2003 Programme

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Alternative Spiritualities and New Age Studies  
Conference: Friday 30 May to Sunday 1 June 2003
The Open University, Milton Keynes, England

A major international conference on Alternative Spiritualities and New Age Studies hosted by the Belief Beyond Boundaries Research Group at the Department of Religious Studies, The Open University, co-organised by Marion Bowman, Daren Kemp and James R. Lewis.

The conference reviewed the emergence of Alternative Spiritualities and New Age Studies as a specialised field, and act as a catalyst for further development of the discipline.

As featured in The Times Higher Education Supplement and The Independent. Sponsored by the British Academy.  See the British Association for the Study of Religion Newsletter Conference Report.  The programme is also available (without abstracts) in pdf, Word and rtf format.

PROGRAMME THEMES:

Keynote Speakers: Michael York, Wouter Hanegraaff, Christoph Bochinger, Paul Heelas
Introductory session: What is Asanas?
Concurrent sessions: Contemporary Asanas; Healing Asanas; Roots of Asanas
Concurrent sessions: Language Asanas; Indigenous Asanas; Pagan Asanas 1
Concurrent sessions: Psychological Asanas; Sacred Sites Asanas; Pagan Asanas 2
Concurrent sessions: Management Asanas 1;  Esoteric Asanas; Teen Witchcraft Asanas
Concurrent sessions: UFO Asanas; New Age and Modernity; Astrological Asanas
Concurrent sessions: Management Asans 2; Asian Asanas; Teaching and Learning in Asanas

REGISTRATION: Friday 30 May 2003, 12.30pm - 2.00pm

WELCOME - OPENING COMMENTS: Friday 30 May 2003, 2.00pm - 2.30pm

WHAT IS ASANAS? Friday 30 May 2003, 2.30pm - 4.00pm

Convenor: Marion Bowman

Eileen Barker, Professor of Sociology with Special Reference to the Study of Religion, London School of Economics
"Is the New Age an NRM or an NSM - or Neither?" - Listen to this now
A first reaction might be that the New Age plugs into and offers spirituality rather than religiosity, but is a phenomenon sui generis - and in many respects this is undoubtedly true. But is it entirely true? Are there certain characteristics that seem decidedly 'religious' and not really all that spiritual? And is the New Age really all that different from NRMs - might it, indeed, be a 'cult'? To address such questions one does, of course, need to go into the somewhat tedious debates about What is religiosity? and What is spirituality? - let alone, What is the New Age? This paper will briefly perform such an exercise, and then it will draw upon both qualitative and quantitative research conducted by the author in an attempt to clarify some of the theoretical and, perhaps more interestingly, the empirical issues raised in the taxonomic debate.
William Bloom, Author, The Penguin Book of New Age and Holistic Writing
"A Changing Perspective on the New Age Movement: From marginal flakiness to an intelligent religion for mature people" - Listen to this now
This paper suggests that the New Age movement is most significant as an indicator of a new mass populist approach to religion. Dr Bloom argues that this approach is better labelled as Holism or a holistic approach to religion, its main feature being its open-hearted and open-minded attitude. The size of this movement can be seen in its daily manifestation in all media and the widespread use of holistic healthcare. Holistic Religion is the natural result of the global media revolution and an abundant diversity of information.
Prudence Jones, Past President, Pagan Federation
"Contemporary Paganism: A Guide for the Perplexed"
This presentation will begin by considering some misconceptions about modern Paganism and then present an insider's account of the nature of this contemporary religious movement. It will finish by discussing some topical concerns faced by present-day Pagans in a (largely) non-Pagan world.

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CONTEMPORARY ASANAS: Friday 30 MAY, 4.30pm - 6.00pm

Convenor: Dominic Corrywright

Ruth Bradby, Chester College
"A Course in Miracles": Development, Debates and the Evolution of an Orthodoxy?"
It has become a convention in scholarly writing on the New Age to comment on the lack of creed, central organisation, hierarchy and authority in these spiritualities. Devotees of alternative spiritualities appear to have an epistomology of individual experience which locates them in a postmodern context. However New Age scholar Wouter Hanegraaff has argued that the central beliefs of New Age spiritualities regarding God, ultimate reality and the Self (or Higher Self) have come largely from channeled texts, especially the Seth material channeled in the 1970's by the science fiction writer Jane Roberts, and A Course in Miracles (ACIM) channeled also in the 1970's by research psychologist Helen Schucman. Hanegraaff also points to ACIM as the closest thing that alternative spiritualities have to a revered, widely accepted sacred text. In the case of ACIM, discrete groups following ACIM have blossomed into organisations to support Course users and to promote translations of the Course around the world. In the last decade these organisations have developed emphases different from one another in a manner which is reminiscent of religious denominations. One organisation following ACIM has been labeled unorthodox by the original teaching foundation of ACIM. This important alternative spirituality can therefore be seen to have strong links both with modernity and postmodernity. My paper explores the tensions within this spirituality which has spawned over 700 commentaries and self-help texts and which has devotees in over 30 countries.
Dominic Corrywright, Field Chair Religious Studies, Division of Theology, Philosophy and Religion, Westminster Institute of Education, Oxford Brookes University
"Network spirituality: The Schumacher-Resurgence Nexus"
Network models have achieved wide and varied currency in contemporary descriptions of Alternative spiritualities. However, in general, the ascription of a network structure and functionality amongst alternative religious groups and practices has not been followed with a rigorous examination of how the network is constituted in the field. This paper proposes a web model as the most appropriate taxonomical structure for alternative spiritualities. The web model is applied to a detailed investigation of two linked aspects of the phenomena of alternative thought and spirituality, Schumacher College and the periodical Resurgence. Both are based in the UK and have a global influence on discussions about, in the words of Satish Kumar, "soil, soul and society". The purpose of this paper may be said to have three elements. Firstly to provide a description of an aspect of Alternative spirituality that has not heretofore been the subject of academic enquiry, using phenomenological, historical and ethnographic research methods. Secondly to describe in outline an appropriate model of this aspect of spirituality that is accurate and of use in this specific context and can be of utility in other contexts. Thirdly to make an objective "performance" of the model on three different categories of subject a geographically located organisation, a periodical and an individual. 
Andreas Grünschloß, Institute of Religious Studies, University of Göttingen, Germany
"Scientology - A 'New Age' Religion?"
From its beginning in the 1950ies, Scientology has been widely discussed - both in academia and in the wider public. Indeed, the "Church of Scientology" has surfaced as the most hotly debated movement during the second half of the twentieth century. However, the "religious" nature of this movement and organization as a whole has often been questioned, and for this reason several scholars in the new religious movements area have refrained from a closer study of Scientology. Furthermore, engaging in an academic study of Scientology often implies to be torn right unto the battlefield between the opposite frontlines of unabashed critics and seemingly all too optimistic or even supportive investigators, not to speak of the fear of open hostility from the organization itself in case of critical issues which might get addressed during such a study. For a differentiated and unbiased answer to the question concerning the religious "nature" or "function" of Scientology, it is therefore necessary to recapitulate the historical formation of Scientology, its basic anthropological, soteriological and cosmological convictions, as well as its rituals and institutions, and to relate these findings to the wider realm of contemporary, or older, religious movements. Certainly, several aspects of Scientology don't fit easily into "traditional" concepts of religion, whereas others appear definitely "religious" again. Put into context, Scientology might even turn out as a quite typical esoteric version or "New Age"-product of religion and "Weltanschauung" in a postmodern industrial society.

