Is mass interest in New Age over?

Jackie laughlin

A few years ago I worried that bookshops would cease to stock "enlightenment" writing such was the demand for New Age/Spirituality material. I notice now that "Mind, Body, Spirit" is limited to a few declining shelves. New Age music is no onger a category in record shops. The Angel shop is now selling furniture. Healing, Reiki, angels etc. have disappeared from the adult ed. prospectus in my local school. Remember, the outbreak of born again Christianity in the late 80s. It was followed by New Age which seemed to peak at the turn of the century. It is in rapid decline and returning to an interest for a handful of devotees.

What's next?

Sapien

Jackie laughlin wrote:

A few years ago I worried that bookshops would cease to stock "enlightenment" writing such was the demand for New Age/Spirituality material. I notice now that "Mind, Body, Spirit" is limited to a few declining shelves. New Age music is no onger a category in record shops. The Angel shop is now selling furniture. Healing, Reiki, angels etc. have disappeared from the adult ed. prospectus in my local school. Remember, the outbreak of born again Christianity in the late 80s. It was followed by New Age which seemed to peak at the turn of the century. It is in rapid decline and returning to an interest for a handful of devotees.

What's next?

That's certainly not my impression. MBS shelf allocation has always fluctuated, but it still gets a decent showing in, say, Hodges-Figgis-slash-Waterstones. And the pantagruelian new Chapters on Parnell St has taken the refreshing step of dispensing with the nauseating periphrasis, and called the section "Occult" - and it's relatively large. None is nearly big enough of course, but I don't think they're shrinking.

As to New Age music, perhaps people just realised it's poo. Or whatever decent stuff previously called itself New Age now calls itself something else. I think they call it "plutoing" these days.

I don't think we have to worry until Weiser and Llewelyn start publishing chic lit.

stevenmu

I'd agree with Sapien, I don't think it's in decline at all. I think the difference is that it used to always be segregated and shoved off into a corner of it's own, or limited to specialist shops, it's now more accepted and mixes into other sections. If you have a walk around the ground floor of Easons on O'Connell St (especially near the abbey st entrance), there's 5 or 6 different sections with new age books in them. There's the obvious Religion/Spirituality section, but others too like 'alternative medicine', 'mind body spirit', 'astrology/dreams/paranormal', 'lifestyle/personal development' and so on. It looks to me like new age ideas are becoming less and less of a 'dirty topic' and are becoming something people are willing to take a look at. They're also becoming less specific and specialised and indiviaul ideas are being treated individually instead of all being lumped into a 'new age' section in the corner somewhere.

By the way, I think I heard recently that the Angel Shop has moved to larger premises

Nevyn

The majority of those books were published by a certain american publishing company and those who sought to cash in on the market that the certain american publishing company stimulated.

So there was a lot of books published and they seemed to be everywhere and they moved from the occult section of shops into the self help mind/body/spirit sections.

Currently in america the christian churchs have been publishing books and getting thier followers to by them to combat the profliteration of the new age books, inturn creating a new market.
The christian publishing houses will refuse to have thier book lines carried by retail chains that are carrying new age titles and certain occult books and put pressure on the retail chains not to contract to carry the books.
The churches can prove thier membership numbers and show the % that bought the book which equals product sold and money rahter then giving shelf space to new age books which may or may not sell.

If the new age books publishers do not have shelf space in those retail chains for certain books they will not publish them and we are already seeing a change in what is due to come out from what woudl be reguarded the largest new age publisher to what is considered more begin ie angles and faires rather then books about a more magickal you.

The non fluffly non new age books which are the occult section will still be around and tbh the world will be better for the lessening number of velvet clad spell books with sparkly writing imho.

Even if the new age fad is only a new age fad and it fades I think it will have done more good then harm.
10 years ago it was hard to get crystals and certain candles and insences
it is a lot easier today, some things are still hard to aquire and would be also a good thing.

