New Age in Christianity

Ray Yunger in his very enlightening yet succinct book about the New Age entitled “For Many Shall Come in My Name” in one of its chapters explains how New Age is entering the mainstream religions. He says that “one of the main reasons many Christian pastors fail to take the New Age movement seriously is because they are not adept at effectively measuring its real strength. They are accustomed to assessing the prestige and influence of a spiritual movement by its number of churches, attendance records, or TV and radio programmes. Since they do not see New Age churches on every corner, they tend to discount any cause for alarm.”

However mantras and breathing techniques, identical to those of the New Age are entering Catholic and Protestant churches. For example centering prayers are flourishing in mainstream religions today. Being simply called as ‘ancient prayers’ they employ mantra (called the prayer word) that allows one to empty the mind by chanting Jesus. God, love rather than Krishna or om. Many are being taught that centering prayer is the most direct route to God. 

What is happening to mainstream denominations to be so open to meditative and holistic practices? They are trying to fill the void, the spiritual vacuum. Marcus Borg, professor and author of many widely read books (“The God we never knew”, “The heart of Christianity”) represents the mainstream for millions of people in liberal churches. But his spiritual platform is pure New Age as he makes it clear when he expounds: “The sacred is not “somewhere else” spatially distant from us. Rather, we live within God … God has always been in relationship to us, journeying with us, and yearning to be known by us.” (e.i. God is everything and each person is a receptacle of the Divine, which is accessed through meditation). 

What is happening to mainstream Christianity is the same thing that is happening to business, health, education, counselling and other areas of society? It ultimately leads point sot a global religion based on meditation and mystical experience.  New Age writer David Spangler explains it in the following way:

“There will be several religions and spiritual disciplines as there are today, each serving different sensibilities and affinities, each enriched by and enriching the particular cultural soil in which it is rooted. However, there will be a planetary spirituality that will celebrate the sacredness of the whole humanity in appropriate festivals, rituals, and sacraments. There will be a more widespread understanding and experience of the holistic nature of reality, resulting in a shared outlook that today would be called mystical. Mysticism has always overflowed the bounds of particular religious traditions, and in the new word this would be even truer.”

Episcopal priest and New Age leader Matthew Fox explains what he calls “deep ecumenism”:

“Without mysticism there will be no “deep ecumenism”, no unleashing of the power of wisdom from all the world’s religious traditions. Without this I am convinced there will never be global peace or justice since the human race needs spiritual depths and disciplines, celebrations and rituals, to awaken its better selves. The promise of ecumenism, the coming together of religions, has been thwarted because world religions have not been relating at the level of mysticism.” Fox believes that all world religions will eventually be bound together by the “Cosmic Christ” principle, which is another terms for higher self. 

New Age insider Marilyn Ferguson has written a book chronicling the movement's goals and activities. The title The Aquarian Conspiracy may suggest to a casual observer that New Agers are highly organized in their efforts to dominate culture and replace both secularism and traditional religion. But Ferguson and others would deny that the whole movement is being controlled by a few human leaders. In fact, a few New Age writers like Alice Bailey and Benjamin Creme refer to a hierarchy of spirit beings--not humans--who are coordinating all the activities on earth, and who will one day manifest themselves in bodily form to the world. 
Robert Muller, Former Assistant Secretary General to the UN, has been on a specific and premeditated course to unite the world's religions. In his 1982 book, New Genesis: Shaping a Global Spirituality, Muller did not hide his agenda. Muller is hopeful that his vision of one religion bringing "world peace," will be the next step in human evolution - it's what he calls "Paradise Earth" but this is a humanist, God-denying 'paradise,' with a 'religion' which allows people to tap into the 'spirituality within themselves' - since most of these people do not believe in a literal Satan, they have no idea what a warm invitation they are effectively extending to him! Muller writes:  "Human history so far has been the history of a primitive race," he says. "Only now, with planet-wide knowledge and consciousness, have we entered the real challenge to our species: the good management of our earth. The real history of the world is only beginning." Muller also states: "Within 15 years we will have a proper government and administration of planet earth and of humanity. Why? Because the current troubles, injustices, wastes and colossal duplications of national expenditures - especially on armaments and the military - will force us to. It is inevitable. The salvation of this planet and survival of the human species depend on it. No one can for long go against evolution. Nation-states must adapt or they will disintegrate, even the biggest ones."

