A Closer Look at the New Age Movement
Fra John Carlo Rosales, FFI

		The author, a deacon and theology student, writes us: "About a year ago, 
while I was in the waiting area of a subway station in Rome, I happened to get one of 
many pamphlets that were scattered around.  I was surprised by its contents.  It read 
something like this: "The New Age Movement...We use crystals...occult practices...'It 
seemed to say that one can try this 'New Age program as an alternative way to solve 
man's problems.

	"Some months ago I was able to watch a program by Mother Angelica.  The 
guest speaker was Constance Cumbey, a practising American lawyer.  The topic 
discussed was the New Age movement.  I was surprised by what Ms. Cumbey related 
because I didn't realize that the New Age movement involved transcendental 
meditation, reincarnation, the use of crystals, and other strange and occult ventures.  
Constance Cumbey has written a book entitled <The Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow>, 
published in 1983, which covers at length the New Age Movement, a movement which 
is rapidly spreading.  In West Germany alone there are about 500,000 adherents as well 
as countless sympathizers.[1]  I also learned that the roots of the New Age movement 
trace back to the Theosophical Society founded by Russian-born Helena Petrovna 
Blavatsky in 1875, in New York." 

	Special abbreviations used in this article are the following:
	CCC = <Catechism of the Catholic Church>, translation copyrighted 1994 by 
Geoffrey Chapman-	Libreria Editrice Vaticana.
	DS = H. Denzinger and A Schonmtzer, SJ, <Enchiridion Symbolorum Def. Et 
Decl...>, Barcelona, 	Herder: 1966.
	GS = Vatican II, <Gaudium et spes>, 7 Dec. 1965.
	LG = Vatican II, <Lumen gentium>, 21 Nov. 1964.

Origins and History

	Helena Petrovna Hahn Blavatsky, born to a distinguished family in the Ukraine, 
1831, was married to Gen. N.P. Blavatsky, but soon deserted him and left Russia.  
According to the memoirs of her cousin Count Whitte, she spent some time in Cairo 
and Tibet before arriving in New York in 1873.  Through a common interest in 
spiritualism, she became associated with Henry Steel Olcott, an American lawyer and 
newspaperman and student of spiritualism, in the formation of occult groups, 
culminating in the sixteen-member Theosophical Society.[2]  In 1877 she published "Isis 
Unveiled,"a collection of material from Eastern thought, serpent worship, witchcraft, 
alchemy, and 19th century science, which she ascribes to her Tibetan masters but which 
was often taken verbatim from fifty standard works on occult subjects in Olcott's 
library.  In 1878, the theosophist leaders went to India and settled in Adyaar near 
Madras and left William Q. Judge, an Irish-born American, in charge of the American 
section.[3]  In 1888, Mme. Blavatsky formed an esoteric section of the Theosophical 
Society in London for advanced study of the occult.  Eventually this movement spread 
among the English and Irish literary circles.  In Dublin, the Irish Theosophical Society 
was formed under the leadership of Charles Johnston.  Mme. Blavatsky died on May 8 
of 1891 in England and was succeeded by Anni Wood Besant who was born in London 
of Irish ancestry in 1847.[4]  A.W. Besant founded the Central Hindu College at 
Banaras, India, in 1898 and the Indian Home Rule League in 1916.  She also became 
president of the Indian National Congress held in 1917.  But before she became a 
member of the Theosophical Society, she wrote under the pen name of "<Ajax>", in 
England, in favour of free thought and birth control.[5]  Meanwhile, a controversy 
arose in the American section which led to a permanent division in 1894-95.  Other 
divisions within the movement led to the founding of the Temple of the People in 1899 
at Syracuse, NY, and to the formation of the Universal Brotherhood at Point Loma, 
California.  These divisions were not  due to differences in doctrine but rather to the 
question of the legitimate line of prophetic succession.[6] 