People understand aromatherphy and the use of colour and know about personal mediation and prayer in a more detailed way.

When all the fad and fuss is gone it will have left behind a greater understanding for a lot of people about what physics, witchs, shamans, healers, mediums, divinators ect do, and there is going to be less fuss about people who do such things and they become par for the course.

Jackie laughlin

Eason's was at the front of my mind. Their "Mind, Body, Spirit" section is a small fraction of what it was a couple of years ago.

Nevyn

Eason's is really not a good bookshop, it is a barometer of what is in and what is popular and what will sell.

Jackie laughlin

Th,
You are somewhat behind the times. Eason's has responded aggressively to rivals. Waterstones changed the market. Hodges Figgis responded. Finally Eason's got their act together. It is now a very good book shop. Moreover it is the only outlet for thoughful popular journals. Sure, there are five magazines about tattooing but they also stock the New York Review of Books. They have two coffee bars for creative time wasting, while Waterstones coffee shop has closed and the shop itself is a shadow of its original self. (The "northside" branch is pretty poor.)

More to the point of this thread, the decline in "mind, body spirit" material is even more pronounced in book shops other than Easons.

Incidentally Eason's improvement coincides with a decline in this type of book. In their bad old days they jumped on the New Age market, carried a huge stock and I'm sure made a great deal of money. Nevertheless, in fairness to them, throughout the years they stocked NYRB, LRB etc. Reid's alone compares when it comes to readable journals.

aidan24326

Jackie laughlin wrote:

Healing, Reiki, angels etc. have disappeared from the adult ed. prospectus in my local school.

Good.

Jackie laughlin

Aidan,
I'm not expressing regret. What I'm trying to do here here is ask New Agers who use this part of the site if they agree that MASS interest is over.

aidan24326

Jackie laughlin wrote:

Aidan,
I'm not expressing regret. What I'm trying to do here here is ask New Agers who use this part of the site if they agree that MASS interest is over.

I still say good. Stuff like that has no place in any educational prospectus. Fine as a section in the local library and bookshop for anyone who's interested, but not in school. If people are turning away from superstitious gibberish like faith healing and 'angels' (whatever they are) that can only be a good thing imo. You are of course entitled to disagree with me and if you get something positive out of it then good for you.

Nevyn

Eason's is a chain of retail outlets you can not judge them all based on thier flagship shop on O'Connell St,
nor can you compare all shops to that one flagship shop.

Thier ordering in of books systems still sucks.

joseph dawton

There will always be an interest in esoteric and spiritual matters.

What is happening is the flooding of the market with crap books that are poorly researched and ill-concieved, this actually screws up the whole sector. It's typical corruption and decline due to over-popularity, the same thing happens with music fads - rise, peak, decline and then repeat with a new style ad-infinitum.

Once 'spirituality' has ceased to be a fad perhaps we'll see more decent books getting onto the shelves instead of rubbish, I hope so.

Jackie laughlin

Aidan,
I agree with you.

Th,
You are right. I was judging Eason's on the basis of the O'Connell St shop. Many of their other outlets are just poor but large newsagents, selling greeting cards and stationary. My point remains, however, that the stocking pattern in bookshops suggests a radical decline in interest in New Age material.

Joseph,
Has New Age ceased to be a popular - even mass - fad?

Nevyn

They can't stock it if the publishers are not publishing it plus a lot of that info is out there on the web
and more people are getting acess to it.

joseph dawton wrote:

There will always be an interest in esoteric and spiritual matters.

What is happening is the flooding of the market with crap books that are poorly researched and ill-concieved, this actually screws up the whole sector. It's typical corruption and decline due to over-popularity, the same thing happens with music fads - rise, peak, decline and then repeat with a new style ad-infinitum.

Once 'spirituality' has ceased to be a fad perhaps we'll see more decent books getting onto the shelves instead of rubbish, I hope so.

