Nicholas E. Brink's Blog, page 10
February 3, 2017
Power of Imagination
I have been writing about the importance of listening to the spirits, our ancestral spirits and the spirits of the Earth. They have much to show us and teach us in how to relate to the Earth. Listening to them is most effective when in a state of trance, whether in our nighttime dreams or in hypnotic or ecstatic trance. Often when leading a person into a state of trance for the first time their experience might be considered shallow, but with practice the experience broadens and becomes much fuller in what it has to offer. People who listen to their nighttime dreams and see the importance in their dreams are quick to see the power of trance experiences. I often suggest, “use your imagination.” If when going into trance you feel yourself swaying or feel hot or cold, imagine what is pushing or pulling on you to make you sway or from where is the heat or cold coming, from a fire, from the sun, from a cold wind. Expand the experience using your imagination.
What is your imagination? It come from beyond the five senses and can be considered extra-sensory. I was President of the American Association for Mental Imagery from 1999 to 2001, as association that is now part of the International Association for the Study of Dreams for which I have been on the board. The members of the association valued and practiced guided imagery. One of my favorites was led by Anise Sheikh when he guided me into an experience of walking up to a beautiful house and knocking on the door. When the owner came to the door he asked me to move in. The owner was leaving for a while and wanted me to tend to the house. After living in the house for months, years, many years, such that the house became mine, the owner eventually returned. New insights as to the meaning of life are then experienced at the end. As Anise would tell the story that would take 15 or 20 minutes with quiet music playing in the background, my imagination would take over and greatly elaborate of what I was experiencing in this guided imagery. My imagination would take me into a deep trance and the experience would be very powerful.
Another example of guided imagery is the sports psychologist who leads athletes with guided imagery to go beyond their expectations that limit them in the athletic abilities, a powerful way that takes the athlete to new horizons.
Within the imagery association I was considered the member who used hypnotic trance. I would lead a person into a state of trance before the imagery experience would come forth, sort of the opposite of guided imagery. But I see that the imagination used in guided imagery and the use of trance to set the stage for an imagery experience to arise are equally effective in leading a person into the world of the spirits. Using our imagination is a powerful way of going beyond the limited world of our five senses and has much to show us in living in oneness with the Earth.
What is your imagination? It come from beyond the five senses and can be considered extra-sensory. I was President of the American Association for Mental Imagery from 1999 to 2001, as association that is now part of the International Association for the Study of Dreams for which I have been on the board. The members of the association valued and practiced guided imagery. One of my favorites was led by Anise Sheikh when he guided me into an experience of walking up to a beautiful house and knocking on the door. When the owner came to the door he asked me to move in. The owner was leaving for a while and wanted me to tend to the house. After living in the house for months, years, many years, such that the house became mine, the owner eventually returned. New insights as to the meaning of life are then experienced at the end. As Anise would tell the story that would take 15 or 20 minutes with quiet music playing in the background, my imagination would take over and greatly elaborate of what I was experiencing in this guided imagery. My imagination would take me into a deep trance and the experience would be very powerful.
Another example of guided imagery is the sports psychologist who leads athletes with guided imagery to go beyond their expectations that limit them in the athletic abilities, a powerful way that takes the athlete to new horizons.
Within the imagery association I was considered the member who used hypnotic trance. I would lead a person into a state of trance before the imagery experience would come forth, sort of the opposite of guided imagery. But I see that the imagination used in guided imagery and the use of trance to set the stage for an imagery experience to arise are equally effective in leading a person into the world of the spirits. Using our imagination is a powerful way of going beyond the limited world of our five senses and has much to show us in living in oneness with the Earth.
January 29, 2017
Breaking Toes with the Old World
Breaking Ties with the Old World
The world we have been born into is a world controlled by money, and striving for power. It is a judgmental world, a world of separation of good and bad, of right and wrong, a world of dualistic thinking. This world is so much part of us, so imbedded within us that it affects our every action, everything we do and without thought. We search for ways out and see glimmers of the New Age, but we are trapped in the old. We find new ways that can lead us to the New Age, ways of spirituality, practicing yoga, meditation, sitting in the woods; new ways of living, of recycling, driving less, consuming less, but we are quickly pulled back into the old oppressive world of consumption and taking from the Earth. The old world in which we live is powerful in its pull to reclaim us. In my retirement the money I have saved over the years is one force that keeps me attached to the old world. I cannot imagine how I would survive without it so I hang onto it. I am in a continued battle in seeking the way to live in the new world, the world of the interconnectedness of all that is of the Earth.
Yet, I have found one way that helps to bring me closer to the new world, the New Age, and that is through my regular use of ecstatic trance and my writing. Both keep the new world fresh in my mind. Trance and writing brings me to the sense of oneness, the sense of interdependency of all that is of the Earth, past, present and future. The world of the spirits, the spirits of the Earth, the spirits that were so important to our ancestors come alive to me through ecstatic trance and dreams. The spirits of my ancestors, of the animals and the trees, of all life, of every feature of the Earth, of rivers, oceans, mountains, rocks, soil, the wind and rain, are alive and have much to teach me if I listen to them at the deepest level and the use of ecstatic trance can bring us closer to that deepest level.
