Editing New Age (section)

==History==

===Antecedents in occult and theosophy===
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| footer = Esoteric thinkers who influenced the New Age include [[Helena Blavatsky]] (left) and [[Carl Jung]] (right)
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According to scholar [[Nevill Drury]], the New Age has a "tangible history",{{sfn|Drury|2004|p=10}} although Hanegraaff expressed the view that most New Agers were "surprisingly ignorant about the actual historical roots of their beliefs".{{sfn|Hanegraaff|1996|p=323}} Similarly, Hammer thought that "source amnesia" was a "building block of a New Age worldview", with New Agers typically adopting ideas with no awareness of where those ideas originated.{{sfn|Hammer|2001|p=180}}

As a form of Western esotericism,{{sfn|York|1995|p=33}} the New Age has antecedents that stretch back to southern Europe in [[Late Antiquity]].{{sfn|Ellwood|1992|p=59}} Following the [[Age of Enlightenment]] in 18th-century Europe, new esoteric ideas developed in response to the development of scientific rationality. Scholars call this new esoteric trend ''[[occultism]]'', and this occultism was a key factor in the development of the worldview from which the New Age emerged.{{sfn|Hanegraaff|1996|pp=406–407}}

One of the earliest influences on the New Age was the Swedish 18th-century [[Christian mysticism|Christian mystic]] [[Emanuel Swedenborg]], who professed the ability to communicate with angels, demons, and spirits. Swedenborg's attempt to unite science and religion and his prediction of a coming era in particular have been cited as ways that he prefigured the New Age.{{sfnm|1a1=Alexander|1y=1992|1p=31|2a1=Hanegraaff|2y=1996|2pp=424–429|3a1=Kemp|3y=2004|3p=42}} Another early influence was the late 18th and early 19th century German physician and [[hypnotist]] [[Franz Mesmer]], who wrote about the existence of a force known as "[[animal magnetism]]" running through the human body.{{sfnm|1a1=Alexander|1y=1992|1p=31|2a1=Hanegraaff|2y=1996|2pp=430–435|3a1=Kemp|3y=2004|3p=41}} The establishment of [[Spiritualism (movement)|Spiritualism]], an occult religion influenced by both Swedenborgianism and Mesmerism, in the U.S. during the 1840s has also been identified as a precursor to the New Age, in particular through its rejection of established Christianity, representing itself as a scientific approach to religion, and its emphasis on channeling spirit entities.{{sfnm|1a1=Hanegraaff|1y=1996|1p=435|2a1=Pike|2y=2004|2p=24|3a1=Kemp|3y=2004|3p=37}}

{{Quote box|width=25em|align=left|quote=Most of the beliefs which characterise the New Age were already present by the end of the 19th century, even to such an extent that one may legitimately wonder whether the New Age brings anything new at all.|source=— Historian of religion [[Wouter Hanegraaff]], 1996.{{sfn|Hanegraaff|1996|pp=482–483}} }}

A further major influence on the New Age was the [[Theosophical Society]], an occult group co-founded by the Russian [[Helena Blavatsky]] in the late 19th century. In her books ''[[Isis Unveiled]]'' (1877) and ''[[The Secret Doctrine]]'' (1888), Blavatsky wrote that her Society was conveying the essence of all world religions, and it thus emphasized a focus on [[comparative religion]].{{sfnm|1a1=Alexander|1y=1992|1p=31|2a1=Hanegraaff|2y=1996|2pp=448–455|3a1=Pike|3y=2004|3p=24|4a1=Kemp|4y=2004|4p=39}} Serving as a partial bridge between Theosophical ideas and those of the New Age was the American esotericist [[Edgar Cayce]], who founded the [[Association for Research and Enlightenment]].{{sfnm|1a1=York|1y=1995|1p=60|2a1=Hammer|2y=2001|2p=66}} Another partial bridge was the Danish mystic [[Martinus Thomsen|Martinus]] who is popular in Scandinavia.<ref>Western Esotericism in Scandinavia, 2016, p. 216. Edited by Henrik Bogdan and Olav Hammer.</ref>

Another influence was [[New Thought]], which developed in late nineteenth-century [[New England]] as a Christian-oriented healing movement before spreading throughout the United States.{{sfnm|1a1=Alexander|1y=1992|1p=35|2a1=Hanegraaff|2y=1996|2pp=455–462|3a1=Kemp|3y=2004|3p=38}} Another influence was the psychologist [[Carl Jung]].{{sfnm|1a1=Heelas|1y=1996|1pp=46–47|2a1=Hammer|2y=2001|2pp=69–70}}
Drury also identified as an important influence upon the New Age the Indian [[Swami Vivekananda]], an adherent of the philosophy of [[Vedanta]] who first brought Hinduism to the West in the late 19th century.{{sfn|Drury|2004|pp=27–28}}

