Nicholas E. Brink's Blog, page 11
August 30, 2016
Sheldrake, Laszlo and Ecstatic Trance
I only discovered the writing of Rupert Sheldrake after Belinda Gore mentioned to me that Felicitas Goodman was excited by what he had to say. With this recommendation I read first Morphic Resonance & The Presence of the Past. This book along with Sheldrake’s other writings opened me to a whole new understanding of the potential power of Ecstatic Trance.
Sheldrake points out that since we live in a universe that is help together by a gravitational field and we are surrounded by substances that are composed of atoms and molecules that are held together by electromagnetic fields, how can we deny that our body, which is composed of atoms and molecules, is held together by a similar field, a field that he names morphic field. Just as atoms and molecules are the basic building blocks of all substances of the Earth, the basic building blocks of our body are the cells, each cell with its own morphic field, and with each organ of our body with its field. Our entire body has its morphic field, a field that connects all human beings. These fields provide information and communicate this information to each organ and to each human as needed. He offers many examples, one is of the morphic field that holds together and directs a flock of birds in diving and swooping as it move together through the air. Another example he offers is of when a bird, the tit, learned to peck off the cap of a milk bottle found on the door step of a home in England, it was not long before other tits in England were doing the same thing, something that soon the birds from across the channel and all over Europe were doing. He believes that this information was passed along from bird to bird through their morphic fields. This is fascinating and can be an explanation of how in a group of people practicing ecstatic trance together has surprisingly similar experiences, experiences that suggests some form of mental telepathy, mind reading, or extrasensory perception.
Just as I can best see a person’s aura while in trance, this field is what allows us to know what someone else is experiencing while in trance. Whether we call it mind reading, extrasensory perception, or mental telepathy, we have been impressed by the way our experiences in Ecstatic Trance are similar to the experiences of others in the group.
The reading of Sheldrake led me to the books by Ervin Laszlo. Laszlo’s thinking and research has taken him down a similar road, though he calls this field as the Akashic Field, a word from Hindu meaning the ether that surrounds us. He believes that this field is a matrix that consists of all that has happened since the beginning of time, information that is available to us from beyond our five senses, from a sixth sense for which the sensory receptors are the microtubules of the cytoskeletal structure of the brain.
I find this research exciting, as did Felicitas. I believe that while in the state of Ecstatic Trance we open ourselves to experience beyond our five senses by going to our 6th sense, to a power that was relatively available to the hunter-gatherers, a power that is still available to us if we open ourselves to it and do not push it aside as irrational as so many people do in what they would call their rational thinking. I believe that the rational nature of Sheldrake’s and Laszlo’s thinking can bridge the gap between those of us who have experienced this power and the world of rationality that causes others to deny it.
I have referred to and describe this research of Sheldrake and Laszlo in each of my books with the hope that I can reach others who have not experienced his light and are stuck in their world of rationality.
Though we experience Ecstatic Trance and the Ecstatic Postures as something magical or sacred, understanding how it works only adds to its power in our lives. A couple of months ago in the Cuyamungue Institute Newsletter Barbara Hand Clow wrote about the German philosopher-historian, Jean Gebser’s description of the new era of consciousness, of time-free transparency. Gebser tells of this time-free transparent era of consciousness as the fifth era. We have passed through the archaic dreamworld of our ancient ancestors that evolved into the second era of magical consciousness, the consciousness of our hunter-gatherer ancestors, and into the third era of mythic consciousness where humans attempted to explain the world around them through the mythic stories. This mythic era was the first with era where stories were recorded. The fourth era is the era of rational consciousness that began around 600 B.C. and climaxed at about the time of Leonardo De Vinci and his three dimensional art. This era is now coming to a conclusion as we move into the fourth dimension of time-free transparency. In this new era free of linear time as portrayed in modern physics we can now understand and appreciate and access the earlier dream and magical worlds of the earliest eras. Accessing this new world is accomplished through ecstatic trance, trance that takes us beyond the three dimensional world of the rational era and into the world beyond our five senses.
