Also see this  article:  The Key Discoveries

About the Cuyamungue Institute’s founder, the late anthropologist Felicitas D. Goodman:
Felicitas Maria Johanna Daniels was born of ethnic German parents in Budapest, Hungary, on January 30, 1914. She was the elder of two children. In her youth, she was educated by the Roman Catholic order of Ursuline nuns, though her family was Lutheran. As a young woman, she attended the University of Heidelberg (Germany) and in 1936 earned her degree as an interpreter. It was here that she met her future husband, Glenn H. Goodman, an American from Ohio.

In 1947, Felicitas, Glenn, and their first three children immigrated to Columbus, Ohio, where Glenn became a professor of German at Ohio State University. Her fourth child was born a few years later. During this period, Felicitas taught German and English and worked as a translator of scientific articles.

In 1965, when she was 51 and her children were grown, she returned to graduate school completing a master’s degree at The Ohio State University in linguistics in 1968 and a doctorate in cultural anthropology in 1971. From 1968 until her forced retirement in 1979, at age 65, she taught linguistics, cultural anthropology and comparative religions at Denison University, Granville, Ohio.

Contributions to anthropology

Felicitas Goodman made two major contributions to the field of anthropology: one concerned “glossolalia” or “speaking in tongues;” the other concerned religious ecstatic trance.

As she plunged into her graduate anthropological studies, Felicitas noted frequent discussion of an odd kind of speech people spoke while they were “possessed.” As a linguist, this intrigued her. Ethnographers called it “unintelligible speech” or “unintelligible gibberish.” This speech reminded her of Bible stories about the “unknown tongues” spoken by the Apostles at Pentecost (Acts 2:1-13). For a seminar in anthropological linguistics conducted by Erika Bourguignon at Ohio State, Felicitas chose “glossolalia” as the topic of her paper.

Dr. Bourguignon supplied her with sound tapes of such speech from Pentecostal denominations in Ohio, Texas, and the Caribbean. On the basis of this research she developed a working hypothesis that the striking accent and intonation patterns of such speech, as well as certain phonetic features were NOT a different kind of natural language, which was the “received view” on her field. These features expressed bodily changes that a person underwent during trance, accompanying or possibly even facilitating the religious experience. (1969. “Phonetic Analysis of Glossolalia in Four Cultural Settings.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 8: 227-239.)

To test her hypothesis further and explore its possible cross-cultural significance, she conducted fieldwork with Spanish-speaking Pentecostals in Mexico City in 1968. This experience validated her hypothesis: the syllables uttered during speaking in tongues were different, but the accent and intonation pattern, as well as certain phonetic features, were the same. They seemed biologically fixed.

But would these insights hold for non Indo-European languages? She conducted further field-work among Maya (Pentecostal) speakers in Yucatan which confirmed her hypothesis. Her study remains the definitive word on this phenomenon to this day. (1972. Speaking in Tongues: A Cross-cultural Study of Glossolalia. Chicago: University of Chicago Press; 2001. Maya Apocalypse: Seventeen Years with the Women of a Yucatan Village. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press). Glossolalia is simply patterned vocalization without content.

Religious ecstatic trance

Dr. Goodman’s research, publications, and on-going experience in this field are her major contribution to anthropology. In her book, Where the Spirits Ride the Wind, (1990, Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press), she notes how trance experience was a normal part of her life until the age of puberty when she was advised to leave behind the experiences of childhood. Happily, Felicitas did not do that. The interest remained with her throughout her life. Felicitas recognized two dimensions to reality: consensual and alternate. Consensual reality is the arena of common, ordinary, human experience. Alternate reality is parallel to consensual reality. It is the abode of the spirits, the ancestors. This, of course, is how Felicitas understood and interpreted reality in the contemporary western world. It was very different in antiquity. Until the time of Origen (circa 253 AD), the notion of “supernatural” simply didn’t exist. Reality was one: spirits, gods, ancestors, and humans lived in one world. This is why biblical and other ancient reports speak of humans communing with spirits, deities, or ancestors on a regular basis.

Felicitas believed that the spirit world (the abode of the deity and the deity’s entourage) could be accessed by humans, and this chiefly in an alternate state of consciousness (ASC). With her students at Denison University, she developed a ritual to enter the ASC and make contact with the spirit world. Ritual is essential to this contact.

