Trance 1

Trance 1

Passed 12/5/15

Reviewed by Rev. Carrion Mann

Laura Fuller (Snow)

1. Define the following terms in your own words: "Trance," "meditation," and "hypnosis." (min. 25 words per definition, dictionary definition does not count toward final word count.)

Trance: a sleeplike state (as of deep hypnosis) usually characterized by partly suspended animation with diminished or absent sensory and motor activity (Merriam-Webster, Trance).

               A trance is when we alter our state of consciousness, usually by changing the pattern of our brain waves.  This can be achieved through different techniques and for different purposes.  Within a religious context, this can be for the purpose of visions, communication with the dead, other plains of being, and other types of experiences. 

Meditation: 1) the act or process of spending time in quiet thought; 2) the act or process of meditating (Merriam-Webster, Meditation).

               If trance is an altered state of consciousness, meditation is one of the possible ways of reaching that altered state.  As the Merriam-Webster definition indicates, meditation is usually done through solitude and quiet.  I often find it a chance to explore my own emotional state and release tensions.  While not a trance itself, meditation for me is one step in preparing myself for a trance state because it is a time to attune myself to what I am feeling or thinking or experiencing so that I can let it go.

Hypnosis: a trancelike state that resembles sleep but is induced by a person whose suggestions are readily accepted by the subject (Merriam-Webster, Hypnosis).

Hypnosis is another method for reaching an altered state of consciousness.  Though it is possible to self-hypnotize, usually hypnosis is assumed to be done to a person by someone else.  Frequently it is used to change behavior patterns through the power of suggestion.  While many in the west aren't convinced when it comes to Hypnosis, there is a growing body of evidence in various medical treatments and many in the medical establishment call for further studies to test its efficacy for changing actions and treatments on a wide variety of maladies (WebMD).

2. Give a brief history of hypnosis. (min. 300 words)

The word Hypnosis comes from the name of the Greek god of Sleep, Hypnos.  While this is the case, the term Hypnosis did not come into use for the practice until fairly recently from a historical perspective.

Both early shamanic cultures and the Egyptians and Greeks sought (or seek in some cases) to use a combination of sensory overload, direct suggestion, and the expectations of participants to achieve altered states of consciousness.  The Ancient Egyptians had a practice where those suffering from various illnesses would go to the Temple of Imhotep in Saqqara.  There, they would ingest herbs, chant, sing, and participate in rituals before being led into a darkened chamber where they would sleep and receive healing and instructions from the gods.  These ‘sleep temples’ spread to Greece where those seeking help from the gods would enter the temples of Asclepius who would visit them in their sleep.  These sorts of practices ended with the advent of Christianity (Hypnosis in History). 

In 1774, Franz Mesmer first began to espouse a theory of what he called Animal Magnetism.  Central to his belief was the idea that health involved the free flow of fluid in the body and illness was a result of blockages to this system.  When he began treating patients it involved ingesting a solution containing iron and then applying magnets to change or alter these mysterious currents within the body.  He later moved from Vienna to Paris.  It was in Paris where his practices came to the attention of King Louis XVI.  The king set an expert panel to determine the whether there was any truth in this theory of Animal Magnetism.  When it ruled there was not, Mesmer returned to Vienna in shame, his career ruined.  Even so, Mesmerism as it was then called, still gave rise to some of the modern practices of hypnotism (Hypnosis in History).

The first to use the term Hypnotism was Etienne de Cuvillers in 1784.  While he differed from Mesmer in the belief in magnetic fluid, he was instrumental in emphasizing the importance of the mental process that was part of mesmerism (Gravitz).

In 1841 James Braid was the first to use the word Hypnosis in English and is frequently (and incorrectly) sited as the first to use the word at all.  His emphasis with hypnosis was to study its effects on the nervous system.  He is also credited with creating the eye-fascination method of inducing hypnosis (Hypnosis in History).

Hippolyte Bernheim was a medical doctor at and later the director of the hospital of Nancy in France and has been called the Father of Psychotherapy (British Medical Journal).  It was during his time in Nancy that he became acquainted with the work of Antoine Liebault and began studying hypnotism.  He published his studies in the field and was one of the more honest hypnotists, and is noticed because he published both his successes and failures (Austin).  He published many works, including De la Suggestion et de ses applications a la therapeutique, published in 1886, and Hypnotisme, suggestion et psychotherapie, which appeared in 1891; a third edition was published in 1901. He was also the author of Lecons de clinique medicale (1877), L'hysterie (1913) and Automatisme et Suggestion, which appeared in 1918 (British Medical Journal).  His work was later translated into German by Freud, and was the basis of Freud’s early work in the field (Austin).

In his early years, Freud used hypnosis in his treatments, although he eventually rejected it as a treatment method because he found that his patients resisted the suggestions he made during the sessions and that the changes made were not permanent.  His prominence in the field of Psychology and rejection of hypnosis is why it is not a more mainstream treatment option today (Hypnosis in History).

3. Describe the ethical issues surrounding neuro-linguistic programming and hypnosis. (min. 150 words)

Neuro-linguistic programming (NPL) is the idea that the mind (neuro), language, and behavior together to reinforce each other in how we manifest what we want in our lives and our goals.  Our language and our body language together communicate both to ourselves and others whether or not we believe something, or believe it is attainable.  NPL is termed as a model by its creators, and they stress that it is not therapy (R. Bandler).   This seems very similar to the work of Emile Coue.  Coue was a French pharmacist and psychologist of the Nancy School, whose work centered on Conscious Auto-Suggestion.  He is well known for having patients use the phrase, ‘Every day in every way I’m getting better and better’ (Hypnosis in History).  NLP takes this a step further, claiming that the combination of trance and suggestion allows a practitioner to make lasting changes to the thoughts and therefore the psyche of a person by describing with a combination of the senses what the desired outcomes are (R. a. Bandler 6).

There are many potential ethical pitfalls with hypnosis and NPL.  The most obvious of which is that when you are working with someone’s mind, emotions, and memories, you are working with the very core of who they are.  Even with the best of intentions, you are still tampering with the very core of who someone is when using these tools.  While there are good reasons to do this in some cases, each individual situation needs to be carefully considered for the pros and cons of the changes you are trying to make and nothing should be done to another person without their express consent and desire for that change to be made.

There are a number of questions that should be considered before any sort of intervention is undertaken.  Woodall and Douglas provide a list in their article in Business Ethics (Woodall 250), which I have modified for the work that I do.  They include:

·        What is the chance of this intervention being successful and helpful in this specific situation with this individual?

I am not undertaking research, nor have I submitted for review board approval.  Therefore, I am not interested in ‘experimenting’ on my subjects in any way.  If I am working with someone, then I want to know that the work I’m doing has a good probability of being successful in meeting their needs.  If there isn’t a good probability that they will find an answer in what I’m doing, then I shouldn’t be doing it.

·        Is this an intervention I am capable of providing? 

