New Age

New Age is an umbrella term used to describe an organization of diverse groups which share an enthusiasm for the creation of a new era (or "New Age") exemplified by harmony and enlightenment. Even though there are no clear boundaries within the New Age community, several common themes unify the movement. The first is that the arrival of the New Age will initiate a heightened spiritual consciousness accompanied by social and personal transformation demonstrated by the eradication of hunger, sickness, poverty, racism, sexism, and war. The second unifying theme is that individuals can get a foretaste of this enlightenment through personal spiritual transformation, healing, and growth. The New Age Movement grew in popularity during the 1970s and 1980s through the teachings of David Spangler and other metaphysical religious groups, but it has existed in various forms since the 2nd century CE. Beginning with Gnosticism, New Age ideas have continued through a variety of groups including Rosicrucianism, Freemasonary, and the teachings of Helena Blavatsky. New Age ideas have many different origins from a variety of places, but most of them can be traced to Eastern religious traditions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and other ancient religious traditions. New Age groups are often distinguished by their occult practices of psychic readings, Tarot cards, yoga, meditation strategies, and astrology. Many New Age groups also believe in various natural healing practices and traditional medicines including acupuncture, herbal therapy, natural foods, and spiritual healing. Even though there is no standard doctrine within the New Age Movement, many of their teachings focus on individual autonomy, relativism, and spiritualism.

Contributors : Jacob N. Kinnard, Kathleen A. Mulhern, Benjamin E. Zeller

Today's Age movement is the newest face of "metaphysical religion," which has been part of the American religious spectrum since the 17th century, focused on self-improvement and global spiritual change.

The New Age movement draws from a rich repository of alternative spiritual traditions in the western world ranging from metaphysics to mysticism, uniting these disparate influences under a common banner of self- and world-transformation.

Because the New Age movement is so disparate, it has no agreed-upon founders. Rather, numerous individuals served as leaders at various moments. Because the New Age spread through publications, many of its leaders are authors whose work has proven particularly influential.

The New Age lacks any central scriptures. New Age adherents instead form their own collection of sacred scriptures by drawing from a wide variety of possible texts within the New Age canon.

Scholars have had difficulty defining the New Age, though most agree it shares some common characteristics. New Agers share interests in healing, mental powers, and individual and social transformation.

During its first decades of existence, several specialized subcultures within the New Age movement began to separate, while other approaches spread throughout the movement.

The New Age is too amorphous to possess any central structures, but several subcultures within the movement have emerged as independent sects.

Ideas and practices popularized by the New Age have spread throughout western culture, though not without raising criticism from members of the traditions from which the New Age draws.

The New Age has spread throughout the world. Though American-produced materials remain the primary sources in global New Age movements, New Agers in many countries have also founded New Age religions.

During the early 21st century New Age ideas spread into broader culture, though few people self-identified as New Agers.

New Age sacred narratives generally focus on forms of progressive millennialism, the hope to see a new and better future for the individual and society.

New Agers generally believe in an impersonal deity that is present in all beings. Since each human being contains elements of god, New Age practitioners look to develop that divine spark and their awareness of it.

The New Age tends to envision human beings as possessing elements of the divine within themselves. Further, it looks to development of this divine nature as a hallmark of religious practice.

New Agers believe that the human mind creates it own reality, and that suffering and evil exist as illusions created by the mind. The law of karma determines how and when individuals experience suffering throughout their lives.

New Agers accept the concept of reincarnation and believe that future rebirths allow the individual human soul to slowly develop itself toward a higher spiritual state.

Practitioners in the New Age movement envision a dawning era of peace, harmony, and prosperity, sometimes called the Age of Aquarius. Some believe this era has already begun; others await its imminent arrival.

The New Age movement envisions a variety of sites in its sacred geography, including mythical lost continents, sacred places drawn from other world religions, and sites that have particular historical connections to the New Age movement.

New Age practitioners share no single ceremony, but most of their rites involve healing techniques, the manipulation of subtle energies, or the search for spiritual awareness.

New Age daily devotions include reading books and periodicals, creating a positive environment through crystals and aromas, and sometimes using elements drawn from other world religions, such as yoga, meditation, or prayer.

The New Age has appropriated most of its symbols from other world religions, with the Hindu OM and Taoist yin/yang most prevalent. Crystals and astronomical imagery also serve as central symbols in the New Age movement.

There is no firm boundary between New Age clergy and laity. Some New Age leaders understand themselves as providers of services, but others serve as spiritual teachers and guides, akin to the clergy of many other religions.

The New Age movement is too diffuse to have a single community organization. Periodicals serve as one of the few ways of uniting the movement, though different teachers and organizations also bring New Agers together.

Within the New Age, the concept of the law of karma drives practitioners' moral thoughts and actions. New Agers follow the ideals of love, holism, and self-development.

The New Age movement���s vision for society focuses on a dawning new age, which will be a future era of peace, harmony, and spiritual enlightenment.

As befitting a movement as diverse as the New Age, no single approach to gender and sexuality exists within the New Age. However, most New Agers embrace a concept of gender equality and the value of human sexuality.