Element contents
The New Age Movement
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 February 2024
Summary
This Element introduces New Age religion. The New Age Movement is a loosely cohesive conglomerate of different spiritual currents with no common founder, leader, institution, dogma, or scripture. Because of its diversity, it may appear amorphous and incoherent at first sight. This Element emphasizes both the unity and diversity of the New Age. It approaches the phenomenon from three main perspectives: 1) the historical development of New Age religion, 2) ideas and practices associated with the New Age, and 3) the social organization of the New Age movement. It thus provides a wide-angle view that sketches out some of the main patterns that emerge from a mosaic of individual currents and actors associated with the New Age. It also highlights some of the differences within the movement by exploring some ideas and practices in depth.
- Type
- Element
- Information
- Online ISBN: 9781009058155Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication: 17 October 2024
References
Primary Sources
Bailey, A. (1934). A Treatise on White Magic: Or the Way of the Disciple. New York: Lucis.Google Scholar
Blavatsky, H. P. (1888). The Secret Doctrine: The Synthesis of Science. Religion, and Philosophy, 2, London: The Theosophical Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Capra, F. (1975). The Tao of Physics: An Explanation of the Parallels between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism. Boulder: Shambhala.Google Scholar
Chopra, D. (2021). Revelation & Awakening: You Are Divine Intelligence [Online]. www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JZpCVoSDrU [Accessed May 3, 2023].Google Scholar
Durek, S. (2019). Spirit Hacking: Shamanistic Keys to Reclaim Your Personal Power, Transform Yourself and Light Up the World. London: Yellow Kite.Google Scholar
Estés, C. P. (1992). Women Who Run with the Wolves: Contacting the Power of the Wild Woman. London: Rider.Google Scholar
Ferguson, M. (1980). The Aquarian Conspiracy: Personal and Social Transformation in the 1980s. Los Angeles: J. P. Tarcher.Google Scholar
Goldberg, P. (2009). When East Met West in Woodstock. LA Yoga [Online]. Available at: https://layoga.com/yoga-in-the-world/when-east-met-west-in-woodstock/ [Accessed May 31, 2023].Google Scholar
Harner, M. (1980). The Way of the Shaman: A Guide to Power and Healing. San Francisco: Harper.Google Scholar
Jackson, H., & Orage, A. (1907). The Future of the “New Age” The New Age, May 2, 1907, p. 9.Google Scholar
Knight, J. Z. (1987). Ramtha Intensive: Change the Days to Come. Eastsound, WA: Sovereignty.Google Scholar
Medical Medium. (2023). Welcome to Medical Medium [Online]. www.medicalmedium.com [Accessed April 30, 2023].Google Scholar
Osho, . (1984). From Ignorance to Innocence. Talk #11 [Online]. Zürich: OSHO International Foundation. www.osho.com/read/osho/vision/the-religions-their-fundamental-mistake [Accessed May 2, 2023].Google Scholar
Osho, . (1988). Hari Om Tat Sat: The Divine Sound: That Is the Truth. Talk #9 [Online]. Zürich: OSHO International Foundation. www.osho.com/read/osho/vision/god-versus-existence [Accessed May 2, 2023].Google Scholar
Ramala., (1986). The Wisdom of Ramala. Electronic edition. Saffron Walden, UK: The C. W. Daniel Company.Google Scholar
Ramala, . (2023). The Story of Ramala [Online]. www.ramalacentre.com/home_page01.htm [Accessed May 30, 2023].Google Scholar
Spangler, D. (1976). Revelation: The Birth of a New Age. San Fransisco: The Rainbow Bridge.Google Scholar
Spangler, D. (1993). The New Age: The Movement toward the Divine. In Ferguson, D. S. (ed.), New Age Spirituality: An Assessment. Louisville, KY: Westminister/John Knox Press.Google Scholar
Walsch, N. D. (2005). The Complete Conversations with God. Charlottesville: Hampton Roads.Google Scholar
Secondary Sources
Altglas, V. (2014). From Yoga to Kabbalah: Religious Exoticism and the Logics of Bricolage. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Altglas, V. (2018). Spirituality and Discipline: Not a Contradiction in Terms. In Altglas, V., & Wood, M. (eds.), Bringing Back the Social into the Sociology of Religion, 79–107. Boston: Brill.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arregi, J. I. (2021). Plastic Shamans, Intellectual Colonialism and Intellectual Appropriation in New Age Movements. The International Journal of Ecopsychology, 2–14.Google Scholar
