pagan, New Age
What to know
Pagan and New Age are umbrella terms for a diverse body of contemporary spiritual traditions and eclectic practices.
Paganism (also called neo-paganism or contemporary paganism) is associated with witchcraft, magic practices, and nature reverence and is influenced by pre-Christian religions and spiritual traditions. Formalized pagan traditions include Druidism, Shamanism, and Wicca, but there are many pagans who practice individualized and eclectic forms of spirituality.
Wicca is a prominent and formalized subgroup of neo-paganism that began in the United Kingdom in the 1950s and reached the United States in the 1960s. This tradition is influenced by the feminist movement in its rejection of patriarchal religions and centering of the divine feminine in nature. While most Wiccans call themselves witches, not all witches are Wiccans and might choose to practice other forms of witchcraft. Witchcraft is historically linked to countercultural movements but today is increasingly popular, and commercialized, in mainstream capitalist culture.
The New Age movement gained popularity in the 1960s with the Human Potential and 19th-century spiritualism movements and centers on transformation, enlightenment, and higher spiritual awareness. Some of the practices of New Age overlap with pagan traditions, hence why these terms are often grouped together (and sometimes conflated). These overlapping practices include forms of divination (like tarot), crystals, astrology, mediums and psychics, and herbal and alternative medicine. These practices are increasingly popular among people of other religious systems and as part of cultural practices among those with no identified religious identity.
Note that while the term “occult” also might be used to describe pagan and New Age practices, it can take on a negative tone. Similarly, the term “pagan” has been used historically as a slur for Indigenous peoples and non-Christians (“heathen” is similarly outdated). Taking care to use the term pagan in its contemporary usage (to describe modern practices inspired by pre-Christian traditions and not to describe Indigenous religions) can help mitigate any archaic connotations of the term.
While there are distinctions between the terms pagan, New Age, and witchcraft (as outlined above), note that media sources sometimes use the terms interchangeably, perhaps due to their overlapping practices. Understanding the differences between these movements can help to more accurately report on them and represent the experiences of pagan and New Age practitioners. Elaborating on the particular spiritual practices of individuals beyond the labels pagan or New Age and deferring to how people identify themselves helps to ensure that people’s spiritualities are represented fairly and not conflated with other related traditions.
Additional resources
- The Old Roots of New Age (The Current)
- Why paganism and witchcraft are making a comeback (NBC News)
- Sage, sacred to Native Americans, is being used in purification rituals, raising issues of cultural appropriation (The Conversation)
- Could neo-paganism be the new ‘religion’ of America? (Big Think)
Summary
Pagan and New Age are umbrella terms for a diverse body of contemporary spiritual traditions and eclectic practices. The term “pagan” has been used historically as a slur for Indigenous peoples and non-Christians (“heathen” is similarly outdated). Taking care to use the term pagan in its contemporary usage (to describe modern practices inspired by pre-Christian traditions and not to describe Indigenous religions) can help mitigate any archaic connotations of the term. Elaborating on the particular spiritual practices of individuals beyond the labels pagan or New Age and deferring to how people identify themselves helps to ensure that people’s spiritualities are represented fairly and not conflated with other related traditions.