The Humanistic Psychologist

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What are the Origins of Shamanic Journeying Imagery? The Modification of a Hypnoanalytic Technique to Address an Enduring Methodological Problem Adam J. Rock a; Peter B. Baynes b a Deakin University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia b Charles Sturt University, NSW, Australia

Online Publication Date: 01 October 2007 To cite this Article: Rock, Adam J. and Baynes, Peter B. (2007) 'What are the Origins of Shamanic Journeying Imagery? The Modification of a Hypnoanalytic Technique to Address an Enduring Methodological Problem', The Humanistic Psychologist, 35:4, 349 - 361 To link to this article: DOI: 10.1080/08873260701593342 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08873260701593342

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THE HUMANISTIC PSYCHOLOGIST, 35(4), 349–361 Copyright © 2007, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

What are the Origins of Shamanic Journeying Imagery? The Modification of a Hypnoanalytic Technique to Address an Enduring Methodological Problem Adam J. Rock Deakin University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Peter B. Baynes Charles Sturt University, NSW, Australia

Shamanic journeying imagery arguably transcends geographical space and historical time. However, to what extent is the content of the journeying imagery a construction of the shaman’s cultural cosmology, belief systems, autobiographical memories, etc? It is suggested that attempts to answer this question are hampered by a fundamental methodological obstacle: how to detect contextual influences on imagery that the shaman cannot report on because they are outside his/her present awareness and memory. A partial solution is presented: Watkins’ (1971) Affect Bridge, a hypnoanalytic technique used to uncover the origin of an affect. A nonhypnotic version of the technique developed for inquiry into shamanic journeying imagery is then explicated. Two recent empirical studies conducted by Rock (2006) and Rock, Casey and Baynes (2006), illustrating the utility of the Modified Affect Bridge with regards to investigating experimentally the origin of ostensibly shamanic journeying imagery reported by naive participants, are summarized. A tentative ostensibly shamanic journeying imagery origin typology is formulated and suggestions for future research are advanced.

This is a revised version of a paper presented at the 22nd Annual International Conference on the Study of Shamanism and Alternative Modes of Healing, San Rafael, California, 2005. Correspondence should be sent to Adam Rock, Ph.D., School of Psychology, Faculty of Health, Medicine, Nursing and Behavioural Sciences, Deakin University, Burwood Highway, Burwood VIC 3125, Australia. E-mail: [email protected]

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THE PROBLEM Although it is arguable that shamanic journeying imagery is transcultural, attempts to determine the extent to which the content of the journeying imagery is a construction of the shaman’s cultural cosmology, belief systems, autobiographical memories, and so on, are confronted by a fundamental methodological problem: how to detect contextual influences on imagery that the shaman cannot report on because they are outside his/her present consciousness and memory.1 Empirical studies of shamanic journeying imagery ultimately have to depend, directly or indirectly, on the limits of respondents’ memories, especially in the ordinary state of consciousness. Absence of evidence does not necessarily amount to evidence of absence when it comes to checking for nonshamanic sources of the journeying imagery. The respondent (shaman or experimental participant) can only report on what is available to present awareness and memory. If his or her journeying imagery derives not from a shamanic state but from previous experiences now forgotten, the investigator using current methodology will not detect this. The result is likely to be a false positive: the conclusion that this journeying imagery is genuinely context-free when in fact it is not. There is currently no methodological protection against such an error, and no obvious way of knowing how widespread it may be. The error is potentially compounded by the slippery dynamics of forgetting, which can render some memories at least temporarily inaccessible, and others more accessible in certain altered states of consciousness. Some emotionally significant memories appear to be “state-bound” (Fischer, 1980, p. 306) or “state-specific” (Tart, 1972, 1998, p. 1024, 103), and are easiest to access in a state similar to the one in which the experience initially occurred, or in a more relaxed, focused, permissive state than is normally present in ordinary waking consciousness. This article will commence with a synopsis of the Modified Affect Bridge technique. Second, previous research using the Modified Affect Bridge to investigate experimentally the origin of ostensibly shamanic journeying imagery will be summarized. Third, a tentative four-fold ostensibly shamanic journeying imagery origin typology is formulated. Finally, suggestions for future research are advanced. Before proceeding, two qualifying statements need to be made. First, shamanic journeying imagery is not restricted to any particular sensory modality; that is, journeying imagery may be visual, auditory, gustatory, olfactory, tactile, or multimodal (Walsh, 1995). However, for the purpose of this article, shamanic journeying images will be delimited to their visual modality, because these are arguably the most abundant (Houran, Lange & Crist-Houran, 1997) and unproblematic 1For the purpose of this article, autobiographical memory is defined as “memory for events that have occurred in one’s life” (Reber & Reber, 2001, p. 423).


