Fall 1, September 11 - October 8, 2011. No weekly meeting.
A Cherry Hill Seminary Foundations Course by York Dobyns, Ph.D.
Has anyone ever told you that religious ritual - especially magickal ritual - is a foolish, superstitious, or simply useless activity? The class is intended to provide students with information that will help defend themselves and others against this widely held attitude.
While there will be some discussion of the purely psychological benefits of ritual, the main focus of the class will be on reviewing high-quality scientific research that addresses topics usually considered supernatural. Much of this research has results more favorable to a spiritual or magickal worldview than is generally acknowledged in popularizations or even the more prominent technical literature.
The Foundations course "Why Magickal Thinking Doesn't Mean You're Crazy" is a whirlwind tour of the scientific evidence relevant to magickal practice.
Each week's assignments will include both readings composed by the instructor (in place of lectures), and study of off-site resources available on the Web. The ability to view streaming video will be needed for some of the off-site resources. In addition to reading and watching videos, students should expect to take one or two quizzes and write at least one short essay each week.
Required Texts:
No required texts
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