Paranthropology Vol. 6 No. 1

Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the Paranormal Vol. 6 No.
1
ISSN: 2044-9216
Paranthropology
Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the Paranormal
The Dragon and Me

Research Perspectives
in Parapsychology
and
Vol. 6 Shamanism
No. 1
A Framework of Belief in
The Supernatural
Paranormal Experiences
World in Mormon
and its Relation to
History and Folklore
1
Positive/Negative
Schizotypy
Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the Paranormal
Vol. 6 No. 1 (January 2015)
Board of Reviewers
Dr. Fiona Bowie (Dept. Theology and Religious Studies, Kings College London)
Dr. Anthony DAndrea (Center for Latin American Studies, University of Chicago)
Dr. Iain R. Edgar (Dept. Anthropology, Durham University)
Prof. David J. Hufford (Centre for Ethnography & Folklore, University of Pennsylvania)
Prof. Charles D. Laughlin (Dept. Sociology & Anthropology, Carleton University)
Dr. David Luke (Dept. Psychology & Counseling, University of Greenwich)
Dr. James McClenon (Dept. Social Sciences, Elizabeth State University)
Dr. Sean O'Callaghan (Department of Politics, Philosophy & Religion, University of Lancaster)
Dr. Serena Roney-Dougal (Psi Research Centre, Glastonbury)
Dr. William Rowlandson (Dept. Hispanic Studies, University of Kent)
Dr. Mark A. Schroll (Institute for Consciousness Studies, Rhine Research Centre)
Dr. Gregory Shushan (Ian Ramsay Centre for Science & Religion, University of Oxford)
Dr. Angela Voss (Canterbury Christ Church University)
Dr. Lee Wilson (School of Political Science and International Studies,The University of Queensland)
Dr. Michael Winkelman(School of Human Evolution & Social Change, Arizona State University)
Prof. David E. Young (Dept. Anthropology, University of Alberta)
Honorary Members of the Board

Prof. Stephen Braude(Dept. Philosophy, University of Maryland)
Paul Devereux (Royal College of Art)
Prof. Charles F. Emmons (Dept. Sociology, Gettysburg College)
Prof. Patric V. Giesler (Dept. Anthropology, Gustavus Adolphus College)
Prof. Ronald Hutton (Dept. History, University of Bristol)
Prof. Stanley Krippner (Faculty of Psychology, Saybrook University)
Dr. Edith Turner (Dept. Anthropology, University of Virginia)
Editors
Jack Hunter (Dept. Archaeology & Anthropology, University of Bristol)
Cover Artwork
Jack Hunter
Vol. 6 No. 1
Introduction
Jack Hunter
Contents
The Dragon and Me:
Anthropology and the Paranormal
- Susan Greenwood (4-25) -
Welcome
to Paranthropology Vol. 6 No. 1,
A Framework of Belief in Paranormal

Experiences and its Relation to
Positive/Negative Schizotypy
the first issue of 2015. First things first, the

- Alejandro Parra (26-34) Paranthropology fourth anniversary anthology
is almost ready for publication. This book
Research Perspectives in
will be the first in a new series of books pubParapsychology and Shamanism
lished under the imprint title Psychoid
- Stanley Krippner (35-53) Books, which is set to include a range of edited volumes and monographs that fall under
Capturing Spirituality:
the broad label of Paranthropology. More
A Photo-Elicitation Study With Two
information will be available about this
British Neo-Pagans
shortly, but in the meantime keep your eyes
peeled for developments.
- Matt Coward (54-63) In this edition of the journal Susan
Greenwood describes her experiences with
On the "Types" and Dynamics of
the dragon, and explores what such experiApparitional Hallucinations
ences reveal about the paranormal more
- S. Alexander Hardison (65-74) generally. This paper was originally presented at the Esalen Institute conference on
INTERVIEW:
Anthropology and the Paranormal in OctoW. Paul Reeve & Michael Scott Van
ber 2013. Then, Alejandro Parra presents reWagenen on the Supernatural World
search on the connections between parain Mormon History and Folklore
normal beliefs and positive and negative
- John W. Morehead (76-79) schizotypy, before Stanley Krippner explores
the overlap between shamanic and parapsychological research. In Capturing Spirituality, Matt Coward employs an interview technique known as photo-elicitation to discover more
about the beliefs of contemporary Neo-Pagans, before S. Alexander Hardison surveys research on the
types and dynamics of apparitional experiences. Finally, John W. Morehead presents an interview
with W. Paul Reeve and Michael Scott Van Wagenen, editors of the recently published book Between
Pulpit and Pew, which examines the role of the paranormal in Mormon folklore traditions.
I sincerely hope you enjoy this eclectic issue of Paranthropology.
Jack Hunter (Editor)
Vol. 6 No. 1
The Dragon and Me:

Anthropology and the Paranormal
Susan Greenwood
As an introduction to this Symposium,1
would like to outline some of my anthropological research on aspects of magic that

comes under the rubric of anomalous or
paranormal experience. Rather than the
more usual inquiry of how and why people
believe in seemingly irrational or bizarre
magical practices, over the years I have addressed the issue of the examination of
magic more directly. This approach initially
developed out of a personal interest and
involvement in witchcraft as a form of pagan spirituality. By becoming involved in
magical experience firstly as a practitioner
and then later as an anthropologist studying magic, I discovered that by engaging
with seemingly random magical feeling
states that they had an emotional and sensory presence. In addition, rather than being odd or rather bizarre single events
these affective states formed patterns of
synchronous meanings that came to have

deep relevance to me. I developed the term
magical consciousness to describe the mode
of awareness that predominated during
these occurrences. A diffuse and associative mode of mind, magical consciousness
is characterized by a sense of permeability
of boundaries between material and nonmaterial perceptions of reality. The use of
this notion describes a general sense of expansive conceptual fluidity that not only
replaces all notions of fixed categories between phenomena, but also features the
principle of non-contradiction2 , the existence of apparent mutually incompatible
and exclusive states: such as life in death
and unity and multiplicity of being.
My encounter with a non-material dimension of reality challenges more conventional anthropological work in terms of the
issues it raises concerning the anthropologists first hand involvement with altered
Introductory paper prepared for a Symposium on The Anthropology of the Paranormal, The Center for Theory and Research, Esalen Institute, California, October 13-18th 2013.
1
A feature of human thought first reported by Aristotle, but also noted by Lucien Lvy-Bruhl in his work on
primitive mentality in The Notebooks on Primitve Mentality of Lucien Lvy-Bruhl, Peter Riviere, trans., Oxford:
Basil Blackwell, 1975; see Bradd Shore Culture in Mind: Cognition, Culture and the Problem of Meaning. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1998: 27, 313-4; and Susan Greenwood The Anthropology of Magic. Oxford: Berg, 2009:
30-43.
2
Vol. 6 No. 1

states of consciousness, and also, of course,
the reality of spirits. Choosing not to look
primarily at the rationality of magic, or the
instrumentality of such thought, my research has concentrated on the examination of the dynamic process of magical
thinking that my experience has revealed.
By trying to bridge the gap between supposedly rational and irrational perceptions
of the world I have tried to make magic as
an aspect of consciousness more understandable. In this paper I shall outline how
my examination of magic as an aspect of
consciousness happened, and try to sum up
how I have come to see anomalous experiences as not strange phenomena per se, but
as part of a magical process of lived beingness that changes the way we see and come
to understand the world.
***
My increasing involvement with what I now
describe as magical consciousness was slow.
In academic terms, it started with my doctoral research, later published as Magic,
Witchcraft and the Otherworld in 2000. Here
I sought to create communication between
scholarly analysis and the magical spirit
panoramas of my informants who were initially British witches and ceremonial magicians. An ultimate objective in my work was
to examine encounters with the otherworld, a non-material anomalous reality
that was difficult to articulate using conventional social science frameworks that
tended toward reductive materialistic exVol. 6 No. 1
planations. Wanting to develop the critical

eye of the anthropologist, but also an empathy that was sensitive to my informants involvement with this inspirited magical otherworld, I took a deliberately participatory
approach, and this forged the way for my
later work. Arguing that anthropological
engagement with the experience of magic
was essential for its further understanding,
I considered such data a valuable component of research, not to be contrasted with
scientific truth, or seen to threaten objectivity. A reviewer for this book, described
me as a native turned anthropologist.
Rather than focusing on the other, I had
turned an anthropological gaze upon myself as a native. If magical consciousness
was a human faculty of mind then I did not
see why I should not examine my own experience, and so, in anthropological terms, I
did become a native, although I would later
argue that we are all potentially natives of
this mode of thought.
By going deeper into a natives account
of magic through the lived experience of
the anthropologists life, I attempted to
demonstrate the development of the process of magical consciousness. Although the
detail of my increasing involvement was
specific, the actual process is common to
magical thinking, and can be applied to
cross-cultural analysis to understand what
appears to be a ubiquitous human experience, in one form or another. Magical consciousness is, at one and the same time, intensely personal, as it is universal. Despite
varying and sometimes enormous cultural
5

differences, there are close similarities in
the ways that people engage with the experience of magic as feeling states from
shamanism in Amazonia to the recent revival of witchcraft as a form of western
spirituality, but also in more everyday contexts as a more mundane part of life. Moving into a more expanded conceptual space
that incorporates all of life, including emotions and dimensions of spirit, my hope has
been to open up a different perception of
magic.
In subsequent works I developed this
approach. For example, in The Nature of
Magic (2005), a study of how western pagans
viewed and related to nature, I took this position one step further to include more of
my own experience of magic. I also
searched for theories that could help me
explain magical consciousness as a language for communication with beings of
otherness. I started with Lucien LvyBruhls notion of participation, a social psychological perception of the world based
on a mystical mentality, the emotional association between persons and things in contact with a non-ordinary spirit reality3. An
early example of this participatory attitude
that I recall is an occasion when a friend
and I were talking about magic as we
walked by a stream that flows into a river
close to her cottage in the Brecon Beacons,
one of the sources of the river Taff in Wales.
I was some way into my research on magi-
cal consciousness at the time and was trying to explain to her what I meant by the
term. As we reached a few trees by the side
of the stream, I stopped to look at the beautiful reflection that the tree branches and
the sky made in the water at that moment
the depths of the water, with its little rushing eddies over the stones of the river bed,
combined with the sun and the white
clouds in the blue summer sky. All formed
part of a pattern of participation the sky
was mirrored in the water and they intermingled. My friend threw a stick into the
stream for her dog to fetch and instantly
the pattern broke into a myriad of shimmering fragments. Ripples formed from the
point where the stick hit the water and
gradually spread out forming another pattern until the waters regained their own
momentum and the reflections of the
clouds re-appeared in the river. Watching
the movement of the ripples on water, I realized that I could explain what I meant by
magical consciousness in this moment of
the participation of tree, sky, water, river
bed, sun, the ripples, my friend, the dog,
the stick and all the feelings and connections that this myriad of kaleidoscope associations made in and through time.
Coming to comprehend these associative connections, I gradually came to discover more about the process that was occurring through my own experiences. Indeed, it was while I was participating in
Quoted in Stanley Tambiah, Magic, Science, Religion and the Scope of Rationality Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991: 91; Lucien Lvy-Bruhl, The Notebooks on Primitive Mentality of Lucien Lvy-Bruhl, Peter Riviere,
trans., Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1975.
3
Vol. 6 No. 1

fieldwork for The Nature of Magic that I realized that I was having a strong emotional
connection with nature, and also that I was
being able to sense a non-material quality
or feeling of spirit. As time went on - as I
was trying to express the feelings with a
more analytical approach as well as a direct
experiential immersion - it felt imperative
to name the sensations that were occurring.
As a form of shorthand, I came to consider
these collective experiences as the dragon,
and I devised ways of their further unraveling. Initially the dragon was a feeling that
started with a sense of awe in nature; it was
not simply a symbol, or a metaphor, or a
recognizable material artefact. Nor did it
represent a literal understanding of some
monstrous beast, although I was to find out
that it did have hugely monstrously terrifying qualities. Rather it was a nuanced opening up of perception that led to my further
investigation.
As my research progressed, my initial
feeling of the dragon as a force of nature
came to be more shaped by the views of my
research informants. Pagans generally refer
to the dragon as an underground dwelling
winged serpent symbolic of the elements
earth, air, fire, and water, as well as spirit. In
many contemporary European cultures, a
dragon is considered to be a manifestation
of evil, being vanquished by a hero in the
shape of Saint George, but for pagans the
dragon is most often a positive life force
that has been repressed by Christianity. In
this sense, the dragon is more akin to the
Chinese and Japanese portrayals that have
Vol. 6 No. 1
a multiplicity of forms, sometimes with a

horses head and a snakes tail, or a camels
head with stags horns and the eyes of a
demon; alternatively, it might have the neck
of a snake, belly of a clam, carp scales, eagle
claws, soles of a tiger, and the ears of a cow.
The dragon is a participatory being it resides in relationships between one thing
and another. Chameleon-like, the dragon
changes from creature to creature transmuting into many things for me it is a raw
primal participatory force of nature running through all. The multifarious nature
of the dragon seemed to represent well the
complex of emotions and sensory experiences that I was having. Being drawn to the
Australian aboriginal mythological idea of
time as an ancestral serpent that linked all
life though its breath, I came to feel the
dragon as a being of many manifestations
and possibilities that could move through
time and space. To experience this ancestral
being, I felt that it was imperative to be able
to dream, to enter the equivalent of a
mythological dreamtime.
My exploratory question towards this
experience was, in the words of William
Blakes poem Tyger Tyger, In what distant
deeps or skies/ Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
The dragon represented a feeling state, a
participatory association that would guide
my research into what seemed like distant
deeps and skies of the imaginative and synchronous worlds of magic. The dragon entity had been lurking in my subconscious
since childhood, but it was only when I
came to deliberately examine the process of
7

magical thought that it seemed to make itself manifest. It appeared that my awareness of this entity emerged gradually, much
as a tendril of dragon smoke. The more I
became involved in thinking about the
connections and associations of magical
thinking, the more I knew that I recognized
magical worldviews from much earlier in
my life. Beginning to see another dimension to my academic work, one that was becoming increasingly hard to write about, I
came to the awareness that I was making all
sorts of synchronous connections that
seemed to be telling their own story.
In time, my exploration of my data on
the dragon led me to write about the encounter as a narrative. I was heartened to
read that fieldwork itself is considered to
be a narrative by some anthropologists
whereby the anthropologist seeks intimate
knowledge behind the scenes, behind the
masks and roles, behind the generalities
and abstractions; and the anthropologists
task involves finding some convincing ethnographic access to this narrative4. I decided that I would acknowledge my own
emotions, intuition, and imagination to include all subjective features of the mind
participating in magical consciousness in
my own narrative. It was only though coming to feel the pattern that the dragon had
made in my life, unbeknown to me at the
time, that I could develop the idea of using
the material for further examination in my

research. I wanted to show how I had come
to understand the dragon as a source of
another perspective, one long obscured
through the valorisation of reason and rationality that had exploded into widespread
cultural awareness during the Enlightenment.
And so I decided I would experience
what happened to me through association
with the dragon as part of my research into
magic as a wider conception of consciousness. In essence, the dragon had a physical
reality through my body and actions in the
world5. Of course, I did not physically become a dragon that somehow I manifested into a fire-breathing monster - but
nevertheless the dragon had a form of corporeal as well as imaginal reality. I experienced it as a dance of synchronous interaction, among other things. This is what
shaped what I have come to understand as
the dragon, that aspect of us that remains
forever connected and capable of transformation within a wider nature. The dragon
has led me through an anthropological and
magical process in which I have attempted
to discover and narrate links of communication between seemingly incongruent domains: on the one hand lies the nonmaterial dimension of spirit; and on the
other anthropological theories largely
rooted in a material world that is suspi-
Anthony P. Cohen and Nigel Rapport Introduction to Questions of Consciousness ASA Monographs 33. Anthony P. Cohen and Nigel Rapport (eds.) London: Routledge, 1995: 7-9.
4
My first exploration of writing about this will appear in The Social Life of Spirits, Diana Espirito Santo and
Ruy Blanes (eds.) Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2014: 6-7, 12.
5
Vol. 6 No. 1

cious, if not in many cases openly hostile, to
my approach.
***
At the beginning of my doctoral research

on magic I had been largely unaware of the
dragon as a shaping force in my life, but
gradually, as I got more involved with
studying and writing about magic, I began
to link one thing with another and started
having anomalous experiences, ones that I
would later put together as meaningful to
my dragon narrative. The more I became
involved in thinking magically about the
dragon, the more I recalled what at the
time seemed like odd experiences. An early
memory from around the time of my undergraduate studies in anthropology was of
standing in a long queue to pay at the
checkout in a multi-national chain store. It
seemed to take forever to be served. As I
was waiting, I recalled that I studied idly
the advertising display in front of me. And
then something in my mind seemed to
shift. Looking through the display, I sensed
that I was going back in time. Looking upwards, I noticed the old elaborate plaster
coving on the ceiling of the shop, a remnant from a bygone age. The decorative
plaster had only been partly concealed by
the advertisement and it was still possible
to see the original ceiling of the building.
Different feelings came flooding into my
mind I felt like I was in several places at
once and in varying realities. I seemed to be
able to feel through time. It was a strange
Vol. 6 No. 1
moment as my ears gently buzzed and my

awareness expanded into a wider consciousness. The experience made me reflect
on that moment in the busy shopping centre amid the comings and goings of many
people going about their everyday business.
I wanted to go deeper beyond the superficiality of the buy, buy, buy materialistic
culture to find something more intricate
that was somehow being obscured, to get to
something deeper and more meaningful.
Afterwards I interpreted the experience
as the dragon awareness arising from my
sub-consciousness, behind and beyond ordinary perception. It felt to me as if this
memory was the dragon of the intuitive
mind communicating. It seemed that the
dragon was leading me into another mode
of being, one that went deeper than the superficiality of the advertisements that offered happiness through more and more
consumption. The dragon was not to be
found in consumerist culture, rather it was
sensed in the hidden spaces in between.
The dragon spoke to me in small moments
of stillness and reflection, and in dreams,
hopes and fears that gradually I came to
interpret as having meaning. I had to learn
to listen to the dragons voice. I needed to
hear the dragon speak from its so-far silent
realm, to tell its story.
One dream seemed particularly significant. In the dream a friend handed me a
basket that another friend had given me. I
took the basket and removed the embroidered flowery lid; a white snake rapidly
unwound itself from inside the basket and
9

sprang out upon me. It fastened its fangs
into my arm... I awoke feeling that it was a
very profound experience. Being bitten by a
white snake in the dream seemed like a
form of initiation to me. I did not know
what the experience meant then, but more
recently I came to realize that it was a stirring of the dragon as a sort of elemental
awakening. Figuring out what the dream
could mean took me back to memories of
my childhood. I had kept grass snakes as
pets and was captivated by their beautiful
smooth zig-zagged patterned bodies, and
their abilities to glide across the ground
and swim through water. I loved letting
them slide over my arms and legs as I
watched their black forked tongues flicking
neatly in and out as they smelt the air. I was
also fascinated by earthworms and spent
time playing in the wild and over-grown
end of the garden. Uncovered all year, the
sand pit became the home of all sorts of
wildlife: from millipedes and woodlice to
wriggly ginger wireworms, but most especially for earthworms. I watched how they
changed shape by contracting and then extending their bodies, and how they gradually transformed the sand and the earth in
the sand pit.
Snakes and worms share some of the
dragons qualities of transformation: snakes
shed their skins representing cosmic renewal and rebirth following death; worms
transform the earth. I later learned that it
was Charles Darwin who had written that
the differences in mind between humans
and higher animals was one of degree not
Vol. 6 No. 1
of kind. Darwin changed many peoples

perceptions of these seemingly lowly creatures noting how worms are better at tilling
the soil than us; they swallow the earth
ejecting what they do not need for nutriment in a fine tilth that cannot be matched
by human ploughing. I came to think that
there was no radical separation between
humans and other animals, and that humans were not superior to all other beings,
as I had been taught. Later, I thought that
the passing of the snake basket between my
friends represented a form of communication. Much like music communicates on
many different levels of feeling, this dream
seemed to be conveying the early associations of the dragon. What was it about
worms, snakes and dragons, I wondered,
that stirred the human imagination? This
question would lie in my subconscious for
quite a time as I completed teaching various courses, particularly the anthropology
of religion and the anthropology of the
body for Goldsmiths, University of London,
and also courses on shamanic consciousness and altered states of consciousness for
the University of Sussex. All of these
helped me to refine and develop my theoretical grasp of the dragon.
In the meantime, after the completion of
my earlier books, my publishers suggested
that I write a textbook on magic, and so the
dragon had to lie mostly dormant for a
time. Writing The Anthropology of Magic,
published in 2009, allowed me to develop
my theoretical ideas on magical consciousness as an aspect of awareness that could
10

potentially be experienced by anyone. Expressed in a myriad of varying situations
and social contexts, informing cosmological
realities as well as individual behavior, I described magical consciousness as fully a
part of human life, even if it had been devalued, suppressed and driven underground so that it manifested in unexpected
forms, especially in western contexts. I also
wrote that magical consciousness was an
aspect of mind that occurred in a multiplicity of ways in varying individuals, cultural
contexts, and through time, but I was aware
that adopting such a position could be
challenging. Anthropologists have preferred to focus on cultural particulars
rather than operating at such micro-levels
as human consciousness. Noting that such
particulars were a vital and valuable aspect
of the discipline, my focus in this book was
also on the universal, a monistic orientation
towards what connects rather than what
divides us as human beings:
Including the larger picture has the
advantage of breaking down old divisions between the west and the
other. By bringing these two categories of understanding together we
bring our shared humanity into perspective and this is important and
relevant to todays globalizing world,
as well as the evolving relevance of
anthropology. Concentrating on similarities rather than differences be-
tween people can break down social

