New Age movement?

[Ceddd99]

So long story short I was born, baptized Catholic but parents didn’t take me to church or educate me in the faith so I grew up atheist and became very existentially depressed as I could not see a point to dealing with life’s hardships if I was just going to die regardless.

To cut another long story short, I discovered the spiritual path and ended up in the New Age movement for a while. Eventually, I realized the new age movement was extremely confusing. THere was too much information, too much conflicting information and too many cooky characters. I did not know whom I could trust and I just felt like I could not find God there so I decided to get out of this crazy movement and go back and study ancient Christianity.

That eventually lead me to becoming Catholic, which was one of the best things, if not THE best thing that ever happened to me because I was eventually able to meet the King of kings, Jesus Christ, in the Holy Eucharist. The Catholic Church helped to change my life as I went from hopelessly depressed and angry at life, to being in awe of the wondrousness of God and his creation. This is many years since I left the new age movement behind and I seldom even think about it these days. However, all of a sudden, last night I had a sudden urge to use the Violet Flame of Freedom, which is a new age technique that is supposed to concentrate the power of prayer and use it to transmute negative energy and heal the blockages that block your relationship with God. When I used the violet flame, I felt its immense power (something I had never noticed back when I was actually in the new age movement). I then felt the presence of God with me and he was unconditionally loving me, despite my strong view in myself that I am a sinner and not worthy of God’s love. Not only was he loving me, but he was also healing with me this violet light that I had invoked, the Violet Flame of Freedom. Anyway, after that I did a meditation to open my chakras and it felt amazing.

I now feel more aware of my connection to God than I ever have before. It is as though I am directly aware that we live and hear and see and speak and think and experience all entirely within the timelessness of God, who is the source and substance of all that is. And not only that, but God is actually a loving God. A caring God who wants us to come running to him and jump into his arms like a child runs into the outstretched arms of its parent.

Anyway, my questions is, did I commit a sin by using these new age techniques? I left the new age movement and all new age techniques behind years ago in order to practice traditional Catholic Christianity. I dabbled in Buddhism and as well as neo advaita teachings from to time but absolutely nothing new age. For the most part my worship was very traditionally Catholic and I developed a great love and appreciation for Catholic spirituality. So I don’t know why I have all of a sudden this urge to use the Violet Flame of Freedom and I am wondering whether I can use it as a Catholic or if it is considered a sin?

I read that some Catholic saints used the Violet Flame Energy and that that is why Violet is the color which represents penance with in the Catholic Church? Anyway, I would just like opinions on this because I don’t want to do anything that offends God and yet I feel as though there is great benefit available to me through this so called Violet Light.

 

[Ad_Orientem]

The Church issued a document back in 1989 which you might find helpful, titled On Some Aspects of Christian Meditation. It doesn’t specifically mention the technique you mention, but it lays down some principles which could help to guide you in this situation.

Now my personal opinion. I would avoid practices of the sort you mention, as prayer is about raising our hearts and minds to God, not about controlling energy or achieving enlightenment by “techniques”. To attempt to control nature is magic, which is forbidden, in part because we try to usurp the role of God. Not that he’s threatened by such attempts, but the devils are more than happy to give us the illusion of having godlike power over nature, all the while making inroads into our souls. And it is useless to seek enlightenment by any other means than our Lord Jesus Christ.

The use of the imagination is a good thing, especially when we fill it with beauty; but in prayer, it should be focused on our Lord and on his life, not on strange phenomena.

 

[MyNameIsDan]

The Church issued a document back in 1989 which you might find helpful, titled On Some Aspects of Christian Meditation. It doesn’t specifically mention the technique you mention, but it lays down some principles which could help to guide you in this situation.

Now my personal opinion. I would avoid practices of the sort you mention, as prayer is about raising our hearts and minds to God, not about controlling energy or achieving enlightenment by “techniques”. To attempt to control nature is magic, which is forbidden, in part because we try to usurp the role of God. Not that he’s threatened by such attempts, but the devils are more than happy to give us the illusion of having godlike power over nature, all the while making inroads into our souls. And it is useless to seek enlightenment by any other means than our Lord Jesus Christ.

