A friend posted this Facebook status a few days ago as transiting Juno in Virgo squared my natal Neptune and stationing Neptune in Pisces squared my natal Moon:
-- "connect" and "interconnect" mean the same thing. (however, using "interconnect" makes you sound "dumber.") --
She's a writer (Virgo) and a definite Juno soul mate because this is one that completely bypassed my radar screen. It's true, of course, and I have to thank her for drawing it to my attention. The day after she posted that status, I went through the blog and rooted out the instances of this word, changing it to "energetic connection." (That may also sound soft, but it's what I came up with.) I thought it might be too overwhelming a task to take on, but there actually weren't a huge number of uses.
Some people might find this excessive, but this type of effort is both necessary and worth it when you're an astrologer who is working to extricate her astrological language from any and all New Age tentacles. I'm not playing around. I oppose New Age ideology and its effects on people to the bone, and I really do want the astrology I practise to be clear of unintentional influences.
It's important to me as an astrologer, and it's important for astrology, period, I think.
From a previous post:
"New Age was originally set up with a language of its own - certain key words and phrases that could be spoken, like a secret handshake, so that members could identify each other on the down low. So make no mistake: to this day, the New Age language and terminology are very important in the recognition of others of this paradigm, in the spread of these memes and in the drawing of fresh blood into this pseudo-spiritual pyramid scheme.
The New Age language and voice has an energy all its own, and once you can identify it, there's no mistaking it, despite the ever-more subtle applications. The implanting of certain idioms, catch phrases and concepts has always been a major part of the spread of New Age. This is an implanting of manipulated energy. They call it "raising consciousness." I call it energy-stealing lobotomization.
The diluting of the power of language is a major part of the control mechanism. Specific words voicing specific aspects of our authentic experience as human beings on this planet are what is needed to catalyze the changes and shifts we need to see. And the watered down, cliched NewAgeSpeak is very effective in keeping people from the real potency points, especially related to the more difficult aspects of human experience."
I've made the same disclaimer on this blog before: because so much of the astrology of the day has been merged with New Age beliefs (quite insidiously in some cases), it has been a process to completely extricate my own astrological language from that ideology. The astrology that makes it into popular books is often the merged variety. The New Age has money and connections. Publishing and the promotion of books and authors generally require money and connections. Combine that with the overlay of pumped-up, overzealous Neptunian glamour energy, and you've got some definite saturation of the publishing market.
I was, of course, not aware of this New Age saturation when I first started accessing astrology through current books and websites, so I've had to re-learn astrology and bust out of those constructs as I found my own astrological voice and momentum.
In a lot of the astrology of the day, "interconnection" is a key word associated with Pisces. Again, because of the widespread merging of astrological language with New Age, it's easy for some of the key words to make their way in. No surprise, I especially find this to be the case when writing about the sign Pisces.
So I do my best to remove New Age language with the Virgoan fine-toothed comb.
4 comments:
Hi Willow. As a fellow Canuck, I really appreciate your info. I'm with you on the New Age speak (it literally makes me cringe when I hear it), and I also see right through these 'spiritual leaders' of today. Would really appreciate it if you could expand on the following:
Specific words voicing specific aspects of our authentic experience as human beings on this planet are what is needed to catalyze the changes and shifts we need to see. And the watered down, cliched NewAgeSpeak is very effective in keeping people from the real potency points, especially related to the more difficult aspects of human experience."
I've made the same disclaimer on this blog before: because so much of the astrology of the day has been merged with New Age beliefs (quite insidiously in some cases).
Can you give specific examples, especially in regards to the first sentence? And what are you referring to concerning "astrology has been merged with New Age beliefs"? Many thanks!
Excellent and well-written post Willow.
A few comments on the New Age & its Language -
I remember very clearly the time before the 'new age' as I was already 14 years into my study of astrology by 1987, when it officially opened with the Harmonic Convergence in August of that year.
The 'new age movement' is purely a baby boomer generation phenomena and is part and parcel of that generation's pseudo-spiritual quest associated with everything from transcendental mediation (TM) to the guru worship of the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s, the cults like EST and so on...
After 1987's 'harmonic convergence' - a kind of 'end of the world-lite' and new beginning - a 'new age' movement took shape. It tried to incorporate astrologers into the movement, but most who tagged along were not true astrologers at all.
Money was to be made though and lots of it.
Considering the 'success' of the Harmonic Convergence when it came to sales of all things 'new age' and from there came the myths, such as boomers calling their kids 'Indigo children' - another new age invention designed to sell whatever people wanted to hear.
The 'New Age' was always an invention for people (most all baby boomers) who faked being astrologers and who did not forecast. They began using the term 'predictive astrology' which is a misnomer, since astrology obviously is a forecasting science.
Moreover, what was even worse is that the publishing market turned to this empty philosophy as it were gospel.
When the real 'new age' occurred just recently - few if anyone noticed - except by way of world events, i.e. global economic crisis, BP Oil Spill, Japan's Fukushima nuclear disaster, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, rebellions, revolts, revolutions, etc.
The language of the false new age movement is coming to its proper end with the aging of the boomers, and this is a good thing.
It is easy to see how terms are easily borrowed from the ages –old or new; to express or define understanding,
I.e.,” interconnect", 1865, and "connect" some three centuries earlier. And while they appear interchangeable, the word interconnect is commonly used as an engineering term applied to modern day technology, E.g., technology such as computers, modems, and a data service. This interconnection provides multiple connections for people to simultaneously connect with one another.
I openly admit that in spite of any New Age terminology, I personally had trouble with the word 'paranoia'. When I was reading New Age literature in the 1980’s, I found and borrowed the term "heightened awareness" from author, Carlos Castaneda (Anthropologist). For some reason it finds humor, understanding, and association among my friends. Now, some twenty years later, that term has been raised and is used on the global stage to reflect our current state of consciousness: Terrorism, epidemics, crime, environmental disaster, etc
Melissa, yes, thanks for the info. I do think this particular word has some grey area and that there is a flavour of "everything connected to everything else at all times," but I will err on the non-New Age side on this one!
I hope you're right, Theodore, but I know a butt load of New Age people who are younger than Boomer age!
Mandy, there's a tendency with New Age language to purposefully over-simplify things, creating glossed-over, blanket terms and catch phrases that are applied across the board. (Quick fix stuff.) I find that this stunts people emotionally and doesn't give them the tools (or the specific voice) they need to navigate the full gamut of human experience, especially emotional/psychic experience, and express themselves helpfully while doing it.
I think we have to be very clear about exactly WHAT we're feeling and where it comes from in order to know how to deal with it successfully. Instead, there is generally a blanket sort of judgement from the New Age that certain emotions or experiences are "dark" or "too intense" or "negative." These terms are used by New Age followers when confronted with emotions or aspects of the human condition/experience that they would prefer not to deal with or even admit happen, and those words don't really mean anything. They never get to the root of things, and we need to get to the root in order to really change anything. That's a Pluto/Scorpio lesson.
The other thing that is done is an exploration of the supposed "darker" themes but then the end result is it's all fed into the same New Age spiritually hierarchical system where all the ills of the world can be made to magically disappear is we just visualize it, create our own reality, align our chakras, raise our vibrations, manifest abundance, do as the gurus do, read some book that Oprah suggests to us, visit Sedona, etc.
I'm planning to write a Deconstructing the New Age manifesto and will definitely go into minute detail there! But you can click on the label "Deconstructing the New Age Meme Complex" on this site to read more on the subject.
As far as the merger of astrology with New Age - again, that's something I would need to work on further to do justice, but it's a utilization of astrology to further certain New Age ideas.
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