Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the ParanormalVol. 3 No. 3 1A Paradigm-Breaking Hypothesis for Solving the Mind-Body Problem - Bernardo KastrupChild Witches: From Imaginary Cannibalism to Ritual Abuse in London - Leo RuickbieEntheogenic Spirituality and Gender in Australia - Joseph GelferTylor and Neo-Tylorian Ap-proaches to the Study of Religion: Re-Evaluating an Important Lineage in the Theorisation of Religion - Liam SutherlandThe Shamanic Flight of the Soul: Visiting Other Worlds - Erwin RooijakkersPsychic Surgery as a Breaking Frame:Ethnographic Observations of a London Based Psychic Surgeon - Lara BauerVol. 3 No. 3 (July 2012)Board ofReviewersDr. Fiona Bowie (Dept. Archaeology & Anthropology, University ofBristol)Dr. Iain R. Edgar (Dept. Anthropology, Durham University)Prof. David J. Hufford (Centre for Ethnography & Folklore, University ofPennsylvania)Prof. Charles D. Laughlin (Dept. Sociology & Anthropology, Carleton University)Dr. David Luke (Dept. Psychology & Counseling, University ofGreenwich)Dr. James McClenon (Virginia Beach Psychiatric Center)Dr. Sean O'Callaghan (Department ofPolitics, Philosophy & Religion, University ofLancaster)Dr. Serena Roney-Dougal (Psi Research Centre, Glastonbury)Dr. William Rowlandson (Dept. Hispanic Studies, University ofKent)Dr. Mark A. Schroll (Institute for Consciousness Studies, Rhine Research Centre)Dr. Gregory Shushan (Ian Ramsay Centre for Science & Religion, University ofOxford)Dr. Angela Voss (EXESESO, University ofExeter)Dr. Lee Wilson (Dept. Archaeology & Anthropology, University ofCambridge)Dr. Michael Winkelman(School ofHuman Evolution & Social Change, Arizona State University)Dr. David E. Young (Dept. Anthropology, University ofAlberta)Honorary Members ofthe BoardProf. Stephen Braude(Dept. Philosophy, University ofMaryland)Paul Devereux (Royal College ofArt)Prof. Hoyt Edge (Dept. Philosophy, Rollins College)Prof. Charles F. Emmons (Dept. Sociology, Gettysburg College)Prof. Patric V. Giesler (Dept. Anthropology, Gustavus Adolphus College)Prof. Ronald Hutton (Dept. History, University ofBristol)Prof. Stanley Krippner (Faculty ofPsychology, Saybrook University)Dr. Edith Turner (Dept. Anthropology, University ofVirginia)Dr. Robert Van de Castle (Dept. Psychiatry, University ofVirginia)EditorJack Hunter (Dept. Archaeology & Anthropology, University ofBristol) Cover ArtworkRosie ThomasParanthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the ParanormalVol. 3 No. 3 2Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the ParanormalWelcometoVol.3No.3,thesecondanniversaryissueof Paranthropology:JournalofAnthropological ApproachestothePara-normal. This issue is released alongside ahardbackanthology featuring a selection ofthe best articles fromthe past four is-suesofthejournal.AswellaschaptersfromLeeWilson, MarkA.Schroll,CharlesD.Laughlin,FionaBowie,James McClenon, Fabian Graham,Serena Roney-Dougal, David E. Young,David Luke and myself,the book also features an ex-clusiveForewordfromRobertVandeCastleandanAfter-wordfromMichaelWinkelman.Thechapterswerechosen fortheirtheoreticalandmethodologicalcontributiontothe developinganthropology ofthe paranormal.Formore infor-mationontheavailability oftheParanthropologyanthology go to page 69. InAParadigm-BreakingHypothesisforSolvingtheMind-BodyProblem,BernardoKastrupdetailswhathascometobe called the ltertheoryofconsciousness as an alternativeto themodelsofmind-bodyinteractioncurrentlydominating thescienticstudyofconsciousness.InChildWitches:From ImaginaryCannibalismtoRitualAbuse,sociologistofwitchcraft Leo Ruickibe takes an in-depth look at certain contemporary AfricanwitchbeliefsintheUK,withaparticularemphasis on the kind ofritual abuse exemplied by the death ofKristy Bamuin 2010.InEntheogenicSpirituality andGender in Australia, JosephGelfer details the ndings ofsurvey research into per-ceivedgenderequalityintheAustraliapsychedeliccommu-nity.ErwinRooijakkers,astudent ofTranspersonalPsychol-ogyandConsciousnessStudiesattheUniversityofNorth-ampton,givesanexperientialaccountofhisownvisitsto otherworlds.LaraBauersarticleexploresthepracticeof psychic surgeryin the UK,withreference to her own ethno-graphic eldwork with a London based psychic surgeon.And nally,LiamSutherlandspaperexploresthelegacyofSir E.B.Tylors theory ofanimism, arguing that it is still a useful tool in the theorisation ofreligion. Wehadoriginallyintendedtoinclude averbatimin-terview,conducted by Dr.Fiona Bowie and myself,with Prof. Erlendur Haraldsson in this issue. Unfortunately, due to some sortoftechnicalmalfunction,theaudiorecordingdisap-peared and the interview was lost.It is a great shame,but we hope to be able to conduct more interviews in future. Indeed, we arecurrentlyarranginginterviews withfolklorist David J. Hufford, parapsychologist George P. Hansen and master stage magician Eugene Burger. So look out for those. Jack HunterParanthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the ParanormalVol. 3 No. 3 3ContentsA Paradigm-Breaking Hypothesis for Solving the Mind-Body Problem - Bernardo Kastrup (4-12)Child Witches: From Imaginary Cannibalism to Ritual Abuse in London - Leo Ruickbie (13-21)Entheogenic Spirituality and Gen-der in Australia - Joseph Gelfer (22-33)The Shamanic Flight of the Soul: Visiting Other Worlds - Erwin Rooijakkers (34-38)Psychic Surgery as a Breaking Frame: Ethnographic Observa-tions of a London Based Psychic Surgeon - Lara Bauer (39-46)Tylor and Neo-Tylorian Ap-proaches to the Study of Religion: Re-Evaluating an Important Line-age in the Theorisation of Religion - Liam Sutherland (47-57)Review: Raymond Tallis: Aping Mankind, 16/05/2012 at theWatershed, Bristol - Jack Hunter (58-60)Review: Perspectives of Clinical Parapsychology: An Introductory Reader - Callum E. Cooper (61-62)Events & News - Anthony Kelly (63-68)Details of the Second Anniversary Anthology - (69) Themodernscientific understandingof mental phenomenaassertsthatthebrainisthesole causalagencyofmind.Thisviewissubstanti-atedbythecorrelationsordinarily observedbe-tweensubjectivementalstatesandobjective brainstates.Yet,thereisanincreasingamount ofevidencesuggestingthat,undercertainex-traordinarycircumstances,thecorrelationbe-tweenpeaksubjectiveexperiencesandbrain states breaks. This strongly indicateseitherthat thebrainis not thesolecausalagency of mind, or (and more likely) that it is not a causal agency at all. Inthis paper, analternative hypothesis for the relationship betweenthe mind and the brain will bediscussed; onethatis entirelyconsistent withcurrent neurosciencedata and increasingly supportedbythelatestscientificevidence.The hypothesisexplainsnotonlywhybrainstates are, ordinarily, tightlycorrelatedtomindstates, butalsohow,underextraordinaryconditions, subjectiveexperiencecanoccurindependently ofthebrain.Thispaperoffersarational, evidence-based,yetfundamentallydifferent perspectiveonthenatureofconsciousness,life, identity, and death than that offered by material-ism.IntroductionThereisanundeniablecorrelationbetween brainstatesandsubjectiveexperience.Anyone who has everbeenintoxicatedwith alcoholwill beable to attest to marked changes incognition accompanyingthechangesinbrainchemistry. Inaddition,alterationsof consciousness accom-panyingphysical trauma to the brain, as wellas theuseof anesthetics and psychiatric drugs, are alsoexamplesofthetightlinkbetweenmind and brainthat manyof us arepersonallyfamil-iarwith.Laboratorystudies haveprovided evi-dencethat thiscorrelationisevenmorespecific thanone could inferfromdirect experience: par-ticularconsciousexperienceshavebeenlinked tospecificneuronalactivationpatternsinthe brain(Metzinger2000). ExperimentswithTran-scranialMagneticStimulation(TMS)havealso demonstrated that deactivationof specific brain regionscorrelatestightlytospecificchangesin subjective experience(Pascual-Leoneet al. 2002). Therefore, any theoretical hypothesis purporting toexplaintheontologicalstatusofmindmust be able to explain why and how subjective expe-rienceseems, ordinarily,sotightlycorrelated to brain processes.Yet,that mindstatesarecorrelated tobrain statesdoesnotnecessarilyimplythatbrain statescausemindstates.Assumingsoisa knownfallacyinscienceandphilosophycalled the cum hoc ergo propterhoc fallacy. For instance, the presence of large numbers of firefighters cor-relateswithlargefires,butfirefightersdonot causefires.Similarly,thevoicesonehearscom-ing out of an analogradio receiver correlate very tightlytotheelectromagneticoscillations inthe radios circuitry, but that does not mean that the radiocircuitrysynthesizesthevoices.Indeed, manylogicalpossibilitiesremainopentoex-plaintheordinarilyobservedcorrelationbe-tweensubjectiveexperienceandbrainactivity, notonlythematerialistassumptionthatthe brain causes the mind.The Reigning Materialist ParadigmBy postulatingthat material brain states are(the sole cause of) subjective experience, the reigning materialistparadigmtentativelyexplainsthe ordinarycorrelations betweensubjectiveexperi-enceandbrainstatesrathersimply. Yet,sucha paradigmiscurrentlyarticulatedinonlya Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the ParanormalVol. 3 No. 3 4A Paradigm-Breaking Hypothesis for Solving the Mind-Body Problem Bernardo KastrupKeywords: Consciousness, Filter Theory, Mind-Body, Neuroscience Submitted: 06/06/12Reviewed: 02/07/12Accepted:03/07/12vagueand promissorymanner, inthat neurosci-encedoesnotspecifyprecisely,orunambigu-ously,whatmeasurableparametersofbrain processes map onto whatqualities of subjective experience.Forinstance,mostneuroscientists assumea directlinkbetweenconsciousexperi-ence and neuronalfirings. Therefore, one would expecttofindaconsistentandstraightforward mappingbetweenthequalitiesofasubjective experienceandmeasurableparametersofthe associatedneuronalfirings; afterall,theexperi-encesupposedlyis(solelycausedby)suchfir-ings.However,empiricalobservationsinfact revealaninconsistentandevencontradictory relationshipbetweenthetwo(Tononi2004a). Partlytodealwiththiskindofinconsistency, many neuroscientistsspeak ofspecificity:certain types of experience, regardless of theircomplex-ityorintensity,aresupposedtobe(solely caused by) the activation of particular subsets of neurons, regardless of theamount of neurons or neuronalfirings involved (Gross 2002).Specific-itythusseemsarbitrary,forifexperienceis (solelycausedby)particularneuronalfirings, there should then be some kind of proportionality betweenthetwo.1Finally,thereisnt evencon-sensus that experiencecorrelateswithneuronal firings at all: Someneuroscientists postulate, for instance, that mental states originate fromunob-servablequantum-levelprocessestakingplace within neuronal microtubules (Hameroff 2006).So we end up in a peculiar situation wherein ignoranceisusedtosubstantiatematerialism: Sincewedontknowwhatspecificmaterial processis(thecauseof)consciousness,given anyindividualobservationneuroscientistscan alwayspostulateahypotheticalmappingbe-tweenaphysiologicalprocessandsubjective experiencethatcouldconceivablyexplainsuch observation;allthatisrequiredissome(any) level of metabolismanywhere in the brain, which is not too difficult to find or reasonably