Dear Elizabeth,
in terms of supernatural agents being taken seriously, and how they manifest, Henry Corbin's detailed investigation into the mundus imaginalis may be of interest. We are stuck in somewhat of a dualist dilemma if we assume that spiritual agency is 'either' matter or spirit. It may be both, 'spiritualised matter and materialised spirit' within the imaginal realm, which has been lost to us as an ontological reality in mainstream thinking (preserved in esoteric traditions). 

angela



Dr Angela Voss
10 Arnold Road
Chartham
Canterbury CT4 7QL

07787 434958
01227 732457
www.cosmology-divination.com
www.phoenixrising.org.gr
________________________________________
From: Society for The Academic Study of Magic [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Nelson, Elizabeth Angeline [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, January 19, 2011 7:30 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] supernatural agents

@Dave E- Yes - I know that book by Owen, The Place of Enchantment. It
is one of my favorites!

@Noah, Dave G, and Karen - And there I was thinking that ANT + the
supernatural was my idea!!  ;p

Noah and Karen (and Dave G too if you can find the time!) -- I smell a
potential panel here. The Religion and Materiality conference does look
like it will be a good one, though I see their deadline for submissions
is fast approaching (Feb 15)...

In any case, I would love to talk to you all more off list about ANT
(which I have only come to recently) and the supernatural. There are so
many fascinating questions. Does the supernatural agent only become an
agent via its physical manifestations? In other words, does the
immaterial need to somehow be translated into materiality, and if so,
is our use of ANT just one more form of psychical research? What of the
psychological impact on human subjects? If a supernatural being is
"taken seriously" by a human subject, is that enough to endow it with
real agency - or does it depend on who the human subject is?

Thanks for your reading suggestions. I will be picking up Wombs and
alien spirits up from my university library this afternoon! And I just
ordered Les Guerres de la vierge on interlibrary loan... once I read it
I can tell you what it says, Karen! Where does Latour mention this
book? Oh - and I would love any links on OOO. It is probably a bit over
my head, but it has interested me for a while.

Cheers,
Elizabeth