divisions and encourage communication between disparate groups. Magic
is a topic that has to be understood
and explained on both micro (individual experience) and macro (universal)
levels. The positive value of this approach is that it makes us look at ourselves, as well as others; it brings us
together, and makes connections between phenomena that perhaps at first
sight do not seem to be connected6.
My task was to explore deeper into my individual experience of magic to see how the
process of magical thinking unfolded
within a persons conception of an inspirited and connected reality. I hoped that this
would shed light on more indigenous cultures that had on-going relationships with
spirit worlds. It seemed especially important that I should do this to demonstrate
that magical consciousness was indeed potentially inherent within the human psyche.
At this point, I decided to accept various
invitations to talk about magical consciousness. To this end, I am greatly indebted to
the Danish Ethnographic Society to be able
to give their keynote lecture on magical
consciousness to the Anthropologist Society Annual Meeting, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, in November 2007, and to
lead a Limits of Reason Anthropological
Research Group Seminar on Magic, also at
the University of Copenhagen, two days
The Anthropology of Magic Oxford and New York: Berg, 2009: 4-5.
Vol. 6 No. 1
11

later. I gave a paper onMagical healing at
the Rituals of Healing Conference, Faculty
of Health Sciences, Nord-Trondelag University College, Norway in May 2008; a keynote lecture on magical consciousness to
the NORDIC Network for Amerindian
Studies, Rethinking Shamanism: Perceptions of Body and Soul in Multidimensional
Environments Research Seminar, Kastrup,
Denmark in May 2010; and led a research
seminar on magic as a form of knowledge
to the Cambridge Centre for Western Esotericism, Girton College, Cambridge University, England, in May 2010; and finally a
seminar on magical consciousness and science to the Body, Health and Religion Society Seminar, University of Cardiff, Wales,
in April 2011. Giving these lectures and
leading seminars offered the chance for
much important feedback that helped to
further develop my thinking on magical
consciousness.
***
After The Anthropology of Magic was completed, the time was right to go deeper into
an examination of the process of magical
consciousness by reconnecting with the
dragon once more. Deciding to open myself
up to the experience of the dragon, my objective in academic terms was to further research on a participatory aspect of human
cognition as it melds with the non-human
and non-material. As my awareness of the
dragon gradually increased, this spirit being seemed to come through me as a disVol. 6 No. 1
tinct presence. Eventually I started to grasp

its fuller significance. Subsequently, I came
to understand the dragon as an entity that
was simultaneously of me and not of me. I
wanted to explore the possibility that this
non-material being had decided to work
through me, for whatever reason. It was
only though coming to understand the pattern that the dragon had made in my life
that I could really develop the concept of
magical consciousness. In so doing, I discovered that it was methodologically important to pay attention to moments that might
be overlooked during more conventional
fieldwork, and develop a sensitivity to subtleties for working with such entities. By
temporarily holding in abeyance my analytical, classifying mind for the duration of
the interaction I could start to make sense
of this communication. As to why the
dragon had shown itself to me, I could only
guess. Perhaps it was due to my rather solitary childhood whereby I had formed close
attachments to nature rather than any organized religious affiliation, or maybe because as an anthropologist I was working
with altered states of consciousness and
was open to this sort of otherworldly mediation, or even because some people are
more sensitive to spiritual communication
from non-material realms than others, at
this stage I could only speculate.
Over time, I had become increasingly
keen to try to explain encounters with a
non-material reality that were difficult to
articulate using more conventional anthropological methodological and theoretical
12

frameworks. Deciding that for the present I
had gone as far as I was able in an academic mode, I thought I would write about
my life as an anthropologist studying magic.
I chose to use my own experience, or so I
thought at the time. On reflection, I think
that it was not so much my decision as that
of the dragon. And so I went with the possibility that this entity had decided to work
through me, for whatever reason, to put
across a certain message. As to what that
message might be I was unsure, but I decided to trust the process as long as it coincided with my sense of integrity. I entertained the possibility that entities, such as
the dragon, could be searching for appropriate vehicles to communicate certain information. It had long been my impression
that otherworldly entities manifested in a
variety of forms to communicate with anyone willing. Rather than becoming distracted by such questions, I decided to
leave them until later in my fieldwork trusting that the reasons for my developing relationship with the dragon would eventually
become clear. What I did not realize then
was that I was being used by the nonmaterial entity that I had come to recognize
as the dragon. It slowly dawned on me that
I was not in total control of my writing. I
did have some inkling that this was the case
- I knew that the book was being written
whilst I was in a participatory state of altered awareness.
Eventually, I started writing thoughts
and meditations down in the format of a
book. In the physical production of words Vol. 6 No. 1
on the computer screen and in my bodymind through meditation - these themes

became woven into the story of my life. As I
wrote, they seemed to take on a life of their
own through a stream of consciousness, a
type of intimate recording of the everyday
minute of life made popular by Virginia
Woolf, especially in her novel Mrs Dalloway.
This mode of writing, so different to the
formal academic style, seemed to reach different parts of my awareness and my memory. I did not want to write objectively as
this would destroy the subjective experience of magic, which I slowly came to realize was central to its understanding. A
pressing question was how to write about
my own experience of the dragon. My reflexive approach to fieldwork had a big impact on my writing, presenting me with a
challenge. I had recorded in the introduction to The Nature of Magic that Virginia
Woolf had once written that the main thing
in beginning a novel was not to feel that
you could write it, but that it existed on the
far side of a gulf that words could not cross.
This was a little how I felt about writing
about magical consciousness. It existed out
there, but I also knew that it connected
with something deep within too.
After sharing experiences with many
other practitioners of magic I knew that
magical consciousness existed intuitively I
had known about this as a child but trying to put it into words was like crossing a
chasm or an abyss to bring the meaning
through, and then only incompletely. The
problem was how to express the inex13

pressible, or what psychologist William
James famously termed the ineffable.
Woolf thought that the novel had to be
pulled through in breathless anguish, but
when I was writing that book during one
seemingly mad summer it felt not as
though I was pulling it through but that it
was creating itself through me. Surely, I
wrote at the time, no one admits to writing
anthropological fieldwork in this way, this
approach is much too subjective7. Woolf
had said that words are full of echoes and
associations, stored with meanings and
memories. She sought to create change
through words, seeing them as being created anew through being out and about in
streets, fields and everyday life in a will o
the wisp form of a stream of consciousness.
This seemed to resonate with my experience of the dragon. I also sought to create
change, a change in attitude, that allows a
more open approach to the social scientific
study of magic in all its dimensions social,
political, psychological and also incorporating a non-material and ecological aspect.
My relationship with the dragon was a
communication with an imaginal spirit entity. Of course, this raised the anthropological dilemma of a belief in spirits: they might
exist in peoples imagination, but not in reality in academia. I found that developing
the concept of magical consciousness could
overcome the difficulty. I had realized from
my previous work, that when a person is
experiencing magical consciousness it

makes no difference whether they believe
in spirits, or not. It does not matter how the
experience is labeled, it is the experience
itself that is important. It matters not a jot if
spirit communications are categorized as
psychological - if they are explained as a
part of a persons own internal thought
processes - or whether the non-material
entities communicated with are considered
to be independent with a spirit being and
existence of their own. Whilst participating
in a magical aspect of consciousness the
question of belief is irrelevant: belief is
not a necessary condition to communicate
with an inspirited world8 . How this communication is viewed by the person themselves, and their culture, is another matter
of course. For my work however, questions
of belief or the reality or non-reality of spirits, while interesting themselves, are a
straightjacket for an alternative perception
afforded by communication with nonmaterial entities. The issue for me is one of
a different perception.
During an experience of magical consciousness it feels like spirits share a degree
of corporeal materiality and possess mind. I
reasoned that the minds of entities in
whatever form - and ours could meet in a
wider consciousness. Of course we know
that this was a view common before Descartes. Aristotle, for example, thought the
soul was equivalent to psyche it was the
The Nature of Magic: An Anthropology of Consciousness, Oxford and New York: Berg, 2005: xii.
The Anthropology of Magic, Oxford and New York: Berg, 2009: 140
Vol. 6 No. 1
14

principle of life that animates. This view
was one that Blake tried to re-invoke as the
cusp of the scientific revolution. Harking
back to the earlier view, Blake envisioned a
world in which every creature was an inspirited person living within the total freedom of its Imagination9.I reminded myself
time and time again that the view that all of
life is infused with spirit, soul and consciousness was common in the ancient
world prior to the dawning development of
the rationalizing scientific worldview of
Blakes time. The period from the
seventeenth-century to the present in the
western world seemed to me as just a blip
in time and one that could be transformed
again - not back to some so-called Golden
Age, but as a paradigm change in broader
consciousness and awareness.
Thinking about such an integrated perspective I was drawn to the work of Gregory Bateson, particularly in his book Mind
and Nature: a necessary unity (1985). Bateson,
of course, is particularly relevant to being at
Esalen, and I would like to think that in
some way I could build on his thinking of
how to try and understand an integrated
world. Seeking to find a language of relationship with which to communicate, Bateson thought that logic was not suitable for
the description of biological patterns, and
so he turned to metaphor as the language
of nature. I found that Tim Ingolds work in
Perceptions of the Environment (2000) took a
similar position to Batesons by adopting a
world-view envisaged from within a total

field of relations whose unfolding is tantamount to the process of life itself. Both
Bateson and Ingold see the mind as immanent in the whole system of the organismenvironment and I gained inspiration from
this perspective. My aim was to try and understand body-mind through a process of
interconnection with the inspirited imagination of magical consciousness within
such a total field of organism-environment
relations.In the meantime, my experiences
with the dragon were progressing.
By concentrating on my own experience
with the dragon I found that I could understand the process of thinking that underpins the workings of magical consciousness. A similar underlying system of associative thought can be understood in many
different contexts: the method is similar; it
is the context that makes up the wide variety of varying experience. The universal can
accommodate the uniquely personal and
individual and this is symbolised through
the dragon. It became clear to me that the
dragon is not necessarily a fixed entity conceptualized simply through symbols, metaphor or other material manifestations, it
can arise spontaneously from a feeling of
intercommunication and association, one
sometimes difficult to put into words. It did
seem as if the dragon had some sort of archetypal presence, a psychic collective representation not fully available to my conscious elaboration. Deciding to write using
Kathleen Raine Golgonooza: city of Imagination, Ipswich, Suffolk: Golgonooza Press, 1991: 11-12.
Vol. 6 No. 1
15

poetry and a stream of consciousness style
to bracket my analytical thinking, I tried to
access the participatory and synchronous
language of magic working through the
themes the dragon had conveyed to me.
The first draft of my proposed book on the
dragon was largely incomprehensible, and
on the recommendation of two stalwart
people who had offered to read it, I added
more explanation and details that made it
more accessible when I had achieved more
distance from the immediate process of
writing. It was shortly after this point that
Erik D. Goodwyn, a psychiatrist and author
of The Neurobiology of the Gods10, and I made
contact. The possibility of a collaborative
interdisciplinary project was broached, and
I suggested the idea of co-authorship on
my dragon material. Our book Magical Consciousness: an anthropological and neurobiological approach (Routledge 2015) develops
an interdisciplinary analysis of magical
consciousness utilizing my dragon narrative
material.
***
My narrative of the dragon is the form in
which I have experienced and organized my
experience. Sometimes, it seemed, that the

knowledge that I sought was encapsulated
in memories, both within myself and within
the natural world. In narrative particular
images are recollected, abstracted from
memorys stream: memory recalls the past
to the present11. Narratives as stories are
patterns of connectedness that have meaning 12. And so my narrative became, in Batesons terms, a little knot of connectedness
that had relevance. Memory re-orders the
past and the present through a synchrony,
the imaginative and intuitive association of
specific meaningful memories creates a pattern. The task then was to interpret the pattern of meaning in terms of what the
dragon was communicating. As an anthropologist researching magical thinking, I
came to understand how magical meaning
was relational and depended on selection,
combination, and context. Like every other
undergraduate anthropology student, I had
learned about Evans-Pritchards classic account of the Azande collapsing granary, as
an example of synchrony, but it was Jungs
use of the concept of synchrony - to refer
to a non-causal connecting principle when
powerful psychic components are activated
- that interested me. In particular, it was
The Neurobiology of the Gods: How Brain Physiology Shapes the Recurrent Imagery of Myth and Dreams, London
and New York: Routledge, 2012.
10
Anthony P. Cohen and Nigel Rapport Introduction to Questions of Consciousness ASA Monographs 33. Anthony P. Cohen and Nigel Rapport (eds.) London: Routledge, 1995: 7-9.
11
12
Gregory Bateson Mind and Nature: A Necessary Unity New York: Bantam, 1988.
Vol. 6 No. 1
16

Jungs observation13 that the ancient Chinese mind contemplates the cosmos like a
modern physicist, as a psychophysical
structure in which synchronicity refers to
an interdependence of objective events and
includes the subjective states of the observer 14. Here then was a link between objectivity and subjectivity - one so fraught in
the natural and social sciences - that I
needed to engage with the dragon.
The fiery mythological dragon, with
burning eyes like Blakes Tyger, became a
specific story of synchronistic connections
to describe my academic exploration into
magical and analytical thinking. I therefore
came to understand the dragon though
Jungs notion of synchronicity whereby relationships are based on events from material and non-material dimensions coming
together in a meaningful but causally unrelated way. The dragon was the space between, the space within that incorporates
exploration into areas reminiscent of
Blakes distant deeps and skies in a manner that is meaningful, and also full of creativity and imagination. The notion of synchronicity does not threaten anthropological analysis or causality, but enhances it by
revealing the different modus operandi of
magical consciousness; it was through understanding the concept of synchronicity
that I would discover my relationship with
the dragon. I found that writing about the

dragon released the tensions between the
different modes of thought so that the
magical/mythopoetic and the analytical/
critical could be compared and explored. A
whole new field of intimate knowledge behind the scenes could be opened up. During magical consciousness, I have found
that meaning is relational and depends on
selection, combination, and context. In this
respect, I came to be very inspired by
Blakes work; it seemed to take me back to a
place of child-like innocence, one that I intuitively recognized. My exploration into
the dragons distant deeps or skies to find
the burning of its eyes took me into a participatory feeling state within my imagination.
A transformative being, the dragon lives
within the reality of the mythological
imagination, and, as we know, has done so
for millennia among different peoples and
varying cultures. There must be something
about the dragon that stirs our human
memory. Initially however, I did not have a
strong sense of a being that I could identify
as a dragon. As already mentioned, my solitary childhood had led me to form close
attachments to nature and it was perhaps
this that led me to becoming more sensitised to magical consciousness 15. In time,
the dragon came to symbolize my particular
13
In the I Ching, the Richard Wilhem translation, London: Penguin Arkana, 1989, xxiii.
14
Anthony Stevens, On Jung, London: Penguin, 1991: xxiv.
See Susan Greenwood Toward an Epistemology of Imaginal Alterity: fieldwork with the dragon in The Social Life of Spirits, Diana Espirito Santo and Ruy Llera Blanes (eds.), Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2014.
15
Vol. 6 No. 1
17

little knot of connected relevance. Looking
back to my childhood now I can see connections of magical thinking, I did see the
world as alive: my stuffed toy rabbit was
real, as was my china horse, toy elephant,
and the small plastic boy through whom I
lived my adventures. We all lived in another
country under the white flower-painted
chest of drawers in my bedroom. Eventually memories of a specific dragon did start
coming back and I remembered that, like
most young children of my generation, I
would sing a popular tune called Puff the
Magic Dragon. The lyrics of the song, which
were based on a poem written by Lennie
Lipton and sung by Peter, Paul, and Mary,
told of an exciting magical dragon who
lived by the sea and who made friends with
a little boy called Jackie Paper. Together
they travelled in a boat with a billowed sail
and Jackie kept a look-out perched on
Puffs gigantic tail. One day, in the lyrics of
the Puff song, Jackie fails to come to play
with Puff, A dragon lives forever but not so
little boys, painted wings and giant rings
make way for other toys. When Jackie does
not arrive, the dragon ceased his fearless
roar; his head was bent in sorrow, his
green scales fell like rain, and he retreated
back into his cave. The dragon loses Jackie
when the little boy grows up, but somehow
the dragon and its magical world never
completely left me. Rather it lay dormant
until the right time when I would realize
the participatory and synchronous connection.
Vol. 6 No. 1
A view of the relationship between all

beings came to shape my thoughts, but how
to access it? It seemed to lie deeper than
everyday superficial reality, and so I sought
to find it. Many of the practitioners of
magic that I worked with at the time used
the rhythm of a drumbeat to send themselves into a trance for visualisations. I had
bought a drum so that I could participate in
rituals and other events and experiences
but also observe what was happening at the
same time. I joined a drumming group in
London and every month around twelve
people met to share experiences of shamanic journeying. This involved lying down
on the floor while one member beat a drum
for about fifteen to twenty minutes. During
this time they used the active imagination
to propel themselves into magical consciousness. These were my first experiences
of using a drum to induce altered states of
consciousness, and they would lead to my
first direct practical contact with a feeling
that I first consciously attributed to the
dragon as a research informant. I was living in a small fishermans cottage, in a village on the harbour at Wells-next-the Sea
in Norfolk, East Anglia. I had bought a
drum some time previously but had not
used it. The drum had hung on my bedroom wall for a long time waiting to be
painted. I kept staring at it thinking that
one day I would get around to it, but time
came and went. And then something happened. Suddenly I got a feeling that the
drum needed to be painted and it needed
to be painted soon Not analysing this
18

feeling of immediacy, I sat on the floor in
the cottage with all the paints surrounding
me, as I noted in my field report:
I felt a deep presence of a dragon; it was
a pulsating feeling that seemed to be coming from the base of my spine. The presence slowly took over as I squeezed some
red and yellow paint onto a saucer. Picking up the paintbrush, I mixed the colours
together with water, making sure that
there were lots of streaks of both colours
still in the paint, this seemed important to
keep the elements separate. As the first
strokes of paint met the drum it seemed to
sing in response. The blood-red paint with
yellow streaks, the drum, and my whole
being seemed to come into alignment; it
was almost like placing the last piece of a
jigsaw puzzle into position when the subtle shifting of the wooden shapes transforms the parts into the whole picture.
Now I can start to see the fiery tendrils of
connections that enable another awareness. The dragon was blood red. It felt
primal. As the first wash of colour went
onto the drum, I seemed to connect with
something vaster. At the moment that the
paint, the drum, and my awareness connected, I felt the dragons tail twitch deep
in my being. The air seemed to go thick
and I felt a tingling in my ears. I found
myself disappearing into each brushstroke, around and around into a spiralling vortex of red. The dragon appeared
around the rim of the drum; its coils
wound ever tighter, flames burst from its
mouth.
I had become the blood-red fire dragon
through what felt like aeons of time. I recorded that my body knew the dragon,
deep down, even while I was not consciously aware. I sensed that the blood-red
dragon was the fire of my passion, my enVol. 6 No. 1
ergy, my life-spirit and my soul in contact

with nature and what felt like primal ancestors. It seemed that after my experience
with the dragon whilst painting the drum, a
sort of thunderbolt had opened up a different perception.
***
Some time later, I was walking on the
South Downs and had another connection
with the dragon as an all-encompassing
force of nature, but this time it was more
calm and measured. I had stopped to look
at a reflection of a beautiful sweet chestnut
tree in a lake alongside Glyndebourne, a
well-known opera house nestling in the
rolling Sussex countryside. The water of the
lake seemed to hold memories of other
worlds and, as I looked deep into its depths
and I felt that I was experiencing the Nordic and Anglo-Saxon mythological cosmic
tree Yggdrasil in my imagination. The world
tree seemed to encapsulate a mind in nature, a total field or relations. I sensed
that here, perhaps, was the dragon. I
thought of Nhggr, the dragon that resides at the bottom of Yggdrasil chewing its
roots. Nhggr gnaws the roots of the tree
as a reminder that death is a necessary part
of life as he is a manifestation of destruction, so new branches and leaves are produced. A magical example of noncontradiction: the existence of life in death.
The reflections on the water encompassed
the magic of the tree with the weaving of
different realities of the surface reflecting
19

the skies through the depths of the water. It
seemed as though the multiple worlds were
communicating with me as they surfaced
from deep channels under the waters surface, and from somewhere inexpressible by
words.
This experience took me back to the
time when I was working on my doctoral
thesis on British magicians. As part of my
research, I had studied the Kabbalistic Tree
of Life as an apprentice ceremonial magician and learned that the first lesson in
working magic was to know thyself, a take
on the ancient Greek aphorism found on
the forecourt of the Temple of Apollo at
Delphi. The Kabbalah is a sacred Jewish
mystical glyph of esoteric knowledge arranged around ten symbolic spheres, each
one having intrinsic qualities. The student
of Kabbalah meditates on each of these
spheres in turn, and on the connecting
pathways between the spheres, to deepen
their awareness of themselves and their
connection with God with the aim of increasing their spirituality. All the spheres
are interconnected, and while they each
have their own attributes they are also related one to another, and to the inner self
of the practitioner, as well as the whole
cosmos. Together they represent the creation of existence and all reality, both material and spiritual. Learning to live my life
through understanding what the Kabbalistic spheres meant to my personally and
universally, I came to interlink the mythical
16
geography of the Tree of Life with day-today experience. Rather than seeing it as an
abstract out there cosmological tree, I incorporated it into my own life to make it
meaningful 16.
Remembering this early research on the
Tree of Life, my mind started opening to
the landscape of the mythological imagination, associating one thing with another. I
stood and stared at the landscape before
me at Glyndebourne, the sweet chestnut
tree drew me into what I had experienced
through my magical training, and these
words came, as if from somewhere deep inside:
Lily pads floating on the lake,
gleaming.
Sweet chestnut tree, majestic, towers over,
reflected darkly in the water,
glistening.
Into the ripple-depths,
clouds float among the branches.
Rising to the surface
there to be glimpsed,
fleetingly.
The sweet chestnut tree mirrored in the
water seemed to encapsulate all of life in
that moment the lily pad surface of the
lake, the sky floating among the branches
and a hint of the ripple depths, the dark
mysteries beneath. It was here below that I
sensed the dragon was lurking in my subconscious. I needed to try and go deeper.
The water of the lake seemed to hold
memories of other worlds inhabited in the
encompassing work of the Imagination of
See Magic, Witchcraft and the Otherworld, Oxford: Berg, 2000: 49-62
Vol. 6 No. 1
20

black pool in the centre of the cavern
floor. Looking deeper, I see my reflection.
My eyes meet the eyes of the dragon
emerging out of the watery blackness.
William Blake. As I looked deep into the