assume.Thereason suchsurprisingambiguityis tol-eratedisthis:whenitcomestoconsciousness, thereisnoway,not evenin principle, to logically deducethepropertiesofsubjectiveexperience fromthepropertiesofmatter(Chalmers2006). Inotherwords,thereis nowaytologicallyde-duceconscious perception, cognition, orfeeling fromthemass,momentum,spin,position,or chargeofthesub-atomicparticlesmakingup thebrain.Indeed,natureaboundswithstruc-tures wherein particles combinein extraordinar-ilycomplex and exquisiteways andyet seemto leadtonosubjectiveexperienceatall.Evenin thehumanbrainthisisthecase:muchofthe neuronalprocessinginourheads, entailingthe exactsamekind ofneurons that otherwiselead toawareness,iscompletelyunconscious(Ea-gleman2011).Suchseeminglyinsurmountable difficultyinlogicallydeducingthequalitiesof experiencefromthepropertiesofmatteris calledtheexplanatorygap(Levine1999),or thehardproblemofconsciousness(Chalmers 2003).Thisway,sincewehavenointuitionto judgewhetheraparticularmappingbetweena brain process and a conscious experience is at all reasonable, any proposed mappingseems just as good (oras bad)asany other; afact easilymis-used in support of materialism.Inallfairness,neuroscientistsreadilyadmit thatourcurrentunderstandingofthebrainis limited.Assuch,itisentirelylegitimatethat theyremainopen tomanydifferent alternatives for explainingconscious experience onthebasis ofmaterialprocesses.Butindoingsotheyare alsoacknowledgingthat,currently,thereisno onemappingbetweenspecificparametersof brainphysiology andsubjectiveexperiencethat isconsistentwithallempiricalobservations. Therefore, it is not possibletoclaimthat the em-piricaldatasupportsmaterialism,forsucha claimwouldimplyacoherenthypothesis(i.e. onemapping)thatcurrentlydoesntexist.To substantiatethisfurther,letusbrieflylookat what Dr. Christof Koch, oneof the worlds lead-ingneuroscientistinthefieldofconsciousness research, considers the best materialist theory of Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the ParanormalVol. 3 No. 3 51 Technically, what I mean here is that, if the neuronal firings of an excitatory brain process are (the sole cause of) a conscious experience, then an increase in the complexity or intensity of the experience should be accompanied by a corresponding in-crease in the firings of that associated excitatory process, given a constant level of inhibition. It is understood that consciousness, in general, is related to an interplay between excitatory and inhibitory processes in potentially different brain regions.consciousness availabletoday(Koch2011): Giu-lioTononisinformationintegrationtheory (Tononi 2004b).The Materialist Theory of ConsciousnessTononistheorytakesasinputwhathecalls complexes:Neuronalprocessesinthebrain, eachwithagiventopology.Theamountofin-formationintegrated bya complex, represented bythevariable,isthencalculatedforeach complexbasedonitsrespectivetopology.The idea is that, when crosses a certainthreshold, thecomplexisconsideredconscious.Thespe-cificvalueofthisthresholdisdetermined through empiricalcalibration. Whenthe calibra-tionisreliable,researcherscanthenpredict whichbrainprocessescauseconsciousexperi-encesimplybylookingatthecorresponding value.Clearly,Tononi'stheorymerelyprovidesa heuristicindicatorforthepresenceofcon-sciousness;anadhocrule-of-thumb. As such,it explainsconsciousnessnomorethanaspeed-ometerexplainshowacarmoves:whenthe needleofthespeedometermovesup,one knowsthatthecarismoving;butthatneedle movement provides noinsight intothefact that thereisa combustionenginefreeingup energy stored inthemolecularbonds ofhydrocarbons, therebymakingsuchenergyavailableforturn-ingacrankshaftconnectedtoanaxle,which causesthecar'swheelstoturn,whichinturn griptheirregularitiesoftheroadand,through Newton'sthirdlawofmotion,causethecarto move. The latterwould bea causalexplanation, but Tononi's theory entails nothinganalogous to it.Letuslookatanexamplefromthefieldof biologytomakethiscontrastclearer: theKrebs cycleofcellularrespiration(KrebsandWeitz-man1987)isafullcausalexplanationforhow energyismadeavailabletoanorganism'scells. We know theinputs of the process: molecules of sugarsandfats.Weunderstand theoxidization reactionsthatprogressivelyfreeuptheenergy stored in the molecular bonds of these sugar and fatmolecules.Weknowinwhatformthisen-ergybecomesavailabletothecells:ATP.We know whereallofthistakes place:Inthemito-chondria.And,weknowhowthecells putthe ATPtouse.Inotherwords,wehaveaclosed and complete causalchainthat allows us tode-ducethepropertiesoftheobservedphenome-non(i.e.theabilityofcellstoperformwork), fromthepropertiesof theprocesscorrelatedto it(i.e.oxidizationreactions,cellstructureslike the mitochondria, etc.).Tononi'stheorydoesnotofferusanysuch causal chainin thecase of consciousness. It does notallowustodeduce,noteveninprinciple, theproperties of the observed phenomenon(i.e. subjectiveexperience),fromthepropertiesof theprocess correlated toit(i.e.neuronalphysi-ology).It onlyoffersa heuristicindicatorwith-out anyexplanatorymodelforclarifyingwhere subjectiveexperience comes from, orwhya cer-tainlevelofinformationintegrationleadsto suchanextraordinarypropertyasbeingcon-scious. Nearly allrelevant questions remainun-answeredbyjustlikeallrelevantquestions abouthowthecarmovesremainunanswered by the speedometer.SinceTononistheoryis claimed, by materi-alists, to be the best materialism has to offer, it is fairtoconcludethat materialismcurrentlydoes notprovideasufficient explanatoryframework for tackling the mind-body problem.An Alternative HypothesisIhopetohaveestablishedthatthenotionthat consciousnessismerely(theresultof)material brainactivity not only lacks explicit and specific elaboration,itcannot strictlybesaid tobesup-ported by empirical observations. Therefore, it is legitimateandappropriatetoofferalternative explanatory models.All scientific models need, ultimately, to pos-tulate ontologicalprimitives: irreduciblenatural entities whichthemselvescantbeexplained, but mustbeacceptedassimplyexistinginand bythemselvesonthebasisofwhichtocon-struct explanationsfortherest of nature. Today, for instance, StringTheory and M-Theory postu-lateimagined,abstract,undetectablesuper-strings as thefundamental, irreducible building blocksofnature,onthebasisofwhichevery-Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the ParanormalVol. 3 No. 3 6thingelse is supposedly explainable in principle (Greene2003).Materialismattemptstoreduce consciousexperiencetophysicalentitieslike those.Assuch,itassumesconsciousnesstobe derivative, not fundamental.However, recentand powerfulphysicalevi-denceindicatesstronglythat nophysicalentity orphenomenoncanbeexplainedseparately from, orindependentlyof,its subjectiveappre-hensioninconsciousness(Grblacheretal. 2007).Ifthisistrue,thelogicalconsequenceis thatconsciousness cannot bereduced tomatter foritappearsthatitisneededformatterto existinthefirstplace butmustitselfbefun-damental.Fromaphilosophicalpointofview, thisnotionisentirelycoherentandreasonable, for conscious experienceis allwe canbecertain to exist; entities outsideofconsciousness being, as faraswecaneverknow, merely abstractions of mind. Sucha notion also circumvents the ex-planatorygapandthehardproblemofcon-sciousness,sincebothonlyarisefromtheat-tempt toreduceconsciousness tomatter. There-fore,inthehypothesiselaborateduponbelow, conscious experienceisitself takentobeanon-tological primitive.Now,ifconsciousnessisprimaryandirre-ducible,thenthebraincannotbethecausal agencyofmind;mindmustexist apriori,onto-logicallyprecedingthebrain. How canwethen explaintheempiricalobservationthat,ordinar-ily, mind states correlate tightly to brain states?Thehypothesishereisthatthefunctionof thebrainis tolocalizeconsciousness,pinningit tothespace-timelocusof thephysicalbody.In doingso,thebrainmodulatesconscious percep-tioninaccordancewiththepositionandper-spectiveof thebodyin space-time. Indeed, there would be clear survival advantages for the brain toevolvetodojustthat:bylocalizingand modulatingsubjectiveexperienceaccordingto thespace-timelocusofthebody,thebrain coaxes mind to identify itself with thebody and, therefore,contributeactivelytothebodys sur-vival.Whennot subject tothislocalizationand modulationmechanism,mindisunbound:It entailsawarenessofallthereisacrossspace, time, and perhaps beyond. It is difficult to imag-inesucha stateofmindashavingavestedin-terest in thesurvival of localized and ephemeral aggregations ofmatter, suchasphysicalbodies. Seenthisway,thebrainisasurprisinglyeffec-tive mechanismconstructed by evolution to cap-ture, constrain, and put touseanotherwiseun-boundandirreducibleaspectofnature:subjec-tiveexperienceitself. Thiscanbeseenas some-thinganalogoustohowplantsevolvedtocap-ture an otherwise unbound aspect of nature, sun light,andputittouseforthebenefitoftheir own metabolism and survival.Accordingto this filter hypothesis of mind-braininteraction,nosubjectiveexperienceis evercreatedby thebrain, but merely selected by itaccordingtothepositionandperspectiveof thebodyinspace-time,asBergsonsocogently argued(1912)overahundredyearsago.This selection process is akinto a filtering out of con-sciousexperience:analogoustohowananalog radio receiverselects, fromamongthevariety of stationspresentconcurrentlyinthebroadcast signal,thatwhichonewantstolistento;all other stations being filtered out and never reach-ingtheawarenessofthelistener.Assuch,all subjectiveexperiences exista priori, irreducibly; thebrain merely selects thosethat are usefulfor the survival of thephysical body. The brainacti-vationpatternsthatordinarilycorrelatetocon-sciousexperiencereflectthefilteringprocessat work: Theyareanalogoustothecircuit oscilla-tions inthe radios tuner, which correlatetightly to thesoundstheradio produces.Thepresence ofsuchcircuitoscillationsobviouslydoesnot meanthattheradioisgeneratingthebroadcast signalitself,but merelyselectingasubset ofin-formationfromapreexistingsignal.Analo-gously,brainactivationpatternsdonotmean thatthebrainisgeneratingthecorrelatedcon-scious experience, but merely selectingit froma broader, irreducible superset.Therefore,theordinarilyobservedcorrela-tionbetweenbrainandmindstatesisadirect andnecessaryconsequenceofthisselectivefil-teringoutofsubjectiveexperience:whenthe filteringmechanism(i.e. thebrain)isinterfered withphysically,asinablowtothehead,or chemically,asduringanesthesiaoralcoholin-Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the ParanormalVol. 