	While the divisions were going on in America, the Adyar and London groups 
became associated with the Old Catholic Church[7] by the ordination to its ranks of five 
theosophists, among whom was the former Anglican clergyman Charles W. 
Leadbeater, who played an important role in the formation of the Liberal Catholic 
Church.[8]  This Church blends theolsphical mysticism and Catholic Sacrementalism.  
In 1902, Rudolf Steiner became the secretary general of the German section.  However 
when A. W. Besant recognized a young Hindu named Krishnamurti as the Messiah, R. 
Steiner protested and separated from the Society along with 2400 German members 
and formed the Anthroposophical Society in 1913.[9]  There are other societies which 
were formed through the Theosophical Society embracing basically the same principles.  
Today, however it seems that the number of members in the Theosophical Society has 
greatly decreased; nevertheless, its spiritual ideological influence and new religious 
forms of thought are largely encountered in the New Age Movement.[10]

	The New Age Movement began with a member of the Theosophical Society 
named Alice A. Bailey.  She was an Englishwoman who emigrated to America and who 
lived from 1880 to 1949.  She laid the real foundations of the New Age Movement and 
is regarded as its high priestess.  As a spiritist medium she allegedly received messages 
from a so-called master of wisdom, the Tibetan Djwal Khul.  These messages, which 
she wrote under dictation from this demonic being were published in numerous 
books.[11]  Her secret teachings, which to this day are followed minutely in New Age 
circles, set forth "The Plan for the New World Order."[12] According to some secret 
instructions, the Movement was to keep out of the public eye until 1975.[13]

	In 1968 and before, it was known as a movement advocating the "Age of 
Aquarius."[14] This term is taken from astrology.  The astronomical shifting of the 
vernal equinox, which passes approximately every 2000 years  through a new 
constellation in the zodiac, is superstitiously believed by some astrologers to affect the 
fate of our planet Earth.  At the turn of the century the vernal equinox will pass from 
the constellating Pisces (the Fishes) to the constellation Aquarius.  Some reckon that this  
already took  place in 1962.  The fish, a sign representing faith in Christ, was often used 
by the Early Christians as a mark of identification.  Hence New Age members believe 
that the transition away from the zodiac sign of the Fishes means that the era of Christ 
is coming to an end.[15] 

What does the Theosophical Society teach?

	Having known that the New Age Movement was formed through the 
Theosophical Society founded by Mme. Blavatsky, it is important now to consider the 
Society's doctrine.  The word "Theosophy"comes from certain Greek words commonly 
translated as "divine wisdom." It is a system of thought which has appeared in different 
ages, taking different forms, and which has attempted to explain the nature of God, the 
universe, and man's  relation to them.  Among the Orientals it is conspicuous in the 
philosophical systems of China, India and Egypt.  It is seen in the works of the 
Gnostics, the Neo-Platonists, and the Cabalists, and in the speculations of Jakob Bohme 
(1575 - 1624), Friedrich Willhelm Joseph von Schelling, and Johannes Meister Eckharad 
(1260 - 1327), Pythagoras, Plato and Plotinus.  During the Middle Ages, traces of the 
teaching can be found in Masonry, and later in the Order of Rosicrucians,[16] and it has 
at all times comprised the esoteric side of the great man-made religions of the 
world.[17]

	In the modern sense, theosophy is a modern Gnostic movement which attempts 
a synthesis of religious, philosophical, and scientific insights drawn from many 
traditions, but primarily from Hindu philosophy and occult sciences.  We find 
Theosophist denying fundamental Christian concepts about the nature of God and the 
soul.  They teach that God is immanent in the world and that He is not wholly external 
to creation but a part of it - this is, in fact, pantheism.  The evolution of the soul  is a 
fundamental doctrine of the Society.  They believe that salvation comes from evolution 
and at the same time deny the need for vicarious atonement.  Evolution, in the 
theosophic sense, is a process of self-realization or manifestation carried on by the 
Cosmic Life by means of repeated incarnations.  Its alleged purpose is the perfecting of 
man and all creatures.  All matter contains consciousness, which is evolving not in a 
mechanical way, but as a result of a divine plan guided by intelligence.  It is conceived 
as a twofold movement.  The first, involving an ascent into spirit.  This is why the New 
Age movement refuses a rationalistic-mechanical conception of the world.  In 
summary, the four key doctrines that are generally accepted among Theosophical 
societies, not excluding the New Age Movement, are the divine origin of the soul in a 
pantheistic sense, evolution reincarnation, and karma.  The last doctrine comes from 
Hinduism, and claims that the spirit advances to its goal through a succession of 
earthly lives, and that the consequences of a man's actions in his present life are reaped 
by his successor on earth in a fresh incarnation.[18] 