Have I had proper training and experience in this technique so that I’m capable of using it to help my subject?  If not, I shouldn’t be doing it.  That said, there’s a first time for everything.  So if this is something new, have I shared that this is new for me?  Have I tested it on myself?  Am I using it properly? 

·        What are my own experiences with it, both positive and negative, and how will they impact my ability to help this individual?

I am a firm believer that I shouldn’t do anything to anyone else in this area I haven’t done to myself (or had done to myself).  I should be intimately familiar with a technique before I share it with someone else from having done it myself.  If I’ve had a negative experience with a technique, will that affect how I deliver it?  Yes, it probably will.  This needs to be considered when deciding what to do.

·        How much am I telling the client?  Am I over or under sharing about myself?  Is that coloring the work that I am doing with them?

Depending on my relationship with a client, it is easy to either share too much of myself or not enough.  It is important in establishing rapport with a client, and that is done through open and honest communication.  But different people have different boundaries on how much they are comfortable with sharing, or how much they want to know about someone they are working with.  It is important to know how much information about yourself to give to a client.  For example, as a rape survivor, it may be beneficial to share my own experiences and treatments with another survivor.  On the other hand, he or she might not want to know any details beyond the fact that I was also raped.  Letting the person you’re working with talk and being open to answering their questions without oversharing is critical.

·        Do I have any agendas, open or hidden, that will affect this person?

People are often able to pick up on if someone has an agenda or a preconceived notion about them, a topic, an issue, politics, or anything else sensitive.  It is important that as a provider I have addressed my own issues and acknowledged any agendas, hidden or otherwise, that might have an impact on my work.  To continue the same example as above, as a rape survivor, I do consider myself an advocate for survivors.  While this might be beneficial to some clients, it may be a problem for working with others.

·        Am I capable of keeping everything they share with me confidential? What are my responsibilities to report things that come out of our sessions to the authorities and how might that impact the work I’m doing?

While this answer should be a given, end of story, there are times when it can be difficult.  I have in the past as a youth worker had to call Children’s Services on families I work with.  It is always a difficult decision to make.  You wonder if you’re doing more harm than good.  You wonder if you are betraying a confidence that will make someone never trust again. At the same time, you’re mandated by law to report abuse (known or suspected with children).  It is a tightrope, and one that is both black and white (you either break their confidence or you don’t), and yet has many shades of grey, especially when it comes to the work of a priest.  It is generally considered acceptable to ask for help in counseling situations, so long as you keep all identifying characteristics to yourself.  However, we have a small community, making it easier to identify who you’re talking about.  Thus, it’s a tricky balance.  This is true both for the work of a priest, and for the work of someone doing NPL.  When you uncover something that needs to be reported, how do you do this without breaking their confidences? 

               An additional issue in NPL is that you need to be careful not to implant false memories through suggestion that can harm a person or their relationships with others.  There was much scandal in the late 1990s from therapists suggesting that childhood abuse had occurred that has had a lasting negative impact on this type of work (Pope).  This is the sort of trauma that can be inflicted on an individual if proper ethics are not observed in this sort of work. 

4. Identify and describe three instances where trance is found in ancient Indo-European cultures. (min. 150 words each instance)

Greece:  In ancient Greece, the various Oracles used trance in different ways to achieve their prophecies.  The best known of these is the Oracle at Delphi, sometimes called the Pythia.  The Delphic Oracle is mentioned by many ancient authors, including Herodotus (Herodotus) and Plato (Plato).  The Pythia, who was a prophetess, would begin by preparing herself for her trance state with rituals and fasting.  The trances were used for divination and were only performed at certain times of the month or year.  All of these various preparations acted as triggers for the Pythia, making it easier for her to achieve the trance state she was aiming for.  The location of the Oracle at Delphi was a cave deep in the earth.  After her preparations, the Pythia would sit on a tripod seat over a crack in the earth.  From the crack issued vapors that the ancients believed were the breath of Apollo (Johnston 44-47).  Today we know that the vapors actually include low amounts of a mixture of ethylene, ethane, and methane.  “Small doses of ethylene produce an altered state of consciousness during which people feel euphoria and have out of body experiences, but remain lucid enough to answer questions” (Johnston 48-49).  This level of trance is important for the sort of seership that the Oracle at Delphi was known for.

Norse:  The Norse also had an Oracular practice although there were both similarities and differences from the Greeks.  The Norse practice was called Seiðr (anglicized Seidr).  Like the Greeks, the practice was done by women (at least in surviving references) and when Odin learned the magic from Heid (who many believe was Freya), he was scorned by Loki for learning women’s magic and being unmanly (Sturluson 87).  Another similarity with the Greek Oracle at Delphi, during a session detailed in Eric the Red’s Saga, Thorbjorg is given the ‘high seat’ for her trance session and asked if anyone knew the proper poem “Varðlokkur” to assist her (Saga Museum).   

Like the trances induced in Greece, the volva needed the proper ritual to achieve her trance state and conduct her business, in this case, getting advice from the spirits of the land to assist the people through the hard winter.  The surviving account of the oracular session in the saga spends more time detailing the setting than the actual trace.  This could be for any number of reasons, but I believe that it is at least in part because the setting provided the triggers for the volva to achieve her trance.  The triggers such as the proper poem, sitting on the high seat, and sleeping in the hall, allowed her to reach the proper trance state to commune with the beings she needed to commune with.  They directed her trained psyche to the proper level of trance. 

Vedic: In Vedic practice, there is a sacred plant called Soma which functioned much like the vapors that the Greek ancients called the Breath of Apollo.  Soma was a mythical plant, lost early in the Indo-Iranian migration out of the homeland if it ever existed on the physical plane at all (Doniger 58).  Regardless of the literal existence of Soma, the religious importance of the plant is evident in the body of lore that surrounds it. 

Whether Soma was a specific plant or a preparation that contained several plants or is the name of a vegetative god is unclear from the verses of the Rig Veda even though it is referenced in one hundred twenty of the one thousand twenty-eight verses (Bedrosian).  What was important about Soma was instead the trance state it was capable of creating in those who imbibed it.  It sent the drinker into an ecstatic state where they found inspiration (Rig Veda Book 9 Verse 18), not unlike the Norse Mead of Inspiration granted to humans who pleased Odin or the Eleusinian Mysteries of Ancient Greece.

5. Describe three ways trance can be used in personal spiritual practice. (min. 100 words each)

There are many ways that trance can enhance personal spiritual practice.  I found over the course of journaling five months that the ways I used trance changed, as did my understanding and definition of what trance even was.

Divination: Using trance in Divination practices has been a common practice across Indo-European cultures, although the techniques have been different.  One of the reasons for this is that it allows the practitioner to make a stronger connection to the spirit realms, thereby receiving clearer answers or sometimes finding answers that might have been otherwise missed.  For this type of work, I generally use a light trance starting with slowing my breath and closing my eyes to make it easier to concentrate on the questions I am seeking answers to.  Sometimes the trance is to open myself specifically to the Kindreds so that I can hear their advice. 