The Cuyamugue Institute in Santa Fe, NM

Felicitas went with friends from Ohio State University to Santa Fe, New Mexico. She fell in love with it and the ambient Native American culture almost immediately. She began to search for small property in the area, and in 1963 her realtor found 270 acres for her (more than she wanted) in the area known as Cuyamungue, the name of an ancient pueblo in the area. In 1965, accompanied by friends and relatives, she discovered a place to erect a building on her property, and thus the Institute had its beginning.

Because she continued to live in Columbus, OH, she divided her time between there and Cuyamungue. In 1978, Dr. Goodman founded the Institute which today is known as Cuyamungue: The Felicitas D. Goodman Institute which continues her research into altered states of consciousness and holds workshops about the postures which are one of the doors to the alternate reality.

Learn more about Felicitas Goodman

• 1945: Die Blaue Brücke. Fairy Tales by Felicitas Goodman. Karlsruhe: Schwerdtfeger Publishing House.
• 1965: “Immer noch…” A Poem. P. 47 in Um den Schlaf Gebracht. Karlsruhe: Rüdiger.
• 1969: “Phonetic Analysis of Glossolalia in Four Cultural Settings.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 8: 227–239.
• 1969: “Glossolalia: Speaking in Tongues in Four Cultural Settings.” Confinia Psychiatrica 12: 113–129.
• 1971: “Glossolalia and Single Limb Trance: Some Parallels.” Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics 19: 92–103.
• 1972: Speaking in Tongues: A Cross-cultural Study of Glossolalia. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
• 1973: “Glossolalia and Hallucination in Pentecostal Congregations.” Psychiatria Clinica 6: 97–103.
• 1973.: “The Apostolics of Yucatan: A Case Study of a Religious Movement.” In Religion, Altered States of Consciousness, and Social Change. Erika Bourguignon, ed. Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press, pp. 178–218.
• 1973: “Limits to Cultural Conditioning: Glossolalia in the United States in Cross-Cultural Perspective.” Paper presented to the 72nd Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, New Orleans, 29 November 1973.
• 1974: “Disturbances in the Apostolic Church: A Trance-Based Upheaval in Yucatán.” In Trance, Healing and Hallucination by Felicitas Goodman, Jeannette M. Henney, and Esther Pressel. New York: Wiley Interscience, pp. 227–364.
• 1974: “Not to Speak in Tongues: Abstention from Glossolalia in a Yucatecan Crisis Cult. (Paper prepared for the session on “Sociology of Language and Religion.” Eighth World Congress of Sociology. Toronto, Canada, August, 1974).
• 1975: “The Effect of Trance on Memory Content.” Psychiatria Clinica 8: 243–249.
• 1975: “Some biological aspects of glossolalia.” In Ghosh Biology and Language. New York: Academic Press. (Check source).
• 1975: “Belief Systems, Millenary Expectations, and Behavior.” pp. 130–138 in Symbols and Society: Essays on Belief Systems in Action. Southern Anthropological Society Proceedings, Nol 9. Carole E. Hill, ed. Athens, GA: Southern Anthropological Society.
• 1980: “Triggering of Altered States of Consciousness as Group Event: A New Case from Yucatan.” Confinia Psychiatrica 23: 26–34.
• 1980: Anneliese Michel und ihre Dämonen. Stein am Rhein: Christiana.
• 1980: “Women in Yucatán.” pp. 213–233 in A World of Women. Erika Bourguignon and all contributors. New York: Praeger.
• 1981: “States of Consciousness: A Study of Soundtracks.” The Journal of Mind and Behavior 2: 209–219.
• 1981: The Exorcism of Anneliese Michel. Garden City: Doubleday and Co., Inc.
• 1985: Dreamtime: Concerning the Boundary between Wilderness and Civilization. By Hans Peter Duerr. Translated by Felicitas Goodman. Oxford: Blackwell.
• 1985: “Learning the Daybreak Song.” pp. 94–103 in A Time to Weep; A Time to Sing: Faith Journeys of Women Religious Scholars of Religion. Mary Jo Meadow and Carole A. Rayburn, eds. Minneapolis, MN: Winston.