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to investigate experimentally. Second, throughout this article, the term shamanic journeying image will be used in conjunction with the qualifier ostensibly because it is unclear what the sufficient conditions are for a visual mental image to be deemed genuinely shamanic. Nevertheless, Rock, Baynes and Casey (2005) suggested that there exist at least two necessary conditions: N1: The visual mental image, X, must occur during a shamanic journeying experience; and N2: The outward appearance of X must be consistent with shamanic cosmology. Clearly, the presence of both N1 and N2 do not constitute a sufficient condition (i.e., ensure that X is genuinely shamanic). For example, during a shamanic journeying experience (N1) one may encounter an X consistent with the geography of the shaman’s lower world (N2; e.g., a predatory creature such as a tiger). However, it is logically possible that the tiger may merely be an extraneous thought associated with, for instance, a circus performance that the participant viewed the evening prior to the shamanic journeying induction. Consequently, for the purpose of this article, an ostensibly shamanic journeying image will be defined as a visual mental image that satisfies N1 and N2.

A PARTIAL SOLUTION: THE MODIFIED AFFECT BRIDGE We suggest that a potential partial solution to the previously stated problem is to be found in the field of clinical hypnosis, where uncovering techniques are often successfully used to facilitate access to clinically important memories. One such technique, which the second author has found particularly impressive, is the Affect Bridge (Watkins, 1971; Watkins & Watkins, 1997). Edelstein (1981) provided a brief description of the technique: When an affect (emotion) of unknown origin is present, either as a major difficulty in the patient’s life or as an occurrence during the course of his therapy, he can be hypnotized and told to experience the affect again. He can be instructed to give some signal when he has the feeling … Next, the patient is told, “We will use the feeling as a bridge to the past. You will travel over that bridge to the very first time you ever experienced the feeling. As I count backward from ten to zero, you will travel backward to an earlier time, to another place … until, at the count of zero, you will be reexperiencing the situation that first produced the feeling. Do not try to remember; do not try to do anything. Just let it happen and let yourself experience it.” (pp. 62–63)

It will be noted that the Affect Bridge is essentially a time regression technique in which a problematic affect is used as a metaphorical bridge back across time to the original source of the affect in some forgotten event. However, there is no reason in principle why an image or imagery sequence could not be similarly ex-


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plored, using imagery rather than affect as the bridge. Indeed, Watkins and Watkins (1997) have themselves adapted the technique to trace the origins of a problematic bodily sensation rather than an emotion. They call this adaptation the somatic bridge. It may, therefore, be of interest to describe a modification of their technique by the second author to suit our purposes: that is, to facilitate access in shamanic research to any possibly forgotten personal origins of ostensibly shamanic journeying imagery. Because the Affect Bridge technique is essentially an imagery technique that is facilitated by, but not dependent on, hypnosis, it was decided for practical reasons to dispense with hypnosis. Consequently, the Modified Affect Bridge was not designed to provide complete access to the unconscious or otherwise elusive memories. Moreover, the second author created instructions that minimized the use of terms that might function as demand characteristics and, thus, increase the probability of a shaman or experimental participant engaging in false attributions (i.e., the mental image is erroneously attributed to a particular memory) or “recalling” false memories (i.e., the mental image is attributed to a memory of an idea, event, stimulus, etc., that never occurred). Brief Relaxation Induction Instead of hypnosis, a brief relaxation induction has been chosen to foster the desired state of focused, but permissive and noneffortful remembering. There are, of course, many suitable techniques. For present purposes, it is only important that they include suggestions linking the participant’s experience of deepening relaxation with noticeable increases in clarity of mind, imagination, and memory; a more undistracted concentration; and a calm, permissive, noneffortful state of mind. Particular attention would, of course, need to be drawn, through miniimagery exercises, to the growing power of memory recall as the participant’s mental relaxation and focus increase. TV Screen and Affect Attenuation The relaxation induction is followed by imagery tasks designed both to set the scene for the Modified Affect Bridge technique, and to give the participant maximum control and protection in case of emotional distress. For these purposes, the participant is instructed to imagine all imagery as forming on a TV screen over which he or she has complete control. This control extends to the participant’s distance from the screen, the brightness and size of the images on it, accompanying sounds and music, and even the speed and direction of the action (which can be slowed, stopped, or reversed as needed). These are all quite well-established affect attenuation techniques. They are valuable safeguards suitable for imagery work



