#smrgSAHAF Man into Wolf: An Anthropological Interpretation of Sadism, Masochism, and Lycanthropy - 1978
Basing his own hypothesis on the writings of Carl Jung, psychologist Robert Eisler suggests a prehistoric answer to the birth of the werwolf. He suggests that primitive man had been vegetarian and peaceful until the Ice Age forced humans to kill to survive. Not only could the necessity of eating meat to not starve to death have resulted in permanent trauma, but wearing hides to not freeze to death could have been buried deep in our psyche as a memory of turning into fur-covered beasts.
Eisler suggests the possibility of a pre-historical, evolutionist derivation of all causes of violence. Also offered is his thesis that many contemporary serial killers were a particular breed of psychologically warped individuals who believed that they were werewolves.
The book includes Eisler's lecture given to the Royal Society of Medicine. Also included are chapters on: Professor Jung's Archetypes and Neo Lamarckism; the Roman Luperci and the Lupercalia Ritual, Contemporary Parallels; The Flagellation of Women in the Dio Nysian Mysteries; A Clear Case of Vampirism, John George Haigh; Going Beserk; many pages of his notes; and Index and appendices.
Basing his own hypothesis on the writings of Carl Jung, psychologist Robert Eisler suggests a prehistoric answer to the birth of the werwolf. He suggests that primitive man had been vegetarian and peaceful until the Ice Age forced humans to kill to survive. Not only could the necessity of eating meat to not starve to death have resulted in permanent trauma, but wearing hides to not freeze to death could have been buried deep in our psyche as a memory of turning into fur-covered beasts.
Eisler suggests the possibility of a pre-historical, evolutionist derivation of all causes of violence. Also offered is his thesis that many contemporary serial killers were a particular breed of psychologically warped individuals who believed that they were werewolves.
The book includes Eisler's lecture given to the Royal Society of Medicine. Also included are chapters on: Professor Jung's Archetypes and Neo Lamarckism; the Roman Luperci and the Lupercalia Ritual, Contemporary Parallels; The Flagellation of Women in the Dio Nysian Mysteries; A Clear Case of Vampirism, John George Haigh; Going Beserk; many pages of his notes; and Index and appendices.
