New Age Encyclopedia: A Mind Body Spirit Reference Guide

286 Pages·2003·21.79 MB·English

by  Belinda Whitworth

Q (cid:136) 1
New Age
Encyclopedia
A
Mind * Body * Spirit
Reference Guide
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Q (cid:136) 3
New Age
Encyclopedia
A
Mind * Body * Spirit
Reference Guide
By
Belinda Whitworth
NEW PAGE BOOKS
A division of The Career Press, Inc.
Franklin Lakes, NJ
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Copyright  2003 by Belinda Whitworth
All rights reserved under the Pan-American and International
Copyright Conventions. This book may not be reproduced, in whole
or in part, in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage
and retrieval system now known or hereafter invented, without
written permission from the publisher, The Career Press.
NEW AGE ENCYCLOPEDIA
EDITED BY CLAYTON W. LEADBETTER
TYPESET BY NICOLE DEFELICE
Cover design by Diane Y. Chin
Printed in the U.S.A. by Book-mart Press
To order this title, please call toll-free 1-800-CAREER-1 (NJ
and Canada: 201-848-0310) to order using VISA or MasterCard,
or for further information on books from Career Press.
The Career Press, Inc., 3 Tice Road, PO Box 687,
Franklin Lakes, NJ 07417
www.careerpress.com
www.newpagebooks.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Whitworth, Belinda
New Age encyclopedia : a mind, body, spirit reference guide / by
Belinda Whitworth.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-56414-640-5 (pbk.)
1. New Age movement—Encyclopedias. I. Title.
BP605.N48 W553 2003
299'.93—dc21
2002038676
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Q 5
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For my parents, with love
AAAAAccccckkkkknnnnnooooowwwwwllllleeeeedddddgggggmmmmmeeeeennnnntttttsssss
Thanks to the following for permission to reproduce or
adapt material: Animal Aid, Association for Neuro-Linguistic
Programming, British Anti-Vivisection Association, Chrysalis
Books, HarperCollins, Healing Tao Centre, Here’s Health
magazine, David Higham Associates, Hodder and Stoughton,
Kessinger Publishing, Kindred Spirit magazine, Natural Death
Centre, Oxford University Press, Pagan Federation, Penguin
Group, Piatkus, Quest Books, (UK) Reiki Association, Sansom
& Co., John Seymour Associates, Simon & Schuster, and David
Smith. Every effort has been made to contact copyright holders
but I apologize for any omissions.
Particular thanks to: King Arthur Pendragon for infor-
mation on druidry; Bunk for lending her books; Cheryl Critchley
for the affirmation exercise and tarot card meanings; Clews
Everard, Director, Stonehenge, for information about access;
Lisa Hawken, Carol Mathews, and Sowelu for telling their
stories; Surinder Whitworth for lending her magazines.
Heartfelt thanks to Frog, Jon Barnes, and Alan Haley for
keeping my computer going and without whom this book would
never have been finished.
Finally, very special thanks to Cheryl for being a source of
such inspiration and to Frog for keeping my feet on the
ground.
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Every two thousand years, the Earth moves into a different
sign of the zodiac, and we presently have moved or soon will
move (experts disagree on this) from the age of Pisces to the
age of Aquarius. This new age, it is said, could bring about our
spiritual reawakening and a golden era for humankind.
The New Age movement is concerned with just about every
area of existence, but I came to it first through love for Nature
and concern about the environment, then complementary
health and counseling, and, more recently, meditation and
tarot reading. I wanted this book to be a simple introduction
to the main themes, but, when I started to write it, I discovered
that I knew a lot less than I thought and that the movement
was much wider and older than I’d imagined.
If you, too, feel overwhelmed or confused, just remember
that one of the basics of New Age thought is that we don’t have
to take anyone else’s word for it but our own anymore—“isms”
and “ologies” are things of the past. So absorb what you like
from the book and ignore the rest.
Another New Age basic is the belief that we can change
and that we don’t have to suffer to learn. So read on, enjoy,
and be happy.
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AAAAA
Abduction by Aliens
The first reported alien abduction was in Brazil in 1957
and since then they have occurred all over the Western world—
in Europe including the UK, Australia, South Africa, Russia,
and North America. Although people’s experiences vary quite
widely, the following features recur:
(cid:137) Light, especially a beam which draws the person
up, and sometimes vibration.
(cid:137) A spacecraft of some kind.
(cid:137) Humanoid beings, especially small gray ones
with large black eyes, who communicate by te-
lepathy.
(cid:137) Medical tests being performed and eggs or sperm
removed so that human/alien offspring can be
produced.
(cid:137) Lost periods of time and inexplicable small
wounds.
Not everyone remembers everything that happens to them
and sometimes the full story is only recovered through hypnosis.
Many people find the experiences terrifying but according to
John E. Mack, a professor of psychiatry who has investigated
over eighty cases, some abductees have a sense of entering a
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