• 1986: “Body Posture and Religious Altered State of Consciousness: An Experimental Investigation.” Journal of Humanistic Psychology 26: 81–118.
• 1986: “Spontaneous Initiation Experiences in an Experimental Setting.” pp. 68–80 in Proceedings of the Third International Conference on the Study of Shamanism and Alternate Modes of Healing. (Check pages).
“Singing Shaman Ritual (experiential).” In the same volume; check pages.
• 1987: “Shamanic Journey (experiential session).” pp. 112–122 in Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on the Study of Shamanism and Alternate Modes of Healing.
• 1987: Anneliese Michel und ihre Dämonen. 2nd ed. Stein am Rhein: Christiana.
• 1987: `Visions.’ In The Encyclopedia of Religion. Mircea Eliade, ed. New York: Macmillan. Vol.15: 282-88. Also “Glossolalia.” Check volume and pages.
• 1988: “Shamanic Trance Postures.” pp. 53–61 in Shaman’s Path. Healing, Personal Growth, and Empowerment. Compiled and edited by Gary Dore.
• 1988: Ecstasy. Ritual and Alternate Reality; Religion in a Pluralistic World. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
• 1988: How About Demons: Possession and Exorcism in the Modern World. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
• 1988: “The Nature of Ego in Experimental Shamanism (including experience and discussion). Pp. 215-224 in the Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on the Study of Shamanism and Alternate Modes of Healing.
• 1989: Wo die Geister auf den Winden reiten. Freiburg im Breisgau: Hermann Bauer.
• 1989: “The Neurophysiology of Shamanic Ecstasy.” pp. 377–379 in Shamanism Past and Present. Vol 2. Mihály Hoppál and Otto von Sadovszky, eds.
• 1989: “Beware the Symbols: The Shaman Rides a Horse.” Pp. ???-??? in Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on the Study of Shamanism and Alternate Modes of Healing.
• 1990: “The Oldest Shaman is a Shamaness: Spirit Journey with the Galgenberg Figurine.” pp. 303–312 in the Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on the Study of Shamanism and Alternate Modes of Healing.
• 1990: “A Trance Dance with Masks: Research and Performance at the Cuyamungue Institute.” The Dance Review 34: 102–114.
• 1990: Jewels on the Path. a Spirit Notebook . Santa Fe: the Cuyamungue Institute.
• 1990: Where the Spirits Ride the Wind: Trance Journeys and Other Ecstatic Experiences. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
• 1991: Ekstase, Besessenheit, Dämonen: Die geheimnisvolle Seite der Religion. Gütersloh: Gütersloh Publishers.
• 1991: “A Masked Trance Dance.” pp. 259–264 in the Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on the Study of Shamanism and Alternate Modes of Healing.
• 1992: “Alte Wege neu gegangen.” In ab 40, 1 (1992) 96–103. (A German language magazine by, for, and about women. How they live, what they think, who they are. After the age of 40. Felicitas translated it pro manuscripto).
• 1992: Trance: der uralte Weg zum religiösen Erleben. Rituelle Körperhaltungen und ekstatische Erlebnisse. Gütersloh: Güterloh Publishing House.
• 1993: “The Nazca Lines: A New Hypothesis.” pp. 262–273 pp. 68–60 in Proceedings of the Tenth International Conference on the Study of Shamanism and Alternate Modes of Healing.
• 1993: Panel Discussion on Healing Interethnic Relationships with Royal E. Alsup, Ann Goodman, Ruth-Inge Heinze, and Jack Norton. Same Volume; check pages.
• 1993: “Ekstase,” and “Magie.” pp 62–67; 190–195, in Wörterbuch der Religions Psychologie. Siegfried Rudolf Dunde, ed. Gütersloh: Gütersloh Publishing House.
• 1993: Wo die Geister auf den Winden reiten. Trancereisen und ekstatische Erlebnisse. 3rd edition. A corrected version. of 1989.
• 1993: “Das Erlebnis der Besessenheit.” Manuskripte: Zeitschrift für Literatur 121a: 56–67.
