Tonight is the full moon.
In a small vial that she intends to close with white wax, Sarah mixes saffron, lavender, sage, mint, amethyst, and moon water.
Tonight, the influencer is preparing a spell of protection and happiness, very useful, she wants to believe, in these times of pandemic.
His recipe, whose effectiveness remains to be proven, seems to find its audience: on TikTok, his @ sarahal06 page has nearly 600,000 subscribers.
The young woman embodies, like many others, a movement that is growing within her generation: the craze for the occult, the sacred, the mysterious.
Astrology, tarot, oracles, witchcraft ... These parasciences, formerly confined to the rank of kitsch and dubious esotericism, are experiencing a revival, in particular thanks to a young generation which incorporates the codes of social networks, and a marketing movement which seems to follow the not - motifs linked to astrological signs, eyes or even representations of the galaxy are indeed everywhere in ready-to-wear and accessories.
In ten years, beliefs in astrological signs, for example, have increased by 8%, underlines an Ifop poll with the Jean Jaurès Foundation.
And more young people are joining the movement.
“40% of those under 35 believe in witchcraft against 25% of those over 35”, we also learn.
"TikTok's witch" recipes
In everyday life, Sarah is trained as a veterinary assistant to work with animals.
On the Internet, she is rather known to be "the witch of TikTok" - she is displayed there wearing a black hat, round glasses, near a black candle.
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“When I was little, I already had feelings about entities.
My family, very scientific, told me that it was hallucinations, fears of children.
When I had information about my family that I shouldn't have known, I realized that it was not just luck.
So I became interested in spiritualism, then in mythology, and in witchcraft, ”explains the 18-year-old young woman.
On social networks, she talks about "occult, modern witchcraft", that is to say "trying to understand the energies around us and manipulate them in our favor".
This involves rituals, ceremonies, or even spells of prosperity or love - which sometimes attract mockery and questioning in comments.
"But the people who believe this stuff… Did you go to school?"
Learned the scientific method?
Critical mind ?
Science what… ”, we can read in particular.
Sarah, for her part, advocates benevolence.
Her job is to do good, she promises.
“No, the witch, it's not an old lady who lives in a cave and casts curses to do harm.
It can be a green witch, who helps people thanks to nature, or a white witch (who does good, according to mythology, Editor's note), ”she describes.
Astrology for personal development
We are therefore far from images of dark witches, threatening demons and psychics with disturbing predictions.
Today, the young people who adhere to it - young women, above all -, despite the lack of scientific basis, dive into this environment to get to know each other better.
The less extreme are confined to astrology, which has become, in a few years, a field also taken seriously by the women's press.
“I came to astrology through psychoanalysis and personal development,” says Maria, 27.
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The young artist admits to having "wanted to understand" who she was, and "by extension, to understand others too": "I see the astral chart as a list of ingredients, a recipe.
Example: "I am a Scorpio ascendant, and having this info encouraged me to dye my hair black without fear of regret.
"(The Scorpio sign is a sign of independence and strength of character, we learn on the accounts dedicated to this subject, Editor's note.)" Meeting people of the same sign as me with similar investments allows me to observe them, and to see what I like in their attitude or not, to work on it, on my side, afterwards ”, adds Maria.
"Make up for my lack of psych support"
For the partisans of astrology, these signs constitute means of explaining the daily newspaper, "not because they bring a total and unbreakable truth, but because the proposed lighting makes it possible to ask questions", explains Mathilde Fachan , astrologer, restaurateur and host of a podcast called Z comme Zodiaque.
“If I see that, during a given period, a series of bad events, personal or global, happens, I will wonder what combinations of planets are the cause,” explains Charlotte, a 28-year-old graphic designer from Paris.
Often, fans of astrology explain great upheavals by the position of the planet Mercury, which "retrogrades", and, according to belief, calls into question all communications in the world.
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Astrology also gives some people a boost in their everyday life.
“I've been afraid to make a decision, or to do a courageous act (telling someone I love them, for example), and the 'parasciences' have helped me to overcome these caps ”, confides, for his part, Bénédicte *, a 27-year-old screenwriter.
Even the tarot, which traditionally constitutes a tool for clairvoyants who want to apprehend the future, has benefited from a facelift.
For Leïla *, a student who had an “emotionally difficult” first year in medicine, this game of divinatory cards was a lifesaver.
“It was a kind of introspection, of personal work on myself.
It was to compensate for my lack of psychological support.
