Shamanism and Psi: Imagery Cultivation as an Alternative to the Ganzfeld Protocol

Abstract

In 2009 we, Lance Storm and Adam Rock, founded the Anomalistic and Transpersonal Research Lab at a university in Melbourne, Australia. We had grown tired of the theoretical and methodological straight-jacket imposed by the Ganzfeld paradigm and its underpinning noise-reduction model. Indeed, we were more interested in designing and implementing studies that represented cross-fertilization between the disciplines of transpersonal psychology and parapsychology. This interest naturally led us to an examination of shamanism and paranormal performance or "psi". Subsequently, we designed what we referred to as a shamanic-like journeying experimental protocol intended to elicit clairvoyance. One afternoon, we began to chat about possible mechanisms that might account for the anecdotal link between shamanism and psi that one finds in the anthropological literature. We also wondered precisely how our shamanic-like journeying protocol differed from standard Ganzfeld protocols. After some discussion it became apparent that our protocol encouraged activity, or more specifically, cognitive activity in the form of imagery cultivation, whereas Ganzfeld protocols promote passivity and, ultimately, mental quietude. We also hypothesized that a shamanic journey to the "lower world" might be analogous to a journey in to the unconscious, which is arguably a reservoir of psi images. These realizations coalesced to form our Imagery Cultivation Model, which is the focus of this monograph.