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both in hypnosis and in the waking state. Their purpose in this context is to protect the participant against any emotional distress associated with the surfacing of long-forgotten and perhaps painful memories. Modified Affect Bridge When the scene has been satisfactorily set as described, the task becomes to visualize on the imaginary TV screen any ostensibly shamanic journeying imagery that the participant(s) have previously reported. Instructions are then given to enhance the brightness, color, and sharpness of the imagery using an imaginary remote control device, and signaling (e.g., by raising the right index finger) when the image has become as vivid as possible. The Modified Affect Bridge is then introduced as follows: You’ve just seen how powerful your imagination can be in this relaxed and focused state. Now lets see what your memory can do. I’m going to invite you to have a really close look at that imagery you reported before, because I’m interested in what it means and where it comes from. When you’ve got that imagery really clear and vivid on your TV screen, I’ll ask you to take an imaginary stroll down memory lane to see how far back that particular image goes, and where it might have come from. Maybe you will find it comes from images you encountered when you were younger—perhaps at school or church or the movies or somewhere else. Or maybe you will trace it to inner rather than outer events—events like dreams, daydreams, fantasies, meditation experiences, or unusual nature experiences. Or maybe your imagery will turn out to have no previous history as far as you can remember. I don’t know what to expect, so whatever you find, I’m keen to hear about it, no matter how trivial or odd it might seem. At the end of the brief trip down memory lane, we’ll leave the past behind, come back to the present and have a brief discussion about what you experienced. Is that OK by you? Good. Are you ready? OK, here we go … (PAUSE).

Instructions Once the concept of the Modified Affect Bridge has been introduced to the participant, one may commence the induction as follows: Now, using the heightened powers of your mind in this state of relaxed concentration, I wonder whether you can use that image you are looking at on your TV screen for an interesting experience of time travel. The image itself can become a kind of bridge, enabling you to move back from the present over the years to an earlier time. Back to a time when something was happening that you may have forgotten and you had an image just like it? (PAUSE). In a moment, I am going to count slowly back from five to one, and as I do so I will be asking you to keep watching the imaginary TV screen


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while you let that image carry you gently back in time, back to an earlier time when something happened to give you an image just like that image on your TV screen. (PAUSE). Let any past memories that come to you be also images that you are watching on your TV screen, always under your control, and separated from you by a comfortable viewing distance. (PAUSE). If any memory you meet feels uncomfortable, you can easily move back from it or cut it down to size with your TV controls. (PAUSE). You can dim it, take the color out of it, blur it—even drown it out with some noisily cheerful music. You can even shrink it to the size of a postage stamp, or just turn the TV off. Ready to begin a little time travel back over that bridge? O.K., I’ll begin the count. (PAUSE). Five, beginning to drift gently backwards in time, going at your own speed, a safe and comfortable rate, never going faster or further back than feels comfortable. (PAUSE). Drifting back towards a previous time that feels safe to remember, when something happened that gave you an image just like the image you’ve got on your TV screen. Just wait and observe. There is no need to try to remember, or to make anything happen. (PAUSE). Four, drifting further back. … It might only be months, or it might be years, drifting back to a previous time that feels safe to remember, when something happened that gave you an image just like the image you’ve got on your TV screen. (PAUSE). Anything that you remember is always at a safe distance from you. (PAUSE). Always under your control as you view it from a safe distance, on the screen of your TV. (PAUSE). Three, further back still, watching for something that happened at an earlier time of your life to give you an image just like the image you’ve got on your screen. (PAUSE). Allow any images or impressions like it to take shape on your screen, but only if you feel comfortable with them. (PAUSE). Two, your mind calm and easy, just waiting, not trying to make anything happen or any memories come. (PAUSE). Whatever comes that you feel comfortable with, stay with that. (PAUSE). And if nothing comes, that’s fine too, just enjoy that sense of easy drifting and relaxation—perhaps there is nothing to remember, nothing like that image that you have ever experienced before. (PAUSE). One, stay quietly for a little while with whatever has come up, even if it is just a blank screen. (PAUSE). Whatever it is, I’ll be interested to find out about it later, and just as interested if nothing at all came. So, don’t try to make anything come, just observe whatever there is to observe—even if it is a blank screen—and enjoy the mental calm and quiet. (LONG PAUSE).

