“Awakening the Third Eye: Hierarchies of Consciousness in the New Age”

From nineteenth century occult esotericism to today’s episodes of “Ancient Aliens,” the notion of the ‘Third Eye’ has captivated Anglo-European spiritual seekers and psychonauts. In this talk, Dr. Amanda Lucia traces Anglo-European interest in the ‘Third Eye,’ revealing how spiritual seekers have aspired to access it as kind of portal to extrasensory perception, and even superhuman consciousness. As Anglo-European psychedelic cultures developed in the twentieth century, the concept of the ‘Third Eye’ was easily adopted as a symbol of psychedelia-generated cosmic awakening – an “ancient futures” revelation of a new spiritual evolution. Lucia contextualizes this symbology historically, showing how the now-commonplace narrative of psychic ‘evolution,’ ‘development,’ and ‘awakening’ emerged from deeply problematic Anglo-European worldviews rooted not only in the banal power inequities of Orientalism and exoticism, but also in the overt violence of nineteenth century race science.

This event will be held online. Register HERE.