New Age
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Gentle Wind Project (c. 1980)
The Gentle Wind Project (GWP) was founded around 1980 in Arlington, Massachusetts, by John “Tubby” Miller and Claudia Panuthos, who later went by Mary “Moe” Miller. In 1983 it was formalized as a Maine nonprofit, and the following year it moved its headquarters to Kittery, Maine, where core members lived together while running what they… Continue reading
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General Church of the New Jerusalem (1890)
The General Church of the New Jerusalem, commonly known as the General Church or New Church, is an international Christian denomination headquartered in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania. Its theology is based on the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, an 18th-century Swedish scientist, philosopher, and theologian. Swedenborg never founded a formal church himself. He left behind 20 volumes… Continue reading
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Gangaji (c. 1990)
Gangaji is an American spiritual teacher and author associated with the Neo-Advaita non-dual movement. She was born Merle Antoinette Roberson in Texas in 1942 and raised in Mississippi. Some sources render her name as Antoinette Varner or refer to her informally as Toni. After graduating from the University of Mississippi, Roberson married her first husband,… Continue reading
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Ganas (1979)
Ganas is an intentional community located in Tompkinsville, on the North Shore of Staten Island, New York. Established in 1979, the group has been described over the course of its history as an urban kibbutz, an experiment in cooperative living, and a commune. It has also faced persistent allegations from critics and former members that… Continue reading
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Gaianism/Gaian Way (2019)
Gaianism is an earth-centered philosophical, holistic, and spiritual worldview that emphasizes a transpersonal devotion to the Earth, which is understood as a complex, self-regulating superorganism. Adherents, known as Gaians or Gaianists, follow an ethical framework centered on reducing humanity’s environmental impact and cultivating a direct personal relationship with the natural world. While it shares similarities… Continue reading
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Gabriel of Urantia (1985)
Gabriel of Urantia, born Anthony J. Delevin on July 5, 1946, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was an American spiritual leader who founded and led a religious community in southern Arizona. Delevin, whose original family surname was Dell’Erba, grew up in a working-class household. As a young adult, he pursued music, attended a seminary, and married. Following… Continue reading
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Full Circle (2014)
Andrew Keegan is a former child actor known for his roles on series including “Party of Five” and “7th Heaven” and in the 1999 film “10 Things I Hate About You.” In adulthood, he developed an interest in New Age spirituality and in 2014, he co-founded Full Circle with a group of friends. The organization… Continue reading
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Friends Landing (1985)
Friends Landing was a spiritual and personal development organization founded by Susan Kilborne Musumeci, who used several names during her career, including WhiteWind Swan Fisher, WhiteWind Weaver, and Anahata Graceland. She operated the group with her husband, Ben Fisher. Formally known as Friends Landing International Centers for Conscious Living, the organization maintained an office in… Continue reading
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Fountain of the World (c. 1948)
The WKFL (Wisdom, Knowledge, Faith, and Love) Fountain of the World, often referred to simply as “Fountain of the World,” was founded in California around 1948 by Francis Herman Pencovic, who later legally changed his name to Krishna Venta. Born in San Francisco on March 29, 1911, to a Romanian Jewish immigrant father and a… Continue reading
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Findhorn Foundation (1962)
The Findhorn Foundation, a spiritual community and ecovillage in Moray, Scotland, originated from a small group of spiritual seekers in the mid-20th century. In the late 1940s, Sheena Govan began acting as an informal spiritual teacher to a circle that included her husband, Peter Caddy, and Dorothy Maclean. Eileen Caddy, trained in the “quiet times”… Continue reading
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Feri Tradition (c. 1955)
The Feri Tradition is an initiatory Neopagan witchcraft lineage that emerged on the West Coast of the United States between the 1950s and 1960s. Founded by Cora and Victor Henry Anderson, it differs from many contemporary fertility-based Wiccan paths through its emphasis on ecstatic and shamanic experience. Its practices place particular focus on sensual awareness… Continue reading
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Feraferia (1967)
Feraferia is a Neopagan religion that originated in Southern California and later expanded across the United States and into parts of Europe. Formally incorporated as a nonprofit church in California on August 2, 1967, it is one of the oldest Modern Pagan organizations in the U.S. The tradition is centered on Hellenic-inspired Goddess worship, the… Continue reading
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Fellowship of Isis (1976)
