C H R O N O L O G Y
 Phineas Parkhurst Quimby encounters mesmerist Charles Poyen in
Belfast, Maine and begins his spiritual healing career.
 Spiritualism begins when the Fox sisters of Hydesville, New York
report hearing mysterious rappings in their house.
 Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and Henry Steel Olcott form the Theosophical
Society in New York City.
 The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn begins meeting in Eng-
land.
 The World’s Parliament of Religions is held in Chicago, introducing
American citizens to Asian religions and cultures.
 Aleister Crowley joins the Ordo Templi Orientis (Oriental Templar
Order or OTO), which he heads from  to ; he incorporates
many of his own teachings into its systems of initiation.
The OTO continues to be an influential branch of Neopaganism.
 AMORC (Ancient and Mystical Order of the Rosae Crucis), an
early Rosicrucian group, is founded in New York City.
 The Association for Research and Enlightenment (ARE) is
founded to disseminate the teachings of psychic Edgar Cayce.
 Kenneth Arnold, a U.S. Forest Service employee sent to look for a
downed plane in Washington State, reports seeing nine brightly lit,
spherically shaped flying objects near Mount Rainier and sets off
decades of speculation about UFOs.
 Gerald Gardner’s High Magic’s Aid, a fictionalized account of a
witch coven, is published.
 Norman Vincent Peale publishes The Power of Positive Thinking
and ushers in the human potential movement.
 Gerald Gardner’s Witchcraft Today, a pseudo-anthropological
study, is published and eventually becomes one of the founding
documents of contemporary Paganism.
Aldous Huxley’s The Doors of Perception is published and becomes
popular for its account of psychedelic experiences.
 The Urantia Book, a channeled document that provides evidence
for other inhabited worlds, is published.
 George King, an Englishman influenced by Theosophy, founds the
first UFO religion, the Aetherius Society, in London.
 Jack Kerouac publishes The Dharma Bums, a fictionalized account
of the lives of the Beat poets.
 Robert Heinlein’s science fiction classic Stranger in a Strange Land
is published.
Black Elk Speaks, an account of the life of a Lakota medicine man,
is reissued in paperback.
 Esalen Institute is founded in Big Sur, California and becomes an
important New Age center offering various psychological therapies
as well as bodywork and spiritual teachings.
 Peter Caddy, his wife Eileen, and their friend Dorothy Maclean
start a garden on a barren, sandy peninsula in northeast Scotland
that eventually becomes the New Age community of Findhorn.
Timothy Leary and his family move to Millbrook, New York, one
of the first communes, to further his experiments with psychedelics.
 The Immigration and Nationality Act is passed, ending a quota
system that effectively barred Asian immigration. The influx of
Asian religious teachers results in the growing popularity of meditation
and other Asian religious practices as well as the spread of
images of Asian deities and Asian religious ideas like karma and
reincarnation.
The U.S. paperback edition of J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings
is published.
 Robert Graves’s The White Goddess is published and becomes an
inspiration for Neopagans seeking new forms of deity.
 The Church of All Worlds and Feraferia, two important Neopagan
groups, are founded.
 Timothy Leary publishes The Politics of Ecstasy, his treatise on
psychedelic drugs and spiritual experience.
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 East West, one of the most influential New Age magazines, begins
publication.
 The first Seth book, Seth Speaks, is published by medium Jane
Roberts.
 The Institute of Noetic Sciences is founded to promote the study
of consciousness.
 Circle, a Neopagan organization, is founded to promote education,
counseling, research, and spiritual healing.
 The Covenant of the Goddess is organized to bring together all
types of practitioners of Witchcraft.
 A Course in Miracles, the text of messages channeled through
medium Helen Schucman, is published.
 The Omega Institute for Holistic Studies is founded in Rhinebeck,
New York to educate people about holistic healing and spiritual
traditions from around the world.
 Starhawk publishes The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion
of the Great Goddess, which contributes to the growth and
popularity of Neopaganism by making ritual techniques available
to anyone.
 The first Starwood festival takes place, blending New Age and
Neopagan interests.
 Theosophist and channeler David Spangler returns to the United
States from Findhorn to form a New Age community in
Wisconsin.
 Shirley MacLaine’s autobiographical account of her experiences
with channeling and other New Age practices, Out on a Limb, is
published.
 Circle Sanctuary’s Lady Liberty League is started to support Neopagans
involved with struggles for religious freedom.
 The Harmonic Convergence, predicted by Jose Arguelles to be the
beginning of a new age of consciousness, occurs.
 The Bay Area Pagan Assemblies (BAPA) is formed.
 James Redfield’s The Celestine Prophecy is published, describing the
mysterious disappearance of a Peruvian manuscript and the author’s
spiritual journey to find it.
 Neopagans take part in the World’s Parliament of Religions.
The Pagan Educational Network (PEN) is founded to educate the
public about Neopaganism and to advocate for religious freedom in
cases involving Neopagans.
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 The Witches’ Voice, a Neopagan news and networking site, first
becomes available on the Internet.
 The first annual Pagan Pride Day takes place on September  in
cities across the United States.
 Jose Arguelles establishes the Foundation for the Law of Time to
work toward making a thirteen-month, twenty-eight-day calendar
a world standard to “replace the time of war with the time of
peace.”
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