The original goals of the Theosophical Society were to establish a library and to 
circulate information concerning secret laws of nature. Later these objectives were 
amplified, and as of 1967 are the following:

	1.  To form a nucleus of the universal brotherhood of humanity, without 
distinction of race, creed, 	sex, caste, or colour.
	2.  To encourage the study of comparative religion, philosophy and science.
	3.  To investigate the unexplained laws of nature and the powers latent in man.

	A motto of the Theosphical Society is "There is no religion higher  than Truth." 
Their international headquarters where their president resides is in Adyar, India.  It is 
established in more than 50 countries, and it has among its adherents members of 
almost all religious sects.  In America, they publish a monthly magazine called <The 
American Theosophist>, which is sent to all members and furnishes an exchange of 
ideas among the lodges.  Meanwhile, they sell a magazine called <Discovery>, 
published annually, for non-members.[19]

	Borrowing a system of doctrine from Theosophists, the New Age Movement has 
given it adaptations and further development.  They advocate a need for a new way of 
thinking which considers all things as interdependent, which accordingly need to be 
regarded holistically.  Every individual must feel a part of nature and the whole 
cosmos-a micro-cosmos in the macrocosms.  Thus rational thinking, which proceeds 
analytically and critically and which formed the basis of scientific method, is to give 
way to synthetical thinking and intuitive knowledge based on non-rational experience.  
The philosophy of  the New Age Movement aims at reconciling all opposites in such 
way  that science and occultism are placed on a par.  All ethical values collapse, good 
and evil no longer exist.  All is one.  This explains their move towards a synthesis of all 
religions.  New Agers  agree with Catholic Thomists in claiming that the ultimate goal 
of man is to find happiness.  Their main emphasis for the criterion of living is on 
personal satisfaction and temporal success.  Fear of apocalyptic events is therefore 
channelled into escapism to a utopian "world society where there are no tensions."[20]

The New Age Movement as a Religion

	The New Age movement has its own "holy scriptures,"prayers and mantras.  It 
also has its own spiritual centres, such as the Findhorn community in Scotland and the 
Esalen Institute in California.  Within the movement can be found priests and gurus, a 
proclaimed "Messiah,"prophets and people with allegedly extraordinary powers.  
Furthermore, the Movement proclaims that man is God and that man created God in 
his own image.  Indeed, true to their conviction that "all is one,"they consider man to be 
a part of the Godhead, i.e., the "cosmic consciousness"or the "Force".  All one needs to 
do is to discover and develop his yoga and other methods.  Ultimately, man is on his 
way to godhood.  It is even said that one may enter fully into the spirit of the God of 
Force.[21]

	Believing that God is a neutral force that can be manipulated either for good or 
evil, New Age occultists are greatly interested in learning the means by which they can 
achieve this.  Thus at the centre of this New Age spirituality is faith in man in the all-
pervasive energy or life force throughout the cosmos.[22]

