Positive Thinking & Witchcraft. A Brief History of the New Age Movement

Essay , 2015 , 10 Pages

History - Miscellaneous

This essay explores the Western Witchcraft Tradition in connection to the New Age Movement, providing a short history.
In America at least, we know the New Age stereotypes mostly through pop-culture. The stereotype of the new ager is a pyschedelic indulging, positive thinking, vision boarding, crystal loving, strange neo-shaman feminist hippie. Said new ager seems to love everything relating to nature worship, non-duality and Buddhism—all the while not exactly committing to anyone one particular trend or tradition, and usually tiring (in the ADD sense) of any one trend or spiritual practice ... eventually.
Thus, in America typically the subject of spirituality and many other new current ageisms take the form of an all you can eat buffet, where you’re free to pick and choose amongst various callings of world religion, all the while saying they are equal and yet never fully subscribing to any of it. The business of profiting by selling lifestyle trends—not the least of them being crystals—often acts simply as a means of distracting themselves from what could be seen as more archaic forms of traditional witchcraft.

Table of Contents

• Intro
• Positive Thinking Movement
• The Western Witchcraft Tradition

Objectives and Key Themes

This text explores the relationship between the New Age movement, positive thinking, and Western witchcraft. It examines the origins and development of these movements, highlighting the influence of Eastern practices and occult traditions on Western thought.

• The New Age movement and its relationship to witchcraft
• The role of positive thinking in American culture
• The historical development of Western witchcraft
• The influence of Eastern spiritual practices on the New Age
• The contrast between yogic and magickal perspectives

Chapter Summaries

• Intro: This chapter introduces the New Age movement and its relationship to witchcraft, highlighting the difficulty in defining the movement due to its diverse and evolving nature. It also discusses the stereotype of the New Ager in American pop culture.
• Positive Thinking Movement: This chapter explores the origins and history of the positive thinking movement, tracing its roots to writers like William James, Immanuel Swedenborg, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. It also examines the influence of occult texts like The Kybalion and the role of figures like William Walker Atkinson.
• The Western Witchcraft Tradition: This chapter delves into the history and practices of Western witchcraft, focusing on the two main branches of Wicca: Gardenarian and Alexandrian. It explores the controversial views of Gerald Gardner, the founder of Wicca, and the gnostic reinterpretation of Judeo-Christian mythology by Paul Huson.

Keywords

The text explores the New Age movement, positive thinking, Western witchcraft, occult traditions, Eastern spiritual practices, yogic philosophy, magickal practices, Wicca, Gardenarian, Alexandrian, Gerald Gardner, Paul Huson, and the Book of Enoch.

• Author: Sarah Lopes (Author)
• Publication Year: 2015
• Pages: 10
• Catalog Number: V306547
• ISBN (eBook): 9783668045187
• ISBN (Book): 9783668045194
• Language: English
• Tags: New Age Movement, New Age, History, Witchcraft, Western Witchcraft Tradition, America, Stereotypes