Group Rituals: One of the ways we use trance is in group ritual.  There are many parts of group rituals where it can apply such as when we are establishing group mind (Bonewits Chapter 3), during directed breathing, or group journey work.  In our last group ritual, my group did a trance journey as a group to visit with our Ancestors.  Having already invited them to the ritual and standing before the Gates, part of the ritual included visualizing our beloved dead joining us in our sacred space.  In group ritual, however, there are often greater levels of distraction, so taking the time to find a proper level of trance for the group can make group ritual much more enjoyable for participants as well as productive for the task at hand. 

Visualization: One area of work I have always struggled with is visualization whether coupled with a ‘trance journey’ or for some other purpose.  However, there are many places as an ADF priest that visualization is important such as opening and closing the gates.  Though movements help with this, such as having symbolic gestures, putting oneself into a trance before doing this sort of ritual work is even more beneficial.  By taking the time to ground and center myself before ritual work, it puts me more in tune with the environment around me so that I can slow down and focus on what I’m doing in an intentional way.  This includes giving me a chance to focus on the various aspects of ritual so that I can ‘see’ the world around me responding to what I’m doing in my sacred space.  There is a huge difference in my ritual impact when I just say ‘open the gates’ and when I visualize Odin standing beside me, making the gestures with me over the fire, and see the energy spin between us and out to open the gate, but I cannot get to the ‘seeing’ without first entering a trance state.

6. Identify and explain three methods of attaining a trance state. (min. 150 words per method)

Chant: One type of trance induction is chanting.  This is done by repeating the same thing over and over again.  It can be as short as a single sound or syllable, such as the ‘Ohm’ sound or a rune sound, or can be as long as a few lines although shorter is usually easier for attaining a trance state.  These types of trance work well for me when I want to keep a specific thought in mind and yet not focus on it too intently.  By speaking the sound or prayer aloud, it forces the mind to remain on that topic and helps with the common problem of thoughts wandering away as is a common complaint for those practicing meditation.  Personally, when I chant, I also enjoy singing the chants rather than just speaking them.  Singing helps create the mood of the trance, and singing triggers other parts of the brain that release endorphins (Layton). 

Sonic Driving: Sonic Driving is perhaps the most commonly thought of method for attaining a trance state using an external sound.  Usually, this is done with a drum producing a steady rhythm that can change the frequency of the brain waves.  Harner prefers drum beats in the range of 205 to 220 beats per minute (Harner 39).  Personally, while this is the sort of trance induction I have found most likely to occur at workshops and the like, it is one that I struggle with the most for attaining trance.  That is especially true when the sounds are recorded instead of live or using the fast style of drumming usually used in these settings.  I find it much easier to trance with a slower drum rhythm than a fast one, and the rhythm I most easy go into trance with is one known (in Middle Eastern Dance circles at least) as Ayoob, which is a heartbeat rhythm played on a dumbek.

Trance Dancing: Trance Dance is my favorite form of trance.  It has taken many culturally specific forms, the best known of which are probably the Native American dances done at powwows.  However, my induction into trance dance was through Middle Eastern dance, specifically the spinning dance commonly called Whirling (Sander).  According to Sufi Muslim tradition, the purpose of whirling is to acknowledge that at the core of the universe, everything revolves from the spinning of our galaxies in the heavens to the spinning of the electrons in the atoms of our cells.  Whirling is an outward expression of the oneness of the universe and its constant motion (Whirling Dervishes).  However, even though the Islamic purpose of whirling is not to induce a trance state, however when one masters the basic techniques (spinning in place without falling or getting sick so you have to stop too soon), the sense of the movement of the universe does seem to carry you naturally into a trance state where everything fades out and your consciousness expands. 

The trance state is achieved by spinning in place (or moving as you spin when you master the basics).  When you spin, you upset the mechanisms in your inner ears that allow you to balance, making you ‘dizzy’ or even nauseous.  The trick is not to spin fast, but rather to spin at a constant rate over a long enough period of time to cross the threshold.  If you can make it through the dizzy phase, you begin to lose focus on what is happening around you.  The world blurs because of the constant movement and you become conscious only of the way you are moving, hyper focused on your connection to the earth and the universe, and time passes differently (Sander).  Personally, this is my favorite form of trance induction.

7. Using one of the three methods described in requirement 7, describe in depth a single experience you had while in the trance state from an experiential point of view (i.e. what did you feel, see, sense, etc.). (min. 300 words)

As Whirling is my favorite form of trance, I will share one of my more intense experiences with it.  I also want to say that I have been practicing whirling for more than a decade.  This sort of experience isn’t something you’d have as a beginner still trying to not fall or be sick.

To begin with, Whirling takes some time to set the stage.  It’s important that you have nothing on the ground to trip on.  If you’re inside, this is fairly simple.  If you’re outside, you need to make sure there are no rocks, sticks, ruts, etc. to twist an ankle with or to hurt your foot.  I was inside, so I spent some time cleaning the room, putting everything away, and vacuuming.

Next, I spent some time preparing myself.  When Sufis whirl, the costume is important.  They wear a full circle skirt with a weighted hem to give the lovely rippling pattern around their legs.  However it’s not necessary for a trance.  Still, there are some things I need to wear in order to be able to whirl long enough to have a ‘good’ trance: bare feet, comfortable clothing, hair out of my face, and a ring on my left hand.  I have a silver ring inscribed with the runes that works for me. 

Once the place is clean and I’m dressed and scrubbed, I approach my altar.  Working with Odin, I establish the Gates and, once in the Sacred Center, I light incense and start the music.  I like to whirl to Dead Can Dance song “Yulunga” which is approximately seven minutes.  The first three minutes are slow and free form.  I use those three minutes to center myself and slowly start to spin.  Whirling is done with the right hand extended away from the body with the hand lifted to be at an angle half way between your head and straight out from the shoulder, the palm facing to the sky.  The left arm out so that the hand is just below the shoulder, with the palm facing the ground.  During this first phase of the spinning, I focus mentally on bringing the light of the stars into myself, connecting myself with their dance, and letting it pour into that upraised hand. When I feel this connection, I move my focus to the powers of the earth beneath me, flowing up through the downward facing hand until I find myself spinning in the center of creation.

At about the three minute mark, the tempo picks up, and drums are added.  At this point I have reached my speed for the rest of the trance and the drum beat keeps me moving at a steady pace and keeps me in the trance.  It is important to note that you don’t have to spin fast in order to enter the trance.  Rather, it’s the constant spinning that changes the fluid patterns in your inner ear, altering your balance, which puts you into the trance state. 

Unlike a journey type of trance, it’s hard to describe what whirling does to someone who has never done it.  When you spin, you pick something on your outstretched hand to look at and focus on.  This is a form of spotting that keeps you from falling and (hopefully) from getting sick while you’re spinning.  In the past, I have used henna tattoos, but for the last year I’ve been using my rune ring.