waters depths, I felt that I was deep into
Yggdrasil, the mythological world tree. The
reflections on the water encompassed the
imagination of the tree with the weaving of
different realities of the surface and depths
of the water. It seemed as though the multiple worlds were communicating as they
surfaced from deep channels under the waters surface, and from somewhere inexpressible by words:
I notice that I am standing in a completely round cavern deep inside the
earth. My eyes slowly adjust to the faint
light and see that the walls are perfectly
smooth and that the floor is even. I look
upwards and see that there is an opening
in the roof. Slowly I focus my eyes and see
beyond the opening out into the night sky
glittering with stars. I realize that I am a
part of the sky. As I look closer I make out
a structure against the sky it is the roots
of an upturned tree. The trees roots fan
out like a black ravens wing into the
stars. My eyes follow the trunk downwards into the cavern and I see that the
branches of the tree unfold into a blue-
17
The dragon moves towards me, the

dragon within: my soul thread spinning
through space.
A burbling chuckle seems to emerge
within, as water arising from a spring
deep within the earth and I laugh.
However, another confrontation with the
dragon this time one that was completely
terrifying with what seemed like Blakes Tygers burning eyes - would come while I
was conducting fieldwork with Mad Shamans, an eclectic group of practitioners of
magic. We were at Cae Mabon, a retreat
space of several indigenous dwellings situated in a clearing amid an oak forest in
Snowdonia, north Wales 17. This was the
land of the red dragon. Although the lands
of Wales are associated with Celtic mythology, nonetheless there is an underlying
The Nature of Magic Oxford and New York: Berg, 2005: vii.
Vol. 6 No. 1
21

magical truth that underpins all mythologies. The experiences that they induce are
similar, despite social, cultural and political
divisions that emphasise difference.
These tribal differences are symbolized
in a battle between red dragon of Wales (Y
Ddraig Goch) and the English white dragon
that might be Nhggr, the Anglo-Saxon
dragon who resides at the bottom of Yggdrasil chewing its roots. In Arthurian legend the wizard Merlin had a vision of a red
dragon, symbolic of the Celtic British people, and a white dragon, representative of
the invading Anglo-Saxons, fighting beneath the hill fort of Ambrosious Dinas
Emrys in northwest Wales 18. Subconsciously I knew that the dark dragon was
calling me into the realm of Hel, or the
Celtic underworld of Gwyn ap Nudd, a
spirit being that I had already encountered
during a Wild Hunt in Norfolk also whilst
doing anthropological fieldwork19. My task
in confronting my fear was to go deeper
into the realm of the archetypal primordial
dragon, deeper than the red dragon and
deeper than the white dragon, to a place
where tribal battles have no significance. I

had to face the dragon deep within. In
characteristic form, the dragon shifts into
many dragons. However, underlying all
dragons is the magical truth that lies within
the raw elements of place, the spirits of nature.
Having elected to sleep alone in a black
shavan, an Iranian canvas tent designed for
the nomadic life of the desert, I wanted to
know what it would feel like to be so directly alone with the elements in this most
elemental of places. Erected under a small
copse of trees by the side of a fast-flowing
river whose waters came thundering down
from the mountainside, the shavan had
steam-bent oak laths fitting into a central
dome-shaped wheel; it was anchored to the
ground by a rope and held together with a
large peg driven into the earth; it was the
dark womb of the black dragon. That night
in the womb of the dragon was like no
other I have ever experienced. The sound of
the water was deafening: it drove my
numbed mind into spiralling eddies of
whirlpools and underground currents.
According to this mythology, Vortigern, the fifth-century leader of the Britons, fled to Dinas Emrys to escape
the Anglo-Saxon invaders. Every day his men tried to build fortification, but they were thwarted in the task
every morning when they found the masonry they had built the previous day collapsed in a pile. Eventually,
Vortigern sought help from the boy wizard Merlin who explained that the hill fort could not be erected on the
site because underneath was a pool containing two dragons, one red for the Britons, the other white for the
Anglo-Saxons, who were battling for supremacy. The dragons were put there by Lludd, a ruler of Britain about
100 BCE, according to the Mabinogion, a collection of 11-12th century Celtic stories that come from an older
oral tradition. Apparently, the dragons hideous scream so upset the Britons that it was the cause of panic
throughout the land. Needing assistance to resolve the matter, Lludd was advised by his brother Llefelys, a
King of Gaul, who said the scream was caused by the dragon of the Britons being defeated by an alien dragon.
Lludd then captured both dragons in a beer-filled cauldron and buried them at Dinas Emrys. The fighting
dragons represent different tribal loyalties and political battles over land expressed in folklore.
18
19
See, The Nature of Magic New York and Oxford: Berg 2005: 119-142
Vol. 6 No. 1
22

In the all-consuming marauding blackness, I was visited by elemental spirits of
the river, the trees, the earth, and beings
that were so totally non-human that they
took me to a place of extreme terror. I experienced myself being engulfed and consumed by what felt like an alien elemental
otherness. No words can fully express the
feeling, but bare, cold, desolate, exposed
and stark come close to the experience of
having all security of life removed in a confrontation with the waters of this place as
they crashed down the mountainside.
Surprised, I realized that I was still alive
when I eventually woke as dawn was breaking. My tongue had erupted in mouth ulcers from the trauma. I felt totally exhilarated that I had undergone what seemed to
me as an initiation into life itself. My fear of
being alone with the elemental spirits had
led me into a direct confrontation with the
unknown, in Blakes words in his Tyger
poem, What the hammer? What the
chain?/ in what furnace was thy brain?/
what the anvil? what dread grasp/ dare its
deadly terrors clasp? I realized that when I
had faced my fear the alien elements of nature - the fearsome beast of the dragon became a force within nature that would be
my ally. Fear had been replaced by a sense
of my own strength. Experiencing the dark
monster-dragon brought me something
wonderful that I could not have imagined: I
found that through enduring terror I became more aware of not only my security,
Vol. 6 No. 1
but also my passion for life. This is one of

the mysteries of the dragon. A confrontation with death had reminded me to experience life. How simple, yet how amazingly
profound. The dragon had shown me something of the continuity between life and
death. In my analytical mind it brought me
back to the principle of non-contradiction
and the existence of apparent mutually incompatible and exclusive states. Here with
the dragon I had discovered death in life,
and a unity and multiplicity of being.
***
My experience of revisiting my life synchronically through the dragon had given
me personal insight, but the anthropologist
in me required further explication. In my
search for explanation, I turned to Batesons exploration of Jungs Seven Sermons to
the Dead; the result of Jungs three evenings
of psychic exploration in 1916, and which
Bateson considered a much healthier first
step than Descartes dualism of mind and
matter. Jung had outlined differences between pleroma, an eternal unstructured totality containing all opposites and all qualities - both the beginning and the end of
created beings - and creatura, the individual
ego, a part of pleroma that creates difference and distinctiveness in space and time.
In this case, individuation was represented
by the figure of Abraxas, the first archetype
of all things. Abraxas appears to be one of
23

creaturas ways of understanding the immensity of pleroma20 . Bateson developed
Jungs ideas in his search for an epistemology of living forms in patterns of recursive,
non-linear systems. For Bateson, there were
pathways for messages between pleroma,
creatura and Abraxas. The pleroma can be
translated into the language of creatura
through metaphor, the organizing glue of
the world of mental process. While Abraxas
worked as a transpersonal metaphor for
biological unity and mind in nature for
Bateson, any metaphor will do. It is the
connection that is important, not the symbol of that connection the metaphor must
have meaning for the individual. The
movement of communication between
metaphors is a move from the duality of
Cartesian mind and matter21.
Here was one way of seeing the dragon,
as a metaphor, a deeply embedded pattern
of thinking arising from deep feelings of
connection with nature; this seems to comprise an innate, affective and instinctual
almost archetypal image. The dragon thus
comes to symbolize a relational pattern in
the world that helps to give shape to
ephemeral feelings that are not literally
equivalent to a definitive creature but are

equivalent by analogy22. Maybe the dragon
was my way of starting to understand the
wholeness of pleroma, the wholeness of nature? We cannot be aware of the enormity
of all of nature, says Bateson, most of it is
imperceptible; the only appearances of
which we can be aware are cracks and
planes of fracture in a timeless matrix23.
These ruptures can be entered through
dreams, visions, myths and reflections in
magical consciousness. Above all, they
demonstrate to me that everything is connected. And that is the simple, but also
profound, participatory lesson that comes
from the dragon.
To sum up this introduction, I can say
that by circumventing a focus on belief in
magic I hope I have taken an examination
of the seemingly anomalous experience of
magic further. By outlining my own experience of the process of magical consciousness, I have discovered that anomalous occurrences are not phenomenon in themselves but a lived participatory analogical
experience that - when viewed not as isolated events but as part of a synchronous
pattern - can change the way we see the
Carl Jung Seven Sermons to the Dead in The Gnostic Jung selected and introduced by Robert A. Segal.
London: Routledge, 1992: 182.
20
Tim Ingold, while valuing Batesons work criticizes what he calls his two-faced ecology as seemingly being
unable to shake off the most fundamental opposition between form and substance (Ingold, 2000: 16-19). In
my opinion this criticism is unjustified, it does not do justice to Batesons understanding of totality of existence exemplified by Jungs use of the term pleroma.
21
Erik D. Goodwyn The Neurobiology of the Gods: How Brain Physiology Shapes the Recurrent Imagery of Myth and
Dreams, London and New York: Routledge, 2012.
22
23
Gregory Bateson Mind and Nature: A Necessary Unity New York: Bantam, 1988: 14.
Vol. 6 No. 1
24

world. They are not something that deviates
from what is standard, normal, or expected,
nor are they atypical, irregular, aberrant,
exceptional, freakish, odd, bizarre, peculiar,
unusual, out of the ordinary, deviant, mutant or any of the other descriptive terms
found in a dictionary. On the contrary, they
are part of what makes us human when
seen through a process of patterns of relationships. A self-awareness of emotion and
intuition, connectedness and associations
with nature, all hallmarks of magical consciousness, are currently under-recognized,
especially in the natural and social sciences. These qualities teach us to work
with nature. This holds both within the individual learning to balance emotion and
intuition with reason and analysis heart
as well as head - but also extends outwards
to all relationships with the human and environmental worlds.
Recent Chapters in Journals and
Edited Volumes
2011 Mark A. Schroll and Susan Greenwood World Views in Collision World
Views in Metamorphosis: Toward a MultiState Paradigm. Anthropology of Consciousness22 (1), pps 49-60.
2012 Toward an Epistemology of Imaginal Alterity: Fieldwork with the Dragon in The
Social Life of Spirits, edited by Diana Espirito Santo and Ruy Llera Blanes, Chicago:
University of Chicago Press.
2013 Magical Consciousness: A Legitimate
Form of knowledge? in Defining Magic: a
Vol. 6 No. 1
Reader, edited by Bernd-Christian Otto and

Michael Stausberg for the Critical Categories in the Study of Religion series, London: Equinox Publishing.
2013 On Becoming and Owl inReligion and the
Subtle Body in Asia and the West: Between
Mind and Body, edited by Geoffrey Samuel
and Jay Johnston. London: Routledge.
2014 Interplay of Perspectives in the Anthropology of Consciousness: A Commentary
on Stanley Krippners Differentiating Experiences from Events, and Validity from
Authenticity in Anthropological Research
Paranthropology Vol. 5. No. 4.
Selected published Books

Magic, Witchcraft and the Otherworld: An Anthropology. Oxford and New York: Berg, 2000.
The Nature of Magic: An Anthropology of ConsciousnessOxford and New York: Berg, 2005.
The Anthropology of Magic Oxford and New
York: Berg, 2009.
Magical Consciousness: An Anthropological and
Neurobiological Approach with Erik D.
Goodwyn. New York: Routledge, 2015.
Susan Greenwood is the

author of The
Nature of
Magic: An Anthropology of
C o n s c i o u sness, Magic,
Witchcraft and the Otherworld: An Anthropology, and a new book, The Anthropology
of Magic. She is a Visiting Senior Research
Fellow at the University of Sussex.
25
A Framework of Belief in Paranormal Experiences and its

Relation to Positive/Negative Schizotypy
Alejandro Parra
Abstract
Background: Paranormal experiences that fit into a prior framework of belief
are seen as more pleasant, while individuals without such a framework find
them intrusive and disturbing.
Methods: Undergraduate students (no paranormal experiences group, N= 1574)
and people who attended workshops on paranormal/spiritual topics (paranormal experiences group, N= 416) completed two questionnaires, the OLIFE
which assesses schizotypy in four dimensions and the Paranormal Experiences Questionnaire which collects information on spontaneous paranormal
experiences.
Objectives: To test people who have more experiences and paranormal beliefs
are able to cope with potentially distressing effects of such experiences.
Results: Members of the paranormal experiences group were less cognitively
disorganised and tended to have more unusual paranormal experiences. Individuals with more paranormal beliefs/experiences may indeed be able to cope
better with the potentially distressing effects of such experiences.
Discussion: Individuals with more unusual experiences may be able to buffer
their potentially distressing effects through the existence or construction of a
framework in which to place them; for the no paranormal experiences group
(individuals without a belief framework), positive schizotypy might, in fact, be
adaptive, as highly magical thinking provides a better chance of creating an effective and imaginative framework to account for the odd experiences.
Keywords: Belief framework; Paranormal beliefs/experiences; Schizotypy; Magical thinking; Distressing effect.
In
recent years, it has examined the rela-
tionship between schizotypal personality

traits and paranormal beliefs. Windholz and
Vol. 6 No. 1
Diamant (1) found that believers in the

paranormal scored significantly higher on
the schizophrenia subscale of the Inventory
26

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality (2) compared with a group of non-believers in the
paranormal. Thalbourne (7) found that college students who believed and claimed to
have had experiences with the paranormal
tended to score higher on the Magical Ideation Scale (3) and Perceptual Aberration
Scale (3). Wolfradt et al. (4) concluded that
the perceptual aspects of schizotypy and
magical thinking are indicators of processes
that are associated with vulnerability to
psychosis.
Negative schizotypy, identified as a separate factor of schizotypy, and usually evaluated in terms of physical anhedonia and /
or social, can be an indicator of risk of
mental disturbance, for example, Mason,
Claridge and Williams (5) found in based
on a sample of creative artists and poets,
the anhedonia negatively correlated with
creativity. The authors argue that anhedonia
is what differentiates the positive schizotypy creative people of clinical individuals.
People with high positive and low negative (and therefore, in healthy condition)
can channel their creativity via schizotypal
tendencies, scores while individuals with
scores high negative and low positive (and
therefore dysfunctional) succumb to the
desorganizativos effects of positive schizotypy and generate disorders.
There seems to be largely anecdotal
evidence of a link between paranormal belief and psychosis proneness. Based on the
criteria of Claridge (8) according to which
magical thinking is a symptom of schizotypy, the latter was operationalized as
Vol. 6 No. 1
magical thinking or ideation." Chapman,

Chapman and Raulin (3) built the Magical
Ideation Scale, for which there is also a relationship with the propensity to psychosis,
like schizophrenia. Both define magical
thinking as belief '' and poses experiences
as an invalid causation (p. 215). MoreiraAlmeida and Menezes (9) reviewed the concept of "spiritual and religious issues" and
the relationship between religion, spirituality and psychosis based on the DSM-IV,
concluding that although they may seem to
psychotic episodes, are actually manifestations not pathological spiritual and religious experiences. Both authors raise a
number of criteria that could be used for
differential diagnosis between healthy
spiritual experiences and mental disorders
of religious content. The importance of this
issue and the lack of quality research point
to the need for further research (see 6). Indeed, certain spiritual experiences can often be confused with psychotic and dissociative symptoms. There are nine identified
by consensus among researchers that could
indicate a proper distinction between spiritual experiences and psychotic and dissociative disorders criteria, such as lack of
psychological distress, lack of social and
occupational impairment, short experience,
critical attitude (doubt the reality of the experience), support for cultural or religious
group, absence of co-morbidities, control
over the experience, personal growth over
time, and an attitude to help others (10; 11).
There was a trend for people to have
experienced negative schizotypy lower
27

scores than those who had no experience,
and a higher level of perceptual-cognitive
in those who did not experience schizotypy.
This does not necessarily have psychopathological consequences for the individual,
people have paranormal experiences may
simply be more sensitive to anomalous perceptual experiences have. Parra and Espinosa Paul (12) found greater cognitiveperceptual schizotypy in individuals who
claim to be able to see the aura" or energy
field surrounding a person compared to
those without this experience. Possibly,
these people have a much more intense
imaginative life. Parra and Espinosa (12)
also found greater cognitive-perceptual
schizotypy and proneness to hallucination
people that read have extrasensory experiences. These findings suggest that there are
other underlying dissociative processes,
such as absorption and fantasy proneness,
which are associated with such experiences.
Importantly, paranormal experiences
and beliefs are different concepts, but both
elements sometimes overlap on the scales
(13). Paranormal experiences may have an
adaptive function, and even also protective. Gmez Montanelli and Parra (14) suggested that paranormal beliefs represent a
cognitive defense against uncertainty, while
others are related to psychopathology, especially schizotypy. Parra and Espinoza (12)
also found a significant difference in positive symptoms of schizotypy in the group of
spiritual students and non-spiritual (p =
0.02) but not significant for negative symptoms. It was also noted that all paranormal
Vol. 6 No. 1
experiences correlated significantly with

the positive symptoms of schizotypy. Although phenomena such as telepathy and
see the aura was not associated with negative symptoms of schizotypy, however, a significant correlation between the out of
body experience, the feeling of presence,
and the experience of seeing apparitions
with negative symptoms was found, but
substantially less than the positive symptoms.
This paper tests the hypothesis that
people who have more experiences and
paranormal beliefs are able to cope with
potentially distressing effects of such experiences. Specifically, (1) that the paranormal
group will score higher on Unusual experiences, Cognitive disorganization, Introverted anhedonia, Impulsive Nonconformity, the total score of the sub-factors of
schizotypy and positive schizotypy, negative
schizotypy compared to no paranormal
group, (2) the index of the paranormal
group correlated positively with unusual
experiences and subfactor scores positive/
negative schizotypy, and (3) that the score of
non-paranormal experiences paranormal
group (students) correlated positively with
subfactors Unusual experiences, Cognitive
disorganization, Introverted anhedonia,
Impulsive nonconformity, the total score of
the sub-factors of schizotypy and positive
schizotypy, negative schizotypy.
METHOD
Participants
28

Paranormal group: The sample consisted of
416 participants, 309 (74%) females and 107
(26%) males, who were all well-educated
and believed in psi. Their ages ranged from
17 to 83 (M = 44.29; SD = 13.64). Participants were recruited through media announcements in newspapers and an e-mail
list at the Institute of Paranormal Psychology. An announcement placed on a web
page (www.alipsi.com.ar) provided a brief
explanation of the test procedure and encouraged people to schedule an interview
with the authors in order to obtain more
information. The participants met during
two-hour workshops, free of charge, organized at the Institute of Paranormal Psychology (IPP) in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Participants completed both questionnaires in
a counterbalanced way. Participants were
recruited through advertisements in media
and email list. An advertisement was also
placed on a web page (www.alipsi.com.ar).
The announcement contains a brief explanation of the procedure and encouraged
participants to arrange an interview with us
for more information.
Non-paranormal group: From a total of
1850 undergraduate students recruited
from the psychology department, I received
1574 usable questionnaires (85%). The participants were adults, most of them students at the South Campus at the Universidad Abierta Interamericana in the Buenos
Aires area. Since I was interested in obtaining as many reports as possible, I included
5 non-students, who were referred to me by
the participants. In all cases these individuVol. 6 No. 1
als were family members or friends of the

students who referred them. Participation
was voluntary, and the participants received
no pay. The students who returned the
questionnaires included 909 (57%) females
and 665 (43%) males, ranging in age from 15
to 83 (Mean = 33.84; SD = 12.84).
Procedure
The set of scales was presented in a single
envelope. Each person, after receiving
vague information about the aims of the
study, was invited to complete the scales
anonymously. The students who requested
questionnaires were given a cover letter
and copies of both instruments at the same
time. The returned questionnaires, which
were stored unexamined throughout the
recruitment and collection periods, were
given the pseudo-title Questionnaire of Psychological Experiences, Forms A and B, in a
counterbalanced order to encourage unbiased responses.
An appropriate informed consent was
obtained, using language presumed to be
understandable by the participants. The
content of the informed consent implied
that the person (1) had the capacity to consent, (2) had been informed of all significant information concerning the procedure, and (3) had freely and without undue
influence expressed consent. In addition,
participants received information that the
consent had been appropriately documented.
Design and Materials
29
Vol. 6 No. 1
30
OxfordLiverpool Inventory of Feelings and

Experiences (O-LIFE) (13): This instrument
is a validated 150-item questionnaire assessing schizotypy in terms of four dimensions. Positive schizotypy is assessed by
Unusual Experiences and Cognitive Disorganisation. Negative schizotypy is assessed
by Introvertive Anhedonia and Impulsive
Nonconformity. Phenomenologically related to the positive symptoms of psychosis,
it measures a trait often termedpositive
schizotypy. Norms for the questionnaire
are reported by Mason et al. (13) and Mason, Claridge, and Williams (5). Psychometric evaluation of the O-LIFE has shown
good test-retest reliability (coefficient alpha
=.80), as well as acceptable internal consistency (coefficient alpha >.77). The Cronbach alpha measure of internal consistency
was.91 in the Argentine O-LIFE.
Unusual Perceptual Experiences Questionnaire (CEPI) (15). It is a questionnaire of 14
Vol. 6 No. 1
items that includes subjective unusual perceptual experiences, such as precognitive

dreams, telepathy, see aura, out of body experiences, sense of presence, mediumship,
possession, healing experience (as a healer),
dj vu, mystical experiences , appearances
(seeing ghosts), among others, is answered
as "never", "rarely" or "multiple times." The
internal reliability of CEPI is good with a
Cronbach's alpha of .88, the test-retest reliability was determined in 66 participants
who completed the CEPI at a second time,
after 6 months, and found acceptable to all
measurements when testing with Pearson
correlations (.92) and demonstrates that
this inner reliability remained stable with
time. A construct validity was also assessed
by correlating the total score with the
subscales of CEPI Anomalous Experiences
Inventory (AEI) (21). The total score of
CEPI shows significant positive correlations with the subscales of Unusual Experi31

ences AEI producing a good convergent
validity.
Analysis
Data were loaded and processed using
SPSS 20. Was carried out an assessment of
the normality of the sample. From the values obtained (Shapiro-Wilks statistic), an
asymmetric distribution of the scores of
both instruments was assumed. Therefore,
non-parametric statistics are used. To compare the two samples | Animal | MannWhittney was used, and to correlate
Spearman Rho was used.Hypothesis 1 was
that the paranormal group would score
higher on Unusual Experiences, Cognitive
Disorganisation, Introvertive Anhedonia,
and Impulsive Nonconformity, as well as
receive a higher O-LIFE total score and
positive/negative schizotypy scores than the
nonparanormal. This hypothesis was supported: the mean for experients was significantly higher than that for nonexperients
(Mean z = 13.28, p <.001, one-tailed) (see
Table 2).
Hypothesis 2 was that the paranormal
group would score higher on Index (psi
count experiences) scores than the nonparanormal. This hypothesis was also supported: the mean (6.36) for experients was
significantly higher than that for nonexperients (3.00) (p <.001, one-tailed) (see Table
2).
Hypothesis 3 was that the Index in the
Paranormal group would correlate positively on Unusual Experiences and positive/
negative schizotypy scores, which was supVol. 6 No. 1
ported only for Unusual Experiences

