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A Short History of New


Age Movement
With Its Concepts, Ideas & Major Publications
a creative commons report by Nathaniel
Version 1.0
Copyright (c) 2014 by Nathaniel
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About author:
Nathaniel is a pen name of Wojciech Usarzewicz, who is a Reiki
Master Teacher and a spiritual practitioner born and living in
Poland, Europe. When people ask him about his pen name, he
says "Nathan" is a way easier to pronounce than his real name;
thus he publishes his books under "Nathaniel" name.
He's an author of numerous books on spiritual subjects: psychic
development, Norse runes, New Age, clairvoyance and Reiki.
He's not afraid of controversial subjects, because he believes in
old latin proverb, "Homo sum...". He lives in Poland, where he
teaches Reiki, as well as he practices other spiritual arts. On the
path of his own spiritual growth, he had the opportunity to learn
from Buddhist and Taoist masters, witches, shamans and many
Reiki masters.

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Table of Contents
About author:
Preface
Before Modern Age
XVIII Century
XIX Century
First half of the XX century
The Second Half of the XX century
The 60s
70s
The 80s
The 90s
The XXI Century, So Far
Summary

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5
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15
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18
19
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Preface
I decided to share with with you the history of New Age. Of
course, it's just a short version a detailed history would take
hundreds of pages to describe.
Today, we may say that New Age is already over 150 years old.
Please, enjoy this outline of New Age movement history. It's
worth to learn it in order to figure out what originates from
what. It helps to define whether modern practices are worth of
your time or not :). Let's begin.
Let us start with setting the beginning of New Age movement
somewhere in the XVIII century. This is the great time of
Industrial Revolution. As you can see, not only the industry and
economy went through revolution the great revolution in spirit
also begun back there, as it seems.

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Before Modern Age

re-ancient times, and ancient times with its primal religions,


animistic perspective and later on the organized religions
had a strong impact over New Age practices. The time between
1950-1990 sees the ressurection of animist practices in its
pagan, neopagan, shamanic and neoshamanic ways. The ancient
gods of Egypts, Asia, South America or even Greece and Africa,
all were reborn thanks to some organizations and groups as
considered a part of New Age movement.
But mostly, they had no true impact over the creation of New
Age movement. Such old concepts, faiths and practices were
ressurected in their modern forms by New Age movement, thus
becoming a part of this movement, but as unique traditions, had
no real impact over the creation of the New Age ideas. Thus, the
history of New Age, as I believe, begins in the XVIII century
with the Industrial Revolution at hand.

XVIII Century

his is the time when first ideas are being born:


mersmerism, a kind of energy healing; spiritism, which
defines itself as a way to contact the spirits; spiritualism, which
was a more religious version of spiritism, was also introduced
by Fox sisters. To be more specific, both spiritism and
spiritualism developed in XIX century, officially, but it is the
XVIII century that sees the beginning of these ideas. Also, in
XVIII century, we can see the beginning of interest in
paranormal phenomena by scientific community.
Mesmerism popularized the idea that there is an unseen energy,
which is a life force for all living beings. This is the precursor of
the hands-on-healing systems that will develop further in the
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XX century. Spiritism and spiritualism popularized the ideas that


beyond the physical world, there's also an another world, a
spiritual one. This suggested the possibility to contact the spirits
and ghosts. Those two schools of thought became a foundation
for future New Age ideologies and groups, because they offered
people a different perception upon reality than the Christianity
promoted. New ideas and thoughts had offered an alternative to
an established point of view.
Nevill Drury promotes the idea that there are four primary
trends that create the foundation for modern New Age. First, the
already-mentioned mermerism. Second one are the theories of
Emanuel Swedenborg, a researched from Sweden, who, thanks
to his mystical experiences, devoted his life to Christian
Mysticism and published a lot of works in the art of spirituality.
This man is also responsible to create the concept that Angels do
have a gender and there can be male and female angels. The
third trend is, of course, the Theosophy, created by Helena
Blavatsky. The fourth trend is the spiritual activity of George
Gurdjieff. Personally, I would generlize in this case, and
suggest that not simple Gurdjieff, but the work of all gurus and
hindu masters should be called the four trend.
Of course, we cannot forget about other ideas, like occult
traditions, including Hermetism, astrology, cabballah, alchemy
and many forms of magick, that also influenced the growing
New Age movement, by walking out of the shadow, in which
these arts remained since the ancient times.

