Shamanic Transe and shamanic journeying
Just as in the hypnotic trance, there are various degrees of trance during shamanic journeying. As a matter of fact, there is also a form of cultural “dramatization” that one can have in mind when thinking of some documentaries about traditional cultures showing medicine men or shamans going in “deep” trance. The collective dimension but also the dance and drums often used to carry those impressive states might induce the full participation of the body and being in such cases. One thing is sure, the picture of a shaman showing like “possessed” by something totally out of his control and that lands totally disoriented afterwards in his human shape, remains pretty strong in our imagination.
Though i have no doubt about the depth of such shamanic trance, fortunately for my patients and in my case, my shamanic journeyings are never going this way, nore they take me to such states where i am losing control. Not saying they are not deep, i have never even experienced such type of trance. The expression of my gratitude to all beings, elements, spirits, and other things in the universe in the four directions is usually enough to allow me focus and feel “centered”, early in a shamanic session. I am also often using gratitude chants and their notes to go deeper but in general, my trances remain pretty quiet and root more in the silence of my meditations and gratitude. By chance , they also leave me totally aware of what is happening , I just feel aligned with my inner self and soul, seing, experimenting or feeling things that do not occur in the usual course of my day. I am referring to these “common” moments of time when my eyes, my senses and my mind are the ones to orient me in the material world and life.
I really can’t say or pretend either that I feel being someone else or that something from outside is entering into my being to “possess” it and by the way, that’s an happy thing cause i think it could scare the hell out of me ! Ok i am kidding i know some shamans report such experiences but that’s just not my case. Another thing i can less and less pretend is that the one pulling the string in such shamanic moments is looking like a stranger to me. Over time it looks i am developping a close relationship and a real familiarity with this “inner shaman”. Consistency and coherency in my life’s choices (work , relationships, occupations) and maintaining a certain spiritual health certainly help me to feel more and more aligned with this inner shaman but anyway, even from my very first shamanic transes, I have never felt any foreign presence “investing” myself or coming from outside down into my body and being but rather a part of me that had always been there , asleep , that was awakening. And this part of my being knows things I didn’t know, takes actions with a total self-assurance, and possesses into him a knowledge that can’t come from anything related to my own ordinary memory and personal histor, answering to problems he is being addressed without having to seek reasoning to proceed.
Usually, when I am ending an shamanic healing or meditation session, the first thing I do is i open a notepad at my computer and i take note of everything that just happened . In general, i bring back very clear memories and information. If I wait a day or two , it can be a little complicated to remember all details of my shamanic transes and incursions, but no more than any other life situation I would try to wirte down in details after a certain time . This practice of writing and taking notes right after the “experience” has been suggested to me very early by my Mayan guide. By following his advises, i have realized two important things:
On one hand , the information I bring back from my shamanic journeys is highly consistent and coherent. It can be that i meet patients in distant healing or that i encounter more spiritual beings or energies , it can be that i receive teachings , advices , that i am being recounted ancient indian tales , or that i go throughs special situations, the subtle worlds and everything that takes place during my shamanic transes and journey is extremely precise and structured. The fact to write down systematically these experiences after each session got me to discover it. It’s not only that the memory is kind of volatile, it’s also that the mind is quick to pour an entire diffuse fog on all the experience that soon might leave the impression that all this was a dream without substance.
The funny thing about mind is that it can still make you think that all this was a dream even after you have healed a strong case in distant healing and received a strong confirmation of the efficiency of your work. It’s like somehow and in some ways the mind would work strong for one to consider the shamanic transe and journey were just like small wanderings or escapes of no importance and consistency. In reality, the more you will practice, the less your mind will rule your shamanic journey as isolate parenthesis of fun and crazyness. The daily practice is a key but please don’t get fool, if you are new on the shamanic path, take note of absolutely everything that occurs in these states. It’s a simple thing you will be grateful for along the way.
The second important thing I ‘ve realized writing down my shamanic experiences and transe, is that there is a form of time distortion that occurs in many cases and at two different levels: on one hand, I can spend two hours sitting, healing or meditating without realizing at all that all this time has passed and i often end up very surprised looking at the time after the session is over. On the other hand , during an hour or two of shamanic transe, I get to live very intense experiences that surprised me by their richness and density, and doing this writing effort, i am often finding myself in front of more than five or six pages of detailed content and notes.
There is probably no rule or law and each individual experiences his own shamanic trance in its own way but it is certain that taking notes, drawing, sketching, painting, in short keeping a track of the story of your shamanic experiences, whatever form it takes, is of major importance to understand the reality thread that connects all his experiences and to glimpse the consistency and levels of the different worlds, your shamanic trance will allow you to visit .
Thank you for your reading. I wish you a day full of happiness and joy!
Fred
About shamanic transe
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