By the time I reach the three minute mark in the song, I have fully entered the trance state.  This means that I can feel the energies from above and below tingling inside of me and the world around me is lost to the spinning.  No matter what is in the space around me, when I spin, the world shifts to a soft blue color, my surroundings disappear, and all I see is the soft blue surrounding me.  My hand seems to glow, the ring to pulse with the energy from the stars and the waters, the music a faint echo that eventually stops, but I keep spinning until I can’t feel myself anymore.  I slow my spinning until I stop and can see again, at which point I move towards the futon until my sense of balance returns.  I don’t have balance problems while I spin, but afterwards, it’s difficult to stay upright.

I have used this technique in several ways as part of my practice.  When I am performing a Core Order Ritual, I use it after opening the gates to metaphysically center myself in the universe.  After opening the gates, we are standing at the Sacred Center where everything is one, but the practice of whirling and spinning along with the galaxy gives this oneness a physical sensation as well.  I sometimes also whirl as a standalone trance practice when I want to feel that connection with the universe but am not intending to do a full ritual.  I also like to whirl as a part of the variation of Ian Corrigan’s Two Powers Meditation shared with the Order of Raven and Falcon (Order of Raven and Falcon).  When I do it as part of the Meditation, I whirl while drawing the powers up and down through me.

8. Describe what happens to the body during a trance state from a physical standpoint. (min. 300 words)

It is difficult to determine an exact starting point for when medical research began to take a scientific approach to studying the effects of trance on the body.  As we saw in earlier questions, Hypnosis has been studied extensively for at least the last few centuries, however the methods used historically are different enough from what is used today (not to mention the ethics involved) that the first studies that show the level of fact that would qualify as modern medical research seem to come from the 1960 (Neher’s tests on brain processes) and then more comprehensive tests led by Johann Kugler in 1983 (Goodman 25).

The first of Kugler’s tests looked at the blood serum levels.  He tested adrenalin, noradrenalin, and cortisol.  All of these are stress hormones, and all of them decreased during and immediately after trance.  At the same time, the brain began to create beta-endorphin, which acts as a pain-killer in the body and is responsible for the feelings of joy and ease that people feel when coming out of trance.  The type of trance Kugler used (which the author lists as a religious trance) showed that the subjects achieved the slower theta waves that usually are seen just before a subject goes to sleep (Goodman 25).

Goodman goes on to note that these results were observed regardless of the posture of the subject (Goodman 25).  This is interesting to me, because so many of the beginning trance studies make such a big deal about posture, and I have seen (subjectively at least) that the posture I assume for a trance does have an effect on my trance state, or at least the ease with which I get there.  This leads me to wonder if it’s the level of practice her subject had that made posture irrelevant or if it was more a matter of they were testing the physical impacts, not the process which is, by its very nature, subjective.

               When we begin to practice trance, we find that it even though it is a mental discipline, it has a direct impact on our physical body.  The above medical studies show at the hormonal level what happens, however trance also impacts us in ways we can physically feel in our bodies.

               Breathing and heart rate are both functions of our autonomic nervous system meaning that it’s something that just happens automatically and without conscious direction.  During trance, we often experience changes to these functions, both conscious and unconscious.  When we trance, we consciously slow our breathing and make it regular.  One of the frequent suggestions for this is to breathe in for a count of four, hold our breath for a count of four, and then breathe out for a count of four. Similarly to breathing, our heart rate also changes (Paxson 37).  In general, exercise or excitement or stress increases our heart rate.  Our body does this so that our muscles have plenty of oxygen in case we need to run away or fight.  Depending on the type of trance we are doing, our heart rate may speed up or slow down.  If we are relaxing, it will slow down.  When we use a technique like Visual-Motor Behavior Rehearsal (VBMR) it will often speed up with the excitement of whatever we are mentally rehearsing (Paxson 178).

               As Kugler found in his studies, trance work releases endorphins.  These feel-good hormones counteract stress and bring us a feeling of happiness or even euphoria.  Because of this, trance work has a strong, positive impact on our emotions (Goodman).  However, trances can have other impacts on our emotions as well.  If we use trance to revisit some experience or episode in our life that had strong emotions associated with it, we will experience the same emotional load we felt then.  This can be both positive emotions and negative ones (Paxson 66).  Therefore if we are using trance to probe at a painful experience in our past, it is important to have a good support network in place to deal with any emotional turmoil it brings up.

               Neuroscientists are still determining much of what happens in brain wave activity in various mental states.  During trance, we experience different levels of brain wave activity than are part of our ‘normal consciousness’ (Paxson 2).  In a normal, conscious state, a person can respond to stimuli and is aware of what is going on around them.  We call this normal state Beta.    Most trance work is done in a state called of Alpha waves.  Alpha waves occur when we are relaxed, usually with eyes closed, but are not tired or sleeping.  Sleep occurs during Theta and Delta brain wave patterns (Paxson 177).

               In trance work, we can experience things with more senses than just sight.  Some of the sensory modalities that might be triggered can include our sense of smell, taste, touch, temperature, or sound, among others (Paxson 71).  All of these senses can impact our experiences, or they can be triggers for them, such as playing a drum when you do trance work.  In this case, the sound can be the trigger, but it can also mask other sounds to help you stay focused on the trance (Paxson 44).  While as humans we tend to focus on sight as our primary sense (for those of us not visually impaired), other senses can have just as strong, if not stronger triggers for us.  Certain scents trigger memories that can impact our mood for good or ill.  As a musician, I find myself very sensitive to sounds and the impact they have on my moods and emotional responses.      

9. Keep a journal for five months detailing the trance work that you have done. Write an essay based off those journals that examines your practice over the time you journaled. In this essay, explain how you can apply the trance work to divination, magic, and other workings you do in ritual and personally. Entries occurring less than weekly will not count toward completion of this requirement. Your journal must include work from the exercises found in the support material for this course. (min. 1000 words)

Thought this journal covers the period in time from April 1 to September 1, 2015, in truth my study of trance work began long before I started the entries in this journal and certainly didn’t stop when I wrote my last entry.  One thing that did become clear to me over the last five months, though, was that my definition of trance was very narrow.  This course has expanded my definition and my success in practice as well.  For all of the things that the Clergy Training Courses have given me, that has potentially been the biggest gift of all.  Before this course, I was convinced I was a complete blockhead when it came to trance.  Now, looking back, I realized that part of this was because I had such a limited understanding of what trance was.  I still struggle to have the vivid visual journey trance experiences that so many of my friends describe in loving detail.  I’ve gotten better, but I don’t have them easily even now.  Instead, I’ve found things that help me have them more consistently and I hope that as time continues to pass and I continue to practice, my experiences will also expand and become simply more.