The use of the imagination is a good thing, especially when we fill it with beauty; but in prayer, it should be focused on our Lord and on his life, not on strange phenomena.

Well said. I also would steer clear from any of those types of practices. Also, healing your relationship with God is what confession is for. Our sins are the obstacles that keep us from God and this can be fixed by participating in the sacrament of reconciliation. From the sounds of it, you tried to manipulate some things to remove these obstacles without God involved. Remember, to be forgiven and to get rid of obstacles, confession is needed where you may obtain God’s forgiveness. You can’t simply do some technique and feel like everything that is bogging you down from God is suddenly okay. Be extremely careful not to get fooled into thinking and believing things that are contrary to our faith.

God bless!

 

[Auntie_A]

You use the words “I feel” a lot. The danger of this is that we can all “feel” really good about our god but may not be with The God. Very easy to be derailed by the sensational. Find a good orthodox spiritual director who can teach you to think.

 

[Dorothy]

To the op,

You have received good advice here.

Please remember that in Sacred Scripture it tells us that the devil can appear as an angel of light.

And, also, that the Mass is the source and summit of our faith. Jesus precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity comes to us, His Risen Body!; we receive grace according to how we come prepared via prayer and acts of faith, hope and love. No great feelings are necessary. However, when the Lord decides to give good feelings (consolations) accept with gratitude and go on.

When we obey the legitimate authority of the Church that our Lord Jesus Christ established we need not fear being deceived.

 

[OneSmallFlower]

To the op,

You have received good advice here.

Please remember that in Sacred Scripture it tells us that the devil can appear as an angel of light.

And, also, that the Mass is the source and summit of our faith. Jesus precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity comes to us, His Risen Body!; we receive grace according to how we come prepared via prayer and acts of faith, hope and love. No great feelings are necessary. However, when the Lord decides to give good feelings (consolations) accept with gratitude and go on.

When we obey the legitimate authority of the Church that our Lord Jesus Christ established we need not fear being deceived.

Yep, definitely good advice here. Is there anything intrinsically evil about lighting a purple candle? Probably not. But ask yourself why you’re doing it. Is it to try to “make up” for some sort of emotional spirituality you haven’t been finding lately in the sacraments? Just an impulse? If those are your motives, it could definitely be a mortal evil. This sounds like it’s verging on some sort of magical phenomena, which is very dangerous, especially since you said you felt some sort of “connection.” I would not trust that, and I wouldn’t attempt this sort of thing again, simply because it may be that something really IS answering you- something that’s not of God.

I’d suggest using extreme caution when trying to make a connection to God through anything but prayer and the sacraments. As others have said, the devil can masquerade as an angel of light; be careful that what may feel like a real emotional connection to God is not actually a trick of the devil.

I would also definitely take this to your confessor for spiritual direction. Don’t be afraid; I’ve learned recently that there is nothing you can’t say to him, and I mean literally nothing. Like St. Alphonsus says, “Place more confidence in the minister of God [your confessor] than in the revelations of all the Angels of Paradise.” He’ll be able to give you better advice than we will.

 

[Ceddd99]

It was just an impulse, I am not sure where it came from. Well, actually I think it came up because I noticed I had a lot of negative emotional energy in my energy field and I felt as though my chakras were not open and spinning properly, so I decided to try this Violtet Flame of Freedom technique which I remembered from my days spent in the new age movement.

But this is something which has always confused me. In Catholicism it seems like we relate to God as a person, whereas in the New Age movement, we related to God much more mechanically, using tools and techniques to clear our energy fields and transmute negative energy. There was very little emphases on simply getting to know God through prayer or quiet contemplation.

I wanted to leave all that behind and try traditional Christianity, which I did for the most part, but I guess you can take the boy out of the new age movement, but you can’t take the new age movement out of the boy. You see, I had never even read the Bible prior to joining the new age movement, so my first real exposure to Jesus and his teachings came through the new age movement and I guess parts of it just stuck with me.

I appreciate all the advice given in this thread though. I will see if I can get the same energy clearing effects from the sacraments and from God.

 

[MyNameIsDan]

It was just an impulse, I am not sure where it came from. Well, actually I think it came up because I noticed I had a lot of negative emotional energy in my energy field and I felt as though my chakras were not open and spinning properly, so I decided to try this Violtet Flame of Freedom technique which I remembered from my days spent in the new age movement.

