It's hard not to wonder, when so much of the New Age is so old. Tarot, Astrology, Runes, Candles, Incense and other trappings of the "New Age" have been around for centuries. There doesn't seem to be anything new about it.
There doesn't seem to be much new in the news, either. Earthquakes, other natural disasters, violence, wars and rumors of wars. All of this seems depressingly familiar in our "new age".
Some of the books that claim to enlighten us don't help much. They talk about "consciousness shifts", "mass spiritual awakenings" and "a merging with the universal mind", terms which leave some readers floundering,, trying to visualise exactly what they mean.
Worse, some writers simply seem to ignore the fact that the world is in a mess. Is Global Warming our "New Age"? Are we headed for a change in the world's demography similar to an Ice Age, or the end of the dinosaurs? Or are we simply witnessing the inevitable decline of civilisation as we know it?
Actually, the answer is that we have not reached the "New Age" yet. We are in a period of turmoil, of transition, as the New Age births itself out of the old, like a phoenix rising from the ashes.
But first the ashes have to be formed.
This is not, I believe, the Biblical fires of Damnation, although many will disagree with me about that.
What we are witnessing is what the brilliant writer Isabelle Allende called "The Relationship Between Events."
This is the true meaning of Karma, that what ye sow so shall ye reap. What you put into place today, the choices you make, and the steps you take, will have far reaching consequences you may not have taken into consideration.
During the Industrial Revolution, and during the greed crazed latter half of the 20th Century, when production was all that mattered, and later, consumption of the mass produced goods, little thought was given to the consequences.
A few voices in the wilderness cried out and were ignored. We have already witnessed some of the most horrible consequences imaginable. The ravages of Mercury poisoning of Japanese fishing communities, the destruction of the Black Forest by acid rain, wildlife decimated by oil spills and thoughtless destruction of the natural habitat.
The American Indian Elders have been warning us for decades that we shall reap what we have sown.
To save ourselves, and our planet, we need to think in a new way. This is what is meant by a consciousness shift.
To save our selves and the myriad life forms around us, we need to realise we are more than flesh and blood and material desires. This is what is meant by a mass spiritual awakening.
And to act on this understanding we need to stand together and realise that all life on this planet is sacred, and no less important in the scheme of things than we are. This is what is meant by merging with the universal mind.
But the transformation from a greedy, self interested, materially oriented species to a gentle, nurturing and spiritually aware species willing to share the planet with each other and all creatures, is not going to be easy.
It starts slowly at first, with a few questioning minds and intrepid souls prepared to speak up and be heard.
Then it starts to spread, until the vision of this new age begins to take hold, and leaps, like a forest fire, from mind to mind.
Something comes along, a way of connecting these visions, an instant way of recognising each other and sharing this great thought, that we can be creators of the New Age.
Is it synchonricity, that the Internet opens communications in this way? Call it what you will, the movement gathers momentum through this new portal of understanding between people vast distances away from each other.
We are creating the New Age, you and I, out of our visions, and our dreams, and our hopes and prayers for a beautiful world for our children and their children and all who come after to live in.
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