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HEALING ASANAS, Friday 30 MAY 2003, 4.30pm - 6.00pm

Convenor: Gwilym Beckerlegge

Séverine Desponds, Swiss National Science Foundation, Universities of Lausanne and Zürich 
"Yoga and alternative spiritualities in Switzerland : research report on an encounter" 
In this paper, with the help of the specific case of Switzerland, we will investigate the way western alternative religions have gathered, transformed, and spread indian concepts and practices. Switzerland, though peripheric to the German scene and to Paris, allows us to look at how globalised religious cultures also depend on localised encounters : the alpine scenery has been chosen by numerous occultists and yogis during the last two centuries and therefore played the role of meeting place for the continental European occult scene. Monte Verità, the Eranos-meetings in Ascona since 1933 and the European Union of Yoga Congress in Zinal since the 70's, for example, seem to have helped the dissemination of new religious trends across Europe and further. The paper will draw its sources from a current research conducted in Switzerland and India by a team of indologists and historians of religions (Universities of Lausanne and Zürich). The research focuses on the encounters between the contemporary histories of Neo-Hinduism and New Age.
Anne Rowbottom, Centre for Human Communication, Manchester Metropolitan University
"Following the spirit: negotiating alternative spirituality, Christianity and M.E."
The increasing popularity of alternative therapies is introducing many people to alternative spirituality, often for the first time. One example of this is to be found among sufferers of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS), a condition for which scientific medicine has been unable to produce a cure. Although many people with ME/CFS remain hopeful that medical research will eventually determine a cause and provide a remedy, their reliance on science is far from absolute. Lacking a cure, many people seek alternative therapies where the emphasis is on the holistic healing of mind, body and spirit. However, those following this path often encounter further difficulties with medical science as the standard response of general practitioners moves along a continuum of the hostile, the dismissive and the patronising. For those holding traditional Christian beliefs there is the additional difficulty of combining existing religious beliefs with new spiritualities they encounter. The material presented in this paper is grounded in auto-ethnography and developed through a case study drawn from work in progress. My interest in this paper is with the way those who engage in alternative therapies/spiritualities need to negotiate the tensions between the secular (as represented by medical science) and the sacred (as represented by alternative therapies/spiritualities and Christianity). In conclusion I argue that through this negotiation those with ME/CFS are living out in their daily lives issues central to the current debate over the secularisation thesis, religious belief and new age spiritualities.
Judith Macpherson, University of Stirling
"Reiki healing In Scotland" 
Reiki is a healing practice 'rediscovered' in Japan in the 1920's. It encapsulates many of the concerns of holistic healing in the post-modern world where 'the self' may be seen as fragmented, ego driven or constrained by the mores of materialistic and rationalistic society. Within this paper I shall examine why Reiki is one of the fastest growing healing practices in Scotland. In order to facilitate this evaluation I shall follow on from Robert Fuller's writing on nineteenth century sectarian healing in America, where he highlights several key themes also central to Reiki healing in Scotland. I shall propose that a Reikian worldview provides the space for women and men, "…to express their yearning for freedom from elitism, institutionalism, and remote sources of authority and power" (Fuller, 1989:18). Hence the Reiki practitioner 'works' on self and others in the domestic sphere and seeks to becomes a more active agent by giving "…inherited belief systems a new and more functional expression" (Fuller, 1989:19). People do Reiki, the emic positioning runs, "because it is a self empowering practice that works", with the individual taking primary responsibility for his or her own spiritual, emotional and biologically embodied way of being. Therefore in this paper I shall introduce (a) the centrality of gender as a category for analysis in relation to Reiki practice at both local and global levels noting (b) how power is intertwined in a Reikian emanationist cosmology, where 'healing touch' is 'played out' in and on the body as a form of cultural discourse.

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ROOTS OF ASANAS, Friday 30 May 2003, 4.30pm - 6.00pm

Convenor: Roderick Marin

Roderick Main, Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies, University of Essex
"New Age thought in the light of C. G. Jung's theory of synchronicity"
The influence of the personality and thought of C. G. Jung on the New Age is widely acknowledged by participants and scholars but has been the subject of very few focused studies. The imperfect understanding and selective appropriation of Jungian thought by the New Age and the peremptory dismissal of the New Age by large sectors of the Jungian world only increase the need for such studies. The present paper examines Jung's late theory of synchronicity (meaningful acausal connection) both as a direct and indirect influence on New Age thought and as a helpful perspective for understanding some of its principal contexts, tenets, and aspirations. Connections are drawn between synchronicity and such New Age themes as ambivalence towards traditional religion and science; the notion of correspondences in revived practices of magic and divination; the assumptions of holism and an interconnected universe; the re-enchantment of nature; the cosmogonic significance of consciousness; the desire for direct spiritual experience; and the location of authority in a spiritual self. The paper suggests that a fuller appreciation of its connections with depth psychological theories such as Jung's could help to situate New Age thought more clearly within contemporary intellectual and cultural history.
Kevin Tingay, Doctoral Candidate, Bath Spa University
Ancient Mysteries for a New Age - the Ritual Dimensions of Theosophy
The Theosophical Society, founded in 1875, saw its task as that of restoring to the public realm a wisdom tradition that had subsisted from time immemorial but had been concealed within the outward forms and doctrines of the world's faiths. In the main this work was carried out through public lectures and the printed media. Little ritual or devotional activity took place at the formal meetings of the Society itself, but the movement was instrumental in the establishment of a range of subsidiary and connected groups for ceremonial work in the period between 1900 and 1939. Some of these groups had a public manifestation, whilst other operated in secrecy. In examining the context and process of this ritualisation the paper will suggest that parallels may be drawn with similar processes in new age and pagan circles in the second half of the 20th century.
Franz Höllinger, Department of Sociology, University of Graz, Austria
"Does the counter-cultural character of New Age persist? Empirical analysis of the social and moral attitudes of New Age activists"
From its beginnings in the 1960ies up to present times the New Age movement has undergone a considerable change. Originally, New Age was a counter-cultural movement, connected and interacting with other counter-cultural movements of that time, such as the ecology, the hippie, and the commune-movement. During the last decades, spiritual and esoteric methods were divulgated and popularised by an expanding market of literature, workshops and courses. New Age methods are used more and more in a purely instrumental way, i.e. as methods for improving ones health and self-awareness, without any reference to the ideological dimension of New Age. In my paper I will show by means of quantitative empirical studies that in spite of the transformations mentioned above the affinity between New Age-activism and culture-critical attitudes persists to a certain degree. However, the attitudinal patterns are not entirely consistent, and also contrasting tendencies can be found in the data.

