Altered States of Consciousness
Trance Journey is a directed use of Altered States of Consciousness, often abbreviated ASC. You may have thought about altered states in terms of illicit substances, but altered States of consciousness are a normal part of everyday life. Daydreaming, for example, is a very common form of altered state, and is extremely close to a trance journey. In fact, if you are able to daydream and allow things to happen, rather than controlling every detail, then you've already built skills that are necessary for more advanced work. For example, if you can have a conversation in a daydream and not necessarily know what the other person is going to say, you’ve got a leg up on learning to gain information in a trance state.
Another common example of altered states of consciousness is dissociation. Dissociation is a scary concept, and usually is used to describe the out of control moments when you feel like you're floating, and out of touch with the world. I used to suffer these states a lot, but I had a trance practice already developed and so I learned to use it to gain a modicum of control when in a dissociative state.
My last example of a common altered state of consciousness is the Guided Meditation. There are all sorts of guided meditations you can find out there, and most of them are simply meditations. That includes body scans, progressive relaxation meditations, and other practices in that vein. You get into journey territory when the meditation sends you somewhere. Perhaps it's to the beach, or to your proverbial happy place. It doesn't have to be an actual journey, but any time you interact with the world tree, or go into a cave and come out somewhere, you are taking a journey.
Complications
There are a few complicating factors with conversations around altered states. These are muddy topics found among those who practice today that can make communication about trance states more difficult than it needs to be.
The first major complication involves motion and body awareness while in a trance state. Many people will tell you that when you are entering a trance and doing a trance journey, you should always be completely disconnected and unaware of your body. I disagree. This is something that is common and expected at early stages of practice, but there are advanced practices that require mobility. More and more, I am encountering people who, like me, have found that swaying often occurs when a trance is deep. In Norse Paganism, talking while in trance is a well-known and practiced skill. There is a specific trance-based practice known as seidr, which has been developed in many different directions by many different groups, but motion and speech are two things they tend to have in common.
As practiced by Hrafnar, one of the influential groups I have investigated, a seidr session takes a room full of people in trance to the gates of Hel. The seer goes through the gates, from which point they speak what they see, and that room full of people who followed along ask questions, which they answer either through things that they see or by channeling a being that can answer the question. As practiced by Annette Høst of the Scandinavian Center for Shamanic Studies, a staff is used in various ways, and the seer sings out their visions while in their Trance state. As practiced by Kari Tauring’s Volva Stav Guild, the staff is used to pound a rhythm, often along with a wand. None of these practices are possible if immobility and silence are necessary.
The second issue is the problem of “Astral Projection.” There are two very distinct practices that both get described as astral projection. The first is Trance Journey, while the other is an actual out of body experience. In and out of body experience, for practice you can have someone move the furniture in another room, and then you in trance go and investigate that room from outside your body, and tell the other person how the room has changed when you come back. In this situation you are actually outside your body, so you need to be especially careful. I do not know when the term began to be used for both practices, but on the internet now it is a confusion that is very common. At this point, anytime someone uses the term, I simply ask what they mean.
Why do Trance work?
There are a lot of reasons why one would want to take up trance work. One reason is to simply investigate the Other Worlds. Many of the paganisms of Northern Europe had some concept of Other Worlds, whether the nine worlds of the Norse or Underhill for the Irish. Perhaps you wish to visit with your gods or other spirits. You can do that through Trance Journey. Another reason to learn Trance Journey is in order to gather information. Sometimes you may find yourself needing to figure something out, whether about yourself or about others, or about spiritual matters. You can ask these questions and investigate these issues here. You can also use Trance Journey to build alliances. Many of us believe we have a spiritual team of some sort, whether it be family spirits or ancestors or anything in between. You can strengthen those connections in trance, and find others to explore. On the other hand, you can simply consult your inner self and your own souls. Sometimes what you're looking to do is to figure out what's going on in your own head. In this situation, you can meet and discuss matters with your souls, your higher self, your animus/a, or any other similar beings. You can also use trance states to empower your magic. If you perform your magic while in an altered state you can tap into stronger energies and bypass some of your inner resistance., I do all my spell work in one sort of trance or another. Most of the time when talking about trance, we are talking about journey, but it is extremely effective when doing spell work. One final use of trance is to build constructs that you can use in your magic. Typically you do this in a landing zone (which is the connection to Trance Journey), the building of which is outside the scope of this document, but it requires a firm grounding in energy work, as it requires you to be proficient at building structures. These structures are known as constructs, which are made out of spiritual matter that you can program to do things for you. For example, I have a trash can / air vacuum at the corner of my bed. If I start shedding negative energy and don't clean it up, it will clear the air. Constructs are usually complicated structures that require power from some source however, typically you, and if you do it wrong they can persist long after you forgot about them, producing a drain on your energy.
