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Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the Paranormal and priests (Schiff, 2002). Therefore, as we discussed with the ka and the designated priest to care for the ka it is possible that psychedelics may have created or promoted an apparitional experience for the priests involved. This may even be the case with Khonsumhabi while searching for his own tomb. However, in these early stages we can only speculate as to the causes of these anomalous experiences if we attempt to apply paranthroplogy and parapsychology to Egyptology. In conclusion apparitional experiences seem to be a natural part of human experiences, which might lead to constructed beliefs and the integration of theories about apparitions into religions. In the case of the ka of ancient Egypt it certainly demonstrates that anomalous experiences surpass media influences being their cause for occurrence and have passed down the centuries relatively unchanged. They seem to consistently demonstrate a relation between a dead person and the site of the death or the physical body’s resting place and in many of the Egyptian experiences seem to be spontaneous. Therefore the traditional method of collecting these anecdotes for analysis, categorisation and surveying the variety of phenomena is highly important in this case (Van de Castle, 1976). Even by briefly exploring the ka of ancient Egypt and comparing this to modern apparitional experiences, we can see that this form of experience may have more natural roots to human life than many would like to argue. Time does not appear to have greatly altered anomalous human experiences like many human traits which have remained more or less the same. Further investigation could lead to the construction of a hypothesis to account for apparitional experiences by using psychology and anthropology to explore the earliest documentation of such events. This hypothesis might not be constructed any time soon, but investigating the ancient roots of anomalous experiences may be a suitable start. This would allow us to understanding the experiences, societies’ beliefs and compare similarities and categories of anomalous experiences across societies throughout documented history against modern day occurrences.

Possession (pp. 1-11). New York: The American University of Cairo Press. (Translated by Nicholas S. Hopkins). Horne, C.F. (1917). Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East: Egypt (vol.2). London: Parke. Padwick, C.E. (1924). Notes on the jinn and the ghoul in the peasant mind of lower Egypt. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 3, 421-446. Petrie, W.M.F. (1906). The Religion of Ancient Egypt. London: Archibald Constable & Co. Renouf, P.L.P. (1880). Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion, as Illustrated by the Religion of Ancient Egypt. London: Williams and Norgate. Schiff, P.L. (2002). Opium and its alkaloids. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 66, 186-194. Taylor, J.H. (2010a). Spells for Eternity: The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead. London: The British Museum Press. Taylor, J.H. (2010b). Journey Through the Afterlife: Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Van de Castle, R.L. (1976). Some possible anthropological contributions to the study of parapsychology. In G.R. Schmeidler (ed.) Parapsychology: Its Relation to Physics, Biology, Psychology and Psychiatry (pp. 151-161). Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press. Winkler, H.A. (2009). Ghost Riders of Upper Egypt: A Study of Spirit Possession. New York: The American University of Cairo Press. (Translated by Nicholas S. Hopkins).

References

Wright, G.R.H. (1987). African demons and dead Egyptians. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa, 22(1), 77-82.

B u d g e , E . A . W. ( 1 9 7 1 ) . E g y p t i a n M a g i c (Republication edition). New York: Dover.

Zandee, J. (1960). Death as an Enemy: According to Ancient Egyptian Conceptions. Leiden: E. J. Brill.

Hopkins, N. S. (2009). Introduction. In H.A. Winkler (ed.) Ghost Riders of Upper Egypt: A Study of Spirit

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