Return to Alert State When the Modified Affect Bridge induction is complete, the task then becomes one of reorientation. Participants are instructed to shift their attentional focus from their visual mental imagery to their physical bodies and other objects in the external world (e.g., “Now, it’s time to end that little time trip, and gently bring your awareness back to the present and to this room…”). This is coupled with instructions informing the participant that the imagery exercise is over.


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Experimental Applications of the Modified Affect Bridge Rock, Casey and Baynes (2006) were the first to design and implement an experimental study using the Modified Affect Bridge to examine the origin of ostensibly shamanic journeying images. This study also investigated experimentally the impact of the term landscape—featured in Harner’s (1990) shamanic journeying to the lower world instructions—on the number of landscape-associated images reported, and used Pekala’s (1991) Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory to map and diagram the phenomenological effects of shamanic journeying to the lower world using sonic driving. The study consisted of a between-subjects design with three conditions: (a) Harner’s (1990) shamanic journeying to the lower world instructions coupled with monotonous drumming at 8 beats-per-sec for 15 min; (b) a revised version of Harner’s (1990) shamanic journeying to the lower world instructions that omitted the term landscape, coupled with monotonous drumming at 8 beats-per-sec for 15 min; and (3) no shamanic journeying to the lower world instructions and no monotonous drumming; sitting quietly with eyes closed for 15 min. Rock et al. (2006) reported that there was not a statistically significant relationship between condition and visual mental imagery derived from autobiographical memories. This finding suggests that ostensibly shamanic journeying images were just as likely to be derived from autobiographical memories as spontaneous visual mental images reported while sitting quietly with eyes closed. Furthermore, this finding provides tentative support for an epistemological constructivist explanation of the shamanic journeying to the lower world experience; that is, the epistemological process that results in one encountering ostensibly shamanic journeying imagery may involve the recall of autobiographical material stored in one’s long-term memory system and its subsequent superimposition within the percipient’s phenomenal space. Thus, with regards to visual mental imagery, the epistemological structure of the shamanic journeying to the lower world experience may not be significantly different from ordinary waking consciousness, both involving memory recall and superimposition. This finding provides preliminary support for Hubbard’s (2003) hypothesis that “shamanic cognition is not fundamentally different from nonshamanic cognition” (p. 42), at least with regard to visual mental imagery. Rock (2006) extended previous experimental research conducted by Rock et al. (2006) by using the Modified Affect Bridge to investigate the origins of visual mental images associated with factorial combinations of the between-subjects factor of instructions (i.e., Harner’s, 1990, shamanic journeying to the lower world instructions with and without religious instructions; and no instructions) and the within-subjects factor of induction technique (i.e., sonic driving, Ganzfeld, relaxation and sitting quietly with eyes open). It was found that visual mental images associated with shamanic journeying to the lower world were derived primarily


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from autobiographical memories. Rock (2006) emphasized, however, that “other visual mental images were amenable to tentative categorization as symbolic, transpersonal and indeterminate” (p. 53).

PROPOSAL FOR A FOUR-FOLD OSTENSIBLY SHAMANIC JOURNEYING IMAGERY ORIGIN TYPOLOGY The results of experimental studies conducted by Rock (2006) and Rock et al. (2006) suggest that Modified Affect Bridge data—associated with shamanic journeying to the lower world—may be organized into the following categories: autobiographical memory, symbolic, transpersonal, and indeterminate. Autobiographical The autobiographical category pertains to ostensibly shamanic journeying images that seem to be derived from one’s autobiographical memory; that is, “memory for events that have occurred in one’s life” (Reber & Reber, 2001, p. 423). This suggests that the epistemological process that results in one’s conscious awareness of an ostensibly shamanic journeying image involves the recall of autobiographical material stored in one’s long-term memory system and its subsequent superimposition within phenomenal space. Although an autobiographical memory may be linked to temporally prior events in the external world, the memory itself is stored in one’s long-term memory processing system “in” the mind/brain. This finding supports an imaginal (mind created imagery) rather than an exosomatic (out of the body; Walsh, 1989) interpretation of ostensibly shamanic journeying imagery and, thus, the geography of the shaman’s lower world. For example, Rock (2006) stated that one participant reported becoming trapped underneath an “ice sheet—ice river or stream” during his/her descent to the lower world (p. 48). The participant explained that the ice river was derived from the coupling of two autobiographical memories: “Beechworth waterfalls (memories from a trip). Ofelia [sic] painting that I like” (Rock, 2006, p. 51). Symbolic The symbolic category concerns ostensibly shamanic journeying images that appear to perform a symbolic function yet do not appear to be the mental representation of a previous sensory experience associated with the participant’s personal history. Interestingly, this ontological category would appear to contravene Reber and Reber’s (2001) definition of a mental image as “a mental representation of an earlier sensory experience…” (p. 341). The problem associated with the absence