XIX Century

he first half of the XIX century sees the introduction of the


New Thought movement, initiated by Phineas Quimby, a
student of Anton Mesmer, the creator of Mesmerism mentioned
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earlier. The New Thought used to evolve and expand the ideas
of Mesmerism and mix them with ideas originating in Hindu
and Buddhist traditions. New Thought believed that physical
matter is merely an illusion, and any illness is created by
thoughts and sick ideas and concepts. Illness was meant to
begin in person's mind, not in person's body. The doctrine of
New Thought include a belief that humanity is divine in its
nature, and that our mind is the only reality. Actually, according
to New Thought, it is the mind that creates physical matter.
Based on these ideas, Quimby created a clinic, in which people
were supposed to be able to heal themselves through healing
their thoughts and ideas.
On the beginning of the XX century, New Thought ideas will
evolve beyond health issues, into other aspects of life. For
example, Napoleon Hill and Wallace Wattles used New Thought
as a base for their concepts of the Law of Attraction, which
later on became known thanks to the movie and book The
Secret.
One of the students of Quimby was named Mary Baker Edda,
who later on created Christian Science Society, which exists
for this day.
In the XIX century, in its 50s, a major person appears on the
scene her name is Helena Blavatsky. She used to say that she
has met a Master1 in 1851 in London. This Master person
was supposed to introduce Blavatsky into the art of Eastern
spirituality. In the coming years, Blavatsky was supposed to
travel to Mexico, Egypt, Canada and Asia, where she was
supposed to learn from shamans and spiritual masters.
In 1864, she supposedly spent few years in Tibet, where she
1 This Master person was never identified by any name, gender, age or
cultural origin.
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reported she has learned from Ascended Masters. This


Ascended Masters concept will later on evolve. It still exists
and it does have its followers.
In the 70s of the XIX century, Blatavsky created the famous
Theosophical Society it was the year 1875, to be specific. Her
primary coworkers were collonel Henry Steel Olcott and
William Q. Judge. The Society's goal was to popularize
Blavatsky's teachings. These teachings were a simplified version
of Hindu and Buddha teachings suited for the Western world,
mixed with traditional, European magical approach and
Christianity to some degree. Helena Blavatsky wrote her first
famous book , Isis Unveiled, focused on Hindu mysticism,
and published it in 1877. Because of Blavatsky, among others,
we now use the concepts of Chakras, Nadis (energy
channels) and Kundalini force within modern New Age
ideas. Also, it was Theosophy who first begun to popularize the
Hindu concept of reincarnation.
In 1888, Blavatsky wrote and published another famous book The Secret Doctrine, in which she described many concepts
of Hindu and Buddhist cosmology, beliefs and practices. What's
interesting, this is the very first book, in which the term New
Age appears, and it's related to esoteric practices and spiritual
growth.
In the 80s of the XIX century, Charles and Myrtle Filmore
created the organization known ans Unity. The doctrine of this
movement was almost exactly the same as the doctrine of the
Society of Christian Science, but one new element was added:
the belief in reincarnation, which was becoming more and more
popular among Western people. In the same years, words are
becoming popular about the lost world of Agharta. This trend
of ancient lost civilization evolved in the future, and it's
responsible for popularizing the names of Atlantis, Lemuria
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and Shangri-La. This is also a trend influenced by Theosophy.


Blavatsky herself popularized the ideas of many stages of
evolution of human civilization and ancient forgotten continents.
It's worth mentioning that in the 80s we observe the creation of
short-lived occult order known as the Order of the Golden
Dawn, which practices and traditions strongly influenced
modern magical and esoteric movements.
In the 1891 Helena Blavatsky passed away, and the
Theosophical Society leadership was taken over by Annie
Besant and C. W. Leadbeater.
Near the end of the XIX century, Yoga begins to spread in
Europe, but it won't be until the 40s of the XX century that Yoga
becomes popular.
The end of XIX century sees one more important book A
Dweller on Two Planets authored by Fredrick Sencer Oliver.
In this book, Oliver describes a secret city hidden under Mount
Shasta, and mentions about Lemuria as well. The Mount
Shasta in United States became a major place of interest for
people interested in New Age ideology, and it's related to the
concepts of Ascended Masters, UFO and Native American
Spirituality.