Tools
Why do you need tools? Ideally, a practitioner should be able to perform their work with nothing at all, or so the theory goes. However, if you create an atmosphere using your tools that is unique to your journey time, then you can train yourself that when the tools come out, you immediately start to drop into an altered state of consciousness. This is known as a trigger. Eventually you may want to learn to work with nothing, but when you're first starting out the tools are handy, and if you find yourself doing extended work, the tools can help maintain your state of consciousness for that extended period.
The most common tool is an audio component. The classic suggestion is drumming, and for that what you generally want is a steady rhythm, somewhat monotonous. Eventually if you decide to go the drumming route, you will want to pick up your own drum and learn to drum for yourself while you trance, but that's a more advanced topic. You don't have to use drumming either, if you would be more comfortable with some other audio. In many forms of seidr, the circle sings to the seeress instead of having drumming. I even know people who prefer to do their trance to metal. It's all up to you.
A scent component is another common tool. You can use incense, oil, herbs… really anything you want. My particular preference is mugwort oil. For this, be sure to choose something that you don't generally smell any other time. The last thing you want is to be driving and drive by something that has that scent, sending you into a trance while behind the wheel.
The last tool I’ll mention is a hood or cloak, which comes from the Norse tradition. The idea is that when you go on the journey itself, the hood comes down to block your vision. Otherwise the hood is up. The point is to block out the light and give you a sense of separation from the rest of the world. In my tradition, this would be a full cloak, which would come over the entire body and cover you. In fact, if that cloak is enchanted with protections, that can delineate your sacred space… which brings us to the process.
Sacred Space
If you're going into a trance, depending on what you're doing, you may be outside your body, which could leave it open. You also want to make sure that any energy you invoke or interact with doesn't get out, and that nothing unwanted comes in. You are borrowing the space where you are working from the land spirits, so you need a way to tell them, “I'm just using this much of your space, and I will clean it up and put it away nice when I'm done with it.”
The first way to delineate your sacred space involves wards. These are permanent enchantments of protection and containment, usually placed on your working area, or your entire house, or even just your bedroom, or something similar. One concern with a warded work room is that you want to make sure that you let anything that you have allowed through the wards know that you're about to be working. The last thing you want is to have water spirits convalescing in your room when you summon fire spirits, for example.
If you want to limit your work space to your own form, your best bet is simply to use Shields. Shields are a personal protected space that you set up specifically around your body. If all you're doing is a journey to your landing zone, or someplace known and safe, these are more than sufficient because you're only involving yourself, and at least theoretically nothing should be able to get through your Shields or get out, if you have set them up that way.
The middle ground between these two options is the Circle. This is the classic witchy way to work. You cast a circle, invite anybody that you want to help, do your journey, and then come back and release everybody. A lot of circles are set up where you command the Presences and then banish Them; this isn't how I work at all. I always invite and release. Stay or go in peace and love is usually how I often phrase it. Unlike the traditions built around Western Esotericism, my path works with allies, not invoking spirits.
Grounding
So how do you go about learning Trance Journey? I start with a simple Ground and Center. Grounding is a spiritual technique where you send excess energy that you have into the ground, or simply connect with the ground. Why do you want to do this? If you've ever heard of the various air expressions that can be made about a person - airhead, head in the clouds, etc - then you will understand the need to keep your feet connected to the earth. Grounding is how you do this. Many ways to ground are intended from a normal state of consciousness, because when you're doing trance work you're still effectively in your head. Still, when in Other Space, your energetic body can become uneven and overloaded in places. Grounding allows you to absorb energy flows from other beings, or from your own magic, and send it into the ground so it doesn't hurt you, much like grounding electricity.