The Fellowship of Isis is an international, multi-faith spiritual organization dedicated to honoring the Goddess Isis and promoting awareness of the Divine Feminine. It was formally founded on the vernal equinox of 1976 at Clonegal Castle in County Carlow, Ireland. The founders were Olivia Robertson, her brother Lawrence Durdin-Robertson, and his wife Pamela Durdin-Robertson. The… Continue reading
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Fellowship of Friends (1970)
Robert Earl Burton was born in Mineral, Arkansas, and graduated from San Jose State University in 1963. He taught school in California before experiencing what he would call a spiritual awakening in 1967. By 1970, while living in a Volkswagen bus in Berkeley, he had gathered a small group of followers who believed he possessed… Continue reading
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Father Divine (c. 1907)
Father Divine’s origins remain uncertain. He was born around 1876, though the exact date and place are disputed, as he would intentionally obscure details about his early life. He declined offers to document his biography, stating that the history of God would not be useful in human terms. A woman named Eliza Mayfield claimed to… Continue reading
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The Family/Anne Hamilton Byrne (1964)
The Family, also known as the Santiniketan Park Association or the Great White Brotherhood, was an Australian New Age group that emerged in the mid-1960s. It was formed and led by Anne Hamilton-Byrne and combined elements of Eastern and Western religious traditions. At its peak, the group had approximately 500 followers, largely from middle-class and… Continue reading
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Falun Gong (1992)
Falun Gong, also referred to as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual movement that emerged in China in the early 1990s. It was founded by Li Hongzhi and combines meditation, physical exercises, and a moral philosophy rooted in traditional Chinese concepts. Over time, the movement developed from a widely practiced health activity into an international diaspora,… Continue reading
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Evangelical Association of the Israelite Mission of the New Universal Covenant (1968)
The Evangelical Association of the Israelite Mission of the New Universal Covenant (Spanish: Asociación Evangélica de la Misión Israelita del Nuevo Pacto Universal, AEMINPU) is a religious and political movement founded in Peru in 1968. Commonly known as the Israelitas, the group combines elements of Old Testament law, Incan traditions, and a communal agricultural system.… Continue reading
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Eternal Flame Foundation/People Unlimited (1982)
The Eternal Flame Foundation, later known as People Unlimited, People Forever, and CBJ, was founded in Scottsdale, Arizona, in 1982 by Charles Paul Brown, Bernadeane Brown, and James Strole. The group is centered on the belief that physical human immortality can be achieved through willpower and what it describes as a “cellular awakening.” It characterizes… Continue reading
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Esalen Institute (1962)
The Esalen Institute was established in 1962 on the Big Sur coastline of California on land originally inhabited by the Esselen tribe, from which it took its name. By the late 19th century, the property had become a destination for tourists seeking the therapeutic benefits of its natural hot springs, then known as Slates Hot… Continue reading
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Endeavor Academy (1992)
Endeavor Academy, legally established in 1992 as the New Christian Church of Full Endeavor, is an international spiritual community and seminary based in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin. The organization centers its teachings on A Course in Miracles (ACIM), a psychological and spiritual self-study program first published in the 1970s. Founded by Charles Buell Anderson, the Academy… Continue reading
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Emissaries of Divine Light (1932)
The Emissaries of Divine Light was founded in 1932 by Lloyd Arthur Meeker. Meeker, who wrote under the pen name “Uranda,” began experimenting with a practice called “Attunement” as early as 1929. The group dates its formal origin to September 16, 1932, following what Meeker described as a three-day spiritual awakening. Its teachings were based… Continue reading
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Emin (1973)
The Emin Society, also known as the Emin or the Eminent Way, was founded in London in 1973 by Raymond Armin. Born in 1924 as Raymond Schirtenlieb, Armin had previously worked as a quartermaster in the Royal Air Force and later as a salesman. Within the movement, he became known as “Leo.” The group originated… Continue reading
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Eckankar (1965)
Eckankar is a new religious movement combining elements of several belief traditions that was founded by Paul Twitchell in 1965. It is today one of the larger new faiths coming out of that period, with as many as 100,000 adherents worldwide in more than 120 countries, with significant communities in the United States, Canada, Nigeria,… Continue reading
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Earthseed (c. 2000)
Earthseed is a religion created by science fiction author Octavia E. Butler in her novels Parable of the Sower (1993) and Parable of the Talents (1998) that has since been adapted into a real-world religion by some readers. In the books, teenager Lauren Oya Olamina, develops a philosophical and religious system called Earthseed. Olamina has… Continue reading