Art, Ritual, and Trance Inquiry: Arational Learning in an Irrational World

This book provides insights into the practice of trance-based inquiry through arts-based research, serving as a beacon to guide the way to thresholds of ancient, yet novel, transmissions. Embedded in lived experience and theory, this book introduces the reader to the liminal space of place and trance-based inquiry processes entwined with creative artworkings. The interweaving of art, ritual, and trance-based inquiry opens sacred spaces for learning and unlearning that bring spirit into form. Each chapter presents examples from women artists and culminates with experiential practices drawn from the author’s decades of creative peregrinations to assist artists, teachers, and researchers in transmitting a conscious way of practicing and creating with trance.

Barbara A. Bickel is Emeritus Associate Professor of Art Education at Southern Illinois University, USA, and Co-Director of Studio M*: Collaborative Research Creation Lab Intersecting Arts, Culture, and Healing based in Calgary, Canada.