First half of the XX century

e now meet, for the first time, with Alice Bailey and
Krishnamurti. Alice Bailey was a member of the
Theosophical Society. She stated that Krishnamurti, a young
Hindu boy back then was a messiah, an incarnation of Christ.
Bailey stated this in 1906.
Krishnamurti finally neglected this idea and his role as a
messiah in 1926. He broke his ties with the Theosophical
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Society and dissolved the Order of the Star, then creted the
Krishnamurti Foundation of America, which exists for this
day. Notice that some sources suggest that the Order of the Star
was created by Krishnamurti. In anyway, the KfoA focused on
popularizing Hindu mysticism. Krishnamurti described himself
as the antiguru, standing in the opposition of the growing
guruistic movement in America at the time.
The Guru movement in America is responsible for many
concepts popular within New Age: the importance of destroying
ego; the importance of serving your guru-master. The concept of
guru itself was later on used by many sect and cult
movements around the world.
Even earlier, Alice Bailey herself left the Theosophical Society
in 1923 to create her own group, Acane School.
At the beginning of the XX century, starting with 1901, another
great mystic begun his work. His name was Edgar Cayce. He
became famous thanks to this abilility to psychically state
medical diagnosis throught his clairvoyant abilities. Another
skill of his brought him fame, as he used to channel information,
through psychical means, about Atlantis and alternative history
of human civilization. Cayce created an organization called
Association for Research and Englightenment, which exists for
this day. Thanks to Cayce's work, the fame of Atlantis itself
became far stronger. We credit Cayce also for popularizing
interest in general alternative history.
The beginning of the XX century is a witness of another major
event, the end of the Order of the Golden Dawn. Becaue of the
breakdown, some of the Order's members published the Order's
teachings. This events and publications influenced the future
magick movements, and the esoteric community received a
greater popularization of Tarot cards.
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The end of XIX century and the beginning of the XX century is


also a witness to the revival of norse runes because of the works
of Guido Von List. Von List also created his own system of
magick, based on Futhark alphabet created by himself. He
named it Armenian Futhark. Based on Von List's ideology, the
occultists lead to the revival of runes, unfortunately merging it
with ideology that evolved into Nazi occult ideology. The
creation of the Thule society and the use of runes in dark Nazi
practices lead to turning away from the runes once more in the
coming years. Later on, runes revival will take place, but the
runes will be consireded to be a simple tool of divination.
Somewhere in Japan, between 1900 and 1920, a unknown
Buddhist lay monk named Usui Mikao creates Reiki a method
of spiritual healing, which is going to become very popular in
the coming years.
The ideals of New Age, invented in the XIX century, were being
popularized by, among others, The Antrophosophic Society,
created by an ex-Theosophist, Rudolph Steiner, in 1913.
The Theosophical Society evolved as well. One of the leaders of
the Society, after the death of Helena Blavatsky, C. W.
Leadbeater created, in 1916 in London, the Liberal Catholic
Church. It's worth to mention that both Theosophy, the
Antrophosophic Society and Arcane School, belief in the
concept of new coming of Christ, the messiah (this explains the
Krishnamurti). One way or another, they are related to Christian
religion, even if they popularized the ideas of Hindu faith and
Buddhism.
In 1917, Elsie Wright and Frances Gfiffiths took photos of small
beings called Fairies, in the town of Cottingley. The photos were
studied by many parapsychology experts of the time, but only
after many years it became apparent that the photos were faked.
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As it turned out, the illustrations of the fairies were cut out from
a small book for children. This is known as The Faires of
Cottingley (or Cottingley Fairies). This is the time when first
scientific societies for parapsychology researched became
popular. This event also influeced the interest in local folklore
from the spiritual and magical point of view, but also influenced
the interest in nature spirits.
A popular researcher among spiritual movement, Carl Gustav
Jung, wrote about the coming of New Age, but it was the exTheosophist, Alice Bailey, who first used the term New Age in
the context of the coming Age of Aquarius. She meant the
introduction of the astrological era, and the described it in her
book, Discipleship in the New Age, published in 1955.
Now, thanks to the invention of a paperback cover, more
books are going to be published.
In 1921, Alfred Watkins defines the idea of Ley Lines, but it
went without notice until 1936. That time, a famous ex-member
of the Order of the Golden Dawn, Dion Fortune, published her
novel, The Goat Foot God in which she suggests that Ley
Lines are esoteric pathways passing through the country (she
meant Great Britain), connecting sacred places. This theory
expanded to the whole world, suggesting the existance of the
global spiritual net, connecting world's places of power togheter.
It's possible that because of Watkins and Fortune, new trends of
New Age were created, inspiring people to study the places of
power and old places of religious cult. Personally, I would
suggest that althought Watkins and Fortune ignited the interest
in places of power and the concept of global spiritual net, this
way of thinking became truly popular only later, thanks to the
revival of pagan beliefs, in its reconstructional and neo-pagan
ways.

