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New Age Encyclopedia
Book by Melton, J. Gordon, Gordon, J.
350 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 1990
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About the author
J. Gordon Melton
103 books27 followersJohn Gordon Melton is an American religious scholar who was the founding director of the Institute for the Study of American Religion and is currently a research specialist in religion and New Religious Movements with the Department of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Baylor University's Institute for Studies of Religion.
His areas of research include major religious traditions, new religions and alternative religions, Occultism and Parapsychology, New Age, and vampirology.
Melton has been criticized by several scholars for what they see as conflicts of interest in his reporting of some of the groups he studies.
His areas of research include major religious traditions, new religions and alternative religions, Occultism and Parapsychology, New Age, and vampirology.
Melton has been criticized by several scholars for what they see as conflicts of interest in his reporting of some of the groups he studies.
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March 16, 2026
A VERY USEFUL REFERENCE WORK ON A LARGE VARIETY OF TOPICS
John Gordon Melton (b. 1942) was the founding director of the Institute for the Study of American Religion, and taught American Religious History at Baylor University. (He is also an ordained Methodist minister.)
He wrote in the Introduction to this 1990 book, “The New Age Movement has become a significant social-religious force in Western culture. By the mid-1980s, it became evident that the movement represented more than just another subgroup within the larger occult-metaphysical community in America: it was impressing a fresh metaphor upon that older community. In the process, the movement established a whole new era of metaphysical thought and took the lead in the general revival of the occult tradition that had been gaining increased momentum throughout the 20th century… The New Age Movement’s current importance… and the growing response it has received from a popular audience, have created a need for reliable information on this subject…
“[This book] moves away from the polemical stances taken by Evangelical Christians, skeptics, and others to provide a balanced, objective, and comprehensive overview of the New Age Movement as well as information about its many ideological and structural components and major leaders… [This book] also brings together the diverse elements of the movement for the first time, providing readers with a convenient and authoritative source for information on the New Age.” (Pg. vii)
Among the movements in the ‘Historical Background and Origin’ chapter of the book is a section on ‘Swedenborgianism.’ The section explains, “During the several decades of his scientific endeavors, Swedenborg became the first to state the nebular hypothesis of the origin of the universe (that it evolved from a hot, gaseous nebula)… But he rejected his scientific pursuits in favor of spending the last decades of his life in intimate communion with what he claimed were angels. One can, however, question the adequacy of Swedenborg’s metaphysical claims. For example, he claimed that he was taken astrally on a tour of the solar system, to its outer edge and beyond. Yet, strangely enough, he passed only the commonly known planets of his day, zooming past Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, taking no notice of them.” (Pg. xxii-xxiii)
He reports, “Within the ‘I AM’ Movement, the Ballards [Guy and Edna] were the … only ones able to receive communications from the Ascended Masters... By the 1950s, with Guy Ballard dead for more than a decade and Edna Ballard never receiving new messages, some [others]… began to channel messages from the masters… At about the same time, the flying saucer phenomenon reached a peak… some of the new messengers, such as George King of the Aetherius Society, identified Ballard’s ‘Ascended Masters’ with outer space visitors of high rank in an interplanetary government … popularly termed ‘Space Brothers.’ It was among the space-oriented messengers, generally termed ‘contactees,’ that the term ‘channeling’ was first used to describe the process of receiving material from the masters.” (Pg. 59)
He notes, “The Society for Psychical Research (SPR)… had been formed in London in 1882. Initially, the organization received favorable reports on [Helena Petrovna] Blavatsky… [But this] was soon followed by reports … indicating that Blavatsky was engaged in fraudulent activities. SPR dispatched young Richard Hodgson to investigate the matter… Hodgson discovered an opening from Blavatsky’s bedroom into the cabinet where messages from the mahatmas were supposedly delivered… His report, published in 1885, concluded that Blavatsky was, in fact, an accomplished fraud… In [1886] the SPR issued a statement indicating that the report did not represent the corporate opinion of the society, and publishing an article refuting the portion of the report that dealt with the handwriting analysis of the messages precipitated by the masters.” (Pg. 73)