I do not know much about chakras, but I don’t think you should be thinking about what you feel in terms of chakras. Someone can correct me on this, though.

But this is something which has always confused me. In Catholicism it seems like we relate to God as a person, whereas in the New Age movement, we related to God much more mechanically, using tools and techniques to clear our energy fields and transmute negative energy. There was very little emphases on simply getting to know God through prayer or quiet contemplation.

This is because we are people, not machines. We should be relating to God on a personal level. It’s not like getting a wrench and oiling door hinge and the problem is fixed. I hope that’s an understandable analogy. The problem with the New Age movement is that it is trying to get the person to think they feel good. Moreover, the biggest problem is that they are trying to feel good without God. Adam and Eve sought things for themselves to the exclusion of God. We know what happened there. Similarly with the New Age movement, the happiness stems from some technique to make you feel good when the fact of the matter is that the problem isn’t resolved. It removes God out of the picture. All that matters is that you feel happy. Does it truly resolve the problems? Where is God in the picture? Where is God involved in finding a true solution?

I wanted to leave all that behind and try traditional Christianity, which I did for the most part, but I guess you can take the boy out of the new age movement, but you can’t take the new age movement out of the boy. You see, I had never even read the Bible prior to joining the new age movement, so my first real exposure to Jesus and his teachings came through the new age movement and I guess parts of it just stuck with me.

I appreciate all the advice given in this thread though. I will see if I can get the same energy clearing effects from the sacraments and from God.

I think you should start thinking about yourself as a whole. What I mean by this is to not think about yourself as having seven parts when really you are a body and soul; thank of these together holistically. I don’t even know if you should be thinking of parts of yourself as energy. You are a person with a soul. I think speaking to a priest about this notion will help you.

I hope this helps! God bless!

 

[Ceddd99]

Well in the new age movement, I was taught that I was composed of vibrating energy which vibrates in different frequencies in order to create different worlds. For example, heaven virbates at a much higher frequency than earth does. Different parts of my being also vibrate at different frequencies, for example my I AM Presence vibrates at a higher frequency than my conscious mind because the I AM Presence remains always in the spiritual realm. Then we are taught that the human being is composed of a mental body, an emotional body and a physical body and possibly one other body I am forgetting cuz I remember they used to say we needed to purify our four lower bodies in order to prepare ourselves for ascension. The Violet flame was supposed to help transmute negative energy and bad karma we had created through our sins and misdeeds.

We did focus on God in the new age movement. The purpose wasn’t just to fell good, it was to earn our ascension, which is basically the same thing as the Catholic goal of becoming a saint. However, what bothered me about the new age movement was the idea that it was up to us to accomplish this, as though the path was about doing all these techniques to clear our energy fields and balance the seven spiritual rays and our karma and stuff. To me, this put too much emphases on human effort, when the truth is that salvation is God’s gift. So that is another reason I left the new age movement. If anyone teaches a works based salvation, it’s them.

One of the biggest challenges I have faced since converting is not knowing which things I learned while in the New Age movement are true and which are not true/heretical. A lot of what they teach is not in the Bible, but the Bible doesn’t necessarily contradict it either.

 

[MyNameIsDan]

Well in the new age movement, I was taught that I was composed of vibrating energy which vibrates in different frequencies in order to create different worlds. For example, heaven virbates at a much higher frequency than earth does. Different parts of my being also vibrate at different frequencies, for example my I AM Presence vibrates at a higher frequency than my conscious mind because the I AM Presence remains always in the spiritual realm. Then we are taught that the human being is composed of a mental body, an emotional body and a physical body and possibly one other body I am forgetting cuz I remember they used to say we needed to purify our four lower bodies in order to prepare ourselves for ascension. The Violet flame was supposed to help transmute negative energy and bad karma we had created through our sins and misdeeds.

Isn’t anything that vibrates made of matter? Doesn’t that imply that heaven is made of matter …? Honest question (I don’t mean for it to sound rhetorical). Are you also saying that this “I AM Presence” is separable at some points from your body? What is the negative energy transmuted to? Does it repair anything with God? Also, why is there karma? Sorry, I don’t mean for any of these to come off as rhetorical.

