The intent of this thesis is to explore the various ways in which acupuncturists trained in Quebec interpret and use the term qi in their practice as healers. It argues that these choices are influenced by the implicit connection between complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and New Age spirituality. As Asian medical systems such as Chinese medicine carve out a niche within the dominant biomedical health-care system, there is a simultaneous desire to present its medical system as scientifically coherent within the biomedical context and a desire to cater to the New Age orientalist fascination with "traditional" Asian medicine and what is perceived as its inherent spiritual qualities. This study concludes that although Quebecois acupuncturists are well-versed in the historical interpretations of the term qi, as well as its medical applications, there is nevertheless a tendency for these practitioners to understand qi as a part of the framework of their own personal spirituality and the relation of that spirituality to their work as healers. Moreover, it is shown that this tendency is strongly informed by the interface of New Age notions concerning healing and the CAM movement. By situating the study within the cultural milieu of Quebec, the specific religio-historical background of this locale and its effects on these practitioners is also taken into consideration.

The 'New Age' encompasses many spiritualities, philosophies and alternative religions, such as Spiritualism, Wicca, Paganism and Theosophy, to name a few. Its cultural and ancestral threads, prior to the emergence of the contemporary New Age Movement in the early 1970s, is acknowledged by examining some prominent groups and individuals throughout history. Many comments on the New Age Movement, in the 1970s, 80s and 90s were dismissive. Through a survey done in 2007 amongst New Agers, for this thesis, those early judgements are examined to determine their relationship to the New Zealand experience. There was found to be divergence from international analysis where New Agers' age was concerned, their presumed connection to the 1960s counterculture, the assumptions that the New Age Movement is exclusively white, that science is a necessary part of belief and that New Age beliefs exist in opposition to cummunity needs. The focus is on the New Agers' within community, not their separation from it, for separation is a claim some overseas academics promoted as proof that the New Age is anti-community because of its individualism in belief seeking. Through this thesis the New Zealand New Ager is placed in relationship to the global New Age Movement by an academic who is 'of' the movement, not an academic 'outside looking in'. The experience of belief is looked at through the survey participants' eyes with the aim of claiming those experiences as 'mysticism'. This is approached by examining their 'contact' with the Divine/Godhead,through descriptions of altered/abstract realities. Any exclusivity the major religions have on mysticism is essentially 'removed' and given to the community as a concept attainable by those outside 'religion'; for example, the New Age Movement. The New Ager is seen both in the everydaty reality helping to create community, and although it is impossible to prove/examine coherantly, possibly in an altered/abstract reality/realities.

Within, this thesis I provide the first empirical academic study of energetic healing, Reiki and dowsing in central Scotland, with the focus of my research being on the teaching of energetic healing in workshops (the Salisbury and Westbank centres being key locations) and related textual material. This thesis is also a step towards addressing the historical imbalance of writing about New Age beliefs and practices from a predominantly androcentric positioning, as I place emphasis on exploring how gendered spiritualities may be actively constructed in this setting. For as Dominic Corrywright has stated "the web of New Age spiritualities is crucially sustained by the individual and collective weavings of women and this is particularly evident in healing and therapies" (2003: 131). I argue that women's predominance in healing circles has a lot to do with personal projects of redefinition and self-transformation. This sort of 'work on the self does not occur under, as radical feminists Daly (1991) and Sjoo (1994) would state, overarching patriarchal paradigms. Rather 'healing of the self’ is located within fluid "fields of force" (Foucault, 1980). Therefore throughout this thesis I build up a decentralised narrative of power and locate women as active healing agents. In order to construct this narrative I draw from research in the fields of Goddess and women's spiritualities, for here we find useful evaluations of how women re-inscribe their bodies as sacred and empowered through, in the former, imminent ties to the Goddess. I relate my research to Meredith McGuire's empirical study of healing in the American context, where she argues that "If the creation, maintenance and transformation of individuals gender identities are indeed among the foremost identity work to be accomplished, then extensive empirical study of the many contemporary instances of gendered spirituality is very worthwhile" (McGuire, 1994: 254). Hence in the first two chapters of this thesis I engage with feminist and ethnographic theory in general. I argue that discourses of power are multivalent operating within academic, religious, bio-medical and holistic healing circles and at the individual level. For debates abound in relation to, for example, the prioritisation of text over experiential practice - the latter being central to New Age healing in Scotland. I introduce my location as a bothsider, an academic researcher and a practising healer as this positioning has raised its own particular set of theoretical and personal questions. And I draw in the aforementioned research in the parallel fields of Goddess and women's spiritualities. Chapter three engages with representations of "the body as energetic" at the micro 'in the field' level and is primarily descriptive. Within these pages I provide a picture of how the energetic body is discursively constructed hence providing some necessary background for later ethnographic material. In chapter four I also build on the previous chapter in relation to healing and curing models of health. I adopt Meredith McGuire's analytical framework of healing types. In this way I can locate my narrative of women's power and consciousness of healing into the debates between male dominated biomedical approaches to health and the apparently more egalitarian holistic (mind, body and spirit) approaches to the same. Chapters five and six focus specifically on the healing practice and discourses of Reiki, this healing modality growing significantly in popularity in Scotland. I will propose that Reiki provides the practitioner with contrasting notions of "the healthy body" to biomedical and mainstream religious significations of the same and enables the development of empowered models of subjectivity "as healer". The technique of dowsing, which is explored in chapter seven, is regarded in healing circles as being a "visible expression" of intuitive practice. Hence learning to dowse appears to provide additional confirmation for women healers of their ability to work as more autonomous agents. For dowsing practice falls within the umbrella of earth mysteries or Gaian traditions, where the earth is seen to be a conscious, living, self-regulating entity and is identified with as the "Goddess imminent". In the final chapter I pull this thesis together as a whole and return to some of the questions asked in my opening material, noting my distinctive contributions to healing research as "a bothsider". Throughout I acknowledge that my location as 'researcher/healer' is just as materially and politically located as are healers in the field. For I, as well as 'the subjects under study', operate within fluid fields of force. Overall, I place emphasis on evaluating distributions of power and the development of new liberating models of subjectivity in healing epistemologies.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Western Institute for Social Research, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 261-268).

