Product details
- ISBN 9781350612815
- Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 03 Sep 2026
- Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
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Arguing that altered states of consciousness are not spontaneous ruptures of grace but
intentional, embodied methods, this book explores the question, ‘what if ecstasy is not a
loss of control, but instead a form of knowledge?’
Moving between Eleusinian mystery rites, Afro-Brazilian possession ceremonies and
Amazonian shamanism, to Mediterranean tarantism, Anastenaria firewalking and
Santo Daime, the book reveals how ritual, rhythm, movement, and myth operate as
sophisticated pedagogies — ancient technologies of transmission developed across
cultures and centuries.
Written from both observation and participation, and drawing on immersive research
with Indigenous, Afro-Diasporic, and women-led communities, Marianna Kokkinaki
repositions ecstasy as a radical curriculum — one that awakens ecological consciousness
and restores relational ways of being at a moment of urgent global crisis.