3 No. 3 7toxication thefilteringprocessthat modulates ourconsciousexperienceisperturbed,sothat correspondingperturbationsofexperiencefol-low.Suchperturbationsareanalogoustothe confusingandincoherentsoundsonehears when messingrandomly with theanalogradios tuningknob.Inconclusion,thehypothesisof-feredhereremainsconsistentwithallobserved correlationsbetweensubjectiveexperienceand measurable brain states.One last point must be made. For thereto be a survivaladvantageincapturinganotherwise unboundconsciousnesswithinthespace-time confines determined bythe brain, consciousness must havematerially-irreduciblecausalefficacy onbrain function. In other words, theremust be downwardcausationfromconsciousnessto-wards brain structure and/oractivity, otherwise consciousness wouldbemerelya uselessspec-tatorprovidingnosurvivaladvantage.Asit turnsout,thereisindeedsignificantempirical evidencethatdownwardcausationdoesoccur. Experimentshavebeenperformedinwhich subjectscouldphysicallyaltertheirownneu-ronalwiringtherebyreversingpreviouslydi-agnosed brainpathologies simply by directing theirconsciousintent(SchwartzandBegley 2004).Thissurprisingeffectisknownasself-directedneuroplasticity,anditsuggeststhat consciousintentisnotonlyontologicallyinde-pendent from, but canalsocausallyaffect, brain activityand structure, thereby potentially tilting the survival fitness of an organism.The PredictionsAnalternativehypothesisforaddressingthe mind-bodyproblemisonlyusefulinsofarasit makespredictionsthatdifferfromthepredic-tionsof themainstreammaterialist assumption. Below,Iwillelaborateonthetwomost impor-tantpointswherethefilterhypothesisdis-cussedabovedepartsfrommaterialisminits predictions.Firstly,thefilterhypothesisimpliesthat consciousness,initsunfilteredstate,isun-bound. As such, consciousness is fundamentally unitary andnon-individualized. The emergence ofmultiple,separate,anddifferentconscious perspectives,oregos,isaconsequenceofthe filteringprocess:differentegos,occupyingdif-ferentpointsinthefabricofspace-time,retain awareness of different subsets of a universalsu-perset of allpotential subjectiveexperiences; the rest beingfiltered out. It is the differences across subsets that give eachego its idiosyncratic char-acteristics,personalhistory,andsenseofper-sonal identity.Thepart of theuniversalsuperset of subjec-tiveexperiencesthatisfilteredoutbecomes, then,theunconsciousmindoftherespective ego.Sinceeachegoretainsonlyaninfinitesi-mallysmallpartoftheuniversalsuperset giventheunfathomablevarietyofconscious perspectivesthatexistinpotentialitytheun-consciousmindsofdifferentegoswilldiffer only minimally; thevast majorityoftheuncon-sciousbeingidenticalacrossegos. Assuch,the filterhypothesis,unlikethematerialistas-sumption,predictstheexistenceofacollective unconscious;asharedrepositoryofpotential experiencesthatfartranscendsmeregenetic predispositionsofaspecies.Itisconceivable that,eitherthroughnaturalfluctuationsorin-tentionalinterferencewiththefilteringmecha-nisms that modulate our individual experiences, partsofthiscollectiveunconsciouscanocca-sionally percolate up into conscious awareness.Secondly,andmostimportantly,thefilter hypothesispredictsthatonecanconceivably haveexperiencesthatdonotcorrelatetoones brainstates. Sinceherethebrainisseenmerely as amechanismforfilteringoutexperiences,it isconceivablethat,whenthismechanismisin-terfered withsoas tobe(partiallyand/ortem-porarily)deactivated,onessubjectiveexperi-encecoulddelocalize, expand beyondthebody intimeandspace,andperhapsevenbeyond time andspaceas such. Inotherwords, thefil-ter hypothesis predicts that transpersonal, non-local experiences canconceivablyhappenwhen particularbrainprocessesare(partiallyand/or temporarily)deactivated.Thispossibility,of course, is excluded bythe materialist interpreta-tion.Thekey element of this second predictionof the filter hypothesis is that non-local, transper-Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the ParanormalVol. 3 No. 3 8sonal experiences arepredicted to correlatepre-ciselyto certainreductions of brainactivity.This iscounterintuitivefromamaterialistperspec-tive,sincethelatterentailsthatexperienceis (solely caused by) brain activity.The EvidenceEmpiricalevidencefortheexistenceof acollec-tiveunconsciouswas,inthemodernera,first compiled by Swiss psychiatrist CarlJung(1991). Basedonhisprofessionalexperiencewith countlesspatients,aswellasself-experimentation(2009),Junghasfoundthat mentalcontents fromthecollective unconscious canpercolateuptoconsciousawareness throughdreams,visions,andothernon-ordinarystatesofconsciousness.Diligentstu-dentsofJungsworkhavenodoubtthathis characterization of the collective unconscious far transcends thescope of mere genetic predisposi-tions.TheobservationsofJunghavebeencon-firmedandextendedbymanyothermodern psychiatristsandpsychologists.Indeed,under theumbrellaofthefieldofTranspersonalPsy-chology,anenormousbodyofempiricalevi-dencehas beenaccumulated fortheexistence of an unconscioussegment ofthe mind that spans acrossindividuals(JournalofTranspersonalPsy-chology).Allthis evidenceisconsistent withthe filterhypothesisdiscussedhere,andcontra-dicts the predictions of materialism.Movingnow to thesecond keypredictionof thefilterhypothesis,thereisindeedabroad patternofempiricalevidenceassociatingnon-local, transpersonal experiences with procedures that reduce brain metabolism:a) Faintingcausedbyasphyxiationorotherrestric-tionsofblood flow tothe brain isknown tosome-timesinduceintensetranspersonalexperiences andstatesofnon-locality.Thehighlydangerous chockinggame,'playedmainlybyteenagers worldwide,isanattempttoinducesuchexperi-encesthroughpartialstrangulation,oftenatthe riskofdeath(Neal2008).Eroticasphyxiation isa similargameplayedincombinationwithsexual intercourse.Theeffecthasbeendescribedas'a lucid, semi-hallucinogenic state [which,] combined with orgasm,[is saidtobe]nolesspowerful than cocaine' (Shuman 2007:80);b) PilotsundergoingG-forceinducedlossofcon-sciousness(G-LOC) where blood is forcedout of thebrain,significantlyreducingitsmetabolism reportexperiencessimilartothe notoriouslynon-local andtranspersonalNDE (Near-DeathExperi-ence) (Whinnery and Whinnery 1990);c) ThetechniqueofHolotropicBreathwork,aswell as more traditional Yogic breathing practices, use a formhyperventilationtoachieveasimilareffect: They increaseblood alkalinity levels, thereby con-strictingbloodvesselsinthebrainandcausing hypoxiaanddissociation(RhinewineandWil-liams2007). This, inturn,reportedly leadstosig-nificanttranspersonal, non-localexperiences(Tay-lor1994).Evenstraightforwardhyperventilation, doneinformallywithoutspecifictechniques, can lead tosurprisingly intensenon-local experiences. Forinstance,ananonymousmalereportedthe following: Oneofusstoodagainstatreeand breatheddeeplyfora whileandthen tookavery deepbreath. Anotherpusheddownhardonhis ribcageor actually justatthe placewhere theribs end. Thisrenderedthesubjectimmediatelyun-consciousWhen I tried it, I didn'tthink it would work, but then suddenly I was in a meadow which glowedinyellowandred,everythingwasex-tremelybeautifulandfunny.Thisseemedtolast for ages. I must say that I have never felt such bliss ever again (Retz 2007);d) Psychedelicsubstanceshavebeenknowntoin-duce highly complex, intense,non-local,transper-sonalexperiences(Strassmanetal.2008).Ithad alwaysbeenassumedthattheydosoby exciting thepartsofthebraincorrelatedtosuchexperi-ences. Yet, a very recent study has shown that psy-chedelicsactuallydotheopposite.Thestudyre-portedthatprofoundchangesinconsciousness wereobservedafter[theadministrationofthe psychedelic],butsurprisingly,onlydecreasesin cerebralbloodflowwereseen.(Carhart-Harris etal.2012:1)Indeed,theresearchersobservedno increasesincerebralbloodflowinanyregion. (Carhart-Harrisetal.2012:2)Evenmorestriking, they reported thatthe magnitude ofthis decrease [inbrainactivity]predictedtheintensityofthe subjectiveeffects.(Carhart-Harrisetal.2012:1)In otherwords, theintensityoftheexperiencewas Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the ParanormalVol. 3 No. 3 9inversely proportional to the activation of the brain, precisely as predicted by the filter hypothesis;e) TheuseofTranscranialMagneticStimulation (TMS)can inhibitcortical function in highly local-ized areasofthe brainby extinction oftheassoci-atedelectromagneticfields.Whentheneuronal activity in the angular gyrusofapatientwith epi-lepsy was inhibited in this way, Out of Body Expe-riences(OBEs)werereportedlyinduced(Blanke 2002);f) Ifthe trendabove isconsistent,we shouldbe able toextrapolateitfurther:Braindamage,through deactivating certain partsof the brain, shouldalso induce non-local, transpersonalexperiences under the right circumstances. And indeed,this has been reported. Twoprominentexamplesare the case of neuroanatomistDr.JillBolteTaylor, whounder-wentaprofoundtranspersonalexperienceasa consequenceofastroke(2009),andasystematic studyrecentlycarriedoutinItaly(Urgesietal. 2010). In the Italian study, patients were evaluated beforeandafterbrainsurgeryfortheremovalof tumors.Statisticallysignificantincreasesinfeel-ingsofself-transcendence werereportedafterthe surgery;g) Near-DeathExperiences(NDEs)aretheultimate exampleofnon-local,transpersonalexperiences associatedwith notonly reduced, butabsentbrain activity. Evidenceforthe validity of NDEscontin-uestobe collectedunder scientificprotocols, and hasbeenmounting(Kelly,GreysonandKelly 2009).Thepatternhereisnotonlyclear,but striking. Themost complex, coherent, intense,non-local, and transpersonalexperiences people report are associatedpreciselywithreductions,oreven elimination, of brainmetabolism. This is consis-tentwiththefilterhypothesisdiscussedhere, and contradicts the materialist assumption.ConclusionsThebroad patternthat associates peak transper-sonal,non-localexperienceswithreductionsin brainmetabolismseems tocontradictthetenta-tive,promissorymaterialistsolutiontothe mind-body problem. Instead, it substantiates the notionthat thebrainisa kindof filterofcon-sciousness,whichselectsfromauniversalsu-persetofirreduciblesubjectiveexperiences thosewhichcorrelatewiththespace-timelocus ofthebody.Itisreasonabletothinkthatthere were survival advantages for the brain to evolve thiscapacity,whichtheempiricalevidencefor downwardcausationfurthersubstantiates.This filter hypothesis explains how traditional tech-niquesfortheattainmentoftranspersonalin-sightwork:byreducingtheactivityofcertain brainregions,they(partiallyand/ortemporar-ily) takethefilteringmechanismoffline,allow-ingconsciousnesstode-clenchandexpandbe-yond the space-timelocus of the body. Fromthis perspective,physicaldeathisnottheendof consciousness, but its liberation.BibliographyBergson,H. (1912). Matterand Memory.London: George Allen & Co.Blanke,O.etal.(2002).Stimulatingillusory own-body perceptions: The part of the brain that caninduce out-of-body experiences has been located. Nature, No. 419, pp. 269-270.Carhart-Harris, R. L. et al. (2012). Neural corre-lates of the psychedelic state as determined by fMRI studies with psilocybin. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. [Online]. Available from: www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/01/17/1119598109 [Accessed 6 June 2012].Chalmers,D.(2003).Consciousnessandits PlaceinNature. In:Stich, S. andWarfield, F.eds.BlackwellGuidetothePhilosophyof Mind. Malden, MA: Blackwell, pp. 102-142.Chalmers,D.(2006).StrongandWeakEmer-gence.In:Clayton,P.andDavies,P. eds. TheRe-EmergenceofEmergence.Oxford:Ox-ford University Press, pp. 244-254.Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the ParanormalVol. 3 No. 3 10Eagleman, D. (2011). Incognito: The Secret Livesof the Brain. London: Canongate.Greene,B.(2003).TheElegantUniverse:Super-strings,HiddenDimensions,and theQuest for theUltimateTheory.NewYork,NY:W.W. Norton & Company.Grblacher, S. et al. (2007). An experimental test of non-local realism. Nature, 446, 871-875.Gross,C. G.