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In 1928, a popular novel is published, The Call of Cthulhu,


authored by H. P. Lovecraft. It's one of his most popular novels.
Lovecraft inspired many other authors and readers, igniting
greater interest in the occult arts among normal folks, and his
concepts today known as the Cthulhu Mythos may have
influenced the interest in alternative histories and the popular,
among New Age followers, trend of believing in ancient
astronauts, which later on became very popular thanks to the
works of Erich von Daniken.
In 1930 a man named Guy Warren Ballard appears on stage.
After his mystical experiences on already-mentioned Mount
Shasta, where Ballard supposedly experienced a vision of Saint
Germain, Ballard created the Saint Germain Foundation. Ballard
was an ex-member of the Theosophical Society who researched
further into the concept of Ascended Masters. On the highest
place of this new panteon, Ballard placed the controversial Saint
Germain.
In 1936, Dr Robert D. Stelle popularzied the idea of lost
civilization by creating the Lemurian Fellowship organization.
At the same year, George Adamski publishes his book, the
Wisdom of the Masters of the Far East igniting a great
interest in the Far East knowledge. In 1945, Ray Palmer
publishes his book, I Remember Lemuria, which was
inspired by Palmer receiving a secret language of the Atlantis
from Richard Shaver.
One year later, George Adamski supposedly observed a strange
object in the sky in a shape of the cigar. Similar objects were
visible in the XIX and early XX century as well, but only one
year later, in 1938, Kenneth Arnold, being on a plane, officially
sees the very first UFO. From this, a ufological movement
evolved, by many researchers considered to be an integral part
of New Age movement.
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In the 1940s, Gerald Gardner, along with his wife, founds the
Bricket Wood Coven. They begin to spread the practice of
Wicca. In the coming years, Wicca craft will become very
popular, and it will be one of the major factors for the pagan
revival in the second half of the XX century. Yoga is once again
popularized, this time in the United States, but later on, it will be
prosecuted.
The year 1949 is also very important for New Age movement.
This is the first year when the magazine Fate is being
published. The very first issue created by Ray Palmer became
very popular, and the magazine itself is being published for this
day. At the same time, George Adamski publishes his short story
about a journey through space, The Pioneers of Space, which
helped him create another work, Inside the Space Ships,
evolving the ideas of alien civilization within New Age
concepts.

The Second Half of the XX century

n the 1950, dr William Sadler creates the Urantia Foundation


based on the teachings channeled by Sadler's patients. This
organization published a quite huge book, The Urantia Book.
Two years later, George Van Tassel begins to channel beings
from Ashtaru. In the 50s, the entire modern channeling
movement grows in size and popularity, but it won't be until
many years later when the channelings of Seth ignite the
channeling trend for good.
The concept of channeling suggests using psychic abilities to
contact with non-physical spiritual beings in order to learn from
them. This practice is somehow controversial a lot of spiritual
practitioners warns that you never know who's on the other side
and what are the true intentions of the channeled entity.
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In the 1950, the very first teachings of Hawayo Takata began to


