Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2005 Choosing A Life: A Study of Women New Age Healers in Tallahassee, Florida Ann Marjorie Powell Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES CHOOSING A LIFE: A STUDY OF WOMEN NEW AGE HEALERS IN TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA By ANN MARJORIE POWELL A Thesis submitted to the Department of Anthropology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science Degree Awarded: Fall Semester, 2005 The members of the Committee approve the Thesis of Ann Marjorie Powell defended on October 27, 2005. _____________________ Bruce Grindal Professor Directing Thesis _____________________ Michael Uzendoski Committee Member _____________________ Joseph Hellweg Committee Member Approved: _______________________________________ Dean Falk, Chair, Department of Anthropology The Office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the above named committee members. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis would not have been possible without the willingness of the four informants to open their lives to the curious eyes of a student anthropologist. I thank them each for their honesty and trust. I would also like to thank my committee members, Michael Uzendoski and Joseph Hellweg for their insightful comments. And above all, I would like to thank Bruce Grindal, my committee chair, not only for his valuable counsel, but also for his patience, clarity, and good humor. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract vi Introduction 1 1. Review of Literature 5 Historical Context: 18th century-early 20th century 6 Chronological Unfolding 8 Case Studies 11 2. Life Story: Theory and Method 14 3. The Lives of Healers 20 Adele 20 Bonnie 24 Carol 28 Darlene 31 4. Common Themes 36 Generation Gap 36 Childhood Spirituality 37 Family Disconnect and Social Isolation 39 Traumatic Events 41 Men, Abuse, and Addiction 43 Identity 45 Metaphysical Self-Help 48 5. Wounded Healer 53 The Calling 53 Wounding/Death 54 Self-Healing/Rebirth 55 Healing of Others 57 The Neo-Shaman 61 A Shifting Culture 62 APPENDICES 67 A Interview Guide 67 iv B Human Subjects Application 72 BIBLIOGRAPHY 79 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 83 v ABSTRACT This thesis is an inquiry into the lives of four women in Tallahassee, Florida, who have not only chosen to adopt New Age beliefs, but also to become New Age healers. Of particular interest are the life events that influenced their decision to become metaphysical healers. Are there common themes in the life experiences of these four women? Do these life experiences parallel the life experiences and life stories of traditional shamanic healers? How has the incorporation of New Age ideas and healing practices affected their lives and their views of the world? And more broadly, how may these lives be understood in the context of our present times and in turn contribute to our understanding of the reinvention of shamanic healing in the New Age movement? The primary mode of investigation in this study is the ‘life story.’ Each informant provided a chronological account of her life, detailing the events and experiences she felt were most significant. These four life stories were then evaluated for common themes relevant to the thesis objectives outlined above. vi INTRODUCTION The expectation that spirituality should result in social and therapeutic benefit is a common one and reflects the pragmatic orientation of American religion, as does the willingness, on the part of many Americans to try out new forms of religious experience. Exercising a new freedom to depart from conventional forms of religious belief and practice, many Americans have justified their religious reachings by laying aside some of the qualms that rationalist and rule-oriented religious authorities have had about unorthodoxy and unconventionality. For today’s spiritual enthusiasts, as for many of those in the past, the salutary benefits of new forms of spirituality justify their practice. -Amanda Porterfield, 2001 The Transformation of American Religion Though often associated with 1960s counterculture, the conception of ‘New Age’ as a spiritual movement has historical roots as far back as the nineteenth century. The term ‘New Age’ was first used in the late 1800s by psychic medium John Ballou Newbrough, who published a book of spiritual prophecy entitled OAHSPE: A New Age Bible. ‘New Age’ was then appropriated by later mediums of the early 1900s to refer to the state of highly evolved human consciousness and enlightenment, believed to be a future result of the sun moving from the astrological house of Pisces to the house of Aquarius (Jenkins 2000). Astrologers contended that the constellation area or “house” that the sun occupies exerted certain influences over the Earth and those living on it (Jenkins 2000). The Age of Pisces was a period beginning with the birth of Jesus Christ, followed by two thousand years of Christian dominance (Jenkins 2000). The current age, the Age of Aquarius, was prophesized by astrologers to be an era marked by unprecedented advances in spiritual enlightenment (Jenkins 2000). The counterculture of the 1960’s involved a heralding of the New Age with a proliferation of metaphysical religious groups and beliefs (Kyle 1993). It was this proliferation that established the New Age as a significant spiritual movement in the United States. Today, as J. Gordon Melton (1987) observed, ‘New Age’ is a broad stroke that refers to all the attempts at ‘Aquarian’ spirituality, past and present. This liberal application is apparent considering the disparate collection of spiritual subjects encompassed within the movement. Included are traditional divination techniques such as 1 astrology, tarot, numerology, I ching, tea leaves, and runes; female centered spirituality such as goddess worship, paganism, and wicca; extra-sensory ability such as spirit communication and channeling, aura reading, psychic abilities, psychometry, telepathy, and telekinetics; spiritual interpretations of the Mayan calendar, Egyptian pyramids, ancient secret orders, and lost civilizations; native spirituality which typically includes shamanic techniques such as the use of medicine wheels, medicine bags, spirit animals, questing, and drum trance; psychology-based spirituality such as dream interpretation, Jungian theory, and the Human Potential Movement; spirituality based on future catastrophe such as alien invasion, global warming pole-shifts, and earthquakes, and spirituality based on existential theories of modern quantum physics. Because New Age covers such a wide range of non- or quasi-Christian religions and practices, it is most successfully defined by the most fundamental characteristics that the groups share. Yves Lambert (1999), professor of sociology and religion, distilled this eclectic variety to its common fundamental principles. In general, most of these new religious forms cater to the ideals of self-reliance and personal fulfillment. Many New Age belief systems are the hybrid product of diverse spiritual traditions and scientific principles blended together. The result is an ideological plasticity that allows an individual to move between groups within the New Age network, easily integrating the beliefs from one group into another. This dynamic system facilitates continual spiritual revision and permits an individual to add, discard, mix and match various elements as personal needs may dictate. Further emphasizing the importance of the individual, New Age beliefs are typically reinforced through first person experience and interpretation of the divine instead of requiring the assistance of an ordained intermediary. The New Age religions that do involve some type of affiliation are typically devoid of an organized hierarchy and operate within a more egalitarian structure. In addition to these qualities, New Age groups also tend to emphasize the relationship between mind, physical body, and environment, and often include a healing component based on this concept of interconnectivity. Metaphysical forms of healing began to emerge in the early 1800s, but it was not until the late twentieth century that a growing disdain and distrust of Western medicine fueled a more pronounced popularity of alternative healing within the New Age movement. Holistic alternative medicine is 2 inexpensive, and most techniques promise a whole mind/body healing without the side- effects of standard Western treatments. Examples of these alternative methods include acupuncture, aromatherapy, ayurveda, biofeedback, Chi Gong, homeopathy, hypnosis, iridology, meditation, Reiki, shamanic healing, and Tai Chi, as well as remedies offered by various dietary schools of thought such as the Essene diet, macrobiotics, natural hygenics, and raw-foodism. While much research has been dedicated to New Age ideology and healing practices as part of a cultural phenomenon (Harris 1974), (Melton 1983), (Kyle 1993), (Lambert 1999), (Jenkins 2000), (Porterfield 2001), less attention has been paid to the lives and personal motivations of its adherents. People and their culture engage in a creative synergy, each constantly reinterpreting and reflecting the other. An individual’s experience of his or her culture serves as a valuable illumination of subtler cultural aspects that might otherwise go unnoticed. For this reason, a life story can enhance the understanding of the societal whole. This thesis is an inquiry into the lives