It is with this new understand that we can more deeply appreciate and value the meaning of our ecstatic experiences, not simply by recreating rituals of how the hunter-gatherers experienced the world, but understanding in a new way the reality and power found in this world. This is what I have been writing about in my latest four books, the power of experiencing the world beyond our five senses, of visiting and communing with our ancestors, and with the spirits of the Earth. I believe that becoming one with these spirits is a necessary ingredient of saving the Earth from the destruction we have imposed on it over the last ten thousand years.
I believe the Cuyamungue Institute can be at the forefront in leading us into this new era of consciousness, of experiencing oneness with our Great Earth Mother if we open ourselves to the fuller meaning of the Ecstatic Trance Experience. I believe our failing could be to simply teach the Cuyamungue Method of Ecstatic Trance and not appreciate where this trance can take us in the future of all life on Earth.
Hope you have been reading my daily Facebook posts.
Sheldrake points out that since we live in a universe that is help together by a gravitational field and we are surrounded by substances that are composed of atoms and molecules that are held together by electromagnetic fields, how can we deny that our body, which is composed of atoms and molecules, is held together by a similar field, a field that he names morphic field. Just as atoms and molecules are the basic building blocks of all substances of the Earth, the basic building blocks of our body are the cells, each cell with its own morphic field, and with each organ of our body with its field. Our entire body has its morphic field, a field that connects all human beings. These fields provide information and communicate this information to each organ and to each human as needed. He offers many examples, one is of the morphic field that holds together and directs a flock of birds in diving and swooping as it move together through the air. Another example he offers is of when a bird, the tit, learned to peck off the cap of a milk bottle found on the door step of a home in England, it was not long before other tits in England were doing the same thing, something that soon the birds from across the channel and all over Europe were doing. He believes that this information was passed along from bird to bird through their morphic fields. This is fascinating and can be an explanation of how in a group of people practicing ecstatic trance together has surprisingly similar experiences, experiences that suggests some form of mental telepathy, mind reading, or extrasensory perception.
Just as I can best see a person’s aura while in trance, this field is what allows us to know what someone else is experiencing while in trance. Whether we call it mind reading, extrasensory perception, or mental telepathy, we have been impressed by the way our experiences in Ecstatic Trance are similar to the experiences of others in the group.
The reading of Sheldrake led me to the books by Ervin Laszlo. Laszlo’s thinking and research has taken him down a similar road, though he calls this field as the Akashic Field, a word from Hindu meaning the ether that surrounds us. He believes that this field is a matrix that consists of all that has happened since the beginning of time, information that is available to us from beyond our five senses, from a sixth sense for which the sensory receptors are the microtubules of the cytoskeletal structure of the brain.
I find this research exciting, as did Felicitas. I believe that while in the state of Ecstatic Trance we open ourselves to experience beyond our five senses by going to our 6th sense, to a power that was relatively available to the hunter-gatherers, a power that is still available to us if we open ourselves to it and do not push it aside as irrational as so many people do in what they would call their rational thinking. I believe that the rational nature of Sheldrake’s and Laszlo’s thinking can bridge the gap between those of us who have experienced this power and the world of rationality that causes others to deny it.
I have referred to and describe this research of Sheldrake and Laszlo in each of my books with the hope that I can reach others who have not experienced his light and are stuck in their world of rationality.
Though we experience Ecstatic Trance and the Ecstatic Postures as something magical or sacred, understanding how it works only adds to its power in our lives. A couple of months ago in the Cuyamungue Institute Newsletter Barbara Hand Clow wrote about the German philosopher-historian, Jean Gebser’s description of the new era of consciousness, of time-free transparency. Gebser tells of this time-free transparent era of consciousness as the fifth era. We have passed through the archaic dreamworld of our ancient ancestors that evolved into the second era of magical consciousness, the consciousness of our hunter-gatherer ancestors, and into the third era of mythic consciousness where humans attempted to explain the world around them through the mythic stories. This mythic era was the first with era where stories were recorded. The fourth era is the era of rational consciousness that began around 600 B.C. and climaxed at about the time of Leonardo De Vinci and his three dimensional art. This era is now coming to a conclusion as we move into the fourth dimension of time-free transparency. In this new era free of linear time as portrayed in modern physics we can now understand and appreciate and access the earlier dream and magical worlds of the earliest eras. Accessing this new world is accomplished through ecstatic trance, trance that takes us beyond the three dimensional world of the rational era and into the world beyond our five senses.
