Origins

Some, though not all, of the New Age's constituent elements appeared under the practices of Spiritualism, Theosophy, or some forms of New Thought / the Metaphysical movement, all of which date as far back as the nineteenth century, as does alternative health. These movements in turn have roots in Transcendentalism, Mesmerism, Swedenborgianism, and various earlier Western esoteric or occult traditions, such as the Hermetic arts of astrology, magic, alchemy, and kabbalah. Some of the popularisation behind these ideas has roots in the work of early twentieth-century writers, such as D H Lawrence and W B Yeats.

A weekly Journal of Christian liberalism and Socialism called The New Age was published as early as 1894. In 1907 it was sold to a group of Socialist writers headed by Alfred Richard Orage and Holbrook Jackson. Other historical personalities were involved, including H. G. Wells, George Bernard Shaw, and William Butler Yeats; the magazine became a forum for politics, literature, and the arts. Between 1908 and 1914 it was instrumental in pioneering the British avant-garde, from vorticism to imagism. After 1914, publisher Orage met P. D. Ouspensky, a follower of G. I. Gurdjieff, and began correspondence with Harry Houdini, becoming less interested in literature and art, and an increased focus on mysticism and other spiritual topics, and sold the magazine in 1921. According to Brown University, "The New Age helped to shape modernism in literature and the arts from 1907 to 1922".