Hanegraaff believed that the New Age's direct antecedents could be found in the [[UFO religion]]s of the 1950s, which he termed a "proto-New Age movement".{{sfn|Hanegraaff|1996|pp=95–96}} Many of these new religious movements had strong apocalyptic beliefs regarding a coming new age, which they typically asserted would be brought about by contact with extraterrestrials.{{sfnm|1a1=Hanegraaff|1y=1996|1pp=95–96|2a1=Sutcliffe|2y=2003a|2p=72}} Examples of such groups included the [[Aetherius Society]], founded in the UK in 1955, and the Heralds of the New Age, established in New Zealand in 1956.{{sfn|Sutcliffe|2003a|pp=72, 74}}

=== 1960s ===
From a historical perspective, the New Age phenomenon is most associated with the [[counterculture of the 1960s]].{{sfnm|1a1=Hanegraaff|1y=1996|1p=11|2a1=Pike|2y=2004|2p=15}} According to author Andrew Grant Jackson, [[George Harrison]]'s adoption of [[Hindu philosophy]] and Indian instrumentation in his songs with [[the Beatles]] in the mid-1960s, together with the band's highly publicised study of [[Transcendental Meditation]], "truly kick-started" the Human Potential Movement that subsequently became New Age.<ref>{{cite book|first=Andrew Grant|last=Jackson|title=1965: The Most Revolutionary Year in Music|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-QI3BAAAQBAJ&pg=PR16|date=2015|publisher=Thomas Dunne Books|location=New York|isbn=978-1250059628|page=282}}</ref> Although not common throughout the counterculture, usage of the terms ''New Age'' and ''Age of Aquarius''—used in reference to a coming era—were found within it,{{sfn|Sutcliffe|2003a|pp=108–109}} for instance appearing on adverts for the [[Woodstock]] festival of 1969,{{sfn|Sutcliffe|2003a|p=109}} and in the lyrics of "[[Aquarius (song)|Aquarius]]", the opening song of the 1967 musical ''[[Hair (musical)|Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical]]''.{{sfnm|1a1=Hanegraaff|1y=1996|1p=10|2a1=Sutcliffe|2y=2003a|2p=109|3a1=Sutcliffe|3a2=Gilhus|3y=2013|3p=4}}
This decade also witnessed the emergence of a variety of new religious movements and newly established religions in the United States, creating a spiritual milieu from which the New Age drew upon; these included the [[San Francisco Zen Center]], Transcendental Meditation, [[Soka Gakkai]], the Inner Peace Movement, the [[Church of All Worlds]], and the [[Church of Satan]].{{sfn|Heelas|1996|pp=53–54}} Although there had been an established interest in Asian religious ideas in the U.S. from at least the eighteenth-century,{{sfn|Brown|1992|pp=88–89}} many of these new developments were variants of Hinduism, [[Buddhism]], and [[Sufism]], which had been imported to the West from Asia following the U.S. government's decision to rescind the [[Asian Exclusion Act]] in 1965.{{sfnm|1a1=Melton|1y=1992|1p=20|2a1=Heelas|2y=1996|2pp=54–55}} In 1962 the [[Esalen Institute]] was established in [[Big Sur]], [[California]].{{sfnm|1a1=Alexander|1y=1992|1pp=36–37|2a1=York|2y=1995|2p=35|3a1=Hanegraaff|3y=1996|3pp=38–39|4a1=Heelas|4y=1996|4p=51}} Esalen and similar personal growth centers had developed links to [[humanistic psychology]], and from this, the [[human potential movement]] emerged and strongly influenced the New Age.{{sfnm|1a1=Alexander|1y=1992|1pp=36, 41–43|2a1=York|2y=1995|2p=8|3a1=Heelas|3y=1996|3p=53}}

