George Hansen: The Trickster and the Paranormal, questions space fans?

[Christopher O'Brien]

I (finally! met George Hansen this past month during my east coast road trip. Needless to say, his book The Trickster and the Paranormal was instrumental in my research/thinking process for my book Stalking the Trickster. George has been a longtime paranormal researcher in academia, science and elsewhere. It is my distinct pleasure to announce his forthcoming appearance on The Paracast. The taping session will be this Thursday 12 to 2pm (ET). Please post your informed questions HERE.

To get up2speed w/ George's work, go here:

The Trickster and the Paranormal
http://www.tricksterbook.com
George Hansen (@ParaTrickster) | Twitter
The Paranormal Trickster Blog
George P. Hansen - Academia.edu

 

[Randall]

Question: Would androids experience electric Tricksters?
Note: This is a trickster-ish question .

 

[Burnt State]

very excited to have him on and to have this topic explored by a host who is a trickster expert - should make for some exceptional dialogue.

1) A lot of the studies around the trickster as a figure descends from anthropological studies and connects concepts of how people progress through their society by some type of initiation process that is paradigm shifting and profoundly experiential. These often happen in the wilderness, in the familiar isolated spaces where we see UFO's, Bigfoot, monsters and otherworldly beings. Have you noticed any shift in how the trickster presents itself in an age of urban living during the digital revolution? And do you think we can we still experience these personally transformative events inside the wilderness of digital culture?

2) Arnold Van Gennep in Rights of Passage says that the coming of age rituals moves through a three part process of separation, the liminal period and then reassimilation. I've noticed that experiencers of unique phenomenon who have been touched by the liminal period are not reassimilated into our culture but are called kooks, crazies and weirdos who probably wear tinfoil hats. Why do you think we no longer honour and celebrate the person who has gone through such experiences and what are the consequences to human culture when their knowledge and experience is no longer being assimilated into our society?

3) In your opinion are there strategies that an individual can use to enter the liminal zone and if so what are the dangers of getting up close to the trickster? Given the lack of current support how should a person go about reassimilating themselves into society following such experiences?

 

[Wade]

Being that I am getting obsessed about how the principals of chaos theory may be intertwined in just about every aspect of our reality, i would like to hear what George has to say about what is the relationship (if any) between a trickster element and chaos theory and is it the trickster that makes this world, or chaos or both.

Yes I realize that was a play on Lewis' s book, not George's.

 

[Burnt State]

You know what would make great radio would be getting Perkins on for this episode and you could all talk about the psychosocial theory of UFO's and explain to us how these destructuring agents help to work against rationalism in a co-creative manner, interacting with our consciousness through their own intelligence, to bring them into our physical world.

Here's an exceptional backgrounder on Hansen and UFology by Perkins:
Tangling With the Trickster: Myth, Magic and the UFO. David Perkins | MAGONIA

I'm subscribing just to get the after hours talk for this episode. May it run deep into the night.

 

[Wade]

Trickster Theory Simplified | The Paracast Community Forums

 

[Huscroft6]

Question- Can you explain why, and possibly give examples, on your belief that paranormal events such as UFO sightings, visits from ghosts, and strange creature manifestations occur when our society is in transition?

 

[Wade]

from the link that burnt provided

"...Many ufologists will remember Hansen for his controversial role in the Budd Hopkins/Linda Napolitano ‘Brooklyn Bridge UFO Abductions’ case. Along with his colleagues Richard Butler and Joseph Stefula, Hansen did his own investigation and concluded that it was an outright hoax. The case had been considered ‘fragile’ by several other researchers. As a result of Hansen’s critical appraisal, Jerry Clark, of the Hvnek Center for UFO Studies, and other ufologists started referring to Hansen as ‘Torquemada’ (the Grand Inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition). Hansen absorbed the barbs with tricksteresque glee. “I expect to antagonise people”, he still says...."

I quite forgot about this. jim moseley ( who earned an honorable mention as a trickster incarnate on george's blog) was no less critical on this case.


@Christopher O'Brien @Gene Steinberg do you happen to know if or what jerry clark had to say about Jim's indictment on this case?

 

[Wade]

,i shall answer my own question, in a google search i came across this excerpt from Jim's "Shockingly close to the Truth"
Shockingly Close to the Truth: Confessions of a Grave-Robbing Ufologist - James W. Moseley, Karl T. Pflock - Google Books

 

[Polterwurst]

Do you think there are many different "trickster entities" or is it all one universal consciousness that can have one strange sense of humour sometimes?

Was there a trickster taking the role of Phillip in the experiment of the same name? If so was it probably rather human and alive (meaning that some of the experimenters were cheating) or something else? What does that mean for other "experiments" like Scole, or your average teenage table tipping / glass moving / ouija-board "party"?

Any own experience that convinced you there definitely is a "consciousness reality" outside of our heads? Or could it all be an illusion (which I guess would be one big tricksterism in itself)?