1. Topic for Today:
New Religious Movements

2. 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.

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. Heathernism/Asatru:
Germanic/Norse reconstructionist religion
originally emerged in late 19th century as
romanticized mystical tradition
association to Nazi party caused extreme decline
of interest
revived in 1960’s with backing of folklore and
historical research
attracts more strictly reconstructionist adherents
controversy 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

9. 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

10. 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