This course will prepare the student for part of the Initiatory Tests by giving them basic instruction in trance work.

Key Concepts

1.    Define the following:

a. Meditation

b. Trance

c. Hypnosis

d. Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP)

trance

1:  stupor, daze

2:  a sleeplike state (as of deep hypnosis) usually characterized by partly suspended animation with diminished or absent sensory and motor activity

3:  a state of profound abstraction or absorption

 

meditate

intransitive verb

1:  to engage in contemplation or reflection – He meditated long and hard before announcing his decision.

2:  to engage in mental exercise (such as concentration on one’s breathing or repetition of a mantra) for the purpose of reaching a heightened level of spiritual awareness

transitive verb

1:  to focus one’s thoughts on :  reflect on or ponder over – He was meditating his past achievements.

2:  to plan or project in the mind :  intend, purpose – He was meditating revenge.

 

hypnosis

1:  a trancelike state that resembles sleep but is induced by a person whose suggestions are readily accepted by the subject

2:  any of various conditions that resemble sleep

(Merriam Webster Online Dictionary)

Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) is a pseudoscientific approach to communication, personal development, and psychotherapy created by Richard Bandler and John Grinder in California, United States, in the 1970s. NLP’s creators claim there is a connection between neurological processes (neuro-), language (linguistic) and behavioral patterns learned through experience (programming), and that these can be changed to achieve specific goals in life (Wikipedia).

Meditation is the practice of mental exercise around a focused idea, with the goal being to attain a state of awareness or focused attention. (I’ve given the definition of the verb, above, as it was more explanatory.) While “eastern” meditation predominantly focuses on breathwork as the focus of the mind, and often seeks to create a state of mental calm, whereby ones thoughts slow down and the mind attains a state of focus and discipline, other forms of meditation exist. John Michael Greer speaks of ‘discursive meditation’ as one such, where the mind is completely absorbed in a subject and discourse around that subject. These “full mind” meditations can allow a practitioner to more fully examine a subject, contemplate it, and begin to explore it in a deeper way beyond that of simple conscious thinking.

Hypnosis is the process by which someone is brought into a state of focused and receptive awareness, specifically as it is created by someone to influence the thoughts or behavior patterns of the person being hypnotized. While this can be used like a stage trick – a hypnotized person hopping around or otherwise being ridiculous while under the ‘control’ of the hypnotist – it can also be used in behavior modification, such as in addiction recovery. In a religious context, hypnosis can be an effective tool of dropping into ritual space and time, as well as of guiding others to a state of altered awareness where a specific being or spirit can be interacted with.

Trance is the altered state of consciousness that one attains – either through meditation or through hypnosis (or through one of any of a number of other methods) – where the mind is both focused and receptive to the world in a different way. While in a trance state, especially in a neopagan context, a person is able to explore and interact with the world in an altered way, frequently experienced as visions or conversations with spirits/divine beings. This state may be measurable in quantitative ways, but is also experienced by a person as somehow “different” than their normal waking consciousness.

Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) uses the “unconscious mind” to allow an individual to change behavior, which can be modified by manipulating sensory representations. It uses the connection between the brain, language, and behavior to create suggestions (similar to hypnosis) and change the behavior of a patient or practitioner. Like hypnosis there is the possibility of ethical violations when a person is in a receptive state or altered state of consciousness, but in the hands of an ethical practitioner is very similar to the way in which someone could use hypnosis as a form of therapy.

2.    Describe what happens to the body during a trance state from a physical standpoint.

Goodman speaks of trance as fluctuations in tension and electric charge within the brain, which can remain relatively constant over a long period of time (16). This “DC potential” is a “highly reliable and recognizable value for the excitability and wakefulness of the cerebral cortex” (Goodman 16). Three methods of altered-reality were tested according to this DC potential, and their effects on the brain were studied.

Hypnosis was shown not to have a significant change from the ordinary waking state, though the person who has been hypnotized often achieves attention that is very narrow and limited in focus. Meditation is often practiced before ecstatic trance but is “not practiced in shamanic rituals themselves” (Goodman 17). A number of Zen monks – who possessed both the know how to achieve meditative states and a curiosity about the answer the question – were tested in modern EEG machines, and no significant changes were shown between the ordinary waking state and the trance state here either.

Ecstatic trance, however – specifically when combining a sonic driving auditory experience with a static body posture – caused the DC potential to shift considerably, and not in the direction of relaxation. The increase of the DC potential by a significant state suggested that the subject was “more” awake, despite the EEG showing that the brain had entered a slower, theta-wave state that would normally only be present in a deep sleep (Goodman 18).