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RECEPTION: Friday 30 MAY 2003, 6.00pm 7.00pm 

KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Friday 30 MAY 2003, 7.00pm - 8.00pm

Convenor: Marion Bowman

Michael York, Reseach Fellow, Bath Spa University
"Wanting to have your New Age cake and eat it too"
Is there such a thing as a New Age Movement? Is there such a thing as New Age spirituality? Are we talking here of a real and identifiable phenomenon, or something closer to an artificial construction created by scholars, the media, advertisers or all these? The answers to these questions depend of course on how we chose to define such terms as `movement' and `spirituality' let alone `New Age' itself. In this paper, I propose to approach the term `New Age' as a label to suggest not only how the expression came into being but also who is most likely to employ it. A label is by default superficial, but this identifying marker can in turn be helpful, benign, contentious, inflaming or even, simply, misleading. Labels or banners are what help us choose between alternatives, they are also things we can rally around in the fury of battle, righteousness, vindictiveness and revenge, and they serve to our propensity to pigeonhole and write-off something that we simply wish to dismiss. The question concerning the New Age label per se has both etic and emic dimensions. Is there something really there behind the label and how did it develop? And, secondly, how is the label used by those who identify with it as adherents? In the fusing of boundaries that would appear to be both intrinsic to New Age spirituality and the cause of its overt ambiguity to academics and others, an intentional non-clarity would seem to be a clever means to have one's cake and eat it too.

REGISTRATION 2: Saturday 31 MAY 2003, 8.30am - 9.00am

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LANGUAGE ASANAS: Saturday 31 May 2003, 9.00am - 11.00am

Convenor: Daren Kemp

Olav Hammer, Department of Theology/Religious Studies, University of Amsterdam
"New Age and the Discursive Construction of Community"
In a society with a plurality of religious options, New Age practices and beliefs form one contested set of options among many others. Among the various groups of social actors who produce discourse concerning the legitimacy of New Age practices, the present paper focuses on two: religious virtuosi of the New Age milieu on the one hand and representatives of skeptical organizations on the other. Interviews with individuals from each group as well as textual material show how each of these groups produces characteristic images of their own activities as well as the activities of the negative Other. Besides struggling over the legitimacy of specific New Age practices, at another level such discourse also involves contesting concepts of personhood, social control, rationality and of the gendered nature of knowledge. These discursive constructions can in turn be seen as contemporary manifestations of older traditions, a tradition of assent and a tradition of disbelief; two interpretive communities that exist side by side but orient themselves by means of distinct hermeneutic strategies.
Anna E Kubiak, Poland
"New Age Languages: Babel Tower or Glossolalia?"
The paper refers to the problems with the definition of New Age as a more general predicament of late modern culture. The paper analyzes the situation of detraditionalised culture, where there are no cultural Centres, no pure cultures, no authentic products. Detraditionalisation, lack of the Centre and Authority, is the condition of late modern culture. New Age is not the subculture nor alternative culture. It is rather a complementary culture making the hybrids. It is in constant transgression. The author makes the distinction between New Age in a broader and a narrow sense. In the broader sense there is a constant flux of New Age-y fragments: symbols, sentences, images, tunes and tones. In the narrow sense the paper proposes to talk about New Age climates which means that there are places where there is a density of New Age cultural equipment. The author discusses the change in the status of New Age myths and mythicizeing as: the conventionalization of the form, the constant transgression of signs, naturalisation of significance. Myths are distributive (not collective), individual and contextual. A lack of a coherent narration which was the essence of traditional mythicizeing characterizes mythicizeing. The paper shows the influence of common sense thinking and popular culture on new Age. The author proposes her own category to describe social life in New Age. She presents new social phenomena as confluent communities. The category was inspired by Anthony Giddens analysis of love and eroticism in modern societies. The paper develops these ideas in the context of today's social, cultural and religious problems.
Daren Kemp, Author: "New Age: A Guide" (Edinburgh University Press)
"Non-English language studies of New Age"
New Age has famously been described as the lingua franca of the postmodern global community. Yet the vast majority of New Age studies are in the English language, with non-English language studies almost totally isolated to their own Sprachrauemen. Faut-de-mieux, this paper gives a tour de force survey of academic literature on New Age on a global basis, including accounts in French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish and Dutch. While few if any scholars of New Age can be expected to be au fait with all the languages in which New Age studies are available, it is hoped that an introductory literature survey such as this will stimulate further networking between scholars of diverse languages and maybe even the translation of some key works. (Nota bene - apologies offered in advance to conference attendees who are fluent speakers of these languages!)
Elizabeth Puttick, formerly Editorial Director of Thorsons (HarperCollins)
"New Age Publishing: Reflecting or Creating the Trends"
This paper explores the role of publishing and the media in the dissemination of New Age and other alternative movements. Marilyn Ferguson claimed that 'Business executives may be the most open-minded group in society … because their success depends on their being able to perceive early trends and new perspectives'. This is certainly the case with publishers and other media professionals. However, in picking up and promoting trends they also play a significant creative/shaping role as well as often making the careers of the teachers and gurus whose books become bestsellers.

