Can paganism and more specifically Wicca be seen as part of the New Age movement? Let’s see what scholars have to say about it.
Hello everyone, I’m Angela, and welcome back to my channel. Your online resource for the academic study of magic and magic-practising religions and traditions. First off, all my gratitude goes to all of you who generously donated to my crowdfunding campaign; we are only a few hundred pounds from reaching the target which doesn’t show on GoFundMe as most of you preferred PayPal donations instead. And then, when I reach the target I’ll make a video thanking all the contributors and showing you my new tool for making videos and keeping this project going. But now let’s move on to the topic shall we?
In order for you to have a sound background knowledge to tackle today’s topic, I’d recommend you watch first my videos on Wicca and the New Age Movement, in case you haven’t watched them already. So I will leave cards over here for you to access them.
Although Paganism and the New Age movement can be seen to have some liaison points in their philosophical underpinning, the two, I argue alongside other scholars in Pagan Studies need to be analysed as completely different phenomena. The New Age is a heterogeneous movement while Paganism refers to earth-based religions inspired by pre-Christian polytheisms. But now let’s see what academic literature has to say on this topic.
Hanegraaff tackles Neopaganism in relation to the New Age deeming the first as part of the latter, albeit acknowledging existing differences between the two. As Hanegraaff himself says, Neopaganism can be deemed as part of the New Age movement at least in a general sense, although he does highlight that neo-paganism definitely has its own distinctive flavour which sets it apart from other New Age trends. On this note, although there are some Pagan groups which present strong commonalities with the New Age movement others do not show any similarity of the sort.
Thus an eclectic Wiccan might share common ground with the New Age thought, while Heathenry and other ceremonial-based traditions, including Wicca, might not. As Ronald Hutton clarifies, there are two different viewpoints in the literature depending on the field the scholar belongs to. While those who specialize in New Age movements tend to include Paganism as one of its manifestations, scholars in Pagan Studies strongly disagree and point out all the traits which clearly set paganism apart from the New Age.
Joan Pearson, in her study on the assumed affinities between Wicca and the New Age, concludes that the two present enough differences to be regarded as separate phenomena. Her conclusion is based upon the analysis of the theoretical framework of both movements as well as taking into account the strong aversion, Wiccans themselves, have towards being regarded as New Agers. As emerged from a survey she conducted among British Wiccans, Melissa Harrington argues that merging New Age and Paganism into one phenomenon would be fallacious, for it implies that the various branches of Paganism can be conflated into one cohesive category to be analysed as a whole.
As Harrington suggests, one of the issues we find is that in the New Age, there is a broadening of the horizons and the sources from which practices and theories are taken from. This wide array of sources is, in her opinion, to the detriment of the depth of the knowledge. She also disagrees with Hanegraaff and Faivre, who conflate paganism and witchcraft into a homogeneous whole. When discussing Christianity, she argues, one would never conflate Methodism with an order of monks or an African house church with the Vatican. As a scholar of Wicca Harrington appears wary of even discussing Heathenry, Druidry, Shamanism or traditional witchcraft.
There are enough disparate beliefs, practices, and ethical systems between these branches of contemporary paganism that they each merit to be studied in their own right. This is particularly relevant when we take into account local specific Pagan groups and all the individual elements they bring to the discourse. For instance, in Italy, there are several reconstructionist movements, depending on the Italian area and its heritage. As a result, I encountered reconstructionist groups of the Roman religion in the Midlands, of the Hellenic tradition in southern Italy, and of Celtic revivalisms in northern Italy. Such movements are clear examples of branches of contemporary paganism which have almost nothing in common with the New Age movement.
Ronald Hutton wraps up the discussion brilliantly by explaining that the two movements clearly manifest points of similarity. They have both drawn members from modern counter-cultures and both regard themselves as providing an enhancement in lifestyle which leads to better personal development and self-expression. However, there are also significant differences, such as the ones highlighted by Pearson. To those, Hutton adds that the New Age movement is based largely upon the quest for a common basis for world spirituality, while pagan witches tend to be instinctively pluralist and to stress the distinctive nature of their own religion and to accept that it is likely only to suit a minority in a world made up of so many different faiths. Furthermore, the New Age incorporates many ideas and practices from Eastern and Western philosophies. While the same attitude is only seen marginally, and incidentally in Paganism. Lastly, while the New Agers see a core value in the figure of the spiritual teacher or the guru, pagan witches are more centred around group dynamics.
To sum it up, Paganism and the New Age are two distinct phenomena which have been conflated in the same category by scholars who specialize in the New Age and Western Esotericism. This conflation has been recently challenged by scholars in Pagan Studies who highlighted how the two are, in fact, separate phenomena, as the liaison points do not justify them being seen as part of one movement and that such conflation ends up flattening the understanding of them both.
So before we wrap up the video, allow me to welcome to the Inner Symposium – which is my Patreon community – my new patrons; K11erpancake and Tyler McCardle. Thank you so much for pledging to my Patreon. I can’t wait to have Zoom calls with you and discussions in our special little community on Discord.
This is it for today’s video. Hope you liked it. Let me know in the comments which part did you like the most and what made you see things in a different light or even whether you disagree with what I’ve just said. I just really want to know what you think about what I’ve just presented here in this video.
But if you did like it, then you must SMASH the like button, subscribe to the channel, activate the notification bell so that you will always be notified when I upload a new video and you will be the first one to comment.
And, as always, stay tuned for all the academic fun.
Bye for now.
REFERENCES
Hanegraaff, W. J. (1996) New Age and Western Culture, Leiden, New York, Koln, Brill.
Harrington, M. (2007) ‘Paganism and the New Age’, in Lewis, J. and Kemp, D. (eds), Handbook of New Age, Brill, pp. 435–472.
Hutton, R. (2019) The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft, Oxford University Press.
Pearson, J. (1998) ‘Assumed Affinities: Wicca and the New Age Religiosity’, in Pearson, J., Roberts, R., and Samuel, G. (eds), Nature Religion Today: Paganism in the Modern World, Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, pp. 45–56
First uploaded 7 Sep 2020