In the beginning of her book Trance-Portation, Diana Paxson starts off with a list of questions to consider to give yourself a baseline for your experience, your health (physical, emotional, spiritual), and your beliefs and expectations (Paxson 9-16).  Taking this survey helped me in two ways.  First, it gave me a tool to really assess my strengths and my weaknesses.  Unfortunately, in doing this, it made me realize I had a number of weaknesses to work on beyond my general overly-grounded nature.  I had never before put much consideration into the impact of my physical health on my ability to gain trance states.  I also hadn’t thought overly much about the impact of my mental health, or, more specifically, my levels of stress, which have been high for quite some time.  In taking this quiz, it made me think that perhaps part of my difficulties came from some of the hormonal imbalances I’ve been suffering for years that have led to a number of physical problems.  And of course, the physical and mental are linked, especially in cases of hormone imbalances.  Add to this the stress of divorce, losing my grandmother, a hysterectomy, unhappiness at work, and three moves, and a pattern that makes a recipe for trance journey disaster begins to emerge.

The benefit of taking this survey at the beginning of the work on the journal meant that I could put aside my frustrations, accept that people learn at their own paces, and instead focus on some of the other forms of trance that work well and come easily to me.  I may struggle to journey, but I’ve been doing trance dancing for fifteen or so years now and I have been singing (including professionally for an Opera company) off and on since I was a teenager.  Breathing trances, chanting, singing, dancing, those I could focus on and feel successful, allowing me to tackle the trances that I found harder to have. 

I’ve always been a very auditory person.  Sonic driving in general makes it hard for me to trance.  I get too distracted by the sounds to let go.  I found this to be less of an issue in a drum circle with real drums that vibrated down into the very core of my being, but since I rarely get to attend actual drum circles, this didn’t help much.  Taped drumming still just does not work for me.  I do better when I drum for myself and can make the beat slower, but I am still struggling to drum and trance at the same time.  Auditory Confusion did not confuse me, it made me crazy.  I tried several different combinations of sounds and in all cases I found myself following between the two until I ended up with a migraine from trying to process them.

Spinning is still very much my favorite form of trance induction, as I wrote about in question seven above.  One of the things that struck me in working through this course was that even though I had long called the various forms of consciousness altering dances I have practiced for almost two decades now under the general term “Trance Dance”, it never occurred to me that they really qualified as ‘trances’.  The same with singing.  Even though I knew I went into a different place when I performed, that I have on many occasions found myself arriving at the end of a song on stage with no memory of singing it, only the glowing golden haze of light surrounding the audience members, I never really considered that a ‘real trance’.  In accepting these as worthy and real trance states, I have been able to experience a much richer depth of practice than I had before.  One of the things that have really grown for me was combining the dancing as described in question 7 with the two powers meditation of drawing the energy from the stars and earth into me while I spin.

Another aspect of this course has been to deepen my experiences with magic and divination.  I have found that singing an invocation before I draw runes helps me get a better reading on the runes.  I have a short chant I sing Gregorian style three times before I draw.

In the name of the cave/the darkest of graves/and all who swing twixt

From Darkness into Light/Bring now into my Sight/the Answers I go forth Seeking

Again, the repetition three times tells my brain it is time to work on divination now, and the repetition before each draw builds that pathway in my brain making my readings seem deeper.  This chant brings together breathing and chanting, calming me and letting me focus on my intentions and my questions for the runes.

Like divination, I have found that chanting and breathing help center me before I do magical work.  I have been focusing my magical work on finding a new job.  Since I don’t come to ADF from a Wiccan background, or have any background in ritual magic, I have been seeking practices that work for me.  What I have found to be effective has been a combination of rune magic, galdr, and meditation.  In searching for this job, for example, I purchased a beeswax lip balm.  I lit some amber incense and got comfortable in front of my altar space.  Then I inscribed runes on the lip balm: Fehu for wealth, Pertho for luck, and Othala for my homelands.  I chanted the runes as I drew them, slowly etching them into the lip balm and meditating on their meanings.  Then, each time I went on a job interview, I prayed to Odin that he would honey my words, protect me from speaking poorly, and help me gain the employment I needed for myself and my tribe.  Then I would enter a light trance through breathing to center myself before the interview.  It took several tries, but I have since begun my dream job.  Was it because of the magic? I am sure that the interviews I had the best trances before were the ones that went the best, though.

Five months has been long enough to establish new habits and patterns in my daily life and practice.  One of those patterns is that I now spend time in meditation before I begin my day.  My drive to work (at my new job) is approximately forty-five minutes long.  During that time, I drive on the backroads, twisting and turning through the Appalachian Mountains.  I make the drive in the morning as the sun is slowly coming up, and watch it lighten the sky from dark star-spangled blue to pink, to the sun all but blinding me as it rises over the tops of the mountains.  This is a time for me to feel the wind in my hair and breathe in the world, and instead of listening to the radio or even a book on tape, I spend the drive celebrating the nature around me.  As the sun comes over the mountains, I greet her with Sigdrifa’s Prayer (Orchard Sigrdrífumál: Stanza 3-4):

‘Hail, Day, hail, Day’s sons, hail, Night and her kin!

Look on us here with kindly eyes and grant victory to those sitting here!

‘Hail, gods, greetings, goddesses greetings, this bounteous earth!

Grant speech and sense to us famous pair and healing hands, while we live!’

The following is a break down by week of my practice over the period from April 1 to September 1, 2015.  I chose this period to keep my ‘official journal’ although I had been practicing trance before as part of the work on the Initiate Program and journaling.  Because of this, I will enter dates by Sundays, as that is when I start my weekly devotional practices.  In summary, the lessons I have taken from this five month journal are many but can be summed up in the idea that I am not completely hopeless at trance even if I do not have fabulous out of body journeys every time I hear a drum like some people, and that my health plays a huge role on my ability to be successful at trance.  Going forward, I am working on my health, and I am committed to continuing the journey I have begun in this course.

March 29-April 4: This week was one of emotional turmoil.  I had originally intended to attend the Cedarsong Grove retreat in Michigan, but I received the email that I had been denied entry into the Clergy Training Program the day I was supposed to leave.  I would be lying to say that I wasn’t devastated by that decision.  I ended up going to Lansing, but spending my time with my sister instead of going to the retreat.  I decided to complete my coursework anyway, since I was also enrolled in the IP and began officially journaling on April 1.  On March 31 I worked through the questions in the beginning of Trance-portation to prepare myself for the journey and on April 1 I made a twelve hour drive from the northern Wisconsin/Minnesota border to Lansing via Chicago.  While on the drive, I spent my time practicing breathing to stay calm while I was driving and to deal with my upset.  On Friday, I started working through some of the visual exercises as I did some rune work by finding a comfortable position in a dim room, slowing my breathing, and focusing on the rune I drew from the bag as part of my reading for guidance.  I drew Sowilo, and as I intoned its name I thought about what the meaning of stamina for the path meant to me.