In Britain, a number of small religious groups that came to be identified as the "light" movement had begun declaring the existence of a coming new age, influenced strongly by the Theosophical ideas of Blavatsky and Bailey.{{sfn|Melton|1992|p=20}} The most prominent of these groups was the [[Findhorn Foundation]], which founded the Findhorn Ecovillage in the Scottish area of [[Findhorn]], [[Moray]] in 1962.{{sfnm|1a1=Melton|1y=1992|1p=20|2a1=York|2y=1995|2p=35|3a1=Hanegraaff|3y=1996|3pp=38–39|4a1=Heelas|4y=1996|4p=51|5a1=Chryssides|5y=2007|5p=8}} Although its founders were from an older generation, Findhorn attracted increasing numbers of countercultural baby boomers during the 1960s, to the extent that its population had grown sixfold to c. 120 residents by 1972.{{sfn|Sutcliffe|2003a|p=118}} In October 1965, the co-founder of Findhorn Foundation, [[Peter Caddy]], a former member of the occult [[Rosicrucian Order Crotona Fellowship]], attended a meeting of various figures within Britain's esoteric milieu; advertised as "The Significance of the Group in the New Age", it was held at [[Attingham Park]] over the course of a weekend.{{sfn|Sutcliffe|2003a|pp=83–84}}

All of these groups created the backdrop from which the New Age movement emerged. As James R. Lewis and [[J. Gordon Melton]] point out, the New Age phenomenon represents "a synthesis of many different preexisting movements and strands of thought".{{sfn|Lewis|Melton|1992|p=xi}} Nevertheless, York asserted that while the New Age bore many similarities with both earlier forms of Western esotericism and Asian religion, it remained "distinct from its predecessors in its own self-consciousness as a new way of thinking".{{sfn|York|1995|p=1}}

===Emergence and development: c. 1970–2000===
[[File:Barrel House.jpg|thumb|right|alt=Wooden barrel house in forest with surrounding footpaths|This barrel house was the first dwelling constructed at the [[Findhorn Ecovillage]]]]

{{Quote box|width=25em|align=right|quote=The late 1950s saw the first stirrings within the cultic milieu of a belief in a coming new age. A variety of small movements arose, revolving around revealed messages from beings in space and presenting a synthesis of post-Theosophical and other esoteric doctrines. These movements might have remained marginal, had it not been for the explosion of the counterculture in the 1960s and early 1970s. Various historical threads ... began to converge: nineteenth century doctrinal elements such as Theosophy and post-Theosophical esotericism as well as harmonious or positive thinking were now eclectically combined with ... religious psychologies: transpersonal psychology, Jungianism and a variety of Eastern teachings. It became perfectly feasible for the same individuals to consult the I Ching, practice Jungian astrology, read Abraham Maslow's writings on peak experiences, etc. The reason for the ready incorporation of such disparate sources was a similar goal of exploring an individualized and largely non-Christian religiosity.|source=— Scholar of esotericism Olav Hammer, 2001.{{sfn|Hammer|2001|p=73}} }}

By the early 1970s, use of the term ''New Age'' was increasingly common within the cultic milieu.{{sfn|Hammer|2001|p=73}} This was because—according to Sutcliffe—the "emblem" of the "New Age" had been passed from the "subcultural pioneers" in groups like Findhorn to the wider array of "countercultural baby boomers" between {{Circa|1967}} and 1974. He noted that as this happened, the meaning of the term ''New Age'' changed; whereas it had once referred specifically to a coming era, at this point it came to be used in a wider sense to refer to a variety of spiritual activities and practices.{{sfn|Sutcliffe|2003a|p=112}} In the latter part of the 1970s, the New Age expanded to cover a wide variety of alternative spiritual and religious beliefs and practices, not all of which explicitly held to the belief in the Age of Aquarius, but were nevertheless widely recognized as broadly similar in their search for "alternatives" to mainstream society.{{sfn|Hanegraaff|1996|p=97}} In doing so, the "New Age" became a banner under which to bring together the wider "cultic milieu" of American society.{{sfn|York|1995|p=33}}

The counterculture of the 1960s had rapidly declined by the start of the 1970s, in large part due to the collapse of the [[Intentional community|commune]] movement,{{sfn|Heelas|1996|p=54}} but it would be many former members of the counter-culture and [[hippie]] subculture who subsequently became early adherents of the New Age movement.{{sfn|Lewis|Melton|1992|p=xi}}
The exact origins of the New Age movement remain an issue of debate; Melton asserted that it emerged in the early 1970s,{{sfn|Melton|1992|p=18}} whereas Hanegraaff instead traced its emergence to the latter 1970s, adding that it then entered its full development in the 1980s.{{sfn|Hanegraaff|1996|p=12}} This early form of the movement was based largely in Britain and exhibited a strong influence from theosophy and [[Anthroposophy]].{{sfn|Hanegraaff|1996|p=97}} Hanegraaff termed this early core of the movement the ''New Age sensu stricto'', or "New Age in the strict sense".{{sfnm|1a1=Hanegraaff|1y=1996|1p=97|2a1=Sutcliffe|2a2=Gilhus|2y=2013|2p=4}}

