The Trickster and the Paranormal

There is a pattern, and generally the phenomena either provoke or accompany some kind of destructuring—a concept discussed at length in this book. For instance, the phenomena do not flourish within stable institutions, and endless examples illustrate this. Fortunately, two theoretical perspectives are already developed that connect the supernatural

The evidence indicates that UFOs are not “nuts and bolts” craft driven by “flesh and blood” humanoid aliens. They are something quite different. The direct sightings are not the only, or even the most important, aspect; social and cultural circumstances surrounding UFO events must be considered as part of the phenomena. One should examine effects o

Both of de Mille’s books have extended discussions of Castaneda as trickster, with intriguing insights into his personality. Castaneda never responded, and his mystique continues to this day.

An enormous number of people have influenced my thinking, but three were particularly important: William Braud, Barbara Babcock, and Edmund Leach. Parapsychologist William Braud integrated an enormous range of findings with his model of lability and inertia in psi processes. Barbara Babcock is the most significant interpreter of the trickster figur

Everyone knows that universities have departments devoted to the sciences, but those outside academe often are unaware that many state-supported schools have long-established departments of religion. Despite the much-acclaimed warfare between science and religion, both have been incorporated into the academy. Science and religion are clearly demarc

Carl Jung’s idea of archetypes is also helpful in understanding the trickster. The term archetype is often confusing, and there has been much debate over its definition. For purposes of this volume, “archetype” means only a pattern that can manifest at multiple levels. No more is implied, and nothing paranormal is necessarily required to explain it

Postmodernist theories suggest that the world can be understood as though one was reading a book or text. This metaphor (i.e., the world is text), allows one to ask new questions that would not be generated by traditional scientific paradigms. Reading requires interpretation, and postmodernist and post-structuralist theories emphasize the variety o

Classical scholar E. R. Dodds in his The Greeks and the Irrational (1951) noted the role of birds in Greek magical practices.12 Birds can be seen as living between the heavens and the earth and as messengers between the realms. Thus birds have a betwixt and between quality.13

Half a century after van Gennep published his book, Turner began to extend the ideas, and in 1964 he presented a paper titled “Betwixt and Between: The Liminal Period in Rites de Passage.” The phrase “betwixt and between” helped emphasize the liminal period or position as between two stable conditions, and he also used the term “margin” in a simila