New essay on the crystal skulls

0 | October 7th, 2015 | Posted in Joseph Laycock, paranormal

Quartz-Rock-Crystal-Mitchell-Hedges-Crystal-Skull-Replica-11I first heard the story of the mysterious crystal skulls when I was a kid in the 1970s through the television program In Search Of… Joseph Laycock has written an essay on them for Material Religion: The Journal of Objects, Art and Belief, Volume 11, Issue 2 (2015) titled “The controversial history of the crystal skulls: a case study in interpretive drift”. The abstract:

In the nineteenth century, several skulls carved from rock crystal appeared in the holdings of European collectors. The provenance of the skulls was unknown and experts regarded them as pre-Columbian artifacts. In the twentieth century, two very different histories formed about these objects. Through testing and archival research, forensic experts and curators concluded that the skulls were created in the nineteenth century using European technology. Conversely, a community of skull enthusiasts believes the skulls are thousands of years old and function as a sort of esoteric computer. They believe that by communing with crystal skulls, it is possible to access records of ancient civilizations. The skull enthusiasts have strongly resisted the findings of experts. This article applies Tanya Luhrmann’s theory of “interpretive drift” to examine how the skull enthusiasts were able to construct and invest in a mythology surrounding these objects in only a few decades. This case study suggests that material objects can serve an important role in forming the types of magical worldviews outlined by Luhrmann.

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Emory University’s Zombethics

0 | October 7th, 2015 | Posted in ethics, zombie

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Midnight Syndicate releases new album “Christmas: A Ghostly Gathering”

0 | September 27th, 2015 | Posted in Midnight Syndicate, music

Midnight Syndicate's "Christmas: A Ghostly Gathering" album coverI am pleased to announce the release of a new album by Midnight Syndicate. It is titled “Christmas: A Ghostly Gathering.” From their press release:

“The new album features the band’s unique twist on classic holiday carols blended with new and original material. ‘Our goal was to treat each song in a way that would merge familiarity with originality,’ said Gavin Goszka. ‘There are definitely recognizable elements, but plenty of additional original material as well. It also incorporates the wildest instrument palette we’ve used to date and represents what we consider to be the most varied collection of songs we’ve ever released.”

You can order the new album here.

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Religious tensions expressed again in The Strain

1 | September 12th, 2015 | Posted in Christianity, Guillermo del Toro, religion, vampire

5847133_the-strain-picture-preview-mothers-extreme_12fbde82_mI’m a little behind on watching episodes of The Strain, but one which aired a couple of weeks ago caught my attention because of the conflicting ways in which it portrayed Christianity. Previously I’ve commented on the way the series engages the Christian faith, particularly in its Roman Catholic expression. This is due to Guillermo del Toro’s negative experiences with Catholicism when growing up with a devout and stern Catholic grandmother. Although del Toro considers himself an agnostic, he also identifies in some ways as a lapsed Catholic. So it is no surprise that the religious tension in del Toro’s own life surfaces in his artistic expression as co-author of The Strain series of books, producer of the series, and director of a few episodes.

In the episode a couple of weeks ago, Thomas Eichhorst, a vampire who serves The Master, seeks an ancient book, the Occido Lumen, rumored to contain ways in which to defeat this vampiric evil. The book is in the possession of a Catholic Cardinal, apparently corrupted by his power and money. Eichhorst confronts the Cardinal to take possession of the Occido Lumen, and pauses to comment as he looks at a large crucifix. His hands run up and down it, and he says that it seems like a strange way to treat your only son, referring to the humiliating death by crucifixion of Jesus represented in the crucifix. This is intended as mockery of a key tenet not only of Catholicism, but also of historic Christendom. Yet at the same time it raises interesting theological questions about the Christian doctrine of the atonement that are debated by contemporary theologians. Eichhorst attacks the Catholic Cardinal and infects him with the worms that lead to vampirism so that his knowledge of the location of the book will become known to The Master. Before he is attacked the Bishop is pictured on his knees looking upward to heaven praying for deliverance. Eichhorst looks up mirroring the Bishop’s gaze and asks where this would-be divine deliverer is and why he doesn’t rescue his follower. No, he says, The Master will soon demonstrate that he is the true Lord to be followed.

But while these two elements represent a mockery and subversion of Catholic and Christian belief, the scene changes not long after. Abraham Setrakian, who is also looking for the book, chases off Eichhorst, and offers to cleanse the soul of the Bishop by releasing him of the vampiric infection through death by beheading. Here Setrakian becomes the counterpoint to the mockery of the previous scenes and embodies faith in Christianity as a force for good with the power to overcome the evil of the infectious vampiric strain.

