Anthropology Final Study Guide
★ ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS ↷
1. Brainwave states ↴
a. Beta: Waking, consciousness.
b. Alpha: Daydream, light trance.
c. Theta: REM dreaming, deep trance.
d. Delta: Deep sleep, unconscious.
i. REMINDER: BAT-D!
2. Types of ASC ↴
a. Hypnagogic: State between sleep and wake.
b. Hallucinogenic: Psychedelic states induced by drugs.
i. REMINDER: “Hallucinate.”
c. Spirit possession: Instills feelings of disassociation.
d. Hypnotic trance: Hypnosis/trance/mesmerism.
e. REM dreaming: Lucid dreaming can occur.
3. Brain structures ↴
a. Left hemisphere: Logical, analytic; linear thinking; sequential time experience.
i. Controls the RIGHT side of the body.
b. Right hemisphere: Intuitive, emotional; holistic thinking; spatial time
experience.
i. Controls the LEFT side of the body; Is connected to ASC!
, c. Pineal gland: At the front of the brain; releases melatonin; called “the 3rd eye.”
d. Reticular Formation: At the top of the spine; governs sleep and waking; called
the “seat of consciousness.”
e. Temporal lobes: Above the ears; stimulating them causes visions and feelings of
sensed presence/ASC.
4. Hypnosis: The state of putting someone in a trance.
a. It used to be called mesmerism after Franz Anton Mesmer because he could
heal people by manipulating their animal magnetism (a fluid in the body).
i. This didn’t last long though… he was later proved to be a fraud by the
French and U.S. groups who revealed he was only putting others in a
trance.
ii. After this, a man named Charcot renamed Mesmer’s technique
“hypnoticism” after Hypnos, the Greek god of sleep.
1. NOTE: Sigmund Freud was Charcot’s student!
5. The God Helmet: Brain stimulation can evoke religious experiences.
a. A device developed by Dr. Michael Persinger that uses magnetic fields to
stimulate the temporal lobes leading to altered states of consciousness (ASC) and
feelings of a divine presence.
6. Doors of Perception: Book written by Aldous Huxley.
a. It was named after a poem written by William Blake.
b. It talks about his experiments with mescaline (a hallucinogen).
→
, ★ ENTHEOGENS ↷
1. Entheogen: Plants ritually consumed for religious purposes; they are believed to contain
divine life force or energy from the gods.
a. Ayahuasca: 2 plants; Used by Amazonian shamans in Santo Daime (Brazil).
b. Peyote: A cactus that contains mescaline; used by native American churches.
c. Ergot: Brain fungus; Consumed at Eleusis in a ritual.
i. It’s believed that eating ergot-infected bread causes visions such as those
in St. Anthony’s fire (visions of demonic torment).
d. Fly agaric: Mushroom; Used by the Tungus Shamans of Siberia, Wasson’s “Soma
of the Aryans” and Viking berserkers.
e. Cannabis: Hemp/hashish; Used by the medieval group, Assassins (hashisheen)
and OG Rastafari.
★ SYNCRETISM ↷
1. Syncretism: A hybrid religion that combines two earlier religions, often of an indigenous
group and a colonizing faith (e.g. African x Christian).
a. Syncretic religions are greatly influenced by Western European spiritualism!
2. Spiritualism ↴
a. Began with the Fox sisters in 1848 and their table-rappings.
b. Spiritualist churches ↴
i. Believe in a progressive afterlife and contact with spirits through
mediumship.
ii. Believe in reincarnation and several levels of spiritual existence.
★ ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS ↷
1. Brainwave states ↴
a. Beta: Waking, consciousness.
b. Alpha: Daydream, light trance.
c. Theta: REM dreaming, deep trance.
d. Delta: Deep sleep, unconscious.
i. REMINDER: BAT-D!
2. Types of ASC ↴
a. Hypnagogic: State between sleep and wake.
b. Hallucinogenic: Psychedelic states induced by drugs.
i. REMINDER: “Hallucinate.”
c. Spirit possession: Instills feelings of disassociation.
d. Hypnotic trance: Hypnosis/trance/mesmerism.
e. REM dreaming: Lucid dreaming can occur.
3. Brain structures ↴
a. Left hemisphere: Logical, analytic; linear thinking; sequential time experience.
i. Controls the RIGHT side of the body.
b. Right hemisphere: Intuitive, emotional; holistic thinking; spatial time
experience.
i. Controls the LEFT side of the body; Is connected to ASC!
, c. Pineal gland: At the front of the brain; releases melatonin; called “the 3rd eye.”
d. Reticular Formation: At the top of the spine; governs sleep and waking; called
the “seat of consciousness.”
e. Temporal lobes: Above the ears; stimulating them causes visions and feelings of
sensed presence/ASC.
4. Hypnosis: The state of putting someone in a trance.
a. It used to be called mesmerism after Franz Anton Mesmer because he could
heal people by manipulating their animal magnetism (a fluid in the body).
i. This didn’t last long though… he was later proved to be a fraud by the
French and U.S. groups who revealed he was only putting others in a
trance.
ii. After this, a man named Charcot renamed Mesmer’s technique
“hypnoticism” after Hypnos, the Greek god of sleep.
1. NOTE: Sigmund Freud was Charcot’s student!
5. The God Helmet: Brain stimulation can evoke religious experiences.
a. A device developed by Dr. Michael Persinger that uses magnetic fields to
stimulate the temporal lobes leading to altered states of consciousness (ASC) and
feelings of a divine presence.
6. Doors of Perception: Book written by Aldous Huxley.
a. It was named after a poem written by William Blake.
b. It talks about his experiments with mescaline (a hallucinogen).
→
, ★ ENTHEOGENS ↷
1. Entheogen: Plants ritually consumed for religious purposes; they are believed to contain
divine life force or energy from the gods.
a. Ayahuasca: 2 plants; Used by Amazonian shamans in Santo Daime (Brazil).
b. Peyote: A cactus that contains mescaline; used by native American churches.
c. Ergot: Brain fungus; Consumed at Eleusis in a ritual.
i. It’s believed that eating ergot-infected bread causes visions such as those
in St. Anthony’s fire (visions of demonic torment).
d. Fly agaric: Mushroom; Used by the Tungus Shamans of Siberia, Wasson’s “Soma
of the Aryans” and Viking berserkers.
e. Cannabis: Hemp/hashish; Used by the medieval group, Assassins (hashisheen)
and OG Rastafari.
★ SYNCRETISM ↷
1. Syncretism: A hybrid religion that combines two earlier religions, often of an indigenous
group and a colonizing faith (e.g. African x Christian).
a. Syncretic religions are greatly influenced by Western European spiritualism!
2. Spiritualism ↴
a. Began with the Fox sisters in 1848 and their table-rappings.
b. Spiritualist churches ↴
i. Believe in a progressive afterlife and contact with spirits through
mediumship.
ii. Believe in reincarnation and several levels of spiritual existence.