Exercise: Roots
Sit in a comfortable position. Close your eyes, and breathe evenly. Imagine yourself as a tree. Your spinal column is the trunk. Extend tendrils down from your trunk into the ground. Feel your attention sink into these tendrils, they are your roots. Grow your roots into the ground beneath you. Feel your worries, frustrations, mental static, and any other excess energy pass from your roots into the Earth. Once you feel sufficient time has passed, it's time to come back, so pull those tendrils out of the ground, and picture yourself as human again. Open your eyes, welcome back.
Centering
Grounding is only half the goal. The other half is known as centering. If you have ever found your thoughts and energies scattered between the various issues that you need to deal with, then you know what it's like to not be centered. Staying centered allows you to stay focused on one thing, which can be really helpful for those of us with ADHD. The following exercise uses the metaphor of your energies as a sphere for your focus. If the sphere appears uneven, it is a morphographic representation of your focus being elsewhere. Through repeated expansions, corrections, and contractions you bring your focus back to where you want it to be. The language of the other worlds is metaphor; here we are using it on ourselves. The point of this exercise is to focus your attention on your energies and collect them back to yourself, preparing to deploy them however you choose.
Exercise: Smooth the Bubble
Once again, assume a seated position with your eyes shut, breathing evenly. This time imagine a bubble around yourself. It's perfectly spherical, with you at the center. Draw the bubble inward. That point where it collapses to is your center. Let the bubble expand back out. You may notice that it is no longer perfectly spherical. Smooth it out so that it becomes a perfect sphere again. Now pull it into yourself again, then send it back out. Once again, smooth out any unevenness. Repeat this until your sphere is smooth immediately on extending it out. From this point, you will expand and contract your energy in and out with your breath. As you inhale, pull the energy in towards you, and as you exhale expand it back out. Bathe in the sensation for as long as you wish, then breathe normally and let your energies resettle. Open your eyes, welcome back.
Breathing
Diaphragmatic breathing is the type of breathing that you're looking for in these exercises. It is most commonly taught for singing and playing breath related instruments. To breathe diaphragmatically, put your hand down on your belly where your diaphragm is. Inhale by expanding your diaphragm, and you should feel the muscles in your abdomen tighten and your abdomen expand. Exhale by releasing this. It takes practice, so don't stress too much if it takes you a few times to get the hang of it, or if you forget a few times at the beginning of doing these exercises.
There’s three main ways you will be asked to breathe. The first exercise is Triangular breathing, which involves splitting your breath pattern into three even segments: inhale for a count, hold for that same count, and then exhale for the same count. The second common exercise is Square breathing, which is similar to triangular breathing, except that it uses four segments: inhale, hold, exhale, hold. The last thing I want you to try is Trapezoidal breathing, which is a term that I used to describe what happens for me when I try to attempt square breathing. It starts with four even segments, but the last two wind up coming together into one: inhale for a count, hold for a count, then exhale over twice that count. I'm not sure why having the longer exhale works so much better for me, but it is my preferred breathing pattern. Any time I encounter square breathing on an exercise, I simply unconsciously fall into trapezoidal breathing instead.
Getting Started
So with all these in your tool belt, how do you get started? Guided meditations are a really good starting point. Usually I start with these with people, because they are known tasks. Use the guided meditation to hone skills like allowing things to appear that are not specified (perhaps an interesting tree along the path, or bird song in a forest or field when it's not specified). Pick a guided meditation that includes a journey, and memorize it. You don't have to memorize the exact wording, just the actions that you take at each point. Start practicing that meditation on your own, with no audio. After a few runs, alter a few details. When you're comfortable with this, imagine one for yourself based on the one that you memorized, and do it. Congratulations, you've done your first journey entirely on your own.
One complicating factor for guided meditations is something I call a Landing zone. A phenomenon that many practitioners have noticed is that when we begin our trances, we find that we tend to start in the same place every time. This starting area has been termed the base camp by Diana Paxson, the sacred garden by Dr Hank Wesselman, but I've always called it a landing zone. This is a place that can be built, and once you have one I do recommend building it out. If you have noticed this phenomenon, it's nothing strange, and in fact is a sign that you are developing your control. Not every practitioner has come upon this independently, but many of us have.