Hanegraaff terms the broader development the ''New Age sensu lato'', or "New Age in the wider sense".{{sfnm|1a1=Hanegraaff|1y=1996|1p=97|2a1=Sutcliffe|2a2=Gilhus|2y=2013|2p=4}} Stores that came to be known as "New Age shops" opened up, selling related books, magazines, jewelry, and crystals, and they were typified by the playing of New Age music and the smell of incense.{{sfn|Sutcliffe|2003a|pp=126–127}}This probably influenced several thousand small metaphysical book- and gift-stores that increasingly defined themselves as "New Age bookstores",<ref>{{Citation|title=Fifty Years Among the New Words: A Dictionary of Neologisms, 1941–1991|first1=John|last1=Algeo|first2=Adele S.|last2=Algeo|year=1991|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=[https://archive.org/details/fiftyyearsamongn0000unse/page/234 234]|isbn=978-0521449717|url=https://archive.org/details/fiftyyearsamongn0000unse}}</ref>  while New Age titles came to be increasingly available from mainstream bookstores and then websites like [[Amazon.com]].{{sfn|Pike|2004|p=16}}

Not everyone who came to be associated with the New Age phenomenon openly embraced the term ''New Age'', although it was popularised in books like [[David Spangler]]'s 1977 work ''Revelation: The Birth of a New Age'' and [[Mark Satin]]'s 1979 book ''New Age Politics: Healing Self and Society''.{{sfn|Sutcliffe|2003a|p=124}} [[Marilyn Ferguson]]'s 1982 book ''[[The Aquarian Conspiracy]]'' has also been regarded as a landmark work in the development of the New Age, promoting the idea that a new era was emerging.{{sfn|Chryssides|2007|p=9}} Other terms that were employed synonymously with ''New Age'' in this milieu included "Green", "Holistic", "Alternative", and "Spiritual".{{sfn|Sutcliffe|2003a|p=128}}

1971 witnessed the foundation of [[Erhard Seminars Training|est]] by [[Werner H. Erhard]], a transformational training course that became a part of the early movement.{{sfn|Heelas|1996|pp=58–60}} Melton suggested that the 1970s witnessed the growth of a relationship between the New Age movement and the older New Thought movement, as evidenced by the widespread use of [[Helen Schucman]]'s ''[[A Course in Miracles]]'' (1975), New Age music, and crystal healing in New Thought churches.{{sfn|Melton|1992|pp=25–26}} Some figures in the New Thought movement were skeptical, challenging the compatibility of New Age and New Thought perspectives.{{sfn|Melton|1992|pp=26–27}} During these decades, Findhorn had become a site of [[pilgrimage]] for many New Agers, and greatly expanded in size as people joined the community, with workshops and conferences being held there that brought together New Age thinkers from across the world.{{sfn|Pike|2004|p=29}}

[[File:New Age Shrine Glastonbury - geograph.org.uk - 167848.jpg|thumb|alt=A new age shrine. |New Age shrine in [[Glastonbury]], England]]

Several key events occurred, which raised public awareness of the New Age subculture: publication of [[Linda Goodman]]'s best-selling astrology books ''Sun Signs'' (1968) and ''Love Signs'' (1978); the release of [[Shirley MacLaine]]'s book ''[[Out on a Limb (Shirley MacLaine book)|Out on a Limb]]'' (1983), later adapted into a television mini-series with the same name (1987); and the "[[Harmonic Convergence]]" [[Syzygy (astronomy)|planetary alignment]] on August 16 and 17, 1987,<ref>{{Harvnb |Hanegraaff|1996 | p=335}}</ref> organized by [[José Argüelles]] in [[Sedona, Arizona]]. The Convergence attracted more people to the movement than any other single event.{{sfn|Lewis|Melton|1992|p=ix}} Heelas suggested that the movement was influenced by the "enterprise culture" encouraged by the U.S. and U.K. governments during the 1980s onward, with its emphasis on initiative and self-reliance resonating with any New Age ideas.{{sfn|Heelas|1996|p=168}}