Goodman’s ultimate conclusion was that a trance state allows the mind to descend into a theta-wave state (similar to deep sleep) while maintaining a “more than awake” consciousness (as shown by the DC potential). This is achieved by the combination of driving practices and tension within the body postures, using the body posture as a “control system” for regulating the depth of the trance. This odd mix of “psychic high tension and relaxation” produces what Guttmann called “paradoxical arousal” (Goodman 19).

3.    Describe how each of the following trance induction methods is performed to attain a trance state:

a. Body Postures

Felicitas Goodman describes seemingly endless variations on body postures in her book Ecstatic Trance: New Ritual Body Postures. As well, Belinda Gore’s Ecstatic Body Postures provides another extensive list of examples. The idea in this type of trance is to maintain a body posture long enough for the body to settle into and “become” the posture, experiencing a trance state that is related to the type of posture chosen. Both tension and relaxation are key to this work.

b. Sonic Driving

Using a steady, driving drumbeat is perhaps the most widely known method of attaining trance, whether as a drummer oneself or just for listening to the drumming. Most recommendations are for drumbeats in the range of 205 to 220 beats per minute, though faster and slower drumming can be used (Harner 39). Polyrhythmic drumming also fits into this category, with drummers playing different rhythms simultaneously to achieve trance.

c. Auditory Confusion

This is the practice of playing (or having performed) two different auditory stimuli, one in each ear. Often examples are given of playing two different pieces of music at the same time, or having two people read different pieces of literature or poetry. However, trance for me is best achieved with this method through the use of binaural beats. . For a beat to be “binaural”, it must produce two pure-tone sine waves, both with frequencies lower than 1500Hz, with less than a 40Hz difference between them, which is presented one through each ear. The result is being able to hear both tones and a third tone which is an auditory illusion (“Binaural Beats”).

d. Dance/Movement

Using a rhythmic musical track (or drumming that is more complex than a simple driving beat), a person can enter a trance using extended dance as an ecstatic practice. Dancing tires the physical body, and allows for immersion into the music or drumming, which lets the physical world “fall away” and allows the dancer to attain the altered state of trance and maintain it so long as the dance is maintained (or, in some cases, use the dance simply to attain the trance state followed by static journeying).

e. Chant/Mantra

A repeated syllable, word, or phrase is repeated or sung over and over for an extended time period. The subconscious mind can then journey from an altered state, while the conscious mind is kept “busy” with the chant or mantra. Different chants and mantras have been used in many forms of trance work in different cultures; some of the most famous are Om Shanti Shanti Shanti and Om Mani Padme Hum from Hindu practices. Beads may be used to additionally focus the conscious mind.

f. Ascetic Practices

Ascetic practices like fasting, self-imposed restrictions (like poverty and sexual abstinence), sleep deprivation and seclusion are commonly found alongside mystic and ecstatic experiences across world religions. These practices are often followed to allow a deeper focus on spiritual matters, and thus to deepen the ability to achieve altered states of consciousness. From a purely physical standpoint, if you go without food or sleep for too long, your ability to maintain ordinary consciousness is going to be strained and altered states may happen whether you seek them out or not.

g. Visual Concentration

Visual concentration is a form of mental discipline that allows for the vision (which for some is our primary way of interacting with the world) to narrow to a single focused point – often a candle flame, wood-burning fire, scrying mirror, or bowl of water. This allows for the focus to “soften” around the edges and altered mental states to be attained. This softened state is very receptive and visual concentration is often found alongside divinatory trances.

h. Focused Breath

Intentional breathing is one of the best-known meditative practices in the West, often seen as the only way that some people know how to meditate. Focused breath, whether through simply focusing on and observing the breath or through controlling the breath in some way, focuses the mind and can assist with deep relaxation and altered states of consciousness. Controlled breathing, done carefully, can also change the way that oxygen interacts with the brain and can produce a trance state.

i. Spoken Guidance

Guided meditation and guided journeying are common introductory methods to exploring the inner worlds through altered states of consciousness. These journeys, when well-constructed, allow the participants to all go on the same sort of journey together – though of course, where altered states are concerned, there is no guarantee that everyone will have the same (or even similar) outcomes. Spoken guidance is especially useful if you are guiding a group to a certain type of interaction from which they can diverge into their own journeys, followed by a call-back at the end that focuses the group back into the present. It’s also a good way to do trance journeys if you are introducing a new person to an established set of practices.

j. Pain

Just as sensory deprivation through ascetic practices can induce trance states, so can sensory overload. Pain, in a controlled, safe environment, is one way to overload the senses and thus produce an altered state of consciousness. The Plains Indian custom of the Sun Dance is one such ordeal of pain endurance for spiritual gain. Dancers are pierced through the skin and pull on the pierced places, creating pain that (along with the drumming and dancing) creates an ecstatic experience and an altered state of consciousness.