The world we have been born into is a world controlled by money, and striving for power. It is a judgmental world, a world of separation of good and bad, of right and wrong, a world of dualistic thinking. This world is so much part of us, so imbedded within us that it affects our every action, everything we do and without thought. We search for ways out and see glimmers of the New Age, but we are trapped in the old. We find new ways that can lead us to the New Age, ways of spirituality, practicing yoga, meditation, sitting in the woods; new ways of living, of recycling, driving less, consuming less, but we are quickly pulled back into the old oppressive world of consumption and taking from the Earth. The old world in which we live is powerful in its pull to reclaim us. In my retirement the money I have saved over the years is one force that keeps me attached to the old world. I cannot imagine how I would survive without it so I hang onto it. I am in a continued battle in seeking the way to live in the new world, the world of the interconnectedness of all that is of the Earth.
Yet, I have found one way that helps to bring me closer to the new world, the New Age, and that is through my regular use of ecstatic trance and my writing. Both keep the new world fresh in my mind. Trance and writing brings me to the sense of oneness, the sense of interdependency of all that is of the Earth, past, present and future. The world of the spirits, the spirits of the Earth, the spirits that were so important to our ancestors come alive to me through ecstatic trance and dreams. The spirits of my ancestors, of the animals and the trees, of all life, of every feature of the Earth, of rivers, oceans, mountains, rocks, soil, the wind and rain, are alive and have much to teach me if I listen to them at the deepest level and the use of ecstatic trance can bring us closer to that deepest level.
January 8, 2017
The New Age of Time Free Transparency
The New Age of Time Free Transparency
The New Age has been described in many ways: as a time of the Homo Pacem when peace comes to the Earth, a time of freedom from conflict that has been caused by the dualities in our thinking, the return of the anima mundi when we no longer feel separated from Earth’s enchantment, and a time when we attain the knowledge of Mother Earth and her cycles by learning to remember and interpret our sleeping and waking dreams. These four writers, which I have previously written about, bring us great hope.
A fifth writer, Jean Gebser, tells of how we are entering a fifth era of consciousness, an era of time free transparency. What is time free transparency? It is when the fourth dimension comes forth in its fullness. In our three dimensional reality, we can be placed anywhere in three dimensional space at any one time, but when we consider the fourth dimension, the dimension of time, it is limiting and linear, i.e. we are only at one spot in time, the now, not the past or the future. But as we enter the New Age, the era of time free transparency, we will discover that we have the freedom to be anywhere in time, in the past, the now and the future. Modern physics is demonstrating that possibility in its recent findings, such as when an atomic particle is split, one part of the particle that may seem to disappear has actually gone backwards in time. We even now experience this freedom of time in our nighttime dreams, but also when in the state of trance. In our dreams we often find ourselves back in time, e.g. a common dream experience is finding ourselves in the house in which we grew up. In our dreams we are free of linear time. The same thing happens in trance, whether hypnotic or ecstatic. Another example free of time is the art of Picasso where one sees both a frontal view and a profile view of a figure. Ancient myths are also time-free. The era of time-free transparency frees us from the fourth era of rational thinking, and brings us full circle, again bringing alive the first three eras, the archaic dream state era, the magical second era of living with the spirits and the third era, the mythic era.
Consider the sequence of events in the Nordic Prose Edda, a myth of the third era: the trickster god Loki was eventually bound by the god because of his confrontations with their hypocrisy which brings about the three endless winters of brother killing brother and father and son killing each other and then the final battle of Ragnarok with the death of the gods and their advisories. Their death brings us to the rebirth of the innocent and loved son of Oden, Baldr. This story has existed over the centuries, yet in the story the gods have died, yet they are still alive., a story that resonates with us now in the election of a new president who is taking us into the three endless winters. In his fourth year will be the final battle of a new election, hopefully electing someone that can be loved and can bring us together to carry us into the fifth era of time-free transparency. If we all work together we will see the dawn of the New Age when again the spirits of the Earth come alive to us in time-free transparency.
The New Age has been described in many ways: as a time of the Homo Pacem when peace comes to the Earth, a time of freedom from conflict that has been caused by the dualities in our thinking, the return of the anima mundi when we no longer feel separated from Earth’s enchantment, and a time when we attain the knowledge of Mother Earth and her cycles by learning to remember and interpret our sleeping and waking dreams. These four writers, which I have previously written about, bring us great hope.