spread, slowly. She teach the method of Reiki, created 50 years
earlier by Mikao Usui. This method will become the most
popular method of energetic healing in the coming 60 years.
In the 1953 George Adamski continues his work to popularize
the idea of alien civilization afer meeting an alien from Venus in
California. Along with desmond Leslie, Adamski publishes his
work, Flying Saucers Have Landed.
In 1954, John C. Lilly builds his first Isolation Tank, which is
used to experiment with sensory deprivation. This device will
later on help in researching extra-sensory perception, which, in
result, will help research the altered states of consciousness. In
the same year, another organization is created, the Unarius
Academy of science, created by Ernest and Ruth Normans. In
1955, George King creates the Aetherius Society and King
beungs to channel alien beings. It's possible that because of
King's work, we now observe trends of alien and interplannetary
organizations with its quite physical spiritual masters and
teachers.
Now, the term New Age becomes stronger thanks to the
already-mentioned book by Alice Bailey, Discipleship in the
New Age, volume II, and within many small books and
leaflets, the term of Indigo children appears for the first time.
In 1957, Tony Neate and Murry Hope creates the Atlanteans
Society. The same year witnes the creation of the orgnization of
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The orgnization's name is Regeneration
Movement Foundation and it's core product is the
Transcendental Meditation. This form of meditation becomes
popular thanks to The Beatles, who used to study from the
person of Maharishi.

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The 60s
The cultural revolution gives the opportunity to New Age to
become far more organized movement, not just a fade concept.
In the 60s, the Esalen Institute in California is created by
Michael Murphy and Richard Price (1962). Also, The Findhorn
Foundation is set up in 1962 in Findhorn, Scotland. In Findhor,
for this day there is an ecovillage that is considered to be a
British center of the New Age movement, to say the least. At the
same year, the Churge of All Worlds is created.
What's interesting, it's quite possible that it was Findhorn where
the colors were assigned to chakras. The chakras concept in
New Age originates in Hindu tantric tradition of the Shakti cult.
This idea was passed to the West by the Theosophical Society.
Originally, it was deities, not colors, to be assigned to each of
the chakras so that the Shakti followers could easily recognize
the meaning of the chakra. The colors were supposedly assigned
in the West right in the middle of Findhorn New Age
community. Still, it's just a theory.
At last, in 1963 a book is published that is considered to be the
true beginning for the trend of channeled books: Seth
Material authored by Jane Roberts. At the same time, thanks to
The Dawn of Magick by Lous Pauwels and Jacquese Bergier,
a new concept is introduced: that the life on Earth is a result of
an alient intervention. In the future, Erich von Daniken will
explore this idea further.
In 1966, thanks to works of Gavin Arthur, the term The Age of
Aquarius receives its modern, as we understand it, meaning. At
the same year, Jean Houston and Robert E. L. Masters publish
the results of experimenting with LSD which ignited further

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interest in the altered states of consciousness.


In 1967, Knud Weiking gains contact with a Master who
introduces himself as Orthon.2 Few years earlier, another person,
Richard Grave, encountered the same Master, and even
earlier, the name Orthon was used by a being that contacted
George Adamski in California.
In 1968 another revolution begins that will influence the paths
of Shamanism, neo-shamanism and animist for years to come:
The Teachings of Don Juan by Carlos Castaneda are
published. Currently considered to be a collection of fake
stories, nevertheless, they have influenced the revival of primal
spirituality concept. At the same time, Erich von Daniken
publishes his first book, Chariots of Gods which hit the
general public with the concept of alternative history and ancient
astronauts for good.
In 1969, John Michael publishes his The View Over Atlantis,
strengthening the idea of Atlantis and alternative history. In the
60s, another big oranization is born, named ISKCON, created by
Swami Prabhupad. The orgnization, originating from United
States, is known today as Hare Krishna.
Growing number of neo-hindu groups results in greater interest
in Yoga practice again.
70s
In the 1970, a concept of breatharianism is born an ability to
feed on light or breath, and it's introduced by Wiley Brooks. In
the same year, Mark L. Prophet and Elizabeth Clare Prophet
create the Montesorri International, an educational orgnization.
2 Probably it was not the same Master who came in touch with Helena
Blavatsky.
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Mark L. Prophet dies three years later and from the moment on,
he is known as the Ascended Master Lanello.
In the 70s, a new magazine is being published, named New Age
Journal, which further on strengthens the term New Age.
Hundreds if not thousands of New Age bookstores is being
launched in the 70s in the USA. In the 1973, Claude Vorilhon
creates the organization known as The International Raelian
Movement, and a year later, New Age receives another term
describing a collection of ideas: Earth Mysteries, which collects
the mysteries of Earth. This term has been introduced by an
unknown author in a book Whole Earth Catalogue, referring
the term to the energetic system of Earth, similar to that of a
human system of Nadi and Chakras.
In the 1975 another spiritual school of techniques is introduced:
The Course in Miracles in the book under the same title. It is
authored by Helen Shucman and William Thetford. In the future,
more spirtitual and inner growth techniques will be developed
based on the Course in Miracles.
The late 70s witness yet another new trend that will evolve
further from the moment on. Starhawk publishes her The
Spiral Dance, which will influence the feminist movement and
the concept of the awakening of female energy as an integral
part of both material and spiritual realm. Also in the 70s, the
works of Ralph Blume, especially The Book of Runes,
become a source of revival for norse runes, which are
considered for time being as a method of divination. Later on,
runes will be returned to the growing Asatru and Heaten pagan
movements.
The 80s
In the 80s, another major book is published: Out on a Limb,
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an auto-biography by Shirley MacLaine, in which the author