4.    Identify and describe three instances where trance is found in ancient Indo-European cultures.

Norse – Seidhr

There’s a documented form of trance-like seership called seidhr. In Leif Eiriksson’s Saga (ch. 4) a seeress (a volva) named Thorbjorg is featured who is highly honored by the farm she visits. She is brought there during a difficult time for the farm, and she spends a night there, honored by the various guests and given special food (milk porridge and animal hearts). After some reluctance (ostensibly due to being Christian) the women of the farm come and form a circle around her, and sing the ward songs, and she is visited by the spirits, who tell her that the hardship will last no longer. As well, she sees great reward for the woman who sang the ward songs. This type of trance working is also seen in the Voluspa, and is perhaps the most formal and ritualistic type of seership among the Germanic and Norse cultures.

The purpose of seidhr was to get answers, specifically about the health and well-being of the town and the success or failure of the crops in the coming year, from the spirits that the volva encounters in her trance.

Greece – Delphic Oracle

This is probably the best known example of trance-based seership in the ancient world. The location is said to be built around the omphalos – the center of the world in Greek Mythology. This was over a spring that went deep into the ground, and the seer sat on a three-legged stool over that spring/hole when she did her trance practices. Once there, she would enter a trance and answer questions in an unintelligible speech (“Delphi”). The priests that tended to her often had to interpret what she said, because her messages could be garbled, cryptic, or mean multiple things depending on interpretation.

Especially of note with this oracle is that where the tripod was situated, geographically, it exposed the oracle to ethylene gas, which can have hallucinogenic effects. This gas would have been dispersed, so not truly a drug-induced trance, but it certainly could have helped provide either a trigger or an additional aid to the trance state.

Scottish/Irish – taghairm

In Peter Ellis’ The Druids, Ellis speaks of a ritual known in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland as the taghairm (a word he says has Irish cognates). In particular, a seer is to wrap himself in the hide of a newly slain bull and lie down at a waterfall or at the foot of a precipice and “meditate” – here I suspect the seer was entering a trance state where he was receptive to the voice of the spirits. The spirits would visit him and tell him what he needed to know. (Ellis 222) This particular iteration of this divination form says nothing about actually eating the ritual flesh of the bull, however. This is similar to the commonly told tale of an Irish seer wrapping himself in a bull’s hide, while Druids chant over him, so he may dream of the next king. In both instances, answers are sought of the spirits, and a seer (much like the volva or the oracle at Delphi) goes into a trance state whereby s/he receives the sought-after answers, and then relays them to the querents, who must interpret the results.

5.    What are the qualities that define who or what makes a good Gatekeeper and why. What are at least two examples of mythological figures that could fill the role of a Gatekeeper? (One example must come from your primary hearth culture) Give an explanation of why the Gatekeepers you chose are well suited for that role.

Gatekeepers are beings whose job it is, with our own power, to open and hold open the three gates of an ADF ritual, holding space for the transfer of energies that will take place. “The work is a joint act of worshipper and Gatekeeper, where powers are mingled and merged” (Newburg). Between the worshipper and the Gatekeeper, the energies raised by the ritual are communicated to the realms for which they are intended (Upperworld, Middleworld. Underworld, or Land, Sea, Sky, depending on the ritual context). As well, after the sacrifices are made, the Gatekeeper’s work is to hold open the gates while the return flow/blessings are poured forth from the otherworlds into the blessing cup (or directly into the worshippers).

While we always have the ability to access the Kindreds, working through a Gatekeeper “greatly enhances that power” (Newburg).

Gatekeepers are “usually a deity but could also be an ancestor or nature spirit” (Newburg). I have done rituals with all three types of Gatekeepers, and they were all successful. Regardless of types, good candidates for Gatekeepers are “liminal characters, associated with boundaries and passage between worlds. They may be guides, messengers, or psychopomps, such as Hermes, or keepers of boundaries, such as Heimdall or Janus. Gatekeeper deities are the easiest of all to contact, as they are already halfway into this world already” (Newburg). Hermes, as the messenger of the gods, makes sense as a Gatekeeper because his function is as a go-between – essentially the exact role we’re asking him to perform in an ADF ritual. As a keeper of the boundary between Asgard and Midgard, Heimdall is another good Gatekeeper, simply because guarding the boundaries between two places is what he does already and asking him to extend that role to our rituals makes sense. Psychopomps (like Manannan Mac Lir) also make good Gatekeepers, since they are go-betweens between our world and the world of the ancestors, similar to how Heimdall is the go-between for our world and the realm of the gods. I have also done successful rituals with local spirits/guardians acting as the Gatekeeper(s), which works out well, since they are already acting as spirits of the place that we are gathering to worship. Making offerings to them (especially offerings that are of the type that local spirits usually like) and then asking them to extend that protection/area of affect to include our gates to the otherworld works out well.