I think they are there but you have to learn to tell the chaff from the wheat and that is a learning curve and to my mind helps keep certain things hidden until a person wants to know about them and goes seeking;
which is a lesson in it's self as was seen in the great book thread in the paganism forum.

So Glad

I don't think "New Age" and spirituality is becoming invalid, I just think it's the way this world is heading at the moment. Self-enlightenment and thinking above the 5-sence reality is become a serious decision for a small number of people. Universal truth is never measured in mass appeal and I think that is what is going on here.

Also, it's probably just my point of view but I don't think enlightenment is a number one seller, or in our politician's best interests. If people started to be conscious of the lies and falsehoods that surround us, would they be inclined to work with it? Would we obligingly get up at the crack of dawn for unquestioned reasons? Such ideas and lifesyles follow an instinctive and spontanious road, which our current society does not allow.

Jackie laughlin

So Glad,
The thread was not about validity but whether or not the days of mass interest were over.

"Universal truth" sounds dangerous to my ears. Truth is always provisional and open to challenge.

I assure you that I'm not being rude or provocative but I don't understand your final paragraph.

Having written the last two paragraphs, I want to say that I'm not anxious to challenge New Age beliefs here for two reasons. Firstly, when I discovered Boards last year, I had a go at arguing and was threatened with a ban and told not to antagonise within a faith section. Secondly, it is not possible to debate in any meaningful way with a person who is faithful in the sense of being without doubt.

Nevyn

I would say for now the new age sensation is over.
This happens with many things which then become mainstream and the norm be it asain cooking adding stry fry and noodles to our diet to aromatherphy which now has us buying cented candles and plug in scent dispensers.
It will be come common place and that norm and less people will bat an eye lid at people reading those types of books or hanging dream catchers or taking time out to meditate.

So Glad wrote:

Such ideas and lifesyles follow an instinctive and spontanious road, which our current society does not allow.

I disagree there is nothing stopping you exploring yourself and your spirituality and reading and thinking for yourself except yourself.

Jackie laughlin

Th,
Do you think it is over as a mass phenomenon or not? If it becomes commonplace it will not be a fad but a part of our culture. There is little to connect aromatherapy and scented candles. I first came across "essential oils" being used to dispel food smells in the arly 70s, long before scent came to be offered as a "therapy".

6th

I think much of what was termed 'New Age' is fairly common place now. Ok so scented candles are nothing new but Fen Sui would be considered fairly new age and as Thaed said theres Dream Catchers ..... horrid things but try find a 16 year old girl who doesnt have one in her bedroom.

Jackie laughlin

Why is a "dream catcher" horrid? Anyone who can remember being 16, remembers the passion of their chosen fad and how they adorned their room.

I'd forgotten about Feng Sui. (Is my spelling correct?) It's just not common currency these days.

The impression I'm getting here is that it's over as a mass interest. It was a fad and will now return to the preserve of a few believers.

6th

Then you are getting the wrong impression.

Its like you are suggestion that before the fad 10 people were interested, then it became a fad and 100 joined in, then it passed and it went back to just the same 10 people again?

More and more people now concider the affects of the likes of feng sui when going about their lives.

Jackie laughlin

Why is a "dream catcher" horrid?

Nevyn

The idea behind a dream catcher is that bad or negative dream sare caught in the web and can be swept away with out every disturbing the person sleeping in the area they are set over.

To some people this is acceptible to other's it is harmfull to interfer with or by pass the dreaming process from what ever what point of view dreams being; the processing of the day, the filter from the concious to the sub conciousand vice versa or a place in which people travel conciously, or acess the astral
or get communications signs ro portends.

Sometimes we need to face the negative things, the fears and bad dreams
all of which the dreamcatcher would prevent.

Jackie laughlin

Th,
I know this is off topic and you know that I find New Age beliefs fanciful but this time you have to be pulling my leg! Is there really a design for a dream catcher which a person could make and believe that it would be effective? I thought that dream catchers in young people's rooms were charming adolescent notions which brought some "poetry" into their lives.

