I am going through you': on studying shamans' altered states of consciousness

The article draws the reader's attention to research on altered states of consciousness (ASC), which has been developing since the second half of the twentieth century, and more specifically to one of the interdisciplinary projects that was implemented in the early 2000s at the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology and Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology (Russian Academy of Sciences). The project focused primarily on personality of (neo)shamans and those who enter ASC by other means. The article discusses some of the issues associated with the project which are still underex-plored, and draws on some field materials, including very recent, to provide further interpretations. Among these issues is the question how those experiencing ASC in different cultural traditions perceive and interpret psycho-physiological manifestations while in ASC, including their understanding of the division between 'black' and 'white' magic and their attempts to connect it with different bodily sensations. First, emphasised is the erotic arousal coming from ASC, which may be associated with activation of certain 'energy centres' (chakras), and whose interpretation may be that it involves the most powerful 'black' magic. Second, attention is given to the specific feeling of lightness experienced during performance of rites by the shaman and the emergence of creative energy, and it is stressed that these feelings are felt in different ways in different shamanic techniques, but can serve as a way of preventing negative states and treating some of them. Third, it is shown that contemporary practices of entering ASC are still understudied, particularly as regards the associated changes in the psycho-physiological and mental status of new adepts, and especially of those who are trying to practice shamanism without having the genetics that the more experienced shamans have. Finally, the question is raised as to the need to more actively explore the possibilities of traditional practices of folk healing, sorcery, and shamanism as ways to promote health care and prevent negative states and diseases.

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