Opinion: New Age Beliefs Are Bullsh*t, and I’m Happy to Tell You Why
“New Age” beliefs seem to permeate the Pagan, Witchcraft and Occult scene today, and frankly, I’m tired of it. I’m not going to write a swear-word laden, ranting and raving article; instead, I’m going to focus my energies in sharing why I hold this opinion, and hopefully validate many of you, too. To clarify any misconceptions, when I refer to New Age beliefs, I do not mean witchcraft, neo-paganism, occultism or eastern-based practices. New Age beliefs and practices are those which appropriate practices from many cultures without due respect to the parent culture and its customs and beliefs, and which beliefs are generally unfounded. Examples include ancient astronaut theory, the Galactic Federation beliefs, Soul Contracts, Twin Flames and Angelology/Angel Beliefs. This list is not all inclusive, and each section will go over what the belief is, and why I’m calling it bullshit.
From crystals, to appropriated beliefs and customs, to outright delusional beliefs, like E.T. being God and there being some “galactic federation” of E.T.’s out there trying to guide humanity, it’s all nonsense, and serves only to further a climate of toxic positivity that Christians and other mainstream religions embrace. I’m a firm believer that this attitude denies darkness its due: and herein lies a major problem. If we follow Hermetic principle, then denying the darkness internally, within ourselves, as evil, debased, and wrong, instead of working to heal it, and integrate it, then you’ve become the very thing you swear you’re not: as Crowley would say, “a brother of the Left Hand Path”.
You’ve turned that darkness into a denial of the darker, necessary parts of life; that then feeds into behaviors like gaslighting, manipulation, greed and addiction. How many new agers do you think are just covering up their pain with constant crystal shopping trips, essential oils, meditation, and some white sage? Some are even worse, turning to drugs and alcohol to cope, instead of confronting that darkness. New age beliefs feed the monsters we’re trying to defeat, both within ourselves and in society at large. On a larger scale, we see this also playing out: MAGA, (White) Christian Nationalism, Neo-Nazism, the list goes on. Am I saying that all New Agers share those beliefs? No! However, a significant amount of New Age believers did support QAnon and Trump (and boy were they hoodwinked!). All of these people have denied their darkness, and are now paying the price, as are we. Unfortunately, those of us who take a more balanced approach, must also suffer; the projection of these shadows, this darkness that’s begging to be heard and felt and seen, we now have to experience.
The consequences of this are apparent in the current state of the U.S., and the world: utter chaos, infighting, and a nearing climate disaster that a cabal of wealthy pedophiles seems to want to happen. The approach of Nuclear disaster by a pant-shitting madman and his lackies over literally nothing. These are all manifestations of this darkness that’s been suppressed by so many. And that’s just the start of this opinion piece, and the tip of the iceberg.
Twin Flames, Soul Contracts, and More Bullshit
Boy, oh boy! I cannot tell you how many times I’ve had clients ask me in readings about their twin flame; every time, I’ve mentioned I don’t believe in that stuff, I’m met with a form of disgust, like I’m some unlearned heathen. Heathen? Yes! Unlearned? Nah.
“Twin Flames” uses the premise that the soul chooses where, when and how to incarnate in each life; and some souls choose to split into two, and when the two halves meet each other, there’s some mega-magical-mystical thing that happens and it’s happily ever after. Shadow work is a constant theme, basically encouraging people to torture themselves endlessly to reach some nonsensical state of “soul purity”. What’s really happening, though, is severe psychological damage. You’re putting all your faith in the hopes of making yourself “perfect” for one person, and not yourself. Why do the work when it’s for anyone but yourself, and your own happiness? People will let you down, every time. Instead, put that faith and effort into yourself, for yourself. I speak from experience on the Twin Flame subject, too; I’m not too proud to admit I was hoodwinked by certain people, and it’s taken me years to deconstruct those notions that were planted in my head. Anyone who reads my work throughout my career here at PaganPages will see that process play out in my writing, as well.
“Soul Contracts” are another topic that seems to swirl about in the New Age thought tract, and one that, again, seems to be utter nonsense. None of the ancient mythologies, to my knowledge, mention anything of the sort. The premise, again, is that the soul chooses to incarnate in a certain time, place, etc., and that your soul signed a contract to fulfill certain things. This to me seems to be remnants of Christian religion; instead of “God’s plan” they’ve attempted to give more autonomy to the individual via a “soul contract” that you somehow agreed to before you were in a physical body. To me, it’s just leftover Christian guilt, and nothing more; it also serves to create toxic narratives about someone’s “mission” in life. This is how extremism starts, and I’ll refer you back to the opening paragraphs of this article for further explanation on the “why”.
Something else that irks me about new age beliefs: ascension. The belief that you’re somehow superior spiritually because you meditate harder than anyone, or waste more money on crystals and essential oils at Whole Foods than anyone else does or can. I’m sorry, but no one is better than anyone, on any level; we all have our demons, we all have our flaws and strengths. I certainly don’t purport to be better than even the New Agers by writing this article, I’m just simply saying those beliefs are deluded and not based in reality whatsoever. And ascension is another one of those beliefs that feeds the toxicity swirling about with New Age beliefs.
The Pagan Permeation
I think to me, the worst part of all of this is that these deluded beliefs have crept into witchcraft, the occult and paganism. It’s like, what even is paganism anymore? What actually is witchcraft anymore? All this nonsense has made us lose our essence; the very thing that made us witches, pagans, occultists, polytheists, has been stripped away over time because this nonsense has found its way into our path. It was only a matter of time, of course; the eclecticism of our community is at once a blessing and a curse. While I’m certainly no purist or reconstructionist, I do take issue with unfounded beliefs being embraced by so many who claim to be what they aren’t. It takes power out of the terms witch, occultist, pagan, etc. This is partially why I’ve taken the moniker of sorcerer lately: it’s rarely used, and those who do use it, stick to more traditional, academically informed ways of practice and belief.