Thesis (M.A.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2001. / Restricted until June 2003. Bibliography: leaves 169-171.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Western Australia, 2008.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Miami University, Dept. of English, 2004. / Title from second page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 97-104).

Text in Dutch / In deze verhandeling worden een aantal perikopen uit het boek Hosea, namelijk Hosea 2, 4, 5:1-7, 8, 9, 10 en 14:2-9, uitgelegd aan de hand van het kemwoord afgodendienst. Vergelijk: de afgodendienst in het boek Hosea. Tevens wordt een beschrijving gegeven van de New Age-beweging en wordt een aantal zienswijzen van deze beweging uitgediept. Vergelijk: het nieuwe-tijdsdenken. Het doel van deze verhandeling is het vergelijken van de afgodendienst in het boek Hosea met het nieuwe-tijdsdenken en de overeenkomsten aan te geven. Vergelijk: vergeleken met. In hoofdstuk 1 (Probleemstelling en hypothese) wordt het probleem aan de orde gesteld dat de Kanaanitische natuurgodsdienst de Israelitische godsdienst binnengedrongen was en leidde tot afgodendienst. Tevens wordt gesteld dat heden ten dage de godskennis minimaal is, kerken leeglopen maar semi-godsdiensten zich mogen verheugen in een enorme toeloop. De New Age-beweging is hiervan een voorbeeld. Elementen uit de gedachtewereld van de afgodendienst ten tijde van de profeet Hosea blijken overeen te komen met denkbeelden die deel uitmaken van het nieuwe-tijdsdenken. In hoofdstuk 2 (Werkwijze) wordt de weg aangegeven die in deze verhandeling gevolgd is om te komen tot het beschrijven van de overeenkomsten tussen de afgodendienst in het boek Hosea en het nieuwe-tijdsdenken. In hoofdstuk 3 ((Godsdienst)geschiedschrijving) wordt een aantal benaderingen besproken die kunnen leiden tot een evenwichtige beschrijving van de geschiedenis van een godsdienst. Tevens wordt aangegeven waarvan de geschiedschrijver gebruik moet maken om tot een zo objectief mogelijke beschrijving te komen. In hoofdstuk 4 (De geschiedenis van Israel en Juda in de achtste eeuw voor Christus) wordt de geschiedenis van Israel en Juda in de achtste eeuw voor Christus beschreven aan de hand van de regeringen van de koningen Uzzia, Jotam, Achaz en Jechizkia van Juda en Jerobeam van Israel. Age-beweging is hiervan een voorbeeld. Elementen uit de gedachtewereld van de afgodendienst ten tijde van de profeet Hosea blijken overeen te komen met denkbeelden die deel uitmaken van het nieuwe-tijdsdenken. In hoofdstuk 2 (Werkwijze) wordt de weg aangegeven die in deze verhandeling gevolgd is om te komen tot het beschrijven van de overeenkomsten tussen de afgodendienst in het boek Hosea en het nieuwe-tijdsdenken. In hoofdstuk 3 ((Godsdienst)geschiedschrijving) wordt een aantal benaderingen besproken die kunnen leiden tot een evenwichtige beschrijving van de geschiedenis van een godsdienst. Tevens wordt aangegeven waarvan de geschiedschrijver gebruik moet maken om tot een zo objectief mogelijke beschrijving te komen. In hoofdstuk 4 (De geschiedenis van Israel en Juda in de achtste eeuw voor Christus) wordt de geschiedenis van Israel en Juda in de achtste eeuw voor Christus beschreven aan de hand van de regeringen van de koningen Uzzia, Jotam, Achaz en Jechizkia van Juda en Jerobeam van Israel. In hoofdstuk 5 (De geschiedenis van Israels godsdienst in de achtste eeuw voor Christus) wordt allereerst J erobeam I ten tonele gevoerd omdat hij de drijvende kracht was achter de ontwikkeling van Betel en Dan tot nationale heiligdommen in het noordelijke Israel. Deze ontwikkeling kan gezien worden als de aanleiding van de afgodendienst ten tijde van Hosea. Vervolgens wordt de invloed van de Kanaanitische godsdienst op de Israelitische godsdienst aan de orde gesteld. In hoofdstuk 6 (De profeet Hosea) worden de persoon en de prediking van de profeet Hosea uitgediept. In hoofdstuk 7 (Uitleg van enkele perikopen uit Hosea) worden de perikopen uit de aanhef van deze samenvatting uitgelegd aan de hand van het kemwoord afgodendienst. In hoofdstuk 8 (De Kanaanitische god Baal) wordt een aantal facetten van Baal belicht die wellicht kunnen bijdragen tot een beter verstaan van Israels godsdienst in de achtste eeuw voor Christus. In hoofdstuk 9 (New Age) wordt een beschrijving gegeven van de New Age-beweging en een aantal zienswijzen nader onder de loep genomen. In hoofdstuk 10 (Gevolgtrekkingen) wordt enerzijds de achtste eeuw voor Christus vergeleken met de post-twintigste eeuw en anderzijds de overeenkomsten opgesomd tussen de afgodendienst in het boek Hosea en het nieuwe-tijdsdenken. / This thesis compares idolatry in Hosea with the New Age movement. A number of pericopes from Hosea are explained in view of idolatry. Canaanite nature worship had entered into Israelite religion. Among the kings of Israel in the eighth century BC, Jeroboam I in particular was the moving force behind the development of Bethel and Dan into national sanctuaries. This development can be seen as the immediate cause for idolatry in Hosea's days. Also nowadays knowledge of God is very poor. There are fewer and fewer churchgoers, but semi-religions like the New Age movement attract a hugh number of people. Elements from the realm of thought of idolatry at Hosea's time appear to correspond closely with concepts that are essential in the New Age movement. / Biblical and Ancient Studies