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INDIGENOUS ASANAS: Saturday 31 May 2003, 9.00am - 11.00am

Convenor: Graham Harvey

Christina Welch
"Dances With 2 Wolves: New Age and Native Americans"
Mikael Rothstein, Associate Professor, Department of History of Religions, University of Copenhagen, Denmark 
"Tradition and Transformation: The Adaption of Native Hawaiian Religion into New Age Belief Systems" 
The influx of native belief systems into New Age cosmologies is a well known element in the fabric of viable New Age thoughts. The ways such belief systems are adapted and the consequences that follow, however, need to be studied more systematically. Taking its departure in theories of syncretism, this paper seeks to explore one example of this phenomenon, namely the use of native Hawaiian religion on the part of modern New Agers. The presentation is primarily based on text analysis but data from a preliminary field-work will also be used.
H Christina Steyn, Department of Religious Studies, University of South Africa 
"Where New Age and African Religion meet: the case of Credo Mutwa" 
During the 1990s the international New Age scene was characterised by an interest in Native American spirituality and shamanism and this has sparked a renewed interest in local traditions amongst South African New Agers. This paper will introduce the life and teachings of Credo Mutwa, a Zulu sangoma whose adaptations of traditional African religion and culture have resonated with New Agers in South Africa and abroad. When Credo Mutwa was initiated as a sangoma he took a vow never to reveal the secret tribal knowledge, but soon after felt that it was a hindrance and that he should share the wisdom with the world. In 1964 he published his first book Indaba, my children and has since worked ceaselessly to gain respect for the African religion, culture and people. Mutwa is however a walking paradox. He is a traditionalist who has never claimed cultural purity and a custodian of traditional culture who has invented much of what he claims is traditional. He is revered by many as a holy man and shunned by others as a charlatan and a fraud. This paper will examine some of his writings and will explore points of convergence and divergence between New Age, African Traditional Religion and the unique interpretations of Credo Mutwa. It is suggested that African religion has more to offer the interested New Ager than merely an exploration of the journey of the sangoma.
Charlotte Hardman, Alternate Head of the School of Arts and Cultures, Department of Religious Studies, University of Newcastle 
"New Age Encounters with Shamanism"
The first part of this paper will summarise the leading figures representing shamanism in the New Age, the contexts of their encounters and the conceptions and representations of shamanism by Westerners (mainly American and British). The paper goes on to look at the content and tone of the scholarly critique of Western representations of Shamanism and the critiques by members of other New Religions. The third part of the paper looks at how the image and practice of modern shamanism is being used in debates in indigenous communities as well as in the West and the final part looks at the impact of this Western interest in Shamanism on some indigenous groups.

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PAGAN ASANAS 1: Saturday 31 May 2003, 9.00am - 11.00am

Convenor: Douglas Ezzy

Douglas Ezzy Sociology University of Tasmania, Australia
"Popular spell books and the reenchantment of everyday life"
Witchcraft is entering mainstream culture through movies, magazines, websites, novels, and spell books. This paper examines a small number of popular spell books to investigate the effects of popularisation on the beliefs and practices of Witchcraft. I interrogate the debate about Witchcraft 's relationship to the New Age to identify characteristics that might be present in a popularised Witchcraft. The characteristics include: the self-ethic, a this-worldly orientation, holism, evolutionary development and ephemeral participation. I argue that popularised Witchcraft has some New Age characteristics, but that other interesting trends include the reenchantment of everyday life and the sacralisation of the sensuous through love spells, body confidence spells, and material prosperity spells. I argue that the paraphernalia of New Age Witchcraft are a site in which central contemporary identity issues are contested.
Tom Hope and Ieuan Jones, Department of Sociology University of York 
"Questioning the 'Mainstream': Locating British Paganism as Late Modern Culture"
This paper addresses the place of contemporary British Paganism as part of European culture. It is in two halves, with the first exploring Paganism theoretically and historically, and the second empirically. The first half of the paper discusses the broader sociological contexts within which Paganism has arisen. In particular, it will look at how the processes of modernity, manifesting within Western Europe through such processes as individualisation and secularisation, have provided fertile ground for the inculcation of Pagan worldviews by effectively undermining cultural and institutional impediments to the adoption of overtly magical sensibilities. The second half of the paper examines the group processes of British Pagans, highlighting the predominance of late modern community forms above often presumed cultural differences. The results of participant observation and in-depth interviews of Pagans are used to demonstrate these processes of interaction. These include a brief exploration of the use of information technologies in communication and group maintenance. Finally, conclusions are presented that reject the usefulness of a strong differentiation between 'mainstream' culture and 'Pagan' culture, additionally raising questions that should be approached if contemporary religious forms are to be understood more completely. 
Shelley Rabinovitch
" 'We're Not Them': Antipathy Between Modern Neo-Pagans and the New Age Movement"
Despite loud protests from both spiritual groups, many researchers have typically grouped the modern Neo-Pagan movement together with the New Age movement of the last 30 years. Although both groups attend functions such as commercial psychic fairs, they are equally vocal about being something unique and different from the other. This paper will critically examine some of the academic work which does not differentiate between "New Age" and "Neo-Pagan", adding field work interviews in order to try and formulate some of the differences and/or similarities between the two movements.
Anne Ferlat, Bath Spa University College
"New Age and Neopaganism in Russia
Russia today has seen the emergence of pagan organizations since the 90's. Russia knows similar religious phenomena as Western European countries, i.e., the emergence of New religious movements as well as New Age. This paper intends to understand whether there is a relationship between the pagan movements today in Russia and if so, what these links are according to a comparative perspective developed by authors such as Paul Heelas, Michael York, Wouter Hanegraaf. We will focus on self development which is one of the key notion in New Age to observe how this notion is understood nowadays in the specific context of post-communist Russia, as well as nature relationship, "strongest overlap between Neo paganism and New Age".