It will be interesting to watch how the religious tensions of The Strain continue to manifest themselves, many of the same kinds of tensions found not only in Guillermo del Toro, but also many in Western culture as well.

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Call for Papers: Reframing Science Fiction

0 | September 10th, 2015 | Posted in art, call for papers, science fiction

Winston_EndpaperCall for Papers – Reframing Science Fiction: A One Day Conference on the Art of Science Fiction

21 March 2016

Canterbury Christ Church University, Canterbury, Kent, CT1 1QU

Keynote speakers: Dr Jeannette Baxter (Anglia Ruskin University) and Dr Paul March-Russell (University of Kent)

From William Blake and John Martin to Glenn Brown and The Otolith Group, artists have been producing works of art that are science fiction. And artists and their works have been incorporated into many works of science fiction.

Meanwhile, on countless book covers and in magazine illustrations, a visual language of science fiction has evolved: bug-eyed monsters; spaceships; robots and so on.

Art in the comic strip and the graphic novel has been the means of telling stories in visual form – whilst artists such as Roy Lichtenstein have made comic panels into art.

We invite 300 word proposals for twenty minute papers on the intersection of art and sf across the media – painting, sculpture, drawing, collage, photography, film, performance, prose, dance, architecture and so on – on topics such as:

•individual artists or groups of artists;
•surrealism;
•pop art;
•representations of sex, gender, class, ethnicity etc.;
•specific techniques or materials;
•book and magazine covers;
•illustrations;
•comic books/graphic novels;
•art film;
•art direction

Send proposals or queries to: Dr Andrew M Butler, School of Media, Art and Design, Canterbury Christ Church University, Canterbury, CT1 1QU, UK or to andrewmbutler42@gmail.com by 15 January 2016.

Further information will be available from https://reframingsciencefiction.wordpress.com.

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New Volume: The X-Files FAQ

0 | September 8th, 2015 | Posted in John Kenneth Muir, The X Files, Titles of Interest

515yuTjxMAL._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_John Kenneth Muir is a prolific author and commentator on genre related entertainment. He is also a personal friend and collaborator in various book projects. I am pleased to promote his new book The X-Files FAQ: All That’s Left to Know About Global Conspiracy, Aliens, Lazarus Species, and Monsters of the Week (FAQ Series) (Applause Theatre & Cinema Books, 2015).

The X-Files FAQ explores Chris Carter’s popular 1990s science-fiction TV series, which aired on Fox for nine seasons and inspired spin-offs, including feature films, TV shows, toys, novels, and comic books. The book explores the series in terms of its historical context and analyzes how many of the episodes tackle the events of their time: the Clinton era. The X-Files FAQ also tallies the episodes that are based on true stories, selects touchstone moments from the almost decade-long run, and organizes the series by its fantastic subject matter from serial killers to aliens, from prehistoric menaces to ethnic and religious-based horrors. In addition, the book recalls the TV antecedents (Kolchak: The Night Stalker) and descendants (Fringe) of The X-Files, examines the two feature films, and investigates Chris Carter’s other creations, including Millennium, The Lone Gunmen, Harsh Realm, and The After. Featuring numerous stills and the show’s most prominent writers and directors, The X-Files FAQ allows readers to relive the “Mytharc” conspiracy and the unforgettable monsters of the week from the Fluke Man to the Peacocks.

You can order this fine volume through Amazon and other online and retail outlets.

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Strange Dimensions featuring interview with David Hufford on sleep paralysis

0 | August 23rd, 2015 | Posted in paranormal, sleep paralysis

51iXkwBXU-L._SX351_BO1,204,203,200_I am pleased to recommend Strange Dimensions: A Paranthropology Anthology edited by Jack Hunter. This volume is a celebration of four years of the Paranthropology Journal, and collects together 16 of the best articles from the last two years (the first two years were covered in Paranthropology: Anthropological Approaches to the Paranormal, published in 2012). It includes my interview with David Hufford on sleep paralysis.

It is from the paranormal’s multifaceted nature that the title of this book takes its meaning. Throughout its pages we encounter, time and again, talk of a wide variety of dimensions, levels and layers, from social, cultural, psychological and physiological dimensions, to spiritual, mythic, narrative, symbolic and experiential dimensions, and onwards to other worlds, planes of existence and realms of consciousness. The paranormal is, by its very nature, multidimensional.