A fifth writer, Jean Gebser, tells of how we are entering a fifth era of consciousness, an era of time free transparency. What is time free transparency? It is when the fourth dimension comes forth in its fullness. In our three dimensional reality, we can be placed anywhere in three dimensional space at any one time, but when we consider the fourth dimension, the dimension of time, it is limiting and linear, i.e. we are only at one spot in time, the now, not the past or the future. But as we enter the New Age, the era of time free transparency, we will discover that we have the freedom to be anywhere in time, in the past, the now and the future. Modern physics is demonstrating that possibility in its recent findings, such as when an atomic particle is split, one part of the particle that may seem to disappear has actually gone backwards in time. We even now experience this freedom of time in our nighttime dreams, but also when in the state of trance. In our dreams we often find ourselves back in time, e.g. a common dream experience is finding ourselves in the house in which we grew up. In our dreams we are free of linear time. The same thing happens in trance, whether hypnotic or ecstatic. Another example free of time is the art of Picasso where one sees both a frontal view and a profile view of a figure. Ancient myths are also time-free. The era of time-free transparency frees us from the fourth era of rational thinking, and brings us full circle, again bringing alive the first three eras, the archaic dream state era, the magical second era of living with the spirits and the third era, the mythic era.
Consider the sequence of events in the Nordic Prose Edda, a myth of the third era: the trickster god Loki was eventually bound by the god because of his confrontations with their hypocrisy which brings about the three endless winters of brother killing brother and father and son killing each other and then the final battle of Ragnarok with the death of the gods and their advisories. Their death brings us to the rebirth of the innocent and loved son of Oden, Baldr. This story has existed over the centuries, yet in the story the gods have died, yet they are still alive., a story that resonates with us now in the election of a new president who is taking us into the three endless winters. In his fourth year will be the final battle of a new election, hopefully electing someone that can be loved and can bring us together to carry us into the fifth era of time-free transparency. If we all work together we will see the dawn of the New Age when again the spirits of the Earth come alive to us in time-free transparency.
December 13, 2016
Trust
Trust
12/13/16 Overcast sky
Each morning I have been waking up to so much frightening crape in the news, some may winder how I am able to clear my mind of it to be able to go into a trance to call upon the spirits. The first thing I do before going out to the labyrinth is to take off my glasses and take out my hearing aide. Doing this limits what I perceive through my five senses. But going into a trance is a learned skill and with practice it becomes quite automatic.
This morning as I walked the labyrinth I felt the connection of my feet to the feet of my ancestors. When I got to the center, turned on the drumming, and sat in the Lady of Cholula Posture, I was quickly in Northern Scandinavia watching and protecting my herd of reindeer. I find being with the Saami, and their simple life that keeps them close to the Earth, quickly takes me away from the fearful crap. With the herd there is a real sense of trust. The herd of both wild and domesticated reindeer trusts me and does not run away in fear as a deer herd of today would likely do. I am not a threat to them. They feel that and feel a sense of safety in that I am trying to protect them from the wolves. A domesticated doe comes up and nuzzles me, a doe that we rescued and raised when she was tiny after her mother was killed. She is quite comfortable in both worlds, the world of living with the wild reindeer and the world of the humans. I put my arm around her neck and nuzzle her back, scratching her behind her ears. I feel respect for both the wild and domesticated animals.
Back at our sod covered hut, there are two doors. When we need to kill a wild animal we bring the carcass in through the sacred backdoor following a special ritual of appreciation to our Great Mother. The front door is for humans and the domesticated animals, dogs, etc., to enter for they are a step away from the sacredness of the Great Mother. I think of the other wild animals. When we show them respect and are not a threat to them they are quick to feel it and show it by not running from us and in some cases coming to us. In this atmosphere of trust and appreciation, they understand this relationship and are willing to on occasion sacrifice one of their own to fill our need to survive, generally one that is old or disabled in some way, and they can feel our sense of appreciation in the ritual we then offer. Hunting for our ancestors with much less effective weapons than today was easier because of this close relationship they had with nature and life around us. Most of us know of or have seen birds, squirrels, deer and other animals learn to trust us such that they may even eat out of our hand. I once had two deer come and stand just a few feet from me as I did tai chi in our yard. This closeness to and feeling of love and trust for the Earth is what is necessary for our survival at this time when a few of us are going in the other direction of taking from her out of greed.
12/13/16 Overcast sky
Each morning I have been waking up to so much frightening crape in the news, some may winder how I am able to clear my mind of it to be able to go into a trance to call upon the spirits. The first thing I do before going out to the labyrinth is to take off my glasses and take out my hearing aide. Doing this limits what I perceive through my five senses. But going into a trance is a learned skill and with practice it becomes quite automatic.
This morning as I walked the labyrinth I felt the connection of my feet to the feet of my ancestors. When I got to the center, turned on the drumming, and sat in the Lady of Cholula Posture, I was quickly in Northern Scandinavia watching and protecting my herd of reindeer. I find being with the Saami, and their simple life that keeps them close to the Earth, quickly takes me away from the fearful crap. With the herd there is a real sense of trust. The herd of both wild and domesticated reindeer trusts me and does not run away in fear as a deer herd of today would likely do. I am not a threat to them. They feel that and feel a sense of safety in that I am trying to protect them from the wolves. A domesticated doe comes up and nuzzles me, a doe that we rescued and raised when she was tiny after her mother was killed. She is quite comfortable in both worlds, the world of living with the wild reindeer and the world of the humans. I put my arm around her neck and nuzzle her back, scratching her behind her ears. I feel respect for both the wild and domesticated animals.