It is with this new understand that we can more deeply appreciate and value the meaning of our ecstatic experiences, not simply by recreating rituals of how the hunter-gatherers experienced the world, but understanding in a new way the reality and power found in this world. This is what I have been writing about in my latest four books, the power of experiencing the world beyond our five senses, of visiting and communing with our ancestors, and with the spirits of the Earth. I believe that becoming one with these spirits is a necessary ingredient of saving the Earth from the destruction we have imposed on it over the last ten thousand years.
I believe the Cuyamungue Institute can be at the forefront in leading us into this new era of consciousness, of experiencing oneness with our Great Earth Mother if we open ourselves to the fuller meaning of the Ecstatic Trance Experience. I believe our failing could be to simply teach the Cuyamungue Method of Ecstatic Trance and not appreciate where this trance can take us in the future of all life on Earth.
Hope you have been reading my daily Facebook posts.
August 18, 2016
Tanum Underworld Posture
On my daily Facebook posts I have been showing pictures of some of the ecstatic postures we use in ecstatic trance. There are several that I found in the petroglyphs in our travels around Tanum, Sweden that tell a story. In the petroglyph battle scene across the parking lot at the Tanum Museum, to the left and top of the battle line in this battle scene is a picture of a warrior embracing his girlfriend. Just behind him is an opposing warrior with a raised axe that somehow snuck by the sentry. The first warrior was distracted from the battle by the love he had for his girlfriend. Below these figures is a figure with very long and outstretched arms, the sentry guarding the back of the warriors from the south who are fighting an invading army from the north. Below the sentry you find the warrior laying on the ground with his girlfriend kneeling over his head and a ship is attached to the warrior’s right foot, a ship that is pulling him into the underworld, into Hel’s domain where those who die not as heroes of battle but from illness and old age. This story quite obviously tells the story of a warrior who died not as a hero. Above the battle scene is also the figure of Thor flying above the battle in his cart being pulled by his goats. You can find these pictures on my website: imaginalmind.net
Of the many petroglyphs around Tanum are the images of a number of warriors who died in battle, rising up above the battle field, being carried to Valhalla where the heroes in battle are taken after death where they can fight daily and if injured or killed they are healed to fight again the next day. I will show these upperworld postures in my next post.
Of the many petroglyphs around Tanum are the images of a number of warriors who died in battle, rising up above the battle field, being carried to Valhalla where the heroes in battle are taken after death where they can fight daily and if injured or killed they are healed to fight again the next day. I will show these upperworld postures in my next post.
Tanum Underworld Posture
His left knee is slightly raised and his arms are too his side. You can find these pictures on my website imaginalmind.net
August 9, 2016
What can we do for Gaia?
What can we do for Gaia?
I believe that we all realize that the Garden of Eden cannot now be what it was 10,000 years ago, before the great damage that we have imposed on her, but I believe that we can become one with what now remains and care for her as she slowly proceeds to regain and rebuild balance and harmony through the interdependent system of life. Our human population is just too great for us to live as the hunter-gathers have lived and do live, but many things are happening which suggest that our population may significantly decrease. Besides that, the hunter-gatherers that live now are again coming together and forward to teach and show us the way, e.g. the people of the First Nations have become central in many of the demonstrations against the pipelines and removing fossil fuel from the ground. They are standing up for the Earth. As our human population decreases, those who may remain need to learn and know how to care for the Earth as part of the interdependent system of life. One aide in again learning how to be one with the Earth is through the shamanic way of Ecstatic Trance.