Application of Skills

6.    How do you know you’re in trance?

Depending on the depth of the trance, the sensations are different. The kind of trance-state that I use for when I’m leading ritual produces a state of intense concentration, mindfulness, and awareness – it’s a feeling of being “extra” awake, and extra tuned in to the environment around me. In that state, I am likely to respond to challenges before I’m even consciously aware that they exist, and I can maintain that state for quite a long time. Divinatory trances are similar, though they involve a feeling of receptiveness that is hard to describe. I feel it in my mind as an “opening” or a “connectedness” to both the bigger situation and to the person for whom I am doing divination.

Trances that are for journeying will change depending on how fast I drop into a state of altered consciousness. If it is quickly, there is a moment of vertigo, where I feel suddenly as though the entire cosmos has shifted 90 degrees, and I am suddenly walking next to it, instead of within it. The first few times this happened, I actually woke myself up because it was very disorienting.

Trance states that I gradually enter through progressive relaxation or through being guided through a set of steps and processes involve some of all of the above – a sense of hyper-awareness, and yet a sense of deprivation. My mind’s eye becomes extremely vivid, while the physical world (if I have my eyes open and it is not dark) seems to diminish in a way.

7.    Explain why even though many cultures use different substances to help attain a trance state it is typically advisable to have a level of trance knowledge and skill prior to doing this.

Having had disorienting experiences with trance journeys that were not chemically assisted, I can only imagine how uncomfortable (verging on terrifying) an experience would be that I could not immediately stop due to having ingested a substance that my body would have to process out before I could return to wakeful consciousness. Also, having a level of trance knowledge that lets the practitioner know how and what to expect, as well as how to control their mind in relation to the experiences and knowledge they are finding in the trance will give them both greater understanding and a better ability to allow the trance to proceed without being startled or alarmed.

8.    Submit an original trance induction script based in ADF symbolism (e.g. Two Powers, Fire/Well/Tree, Three Realms, etc.).

Begin by finding a comfortable position sitting or lying down.

Take a moment to close your eyes and relax; find your center. Breathe deeply, and let the cares of the day fall away. For a moment, simply watch your breath as you breathe in. . . and out. . . in. . . and out. Continue to pay attention to your breath for a moment. . .

Now, in your mind’s eye, see the mists that hover between the worlds as they roll in around this sacred space. Watch these grey mists as they come gently closer: see them, mists of magic that are colorless, yet full of color; formless, yet with shapes that form and dissipate constantly. In all directions, the shifting mists close you off from the mundane world, leaving no trace of the world beyond you.

Now, at the edge of the mists, there is a parting. The mists roll back to reveal the great tree, on the edge of a clear spring, surrounded by mountains. Hear the sound of the wind, ruffling the leaves of the tree. Smell the soft smell of leaves and clear water. Feel under your feet – is the spring’s riverbed pebbly or sandy? Are there creatures in the water near you?

Reacquaint yourself with your tree – remember what kind of bark it has. How tall it is. If its branches are sprawling and long or upright and outstretched?

Walk around the base of the tree, feeling the cool water of the spring against your feet. Run your fingers along the trunk of the tree, feeling if it is warm, from the sun, or cool in the shade. Feeling if it is rough or smooth. Remember what color the bark is, and whether there is moss or vegetation around it.

Above you, in the tree, a squirrel darts through the branches. Are there any other animals or birds that you can see or hear?

See on the ground a small circle of short stones near the tree. Wide enough to stand in, but not too wide. Are the stones rough or smooth? Feel them with your hand.

Begin to place the wood, stacked nearby, into the small circle of stones, leaves and twigs first, and then the larger branches, until you have a small stack standing against each other.

Reach into your pocket and find a striking stone. Gather up a handful of leaves and dry moss, and strike the stone, creating a spark. Watch as the spark glows red in the dry material in your hands. Blow gently on it, letting it smoke and kindle.

Now place it under the other wood you have gathered. It will catch on the smallest twigs and sticks, gradually building, glowing red and orange, as it catches on the dry wood. Smell the fragrant smoke on the air. Watch as the smoke curls up into the sky, making delicate patterns in the gentle breeze.

Sit here, next to your fire, your well, and your tree. Rest, feeling the cool water, the warm fire, the shade of the tree. Hear the crackling of the branches, the rustling breeze in the leaves of the tree, the rippling water of the spring. Smell the soft earth, the wood smoke, the clean water.

