What do we mean by the term "new age"? New Age philosophies might be considered a subgroup of metaphysical philosophy, concerned with defining the ultimate nature of existence as an evolution of consciousness and increasing awareness of cosmic and spiritual energies. Although wildly divergent as a group, New Agers might interpret the new millennium positively, as an opportunity for an evolutionary leap for humankind, a spiritual cleansing, or a time of contact with higher spiritual beings. Practices such as astrology, meditation, crystal healing, and drug experimentation tend to be more favored avenues to the truth, although many New Agers acknowledge truth in Christian spirituality.
Most recently in the news is the Heaven's Gate group.
Prompted by the close approach of the Hale-Bopp comet, 39 group members committed mass suicide in order to merge with a "higher source." Their bodies were discovered on March 26, 1997. The link will take you to a separate page on this group.
Aiming at a general audience, Tom Chase analyzes the possible end of the world in the year two thousand through a deep exploration of New Age concepts. His eloquent and unique, yet unsupported claims have a very good grasp of the Book of Revelation and its interpretations. Tom Chase mentions pop-culture items and their relevance to the end of the world, such as movies, comet Hale-Bopp, Shroud of Turin, Princess Diana, and OJ Simpson. The well thought out belief that the end can be predicted using astrology combined with New Age philosophies is convincingly presented. His site also includes links to another one of his web pages and other sites with related topics. (Accessed March 14th 1999)
Future Fate is copyrighted by New Millennium Products, although no specific author is provided, making it hard to judge the author's qualifications. This site informs the public of many predictions about the end of the world. The author makes it seem that the predictions being made have the same historical
basis. It is suggested that many of the famous predictors information, including Nostradamus, Mother Mary, and Hopi prophecies, is converging on the same time period, therefore suggesting that the end of the world is near. Some categories cited are pole shift, earth changes, and Armageddon One important aspect that is left out is Biblical predictions, which suggests a bias against Biblical prophecies. For this reason, the viewer may feel there is insufficient information on the topics included. The author offers many links to look further into the topics that were addressed. (Accessed February 27, 1999)
Author Tom Howell, who wrote this site objectively, which explores all view points on a wide array of topics, which helps make the site more apt to suit the interests of many. Some of the topics explored are issues pertaining to the nineteen sixties, middle ages, ancient times, present, future, and the roaring twenties. Some more specific examples of topics are Nostradamus, the Oracle of Malta, Harry Houdini, etc. This site is particularly well referenced, as there are links to many references, such as the complete quatrains of Nostradamus', speeches, CD roms, and the list continues. This is just a taste of what the site contains, if the topic you seek has anything in common with the topics listed above, I encourage you to view this site, because it contains an enormous amount of information. (Accessed ?)
The ethnopharmacologist Terence McKenna predicts, among other things, that the world will end, rather, we will be so utterly transformed as to be unrecognizable to ourselves, on December 21, 2012.
Terence McKenna home page seems to be an official site, with e-mail connections to TM, his publicist and business agent. A trip to McKenna's reality, including his visions of the end, can be reached at Hyperborea
McKenna's books are published by Blue Water Publishing. Calculations of the endtime are based on his software Timewave Zero (Site unavailable 25 Feb 1999). However, this Timewave Zero site seems to be operative.
LSW 200
Spring '99
http://merlin.alleg.edu/employee/a/acarr/lsw/newage.html
Last updated March 28, 1999