(2002).GenealogyoftheGrand-motherCell.Neuroscientist,Vol.8,No.5, pp. 512518.Hameroff,S. (2006).Consciousness,neurobiol-ogy and quantummechanics: The casefor a connection.In:Tuszynski,J.A.ed.The EmergingPhysicsofConsciousness.Berlin: Springer, pp. 193-241.Jung, C.G.(1991).TheArchetypesandtheCollec-tive Unconscious. London: Routledge.Jung,C.G.(2009).TheRedBook:LiberNovus. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.JournalofTranspersonalPsychology.PaloAlto, CA:AssociationforTranspersonalPsychol-ogy.Kelly, E. W., Greyson, B.and Kelly,E. D.(2009). UnusualExperiencesNearDeathandRe-lated Phenomena. In: Kelly, E. D. et al. Irre-ducibleMind: Toward aPsychology forthe21st Century.Lanham,MD:Rowman&Little-field, pp. 367-421.Koch,C.(2011).TheNeurobiologyand MathematicsofConsciousness.[Online video].In:SingularitySummit2011.Avail-able from: ! www.youtube.com/watch?v=6i9kE3Ne7as [Accessed 6 June 2012].Krebs, H. A. and Weitzman, P. D. J. (1987). Krebs' citric acid cycle: half a century and still turning. London: Biochemical Society.Levine,J.(1999).Conceivability,Identity,and theExplanatoryGap.In:Hameroff,S., Kaszniak, A.,and Chalmers, D. eds.Toward aScienceofConsciousnessIII,TheThirdTuc-sonDiscussionsandDebates.Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, pp. 3-12.Metzinger, T.ed. (2000). Neural Correlates of Con-sciousness:EmpiricalandConceptualQues-tions. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.Neal,R.M.(2008).Thechokinggame.In:The Path to Addiction: And OtherTroublesWeAre BorntoKnow.Bloomington,IN: AuthorHouse, pp. 310315.Pascual-Leone,A.etal.eds.(2002).Handbookof TranscranialMagneticStimulation.London: Hodder Arnold.Retz(2007).TrippingWithoutDrugs:experi-encewithHyperventilation(ID14651). Erowid.org.[Online].Availablefrom: www.erowid.org/exp/14651[Accessed6 June 2012].Rhinewine,J.P.andWilliams,O.J.(2007). HolotropicBreathwork: ThePotentialRole of a Prolonged, Voluntary Hyperventilation Procedureas an Adjunct to Psychotherapy. TheJournalofAlternativeandComplementary Medicine, 13(7), pp. 771776.Schwartz,J.M.andBegley,S.(2004).Mind and the Brain. New York, NY: HarperCollins.Shuman, G. D. (2007). Last Breath: A Sherry Moore Novel. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.Strassman,R.etal.(2008).InnerPathstoOuter Space. Rochester, VT: Park Street Press.Taylor, J. B. (2009). My StrokeofInsight.London: Hodder & Stoughton.Taylor,K.(1994).TheBreathworkExperience:Ex-plorationand Healing inNonordinary Statesof Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the ParanormalVol. 3 No. 3 11Consciousness.SantaCruz,CA:Hanford Mead.Tononi,G.(2004a).Consciousnessandthe brain: theoreticalaspects. In: Adelman,G. andSmith,B.eds.EncyclopediaofNeurosci-ence, 3rd Edition. Elsevier.Tononi, G. (2004b). Aninformationintegration theoryofconsciousness.[Online].BMC Neuroscience,Vol. 5, No. 42.Availablefrom: www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2202/5/42 [Accessed 6 June 2012].Urgesi,C.etal. (2010). TheSpiritualBrain:Se-lectiveCorticalLesionsModulateHuman SelfTranscendence.Neuron,No.65,pp. 309-319.Whinnery,J.andWhinnery,A.(1990). Acceleration-InducedLossofConscious-ness: A Review of 500 Episodes. Archivesof Neurology, Vol. 47, No. 7, pp. 764-776.Bernardo has been a professional scien-tist, entrepreneur, and currently works in the high-technology indus-try. He holds a Ph.D. in computer engineering and is the author of three philosophy books: Rationalist Spirituality (2011), Dreamed Up Reality (2011) and Meaning in Absurdity (2011). Bernardo has lived and worked in four countries.Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the ParanormalVol. 3 No. 3 12Paranthropology: Anthropological Approaches to the ParanormalSecond Anniversary AnthologyNow Available to Order.See page 69 For more information or visit:www.paranthropology.co.ukAsQuidditchcomestotheOlympicExpo Games inOxfordthisyear(Martinez 2012),the Seekers,ChasersandBeatersrecreatingJK Rowlingsfantasygamearenodoubtunaware that many childreninthe UK are languishingin analtogetherdifferentworld ofwitchcraft and wizardry, a world of ndoki and kindoki.Forfifteen-year-oldKristyBamuatripto LondontocelebrateChristmasin2010turned intoaterrifyingordeal,endingonlywithhis death.Accusedofwitchcraftbythepeoplehe was stayingwith his eldersisterand herboy-friendBamuwasstarvedandbeatenduring anhorrificfour-daytravestyofdeliveranceto removethekindoki.Finally,forcedintoabath to washawaytheevilspirits,Kristydrowned, tooexhaustedtokeephisheadabovewater. Hisothersisters,thenaged twentyand eleven, werealsoabused,butsparedfurtherbeatings afterconfessingtobeingwitches(BBC,6Janu-ary 2012 and 5 March 2012; Topping 2012).IntheLangalalanguagespokeninthe CongoRiverregion, thewitchorndoki(pl.ban-doki), practises kindoki, aninvisible powerto do harmusingspellsorpsychicmeans.Thendoki is described asonewhomysticallyeats his vic-tims in an act of what Friedman(1996:114) calls imaginarycannibalism.Importantly,thendoki canonlyattackmembersofthesamefamily, henceaccusationstypicallycomefromwithin thefamily(Bockie1993:40-6;Friedman1996: 114;MacGaffey2000:56).Theyarebelievedto taketheformofinsectsoranimals,ortosend forth animal familiars todestroy crops and live-stock,andtokillpeopleorstealtheirsoulsfor use as a nkisi (fetish) (Morris 2006:157).TheSavetheChildrenreportonchildren accusedofwitchcraftfoundthatmostCongo-lese and, indeed, Africans in general, believed in aninvisibleworld and that forthemtherewas noclear dividinglinebetween thevisible and invisibleworlds(Molina2006:9).Thisaf-fectedalllevelsofsocietyandeducationalat-tainment,includingthosewhowereworking withchildren,althoughotherstudieshave showna strongcorrelationbetweenlackof for-maleducationandbeliefinwitchcraft(Tortora 2010). Withinthisframeofreference,witchcraft is a daily reality.Bockiewascarefultopointoutthatkindoki does not necessarilyrefertoevil(1993:45) and thatndokishouldbeclassifiedaseither(or sometimesboth)day(good)ornight(evil) ndoki(47; 56). Based onfield researchconducted inthe1970s,Bockiesdescriptionappearsto havebecomedated.Molina (2006:9)notedthat ideas of witchcraft developinginurbancentres, primarilyKinshasa,castwitchcraftasentirely and always negative a development drivenby the Revivalist churches.That is not theonlychangeapparentinthe terms of reference. In current usageamong Afri-canimmigrantstotheUKthetermsndokiand kindokiseemtointerchangeablysignifywitch-craftorspiritpossession.Inaninterviewwith theBBC(4June2005a),SitaKisanga,oneof threepeopleconvictedforthetortureofan eight-year-oldAngolangirlknownas ChildB intheUKin2005,describedndokiasbothan evilspirit and witchcraft. LeoIgwe(2011), are-searcherattheUniversityofBayreuth,Ger-many, talkedof beliefina spiritofwitchcraft. Likewise,Anane-Agyei(2009:174)alsotrans-lated kindokiasthespirit ofwitchcraft.Robert Pull(2009:180),operationalcommanderofthe MetropolitanPolicesritualabuseunit,Project Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the ParanormalVol. 3 No. 3 13Child Witches: From Imaginary Cannibalism to Ritual AbuseLeo RuickbieKeywords: Imaginary Cannibalism, Media, Ritual Abuse, Witchcraft Submitted: 11/06/2012Reviewed: 12/06/2012Accepted:18/06/2012Violet, talked of theaccusationsagainst Child B as a witch possessed by kindoki. InCongolesesociety,itisbelievedthatthe ndokiisoftenunconsciousofpractisingkindoki, hencendokicouldalsobeseenasapossessing forceactingindependentlyofthehost(Fried-man1996:213).Thiswouldexplainwhyexor-cismdeliveranceinPentecostalterminology isappliedtosuspectedwitches.Itisalsothe casethat, as traditionalideas of witchcraft were modified by the demands, first of Christianmis-sionaries,thenoftheCharismaticRevival churches, a greaterfocus onChristiandemonol-ogybecameinevitable(LaFontaine 2009:119-120).LaFontaine(2012)emphasises thatthisbrandofwitchcraftshouldnolonger be thought of as traditional.InaninterviewwiththeBBC(John,2005), London-basedpastorModesteMuyulu,put these changes into words when he said: Weknowthat ndoki does exist. Back home andeverywhereelsetootherearepeople who areused by theDevil to bringa curse or bad luck toother peoples lives, evento kill them.Followingthe convictionof Bamus murder-ers earlierthis year, Muyuluappeared onBBCs Newsnight(2012)programmetoreiteratehis belief inwitchcraft and ask the crucial question: how do you deal with it?TheUKregisteredcharityAfricansUnite AgainstChildAbuse(AFRUCA)wasestab-lished in2001 todeal withthebroaderproblem of child abuse.InNovemberlast yearAFRUCA heldaconferenceinLondononWitchcraft Branding,SpiritPossessionandSafeguarding AfricanChildrentoexplorethegrowingprob-lemofwitchcraftrelatedabuse.Morerecently, NigerianbornChukaUmunna,LabourMPfor Streatham,organisedthefirsteverHouseof CommonsSummitonwitchcraftrelatedchild abuse on18 April this year(Chuka.org.uk 2012). AlreadyfamiliarinAfrica,witchcraftabuseis increasingintheUKamongAfricanimmigrant populations. Researchcommissionedbythegovernment identified74casesofwitchcraft/possessionre-lated abuse during the period 2000-2005 (Stobart 2006). Todate,theMetropolitanPolicehavein-vestigated83cases ofritualabuseinthelast 10 years (Laville 2012). But eventhat is only the tip oftheiceberg.Foreverycasethatwehear about,saidDrRichardHoskins,anexperton Africanreligions,thereareatleasttenothers (Dangerfield2012).Withthenumberof African immigrants(excludingAfro-Caribbeans)inthe UK exceeding500,000 and rapidlygrowing,the situationislikelytobecomeworse(AFRUCA, n.d.).Accordingto AFRUCA (n.d.), witchcraftac-cusations against childrenarea recentdevelop-ment inAfrican communities. They suggest that the social deprivation, health issues, familial dis-integrationandotherstressorsfacingAfrican immigrantsintheUKleadstoablamingof children forthese problems. This point was ech-oed by thegovernment report (Stobart 2006: 25). Analternativeexplanationofkindokiwaspro-posed byMpolo(1981) whosawit as thecon-text in whichtheindividual discovers andactu-alizes himself,whichmayhavebeenmoreap-propriateonlytoearlierunderstandingsofkin-doki,butcertainlygives apsychologicalinsight intothefunctionoftheaccusationsratherthan theirorigination.LaFontaine(2009:123)sawa differentsourceofstrainexperiencedbyimmi-grantfamiliesadjustingtoasocietythatthey sawasimmoralandunabletodiscipline(pun-ish)itschildrenandtheirconsequentfearsfor theirownchildrenbecomingcontaminated. Therewaswideragreementontheroleplayed byweakfamilial bonds withinimmigrant fami-lies themselves and theresultant emotionalten-sionarticulatedinunequalpowerrelationships (AFRUCA,n.d.;LaFontaine2009:124;Stobart 2006). Max Marwick (1964), of course, famously explained theincidenceof witchcraft accusation as asocialstrain-gauge.Theproblemhereis in determiningwherethat strainlies,orwhether in fact it has several foci.Thelargestnumberofidentifiedcasesof witchcraftabuse(Stobart2006)wereamong immigrantsfromthewar-tornDemocraticRe-Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the ParanormalVol. 