(rs=.104). In an inverse direction, the Index
correlated negatively on Cognitive Disorganisation (rs= -.132) (see Table 3).
Hypothesis 4 was that the Index in the
non-paranormal group of students would
correlate positively in Unusual Experiences,
Cognitive Disorganisation, Introvertive Anhedonia, Impulsive Nonconformity, O-LIFE
total score, and positive/negative schizotypy
scores, which was supported only for Unusual Experiences (rs=.281), Cognitive Disorganisation (rs =.048), Introvertive Anhedonia (rs=.056), Total O-LIFE (rs=.111), and
Positive schizotypy (rs =.189). In an inverse
direction, the Index correlated negatively
on Impulsive Nonconformity (rs= -.131) (see
Table 3).
DISCUSSION
The analyses revealed a relationship between positive schizotypy and paranormal
experiences for the non-paranormal group,
but no correlation for the paranormal
group; in line with predictions, the group
with paranormal experiences and the group
with a framework of paranormal beliefs)
were both less cognitively disorganised.
Positive but not negative schizotypy predicted paranormal experiences, also in line
with predictions, with high anhedonia associated with paranormal experiences in
the paranormal group.
Paranormal group members were both
less cognitively disorganised and tended to
have more unusual incidents in relation to
their paranormal experiences. Individuals
with more paranormal beliefs/experiences
32

may be able to cope better with the potentially distressing effects of such experiences. A limitiacin the present study did
not examine the paranormal beliefs of the
participants. However, other studies (16, 17,
18, 19) found that paranormal beliefs and
experiences are strongly correlated (for a
review of studies and meta-analyzes, see
20). The sample of individuals in the group
was composed of students a wide range of
students, which may have biased the sample. We must be cautious in interpreting the
results. However, future studies may improve the design and help to better understand the relationship between these variables.
For the paranormal group, individuals
who have more unusual paranormal experiences may be able to buffer their potentially distressing effects via the existence or
construction of a framework in which to
place them; for the non-paranormal group
(individuals without a beliefs framework),
positive schizotypy might, in fact, be adaptive, as highly magical thinking provides a
better chance of creating an effective and
imaginative framework to account for the
odd experiences, as implied by Claridges
(8) results. For these individuals, the lack of
a buffer results in experiences being seen
as strange and overwhelming, perhaps indicative of some disorder or abnormality.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Preparation of this article was supported by
the BIAL Foundation (Grant 51/08).
Vol. 6 No. 1
REFERENCES
(1) Windholz, G., & Diamont, L. Some personality traits of believers in extraordinary phenomena. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 3: 125126, 1974
(2) Hathaway, S. R., & McKinley, J. C. Minnerota Multiphasic Personality Inventory.
Manual for administration and scoring.
Minneapolis, University of Minnesota
Press, 1983.
(3) Chapman, L. J.. Chapman, T. P. & Raulin,
M. C. Body-image aberration in schizophrenia. Journal of Abnormal Psychology,
87: 399-407, 1978.
(4) Wolfradt, U., Oubaid, V., Straube, E. R.,
Bischoff, N., & Mischo, J. Thinking
styles, schizotypal traits and anomalous
experiences. Personality and Individual
Differences, 27, 821830, 1999.
(5) Mason, O., Claridge, G., Williams, L.
Questionnaire measurement. In: G.
Claridg. (Ed.), Schizotypy: Implications
for Illness and Health (pp. 19 37). Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1997
(6) Moreira-Almeida, A. O crescente impacto das publicaes em espiritualidade e
sade e o papel da da Revista de Psiquiatria Clnica. Revista de Psiquiatria
Clnica, 37: 41-42, 2010.
(7) Thalbourne, M. A. Belief in the
paranortnal and its relationship to
schizophrenia-relevant measures: a
confixmatory study. British Journal of
Clinical Psychology, 33: 78-80, 1994.
(8) Claridge, G. (Ed.). Schizotypy: Implications
for illness and health. Oxford: University
Press, 1997.
33

(9) Menezes, A. & Moreira-Almeida, A . O
diagnstico diferencial entre experincias espirituais e transtornos mentais
de contedo religioso. Revista de Psiquiatria Clnica, 36: 69-76, 2009
(10) Moreira-Almeida, A; Lotufo Neto, F. &
Koenig, H.G. Religiousness and mental
health: A review. Revista Brasileira de
Psiquiatra, 28: 242-250, 2006.
(11) Menezes, A. &Moreira-Almeida, A. Religion, spirituality, and psychosis. Current Psychiatry Reports, 12: 174-179, 2010.
(12) Parra, A. & Espinoza Paul, L. Comparacin entre la esquizotipia positiva y perturbadora con la espiritualidad y las
experiencias paranormales en poblacin no-clinica. Revista Argentina de
Clinica Psicolgica, 19: 163-172, 2010.
(13) Mason, O., Claridge, G., and Jackson,
M. New scales for the assessment of
schizotypy. Personality and Individual
Differences, 18: 713, 1995.
(14) Gmez Montanelli, & A. Parra, A. Are
spontaneous anomalous/paranormal
experiences disturbing?: A survey
among under-graduate students. International Journal of Parapsychology, 13: 114, 2008.
(15) Gmez Montanelli, D., & Parra, A. Las
experiencias paranormales son psicolgicamente perturbadoras? Una encuesta comparando estudiantes universitarios y aficionados a temas paranormales. Revista Interamericana de Psicologa, 39: 285-294, 2005
(16) Parra, A. Experiencias extrasensoriales
y experiencias alucinatorias: ExamiVol. 6 No. 1
nando la hiptesis del continuo de experiencias esquizotpicas. Liberabit, 16:

1-10, 2010
(17) Parra, A. Indicadores de propensin a
la esquizotipia en individuos creyentes
en lo paranormal: Examinando la intensidad de la imaginera y las experiencias alucinatorias. Psicologa: Teoria e
Prtica, 12: 78-94, 2011.
(18) Parra, A. Relacin entre las experiencias paranormales y esquizotipia
positiva/negativa. Acta Psiquitrica y Psicolgica de Amrica Latina, 58: 246-255,
2012.
(19) Parra, A. Experiencias perceptuales
inusuales, experiencias anmalo/paranormales y propensin a la esquizotipia. Universitas Psychologica, 11: 657-666,
2012.
(20) Irwin, H.J. The psychology of paranormal
belief: A researcher's handbook. Hertfordshire, University of Hertfordshire Press,
2009.
(21) Gallagher, C., Kumar, V. K., & Pekala, R.
J. The Anomalous Experiences Inventory: reliability and validity. Journal of
Parapsychology, 58: 402-42, 1994.
Alejandro Parra
Universidad Abierta Interamericana
Salta 2015 (C1137ACQ)
Tel. +6511 43056724
Buenos Aires, Argentina
[email protected]
34
Research Perspectives in Parapsychology and Shamanism

Stanley Krippner
Shamans
is a painful wound, torn into the muscle of

his leg, and the boy is clearly in discomfort, and just as obviously medicated. He
got this wound through some kind of accident. And it is not healing properly,
which is what has brought him to this
Virginia Beach parking lot at the back of
Edgar Cayces old hospital, now the
headquarters of the Association for Research and Enlightenment (A.R.E.), the
organization founded in 1931 to preserve
Cayce readings, discourses given while
Cayce lay seemingly asleep but actually in
a state of non-local awareness, in which
time and space took on different meanings. It seems fitting to be standing here, a
generation later, watching for signs of
another non-local phenomenon, namely
therapeutic intent expressed as physical
healing.
For many reasons Edgar Cayce
should be acknowledged as the father of
complementary and alternative medicine.
His observations about health and his
therapeutics are today as fully integrated
and general as no longer to be associated
with him. They are part of the contemporary paradigm. But the therapeutic intent, about which Cayce spoke, the idea
that the consciousness of one person can
therapeutically affect the well-being of
another is still very controversial. If this
works I will see something, we all will,
that shouldnt be possible -- if the world is
strictly physical.
A small log fire that I had built earlier at Rolling Thunders request, flickers
on the ground, and is just below the boys
can be defined as socially-
designated practitioners who purport to

obtain information or exert influence useful
to their social group, and in ways not ordinarily available to their peers. The term
shaman is a social construct and, as such,
is applied to men and women whose communities have their own terms for describing these practitioners. Dating back at least
30,000 years, shamans report experiences
that parapsychologists would conceptualize
as putative psi phenomena -- reported interactions between organisms and their environment (including other organisms) in
which information and influence have
taken place that cannot be explained
through conventional sciences understanding of sensory-motor channels. In other
words, these reports are anomalous because
they appear to preclude the constraints of
time, space, and energy as understood by
Western science. This first-hand report is
typical of many such recollections:
It is 1972, and we are standing in a parking lot in gathering twilight. Maybe there
are 20 of us, including half a dozen physicians. Standing there, leaning in, we are
watching a Shoshone shaman, Rolling
Thunder attempt to heal the wound of a
teenager boy lying on a massage table. It
Vol. 6 No. 1
35

head. I am here as a journalist. This
ceremony is taking place as a part of my
interview with Rolling Thunder. Some of
my income comes from writing for the
Virginian-Pilot about unusual people
who come to Virginia Beach, which typically means coming to the A.R.E.
Hugh Lynn Cayce, the A.R.E.s Executive Director, called late on Monday
afternoon to say a shaman, a medicine
man, as he explained it, was coming. If I
wanted to interview him I could pick him
up at the Greyhound station and talk to
him that afternoon. Saturday he would be
doing a traditional Native American
healing ritual, which I was welcome to
attend. Thats how I first heard about
Rolling Thunder. Of course I accept, and
he gives me the time. Four oclock. I have
to check the location; it seems so improbable, The Greyhound bus station in Norfolk? The same, Hugh Lynn replies.
I had done a number of these interviews, and was thinking of doing a book
comprised of them. Although I had interviewed some other journalists, and a few
scientists, many of the people I had met
through Hugh Lynn put themselves forward as spiritual teachers and were accepted, by at least some people, as being
the genuine article. Having spent hours
talking to these men and women, listening
to their stories, their answers to my questions, their affect, how they dressed, how
they stood, their eyes, what I can only call
their beingness, I have begun to develop
some discernment. It is clear to me that
authenticity is in part a measure of the
continuity between the public persona and
private personality. To the degree they are
not one and the same that person seems
diminished.
About a month before, Hugh Lynn
had alerted me to the arrival of an Indian
of another type, a Hindu priest from India. He arrived in a Cadillac accompanied by an entourage. In the trunk of the
car was the food he would eat, as well as
Vol. 6 No. 1
the pans it would be prepared in, and the

dishes upon which it would be served.
The master is so evolved, he is barely in
touch with the physical plane anymore,
an acolyte, a senyasin once explained to
me as he brought out the boxes. Wow, I
thought. This man must be in a truly exalted state of consciousness. I looked forward to hearing him speak later that
night. During the event, however, he was
quite disappointing. He had beautiful diction, but spoke almost nothing but platitudes and slogans. By the time he was
through I realized I was dealing with
shtick, whether consciously contrived or
not I couldnt tell. But it taught me a lesson I never forgot: If an expert is someone
from more than 100 miles away with a
briefcase, a holy man may be only someone from a distant land, practicing an unfamiliar faith, with a different set of altar
ornaments.
This is still very much in my mind on
a hot summer afternoon as I drive down
to the Greyhound station. The Norfolk iteration of this cultural institution comes
complete with the usual crowd: Sailors
are joshing one another. Marines are
playing a game of blackjack; old black
ladies are sitting cooling themselves with
paper church fans. And leaning up
against the snack counter I spot a middleaged Indian, with an unblocked cowboy
hat, an old tweed jacket, and a bolo tie
with a turquoise slide. He is eating some
cheddar cheese Nabs, and drinking a
coke. He smokes a pipe, I can tell, because
it is sticking out of the breast pocket of his
jacket.
We introduce ourselves, and he picks
up a small bag and we walk out to the
car. Twenty minutes later we are driving
down Shore Drive, which parallels the
coast, and he asks me to stop at a supermarket. Would I go in and buy two
steaks? Sure. In those days I was a vegetarian, really a vegan, and buying steaks
for a powerful shaman seems very odd.

36

But hospitality demands his request be
honored, so I go into the market and buy
him two of the best Porterhouse cuts they
have. A mile further and Shore Drive cuts
through a state park, and suddenly we
are in beach wilderness such as the 16th
century colonists would have seen, and it
runs on for several miles. We are about
midway through when Rolling Thunder
asks me to pull over. Reaching for his bag,
he opens the door and gets out of the car,
asking me when he is supposed to be at
the A.R.E. I think he wants to take a leak.
But no; he clearly intends to leave me.
About seven p.m., I say, he thanks me, asks
me to build a small fire where he is to
work, and turns and walks down the
bank and into the woods. Dont forget
the steaks, he says as he strolls away. He
is completely natural in all of this. It is not
being done for effect and, as it is happening, it seems the most obvious and appropriate thing for him to be doing. Only, as I
watch him vanish into the trees, does it
become clear how unusual this is. Presumably he is going to sleep in the woods.
Rolling Thunder reminds me of a Polish sergeant I once met. He was so thoroughly secure in his esoteric skill set that
what seemed improbable he did with effortless competence. I realize they are just
different kinds of warriors.
The next afternoon I go up to the
A.R.E. with the steaks in a cooler. Someone has moved a massage table out into
the parking lot. Not quite sure where the
fire should be I gather wood from the forest that borders the back of the parking
lot, and set it up near the table, then leave
for an early dinner. When I get back, just
before seven, a crowd has gathered. I get
the cooler out of the car, and go over and
light the fire.
Hugh Lynn comes over wearing an
ironed white shirt without a tie and a
windbreaker. He always reminds me of a
prosperous small town banker. In fact he
has the mind of a Medici, and is the most
Vol. 6 No. 1
interesting person I have met doing these

interviews. He introduces me to two of the
doctors, then goes over to the vans parked
nearby, and talks with two women. They
are the mothers who have accompanied
their sons. Inside each van one of the boys
to be healed lies quietly in the back. It is
twilight now and I can see them framed
in the overhead light in the vans. Another
physician almost in silhouette moves between them.
Precisely at seven Rolling Thunder,
looking exactly as he had the prior day
walks out of the woods holding his small
bag. He goes up to Hugh Lynn who, seeing him coming, calls everyone together.
He says a few words of introduction, and
while he does this Rolling Thunder kneels
down and pulls out from the bag what I
can see, from maybe three feet away, is the
breast and extended wing of a crow or
raven. The pinion feathers are spread.
Seeing me, he thanks me for the fire, and
asks if I have brought the steaks. I go to
the cooler and bring them over. He takes
one, and tears off the plastic wrap, and
the paper tray, handing this back to me.
He walks the few feet back to the fire and
drops the steak into the gravel and dirt,
next to the little fire ring of stones I have
made. It is the strangest thing he has done
yet, but like walking into the woods, it just
seems the thing to do.
He gestures to Hugh Lynn, who goes
over to one of the vans, and the boy within
is brought out on a stretcher, and placed
on the massage table. As Rolling Thunder
talks quietly to the boy, he seems to be
having trouble at first focusing on what is
being said, probably because the move has
caused him additional pain. But gradually he calms down and lays still, his eyes
closed. His mother comes over and stands
to one side. While this is going on, by unspoken consensus we observers have been
slowly shuffling forward until we reach
an acceptable compromise between intruding and being able to closely observe.

37

It turns out that this is an arc about eight
feet away from the boy on the table.
Rolling Thunder begins a soft slow
chant. I cannot make out the words, just
the rhythm of the rising and falling
sound. He begins making slow passes over
the boys form using the wing and breast
of a raven, moving it just an inch or two
above his body. I can see the feathers
spread slightly against the air pressure as
his arm sweeps along. They are long
graceful strokes. Every second or third
stroke he flicks the wing tip down towards
the steak on the ground. As it grows
darker the fire becomes more prominent,
and the boy and the man drift into
shadow.
It goes on monotonously. Everything
else is silent. Suddenly, I notice that there
is a white mist-like form taking shape
around and in front of Rolling Thunders
body. Sometimes I can see it, sometimes
not. But it becomes stronger, steadier, until
it is continuously present. It is almost dark
now, but the fire gives enough light to see.
Then it takes form, slowly at first, but as if
gathering energy into itself it takes form. I
can clearly see that the smoke-like figure
is a wolf. Rolling Thunder moves as
rhythmically as a clock. Sweep. Sweep.
Flick. Sweep. Sweep. Flick.
After about 30 minutes the form begins to fade, first losing shape, then becoming increasingly insubstantial. Finally, it is nothing more than a chimera,
there and not there. Then it is gone. Rolling Thunder straightens up, and stops. He
makes a kind of gesture, and somehow we
are released and come forward. The boy
is very peaceful. His mother also has come
forward, and she leans over him, kissing
his forehead. The wound is completely
healed. It looks like your skin does when a
scab falls off leaving smooth unlined pink
skin, shiny in its newness. I am astonished.
Clearly so is everyone else. I go over to
Hugh Lynn. Hugh Lynn asks me, What
did you see? I tell him, and when I say
Vol. 6 No. 1
the mist took form, he says, Was it a

wolf?
There is a kind of break. People go to
the bathroom or get a drink of water.
About 30 minutes later we gather again.
The second boy is brought out. I cannot
see anything wrong with him. His mother,
however, is very attentive, so something is
wrong. Hugh Lynn says it is a broken
bone that will not heal. Rolling Thunder
asks for the second steak, and I go back to
the cooler to get it. This one he also drops
to the ground. He says nothing to me, and
I know better than to say anything to him.
The chanting begins, and all appears
to be headed towards what it once was.
The mist, about two inches thick, begins to
form. It grows stronger, stops flickering,
but, just as it begins to take form, it stalls.
It happens once, a second time, a third.
This time I look around and my eyes are
drawn to the mother. I have no idea how I
know this, but I know the boys mother is
blocking this from happening.
As Rolling Thunder is beginning a
fourth attempt he suddenly stops. He
straightens up, turns and walks over to
Hugh Lynn. He says, I cannot do this.
The mother will not permit it. She has a
possessive mothers love, and it is very
powerful. Yes. I noticed. Ill talk to
them.
Hugh Lynn goes over and talks to the
doctor for a while, then the mother and
the son. I cant hear them. Then he comes
over to where I am standing, and says,
He was drifting away from her, now he
is dependent once again. She is conflicted
about giving that up.
People are departing. I can hear cars
starting and, in the glare of their headlights, I go over and kick out the fire. Rolling Thunder is there before me. He
reaches down and I can see the steaks.
Both are withered and gray. One of them
hardly looks like meat at all. You put
whatever is wrong into the steak? Thats
right. The fire will purify and release it.

