New Age

[Subliime]

I'm just curious if there is anyone on here who is into "New Age" spirituality. I've never seen it discussed on this forum and I find that interesting. I even did a search for it and nothing came up that was relevant.

[saphire]

I def would fit into that category, although I mainly identify with "Pagan" as a broader definition. I really enjoy our pagan group here

What are you looking to discuss?

[aweynsayl]

i'm suprised our big pagan vs new age debate didnt come up.... we got rather "into" it, debate wise... there are certainly some strong opinions on the subject.

personally, while i encorporate a lot of new-age-type things, i tend to feel them in a more "old-age" sense, rather than a "new" one, if that makes sense...

i do know some people who are into some really astral-y stuff, which is what i tend to think of as "new"... the wise ways tribe women come to mind... they are brilliant resources if you're really interested in delving more in that area. they were just here the other day... look down the page for their thread...

[Subliime]

I agree that "new age" is really more "old age" so I was thinking that there would probably be more people on here in the pagan thread that identified. I would love to find this thread with the "old/new age" debate. I think it's interesting b/c I am connected with a group of Native Americans in my area and I get invited to sweats and Sundance, which I am getting more involved in, but when they talk about "New Agers" I can hear contempt in their voices. I don't consider myself "new age" - I actually don't label myself at all, so it doesn't bother me, but I do find it interesting. I'm more in the catagory of we should all work together for the higher good of the world. Especially the times we are in now. This is no time for speration.

[saphire]

I wasn't aware of any debate. Sublime, I agree that labels matter less than actions. I suppose it would be easy enough to categorize actions as "new" vs "old" but that really doesn't do much in the long run. I'm not sure what else to add that wouldn't start up a new debate...

[aweynsayl]

here's the thread where the conversation happened....

[Subliime]

Originally Posted by aweynsayl

here's the thread where the conversation happened....

Thank you, I will check that out.

I read some but didn't get all the way through. There seems to be a lot of talk about price tags. I agree that "mainstream new age" seems to have a high price tag. I know that sort of "new age" although not personally. I guess that isn't the kind I identify with. I am as poor as poor can be when it comes to money. Dang. You don't need money to meditate or go to a sweat lodge or pick up stones in the woods.

I did find "the wise ways tribe women" thread. Very interesting.

This thread is going in a direction that I didn't intend it to but I'm not opposed.

[ChampagneBlossom]

I will totally be reading that debate later, but before I get sidetracked with that, my two cents...

I'm pagan, and I mostly talk/think about the Deity in a feminine sense. I also love me some new age genre music, and I like crystals and such. They're cool. And I think everything has a spirit, which I guess is sortakinda new age. I believe thoughts/meditation/etc can really affect you.

However, I totally don't believe "we are all God" which I've seen to be really fundamental to most new age type people. I do believe there is sin in the world. I believe in totem spirits, but I don't believe in angels per se. (Angels as in spirits, OK, we call them kami, but not angels as in the white light stuff.) I also believe that there is a spirit world and a real world, but I don't necessarily believe in ascending through levels and layers of astral travel and the like. (Although I believe in and have experienced astral projection... but that's another story.)

So I guess I sound like a pretty confused person. But my beliefs make sense to me. I wouldn't call myself New Age ever because it encompasses too many ideas I don't believe in. But there are some things (mostly superficial things) the movement embraces that I tolerate or enjoy. Like crystals. Or music. Etc.

[aweynsayl]

Originally Posted by Subliime

...This thread is going in a direction that I didn't intend...

yeah, that happened in the thread i posted, too. i think that's unavoidable with such a... well, differently interpreted... term.

what direction we're you thinking of? appropriation of different cultures/heritages? or something else? it's summer, so i have no mental capacity, lol, but i have some vague sort of interest in the topic...

[Subliime]

I guess I don't really know where I wanted it to go! I just don't want to offend anyone. Now that I think about it I didn't really have a specific direction I wanted it to go in.

I just started taking some classes on metaphysics and I'm not sure how I feel. I really want to learn how to have a still mind so that I can meditate better and know how to interpret dreams. I am also interested in health readings (Edgar Casey style). I don't know if I can afford the "donation" of $20 a week + books + the time they want you to put into the school as far as fundraisers, health fairs and stuff... blah. But, I enjoy having a teacher.

I consider metaphysics more eastern and I've always been more into earth based religions, although they can all be connected. Geez, I started this thread and I'm confused now.

[aweynsayl]

sounds a lot like me last year. my online time's getting a bit wonky with summer, but i'd be happy to chat about it if you want to pm or email me. :

[Aeress]

It was hard for me to get an idea of what new age mean't since so many companies capatalized on the term back in the 90's. I used to think it was about clothes and maybe music and a few swirly nick nacks. I was very uneducated.