3 No. 3 14publicoftheCongo(DRC)wherewitchcraft abuseof minors is anestablished and persistent problem(Molina2006;USDepartmentofState 2011). The DRC is ina conditionof nearanarchy followingtheFirst(1996-1997)andSecond Congo Wars (1998-2003). Immigrantsfromothercountries,suchas Angola, camefromsimilarbackgrounds. Politi-calinstability, armed conflict and civil disobedi-ence,andtheirresultantproblems,arewide-spreadinAfrica.Healthcrises,particularlythe HIV/AIDS epidemic, have been singled out as a decisive contributory factor in the rise of accusa-tions,aswellasenvironmentaldisaster,food shortagesandunemployment(Foxcroft 2009:7-8).RapidsocialchangedrivenbyChris-tianmissionaryactivity(Brain1970:177-179), or thepost-colonialdeclineof traditional authority (Geschiere1980:283)havealsobeenseenas causing the rise of child witchcraft accusations.InAfrica,too,accusationsdirectedagainst childrenarereportedbyUNICEFtohavebe-comeprominentonlyinthelasttentotwenty years (BBC17 July 2010). Foxcroft (2009:5)iden-tified theearly tomid 1990s as thekeyyears in this shift. Inboththe UKand Africa, researchers have repeatedly drawn attention to thedisintegration ofsocialstructuresasakeyfactorinchild witchcraft accusations.Hencewecouldseethe shift inaccusationsintheDRCas linkedtothe destructionof public and familialnetworks and thechangeinthecountrys demographics: over half of theDRCs population arechildren (Wad-dington 2006:10) and almost half of all those dy-inginthewakeof theSecond Congo Warwere under five years old (Polgreen 2008).However,evenasearlyas1970child witcheswerebeingreportedasanewphe-nomenoninAfrica,particularlyCameroon (Brain1970:178).Brain(1970:178)observed that, even then, witchcraft accusations and exorcisms were ten a penny.Whethernewornot,witchcraftaccusations againstchildrenarecurrentlyendemicinsub-saharanAfrica.Caseshavebeenreportedfrom Nigeria,Ghana,Botswana,Angola,Liberia, Zambia,Zimbabwe,Namibia,Tanzania,Sierre Leone,southernChad,MalawiandSouthAf-rica, as well as the DRC (Foxcroft 2009:5, 7, 8, 9). Therearea few, thoughslight,variations inthe discourse surroundingthese accusations. InBot-swana,forexample,theissuesarecouchedin terms of Satanism. High profilefigures suchas IsaacKgosi,headoftheDirectorateofIntelli-gence Services, andPhenyo Segokgo, thenewly electedpresidentoftheBotswanaMovement forDemocracy YouthLeague,havepubliclyde-claredtheirbeliefinalarge-scaleSataniccon-spiracyresponsiblefortheircountryswoes (Keoreng2012;Piet2012). Aselsewhere,thisis believed to involvechildren. In all seriousness it wasreportedthatschoolsinBotswanaarein-fested with Devil worshippers (Ngakane, 2011).Noneofthisshouldbetoosurprising.In2009 Gallup asked 18,000 people aged fifteenor older ineighteensub-SaharanAfricancountries whether or not they believed in witchcraft. Ivory Coastreturned thehighestbeliefrateat95per cent, Uganda thelowest with15 percent. Inthe DRCs capital,Kinshasa, 76 percent believed in witchcraft.Overall, theaveragewas 55 percent (Tortora 2010).Thetraditionofanti-witchcraftcultsor movementsinCentraland West Africa, suchas theAberewa,BamucapiandMunkukusa movements,iswelldocumented(Chanaiwa 1990:218;Bockie1993:59;Richards1935;Waite 1992:229).Thesetypicallyblendedtraditional andChristianbeliefs(Friedman1996:209)and have been linked to the more recent Charismatic Revival (or Renewal), described as itself an anti-witchcraftmovement(Fabian2004:372).De Boeckforciblyarguedthatbeyondanydoubt thePentecostal churches playa crucial rolein theproductionofthefigureofthewitch(de Boeck and Plissart 2004:173).Theroleofreligionisalsoapparentinthe UK. Researchers and charities involved with Af-ricanimmigrantcommunitiestalkofrogue churches(Dangerfield2012)andbreakaway churches(BBC4June2005b)amongthe3,900 AfricanPentecostalchurchesnowoperatingin theUK,anumberthatisexpectedtoriseto 4,600by2015(Topping2012b).DebbieAriyo, founder and director of AFRUCA, said that one Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the ParanormalVol. 3 No. 3 15of thekey beliefs of thesechurches is inwitches andexorcisingthem(Dangerfield2012).An unnamedLondonsocialworkerinvolvedwith AfricancommunitiesintheUKwasquotedas sayingthat witchcraft abuse was spreadinglike bushfire (Topping 2012b).In both Africa and the UK financial gain is in partdrivingthewitchcraftpanic(Molina 2006:6).Ithasbeenfrequentlyobservedthat pastors involved inexorcisingwitches/thepos-sessed arerunninga lucrativebusiness(Dugan 2008; Cimpric 2010; Oppenheimer 2010; Danger-field2012).InNigeria,oneevangelical preacher was arrestedafterchargingover$250perexor-cism(BBC17July2010).Speakingofthesitua-tion in the UK, Ariyo was quoted as sayingthat: Theideaistoextortmoneyfromparentsbe-causeifyourchild is branded awitchyouwill needtoexorcisethatchild(Dangerfield2012). Thesamesocialworkermentionedabovealso attributedthedramaticriseofwitchcraft/possession in Africanchurches to financialgain: If you can charge500 foranoil that is goingto cureachildofevilspirits,youaregoingto make money (Topping 2012b).It is worthpointingoutthat it hasbeenar-gued that a connection exists betweenwitchcraft accusation and unproductive family members in timesofeconomichardship(Miguel2005:1153, withregardtotheelderlyinTanzania). Minors, liketheelderly,alsofallintotheunproductive (orless productive) category.Therecent Gallup survey found that poverty was associated with a higherbeliefinwitchcraft(Tortora2010).Chil-drenare often drivenout of their homes follow-inganaccusationasmanyas20,000street childreninKinshasaarebelievedtohavebeen accused of witchcraft (Dangerfield 2012).TraditionalAfricanbeliefswereoftensitu-atedinamoraleconomywheresuccess was a zero-sumgameonepersonsgainisalways offsetbyanothersloss(Harms1999:21)and witchcraft,specifically,wasthedangerousap-propriationof limited reproductiveresources by selfish individuals (Austen 2010:272). However, incapableof physicallyappropriatingresources, thechildwitchisseenaspreventingsuchap-propriationbyothers,aneasyscapegoatfor misfortune,especiallythatwhichisotherwise hard to explain.Severalcharacteristics canlead to a child be-ingaccusedofwitchcraftorpossessioninthe UK, suchasdisability,mentalhealthproblems, retardation,orconverselyhighintelligence,de-linquency, left-handedness, as wellas social fac-torsincludingfostering,livingwitha steppar-ent orhavingparents whohad beenaccused of witchcraft(AFRUCAn.d.:8-9).Bed-wetting,as inthecaseof Kristy Bamu, and evennail-biting canalsobeinterpretedassignsofwitchcraft/possession.Stobart (2006:16) foundthatdisabil-ity (most frequently mental) was a prevalent fac-tor, but also significant were nightmares. During thedreamthechildrenoftendescribedtaking theshape of ananimaland flyingto otherparts of the world to kill and eat people (Stobart 2006: 22).KisangatoldtheBBC(4June2005)thatit was believed that thegirl [Child B] goes to Af-rica in the night-time to do bad things.Theimportance of dreams also came to light duringthe trialof Kristy Bamus murderer, Erik Bikubi.Bikubidescribedhavingvisionsofhis brother enteringhis roomand tryingtostrangle himatnight.Asaresult,Bikubifrequently moved house. Bikubi also believed that he had a specialgiftfordetectingwitcheswhichmade him the chosen one (Topping 2012b).Thesesignshavedirectparallelsinwitch-craftaccusationcasesinAfrica andparticularly theDRC.Religiousandcommunityleadersin theDRC agreeupona similarrangeof physical signsof strangeness, disability and disease, and behaviouraldeviance(Molina2006:12-13).This wouldsuggestacontinuityofbeliefstemming fromtheregion of origin, whichhelps us to un-derstandhowsuchaccusationscouldarisein the UK. Transmission routes for these beliefs are multipleanddiverse.Forexample,Bikubihad conductedinternetresearchonkindokiandvis-itedNigerianpastorsbasedontheHolloway Road, London, but had also come closetobeing accusedof witchcraft himselfwhenstilla child livinginthe DRC. He described beingostracised afterhavingabnormalvisionsandhisfamily fearedthat hewouldbelabelleda witch(Top-ping, 2012a).Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the ParanormalVol. 3 No. 3 16Similarly,childwitchesinAfricawerede-scribedasengagingincomparableactivities. Nightflying,attendingwitchconventionsand cannibalism were all common themes.Earlier this year, a group of school-girls from Francistown,Botswana,exorcisedatJehovahs PottersHouseAssembly,apparentlyconfessed tohowtheycouldsummonasliceofbread,a needle,ablanketormealiemealbagandin-struct ittotakethemtothedepthsof theocean where they hold meetings with their leaders and receiveinstructions(Muyakwabo 2012). Molina (2006:11) noted that whilst previously witches in theDRChadbeensaidtotravelinpeanut shells,onfufuspoons, inthebristles ofbrooms oronbananaleavestheynowmorefrequently travel by aeroplane.InBotswana,witchmeetingsinvolvedeat-inghuman fleshand drinkingblood,withnew recruitsforcedtoeathumanexcrement (Muyakwabo2012).Molina(2006:11)observed thattheneedtoeathumanflesh,thatis,to drawontheenergyandpowerofothers,isre-latedtothehierarchyofthesecond[invisible] world.Heretheamountofhumanfleshcon-sumedisrelatedtotheprestigeandpowerof the witch. Thewitches feast is an inversion of thecon-ventions of eatingand the social norms that they imply. Non-food,suchasexcrement,andtaboo food,suchashumanfleshthebodyorthe thingsofthebodyarethestaplesofthe witchestable.Indeed, thesymbolismofwitch-craftspecificallyworksthroughinversion (Ruickbie:2009),apointalsomadebyMolina (2006:11). Thechildas arelativelypowerlessagent in thephysicalworld,isinvertedintheinvisible world and promoted to a positionof power and influence. Thechild canbecomea leader, marry andaccumulatewealth,forexample(Molina 2006:11).Asstatusdecreasesthepotentialfor inversionincreases.Thefurtherremovedthe child becomesfromdirect familialbondssees a decreaseinstatus andhenceanincreasinglike-lihoodofaccusation.Thesocio-psychological dynamicisthesameasthatwhichpositsthe elderlyassupernaturallypowerfulagents. One ofthechildrenintheBotswanacase,forexam-ple,wasdescribedasbeingabletotransform into an elderly woman (Muyakwabo 2012). Intheaccusationalscenariowitchcraftbe-comesanenactedinternecinenightmareofso-cialreversal.Thefamilyattacksthefamily. The parentsattackthechild.Thechildattacksthe parents.Siblingattackssibling.Theabundance ofchildreninasocietyoflowlifeexpectancy providestheperfect replacementforthedisap-pearingoldcronebecausetheprincipleof symbolicreversalandtheunderlyingeconomic determinants remain the same.IntheDRCthetransmissionofwitchcraft generallyfollowsoneofthreeroutes:inheri-tance; initiationby a familymember; or through abewitchedsubstance,usuallyfood(Molina 2006:13).RecentlyinBotswanaithasemerged thattheSatanismspiritcanbepassedonbya simpleglance, withterms suchasinfectedbe-ingusedtodescribetheprocess(Muyakwabo 2012). Here we see that without any outward signs ofabnormality,anychildcouldbeinvolvedin invisiblecrimesthatonlyreligiousspecialists candiagnose and treat, and the only proof of the allegedcrimesisthechildsownconfession.It hasalsobeenobservedthatmanyoftheso-calledsignsofwitchcraftidentifiedintheUK cases,suchasbed-wettingandbehaviouralis-sues,arewithintherangeofnormalchildhood development (Molina 2006:5). Again,theconse-quenceis that any child may bethought to have become a witch.Brandingas a witchtypicallyleads to a spi-ralofabuseandneglect.Theideathatwitches areusedbytheDevil,inpastorMuyulus words(John2005),disassociatesindividual agency and facilitates the interventionof the ex-orcist, and by concomitantly depersonalisingthe victimaspossessedalsoallowsabuse.Stobart (2006:21) found that perpetrators talked of beat-ingtheDeviloutofthechildortryingto squeeze thelifeout of theevilthroughsmoth-eringand strangulation. Inanother case thevic-timshairwascuttoreleasethewitchcraft (BBC26January2012). Suchtreatmentisinevi-Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the ParanormalVol. 