ANGELS OF THE NEW AGE KIND
by Mary Drahos
Fifteen-year-old Tara carried a dog-eared angel book with her
wherever she went. At home, school or alone in her room, she read
and reread the pages of what had become a treasured possession.
Family members observed Tara's intense interest in angels. Once
Tara asked her mother whether she thought people became angels
when they died.
Then Tara was suddenly killed in a car accident.
After her death, Tara's parents became avidly interested in the
whole concept of angels. They believed that their daughter had
indeed become an angel, the family's guardian angel. They opened
an angel novelty shop in Los Angeles in her memory. It is called
Tara's Angels.
A sad way for them to make sense of their daughter's death?
Perhaps.
There is another gift shop in a vacation spot on the East Coast
called On Angels' Wings. A friend of mine went in; she
experienced an eerie sense of darkness as soon as she walked in.
The heavy smell of incense was overpowering.
"I asked the proprietor, who was wearing a black headband, 'Where
on earth did you get the name for your shop?' He moved closer,
squinting. And he just riveted his eyes on mine, never blinking.
It was kinda scary. Then he said slowly, 'Well, it came to me
when I was in an altered state of consciousness."
Angels, angels, everywhere! Modern descriptions of these
celestial beings are plentiful: "visions," "kind people in
disguise," "balls of whirling energy," "thoughts," "vivid
dreams," "lights," "rainbows," "animals" and even "invisible
hands." No wonder Christians have difficulty distinguishing
modern-day angels from the kind they find in Scripture! What in
heaven's name is happening?
We have "feel-good" angels. The Los Angeles neighborhoods that
were so badly ravaged in the 1992 riots now sport a very small
touch of heaven. An intrepid artist, Jill D'Agnenica, leaves
12-inch plaster cherubs, painted magenta, in the most unlikely
places--on street corners, atop trash piles, at bus stops, in
parks and even in empty lots. Her goal is to distribute close to
5,000 angels throughout the blighted area. Why?
"The experience of seeing an angel," she says, "or even more
important, when word gets out, the act of looking for an angel
will remind each person of their place in the City of
Angels."
In the media we see a growing New Age grassroots "revolution of
the spirit." Angels are the "in" thing. Even Hillary Rodham
Clinton wears a gold pin with angel's wings on days when she
"needs help," according to Time magazine.
Movies and TV are becoming all "aflutter with winged spirits,"
says an entertainment writer, including "dogooding seraphim" and
a "Super Angel." As for publishing's celestial explosion, there
is even a thriller planned about "a renegade pack of angels."
All these "heavenly" profit-making ventures make earlier efforts
at angelic public relations, such as the Angel Collectors Club of
America, seem quaint. For many years, their members have
collected angel dolls and ornaments. They give talks on angels to
churches and retirement homes and have a newsletter appropriately
called, "Halo, Everybody"!
New Age Angels
Is this newfound belief in angels a positive sign? Not
necessarily: "For those who choke too easily on God and His
rules, theologians observe, angels are the handy compromise, all
fluff and meringue, kind, nonjudgmental. And they avail
themselves to everyone, like aspirin," writes journalist Nancy
Gibbs.
A large number of today's angel devotees and authors do not
perceive angels in the same way Catholics do. We should not
excuse excesses or eccentricities as touching "spiritual" or
"angelic" phenomena.
Real angels always point the way to God. Angels are not a
replacement of the transcendent God whom they adore joyfully,
without ceasing. They serve Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of
humanity, with complete willingness. They carry out the will of
the Triune God in the power of the Holy Spirit. (This is the true
test of any angel, no matter when or in what form that angel
comes).
We must apply this criteria to any popular book we read on
angels, to any documentary about them, and certainly to any talk
shows. Do they ever mention the Christian God, or are the angels
they present merely disembodied autonomous spirits? Whether
through word or art, is there any allusion to Jesus or the
Incarnation? Are angels presented as self-empowered or
Spirit-empowered?
I often hear the objection: "That's too heavy. I happen to think
it's wonderful that so many people say they believe in angels
these days."
And that is precisely the problem. The New Age philosophy is
enveloping and diminishing traditional Christian belief in
angels.