Nevyn

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreamcatcher_(Native_American)
http://www.dream-catchers.org/

Actully the dreamcatcher is orginally native american medicine/magic,
not so called 'new age' at all.

And well to some people transubstantiation is a fanciful notion.

Jackie laughlin

Th,
Thank you for the refs.

Do you believe in dreamcatchers?

The world is full of fanciful notions. Most are harmless. Some get a person "through the night". Some are dangerous, e.g. frightening, allow charlatans to exploit etc. I was taken by the suggestion that something as daft as a dreamcatcher could be described as horrid.

I guess I tend to lump quite a lot of belief under "New Age". I became concerned about it only when it occurred to me that if it kept growing in popularity at the rate it was doing so just a few years ago, it just might overwhelm the gains of the Enlightenment. However, that danger came to nothing. I can smile at how wrong I was to confuse a fad with an intellectual movement.

Shiminay

I would imagine the "horrid" reference made by 6th in relation to Dream Catchers ties in slightly with your own point about people taking fanciful notions. I have several friends with dream catchers hanging on their walls, I never really thought (until now) about asking them why they have them. I would suspect that there's a reasonable percentage of people who have them as decoration (see his 16 year old girl comment) rather than for their intended purpose (I'd even go so far to say there's probably a reasonable amount of people who have no idea what they are or where they've come from). But of course, I'm not trying to speak for 6th, just offering an opinion.

I wouldn't have one myself, let the dreams good and bad in, they're there for a reason That said, I'm nearly 29 and I have only remembered 1 dream in my life, so I guess I'm not too worried about it. Do I believe in them? I'll put it this way, I don't not believe in them if that makes sense.

6th

Kharn wrote:

I would imagine the "horrid" reference made by 6th in relation to Dream Catchers ties in slightly with your own point about people taking fanciful notions. I have several friends with dream catchers hanging on their walls, I never really thought (until now) about asking them why they have them. I would suspect that there's a reasonable percentage of people who have them as decoration (see his 16 year old girl comment) rather than for their intended purpose (I'd even go so far to say there's probably a reasonable amount of people who have no idea what they are or where they've come from). But of course, I'm not trying to speak for 6th, just offering an opinion.

Well its the same opinion as mine anyway

I called them horrid as having worked in a DIY store with a 'home' section I saw lots a gawdy, sparkly, shinny dreamcatchers that where just for decoration. To me alot of them are tacky .. like glittery crucifix with fluffy edging.

Jackie laughlin

Kharn,
You're a sceptic when it comes to dreamcatchers. I can't even manage scepticism on this one. The native Americans who are responsible, are they related to the Hopis of ear candle fame? Come on, they're having a laugh, giving out old Indian guff to see how gullible a paleskin can be.

Shiminay

Honestly Jackie, I've never really looked into it, it hasn't been something that's interested me. I'm just saying (of this and other similarly unquantifiable items/practices) I respect other people's beliefs enough to not discount it off hand until such a time as I've spent some time researching it myself enough to draw my own conclusion. Whatever about people's faith etc, respect to your fellow man is something we should all strive towards.

You may be right and dream catchers may be a load of balls, but what if you're wrong?

Jackie laughlin

Kharn,
When first I became concerned about the popularity of New Age (I'm using that as a handy catch-all label.) beliefs, I spent a considerable amount of time on research. I won't burden you with a list of topics or "ologies" but I found nothing credible. Like you I strive not to be dismissive. However, extreme relativism is a problem today. Foolishness is often tolerated on the grounds that "everyone is entitled to their opinion". This means that the views of the drunk holding court at the bar and those of the well read person are equal. In other words "tolerance" can be bent to mean repression and "respect" can be bent to mean censorship. I'm not of course accusing you of this. What I mean is that informed people have an obligation to argue.