Back at our sod covered hut, there are two doors. When we need to kill a wild animal we bring the carcass in through the sacred backdoor following a special ritual of appreciation to our Great Mother. The front door is for humans and the domesticated animals, dogs, etc., to enter for they are a step away from the sacredness of the Great Mother. I think of the other wild animals. When we show them respect and are not a threat to them they are quick to feel it and show it by not running from us and in some cases coming to us. In this atmosphere of trust and appreciation, they understand this relationship and are willing to on occasion sacrifice one of their own to fill our need to survive, generally one that is old or disabled in some way, and they can feel our sense of appreciation in the ritual we then offer. Hunting for our ancestors with much less effective weapons than today was easier because of this close relationship they had with nature and life around us. Most of us know of or have seen birds, squirrels, deer and other animals learn to trust us such that they may even eat out of our hand. I once had two deer come and stand just a few feet from me as I did tai chi in our yard. This closeness to and feeling of love and trust for the Earth is what is necessary for our survival at this time when a few of us are going in the other direction of taking from her out of greed.
November 19, 2016
Experiences in the Labyrinth
I have continued exploring my new sacred space, the labyrinth in the woods. I have now gone to its center in ecstatic trance five times. Each time has offered me an important experience as I continue to learn how to use it. The last two were especially important. I need to smudge and call the spirits at the entrance of the labyrinth, rather than calling the spirits as I walk the first two circles which I found took away from the quieting experience of walking it. Walking the labyrinth quickly quiets my mind and when I reach the center I am ready to take the posture and start the drumming. Following are the last two experience before I left for California where my daughter wants me to build a labyrinth in her front yard.
11/15/16 Overcast sky, 38 degrees
Again I used the Hallstatt Warrior Posture. This time I at first listened to the drum that told me to take the Saami Underworld Posture, which I did in my mind, not in reality. Lay on my stomach with out-stretched arms, I soon felt hands reaching up, taking my hands and pulling me into the underworld. These hands were of the grandfather/elder of our siida who had died not too long ago. We sat by his fire in the underworld, and he told me that we need to love and respect all that is of our great mother, of Maadteraahka. He reminded me that we need to care for the reindeer as we do, protecting them from the wolves and helping them in birthing and in knowing their ways and leading them in finding sufficient food. The reindeer appreciate and respect us for these things, but we too need to respect and value the wolves.
This ancestral elder then pointed out to me that our mistake is our way of finding wealth with increasing the size of the herd. Our large herds throw things out of balance. The wolves now us as part of the herd and with this we provide them with a greater and respected challenge to their need to have reindeer to eat. If our herds were considerably smaller, just enough to allow us to survive, the herd would be much easier to protect from the wolves, and the wolves would know to leave us alone because there would be enough wild herds in the area to provide them with food. With the smaller herd leading them to find the food would be easier and we would not have to wander as far. We seek to have larger herds in order to impress others, especially the young women in order to find a wife. But this competition in herd size only makes life more difficult than is necessary and throws out of balance what Maadteraahka provides us. We need to return to trusting what she offers us and not hoard large numbers of reindeer. There is great wisdom from the elders of the underworld.
In calling the spirits of each direction as I initially walked the labyrinth takes away from the deeper experience of walking it. I need to call the spirits before I enter it and then walk it in silence, the time to follow my breathing and quiet my mind. This I will try tomorrow.
11/16/16 Rainy 40 degrees
I smudged and called the spirits while standing at the entrance to the labyrinth. Then I walked it in reverence. Walking in reverence is trance inducing and effectively quieted my mind. At the center I sat in the Freyr Diviner Posture. The sense of walking reverently was still part of me and I could feel the reverence of each trance inducing step as I proceeded through the labyrinth. Walking in other ways came to mind. The everyday purposeful walking to accomplish some task lacks the awareness of this reverent walking. Often paths and sidewalks are for self-protection and also lack this awareness. Walking the premade paths in the forest are made to protect the Earth that is off the path, and generally the awareness of the reverence of each step is not thought about. Within the labyrinth the total purpose of the labyrinth is to be aware of each step and it brings to us that sense of reverent trance.
The Cuyamungue Method of ecstatic trance is Earth oriented with the smudging and calling the spirits of the Earth and the labyrinth adds to the reverence for the Earth. Other methods of ecstatic trance such as those that lead to speaking in tongues are not Earth oriented but oriented to a god that is not of the Earth. The indigenous drumming and dancing that induces ecstatic trance is also Earth oriented when the dance is of some animal or other feature of the Earth. Ecstatic trance is most meaningful, at least to me, when it is Earth oriented. Stepping on the Earth in reverence feels very powerful, and it is quite understandable that with each step I am connecting with an underworld spirit such as an ancestor as is believed by the Saami. Today’s experience was intense in feeling a connection to the Earth with each step making a reverent connection to that which supports or sustains me in all ways.