He says of anti-nuclear activist Helen Caldicott, “Caldicott was eventually led down a somewhat unorthodox spiritual past which linked her with the New Age Movement. After many years as an atheist, she became a nonsectarian believer in a higher force which she encountered while attending seminars run by the Creative Initiative Foundation, an organization that would later call itself ‘Beyond War.’ … In the late 1980s, as international tensions cooled in the wake of arms control agreements… Caldicott’s message lost much of its urgency and she… lost much of her audience.” (Pg. 81-82)
He states, “Within the New Age Movement the practice of creative visualization is usually identified with Shakti Gawain, who got her start working on the staff of Key Keyes’ ‘Living Love Center’ in Berkeley. Her workshops led to the writing of her book ‘Creative Visualizations’ (1979)… The book became a best-seller, and Gawain developed a workbook and cassette tape for individuals unable to attend her workshops.” (Pg. 133)
He points out, “There is no scientific evidence that crystals store or contain energy that can be transferred to humans… in their book ‘Windows of Light’ (1984), authors Randall Baer and Vicki Baer described crystals as tuning forks which attune to the Light, spiritual energy, and to the Light within each individual. (Note: Randall Baer has since denounced his book on crystals as he has converted to evangelical Christianity.) (Pg. 141)
He says of former Catholic priest (now an Anglican priest) Matthew Fox, “In July 1984, Cardinal Ratzinger ordered the … Dominican Order to examine Fox’s activities and the theology of three Fox books… The committee spent a year studying Fox’s work; in their report… the three theologians stated that they could find no heresy and, in fact, commended the author for his ‘hard work and creativity.’” (Pg. 179-180) [Fox was later kicked out of the Dominicans, however, so he became an Anglican priest.]
Of J.Z. Knight, who claims to channel a purported Lemurian warrior named Ramtha, he writes, “In 1986-87, Knight became the object of public controversy as the national media focused on her success. She had moved to Yelm, Washington, built an expensive home, and owned an arabian horse breeding ranch… In addition, many of those attracted to her work had moved to Washington and surrounding states… as a safe haven in the face of future earthquakes… predicted by Ramtha for the near future. Some of the moves split families and led to divorces. At least one deprogramming of a Knight follower by people associated with an anti-cult movement has occurred.” (Pg. 253)
Of the ‘Lost Continent of Mu,’ written about by James Churchward, he comments, “These stories about Mu are of doubtful veracity… Major flaws exist in Churchward’s account… [The] tablets from which he claimed to have derived the majority of his story were never seen by anyone else. They do not seem to have ever existed. As a result, ‘The Lost Continent of Mu’ (1926)… seems to be pure fiction.” (Pg. 259)
California psychologist Edith Fiore presented accounts of her ‘past-life therapy work’ in her book ‘You Have Been Here Before.’ But “Fiore said that in cases in which patients gave verifiable information, such as names and dates, follow-up investigations would be conducted and reported in a future publication. No such work appeared, however, and Fiore would go on to write books on her hypnotic probings of spirit possession and UFO abductions.” (Pg. 344)
He says of Dr. Bernie Siegel, that "during a 1978 seminar he attended where he was instructed in meditation, and told to ‘draw up from his unconscious mind an inner guide,' Siegel was surprised to meet ‘George’… George told him not to change his career, as Siegel was contemplating doing, but to change himself so that he could help his patients use their mental powers to combat their diseases… Siegel says [George] has been his invaluable companion since his initial appearance.” (Pg. 412-413)
Of the 1975 document, ‘Objections to Astrology,’ “one famous nonsigner … [was] celebrity-scientist Carl Sagan… [who explained], ‘I find myself unable to endorse the … statement not because I feel that astrology has any validity whatever, but because I feel … that the tone of the statement is authoritarian.’” (Pg. 284)
Prominent Secular Humanist Paul Kurtz organized in 1976 the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSISOP). But Melton notes, “Not all CSICOP leaders are Humanists. [Martin] Gardner, for example, is a self-described ‘theist’ who has acknowledged that his theological views affect, at least in part, his perspective on paranormal claims.” (Pg. 424)
He reports that UFO ‘abduction’ advocates [Whitley] Strieber and [Budd] Hopkins feuded bitterly, in part because of their differing interpretations of the abduction experience. Whereas Hopkins agreed with most other investigators that the abduction experience was an almost entirely negative one, Strieber … said that such beliefs were the fault of abduction researchers who do nothing to help humankind overcome its fears and build its relationship with the visitors… Strieber’s New Age view of the phenomenon is an idiosyncratic one.” (Pg. 474)
This book will be of great interest to those studying the New Age Movement.
