"The materiality of visionary experiences in the Greek magical papyri. A theoretical and methodological quest" - ESSWE7: 7th International Conference of the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism "Western Esotericism and Consciousness: Visions, Voices, Altered States" (original) (raw)

Alteration of consciousness in Ancient Greece: Divine mania

History of Psychiatry 31 (3), pp. 257-273, 2020

Ancient Greece was unique in its attitude to alteration of consciousness. Various altered states of consciousness were commonly known: initiates experienced them during mystery rites; sacred officials and enquirers attained them in the major oracular centres; possession by various deities was recognized; and some sages and philosophers practised manipulation of consciousness. From the perspective of individual and public freedom, the prominent position of mania in Greek society reflects its openness and acceptance of the inborn human proclivity to experience alterations of consciousness, which were interpreted in positive terms as god-sent. These mental states were treated with cautious respect, but never suppressed or pushed to the cultural and social periphery, in contrast to many other complex societies, ancient and modern.

Divine Mania: Alteration of Consciousness in Ancient Greece by Yulia Ustinova

Journal of Scientific Exploration, 2021

What role did altered states of consciousness play in the life of ancient Greek society? With consummate skill and scholarship, Yulia Ustinova answers this question in her book, Divine Mania: Alteration of Consciousness in Ancient Greece. It appears that the secret of the extraordinary creativity of the ancient Greeks was their receptivity to, and approval of, a particular altered state of consciousness they cultivated. Mania is the name for this but it must be qualified as “god-given.” Mania is a word that touches on a cluster of concepts: madness, ecstasy, and enthusiasm, engoddedness, to use Ustinova’s more vivid coinage. It seems a paradox that this special, strange and often quite frightening state of dissociation should be so closely linked to one of the most creative civilizations. Unlike the Roman and Egyptian, the Greek approved and recognized the value of god-inspired mania. Plato makes Socrates say in the Phaedrus that through mania we may obtain the “greatest blessing...

Consciousness Alteration Practices in the West from Prehistory to Late Antiquity

Altering Consciousness. Multidisciplinary Perspectives. Eds. E. Cardeña and M. Winkelman. Vol. 1. History, Culture, and the Humanities. Santa Barbara, Praeger, p. 45-71

Since the Stone Age, human beings manipulated their consciousness. There is little doubt that psychotropic plants were used in the Neolithic period, and it is most probable that this and other methods of consciousness alteration, such as sensory deprivation, auditory driving and extensive motor behavior were employed even earlier, during the Palaeolithic. With the invention of writing and subsequent development of literature, descriptions of individual experiences of divine revelations, out-of-body states and related practices made their appearance. Ancient Greeks went further and began to expound altered states of consciousness as a complex world view, basing their approach on the belief that human ability to attain the ultimate truth is limited by nature, and only liberation from the restraint of the mortal flesh can allow a glimpse into the realm of the absolute. These ideas persisted till late antiquity, and were further developed by the adherents of syncretistic cults and philosophical schools drawing on the heritage of the entire Mediterranean world – as well as on the inherent human drive to attain extreme experiences by means of consciousness alteration.

Angelos Tanagras: Spiritualism in Greece

2018

Around the middle of the 19th century, a wave of spiritistic practices that started spreading from USA moved over to Europe and eventually arrived at its southern end, to Greece. Spiritualism is the belief that the spirits of the departed can communicate with the living to provide advice, help and comfort. The followers of Spiritualism are mostly drawn from the middle and upper classes. While there exists an extensive literature on Spiritualism worldwide, there is very little known about Spiritualism in Greece. The present article aims to fill this gap, presenting the spiritistic activities, beliefs and attitudes in Greece from late 19th century to early 20th century, based on the experiences of Angelos Tanagras (1875-1971), the president of the Hellenic Society for Psychophysiology (1923-1958), as he had described them in his autobiography. Characteristic in spiritistic séances is the so-called “table-turning” or table-tilting, where participants would sit around a table, place their hands on it, address questions to the spirits and wait for a table movement to serve as the spirits’ response.

Some Ancient Greek Theories of (Divine and Mortal) Mind

This paper suggests that consideration of alternative models—of ancient Greek religion, the nature of the individual, and theories of mind—raise questions about the ancient conceptions of the individual experience and mind—and lead to a reconsideration of the nature of ’private reflection in private spaces’.

The Theory of Psychobolia in the History of Greek Parapsychology

The Theory of Psychobolia in the History of Greek Parapsychology, 2019

This article is the transcript of my talk presented at the 43rd conference of the Society for Psychical Research, 20-22 September 2019, that took place in Leicester UK. Also available at the 'Angelos Tanagras Memoirs' Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/notes/angelos-tanagras-memoirs/37-the-theory-of-psychobolia-in-the-history-of-greek-parapsychology-1/688866588290191/

The History of Greek Parapsychology

During a workshop that took place at the City of Athens Cultural Center on Thursday, July 20th 2017 from 13:00-18:00, whose aim was the Introduction to Parapsychology, there were eight free public lectures. The title of the workshop was: “Engaging the Oracle”. Here is the transcript of one of these talks on the “History of Greek Parapsychology” by Fotini Pallikari. Along with text, all PowerPoint slides and photos shown at the talk will be presented here, as well as references related to the work by and on Angelos Tanagras.