New Age

New Age a term popularized in the 1980s to describe a wide-ranging set of beliefs and practices that are an outgrowth of the counterculture of the 1960s and 70s in the United States. Adherents of the New Age movement believe that a spiritual era is dawning in which individuals and society will be transformed. The movement encompasses a wide range of ideas, including personal spiritual growth and self-realization, holistic medicine (including the use of crystals for healing), reincarnation , astrology , and the mystical energies said to be induced by pyramids. Many critics of the movement regard it as anti-intellectual. In music, the term refers to meditative, relaxing, usually instrumental styles.

New Age • n. a broad movement characterized by alternative approaches to traditional Western culture, with an interest in spirituality, mysticism, holism, and environmentalism: [as adj.] the New Age movement. DERIVATIVES: New Ag·er n. New Agey adj.

New Age System of philosophy and religion that came to prominence during the late 1980s, and traces its origins to a variety of sources, including oriental mysticism and new scientific ideas. The new age movement embraces diverse issues, including feminism, astrology, ecology, spiritualism, and pagan ritual, and takes a holistic approach to healing.