Channelers [[Jane Roberts]] ([[Seth Material]]), Helen Schucman (''[[A Course in Miracles]]''), [[J. Z. Knight]] ([[Ramtha]]), [[Neale Donald Walsch]] (''[[Conversations with God]]'') contributed to the movement's growth.<ref>{{Harvnb |Lewis|1992 | pp=22–23}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb |Drury|2004 | pp=133–134}}</ref> The first significant exponent of the New Age movement in the U.S. has been cited as [[Ram Dass]].{{sfnm|1a1=Kyle|1y=1995|1pp=66–67|2a1=York|2y=1995|2p=35}} Core works in the propagating of New Age ideas included Jane Roberts's Seth series, published from 1972 onward,{{sfn|Pike|2004|p=16}} Helen Schucman's 1975 publication ''A Course in Miracles'',{{sfnm|1a1=York|1y=1995|1pp=35–36|2a1=Pike|2y=2004|2p=16}} and [[James Redfield]]'s 1993 work ''[[The Celestine Prophecy]]''.{{sfnm|1a1=Sutcliffe|1y=2003a|1p=127|2a1=Pike|2y=2004|2p=16}} A number of these books became [[best seller]]s, such as the Seth book series which quickly sold over a million copies.{{sfn|Pike|2004|p=16}} Supplementing these books were videos, audiotapes, compact discs and websites.{{sfn|Pike|2004|p=17}} The development of the internet in particular further popularized New Age ideas and made them more widely accessible.{{sfn|Pike|2004|p=18}}

New Age ideas influenced the development of [[rave]] culture in the late 1980s and 1990s.{{sfn|Partridge|2004|p=168}} In Britain during the 1980s, the term ''[[New Age Travellers]]'' came into use,{{sfn|Sutcliffe|2003a|p=129}} although York characterised this term as "a misnomer created by the media".{{sfn|York|2001|p=370}} These New Age Travellers had little to do with the New Age as the term was used more widely,{{sfn|Chryssides|2007|p=8}} with scholar of religion Daren Kemp observing that "New Age spirituality is not an essential part of New Age Traveller culture, although there are similarities between the two worldviews".{{sfn|Kemp|2004|p=34}} The term ''New Age'' came to be used increasingly widely by the popular media in the 1990s.{{sfn|Sutcliffe|2003a|p=129}}

===Decline or transformation: 1990–present===
By the late 1980s, some publishers dropped the term ''New Age'' as a marketing device.{{sfn|Hess|1993|p=35}} In 1994, the scholar of religion [[Gordon J. Melton]] presented a conference paper in which he argued that, given that he knew of nobody describing their practices as "New Age" anymore, the New Age had died.{{sfn|Kemp|2004|p=178}} In 2001, Hammer observed that the term ''New Age'' had increasingly been rejected as either pejorative or meaningless by individuals within the Western cultic milieu.{{sfn|Hammer|2001|p=74}} He also noted that within this milieu it was not being replaced by any alternative and that as such a sense of collective identity was being lost.{{sfn|Hammer|2001|p=74}}

Other scholars disagreed with Melton's idea; in 2004 Daren Kemp stated that "New Age is still very much alive".{{sfn|Kemp|2004|p=179}} Hammer himself stated that "the New Age ''movement'' may be on the wane, but the wider New Age ''religiosity''... shows no sign of disappearing".{{sfn|Hammer|2001|p=75}} MacKian suggested that the New Age "movement" had been replaced by a wider "New Age sentiment" which had come to pervade "the socio-cultural landscape" of Western countries.{{sfn|MacKian|2012|p=7}} Its diffusion into the mainstream may have been influenced by the adoption of New Age concepts by high-profile figures: U.S. First Lady [[Nancy Reagan]] consulted an astrologer, British [[Diana, Princess of Wales|Princess Diana]] visited spirit mediums, and Norwegian Princess [[Princess Märtha Louise of Norway|Märtha Louise]] established a school devoted to communicating with angels.{{sfn|MacKian|2012|p=146}}
New Age shops continued to operate, although many have been remarketed as "Mind, Body, Spirit".{{sfn|Chryssides|2007|p=17}}

In 2015, the scholar of religion [[Hugh Urban]] argued that New Age spirituality is growing in the United States and can be expected to become more visible: "According to many recent surveys of religious affiliation, the 'spiritual but not religious' category is one of the fastest-growing trends in American culture, so the New Age attitude of spiritual individualism and eclecticism may well be an increasingly visible one in the decades to come".{{sfn|Urban|2015|p=11}}

Australian scholar Paul J. Farrelly, in his 2017 doctoral dissertation at [[Australian National University]], argued that, while the term New Age may become less popular in the West, it is actually booming in [[Taiwan]], where it is regarded as something comparatively new and is being exported from Taiwan to the Mainland [[China]], where it is more or less tolerated by the authorities.<ref>{{cite thesis |type=PhD |last=Farrelly |first=Paul J. |date=2017 |title=Spiritual Revolutions: A History of New Age Religion in Taiwan |publisher=Australian National University}}</ref>