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COFFEE: Saturday 31 May 2003, 11.00am - 11.30am

KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Saturday 31 May 2003, 11.30am - 12.30am

Convenor: James R. Lewis

Wouter Hanegraaff, Professor of History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents, University of Amsterdam
"Swedenborg and New Age Religion"
Several specialists of the New Age movement have highlighted the importance of Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) for the emergence of New Age religion. In this lecture I will critically re-examine and evaluate the arguments in this regard, and address the question of how and why an 18th-century scientist, visionary and biblical exegete could be seen as a key figure in the emergence of a current of popular spirituality in the heavily secularized context of late-20th century society. As part of my argument, I will address the more general problem of the relation (or, as the case may be, lack of relation), in New Ages studies, between social science perspectives on the one hand, and perspectives of intellectual history on the other. Charlotte Hardman, Alternate Head of the School of Arts and Cultures, Department of Religious Studies, University of Newcastle "New Age Encounters with Shamanism" The first part of this paper will summarise the leading figures representing shamanism in the New Age, the contexts of their encounters and the conceptions and representations of shamanism by Westerners (mainly American and British). The paper goes on to look at the content and tone of the scholarly critique of Western representations of Shamanism and the critiques by members of other New Religions. The third part of the paper looks at how the image and practice of modern shamanism is being used in debates in indigenous communities as well as in the West and the final part looks at the impact of this Western interest in Shamanism on some indigenous groups.

LUNCH: Saturday 31 May 2003, 12.30pm - 2.00pm

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PSYCHOLOGICAL ASANAS: Saturday 31 May 2003, 2.00pm - 4.00pm

Convenor: Miguel Farias

Franz Höllinger, Department of Sociology, University of Graz, Austria
"The dissemination of esoteric beliefs and New Age-activities in Europe and America"
During the last decades, many social scientists have studied the New Age movement. The principal empirical sources for these studies are self-descriptions of the goals of New Age by its protagonists, observations among cult-groups and interviews with adepts. So far there exist very few empirical studies investigating the dissemination of esoteric beliefs and New Age-activities more systematically in the general population and in cross-national perspective. In order to fill this gap, I have organized an international survey on "Esotericism and Religion among Students", carried out in 16 universities in Europe and in America. In addition, I have arranged that questions about this issue were included into two representative population surveys, the International Social Survey Programme 1998, and the Austrian Youth Value Study 2000. In my paper, I will present and interpret results from these studies. Thereby, I will also discuss methodological problems, in particular the question of the appropriateness of indicators, the selection of items and scale-construction for cross-national comparative research, and the difficulty to distinguish empirically between traditional "popular" esotericism, and modern "New Age"-esotericism.
Dick Houtman and Peter Mascini, Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Erasmus University, The Netherlands
"Why Do Churches Become Empty, While New Age Grows? Secularization and Religious Change in the Netherlands"
This paper addresses the question posed in its title by testing two types of sociological theory about secularization and religious change. The first is called the thesis of rationalization here. It predicts the death of religion tout court as a consequence of increasing levels of rationalism. The second is called the thesis of individualization. It predicts religious change as a consequence of increasing levels of moral individualism. Since panel data or longitudinal data ranging back into the 1960s on acceptance of New Age beliefs do not exist, those theories are tested by means of 'one shot' survey data collected among the Dutch population at large in 1998 (N=1,848). Three religious types - New Age, Christianity, and non-religiosity - are constructed and compared, focusing on the degree to which age differences between them are attributable to rationalism and moral individualism. It is concluded, first, that there are no indications that the decline of the Christian tradition has been caused by a process of rationalization. Second, the decline of the Christian tradition and the growth of non-religiosity as well as New Age are caused by increased levels of moral individualism. Implications for the sociological analysis of cultural and religious change are discussed.
Miguel Farias and Mansur Lalljee, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford
"Who am I? Self-Concepts and Motivational Goals in New Agers, Catholics and Atheists/Agnostics"
We will discuss a study which intended to test (1) Whether and how individuals with contrasting religious preferences (New Age versus Catholic) have different self-concepts and values, in a way that parallels cross-cultural studies of individualist-collectivist cultures; (2) The sociological and anthropological assumptions of the New Age Movement (NAM) as a modern religion of the self, and whether it imitates contemporary values of utilitarian individualism or/and promotes ways to self-transcendence. For this purpose, two contrast groups were used, one of practising Catholics and another of Atheists/Agnostics, and assessed on a battery of social-psychological tests, frequently employed in cross-cultural studies, measuring self-concepts and values. The main results of this study suggest that the NAM espouses a hybrid form of individualism with holistic characteristics and stress on self-transcendence. While being different from Catholicism, which is clearly more collectivist-oriented, it also sets itself apart from non-religious participants in that it is less individualistic and it emphasises a set of abstract-universal self-concepts and self-transcendent values.
Pehr Granqvist, Dept. of Psychology, Uppsala University, Sweden
"Insecure attachment and The New Age Orientation Scale (NAOS): Seeking security but failing to find it"
The present contribution has two aims: To show that (1) the new age arena is more homogeneous than is typically thought, insofar as the average new ager´s spiritual orientation is concerned, and (2) new age orientation is linked to the compensation, as opposed to the correspondence, characteristics described in the literature on attachment and religion. The presentation will draw on data from three Swedish studies. Concerning (1), an instrument was developed to assess new age orientation as an individual difference variable. Items were formulated to tap the central features of the new age, with an effort to include the theoretical heterogeneities of the movement (e.g., parapsychology, pop-psychology, eastern thinking, alternative medicine, occultism, religious syncretism, subjectivist epistemology). Nevertheless, factor and internal consistency analyses showed the scale to be both homogeneous and internally consistent in all samples. The construct validity of the scale was supported by findings showing a new age sample to score higher than a general population sample. Concerning (2), findings showing new age orientation to be related to indices of insecure attachment will be presented. Drawing on unpublished data, it will be shown that the link between new age orientation and insecure attachment is not restricted to questionnaire assessments of attachment, but is present also when attachment is independently assessed by a certified coder based on a semi-structured interview. Moreover, it will be shown that new age orientation, unlike traditional religiosity, is not linked primarily to estimates of an insecure history, but also to current mental incoherence/insecurity regarding attachment, including both organized insecurity (e.g., preoccupying anger, passivity of thought processes) and disorganized/unresolved states concerning experiences of loss and abuse. It will be concluded that the new age may be ill suited for the task of mental integration of past attachment adversities.
Emmanuelle Peters, Lecturer in Clinical Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry (IOP), King's College, University of London
"Are delusions on a continuum?"
Work into schizotypy has suggested that symptoms of schizophrenia, such as delusional beliefs, are at the extreme end of a continuum which ranges from healthy functioning, through eccentricity, to florid psychosis. Garety & Hemsley (1994) have also highlighted the need to view delusions as multidimensional phenomena rather than all-or-nothing events. The PDI (Peters et al. Delusions Inventory) is a questionnaire measuring delusional ideation in the normal population which encorporates dimensions of distress, preoccupation and conviction. A number of studies comparing "normal", New Religious Movements (NRMs), and deluded people on the PDI will be reported. The overall findings support the notion that there is a continuity of function between normality and psychosis, with "normal" individuals (both non-religious and religious) being at one end of the continuum, the deluded individuals at the other extreme, and members of NRMs at the intersection. Secondly, the results support the multidimensionality of delusional beliefs, since the NRMs and the deluded groups could be differentiated by their scores on the distress and preoccupation dimensions, but not on the conviction dimension. It is concluded that whether or not one becomes overtly deluded is determined not just by the content of mental events, but also by the extent to which it is believed, how much it interferes with one's life, and its emotional impact. These data call into question our existing diagnostic criteria for delusions, which emphasise unduly the content or "bizarreness" of beliefs to classify them as pathological (Garety, 1985; Sims, 1988). It is suggested that form may be more important diagnostically than content: it is not what you believe, it is how you believe it.
Caroline Brett, Institute of Psychiatry (IOP), King's College, University of London
Appraisals of anomalous experiences: why do people become distressed? 
Experiences associated with psychotic disorders, (such as transpersonal, psychic and paranormal experiences, perceptual anomalies, and a range of 'altered states'), have been found to occur on a continuum across the general population. Within psychological approaches to psychosis there is a growing interest in the dimensions of interpretation and emotional response to anomalies of experience in determining distress and need for treatment. A study was carried out in which the types and contexts of experience, frameworks of interpretation and emotional and behavioural responses to the experiences were assessed using a novel semi-structured interview procedure. The sample encompassed a wide range of individuals (n = 90), including both those with a diagnosis or history of treatment for psychotic disorder, and those who had never sought treatment or received a diagnosis of a psychotic disorder, from a broad range of ages (17 - 62 yrs), and religious and cultural backgrounds (including for example: Christian, Sannyas, Buddhist, Bhakti Yoga, Atheist, Wicca, Muslim). The contexts in which these kinds of experience were seen to occur, patterns of experience and the factors associated with distress regarding experiences, will be presented. The implications of these findings for a psychological model of psychosis, and the clinical relevance of the anomalous experiences examined, will be discussed.

