Unisa Press
Trance and Transfiguration in Rock Art and Literature
| Author: | Richard Alan Northover |
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| Published: | 2025-02-01 00:00:00.0 |
| ISBN: | 978-1-77615-208-7 |
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| This book is also available in electronic format | |
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| ISBN: | 978-1-77615-209-4 |
About the book
The book is a largely unprecedented inter-disciplinary collaboration between archaeology, anthropology, and literary studies, although it touches on philosophy and religious studies, too. It explores the creative role that altered states of culture play in culture and the arts, whether these states are induced though rituals like the trance dance or meditation, or through the consumption of mind-enhancing substances.
The author explores altered states of consciousness present in select Anglophone literature illuminated by archaeological research on trance states in relation to rock art. This specifically concerns the shamanistic theory of David Lewis-Williams. In response to Northover, Wayne Stables relates it to the Western philosophical tradition, seeing altered states and the loss of the sense of self that these usually involve as a critique of Western individualism.
Contributions by David Whitley and Francis Thackeray are primarily concerned with the creative role that mind-altering substances play in culture. Also stepping into the conversation, Dan Wylie’s reflections are critical, even sceptical, about the use of psychedelics and opiates for recreational, religious and creative purposes. Wylie’s references to Southern African literature complements Whitley’s discussion of North American texts and Northover’s focus on Anglophone literature.
Overall, the book creates by way of multiple perspectives a multi[1]voiced dialogue on the currently highly debated topic of the use of mind-enhancing substances and techniques in art, culture, therapy and religion. In addition to the more academic material, blogs written by two of the authors are included to contextualise and broaden the discussion. This aligns with the book’s multivocal and multimodal spirit.
Table of content
Contributors vii
Foreword David Whitley xi
Introduction: Between Visionary and Mystical Experiences - Richard Alan Northover 1
Trance and Transfiguration in Rock Art and Literature Richard - Alan Northover 11
A World without Selves: A Reply to Richard Alan Northover’s Lecture - Wayne Stables 34
John Taylor (1620) and the Shakespeare-Hemp-Cannabis Hypothesis: Was the “Noted Weed” a Source of Inspiration for Creativity (“Invention”)? - Francis Thackeray 43
Sceptical Reflections on Hallucinogens and Other Worlds - Dan Wylie 58
Conclusion: Trance, Healing and Transgression - Richard Alan Northover 66
Additional Material:
Five Blogs and a Critical Reading 70
Critical Diaries 70 Dan Wylie
Blog 1: No 116 – Where’s the Zol in Our Literature? Ethicalanimal 75
Blog 2: Newgrange, Ireland: Neolithic Spirituality 75
Blog 3: Otherworldly Termites 77
Blog 4: Embodied Metaphors in Shamanic Art 80 Blog
5: The Axis Mundi, Shamanism and Trance States 84
Critical Reading 89
Richard Alan Northover: Altered States of Consciousness in Kim Stanley Robinson’s Shaman (2013) 89
Index 99