38

He throws them into the hot coals.
The fat crackles and catches fire. The two
of us stand there in silence. It doesnt take
long, and they are gone. During those
minutes I dont know what Rolling Thunder is thinking. But I am trying to reconsider how the world works. (Adapted
from Jones & Krippner, 2012, pp. 4148)
KEY QUESTIONS AND ISSUES
Parapsychologists who study shamanism

suggest that when shamans attempt to locate lost objects, they may be demonstrating clairvoyance. When they seek to communicate with someone at a distance, they
could be manifesting telepathy. When they
try to divine the future, they might be displaying precognition. When they attempt to
heal someone at a distance, they could be
practicing psychokinesis. Purported psi
phenomena are the most dramatic of the
special powers that provide shamans with
their authority, prestige, and stature. Can
these alleged capacities be demonstrated
under so-called psi-task conditions that
would rule out such conventional explanations as logical inference, perceptual cues,
subliminal perception, deception, and coincidence? This is the challenge that would
establish some shamanic experiences as
shamanic events.
From a philosophical standpoint, presumptive parapsychological phenomena in
shamanic practices differ from "supernatural" or miraculous" phenomena. The latter,
if they exist, stand apart from nature and
may even suspend or contradict natural
laws and principles. Parapsychologists assume that the phenomena they investigate
are lawful, natural, and -- at some point -will "fit" into the scientific body of knowledge, either with or without a revision of
the current scientific worldview.
Ever since shamans have reflected on their

experiences, they have described reveries
that appeared to transmit thoughts of another person, dreams in which they seemed
to become aware of faraway events, rituals
in which future happenings supposedly
were predicted, and mental procedures that
were said to produce direct effects on distant physical objects or living organisms
(Rogo, 1987). Are these occurrences instances of what parapsychologists now refer
to as "telepathy, "clairvoyance, "precognition (e.g., non-local information), and
"psychokinesis (i.e., non-local perturbation)? Or are there conventional ways to
explain these reports? It is one matter to
report an experience, and these reported
experiences are worth studying because
they yield valuable information about the
shamans inner world (Rock & Krippner,
2011). However, an event differs from an
experience (Krippner, Pitchford, & Davies,
2012), and few scholars would take the position that shamanic experiences refer to a
verified, veridical event (Laughlin, 2011, p.
376).
Vol. 6 No. 1
39

RESEARCH FINDINGS
Weiant, in a paper delivered at an American
Anthropological Association convention in
1960, reviewed some ethnographic accounts
of possible parapsychological phenomena,
remarking: I feel very strongly that every
anthropologist, whether believer or unbeliever, should acquaint himself with the
techniques of parapsychological research
and make use of these, as well as any other
means at his disposal, to establish what is
real and what is illusion in the so-called
paranormal. If it should turn out that the
believers are right, there will certainly be
exciting implications for parapsychology"
(in Van de Castle, 1977, p. 668).
The literature in scientific parapsychology presents a varied picture of research
directions, ranging from second-hand reports and interviews, to first-person informal observations, to controlled observations, to controlled experiments, as well as
phenomenological accounts. This essay, in
giving examples (and evaluations) of each
category, does not provide a comprehensive
review; however, representative studies (almost all of them from the anthropological
literature) have been cited that illustrate the
problems and the prospects inherent to
this field of study. Each research category is
followed by a critique including suggestions for future investigators.
When Halifax (1979, pp.134-135) interviewed the Mazatec shaman Maria Sabina
in 1977, precognition was one topic they
discussed. Sabina remarked, "And you see
our past and our future which are there together as a single thing already achieved,
already happened. So I saw the entire life
of my son Aurelio and his death and the
face and the name of the man that was to
kill him and the dagger with which he was
going to kill him because everything had
already been accomplished.
Carpenter and Krippner (1989) interviewed Rohanna Ler, an Indonesian shaman, who told them of her "call" to heal.
One of Ler's sons began to lose his sight
and did not respond to conventional medical treatment. When the boy's eyes began
to bleed, Ler was close to utter despair. One
night, Ler had a powerful dream in which
an elderly man appeared and told her that
it was her fate to become a healer. Her son
was the first person she would heal; but if
she turned down the call he would go blind
and never recover his sight. The dream visitor gave Ler a stone; upon awakening she
found a stone in her bed, placed it on her
sons eyes, and he recovered completely.
Subsequent dream visitors purportedly
gave Ler a ring that she used as a "power
object" in her healing sessions.
Murphy (1964, p. 60) wrote of a St. Lawrence Island Eskimo informant who recalled a shaman producing sounds as
though spirits were walking underneath
and around the floor of his house, until
"the house seemed to shake and rattle as
INTERVIEW AND SECOND-HAND

REPORTS
Vol. 6 No. 1
40

though it were made of tissue paper and
everything seemed to be up in the air, flying
about the room. Another shaman was
noted for his "fox spirit" that allegedly
could be seen running around the rim of
the drum while the shaman conducted a
ceremony. Murphy attributed these feats to
conjuring, claiming that "some shamans
were more imaginative or better ventriloquists than others, while some were more
dexterous at sleight of hand" (Ibid.). Murphy gave no specific explanations of the alleged techniques of legerdemain, a common omission from anthropological accounts that take a dismissive perspective
toward what they have observed.
sleight-of-hand may surreptitiously have

been utilized or, better yet, to add a magician to the investigative team.
FIRST-PERSON EYEWITNESS
OBSERVATION
CRITIQUE
Eyewitness observations date back to Bogoras (1904-1909) who made an intensive

study of the Chuckchee Eskimos at the turn
of the century. He related sitting in a tent as
tribal members placed a walrus skin over
the shaman's shoulders. As the shaman invoked the spirits, the walrus skin seemed to
take on a life of its own. The portion draped
over the shaman's back began elevating and
shifting, although it never left the shaman's
back. Bogoras grabbed the skin to discover
how the trick was being done, but could
not pull it off the shamans back. Moreover,
Bogoras claimed that he had been thrown
about the tent by the skin's contortions, as
the shaman sat quietly. Bogoras watched
another shaman produce an incision into
the skin of a client. Later, the shaman
closed the opening and no trace of the incision remained.
A 1914 report by a Father Trilles concerned a Yabakou practitioner who told the
priest he was about to have an out-of-thebody journey to a magicians' palaver in a
distant village. The missionary expressed
skepticism, and asked the practitioner to
tell a student, who lived along the way, that
he should come to see him at once, bringing shotgun cartridges. "After gesticulation,
words, chants, and having rubbed himself
all over with a reddish liquid smelling like
Interview material and second-hand reports can be valuable reflections on the life
and beliefs of native people. However, interviewers need to be well trained so that
they do not give inadvertent cues signaling
the interviewee what is "expected" or what
the interviewer "wants to hear. Many anthropological reports have been accepted as
valid, but several decades later have fallen
into disrepute as other investigators, conducting research in a more rigorous manner, have provided quite different descriptions and reports. On the other hand, an
investigator who concludes that conjuring
was at work needs to provide at least one
plausible scenario for readers to consider.
The Parapsychological Association has
urged its members to consult with magicians when conducting research in which
Vol. 6 No. 1
41

garlic, he fell into a lethargic sleep. His
body was perfectly rigid. The priest passed
the night in the shaman's hut to be sure
that there was no subterfuge. Three days
later, the missionary's student arrived with
the cartridges (in Van de Castle, 1974, pp.
276-277).
Erdoes (1972) related attending a yuwipi
(i.e., sweat) ceremony in a converted railroad car with members of his family and
about 40 local Sioux residents. Once the
kerosene lamp had been extinguished and
the drumming commenced, Erdoes claims
that tiny lights began to appear throughout
the room, the shaman's rattles flew through
the air, and Erdoes' electronic flash unit
began flashing of its own accord (pp. 280281).
Hallowell (1971) worked with the Salteaux Indians in Manitoba, Canada, and described a shamanic session held for a
woman whose son had been missing for a
week. Shortly after the ceremony began,
the voice of a young man seemed to manifest through the shaman explaining that he
was in good health and gave the location
where he was camping. Two days later, the
son arrived home; he confirmed that during
the night of the session he had been asleep
at the very location indicated through the
shaman (p. 68).
Adrian Boshier, an amateur South African anthropologist who refused to take
medication for his epileptic seizures, found
that these seizures attracted the attention of
the local natives who saw them as "signs"
that he should become an apprentice for
Vol. 6 No. 1
extensive shamanic training. Telling a parapsychological conference about his apprenticeship in 1973, Boshier (1974) reported
that he had visited one shaman who "threw
the bones" during a shamanic ritual and
told Boshier details about his past and future "that were absolutely correct.
Turner (1994) contributed a first-person
observation of a spirit who appeared to
take visible form during a shamanic ceremony in Zambia. Lyons (2012) has collected
dozens of first-hand observations from
North American tribal members, many of
which involve shamans. One of these, the
shaking tent ceremony can only be conducted by a shaman, was initially reported
by a Father LeJeune in 1634, making it not
only the first in-depth report of this ceremony but the first record of what was then
referred to as Indian conjuring (Lyon,
2012, p. 225). Both male and female shamans have officiated when the designated
tent begins to shake, followed by reports
of spirit voices and flying objects. The
shaman is tightly bound or wrapped in a
blanket before the ceremony begins but
appears unbound at its cessation.
CRITIQUE
These observations are provocative and

suggest directions that future research can
take. By themselves, they are barely evidential because the reader does not know how
to assess their veracity. An observer requires a background not only in conjuring
but in critical analysis. Could the shamanic
practitioner be eliciting information from

42

the observer that was later used in making
a prediction or a statement about the observer's personal life? Nor does the reader
know how many sessions observed by the
writer produced material that was not accurate, how many dreams provided incorrect
data? How many clients of the shaman did
not obtain useful details about their lives
and problems? Hyman (1977) has demonstrated how a performer can give a "cold
reading" by using vague statements and
sensory cues to construct a seemingly accurate description of a client. In many cases,
the "hits" so impress the client he or she
forgets or ignores the "misses.
The account of the mist wolf at the
beginning of this essay was an observation
attested to by a number of people and written up by one of them, Stephen Schwartz,
years later. It is a fascinating report but
would have been more impressive had it
been recorded immediately after the ceremony ended. Also it lacks follow-up material in regard to the outcome of Rolling
Thunders ministrations on behalf of the
two boys. Many remarkable recoveries last
for a few days following which the participant, regrettably, returns to his or her
original condition.
CONTROLLED OBSERVATIONS
voices" that whistle and speak during

Chuckchee ceremonies in Siberia. Bogoras
attributed these phenomena to ventriloquism; he decided to record a session and
obtained permission to observe a shaman
famous for his ability to evoke "voices"
from the spirits. Bogoras placed a recording
funnel some distance from the shaman who
sat in a stationary position during the demonstration, and who conducted the ceremony in almost total darkness. Several supposed spirit voices were heard. Soon Bogoras realized that the voices came from various points in the tent and not only from
the area where the shaman was sitting. The
distance effect also was apparent to people
who heard the recording of the session,
and Bogoras admitted that there was a
marked difference between the voice of the
shaman himself, who seemed to be speaking away from the funnel, and the spirit
voices that seemed to be talking directly
into the funnel. However, Bogoras never
admitted that anything he had witnessed
could have been anomalous; in his final report, published by the Museum of National
History, he concluded that everything he
observed was due to trickery, although he
never explained how the voices could have
been produced and manipulated.
Laubscher (1938), a South African psychiatrist, attempted to test the claims of
Solomon Baba, a Tembu diviner. Unseen by
anyone, Laubscher buried a small purse
wrapped in brown paper, covered it with a
flat stone, and placed a gray stone on the
brown one. He then drove to the home of
Perhaps the first attempt to obtain controlled data regarding the anomalous abilities of shamans was initiated by Bogoras
(1904-1909). Bogoras was an ethnologist
who had heard many reports about "spirit
Vol. 6 No. 1
43

Baba who lived 60 miles away. Shortly after
Laubscher's arrival, Baba began to dance.
He then accurately described the purse, the
wrapping paper, and the stones. On another
occasion, Baba described the appearance of
some missing cattle from a distant region,
and even predicted the exact day of Laubscher's forthcoming trip to England although the specified date was several
months after the time for which the original passage had been booked.
When Boshier (1974) was working with
a museum in Swaziland, he had an opportunity to test a local "witchdoctor" named
Ndaleni in the company of another native
practitioner and Boshier's friend, a "Miss
Costello. The "target" item to be identified
was the skin of a gemsbok, a South African
antelope. Boshier recalls (paraphrased):
ran around the building, out into the

front where the Landrover stood and
knelt down beside it. Again she began
singing softly, and within five minutes
of this she tore off one of her necklaces, and holding it in front of her as
if it were a divining rod, she walked
around the Landrover, climbed into
the back and took out the skin. (p. 27)
CRITIQUE
Leaving her in my office with the

other witchdoctor and Miss Costello, I
went to a neighboring building and
took out the skin of a gemsbok. This I
hid beneath a canvas sail on the back
of my Landrover. Then I called her
outside and told her I had hidden
something that she must find. With
the aid of the other witchdoctor, she
knelt down and began to sing softly.
Then, in a trance state, she informed
me that I had hidden something
across on the other side of that building over there. She told me that it had
more than one color, that it came from
an animal, and that it was raised up
off the ground. Suddenly she got up,
Boshier's study was impressive but flawed;

because he knew the identity of the "target"
item, he may have passed nonverbal cues to
Ndaleni who picked them up, consciously
or unconsciously, just as a stage magician
will locate an object hidden in the audience
by observing the gestures and eye movements of the crowd. As for Laubscher's
work, another person should have interviewed Solomon Baba. Laubscher knew the
identity of the hidden object, and the
reader of his report has no guarantee that
Solomon Baba did not elicit clues from
Laubscher during interactions that might
have occurred before, during, or after the
trance dance. As for Bogoras, his account is
presumptive in concluding that ventriloquism was at work and in not providing an
explanatory mechanism for the differences
that he and others purportedly observed on
the recording. Investigators who claim that
fraud has occurred need to present a plausible scenario. They, too, should have a
background in conjuring if they are to write
knowledgeably about unusual phenomena.
Vol. 6 No. 1
44

Chari (1960) has provided a guide to
sleight-of-hand effects that one must be on
guard for, basing his report on his investigations of fakirs in India, while Wiseman
and Morris (1995) have compiled an excellent set of guidelines for testing psychic
claimants.
EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES
the "out bounder" had parted company. In

another task, a glass of water, a white candle, and a spirit figure (taken from the AfroBrazilian pantheon of deities) were displayed and the participant was asked to
guess the order in which the three objects
appeared in a hidden list. The results were
suggestive but not conclusive.
In Garhwal, India, Saklani (1988)
screened a number of shamans who
claimed to incorporate various deities (e.g.,
"Muslim Pir, "Goddess Dhari"). One shaman, Yashoda Devi, was selected for parapsychological studies. Tests in which Devi
attempted to match "token objects" with
their owners yielded non-significant results as did an examination for psychokinetic effects on methanol. However, the
height of plants from seeds was significantly greater in the group "treated" by being held by Devi, while she chanted, than
in the control group which had not been
held by her. A significant effect in the absorption of saline solution "treated" by the
shaman was observed over a control concoction containing no saline. The growth of
seeds sown in the field and "treated" by
flasks of water previously held by Devi was
somewhat more rapid on certain days of the
study than that of control seeds given ordinary water. Saklani did not make it clear as
to whether the person making the measurements was "blind" to the "treated" and
control materials; even a fair-minded experimenter can inadvertently "tilt" the results if he or she knows which group repre-
Rose (1956) conducted a series of telepathy

and psychokinesis tests with Australian
aborigines using specially designed cards
and plastic dice, which were placed in a
shaker and tossed on a table with the goal
of having certain die faces appear uppermost. He obtained statistically significant
results in several of his telepathy experiments; at above chance levels, subjects were
able to guess the design on which Rose's
wife was focusing, out of the subject's sight.
Psychokinesis tests yielded chance results;
Rose reported that the aborigines did not
believe they could influence psychokinetic
phenomena since that was a prerogative of
the tribe's "clever men" (i.e., shamans). Two
of these "clever men" were given telepathy
tests but their scores were not significant;
however, they were not tested for psychokinesis, their alleged forte.
Giesler (1986) conducted several studies,
each carried out with a different group of
Afro-Brazilian "shamanic cultists. In one
study the participant was asked to describe
the location where someone (an "out
bounder") had been taken -- one which was
had been determined after the shaman and
Vol. 6 No. 1
45

sents the experimental condition and which
group represents the control.
CRITIQUE
both are regarded as "real" but full admission to the latter "reality usually depends
on training and discipline. Malidoma
Patrice Som (1994, p. 233), an African
Dagara shaman, remarked, Nothing can be
imagined that is not already there in the
inner or outer worlds. Soms autobiography is a phenomenological account of his
preparation, initiation, and apprenticeship,
often marked by presumptive psi phenomena. For example, Som (1994) recalled that
at a crucial period in his initiation, he was
told to enter a cave. He recalled (paraphrased):
Giesler's and Saklani's work are among the

few experimental parapsychological investigations to have been made of native practitioners who claim to have anomalous abilities. The results are neither compelling nor
conclusive, but there were a few provocative results. In addition, their experimental
designs, as well as their suggestions for improvements, might pave the way for future
studies. Giesler (1984, p. 315), for example,
has called for a "multi-method" approach
that would (1) focus more attention on the
psi-relevant contexts in native cultures; (2)
combine ethnographic and experimental
methodologies so that the strengths of one
offset the weaknesses of the other; (3) incorporate a "psi-in-process" method into
the field research design. Giesler proposed
that with this approach, the researcher may
study ostensible psi processes and their relationship with other variables in the contexts of shamanic rituals and practices such
as divination, trance mediumship, and healing. This would allow for control of the
conditions of a psi task, and the results
could be evaluated with a minimum of interference or disturbance of the psi-related
activity.
PHENOMENOLOGICAL ACCOUNTS
I went that way, jumping from rock to

rock until I reached the entrance to
the magical cave. The floor was sandy
and dusty; I noticed with surprise that
the walls were perfectly carved out of
red granite. My fire went out. I closed
my eyes in an effort to blot out images
of what would happen if I had to back
out. When I opened them again, I
could see a light a little distance ahead
of me. It grew bigger and bigger, and
soon I realized that I had reached the
other side of the mountain. Writing
about what came next is an extremely
difficult task. I saw a tree that distinguished itself from the others by its
unusual size. Under the roots of the
tree was a bluish-violet stone that
glowed as I looked at it. It had a very
bright center whose light increased
and decreased, making the stone seem
as if it were breathing. My hand had
For the shaman, there are no rigid boundaries between "waking life" and "dream life";
Vol. 6 No. 1
46

taken on a violet color as if the irradiation of the stone were infectious.
The violet was so powerful that I
could clearly see it shining through
the back of the hand stuck on top of
it. Soon I felt as if I were in the middle of a huge violet egg that had no
shell. Inside this egg there was a
whole world, and I was in it. In that
moment of awareness, I had an epiphany; the light we encounter on the
road to death is where we belong. I
could remember the entire experience
I had just lived through, but it bore
the aftertaste of a fantastic dream. Actually, I felt more like myself than I
had ever felt before. Suddenly, out of
nowhere, I saw a girl and found myself
asking her for directions. She said,
pointing west, 'You see those mountains over there? Go to the one in the
middle, and cross to the other side of
it. There is a cave there. That is your
way home.' I found the cave the girl
had told me about and ran in. It became dark as soon as I reached its interior. I could see the stony ceiling two
or three feet above me. I had crossed
back through the mountain almost instantaneously. Something bit me inside my hand. It was the blue stone,
my only proof that what had happened had been real. (p. 244)
A phenomenological account is not evidential because it lacks the controls necessary

to rule out prevarication, memory distortion, self-deception, and the like. However,
there are very few accounts as graphic and
as detailed as that offered by Som. Obtaining a shaman's "inner" view of a potentially
parapsychological experience is a unique
opportunity that should be encouraged by
future investigators.
IMPLICATIONS
"Magic" is a term used to describe a body of
applied technology used to influence domains that a society believes are incalculable, uncertain, or unaccountable (Malinowski, 1954, pp. 139-140); if "magic" represents "natural" principles (e.g., conjuring,
attribution, anomalous occurrences that--in
principle--are lawful), it is amenable to
parapsychological investigation (Winkelman, 1982). As the term is usually employed, human beings perform "magic"
while so-called "supernatural" agencies
(e.g., spirits, deities) perform "miracles.
"Magical" practices and phenomena would
be amenable to scientific study because,
unlike miracles, they follow "natural
laws.
EXPLANATIONS FOR THE PHENOMENA
CRITIQUE
In his anthropological survey of unusual

experiences among tribal people, Jensen
(1963, p. 230) remarked, "there can be no
doubt that man actually possesses such
abilities, and left it open as to whether
Vol. 6 No. 1
47

these capacities are parapsychological or
not. There are many alternative explanations such as suggestion, imagination, exaggerated reporting, or a temporary extension
of ones sensory and motor skills under
unusual circumstances (e.g., physical and
emotional arousal, ingestion of mindaltering substances, high levels of motivation). Nonetheless, the literature demonstrates that anomalous phenomena may be
linked to shamanic calling, to shamanic
training, and to shamanic practice.
It is likely that many if not most accounts of shamans' anomalous behaviors
and experiences have ordinary explanations. One's reputation becomes enhanced
as tales are told and retold over the years,
becoming embellished in the process. In
addition, coincidence can be magnified by
practitioners who point out the significance
of an unexpected rainstorm, the sudden
appearance of a "power animal, or an
event that seems to conform to someones
dream of the previous night. It also must be
recalled that in the shamanic worldview,
one's imagination and dreams are as "real"
as public events, and those who listen to a
shaman's stories might not be able to separate the two.
In addition, shamans were the first magicians as well as the first healers. They realized the value of drama, of shock, and of
surprise in mobilizing a client's self-healing
capacities, and provided these elements
through theatrical means. Murphy (1964), in
her work among Eskimo shamans on Canada's St. Lawrence Island, discovered that
Vol. 6 No. 1
instructions in ventriloquism and legerdemain were part of shamanic training.

Reichbart (1978) suggested that deliberate
sleight-of-hand can be used by shamans to
create a psychological environment conducive to the manifestation of genuine parapsychological phenomena.
Kelly and Locke (1982) suspected that
parapsychological investigations in shamanic settings will become more fruitful to
the degree that investigators succeed in
penetrating sympathetically and in detail
the interior of individual settings. A promising example was the work of Boshier
among shamans in southern Africa, but his
untimely death cut short these contributions. However, Van de Castle (1974, p. 281)
was able to break through some of the customary reserve of Cuna Indian practitioners
in Panama by bringing along a British sensitive who was so successful in demonstrating his skills in diagnosis and healing that
villagers began requesting his services.
In regard to the scientific status of
parapsychology, Irwin (1999) has taken a
position that is frequently heard among
contemporary parapsychologists:
The study of shamanism by behavioral

and social scientists affords a unique
opportunity to meet these goals. This
opportunity has been bypassed for
many decades, but the current interest
in shamanism affords a chance for
parapsychologists, with their unique
training and perspective, to enlist anthropologists, psychologists, and other

48

Giesler, P.V. (1986). GESP testing of shamanic
cultists: Three studies and an evaluation of
dramatic upsets during testing. Journal of
Parapsychology, 50, 123-153.
scientists to join the investigation.

Kane (2013) has lamented the constraints that Western culture has imposed on parapsychological studies, a
perspective that "goes against the true
purpose of science" (p. 46). Scientific
research into the shamanism/
parapsychology interface would extend the domain of science beyond
these culturally-bound limitations.
Halifax, J. (1979). Shamanic voices. New York, NY:

E. P. Dutton.
Hallowell, A.I. (1971) The role of conjuring in Salteaux society. New York, NY: Octagon
Books.
Hyman, R. (1977). "Cold reading": How to convince strangers that you know all about
them.
Skeptical Inquirer, 2, 18-37.
REFERENCES
Bogoras, V. (1904-1909). The Chuckchee: The Jessup North Pacific expedition. New York, N Y:
American Museum of Natural History.
Boshier, A. (1974). African apprenticeship. In A.
Angoff & D. Barth (Eds.), Parapsychology
and anthropology (pp. 273-284). New York,
NY: Parapsychology Foundation.
Irwin, H.J. (1999). An introduction to parapsychology (3rd ed.). Jefferson, NC: McFarland.
Jensen, A.E. (1963). Myth and cult among primitive people. Chicago, IL: University of
Chicago Press.
Carpenter, B., & Krippner, S. (1989, Fall). Spice

island shaman: A Torajan healer in
S ulawesi. Shaman's Drum, 47-52.
Jones, S.M.S., & Krippner, S. (2012). The voice of

Rolling Thunder: A medicine mans
wisdom for walking the red road. Rochester,
VT: Inner Traditions/Bear.
Kane, K. (2013). Critical analysis of culturally
intrusive interpretations of
phenomenological and parapsychological scientific
studies. Paranthropology, 4(2), 43-47.
Chari, C.T.K. (1960). Parapsychological studies

and literature in India. International Journal
of Parapsychology, 2, 24-36.
Erdoes, R. (1972). Lame Deer, seeker of visions.
New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.
Giesler, P.V. (1984). Parapsychological anthropology: Multi-method approaches to the
study
of psi in the field setting. Journal
of the American Society of Psychical Research,
78,
289-330.
Kelly, E.F., & Locke, R.G. (1982, May/June) Preliterate societies. Parapsychology Review,
1-7.
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Krippner, S., Pitchford, D.B., & Davies, J. (2012).