Discussants: William Bloom and Paul Heelas

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SACRED SITES ASANAS: Saturday 31 May 2003, 2.00pm - 4.00pm

Convenor: Jenny Blain

Jenny Blain, Social Science and Law, Sheffield Hallam University and Robert.J Wallis, University of Southampton, UK.
"'Claiming our say': sacred sites and contested identities"
This paper draws on research into paganisms, western shamanisms, 'sacred sites', and folklore to examine constructions of pagan identities and pagan voices at contested sites. Pagans appear as 'users' of places and folklores, yet pagan interpretations are often downplayed or trivialised within (for instance) site management, academia, and the media, and even use is regularly treated as problematic or as non-serious. Western paganisms include a wide range of diverse practices and indeed beliefs., but in media accounts and often in those of heritage management, differences disappear and indeed paganisms generally become submerged into the category of 'new age' - much to the dismay of many practitioners. Examples abound: Stonehenge at the summer solstice is only the most prominent - for instance, at Avebury, a tense situation between management, pagans, and many local residents has been escalating. Also at Avebury, calls from some pagans to 're-erect the stones' and becoming increasingly loud. As increasing numbers are identifying with paganisms - from all walks of life including Travellers and professionals - pagan voices are found in many forums, though still treated there as marginal. Yet, negotiations are occurring, and some common ground can be identified. Issues to be addressed include questions of definition; tensions within this non-homogenous community; and issues of multivocality are contested 'rights' over the intellectual, as well as physical, property of sacred sites.
Adrian Ivakhiv 
"Power Trips: Constructing Sacred Space in New Age Pilgrimage"
Is "New Age travel" anything more than a new, niche-marketed means by which places, landscape and culture are commodified, "orientalised," "museumised," bought and sold? This paper will examine the growing international phenomenon of New Age pilgrimage. It will focus on the roles of visuality and representation, narrative (including the discourses of "Gaia," "Earth energies," and "sacred geometry") and non-visual means of encountering landscape in the production of New Age sacred space at Sedona, Glastonbury, and other New Age "power places."
Mustafa Draper, University of Birmingham
Marion Bowman, Senior Lecturer, Religious Studies Department, Open University
"WYSIWYG or WYSIWYW ?: Virtual reality in Glastonbury"
It has been said that in Glastonbury, it is not a case of What You See is What You Get, but What You See is What You Want. This paper explores the apparent 'malleability' of Glastonbury, the quality that allows it to appear as so many different places simultaneously. Such malleability and simultaneity can be seen both in the claims made for it in terms of spiritual status ('Ancient Avalon', 'cradle of English Christianity', 'New Jerusalem', 'Heart Chakra of Planet Earth'), and physically (through claims of landscape figures and features as varied as the Great Salmon, the Glastonbury Zodiac, and at least two Goddess figures).

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PAGAN ASANAS 2: Saturday 31 May 2003, 2.00pm - 4.00pm