Madonna Black Mass performance in her TOUR 2012

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Heythrop College - New Age incubator

Today I won't name a long list of Heythrop College (ex Maria Assumpta Centre) connections to the New Age. I will just concentrate on the latest one: the forthcoming "Sacred Foundations and Cosmograms" conference that will take place on 3-4 December 2011, organized as  "Gatekeeper Conference 2011".

First question: is Heythrop College Catholic ?
- Founded 1614 in Louvain (Belgium) for the education of English Jesuits.

- In 1926 the two faculties were reunited in a single campus at Heythrop in Oxfordshire.

- In the mid-1960s began admitting non-Jesuit staff and students.

It says on their website: Since 1970, it has been a College of the University of London, while retaining a modern Catholic ethos, and offers an educational experience that respects all faiths and perspectives.

Well. I guess the key word here is 'modern Catholic' ...

Second question is: how New Age is the conference

The answer is: VERY much!

To start with, its organized by the Gatekeeper Trust.

The Gatekeeper Trust was established, among others by Sir George Lowthian Trevelyan – who was also involved in the establishment of the Fildhorn Foundation and is called a father of the New Age Movement. 

He said:
"We are talking about the emergence of a different world view in our time. This is a phenomenon that is happening during your generation. It's the most curious, the most extraordinary thing. This is not somebody's thought out idea; this is not an intellectually conceived hope of improving society or anything like that. Something extraordinary is actually happening inside our thinking. There has really been a turn-about in the centre of human consciousness."

"We are co-creators of that which truly is the Body of Christ. This is the New Jerusalem. And the change of consciousness could come ‘in the twinkling of an eye’.

Right: different world view, co-creators, change of consciousness ...
doesn't that that not sound New Age enough ?

The speaker - Peter Dawkins - is also a founder member of Gatekeepers Trust as well as English founder of the Francis Bacon Research Trust. Since 1978 he has written on the Baconian-Rosicrucian philosophies and "Ancient Wisdom" teaching (Rosicrucianism is a philosophical secret society, said to have been founded in late medieval Germany by Christian Rosenkreuz. It holds a doctrine or theology "built on esoteric truths of the ancient past", which, "concealed from the average man, provide insight into nature, the physical universe and the spiritual realm). 

He is the Founder-Director of the Zoence Academy which runs a training course in Zoence (a Western equivalent of the Chinese feng shui).

I don't really know what there is that is Catholic in his biography. New Age full power. 

Then we have a list of speakers:

- Anthony Thorley (landscape zodiacs as sacred spaces)

- Marko Pogacnik (Earth healing work by 'Lithopuncture')

- Helen Raphael Sands (a journey through the elements)

- Louise Coe (feng shui consultant and inner alignment practitioner)
- Lucy Wyatt (trustee of Gatekeepers)

I am sorry, but I think I missed God in any of the speakers' descriptions ... I mean Jesus Christ, not the universe....

And all that under the umbrella of 2012 and Olympic Games ... One more thing - for New Agers the date 2012 is significant, they expect some planetary illumination and get so excited with the Olympics and they don't take it as a coincidence ...

So, back to the Catholic Heythrop College - still educating priests, nuns and catechists .... don't be surprise to see what you see afterwards in your parishes and communities ...
Back to the Gatekeeper conference, I wonder why they use the name of Maria Assumpta centre even though the building was sold to to current Heytrhrop College and has nothing to do witj Maria Assumpta ? I am sure they love it, it add nice Catholic credentials to those who dont know much about New Age Movement.


