(c) Cave Art as Catalyst of Consciousness
The elsewhere-place of the mythopoeic writer and shaman was first revealed
in the Palaeolithic cave pictographs, which really constitute a narrative about the
relationship between the universe and the individual. Some of the pictographs do
depict everyday occurrences; some perhaps reflect an attempt at sympathetic magic
whilst others may well be only simple graffiti. However, those outstanding pieces
from locales cited in this research demonstrate the mythopoeic psyche at work and
are the precursors of modern mythopoeic literature. Those pictographic pieces such
as the therianthropic figures and the dots and slashes are partially explained by
Lewis-Williams in his neuropsychological theory. However, I have presented them
from a shamanic-neuropsychological perspective, a construct of the interaction
between neurological processes and the dynamics of depth psychology. For
example, therianthropic and hybrid figures are a universal feature of rock art and
mythologies around the world and throughout time because they are universally
experienced in altered states of consciousness (Hancock, 2005:564).
The research of Robert Bednarik demonstrates certain universal themes
appear in the visions of people from vastly different cultures suggesting the
existence of a “ ... collective unconscious of iconic form constants” (Bednarik,
1990:78). The implication is that these universal themes are contained in the cave
pictographs, and are not only effective by virtue of their visually artistic and
anthropological context but also because they represent an essential archetypal
narrative that is manifested through MLC in various textual forms. I t is interesting
to note that the work of researchers such as the late Dr John Mack (2000),
Professor Kenneth Ring (1992 and 2000), Patrick Harpur (1994 and 2002) and
Thomas Bullard (1987), suggests very strongly that the entities encountered by
individuals in near death experiences and so-called UFO abduction cases, resemble
the weird creatures and therianthropes of the cave pictographs. Ethnographic
studies of shamans examined side by side with UFO abductee and Near Death
Encounter recollections reveal not only similarities but also interwoven and intricate
connections with some essential and primordial aspect of consciousness. Bernardo
Peixoto, a shaman of the Brazilian I pixuma tribe, who gained a PhD, qualified as an
anthropologist and held a teaching post at the Smithsonian I nstitute in Washington,
reports that the spirit guides or helpers acquired by shamans always appear in the
form of animals or therianthropes (Hancock, 2005:325).