Post-traumatic stress disorder:
Biographies
of disease. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood/
ABC-CLIO.
49

Laubscher, B. (1938). Sex, custom and psychopathology: A study of South African pagan n atives. New York, NY: McBride.
Laughlin, C.D. (2011). Communing with the Gods:
Consciousness, culture and the dreaming
brain. Brisbane, Australia: Daily Grail.
Saklani, A. (1988). Preliminary tests for psiability in shamans of Garhwal Himalaya.

Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 55, 60-70.
Lyon, W. (2012). Spirit talkers: North American

Indian medicine powers. Jefferson City,
MO: Prayer Efficacy Publishing.
Som, M.P. (1994). Of water and the spirit: Ritual,

magic, and initiation in the life of an
A frican shaman. New York, NY: Tarcher/
Putnam.
Malinowski, M. (1954). Magic, science and religion, and other essays. Garden City, NY: A nchor Books.
Turner, E. B. (1994). A visible spirit form in

Zambia. In D.E. Young & J.-G. Goulet
(Eds.),
Being changes by cross-cultural encounters (pp. 71-95). Peterborough, Canada:
Broadview Press.
Murphy, J.M. (1964). Psychotherapeutic aspects

of shamanism on St. Lawrence Island,
Alaska. In A. Kiev (Ed.), Magic, faith, and
healing (pp. 53-83). New York, NY: Free
Press.
Reichbart, R. (1978). Magic and psi: Some
speculations on their relationship. Journal
of the
American Society for Psychical Research, 72, 153-175.
Van de Castle, R.L. (1974). Anthropology and

psychic research. In J. White & E.D.
Mitchell (Eds.), Psychic exploration: A challenge for science (pp. 269-287). New York,
NY:
G.P. Putnam's Sons.
Rock, A., & Krippner, S. (2011). Demystifying

shamans and their world: A multidisciplinary
study.
Charlottesville, VA: Imprint Academic.
Van de Castle, R.L. (1977). Parapsychology and

anthropology.
In B.B. Wolman (Ed.),
Handbook of parapsychology (pp. 667-686).
New York, NY: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
Winkelman, M.J. (1982). Magic: A theoretical
assessment. Current Anthropology, 23, 37-66.
Rogo, D.S. (1987). Shamanism, ESP, and the

paranormal. In S. Nicholson (Ed.), Shamanism:
An expanded view of reality (pp.
133-144). Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing
House.
Wiseman, R., & Morris, R.L. (1995). Guidelines

for testing psychic claimants Amherst, NY:
Prometheus Books.
ADDITIONAL SOURCES: INTRODUCTORY
Rose R. (1956). Living magic: The realities underlying the psychical practices and beliefs o f
Australian Aborigines. Chicago, IL: Rand
McNally.
Cowan, T. (1993). Fire in the head: Shamanism

and the Celtic spirit. San Francisco, CA:
HarperSanFrancisco. William Butler Yeats
refers to the "fire in the head" that characterizes visionary experiences; Cowan ex-
Vol. 6 No. 1
50

plores this theme in a lyrical cross - cultural exploration of shamanism and Celtic
poets and storytellers.
Devereux, P. (1993). Shamanism and the mystery
lines. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn. The apparent
obsession with straight lines noted in Chinese feng shui, American Indian sacred
trails, and in other traditions is conceptualized by Devereux as "spirit lines" emerging
from shamanic out - of - body experiences
-- the straightway over land.
nal work published 1976). Larsen not only

provides an excellent introduction to shamanic mythology, but provides ways in
which this tradition is relevant in contemporary psychotherapeutic, educational, and
healing practices.
De Rios, M.D. (1992). Amazon healer: The life and

times of an urban shaman. Bridport, Dorset,
UK: Prism. In this account of an Amazonian shaman, de Rios places don Hilde's
alleged Para psychological phenomena at
the center of her discussion, rather than
ignoring or debunking them, as is too often the case.
Narby, J. (1998). The cosmic serpent: DNA and the

origins of knowledge. New York, NY: Jeremy
P. Tarcher / Putnam. Narby's bold epistemological proposal is that the double helix
of DNA was anticipated by shamanic visions of intertwined serpents, snakes, and
dragons.
Harner, M. (1990). The way of the shaman (rev.

ed.). San Francisco, CA: Harper & Row. In
this description of "core shamanism,
Harner introduces his readers to exercises
they can attempt themselves, and provides
an elegant rationale for maintaining this
vital tradition of "personal learning.
Plotkin, M.J. (1993). Tales of a shaman's apprentice: An ethnobotanist searches for new medicines in the Amazon rain forest. New York,
NY: Viking Penguin. This is an ethnobotanical account of nine visits to the tropical
Amazonian forests; Plotkin describes the
use of plants in healing rituals, for altering
consciousness, and for ecological awareness.
Krippner, S., & Welch, P. (1992). Spiritual dimensions of healing: From native shamanism to
contemporary health care. New York, NY:
Irvington. Krippner and Welch provide
first - person accounts and describe the
alleged Parapsychological capacities of
North American shamans and other spiritual practitioners they interviewed.
Walsh, R. (2007). The world of shamanism: New

visions from an ancient tradition. Woodbury,
MN: Llewellyn. Walsh writes this readerfriendly account from the perspective of
transpersonal psychology and psychiatry. It
is one of the best available introduc-
tions to shamans and their world.

ADDITIONAL SOURCES: ADVANCED
Larsen, S.L. (1988). The shaman's doorway:

Opening imagination to power and myth.
Barry town, NY: Station Hill Press (Origi-
Drury, N. (1982). The shaman and the magician: Journeys between the worlds. London, UK: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
This is a scholarly treatment of the parallels between shamanism and various
magical traditions; Drury finds both of
Vol. 6 No. 1
51

them contain the visionary sources of
modern cultures.
Duerr, H.O. (1985). Dreamtime: Concerning
the boundary between wilderness and civilization. [F. Goodman, trans.]. London,
UK: Basil Blackwell (Original work published 1962). Duerr makes the case that
researchers of shamans, witches, and
similar practitioners must "walk between the worlds"; this is the necessary
price (and sacrifice) demanded by the
quest for knowledge.
Long, J.K. (Ed.). (1977). Extrasensory ecology:

Parapsychology and anthropology. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press. This collection of essays highlights the Para psychological aspects of shamanism.
Eliade, M. (1972). Shamanism: Archaic techniques of ecstasy [W.R. Trask, trans.].

Princeton, NJ: Princeton University
Press (Original work published 1951).
This classic text identifies shamanism
not only as a phenomenon of Siberia
(where the word originated) but a
world-wide "technique of ecstasy utilized by practitioners of the sacred.
Ripinsky-Naxon, M. (1993). The nature of

shamanism: Substance and function of a
religious metaphor. Albany: State University of New York Press. This account of
shamanism serves as a corrective to Eliade's claim that the use of mind - altering substances represents a degeneration of shamanic practice; RipinskyNaxon demonstrates it was there at the
beginning.
Rogers, S.R. (1982). The shaman: His symbols
and his healing power. Springfield, IL:
Thomas. This compendium has breadth
as well as depth, especially in its model
of shamanic healing practices.
Winkelman, M. (1992). Shamans, priests and
witches: A cross-cultural study of magicoreligious practitioners. Tempe: Arizona
State University. This model is based on
a statistical analysis of practitioners in
several dozen cultures, allowing the
similarities and differences between
shamans and other professional workers (priests, healers, mediums, sorcerers, witches) to emerge.
Heinze, R.-I. (1991). Shamans of the twentieth

century. New York, NY: Irvington. This
incisive collection of profiles demonstrates that shamanism is alive and well
today in a variety of surroundings that
includes urban settings.
Kalweit, H. (1992). Shamans, healers, and
medicine men [M.H. Kohn, trans.]. Boston, MA: Shambhala. This perceptive
account of shamanic healing has a Para
psychological subtext, namely that the
human mind cannot be confined to ordinary space and time.
Vol. 6 No. 1
Winkelman, M. (2010). Shamanism: A biosocial paradigm of consciousness and healing

(2nd ed.). Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger/

52

Stanley Krippner, Ph.D.,
professor of psychology at
Saybrook University, is a
Fellow in four APA divisions, and past-president
of two divisions (30 and
32). Formerly, he was director of the Kent State
University Child Study
Center, Kent OH, and the
Maimonides Medical Center Dream Research Laboratory, in Brooklyn NY. He
is co-author of Extraordinary Dreams (SUNY, 2002),
The Mythic Path, 3rd ed. (Energy Psychology Press,
2006), and Haunted by Combat: Understanding
PTSD in War Veterans (Greenwood, 2007), and coeditor of Healing Tales (Puente, 2007), Healing Stories (Puente, 2007), The Psychological Impact of War
on Civilians: An International Perspective (Greenwood, 2003), Varieties of Anomalous Experience:
Examining the Scientific Evidence (APA, 2000),
and many other books.
ABC-CLIO. This comprehensive volume can be seen as the successor to

Eliades earlier compendium. Unlike
Eliade, Winkelman bases his conclusions on extensive field work and roots
his conclusions in data derived not only
from anthropology but from the neurosciences.
Winkelman, M., & Peek, P.M. (Eds.). (2004).
Divination and healing: Potent vision. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.
Vol. 6 No. 1
53
Capturing Spirituality:
A Photo-Elicitation Study With Two British Neo-Pagans
Matt Coward
ABSTRACT
It was during the late nineteen-fifties that John Collier Jr first published a
study which documented the use of photographs, taken by his research assistants, within his research interviews. Since then photo-elicitation has
gone on to become a valuable part of the methodology of visual sociology.
There have been many studies which have adopted the methodology of
photo-elicitation. However there has been a distinct lack of research adopting this methodology, produced with regard to religious studies and an individuals distinct spiritual path. This study is a starting point for what I hope
will bring about more substantial research utilising the methodology in the
future. This study briefly documents the historical use of photo-elicitation;
before moving on to two interviews with neo-Pagan practitioners; one of
which an identifying Druid, the other a Pagan.
INTRODUCTION
The late Susan Sontag, the Dark Lady of

American Letters, posited that photography
is not practiced by most people as an
art. It is mainly a social rite, a defence
against anxiety and a tool of power. (Sontag, 1973:5) Photographs have become
something of a social rite, a way of stating I
did this, or I was there. Photography as
such a social rite is visible within a number
of lucrative early photography businesses;
such as the mortuary photographers who
seated deceased relatives in lifelike poses
Vol. 6 No. 1
with their families to capture a moment of

unity when no other photo existed.
As a non-participant researcher I have
always searched for a methodology that
would reduce bias within qualitative research. An earlier project, which spawned
the idea for this paper, used a qualitative
questionnaire to ascertain the views of
modern practicing Witches in York regarding their beliefs, ideas of history and their
spiritual practices. With regard to this study
my reasoning for shifting the paradigm is
simple; as most of the participants from the
previous study may have described them54

selves as a Witch or Wiccan, but also as a
neo-Pagan. I concluded in this first paper
that modern practicing Witches are able to
engage, in their personal spiritual path
that relies, partly, on both the his-story
and her-stories of their predecessors and
peers respectively (Coward, 2014:19).
Moreover it is this engagement with forging
a personal spiritual path which thereby allows modern Witches, as a collective, to
create rhetoric of unity and communal
identity (Coward, 2014:19).
With the paradigm shifted to focus on
neo-Pagans, it is therefore the aim of this
paper to explore the way in which neoPagan practitioners understand their own
spirituality, through the use of photoelicitation. The paper will firstly begin with
a discussion of the methodology of photoelicitation; citing and briefly exploring key
photo-elicitation studies as well as the research design of the present study. The second section of this study will cover two in
depth interviews with neo-Pagan practitioners. As a way of concluding this exploratory paper I will discuss the use of photoelicitation within this context and the applications that photo-elicitation has with
regard to the study of spirituality and ritual.
PHOTO-ELICITATION
Photo-elicitation has been used extensively
within the fields of business, marketing and
working with children but, has not been
used at length within the study of religious
practitioners. Photo-elicitation however has
been used with regard to cultural studies in
Vol. 6 No. 1
which the researcher themselves documents the routine activity of the group in
question (Harper, 2002:19). Douglas Harper
(2002:13) remarks that photo-elicitation is,
at its simplest form, the addition of photographs to an interview, which, in turn
evoke deeper elements of human consciousness than do words (Harper,
2002:13).
It was John Collier Jr who used this
technique with mental health patients in
the 1950s, and who became the first scholar
to publish on the technique of photoelicitation. At the time the method was
purely supplementary the research interview itself. For example Collier remarks
that:
the Stirling County Study indicated
that photos were capable of reaching
deeper centres of reaction, triggering
spontaneous revelations of a highlycharged emotional nature. (Collier,
1957:858)
Unlike Colliers study, in which the researchers themselves took the photographs
for the participants to view, this study looks
to ask the participants themselves to take
the photographs. This process has been
well documented by Elisa Bignante in her
study of the Maasai in West Africa. Bignante
concludes that the use of photo-elicitation
can be seen as a supplementary method to
a standard research interview but, moreover, that photo-elicitation stimulates the
informants ability to express their practical
55

knowledge through the attribution and association of meanings (Bignante, 2010:15).
More recent studies within various social
scenarios have showed both the validity
and success of photo-elicitation as a methodology. Thupayagale-Tshweneagae and
Mokomanes study with adolescents living
with HIV in South Africa showed that
photo-elicitation provided a prompt for the
participant to discuss the meanings and
impact they perceived within the photograph. Photo-elicitation constituted a
therapeutic act for the participants involved, allowing them to; speak specifically
and directly about their current needs
(Thupayagale-Tshweneagae and Mokomane, 2013:94). Concurrently, Neil Jenkins
et als study of military identity reported
that the adoption of photo-elicitation reduced bias of participants responding to
the researchers perceived expectations
(Jenkins et al, 2008).
RESEARCH DESIGN
Participants at the beginning of this study
were informed that I was looking to document the practices of modern Pagan practitioners, the only stipulation being that the
participants had to be over the age of
eighteen. I made initial contact with the
participants through attending a Pagan social gathering, I had arranged with the organisers of this event that I would attend
and they were aware of my presence. Due
to my previous research in the field of
www.fjordstone.com/fjo/generator.html
Vol. 6 No. 1
modern Witchcraft the group were already

aware of me and so my presence at these
events was not uncommon. Prior to the interview I asked both participants to take
eight photographs that had personal resonance to them with regard to their spiritual
practice; these photographs were then sent
to myself and the interview was arranged.
The basic pattern of the interview was
very simple; after greeting the participant
and having a short chat I took out the
printed copies of the eight photographs,
and asked them to arrange them in order of
relevance to their spiritual practice. Once
the participant had completed the task I
asked the participant only one further
question: Why? it was answering this
question that took up the remainder of the
interviews. With both interviews it was the
case that the participant spoke at great
length about their spiritual practices, being
prompted by their own photographs to
move forward with the discussion rather
than by probes by the researcher. The remainder of the following paper explores the
participants responses to the question
alongside their photographs, where necessary. All participants are referred to purely
by a pseudonym which has been randomly
generated from The Pagan Name Generator.1
LORI ANNWNN, A DRUID
It was a rather cold morning when I had
arranged to meet Lori to conduct her
photo-elicitation interview; prior to the in-
56

terview eight photographs were sent to me
which were all taken by her. Lori was asked
to rate the photos with regard to how much
they impacted on her spiritual practice,
they were as photographs of:
1. A sunrise, which is mirrored by the water
2. Hawthorne blossom
3.A composition of several ritual items
which include; purple flowers; a large
piece of quarts and a candle
4. A scruffy dog with big brown eyes, the
background of the photograph is grass,
it was taken whilst the dog was on a
walk.
5. A piece of amethyst
6. A collection of white stones, of which
runes are painted on to. They have been
arranged on a piece of intricately decorated turquoise cloth.
7. A sunset, of which the sun casts what appears to be a path across the water. Lori
decided during the course of the interview
that this photo would be more suited alongside 1.
8. A tree cast in shadow. Lori at the end of the
interview decided that this photo would
have been better suited between 1 and 2; we
decided to call the photo 1a.
As above, so below; (photo 1) Lori stated,
this photograph shows the literal meeting
point of the sky and earth, but it is more
than that, it is the meeting of elements. Her
personal practice as a Druid is a search for
an internal divinity that cannot be completed within four walls; but with her feet
on the ground in the open. This sunrise
(photo 1) , only happens for a moment: she
Vol. 6 No. 1
describes it as a liminal space where there

can be reflection. But, although one can
reflect, one cannot stop, she remarked, as
perfect balance is perfect stagnation. The
use of reflective practice is necessary to her
spirituality; and that although taking a photograph of this momentary event it is important to remain in the present in the
event and not become too focused on the
process of taking photographs. Lori commented that this idea is matched with her
photograph of the Hawthorne blossom
(photo 2). Her reason for beginning to take
photographs was to begin to map the
changing of the seasons. Through walking
her dog in the same place in each day she
started to notice the passing of the sun, and
therefore the changing of the seasons.
Loris practices, as a Druid, mean that it is
imperative to mark and accept change;
rather than attempting to be tied to the
same. She remarked that her spirituality
is about the celebration of movement, [and]
the celebration of change.
Speaking about the celebration of
change led Lori on to discuss how it was
the she first became a practicing Pagan and
when it was she first began to have Pagan
thoughts- she recalled being driven home
by her father from an outing at her grandparents. She looked out of the car window
at the bare trees and almost instantly felt a
pang of fear within her stomach wondering
if the leaves would ever come back to the
trees. Since then Lori had always felt a special connection to trees and considers herself to be a tree hugger. Only recently,
57

Lori said, she was approached to assist
someone starting out on the Druid path.
She told them to make friends with a tree,
although, this might sound rather silly, she
commented, she knew that:
By suggesting this that the individual
would go out into the open and become more aware of the nature that
they were surrounding themselves in;
and they might therefore find life in
what appears to be inanimate, which
is much of what can be seen with the
photograph.
Moving forward to the third photograph of
simple ritual Lori stated that currently a
solitary practitioner; but that in the past
she had worked with both large and small
ritual groups. For Lori it seemed as though
there was too much entertainment and not
enough efficacy within these larger group
rituals- and that although she does not object to light-hearted entertainment there
must still be ritual intention. Lori then began to concentrate on the third photo. She
narrated her though process about the festivals that make up the wheel of the year for
Pagan practitioners; she stated that some of
these festivals, such as Lamas, did not particularly resonate with her and that she
found during that time of year she was just
too busy to partake in the festival. But, she
remarked, that is when I should stop and
reflect. Lori found that the energies of
what she termed the dark festivals (e.g.
Samhain, Yule, and Imbolc) resonated
Vol. 6 No. 1
greatly with her because of their links to

the deceased and the importance that
played within her practices. As scholars, including Graham Harvey have noted at
Samhain it is deemed particularly appropriate to invite the presence of the ancestors (Harvey, 2007:5)
The interview then moved back more
directly to the photographs. Here Loris
simple ritual is the act of putting some
flowers on the table and lighting a candle.
She stated that, its not how you do it [the
ritual] but it is the reflection and the ritual
intention that are important. As a Druid,
Lori noted, she had even created ritual
from simple actions, such as walking the
dog, taking offerings to scatter in the
hedgerows along the way; I had the intention, and she noted, and I found that
the ritual itself worked for me. Ritual can
be as simple as a walk, which brought Lori
back to the first photograph. She commented that when looking for signs from
the universe that she walks in the open
with feet on the ground.
The scruffy dog (photo 4) has passed
over to the other side, and has brought
Lori back to Druidry when she might have
strayed away. She states that Pagans having
to be considerate to other creatures,
moreover, there was a strong thread of not
only kindness to animals, but that individuals need to have more reverence and respect for the animal kingdom throughout
the entire interview. Lori remarked that she
was being a bit indulgent including this
picture of her dog. Lori noted that Pagans
58

dont really loose people when they pass
over, animals included: and she comments
that this is why Samhain, in particular, has
such resonance for her. It was here that
Lori started to notice the interconnected
nature of her photographs and posited that
weve talked around all these photographs,
but its funny to find that theyre all interconnected.
In Loris experience, crystal has a very
large place in her life (photo 5). She finds
that they have a communicative nature and
it was these which brought Lori into Druidry. She looked then at her last photos and
found that the messages they conveyed had
all been discussed in different places. Lori
then picked up the photograph of the
runes (photo 6). As a working professional
she provides tarot readings and psychic
mediumship. But found that, having
stepped on the journey to what she describes as self-mastery has found people
coming to her for advice, using her as a
sounding board. Pagans, she remarked do
have that extra bit of wisdom from looking
inside. She thinks that its the stillness that
brings people towards Pagans.
As a parting note she stated that Druidry cannot be extracted from what I doits that sense of perfect balance in the
place of change. As Druids we keep moving,
but manage to remain focused. As a way of
summing up the interview she commented
that there seems to have been a great level
of amalgamation between the photographs,
which all, in some way, linked back to the
first one; but, she commented if youd
Vol. 6 No. 1
asked me to pick one photo to describe my

spiritual practices, I dont think it would
have been this one!
BRIDGE ARIADNE,
ONE WHO DOESNT LIKE LABELS
Approximately two weeks after interviewing