O presente trabalho investiga as motivações para a escolha do neopaganismo como religião por indivíduos de contextos diferenciados na cidade do Rio de Janeiro e adjacências. Foram etnografados rituais e eventos públicos neopagãos na cidade durante o período de 2012 a 2014. Também foram realizadas entrevistas com neopagãos e analisada sua literatura religiosa. A pesquisa concentrou-se, sobretudo, nas atividades e vivências do coven Chuva Vernal, de Wicca Xamânica. Como conclusão sugerem-se duas hipóteses principais sobre quais elementos explicariam a motivação para aderir e permanecer nessa religião: a lógica da distinção, discutida por Simmel, e o conceito, usado por Manuel Castells, de identidade de projeto. / This study investigates the motivations for the choice of neo-paganism as a religion by individuals of different contexts in the city of Rio de Janeiro and surrounding areas. Neopagan rituals and public events in the city were ethnographed during the period 2012-2014. Interviews were conducted and analyzed their religious literature. The research focused mainly on the activities and experiences of the Chuva Vernal Coven, a group of Shamanic Wicca. As a conclusion we suggest two main hypotheses about which factors explain the motivation to join and stay in this religion: the logic of distinction, discussed by Simmel, and the concept of project identity, used by Manuel Castells.

O presente trabalho investiga as motivações para a escolha do neopaganismo como religião por indivíduos de contextos diferenciados na cidade do Rio de Janeiro e adjacências. Foram etnografados rituais e eventos públicos neopagãos na cidade durante o período de 2012 a 2014. Também foram realizadas entrevistas com neopagãos e analisada sua literatura religiosa. A pesquisa concentrou-se, sobretudo, nas atividades e vivências do coven Chuva Vernal, de Wicca Xamânica. Como conclusão sugerem-se duas hipóteses principais sobre quais elementos explicariam a motivação para aderir e permanecer nessa religião: a lógica da distinção, discutida por Simmel, e o conceito, usado por Manuel Castells, de identidade de projeto. / This study investigates the motivations for the choice of neo-paganism as a religion by individuals of different contexts in the city of Rio de Janeiro and surrounding areas. Neopagan rituals and public events in the city were ethnographed during the period 2012-2014. Interviews were conducted and analyzed their religious literature. The research focused mainly on the activities and experiences of the Chuva Vernal Coven, a group of Shamanic Wicca. As a conclusion we suggest two main hypotheses about which factors explain the motivation to join and stay in this religion: the logic of distinction, discussed by Simmel, and the concept of project identity, used by Manuel Castells.