Cultural consumption of history and popular culture in alternative spiritualities

Some practices in alternative spiritualities - for example, New Age and neopaganism - have been criticized by social commentators and some indigenous people for their appropriation of indigenous cultures, such as those of Australian Aborigines and North American Indians. This article argues that appropriation is not limited to indigenous cultures but is part of a larger phenomenon, that of cultural consumption of selected parts of history. This cultural consumption is not confined to history but extends to contemporary popular culture; for example, groups who find spiritual inspiration in the stories of H.P. Lovecraft (Cthulhu mythos), vampire stories and the science fiction (SF) novel by Robert Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land, which inspired the Church of All Worlds. This article provides an insight into the cultural consumption of history and popular culture by people involved in alternative spiritualities. It is argued that this eclectic cultural consumption produces new and subjective myths in contemporary western culture.