The same people who are habitual critics of Christianity will scoff at the idea that this kind of thing is significant in any way, but scoff as we may, there are people -- more of them than ever, by the look of things -- who take this stuff very seriously indeed, and some of these seemingly deluded people are in places of great influence where have the capacity to manipulate many people. Some are in show business -- Hackard points out the prevalence of cults and their followers in Hollywood.
''Having built her fortune on blasphemy, Madonna is also a high-profile practitioner of Kabbalah, Judaic magic rooted in the mystery schools of Babylon and Egypt. One reason among many for Hollywood’s suspension in unreality is that “the industry” has an extensive history with cults, so it should come as no surprise that a number of stars and their handlers might be participants in such activity.''
Politicians, too, are no strangers to these kinds of groups. We've all been reassured by those who profess to 'know' that groups like Skull and Bones or the Bohemian Grove gatherings are just fun and games, just harmless pranks and a means of depressurizing for the wealthy and influential.
While I don't profess to have any secrets to share, or any inside knowledge of these things (though I have attended functions of one well-known group back East in the past) I think it's foolish to dismiss the importance of this kind of thing; it's better to maintain a degree of wariness and not be quick to scoff.
As much as some people on the ''right'' despise Christianity and blame it for just about everything that is wrong with our world, especially globalism, open borders, the 'One World' delusion, and anything else that menaces us, why not look at the influence of the so-called 'New Age' movement on all these trends? Various religions, sects, and cults which have flourished since at least the middle of last century have been promoting all the above delusions and lies heavily, and their fingerprints are all over the One World/globalist/multiculturalist agenda. It is their jargon and catchphrases that fill our media: 'empowerment', 'enlightenment' 'global citizenship' 'transformation' 'global governance' 'unity in diversity' and all the rest of it.
The problem with tracing these things to the New Age movement is that it is, by design, a rather nebulous philosophy, weaving together bits and pieces from many religions and philosophies, and even managing to feign respect for Jesus Christ (aka 'The Christ') in their propaganda. But mostly they exalt all things non-Western above all, and while they employ pop psychology as part of their belief system, they are mostly averse to real science when it comes to their worldview.
Many people in this movement will disavow the term 'New Age', saying that it means nothing, or that it is too all-inclusive.
However, there is a widespread belief among many Western people these days in New Age-derived ideas like 'karma' including group karma, national karma and racial karma; past lives/reincarnation beliefs also figure prominently. How many people do you know who are interested in, or avidly believe, in some of these things? I've known many. Even some of those who profess Christ believe in some of the above ideas, sad to say.
The most common belief among people who embrace some form of 'New Age' or Occult belief system is the idea that 'all is one.' There is no good, no evil, in an absolute sense; all is one, and the idea of a dichotomy between good and evil is just mistaken thinking; it's all based on illusion. Mankind and all life forms are just aspects of One being, so the belief goes. All human beings are essentially one. God and man are aspect of this unity too, and man can become God, supposedly -- or is already a god with a small 'g', if he but knows it.
Madonna and her Hollywood peers supposedly practice some homemade version of the mystical tradition known as Kabala. This kind of thing is very much under the New Age umbrella.
Hackard seems to see a move toward openly leading people into this arcane believe system, via manipulation of occult symbols. He seems to see this kind of formerly hidden ('occult') system coming out into the open. It would seem that this is culminating as people have become sufficiently disarmed via having their traditional faiths subverted and discredited, and all their suppositions about themselves, their history, and the world, challenged and/or remade. We can certainly see this happening, even if we insist on attributing it to some random process or to some more mundane kind of agenda.
I've mentioned how, that in my liberal and unregenerate days, I used to be steeped in New Age thoughts and practices, and I've certainly seen it up close and have been involved in it. So my acquaintance with it is not mere book-knowledge or something I saw on Oprah -- although Oprah herself is a prime example of someone who promotes this belief system to the female population on a large scale.
But these increasingly open attempts to bring the formerly hidden out into the open remind me of what I read in the writings of New Age 'writer'/channeler Alice Bailey, when she wrote of the 'Externalisation of the Hierarchy.'
"The externalised Ashrams will be active along four major lines:[Emphasis mine.]
1.Creating and vitalizing the new world religion.
2.The gradual reorganizing of the social order - an order free from oppression, the persecution of minorities, materialism and pride.
3.The public inauguration of the system of initiation. This will involve the growth and comprehension of symbolism.
4.The exoteric training of disciples and of humanity in this new cycle." (The Externalisation of the Hierarchy, p. 700)
"The preparatory work of externalisation falls into three phases or stages, as far as relation to mankind is concerned:
First. The present stage in which a few isolated disciples and initiates, scattered all over the world, are doing the important task of destruction, plus the enunciation of principles. They are preparing the way for the first organised body of disciples and initiates who -- coming from certain Ashrams -- will proceed with the next phase of the work.
Second. The stage of the first real externalisation upon a large and organised scale will succeed upon the above endeavours. These disciples and initiates will be the real Builders of the new world, of the new civilisation; they will assume leadership in most countries and take high office in all departments of human life. This they will do by the free choice of the people and by virtue of their advanced and proven merit. By this means, gradually the Hierarchy will take over the control upon the physical plane -- subjectively as well as objectively -- of the direction of human affairs.''
Does any of the above describe what we see happening to our world ? The above words (supposedly from an 'Ascended Master' from Tibet, dictated to Alice Bailey) were written decades ago, long before many of the pieces were in place. No doubt they sounded more far-fetched in the mid-20th century, but they sound very much like what is happening now, what with all our 'elites' seemingly on the same page as regards the direction 'our world' is taking. Bailey, in her extensive writings, described how nationalism had to go, because it was 'separative' and all separative philosophies and people would have to be removed, because they hindered the wonderful Unity which would characterize the coming 'New Age'.
Some will no doubt scoff at the notion that these kinds of belief systems are anything but harmless fantasy or well-intentioned fluff, but I assure you they are taken seriously by some important people, and we dismiss them at our own peril.