	An essential part of the New Age Religion  is the use of certain psycho 
technologies.  They include the following  practices: meditation, yoga, Zen, hypnosis, 
transpersonal psychology,[23] and positive thinking.  The growing feminism has some 
links with New Age spirituality.  While feminist theology endeavours to represent the 
God of the Bible as being both masculine and feminine or even as an exclusively 
feminine godhead, the radical vanguard of the New Age feminist movement is  already 
demanding that the Christian faith be replaced by the myth of Gaia, "mother 
Earth,"whose cult is now being revived and practised.  What is common among many 
New Age groups is a counterfeit religious experience such as contact with demons 
through drugs, meditation, psycho technologies, and other ventures.  They also believe 
in UFO's and extra-terrestrial beings, from which they reputedly also receive messages.  
The symbols used by the Movement are notable.  For example, the occult Indo-
Germanic sign of good luck adopted by Adolf Hitler.  The biblical number 666 (Apoc. 
13.18) which according to Alice Bailey, possesses sacred qualities and which according 
to New Age teaching should be used frequently in order to accelerate the progress of 
civilization and the coming of the New Age.  One of its most widely used signs is the 
rainbow, which is meant to symbolize the bridge between man and the Great Universal 
Mind, in the final analysis, Lucifer.  Indeed, it is remarkable how frequent the sign of 
the rainbow has become lately.  You can find it, for instance, on promotional gifts, 
stationeries, clothing and toys.[24] 

A few other facts about the movement

	While undertaking this study of the New Age movement, I was able to find a 
volume of their authentic propaganda, totally New Age.  One article, by Marilyn 
Ferguson, states that a Gallup poll released in February, 1978, reported that 10 million 
Americans were engaged in some aspect of Eastern religion, 9 million in spiritual 
healing.  Those involved in Eastern religions tended to be young adults, college 
educated, living on either of the two coasts, about equally men and women.  Catholic 
and Protestant, at least nominally.  The author tries to justify the need for a new 
religion that will satisfy man's hunger for peace and happiness on this earth, and 
proposes the New Age Religion as the way this would be accomplished.  She also cites 
western psychologists like William James, Carl Jung, Abraham Maslow, and Roberto 
Assogioli, as trying to understand transcendent needs and the irrepressible hunger for 
meaning which leads to an affirmation of the New Age Movement.  Marilyn Ferguson 
also wrote other material which has contributed a lot to the awareness of New Age 
teaching among the general public.  "Lauding the promised land of the New Age and 
the joys of altered states of consciousness, it (her literature) propagates the New Age 
Plan throughout the world.[25]

	Another article in the volume speaks extensively of the New World Order, 
which seems to be a main concern of New Agers.  Five ethical principles are listed for 
the New World order.  They are:

	1.  The value of all human beings (despite New Agers'support for abortion).
	2.  The right of all human beings to satisfaction of their basic human needs, 
physical, psychological and metaphysical.
	3.   Equality of opportunity for self-development for all human beings.
	4.   Recognition that these principles and goals must be achieved within 
ecological tolerance of lands, seas, air, forests and the total carrying capacity of the 
biosphere.  (Hence their pacifism.) 
	5.   Recognition that all these principles apply with equal emphasis to future 
human generations and their biospheric life support system.  Thus they include a 
respect for all other life forms, and the Earth itself a respect which is often not the same 
as our Christian respect.  

Intermediate goals of the Movement

	Although the New Age Movement's ultimate goal is world domination, there are 
numerous intermediate goals of a political, social, and economic nature.  These include 
the following:
	- a universal credit card system;
	- a world food authority which would control the world's food supply;
	-a a universal tax;
	-a a universal draft, in spite of the Movement's pacifist ideas.  After the 
Movement presented itself to the public in 1975, further details came forth:
	-the establishment of a world economic system;
	- the replacement of private ownership of credit, transport and staple production 
with ownership by a world directorate;
	- the recognition of biological controls on a worldwide basis of population and 
disease;
	- a minimum standard of freedom and welfare throughout the world;
	- a duty of subordinating personal life to that of a world directorate.
	Professing peace and love, the Movement has succeeded in blinding many of its 
adherents to its real goals and deceiving them in supporting the following:
	-Aryanisim, i.e., the domination of the Western races; as with Hitler, this is 
linked with anti-Semitism;
	- mass planetary initiation, also called "Luciferic initiation,"i.e., an act of 
consecration to Lucifer.
	- cleansing action, i.e., the extermination of all those who disagree with the 
Movement's goals;
	- abortion and artificial insemination;
	- forced limitation of family size;
	- genetic control;
	- death control, whereby a cult is made of death, which is regarded  as a 
euphoric experience and the transition to continuously new life cycles.[26]