Please write to the College asking them to stop inviting those people or to change the name to New Age College ...

Oath Against Modernism

On September 1, 1910 St. Pope Pius X issued Motu Proprio a document called Sacrorum Antistitum in which he provided the Church with an 'Oath Against Modernism'. Previously Pius X had defined Modernism as a heresy in his encyclicals Pascendi Dominici gregis of 1907, and Lamentabili Sane. The oath continued to be taken until July 1967 when the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith rescinded it.
It is, however, still taken before priestly ordination by some clergy voluntarily and by certain confraternities
He explains what he is about in the first paragraph:

It seems to Us that it has not been ignored by none of the holy Bishops [Sacrorum Antistitum] that the class of men, the modernists, whose personality was described in the encyclical letter Pascendi dominici gregis, have not refrained from working in order to disturb the peace of the Church. They have not ceased to attract followers, either, by forming a clandestine group; by these means, they inject in the very veins of the Christian Republic the virus of their doctrine, by editing books and publishing articles in anonymity or with pseudonyms. By reading anew Our aforementioned letter, and considering it carefully, it is clearly seen that this deliberate movement is the work of the men that we described in it, enemies that are the more dangerous the closer they are; that abuse their ministry by offering poisoned nourishment and by surprising the less cautious; by handing a false doctrine in which the sum of all errors is enclosed. …

THE OATH AGAINST MODERNISM

Given by His Holiness St. Pius X September 1, 1910.

To be sworn to by all clergy, pastors, confessors, preachers, religious superiors, and professors in philosophical-theological seminaries.

I . . . . firmly embrace and accept each and every definition that has been set forth and declared by the unerring teaching authority of the Church, especially those principal truths which are directly opposed to the errors of this day. And first of all, I profess that God, the origin and end of all things, can be known with certainty by the natural light of reason from the created world (see Rom. 1:90), that is, from the visible works of creation, as a cause from its effects, and that, therefore, his existence can also be demonstrated: Secondly, I accept and acknowledge the external proofs of revelation, that is, divine acts and especially miracles and prophecies as the surest signs of the divine origin of the Christian religion and I hold that these same proofs are well adapted to the understanding of all eras and all men, even of this time. Thirdly, I believe with equally firm faith that the Church, the guardian and teacher of the revealed word, was personally instituted by the real and historical Christ when he lived among us, and that the Church was built upon Peter, the prince of the apostolic hierarchy, and his successors for the duration of time. Fourthly, I sincerely hold that the doctrine of faith was handed down to us from the apostles through the orthodox Fathers in exactly the same meaning and always in the same purport. Therefore, I entirely reject the heretical' misrepresentation that dogmas evolve and change from one meaning to another different from the one which the Church held previously. I also condemn every error according to which, in place of the divine deposit which has been given to the spouse of Christ to be carefully guarded by her, there is put a philosophical figment or product of a human conscience that has gradually been developed by human effort and will continue to develop indefinitely. Fifthly, I hold with certainty and sincerely confess that faith is not a blind sentiment of religion welling up from the depths of the subconscious under the impulse of the heart and the motion of a will trained to morality; but faith is a genuine assent of the intellect to truth received by hearing from an external source. By this assent, because of the authority of the supremely truthful God, we believe to be true that which has been revealed and attested to by a personal God, our creator and lord.

