Extraordinary Bodies, Invisible Worlds

Somatic Pedagogy in Neo-pagan Ritual Practices

Bibliographic Data

ID2612128
AuthorsYael Dansac (0000-0002-2681-2301, Université Libre de Bruxelles, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume14
Issue2
Pages240-247
Publication date2024-04-30
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueApproaching Religion (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1799-3121 • E-ISSN: 1799-3121
PublisherApproaching Religion (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.30664/ar.138268
OpenAlexW4396516709
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited6

Numerous scholars have signalled that neo-pagan practitioners use their body and their senses to interact with the divine and elaborate a spiritual experience. However, the learning process followed to achieve and produce a sensing body capable of communicating with summoned entities has not been properly assessed, until very recently. For over a decade, I have conducted ethnographic research on neo-pagan ritual practices held at European megalithic sites to understand how practitioners learn to co-construct their somatic experiences culturally. Collected data allowed me to develop a model I called somatic pedagogy, which is a progressive sensory learning process applied by ritual specialists organizing practices. In this review article, I present a synthesis of published material where I have developed this model extensively. Specifically, I will go through the elements that permit this kind of somatic education to be implemented within analysed practices: the specificities of neo-pagan ontologies about the human body and world, the potential of neo-pagan rituals to function as learning sites, and the main stages of this progressive bodily education

Aesthetics · Art · Sociology · Diversity and Impact of Dance · Paranormal Experiences and Beliefs · Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices

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