Exceptional Experiences and Altered States of Consciousness

Biographical Integration of Exceptional Experiences

Introduction

Exceptional experiences (ExE) differ deviate from everyday experience. They can be experienced positively or negatively and can confirm, question or even shake person’s the world view. How these experiences are dealt with and how they are integrated biographically depends on many factors. In addition to the world view, existing personal and cultural patterns of interpretation, previous experiences, and the context in which the ExE occour play an important role in their impact on beliefs and the narrative construction of one’s own biography.

ExE can occur spontaneously, without any direct cause being identifiable. This can lead to astonishment, but also to doubts as to whether one could have succumbed to a sensory illusion. The situation is somewhat different when ExE occur in the context of religious, spiritual or magical practices. There they can take on important functions. The importance of ExE for the process of adopting a heterodox belief system or an alternative religious worldview has often been neglected in the research literature. Religious scholars are primarily concerned with the sociological or psychological process of religious conversion, which they divide into different phases. While ExE condsidered as potential internal triggers (e.g. mystical experiences or near-death experiences), but the special quality of these experiences is often not taken into account.

We investigated the question of the particular significance of ExE for the adoption of heterodox beliefs on the basis of interview material collected in three field studies in German-speaking countries.

Selected Projects

The Magician and his World(s)

The meaning and use of the terms “magic”, “magician” and “magical” varies greatly depending on the perspective and context. We speak, for example, of magical beliefs and actions, of magical objects, of the magic that emanates from a situation or that shapes the course of a situation (“there must have been magic involved”), of magical healing effects. The charismatic concert pianist, with his extraordinary mastery of his instrument and ability to create moods with his performance, is described as a magician, as is the stage illusionist, who fascinates and puzzles the audience with his “magic performance”. There is also the figure of the magician, who is said to deal with occult powers. This latter definition describes the subject of the field study, which was carried out between 2004 and 2007.

The aim was to provide an overview of current practices in German-speaking countries and the systems of thought behind them. To this end, representations in relevant literature and on websites were analyzed. The main aim of the study, however, was to collect and evaluate in-depth, topic-centered individual interviews with practicing magicians. The main topics of these interviews were

  • Biographical embedding
  • Adaptation of magical knowledge
  • Magical practice and forms of evaluation
  • Social environment / Magic networks
  • World interpretation and world view
  • Ethics / value orientation

Eleven magical practitioners were recruited as interviewees. The spectrum of magical traditions represented was quite broad, ranging from representatives of white magic orders (“Servants of the Light”) with a focus on ritual magic to members of satanic orders (“Current of Seth”). Most of the interviewees were individuals with many years of magical practice; some of them can be regarded as key figures in the German-speaking magical scene.

A central finding of the study is that no typical magician personality can be identified. Common characteristics of the “magicians” include strong individualism, early engagement with ideological and philosophical issues, interests during adolescence that tend to be unusual for their age during their youth, a moment of rebellion and non-conformity (in various forms and manifestations) as well as a fascination with the “underlying aspects of life”, the border areas of life and the “darker sides” of existence. Subjective experiences of evidence of events and experiences also play an important role, where conventional scientific explanations appear inadequate.

From a differential psychological perspective, it was possible to define the dimensions of the magical personality. Using the heuristics derived from this, it is possible to locate the different approaches and motivational structures that underlie magical practice. Five typified aspects of the figure of the magician were identified, which can to be understood as mutually non-exclusive orientations of human action and can lead to magical practice as a form of action: 1) the magician as artist, 2) the magician as social utopian, 3) the magician as scientist, 4) the magician as “fully functioning person” and 5) the magician as a seeker of wisdom.

Publications

Mayer, G. (2012b). Magier des 21. Jahrhunderts: Ein Versuch der Dimensionierung der Persönlichkeit des Magiers. In M. Schetsche & K. Krebber (Hrsg.), Grenzpatrouillen: Sozialwissenschaftliche Forschung zu außergewöhnlichen Erfahrungen und Phänomenen. (S. 133–165). Logos.

Mayer, G. (2010). Moderne magische Praxis: Modelle—Techniken—Schulen. Grenzgebiete der Wissenschaft59(2), 99–134.

Mayer, G. (2009). Magicians of the 21st century: An attempt at dimensioning the magician’s personality. Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft4(2), 176–206. https://doi.org/10.1353/mrw.0.0150

Mayer, G. (2008). Arkane Welten: Biografien, Erfahrungen und Praktiken zeitgenössischer Magier. Ergon.

Mayer, G. (2008). Die Bedeutung von Tradition und Geheimnis für praktizierende Magier des 21. Jahrhunderts: Ergebnisse eine Interviewstudie. Aries8(2), 117–138. https://doi.org/10.1163/156798908×327302

Project staff
Modes of reality Ronstruction in Magical and Alternative Religious Groups

The task of the project was to compare scientific conceptualizations of the biographically significant construction of reality by magical practitioners and followers of neopagan groups. The project combines theoretical analyses with empirical data from field studies on contemporary magicians and shamans as well as on Germanic-believing neopagans (Ásatrú). In academic discussions, the concept of interpretive drift, i.e. the gradual consolidation of magical beliefs through practical experience (Luhrmann), and the coming home experience (Adler), i.e. the feeling that joining a neopagan group is not a religious conversion, but merely a rediscovery of what has long been known, have been competing for years. (The latter is a narrative that can also be found within the neopagan field itself). One aim of the study was to determine the relationship between these two concepts or modes of reality construction. We also asked about the relevance of other biographical factors in turning to such groups, for which magical practices and rituals are of particular importance. In addition, we investigated the significance of exceptional experiences for the process, which are linked to a pronounced subjective sense of evidence and which are often ignored by research in this context. If such individual biographical aspects as well as different personal motivational structures are taken into account, an immense range of possible approaches to heterodox worldviews emerges. Our thesis is that simple generalizations regarding the characterization of a typical path to the adoption of magical beliefs and practices are misleading.

Publications

Mayer, G., & Gründer, R. (2012). Coming Home or Drifting Away: Wege zur Übernahme heterodoxer Glaubensvorstellungen und alternativer religiöser Weltanschauungen. In M. Schetsche & K. Krebber (Hrsg.), Grenzpatrouillen: Sozialwissenschaftliche Forschung zu außergewöhnlichen Erfahrungen und Phänomenen. (S. 198–221). Logos.

Mayer, G., & Gründer, R. (2011). The importance of extraordinary experiences for adopting heterodox beliefs or an alternative religious worldview. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research75.1(902), 14–25.

Mayer, G., & Gründer, R. (2010). Coming home or drifting away—Magical practice in the 21st century: Ways of adopting heterodox beliefs and religious worldviews. Journal of Contemporary Religion25(3), 395–418. https://doi.org/10.1080/13537903.2010.516550

Project staff