Furthermore, with due reverence, I submit and adhere with my whole heart to the condemnations, declarations, and all the prescripts contained in the encyclical Pascendi and in the decree Lamentabili, especially those concerning what is known as the history of dogmas. I also reject the error of those who say that the faith held by the Church can contradict history, and that Catholic dogmas, in the sense in which they are now understood, are irreconcilable with a more realistic view of the origins of the Christian religion. I also condemn and reject the opinion of those who say that a well-educated Christian assumes a dual personality-that of a believer and at the same time of a historian, as if it were permissible for a historian to hold things that contradict the faith of the believer, or to establish premises which, provided there be no direct denial of dogmas, would lead to the conclusion that dogmas are either false or doubtful. Likewise, I reject that method of judging and interpreting Sacred Scripture which, departing from the tradition of the Church, the analogy of faith, and the norms of the Apostolic See, embraces the misrepresentations of the rationalists and with no prudence or restraint adopts textual criticism as the one and supreme norm. Furthermore, I reject the opinion of those who hold that a professor lecturing or writing on a historico-theological subject should first put aside any preconceived opinion about the supernatural origin of Catholic tradition or about the divine promise of help to preserve all revealed truth forever; and that they should then interpret the writings of each of the Fathers solely by scientific principles, excluding all sacred authority, and with the same liberty of judgment that is common in the investigation of all ordinary historical documents.

Finally, I declare that I am completely opposed to the error of the modernists who hold that there is nothing divine in sacred tradition; or what is far worse, say that there is, but in a pantheistic sense, with the result that there would remain nothing but this plain simple fact-one to be put on a par with the ordinary facts of history-the fact, namely, that a group of men by their own labor, skill, and talent have continued through subsequent ages a school begun by Christ and his apostles. I firmly hold, then, and shall hold to my dying breath the belief of the Fathers in the charism of truth, which certainly is, was, and always will be in the succession of the episcopacy from the apostles. The purpose of this is, then, not that dogma may be tailored according to what seems better and more suited to the culture of each age; rather, that the absolute and immutable truth preached by the apostles from the beginning may never be believed to be different, may never be understood in any other way.

I promise that I shall keep all these articles faithfully, entirely, and sincerely, and guard them inviolate, in no way deviating from them in teaching or in any way in word or in writing. Thus I promise, this I swear, so help me God. . .

The following are the principal decrees or documents expressly directed against modernism.

• The pope's address on 17 April, 1907, to the newly-created cardinals. It is a résumé which anticipates the Encyclical "Pascendi".
• A letter from the Congregation of the Index of 29 April, 1907, to the Cardinal Archbishop of Milan with regard to the review "Il Rinnovamento". In it we find more concrete notions of the tendencies which the popes condemn. The letter even goes so far as to mention the names of Fogazzaro, Father Tyrrell, von Hügel and the Abbate Murri.
• Letters from Pius X, 6 May, 1907, to the archbishops and bishops and to the patrons of the Catholic Institute of Paris. It shows forth clearly the great and twofold care of Pius X for the restoration of sacred studies and Scholastic philosophy, and for the safeguarding of the clergy.
• The decree "Lamentabili" of the Holy Office, 3-4 July, 1907, condemning 65 distinct propositions.
• The injunction of the Holy Office, "Recentissimo", of 28 August, 1907, which with a view to remedying the evil, enjoins certain prescriptions upon bishops and superiors of religious orders.
• The Encyclical "Pascendi", of 8 September, 1907, of which we shall speak later on.
• Three letters of the Cardinal Secretary of State, of 2 and 10 October, and of 5 November, 1907, on the attendance of the clergy at secular universities, urging the execution of a general regulation of 1896 on this subject. The Encyclical had extended this regulation to the whole Church.
• The condemnation by the Cardinal-Vicar of Rome of the pamphlet "Il programma dei modernisti", and a decree of 29 October, 1907, declaring the excommunication of its authors, with special reservations.
• The decree Motu Proprio of 18 November, 1907, on the value of the decisions of the Biblical Commission, on the decree "Lamentabili", and on the Encyclical "Pascendi". These two documents are again confirmed and upheld by ecclesiastical penalties.
• The address at the (Consistory of 16 December, 1907.
• The decree of the Holy Office of 13 February, 1908, in condemnation of the two newspapers, "La Justice sociale" and "La Vie Catholique". Since then several condemnations of the books have appeared.
• The Encyclical "Editae" of 26 May, 1910, renewed the previous condemnations.
• Still stronger is the tone of the Motu Proprio "Sacrorum Antistitum", of 1 September, 1910, declared:
• by a decree of the Consistorial Congregations of 25 September, 1910. This Motu Proprio inveighs against modernist obstinacy and specious cunning. After having quoted the practical measures prescribed in the Encyclical "Pascendi", the pope urges their execution, and, at the same time, makes new directions concerning the formation of the clergy in the seminaries and religious houses. Candidates for higher orders, newly appointed confessors, preachers, parish priests, canons, the beneficed clergy, the bishop's staff, Lenten preachers, the officials of the Roman congregations, or tribunals, superiors and professors in religious congregations, all are obliged to swear according to a formula which reprobates the principal modernist tenets.
• The pope's letter to Prof. Decurtins on literary modernism.