“Once again, Jack Hunter takes us down the proverbial rabbit hole, here with the grace, nuance and sheer intelligence of a gifted team of essayists, each working in her or his own way toward new theories of history, consciousness, spirit, the imagination, the parapsychological, and the psychedelic. Another clear sign that there is high hope in high strangeness, and that we are entering a new era of thinking about religion, about mind, about us.”

— Jeffrey J. Kripal, author of Authors of the Impossible: The Paranormal and the Sacred

Table of Contents

Editor’s Introduction: Many Strange Dimensions – Jack Hunter

Foreword: Playing with the Impossible – Joseph P. Laycock

Part 1: Ethnographies of the Anomalous

1. Profane Illuminations: Machines, Indian Ghosts, and Boundless Flights Through Nature at Contemporary Paranormal Gatherings in America – Darryl V. Caterine

2. Hearing the Voice of God – Tanya M. Luhrmannn

3. Life is Not About Chasing the Wind: Investigating the Connection Between Bodily Experience, Beliefs and Transcendence Amongst Christian Surfers – Emma Ford

4. Communication Across the Chasm: Experiences With the Deceased – John A. Napora

5. The Paranormal Body: Reflections on Indian Perspectives Towards the Paranormal – Loriliai Biernacki

Part 2: Making Sense of Spiritual Experience

6. From Sleep Paralysis to Spiritual Experience: An Interview With David Hufford – John W. Morehead

7. A Matter of Spirit: An Imaginal Perspective on the Paranormal – Angela Voss

8. The Spectrum of Specters: Making Sense of Ghostly Encounters – Michael Hirsch, Jammie Price, Meghan McDonald & Mahogany Berry-Artis

9. “Spirits are the Problem”: Anthropology and Conceptualising Spiritual Beings – Jack Hunter

10. The Brain and Spiritual Experience: Towards a Neuroscientific Hermeneutic – Andrew B. Newberg

Part 3: High Strangeness

11. Playback Hex: William Burroughs and the Magical Objectivity of the Tape Recorder – James Riley

12. Crop Circles as Psychoid Manifestation: Borrowing Jung’s Analysis of UFOs to Approach the Phenomenon of the Crop Circle – William Rowlandson

13. The Para-Anthropology of UFO Abductions: The Case for the Ultraterrestrial Hypothesis – Steven Mizrach

Part 4: Consciousness, Psychedelics and Psi

14. Navigating to the Inside: First Person Science Perspectives on Consciousness and Psi – Rafael G. Locke

15. Connecting, Diverging and Reconnecting: Putting the Psi Back in Psychedelic Research – David Luke

16. A Paradigm-Breaking Hypothesis for Solving the Mind-Body Problem – Bernardo Kastrup

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Artificial intelligence and religion

1 | August 16th, 2015 | Posted in artificial intelligence, religion, robotics

artificial-intelligence-religion-not-goodThere has been a good bit of discussion lately on artificial intelligence in connection with religiosity. The Daily Mail has a piece titled “Will artificial intelligence be religious? Researchers say robots could someday be converted to a faith.” This includes positive and negative aspects. On the latter, the piece states

If artificially intelligent robots could have souls and be converted to religion, there are concerns that they may add to conflict around the world.

Christian theologian James McGrath, writes in his essay Robots, Rights, and Religion: ‘In all likelihood, if androids were inclined to be extremely liberal, they would quickly discover the selectivity of fundamentalism’s self-proclaimed liberalism and reject it.

‘The possibility that they might then go on to seek to enforce all the Biblical legislation in every details should indeed worry us.’

There is also a piece at Big Think titled “Experts Debate the Compatibility of AI and Religion.” It overlaps somewhat with the Daily Mail piece, but it’s worth looking at as well.

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Titles of Interest – Ghosts, Spirits and Psychics: The Paranormal from Alchemy to Zombies

0 | August 4th, 2015 | Posted in ghost, occult, paranormal, Titles of Interest

9781610696838Matt Cardin of The Teeming Brain is a good friend and colleague in all things fantastic. I am pleased to announce one of his latest book projects, Ghosts, Spirits and Psychics: The Paranormal from Alchemy to Zombies (ABC-CLIO, 2015).

This fascinating work provides a complete overview of paranormal phenomena, including the beliefs, attitudes, and notable figures who have attempted to explain, defend, or debunk the mysteries behind the unknown.

