WHAT IS THE NEW AGE ANYWAY?   "The New Age Movement, which emerged in the 1960s, is significantly younger than New Thought. The foundation of the New Age Movement's beliefs blends two different religious ideas--one which is chiefly Christian (apocalypticism) and one which is chiefly pagan (divination). It must be noted that divination is only the most prominent aspect of the New Age's tendency to borrow religious beliefs from an archaic religious view called cosmological or archaic religious naturalism. As a popular religious phenomenon, the real origin of the contemporary New Age Movement is more difficult to pinpoint. One can trace the origin to the work of Alice Bailey (1880-1949), and especially her texts Discipleship in the New Age and The Reappearance of the Christ, and even earlier to the theosophy of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831-1891) and Annie Besant (1847-1933), the Liberal Catholicism of Charles W. Leadbeater (1847-1934), and the spiritualism of Andrew Jackson Davis (1826-1910). Dell deChant--New Age Encyclopedia   Blavatsky does not ever use the phrase New Age in her key work The Secret Doctrine , but her early influence is not only cited by scholars like deChant but antagonists like Peter Washington in his controversial book Madame Blavatsky's Baboon.. The apocalypticism referred to by deChant is "the belief in an imminent end of the world or its radical transformation." A twelfth century visionary named Joachim of Fiore felt that man was entering a new age in which the Spirit of God was to dwell in the heart of every person. The church branded his followers as heretics and Fiore never lived to see the truth of his ideas, but many Catholics and Marian contacts today speak of the Second Pentacost and the coming era of peace in similar terms.   The cosmological naturalism cited refers to beliefs that all beings and elements of the cosmos have special meanings and are affiliated with powerful beings that rule the Earth and can communicate with people. Those who have passed on are able to speak directly to or through some people like prophets and channels who can also give predictions of things to come. Thus natural healing and channeling fit comfortably with such ideas.   The concept of reincarnation is often thought of as part and parcel of new age philosophy. Blavatsky felt it was possible, but rare in occurrance. Alice Bailey described reincarnation in terms we would expect from the many Eastern paths which New Agers are sympathetic with.   Some other New Age people's ideas  NewAge.com  AnOpenDoor   A historical perspective www.xs4all.nl Some not always Christian views  What Is The New Age Don Burgess New Age Movement  The New Age Movement