4/5-11: Having returned to Wisconsin on Sunday, I spent more time trying to breath in calm while driving through Chicago.  I did my major trance work on Tuesday, setting up a journey trance to the tree, my other place of calmness, but had little luck.  I was too distracted by everything going on to be able to focus, so I worked instead on a combination of breathing and toning.  On Wednesday, I spoke with Drum about the situation with by CTP application which brought me some actual peace.  That night I tried the journey trance again.  I found that I managed to work through it, but the imagery was blocky.  I could see the tree, but I couldn’t seem to walk a path.  Friday, I did a rune draw and once more intoned the runes I pulled on my out-breaths (Gebo and Algiz).

4/12-18: On Tuesday I received word from Kirk that my appeal to join the CTP had been approved.  This had a huge impact on my mental state, and when I did my journey on Wednesday, it was one of the best I’ve ever done.  I approached the world tree (as described in question 10) and spent some time exploring Yggdrasil.  My rune draw that Friday I received Raido, and intoned it for about five minutes, feeling the pull of the beginning of my journey once more.

4/19-4/25: As I was on the job market, I knew I wasn’t going to be staying in my current home long so I didn’t do my usual yearly working on Earth Day.  Instead, I went about setting up an outdoor altar at the base of one of the trees in my backyard and dedicating it to the Earth Mother.  After consecrating it and making offerings, I sat down on the wet ground with my back to the altar and did the Two Powers meditation, then repeated my trance journey to the tree.  I didn’t have much luck with it, but it was very cold and wet outside.  On Friday, I cleaned up the house enough to feel safe trying to whirl, and did that for about six minutes.  The experience was freeing after all of the struggles lately.  I felt as if some of the negative energy had drained out of me and grounded itself in the earth. 

4/26-5/2: As I enter month two, I looked back at what I’d done and decided that I would give drumming a try as my focus for this month.  I love to drum, but not as part of a trance induction.  I generally find that drumming (the sound not the action) distracts me from the trance.  I spent the week preparing for Walpurgisnacht.  On Thursday, I performed the journey discussed in Question 10 after my Walpurgisnacht ritual.  It was the most successful journey trance I’ve ever consciously been on in that it was as clear as a vivid dream even though I was awake.  On Friday, I decided to just drum.  Not try for a guided journey, just drum and see if the sound and the repetition took me anywhere.  I have a dumbek, not a hand drum, so I chose a heartbeat rhythm, closed my eyes, and just played.  After twenty minutes my hands were hurting and I wasn’t getting anywhere, so I stopped.  I think the pain was too distracting.

5/3-9: I downloaded the 15 minute drumming track that Cedarsong uses and decided to try using it as a background to another guided journey.  I used the script from Trance-portation Journey to Find Allies (Paxson 259-262).  It might have gone better if I’d recorded it as an audio file, but I was using my tablet to play the drumming so instead I read it off my Kindle.  It didn’t work for me.  I need to come up with a way to play two audio files at a time if I’m going to try this again.  Over the weekend I participated virtually in the Advanced Studies Retreat that Jan Avande hosted, and it gave me some new ideas for my trance practice and combining it with my rituals and with my divination.

5/10-16: As the 10^th was Mother’s Day, I did my ritual work around my Disr and then repeated my trance to the underworld via the tree to visit my grandmothers.  I made an offering of gooey butter cake on my altar as requested and then did the journey.  This time, I was inside the house and so the smell of the cake and the incense was a lot stronger.  While not as intense as the last trip, I would consider this a successful journey.  They gave me more good advice and told me to stay strong, that I had a lot to do.  When I returned and pulled Berkano, the birch rune, symbolizing mothers and womanhood.   On Wednesday, I kept with the theme of motherhood and wrote new words to the Gregorian chant version of Ave Maria and sang it, using it to experience the mantra style of chant.  I think that this was one of those times why my physical limitations made trance difficult.  I don’t like to sing sitting down.  I couldn’t kneel or stand long enough to really do this justice. 

5/17-23: I spent much of this week working on getting things ready for the regional retreat.  On Monday I recorded the Journey to Find Allies and tried it again.  This time I skipped the drumming.  Instead I lit incense and let the audio file do the script from the comfort of my favorite chair.  It was more successful than when I tried to read it, but it was less successful than the trips to see the Disr.  I don’t think I ‘found and ally’ although I did enjoy the journey to the tree.  Maybe the tree is the ally?  I took the weekend off and spent it with friends building the new community building at the pagan church.

5/24-30: Monday  I tried playing the thirty minute drumming track and drumming along with it on my dumbek.  The track is your typical fast hand drum, but it gave a nice counterpoint to my dumbek.  I still don’t feel like it was a ‘trance’ though I do think I zoned out a bit so perhaps it was.  Tuesday I found out my mother was in the hospital, so Wednesday I focused on healing work for her.  I did this by using trance to put me in a more receptive state, then toning runes and prayers to Eir for her help while focusing on a candle. 

5/31-6/6: On Sunday I took a walk through the woods by my office.  The spring ephemerals were all blooming and the last of the snow was finally melting.  I’d intended to do a ritual while I was in the woods, and I found the perfect spot.  As I was walking the path to get there, it hit me that the scenery was absolutely PERFECT for a trance induction.  It was as if someone had taken a trance script and brought it into the real world.  I spent some time in the perfect clearing, surrounded by spring wild flowers, and practiced my breathing.  The sense of peace and wellbeing was incredible. The next day I found out that they were getting rid of our department at the end of the year and I needed to get to work on my job search.  I pulled Sowilo, the rune of stamina, and intoned it for several minutes.  Thursday saw the beginning of the regional retreat at Deeply Rooted Pagan Church.  The weather was horrible, but Rev. Melissa Hill did a wonderful workshop on meditation that gave me some great ideas for my trance work.  During her workshop, she passed around rocks for us to use as part of a visual trance, then we tested some essential oil smells on our mood and how that could impact us.  She also had us focus on different distances to see what the impact of changing our focus (cloud, horizon, distant tree, blade of grass) was.

6/7-6/13: Sunday was the last day of the retreat, and I led the closing ritual.  For the ritual, we did a magic working instead of a COOR.  We made butter, and as we passed the cream in a jar with runes inside around, we shared the memory of would stay with us from the retreat.  While I didn’t have them do a trance, I did spend a few minutes going into a calm breath trance before beginning the ritual and again when I pulled omens.  Tuesday I tried some of the mental discipline exercises where you spend time getting to know a rock that Melissa had taught us.  Everything about the rock, engaging as many senses as possible until you could feel everything about it even with my eyes closed.  I found that I’ve gotten a lot better at visualization over the last three months or so.  Friday I decided to try the technique I had been most dreading, Auditory Confusion.  I got two sets of ear buds and plugged them into two different devices, then played two different songs.  I found myself going back and forth between the tracks in my brain.  Neither had lyrics, both were symphony music.  I tried skipping to two totally different kinds of music but that was even worse and gave up after about five minutes with a headache.

