NMR ISSUE 10

An Introduction to Modern Practical Alchemy
Astrological Forecast 10
Blue Lace Agate
Chant of Luna
Editorial
Is the New Age Dead
Letters 10
Mother-Night
Open Letter
Should I do it while I'm Sick
Snake & Elk
The Environment
The Oldest Magick
The Winter Sunstead Yule

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Is the New Age Dead?

Donald Michael Kraig

One of the major publishers of "New Age" books, Jeremy Tarcher, recently wrote that the New Age was dead. This was not printed in a small Pagan magazine or a publisher's newsletter. Rather, it was printed in a magazine intended for booksellers, Publishers' Weekly.

Frankly, most mainstream booksellers are glad to hear Tarcher's announcement. For the past several years they have plodded through a maze of publishers, each of whom where trying to get their share of the sellers' limited shelf space. You see, what was once "occult," "metaphysical" or "occult sciences," became New Age. This category had new writers and new concepts that the booksellers had not dealt with before. Plus, some topics that had previously been in other areas moved into the New Age. They didn't know where to place books by Jung. They didn't know where to place books that help people interpret their dreams. Did The Tao of Physics belong in Physics, New Age, religion or Eastern Philosophy?

Mainstreaming

Several things have happened that have helped to kill off the New Age (or, more appropriately, are in the process of killing it off). The first I call "The Mainstreaming of the New Age." Books that once would have gone into the occult section of a bookstore are now going into the Psychology Section, the Physics section, the Science section or the Women's Studies section. Thus, a New Age section becomes redundant. The New Age is part of the mainstream.

Before the New Age, if you wanted a crystal you would have to go into a rock shop. A good one might cost you a dollar. But with the popularity of crystals and other gems, new sellers of minerals have sprung up, boosting the prices 100-1000% or more. Arkansas crystal mines are being raped for their quartz. But crystal jewelry is now in major department stores. Crystals have sold at Bloomingdale's in New York, and I've seen them sold at local Sears. Everyone seems to have crystals and gems now. Once again, something that was once occult, then New Age, has gone mainstream.

The Computer and "me too!"

The second killer of the New Age has been the computer. There was a time when publishing a book required equipment that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the specialized labor and supplies would cost thousands more. Today, a person can turn out a decent looking book on equipment that costs only a few thousand dollars. The technology no longer requires specially trained labor (although to turn out a well designed book does require trained people.)

As a result, an amazing about of good and bad material has been published. When some of the major publishers saw that there was money to be made in New Age books they said, "Me too!" They jumped on the bandwagon and published tons of books (literally). Many of the books they published were awful—nothing more than light and meaningless fluff. But for a time, people who were hungry for what the New Age had to say would buy many books. After a time, they learned to be more discerning. As a result, sales of New Age books are generally down, although sales of good books on New Age topics remain strong.

But there is definitely a downturn in interest. In fact, a recent poll showed that few people in the U.S. had heard of the New Age, and most of them had a negative attitude about it. (I assume that those with negative attitudes have been influenced by fundamentalist lies.)

Media and Promotion

Finally, and perhaps the biggest killer of the New Age, has been the media and the promotional abilities of some New Agers. The media made the New Age a big thing. They made it a fad. And like hoop skirts, the hula-hoop and the Lambada, the New Age fad is fading.

The other aspect has been the way some get-rich-off-the-New-Agers have exploited people. Some have "channeled" special teachings such as "love one another" and "don't destroy the environment" which they sell in books, cassettes and videotapes at highly inflated prices. Others have offered New Age get-rich pyramid scams and chain letters rip-offs. One popular New Age publisher who also runs a magickal group allegedly said, "I'm going to get rich selling crystal suppositories to New Age Yuppies." No wonder people within the New Age are disgusted and people outside of it are laughing at those within it.

The King/Queen is Dead.
Long live the King/Queen!

About 20 years BNA (Before the New Age), in the late 1960's and early `70's, the study of the metaphysical and the occult went through a period of popularization. It was the dawning of the new age of Aquarius, and "What's your sign" was the world's favorite pickup line. By the middle to late `70's this mass interest in popular occultism had died out. Although it did not go "underground" it did recede in popularity. The thrill, and the fad, was gone.

But what happened was wonderful! For remaining was a dedicated core of occult enthusiasts, not mere dilettantes. They researched, they studied and they practiced. This was the time of steady growth of Traditionalist Wicca. Groups studying and practicing the techniques of the Golden Dawn and Aleister Crowley were popping up out of the woodwork.

But these people were not content to stay where they were. They experimented and tried new things. The result has been a growing number of hard-core occultists who are not content to merely repeat what people did 100 or 1000 years earlier. Instead they develop new systems through experimentation and discovery. Thus we see the Typhonia system of Grant, the PanAeonic system of Nema, the birth of the many eclectic NeoPagan systems and the controlled anarchy of the Chaos magicians all being born. You may not have heard of all these groups. Their work, and that of many others, has been overshadowed by the more popular aspects of the New Age. But as the New Age continues to die out, the important theories, beliefs and ideas will be incorporated into those moving occultism into the 21st century. It may be incorrect to say that the New Age is dying. Maybe it would be better to say that the popular aspects that required no real commitment to self, society and the world are dying. The ideals of the New Age remain. Thus, the king/queen of the New Age is dead, or at least dying. I, for one, am glad. For I can truly say that those who want to embody the spirit of the New Age are the queens and kings of the future. Long live the king/queen!