Recent interest in the paranormal as pop culture fodder belies its historical status as an important subject of cultural, philosophical, and scientific significance. This book traces the trajectory of paranormal studies from its early role as a serious academic and scientific topic studied by mainstream scientists and eminent scholars to its current popularity in books, film, and TV.

This compelling reference work details the experiences, encounters, and ideas that make up this controversial field of study. The contributed entries examine the broad phenomena of the paranormal, addressing the history of scientific investigations along with its contemporary media depictions to illustrate the evolution of cultural attitudes about the paranormal. A selection of primary documents provides real-life accounts and contributions from noted experts that explore the full scope of themes from spiritualism to poltergeists to astrology. Accompanying images, timelines, quotations, and sidebars make the content come to life and encourage alternative explanations of these events.

Features

* Contains more than 120 factual entries as well as extensive excerpts from several primary documents in the area of the paranormal
* Features contributions from noted experts in its field from across viewpoints—including believers and skeptics
* Profiles a number of important individuals who have contributed to the history and study of the field
* Includes such topics as near-death experiences, paranormal dreams, the supernatural, magic, and the occult

Matt Cardin is an instructor at Ranger College in Ranger, TX. His published works include ABC-CLIO’s Mummies around the World: An Encyclopedia of Mummies in History, Religion, and Popular Culture; numerous articles and essays in various publications, including ABC-CLIO’s Encyclopedia of the Vampire: The Living Dead in Myth, Legend, and Popular Culture; and the books Dark Awakenings and Divinations of the Deep. He holds a master’s degree in religious studies and a bachelor’s degree in communication.

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Titles of Interest – Beyond the Monstrous: Reading from the Cultural Imaginary

0 | August 2nd, 2015 | Posted in cultural studies, cultures, monsters, monstrous, Titles of Interest

9781848881815LBeyond the Monstrous: Reading from the Cultural Imaginary (Inter-Disciplinary Press, 2013), edited by Janice Zehentbauer and Eva Gledhill

Twenty-first century’s fascination with monsters in popular culture is not new. Throughout history, many of the world’s cultures have created beings they deem ‘other’ and ‘monstrous,’ beings which, many scholars agree, ultimately reveal humans’ own fears about themselves. This collection of interdisciplinary studies, Beyond the Monstrous: Readings from the Cultural Imaginary, explores constructions of the ‘monstrous’ from several vantage points, such as the popularity of today’s Twilight saga, to the hermaphrodite and questions of sexuality in seventeenth-century English print culture, and to the post-industrial ruins of Japan’s landscapes. The scholars of this text demonstrate that concepts of monstrosity frequently veil socio-political anxieties of a given culture or historical moment. More significantly, the scholars here emphasise the ethical ramifications of the ways in which humanity creates, analyses, and treats its monsters.

Introduction: Reading beyond the Monstrous
Janice Zehentbauer

Part I: Monstrous Women
Monsters in the Shadows: Brahmin Widows in Twentieth-Century India
Sarah Rangaratnam

Sympathy for the She-Devil: Poison Women and Vengeful Ghosts in the Films of Nakagawa Nobuo
Michael E. Crandol

The Monster Inside Me: Unnatural Births in Early Modern Italian and French Fairy Tales
Belinda Calderone

Part II: The Age of Monstrosity: Teens and Beyond
Narrativizing Sexual Deviance as both Symptom and Fantasy: The Perverse Sexuality of the Wolf-Child
Steven Rita-Proctor

The Lost Boys?! Monstrous Youth of the Cinematic Teenage Vampire
Simon Bacon

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: Youth, Age and the Monstrosity of Beauty in The Twilight Saga
Monica Dufault

Part III: Beyond Gender
Print Culture and the Monstrous Hermaphrodite in Early Modern England
Whitney Dirks-Schuster

Monstrous Hermaphrodites: Jeffrey Eugenide’s Middlesex, the Intersexed Individual and the Bildungsroman
Rowan Roux

Who Mourns for Godzilla? Gojira and De-Asianization of Post-War Japan
Steven A. Nardi and Munehito Moro

Part IV: Monstrosity, Racism (and Imperialism)
Spectres of Capitalism: Ghostly Labour and the Topography of Ruin in Post-Industrial Japan
Norihiko Tsuneishi

Monsters and Survivors in Oates’s Jewish American Saga
Maria Luisa Pascual-Garrido

Grave Tales, Monstrous Realities
Louise Katz

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