Sit, breathe, and be calm here for a few moments.

(5 breaths)

Now, take a moment to re-center yourself. Bid farewell to the great tree next to you, to the fire you have built, to the gently burbling waters of the spring. Know that you can return here whenever you wish, to begin or end a journey or a dream, to find your center, here at the center.

See the mists of magic roll in again, drawing near so that the tree and the waters are lost beneath their cover. Feel yourself at the center, and then draw in a deep breath. . . and as you exhale see the mists of magic dissipate and reorient yourself. Begin to move your fingers and toes. Stretch, if you would like. Feel yourself fully in your body as it moves and awakens from the journey. When you are ready, open your eyes.

*****

This is a journey I have used many times, and it is the basis for a workshop that I teach on finding and orienting oneself in a Mental Grove – an inner temple of sorts, from which trance workings can be done. It is a journey I wrote and that I enjoy walking, and yet each time I do so it is slightly different.

My mental grove is stable now – the tree is an ancient live oak, much like the Seven Sisters Oak or Texas A&M’s Century Tree, her branches long and sprawling to touch the ground at the perimeter of the mists. She stands nearby a spring of water, which burbles up from the ground and runs in a small stream to the south, away from the grove. And it is there that I kindle a fire each time I visit, allowing the warmth of piety to let me find my center. The fire and well and tree there are as much a part of me as any “real” place in the material world, and as I travel to them, each time they provide me comfort and a safe place to return to from my journeys.

When I went to the tree this time (today, on February 15), I found a raven waiting for me. She is new to my grove, and I look forward to meeting her again here. I suspect she will become a regular visitor, much like the stag, the boar, and my little brown and white rabbit friend. Molly (the bulldog) was there to greet me as always, but she knew today’s visit was not for an adventure, and so we simply enjoyed each other’s company.

I found this journey to be invigorating – encouraging me to push forward, to breathe deep of the earth and the sky and to travel with confidence. A lesson I often need, and one I will take with me for the rest of my day.

Practicum & Reflection

9.    Read chapter 1 of “Trance-Portation” and complete the self-evaluation questionnaire at the end of the chapter (pages 10-16). This must be completed before you start the journal and you do not need to submit this question.

 

10.           Describe what you discovered about yourself when answering the questionnaire, and how you have or plan to address anything you discovered that needs further work.

Particularly interesting to me was how strong my background and support systems are – I hadn’t expected positive answers to all of those questions, but I definitely have a lot of support in ways that are really affirming. In particular, I am currently living with a roommate who is not only also pagan, but also a devotional polytheist and witch, so she’s not only supportive, but has encouraged my practice and is helping me set up my altars and shrines in a way that they are part of the house. (I’m moving in right as I write this course, though she has lived in the house we’ll be sharing for the last 5 years, so it’s a bit of an adjustment for both of us.)

Health wise, I have a chronic physical condition (Ehlers-Danlos) that affects certain things – I live with chronic pain and certain kinds of things are harder for me than for others. Particularly, I can’t sit in the same position for more than about 10 minutes without a great deal of pain that could last for days depending on how long and how stressful the position is on my hips. Largely I mitigate this by meditating/journeying while lying down – usually on the floor, so that I’m not tempted to fall asleep.

As well, I have a laundry list of mental health conditions; bipolar disorder, general anxiety disorder, both acute and complex PTSD. All of these affect my ability to trance – but they also affect things like executive function in a negative way, making journaling requirements especially challenging. Most of the time my bipolar disorder is well controlled by the medications that I take, going to therapy, and the lifestyle that I keep (I eat very healthy, do a lot of walking, and get plenty of sleep, as well as taking meds and supplements and managing the amount of light/computer/screen time I get in the evenings). My anxiety, however, runs rampant, despite my having several maintenance medicines that I take. This is especially bad right now during the moving process, but I am hoping that as I get more settled things will calm down.

When I’m having bad anxiety, I tend to struggle to be able to calm my central nervous system enough to be able to do more than very basic meditation.

In terms of the skills that I have, most of the list are things I’m at least vaguely familiar with. I cannot reliably create lucid dreaming states, and my knowledge of Jungian psychology is a little limited, so I’ll be working on those as I work through the rest of the initiate work. I do have to be careful, as I sometimes suffer from sleep paralysis, and that is exceptionally unpleasant, so I hesitate to really tinker with my sleep/dreaming too much.

11.           Examining each of the methods of trance induction from the research portion of this course, are there any physical or mental limitations that you personally may experience if using that method? Are there any modifications that would allow you to complete them if you have a limitation?