Convenor: Shelley Rabinovitch

Stef Aupers, Faculty of Social Sciences, Erasmus University Rotterdam
"Neopagans, technopagans and the reenchantment of computertechnology"
The classical assumption that scientific and technological progress are the main driving forces behind, what Weber called, the 'disenchantment of the western world', is still basic knowledge in contemporary sociology. In this paper, however, it is argued that new computertechnology is compatible with and even stimulates the growth of the neopagan movement. Adler (1986) and Luhrmann (1991) already pointed out that a large percentage of pagans in England and the United States are technicians, software designers and programmers. Nowadays, there is even a growing group of ICT-experts who refer to themselves as 'technopagans' (Aupers 2002, Davis 1999, Dery 1996, Rushkoff 1994). This paper is an analysis of various interviews with technopagans who live and work in Silicon Valley. They argue that 'sufficiently advanced technology can no longer be distinguished from magic'. Moreover, they express animistic ideas and sentiments when talking about, what they perceive as, a complex, opaque and autonomous technological environment. Paradoxically, the ongoing process of rationalisation seems to provide a good explanation for the reenchantment of new technology as exemplified by technopaganism.
Prudence Jones, Past President, Pagan Federation
"Origins of the New Age Triple Moon Goddess"
The Triple Moon Goddess of modern Pagan and New Age thought is generally assumed to be an invention ex nihilo of the twentieth century, with no precursor in classical antiquity. Specifically, she is thought to have been created by the poetic imagination of Robert Graves (1895-1985), with possible inspiration from the classicist and anthropologist Jane Ellen Harrison (1850-1928). Thus Hutton (1999: 42), Seymour (1995: 310ff) and York (1995: 387). However this hypothesis is incorrect. The ancient prototype of Graves' Triple Moon Goddess was familiar to his contemporaries who shared his own wide-ranging literary education (e.g. Crowley, Wilde), and was also discussed in the German classical encyclopedias of the 19th century. Graves was entitled to take knowledge of her existence for granted. This paper is the first to reveal the identity of the ancient triple goddess. It will trace her transmission from classical poetry and art, through the Neoplatonic philosophy of late antiquity and the poetry of the Renaissance, to the scholarly as well as occult commentaries of the nineteenth century which underpinned Harrison's and Graves' work and led directly to the New Age resurgence.
Jenny Butler, University College Cork
"Ireland's Neo-pagan Community: Worldview and Ritual"
The Irish Neo-pagan community draws on various themes from Irish cultural heritage. The incorporation of these themes exemplifies both the re-interpretive and constructivist aspects at play within the process of Neo-pagan identity construction. An example of the re-interpretive aspect is the way in which many Neopagans, Druids in particular, associate themselves with the pre-Christian Druids. Connections are made by modern Irish Druids between the rituals they practice and the rituals that ancient Irish Druids are believed to have practiced. Similarly, Wiccans and Hedgewitches make connections between their own magical traditions and those of the past by making references to the "Wise woman" (a well-known "village witch" figure in rural communities in eighteenth and nineteenth century Ireland.) Making theses connections between modern magical practices and those of the past is part of identification with cultural history. Constructivist aspects of Neo-pagan culture can be seen in the way modern Pagans attach a certain value to Irish heritage sites. Megalithic monuments, stone circles in particular, are attributed special meanings that are part of contemporary pagan culture. My paper will explore these cultural processes with reference to my research experiences with the Irish Neo-pagan community.
Robert J Wallis Associate Director MA in Art History, Richmond the American International University in London and Post-Doctoral Research Fellow Department of Archaeology University of Southampton
"Shamans/neo-Shamans: Diversity of interpretation in the study of a 'new' 'alternative' spirituality"
The classic shaman Other has long fascinated westerners and now, at the turn of the new millennium, increasing numbers of westerners term themselves shamans or 'shamanic practitioners'. Academic interest in these neo-shamans has accelerated in recent years and a number of publications offer critical ethnographies of neo-shamans vis-à-vis indigenous/traditional and prehistoric shamans. In this paper I argue that all too often, such research neglects the diversity of practitioners and their socio-political contexts in favour of monolithic criticisms, usually in the vein of 'inauthenticity' and 'cultural theft'. Drawing on more recent analysis (e.g. Wallis 2003), I offer a rather different, more nuanced appraisal, drawing attention to aspects of neo-shamanisms which can and should be problematised (with examples of neo-shamans doing this, self-reflectively, themselves) - from romanticism to individualism; and to aspects which have positive benefits - for indigenous/prehistoric shamans, academic studies on shamans/neo-shamans, and neo-shamans as well. I contend that scholars must be prepared to give up some of their hold over knowledge, and not only be aware of these neo-shamanic approaches, but also engage in serious dialogue with such 'alternative' spiritualities. 

TEA: Saturday 31 May 2003, 4.00pm - 4.30pm

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MANAGEMENT ASANAS 1: Saturday 31 May 2003, 4.30pm - 6.00pm

Convenors: Karen Lisa G. Salamon and Martin Ramstedt

Leonie Cornips, Meertens Instituut, Amsterdam
"A Sociolinguist's Approach to the Study of Shared Lexicon of Alternative Spirituality and Corporate Culture" 
It is well known that language is not only an instrument for the communication of messages but it carries social meanings or social connotations. Language and society are viewed as co-constitutive: the linguistic features and patterns people use are not mere re-flections of static identity, as defined by one's position in an existent social order, but rather are recourses speakers use to shape and re-shape social structures. One of the questions raised in this talk is: if and how do professional organisations (un)consciously define themselves in and through language. In order to answer this question, this talk will report on the search to find patterns of language use, in particular, the use of metaphors and lexical elements that characterise spoken and written language of two multinationals, Rabobank and Delta Loyd in various specific settings. Moreover, it will be investigated whether the language use of these multinationals is influenced by and/or reveals interac-tion of spiritualism.
Karen Lisa G. Salamon, Department of Management, Politics and Philosophy, Copenhagen Business School 
"Investing in the Self. Values-based self-management in virtualist capitalism"
Basing itself on ethnographic fieldwork amongst management-consultants and managers in the 1990s, the paper argues that neo-spiritual and previously counter-cultural ideals of personal self-transformation have become part of Western organisational thinking. Soul and spirit are forces of knowledge- and service-production in abstract capitalism. Personal abilities to master emotions, affection, innovation, body-timing and social identification are essential in contemporary forms of so-called intelligent production. Activists of spiritual movements and New Age thinkers have long cultivated technologies for self-management and conceptualised these in terms of marketable products, forms of capital and fields for investment. For example, successful management guru and Mormon preacher Stephen R. Covey has argued that "the new capital is not money. It's in the minds of your people". It is accordingly consciousness, motivation and innovation that are produced or grown, sold and invested. The working subject is subsequently articulated as an incarnated essence (fluid capital) that must be under constant, teleological (self)development and growth in order to produce value. The neo-spiritual position that we are each individually in charge of creating and evolving our own selves (by which move we can improve cosmic existence) resonates well with the contemporary social and economic structures of constant growth through disciplination: "Now, most of us, even those of us with modest endowments, will have to learn to manage ourselves. We will have to learn to develop ourselves. We will have to place ourselves where we can make the greatest contribution" (management guru Peter Drucker, Harvard Business Review, 1999).
Monica Emerich, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Colorado 
"Capitalizing on Nature or Spiritualizing Capitalism? The Case of the LOHAS Journal and Natural Business Communications" 
This is a case study of a media company that promotes sustainable business as a way to fundamentally alter the landscape for economic, social and environmental change. Based on the concept called LOHAS ("Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability"), U.S.-based Natural Business Communications (NBC) publishes The LOHAS Journal and produces the annual "LOHAS Market Trends Conference." By doing so, NBC promotes its own profit-based interests by laying claim to the acronym "LOHAS," which it created and promotes as a new business model. LOHAS has become an international keyword to legitimize and codify the emergence of a single new industry-that of LOHAS- out of multiple industries that NBC says serve a common consumer. These industries include sustainable manufacturing, organic and natural foods, alternative medicine, personal development and ecological consumer goods. Seeking, in its own words, "to foster a new paradigm of sustainable business practices that can help create positive change," NBC's mission is to stimulate communication and trade among diverse businesses that serve the needs of consumers whose spirituality has merged with their market demands. Identified as "Cultural Creatives," these consumers represent an estimated 30% of the U.S. population and a $230 billion marketplace. Cultural Creatives believe in the interconnectedness of global economies, cultures, environments and political systems but also in the interconnectedness of mind, body and spirit in order to achieve full human potential. In an interview in The LOHAS Journal, the well-known poet-prophet of alternative medicine, Deepak Chopra, M.D., said "the true purpose of a business, as we move from an information-based society into a knowledge-based society, and ultimately into a wisdom-based society, the true purpose of the business is to nurture the ecosystem." I propose that The LOHAS Journal and conference serve as formations of and media for the business of 'nature religion', as Catherine Albanese uses that term. NBC has a dual mission. First, the founders seek to earn profit within a nature-based operative, one that honors not just environmentalism but that takes an expanded worldview of that term by incorporating the health of individuals living in harmony with the natural world. Second, they wish to inspire innovation, creativity and dialogue within the marketplace that provides goods and services to value-based consumers. This paper presents a case study of the evolution of a business established upon individual alternative spiritual values and that seeks to contest and reinterpret the mainstream Western economic model, not from the periphery of the "New Age" but from a center position by identifying a pre-existing consumer market for holistic living as an under-served niche in the marketplace.

