Trance, posture, and tobacco in the Casas Grandes shamanic tradition: Altered states of consciousness and the interaction effects of behavioral variables
Christine S. Vanpool, Laura Lee, Paul Robear, Todd L. Vanpool
Anthropology of Consciousness November 8, 2023 DOI: 10.1111/anoc.12222 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Intervention | Tobacco intoxication |
| Topics | Shamanism Altered states of consciousness |
| Keywords | Trance Divination Consciousness Soul Aesthetics Anthropology Literature Epistemology |
| Citations | 5 |
| Key points | Proposes that tobacco intoxication and the Tennessee Diviner posture, combined with rhythmic drumming, mutually reinforce trance experiences of soul flight and divination in Casas Grandes Medio period shamanism. |
Abstract
Abstract Here, we describe how Casas Grandes Medio period (AD 1200 to 1450) shamanic practices of the North American Southwest used tobacco shamanism, a ritual stance called the Tennessee Diviner (TD) posture, and cultural expectations to generate trance experiences of soul flight and divination. We introduce a conceptual model that holds that specific trance experiences are the emergent result of human minds interacting with additional factors including entheogens, cultural expectations, physiological states, postures/movement, and sound/stimulation. Experimental and ethnographic evidence indicates initiating trance with either tobacco intoxication or the TD posture accompanied with a rapidly beating drum or rattle corresponds with perceptions of soul flight, transformation, and divination/information acquisition. Both have similar results but pairing them together as they were during the Medio period likely helped ensure the culturally desired trance experiences. This practice of mutually reinforcing factors was likely part of tobacco‐based shamanism found in other New World cultures as well. We suggest our general model can be applied to other contexts to examine how various aspects of trance induction interact to produce the cultural patterns (and resulting cosmological and spiritual frameworks) anthropologists have documented in other cultures.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on shamanism, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ayahuasca Shamanism in the Amazon and Beyond | 2014 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Shamanism as the Original Neurotheology | 2004 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Cognitive Neuroscience, Shamanism and the Rock Art of Native California | 1998 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| From Culture to Experience: Shamanism in the Pages of the Soviet Anti-Religious Press | 2020 | Historical analysis | |
| Anthropology, Shamanism, and Alternate Ways of Knowing–Being in the World: One Anthropologist's Journey of Discovery and Transformation | 2010 | Reflective essay or personal narrative |
Citations in the library
Cited by 3
- The rhythms of trance: Cultural phenomenology and neural mechanisms of music-induced non-ordinary states of consciousness. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews July 1, 2026
- Cracks in the Dam: The Quiet Faith of a [ CENSORED ] Schoolteacher Anthropology of Consciousness March 1, 2026
- Shaman Pots, Sympathetic Magic, and Spinning Souls among the Medio Period Casas Grandes: Altered States of Consciousness in Other-than-Human Persons Religions March 27, 2024
Cites 17
- MDMA (3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine) or Ecstasy: The Neuropsychobiological Implications of Taking It at Dances and Raves Neuropsychobiology 2004
- Brain changes during a shamanic trance: Altered modes of consciousness, hemispheric laterality, and systemic psychobiology Cogent Psychology April 24, 2017
- Brain Network Reconfiguration and Perceptual Decoupling During an Absorptive State of Consciousness. Cerebral Cortex July 1, 2016
- Cognitive Neuroscience, Shamanism and the Rock Art of Native California Anthropology of Consciousness March 1, 1998
- Neural Correlates of the Shamanic State of Consciousness Frontiers in Human Neuroscience March 18, 2021
and 12 more in the library