In considering the process of what Mother Earth is going through to regain balance and harmony in the system of the interdependence of all things, in Gaia, to overcome the damage we have inflicted on her, one of the first things we can do is to working towards improving the fertility of the soil, not through chemicals but through the natural way of composting, of bringing the Earth where we can back to its pristine condition.
Ten thousand years ago, farming and the domestication of animals began in the fertile-crescent, the land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. The agriculturists gradually moved to the west along the Mediterranean and up through the Danube valley. This gradual move occurred because the fertility of the soil diminished due to our abuse of it, causing the people to move on to more fertile lands. This moving to the west, of invading new territories was the beginning of our warrior society, whereas before life was much more harmonious and conflict between people was much less. The damage to the Earth was one of the earliest acts of destruction caused by humans. I believe to now help to improve the fertility of the soil through composting is one thing we each can do individually to help her regain the beauty of Gaia. We can put our energy into composting and mulching, something I am doing this year with greater commitment. This awareness came to me through my communing with the Earth while in ecstatic trance, and the more I read in this area the more sense this makes.
I believe that we all realize that the Garden of Eden cannot now be what it was 10,000 years ago, before the great damage that we have imposed on her, but I believe that we can become one with what now remains and care for her as she slowly proceeds to regain and rebuild balance and harmony through the interdependent system of life. Our human population is just too great for us to live as the hunter-gathers have lived and do live, but many things are happening which suggest that our population may significantly decrease. Besides that, the hunter-gatherers that live now are again coming together and forward to teach and show us the way, e.g. the people of the First Nations have become central in many of the demonstrations against the pipelines and removing fossil fuel from the ground. They are standing up for the Earth. As our human population decreases, those who may remain need to learn and know how to care for the Earth as part of the interdependent system of life. One aide in again learning how to be one with the Earth is through the shamanic way of Ecstatic Trance.
In considering the process of what Mother Earth is going through to regain balance and harmony in the system of the interdependence of all things, in Gaia, to overcome the damage we have inflicted on her, one of the first things we can do is to working towards improving the fertility of the soil, not through chemicals but through the natural way of composting, of bringing the Earth where we can back to its pristine condition.
Ten thousand years ago, farming and the domestication of animals began in the fertile-crescent, the land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. The agriculturists gradually moved to the west along the Mediterranean and up through the Danube valley. This gradual move occurred because the fertility of the soil diminished due to our abuse of it, causing the people to move on to more fertile lands. This moving to the west, of invading new territories was the beginning of our warrior society, whereas before life was much more harmonious and conflict between people was much less. The damage to the Earth was one of the earliest acts of destruction caused by humans. I believe to now help to improve the fertility of the soil through composting is one thing we each can do individually to help her regain the beauty of Gaia. We can put our energy into composting and mulching, something I am doing this year with greater commitment. This awareness came to me through my communing with the Earth while in ecstatic trance, and the more I read in this area the more sense this makes.
August 2, 2016
Rediscovering the Garden of Eden
Our hunter-gatherer ancestors lived in The Garden of Eden. They lived in oneness with all that is of the Earth. They saw themselves as neither inferior nor superior to all other life. At that time we were sustained by our Great Earth Mother through the interdependence of everything of the Earth, through Gaia. We were part of this living system and valued it as such. We gave to her as much, if not more, than we took for our own sustenance. But then, about 10,000 years ago, we gained the knowledge of the tree of life by eating the forbidden fruit, we move from being hunter and gatherer to become the agriculturist and domesticator of animals. We began taking control of the Earth and all other life upon the Earth, enslaving it and in our greed taking it for what we thought was our own benefit and wealth. We claimed ourselves to have dominion over the Earth and saw ourselves as superior to it. It has been this attitude of domination over the Earth that has led to its destruction, to the extinction of many species of life, and is bringing us closer to our own extinction.
Many of us now see what is happening and are attempting to reverse this destruction through ending our dependence upon fossil fuels with the use of alternative energy, through recycling, organic gardening and many other New Age ways of living, but it is the attitude of superiority, of believing that we have dominion over the Earth that needs to change. To save the Earth we need to first rediscover our sense of oneness with the Earth and all that is of the Earth. The practice of Ecstatic Trance, a trance state that was and is part of life for the Hunter-Gatherer, can be an effective way to promote this change. This is the topic of my most recent book, Trance Journeys of the Hunter-Gatherers: Ecstatic Practices to Reconnect with the Great Mother and Heal the Earth.
