Short answers, pulled from the story.
The New Age is a broad range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs that grew rapidly in Western society during the early 1970s. It has no central authority or fixed creed, drawing eclectically from traditions including occultism, Theosophy, New Thought, Spiritualism, and Asian religions. It was centered largely in the United Kingdom when it first became a major movement, then expanded widely in the 1980s and 1990s.
The Age of Aquarius is a concept adopted by the New Age from Theosophy, referring to a coming era of love, joy, peace, and harmony that will replace the current Age of Pisces. Opinions within the milieu differ on when it begins: David Spangler wrote it started in 1967, others tied it to the Harmonic Convergence of 1987, and Jose Arguelles predicted 2012. Many New Agers believe the age will last around two thousand years.
Emanuel Swedenborg, the 18th-century Swedish mystic, and Franz Mesmer, the late 18th and early 19th century German hypnotist, are among the earliest influences. Helena Blavatsky, co-founder of the Theosophical Society, contributed through her 1877 book Isis Unveiled and her 1888 work The Secret Doctrine. Edgar Cayce, Carl Jung, and Swami Vivekananda also shaped the movement's development.
The Harmonic Convergence was a planetary alignment event organized by Jose Arguelles on the 16th and the 17th of August 1987 in Sedona, Arizona. It attracted more people to the New Age movement than any other single event and became one of the key moments that raised public awareness of the milieu.
Research from the Kendal Project conducted by Heelas and Woodhead between 2000 and 2002 found that 80% of active New Age participants were female, 73% were aged over 45, and 57% held a university or college degree. The majority came from the middle and upper-middle classes of Western society. Sutcliffe described the typical participant as "a religious individualist, mixing and matching cultural resources in an animated spiritual quest".
Channeling in the New Age is the belief that human beings can act as conduits for information from sources beyond themselves, including spirits, ascended masters, extraterrestrials, or historical figures. Scholar Wouter Hanegraaff identified four forms: trance channeling, automatisms, clairaudient channeling, and open channeling. Notable examples include Jane Roberts, who believed she received messages from an entity called Seth, and Helen Schucman, who believed she channeled Jesus Christ to produce A Course in Miracles.