E-SUPPLEMENT TO THE JOURNAL FOR CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS THEORY
The following is the third of a three-part series. The first and second can be found here. It Was Only a Dream The idea of reaching another layer of reality via hallucinogens is often associated with the dream experience. Dreaming is believed by many New Agers and New Paradigmers to be a therapeutic phenomenon. But […]
The following is the second of a three-part series. The first can be found here. Symbolically, the idea of going beyond the edge of the ordinary world to encounter other levels of reality is a recurring theme in religion and mythology. For example, Hindu mystical texts promise, via practices such as yoga and meditation, glimpses […]
The following is the first of a three-part series. Introduction: Alice and Entheogens In this article I seek to analyze spiritual phenomena using contemporary mythological and pop-cultural referents, such as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865), Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There (1871), and The Matrix. Using these texts as interpretive mediums, I […]
Speaking of new religious movements in Brazil implies, above all, in defining what we refer to when we speak of “new religions.” We have already had an opportunity to discuss the boundaries that limit this concept[1]. Now, it seems to be a matter of showing a larger audience some of the features that this phenomenon […]
Fifty years ago this weekend in the year 1966, according to lore and legend, San Francisco showman, musician, and self-professed huckster Howard Stanton Levey a.k.a. Anton Szandor LaVey founded the Church of Satan, proclaiming at the same time the advent of the Age of Satan (coinciding roughly with the immense popularity of the Rolling Stones […]