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PAGANISM and the NEW AGE Melissa Harrington This Chapter PAGANISM AND THE NEW AGE Melissa Harrington This chapter focuses upon discourse on Paganism and the New Age, reviewing important studies, and discussing critical views on the rela- tionship between these two spiritualities. The main problem in such discourse is that authors writing about the New Age are discussing a huge spiritual and life-style domain, and foundational studies have tended towards a wide inclusivity that has lead to certain generalisa- tions regarding Pagan religiosity, which do not work when subjected to a closer scrutiny. Key problem areas that have generated the most critical discussion of this relationship are highlighted. These include: confl ating different Pagan traditions and belief systems; attributing New Age belief systems to Paganism; attributing New Age privileging of mind/spirit over body to Paganism; attributing New Age views of ego, self and psychology to Paganism; overwriting positive Pagan atti- tudes to tradition, authority and commitment; and decontextualising aspects of Pagan practice to include them in New Age eclecticism. It is suggested that discussions of New Age and Pagan relationships that have been most fruitful are those that have looked at the differences as well as the similarities between these spiritualities, and that this would be a good direction for further study. The birth of modern Paganism can be located in the mid-twentieth century, when Druidry and Wicca came into the public eye. Hutton (2003) traces the emergence of the Ancient Druid Order from eight- eenth century secret societies, and its infl uence on the development of later Druid orders, which he describes as blossoming after 1975 (Hutton 2003:242). Wicca is well documented as having evolved from the covens of Gerald Gardner (Hutton 1999), who claimed to have discovered a surviving remnant of ‘the Old Religion’ in the New For- est, and published his fi rst non-fi ction book making this claim in 1954 (Gardner 1954, 1959). Wicca swiftly evolved into the most popular form of modern Pagan religion, with increasing numbers of differing denominations (e.g. Gard- nerian, Alexandrian, Dianic, Feminist, Hedgewitch, Faery), and offered a template for the non-denominational, or eclectic Paganism that has 436 melissa harrington become apparent within the last decade. Eclectic Pagans do not fol- low any particular Paganism, but follow a Pagan religious path, that includes the overall Pagan ethos of reverence for the ancient Gods, including the divine Feminine, participation in a magical world view, stewardship and caring for the Earth, and ‘nature religion.’ They also tend to celebrate the same eight festivals including the solar solstices and equinoxes. Thus Paganism has come to be an umbrella term for a diverse spiritual network, which also includes modern Shamanism and Heathenry. Heathens have reconstructed ancient Norse rituals and religious practices, and revere the pantheons of the Vanir and Aesir; thus some Heathens also sometimes specifi cally call themselves Vanatru and Asatru. Academic Study of Paganism The academic study of Paganism is in its infancy. The fi rst notable work was published by Tanya Luhrmann in 1989, an anthropological study of a magical community in London, in which she asked how ‘normal’, middle class people could come to believe in magic, and its effi cacy. Her work has been heavily criticised by subsequent scholars of Pagan- ism (Orion 1995; Pike 1996; Harvey 1999; Pearson 2000; Greenwood 2000; Pearson 2002; Hutton 2003), both in terms of methodology and of discourse. It has come to be something of benchmark for discussion of covert and overt observational techniques, the effi cacy and moral implications of undertaking initiations into closed groups for research purposes, and the validity of emic or etic researcher positions. Luhrmann’s work was followed by a rather better received anthro- pological study of a similar London community by Susan Greenwood (Greenwood 2000). Greenwood managed to maintain her academic objectivity whilst undertaking participant observation with a number of Pagan groups, and proposed a theory of magic as communion with the ‘otherworld’. Other anthropological work includes that by Loretta Orion in America (Orion 1995); Sarah Pike’s (2001) study of the Pagan festival scene as a community of choice; Jone Salomonsen’s brilliant monograph on San Francisco’s Reclaiming community of feminist Witches (Salomonsen 2002); and Sabina Magliocco’s Witching Culture (2004) which explores American Paganism as a spiritual counter-culture to that of dominant American culture (Magliocco 2004). Helen Berger has undertaken a detailed sociological study of American Paganism .
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