Dr David Luke is Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Greenwich. His research focuses on transpersonal experiences, anomalous phenomena and altered states of consciousness, especially via psychedelics, having published more than 100 academic papers in this area, including thirteen books, such as Otherworlds: Psychedelics and Exceptional Human Experience. When he is not running clinical drug trials with LSD, conducting DMT field experiments or observing apparent weather control with Mexican shamans he manages a small ancient woodland and is a cofounder and trustee of Breaking Convention: International Conference on Psychedelic Consciousness. He lives life on the edge, of Sussex, England.
Colloquium Presentation: December 4th 2024 Washington Singer 219 (in person)
Double, double toil and trouble: Stirring insights into magic and psychedelics
Abstract
The use of psychedelics within a magical framework is at least as old as the historical ethnobotanical records, and probably far far older, and, as will be illuminated, remains a widespread global praxis to this day. However, it has been rare within the modern academy for either subject to be taken seriously, and rarer still for both troublesome topics to be explored under the same roof. This talk will explore the rich and ancient interplay between psychedelics and magic, with particular reference to contemporary practices, both old and new, such as shamanism, neo-shamanism and chaos magic. The approach draws upon the anthropology of consciousness and paranathropology – exploring the framing of some shamanic magical praxis as forms of psi – alongside contemporary research into parapsychopharmacology (the parapsychology of psychoactive substances), and the exploration of the psychology of psi as a parallel to some of the principles of chaos magic. The use of psychedelics is explored via those experiences transcending time, space and (efficient) causality – loosely aggregating divination and thaumaturgy under the concept of psi – and via other forms of exceptional psychedelic experience regarding theurgy under the concepts of mystical experience, entity encounter, possession/incorporation and perspectivism. Expect a cauldron full of hard toiled scholarship, meandering occult speculation, and a sprinkling of personal mis/adventure.