[mommyshoppinghabit]

I think the term "New Age" has a bad rap because it makes people think of crystals and funny chanting if you are looking at it purely from a catagorical perspective like sections in a bookstore. I try to avoid labels when talking about spirituality, because they are divisive. But there is a lot of really good stuff that is stuffed under the New Age banner when you get past all the hokey stuff (which after some research, may not be so hokey after all).
I too find it interesting that most of the subject headings in the "Spirituality" forum tend to be focused on a specific religion. I am big into metaphysics and have taken out a few books from the library on the topic. I am perusing a few books by the author Fred Alan Wolf, who is a physicist who talks about the existence of the soul and how science can prove it.

[saphire]

Originally Posted by Subliime

I guess I don't really know where I wanted it to go! I just don't want to offend anyone. Now that I think about it I didn't really have a specific direction I wanted it to go in.

I just started taking some classes on metaphysics and I'm not sure how I feel. I really want to learn how to have a still mind so that I can meditate better and know how to interpret dreams. I am also interested in health readings (Edgar Casey style). I don't know if I can afford the "donation" of $20 a week + books + the time they want you to put into the school as far as fundraisers, health fairs and stuff... blah. But, I enjoy having a teacher.

I consider metaphysics more eastern and I've always been more into earth based religions, although they can all be connected. Geez, I started this thread and I'm confused now.

I try not to step on toes too
If I were you, and asking this question, I may be looking more towards 1) what inspires you? 2)what are you learning about? ( because I don't want to miss out!) 3)what are your favorite resources? 4) what common ideas do we share?

Originally Posted by mommyshoppinghabit

I think the term "New Age" has a bad rap because it makes people think of crystals and funny chanting if you are looking at it purely from a catagorical perspective like sections in a bookstore. I try to avoid labels when talking about spirituality, because they are divisive. But there is a lot of really good stuff that is stuffed under the New Age banner when you get past all the hokey stuff (which after some research, may not be so hokey after all).
I too find it interesting that most of the subject headings in the "Spirituality" forum tend to be focused on a specific religion. I am big into metaphysics and have taken out a few books from the library on the topic. I am perusing a few books by the author Fred Alan Wolf, who is a physicist who talks about the existence of the soul and how science can prove it.

"New Ager" is the new "Hippie"! LOL I could have totally seen myself as a hippie if I'd been born in that era.
What books & metaphical stuff are ya'll into?

[Subliime]

I just read a book called "Bringers of the Dawn" by Barbara Marciniak. Has anyone read it? I am house sitting for this lady I know and I came across it. It is the most "far out" book I have ever read. I'm curious to know how other people feel about it.

Right now in my metaphysics class we are focusing on dreams. I just started keeping a dream journal and setting intentions to remember my dreams. I had an interesting one last night but I don't know what it means. Another exercise we are supposed to be doing everyday is sitting in a comfy chair in front of a mirror for 10 mins and comfortably gazing at our 3rd eye. Then we are supposed to journal about our experiences.

On a funny note my 2 yo daughter just told me she is god... lol

[saphire]

I had a dream a few nights ago that I was being forced to eat blood soaked hot dog buns. :Puke I've been vegetarian for 15 years. I interpret the dream as meaning I'm supposed to go vegan. I've thought about making the shift for a few years now, but that'd make dh and dd2 are omnivores, dd1 vegetarian, & me vegan. What on earth would I make for meals?

I really should write in my dream journal.

I'll have to check out "Bringers of the Dawn".

[Subliime]

It would be hard to cater to everyone's meal time needs. I used to try to do that but now I just make one meal and that's that. I'm not fully vegetarian but I will only eat meat if I know it was raised right. That gets pricey so I usually don't do meat. It took a while for my dh to get used to it but now we don't usually have any issues.

I keep having dreams about other men. In my waking life I do not even think sexually about other men or women besides my dh. Anyone know what that could mean? My dh has been working out of town a lot lately, maybe I'm just lonely. Dunno. My dh is always in my dreams, in one of them he was even encouraging it. I told him about it and he was like "What??" So that isn't something he would do irl.

[saphire]

Do you think those dreams could just be more hormone based than subconscious desire? IME they are, lol.

[Subliime]

I've had some that are more hormone based but these aren't the same.

[mommyshoppinghabit]

I look at dreams as our subconscious insecurities. I think that people put a lot of stock in what their subconscious has to say but actually, our subsconscious contains all the pain that we've stuffed into our being, it is literally under our consciousness, not a higher consciousness, and therefore we are not fully aware of it but must be excavated and released so that one is at peace. When you are in the REM state where you dream, you're mind is not totally at peace, and I tend to think, in order to connect to the oneness from which wisdom arises (e.g. like when one practices TM) your mind must be still. Some "new age" authors like Eckhart Tolle say that the dreamless state of sleep is like a "return movement" like an the in-breath mirroring how the universe expands and will one day, "return".