Describe three ways trance can be used in personal spiritual practice. (min. 100 words each)
One basic way to use Trance in personal spiritual practice is through meditation. This requires an internal focus to quiet your thoughts and mind, and focus on being still and silent in a reflective moment. Meditation is something I have been working on throughout this course, and it definitely improves through repetitious use, though I suspect for me it’s taking longer than most because my mind simply doesn’t like to lay still. However, I am determined to keep focus on meditation to help reduce stress and keep my mind sharp, eased, and focused. This will, in turn, benefit my mundane life and career and allow me to handle situations (particularly those of stress) with more ease.
(Word Count: 116)
Another method of trance work is one that my Grove does on a regular basis before each high rite, but I am not as fond of. This is the use of trance journeying. In this particular case (the Grove), they journey to meet the deities before each high rite to familiarize themselves with them and open up communication about the upcoming rite. We also do journeys to the mound as Clergy, which I maintain when I can, but is my only particular form of journey-work that I do on any regular basis. However, the more I read about other peoples successful journey’s, the more it does make me want to give it another shot to see if I can improve on this particular skill-set.
(Word Count: 124)
Lastly, possession is another form of trance that people will incorporate into their personal spiritual practice, though it is not one I incorporate into mine. I know several local heathens, Laurel Mendes and Cat Heath specifically, that use Seiðr as a form of “possessive trance” in ritual to help answer questions from the divine during local heathen festivals. Donald and I were able to participate in one of these, though it was late at night and it was freezing, so my ability to absorb myself into the ritual was beyond what I could control and adapt. We were able to watch as the chief liturgist performed this particular trance state and connect to the divine for us to all connect in our own way to have answers given. Note to all future Seiðr people, please do these where we can all be comfy and receptive 🙂
(Word Count: 128)