I had a lot of stress, I had a lot of sleep paralysis, anxiety attacks, ”she recalls.
Over time, the student perfected the art of drawing cards.
So much so that today, she creates her own games, offers prints to her fellow students, and works on a dedicated YouTube channel, called Guidances nocturnes.
Stars on social networks
Among the young people questioned, almost all follow esoteric accounts via social networks, or animate them themselves.
Thanks to the Internet, you no longer have to push through the doors of an intimidating curiosity store to learn about the genre.
These beliefs are now presented in more aesthetic and more “pop” forms, in particular via
memes
(images of a viral nature, popular online, Editor's note), or even with strong cultural references for this generation, such as Disney, The Simpsons, or Miyazaki characters.
This is the method used in particular by Thomas, whose Instagram account, @astrxtrinity, is followed by 300,000 people.
“For me,
memes
are a fun way to show off things with humor, and aesthetics are super important for a post.
Beautiful colors make subscribers more eager to read, ”notes the Belgian student.
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Popular culture would also have opened up younger minds to these alternative worlds.
According to the philosopher Catherine Clément, author of the “Witches Museum”, everything comes from the United States, and the musical “Wicked”, which became popular in the 2000s. Inspired by the story of the Wizard of Oz, the play , one of the most famous of Broadway and exported internationally, tells the story of Elphaba, a witch manhandled because with a green skin, victim of a manipulative but all-powerful Wizard of Oz.
In the Ifop poll on the subject, and many press articles on the subject, there are also more recent references, such as the series "Charmed" (and its remake of the 2020s), "Sabrina" (again, a remake by Netflix), or the Harry Potter saga.
Creations that have made it possible to make the aesthetics of magic more pleasant, and to create an accessible repository, even if the self-proclaimed witches assure it: their practice has little to do with that of Harry, Ron and Hermione at Hogwarts.
Feminism, ecology and ... magic
This practice even fits, for some, in more committed currents, such as feminism, and ecology.
“Witchcraft is learning about the world around us, such as nature and its benefits.
By leaning a little closer, we realize the damage that we cause to our planet, learn to respect our Mother Earth.
Small important things like collecting waste, avoiding plastics, asking the plant for its consent to pull it out, or take some leaves from it, then thank it ”, develops Manon, a 20-year-old witch known by the nickname @little_witchyy on TikTok, who is also trained in lithotherapy, a parascience that praises "care" by stones.
To identify with such a movement nowadays is also to claim to be the heir to a place "on the fringes" of society.
“We learn to accept ourselves and develop our sacred feminine.
Many witches are or become feminists, ”adds Manon.
"These themes come from an anger, which itself, no doubt, is partly the result of all this destruction, towards these women, killed for not having been in the standards of the time, and towards Nature" , completes Charlotte.
It is perhaps this anger which pushed American witches to launch a general movement against the extreme right, across the Atlantic.
After the election of Donald Trump in 2016, they united under the hashtag #magicresistance to launch a "massive spell" against the one who was the symbol of a power (among others) sexist.
In January, their incantations also targeted Trump sympathizers who attacked the Capitol, to ensure that the contested president's term would come to an end - something that was already guaranteed by Joe Biden's victory in the November election.
However, in the eyes of these witches, the mobilization has borne fruit, since the Democratic candidate took office in mid-January without a hitch.
"A mainstream theme"
In the United States, precisely, the publishing houses had already scented the right vein.
At the end of 2019, the New York Times, seeing the specialized works multiply in bookstores, asked the following question in the headline: "Since when had everyone become a witch?"
".
In France, the trend is also there.
"It has been two or three years since it invaded the general public market, it has become a mainstream theme", notes Joanne Mirailles, deputy editorial director at Eyrolles, and passed through the publishing house Trédaniel, specialist in the genre.
“Esotericism is no longer a crazy crazy thing, it is accepted.
And it's the same readership as personal development.
"
The same goes for Rustica Editions, already fond of books on the subject, such as the “Grimoire de Sorcières”, or “Spells and magic knots”.
“This is something that we have been dealing with for several years, notably through the theme of healing by plants, and traditions,” confirms Elisabeth Pegeon, editorial director at Rustica.
“There is an appetite for nature, the deep meaning of things (which we have lost in our materialist societies), the secret and the sacred.
”The appetite is such that the publishing house intends to launch, in March, a new brand,“ Secret of stars ”, entirely dedicated to these themes.
