The Anthropology of Trance & Emergence: Manifestions of the Spirit World - Todd & Christine VanPool

We are excited to welcome back popular professors of anthropology at the University of Missouri, Christine and Todd VanPool. Their intensive ethnographic fieldwork and research includes Mesoamerica’s pre-Columbian art, iconography, pottery as part of their study of shamanic cultures and they see the trance model as a fundamental criterion for understanding the cultural patterns, cosmological and spiritual framework of shamanism. Will cover highlights of our exciting visit last week with the VanPools at the University of Missouri’s Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, and the EEG testing of the Ecstatic Trance - Ritual Body Postures. Then we will also walk-through an illustrated overview of our collaborative paper recently published in the Journal for the Anthropology of Consciousness, noting two Ritual Body Postures we use, seen in the shamanic pottery of the Mogollon culture that once spanned northern Mexico into Arizona and New Mexico. Part of the mission of the Cuyamungue Institute is looking to the anthropology of trance as a field of study that provides perspective on the cultural, social, and psychological aspects of trance states. We continue to Investigate the rituals, practices, and beliefs associated with altered states of consciousness, seeking to comprehend their significance and impact on individuals and communities. The study of trance provides insights into the complex interplay between cultural practices, spirituality, and the human experience. Through the practice of Ritual Postures we experience an “emergence experience” of an altered state of consciousness This involves a shift from the ordinary waking state to an expanded mode of awareness, perception, or experience.