Do you think new age religions are fantasy driven?

Question

I saw something on TV about a festival in Glastonbury celebrating the mother Godess. It was all pretty flowers and colourful garments, singing, dancing and chanting. But, nature is cruel and savage as well as beutyful. A Godess of nature would also have a very dark aspect as well as a beutyful one, this was not reflected in the programe.

Answer 1

I think all religions are fantasy driven.

Answer 2

The Goddess accepting religions usually acknowledge the creative and destructive side of nature. This is the life, death and rebirth cycle.
There are various fetsivals which highlight different aspects of this. You don't say what festival they were celebrating.
The more balanced "new age" religions honour both the Goddess and God icons, because it is realised that everything within nature has it's dualities.
All religions rely upon a certain amount of fantasy or imagination because they are based on faith and belief.
It is hard to comment upon the programme without knowing what the producers aim was.
But if you used the Easter festival as sole a representation of Christian festivals you would think the Church was obsessed with death.
There are plenty of examples of Goddesses that display the cruel and savage.
Hecate and Isis are the 2 main goddesses of mediteranean myth related to by pagan factions, there are of course other forms of the archetype in Greek, Roman and Celtic mythologies. They were all proactive dieties who demonstrated the dual aspects of nature.
In later Christian times the female diety is reduced to being a Virgin or a demonised temptress.
So yes, all religions have an element of fantasy to them.

Answer 3

Of course the Goddess has dark aspects as well. There are only a ton of books on that very subject, the multiple aspects of the Goddess. Naturally some TV producer isn't going to dwell on anything that makes people think.

And to answer your question, no. Lumping all earth-oriented religions under the stereotypical "New Age" label is grossly unfair to those of us who are take our beliefs seriously. That's not to say that we don't have our airheads - I think you'd agree that every religion does.

But a question for you, what's wrong with pretty flowers and colorful garments? Serious Pagans/Wiccans/Witches don't have to dress in sack cloth and ashes because the Goddess has Her darker aspects. Joy and celebration, and freedom of thought and belief, are what makes being a Pagan so wonderful.

BB! (that means Bright Blessings) and have a great day!

Answer 4

All religions are fantasy driven. Another answer called it the ancient people's "Theory of Everything" and I agree. Besides its not really "new age" as such. Its revised versions of older pagan religions.
As to the festival, pagans do celebrate the darker aspects of their gods & goddesses, as well as nature.
Depends which of their festival days they are celebrating... Time of the year, sun, moon and different season are also important when choosing to celebrate a specific aspect of the goddess.

Answer 5

What a mixture of religious practices and rituals you have referenced. There are NO new age religions. The new age is a mixture of ideas that change with passing whims. Earth based religions (pagan, new thought, other) do a lot of festivals of flowers, seasons, nature often based on the changing moon and sun positions.

Answer 6

There is no religion that has not come from human fantasy. God is the result of an ancient quest for explanations. It's kind of like M-(string) theory, the "theory of everything" in ancient times, but as it never has been able to disprove this concept, it survived in mythology. Openly doubting the existence of a "god" also never has been a favorite occupation for many people in the past (but it still continues into present days), because it most likely would result in severe beatings, torture or even death.
The difference between the ancient concept of "god" and string theory is that the latter might be proved to be true or false one day (hopefully in the largest man made apparatus ever built: the particle accelerator CERN), and as most likely god doesn't exist, it will never be proved, nor disproved.

Answer 7

New age refers to astrology. The age of aquarius that will begin about 250 years from now. No gods or goddesses. Just a time period influenced by the stars. We are in the age of pisces, the age of Jesus. The new age is suppose to be less concerned with religion.

Answer 8

Because people don't want to celebrate the darker side of a goddess. People should respect the darker side of the soul because you use it a lot more than you think. Darkness should be praised with the light because they are the two fundamental building blocks of the soul

Answer 9

Yes I saw that programme, it was Heaven & Earth.

It was a rather unfortunate interview, as many Pagans saw it as being too 'fluffy'.

Few if any serious Pagans these days accept the idea that there was once a Goddess worshipping matriarchial society.

Answer 10

I think you got it wrong
New Age Spiritual not Religion
And to answer your question NO it is all Spiritual knowings not beliefs
Through meditating will you find your truth as a knowing within the SOUL : )
Maybe you need to research it more : )

Love & Blessings
Milly

Answer 11

It was the Goddess convention and they were focusing on Hecate, the Crone. She is based on death and rebirth. It was reflected actually, when they put the notes in the ritual fire.

'New Age' religion is NOT fantasy based. They are based on Earth Religions that were wiped out because of Patriarchal uprisings.