3 No. 3 17tablytraumaticand, inmorethanoneinstance, fatal.Socialstrainmaylead peopleto makemore accusations,butitistheunderlyingbeliefsys-tem(howeverfluidandinformal)thatcreates andsustainsthepossibilityofmakinganaccu-sation in the first place.Stobart(2006) wasrightwhenshesaidthat witchcraft accusationsarenotconfinedtopar-ticularcountries,culturesorreligionsnorisit confined to recentmigrants,butthis viewpoint is at oddswith the current patternof thewitch-craftabuseofchildrenintheUK.Tobesure, witchcraftbeliefsarefarfromconfined,but theyaremoreprevalent incertaingeographical and socialareasthanothers (Tortora 2010).Sto-barts ownresearch shows that cases are concen-trated in a particular demographic.Bydownplayingculturalbackground,or even denyingit as aninfluence, and marginalis-ingwitchcraftfocusedchurchesasdeviant,or-ganisationsintheUKattemptingtodealwith theproblemhavecreatedsevereobstaclesin theirownpath.Witchcraftaccusationsandre-latedabusearespreadingrapidlyinthegrow-ingAfrican immigrant population in theUK, on a parwithdevelopments in the migrants home countries. Overplayingimmigrationstressorsas opposed toits manybenefits,focuses onpoten-tiallythewrongsourcesof straingivingriseto accusation. Somemayhaveswapped their jollyhockey sticksforbroomsticks, but thesupposedsuper-naturalexperiencelabelledwitchcraftinAfri-canimmigrant communitiesintheUKisfarre-movedfrombothWesternmediasportrayalof witchcraft and wizardry laHarryPotterand modernreligiousexpressionsofwitchcraft suchasWicca.Hereweareagaindealingwith ideasofwitchcraftas a formofmagicdirected against the well-beingof the family/community wheremisfortune is givena supernaturalexpla-nationandscapegoatsaresoughtamongthe sociallydeprivedwithterribleconsequences. Despiteallthegoodintentionsitisascenario likely to become more familiar.ReferencesAnane-Agyei,A.(2009).TheImpactofSpirit PossessionontheChild'sMentalHealth and SocialWorkEnvironment. In: La Fon-taine,J. ed.TheDevilsChildren:FromSpirit PossessiontoWitchcraft:NewAllegationsthat AffectChildren.Farnham:Ashgate,pp.173-178.AFRUCA. (No date). What is Witchcraft Abuse? London. Available from: http://www.afruca.org/images/stories/reports/what%20is%20witchcraft%20abuse.pdf [Accessed 7 June 2012].Austen,R.A.(2010).TheMoralEconomyof Witchcraft:AnEssayinComparativeHis-tory.In:Grinker,R.R.,StephenC.Lubke-mann, S.C., and Christopher B. Steiner, C.B. eds.PerspectivesonAfrica:AReaderinCul-ture,HistoryandRepresentation.London: Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 270-281.BBC. (2005a). Abuser Speaks of Witch Belief. BBC News [Online], 4 June. Available from: http://www.news.bbc.co.uk/ [Accessed 7 June 2012].BBC. (2005b). Witchcraft Case Sparks Abuse Fear. BBC News [Online], 4 June. Available from: http://www.news.bbc.co.uk/ [Ac-cessed 7 June 2012].BBC. (2010). Rise in African Children Accused of Witchcraft. BBC News [Online], 17 July. Available from: http://www.news.bbc.co.uk/ [Accessed 14 June 2012].BBC. (2012). Kristy Bamu Witch Torture Couple Had Attacked Before. BBC News [Online], 6 January. 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General History of Africa: Africa Un-derColonialDomination,1880-1935.Paris: UNESCOandLondon:JamesCurrey,pp. 194-220. Chuka.org.uk. (2012). MP Hosts Summit to End Violent Witchcraft Abuse. [Online]. Avail-able from: http://www.chuka.org.uk/2012/05/mp-hosts-summit-to-end-violent-witchcraft-abuse/ [Accessed 7 June 2012].Cimpric, A. (2010). Children Accused of Witchcraft: AnAnthropologicalStudyofContemporary Practices in Africa. Dakar: UNICEF WCARO.Dangerfield, A. (2012). Government Urged to Tackle Witchcraft Belief Child Abuse. BBC News [Online], 1 March. Available from: http://www.news.bbc.co.uk/ [Ac-cessed 7 June 2012].Dugan,E.(2008).ScandaloftheChildren KilledforWitchcraft.TheIndependent [Online],9November.Availablefrom: www.independent.co.uk[Accessed14June 2012].Fabian,J.(2004).Charisma:GlobalMovement andLocalSurvival.In:Probst,P.,and SplitterG.eds.BetweenResistanceandEx-pansion:ExplorationsofLocalVitalityinAf-rica. Munich: LIT Verlag, pp. 359-388.LaFontaine,J.(2009).ChildWitchesinLon-don:TraditionandChangeinReligious PracticeandBelief.In:LaFontaine,J.ed. TheDevilsChildren: From Spirit Possessionto Witchcraft:NewAllegationsthatAffectChil-dren. Farnham: Ashgate, pp. 117-128.La Fontaine, J. (2012). Witchcraft Belief is a Curse on Africa. The Guardian [Online], 1 March. Available from: http://www.guardian.co.uk [Accessed 18 June 2012].Foxcroft, G. (2009). Witchcraft Accusations: A Protection Concern for UNHCR and the Wider Humanitarian Community? Paper to UNHCR, 6th April. Available from: http://www.crin.org/docs/Stepping_stones_witchcraft.pdf [Accessed 14 June 2012].Friedman,K.E.(1996.) CatastropheandCreation: TheTransformation of an African Culture. Am-sterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers.Geschiere, P.(1980). Child Witches Againstthe AuthorityoftheirElders:Anthropology andHistoryintheAnalysisofWitchcraft BeliefsoftheMaka(SoutheasternCamer-oon).In:Schefold,R.,Schoorl,J.W.,and Tennekes, J. (eds). Man, Meaning and History. TheHague:Verhandelingenvanhetkon-inklijtInstituutvoorTaal-Land-en Volkenkunde.Harms,R. (1999). Games Against Nature: AnEco-CulturalHistory of theNunuofEquatorialAf-rica.Cambridge:CambridgeUniversity Press.Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the ParanormalVol. 3 No. 3 19Igwe, L. (2011). Witchcraft Branding Spirit Pos-session and African Children. Sahara Re-porters [Online]. Available from: http://saharareporters.com/article/witchcraft-branding-spirit-possession-and-african-children-leo-igwe. [Accessed 7 June 2012].John, C. (2005). Exorcisms are Part of Our Cul-ture. BBC News [Online], 3 June 2005. Available from: http://www.news.bbc.co.uk/ [Accessed 7 June 2012].Keoreng, E. (2012). BMD Youth Declare War on Satanism. Mmegionline [Online], 12 June. Available from http://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?sid=1&aid=957&dir=2012/June/Tuesday12, ac-cessed 13 June 2012.Laville, S. (2012). Ritual Abuse of Children: A Hidden and Under-Reported Crime. The Guardian [Online], 1 March. Available from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/ [Accessed 7 June 2012].Macgaffey,W.(2000).KongoPoliticalCulture. BloomingtonandIndianapolis:Indiana University Press.Martinez, V. R. (2012). Quidditch Anyone? El Pasoan to Play for Team USA. El Paso Times [Online], 6 June.Available from: http://www.elpasotimes.com/ [Accessed 7 June 2012].Marwick,M.G.(1964).WitchcraftasaSocial Strain-Gauge.AustralianJournalofScience, Vol. 26, pp. 263-8. Miguel,E. (2005).PovertyandWitchKilling. Reviewof EconomicStudies, No. 72, pp. 1153-1172.Mpolo,M.(1981).KindokiasDiagnosisand Therapy. SocialScience&Medicine.PartB: MedicalAnthropology,Vol.15,No.3,July 1981, pp. 405-413.Molina, J.A. (2006). The Invention of Child Witches in the Democratic Republic of Congo. London: Save the Children. Avail-able from: http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/sites/default/files/docs/The_Invention_of_Child_Witches%281%29_1.pdf [Accessed 13 June 2012].Morris,B.(2006).ReligionandAnthropology:A Critical Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Muyakwabo, V. (2012). Could this be Satan-ism? The Monitor [Online], 11 June. Avail-able from: http://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?sid=1&aid=919&dir=2012/June/Monday11. [Ac-cessed 13 June 2012].Newsnight. [Televisionbroadcast]. UK: BBC 2. 1 March 2012.Ngakane, G. (2011). Satan is Seducing Your Child. The Monitor [Online], 12 September. Available from: http://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?sid=1&aid=253&dir=2011/September/Monday12 [Accessed 13 June 2012].Oppenheimer, M. (2010). On a Visit to the U.S., A Nigerian Witch-Hunter Explains Herself. New York Times [Online], 21 May. Available from http://www.nytimes.com [Accessed 14 June 2012].Piet, B. (2012). Satanists Operate in Botswana - Kgosi. Mmegionline [Online], 10 May. Available from: http://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?sid=1&aid=146&dir=2012/May/Thursday10 [Ac-cessed 15 June 2012].Polgreen, L. (2008). Congos Death Rate Un-changed Since War Ended. The New York Times [Online], 23 January. Available from: http://www.nytimes.com [Accessed 15 June 2012].Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the ParanormalVol. 3 No. 3 20Pull, R.(2009).ProjectViolet:Addressingthe Practice of Faithand/or Belief Based Ritual-istic Related Abuse of Children. In: La Fon-taine,J. ed.TheDevilsChildren:FromSpirit PossessiontoWitchcraft:NewAllegationsthat AffectChildren.Farnham:Ashgate,pp.179-188.Richards,A.(1935).AModernMovementof Witch-Finders.Africa,Vol.8,No.4,pp. 448-61.Ruickbie,L.(2009).Witchcraft:TheNaked Truth.PaperpresentedtoMillersAcad-emy, London, 22 April. Unpublished. Stobart, E. (2006). Child Abuse Linked to Accu-sations of Possession and Witchcraft. Nottingham: DfES Publications. Available from: https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/RSG/publicationDetail/Page1/RR750Topping, A. (2012a). Eric Bikubi: Murderer with a Profound and Disturbing Belief in Witchcraft. The Guardian [Online], 1 March. Available from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/ [Accessed 14 June 2012].Topping, A. (2012b). Witchcraft Trial: There May Be Similar Unreported Cases, Say Po-lice. The Guardian [Online], 1 March.Available from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/ [Accessed 7 June 2012].Tortora, B. (2010). Witchcraft Believers in Sub-Saharan Africa Rate Lives Worse [Online]. Gallup. Available from: http://www.gallup.com/poll/142640/witchcraft-believers-sub-saharan-africa-rate-lives-worse.aspx [Accessed 18 June 2012].US Department of State (2011). 2010 Human Rights Report: Democratic Republic of the Congo [Online]. Available from: http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2010/af/154340.htm [Accessed 7 June 2012].Waddington, M. (2006). Child Witches, Child Soldiers, Child Poverty and Violence: Street Children in Crisis in the Democratic Repub-lic of Congo. Report by the All Party Par-liamentary Group on Street Children on its Mission to the Democratic Republic of Congo [Online]. Available from: http://cfsc.trunky.net/_uploads/Publications/Child_witches_child_soldiers_child_poverty_and_violence_street_children_in_crisis_in_the_DRC.pdf [Accessed 7 June 2012].Waite,G.