Research Finds LGBT Women, Hispanic Catholics Most Engaged in New Age Practices
One in three Americans consult fortune tellers, tarot cards, or astrology; study breaks down sexual, racial, and denominational proclivities
The decades-long decline in Christianity across the U.S. has stalled, but a significant percentage of Americans are dabbling in the occult “for fun,” to gain “helpful insights,” or when making major life decisions, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey.
The study, published on May 21, revealed that American women who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender are most likely to consult astrology or use horoscopes or tarot cards (63%) at least once a year, compared to LGBT men (40%).
Nearly half of those who identify as LGBT (54%) consult astrology or horoscopes at least yearly — roughly twice the percentage of U.S. adults overall (28%).
In addition, a notable 33% of LGBT adults say they utilize tarot cards, which is three times the rate of U.S. adults in general (11%). Further, 21% of LGBT Americans report depending on astrology, horoscopes, tarot cards, or fortune telling when making major life decisions.
Catholics Dabbling in the Occult
Among Christians, Catholics (32%) are the most likely of all denominations to consult astrology or a horoscope at least once or twice a year; white Evangelicals (17%) are the least likely to dabble in the occult.
Despite the Catholic Church’s ban on the occult, Hispanic Catholics (39%) are especially prone to believe in astrology, fortune tellers, or tarot cards, while black Protestants (33%) show a higher rate of engagement with New Age practices within mainline Protestant churches.
A significant proportion of Hispanic Catholics (35%) say they believe the position of stars and planets can affect people’s lives, compared to 25% of white Catholics, 19% of white Evangelicals, and 34% of black Protestants.
Hispanic Catholics (12%) are also more likely than other religious groups to say they rely on insights from New Age practices at least a little when making major life decisions.
According to the study, “When asked about consulting astrology or a horoscope, tarot cards, or fortune tellers, white evangelicals and atheists are among the groups that are most likely to say they never engage in the practices.”
The survey also revealed that atheists (3%), agnostics (18%), and Jewish Americans (18%) are less likely than the general public to say they believe in astrology.
Queers Seek Alternative Spirituality
The findings confirm a spike in the sale of popular books like Colin Bedell’s Queer Cosmos: The Astrology of Queer Identities & Relationships, which touts astrology and “the archetypal energies expressed in queer experiences” as an “antidote to feelings of hopelessness and provides language for authentic practices of self-expression” by “leaving behind gender-normative pronouns and assumptions.”
“It’s a very queer phenomenon. I think queers have really always taken to it,” explains lesbian astrologer Chani Nicholas. “We need alternative ways of seeing ourselves or being witnessed.”
Nicholas elaborates:
When a lot of the religious institutions or traditions that we come from have shunned us, on a deep soul level, we want to be seen. And when we grew up in a culture that doesn’t see us, that doesn’t witness our gender, that invisibilizes us, that makes us into something that we’re not, we need ways of being reflected that feel true.
A previous Pew survey published on May 6 revealed that 57% of U.S. adults believe that animals can have spirits, while 48% say the same about mountains, rivers or trees, even though around six in 10 U.S. adults identify as Christian.
In 2018, a Pew survey revealed that many Christians now syncretize their faith with beliefs in reincarnation, astrology, psychics, and identifying spiritual energy in objects like mountains or tree. Around seven in 10 Catholics and black Protestants and 47% of evangelical Protestants surveyed said they incorporate at least one of the above beliefs into their religious practice.
A Pew Research Survey of 36 countries published in March found that Latino Catholics, especially women, are converting to Islam in significant numbers. As The Stream reported, about 9% of converts to Islam come from a Latino Catholic background.
Conversion to Islam is a phenomenon across Latin America, the report stated. It cited single-parent Latino Catholic families and the proselytizing (dawah) efforts of Islamic evangelistic organizations like IslamInSpanish Centro Islámico in Houston, Texas, as one factor drawing Latinas to Islam.
Finding Peace in Christ Alone
The Catechism of the Catholic Church condemns “all forms of divination” including “recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to ‘unveil’ the future.” It warns that such practices “contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear” owed to God alone.
Catholics are also forbidden from “consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums” since they “all conceal a desire for power over time” and “a wish to conciliate hidden powers.”
In 2022, bestselling author Doreen Virtue discussed how she left the New Age behind when she read the Old Testament.
Virtue writes:
Reading the entire Bible changed everything. When I got to Deuteronomy 18:10–12, I encountered a list of sinful activities that included several I was practicing, such as divination, interpreting signs and omens, and mediumship. This passage says that people using these methods are “detestable,” an abomination to God.
I was broken, deeply shamed, and humbled by these words. I dropped to my knees in shame and sorrow. “I’m so sorry, God!” I kept wailing in repentance. “I didn’t know!” On that very day I gave my life to Jesus as Lord and Savior.
Virtue, who was brought up in the Christian Scientist cult, said she had convinced herself she was actually a Christian, “albeit an ‘open-minded’ Christian who was superior to all those narrow-minded followers who only believed in Jesus.
“After seeking but never finding peace in New Age, I have finally found it in Christ,” she testified.
Dr. Jules Gomes (BA, BD, MTh, PhD) has a doctorate in biblical studies from the University of Cambridge. Currently a Vatican-accredited journalist based in Rome, he is the author of five books and several academic articles. Gomes lectured at Catholic and Protestant seminaries and universities and was canon theologian and artistic director at Liverpool Cathedral.