The statue of Pope St. Pius X
in St. Peter's Basilica

Prayer to St. Joseph by Pope St. Pius X

Glorious St. Joseph, model of all who are devoted to labor, obtain for me the grace to work in the spirit of penance in expiation of my many sins; to work conscientiously by placing love of duty above my inclinations; to gratefully and joyously deem it an honor to employ and to develop by labor the gifts I have received from God, to work methodically, peacefully, and in moderation and patience, without ever shrinking from it through weariness or difficulty to work; above all, with purity of intention and unselfishness, having unceasingly before my eyes death and the account I have to render of time lost, talents unused, good not done, and vain complacency in success, so baneful to the work of God. All for Jesus, all for Mary, all to imitate thee, O patriarch St. Joseph! This shall be my motto for life and eternity.

Catholic Croatia going nuts on Hinduism ?

Two days ago I came back from Medjugorje. My last stop was in Split – a beautiful city (second biggest in Croatia) on the coast. Wondering the street at the dawn I couldn’t stop noticing the posters advertising Yoga. I was even more puzzled as few days ago, on my trip to Medjugorje from Split I met a young lady who was (as she described herself) a ‘nun’ in the Bhakti Marga community – a community of Guru Sri Swami Vishwenanda. Her main purpose to visit Split was to assist the ‘guru’.

I was really puzzled – such a concentration of Hinduism in Roman Catholic Croatia. I checked the latest data about the religion in Croatia – yep, still Catholic (88%), then Orthodox, then Atheism or Agnostism and the others. Well, it doesn’t say Hindu to my knowledge. What is really going on here ? Why that confusion ?

I was amazed to discover so many yoga centers in Croatia, enough to check Wikipedia.

It also says that : “a Croat-Indian Society set up in June 1994 has been active in organizing social and cultural events including classical dance performances, animation films based on Indian mythology, various documentaries on India and its traditions. An Agreement of Cooperation was signed between the Diplomatic Academy of Croatia and the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) of the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi in January 2000. Seven Croatian diplomats have attended the Professional Course for Foreign Diplomats (PCFD) at FSI, New Delhi. Shri Santosh Kumar, Secretary & Dean (FSI) attended the conference of Deans at Dubrovnik, Croatia, on 29-30 September 2003.”

One videos on YouTube are quite revealing: for example Hindu Converts In Rjeka

People are in spiritual search but their search is not genuine. There is luck of fundamental knowledge about Eastern Religions. And there is lots of manipulation creating confusion.

Let’s take the case of the mention guru Sri Swami Vishwenanda and its Bhakti Marga Yoga community. In Hinduism Bhakti is a term for religious devotion, understood as active involvement of a devotee in divine worship. Bhakti Yoga is described by Swami Vivekananda (we already talked about him – he was the instrumental person in bringing yoga to the West) as "the path of systematized devotion for the attainment of union with the Absolute".