11/15/16 Overcast sky, 38 degrees
Again I used the Hallstatt Warrior Posture. This time I at first listened to the drum that told me to take the Saami Underworld Posture, which I did in my mind, not in reality. Lay on my stomach with out-stretched arms, I soon felt hands reaching up, taking my hands and pulling me into the underworld. These hands were of the grandfather/elder of our siida who had died not too long ago. We sat by his fire in the underworld, and he told me that we need to love and respect all that is of our great mother, of Maadteraahka. He reminded me that we need to care for the reindeer as we do, protecting them from the wolves and helping them in birthing and in knowing their ways and leading them in finding sufficient food. The reindeer appreciate and respect us for these things, but we too need to respect and value the wolves.
This ancestral elder then pointed out to me that our mistake is our way of finding wealth with increasing the size of the herd. Our large herds throw things out of balance. The wolves now us as part of the herd and with this we provide them with a greater and respected challenge to their need to have reindeer to eat. If our herds were considerably smaller, just enough to allow us to survive, the herd would be much easier to protect from the wolves, and the wolves would know to leave us alone because there would be enough wild herds in the area to provide them with food. With the smaller herd leading them to find the food would be easier and we would not have to wander as far. We seek to have larger herds in order to impress others, especially the young women in order to find a wife. But this competition in herd size only makes life more difficult than is necessary and throws out of balance what Maadteraahka provides us. We need to return to trusting what she offers us and not hoard large numbers of reindeer. There is great wisdom from the elders of the underworld.
In calling the spirits of each direction as I initially walked the labyrinth takes away from the deeper experience of walking it. I need to call the spirits before I enter it and then walk it in silence, the time to follow my breathing and quiet my mind. This I will try tomorrow.
11/16/16 Rainy 40 degrees
I smudged and called the spirits while standing at the entrance to the labyrinth. Then I walked it in reverence. Walking in reverence is trance inducing and effectively quieted my mind. At the center I sat in the Freyr Diviner Posture. The sense of walking reverently was still part of me and I could feel the reverence of each trance inducing step as I proceeded through the labyrinth. Walking in other ways came to mind. The everyday purposeful walking to accomplish some task lacks the awareness of this reverent walking. Often paths and sidewalks are for self-protection and also lack this awareness. Walking the premade paths in the forest are made to protect the Earth that is off the path, and generally the awareness of the reverence of each step is not thought about. Within the labyrinth the total purpose of the labyrinth is to be aware of each step and it brings to us that sense of reverent trance.
The Cuyamungue Method of ecstatic trance is Earth oriented with the smudging and calling the spirits of the Earth and the labyrinth adds to the reverence for the Earth. Other methods of ecstatic trance such as those that lead to speaking in tongues are not Earth oriented but oriented to a god that is not of the Earth. The indigenous drumming and dancing that induces ecstatic trance is also Earth oriented when the dance is of some animal or other feature of the Earth. Ecstatic trance is most meaningful, at least to me, when it is Earth oriented. Stepping on the Earth in reverence feels very powerful, and it is quite understandable that with each step I am connecting with an underworld spirit such as an ancestor as is believed by the Saami. Today’s experience was intense in feeling a connection to the Earth with each step making a reverent connection to that which supports or sustains me in all ways.
November 9, 2016
Where are We
Where are We
Several days ago I wrote of the parallel between the great divide and the blindness in our electorate and blind and narrow understanding that the neo-Nazi’s have towards the ancient Nordic Myths. This election shows me this blindness, yet there is still hope. One of my Swedish friends followed closely this election as he did with the election of Obama when he telephoned me after 9 PM when Obama was declared the winner in Pennsylvania to congratulate us. It was 3 AM in Sweden. He is now appalled at the results and the devastating effect this election will have on Sweden and referred to it as entering winter. The three endless winters, maybe four with this election, ended in the final battle and the rebirth of the gentle and loving Baldr. The fourth year will likely be of the final battle in selecting the next president.
There is hope in this Nordic story that predicts the coming New Age. Jean Gebser, the German philosopher/historian, in his book, “The Ever-Present Origin, first published in 1949, describes the four stages of mutation or evolution of human consciousness, beginning with the archaic dream like state of conscious, the led into the magical stage of our hunter-gatherer ancestors who communed with the spirits of the Earth and their ancestors, and then into the mythic stage when life was explained through myths, before we entered the current stage of rational/scientific conscious. He believed that the next and fourth stage that he called the era of time-free transparency is the stage of finding the deeper power and understanding of the earliest stages, power that I believe is be found through the use of trance, trance that allows us to communicate with the spirits of the Earth and the spirits of our ancestors. This I have been writing about in my last four books. Gebser recognizes that great turmoil occurs in the transition periods between each of the four era’s of consciousness and now predicts that “Soon we will witness the rise of some potentate or dictator who will pass himself off as a ‘savior” or healer and allow himself to be worshipped as such. But anyone who does this in the days to come, and is thereby confined to time and is visible in it, has nothing to do with the true manifestation of the one who, in time-free transparency, will make the ‘future’ present.” (pg.297).
