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"If all of these people were brought together in a church-like organization, it would be the third-largest religious denomination in America.”
1992 Los Angeles Times


THE HISTORY OF NEW AGE SPIRITUALISM
AND ACCEPTANCE OF MEDIUMSHIP

Attempts to communicate with the dead have been documented back to early human history. In the 1840s and 1870s, trance mediums were very popular. 1849 was the alleged first public demonstration of mediumship by Margareta Fox in the Corinthian Hall in New York.

The whole notion of mediumship has been publicly scoffed at by mainstream society and organized religions throughout the 20th century. Many conservative Christians would not differentiate among the Occult, Satanism, Wicca, Mediumship, and other Neopagan religions. But even non-believers, who may hold a wide variety of religious and philosophical views, are likely to believe that some part of their being survives physical death, and they are willing to base their hope for life eternal on the phenomena.

However, mediumship was very much a part of the belief system of many New Age groups that would gain in popularity. The New Age movement is a spiritual and quasi-religious Western movement that developed in the latter half of the 20th century. Its central precepts revolve around "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions. New Age teachings became popular during the 1970's as a reaction against what some perceived as the failure of Christianity and the failure of Secular Humanism to provide spiritual and ethical guidance for the future.

This subculture, which became known as New Age, already existed in the early 1970s, based on and adopting ideas originally present in the counterculture of the 1960s, mainly rooted in England. Widespread use of the term New Age began in the mid-1970s with the publication of Linda Goodman's best selling astrology books Sun Signs (1968) and Love Signs (1978); Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical (1967) with its opening song "Aquarius" and its memorable line "This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius" along with a flurry of films hitting the market like Poltergeist, a story about a group of seemingly benign ghosts begin communicating with five-year-old Carol Anne through the static on the family's television sets, which was released in 1982.

In 1987, the American mass media further popularized the term as a label for the alternative spiritual subculture, including practices such as meditation, channeling, mediumship, crystal healing, astral projection, and psychic experiences. Several key moments occurred in raising public awareness of this subculture such as the broadcast of Shirley MacLaine's television mini-series  Out on a Limb (1986), the Harmonic Convergence (1987), organized by José Argüelles in Sedona, Arizona, the movie Ghost, released in 1990, starring Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore and in 1988 when the First Lady Nancy Reagan came out in the public and admitted that she had consulted an astrologer to assist in planning the President's schedule after the 1981 assassination attempt on her husband.


By the 1990s, popularity and public awareness continued to grow from things like Dionne Warwick’s The Psychic Friends Network, a telephone psychic service operating in the United States, which became the most popular infomercial of all time and took in profits of over $100 million within the first few years.

However, during the 1980's and 90's, the movement came under criticism from a variety of groups. Channeling was ridiculed; speakers, seminar promoters like J.Z. Knight, and psychic groups were criticized for the fortunes they made from New Agers.

During this period, Elizabeth Baron grew tired of the capitalists who had propped her up as the Medium of the Stars in Las Vegas where she was appearing on TV, Radio and in the Casinos.  In the late 80s Elizabeth literally walked away from a life of fame and fortune to follow her dreams in wanting to legitimize the profession of a mediums and use her gifts for the betterment of all people and mankind in general. 

In 1986, Elizabeth began to publish annual predictions on national and worldly issues.  The predictions were all recorded, documented and published to the public not only for the predictive content; but, as a way, for any of those who might be interested, to track the accuracy of her predictions along with the insights offered.

In 1993, Elizabeth wrote and published a book, "Prophets or Profits" in an attempt to educate the public about the many “prophets” out in the public market who were in the business only for the profits and not into the true spiritual aspects of the profession.  The book did not garner the support of the mainstream publishing market, so Elizabeth self published the book.

But the movement did become established and became a stable, major force in North American religion during the past generation. According to popular New Age leader Marilyn Ferguson in the February 16, 1992 Los Angeles Times, sociologists at UC Santa Barbara estimated that “as many as 12 million Americans could be considered active participants [in the New Age movement], and another 30 million are avidly interested. If all of these people were brought together in a church-like organization, it would be the third-largest religious denomination in America.” To further illustrate, according to Dr. J. Gordon Melton’s New Age Almanac, there are literally hundreds of American educational institutions that now offer degrees or programs on New Age subjects.

In the 1990s and early 2000s Elizabeth continued her work as a professional medium and teacher, appearing on hundreds of TV and Radio shows.  Additionally she worked with many law enforcement agencies, helping them with her gift, see also Amazing Cases.  She also worked with hundreds of individuals teaching them the benefits of meditation to enable their own spiritual insights as a way to rid the reliance many had in seeking spiritual messages from the psychic industry.

In 1995, Elizabeth published one of the first metaphysical websites on the internet for those who were also interested in her work, www.elizabethbaron.com. The website grew in popularity to be one of the most popular on the internet with the highest search engine rankings.

In 2004, Elizabeth continued her work as she started one of the first email newsletters for spiritual seekers. The newsletter, which is largely a non-commercial publication, is dedicated to share spiritual experiences, along with her world predictions. The newsletter today has grown in popularity to be one of the largest of its kind with readers from all parts of the world.

Now in the 2000s, the popularity of the subject is perhaps more visible than ever with TV shows like, Medium, an American television series about a woman who acts as a research medium for the Phoenix, Arizona district attorney's office, and Ghost Whisperer, an American television supernatural drama, about Melinda Gordon, who has the ability to see and communicate with ghosts, which received an average of 10.2 million viewers airing Friday nights on CBS.

Elizabeth's story will be finally told in complete form through the release of a new book coming winter 2010 on her life story and the release of a film on her life in mid 2011.

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