The methods that stuck out to me as not being something I could physically or mentally do are sonic driving (because it spikes my anxiety terribly), certain ascetic practices (as a person with bipolar disorder, even one night of missed sleep can cause a mania episode, and fasting increases my anxiety), body postures (long periods of sitting without moving cause an increase in joint pain and might cause long-term repercussions), and the use of pain to induce trance (because I suffer from chronic pain, adding to my pain load tends to cause me to go into physical shut-down instead of mental escape).

Fasting, sleep deprivation, and pain are not likely things that I can easily get around, but sonic driving I can modify into a much slower, more heartbeat-like drumbeat, and that actually works quite well for inducing trance for me. I have to be careful not to wind up my central nervous system, but a 60bpm drumbeat is something that enhances my ability to relax and allow my conscious mind to quiet enough that I can drop into a trance state. Body postures that I can complete while lying down or standing up are possible, though my trying them out in the practicum portion of this course didn’t produce anything worth repeating.

12.           How do you use both trance and meditation in your personal practice?

I use meditation almost every day as a part of my practice for managing my mental health and find that it is extremely helpful at managing both anxiety levels and mood cycling. It’s a critical tool in my toolbox and something I’m dedicated to – though not always good at. Trance is something I use in ritual, in divination, and for contacting my spirit allies and the deities that I worship. It’s an essential practice for all of those pieces of my practice, and something I use multiple times a week. It’s also essential to my work as an ADF Priest, as the clergy council does monthly trance work and devotional work in the otherworld.

13.           Describe any changes in your mind or body that occur during or after trance work.

My mental and physical responses depend on the kind of trance, the kind of work I did there, and how long I was there. Ritual and divinatory trances, even when they last for well over an hour, tend to leave me feeling amped up and energized, and I need to spend time grounding and unwinding. As a grove priest, I regularly go into “priest space” when I lead ritual and then it can take me a good while afterward to calm down enough to be able to go to bed (which can sometimes be annoying).

Journeying trances tend to leave me feeling rather tranquil (unless something happened in the trance which was disorienting). I trance best when my mind is safe and relaxed, and spending time in that headspace, especially when I live so often in my anxious mind, tends to leave me feeling evened-out and calm, but very alert. It’s not something I usually can do right before bed, but unlike “priesting”, it doesn’t leave me so amped up that I need extra time to calm down afterwards.

14.           Describe your process of grounding and re-integrating after a trance experience.

Since I’m in an apartment, it’s very hard for me to get outside and get my feet on the bare earth after a trance experience, but I find that contact (direct, physical) with the earth is very helpful in grounding and re-integrating. As well, I find that writing out my trance experiences, or discussing them with people with whom it is safe to do so, helps me to solidify the experience in my mind (especially if I have been very deep in trance and don’t remember what I was doing or saying).

Eating and drinking are also very good ways to ground and spin down from an intense experience. Usually something light and healthy (like some yogurt and granola or half a sandwich), and I definitely avoid alcohol after intense trance experiences. I don’t find that it’s helpful for me in the trance journey either, and afterwards I want to really reconnect with my physical body. Temperature can affect how this works as well – cold water or hot tea both work better than something room-temperature.

15.             Write an essay and dated list of activities covering a 25 week period documenting the trance work you have done and reflections on your experiences as they relate to your personal spiritual practice (If you need to use a non-written format for this particular question, please contact your mentor or the IC Preceptor). This list may be combined or worked as a crossover with any of the other journals except Trance 2 in the Initiate Path, provided that the trance work is done at least once a week.

 

1. Essay must include:
   i. A reflection on the value of learning meditation for trancework
   ii. Description of a single in depth experience you had while in a trance state from an experiential point of view (i.e. what did you feel, see, sense, etc.).
   b. List of activities must include:
   i. at least 1 entry per week
   ii. At least 3 different attempts of 4 different methods of entering trance from the list in the Research section of this course

Essay

This course is the second time I have attempted to complete the Trance journal for my clergy training program. The first lasted approximately three months in mid-2015, and ended when I found I couldn’t sustain a trance practice through my mental health challenges. I began again and consistently worked through the trance practice from 12 June through 27 November 2017. This practice saw me through some ecstatic highs and some true lows – as a person with Bipolar disorder, I knew I would have to create a practice that I could sustain even when my mental health was working against me, in order to properly train my mind to do this work. My journaling reflects this, and several weeks had simply “attempted trance three times” style entries where my efforts to attain trance were unsuccessful due to a depressive episode.