Lori I arranged an interview with Bridget.
Prior to this interview I was sent eleven
photographs (some of which were of the
same theme) which we would talk about
during the interview. They were as follows:
1. An image of a Pentagram
2. Three photos taken at a Beltane Festival
3. Two photos of the large stone circle at
Avebury
4. A photo of an altar - on which are both
Pagan and Jewish symbols
5. A quote which reads: Thank G-oddess
Im Jewitch
6. A photo of a menorah and a bottle of
wine
7. A photo of a neckless with a quote from
Philippians: I can do all things
through Christ who strengthens me
(Ph 4:13).
8. Two photos of Buddhist meditation.
You cant get a more basic, all round, symbol of Paganism than a Pentagram (photo
1) Bridget remarked at the start of our interview. Its a symbol of positive healthy Paganism. Paganism, that is, with a capital P.
I dont know too much about it [the pentagram], she remarked, but I understand it
as the four elements combined with spirit.
59

The particular pentagram that she chose
for the interview held great significance for
her as it was the logo of the Pagan collective she belonged to. This symbol is more
than just about individual Paganism as a
spiritual practice, reflecting social cohesion,
a feeling of belonging and of social interconnection. For Bridget, Paganism bridges
the gaps in her life and she believes that
she is a prime example of someone who
picks and mixes spiritual practice to suit
her current needs. She presented several
themes: nature, spirituality, paranormal, and
the supernatural- which, sometimes, people
do not accept, but, to Bridget, all those
weird things seem to be completely logical well, apart from astrology. Bridget describes herself as being as much Jewish and
she is Pagan, and part of her practice is
finding a way to balance the two.
The second set of photographs was
from a Beltane festival that Bridget attended (photo 2). Beltane, as a festival,
resonates greatly with her as it is a celebration of life whilst at the same time enjoying
oneself as part of a larger community. It is
intentional ritual practice whilst at the
same time having some fun. Her Pagan
collective for example perform Mystery
Plays at these events, usually retelling
Celtic legend through modern humour and
slapstick comedy, in the traditional styling
of the York Mystery Plays. Bridget, though,
questioned why it is that this festival resonated with her and if it was genuinely
spiritual or if she just enjoyed being
amongst likeminded people. Either way
Vol. 6 No. 1
Bridget enjoyed being part of this festival,

so much so, that she sought to include it
within her photographs underlining her
spiritual practice. The following photographs were taken at the stone circle in
Avebury (photo 3), a place which Bridget
feels an emotional connection and sentiment. She was quick to comment that she
did not consider herself to be a medium as
she did not feel any energy connected
with the place that other practitioners professed feeling; more that positive experiences had led to a positive connection with
the place. Again here, for Bridget, it seems
as though this place is inherently linked to
her practices through the connection with
the collective that she belongs to; again
displaying her connection with group ritual
activity.
It is this inherent spiritual interrogation
that has led her to experience the practices
of countless religions and spiritual practices. She notes that: whilst I am on this
intellectual quest I am still able to go and
take part in all these events and spiritualties. Moreover, though she persists in an
intellectual quest she also looks to create
her own truth about a God, Goddess, or
other higher power. Although classifying
herself as a practicing New Age Pagan, she
was born into what she describes as the
Jewish tribe. Her Jewish-ness, per se, has
also impacted on her spiritual practices as a
mode of attempting to connect to various
spiritual practices. This is where she came
across the practices of the Jewitch (photos
4&5); which combine the practices of Juda60

ism with that of neo-Paganism. With regard
to this Bridget comments that: Whenever I
[Bridget] meet other Jewish people, even
Liberal ones, I still have more in common
with Pagans. It is her understanding that
these Jewitch practices might aid her to reconnect with her neglected Jewish practice. As they would act as a bridge between
her overarching practices as a Pagan as well
as her familial roots as a Jew.
Whilst Bridget was raised in a culturally
Jewish family (photo 6), she is still developing what she terms her Jewish-ness. Her
family did not practice Jewish ritual,
though did encourage her to attend Jewish
classes at the synagogue. Once she had decided that she no longer wished to attend
her family did not force her to continue.
Therefore she finds she is still learning
what it is to be a Jew. She comments that
although Ive never left Judaism, Ive become in some way dissociated from it. As
part of Bridgets spiritual search she sought
to involve herself with Buddhist practice
(photo 8), in the form of a retreat led by a
Tibetan Monk. Through the course of this
retreat she questioned the nature of praising a God(dess) but, moreover, the way in
which these practices differed from the culturally Jewish practices she was brought up
around and the Pagan festivals that she attended. To praise, or not to Praise? she
remarked. Everything in Bridgets journey
related back to her personal spiritual quest,
her search and exploration of differing
spiritualties; and her connection with
groups of likeminded individuals.
Vol. 6 No. 1
MOVING FORWARD WITH

PHOTO-ELICITATION
There were great variations between these

two photo-elicitation interviews which I
will now deconstruct more fully. Firstly,
both participants were given the exact same
information regarding the style of the interview. There was, however, a very different
response to the question. Lori, for example,
practiced photography as a hobby and sent
eight photographs that were taken by her.
Bridget, on the other hand, sent eleven
photographs, some of these being duplicates on the same theme and very few of
the photographs being taken by her. What
proves fascinating here is that both of these
interviews provided rich qualitative data; in
slightly different ways.
Lori is mainly a solitary practitioner, and
none of her photographs involved a picture
of another person. They were photographs
of scenery, nature, and ritual implements.
Bridget practices mainly with groups and
her chosen pictures illustrate this. This is
especially poignant considering her starting
point of the pentagram, a photo which is
also the symbol for the Pagan collective
which she is part of. On the other hand
Loris starting photograph highlights her
major overarching worldview and religious
sentiment.
The chosen order of Loris photographs
demonstrated her practices in quite an ordered manner. The first four specifically
dealt with the cyclic nature in which she
perceives the world and her spirituality,
61

whereas the remaining four dealt with the
delivery and the way in which the first four
were practices. These two different areas of
photography could be described as the interplay between resonance and reverence.
Some of her photographs resonated with
herself and her spirituality; and the others
outlined how she gives reverence within
her chosen spiritual practice.
Both participants commented that they
found the use of photographs within interviews, within this case either taken by the
participant or sourced by the participant as
a positive and enjoyable experience. Lori
commented that she liked the use of pictures and I [Lori] take such joy in taking
photographs. Bridget also found the use of
photographs an interesting experience.
I feel that as an exploratory study these
interviews have provided a lot of rich valuable information regarding individual approaches to neo-Pagan spirituality. Both interviews found the participants talking
about their experiences with ritual and the
way in which they enact their ritual whilst
at the same time participants were able to
posit their understandings about their various practices.
elicitation. As a keen photographer Loris

photographs provided evoking scenes of
personal ritual, and Loris commentary on
these provided even deeper analysis rather
than just an aesthetic overview. This case
was similar with regard to Bridget, but at
times the use of photographs from the
internet meant at times the interview leant
from the individuals approaches, to the
more generalised understanding of religion
and spirituality.
CONCLUSION
Coward, M. (2014) The Witch from HisStory to Her-Stories: Changing Contexts. In: Paranthropology: Journal of
Anthropological Approaches to the Paranormal. Vol: 5. No: 3. pp. 10-20.
Photo-elicitation as a methodology has

considerable scope in relation to researching both individual and communal religious practice. As Susan Sontag suggested
the photograph has become something of a
social rite; and this, in essence, can be understood as a positive in relation to photoVol. 6 No. 1
REFERNCES
Bignante, E. (2010) The Use of PhotoElicitation in Field Research: Exploring

Maasai Representations and the Use of
Natural Resources. In: EchoGo. Vol:
11. pp. 2-18.
Buckley, L. (2014) Photography and PhotoElicitation after Colonialism. In: Cultural Anthropology. Vol: 29. No: 4. pp.
720-743.
Collier, J. Jr. (1957) Photography in Anthropology: a Report on Two Experiments. In: American Anthropologist: New
Series. Vol. 59. No: 5. pp. 843-859.
Harper, D. (2002) Talking About Pictures: a

Case for Photo Elicitation. In: Visual
Studies. Vol: 17. No: 1. pp. 13-26.
62

INTERVIEWS
Harvey, G. (2007) Listening People, Speaking

Earth: Contemporary Paganism 2nd Ed.
London, UK. C. Hurst & Co. (Publishers) Ltd.
Jenkins, N. Woodward, R. and Winter, T.
(2008) The Emergent Production of
Analysis in Photo Elicitation: Pictures
of Military Identity. In: FORUM: Qualitative Social Research. Vol: 9. No: 3.
Sontag, S. (1973) On Photography. New York,
USA. Rosetta Books, LLC.
Annwnn, Lori. Interviewed by Matt Coward. Photo-elicitation Interview held at

York St John University: 8th December
2014.
Ariande, Bridget. Interviewed by Matt Coward. Photo-elicitation Interview held at
York St John University: 15th December
2014.
Matt Coward is a postgraduate student at York

St. John University.
[email protected]
Thupayagale-Tshweneagae, G. and Mokomane, Z. (2013) Needs of South African

Adolescents Orphaned by AIDS:
Edivdence from Photography and
Photo-Elicitation. In: International
Nursing Review. Vol: 60. No. 1. pp. 88-95.
Vol. 6 No. 1
63
ENCHANTED EDWARDIANS
THIRD ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE EDWARDIAN CULTURE NETWORK
UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL
30TH-31ST MARCH 2015
Registration now open!

http://www.bristol.ac.uk/arts/gradschool/pg-activity/conferences/edwardians/
Keynote Speakers:
Professor Ronald Hutton (University of Bristol)
Dr. Sarah Turner (Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art)
Edwardian culture is filled with otherworldly encounters: from Rat and Moles meeting with
Pan on the riverbank in Wind in the Willows (1908), to Lionel Wallaces glimpse of an
enchanted garden beyond the green door in H. G. Wells short story The Door in the Wall
(1911). In art, Charles Conders painted fans evoked an exotic arcadia, whilst the music of
Edward Elgar and Frederick Delius conjured up nostalgic dreamlands.
Such encounters are all the more powerful because of their briefness: the sense that
enchantment is, as Kipling suggests in Puck of Pooks Hill, fast becoming a thing of the past.
What room was left for fantasy in the modern, scientifically advanced world of the early
twentieth century? This conference seeks to explore this question, and to investigate other
ways in which the Edwardians understood and employed the idea of the enchanted, the
haunted and the supernatural.
For more information please e-mail [email protected]. For more about the
Edwardian Culture Network, including previous conferences and events, see
www.edwardianculture.com
Vol. 6 No. 1
64
On the "Types" and Dynamics of

Apparitional Hallucinations
S. Alexander Hardison
The term hallucination carries with it many

connotations and associations. Some imagery that might spring to mind are persons resting securely at local asylums in
straight jackets, or longhaired, overtly optimistic psychedelic users, with a bent for
exploring their consciousness. But, without
delving into the adventures of psychedelic
investigators, or taking a trip into the local
insane asylum, quite a large number of
seemingly ordinary people, scattered amid
the population, seem to have experienced
visual, auditory and tactile experiences
without the aid of any objective stimulus.
More often than not, though not always,
these particular forms of hallucination are
related to real people, sometimes living and
sometimes deceased.
To speak of apparitions, then, is to evoke
other vague, but popular associations, like
those of ghosts and spiritual beings. According to An Introduction to Parapsychology
(Irwin & Watt, 2007, p. 192), apparitions are
"encountered in a perceptual-like experience" and they relate to persons or animals
that are "not physically present, with physical means of communication being ruled
Vol. 6 No. 1
out." As the authors make clear, the use of

the word "apparition" does not necessarily
promote any theory as to the source of the
experiences, whether psychological, or
more Spiritistic. They further elaborate that
the apparitional experiences are different
from other hallucinatory experiences in
that they may contain "veridical information of which the experient previously was
unaware; this generally is lacking in psychotic and drug-induced hallucinations of
another person" (p. 193). Also, apparitions
are usually clearly related to indentifiable
people (or animals), while hallucinatory figures are "anonymous or known to be nonexistent" the final large distinction is that
apparitions are often perceived by multiple
people, while "a psychotic or drug-related
hallucination cannot be shared."
That inferred difference seems to stem
from some of the speculations of G.N.M.
Tyrrell (1963), one of the key writers on apparitional experiences in the 20th century
(p. 126; p. 165). Now, this is a claim that does
seem to support the idea that apparitions
involve a separate class of phenomena than
ordinary hallucinations and, if accepted, it
could be seen as a striking fact in favor of
65

their paranormal nature. But, it can be argued, that the distinction exists as a prima
facie objection to Tyrrell's theory of apparitions as telepathically formed idea-patterns
aside from the idea that the sample of
material he was evaluating, being largely
from the Report on the Census of Hallucinations (Sidgwick et. al, 1894), may have included an intrinsic bias against interpreting
apparitions as anything but hallucinatory
phenomena owing to the nature of the census question. Simply put, supporters of the
telepathic theory of apparitions, which was
developed to one of its most complex, apt
and explanatory forms by Tyrrell, will have
to explain why apparitional hallucinations
should be collectively perceived while subjective ones should not be.
Tyrrell himself states, "I can suggest no
reason why hypnotic and, indeed, purely
subjective hallucinations also do not spread
to bystanders, whereas telepathic hallucinations, in a certain proportion of cases, do.
We are very much in the dark concerning
the structure of human personality, which
is probably far more extensive and complex
than at present we have any idea of; and it
may be that the telepathic process taps a
factor in the personality which the hypnotic
and subjective process leave untouched"
(p.141). But, if subjective hallucinations
can't be collectively perceived as the apparitional variety sometimes appear to be, it
seems imperative to posit that hallucinations sparked by telepathic stimuli must, de
facto, be interpreted as more "important"
than other types of hallucination; that
Vol. 6 No. 1
would explain why the other relevant observers to the apparitional drama would get
pulled into it.
If the supposed fact that apparitional
hallucinations are collectively perceived
while hallucinations of other varieties cannot be is accepted, then it is not impossible
to explain that in terms of suggestion (at
least in weaker cases). It may be that when
a person sees a humanoid figure, hears a
voice, or has any other sensory arousal in
relation to an apparitional episode, it is collectively seen because it is more relevant to
all the specators than, say, if the initial experient proclaims that he sees a pink elephant. But even that is not very probably
applicable to some of the best cases of collective perception. Asserting that interaction at or around the time of the experience
may make the subjects of the experience,
unconsciously, more prone to suggestion is
arguable but that explanation is somewhat speculatory and it seems implausible
as a reasonable contender in accounting for
the high proportion of apparitional experiences that are collectively experienced
when more than one person occupies the
relevant space (one-third of the time).
However the above hypothesized distinction stands, apparitional phenomena
are fairly stable and consistent, so it is clear
that they aren't just unstructured hallucinations. And if the apparitional experience
does intrinsically tap into an aspect of the
personality that ordinary hallucinations
leave untouched, or become collective because of the importance of the stimuli that
66

initiated any given group's perception, then
any general theory of the phenomena will
have to account for that feature or explain
how and why, if they are inseparable from
ordinary hallucinations, they manifest in
quite different forms.
In a June 2005 Gallup poll1, 37% of
Americans said they believed in haunted
houses, with 32% saying they believed in
the existence of ghosts. These beliefs
tended to reach their peak in the 18-29
year-old age group and then decline slightly
with age. "Ghosts", of course, support one
interpretation of apparitional experiences
that of survival of consciousness- and,
therefore, the actual rate of belief in genuine, external entities unrelated to living or
deceased persons (i.e. Angels, demons, Marian apparitions, aliens, fairies) may be
higher. Whether or no apparitions have any
external reality, people do experience them
so much so that a substantial portion of
the population report actual apparitional
experiences: anywhere from 17-32% (Irwin
& Watt, 2007, pp. 194-195). In any given
case, most apparitional experiences involve
only one or two sensory modalities and
most are visual 84 percent, according to
Green and McCreery (1975). Auditory experiences feature in about one-third of cases,
with 14%, in that study, being entirely auditory. Contrast this with psychiatric patients,
who report auditory hallucinations at a
much higher frequency (Bentall, 2013, p.
115).
Regarding the so-called "taxonomy" of
apparitions, Tyrrell (1963), suggested four
Vol. 6 No. 1
classes of apparitional experience: the experimental class, crisis-apparitional cases,

the postmortem class, and the stereotypical
"ghosts or hauntings cases." Regarding the
first, it may be thought that cases of apparitions are nearly always spontaneous but
this isn't the case. There exist numerous
anectdotes in the research literature, for
example, of persons who have attempted, in
some way or another, to make an apparition
of themselves appear before a chosen person. Cases of alleged bilocation are an example of this, at least when the intent of
projecting one's apparition, or "spirit" at
the time that the double gets observed is
demonstrated. Irwin and Watt (p. 195) list
an example taken from Phantasms of the Living (Gurney et al., 1886, Vol. 1, pp. 93-94),
that of S. H. Beard. Upon opening Phantasms to the appropriate pages, the original
account states:
"On Wednesday, 26th July 1882, at
10.30 p.m., I willed very strongly that
Miss V., who was living at Clarence
Road, Kew, should leave any part of
that house in which she might happen
to be at the time and that she should
go into her bedroom and remove a
portrait from her dressing-table.
"When I next saw her she told me that
at this particular time and on this day,
she felt strongly impelled to go up to
her room and remove something from
her dressing-table, but she was not
sure which article to misplace. She
67

did so and removed an article, but not
the framed portrait which I had
thought of.
"Between the time of the occurrence
of this fact and that of our next meeting, I received one or two letters, in
which the matter is alluded to and my
questions concerning it answered.
S. H. B."
The above is an example of what the
authors came to describe as telepathy
("distant-feeling"), and it appears around
the time the authors make a transition from
the experimental research of the first few
pages into spontaneous cases. One of the
authors writes, "Mr. B. was himself at
Southall on the evening in question. He
has shown the letters of which he speaks to
the present writer, and has allowed him to
copy extracts." What makes this case interesting is that the referenced Miss Verity
wrote to Mr. Beard without having spoken
to him:
"On Thursday, July 27th, without having seen or had any communication
with Mr. B., Miss Verity (now residing
in Castellain Road, W., who allows the
publication of her name) wrote to him
as follows:
'What were you doing between ten
and eleven o'clock on Wednesday
evening? If you make me so restless, I
shall begin to be afraid of you. I posiVol. 6 No. 1
tively could not stay in the diningroom, and I believe you meant me to
be upstairs, and to move something on
my dressing-table. I want to see if you
know what it was. At any rate, I am
sure you were thinking about me.'"
This is not one of the best examples of alleged telepathic-influence in the book,
since no corrbortatory testimony is given
that Mr. Beard was attempting such an experiment at the time; he may have simply
exaggerated in response to Miss Verity's letter and its status as an "apparitional experience" might be questioned because of the
lack of any sense-perception, aside from
the conviction the woman felt. However,
Phantasms of the Living is quite possibly the
cornerstone of research into apparitional
hallucinations ("phantasm" is simply another word for "hallucination") and it is a
monumental testament to the efforts of the
Society for Psychical Research2 in the Victorian era. Since the book was primarily
concerned with apparitional experiences
occurring at/or near the time of death, or
intense tragedy, it will also lead into our
next category of experience.
As suggested in a fairly recent Paranthropology article by this author (Hardison,
2013, p. 63), apparitions of the crisis variety
"can be defined as vivid hallucinations of
seemingly objective figures, witnessed in
times of crisis. More often than not, they
correspond to actual veridical events. A
woman might awaken in the middle of the
night to find that her husband is standing
68

in her bed-room smiling at her, even
though she knows he is fighting in a war
thousands of miles away." The apparition
fades and she "inevitably finds that her
husband did, in-fact, die unexpectedly at
the same time she saw his apparition."
In the article, it is clearly noted that the
above story "is a fabrication", but it certainly does reflect a genuine category of experiences. Phantasms is filled with such accounts and pioneering work into interviewing techniques was undertaken by the Society in it and, much later, with the SPR's
Census of Hallucinations (1894). In crisis
cases, rather than evoking the concept of
disembodied minds to explain the phenomena, Gurney and the other writers
thought that they represented cases of telepathy in action especially since not all
cases involved people who actually died
and, even in cases where severe illness was
present, the persons sometimes recovered.
To explain cases where the same figure was
seen by multiple people, Gurney (and his
skeptical SPR colleague, Frank Podmore)
would suggest that a form of telepathic infection was occurring, with one initial message being sent to one mind and then
passed along to others in close spatial proximity.
Frederic Myers, another founder member of the SPR and an assisting writer of
the book, later came to disagree, thinking
that even though apparitions of the living
(and dead) could be hallucinatory projections inspired by telepathic stimuli, it
would be difficult for them to account for
Vol. 6 No. 1
the consistency of the experient's perspectives using the infection hypothesis: he

thought that they'd best be explained by
actual disembodied minds, from what he
called the metetherial world, somehow projecting themselves into the physical layer of
reality. Myers also seemed to imply that all
apparitional encounters might not involve
the same "underlying process" (Irwin &
Watt, 2007, p. 203). Further, Myers' theory,
and others that suggest that apparitions
may involve a quasi-phyical element, are
not subject to the minor issue outlined earlier in relation to Tyrrell's theory; if an apparition occupies physical space in some
way, we can be reasonably sure that subjective hallucinations do not and, therefore,
the distinction between the two types of
experience is explained. Because Tyrrell's
theory is probably the most comprehensive
and well-developed, it should be noted that
he highlighted some of the problems of
Myers' theory and those like it, chiefly in
that it is oxymoronic to suppose that physical space contains a non-physical element
(pp. 50-53). Additionally, since the apparitions are sometimes collectively observed,
but not always by everyone present, it is more
plausible to argue for some sort of intricate
hallucinatory theory.
Moving on to the postmortem class of
apparition, they involve the experience of
persons who have been dead for at least 12
hours. About two-thirds of recognized apparitions, in any instance, are of the dead
(Green & McCreery, 1975, p. 188; Haraldsson, 1985, 1994; Persinger, 1974, p. 150). As
69

