Fundamentals of Ecstatic Trance
The Fundamentals of Ecstatic Trance
My more recent blogs have been of where ecstatic trance can take us to heal the Earth, to commune with our ancestors, and to journey with the spirits of the land, experiences that facilitate our journey into the New Age. The fundamentals of ecstatic or shamanic trance again need to be considered. Felicitas Goodman in her research on ecstatic trance identified five necessary components for trance induction:
• A belief that the ecstatic trance experience in normal and valuable.
• The trance induction is performed in a sacred space.
• The mind needs to be quieted.
• Trance is induced with rapid stimulation to the nervous system.
• And specific body postures give direction to the trance experience.
This last point has made Goodman’s research especially meaningful. She found in books and museums artifacts that she believed showed the postures used by hunting and gathering shaman in their work as healers, initially identifying approximately 50 postures, postures that give direction to the trance experience. Some postures are for bringing healing energy into one’s body. Other postures are for divination for finding answers to questions. Some postures are for metamorphosis or shape-shifting to become one with one’s spirit guide. Some postures are for journeying in the three worlds, some for journeying in the underworld, others for journeying in the middle world and some for going into the upper world. Then there are the postures that produce an initiation or death-rebirth experience.
The ritual used to induce trance that follows the above necessary components is to first discuss the nature of ecstatic trance. The sacred space is created by smudging and calling the spirits of each direction. The mind is quieted with five minutes of silence while the participants follow their breathing, then the nervous system is stimulated by a rapid of a drum or shaking of a rattle at about 210 beats per minute for 15 minutes while the participants sit, stand or lay in one of the ecstatic postures.
This is followed by the participants journaling their experience. The experiences are important to return to repeatedly for finding their deeper meanings over time.
My more recent blogs have been of where ecstatic trance can take us to heal the Earth, to commune with our ancestors, and to journey with the spirits of the land, experiences that facilitate our journey into the New Age. The fundamentals of ecstatic or shamanic trance again need to be considered. Felicitas Goodman in her research on ecstatic trance identified five necessary components for trance induction:
• A belief that the ecstatic trance experience in normal and valuable.
• The trance induction is performed in a sacred space.
• The mind needs to be quieted.
• Trance is induced with rapid stimulation to the nervous system.
• And specific body postures give direction to the trance experience.
This last point has made Goodman’s research especially meaningful. She found in books and museums artifacts that she believed showed the postures used by hunting and gathering shaman in their work as healers, initially identifying approximately 50 postures, postures that give direction to the trance experience. Some postures are for bringing healing energy into one’s body. Other postures are for divination for finding answers to questions. Some postures are for metamorphosis or shape-shifting to become one with one’s spirit guide. Some postures are for journeying in the three worlds, some for journeying in the underworld, others for journeying in the middle world and some for going into the upper world. Then there are the postures that produce an initiation or death-rebirth experience.
The ritual used to induce trance that follows the above necessary components is to first discuss the nature of ecstatic trance. The sacred space is created by smudging and calling the spirits of each direction. The mind is quieted with five minutes of silence while the participants follow their breathing, then the nervous system is stimulated by a rapid of a drum or shaking of a rattle at about 210 beats per minute for 15 minutes while the participants sit, stand or lay in one of the ecstatic postures.
This is followed by the participants journaling their experience. The experiences are important to return to repeatedly for finding their deeper meanings over time.
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