6/14-6/20: On Tuesday I decided to try confusion again, this time by playing music in one ear and poetry in the other.  It wasn’t as bad headache wise, although the poetry didn’t match the music in emotional content for me which was also distracting.  Then I decided to try two different poems at the same time.  That wasn’t too bad, more like following two conversations, which I’ve learned to do working with kids.  But after a while I decided that wasn’t really the point because I was following them both (mostly).  Friday I tried the Allies journey again.  This time I saw a blue heron although I didn’t get close enough to talk.  I had two job interviews this week in Ohio, so spent time breathing in the car again.  I bought a beeswax lip balm and carved runes into it.  Before the interviews I made an offering to Odin, asking him to sweeten my words, and while I waited to go in I sat in the car and practiced breathing for calm and visualizing my interview to practice what I wanted to say.

6/21-27: Sunday was father’s day.  Having grown up fatherless, it’s never been a holiday I worry about.  I did, however, decide that I should make offerings to my male ancestors and make a journey.  It wasn’t a very successful one.  I was too distracted by everything going on and getting ready for more interviews.  On Wednesday I drove back to Wisconsin.  Thursday I decided to try auditory confusion one more time.  This time I played Beowulf in one ear in the original language and French language fairy tales in the other.  I don’t speak either language.  Or at least, not well enough to be truly conversant.  This finally did it for me.  I listened for twenty minutes before I realized that I was finally able to do this calmly without feeling frustrated or trying to focus on one or the other, although I still ended up with a headache and don’t intend to do this again.  On Friday, I was offered the job I wanted.  It corresponded to the end of my Liturgy Practicum journal. 

6/28-7/4: Sunday I spent ten minutes trying visual concentration.  I lit a candle on the coffee table and relaxed on the couch.  I let the tension of the last few months go with breathing exercises, tensing and relaxing my muscles.  Then I said a prayer to Odin and looked at the candle.  At first it was hard.  Other thoughts kept creeping in because unlike most of the other forms, I was trying to disengage my brain more.  I wasn’t counting breaths, I wasn’t on a journey.  By the time I finished, I felt almost like I was on the verge of sleep.  Had I been laying down without my contacts in, I might have fallen asleep.  I was incredibly calm which was a good thing because I left the next morning to go to camp with eighty 4-H tweens for five days.  We returned Friday and I went more or less to sleep.  Saturday I decided to try a combination trance.  Usually I whirl to music, but this time I decided to whirl while focusing on my breathing.  I found that if anything, whirling to my breathing carries me into a trance state faster.  I don’t know if it’s because there is less build up in the music, or if I’m more in tune with my internal processes, but I found myself dropping quickly into a trance state and staying there for almost twenty minutes!

7/5-11: On Wednesday, I decided to attempt the Realm of the Dead posture while journeying to tell my Disr about my new job.  I quickly realized this wasn’t going to work for me, though as I was having trouble standing in the posture.  I kept locking my knees and feeling unsteady.  So I lay down in front of my ancestor altar and assumed the posture in that position.  The only real differences from my normal journey posture were the way my arms were positioned, as usually I just leave them at my sides.  I had similar results to my normal posture.  On Saturday I drove to Ohio to look for a place to live and didn’t get any more trance work in this week.

7/12-18: Spent the week apartment hunting and getting things set up.  On Saturday I spent the day at Ohio Heathmoot where I led a group journey using my journey to the Disr script.  This was the first time I was attempting to ‘lead’ a trance at the same time as I was going myself.  I don’t think I’ll be trying this again for the foreseeable future.  I don’t mind leading, I don’t mind going, but I don’t think I’m ready to do both at the same time.

7/19-25: I drove back to Wisconsin on Sunday.  Tuesday I tried traditional sonic driving again.  I found a track at 90 bpm and tried that.  It was a lot slower than the one the grove uses and I found it a lot better for me.  I didn’t try a specific journey or script this time, rather I just listened to the beats and let that be my focus.  Saturday I attended a Lughnassa ritual at the local pagan church.  That night we had a drum circle.  It was the first time I’d been in a drum circle since I started working on this course.  There is something very, very different sitting in a drum circle compared to an audio file or even playing for myself.  I almost immediately went into a trance and stayed that way for an hour or so.  Clearly, I have been doing this wrong.  Also, I think I need to get my own hand drum instead of the dumbek.

7/26-8/1: This week I prepared for my move.  Because I had packed, I didn’t have any of my ‘stuff’ for trance.  My candles, drum, devices, etc were in boxes.  In order to get my practice in, on Tuesday I worked on breathing and combined this with visual concentration.  However, since I didn’t have any candles, I went outside and used the moon as my concentration focus.  This actually worked better for me than a candle.  I lay back on a blanket and looked up at the moon and calmed and centered my breathing.  That was the only chance I had this week, as Thursday my sister came to help me move, Friday we loaded the truck, and Saturday we started the 2 day drive.  While I usually do some breathing trance work or some toning or chanting when I drive, I was too uncomfortable in the Uhaul to try it.

8/2-8: Sunday and Monday was unloading the truck and unpacking, then Tuesday was driving my sister back to Lansing, Wednesday was driving from Lansing to St. Louis to visit my dying grandfather.  Thursday was my first real chance to trance, and I did that in my ancestor grove.  My family has been cremated for the last few generations and we plant trees and scatter the ashes in our personal grove.  I went Thursday night to the grove and sat on the bench we put there for a while.  I wanted to whirl, but I was sure I’d fall.  Instead, I spent some time feeling the wind and listening to the trees.  Breathing led me to an actual trance state, so I decided to visit the tree and see if the Disr were there.  Which they were, unsurprisingly given I was among their ashes.  They were happy for me about the new job and told me that I would need to stay centered in the coming months.  Work would be good, but there would be many pulls on my time and I needed to stay focused on what I wanted to accomplish.

8/9-15: Monday I drove back to Ohio and spent my time unpacking until Thursday when I went to Summerland Festival in Dayton.  I enjoyed participating in Ian Corrigan’s workshops and his guided journey as a hero.  I hadn’t been the one guided as part of a group in a while and I found after the last few months of work it came a LOT easier to me than it used to.  My guide manifested as Skadi, although this doesn’t surprise me as I’ve been working with her a lot over the last five years or so.  She’s the one I credit with getting me through the dark periods of my life and sticking me with an arrow when I start to wallow.  She didn’t have a lot to say other than to keep moving.

8/16-22: I set up my altar in my new apartment and realized that I’m not going to have any outdoor ritual space here but I made offerings outside to the local wights anyway.  Wednesday I had cleared enough room to whirl and did that for fifteen minutes, then settled down and did a journey trying to follow Ian’s script from Summerland to see if there were parts I’d missed.  I got sort of stuck in the woods, but then I wasn’t surprised by that, given that Skadi once more was showing me what she thought I should know

8/23-29: Monday I started my new job.  When I came home I tried the Journey to Find Allies again.  This time, Heron let me get close enough to talk to him, and we discussed proper offerings.  He wants fish.  I’m not sure how I’m going to offer fish.  Wednesday I hit on the idea of canned fish outside.  It was gone when I came back out a few minutes later.  Went back inside and tired the journey again, but had trouble concentrating. 

