Useful terms to remember

Occultism
(n.) A certain Oriental system of theosophy.

Occult
The term, “occult” comes from the Latin occultus or “hidden.” Generally the word is used of secret or mysterious supernatural powers or magical, religious rituals. The word “occult” in this publication is used to describe any attempt to gain supernatural power or knowledge apart from the God of the Bible. Generally it refers to witchcraft, satanism, neo-paganism, or various forms of Psychic discernment (astrology, seances, palm reading, etc.).

New Age
According to Eaton (2002, p. 68) the New Age “… refers to the Aquarian Age which occultists believe to be dawning, bringing with it an era of enlightenment and peace. The principle aims of the New Age include: a New World Order, a New World Religion and a New Age Christ (who is neither Jesus nor “Christ”)”.

New Age is a recent and developing belief system in North America encompassing thousands of autonomous (and sometime contradictory) beliefs, organizations, and events. Generally the New Age borrows its theology from pantheistic Eastern religions and its practices from 19th century Western occultism. The term “New Age” is used herein as an umbrella term to describe organizations which seem to exhibit one or more of the following beliefs: (1) All is one, all reality is part of the whole; (2) Everything is God and God is everything; (3) Man is God or a part of God; (4) Man never dies, but continues to live through reincarnation; (5) Man can create his own reality and/or values through transformed consciousness or altered states of consciousness.

Theosophy
(n.) Any system of philosophy or mysticism which proposes to attain intercourse with God and superior spirits, and consequent superhuman knowledge, by physical processes, as by the theurgic operations of some ancient Platonists, or by the chemical processes of the German fire philosophers; also, a direct, as distinguished from a revealed, knowledge of God, supposed to be attained by extraordinary illumination; especially, a direct insight into the processes of the divine mind, and the interior relations of the divine nature.

Gnosticism
A religious orientation advocating gnosis (intuitive knowledge of spiritual truths; said to have been possessed by ancient Gnostics) as the way to release a person's spiritual element; considered heresy by Christian churches.

Rosicrucianism
(n.) The theological doctrine that venerates the rose and the Cross as symbols of Christ's Resurrection and Redemption; claims various occult powers. Rosicrucian is a term that is also used to describe an idea, icon, person or group that is either Gnostic Christian or simultaneously Christian and trans-Christian. For example, a cult that centres around the Virgin Mary yet openly or secretly identifies her to the Virgo constellation of the Zodiac (http://www.free-definition.com/Rosicrucian.html).