Just what is the fuss over New Age?
The Magisterium of the Church is often slow and deliberate when it makes a ruling; but it is always made in the foundation of Scriptural truth.
What exactly is "New Age?"
"The New Age Movement is both a religious and a social movement. Western culture has currently experienced a new paradigm, a spiritual and sociological shift; it is a religious world-view that is hostile to Christianity. It's multi-faceted and has the ability to synthesize mystical religions and world religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, and Occultism. The only religion that cannot be conglomerated into its unity is orthodox Christianity. It is the theosophy that has been practiced and hoped for by occultists for centuries.
Here is what the Church has to say about the following practices.
Reiki |
The seven major chakras used within many
Western systems of Reiki appear to be much like the chakras in the painting below dated 1824. Mikao Usui (Sensei), founder of the Reiki System of Healing was born in 1865. |
From the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
C) Reiki and the Healing Power of Christ
8. Some people have attempted to identify Reiki with the divine healing known to
Christians. They are mistaken. The radical difference can be immediately seen in the fact that for the Reiki practitioner the healing power is at human disposal. Some teachers want to avoid this implication and argue that it is not the Reiki practitioner personally who effects the healing, but the Reiki energy directed by the divine consciousness. Nevertheless, the fact remains that for Christians the access to divine healing is by prayer to Christ as Lord and Savior, while the essence of Reiki is not a prayer but a technique that is passed down from the "Reiki Master" to the pupil, a technique that once mastered will reliably produce the anticipated results. Some practitioners attempt to Christianize Reiki by adding a prayer to Christ, but this does not affect the essential nature of Reiki. For these reasons, Reiki and other similar therapeutic techniques cannot be identified with what Christians call healing by divine grace.
Reiki Masters offer courses of training with various levels of advancement, services for which the teachers require significant financial remuneration. The pupil has the expectation and the Reiki Master gives the assurance that one's investment of time and money will allow one to master a technique that will predictably produce results. the essential nature of Reiki. For these reasons, Reiki and other similar therapeutic techniques cannot be identified with what Christians call healing by divine grace
To read the full article on Reiki by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, click here.
I take a "Holy Yoga" class at a local Christian church. Is this O.K?
"Yoga - Is it Permissable for Christians?
The Church distinguishes between physical postures and the philosophy or religion underlying them (cf: Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, On Christian Meditation). The adoption of a particular physical posture, even if originating in a religious or philosophical system foreign to Christianity, is permissible provided the posture is severable from the religion or philosophy that first motivated it. Its use then becomes possible in Christian freedom (cf. 1 Cor. 8), and indeed the Church has "baptized" even pagan practices that were not intrinsically linked to paganism.
The question of yoga, therefore, becomes "to what extent can yoga postures be independent of non-Christian religious motivation, as well as any intention to manipulate forces or energies described within a non-Christian worldview?" This is the same question which arises with respect to Reiki healing practices, which also depend on a non-Christian, indeed an occult, worldview.
If it is a matter, therefore, of simply using yoga positions for relaxation in preparation for Christian mediation, while not embracing to any degree the philosophy or explanation behind the posture, their use is theoretically possible.
However, many Christians who are former practitioners of yoga argue that it is not possible, that the dangers of the occult remain, especially by efforts to manipulate internal forces in order to achieve a particular physical state. That, while natural causation is claimed, in fact achieving the result depends on the existence of the very forces which the non-Christian philosophy teaches. Separating the philosophy from the posture makes possible the posture’s Christian use, but removes any value of it over any other physical posture. On the other hand, retaining the posture and seeking its purpose necessarily adopts a non-Christian worldview, opening the individual to spiritual forces, as opposed to simply material ones, who are opposed to their salvation.
While the question of yoga has not been definitely answered by the Magisterium, Christians who are considering its use, or the use of any practice derived from non-Christian philosophies or religions, should be familiar with two documents: the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith's On Some Aspects of Christian Meditation, and the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue's Jesus Christ, The Bearer of the Water of Life. They should then scrupulously apply the principle of the necessity for the complete separation of a practice from any religious or philosophical system which is contrary to Catholic teaching or the practice of the faith." EWTN - Search for Yoga
Catholic Answers Magazine on Yoga - Click Here
"Yoga - Is it Permissable for Christians?