Ecstatic Trance frequently brings us animal spirit guides who have important messages to teach us, and through shape-shifting we can experience these animal guides in a more personal way. Since these spirit guides have something to teach us, we can no longer feel ourselves superior to them.
Through Ecstatic Trance we discover what the spirits of each direction, of the cycle of the seasons, day and night, and the Earth’s position in the Universe have to teach us. We find ourselves being one with these cycles and teachings. Again, with these revelations we can no longer see ourselves as being above or superior to these spirits and the Earth.
As a child most of us experienced the Earth in a very intimate way. We were one with the Earth, but this oneness was lost through the teachings of family, schools and church, teachings that led us to begin feeling superior to the rest of the Earth. While in Ecstatic Trance, some of the most enjoyable experiences are those of reliving the experiences of childhood in being one with the Earth. Ecstatic Trance can also show us rituals and ways that we can practice daily in reaching out in thanks to what Our Great Mother offers us to sustain us, such as offering a pinch of cornmeal to whatever we may take from the Earth. In Ecstatic Trance we can ask questions and find answers to how we can again venerate the Earth.
As we practice ecstatic trance we find healing for issues that have limited us in our ability to function maturely and grow spiritually, healing that frees us to become an elder of the Earth in showing and teaching others how to live in oneness with the Earth.
Over the next few days my daily Facebook posts will be of these ways of becoming one with the Earth, of returning to the Garden of Eden.
Many of us now see what is happening and are attempting to reverse this destruction through ending our dependence upon fossil fuels with the use of alternative energy, through recycling, organic gardening and many other New Age ways of living, but it is the attitude of superiority, of believing that we have dominion over the Earth that needs to change. To save the Earth we need to first rediscover our sense of oneness with the Earth and all that is of the Earth. The practice of Ecstatic Trance, a trance state that was and is part of life for the Hunter-Gatherer, can be an effective way to promote this change. This is the topic of my most recent book, Trance Journeys of the Hunter-Gatherers: Ecstatic Practices to Reconnect with the Great Mother and Heal the Earth.
Ecstatic Trance frequently brings us animal spirit guides who have important messages to teach us, and through shape-shifting we can experience these animal guides in a more personal way. Since these spirit guides have something to teach us, we can no longer feel ourselves superior to them.
Through Ecstatic Trance we discover what the spirits of each direction, of the cycle of the seasons, day and night, and the Earth’s position in the Universe have to teach us. We find ourselves being one with these cycles and teachings. Again, with these revelations we can no longer see ourselves as being above or superior to these spirits and the Earth.
As a child most of us experienced the Earth in a very intimate way. We were one with the Earth, but this oneness was lost through the teachings of family, schools and church, teachings that led us to begin feeling superior to the rest of the Earth. While in Ecstatic Trance, some of the most enjoyable experiences are those of reliving the experiences of childhood in being one with the Earth. Ecstatic Trance can also show us rituals and ways that we can practice daily in reaching out in thanks to what Our Great Mother offers us to sustain us, such as offering a pinch of cornmeal to whatever we may take from the Earth. In Ecstatic Trance we can ask questions and find answers to how we can again venerate the Earth.
As we practice ecstatic trance we find healing for issues that have limited us in our ability to function maturely and grow spiritually, healing that frees us to become an elder of the Earth in showing and teaching others how to live in oneness with the Earth.
Over the next few days my daily Facebook posts will be of these ways of becoming one with the Earth, of returning to the Garden of Eden.