Barbara Hand Clow in her book “The Mayan Code,” believes that this era of time-free transparency, the New Age, will be the era of the Homo pacem, is beginning and reached a critical mass of no return at the end of the Mayan Calendar. Numerous other writers predict its coming. Ervin Laszlo and Kingsley Dennis, in their recent book “Dawn of the Akashic Age: New Consciousness, Quantum Resonance and the Future of the World” describes the nature of the New Age that they believe will be in full swing by 2020, that is unless we destroy ourselves first. Hopefully Trump is not the beginning of the end and as he takes us into three endless winters that it will end with the fourth years of the final battle that takes us to the rebirth of a new age.
Several days ago I wrote of the parallel between the great divide and the blindness in our electorate and blind and narrow understanding that the neo-Nazi’s have towards the ancient Nordic Myths. This election shows me this blindness, yet there is still hope. One of my Swedish friends followed closely this election as he did with the election of Obama when he telephoned me after 9 PM when Obama was declared the winner in Pennsylvania to congratulate us. It was 3 AM in Sweden. He is now appalled at the results and the devastating effect this election will have on Sweden and referred to it as entering winter. The three endless winters, maybe four with this election, ended in the final battle and the rebirth of the gentle and loving Baldr. The fourth year will likely be of the final battle in selecting the next president.
There is hope in this Nordic story that predicts the coming New Age. Jean Gebser, the German philosopher/historian, in his book, “The Ever-Present Origin, first published in 1949, describes the four stages of mutation or evolution of human consciousness, beginning with the archaic dream like state of conscious, the led into the magical stage of our hunter-gatherer ancestors who communed with the spirits of the Earth and their ancestors, and then into the mythic stage when life was explained through myths, before we entered the current stage of rational/scientific conscious. He believed that the next and fourth stage that he called the era of time-free transparency is the stage of finding the deeper power and understanding of the earliest stages, power that I believe is be found through the use of trance, trance that allows us to communicate with the spirits of the Earth and the spirits of our ancestors. This I have been writing about in my last four books. Gebser recognizes that great turmoil occurs in the transition periods between each of the four era’s of consciousness and now predicts that “Soon we will witness the rise of some potentate or dictator who will pass himself off as a ‘savior” or healer and allow himself to be worshipped as such. But anyone who does this in the days to come, and is thereby confined to time and is visible in it, has nothing to do with the true manifestation of the one who, in time-free transparency, will make the ‘future’ present.” (pg.297).
Barbara Hand Clow in her book “The Mayan Code,” believes that this era of time-free transparency, the New Age, will be the era of the Homo pacem, is beginning and reached a critical mass of no return at the end of the Mayan Calendar. Numerous other writers predict its coming. Ervin Laszlo and Kingsley Dennis, in their recent book “Dawn of the Akashic Age: New Consciousness, Quantum Resonance and the Future of the World” describes the nature of the New Age that they believe will be in full swing by 2020, that is unless we destroy ourselves first. Hopefully Trump is not the beginning of the end and as he takes us into three endless winters that it will end with the fourth years of the final battle that takes us to the rebirth of a new age.
November 4, 2016
For the Love of Baldr (Christ)
In writing this I recognize a parallel to our current election and the great divide in our electorate with the narrow blindness to reality of many of the voters.
You probably already know of my affinity with Nordic Mythology. I find that it clearly describes metaphorically the process of psychotherapy and personal change in the death of monsters that torment you -- Grendel, his mother, Jormungand, Hel and Fenrir. With their death the love and harmony of Baldr is allowed to return. So far I have written three books based on these ancient myths of the North: Grendel and His Mother, Baldr’s Magic, and Beowulf’s Ecstatic Trance Magic. Another is in the works: Loki’s Children. I was warned by Mike Bell after he read my first book to expect grief from a small population of adherents to the power, strength and violence they find in the Norse Myths. These myths became the national heritage of Germany during the Nazi era, and there are those who continue to follow these beliefs, beliefs in the Aryan’s physical strength and the superiority in their ability to fight. I have been amazed by the numerous ways I have seen those who hold this belief. Go to Amazon and read the first and only one star review of my book Baldr’s Magic written by a person who prides himself on being a Germanic Heathen. I have been to several festivals and re-enactments of Viking times and the center of activity is fighting with swords and shields, and on Facebook I am friends with several Nordic sites that worship Thor and his strength. I recently watched a NPR documentary on the Truman Doctrine that the United States is/was to be the protectors of world and one person interviewed referred to the U.S. in this role as being Thor’s Hammer. But, this narrow view of the myths misses what I see as the broader and central picture of the outcome of these stories in their hope for peace and harmony.