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of a linkage to a sensory experience might be circumvented if one were to conceptualize the visual mental image, V, as a composite image exemplifying various constituents c1, c2,…, cn. It might then be argued that, although a privileged observer may have had individual sensory experiences corresponding to c1, c2,…, cn, the privileged observer may have never had a sensory experience involving the combination of c1, c2,…, cn (i.e., V). Rock (2006) found that one participant encountered a dark-haired girl during his/her descent to the shaman’s lower world. The dark-haired girl appeared to perform a symbolic function (e.g., represent one’s family tree), yet didn’t appear to be the mental representation of a previous sensory experience derived from the participant’s personal history. The participant explained that: “The girl is a picture or example of the female line of my mother’s family” (Rock, 2006, p. 51). Transpersonal The transpersonal category applies to ostensibly shamanic journeying images that may be attributed an exosomatic ontological status (Walsh, 1989). This is consistent with, for example, Swanson (1973; cited in Noll, 1985, p. 446), who reported that during a North American Indian vision quest, “a vision was taken to be a real perception: an encounter with an order of reality independent of the perceiver.” Similarly, Harner (1987) suggested that the upper and lower worlds are not mere mental projections; rather, they exist independently of the mind. These contentions appear to concur with an ontological position referred to as realism, which states that an external world exists independently of a sentient being’s perceptual apparatus (Eacker, 1972). Rock (2006) reported that one participant repeatedly encountered a seemingly autonomous “skeletal entity” during his/her journeys to the lower world. During the Modified Affect Bridge induction the participant was able to engage the skeletal entity in dialogue, requesting that it reveal its origin. The “skeletal entity” revealed that its origins were those of a human being who had been buried alive, rather than an autobiographical memory retrieved from the participant’s long-term memory system. For example, the participant stated that he/she “then asked it to take me to where it came from… the image I saw was actually a person who was buried alive” (Rock, 2006, p. 51). Indeterminate The indeterminate category relates to ostensibly shamanic journeying images of unknown origin. One might account for such a result a variety of ways. For example, (a) a participant may experience poor inward absorbed attention, thereby impeding the Modified Affect Bridge induction. (b) If the image was coupled with intense negative affect (e.g., fear) during the initial experimental session, then the participant may be unconsciously unwilling to reencounter the image during the


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Modified Affect Bridge induction. (c) The image may resist uncovering because it may be linked to a sensory experience previously associated with psychological trauma. (d) The image may be the resultant of “landmarks (e.g., archetypes) of unconscious or implicit cognitive structures” (Hubbard, 2003, p. 56). Landmarks held to be archetypal may be conceptualized as transpersonal. Presumably, it would be more difficult to trace the origin of a visual mental image derived from a transpersonal source, as opposed to autobiographical memories, despite possibly high inward absorbed attention intensity ratings. Rock (2006) found that one participant encountered a peasant woman interpretable as a helping spirit during a journey to the lower world. The participant was unable to delineate the origin of the peasant woman: “Each time I attempted to visualise an object, it was stopped by something and walls were put up in front of me. There was laughter and a pair of green/blue eyes watching my attempts and constantly trying to distract me” (Rock, 2006, p. 51).

SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH The results of previous experimental research conducted by Rock (2006) and Rock et al. (2006) have suggested numerous avenues for future research. For example, it may prove useful to phenomenologically map the state of consciousness associated with the Modified Affect Bridge stimulus using Pekala’s (1991) Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory. This would allow one to determine which phenomenological state effects are significant predictors of discrete level of imagery origin. It is arguable, for instance, that poor state absorption may compromise one’s ability to perform the brief relaxation, TV screen and affect attenuation, and Modified Affect Bridge tasks. Consequently, it might be hypothesized, for example, that low absorption intensity ratings predict indeterminate imagery origin. Future research might use the Modified Affect Bridge to trace the origins of journeying imagery reported by naive participants versus shamans. One could then determine if there is a relationship between grouping variable (naive vs. shaman) and imagery origin (autobiographical, transpersonal, symbolic, and indeterminate). If the origin of the visual mental imagery reported is autobiographical for naive participants but transpersonal for shamans, then one might argue that a transpersonal source constitutes a necessary condition for an ostensibly shamanic journeying image to be conceptualized as genuinely shamanic. Walsh (1995) suggested that shamanic journeying images are often multimodal. Consequently, future research might adapt the Modified Affect Bridge so that it may be used to trace the origins of the auditory, gustatory, olfactory, and tactile modalities of shamanic journeying images. Plant hallucinogens (e.g., dimethyltryptamine) are sometimes used to facilitate shamanic journeying experiences (Boyer, Boyer, & Basehart, 1973; McKenna,



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1991, 1992; McKenna & McKenna, 1993; Munn, 1973; Schultes & Hoffman, 1992). Strassman, Qualls, Uhlenhuth, and Kellner (1994) investigated the subjective effects of dimethyltryptamine fumarate (DMT) in humans. Twelve participants entered a double-blind randomized controlled trial using a saline placebo and four doses (0.05, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.4 mg/kg) of intravenous DMT. It was found that “many subjects referred to a sense of an ‘other intelligence’ present within the hallucinatory state” (Strassman et al., 1994, p. 102). Strassman (2001) has hypothesized that such entities are autonomous and may exist in parallel universes and dark matter realms. It may prove edifying to use the Modified Affect Bridge to compare the origin of journeying imagery associated with dimethyltryptamine-induced shamanic patterns of phenomenal properties with, for example, monotonous drumming-induced shamanic patterns of phenomenal properties. Following Strassman (2001), Rock (2006), and Rock et al. (2006), it might be hypothesized that a higher number of dimethyltryptamine-induced journeying images will be amenable to transpersonal categorization compared with monotonous drumming-induced journeying images, which will tend to be amenable to an autobiographical interpretation.

CONCLUSION It was argued that attempts to determine whether the content of shamanic journeying imagery is a construction of, for example, the shaman’s cultural cosmology, belief systems, or autobiographical memories are hampered by a fundamental methodological obstacle: the false positive conclusion that shamanic journeying imagery is substantially context-free without excluding the possibility that it derives from the individual’s own preexisting images and memories. We suggested that one partial solution might be the modification of Watkins’ (1971) Affect Bridge so that it can be administered in a nonclinical setting for the purpose of facilitating normal remembering in shamans and experimental participants. Previous experimental research has suggested that although ostensibly shamanic journeying images tend to be derived from autobiographical memories (Rock et al., 2006), some journeying images appear amenable to tentative categorization as symbolic, transpersonal, and indeterminate (Rock, 2006). The Modified Affect Bridge has numerous implications for theory and research. For example, in the philosophy of religion, epistemological constructivist theories of mystical experience hypothesize that the mystic’s experience is not context-free but rather shaped by his or her religious belief system (e.g., Katz, 1978). The Modified Affect Bridge is a promising tool for empirically testing whether mystical experience is, in fact, context-dependent. Furthermore, in anthropology and psychology, scholars (e.g., Walsh, 1989) have debated whether the shaman’s cosmos is imaginal or exosomatic. The application of the Modified Af-


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fect Bridge to shamanic journeying experiences allows one to investigate whether, for example, the geography encountered during journeying is a projection of the percipient’s mental set and, thus, imaginal. The Modified Affect Bridge also allows one to empirically test whether so-called transpersonal experiences are, in fact, context-free. For instance, Strassman (2001) has speculated that entities encountered during DMT-induced experiences may manifest in forms (e.g., deceased relatives) that are context-dependent, and yet the fundamental nature or essence of the entities may be transpersonal (e.g., the entities may reside in dark matter realms or parallel universes). The Modified Affect Bridge allows one to explore whether the entity’s forms are derived from the percipient’s memories and, thus, shaped by contextual influences. Consequently, the Modified Affect Bridge has the potential to contribute to the issue of what is a genuine transpersonal experience.

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