Ivan Rauscher
The New Age Has Not Been Realised
Since the 1990s, along with the rise of the Internet, the New Age movement has adopted conspiracy theories as a way of explaining why its vision of a golden age of peace and oneness has not been realised.
Ideas from the culture of conspiracism provide a rationale for why the flourishing of a
new perfected race of human beings with supernatural powers (as
propounded by the figures that inspired the New Age such as Helena P. Blavatksy of the Theosophical Society and Rudolf Steiner of the Anthroposophical Society)
has been deterred since it was promised in the heady days of
the psychedelic 1960s when ‘New Age’ first came to the fore as a consumer
marketing phenomenon.
Patterns
of New Age social tendencies both then and now could be said to be common to religious cults
throughout the ages. However, in the twenty-first century the cultic aspects of
the New Age are motivated far more by advertising and marketing
than the political radicalism, social idealism or religious fanaticism of the
60s or previous eras.
The New Age movement takes an entrepreneurial approach to the philosophy of occultism.
Historically it emerged in the 1960s
out of a re-appropriation of nineteenth to early twentieth century occultism which was derived from philosophies of the Renaissance, Eastern mysticism and ancient religions as a reaction to rationalism and science. The New Age scene now is a commercial market for ‘alternative spirituality’ as opposed to the corruption
of modern mainstream religion. It sells the notion of the development of an advanced new type of
humanity bringing a future world of ‘oneness’.
In all its many guises the billion-dollar industry that is the New Age movement is enthralled by
autocratic leaders claiming to be in possession of the all-encompassing truth about life and death. While appearing
to take up liberal, humanistic attitudes with re-interpretations of traditional religious philosophies, the New Age offers none
of the revolutionary, ecstatic spiritual and social transformations once hinted at in 1960s counterculture. It is infested with flimflam, quacks, con-artists,
frauds and snake oil for consumers of self-help mumbo-jumbo.
The New Age reduces social problems to trite notions of self-development where subjectivism and transcendence take precedence.
Critical thinking in New Ageism is generally regarded as ‘dualistic thought’.
Proponents of
New Age philosophies rely on the bland assertion
that pseudo-scientific and supernatural concepts about, for example,
channelling, Homoeopathy, UFOs, Ascended Masters, indigo children, Kinesiology,
orbs, quantum portals to other dimensions
etc, are going to make the world a better place -- as well as the faulty paradigm of
‘you create your own reality’.
The Conspiracy Theory Industry
Via its contemporary assimilation into New Age and ufological circles, conspiracy theory culture has in the past twenty years or so reached more mainstream quarters. Yet its historical background is in lunatic fringe, far right-wing ideologies and Christian fundamentalism. The activities of conspiracy theorists amount to reproducing information detailing hidden or symbolic meanings found in the way governments, the media, rich people and nefarious organisations are said to be working in unison to orchestrate world events. The information distributed by conspiracy theorists is supposedly in order to ‘wake up’ what they describe as brainwashed, ignorant ‘sheeple’, apparently as an end goal in itself.
Conspiracy theory culture involves a lucrative industry selling books, DVDs,
lecture tours, radio shows, sponsored websites, conferences etc.
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| A symbol of evil for conspiracy theorists |
Distracting ‘conspiracies’ about a ‘New World Order’ and a cabal of
international bankers ruling the world from behind the scenes, as popularised by the likes of Peter Joseph Merola’s ‘Zeitgeist Movement’ movies, have much in common with anti-Semitism. They suggest that a predominately Jewish plot is to blame for the world’s
problems, as did the well-known Nazi, Adolf Hitler. The now largely defunct Zeitgeist
Movement is also awash with New Age dogma.
Similarly, Bernard Poolman, the buffoon-like, patriarch figurehead of the morbid South Africa-based sect known as ‘Desteni’, with
its pseudo-radical ‘Equal Money System’ (EMS), alleges that ordinary people have not forgiven themselves enough for allowing financial elites to cause
all the problems, ‘the Jew in every man is a Zionist’ and ‘Hitler had it’
because he saw that ‘the Jewish principle’ must be eradicated. Supporters of EMS, known as ‘Destonians’ regard Hitler as self-forgiven due to the benevolent actions of Poolman when he met Hitler in ‘demon dimensions’.