The discussion I had with my befriended “follower” was about God, their beliefs, devotion, purpose, meaning, love, etc. I found it really confusing as she stressed that their belief is a combination of Orthodox Christianity with Hinduism (even though when you look at their website is a pure Hinduism with few icons of Our Lady). They have a votive chapel with relicts but she couldn’t name any saints of who the relicts belong to. To my amazement she knew very well some readings of Saint Teresa of Avila (Interior Castle – she explained that Seven Mansions were like seven chakras) or Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque and The Sacret Heart of Jesus (omitting that the visions were about a form of the devotion, the chief features being reception of Holy Communion on the First Friday Devotions of each month, the Eucharistic adoration during the Holy Hour on Thursdays, and the celebration of the Feast of the Sacred Heart).

It did not surprise me at all, when asked how this all started for her, she named yoga and reiki as initial practices. I will repeat my mantra but those practices are like open door to different reality. Not mentioning that they can take you for a real magic trip where devil will start to do his work. I repeat after Father Amorth: those practices may lead to possession and some supernatural experiences are already a serious warning. And to my sad surprise my befriended “follower” did experience some of them.

I don’t know that community well enough but all that she told me seem to me a mishmash of Hinduism and Christianity (the second one being more for familiarity and smoother conversion of the Westerners). 

There is a great post from South Africa about the dangers of that Community and its leader. 

Are you interested in the truth about Swami Vishwananda?

Many facts are presented, among them one that is a clear sacrilege:

“Swami Vishwananda was recently indicted in Switzerland for stealing relics from a church. He explained this behavior to some brahmacharis by stating that “Jesus told him to do it” and that it was not wrong because he did not profit from stealing the relics, i.e. he did not resell them to anyone so it was OK. Swami has on occasion actually worn costumes, dressed as an orthodox priest, to gain entry into churches in an effort to acquire relics. It is well-known that Swami frequently visits churches in France and other countries in search of relics. Why is this such a passion for him? Is it possible that he gets power through the relics? Why else would it be important enough for him to have that he is willing to face prosecution for acting illegally?

On Obedience (my acquaintance did mention something like that)

“Whenever something is asked from me or me through an appointed person, it has to be done without delay. If it comes from me directly, it has to be done without thinking about it and without asking questions.” – Swami Vishwananda.

Sounds to me like a sect! How come those things can exist and flourish in any country, helas in Catholic country is a mystery … or the work of evil!

My trip left me perplexed about the state of our faith in one of most Catholic countries in Europe – Croatia. Someone told me once that New Age will enter the religious countries via false mysticism and false spirituality – the ground is there, it just needs some adjustments. 

I will pray for my befriended “follower” that her heart turns into the real truth and light. May Our Lady of Medjugorje protects her and guides her to Our Lord, Jesus Christ (a real one, not a manifestation of supreme Brahman). 

And anyone involved I fully recommend a book: A death of a Guru - The story of Rabi Maharaj

Modern Primitives

Modern primitives or urban primitives are people in developed nations who engage in body modification rituals and practices while making reference or homage to the rite of passage practices in "primitive cultures" These practices may include body piercing, tattooing, play piercing, flesh hook suspension, corset training, scarification, branding, and cutting. The motivation for engaging in these varied practices may be personal growth, rite of passage, or spiritual or sexual curiosity.
Roland Loomis, also known as Fakir Musafar, is considered the father of the modern primitive movement. The 1989 RE/Search book Modern Primitives is largely responsible for the promotion of the concept of modern primitivism. It involves some sort of strange juxtaposition of high technology and "low" tribalism, animism, and body modification - a kind of 'Technoshamanism,' if you will, at once possession trance and kinetic dance.



What does make the modern primitive movement unusual is its pursuit of sensation. Borrowing from the S & M sexual subculture, the modern primitives suggest that one of the effects of modernization and industrialization has been psychic numbing. People no longer know either authentic pleasure or pain, and have forgotten the curious neurochemical ways in which they are interwoven. Piercing is more than just inscription; piercing of the genitals or other sensitive areas of the body means pain, especially during sexual intercourse... but it is a pain that becomes part of the ecstasy for ModPrims... there is this idea of a knowing through pain which modernity has forgotten.

