Umbrella term covering various mystical, quasimystical and pseudo-mystical aspects of modern American culture. The term dates back to the 1980s, although the ideas it covers are often older. Some New Age concepts originated in 1960s and 1970s hippie or psychedelic culture, including the emphasis on self-development and expansion and on multiple forms of spirituality. However, New Age differs from psychedelic culture in several ways. New Age tends to have a more holistic emphasis, stressing the notion of people within their environment; for example, many New Agers were strongly influenced by the Gaia hypothesis (which portrays the world as a single living organism). Still, there is little or no homogeneity among the various groups within New Age culture, which range from pagans and covens of witches to health faddists and enthusiasts for cyberculture. Some New Age groups are darkly anti-technological, others have large web-sites. Some focus on single issues of importance, others have wider agendas.

A few general themes nonetheless appear. The personal health craze which began in the 1970s overlaps with many elements of New Age culture, and many New Agers place great stress on physical and mental health and fitness, seeing the two as overlapping.

Fashions in food, physical fitness and design range from the whole earth foods movement to feng shui and crystal healing. This also relates to their emphasis on holism and green philosophy New Agers have been involved in a number of radical environmental movements.

The interest in alternative forms of spirituality is also inherited from the 1960s. A strong emphasis on Indian spirituality including yoga and tantrism continues, but the focus on Middle Eastern and Sufi philosophy has been dropped and replaced by an interest in Eastern mysticism. Most evident, though, is the growth of “indigenous” spiritual movements like wicca (see witchcraft). An interest in Norse and Celtic paganism is also growing, and a number of “churches” have been founded. These new spiritual groups reject what they see as a darklight polarism in Judaeo-Christianity in favor of a more “balanced” view of the world.

Critics of the New Age movement argue that it is a jumble of fads and poorly understood mystical faiths with no real philosophical core. This criticism is in many ways justified; however, the holistic focus and emphasis on personal development are to some extent a reaction to the increasing secular materialism and technological determinism of the modern world. Interestingly and this again separates the New Age from hippie culture, most New Age groups do not reject technology and material values. Instead, they seek to subvert these things and build them into their own neo-materialist philosophy which situates materialism within a wider world view. Things, in the New Age view, are also artifacts, resonant with a variety of values.