Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness Spring Meeting

Don’t we all love a little magic and mystery? Ancient mystery schools taught ways of navigating the universe, connecting with the divine, and gaining wisdom. Magic was a method of interacting with the supernatural and to influence desired outcomes. Yet, even as science has changed our understanding of the world and our place in it, people still seek out the mystical. Many seek out spiritual experiences, delight in being fooled by illusionists, attend role-playing mysteries, and hope their Hogwarts letter will arrive. For the upcoming conference we invite members to explore how and why mystery and magic are so enchanting to us. While there have been many anthropological studies of magic in the past, there are still many meaningful ways in which we can look at how magic and mystery impact humanity. We are looking for topics from personal experiences of magic, magic as control, connection, self-actualization, even to the mystery of consciousness itself.