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"My heart sang within me, and I was glad to be dead": The Reception of Near-Death Experiences Across the Cultures of Oceania

Description: Abstract: A comparative survey of how near-death experiences (NDEs) intersected with afterlife myths and shamanic practices, as reported in the mid-19th to mid-20th century by missionaries, explorers, and ethnographers of Polynesia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Australia, reveals various culturally distinct patterns. In Polynesia and Melanesia, documentary accounts of NDEs are found alongside myths and beliefs that directly refer to the phenomenon. In contrast, in Australia and Micronesia NDEs ar… more
Date: Spring 2018
Creator: Shushan, Gregory
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Music of the Spheres: Astronomy and Shamanism in the Music of Urmas Sisask

Description: In 1619, Johannes Kepler published his magnum opus Harmonices mundi in which the astronomer derived distinct pitches and scales for each known planet in the solar system from calculations of various aspects of their orbital motions. This was the first theoretical realization of the ancient tradition of musica universalis (also called musica mundana), or music of the celestial bodies. It was not until the Estonian composer Urmas Sisask (b. 1960) began his compositional career by deriving his o… more
Date: August 2012
Creator: Edmonds, David Michael
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Near-Death Experience as a Shamanic Initiation: A Case Study

Description: Abstract: The field of near-death studies shares a number of interesting, often compelling, similarities with the ancient spiritual tradition known as shamanism. Not least among these similarities is the fact that a near-death experience (NDE) is a time-honored form of shamanic initiation. I present a case example illustrating how a deep NDE can propel a person who had no prior knowledge or interest in shamanism into spontaneous, often classic, shamanic experiences, while living an apparently… more
Date: Summer 2001
Creator: Green, J. Timothy
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Afterlife Research and the Shamanic Turn

Description: Abstract: In Western culture, approaches to the afterlife have mutated throughout history, from shamanism and mythology to philosophy, spiritualism, and psychical research. For conceptual reasons, however, survival research seems to many to be languishing, despite some remarkable recent advances. I urge a return to a more experience-based approach, modeled after features of the near-death experience, for its practical benefits; I intend that approach to complement other forms of research, not… more
Date: Autumn 2001
Creator: Grosso, Michael
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Death Journey of a Hopi Indian: A Case Study

Description: Article presenting the case study of the "death journey" or near-death experience (NDE) of Don Talayesva, a Hopi Indian, whose experience occurred between 1900 and 1910. The article compares and contrasts his experience with 11 accounts of Native American NDEs reported by Jenny Wade, as well as with modern day NDEs.
Date: Summer 2008
Creator: Green, J. Timothy
Partner: UNT Libraries

"He should stay in the grave": Cultural Patterns in the Interpretation of Near-Death Experiences in African Traditional Religions

Description: Abstract: A wide-ranging survey of ethnographic, explorer, and missionary literature demonstrates that although historical accounts of near-death experiences (NDEs) are attested in indigenous African societies, they are comparatively rare. Correspondingly, there is also a scarcity of mythological narratives of journeys to afterlife realms and a comparative lack of concern with afterlife speculation per se. Instead the literature reveals that many African peoples had marked concerns about pote… more
Date: Summer 2017
Creator: Sushan, Gregory
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

An Anthropological Perspective on Near-Death-Like Experiences in Three Men's Pregnancy-Related Spiritual Crises

Description: Article bringing a transpersonal perinatal anthropological perspective to the study of three fathers' near-death-like experiences (NDEs) with the "spiritual emergencies" of three New Zealand men during their partners' pregnancies. It explores the seemingly anomalous male birth/death/rebirth experiences and draws some parallels with what some Western researchers have called "the shamanic crisis," and compares their stories with the symbolic reproductive maneuvers of shaman midwives.
Date: Summer 2006
Creator: Lahood, Gregg
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Near-Death Experiences, Shamanism, and the Scientific Method

Description: Article discussing the overlap between shamanism and near-death experiences (NDEs) and suggesting that the study of shamanism would be helpful in more fully understanding this phenomena and beginning the development of an applied methodology. Although it may be difficult to verify subjective accounts of NDEs and shamanic journeys, from a clinical standpoint it may not be necessary to do so in order to develop a technique that passes the test of scientific scrutiny.
Date: Spring 1998
Creator: Green, J. Timothy
Partner: UNT Libraries
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