Well, I dunno. That's just what I heard. I think Wicca has been around for like thousands of years, hasn't it?
many people who call themselves "witches" derive much of their practices from a british occultist named gardner... but the roots of the religion go back to the pre-christian european religions... so they say...
No. The earth-based precepts upon which it was built certainly have been, but Wicca as a formalized, codified religion was created by Gerald Gardner during the late 40's - early 50's, as gnrm23 has mentioned. I think any form of spirituality that strikes the mainstream establishment as flaky and "woo-woo" gets tossed in the "New Age" category. That's why I avoid the term like the plague. I'm a Witch (non-Wiccan), plain and simple. Nothing "New Age" about that!
"New Age" doesn't refer to new styles/techniques/approaches/etc. It's a reference to a belief that mankind is heading into a "new age" soon, one that is more spiritual in its roots. The degree of this new spirituality depends on who you talk to (some thing it'll just be a slight cultural change, others thing we'll be heading into full-blown worldwide enlightenment), but the idea of an impending "shift" is pretty common, and things like Wicca and Shamanism and other various approaches tend to fit in as some of the many candidate forms of this spirituality.
i didn't know that.ive only ever herd the word being used on T.V and its usually when someone is offending someone else.i pressumed it was one of them words used to take self esteem!
Then there's stuff like transhumanism, the singularity insititute, etc... all of which seem to be obscure and out of the mainstream concept of 'new-age' but fall well within the definition supplied by kinsei. Rather than jump off on a coffee inspired book post (I've been up all night drinkin' Turkish coffee) I'd recommend a cool site called Future Hi. It's incredibly insightful and can be mindblowing.
The "New Age" is really in its infancy....there are a host of alternative approaches to metaphysics and spirituality which seem like a confusing patchwork, but are actually diffusion coalescing into unity. The thing is to find the essence, to be able to find a common belief with easily understandable terms....
when the moon is in the seventh house and jupiter aligns with mars then peace will reign a thousand years and love will rule the stars this is the dawning of the age of aquarius... ur sumfin like dat...
