Topic for Today:

New Religious Movements

What are New Religious Movements? “Alternative Religious Movements”; “New Age Religions”; Pagan/Neo-Pagan religious or spiritual group/movement/practice that has arisen or been incorporated in the Western world from the end of the 19th cent. to the present some examples from the text (Table 6.1, p. 219):

Latter-Day Saints; Buddhism; Yoga; Krishna Consciousness; Wicca (Witchcraft); Christian World Liberation Front; Jews for Jesus; Scientology; Christian Science; Satanism; Nation of Islam

focus today on reconstructionist religions; eg. Wicca, Druidry, Santeria, etc.

Pre-Modern Background to New Religious Movements:Magic in the Middle Ages: Angels and Demons

charms and incantations Folk remedies/herbs

potions, poultices, etc. Astrology

Zodiac signs and planetary alignments Alchemy

can be traced back to Ancient Egypt Egyptian and Greek Alchemy highly allegorical

Four elements: earth, air, fire, water introduction of Arab texts means use of laboratory equipment & “scientific method” later becomes basis of modern chemistry

Hermeticism: Alchemy, Astrology, and Theurgy Attributed to Hermes Trismegistus both religion and philosophy at the heart of occult revival of late 19th century Four elements; “As above, so below” influences many esoteric societies: Freemasons; Rosicrucians; Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn

Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn: founded in 1887 by Freemasons William Robert Woodman, William Wynn Westcott, and S. L. MacGregor Mathers adopted an initiatory system of degrees and inner/outer orders based on Freemasonry mainly focused on theurgy incorporated astrology, alchemy, qabbalah some notable members include: William Butler Yeats, Bram Stoker, and Aleister Crowley

Aleister Crowley, OTO and Thelema: born 1875 in England; died 1947 in England parents were strict conservative Christians displayed tendency toward deviance and shock value from early age called in his day “The wickedest man in the world” controversial involvement in Golden Dawn began writing rituals while in Golden Dawn

first encounters Aiwass in Egypt in 1904; Aiwass reveals The Book of the Law; “do what thou wilt”; basis of Thelema in 1912 Theodor Reuss asks Crowley to take over Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO) in Britain; later brings OTO to America experiments throughout his life with extreme forms of sexuality and hard drugs; often credited with popularizing sex magic in the West frequently associated with Satanism Crowley’s rituals can still be seen in many New Religious Movements

Gerald Gardner and Wicca: Wicca is an earth-centered religion that worships a God and Goddess (theoretically) equally one of the largest New Relgious Movements and one of the fastest growing Gerald Gardner (1884 - 1964) considered the “Father of Wicca” claims initiation into New Forest Coven later sets up Bricket Wood Coven and publishes Witchcraft Today (1954) Gardner met Crowley in 1947 and was initiated into the OTO Gardner incorporated material written by Crowley Doreen Valiente initiated into Gardner’s coven, becomes High Priestess, and helps rewrite rituals to remove Crowley’s influence controversy over publicity, “skyclad” rituals, and new set of rules sparks rebellion and slpintering

Druidry/Druidism: druidry is a nature-based religion without strict dogma, central authority, texts or leaders developed from romanticized ideas of historical Celtic practices that arose throughout the 17th-19th centuries formal organizations began appearing in early 20th century, based on “historical” practices and Freemansonry Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids formed in 1964 and is currently the largest with over 10,000 members Reformed Druids of North America formed as a protest to a college requirement for attendance of regular religious rituals in recognition that much of the “historical” information on the Celts available at the time has now been debunked, many Druids are revising their practices to reflect more historical accuracy

Heathernism/Asatru:Germanic/Norse reconstructionist religionoriginally emerged in late 19th century as romanticized mystical traditionassociation to Nazi party caused extreme decline of interestrevived in 1960’s with backing of folklore and historical researchattracts more strictly reconstructionist adherentscontroversy over belief held by some that only those of Germanic/Norse decent can practice

Voudou/Santeria: traditional West African religion, most often synctretized with Roman Catholocism practiced in West Africa, Cuba (Santeria), Haiti, Louisiana, etc. increase in popularity with the rise of other New Religious Movements

Native North American Religion and Shamanism: Shamanism as New Age religion is based on communication with the spirit world Native North American religion is NOT Shamanism many New Age groups have incorporated elements of Native North American spirituality such as the sweat lodge, pipe ceremony, vision quest, medicine wheel, and animal/spirit guides

many Natives find appropriation of their spirituality by those of European descent distasteful Lakota drafted Declaration of War on Exploiters of Lakota Spirituality