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Give Me That New Age Religion

Christine Hall

Under the light of a full moon, three men and two women stand around the circumference of a small clearing in the woods. To the north, a wooden table is set up as an altar, holding an oil lamp, a dagger, a silver goblet, a wooden pentacle and an ornate, crystal tipped wand. The men and one of the women are in street clothes. The second woman, the priestess, is clad in a hooded robe. After a moment of silence, she turns from the circle and takes the wand from the altar. She solemnly approaches the east and draws a pentagram in the air.

This photograph of my altar appeared on the cover of the June 9, 1993 edition of "Triad Style" which carried this article. The Cartouche is Nepthys and the pitch whistle with the heart was given to participants of the Zodiacal Earth Temple to use to attune to the vibrations of the earth.

"Lords of the watchtowers of the East," she calls. "Lords of Air. I do summon, stir and call you up to witness our rites and guard our circle." A scene out of the pages of prehistory? No, this particular drama took place near my home in suburban North Carolina one evening last month. But it, or something like it, is as old as time itself. Long before Christ blessed the gathering on the mount, people coming together to celebrate spirit under the light of the full moon was already an ancient practice. Long before Moses received the law, communities gathered under the full moon, or on the eve of the equinox, or at solstice to celebrate life and spirit. The players in our moonlit woods scene are Wiccans, or modern-day witches, the hard core of the social phenomenon known as "New Age." But they are only a slice of the New Age, for the movement is composed of many diverse groups that often seem more different than alike.

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