8/30-9/5: As this was the end of the journaling period, I spent Monday making offerings, and then decided to try another combination trance using chanting and visual concentration.  I lit a candle, settled on the futon, and spent some time chanting one of the chants I’d written to Frigg.  The combination of focal point and constant chanting brought me into a trance state quickly.  When I finished I was more relaxed than I had been in at least the last year. 

10. Create a self-hypnosis tape to put yourself in trance and go on a spirit journey and bring yourself back out. Submit a script as well as a summary of your results. (min. 200 words for the summary)

Script: Journey to Meet the Ancestors

Find a comfortable position and close your eyes.  Lean your back against the tree behind you and feel its rough bark pressing into your skin.  Feel the damp ground beneath you.  Feel the warmth of the fire before you.  You are here in this sacred center. 

Breathe deeply.  Feel the air fill your lungs, and then exhale.  In…. and out.  In…. and out.  Your breath is like the wind in the branches of the tree, stirring the leaves and bringing them life.  In… and out.  In… and out.  As you breathe, feel your muscles relax.  Let the tension of the day drain away into the ground beneath you.

The tree is still behind you, supporting you, and you can feel its connection to the earth beneath you both as its roots sink deep.  Around you, the firelight casts flickering shadows, but here in its warmth you are safe.  You are at the center.

On the other side of the fire, you see a path stretching away from this place.  The path seems to go between two columns of trees that grow so tall they arch overhead.  Stand from your place at the tree and take this path.  Though you can see easily between the trees, the path is clear and well-marked.  You have traveled this path before, and you know it well.  The air inside the path seems to change, you can smell a hint of pine as you move along the path until ahead of you there is a clearing. 

In the center of the clearing is a tree larger than all of the others.  This is Yggdrasil, axis of all the worlds, so high its branches brush the heavens, glimmering with the light that shines from Asgard, so wide you can scarcely see around it. Three great roots plunge through the soil, and a dark opening leads to greater mysteries*.

Where the roots meet the tree there is an opening to a cave.  The path comes to an end at this cave.  You have to crouch low to get inside, but you manage it, feeling the earth change, grow close.  The walls and ceiling are damp earth pierced by tree roots, and some of the dirt sprinkles into your hair.  The floor of the cave seems uneven, and as you move forward, you begin to descend.  The path wraps around the tree, and you place one hand on the tree to keep yourself steady as you make your way deeper beneath the ground.  Finally the path levels out into a cavern.   

In the roof of the cavern crystals glitter like stars, the small prisms sending back light from the large fire roaring in the center.  You move towards the fire, the sound of water trickling in the background.  When you reach the fire, make an offering to it to gain the attention of any of the Fullers who wish to visit, and then wait for them to appear.

Spend some time with those that show up, tell them that they are not forgotten.  Ask if they have any messages for you to carry back, and thank them for coming to see you.

When you have nothing left to say, tell them you must return to Midgard, but that you will be back again.  That you love them and miss them.  Say good bye, then turn and retrace your steps up the path and out of the cave.  As you step out into the clearing at the base of the tree, you once more smell the pine and see the stars overhead.  You take the path through the trees until you return to your tree, your fire, your well.  Brush the dirt of the cave off you as you once more settle at into your safe place, breathing in the familiar scents.  Breathe in deeply, feeling yourself return to your body, then out.  In…. and out.  Now open your eyes.

*part in italics from (Paxson 259).

Summary:

I did this trance journey on April 30, the night I celebrated Walpurgisnacht.  It is a night that is traditionally associated with magic, witches, and flying, and so I decided it would be a good time to go on a journey to visit my ancestors.  I also did this in part because I was dealing with a number of issues at work and wanted some more specific advice from my Disr than I was getting from the runes.  Lastly, I have long had a tradition that Walpurgisnacht was for the Ancestors.  In the past, I have gone to visit their graves, clean up any winter damage, and plant fresh flowers for the coming spring. However this year I was living in Wisconsin, a good fourteen hour drive from where my ancestors are buried and not a trip I was able to make as I had been going on a number of job interviews which ate into my vacation time.  Walpurgisnacht stands directly across the Wheel of the Year from Samhain, and so it is also a time when the veils are thinner.  I reason that if the easiest time for the Ancestors to join us is Samhain, then the easiest time for us to join them would be Walpurgisnacht.

My journey went quite well.  I have used this induction before, and like many things with trance, repeating the same steps to get to the Tree make it easier to get there in later instances.  I did the trance following my ritual, in a space that was already purified and empowered.  I followed the initial path to the tree.  I think it helped that the air was already fairly well scented with incense and I took my seat at the base of the pine tree in my yard.  It was cold, so I was bundled in a wool cloak and sitting close to my fire.  Looking back, it probably would have been preferable to put the journey in the workings section, but I was still working through different placement variations.  During the ‘works’ section of the ritual, I had done a different working and it simply didn’t occur to me to put both in there at the time.

When I arrived at the clearing, I took the path into the base of the tree without incident.  The biggest problem I had was that we had a really wet spring and my clothes were getting wet and cold.  The path into the tree was smaller than usual, and the roots seemed clingy, but I made it through to the cavern.  I had brought a can of Folger’s coffee for my ancestors and a carton of half and half in a basket, along with some sugar, and when I walked into the cavern, I started making a pot of coffee at the fire.  It didn’t take long for the smell of coffee to call my grandmother and great-grandmother out of the mists to come visit.  I know I didn’t write a table into the script, but there was a table sitting there, along with four chairs, and by the time the coffee was done, my grandma Bubby and great-grandma Dode were sitting at it along with my uncle Donny.  I carried the pot of coffee to the table and they already had cups, and poured them each some coffee.  They were amused that I’d brought them Folgers and said next time I should bring a gooey butter cake, too. 

I told them all about the things going on in my life and they listened to me.  They got angry about the things going on in Wisconsin and told me to keep at the job search (like I knew they would).  They were surprised that I considered Ohio home, although they laughed when they realized that I’d moved there and really settled after they were either dead or lost to Alzheimer’s.  They said if that was home, then I should focus on getting back there and eventually someone would want me.  They reminded me that it was a numbers game and I would get what I wanted eventually.  And that if I didn’t get a job I thought I wanted, it was because they were watching out for me and steering me from making a mistake.  Tough love and all that.  Then Donny brought out a deck of Pinochle cards and dealt us a hand.  He told me that he was ready to come back and that I should encourage his daughter to have another kid.  Then he laughed probably because I was horrified at the thought.  Then it was time to come back, so I kissed them all and told them I loved them and I would be back soon, and left, following the script.  All told, the trance lasted about twenty-five minutes.  I don’t see how since Pinochle takes longer, but I suppose things move at a different pace there.

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