explains her mystical experiences. Based on this, a TV show
will be later creaeted, that will popularize the New Age themes
further. In the 1980, The Aquarius Conspiracy is published,
authored by Marilyn Ferguson. This book will strengthen the
concept of the coming Aquarius Age.
In the meantime, the Findhorn Foundation officially begins
creation of the ecovillage in Scotland. At the same year, a book
Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman hits the
bookstore. This work will ignite the interest in the ideals of the
Far East, and it will inspire people for generations to come.
In 1980, Hawayo Takata passed away, and the worldwide
journey of Reiki begins. The Reiki movement will ignite the
interest of people and medical community in alternative
therapies along with holsitic health evangelists and chinese
medicine practitioners.
In 1982, Nancy Ann Tappe publishes another influential book:
Understanding Your Life Through Color, which is the first
book ever that identifies some behavior of kids with the term
Indigo kids - this book, through the works of other authors,
Doreen Virtue for one, will push the concept of Indigo origin
into the minds of many New Age readers.
In the 80s, we first encounter the name of Deepak Chopra who
joins the Transcendental Meditation movement. He will become
a popular author of New Age books in the future.
In the 1987 we see the first global meditation, organized by Jose
Arguelles, a man responsible for the 2012 scare to some degree.
This meditation was supposedly be a celebration for the
alignment of the planets, an event which cannot be confirmed by
astronomical sources. Jose Arguelles is an author of the Mayan
Factor, a book that introduces the concept of the end of
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civilization in 2012. In some way, the 2012 boom inspires the


mass media to use the term New Age even further to desribe a
community of people interested in meditation, alternative
therapies and psychic powers.
In the 1988, Barbara Marcinak begins to channel information
from the Pleiadians.
The 80s is the time when the number of New Age books and
magazines grows and grows. j. Z. Knight creates a movement
around a channeled being called Ramtha which will inspire
people through a future movie, What the Bleep do We Know?
Once again, Yoga is growing in popularity. The practice of Yoga
experienced times of growth and times of prosecution in the past
100 years, but since the 80s, we observe that the interest in
Yoga, no longer strongly lined to New Age practices, is growing
and growing for this day.
The years 1950-1980 is the golden age of New Age movement.
It's the true beginning and, perhaps, the true end. Many new
organizations and concepts were born in these years, showing
that the people do need spirituality materialism is not enough.
The second half of the XX century sees the struggle to reborn
the ideas of spiritual growth among people. For many, the years
1950-1980 are somehow romantic. The next years are merely a
strengthening commercialization of spirituality within the New
age movement.
The 90s
In 1991, David Icke publishes his book, The Truth
Vibrations. This man will later on influence the conspiration
movement. In the same year, Lee Carrol and Jan Tober influence
the concept of Indigo children further by creating Kryon Light
Groups.
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In the 1993, James Redfield self-publishes his book, The


