Up to 1.5 million people in America now identify as Wicca or Pagan according to a survey by the Pew Research Center. That means there are now more witches in the US than there are Presbyterians who have around 1.4 million adherents.

Experts believe that the explosion in the witch population is due to millennial women’s embracing of new-age spirituality, mindfulness, meditation, and yoga.

Commenting on the research, Times, Ireland edition, columnist Lise Hand said there should be no surprise that so many Catholic women should abandon the Church for witchcraft as the Church has shown “zero tolerance for women deemed to be outside societal lines, unmarried mothers in particular.” She added: “The only shocker about this witchy upswing is that it has taken so long.”

She added: “A Wicca party could be just the thing for Ireland.”