Though Thor is the strongest of the gods with his famed hammer, Mjollnir, that never misses its mark when thrown, the ancient stories portray Thor’s impulsive foolishness as repeatedly getting him in trouble. In Thor’s visit to the realm of the giant Utgard-Loki his rage causes him to be blind to the trickery of the giants in competing with them to demonstrate his strength. In another battle, because of his impulsive carelessness and rage, a stone fragment is imbedded in his head that he has to live with the rest of his life, and in the final battle he kills Jormungand, but then he too dies from the poison of this monster. These are just a few of the more famous incidents of Thor’s impulsiveness. At the beginning of the Prose Edda each of the magical fibers that compose the binding of Fenrir the Wolf are of different subtle strengths, but the only one that the gods understand is the sinew of the bear, the strength on one’s muscles. The stalking strength seen in the sound a cat makes when it walks, or the adhering strength of the spittle of a bird that provides the strength in the mud nests that some birds make, or the planted and immovable strength of the roots of a mountain are all considered mysterious to the gods. Likewise the beard of a woman and the breath of a fish can be seen as other subtle strengths (read Baldr’s Magic). Yet for this Nordic/Germanic people the love of physical strength and fighting is seen in the belief that if you die in battle you go to Valhalla where you spend each day fighting, and if you are injured or die in these daily battles you are healed or come back to life to again fight the following day.
But in the end at the final battle, Ragnarok, each of the gods is killed by his opponent, his Jungian shadow side, and who returns and remains is the most loved of the gods, Baldr, who is gentle and innocent, who brings harmony and peace to the world. And what leads to this final battle? Loki, the trickster, who continually confronts the gods on their hypocrisy, is captured and restrained which brings about a state of continual warfare with brother fighting brother and father fighting sons. This time of strife is followed by the three endless winters of depression. Only when earthquakes frees Loki and Fenrir from their bounds and Jormungand comes ashore from the sea does the final battle, Ragnarok, begin. The hypocrisy is their value of strength and fighting and yet their love for the most gentle son of Odin. These myths provide great hope for us in leaving behind war and violence as we enter a new age of peace and harmony.
You probably already know of my affinity with Nordic Mythology. I find that it clearly describes metaphorically the process of psychotherapy and personal change in the death of monsters that torment you -- Grendel, his mother, Jormungand, Hel and Fenrir. With their death the love and harmony of Baldr is allowed to return. So far I have written three books based on these ancient myths of the North: Grendel and His Mother, Baldr’s Magic, and Beowulf’s Ecstatic Trance Magic. Another is in the works: Loki’s Children. I was warned by Mike Bell after he read my first book to expect grief from a small population of adherents to the power, strength and violence they find in the Norse Myths. These myths became the national heritage of Germany during the Nazi era, and there are those who continue to follow these beliefs, beliefs in the Aryan’s physical strength and the superiority in their ability to fight. I have been amazed by the numerous ways I have seen those who hold this belief. Go to Amazon and read the first and only one star review of my book Baldr’s Magic written by a person who prides himself on being a Germanic Heathen. I have been to several festivals and re-enactments of Viking times and the center of activity is fighting with swords and shields, and on Facebook I am friends with several Nordic sites that worship Thor and his strength. I recently watched a NPR documentary on the Truman Doctrine that the United States is/was to be the protectors of world and one person interviewed referred to the U.S. in this role as being Thor’s Hammer. But, this narrow view of the myths misses what I see as the broader and central picture of the outcome of these stories in their hope for peace and harmony.
Though Thor is the strongest of the gods with his famed hammer, Mjollnir, that never misses its mark when thrown, the ancient stories portray Thor’s impulsive foolishness as repeatedly getting him in trouble. In Thor’s visit to the realm of the giant Utgard-Loki his rage causes him to be blind to the trickery of the giants in competing with them to demonstrate his strength. In another battle, because of his impulsive carelessness and rage, a stone fragment is imbedded in his head that he has to live with the rest of his life, and in the final battle he kills Jormungand, but then he too dies from the poison of this monster. These are just a few of the more famous incidents of Thor’s impulsiveness. At the beginning of the Prose Edda each of the magical fibers that compose the binding of Fenrir the Wolf are of different subtle strengths, but the only one that the gods understand is the sinew of the bear, the strength on one’s muscles. The stalking strength seen in the sound a cat makes when it walks, or the adhering strength of the spittle of a bird that provides the strength in the mud nests that some birds make, or the planted and immovable strength of the roots of a mountain are all considered mysterious to the gods. Likewise the beard of a woman and the breath of a fish can be seen as other subtle strengths (read Baldr’s Magic). Yet for this Nordic/Germanic people the love of physical strength and fighting is seen in the belief that if you die in battle you go to Valhalla where you spend each day fighting, and if you are injured or die in these daily battles you are healed or come back to life to again fight the following day.
But in the end at the final battle, Ragnarok, each of the gods is killed by his opponent, his Jungian shadow side, and who returns and remains is the most loved of the gods, Baldr, who is gentle and innocent, who brings harmony and peace to the world. And what leads to this final battle? Loki, the trickster, who continually confronts the gods on their hypocrisy, is captured and restrained which brings about a state of continual warfare with brother fighting brother and father fighting sons. This time of strife is followed by the three endless winters of depression. Only when earthquakes frees Loki and Fenrir from their bounds and Jormungand comes ashore from the sea does the final battle, Ragnarok, begin. The hypocrisy is their value of strength and fighting and yet their love for the most gentle son of Odin. These myths provide great hope for us in leaving behind war and violence as we enter a new age of peace and harmony.
