Where the Spirits Ride the Wind: Trance Journeys and Other Ecstatic Experiences

"The book is clearly written for the general reader and includes many descriptions of trance experiences. It may serve as a good introduction to the nature and appeal of the shamanic revival in modern Western cultures." —Theological Book Review

"... a case study in experiential anthropology that offers a unique mix of autobiography, mythology, experiential research, and archaeological data to support a challenging thesis—that certain body postures may help induce specific trance states." —Shaman’s Drum

"This is a spellbinding and exceptionally readable book by an extraordinary woman." —Yoga Journal

"And suddenly the understanding of my own vision washed over me like a mighty wave... For life or for death, I was committed to that mighty realm of which I was shown a brief reminder, the world where all was forever motion and emergence, that realm where the spirits ride the wind." —from the Prologue

Goodman reexamines our notions of the nature of reality by studying the ritual postures of native art assumed by her subjects during trance states. For readers desiring to discover this world of ancient myths, she has included a practical guide on how to achieve such ecstatic experiences.

Academic background
In 1965, at age 51, she returned to graduate school completing a master's degree at Ohio State University in linguistics in 1968 and a doctorate in cultural anthropology in 1971. From 1968 until her forced retirement in 1979, she taught linguistics, cultural anthropology and comparative religions at Denison University, Ohio.

Contributions to anthropology
Felicitas Goodman made two major contributions to the field of anthropology: one concerned "glossolalia" or "speaking in tongues;" the other concerned religious ecstatic trance.
Felicitas noted frequent discussion of an odd kind of speech people spoke while they were "possessed." As a linguist, this intrigued her. Ethnographers called it "unintelligible speech."  She developed a working hypothesis that the striking accent and intonation patterns of such speech, as well as certain phonetic features were NOT a different kind of natural language, which was the "received view" on her field. (1969. "Phonetic Analysis of Glossolalia in Four Cultural Settings." Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 8: 227-239.)

Religious ecstatic trance
Dr. Goodman's research, publications, and on-going experience in this field are her major contribution to anthropology. In her book, Where the Spirits Ride the Wind, she notes how trance experience was a normal part of her life until the age of puberty when she was advised to leave behind the experiences of childhood. Happily, Felicitas did not do that.

The Cuyamugue Institute in Santa Fe, NM
In 1963 she purchased 270 acres for her in the area known as Cuyamungue, the name of an ancient pueblo in the area. In 1965, she discovered a place to erect a building on her property, and thus the Institute had its beginning.  Cuyamungue: The Felicitas D. Goodman Institute which continues her research and holds workshops about the postures which are one of the doors to the alternate reality.