A trendy aesthetic
Fashion has also taken hold of it: stars, moons, tarot, astrological signs… Graphically, parasciences are endlessly available, both in haute couture and in ready-to-wear.
In 2016, Dior displayed dresses with mystical and celestial prints on the catwalks.
Outside the parades, you can find both t-shirts with astrological signs at Sézane, a favorite brand of fashionistas with a good wallet, as at Urban Outfitters, a popular brand.
teens and twenties.
The latter also offers decorative objects (candles, tarot posters ...) and furnishings in the genre, as well as crystals, to practice lithotherapy.
Lou Yetu jewelry, inspired by the wave, has also created a collection dedicated to astrology.
What confirm the effect of fashion, sometimes denounced by the followers of this movement.
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Because for them, practicing astrology or witchcraft is serious.
It is a matter of belief, a bit like a religion, but less restrictive.
And more satisfying.
"Parasciences, it is much more fulfilling than religion, which is more in the judgment, the punitive", analyzes Mélanie, a graphic designer from Lyon of 26 years, keen on esotericism.
"Religion, which once had a big influence on the population and which formally prohibits this kind of practice, no longer responds to people's needs and questions," Charlotte abounds.
“Likewise, logic and reason which are so highly valued in the West, especially in the education system, are no longer sufficient to feel peaceful in the world in which we live.
"
Search for meaning
It is well known: in times of great upheaval, we often cling to concepts that still make sense.
And upheavals, this generation of young people have seen: the financial crisis of 2008, the attacks of 2015, and then, obviously, the pandemic of 2020. Here again, among many followers of esotericism questioned, the year 2020 has gave rise to these interests, or reinforced them.
"The confinement, it blew my audience," says Sarah, the young witch on TikTok.
"People locked in their homes, it pushed them to question themselves about things that they did not take the time to think about", she analyzes.
Somewhere a Gemini is putting off a major life decision just to feel something pic.twitter.com/oOAZ0HyBT5
- Co - Star (@costarastrology) January 26, 2021
The statistics also show it: the number of downloads of the Co-Star application, which provides daily horoscopic reports and draws personalized astral charts, increased by 56% "between the start of the pandemic and December 2020".
Same phenomenon in bookstores.
“At the end of confinement, we had huge sales in the esoteric sector, but not on more classic books for personal development, such as those on how to manage anxiety,” adds Joanne Mirailles, to Eyrolles editions.
More sensitive to conspiracy?
The effectiveness of these parasciences - a term that cringes Mathilde, the astrologer and podcaster - still remains to be proven.
And their progression can be worrying: a considerable part of these followers of esotericism can also switch to conspiracy, or the denial of science.
A 2017 Ifop poll for Conspiracy Watch pointed out that "belief in parasciences is correlated with a greater disposition to conspiratorial visions".
“The proportion of people adhering to the thesis of a collusion between the Ministry of Health and the pharmaceutical industry on the harmfulness of vaccines was significantly higher among followers of horoscopes: 73% against 51% among the French never consulting their horoscope ”, one could read in particular.
Sarah, the young witch on TikTok, is also worried about sectarian aberrations.
"A lot of people take advantage of the very young community to interfere in groups of practitioners to talk about their sect, and to recruit," she laments.
“I have had 10 or 11 year olds who have asked me for advice, when they are not old enough to care about such things.
"
The risk of scams is also very present.
"A lot of young people touch that, and see that it becomes a business," notes Cindy, also fortune-teller on social networks, who refuses to charge for her consultations.
"Some see that with two cards, they can give answers and that people pay for that, out of desperation," she says.
But Mathilde, the astrologer, wants to reassure: "I am not
perched
, I am for science, for vaccines, for the right to abortion, I always inform myself as much about the world", she says.
For Leïla *, a 19-year-old student and fortune-teller in physiotherapy, science and parascience are even complementary.
"Of course, science is great, it is humble, it is a great tool to be rigorous and to provide concrete solutions", judges the young woman.
“But healing can also be done at the psychic, esoteric, material level… It is at all levels.
"
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Sarah, she sticks to her positions.
“It's like being a Christian, or a Muslim, to believe in certain things.
It's not proven by the scientific community, but that doesn't bother me, ”she assumes.
“I work with vets, doctors, a lot of people who believe in these things, and ask me for advice in astrology, in lithotherapy, on magnetizers… In fact, a lot of people believe in it, but they don't do not necessarily talk about it.
"