Celestine Prophecy, another popular work that will inspire
countless people to seek their spiritual truths.
In the 1995, Deepak Chopra founds his The Chopra Center for
Well Being in California. In the 1995, Neale Donald Walsch
publishes his Conversations with God - a book that will
change the life of countless people.
The year 1997 sees a great success for Findhorn Foundation and
its ecovillage in the recent years, the village introduced many
new ideas that mixed economy with spirituality together. The
orgnization is recognized by United Nations. Findhorn' works
will influnece the growing New Society movement.3
The spiritual healing method of Reiki is recognized as a useful
and working energetic healing practice because it's introduced,
with great success, in hospital and medital facilities of different
sort. Research on energetic medicine advance further.
In the 1999, Carol and Tober publish their book, The Indigo
Children: The New Kids Have Arrived, which will influence
the concept of Indigo kids further.
The 90s is the time when the number of psychic mediums able
to contact with the spirits, and Tarot card readers grows up
expedientally. First TV shows with live psychic readings and
ghost hunting goes live.
The 90s is also the time when the expansion of the Internet
rushes the spiritual business further. The amount of websites and
on-line New Age business booms.
3 The New Society Movement it is a simple term to describe the
growing number of people interested in sociological and economical
changes in the world. This movement explores the ideas of eco-buildings,
permaculture, co-operatives, ecology and more.
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The XXI Century, So Far

he public is inspired by a movie What The Bleep Do We


Know created by the channeled movement of Ramtha. But
even more people are inspired in 2004 when a movie, based on a
book, Peaceful Warrior, hits the theaters. The first 10 years
of the XXI century sees how the old New Age spiritual ideas
slowly fade, and the new paths grow up. These new paths of
spirituality sees not a Western mixture of Easter practices, but a
serious growing interest in Easter practices. With growing
number of Easter teachers of Yoga, Taoism, Buddhism and
more, it's finally possible to learn from the source, and not from
the Western evolutionary forms of Easter spirituality.
The XXI century observes the growing popularity of TV shows
focusing on paranormal subjects with mediums and clairvoyants
and ghosts hunters.
The year 2007 sees the premiere of another breakthrough a
movie The Secret is released. Countless people become
interested in the Law of Attraction and manifestation. Although
a very simplified version of spiritual truths, this movie, and the
following book, will influence many people to change the world
for better.

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Summary

etween 1995-2010, we see as the New Age is slowly


beginning to evolve into two primary movements: the
commercialized spirtiuality of New Age with little spiritual
worth, and the New Society movement, which utilizes spiritual
teachings and practices to popularize new economic ideas, ecobuilding techniques and theories to truly change the world for
better. In a way, the modern New Society movement wouldn't be
possible without the influence of New Age ideas in the last 200
years. At the same time as old New Age paths were being
commercialized more and more, an interest in anthropological
research, animism, primal religions and more serious Eastern
traditions evolved, as well, inspiring people for noncommercialized spiritual pursuits, which for this day influence
the way our consciousness and awareness both expand into the
different areas of our life.
The spiritual programs for creating global peace through
introduction of Hindu concepts were replaced by social and
economical programs. The practices of meditation and
popularization of Buddhism inspired the global ecological
movement. Whether the ideas of Indigo kids or Ascended
Masters are good or bad from the spiritual point of view,
whether Reiki is a worthy method of healing, and whether
Transcendental Meditation is controversial or not, there is no
doubt that the real change that we observe these days the
change in economy, society and ecology has been, more or
less, influenced by New Age thought.

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Some sources:
Beside controversial Wikipedia, multiple websites and all the
books mentioned in this work, I've used the following sources:
1. Greer, J.M., The New Encyclopedia of the Occult.
[Published by] Llewellyn Publications 2003.
2. Guiley, R.E., The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits.
[Published by] Facts On File 2007.
3. Guiley, R. E., The Encyclopedia of Witches, Witchcraft
& Wicca. [Published by] Facts On File 2008.
4. Whitworth, B., New Age Encyclopedia. A Mind, Body,
Spirit Reference Guide. [Published by] New Page Books,
Franklin Lakes 2003.
5. New Age Movement Timeline at:
http://www.shangrala.org/father/RELIGIONS/11NewAg
e/Timeline-6.html#top

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