We did focus on God in the new age movement. The purpose wasn’t just to fell good, it was to earn our ascension, which is basically the same thing as the Catholic goal of becoming a saint. However, what bothered me about the new age movement was the idea that it was up to us to accomplish this, as though the path was about doing all these techniques to clear our energy fields and balance the seven spiritual rays and our karma and stuff. To me, this put too much emphases on human effort, when the truth is that salvation is God’s gift. So that is another reason I left the new age movement. If anyone teaches a works based salvation, it’s them.

It isn’t the same thing because being Catholic is never done by yourself. If you feel like you have committed a grave sin, the priest is there for you. Also, we do not earn salvation. It is only by God’s grace that we are saved; we cannot earn our way to heaven by our works. You are exactly correct about the thing that bothered you. Right!

The new age movement seems to be focused on taking matters into your own hands - matters that according to our Catholic faith, is not simply remedied by ourselves. Hopefully God is involved in all aspects of our lives.

One of the biggest challenges I have faced since converting is not knowing which things I learned while in the New Age movement are true and which are not true/heretical. A lot of what they teach is not in the Bible, but the Bible doesn’t necessarily contradict it either.

Just keep in mind that we are relying on God. Anything that excludes God or takes everything into your own hands is an indication to rethink what you are doing. Maybe find a Catholic approved book contrasting the New Age movement and Catholicism. I remember our priest made a presentation on this for youth, I wish I could say more.

Although, I am not an expert on any of this.

 

[Dorothy]

It was just an impulse, I am not sure where it came from. Well, actually I think it came up because I noticed I had a lot of negative emotional energy in my energy field and I felt as though my chakras were not open and spinning properly, so I decided to try this Violtet Flame of Freedom technique which I remembered from my days spent in the new age movement.

But this is something which has always confused me. In Catholicism it seems like we relate to God as a person, whereas in the New Age movement, we related to God much more mechanically, using tools and techniques to clear our energy fields and transmute negative energy. There was very little emphases on simply getting to know God through prayer or quiet contemplation.

I wanted to leave all that behind and try traditional Christianity, which I did for the most part, but I guess you can take the boy out of the new age movement, but you can’t take the new age movement out of the boy. You see, I had never even read the Bible prior to joining the new age movement, so my first real exposure to Jesus and his teachings came through the new age movement and I guess parts of it just stuck with me.

I appreciate all the advice given in this thread though. I will see if I can get the same energy clearing effects from the sacraments and from God.

God is a Person! That is the beauty of Christianity! The Incarnation…God becoming man to redeem us!

In another post you said: “…but you can’t take the new age movement out of the boy.”

The Lord can do that! Yes He can!

You may be interested in this site: spiritbattleforsouls.org/interview.html

 

[catholicscot]

A technique, any technique, is just a technical manipulation of things. What gives it value, or danger, is the intention which you bring to it and the spiritual forces which are associated with it. If there are any techniques which are helpful in bringing about, say, calmness or contemplative states then you can be sure that after 2000 years the Catholic Church has discovered them. What I mean is that Buddhism, Hinduism,the New Age have various practices associated with their particular philosophies and, if you look hard enough, you will find that the Church has the same or similar practices associated with its faith.

The thing is not to get hung up on the mechanical action but to look to its spiritual heart. Each Catholic practice, lectio divina, Ignatian visualisation,the Rosary, the Jesus prayer, whatever has its counterparts in other faiths but only the Catholic practices lead you continually to Jesus, Son of God and Son of Mary, and so enable you to experience the fullness of God’s grace in your flesh as well as in your spirit. I’m not familiar with the technique which you mention but I suggest that you search out its Catholic equivalent and see how that will help you. At the risk of being a self publicist I might also reccommend my free ebook This Contemplative Life which covers some of this ground.

Finally, the sacraments, especially the Eucharist are not dependent on your state of mind, they always contain our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Receiving Him through them is the thing that will strengthen you most provided you do so worthily. So preparing yourself to receive Him is the best spiritual work which you can do.