Asprem, E. (2021). Rejected Knowledge Reconsidered: Some Methodological Notes on Esotericism and Marginality. In Asprem, E., & Strube, J. (eds.), New Approaches to the Study of Esotericism, 127–46. Leiden: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004446458_008.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Asprem, E. (2023). On the Social Organisation of Rejected Knowledge: Reassessing the Sociology of the Occult. In Rudbøg, T., & Hedenborg White, M. (eds.), Esotericism and Deviance, 21–57. Leiden: Brill.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Asprem, E., & Dyrendal, A. (2015). Conspirituality Reconsidered: How Surprising and How New Is the Confluence of Spirituality and Conspiracy Theory?. Journal of Contemporary Religion, 30, 367–82. https://doi.org/10.1080/13537903.2015.1081339.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aupers, S., & Houtman, D. (2006). Beyond the Spiritual Supermarket: The Social and Public Significance of New Age Spirituality. Journal of Contemporary Religion, 21, 201–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/13537900600655894.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bender, C. (2003). Heaven’s Kitchen: Living Religion at God’s Love We Deliver. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berger, H. A., & Ezzy, D. (2009). Mass Media and Religious Identity: A Case Study of Young Witches. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 48, 501–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bigliardi, S. (2023). New Religious Movements and Science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009104203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bourdieu, P. (1977). Outline of a Theory of Practice, 16. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowman, M. (1999). Healing in the Spiritual Marketplace: Consumers, Courses and Credentialism. Social Compass, 46, 181–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burt, A. R. (2023). Hare Krishna in the Twenty-First Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, C. (1972). The Cult, the Cultic Milieu and Secularization. A Sociological Yearbook of Religion in Britain, 5, 119–36.Google Scholar
Carrette, J., & King, R. (2005). Selling Spirituality: The Silent Takeover of Religion. Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
Castells, M. (1996). The Rise of the Network Society: Information Age, 1. Malden, MA: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Christakis, N., & Fowler, J. (2009). Connected: The Amazing Power of Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives. London: HarperPress.Google Scholar
Chryssides, G. (2007). Defining the New Age. In Kemp, D., & Lewis, J. R. (eds.), A Handbook of New Age. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Corrywright, D. (2003). Theoretical and Empirical Investigations into New Age Spiritualities. Oxford: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Corrywright, D. (2004). Network Spirituality: The Schumacher-Resurgence-Kumar Nexus. Journal of Contemporary Religion, 19, 311–27. https://doi.org/10.1080/1353790042000266336.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crockford, S. (2021). Ripples of the Universe: Spirituality in Sedona, Arizona. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davie, G. (1994). Religion in Britain since 1945: Believing without Belonging. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
De La Torre, R., Gutiérrez, M. C. D. R., & Juárez-Huet, N. E. (2016). New Age in Latin America: Popular Variations and Ethnic Appropriations. Leiden: Brill.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Michelis, E. (2004). A History of Modern Yoga: Patañjali and Western Esotericism. London: Continuum.Google Scholar
Doggett, P. (2007). There’s a Riot Going On: Revolutionaries, Rock Stars and the Rise and Fall of ‘60s Counter-Culture. Edinburgh: Canongate Books.Google Scholar
