma-spike-response, or an aesthetic flash-in-the-pan trend. Yes, these elements may have accentuated and catalysed it, but there is a consistent base of broad spiritual interest that has been growing and keeps growing.

Countless pieces of analysis have made the case that digital fatigue is driving people back to real world experiences, especially for Gen Z. This point of view is so established it’s more of a cliché than an insight at this point. Whilst I don’t doubt its veracity, I believe it stops short. We can take it further. I would suggest that the dichotomy of digital world vs real world is a little… well… two dimensional. Perhaps the saturation of our digital existence, and our search for meaning beyond the scroll, is not just driving people back to connect in the physical realm, but to connect with the spiritual realm too.

Whether it’s through crystal collections, tarot card decks, or communal attendance of organised religion, there is a profound yearning in the world. There is a higher calling that is building. A deep burgeoning desire for the divine.

It’s new and emerging. And it’s older than time.

Not quite sure what brands do with it. But it’s there.

Maybe ask the stars?

Matthew Waksman is the head of strategy for Droga5 London