Gods and Goddesses do not, in traditional lore and myth, give much of a fuck about what we do, or human affairs in general, save for a few instances, such as when Ra sent Sekhmet to destroy the wrongdoers, and a few other instances in Greco-Roman mythology. Even many of those instances took petitioning of some sort; it generally takes offerings, reverence and petitioning to get the Gods involved; or, you need to be the son or daughter of a God, as much in ancient times as now. Also, I firmly believe no one in modern times is the son or daughter of a god or goddess; that’s outright delusion and those people need serious psychological help. Other than psychological issues being the reason behind not believing such claims, I also believe that when humans abandoned the Gods of Old in favor of the Cult of Yahweh, they stepped back, waiting for us to recognize them again. Never before in history, since the Church assumed dominance, have the Old Pagan Gods seen so much recognition as now; but that doesn’t mean they’re out there birthing new heroes and demigods!
Are the Gods happy about the way things are transpiring? Hell no! We’ve come so far from ourselves that we’re nearly unrecognizable (and AI is going to further fuel that). The Gods do support us who call on them; but they aren’t omnipotent, and they certainly aren’t just waiting around for you to find them and then magickally they absorb your shadows and you’re healed.
On the topic of shadow work, let’s start some healthy conversation about that: yes, shadow work is valid, and psychologically is a (fairly) sound practice, but it needs to be backed by therapy. Spiritual work with psychological methods infused alone will never be enough, for anyone. Anyone who tells you different is lying to you and themselves, and has likely read a few too many New Age books. I speak from experience here again, having been hoodwinked in the past by New Agers acting Pagan; it’s not safe, and will only set you back. Start out the right way and mix that shadow work with therapy. The results will be better and the process will be easier, nor will you risk slipping into spiritual psychosis in the process.
Mediums, Mediumship, and Psychic VampiReaders
The market is seemingly flooded with self-described psychics, mediums and readers. While I do believe in psychic ability, and I do believe in divination, I believe that the majority of these “mediums” are really more like “Psychic VampiReaders”. They siphon energy from people (sometimes unknowingly, other times knowingly) when they give their readings or services. I also question much of what those readings contain; the answers and information given in those readings are often so vague, that it could be about anything or anyone, or for anyone. What spirit(s) are telling them this stuff, and why should anyone trust the supposed spirit, or that “medium”? Sources, please!
I know that divination isn’t always specific, but it feels like a phishing email sent out by these people for money, energy and recognition. They’re usually not in it for the right reasons, or if they believe they are, they hold nonsensical, oftentimes New Age, beliefs that dirty the waters of any value those services may have had, and of any validity these supposed “mediums” have. The whole thing reeks of a pyramid scheme, but for psychic vampires acting like real readers. I’m gonna call it as I see it. If only I could get the shrugging emoji inserted here…
Angels, Healing and Spiritual Warfare
The last topic of new age bullshit I’m going to discuss is listed above; Angels seem to permeate the New Age scene, often
romanticized as they were by the Church throughout the ages. In truth, biblical angels are terrifying, alien looking creatures. In practice, Angels often don’t give a fuck about you or I; and if they do, it’s because you serve some purpose to their agenda. They aren’t looking to miraculously heal you; they certainly aren’t holding any vested interest in the affairs of humans, on any scale; and lastly, they aren’t deity-like or step ins for polytheism because actual polytheism pulls at your Christian Guilt Strings. The whole angel topic is just more white light, dark denying hogwash.
One last thing I’d like to mention: spiritual warfare. This is again leftover Christian ideology from those who can’t and won’t let go of their christian guilt. They might as well go back to church; spiritual warfare has fueled many a toxic rhetoric and awful actions such as genocide, murder and a whole host of other things the white light community seems to deny even exist. Perhaps it’s because they’re afraid of their own darkness? Therefore, they project their christian indoctrination onto everything and everyone else, and play victim. New Age beliefs enable toxicity, narcissism, delusions of grandeur, and in general cause great psychological harm to those who hold the beliefs. They just don’t know it yet.
On a closing note….
~Finis~Das Ende~2288~
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Author Bio:
The Modern Merlin is a Polytheist, Pagan, Animist, Witch, Sorcerer, Paranormal Investigator, Amateur Folklorist, Chaos Magician and Occultist. He embarked on his spiritual and magickal journey over 15 years ago. As such, he has extensive knowledge of The Occult, Ceremonial Magick, Chaos Magick, Witchcraft, Sorcery, and both modern and ancient world religions and folklore. He is a practicing Sorcerer, blending ceremonial high magick, chaos magick and witchcraft, as well as plant medicine, poisonous plants and entheogens, shamanic techniques, and mysticism. He believes that magick can be as simple or as complex as one needs it to be, and rejects dogma, instead trusting his intuition, and encourages other magickal and spiritual folks to do the same! He venerates and casts magick with a wide array of spirits and deities, and works with both the Left and Right Hand Paths, having experience in both. He has also studied eastern philosophies such as Taoism, Zen Buddhism, and Hinduism. He is an Astrologer and Tarot reader and actively studies and practices many other forms of divination including Runes, Ogham, Palmistry, Lenormand and Scrying. An animal lover, he sees divinity in nature-the trees, plants, animals and sky. Also an avid reader, you’re hard pressed to not find him nose deep in a book, most likely on an occult, mystical, religious or magickal subject. He is the Co-Editor of PaganPages.Org and the author of multiple columns for PaganPages.Org. He gives readings and other spiritual services through his Facebook Page, The Modern Merlin, as well other free informational posts for everyone to see! You can reach him on Facebook, or e-mail him at [email protected]