Poolman is a misanthropist and represents the world as polarised and split between the members of his group and everyone else; people who are not Destonians whom he demonises as untrustworthy supporters of the evil system of abuse run by the Elite. In typical obscurantist New Age fashion, Desteni promotes a new kind of purified human being
and a future world of ‘oneness’ that cannot be questioned. Any criticism or questioning of their ideas they represent as symptomatic of what they call a ‘polarity system’.
Desteni cashes in on conspiracy theory culture and the industry that surrounds it. They attempt to appeal to potential recruits with speculations on common conspiracy theories about UFOs, aliens, the Elite, the Illuminati, vaccines, HAARP, global warming, the New World Order, inter-dimensional reptilians and so on, as they are filtered through the Desteni ideology, which is a re-worked version of New Age spirituality and occultism they falsely equate with ‘equality’. Nearly all Destonians, that is, supporters
of EMS describe their inclinations towards the New Age and conspiracy theories. Indeed, content of the Desteni material has no other points of reference except those pertaining to New Age conspiracism: occultism, contemporary spirituality, pseudo-science, quack medicine and conspiracy theories.
What the Equal Money System is For
Supporting EMS involves taking up a rigid dogma about a future new age of ‘equality and oneness’ that is bound to replace capitalism. It is mainly centred on recordings of speeches by Bernard Poolman and Sunette Spies. EMS is a marketing device for the sale of Desteni-branded
‘self-development’ entertainment products for New Age conspiracists, but is often described as
‘communist’ or ‘socialist’ because it seems to suggest a totalitarian system of enforced collectivisation similar to Soviet Russia.
The concept behind EMS is that
at present
human activity and thought take shape as machine-like, pre-programmed systems that are corrupt and evil and need to be replaced by a different, more natural ecosystem of pure equality. This is ‘equal money’, for which Destonians make the outlandish claim that it can spontaneously emerge out of everyone in the world actually agreeing to ‘vote’ for it.
If this managerial, bureaucratic vision of how an imaginary technocratic global society will organise itself in the future has any relevance, it is because it relies entirely on the widely-held belief in the illusion of cyberspace democracy. It is essentially just a neoliberal corporate concept of marketing. Indeed, this is how EMS functions: as a marketing slogan for a corporate brand. Its only purpose is to convince people to give money to or make money for the Desteni organisation.
And so the question is: What would Desteni do with the money they make?
Their core material has a strong element of Nazi mysticism which the group have partly censored. The aim of Nazism (National Socialism) was and is the salvation of the world by means of eugenics and the extermination of so-called inferior races. Eugenics has to do with selective breeding to alter the character of an organism or species and the systematic eradication of perceived undesirable biological traits. One of the most vociferous supporters of Equal Money System, Marlen Vargas Del Razo has stated it is Desteni group policy that Eugenics is Best for All Life in Equality. She calls for
‘the sterilization of "defectives"’ and writes that
If we look at what’s best for all, the only reason that we would prevent a suitable creation of a human being at a genomic level would be having a particular sentimentalism or preferences for certain races linked to cultures/ languages, all programs that were deliberately created to have the current inequality we have.
This suggests that ultimately the major part of Desteni finances would go towards research into the genetic engineering or breeding of their equals and the extermination of whomever they regard as unequal.
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| Taoist Yin-Yang symbol: New Age oneness |
Reptoid Revelations of Equal Money
Ex-BBC broadcaster, David Icke's suburbanite, sci-fi tales of a system of mind control run
by inter-dimensional shape-shifting reptilian aliens to enslave the world
from the beginning of time
are central to his conspiracy theories. Icke's ideas have been around for a while but he has popularised them (see: The Occult Reptilian Saga). They have been borrowed and re-used
to construct one of the most significant parts of the Equal Money System cult's core material. Supporters of the EMS have as their main focus the de-programming of themselves from ‘systems’ of inequality which they say have been designed by inter-dimensional
shape-shifting
reptilian aliens. Sunette Spies regularly entertains them all by pretending to be one or another imaginary reptoid, usually the one they call Anu, said to be the leader of the creators of humans.