Faivre, A. (2010). Western Esotericism: A Concise History. Albany: State University of New York Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farrelly, P. J. (2017). Spiritual Revolutions: A History of New Age Religion in Taiwan. PhD thesis, Australian National University.Google Scholar
Frisk, L. (2007). Quantitative Studies of New Age: A Summary and Discussion. In Kemp, D., & Lewis, J. R. (eds.), Handbook of New Age. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Frøystad, K. (2011). Roping Outsiders In: Invoking Science in Contemporary Spiritual Movements in India. Nova Religio, 14, 77–98. https://doi.org/10.1525/nr.2011.14.4.77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilhus, I. S. (2013). “All Over the Place”: The Contribution of New Age to a Spatial Model of Religion. In Gilhus, I. S. & Sutcliffe, S. J. (eds.), New Age Spirituality: Rethinking Religion. Durham, UK: Acumen.Google Scholar
Gilhus, I. S., & Sutcliffe, S. J. (2013). Introduction. In Gilhus, I. S., & Sutcliffe, S. J. (eds.), New Age Spirituality: Rethinking Religion, 1–16. Durham, UK: Acumen.Google Scholar
Godwin, J. (1994). The Theosophical Enlightenment. Albany: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
Godwin, J. (2013). Blavatsky and the First Generation of Theosophy. In Hammer, O., & Rothstein, M. (eds.), Handbook of the Theosophical Current, 15–31. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Hammer, O. (2001). Claiming Knowledge: Strategies of Epistemology from Theosophy to the New Age. Leiden: Brill.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hammer, O. (2010). I Did It My Way? Individual Choice and Social Conformity in New Age Religion. In Aupers, S., & Houtman, D. (eds.), Religions of Modernity: Relocating the Sacred to the Self and the Digital, 49–67. Leiden: Brill.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hammer, O. (2013). Theosophical Elements in New Age Religion. In Hammer, O., & Rothstein, M. (eds.), Handbook of the Theosophical Current, 237–58. Leiden: Brill.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hammer, O. (2015). Late Modern Shamanism: Central Texts and Issues. In Kraft, S. E., Fonneland, T., & Lewis, J. R. (eds.), Nordic Neoshamanisms, 13–32. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Hammer, O., & Rothstein, M. (2013). Introduction. In Hammer, O., & Rothstein, M. (eds.), Handbook of the Theosophical Current, 1–11. Leiden: Brill.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hanegraaff, W. J. (1998). New Age Religion and Western Culture: Esotericism in the Mirror of Secular Thought. Albany: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
Hanegraaff, W. J. (2006a). Esotericism. In Hanegraaff, W. J. (ed.), Dictionary of Gnosis & Western Esotericism, 336–40. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Hanegraaff, W. J. (2006b). Jane Roberts. In Hanegraaff, W. J. (ed.), Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism, 997–9. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Hanegraaff, W. J. (2012). Esotericism and the Academy: Rejected Knowledge in Western Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heelas, P. (1996). The New Age Movement: The Celebration of the Self and the Sacralization of Modernity. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Heelas, P., & Woodhead, L. (2005). The Spiritual Revolution: Why Religion Is Giving Way to Spirituality. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Hjarvard, S. (2008). The Mediatization of Religion: A Theory of the Media as Agents of Religious Change. Northern Lights, 6, 9–26. https://doi.org/10.1386/nl.6.1.9_1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hjarvard, S. (2011). The Mediatisation of Religion: Theorising Religion, Media and Social Change. Culture and Religion, 12, 119–35. https://doi.org/10.1080/14755610.2011.579719.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hove, H. V. (1999). L’émergence d’un “marché spirituel”. Social Compass, 46, 161–72. https://doi.org/10.1177/003776899046002005.Google Scholar
Iskra, A. (2020). Chinese New Age Milieu and the Emergence of Homo Sentimentalis in the People’s Republic. China Information, 35, 89–108. https://doi.org/10.1177/0920203X20939238.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ivakhiv, A. J. (2001). Claiming Sacred Ground: Pilgrims and Politics at Glastonbury and Sedona. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Kalvig, A. (2011). Åndeleg helse: ein kulturanalytisk studie av menneske- og livssyn hos alternative terapeutar. PhD thesis, University of Bergen.Google Scholar
