“Something Came Over Him”: Narratives on Being “Carried by Witches” and Their Possible Connection to Altered States of Consciousness
Mirjam Mencej
Preternature Critical and Historical Studies on the Preternatural March 1, 2018 DOI: 10.5325/preternature.7.1.0050 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Ethnography Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Residents of rural eastern Slovenia who narrated memorates about being "carried by witches" |
| Topics | Altered states of consciousness |
| Key findings | Argues that neurological phenomena such as out-of-body and near-death experiences may have provided a basis for at least some narrated experiences of being "carried by witches" in rural eastern Slovenia, and that cultural concepts and narrative patterns were adopted to cope with and make sense of these experiences in a society that does not grant cultural value to altered states of consciousness. |
Abstract
ABSTRACT The article discusses the experience of being “carried by witches” narrated to me repeatedly during my field research in rural eastern Slovenia in 2000–2001. The experience, which was ascribed to the agency of witches who “enchanted” their victims and led them astray, typically occurred in the forest at night and implied disorientation, sometimes (but not necessarily) the vision of light(s) that people followed or were drawn to, and a shift of consciousness. The article argues that particular neurological conditions (out-of-body experiences, near-death experiences) may have provided a basis for the experience of at least some of the subjects in the memorates, and that various cultural concepts explaining the experience, and cultural patterns of structuring narratives about it, may have been adopted by people in order to cope with and make sense of what they experienced in a society that does not grant cultural value to altered states of consciousness.
Comparable studies
Other qualitative studies on altered states of consciousness, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sensory Isolation in Flotation Tanks: Altered States of Consciousness and Effects on Well-being Patients with depression, burn-out syndrome, and chronic pain | 2015 | Qualitative study | n = 8 |
| A Shaman's Cure: The Relationship Between Altered States of Consciousness and Shamanic Healing1 Nepalese shamans and their patients | 2009 | Ethnography | |
| Psychedelic Drugs: A Study of Drug-Induced Experiences Obtained by Illegal Drug Users in Relation to Stanislav Grof's Model of Altered States of Consciousness Anonymous former illegal drug users | 2000 | Qualitative study | n = 16 |
| Spiritual experiences and altered states of consciousness – Parallels between BDSM and Christianity Self-defined BDSM practitioners in Sweden | 2020 | Qualitative ethnographic study | n = 29 |
| When Seconds Turn Into Minutes: Time Expansion Experiences in Altered States of Consciousness People who reported Time Expansion Experiences | 2020 | Qualitative study | n = 74 |
Citations in the library
Cites 3
- The body unbound: Vestibular–motor hallucinations and out-of-body experiences Cortex June 6, 2008
- The Nightmare Experience, Sleep Paralysis, and Witchcraft Accusations Folklore 2003
- Cognitive correlates of the spontaneous out-of-body experience (OBE) in the psychologically normal population: evidence for an increased role of temporal-lobe instability, body-distortion processing, and impairments in own-body transformations. Cortex 2011