Real angels help us grow spiritually. The media often portray
modern-day angels as ethereal, all-forgiving images of light.
This often produces a kind of "discount spirituality," whose
adherents feel free to pick and choose from Judeo-Christian
beliefs. The Ten Commandments and the cross are conveniently
forgotten. People are invited to get in touch with their "inner
angel," to seek "angel psychotherapists" or to view themselves as
"angels in training" who are growing their own wings.
Some people simply dismiss all this as a spiritual fad. Others
consider the "Angelic New Age" a distressing amalgamation of
faith facts, self-help lingo, Eastern spirituality and even the
occult.
In truth, the New Age "angel awareness" can be both a sham as
well as a sign of hope. It may be nothing more than a
self-indulgent search for something novel . . . but this
awareness may also signify true spiritual hunger.
In that case, modern-day angels can be of value in our skeptical
and jaded world. They can point the way to the only spiritual
treasure that lasts for eternity --Jesus, the pearl of great
price. This is exactly where real angels lead. All the more
reason we should not be intimidated by the New Age "angel
pushers," or so confused that we do not share the truth of our
faith in real angels.
Wrote Cardinal John Henry Newman: "Let us beware lest we make the
contemplation of [angels] a mere feeling, and a sort of luxury of
the imagination.... Many a man can write and talk beautifully
about them, who is not at all better or nearer heaven for all his
excellent words."
New Age Ideas
The New Age philosophy is difficult to pin down, but we must
nevertheless try to understand it. Author Russell Chandler says
that "The [New Age] goal is to redefine spirituality . . . to
change our culture's dominant world view--which is still
Christian, more or less."
"The term 'New Age' is a reference to a particular time in the
near future when mankind will presumably enter into an era of
spiritual enlightenment characterized by the collective
realization of the god-consciousness within each person," writes
a Christian scholar, Mary Ann Lind. "The universal release of
such spiritual power will then usher in a 'new age."'
There are four basic elements to New Age thought and philosophy,
according to Father Mitchell Pacwa, S.J., foremost Catholic
authority on the New Age movement.
1. Monism. Everything in the universe is one. This includes all
forms of life--material things and even angels. "There is no
difference between us and the air, us and the rocks, and so on,"
says Father Pacwa.
2. Everything is God. God is in everything. God is everything.
This is pantheism, the belief that everything is in the one
divine nature. "We are God, the lights are God, the chair I sit
in is God," elaborates Father Pacwa.
3. We need to be enlightened through humanistic psychology. We
must be made aware of our oneness and spiritual power. This is
where many Catholics veer off course with things like the
enneagram, a system of numerology intended to make a person
perfect, better and whole by understanding personality types.
"The way it is taught," says Father Pacwa, "people try to save
themselves instead of depending on the grace of Christ. People go
from enneagrams to Eastern meditation to get out of their
'personality types."'
4. Expect a New Age to dawn. It will rise "out of the ashes of
the Western world view" (cosmic evolutionary optimism). They wish
to displace Christianity with a great "collective
unconsciousness," where all "archetypes" dwell (that's what New
Agers perceive angels to be).
New Agers see angels as "doorways" into the spirit world. A New
Age mystic named Andrew Ramer writes his travels with an "angel"
through many reincarnated lives, "the two of us working to bridge
the physical and spiritual worlds." His angel comments: "We
angels cannot enter your world unless you open a window or a
doorway for us."
New Age angelologists develop that opening through a host of
techniques that are intended to help people connect with a
personal angel. Besides the usual angel workshops--attended by a
surprising number of professionals and religious folk-- there are
angelic oracles, spiritual specialists, divination tools, angel
cards (like horoscopes), karma cleansing and much more.
We can discern New Age angels by applying Jesus's classic test,
"By their fruits you shall know them." The kingdom of darkness is
always in opposition, camouflaging its intentions. Evil spirits
are sent in the guise of good angels.
A typical New Age view is that "Our angels tell us the future is
now," we read in a New Age book authored by Alma Daniel, Timothy
Wyllie and Andrew Ramer. "Talking with our angels, connecting
with the divinity within us, elevates our personal awareness,
which in turn improves our lives and circumstances."