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| Conan the Barbarian knifes a reptilian |
The use of the term, ‘reptilians’ in conspiracy theory culture
is often understood to be a veiled reference to ‘the Jews’. The reptilians can be traced back to fictional
creations of early twentieth century pulp fiction
fantasy and horror authors such as H. P. Lovecraft, who was a rabid
anti-Semite, and Robert E. Howard,
a white supremacist and creator of Conan the Barbarian,
by way of various modes of occultism including works by Maurice Doreal, founder of the Brotherhood of the White Temple in Denver around 1930. Doreal
wrote about a malevolent ‘Serpent Race’ and was inspired by Guy and Edna
Ballard's I AM Movement, an explicitly fascist organisation in turn
inspired by Helena P. Blavatsky’s Theosophical Society.
After David Icke failed to register communications from Desteni, Poolman claimed that he had Icke’s ‘higher self’ ‘portalled’ and found out that ‘Mr. Icke was actually in
the Service of the Reptilians’ (quote from now deleted Desteni video, ‘Five Age of Knowledge with
David Icke's Reptilian Control’ -- see also Desteni on David Icke). Curiously, a native of Kwa-Zulu-Natal where the Desteni farm is located, named Credo
Mutwa, a Zulu shaman, has the friendship and endorsement of David Icke as he claims that the Zulu people have known about a reptilian agenda for centuries, and Bernard Poolman has stated he has consulted with one or another Zulu shaman, but not apparently Credo Mutwa.
Like all New Age conspiracists, Destonians are preoccupied with fantastical and bizarre myths, self-perfection; totalistic notions of truth and saving the planet combined with obscurantism, paranoia and pointless mystification. Of course there is no inter-dimensional reptilian mind control; nobody needs to watch Desteni YouTube videos to know that there need to be major political changes and a re-structuring of the economic system in favour of more equality.
Who Cares?
The Christian fundamentalist conspiracy theory sub-culture has portrayed occultism or the New Age as a Satanic tool of an evil ‘New World Order’ financial elite. Despite this, as conspiracism has been adapted to suit the aims of the New Age movement, the odd claim is made by New Age conspiracist groups that they are not ‘new age’ because ‘new age’ has been created by the NWO / Illuminati / Jewish / reptilian mind control system of the elite. Yet the same groups such as Desteni are wholly preoccupied with ideas and methods based exclusively on re-interpretations of New Age fads, techniques and topics, all of which are in turn derived from the more traditional philosophy of occultism.
The developing trend for New Age conspiracism, including forms of expression such as Desteni, the Galactic Federation of Light, WingMakers, David Wilcock, Thrive Movement, Ashtar Command Crew, the Cassiopean Experiment, Imzaia Movement, Ashayana Deane, Amitakh Stanford and others, is such that each have in common the same propensity for ‘channelled’ information from quantum portals to ‘inter-dimensional reality’ as it conveys bizarre, incoherent philosophies and conspiratorial interpretations of psychology, politics and world events, and of course the typical New Age prescription for the future transformation of all human activity and redemption from evil.
New Age conspiracists tout themselves as a messianic vanguard with an apocalyptic vision of a pessimistic present and a glorious future. They posit the over-arching evil of a perceived hidden Matrix of mind control and brainwashing, salvation or redemption from which is only available according to their instructions. Their seemingly political ideas are inseparable from
fanciful
clichés of occultism about things like the Illuminati, the lost continents of Lemuria or Atlantis, or inter-dimensional reptilians.
Their political viewpoint betrays an extreme naivete in matters of the political. Their leaders claim exclusive access to non-existent, invisible realms. They are obsessed with decline, impurity and decadence as opposed to their fantasies of a future conformist, corporate society of oneness. These fraudulent leaders of New Age conspiracist groups most often favour some form of a fascistic, techno-theocratic society run by themselves and/or non-existent alien overlords.
New Age conspiracists want to condition people into accepting repressive political ideologies run according to pseudo-science and religious concepts where irrationality, ignorance and superstition hold sway. Their uncritical, cult-like behaviour shows that they live in a fantasy world and they wish to impose it on others. The New Age conspiracists' world-view does not operate according to facts or truth or reality. But they don't care. They don't care about facts or truth or reality. They don't care about real imagination. They create their own realities.
A
Culture of Conspiracy Apocalyptic
Visions in Contemporary America by Michael
Barkun
Cults
and Cosmic Consciousness: Religious Vision in the American 1960s by Camille Paglia
Zeitgeist Exposed
Desteni FAQ