Putting it all together
Generally when I'm doing the trance completely from scratch, which is most of the time, I will start by double-checking my wards or shields depending where I am, then I will ground and center, and drop to my landing zone. A lot of people, once their protections are checked, will skip the grounding and centering and go straight into a breathing exercise to get themselves into the right headspace. Often there will be a counting exercise as well, where you count down from 10 to 1 to calm your mind into the proper brainwave pattern. I find the grounding and centering does the job for me; when I open with grounding and centering, counting is superfluous, while breathing exercises just pull me deeper into my body, which is counterproductive. Play around with it, and see what works for you.
Walking the Otherworlds
I have heard it said that those who walk in Faerie return either mad or poets. There's a reason for this. A lot of what you will see in the Other Worlds is metaphor. If you see a bird, it might simply be a bird spirit, but it also could be a representation of freedom, or it could be a representation of soul, it all depends on the language of your own internal metaphors. If you keep a dream journal, you're a step up in dealing with this. Expect dream rules to apply when you walk the Other Worlds. You should also expect fairy tale rules to apply. Be unfailingly courteous. Don't give out your name. If somebody asks you what your name is, tell them that they can call you whatever you want to use as a call sign, but do not use your name. Some of us take a private word as “true name” that we then keep secret and tell no one so that the name can't be used against us. You also should aid others within reason; if you have a bad feeling about someone you encounter, don't necessarily help them, but be polite above all else. You might want to consider getting a copy of Grimm and reading it, or investigating the folklore of your own culture, before going into the Other Worlds so you know what to expect. Most of the places that you'll go are perfectly safe, but don't take your safety for granted. In my first coven in college, we traded leadership around Moon to Moon, so what we did at a given “ritual” varied wildly.. One of us got the bright idea to do a soul retrieval exercise as his month’s exercise, and what one of us brought back was so traumatic she wound up having to go into a facility. The mind is a weird and wonderful thing, do not underestimate it.
Guided Meditation Tips
There are a few practices I tend to incorporate when guiding a meditation. The first is giving a general outline of what will be involved in advance of performing the journey. This way the members of your group will have the opportunity to make an informed decision whether something will be triggering in the journey, in case they need to sit out. When giving descriptions, be sure to use multiple senses. Remember, not everyone can see: there is a condition known as aphantasia in which a person’s inner eye is limited or utterly blinded. These people, of which I am one, can learn to perform Trance Journey using other senses. In my case, I perceive pattern and energy densities without necessarily having a true form for the things that I perceive. It feels like a tree, therefore it is a tree. Be aware that your audience may include someone with this condition. When entering into a large portion of description, give it all together at the start, before pausing or adding actions. This prevents the vision developing in ways that don't align with your plan. When you do move on or add action, be aware other people may not be seeing what you see. You may be imagining a deciduous forest in Fall where a yellow leafed tree is appropriate, but if you didn't specify that at the beginning, the others may be seeing an evergreen forest, or all the trees may be leafless. So when bringing the next step in a guided meditation, be careful to make it flow in as many scenarios as possible. Similarly, when someone else is guiding, learn to change things on the fly. Maybe they’ll say you’re standing at the edge of a lake, but not specify how big the lake is so your version is big enough you can’t see the other shore, when they then tell you about a tree on the other side. Be ready to make these changes as you go. Other Space is fluid and mutable, it’s just like an energy ball, you can make it into whatever you want, whenever you want. Get used to making changes like this. And above all, remember to practice as much as you can if you want to make this a major part of your path. These mental muscles need to be developed just as physical ones do. And last, I encourage you to maintain a journey book where you record any chances that you are involved in. This will help you build that language of metaphor between your consciousness and your subconsciousness, between consensus reality and the Other Worlds.
I hope these comments have been useful; developing a trance practice gives one a powerful tool for working with non-consensus reality. Journey well.
KeTHeSa (KEep The HEart SAcred),
Asra Lokakona