By contrast, good angels know that only through Jesus is our
salvation assured and our perfection in God possible when our
earthly life ends. Angels work diligently, leading us to an ever
closer union with Our Lord and Savior.
New Age Angels Come in Disguise
Many New Agers say that their angelic informants tell them that,
through the ages, people have had a very false impression of
fallen angels. Lucifer, for example, "has been identified in our
mind as the devil, instead of an aspect of God dedicated to our
growth by helping us strengthen our spiritual muscles," we are
told. He is the "Light Bearer" who teaches about the necessity of
life's dark side.
This reminds us of the words of St. Paul, "Even Satan disguises
himself as an angel of light. It comes as no surprise that his
ministers disguise themselves as ministers of the justice of God.
But their end will correspond to their deeds" (2 Cor
11:14-15).
Satan and the other fallen angels are very smooth con artists.
Satan can assume an air of sanctity and act as though his were
the noblest of motives-- a real gentleman, as Shakespeare put
it.
Discerning New Age Spirituality
Former Catholics more easily succumb to ritualistic or occult
practices because Catholicism is steeped in ritual action. For
example, Catholics bless themselves with holy water, are blessed
with the monstrance at Benediction, and often have their homes,
rosaries and medals blessed by a priest. All are a sign of our
united belief in Christ and in His Church.
Think about it. When a Catholic is shopping around for a little
gift, wouldn't a pastel- layered, pyramid-shaped candle with a
tag reading, "Rainbow Blessings," likely catch the eye? Would the
"cute" promise of a lucky charm and a message capsule inside
(which, it turns out, is a prayer that "the angel of happiness"
shower joy and celebration) bring a smile?
Neither are the trappings of "nature worship" always easily
recognized as evil. Wicca has been whitewashed in the media
lately, so much so that some very unlikely people could get
sucked in. The prime public-relations ploy is to say that witches
have only an earth religion and do not believe in Satan. Their
chants and rituals, they insist, are only their way of praying,
of helping them to create "sacred space." But to whom do they
pray?
New Age philosophy holds that we are already perfect and we are
already gods, but we remain unaware of our immense power. We must
be enlightened bit by bit, weaned away from our "archaic"
Judeo-Christian beliefs. If this seems extreme, think of how many
Far Eastern meditation techniques have gained wide acceptance,
even by many in the Church. This is one area where we need the
wisdom of the angels to use meditation as a tool for humbly
deepening our faith in an all-loving and omnipotent God--not
displacing Him.
Many Christians have been so deluded by religious soft-sell that
later admonitions fall on deaf ears. So it might be wise to
consider these precautions when the lure of New Age philosophy
seems attractive.
1. Be aware! False Christs have always been around (see Mt
24:23-27). Astrology and reincarnation are false (see Heb 9).
2. All religions are not equal. Beware of any teaching that
equates Jesus Christ with Buddha, Mohammed or any other great
teacher or prophet. (He is so much more. He is the very Son of
the living God.)
3. Be discriminating in your reading. Never agree to follow
blindly the spiritual dictates of a popular author or book. Do
not be so impressed with a book's popularity that, if it contains
definite contradictions to faith, you remain silent. Any self-
improvement of a spiritual nature must agree with basic Catholic
belief.
4. Ask your guardian angel to pray to God for greater discernment
for you. Become well-grounded in Scripture and Church teaching.
"This is the best protection against the New Age Movement for
yourself, and it's a good way to learn what to evangelize to
other people," says Father Pacwa.
Mary Drahos lives with her family in Medfield, Maine. This is
adapted from her new book, "Angels of God, Our Guardians Dear,"
Charis Books, P.O. Box 8617, Ann Arbor, MI 48107 (c) Mary Drahos,
1995. Used with permission.
This article appeared in the September 1995 issue of "New
Covenant" magazine. To subscribe write Our Sunday Visitor, Inc.,
200 Noll Plaza, Huntington, IN 46750-9957 or call 1-800-348-2440.
Published monthly at a charge of $18.00 per year.
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Further Reading:
Refutation of the New
Age Movement
Holy Spirit Watch
