According to an article this week by Jane Chastain titled “Girl Scouts go hard left–and downhill,” the Girl Scouts of America are heading deeper into New Age spirituality. Chastain states that the direction the organization is going in was clear to see at the “51st Girl Scout National Council Session and Convention,” which took place earlier this month.
A large portion of the program was devoted to the antics of leadership consultant Christian Whitney Sanchez who used a process called “StoryWeaving” to lead the almost 10,000 attendees and national council and girl members in a giant “Kumbaya” session to get them further down the garden path to the New Age and make them think it was all their idea.
Sanchez is about as far from founder Juliette Low as one can get. Her bio says she was born under the Leo Sun Sign and spent her undergraduate years with Pele, the Hawaiian volcano goddess. She practices yoga and meditation as she engages in daily life as “spiritual practice” and looks for opportunities to fulfill her purpose of “contributing to the evolution of human consciousness.”
Girls at this year’s convention were also given the opportunity to visit a display of Sophia dolls (Sophia is goddess spirituality – the goddess within). A description at the display says the dolls “serve as a personal empowerment tool by allowing you or your daughter to connect with inner wisdom to guide in expanding and balancing life roles.”
Chastain reports that “the highlight of the convention was the unveiling of the latest ‘Journeys’ program inspired by the Ashland Institute.” The program is created with the help of Brian Bacon of the Oxford Leadership Academy, a practitioner and teacher of the Brahma Kumaris Raja Yoga. “Girls are encouraged to make a Zen garden, use yoga and martial arts as a form of relaxation and use a Japanese tea ceremony to ‘clear the mind,'” says Chastain.
A July 2008 Lighthouse Trails article titled The New Age Comes to the Girl Scouts addressed the New Age direction in which the 3.6 million member Girl Scouts organization is going. The article states:
While there have been many wholesome and practical aspects of the Girl Scouts in the past (teaching cooking, sewing, and outdoor skills), today the Girl Scouts has become a place where potentially millions of girls will be introduced to New Age spirituality.
With regards to the Ashland Institute (located in Ashland, Oregon and now partnering with the Girl Scouts), it is a group that teaches Attunement (metaphysical energy healing) described as “Creative Energy Practice,” which “deepens” the “connection with the Source of Life.” The Ashland Institute lists eleven resources for their participants, the majority of which are New Age/New Spirituality promoting groups, such as Collective Wisdom Initiative, Co-Intelligent Institute, The Millionth Circle (to “shift planetary consciousness” it says), and The World Cafe.
It is our prayer and hope that parents who have their daughters enrolled in Girl Scouts will search for an alternative outlet.