The Church distinguishes between physical postures and the philosophy or religion underlying them (cf: Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, On Christian Meditation). The adoption of a particular physical posture, even if originating in a religious or philosophical system foreign to Christianity, is permissible provided the posture is severable from the religion or philosophy that first motivated it. Its use then becomes possible in Christian freedom (cf. 1 Cor. 8), and indeed the Church has "baptized" even pagan practices that were not intrinsically linked to paganism.
The question of yoga, therefore, becomes "to what extent can yoga postures be independent of non-Christian religious motivation, as well as any intention to manipulate forces or energies described within a non-Christian worldview?" This is the same question which arises with respect to Reiki healing practices, which also depend on a non-Christian, indeed an occult, worldview.
If it is a matter, therefore, of simply using yoga positions for relaxation in preparation for Christian mediation, while not embracing to any degree the philosophy or explanation behind the posture, their use is theoretically possible.
However, many Christians who are former practitioners of yoga argue that it is not possible, that the dangers of the occult remain, especially by efforts to manipulate internal forces in order to achieve a particular physical state. That, while natural causation is claimed, in fact achieving the result depends on the existence of the very forces which the non-Christian philosophy teaches. Separating the philosophy from the posture makes possible the posture’s Christian use, but removes any value of it over any other physical posture. On the other hand, retaining the posture and seeking its purpose necessarily adopts a non-Christian worldview, opening the individual to spiritual forces, as opposed to simply material ones, who are opposed to their salvation.
While the question of yoga has not been definitely answered by the Magisterium, Christians who are considering its use, or the use of any practice derived from non-Christian philosophies or religions, should be familiar with two documents: the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith's On Some Aspects of Christian Meditation, and the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue's Jesus Christ, The Bearer of the Water of Life. They should then scrupulously apply the principle of the necessity for the complete separation of a practice from any religious or philosophical system which is contrary to Catholic teaching or the practice of the faith." EWTN - Search for Yoga
Catholic Answers Magazine on Yoga - Click Here
EWTN lists the following information and New Age practices, etc. Click Here
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A PARTIAL LIST OF NEW AGE PRACTICES, PRACTITIONERS, AND ORGANIZATIONS
Alpha brain wave training Lifespring Astral (out-of-body) experiences Luciferian initiations B'ahai Faith Shirley MacLain Alice A. Bailey (Theosophical Society) Meditations (certain programs) Biofeedback Edgar Mitchell (Institute of Noetic Sciences) Biorhythms Myers-Brigg Type Indicator Workshops Helena Petrovna Blavatsky Native American sweat lodges (reconstructions) (founder of the Theosophical Society) Neuro-Linguistic Programming (Enneagram) Breathing regimens (certain programs) "New Age" diets, real estate, and travel Channeling "New Age" management training courses Church Universal and Triumphant (CUT) Ouija boards Color healing Out-of body experiences, Cryptozoology including near-death experiences (NDEs) Crystals and other shapes used for "empowering" "Past life regression analysis" Dream Workshops Positive thinking (certain programs) |
Dungeons and Dragons game Elizabeth Clare Prophet Erhardt Sensitivity Training (est) Forum Seminars (Church Universal and Triumphant) Marilyn Ferguson (biofeedback) Psychics and 'psychic surgeons' Flotation tanks Pyramidology Focusing Reflexology (Muscle Testing) Fortune telling Rolfing Hare Krishna Rosicrucianism Holistic health therapy Ruth Banks' Quest Schools (Superlearning) Homeopathy Scientology Horoscopes Silva Mind Control Barbara Marx Hubbard David Spangler ('Luciferian Initiations') (New Testament evolutionary) Spirit guides Human Potential Seminars Tarot card reading Hypnosis and subliminal training tapes UFOlogy Institute of Noetic Sciences Unitarian Universalist Church "Journey to the Self" Seminars |
Get the facts! "Satan is like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." 1 Peter 5:8
"My people perish for lack of knowledge." Hosea 4:6
"My people perish for lack of knowledge." Hosea 4:6
St. Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle.
Be our defense against the wickedness
and snares of the Devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray,
and do thou,
O Prince of the heavenly hosts,
by the power of God,
thrust into hell Satan,
and all the evil spirits,
who prowl about the world
seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.
defend us in battle.
Be our defense against the wickedness
and snares of the Devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray,
and do thou,
O Prince of the heavenly hosts,
by the power of God,
thrust into hell Satan,
and all the evil spirits,
who prowl about the world
seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.