 

[marymary1975]

First I want to say that I am glad you are in a path to abandon the new age movement. Second I have to say that all the concussion you have manifested is precisely the reason the catholic church urges us to keep ourselves away from the new age. The new age is a movement designed to confuse people. They do an amazing job confusing because what they do is grab half truths, twist them, mixed it with other religions and place a pretty rethoric so it sounds credible and with this formula they confuse the life out of people.

My sincere advice to you is yo erase the tape! Stop dwelling on what the new age told you or what they taught you! All that stuff was just meant to confuse you and you need to erase that information from your brain. Stop comparing to catholicism. All those ideas you learned in the new age, you need yo throw them away and stop dwelling on them. I know it sounds hard to complelty erase the tape in you brain to start catholicism from 0 but is the only way. If you don’t do that you are just going to get more and more confused. Be aware that everything you were told had the objective of create confusion in your mind and convince yourself that it was wrong. Start learning catholicism with an open mind and don’t compare it to new age.

 

[Denise1957]

I read that some Catholic saints used the Violet Flame Energy and that that is why Violet is the color which represents penance with in the Catholic Church? Anyway, I would just like opinions on this because I don’t want to do anything that offends God and yet I feel as though there is great benefit available to me through this so called Violet Light.

I’m pretty sure that no Catholic saints used anything called the violet flame. Does this violet flame have something to do with the new-age teachings of Elizabeth Clare Prophet? If so, then it has nothing to do with Catholicism. Mrs. Prophet used some aspects of Catholicism in her teachings, including her own version of the Rosary (which left out all mention of sin, I think). She taught about a violet flame. It has something to do with channeling info from what she called an ascended master by the name of saint germain, if I remember correctly. My grandmother was involved with this group for many years. Stay far, far, away from anything that Elizabeth Clare Prophet (or Summit Lighthouse) taught or still teaches.

 

[Ceddd99]

I wasn’t involved with Elizabeth Claire Prophet directly, but with a group started by former members of her church and what they taught was greatly influenced by her teachings.

First I want to say that I am glad you are in a path to abandon the new age movement. Second I have to say that all the concussion you have manifested is precisely the reason the catholic church urges us to keep ourselves away from the new age. The new age is a movement designed to confuse people. They do an amazing job confusing because what they do is grab half truths, twist them, mixed it with other religions and place a pretty rethoric so it sounds credible and with this formula they confuse the life out of people.

That exactly what happened to me. After two years in the New Age movement, I was so utterly confused I almost lost faith in God entirely. I wanted to start over when I became Catholic, start my relationship with God a new, but it was so difficult. I found myself comparing everything the church taught to new age ideas. Finally after being Catholic fo aboutr 2 years and realizing the value of the sacraments, I finally started to feel acclimated to the Catholic church. But from time to time, new age stuff still pops into my mind and I find myself in doubt.

 

[eddie_too]

the rosary is a good place to start with in catholic meditation and meditation is encouraged in Catholicism.

meditating on the mysteries of the rosary can provide more energy and peace than any non-Catholic meditation techniques.

meditating of the mysteries of the rosary have the additional (besides the ordering of and increasing of psychic energy) benefits of entering more deeply in to the nature, the meaning and the graces of the Divine Mysteries.

lexico divina is another catholic meditative technique. it has been useful to millions of catholics down through the centuries.

I am sure there are other proven catholic meditative techniques that you can find by internet searches. study all of them, most likely some will appeal to you and address your needs better than others.

I advise leaving non-Catholic programs alone. whatever positive might come from them will be less than you gain from the a catholic method and non-Catholic methods will definitely not help you grow in grace. on the other hand, persevering in catholic mediation will yield grace and positive results.

 

[Ceddd99]

Speaking of the Rosary, we did have rosaries in the New Age movement, although with different words than the Catholic rosary. Actually, what I was taught in the New Age Movement had a lot in common with Catholicism, which I think helped me feel at home in the Catholic Church. Catholicism is definitely a lot closer to New Age than protestantism, thats for sure. For example, one of the good things I learned in the new age movement, was the power of devotion to Mary.

But I really did not like the New Age rosaries. They were so long and there were so many of them I could never figure out which one to pray. They usually took at least 40 minutes to say and there was so much text you could not memorize them. For me, being able to remember a prayer and recite it anywhere, especially with the help of rosary beads is so much nicer than having to read the prayer off a page every time and like I said, the rosaries were just so long that I found myself A) really hesitant to start one, knowing what I was getting myself into and B) getting bored/distracted and just reading to get it over with without feelings of devotion or repentance. Actually, the whole notion of repentance was mysteriously absent from the new age teachings.

