A Rastafari perspective on consciousness development, symbolized by the animals Anancy, lion, and lamb, is compared to established developmental stage theories from psychology and the psychology of religion. The analysis draws on dialogues from an online Rastafari community with a global reach, run by a group based in Trinidad, whose members align with the "spiritual, but not religious" trend. The paper interprets this material through the lens of Rastafari theorist Dennis Forsythe, relating the Rastafari stages to preconventional, traditional, modern, pluralist, and integral stages described by theorists such as Maslow, Kohlberg, Fowler, Gilligan, and Wilber.
Spontaneous spiritual awakenings are increasingly common in alternative spiritual communities in Norway, yet research on such experiences outside religious contexts in Nordic countries remains scarce. Based on three qualitative interviews with individuals in Norwegian spiritual communities who experienced spontaneous awakenings, the article describes altered states of consciousness, intense feelings of love, and physical bodily energies that led to permanent psychological transformation. Using humanistic and transpersonal psychology, the authors argue these embodied spiritual transformations differ from religious conversion and are better understood through trauma healing, self-actualization, and human potential.