an example of a postmortem experience, a
person experience of this author will be
mentioned. The experience was written
down shortly after it occurred and memory
issues are not likely to have occurred
though there are no obvious veridical details, so the evidence for paranormality is
absent. Of primary concern, however, is the
phenomenology and experiences of apparitions themselves, not only those cases that
strictly contain veridical content, or those
of the crisis variety (which wouldn't grant a
full-analysis of apparitional experience, but
can suggest anomalous cognitive input in
and of themselves).
To paraphrase, it was September of 2009
and the author was awakened early in the
morning, before anyone in his home. A
noise had caused this a popping sound
made from a release of pressure on the
metal bedpost behind the author's head.
The author had been sleeping on his side
and belly, toward the wall, but felt someone
sitting on the bed to the right (near the foot
of the bed); there had been plastic surrounding the mattress, at that time, and as
the person moved to get up, the plastic was
heard to move, the bed seemed to respond
with the sensation of movement, and then
the author turned to his right. Before
enough courage was mustered to turn and
see the figure, flashes of thoughts entered
his mind: Could it have been a burgalar?
Perhaps it was his younger brother watching him sleep (which would have been very
strange).
Vol. 6 No. 1
The author managed to see the figure as

he stood all the way up and walked toward
the wall (the door to the room was closed);
it was his grandfather, a man who'd passed
away in 2003 of a cancerous condition. He
was as solid and three-dimensional as anyone the author had ever seen and he faded
away after a few split seconds (seeming to
vanish before getting to the wall). Upon getting out of bed, the author walked out of
the room to see everyone sound asleep
the sun just setting in. His younger brother
was asleep on the floor and others in the
house were, likewise, in their beds.
In comparing this experience to others,
it was spontaneous, a predominant feature
in the apparitional literature. It was also
solid (rather than stereotypically transparent), nearby (according to Green &
McCreery, most apparitions are experienced
within 10ft of the subject), appeared at a
time when the author was waking from
sleep (hypnopompia; these experiences are
common in both that state and in hypnagogia), he knew the person was dead at the
time 70% of apparitions fall into that
category (Green & McCreery, 1975, p. 188;
Haraldsson, 1985)- and, finally, the apparition of his grandfather showed an awareness of his surroundings; there was even
perceived interaction. As Nicola Holt et al.
Note (2012), "theories of apparitions must
account for the unified nature of the perceptual field (room + apparition) and not
merely a figure in isolation." (p. 129)
The final category of apparition listed
by Tyrrell are the classical conceptions of
70

ghosts/or hauntings. It may be moot to describe some of the features in these cases,
as the general population is already so
aware of them, but in the haunting class,
apparitions typically aren't nearly as interactive, they seem localized to specific
places, and they also seem to create disturbances in their immediate physical environment.
If a theory of apparitions cannot fully
account for all of the features thus-far
listed, then it as at best wholly incomplete.
Numerous attempts have been made to explain the experiences from various perspectives, including the psychological, spiritualistic, parapsychological, sociocultural, neuropsychological and environmental (Irwin
& Watt, 2007; Holt, N. et al., 2012). There are
certainly physical correlations amid surveys
of apparitional experients, as well as psychological there seem to be few demographic variables associated with the experiences, though.
Among the physical characteristics, the
experiences typically seem to occur in regular, everyday home environments (12 percent occurring in places the subject never
visited, according to Green & McCreery,
1975, p. 123). Additionally, the experiences
usually happen unexpectedly and indoors.
Psychologically, most people who experience apparitions claimed to "have been in
normal health" at the time of their experience and, thereby, not mentally or physically ill. Still, most apparitions seem to be
experienced when the experient is inactive,
such as when going to sleep, or coming out
Vol. 6 No. 1
of it this, again, brings up hypnopompia

and hypnagogia, though being prone to
mental "absorbtion" in any given situation
might faciliate the encounters. Many psychological correlations between the experiences are not yet entirely clear (Irwin &
Watt, 2007, pp. 199-201).
Neurological (or Biological) approaches
also seem to be lacking, in many respects.
Michael Persinger, a Canadian scientist famous for his "God-helmet", "has argued
that apparitions, or their more rudimentary
form, the 'sense of presence' may be explained neurologically." His idea is that
most people are right-handed, and that
their sense of "self" is localized in the left
hemisphere of the brain. The 'homologue'
of the sense of self might be interpreted as
another human (or "entity") by the left
hemisphere. This, it is argued, might occur
more frequently in times of intense tiredness or stress.
Persinger attempted to stimulate the
area of the brain thought to be responsible
for the representation of the sense of self,
typically in the right temporal lobes, with a
magnetic pulse. Afterward, researchers
typically "expose both hemispheres of the
brain to a different pulse - designed to encourage the intrusion of right hemispheric
representation into the left hemisphere
(which is thought to interpret the experience)." People in this setup have reported
senses of presence and even hallucinatory
phenomena, leading Persinger to suggest
that some haunting-type phenomena may
result from the activation of the right tem71

poral lobe, or the pariental lobes and other
areas in the limbic system.
Holt et. al (2012), point out that the only
replications that have been undertaken
come from Persigner's lab, without independent replications (and one failed one;
see Granqvist et al., 2005). Suggestion may
have played a role in Persigner's positive
findings, particularly if the subjects knew
what the magnetic stimulation was supposed to bring about beforehand; additionally, the areas of the brain which are stimulated are also associated with memory and
if the subjects had prior apparitional experiences (as one subject did; he reported a
positive experience in Persinger's lab, similar to his initial one) then perhaps such
stimulation is only triggering the memories
of the initial encounters. Thus, at least in its
current incarnation, Persinger's theory
seems lacking in sufficient empirical support.
To draw to some form of conclusion,
environmental factors have also been proposed, but these are most applicable to
cases of hauntings and don't sufficiently
explain the full spectrum of apparitional
experience. These factors might include
lighting, or variations in electromagnetic
fields at given locations, two things which
can facilitate abnormal experiences (Wiseman et. al, 2002). There have also been suggestions that infrasound (sound that cannot
be perceived, at around 19 HZ), might explain the high occurrence of apparitions in
allegedly haunted locations (Tandy, 2000;
Tandy & Lawrence, 1998). In a more recent
Vol. 6 No. 1
study by French et. al (2009), researchers

attempted to see whether more anomalous
experiences were reported in a location
with complex electromagnetic fields, infrasound, or a combination thereof, as compared to an ordinary, baseline, constructed
'haunted room'. The experimenters received some reports of anomalous experiences in the faux-haunted room, but these
were taken as products of suggestion not
environmental influence (the participants
were informed that they might have strange
and unusual perceptions while in the
chamber).
Whatever the causes of apparitional
phenomena may or may not be, they deserve attention for one thing, they are
profound and life-changing experiences for
a good number of ordinary people in the
population. Charles Ollier once said (1848),
"It may be laid down as a general maxim,
that anyone who thinks he has seen a
ghost, may take the vision as a symptom
that his bodily health is deranged. Let him,
therefore, seek medical advice, and, ten to
one, the spectre will no more haunt him. To
see a ghost, is, ipso facto, to be a subject for
the physician" (p. 10). Ollier made that
statement before the rising-tide of Spiritualism ever rushed into Victorian society and
certainly before the onslaught of Darwinism lead the founders of the Society for
Psychical Research to embark on their sober quest of sorting through the nonsense
of religion and the occult in the hope
which has proven somewhat futile- of finding that Man has an element within him
72

that is transcendent and even immortal.
But, since that day and age, we've found
that experiencing apparitions is really just
an aspect of the human condition that occurs in ordinary people during hypnagogia,
in non-exotic, "ordinary" awareness
though there may nearly always be some
fluctuating degree of dissociation presentand even during bereavement (Bell, 2008).
In light of this, "Why, then, has this aspect
of human experience been marginalized?"
is an acceptable retort.
Single, monistic approaches to this
subject will clearly not be comprehensive,
as has been made clear; rather, pluralistic
and multi-disciplinary approaches should
be the norm. Tyrrell (1963) dealt with the
philosophical and perceptual implications
of apparitional experience, which is essential reading for any student of representationism, or general perception (pp. 91-108;
pp. 172-178); McCreery (2006) continued in
that tradition with a more modern and
generalized analysis of hallucinations and
their implications for perception. Perhaps
with continued effort, aided by more intellectual scrutiny and debate, we will understand more about the variables involved in
the experiences themselves. Looking for
resolution and closure on the "ghost question" is an open-ended pursuit. Apparitional experiences embody elements of
mystery, intrigue, reassurance and mortality
looking to them for meaning and psychological insight, in turn, can help us better
face our own haunted existence.
Vol. 6 No. 1
REFERENCES
Bell, V. (2008, December 2). Ghost Stories: Visits
from the Deceased. Retrieved December 4,
2014, from
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/g
host-stories-visits-from-the-deceased/
Bentall, R. (2013). Hallucinatory experiences. In
Cardena, E., Lynn, S. J., & Krippner, S. Varieties of anomalous experience: Examining the
scientific evidence (pp.109-143). American
Psychological Association (APA).
French, C., Haque, U., Bunton-Stasyshyn, R. &
Davis, R. (2009). 'Haunt' project: An attempt to build a 'haunted' room by manipulating complex electromagnetic fields
and infrasound. Cortex, 45, 619-629.
Granqvist, P., Fredrikson, M., Unge, P., Hagenfeldt, A., Valid, S., Larhammar, D., et al.
(2005). Sensed presence and mystical experiences are predicted by suggestibility, not
by the application of transcranial weak
complex magnetic fields. Neuroscience Letters, 375, 69-74.
Green, C. & McCreery, C. (1975). Apparitions.
London: Hamish Hamilton.
Haraldsson, E. (1985). Representative national
surverys of psychic phenomena: Iceland,
Great Britain, Sweden, USA and Gallup's
multinational survey. Journal of the Society
for Psychical Research, 53, pp. 145-158.
Haraldsson, E. (1994). Apparitions of the dead:
Analysis of a new collection of 350 reports.
In E.W.
73

Cook & D. L. Delanoy (Eds.), Research in parapsychology (pp. 1-6). Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press.
Hardison, S. A. (2013). A Study of Several Reported Crisis Apparitions During the
American Civil War. Paranthropology:
Journal of Anthropological Approaches to
the Paranormal, 4, (1a), pp. 62-67.
Sidgwick, H., Johnson, A., Myers, F.W.H., Podmore, F., & Sidgwick, E.M. (1894). Report
on the Census of Hallucinations. Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research,
10, 25-422.
Tandy, V. (2000). Something in the cellar. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research,
64, 129-140.
Holt, N., Simmonds-Moore, C., Luke, D., &

French, C. C. (2012). Anomalistic psychology.
Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Tandy, V. & Lawrence, T. (1998). The ghost in the

machine. Journal of the Society for Psychical
Research, 62, 360-364.
Irwin, H. J. & Watt, C. (2007). An Introduction to

Parapsychology. Fifth edition. Jefferson, NC:
McFarland.
Tyrrell, G.N.M. (1963). Apparitions. New York:

Collier. (Original work published 1942)
Lyons, L. (2005, July 12). One-Third of Americans Believe Dearly May Not Have Departed. Retrieved December 4, 2014, from
http://www.gallup.com/poll/17275/OneThir
d-Americans-Believe-DearlyMay-Departed.aspx.
McCreery, C. (2006). Perception and Hallucination: the Case for Continuity. Philosophical
Paper No. 2006-1, Oxford: Oxford forum.
With Gordon Claridge: Retrieved 1/11/2014
f
r
o
m
,
http://www.celiagreen.com/charlesmccreery
/perception.pdf
Persinger, M. A. (1974). The paranormal. Part 1.
Patterns. New York: mss Information Corporation.
Ollier, C. (1848). Fallacy of Ghosts, Dreams, and
Omens; With Stories of Witchcraft, LifeIn-Death, and Monomania. Southampton
street, Strand, London: C. Ollier.
Vol. 6 No. 1
Wiseman, R., Watt, C., Greening, E., Stevens, P.

& O' Keeffe, C. (2002). An investigation into
the alleged haunting of Hampton Court
Palace: Psychological variables and magnetic fields. Journal of Parapsychology, 66,
388-408.
I'm a psychology
student who is
very interested in
the beliefs surr o u n d i n g " e xtraordinary" experiences: both
their formation
and their maintenance. Additionally, I'm interested in the history of psychology and parap s y c h o l o g y,
which to some degree, are inseparably intertwined.
Dissociation and extreme phenomena associated
with dissociative states of consciousness are of profound interest to me. I think that future inquiries into
those sorts of phenomena (and experiences) will lead
research into that which is sometimes considered
anomalous toward a bright, revealing future.
74
Vol. 6 No. 1
75
Interview:
W. Paul Reeve & Michael Scott Van Wagenen on the
Supernatural World in Mormon History and Folklore
John W. Morehead
Mormon
studies has encompassed various facets in order understand the complexity of Mormon history, narrative, and
culture. Folklore is one aspect of specialization in Mormon studies, but Reeve and
Van Wagenens volume is unique in that it
explores stories of the paranormal and
supernatural found within Mormon folklore. In this interview the authors discuss
the background to the book and what the
reader will find inside.
In your book you take a folklore approach
to the study of Mormon culture. Can you
discuss how you came to focus on the
monstrous and perhaps even paranormal
aspects of your folklore studies?
Michael Van Wagenen: My interest in folklore actually began with Catholicism. Early
in my career I was a documentary filmmaker who worked primarily in Latin
America and the American Southwest. I
have spent most of my life near the USMexican border and was particularly fascinated by the folk religion and healing practices of this region. Much of my early film
work reflects this interest. When I moved to
Utah to pursue my Ph.D., I became equally
Vol. 6 No. 1
captivated by the folk practices of the

Latter-day Saints. Basically I was shifting
my focus on one groups encounters with
the unexplained to anothers. Personally I
think the subject resonates with Paul and
me as we are part of that generation of
1970s and 80s American youth that were
surrounded by tales of the supernatural
and paranormal. All of our contributors
grew up with the stories of UFOs, Bigfoot,
Loch Ness Monster, and other unexplained
phenomena. We were also raised as Mormons, so we were familiar with the unique
Latter-day Saint interpretations of these
wonders. There was also a spirit of fun and
playfulness in doing this work. How often
do we historians get to dabble in the magical realms of our youth?
What is the relationship between official
Mormon teaching and cosmology from the
General Authorities of the LDS Church
and unofficial folklore supernaturalism?
Paul Reeve: The point that we make in the
book is that it is a negotiation and navigation that is ongoing and constantly in flux.
That is the nature of folklore in general. In
76

the Mormon example we explore ways in
which a vast Mormon cosmology offers opportunities for Mormons in the pew to fill
in the gaps in terms of what is knowable.
Most of the examples in the book offer evidence of a top down phenomenon wherein
leaders articulate a position or teaching and
then local Mormons use that teaching to
shape a folk belief to fit their particular circumstances. Michael Van Wagenens UFO
essay, however, explores ways in which the
direction was also sometimes reversed,
from the pews to the pulpit. The UFO
movement of the 1970s was particularly
strong in the intermountain West, a region
with large percentages of Mormons, and
some of the excitement manifested itself in
official LDS magazines as well as in a
General Conference talk from a leading
Mormon who coopted the language surrounding UFO culture and applied it to
LDS theology. That talk likely then created
additional space within which Mormons in
the pew could fashion new folktales and
begin the legend process anew.
What place do such stories play in lives of
Mormons in the space between what you
call "pulpit and pew"?
Michael Van Wagenen: The world is clearly
full of mysteries. There is also something
innate within our species that drives many
of us to explore the unknown. For the religiously inclined, church is the obvious place
to search for answers for all of lifes great
mysteries. Ultimately religion fails to satisfy
all the unknowns, leaving the inquisitive to
Vol. 6 No. 1
Title: Between Pulput and Pew: The Supernatural

World in Mormon History and Folklore
Editors: W. Paul Reeve & Michael Scott Wagenan
Pages: 256
ISBN: 9780874218381
Price: $20.95/19.99
conjecture on their own. The space between pulpit and pew is therefore the gap
between official doctrine and the folk beliefs of the people. It exists to restrain the
speculation of Mormons while informing
the leadership of the intellectual needs of
the faithful. As you find in the book, it is a
fascinating space rife with creativity, knowl77

edge, and superstition. For the Latter-day
Saints, it is a fertile ground that fills in the
gaps left in our unique cosmology. Having
answers, regardless of how tenuous, brings
order to an otherwise frightening and chaotic world. For devout Mormons I believe it
also confirms their central place in Gods
plan for humankind which gives them
strength and purpose.
of life on other planets, a formerly obscure

doctrine that moved to the front and center
of Mormon imagination for a few decades.
The Mormon "Nessie" was a nineteenthcentury hoax that was born of our culture's
characteristically odd sense of humor. All of
these fit neatly within the church's cosmology which includes an ever-expanding universe populated by gods, angels, humans,
and monsters.
The essays in your book present unique

Mormon perspectives on various aspects of
the paranormal such as Bigfoot, UFOs,
and even a Mormon version of the Loch
Ness Monster. Can you summarize the
Mormon versions of these and discuss how
Mormon cosmology shapes the narratives
along the way?
Another essay discusses Mormon concepts

of demonic possessions. How are these different from the more commonly expressed
forms of Catholicism and Protestantism in
the development of ideas about evil spirits?
Michael Van Wagenen: The interesting

thing we discovered about the Latter-day
Saint fascination with UFOs and modernday monsters is that it predates the popularization of these phenomena in the midtwentieth century. Prominent members of
the church began witnessing these things
as far back as the early 1830s. This allowed
the Mormon interpretation to evolve somewhat independently of popular culture.
Without giving too much away, I will say
that Bigfoot was believed to be Cain - wandering the earth after being cursed by God
for slaying his brother Abel. UFOs were
originally believed to be signs of the Second Coming of Jesus. When Mormons in
the Intermountain West began having close
encounters during the 1950s, the interpretation of UFOs evolved to become evidence
Vol. 6 No. 1
Paul Reeve: The Mormon demonic possessions discussed in one essay are from the
nineteenth century and are geographically
concentrated at Hebron, Utah, a small
Mormon ranching community in the
southwestern corner of the state. They include local Mormon leaders using priesthood blessings in an effort to cast out the
demons as well as fasting and prayer. The
major difference from Catholic or Protestant examples is that the demonic possessions in this particular community become
linked to Mormon specific folklore tied to
the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon
describes a nefarious band of thieves and
murderers named the Gadianton Robbers
who plunder and attempt to destroy Christian believers. A folk legend developed at
Hebron that settlers must have founded
their community on an ancient Gadianton
Robber burial ground and that the spirits
78

of those ancient robbers still haunted the
country and may have accounted for the
rash of demonic possessions that plagued
the town.
Why is a study of Mormon history and culture incomplete without consideration of
this aspect of their folklore?
Paul Reeve: Mormon history and culture
includes a variety of things: events, people,
places, an unfolding theology, interaction
with broader society, material objects, and
so forth. Belief in the supernatural is a part
of Mormon history and culture and so to
fully understand how and why Mormons
responded to events and surrounding society one needs to take folklore seriously. As
historians we attempt to situate the folklore
that we study within the various historical
contexts that gave it life and pay attention
to change or continuity over time. We believe that the lore itself brings us close to
the hearts and minds of the people we
study and offers unique lenses into a variety of Mormon worldviews.
What were some of the takeaways you and
your contributors came to in regards to
what these folk tales "tell us about the
faith, values, attitudes and fears of the
Latter-day Saints and their neighbors" as
you say in the Introduction?
Michael Van Wagenen: Taken out of context, our study of the supernatural world of
Mormonism would further brand the faith
as strange and foreign. What we found, and
what we hope that our readers will take
Vol. 6 No. 1
away is an understanding that Latter-day

Saint encounters with the supernatural are
fairly universal. Ultimately we trust that this
book highlights what is unique about the
Mormon experience while contextualizing it
within the wider human experience.
John W. Morehead has an
MA in intercultural studies
from Salt Lake Theological
Seminary. He applies his
academic background in
religion and cultural studies
to his work in popular culture. In this area he has
taught courses in theology
and film, and contributed to
various works including Halos & Avatars, Butcher
Knives & Body Counts, Horror Films of the 1990s, an
essay on Matrixism for The
Brill Handbook of HyperReal Religion, and served as
as co-editor and contributor
to The Undead and Theology. He sits on the editorial board
of GOLEM: The Journal of Religion and Monsters. In addition to his pop culture interests, he also conducts research,
writes, and lectures on new religions, world religions, and
interreligious dialogue.
W. Paul Reeve is associate professor of

history at the University of Utah where he
teaches Utah history,
Mormon history, and
history of the US West.
His publications include Mormonism: A
Historical Encyclopedia, which he coedited.
M i c h a e l S c o t t Va n
Wagenen is a documentary filmmaker and assistant professor of history
at the University of Texas
at Brownsville. He is the
author of The Texas Republic and Mormon
Kingdom of God.
79
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back-issues
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Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the Paranormal Vol. 6 No.

The Dragon and Me

Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the Paranormal

Vol. 6 No. 1 (January 2015)

Honorary Members of the Board

Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the Paranormal

to Paranthropology Vol. 6 No. 1,

A Framework of Belief in Paranormal

the first issue of 2015. First things first, the

Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the Paranormal

The Dragon and Me:

As an introduction to this Symposium,1

would like to outline some of my anthropological research on aspects of magic that

synchronous meanings that came to have

Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the Paranormal

planations. Wanting to develop the critical

Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the Paranormal

Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the Paranormal

a multiplicity of forms, sometimes with a

Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the Paranormal

the material for further examination in my

Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the Paranormal

At the beginning of my doctoral research

moment as my ears gently buzzed and my

Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the Paranormal

of kind. Darwin changed many peoples

Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the Paranormal

tween people can break down social

Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the Paranormal

tinct presence. Eventually I started to grasp

Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the Paranormal

on the computer screen and in my bodymind through meditation - these themes

Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the Paranormal

experiencing magical consciousness it

Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the Paranormal

world-view envisaged from within a total

Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the Paranormal

experience. Sometimes, it seemed, that the

Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the Paranormal

the dragon. I found that writing about the

Anthony Stevens, On Jung, London: Penguin, 1991: xxiv.

Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the Paranormal

A view of the relationship between all

Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the Paranormal

ergy, my life-spirit and my soul in contact

Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the Paranormal

Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the Paranormal

William Blake. As I looked deep into the

The dragon moves towards me, the

Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the Paranormal

where tribal battles have no significance. I

Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the Paranormal

but also my passion for life. This is one of

Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the Paranormal

equivalent to a definitive creature but are

Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the Paranormal

Reader, edited by Bernd-Christian Otto and

Selected published Books

Susan Greenwood is the

Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the Paranormal