That said, this course – and many conversations with many priests and initiates in ADF – have opened my eyes to the varied and endless expressions that are “Trance”. When I began, I had a very narrow view, thinking of trance only as the journeys that I saw my more psychically inclined friends having, where they went deep into the otherworld to retrieve information. This type of trance is still difficult for me, but I’ve discovered that other types of trance seem to come as naturally to me as breathing.

Ritual trance, for instance. I lead public ritual frequently for a group as large as 35-40 people. In that ritual space, when I create the center of all worlds and tear open the gates, I enter a trance state from which I frequently can’t remember the nature of the ritual, or who made which offerings. I especially often don’t remember the omens (I do most of the divination for my grove). This trance state allows me to be fully present and open to the spirits in ritual in a way that is powerful and meaningful to me – and just as much a “trance” as if I sat alone or with drummers and went on a journey. Ritual, for me, is part of my regular trance practice.

Divination is as well. I find that divination trances are lighter than ritual trances, but allow me to tap into a greater understanding of reality, whether with runes or with my tarot deck. I often have revelations and thoughts that don’t feel like they are my own, but which ring true for my querents (or for myself when I reflect upon them at a later date). These trances are “easy” for me, and feel like second nature.

That said, it has been an important part of my practice (and an important requirement for this course) that I experiment with other types of trance work and types of trance induction. Thus follows my experiences and effects with different trance methods, as well as what is – to date – the most effective way for me to achieve a journeying trance, which is slightly unorthodox but works well.

My journals walk me through trying sonic driving, drumming, dancing, body postures, auditory confusion, progressive relaxation, chanting/mantras, and other types of trance.

The ones that did not work at all were:

• Sonic Driving/Drumming – something about the fast beat of the drums spiked my anxiety in a panic-inducing way and I was unable to find trance through this method.
• Dancing – even simply spinning in place was too awkward in the space I have (which is small and furniture-laden) and so I never was able to “let go” enough to just dance. I think I’d like to experiment with this further, especially with certain types of dance music, in settings where I feel safe enough to let go and appreciate the altered states of consciousness
• Body Postures – I was not able to sustain Goodman’s “paradoxical arousal” in these states for very long and found them awkward and uncomfortable. I’d try them again, but in general I didn’t feel like this was the type of trance induction that produced good results. I especially was not able to use any seated positions, due to chronic pain issues.

The trance induction methods that I had some amount of success with were:

• Progressive Relaxation – this worked best when combined with other methods, but I could attain trance reliably by the end of five months of working with the technique. The method I use was taught to me by Nicole Egelhoff, using nine sets of breaths to relax the body. This works both for meditation and for finding light trance states, but if I want a deep trance, I need additional ways to shut out the world
• Chanting/Mantras – While I never found a favorite mantra (though Aum Shanti Shanti Shanti is one I have used for years), I found mantra chanting to be a good way to get me in the right headspace for journeying. It produces a “fuzzy” state that I liken to letting the world get a little “blurry” around the edges, which leads easily to deeper trance states.

The trance induction methods that met with the best success for me were as follows:

Auditory Confusion – Binaural Beats are probably my favorite way to induce trance in a reliable way when I can rely on an aid to get me there. Thankfully, a pair of earbuds and an app on my phone is all I need to be able to find that headspace and sink into the otherworld. The fuzzy-headed, almost dizzy sensation of finding myself in between the worlds comes easiest when using this method, with two exceptions that I will note next.

Progressive Relaxation in specific locations/with specific sounds – Progressive Relaxation alone does not, for me, provoke deep trance. However, in combination with running water or sensory deprivation, I can truly deepen into the altered states of consciousness, and the feeling is almost intoxicating. This can be done sitting on a beach or even sitting in the waves, feeling the water lap at my skin; sitting next to or in a running stream or lake; sitting next to or in a waterfall; or, amusingly, sitting in the floor of my shower, letting the stream of hot water beat on my chest. It is also effective when wrapped in a blanket, so long as I do not overheat – I need the dampening effect of the cocoon feeling from the blanket or from being in a safe, protected space to relax enough to enter a trance state.

Guided Trance – I have my most profound trance experiences when I am assisted by a guide, whether a recording of my own voice, or with another person whom I trust. Being with another person helps me feel safe enough to “let go” of my conscious control and drop into the otherworld more easily. As well, a skilled guide can help me talk through what I’m experiencing and go even deeper, if necessary, to access new places and environments in the otherworld. Obviously this method only works if you have a skilled friend(s) to help, but I felt it important to mention, since it is by far the easiest way for me to find a trance state. It seems so simple to have someone lead me to the edge of consciousness, but it really does work.