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ESOTERIC ASANAS: Saturday 31 May 2003, 4.30pm - 6.00pm

Convenor: Daren Kemp

Julia Iwersen
"Meanings and Senselessness of Holism. Some Traces in Esoteric Epistemology"
In this paper, I will clarify important features of Esotericism as a belief system that is in part shaped by an independent anti-Kantian and anti-Cartesian epistemology. I will re-examine the following key themes that appear in Esotericism as a result of this epistemological shaping: the sacralization of nature and therewith its role as a symbol as well as a symbolizer of intelligible notions; the cosmos, humanity and human consciousness as evolutionary developments; the functions ascribed to the "Self"; and finally the ultimate reality of the world as a whole versus the illusionary qualities simultaneously ascribed to its individual phenomena. I will then touch on the history of Esoteric thought and consider some of the changes that it has undergone in the course of a history of Western idea formation, especially the way in which a hermeneutical construction can help us understand the interrelated and coherent worldview that Esotericism offers. I will argue here against the paradigm of presupposed secularizm that has been used in recent scholarship as proof of the character of a "Modern Esotericism" as a religious response to the challenges of modernity. Instead, I will focus on the ways in which Esotericism is grounded in ideas much older than modernity, despite its congruency with modern as well as postmodern cultural traits.
Sophia Wellbeloved 
"Gurdjieff, 'Old' or 'New Age': Aristotle or Astrology?" 
In his written teachings, G. I. Gurdjieff (1866?-1949) uses two opposing modes of defining the universe, humanity and their relation to each other, and thus sets up two conflicting sets of instructions for his reader. One set of definitions is Gnostic hierarchical and complex, in which ever more precise definitions are arrived at by the Aristotelian method of classifying things, people, and the world according to their differences. This method of classification answers questions such as, 'what is special about this, how is it separate from the mass of the all?' The other mode which Gurdjieff uses is that of astrological correspondences, in which things are defined by their similarity to others. This method leads to an ever widening net of likenesses and answers questions such as 'how is this thing like other things, how can it be joined to other things and approach closer to the all?' His texts require the reader to make some reconciliation between these two modes of defining and understanding himself and the world around him. This paper will outline the modes of definition and relate them briefly to Gurdjieff's references to the 'Old Age' Theologies, Philosophies and Sciences of the last two millennia and to the pre-Aristotelian and post-modern 'New Age' modes of classification. It will show that while Gurdjieff's texts seem to provide a rigidly defined frame-work of cosmology and psychology, they are in fact paradoxical and anomalous. The multivalence of these texts reveal a teaching that is more 'New Age' than 'Old'.
Georg Ronnevig 
"From 'alternative' to 'mainstream': Some aspects of New Age in Norway"
This paper deals with Alternativt Nettverk; a leading New Age journal in Norway and a network organization that organizes several New Age fairs around the country every year. The paper discusses the significance of Alternativt Nettverk and suggests that a conscious New Age movement in Norway, known as alternativbevegelsen, first got a strong and firm footing in the 1990s, several years after the birth of a conscious New Age movement internationally. Alternativt Nettverk seems to have played a decisive role in this respect. The paper also deals with how religious ideas are communicated in new social and cultural contexts that are not primarily thought of as religious settings. One example of this is the use of astrology and New Age courses in Norway's modern economic life. The paper considers to what extent the New Age in Norway is about to be regarded as "mainstream" ideology.

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TEEN WITCHCRAFT ASANAS: Saturday 31 May 2003, 4.30pm - 6.00pm

Convenor: James R. Lewis

Peg Aloi, Emerson College
"A Charming Spell: The Intentional and Unintentional Influence of Popular Media Upon Teenage Witchcraft in America"
James R. Lewis, University of Wisconsin
"The Triumph of Generic Witchcraft"
Although difficult to measure accurately, modern Paganism is growing rapidly, partially because of the expansion of the internet. Part of the current growth builds on changes that have taken place in the movement over the past two or three decades. These changes include: 1). The emergence of self-initiated solitaries as the preferred option - estimates I have heard from insiders are that between 70% and 80% of all Pagans are solitaries - which makes it easier to become involved via the internet. 2). The simplification - sometimes referred to as 'Llewellynization' - of Paganism and the resulting emergence of what might be termed 'generic' Wicca as the dominant form of Paganism. 3). Paganism has also been mainstreaming, though this development is a bit harder to put my finger on. Paganism used to have a strong counter-cultural 'feel'; nowadays I meet a lot of self-identified Pagans who come across as more 'new-agey.' 4). More recently there has been a significant expansion in the number of teen Pagans. Maybe Paganism is becoming a fad in the youth culture like the Goth movement used to be? All of these tendencies have been accelerated by the interne