October 17, 2016
The Power of Ecstatic Trance
The Power of Ecstatic Trance: Practices for Healing, Spiritual Growth, and Accessing the Unconscious Mind
A Guide to ecstatic trance for spiritual and emotional development, spirit journeying, and connection to the collective unconscious
• Describes more than 20 ecstatic trance postures for healing, divination, spirit journeys, shape-shifting, pass-life recovery and connecting to the Akashic field.
• Explores the physiology and psychology of ecstatic trance journeying
• Provides guidance for those with little or no experience as well as methods to deepen practice.
Over the millennia shamanic trance journeying has been used as a way of healing, of providing answers to questions, and of offering solutions to individual, family and community problems. Though traditionally it was the shaman of the community who went on such journeys, the revolutionary work of the late anthropologist Felicitas Goodman shows that we all have these shamanic powers. Her research on the body postures found in ancient primitive art and in the practices of contemporary shamans offers each of us the ability to experience ecstatic trance journeys firsthand.
A student of Felicitas Goodman and Belinda Gore, psychologist Nicholas Brink examines more than 20 traditional trance postures for divination, decision making, letting go of guilt and grief, healing of illness and emotional pain, spirit journeys, shape-shifting, interacting with animals spirits and the dead, and discovering past lives. Exploring the physiology and psychology of ecstatic journeying, he offers guidance for those with little or no experience as well as methods for longtime practitioners to deepen their practice and reclaim the extrasensory power of our ancient ancestors. Offering solid theories of how ecstatic trance triggers healing and spiritual development, Brink explains how trance journeying allows us to tap into the collective unconscious, or Universal Mind, and access the information matrix of the Akashic field.
A Guide to ecstatic trance for spiritual and emotional development, spirit journeying, and connection to the collective unconscious
• Describes more than 20 ecstatic trance postures for healing, divination, spirit journeys, shape-shifting, pass-life recovery and connecting to the Akashic field.
• Explores the physiology and psychology of ecstatic trance journeying
• Provides guidance for those with little or no experience as well as methods to deepen practice.
Over the millennia shamanic trance journeying has been used as a way of healing, of providing answers to questions, and of offering solutions to individual, family and community problems. Though traditionally it was the shaman of the community who went on such journeys, the revolutionary work of the late anthropologist Felicitas Goodman shows that we all have these shamanic powers. Her research on the body postures found in ancient primitive art and in the practices of contemporary shamans offers each of us the ability to experience ecstatic trance journeys firsthand.
A student of Felicitas Goodman and Belinda Gore, psychologist Nicholas Brink examines more than 20 traditional trance postures for divination, decision making, letting go of guilt and grief, healing of illness and emotional pain, spirit journeys, shape-shifting, interacting with animals spirits and the dead, and discovering past lives. Exploring the physiology and psychology of ecstatic journeying, he offers guidance for those with little or no experience as well as methods for longtime practitioners to deepen their practice and reclaim the extrasensory power of our ancient ancestors. Offering solid theories of how ecstatic trance triggers healing and spiritual development, Brink explains how trance journeying allows us to tap into the collective unconscious, or Universal Mind, and access the information matrix of the Akashic field.
September 26, 2016
Spirit Guides
In my last post I mentioned the bear and the honey bee that have come to me as spirit guides and from whom I have learned much while using the shamanic way of ecstatic trance. Whether at home or when I am traveling, the spirit guide that comes to me in ecstatic trance is so often a young boy of 10 or 12 years of the hunting and gathering people of where ever I am at the time. When at home his name is Black Bear and of the Lenape people who resided here before the coming of the Europeans. Whether in Sweden or Denmark, other places in the United States or in Peru, he is of the early people who lived in the area and he has much to teach me. I look up to him and value what he knows and what he is learning from Grandfather, the village elder. Even though I am 77 years old, I believe that his young age reflects my youth in ecstatically learning about how the people of those ancient times lived. He has frequently shown me how he sees and is able to give direction to others as to where to find the animals of the hunt.
PS: My website: Imaginalmind.com has been recently updated.
Nick Brink
PS: My website: Imaginalmind.com has been recently updated.
Nick Brink
September 22, 2016
Ecstatic Trance
Thomas Berry, often considered father of our ecology movement, said that where we have gone wrong over the last 10,000 years is that we have put ourselves above or superior to all other life on Earth. With our growing knowledge of the interdependence of all life, we now need to return to the hunter-gatherer belief that we all need each other, that we are all equal. When I experience the bear or the honey bee as spirit guides while using the shamanic way of ecstatic trance and learn so much about life from them, I can no longer think of myself as superior to them. That is why I value, teach and write about ecstatic trance.
Nick Brink
Nick Brink