Having gone through all of the experimentation, and then successfully maintained the practices for five months, I have been able to, over the intervening months, continue to work in trance. I don’t often work magic there but find that it is good to go there to visit with my guides. While my mental grove has animals that often meet me there, my newest guide – a brindle French Bulldog I’ve named Molly – is excited to lead me out into the otherworld for us to explore. She provides a lot of comfort as I journey, since I tend to be cautious when I veer outside of my mental grove. Together we have been to mountains and cities and all kinds of interesting places, as well as met other spirits. I wish I had run into her sooner, but I met her for the first time in late November, after the majority of my journaling was complete.

Overall, I feel like I gained a ton of experience through this journey and coursework – things that I had no idea I was capable of doing. I still don’t consider myself particularly gifted at trancework, but it is part of my regular toolkit having done the work to finish the course, and I am glad for it. I look forward to honing my skills, and especially to perfecting my ability to use water as a trance aid. I know that historically “crossing over water” was a common element in reaching the otherworld, and I would like to get to a place where I can do that without needing physical water or the sounds of physical water to be able to reach that state of consciousness.

This essay requires a description of a trance journey that I had during my period of journaling. Below is an extended entry from my Trance Journal, week of 25 September 2017 – a trance Journey to speak to a spirit ally.

Using Binaural Beats (Auditory Confusion) I spent approximately five minutes in progressively deeper states of relaxation in order to attain a trance state. I find that maintaining trance is about hovering just on the edge of discomfort – it is a dizzy feeling that suggests that not all is the same about the world around me. I can feel the floor underneath me (I do most of my trance lying prone, as this is the most successful way for me to relax enough to enter the trance state), but the rest of the world seems to spin. I don’t typically see with my visual senses, so much as get an idea of the way the world seems in any given moment, with inner visualizations shifting and changing from moment to moment as I descend to my Mental Grove.

The light in my mental grove is often ambiguous, but this time it was clearly liminal – I believe dusk, by the way that my interactions went. I spoke to the grove, which has several inhabitants that come and go, including a large brown and white rabbit, a barred owl, a couple of different toads, and a stag. Tonight it was just the rabbit, who seems happy to be there most of the time. She and I said our greetings, and I settled myself down to the fire, and said to the grove “I would like to speak to Ruby Olar”.

Sometimes this works, and other times it doesn’t, but tonight it did work, and Ruby walked in through a small gap in the tree limbs, as spry and light on his feet as ever. A dancer and martial artist in life, I recognize Ruby as much by the way that he moves as I do his face and voice – a trait that stuck with him in the afterlife.

We had a long conversation, that I will not document here, but where he told me several times that I needed to “be in the moment” and that while I should be proud of being a “force of nature” to remember that nature is both still as a mountain and flows like the river. I don’t remember precisely what he told me in answer to my questions, but after a good few minutes of conversation we fell into a companionable silence. He ended the encounter by standing, and – like he did in life, and like he has always done in my grove – asking if I wanted a hug. I always accept (but he still always asks), and then he disappeared into the mists outside the grove.

I sat in the grove for a while, made offerings of incense and whisky to the fire in thanks for my conversation with Ruby, and then allowed the grove to disappear into mists in my mind and brought myself back to my body, lying on my floor.

The journey took about 30 minutes total, and when I was done I felt both refreshed and tired. I had a cup of tea and some yogurt, and left the lamp burning on my altar long after I was done with my working.

Dated List of Activities

My complete Trance 1 journal is included after the Works Consulted section, for review.

Works Consulted

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Ellis, Peter Berresford. The Druids. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans Pub., 1996. Print.

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Dangler, Michael. “A Spirit on the Winds.” Ár nDraíocht Féin: A Druid Fellowship. ADF, 2011. Web. 2 August 2017. <https://www.adf.org/members/training/dp/articles/spirit-on-winds.html&gt;.

Harner, Michael J. The Way of the Shaman. San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1990. Print.

“Hypnosis.” Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 19 Aug. 2017.

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“Neuro-Linguistic Programming.” Wikipedia. The Wikipedia Foundation. Web. 14 April 2020.

Newburg, Brandon. “Ancient Symbols, Modern Rites: A Core Order of Ritual Tutorial for Ár nDraíocht Féin.” ADF. Web. 21 August 2014. <https://www.adf.org/members/training/dedicant-path/articles/coortutorial/index.html&gt;.

–. Rg Veda. Trans. Wendy Doniger. New York: Penguin Books, 1981. Print.

The Sagas of the Icelanders. Ed. Ornolfur Thorsson. New York: Leifur Eiriksson Publishing Ltd., 1997. Print.

“Sun Dance.” Wikipedia. The Wikipedia Foundation. Web. 14 April 2020.

“Trance.” Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 19 Aug. 2017.