John Gordon Melton (b. 1942) was the founding director of the Institute for the Study of American Religion, and taught American Religious History at Baylor University. (He is also an ordained Methodist minister.)
He wrote in the Introduction to this 1990 book, “The New Age Movement has become a significant social-religious force in Western culture. By the mid-1980s, it became evident that the movement represented more than just another subgroup within the larger occult-metaphysical community in America: it was impressing a fresh metaphor upon that older community. In the process, the movement established a whole new era of metaphysical thought and took the lead in the general revival of the occult tradition that had been gaining increased momentum throughout the 20th century… The New Age Movement’s current importance… and the growing response it has received from a popular audience, have created a need for reliable information on this subject…
“[This book] moves away from the polemical stances taken by Evangelical Christians, skeptics, and others to provide a balanced, objective, and comprehensive overview of the New Age Movement as well as information about its many ideological and structural components and major leaders… [This book] also brings together the diverse elements of the movement for the first time, providing readers with a convenient and authoritative source for information on the New Age.” (Pg. vii)
Among the movements in the ‘Historical Background and Origin’ chapter of the book is a section on ‘Swedenborgianism.’ The section explains, “During the several decades of his scientific endeavors, Swedenborg became the first to state the nebular hypothesis of the origin of the universe (that it evolved from a hot, gaseous nebula)… But he rejected his scientific pursuits in favor of spending the last decades of his life in intimate communion with what he claimed were angels. One can, however, question the adequacy of Swedenborg’s metaphysical claims. For example, he claimed that he was taken astrally on a tour of the solar system, to its outer edge and beyond. Yet, strangely enough, he passed only the commonly known planets of his day, zooming past Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, taking no notice of them.” (Pg. xxii-xxiii)
He reports, “Within the ‘I AM’ Movement, the Ballards [Guy and Edna] were the … only ones able to receive communications from the Ascended Masters... By the 1950s, with Guy Ballard dead for more than a decade and Edna Ballard never receiving new messages, some [others]… began to channel messages from the masters… At about the same time, the flying saucer phenomenon reached a peak… some of the new messengers, such as George King of the Aetherius Society, identified Ballard’s ‘Ascended Masters’ with outer space visitors of high rank in an interplanetary government … popularly termed ‘Space Brothers.’ It was among the space-oriented messengers, generally termed ‘contactees,’ that the term ‘channeling’ was first used to describe the process of receiving material from the masters.” (Pg. 59)
He notes, “The Society for Psychical Research (SPR)… had been formed in London in 1882. Initially, the organization received favorable reports on [Helena Petrovna] Blavatsky… [But this] was soon followed by reports … indicating that Blavatsky was engaged in fraudulent activities. SPR dispatched young Richard Hodgson to investigate the matter… Hodgson discovered an opening from Blavatsky’s bedroom into the cabinet where messages from the mahatmas were supposedly delivered… His report, published in 1885, concluded that Blavatsky was, in fact, an accomplished fraud… In [1886] the SPR issued a statement indicating that the report did not represent the corporate opinion of the society, and publishing an article refuting the portion of the report that dealt with the handwriting analysis of the messages precipitated by the masters.” (Pg. 73)
He says of anti-nuclear activist Helen Caldicott, “Caldicott was eventually led down a somewhat unorthodox spiritual past which linked her with the New Age Movement. After many years as an atheist, she became a nonsectarian believer in a higher force which she encountered while attending seminars run by the Creative Initiative Foundation, an organization that would later call itself ‘Beyond War.’ … In the late 1980s, as international tensions cooled in the wake of arms control agreements… Caldicott’s message lost much of its urgency and she… lost much of her audience.” (Pg. 81-82)
He states, “Within the New Age Movement the practice of creative visualization is usually identified with Shakti Gawain, who got her start working on the staff of Key Keyes’ ‘Living Love Center’ in Berkeley. Her workshops led to the writing of her book ‘Creative Visualizations’ (1979)… The book became a best-seller, and Gawain developed a workbook and cassette tape for individuals unable to attend her workshops.” (Pg. 133)
He points out, “There is no scientific evidence that crystals store or contain energy that can be transferred to humans… in their book ‘Windows of Light’ (1984), authors Randall Baer and Vicki Baer described crystals as tuning forks which attune to the Light, spiritual energy, and to the Light within each individual. (Note: Randall Baer has since denounced his book on crystals as he has converted to evangelical Christianity.) (Pg. 141)
He says of former Catholic priest (now an Anglican priest) Matthew Fox, “In July 1984, Cardinal Ratzinger ordered the … Dominican Order to examine Fox’s activities and the theology of three Fox books… The committee spent a year studying Fox’s work; in their report… the three theologians stated that they could find no heresy and, in fact, commended the author for his ‘hard work and creativity.’” (Pg. 179-180) [Fox was later kicked out of the Dominicans, however, so he became an Anglican priest.]