• 1994: Die andere Wirklichkeit: Das Religiöse in einer pluralistischen Gesellschaft. Munich: Trickster.
• 1994: Jewels on the Path. A Spirit Notebook. Volume II. Santa Fe: the Cuyamungue Institute
• 1994: “The Animal Connection.” pp. 226–234 in the Proceedings of the Eleventh International Conference on the Study of Shamanism and Alternate Modes of Healing.
• 1994: “Shamans, Witches, and the Rediscovery of Trance Postures.” pp. 15–33 in Witchcraft Today. Book Three. Witchcraft and Shamanism. Chas. S. Clifton, ed. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications.
• 1994: Lichaamshoudingen: en hun spirituele mogelijkheden. Tr. By Gerhard Grassman. (Dutch translation of Trance [Gütersloh, 1992]).
• 1995: “Shamanic Journey (Experiential).” pp. 151–154 in the Proceedings of the Twelfth International Conference on the Study of Shamanism and Alternate Modes of Healing.
• 1996: Meine Letzten 40 Tage: Eine indianische Vision über das Sterben und den Tod. Zürich and Düsseldorf: Walter.
• 1996: “Rituelle Körperhaltungen und ekstatische Erlebnisse.” Imagination (Formerly Ärtzliche Praxis und Psychotherapie) 2: 26–40.
• 1996 : “The Locked Door of Paradise: Closed versus Open Religious Systems .” Pp. ???-??? in Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Conference on the Study of Shamanism and Alternate Modes of Healing.
• 1996: “Shamanic Journey (Experiential).” Same Volume; check pages.
• 1997: “Ritual Body Postures, Channeling, and the Ecstatic Body Trance.” Jahrbuch für Ethnomedizin und Bewusstseinsforschung / Yearbook for Ethomedicine and the Study of Consciousness. Christian Rätsch and John R. Baker. 6-7: 71–76.
• 1997: My Last Forty Days: A Visionary Journey among the Pueblo Spirits . Bloomington and Indianapolis, IN: Indiana University Press (check).
• 1998: Ekstatische Trance: Neue rituelle Körperhaltungen, das Arbeitsbuch. With Nana Nauwald. Edition Nada, Bad Bevensen.
• 1999: Die blaue Brücke. Bad Bevenson: Nada. A new edition of 1945 with color illustrations by Nana Nauwald.
• 2000: “Trance, Posture, and Ritual: Access to the Alternate Reality.” Pp ???-??? in The Nature and Function of Rituals: Fire From Heaven. Ruth Inge-Heinze, ed. Portsmouth, NH: Greenwood Publishing Group.
• 2001: Maya Apocalypse: Seventeen Years with the Women of a Yucatán Village. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.
• 2002: Utolsó Negyven Napom: Látomásos utazás a pueblo szellemek közöt. Szentendre: Leviter Kiadó.
• 2003: Ecstatic Trace: A Workbook. New Ritual Body Postures. With Nauwald. Havelte, Netherlands: Binkey Kok Publications. Translation of 1998
• 2003: Der Åndene Rir Vinden. Transereiser og andre ekstatiske erfaringer. Norwegian translation of Where the Spirits Ride the Wind: Part 1: The Search for the Spirits. Tvedestrand: eutopiA publishing house.
• 2004: Hvordan flyh med åndene
• 2005: Myter fra den evige nåtid.
• 2005: The Exorcism of Anneliese Michel. Reprint of 1981 by Wipf & Stock, Eugene, OR.
• n/d: TranceRituale für Jugendliche. ReEducation #181. Werner Pieper’s MedienXperimente. D-69488. Löhrbach. Austria. (This was given to Frances to have translated by a friend of the institute.)
Books
• Ecstatic Body Postures: An Alternate Reality Workbook”, Bear & Company; Original ed. edition (May 1, 1995) 1879181223 (10), 978-1879181229 (13)
• Ecstasy, Ritual and Alternate Reality: Religion in a Pluralistic World, Indiana University Press; Edition: Reissue (1. Dezember 1988), ISBN 0-253-31899-8 (10), ISBN 978-0-253-31899-2 (13)
• The Exorcism of Anneliese Michel, Resource Publications (OR) (November 2005), ISBN 1-59752-432-8 (10), ISBN 978-1-59752-432-2 (13)
• How About Demons?: Possession and Exorcism in the Modern World, (Folklore Today), Indiana University Press (1. Mai 1988), ISBN 0-253-32856-X (10), ISBN 978-0-253-32856-4 (13)
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