Excerpt from chapter three in: A Catholic Response to the New Age Phenomenon by the Irish Theological Commission in 1994. To see the contents of the whole chapter, click here.
"New Age Movement" is abbreviated as NAM.
Trance channelling is not the only spirit activity popular in the NAM. There are various methods of acquiring familiar spirits, disguised as 'counsellors', or friends to advise people in their decision-making. They can be acquired through mind control techniques that use counsellors in the so-called 'laboratory' of the heart in a step-by-step relaxation of mind and body technique that is offered by some groups, such as the Silva Mind Control, as a non-religious way of making oneself more productive in learning, mental work, or more successful in business. This practice is used in self-help groups for healing, relaxation, and creativity enhancement.
These counsellors can be anybody, including the dead or demonic spirits. From the time these spirits are engaged, one is told to pray to them and ask their advice on everything. This opens the soul to demonic influence as we have no control over the forces involved, because the person has been put into a relaxed state in which they are ready to receive any influence without using the filter of intelligence or rational thinking. The process also makes the faculty of the will supple and compliant, and ready to receive any stimulus. This is a basic NAM technique for developing higher states of consciousness. 'This practice of engaging familiar spirits is one of the most diverse, pervasive, and influential NAM methods in use today'. 53 Texe Marrs claims that the Silva Mind Control practice is based on occult philosophy, simply repackaged in de-religionised form for the materialistic west. 54 Silva Mind Control teaches that the subconscious mind can be programmed to achieve any desired goal. 55
David Spangler claims that there is a higher form of communication with these spirits than channelling. In his book Revelation: Te Birth of a New Age he says that meditation opens a person up to a new level of consciousness. If this individual joins a group at this level he or she can learn to let go of individual consciousness and develop group consciousness. The individual with aptitude can then learn either separately or in the group to allow 'another consciousness' from 'another level' to 'manifest' through them by 'fusing' with this being. 56 Thus an entity calling itself 'John' manifests through Spangler. Spangler claims that this 'fusing': 'I am you and you are I', 57 is superior to channelling, because he and 'John' are ONE, so that John speaks through Spangler. 58 Thus, Spangler claims to be a mystic.
The Findhorn community manifested other entities through the group, 59 because they developed this group consciousness (or entered into group initiation). Thus the entity calling itself 'Limitless love and truth' manifested itself by giving 'revelation' through the most sensitive one, namely Spangler. The transmissions of this entity form the major part of Revelation: The Birth/, of a New Age, from chapter 4 onwards. Sometimes this spirit speaks as if it were 'god', sometimes it admits that it is separate from God. 60 Yet it claims to be the source of a 'new heaven and a new earth' (ibid.). After they were asked to 'live the life of this presence', 61 the group saw itself as 'a centre for materialisation' of this entity. 62 The entity needed the group in order to manifest. 63 It identifies itself as: 'I am the Light' (ibid.). The transmissions of this entity form part of the 'new scriptures' of the NAM, hence the title of the book. All other serious leaders claim to have 'messages' from spirit entities, for example Creme gets his from Lord Maitreya. 64
NOTES
(Full details of the publications referred to in these notes can be found in the Select Bibliography).
53. Inside the New Age Nightmare, Randall N. Baer, p. 105. Elliot Miller, in A Crasb Course in the New Age Movement, says that the NAM has an occult spirituality that is repugnant to, and incompatible with the Christian faith. See pp. 122, 173. See also Unicorn in the Sanctuary, Randy England. His book shows the impact of the NAM on the Catholic Church, p. 117.
54. Dark Secrets of the New Age, Texe Marrs, p. 11. See also Randall N. Baer, p. 9.
55. Beyond The Love Game, Robert Scheid, 1980, where these principles are applied to getting a life partner. See also The Secret Place, Richard E. McKenzie, 1984, which explains the gateways to the subconscious used by the Silva Mind Control. They teach that the mind can be programmed to achieve any goal.
56. Revelation: The Birth of a New Age, David Spangler, p. 14.
57. Ibid., p. 49.
58. Ibid., pp. 40-43.
59. Ibid., pp. 33-38.
60. Ibid., p. 50.
61. Ibid., p. 37.
62. Ibid., p. 48.
63. Ibid., p. 50.
64. Reappearance of Christ and the Masters of Wisdom, B. Creme pp. 227-248.