An assessment and critique

	The New Age Movement has already done much toward corrupting morality, in 
our Christian sense, by creating its own values incompatible with Catholic Christianity.  
At the outset it is difficult for ordinary persons, or even professionals, to recognize the 
hidden agenda of this Movement because it is presented so nicely and so humanely and 
with so much concern for the environment that it appeals to common sense to partake 
in such a common concern.  But in all their plans, as listed above for the New World 
order, there is no due place for God.  It is all humanistic and ecological.  God for them 
is not here on earth where everyone will be satisfied and live always in peace.  On the 
other hand, such an idealistic view cannot be realized because we are created not to live 
forever on this earth, but to be with God forever in His Kingdom.  That is why the 
Church calls our sojourn here on earth a pilgrimage to the heavenly city.  (GS 57) This 
is not to mean, however, that we should neglect due care of God's creation; rather, this 
involves not a lesser, but rather a greater commitment to working with (GS 57).  But the 
Church, to which we are all called in Christ Jesus, will receive perfection only in the 
glory of heaven when together with the human race, the universe itself, which is so 
closely related to man and which attains its destiny through him, will be perfectly re-
established in Christ. (LG 48; CCC 1042).  Thus it is our duty to make this world a 
better world; but we should not lose the view of our ultimate end - God Himself. (Cf. 
CCC 27).

	Since the New Age Movement contains the errors of Theosophy, as we have 
seen, it shares the condemnation of Theosophy by the Holy Office.  This condemnation 
was confirmed by Pope Benedict XV on July 7, 1919.  It puts the question: Can the 
doctrines which today men call theosophical, be reconciled with Catholic doctrine, and 
hence is it lawful to enroll in theosophical societies, take part in their gatherings, read 
their books, periodicals, journals, writings?  And replies: Negative in omnibus (In the 
negative in everything).  (DS 3648;ASS 11 (1919), p. 317)[27]

	As we have seen above, the New Age Movement, together with Theosophical 
Societies, involve occult ventures.  The Church on her part rejects such practices.  The 
Catechism of the Catholic Church explicitly says that "...All forms of divination are to 
be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices 
falsely supposed to unveil the future...All practices of <magic> or <sorcery>, by which 
one attempts to tame occult powers, so as to place them at one's service and have a 
supernatural power over others - even if this were for the sake of restoring health - are 
gravely contrary to the virtue of religion.  These practices are even more to be 
condemned when accompanied by the intention on harming someone, or when they 
have recourse to the intervention of demons.  Wearing charms is also reprehensible.  
<Spiritism> often implies divination or magical practices; the Church for her part 
warns the faithful against it.  Recourse to the so-called traditional cures does not justify 
either the invocation of evil powers or the exploitation of another's credulity."(CCC 
2116-2117).

	Another problem that induces people to abandon their Catholic faith, or to 
become lax in it, and venture into the New Age program is the problem of suffering.  
This is a big problem indeed, but it is perhaps because they have lost the eschatological 
view of the Christian Faith.  Indeed, " the sufferings of this present time are not worth 
comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us." (Rom. 8:18; LG 48) On the other 
hand, Pope John Paul II treats the problem of suffering extensively in his encyclical 
<Salvifici Doloris>, on how suffering can be for our advantage and also for the 
advantage of others in the order of charity.

	Many things are involved in the New Age Movement which are not covered in 
this article.  However, I think that I have covered the essentials.  It should be clear that 
we should beware of its dangers to human society and to the individual, and at the 
same time see a need, when opportune, to warn others. 

Christian Order Magzine, Volume 37, Number .  
January, 1996 

ENDNOTES

1. Basilea Schlink, <New Age, from a Biblical Viewpoint>, Evangelical Sisters of Mary, 
Darmstadt. West Germany, p. 6. 

2. <Encyclopedia Brittanica,>, Vol. 18, p. 277. 

