The Trickster and the Paranormal

The Trickster and The Paranormal is a substantial, thoroughly referenced exploration of an extremely slippery and intriguing subject - the archetypal Trickster.

As the title suggests, the book's main argument addresses parapsychology, miraculous and anomalous phenomena - the author was professionally engaged in parapsychological research for eight years - but the treatment has far wider significance. Taken literally the word 'paranormal' suggests a polarity between a state called 'normal' and all that lies outside that state. As such, the word can extend way beyond UFOs and spoon bending to embrace the whole spectrum of rebellion against an existing order - from individual artistic self-expression to international terrorism. Seen in this light the book has an important message for society and deserves to be far more widely read and discussed.

Because it is an unusual book, let me first say what it is not. For all its bulk and 50 pages of references, this is not one of those blockbuster compendia of 'evidence' intended to convince the reader of the reality of certain paranormal phenomena. Though it soon becomes apparent that the author is favourably disposed to the believers, it is only at the end of the penultimate chapter we find the bald statement "But psi actually exists." And it is only in the final two paragraphs that the author spells out his own position. The rest of the book is substantially an exploration of ideas and attitudes - argument rather than an amassing of data.

Nor is this book a polemic. One of life's injustices is the suspicion we feel towards self-published books - so often they betray a chip on the author's shoulder, an urgent, personal desire to express something of little impersonal interest. So I started this book with apprehension, and found a very well constructed argument that did suggest a master strategist amassing his troops for an onslaught. However, it was only in the sections addressing the arch-skeptics - CSICOP, The Skeptical Enquirer, James Randi and their ilk - that I felt the emotional temperature rising slightly. If I am correct in sensing a counterstrike by a parascience investigator whose field of has been treated with institutionalised contempt, then it is utterly to the author's credit that he maintains tight control of his troops. Even in these sections the treatment is even-handed, interesting and informative - though I would like to see them commented on by the skeptics in question. (And I suspect that the tone of their comments would strengthen rather than undermine the book's thesis.)

Rather we find a wide ranging exploration - beginning with a survey of trickster motifs in folklore and myth, followed by psychological theories of boundaries (Ernest Hartmann) and Victor Turner's concept of anti-structure. Dualities, and the inbetweennness states they define, are registered as Trickster territory. The structure-forming dualistic tendency denies this inbetweenness state, degrades its status and so unwittingly recruits an army of vagabonds, cheats, charlatans and more-or-less social outcasts under the Trickster's banner.

The second part, chapters 5 and 6, looks at shamanism, mysticism and the ambiguous relationship between formal religion and the miraculous, while the third part outlines the anthropological theories of Michael Winkelman, Max Weber and others. Here it is not only interesting to see how certain of their ideas illuminate the Trickster's territory, but also the way that academia has tended to sideline those specific aspects of their work while promoting the broad principles behind them.

Part Four - chapters 10 to 19 - are most closely linked to the author's own experience. They embrace parapsychology, the investigation of anomalous phenomena, psychical research - real and fraudulent - the debunkers and conjuring. The author is a member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians as well as a parapsychology professional. This section is the nearest the book comes to being a compendium of facts, but it maintained my interest because the emphasis is not on an attempt to bludgeon the reader with evidence but rather to analyse the way evidence is treated and how people react to it. Once again we see the Trickster and his army of outcasts threatening our stability and security.

Part Five pleased me especially - I think I almost understand the meaning of the terms 'post-modernism' and 'deconstruct' after this rapid but clarifying tour of the ideas of Levi-Strauss, Derrida, Lacan, Corbin, Barthes and others. These names certainly ring bells - I am vaguely aware of their use as conversation stoppers, but here they are invoked to draw some very interesting and thought-provoking parallels. The way their ideas emerged, the antipathies they evoke, and their timing added an extra sense of urgency and relevance to this book. I was reminded of the observation in the penguin Classics edition of The Bacchae - that the Dionysus of this myth was not such an ancient deity but a figure that seemed to arise as a counterbalance to the highly structured Athenian society. A divine madness that arises in low status groups (women in that case) as a 'shadow' to excessive control, and so highly relevant to the youth rebellion of the 1960s.

The final part gives positive value to the role of imagination, and the significance of paranoia - quoting Charles Manson's famous observation that "the coyote is the most aware creature there is.... because he is completely paranoid." I would have liked to know whether Salvador Dali's 'paranoid-critical method' has relevance - at the cost of making a big book even bigger.

As suggested, this is not a polemical book but rather an invitation to explore a large, familiar yet under-mapped territory. The book is well constructed and polite to the reader, with regular summaries and clear links between sections. In the Preface the reader is invited to dip into the book here and there - I stolidly read it from cover to cover and am glad I did so for a full appreciation of its thesis. The author casts his net wide to trap a slippery subject, but does not force his point.

So, what is his position? I quote from the closing paragraphs where it is spelled out most succinctly: "Some may think I paint an ominous picture of psychic phenomena... they might suggest ....that it is useless to pursue investigation in this realm. That is not my position. The supernatural is irrational, but it is also real... We ignore it at our peril.... If we fail to recognize the limits of our 'rational' way of thinking, we can become victims of it."

The questions that this book has raised continue to intrigue and inform me. The public is currently deeply troubled by the shifting boundaries between public order and individual freedom - the more so since the events of September 11th. I would like more concerned people to read this book - not because they would find clear answers here (the Trickster does not work like that) but because they would start asking far better questions for it.