When Mustafar or Stelarc hang themselves from hooks, or pierce themselves with sharp painful implements, they are only duplicating a practice found all over the world. It is a key ritual for many "primitive" and other societies for the person to go into trance and to demonstrate their "absorbtion" by the divine through the negation of pain and injury. The ModPrims claim that their performances are a pursuit of transcendence, proving the ability of the mind to go beyond the taxings and limitations of the body. Stelarc calls himself a "Cyberhuman," pointing to his belief that the future of human evolution toward a greater interconnection of men and machines will require humankind's mastery over (rather than suppression of) passion, suffering, and pain.

Futher, within the ModPrim movement, there is this sort of obsession over technological invasion of the body, through prosthetics, genetic modification, implants, and so on. This bodily invasion is at once feared (as a colonization by capital) and desired (by permitting people to directly neurally link into the "consensual hallucination" of Gibson's Virtual Reality.) The body is seen as information (DNA provides the 'code') and its invasion as either 'scrambling' (through viruses, cancer, etc.) or 'purification' (by removing 'noise' or 'distortion.') The technological modification of the body is seen as a reworking of the shamanic 'deconstruction' of a past era, where the shaman is torn apart by the gods of his tribe, and then his bones and flesh are replaced with quartz or fire or something else...

ModPrims also embrace the rave as a sign of the uniting of past and future. The rave is at once 'primitive,' with its gathering of 'tribes' of young people for the experience of Levy-Bruhl 'participation mystique' through kinetics and MDMA (Ecstasy), and 'futuristic' (or modern) with its use of digitally sampled and remixed music, laser and light effects, and multimedia expositions. Ravers at once dress in way that signifies past and future - piercing their ears with computer chips, wearing 70s (or earlier) clothes with futuristic hologram jewelry, combining the fashion of folk and punk. They consider themselves the heirs of the 60s counterculture, and also its antithesis, since they reject its anti-technology, pro-natural, 'peace and harmony,' and idealist emphases for a more pragmatist, aggressive, and techno-positive viewpoint... to the raver, whether a drug is synthetic or organic is besides the point.

Besides raves and piercing, ModPrims are perhaps best known for their attempts at juxtaposing magick and science. Publications like Virus 23 juxtapose Crowleyan occultism with chaos theory, Neo-Paganism & Wicca with memetics and information theory,etc.

From article: "Modern Primitives": The Accelerating Collision of Past and Future in the Postmodern Era

Neopaganism

Paganism, which is also referred to as contemporary Paganism, Neo-Paganism and Neopaganism, is an umbrella term used to identify a wide variety of modern religious movements, particularly those influenced by or claiming to be derived from the various pagan beliefs of pre-modern Europe. Contemporary Pagan religious movements are extremely diverse, and there is no set of beliefs shared by all of them, although there are commonalities shared by most of them. These include an approach to theology that embraces such beliefs as polytheism, animism, and pantheism. Many Pagans practise a spirituality that is entirely modern in origin, while others attempt accurately to reconstruct or revive indigenous, ethnic religions as found in historical and folkloric sources.

Contemporary Paganism is a development in the industrialized countries, found in particular strength in the United States and Britain, but also in Continental Europe (German-speaking Europe, Scandinavia, Slavic Europe, Latin Europe and elsewhere) and Canada. The largest Contemporary Pagan religion is Wicca, though other significantly sized Pagan faiths include Neo-druidism, Germanic Neopaganism, and Slavic Neopaganism. The modern popularisation of the terms "Pagan" and "Neopagan", as they are currently understood, is largely traced to Oberon Zell-Ravenheart, co-founder of "the 1st Neo-Pagan Church of All Worlds" who, beginning in 1967 with the early issues of Green Egg, used both terms for the growing movement.

Adherents.com estimates that there are roughly 1 milion  Pagans worldwide (as of 2000), including "Wicca, Magick, Druidism, Asatru, neo-Native American religion and others". High estimates by Pagan authors may reach several times that number. A precise number is impossible to establish, because of the largely uninstitutionalised nature of the religion and the secrecy observed by some traditions, – sometimes explained by fear of religious discrimination.