(1992).PublicHealthinPrecolonial East-Africa.In:Feierman,S.,and Janzen,J. M. eds. TheSocial Basis of Health and Heal-inginAfrica.Berkeley:UniversityofCali-fornia Press, pp. 212-234. Dr Leo Ruickbie has been investigating, writing about and sometimes experiencing the darker side of life from Black Masses to haunted houses for most of his career. This led to his being awarded a PhD from Kings College, London, for his research into modern witchcraft and magic. He is the author of Witchcraft Out of the Shadows (2004 and 2011), Faustus: The Life and Times of a Renaissance Magician (2009), and A Brief Guide to the Supernatural (2012), with a book on ghost hunting due out in 2013. He is a member of Societas Magica, the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism, the Society for Psychical Research and the Ghost Club.Visit him online at www.witchology.com.Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the ParanormalVol. 3 No. 3 21ABSTRACT:Entheogenicspiritualityin-volvestheconsumptionofpsychedelic substances withina spiritualcontext.The entheogeniccommunityinAustralia pridesitselfonbeinginclusive,progres-siveandtransgressive,butasinmany newreligiousmovements,alternative spiritualitiesandcounterculturalcommu-nities,thereissomequestionasto whetherthesevaluesextendtothedo-mainofgender.Thisarticlepresentsthe findingsofanonlinesurveythatcan-vassedperceptionsofgenderwithinthe entheogenic community in Australia; find-ingsshowthatwhilethemajorityofthe communitybelieves its progressivevalues doindeedextendtogender,asignificant minoritydonot,withnoticeablydifferent levelsofsatisfactionbetweenmaleand female respondents.Itsgreattoseeallthesebeautiful,well-readandarticulatemen.ButIhaveone question: Where are the women?Thisquestionwasposedbyafemale conferenceattendeeatEntheogenesisAustralis duringoneof the Q&A sessions. Theconference tookplaceinDecember2010 atTheUniversity ofMelbourneandservicestheentheogenic communityinAustralia,onelargelycomposed ofpeoplewhoareinterestedinpsychedelic spirituality.Thiswasaverygoodquestion indeed.Lookingaround,itwasdifficultto identify any gender imbalance in the audiencecomprisedasitwasequallyofbeautifulmen andwomenbutthespeakerprogramtold anotherstory.Apartfromafewanomalies,the speakers were all men.Theentheogeniccommunityisonethat prides itselfonbeinginclusive, progressiveand eventransgressive.Certainly,intermsofwel-comingforms of spirituality that are considered bymainstreamsocietytobenot onlyfringe but outright illegal, this is certainlythe case. But the questionposedabovecastsdoubtonwhether theseinclusive,progressiveandtransgressive values extend into thedomainof gender, asking whetherthecommunitysimplyechoesmain-streamor,followingMaryOBrien(1981), malestreamsociety.Inthefollowing,some perceptionsaboutgenderintheentheogenic communityinAustraliaarerevealed.Aftera framingexerciseintroducingentheogensand howgenderfunctionsinlooselycomparable communities,theresultsofananonymouson-linesurveyarepresented.Byallowingthesur-veyrespondentstospeakintheirownvoices, and thenviewingthoseresponses via a feminist analytical lens, we seethat while themajority of thecommunitybelievesitsprogressivevalues do indeed extend to gender, a significant minor-ity do not.EntheogensEntheogensarepsychedelicsubstancesused withinaspecificcontextandwithaparticular intentionalityonbehalfoftheuser.Thetermis commonlyattributedtoCarlRucketal(1979) whosoughttocommunicateameaningof containing (or releasing) god and becominggod, andhassincegainedsignificantmomentum (Forte1997;Smith2000).Variousstreamsof influencecanbeidentified withinthehistorical andculturalconstructionofentheogensfrom consideringthemasartefactsofsuppressed religioushistoriesthroughtopartofa(neo-)shamanicrevival(Harner1990;Heinrich2002; Hoffman,Ruck,&Staples2002;Merkur2000; Ruck,Heinrich,&Staples2000;Shanon2002; Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the ParanormalVol. 3 No. 3 22Entheogenic Spirituality and Gender in AustraliaJoseph GelferKeywords: Entheogens, Psychedelics, Gender, Australia, Spirituality, SocietySubmitted: 08/07/2012Reviewed: 09/07/2012Accepted:10/07/2012Wassonetal1988;Wasson,Hofmann,&Ruck 1998; Wallis 2003).Withinahistoricaland(neo-)shamaniccon-text,entheogens areoftenconsideredto beof a traditionalandorganicnature,suchas ayahua-sca, peyote, iboga, and amanita muscaria. How-ever,fromthebeginningoftheuseofentheo-genRucketal(1979)allowedroomforinter-pretation,suggestingthetermcouldalsobe appliedtootherdrugs,bothnaturalandartifi-cial,thatinducealterationsofconsciousness similarto thosedocumented forritualingestion oftraditionalentheogens(p.146).Conse-quently, entheogensnowcomein a fantastic ar-ray of chemical guises(Shulgin&Shulgin1991, 1997;Strassman2001),andevenunlikely sourcessuchascoughsyrup(Carpenter2006; Gelfer2006)resultinginavarietyoftraditions (Clifton2004;Lyttle1988;Stolaroff1999;Stuart 2002)includingthoseinAustralia(Tramacchi 2000),inwhichentheogensareperceivedto functionina sacramentalcapacity(Baker2005). Untilrecentyears,consumingentheogenshas beenadistinctlysubculturalactivity,butitis nowenjoyingarenaissanceduetotheincreas-ingpopularityofayahuascatourism(Tupper 2008; Winkelman 2005) and its significant role in thepopularisationofthe2012phenomenon (Hoopes 2011; St John 2011).WilliamRichards (2002)arguesthat entheo-genscanbeprofoundlyrevelatoryoftruths, bothspiritualandpsychodynamictruthsthat couldprovehighlyrelevanttoourwell-being, personallyandculturally(147).Thisstatement revealsanassumptionwithinthecommunity thatentheogenscommunicatesomekindof authenticityunmediatedbysocialconstruction, and that thesetruthsareof significant value to theindividual.This,then,isthepromisethat should be extended into the realm of gender. Gender in Alternative Spiritualities and Countercultural CommunitiesExamplesofhowgenderfunctionswithin contemporaryentheogeniccommunitieswhetherinAustraliaorotherregionsare elusive, so in order to establish an expectation of whatmightberevealedwithintheanonymous onlinesurveyitisnecessarytolookinsteadto looselycomparablecommunitiessuchasthose oflatetwentiethcenturynewreligious movements(NRMs),alternativespiritualities and othercounterculturalcommunities. There is alsosomethingtobelearnedfromhowgender isframedwhenitoccasionallysurfacesin contemporary psychedelic literature.AngelaAidala(1985)examinedcommunal groups of bothNRMand secular types fromthe 1960sand70sinNorthAmerica.Shenoted amongthespiritualcommunitiesfourdistinct elements:apre-definedandcoherentframe-workforsexandgender;gendernormativity was allocatedelaboratetranscendentaljustifica-tion;genderexpectationsreceivedwidesup-port;and,importantly,innoneofthereligious communes didideologicalformulationorprac-ticeposea direct challengetothe traditional al-locationof greater social and economic power to men(297).Aidalaalsofoundthatevenwithin secularcommunalgroupswherefreeloveand sexualexperimentationwereencouraged,these moreoftenthannot,includedcontinueddis-cussion,negotiation,andconflictaboutchang-ingsexualityandgenderroles(297;seealsoJa-cobs 1991; Pike 2007).Ofcourse,notallNRMsandalternative spiritualitiesarethesame. SusanPalmer(1994) unpacksNRMsthatfunctioninthreedistinct ways:sexualpolarity,sexualcomplementarity and sexualunity. Palmerscanvassingof NRMs spans those which assume male leadership (and thosewithfemaleleadership), thosewhichem-bracepartnershipbetweenmaleandfemale leadership,andthosewhichseektodisrupt categoriesandboundariesbetweenmaleand female. Similarly,ElizabethPuttick(2003) offers a typologythat includes ontheonehandmore traditionalNRMssuchastheUnification ChurchandInternationalSocietyforKrishna Consciousness, andonthe other hand morelib-eralNRMssuchastheOshomovementand Brahma Kumaris. Puttick notes that it issignifi-cant that the former, tend to havea male major-ity, sometimes 2 to 1 orhigher, whereas inmore liberalNRMstheratioistypicallyreversed (242).Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the ParanormalVol. 3 No. 3 23It is noteworthy, too, that evenwhengender issuesareproactivelyaddressedwithinalter-native spiritualities, things are not necessarily as theyseem. Oneexampleisintegralspirituality, as theorised byKenWilber(2000).This alterna-tivespiritualityclaimstointegrateboththe masculineandfemininetypeintoits modelof consciousnessdevelopment.However,an analysis ofintegralspiritualityliteratureshows notonlyadistinctbiastowardsthemasculine, butacleardepoliticisingagendathatseeksto dispelpatriarchyasa myth,optinginsteadfor understandingsociety historically as patrifocal, anorderthatwasdecided uponjointlybyboth men and women (Gelfer 2009:103-115).MovingawayfromNRMsandalternative spiritualities, two recent studies provide insights intothewaygenderfunctionedincountercul-turalmovementsofthe1960s:Daughtersof Aquarius:WomenoftheSixtiesCountercultureby Gretchen Lemke-Santangelo (2009) and Manhood intheAgeofAquarius:MasculinityinTwoCoun-terculturalCommunitiesbyTimothyHodgdon (2008). Lemke-Santangelo argues that womenin suchcommunitieswerelargelycaricaturedas earth mothers and love goddesses by boththe mainstreamcultureandacuriouslypatriarchal culturethat existed withintheirowncommuni-ties. Thewomenwereconscious ofatonceem-bodyingcontemporaryand evenradicalvalues (suchasfreelove),whilealsoperforminga domesticfemininityinthecommunitythat wouldhavebeenfamiliareventotheirgrand-mothers.Hodgdonexaminestwosharplycon-trastinghipcommunities:TheFarmandthe Diggers.TheFarmiesidentifiedadangerous hyper-masculinityinmodernmenandthede-valuationof women'smaternalnurture, bothof which were to bemitigated by a performance of knightlymasculinity.Incontrast, theanarchist Diggersconcludedthatprogresshadef-feminisedcorporatemenwhilebrutalising working-classmen.WhatbothHodgdonssub-jectsdemonstrateisadistinctacceptanceof gendernormativity,albeitspunindifferentdi-rections.Anotheranalogouscommunityistheinter-sectingravescene,whichoftenmobilisesen-theogenicaestheticsandthemes.MariaPini (1997)seesmuchtocommendforwomenin suchspaces,whichagainareseennotjustas progressivebutUtopian.Pinireferstoclaims madebywomenravers regardingtheapparent ability of ravetodissolvesocialdivisionsbased uponsex,sexuality,age,raceandclass(118) andforwomenraverstoexperienceanon-phallocentricsubjectivity(125).However,An-gela McRobbie (1993) notes women and girls are lessinvolvedwiththeculturalproductionof rave, from theflyers, to the events, to the DJing, thantheirmalecounterparts(418),andengage complexsexualisedperformances(418-419). Similarly,accordingtoJulieGregorys(2009) studyorravers,theoverwhelmingmajorityof interviewees discursively constructed olderand youngerfemalerave-goersincludingthem-selvesasparticularlymisplacedwithinrave (76,originalemphasis),withtheassumption that rave was not a space in whichfemaleraves intuitivelybelong. Rave is, then, as described by McRobbie, a series of socialtensions (including those around gender and sexuality) (422).Readjustingourfocusoneagain,Lemke-Santangelostatesthat,Counterculturallitera-tureis virtually silent on thesubject of womens drugexperiences (113). Theanomalouswayin whichwomenspsychedelicexperiencesare presentedwithinthebroaderbodyofpsyche-delicliteratureoffersfurtherinsightintowhat wemaydiscoverinthefollowingsurveyre-sponses.Take,forexample,thebookSistersof the Extreme: WomenWritingonthe DrugExpe-rience(Palmer&Horowitz,2000),whichin-cludes drugnarrativesfroma varietyof female authors.Thequestion,ofcourse,iswouldone find a bookcalled Brothers of the Extreme: Men WritingontheDrugExperience? Probablynot, as menswritingcomprisesthevast majorityof all the other publishing on psychedelics.Similarly,thePsychedelicsEncyclopaedia (Stafford&Bigwood,1992)containsanentry called Women in Psychedelics:AnothermanifestationofreceptiveEarth-orientated,feminine-centredqualitiesinpsy-chedelic culture is thegrowinginterestinneo-pagan,pantheistic,WiccanandGoddess-Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the ParanormalVol. 