Anyway, my one struggle with the rosary meditations is to be honest I have never been sure exactly “how” I am suppposed to meditate on the mysteries, especially when praying the rosary daily (which I usually do) I go through the same mysteries so many times that I feel like I am not getting anywhere new with my meditations on them, its like I just think about the same thing or call to mind the same image over and over. Is that meditation? The Rosary has always confused me for that reason and I should add that I am a horrible mutli tasker, so trying to say the prayers and meditate simultaneously really messes me up. Despite that, I do have a devotion to the Rosary and feel like it is one of the prayers which has helped me the most.

 

[Ceddd99]

Isn’t anything that vibrates made of matter? Doesn’t that imply that heaven is made of matter …? Honest question (I don’t mean for it to sound rhetorical). Are you also saying that this “I AM Presence” is separable at some points from your body? What is the negative energy transmuted to? Does it repair anything with God? Also, why is there karma? Sorry, I don’t mean for any of these to come off as rhetorical.

Sorry I did not have time to answer your questions last night but here is my response. No, anything that vibrates isn’t made of matter, energy itself is a vibration, not static. In New Age thought, heaven is made up of energies that vibrate rapidly enough that they no longer appear “solid” like physical matter. Instead, while you might be able to make out forms of objects, they are more fluid and malleable, like a ghost almost I guess? But the idea is that in heaven, you can make out a heavenly world but at the same time you can see that that world is created and upholded by God, it has no independent existence. This is what we cannot see on earth and this is why so many people ignore God.

The I AM presence is sort of like your spirit, in that nothing you do or that happens to you in matter can ever damage your I AM presence. Your soul on the other hand, can be damaged/take on illness, even death. Your I AM presence is the part of you that remains in the spiritual realm and feeds consciousness (life force) to your soul to make you aware and animated as a human being. If your body was killed, it would not destroy your I AM presensce. I dunno if thats what you mean by separable. You cant separate yourself from your I AM presence anymore than you could separate yourself from you spirit.

The negative energy is transmuted to… positive energy I suppose? They taught that you needed to have this “figure 8 flow” of energy from your I AM presence through your lower being and then back up to your I AM presence. Most people on earth do not have this figure 8 flow, because of the effects of sin. The Violet Flame is supposed to help restore it by freeing up the energy blockages in your system. I dont know if it repairs your relationship with God in the same way as confession does for instance, but it is supposed to heal you spiritually and raise your vibration, which means bringing you closer to God. For a long time after I left the New Age movement I stopped believing it entirely. I did not believe in the power of the Violet Flame. But when I posted this thread, as I explained I felt this sudden urge to use the Violet flame and at that time, it felt like it was doing exactly what the New Age people said it would do. I could feel changes in the energy in my body and mind.

It isn’t the same thing because being Catholic is never done by yourself. If you feel like you have committed a grave sin, the priest is there for you. Also, we do not earn salvation. It is only by God’s grace that we are saved; we cannot earn our way to heaven by our works. You are exactly correct about the thing that bothered you. Right!

The new age movement seems to be focused on taking matters into your own hands - matters that according to our Catholic faith, is not simply remedied by ourselves. Hopefully God is involved in all aspects of our lives.

I totally agree and this is my biggest problem with the New Age movement. To illustrate this fact, I would like to point out that there is a New Age book entitled “Save Yourself”. I am sorry but if I have learned one thing in all my spiritual seeking, it is that man cannot save himself. Salvation is through grace, period. You cannot bring it about through human effort.

Just keep in mind that we are relying on God. Anything that excludes God or takes everything into your own hands is an indication to rethink what you are doing. Maybe find a Catholic approved book contrasting the New Age movement and Catholicism. I remember our priest made a presentation on this for youth, I wish I could say more.

Although, I am not an expert on any of this.

I have actually looked for such a book. The closest thing I could find was Catholics and the New Age by Fr. Mitch Pacwa but I remember feeling like it didn’t answer all my questions.