Who is a woo-woo girl? Decoding the new-age spirituality trend

Language performs a peculiar alchemy on itself: a word born entirely as an insult can, through decades of use, undergo a kind of semantic reclamation and become a badge worn proudly. “Woo-woo” is one such word, and its journey from mockery to self-description reveals less about the word itself than about a generation's growing willingness to embrace mysticism, ritual and the fundamentally unprovable.

What does woo-woo mean? The story behind Gen Z’s new spiritual identity

Merriam-Webster's earliest recorded use traces to 1992, defining it as “dubiously or outlandishly mystical, supernatural, or unscientific” — a definition that carries its dismissal within its very syntax. Earlier still, in 1971, sci-fi writer Philip J. Farmer used it to mean crazy, untethered from spirituality altogether. By the early eighties, it had narrowed towards its modern sense, when musician George Winston jokingly called his fans “woo-woos” in a 1983 interview. Its likely origin, fittingly, is onomatopoeic — an echo of the eerie, ghostly moan one might associate with a séance, or a haunting, or anything the rational mind is trained to dismiss on first hearing.  

But what, precisely, does the label enclose? Ask a Gen Z “woo-woo girl” and the answer arrives as a loosely stitched vocabulary of practice: manifesting, crystals, tarot pulls, astrology, sound baths, energy work and more. It is, in theory, a rejection of rigid systems for something looser, more felt, more “vibes”. Yet the irony is hard to miss. Yet the irony is hard to miss, this supposedly anti-structural movement has erected its own thriving marketplace — subscription tarot apps, celebrity crystal sets, astrology dating algorithms — a spirituality that’s remarkably easy to monetise.  

Is this, then, a Gen Z invention? Not quite. Long before the word existed, India had already earned its reputation as a destination for spiritual seeking. The Beatles found Rishikesh in 1968, while the hippie trail carried thousands more through Goa and Varanasi. India has its own woo-woo, too. Nazar, mannat and vastu are older cousins of the crystal and tarot card, yet they have never lived outside religion the way "woo-woo" insists on doing. What's happening now feels closer to translation than invention — young Indians relabeling inherited devotion in the West's secularised tongue, a shift the market has followed too, India's crystal trade reportedly valued above ₹400 crore.

And yet, tellingly, most of this isn't held too seriously. A 2024 Pew survey found that among Americans who consult astrology, tarot or fortune tellers, 20% do so mostly for fun, while only 1% rely on them a lot when making major life decisions. 

Perhaps woo-woo works because it leaves room for both belief and play. A tarot card can be a message from the universe, a prompt for reflection or simply a beautifully illustrated card. You can believe, question or simply enjoy the ritual. The label leaves the choice open.

Email: anoushkakundu@newindianexpress.com

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