New Age – New Age can be defined as a popularization of historical European esoteric traditions, making the pursuit of self-knowledge accessible to the contemporary individualized, globalized, and consumerist world. A catch phrase used by many adherents asserts, “You are god, you are god, you are god.” New Age promotes the notion that the “true self” is an inner reality in contact with a generous cosmos and in need of self-awareness and harmonious or holistic living. Many adherents interpret shamanism as a quest for this requisite inner self-knowledge, translating journeying to other worlds into “inner journeys.” Similarly, New Age’s individualistic notion of the “soul” encourages interest in a particular, neo-shamanic and therapeutic understanding of “soul retrieval.”
SOURCE:
Historical Dictionary of Shamanism by Graham Harvey and Robert J. Wallis 2007