Beliefs

Beliefs and practices vary widely amongst different Pagan groups, however there are a series of core principles common to most, if not all, forms of contemporary Paganism.

Polytheism

Sociologist Margot Adler noted that one of the "most important principles" of the Pagan movement was polytheism, the belief in, and veneration of, more than one god and/or goddess. For many in the Pagan community, these polytheistic deities are however not viewed as literal entities, but as Jungian archetypes that exist in the human psyche. Many Pagans adopt attitudes similar to that of American theologian David Miller, the professor of religion at Syracuse University who argued, in his book The New Polytheism, that the adoption of a polytheistic worldview would be beneficial for western society, replacing the dominant monotheism that both Miller and many Pagans believe is by its very nature politically and socially repressive. Adler remarked that many Pagans informed her of how they had adopted polytheism because it allowed a greater freedom, diversity and tolerance of worship amongst the community than that permitted in monotheistic religions. In Wicca, (especially Dianic Wicca) the concept of an Earth or Mother Goddess similar to the Greek Gaia is emphasized. Male counterparts are usually also evoked, such as the Green Man and the Horned God (who is loosely based on the Celtic Cernunnos.) These Duotheistic philosophies tend to emphasize the God and Goddess' (or Lord and Lady's) genders as being complementary opposites analogous to that of yin and yang in ancient Chinese philosophy. Many Oriental philosophies equate weakness with femininity and strength with masculinity; this is not the prevailing attitude in Paganism and Wicca^. Among many Pagans, there is a strong desire to incorporate the female aspects of the divine in their worship and within their lives, which can partially explain the attitude which sometimes manifests as the veneration of women. Other Neopagans reject the concept of binary gender roles.

Animism

Another pivotal belief in the contemporary Pagan movement is that of animism. For modern Pagans, this "is used to imply a reality in which all things are imbued with vitality."Animism was also a concept to common to many pre-Christian European religions, and in adopting it, contemporary Pagans are attempting to "allow their participants to reenter the primeval worldview, to participate in nature in a way that is not possible for most Westerners after childhood."

Pantheism

A third pivotal belief in the Pagan community is that of pantheism, the belief that divinity and the material and/or spiritual universe are one and the same. For Pagans, it means that "divinity is inseperable from nature and that deity is immanent in nature."

Practices

Worship and ritual

Several Pagan religions incorporate the use of magic into their ritual practices. Among these are Wicca, Shamanism, Druidism, and other Pagan belief systems, the rituals of which were at least initially partially based upon those of ceremonial magic.

Sociologist Margot Adler highlighted how several Pagan groups, like the Reformed Druids of North America and the Erisian movement refuse to take their rituals seriously, instead incorporating into them a great deal of play. She noted that there are those who would argue that "the Pagan community is one of the only spiritual communities that is exploring humor, joy, abandonment, even silliness and outrageousness as valid parts of spiritual experience." Adler also noted how there were many Pagan groups whose practices revolved around the inclusion and celebration of male homosexuality, such as the Minoan Brotherhood, a Wiccan group that combines the iconography from ancient Minoan religion with a Wiccan theology and an emphasis on "men-loving-men", and the eclectic Pagan group known as the Radical Faeries. Similarly, there are also groups for lesbians, like certain forms of Dianic Wicca and the Minoan Sisterhood. When Adler asked one gay Pagan what the Pagan community offered members of the LGBT community, the reply was "A place to belong. Community. Acceptance. And a way to connect with all kinds of people, gay, bi, straight, celibate, transgender, in a way that is hard to do in the greater society".

Festival

Most modern Pagan religions celebrate the cycles and seasons of nature through a festival calendar that honours these changes. The timing of festivals, and the rites celebrated, may vary from climate to climate, and will also vary (sometimes widely) depending upon which particular Pagan religion the adherent subscribes to (see Wheel of the Year).

Neopagan symbols