Of J.Z. Knight, who claims to channel a purported Lemurian warrior named Ramtha, he writes, “In 1986-87, Knight became the object of public controversy as the national media focused on her success. She had moved to Yelm, Washington, built an expensive home, and owned an arabian horse breeding ranch… In addition, many of those attracted to her work had moved to Washington and surrounding states… as a safe haven in the face of future earthquakes… predicted by Ramtha for the near future. Some of the moves split families and led to divorces. At least one deprogramming of a Knight follower by people associated with an anti-cult movement has occurred.” (Pg. 253)
Of the ‘Lost Continent of Mu,’ written about by James Churchward, he comments, “These stories about Mu are of doubtful veracity… Major flaws exist in Churchward’s account… [The] tablets from which he claimed to have derived the majority of his story were never seen by anyone else. They do not seem to have ever existed. As a result, ‘The Lost Continent of Mu’ (1926)… seems to be pure fiction.” (Pg. 259)
California psychologist Edith Fiore presented accounts of her ‘past-life therapy work’ in her book ‘You Have Been Here Before.’ But “Fiore said that in cases in which patients gave verifiable information, such as names and dates, follow-up investigations would be conducted and reported in a future publication. No such work appeared, however, and Fiore would go on to write books on her hypnotic probings of spirit possession and UFO abductions.” (Pg. 344)
He says of Dr. Bernie Siegel, that "during a 1978 seminar he attended where he was instructed in meditation, and told to ‘draw up from his unconscious mind an inner guide,' Siegel was surprised to meet ‘George’… George told him not to change his career, as Siegel was contemplating doing, but to change himself so that he could help his patients use their mental powers to combat their diseases… Siegel says [George] has been his invaluable companion since his initial appearance.” (Pg. 412-413)
Of the 1975 document, ‘Objections to Astrology,’ “one famous nonsigner … [was] celebrity-scientist Carl Sagan… [who explained], ‘I find myself unable to endorse the … statement not because I feel that astrology has any validity whatever, but because I feel … that the tone of the statement is authoritarian.’” (Pg. 284)
Prominent Secular Humanist Paul Kurtz organized in 1976 the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSISOP). But Melton notes, “Not all CSICOP leaders are Humanists. [Martin] Gardner, for example, is a self-described ‘theist’ who has acknowledged that his theological views affect, at least in part, his perspective on paranormal claims.” (Pg. 424)
He reports that UFO ‘abduction’ advocates [Whitley] Strieber and [Budd] Hopkins feuded bitterly, in part because of their differing interpretations of the abduction experience. Whereas Hopkins agreed with most other investigators that the abduction experience was an almost entirely negative one, Strieber … said that such beliefs were the fault of abduction researchers who do nothing to help humankind overcome its fears and build its relationship with the visitors… Strieber’s New Age view of the phenomenon is an idiosyncratic one.” (Pg. 474)
This book will be of great interest to those studying the New Age Movement.
Displaying 1 of 1 review