3. Ibid., p. 278. 

4. R.K. MacMaster, s.v. "Theosophy," in <The New Catholic Encyclopedia,> McGraw-
Hill Book Co., Washington D.C., 1967, pp. 74-75. 

5. Eugene T. Adams, s.v. "Besant, Annie Wood" (1847-1933), from <The World Book 
Encyclopedia,> Vol. 2, p. 212. 

6. R.K. MacMaster, s.v. "Theosophy," in <The New Catholic Encyclopedia.> 

7. A loosely associated group of schismatical, autonomous communities brought 
together in the Union of Utrecht in 1889, which dissented from the First Vatican 
Council. 

8. This Church has many similarities to the Roman Catholic Church with regard to 
doctrine and the sacraments: but it does not exclude Eastern beliefs such as 
reincarnation. 

9. Fulton J. Sheen, s.v. "Theosophy," in <The Catholic Encyclopedia Dictionary,> The 
Gilmary Society, N.Y., 1929, p. 947. 

10. <Nuouo Dizionano del Religione>, ed. Hans Waldesfels, San Paolo, Milano, 1993. 

11. Basilea Schlink, <New Age>, p. 8. 

12. This New World Order involves a New World Government and a New World 
Religion, with the main political objective of global control, and advocates the 
dissolution and/or destruction of individual nation states in the interest of peace and 
conservation, according to Constance E. Cumbey, <The Hidden Dangers of the 
Rainbow: The New Age Movement and Our Coming Age of Barbarism>, Huntington 
House, Inc., Shreveport, Louisiana, USA: 1983, p. 63. 

13. Ibid., p. 8. 

14. M. Fuss, s.v. "New Age," in <Nuouo Dizionario delle Religioni>, p. 642. 

15. Basilea Schlink, <New Age>, p. 13. 

16. In Latin: <Fraternitas rosa crucis>, or Brotherhood of the Red Cross. A sect of this 
name arose at the beginning of the 17th century, but traced its origin to the 16th century 
Johann Valentin Andrea (who used the pseudonym Christian Rosencrenz, meaning 
"rose cross"), who is said to have learned Arabian magic while travelling in the East. 
The sect engaged in occultism and mysticism. From the 19th century it has been 
considered by some to be a branch of Freemasonry. In recent decades there have been 
at least three groups of Rosecrucians headquartered in various cities in the United 
States. 

17. James S. Perkins, s.v. "Theosophy," in <The Encyclopedia Americana>, Americana 
Corp., N.Y., 1967. 

18. H. M. Kallen, s.v. "Theosophist," in <The World Book Encyclopedia>. 

19. James S. Perkins, s.v. "Theosophy," op. cit. 

20. Basilea Schlink, <New Age>, p. 11. 

21. E. Dowling, in the introduction to <The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus Christ> as quoted 
by B. Schlink, op. cit., p. 14. 

22. B. Schlink, <New Age>, p. 14. 

23. "Transpersonal psychology pertains to experiences reaching beyond the limits of the 
individual, that is, beyond the limits of the personality and personal consciousness. 
During which experiences the person sacrifices his or her independent personality and 
allows himself to be ruled and manipulated by the psychotechnician in order to regress 
into prior lives or submerge into other worlds." (B. Schlink, <New Age>, p. 31). 

24. B. Schlink, <New Age>, pp. 13 18. 

25. Basilea Schlink, <New Age>, p. 9. 

26. Basilea Schlink, <New Age>, pp. 11-12. 

27. Enrico Zoffoli, <Dizionario del Cristianesimo,> s.v. "Theosophy," Sinopsis Initiative 
Culturale, Roma, 1992, p. 524. 

Copyright (c) 1996 EWTN

-------------------------------------------------------------------

   Provided courtesy of:

        Eternal Word Television Network
        PO Box 3610
        Manassas, VA 22110
        Voice: 703-791-2576
        Fax: 703-791-4250
        Data: 703-791-4336
        FTP: EWTN.COM
        Telnet: EWTN.COM
        Email address: SYSOP@ EWTN.COM

   EWTN provides a Catholic online 
   information and service system.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

.