Exploring Magical Consciousness as a Form of Knowledge: A Conversation with Susan Greenwood

Hosted and organized by the HDS Center for the Study of World Religions, in this first event of Gnoseologies: Transcendence and Transformation Today, we discussed “magic” with Dr. Susan Greenwood. This series focuses on ways of knowing that are often labeled as “non-rational.”

Traditionally referred to as gnosis in Western philosophical and religious traditions, and often understood in contraposition to science (episteme), these ways of knowing are becoming more and more influential in contemporary societies, popular culture, and academic research. What is the place of spirit possession, divination, and experiences perceived as “out-of-the ordinary” in our lives? How can we study and approach these types of phenomena? Going beyond dichotomies such as body and mind, ordinary and extraordinary, reason and experience, and matter and spirit, this series hosts scholars of different disciplines and practitioners interested in exploring and expanding the boundaries of what counts as “knowledge” today.

Susan Greenwood is an anthropologist specializing in magic as an altered mode of awareness, and her initial fieldwork among British pagans, witches, and shamanic practitioners. She has lectured courses on the anthropology of religion at Goldsmiths University of London, and altered states of consciousness at the University of Sussex. The author of many articles and books on magical consciousness, including "The Anthropology of Magic" (Berg 2009; Routledge 2020), "Magical Consciousness: an anthropological and neurobiological approach" [with Erik Goodwyn] (Routledge, 2017), and "Developing Magical Consciousness: a theoretical and practical guide for the expansion of perception" (Routledge 2020), her research focus is now on exploring alternative modes of knowledge through storytelling.