Klin-Oron, A. (2014). How I Learned to Channel: Epistemology, Phenomenology, and Practice in a New Age Course. American Ethnologist, 41, 635–47. https://doi.org/10.1111/amet.12102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knibbe, K. (2013). Obscuring the Role of Power and Gender in Contemporary Spiritualities. In Fedele, A., & Knibbe, K. (eds.), Gender and Power in Contemporary Spirituality: Ethnographic Approaches, 179–94. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Kraft, S. E. (1999). The Sex Problem: Political Aspects of Gender Discourse in the Theosophical Society 1875–1930. dr. art. thesis, University of Bergen.Google Scholar
Kraft, S. E. (2006). Kritiske perspektiver – etiske utfordringer ved samtidsstudier av religion. In Kraft, S. E., & Natvig, R. J. (eds.), Metode i religionsvitenskap, 260–75. Oslo: Pax forlag.Google Scholar
Lau, K. J. (2015). New Age Capitalism: Making Money East of Eden. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Lewis, J. R. (2007). Science and the New Age. In Kemp, D., & Lewis, J. R. (eds.) Handbook of New Age, 207–29. Leiden: Brill.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Løøv, M. (2016). Shoppers in the Spiritual Supermarket: A Quantitative Study of Visitors at Scandinavia’s Largest Alternative Fair. Journal of Contemporary Religion, 31, 67–84. https://doi.org/10.1080/13537903.2016.1109875.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Løøv, M. (2019). Networking Spirituality: A Study of VisionWorks and the Norwegian Alternative Movement. PhD Thesis, University of Bergen.Google Scholar
Løøv, M., & Melvær, K. (2014). Spirituell, religiøs eller åndelig? Om selvbetegnelser i det norske alternativmiljøet. Din – tidsskrift for religion og kultur, 16, 113–33.Google Scholar
Lundgren, L., Plank, K., & Egnell, H. (2023). Nya andliga praktiker i Svenska kyrkan – från exklusiva retreatmiljöer till kyrklig vardagspraktik. Svensk Teologisk Kvartalskrift, 99, 229–48. https://doi.org/10.51619/stk.v99i3.25383.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mehren, T. M., & Sky, J. (2007). Innledende Essay. In Mehren, T. M., & Sky, J. (eds.), New Age, ix-xxxix. Oslo: Bokklubben.Google Scholar
Melucci, A. (1989). Nomads of the Present: Social Movements and Individual Needs in Contemporary Society, Philadelphia: Temple University Press.Google Scholar
Meyer, B. (2013). Material Mediations and Religious Practices of Worlds-Making. In Lundby, K. (ed.), Religion across Media: From Early Antiquity to Late Modernity, 1–19. New York: Peter Lang. https://doi.org/10.3726/978-1-4539-1085-6.Google Scholar
Mickler, M. L. (2022). The Unification Church Movement. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009241465.Google Scholar
Mikaelsson, L. (2017). Church Religion and New Age: An Encounter between Rivals? In Gilhus, I. S., Kraft, S. E., & Lewis, J. R. (eds.), New Age in Norway, 19–43. Sheffield, UK: Equinox.Google Scholar
Morrisson, M. S. (2007). The Periodical Culture of the Occult Revival: Esoteric Wisdom, Modernity and Counter-Public Spheres. Journal of Modern Literature, 31, 1–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mulcock, J. (2001). Creativity and Politics in the Cultural Supermarket. Continuum, 15, 169–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Partridge, C. (2004). The Re-enchantment of the West: Alternative Spiritualities, Sacralization, Popular Culture and Occulture, 1st volume. London: T&T Clark.Google Scholar
Possamaï, A. (2002). Cultural Consumption of History and Popular Culture in Alternative Spiritualities. Journal of Consumer Culture, 2, 197–218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Possamaï, A. (2005). In Search of New Age Spiritualities. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315252490.Google Scholar
Puttick, E. (2005). The Rise of Mind-Body-Spirit Publishing: Reflecting or Creating Spiritual Trends? Journal of Alternative Spiritualities and New Age Studies, 1, 129–50.Google Scholar
