Students interested in learning and talking about crystals, tarot cards, ethnic customs and traditions, astrology and much more are encouraged to join Iowa State’s New Age Philosophies Club.

The club has been around on campus for four years.

Clark Ford, club adviser, said the club is trying to expose students, faculty and community members to ideas and philosophies.

“New Age is a way of looking at humans as spiritual beings,” Ford said. “It’s a renewal of looking at intuition, astrology, numerology, crystals, herbs and earth as ways to help us understand who we are and how we relate to the cosmos and how we actually create reality.”

The club’s main goals are to learn and discuss New Age topics, connect people with similar interests, build communication among people who feel isolated because of their beliefs and help people discover new ideas and topics, Ford said.

Jim Cheaney, club president, said undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty and Ames-area residents attending the meetings.

“The New Age Philosophies Club is dedicated to the open-minded pursuit of knowledge, spiritual growth, holistic health and self-realization,” Cheaney said.

“There is so much knowledge that is either being ignored by the scientific and philosophical communities, or cannot be measured with current scientific means,” Cheaney said.

“Our goal is to explore these topics, bring in guest speakers and learn more about ourselves and our world,” he said.

Ford said the major function of the club is to utilize many concepts and beliefs.

“The New Age club brings together members of the community that differ in religion and ethics but agree upon learning more about the New Age ideas,” he said.

The club’s mailing list exceeds more than 100 people, and it is not limited to students, Ford said. He said the club includes people from different religions who like to talk about New Age ideas and philosophies.

Ford said the club invites guest speakers to its meetings, including astrologers, psychics, hosts of Tai Chi, Reiki, rebirthing practitioners and tarot readers.

“In the near future, we are planning speakers for such topics as Native American spirituality, Tai Chi, yoga, animal communication, tarot, Wicca, Bahaism, astrology, martial arts and Atlantis,” Ford said.

Cheaney said the group is not a religious club.

“Our group’s members include Christians, atheists, agnostics, Budhists, pagans and a number of other religious traditions,” Cheaney said. “We are people who come together in a search for knowledge and understanding through the metaphysical, through the oldest sciences and the oldest arts, passed down for millenia.”

Ford said members of the New Age Philosophies Club meet every Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Margaret Sloss House Women’s Center.