3 No. 3 24focusedwaysoflife Manyofthesebelief systems place high value on the feminine, recep-tiveandhealingqualitiesoftheshamanwho playedanimportantroleinarchaiccultures nowthoughtbymanyto be largelymatriarchal MuchasinotherarenasofWesternculture, the explorationof psychedelic consciousness has been largely dominated by menorso it would appearfromthe manner in whichthe movement hasusuallybeendocumented.(Stafford&Big-wood, 1992, 52)Theentryconcludeswithsomenotableex-amplesof womeninpsychedelicculture. Aside fromtheWomeninPsychedelicsentryindi-catingbyitsveryexistencetheratheranoma-louspositionofwomeninpsychedelicculture, therearetwootherelementsworthnoting:a normativepresentationofwhatconstitutesthe feminine(receptive, healing); a maledominated psychedeliccultureistabled,butsomewhat suspiciouslywiththecaveat,orsoitwould appear.Acrosstheseandotherwell-meaning examples of psychedelic literature (Tolbert, 2003; Vogel, 2003), weare left withthe occasionaltell-ingofwhatmightbedescribedaswomens stories inpsychedelics that rely onnormativity orwhichseekthefeminineas atechnicalsolu-tiontoa morebalanced approachtopsychedel-ics (Adams, 2011).Certainly, this poorrepresentationof women hasnotgoneunvoicedwithintheentheogenic community,at leastinNorthAmerica.In2002, theWomensEntheogenFundwasestablished because, while womenhave historically played a centralroleininvestigatingtheuseof entheo-gens, their work has been funded less frequently andhasbeenconsistentlyunderrepresentedin thescientificandpopularentheogeniclitera-ture(Harrisson,2006,34).Particularlyperti-nentwithintheopeningquoteofthisarticle, Harrison goes on to state, It has been especially distressingtoseerelativelyfewfemaleentheo-genicresearcherspresentingtheirworkatrele-vantconferencesovertheyears(34).The WomensEntheogenFundhasnowbeenex-tendedintoTheWomen'sVisionaryCongress, anannualgatheringofvisionarywomenheal-ers,scholars,activistsandartistswhostudy consciousness and altered states.Followingtheselooselycomparableexam-ples of NRMs, alternative spiritualities, counter-culturalcommunities inthe1960s, andtherep-resentationofwomeninabroaderpsychedelic culture, it is reasonable to assume that there will bea perceptionofgenderinequalityintheen-theogenic community in Australia.MethodologyData wasgatheredusingananonymous online surveythatusedacombinationoffixed-, multiple-choiceand open-endedquestions. The surveywasaimedatpeopleaged18andover whoself-identifiedasbeingmembersofthe entheogeniccommunityinAustralia.Two organisationswereusedasgatekeeperstothe community:Entheogenesis Australis(EGA) and PsychedelicResearchinScienceandMedicine (PRISM). While these organisations by no means definetheentheogeniccommunityinAustralia, theyneverthelessplayanimportantroleinits composition.LeadersfromEGAandPRISM emailedaninvitationtoparticipateinthe surveytotheirnetworksandposted notices on varioussubject-relateddiscussionforumsand socialmediasites.Thesurveywasthen mobilisedinthecommunityviaasnowball method (Biernacki &Waldorf, 1981). Thesurvey beganwitharangeofframingquestionsthat constructed a demographic representation of the community,aswellasanindicatorofwhich substances they had used within an entheogenic context. 148 respondents completed the survey.FindingsDemographicandquantitativedataderived from the survey includes the following:Age:28respondentswereagedbetween1824 years;62aged2534years;34aged3544 years;17aged4554years;6aged5564 years; 1 aged 65+ years.Sex: 97 respondents were male; 51 female.Sexualorientation:8respondentsidentifiedas gay; 21 bisexual; 113 straight; 6 other.Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the ParanormalVol. 3 No. 3 25Employment(respondentscouldchoosemore thanoneoptioninthisquestion):43re-spondents identifiedasbeinga student;11 parentorcarer;17unemployed;80 profes-sional; 14 trade.Yearsinvolvedwiththeentheogeniccommu-nity:8respondentsselectedlessthanone year;3814years;4259years;381019 years; 22 20+ years.Substancesusedinanentheogeniccontext(re-spondents couldchoosemorethanoneop-tioninthisquestion):45respondentshad usedayahuasca;73cacti;107cannabis;94 DMT; 115 LSD; 128 mushrooms; 92 MDMA; 73 other. Thesurvey then asked a number of open-ended questionsdesignedtogleanqualitativedata, testinghow respondents felt about gender as an aspectoftheentheogenicexperience,andhow theyfeltgenderfunctionedwithinthe entheogenic community.Thefirstopen-endedquestionasked,Do youperceiveapersonsgenderandsexualori-entationtobeasignificantaspectoftheiren-theogenicexperience?63percentofrespon-dentsanswerednegativelytothisquestion. Mostly,theseresponseswereansweredwitha simpleno.Wheretheanswerswereelabo-rated,theentheogenicexperiencewas typically considered tobebeyond gender, suchas, Ifeel thattheentheogenicexperiencetranscends boundaries suchas gender and, As we aimto accessthespiritualplanethroughuseofen-theogens,Ibelievegenderand sexualityareir-relevant in these highest dimensions.21percentofrespondentsansweredposi-tivelytothisquestion.Whiletherewereplenty ofsimpleyesanswers,theserespondents were more inclined thantheir no counterparts toelaborateastowhy.Thereasonsastowhy theyansweredyeswerequitediverse.Some responses appeal to theidea that gender is a so-cialconstruction:forexample,Althoughwe couldsaythatgenderstereotypes(e.g.mascu-lineactive,femininereceptive)areanartificial construct,Ithinkthatthesewouldinfluence manypeople'sexperiences.Otherresponses appealtothe idea that gender is biologically de-termined: forexample,differences were proba-blyduetoinnatedifferencesinmental/cognitiveprocesses.i.e.womenareoftenmore emotionally driventhanmen. Thecombination ofthesociallyconstructedandbiologicallyde-terminedwasalsoaddressedbyonerespon-dent:Yes,therearesignificantbiologicaland hormonaldifferencesbetweenthebrains of womenand men, and significant differ-encesintheirculturalandpsychological motivatorsandconditioning.Sexualori-entation likewise is accompanied as a gen-eralrulebyneurobiologicalandpsycho-logicalvariation.Toassumethatthis wouldnotimpactontheentheogenicex-periencefliesinthefaceofeverythingI have learned frommy elders and fromsci-enceandfrommyexperiencewithen-theogens, regardlessof howun-politically correctitmaybetostate.Howeverthe variationbetweenexperiencesdoesnot meanthat thechemicalmechanismis any different, theexperienceswill presumably stillfallintothesamecategories,Justthe personal content, intensityand experience modality will vary.A further theme that emerged from this question wasthatentheogensenablemoreauthentic understandingofgender,assuggestedbythe following respondent:Entheogens reveal who one truly is, if the partakerisopentoreceivingthatknowl-edge.Formenandwomen,entheogens canbea gatewayto gettingintouchwith theirtruemasculinityorfemininity.For women,itcanalsobeaboutgettingin touchwiththemasculineaspectsofself (theinnerwarrior)and formen,it canbe aboutconnectingtotheirinnerfeminine. So genderis important,but not definitive, in an entheogenic context.Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the ParanormalVol. 3 No. 3 26Theremaining16 percent of respondents tothis questionwereunsure.Bothmaleandfemale respondentsansweredyes, noorunsuretothis question in similar proportions.Thesecond open-ended question asked was, Doyouperceivethereto beanythingdifferent aboutthewaygenderandsexualorientation functionintheentheogeniccommunitycom-pared tosocietyat large? 49 percent of respon-dents answered positively, withtheoverwhelm-ingreasongivenbeingthattheentheogenic communityis morewelcomingof diversityand open-mindedthanmainstreamsociety.More respondentsreferredtotheaccommodationof differingsexualorientationsinthecommunity thangeneralperceptionsofgender.Onere-spondent extended the acceptance of gay people asafundamentalpartoftherationalebehind the community:Frommyexperience,representationof thegaycommunityseemshigherthanin thegeneralpopulation.Ibelievethatthis isduetosocietyforcingthegaycommu-nitytochallengewhatisconsiderednor-malbehaviourwhichthenleadstoques-tioningofothernormalbehavioursuch asthenonacceptanceoftheentheogenic experienceby law enforcement and policy makers.29percentsawnodifferenceandtypically answeredwithasimpleno.Onthefew occasionsamoreelaborateanswerwas provideditwassuggestedthecommunity reflectsmainstreamculture,astypifiedbythe following response from one woman:Not really, inorderto facilitate theusage ofDMT/Ayahuascatherearetwomen whoarequitewellknownintheentheo-genic community,unfortunately they both knowthepowertheyholdovereveryone elsewhowantstousethisinaspiritual way. They seethemselves almost godlike andinfallible.Ithinklikemostmenwho runcorporations.Ihaven'tmetanyfe-maleswhodothesameasthesemen,if therewereIdon'tthinktheywouldbe takeninwiththis godlikementalitythat themendo,Ithinkwomenwouldcome more from a place of love than ego.Theremaining22 percentwereunsure.Wesee hereasmalldifferencebetweentheanswersof menandwomen,inasmuchaswomenwere slightlymoreinclinedtoseenodifference relativetomainstreamsociety,andweremore inclined to give detailed reasons as to why.Thethirdopen-endedquestionasked,Do youperceivetheretobeequalityintheentheo-geniccommunitysurroundingissuesofgender andsexualorientation?61percentofrespon-dentsansweredpositively,eitheranswering with a simple yes or reiteratingthe answers of thepreviousquestioninregardstoacceptance ofdiversity.A numberof respondents whoan-swered yes provideda caveat suchas therebe-ingmoreequality relative to mainstreamsociety. Sometimesrespondentsansweredpositively, butgaveanegativefollowup,suchasYesthoughtherewillalwaysexist inequality and, Yes. Trashbags can be sexist and discriminatory butthatisnodifferentfrommanyothercom-munities I suppose.18 percent of respondents thought there was inequality.Somenegativeresponseswere framedsimplyinterms of statistical representa-tion,suchasNo,intermsofmembers,there seemstobeararityofwomen.Ofthepeople I've met, about one in eleven are women. Other negativeresponsessuggestthecommunity merely reflects mainstream society, suchas The communitycanbea bit of a boysclub,and like elsewhereIfeelthatwomenhavetoprove themselves moreto achieverecognition, and are oftensidelinedasjust thegirlfriends.21per-cent ofrespondentswereunsure.However,the differencebetweenmenandwomensanswers widenhere:while18percentofrespondents overallidentifiedinequality,thefigurerisesto 31 percent among female respondents.Thefourthopen-endedquestionaskedwas, Is thereanythingabout genderand sexualori-entation that youwould liketo see functiondif-ferently in the entheogenic community? 48 per-cent of respondents answered negatively, largely Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the ParanormalVol. 3 No. 3 27withasimplenoanswer.