Redden, G. (2005). The New Age: Towards a Market Model. Journal of Contemporary Religion, 20, 231–46. https://doi.org/10.1080/13537900500067851.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Redden, G. (2016). Revisiting the Spiritual Supermarket: Does the Commodification of Spirituality Necessarily Devalue It? Culture and Religion, 17, 231–49. https://doi.org/10.1080/14755610.2016.1183690.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sadovina, I. (2017). The New Age Paradox: Spiritual Consumerism and Traditional Authority at the Child of Nature Festival in Russia. Journal of Contemporary Religion, 32, 83–103. https://doi.org/10.1080/13537903.2016.1256653CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sawyer, D., & Humes, C. (2023). The Transcendental Meditation Movement. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009365482.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Senholt, J. C. (2013). Radical Politics and Political Esotericism: The Adaptation of Esoteric Discourse within the Radical Right. In Asprem, E., & Granholm, K. (eds.), Contemporary Esotericism. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315728650.Google Scholar
Singler, B. (2018). The Indigo Children: New Age Experimentation with Self and Science. Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
Stark, R., & Bainbridge, W. S. (1996). A Theory of Religion. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
Stausberg, M. (2013). What Is It All About? Some Reflections on Wouter Hanegraaff’s Esotericism and the Academy. Religion, 43, 219–30. https://doi.org/10.1080/0048721X.2013.767612.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strube, J. (2021). Towards the Study of Esotericism without the “Western”: Esotericism from the Perspective of a Global Religious History. In Asprem, E., & Strube, J. (eds.), New Approaches to the Study of Esotericism, 45–66. Leiden: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004446458_004.Google Scholar
Sutcliffe, S. J. (2003). Children of the New Age: A History of Spiritual Practices. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.Google Scholar
Sutcliffe, S. J. (2017). Seekership revisited: Explaining traffic in and out of new religions. In Gallagher, E. V. (ed.), Visioning New and Minority Religions: Projecting the Future, 33–46. Abingdon, UK: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315317908.Google Scholar
Taves, A., & Kinsella, M. (2013). Hiding in Plain Sight: The Organizational Forms of “Unorganized Religion.” In Gilhus, I. S., & Sutcliffe, S. J. (eds.), New Age Spirituality: Rethinking Religion, 84–98. Durham, UK: Acumen.Google Scholar
Tiryakian, E. A. (1972). Toward the Sociology of Esoteric Culture. American Journal of Sociology, 78, 491–512.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Truzzi, M. (1971). Definition and Dimensions of the Occult: Towards a Sociological Perspective. Popular Culture, 5, 635–46. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0022-3840.1971.0503_635.x.Google Scholar
Urban, H. B. (2000). The Cult of Ecstasy: Tantrism, the New Age, and the Spiritual Logic of Late Capitalism. History of Religions, 39, 269–304.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Uzzi, B., Amaral, L. a. N., & Reed-Tsochas, F. (2007). Small-World Networks and Management Science Research: A Review. European Management Review, 4, 77–91. https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.emr.1500078CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ward, C., & Voas, D. (2011). The Emergence of Conspirituality. Journal of Contemporary Religion, 26, 103–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/13537903.2011.539846.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Welch, C. (2002). Appropriating the Didjeridu and the Sweat Lodge: New Age Baddies and Indigenous Victims? Journal of Contemporary Religion, 17, 21–38. https://doi.org/10.1080/13537900120098147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wood, M. (2007). Possession, Power and the New Age: Ambiguities of Authority in Neoliberal Societies. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate.Google Scholar
York, M. (1995). The Emerging Network: A Sociology of the New Age and Neo-Pagan Movements. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
- 4
- Cited by