July 26, 2016
THE NEW AGE
I believe that we are entering a New Age, an age of harmony, that is, if we don’t destroy ourselves first through our plundering of our Mother the Earth. This New Age was written about as early as 1949 by Jean Gebser in his book The Ever Present Origin. Gebser saw that we have gone through three ages of consciousness and are now leaving the fourth era, the rational or mental era, as we enter the New Age, the age of “time free transparency,” an age of living in a four-dimensional world. In this new age, we will be free of linear time and can again venture back to our ancestors or into the future. This new age will be transparent in that for some we are regaining the powers of seeing as our hunter-gatherer ancestors were able to see. We are learning the power of ecstatic trance. The earliest age of consciousness for the Homo Sapiens was the archaic age when people lived in a dream like state, living through the power of their intuition. We then progressed through the magical era when humans were able to relate to and commune with the animals, a way that provided them with the magical powers of seeing that I have described in my previous books. The third era was the mythic era when humans developed the language skills to record the mythic stories they used to explain the world around them. The fourth era of which we are preparing to leave is the era of rational consciousness, an era that rejected the magic and myths of the previous two eras as false and superstitious. In this fourth era, people believe that all that exists is perceived only through the five senses. Now we are beginning to go beyond with the understanding of the extrasensory powers of earlier eras, the powers of seeing as found in our dreams and ecstatic trance experiences.
Other writers have also written about it. Both Barbara Hand Clow and Carl Johan Calleman see the rational era as ending with the Mayan Calendar, the time when we reached the critical mass for entering the New Age of the Homo Pacem, an age of harmony. Ervin Laszlo and Kingsley Dennis believe that if we survive until year 2020, we will see more clearly the presence of the New Age. Gebser believes that this transition will occur with great turmoil, turmoil led by those who are struggling to hang onto the old age in their fear of the new. I see this struggle in our current attempt to elect a new president. Quoting from Gebser’s book, “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.” I believe that the practice of ecstatic trance leads us to this future and gives us the ability to make it present.
Who are those who are leading the way into the New Age, and who are those who struggle to hang onto the old. The developmental model of Daniel Korten paints this picture with clarity in his book, The Great Turning.
Reviewing his five stages of development, the infant sees the world as magical, of things just appearing and disappearing as did those people of the archaic era of consciousness. When someone gets “stuck” in this stage they live in a fantasy world and place their faith in magical protectors. In moving beyond this stage, the stage of the “terrible twos” we seek to have control over everything, the stage of Imperial Consciousness. When someone gets “stuck” in this stage they seek power in playing up to the powerful and exploit the oppressed. The world is in a sorry state when are leaders are stuck in this stage. The third stage is that of Socialized Consciousness. These people are considered good citizens while living in their small world, playing by the rules of their identity group, family, school, church, sports team. Those stuck in this socialized stage can become hateful, hate that stems from the fear of diversity in the world around them. The fourth stage is that of Cultural Consciousness, of living in a more diverse and inclusive world. In this world the individual finds creativity in the diversity of people and ideas. Finally, the fifth stage is that of Spiritual Consciousness, of living in a complex, evolving integral world in which we engage as evolutionary co-creators. We are part of all life around us and do not think of ourselves as superior but live as one with all of nature. We are no longer the subjugator of the natural world and become the elder in supporting the community of all life around us. I have written of how Ecstatic Trance leads a person to this spiritual level of consciousness, in Trance Journeys of the Hunter-Gatherers.
Other writers have also written about it. Both Barbara Hand Clow and Carl Johan Calleman see the rational era as ending with the Mayan Calendar, the time when we reached the critical mass for entering the New Age of the Homo Pacem, an age of harmony. Ervin Laszlo and Kingsley Dennis believe that if we survive until year 2020, we will see more clearly the presence of the New Age. Gebser believes that this transition will occur with great turmoil, turmoil led by those who are struggling to hang onto the old age in their fear of the new. I see this struggle in our current attempt to elect a new president. Quoting from Gebser’s book, “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.” I believe that the practice of ecstatic trance leads us to this future and gives us the ability to make it present.
Who are those who are leading the way into the New Age, and who are those who struggle to hang onto the old. The developmental model of Daniel Korten paints this picture with clarity in his book, The Great Turning.
Reviewing his five stages of development, the infant sees the world as magical, of things just appearing and disappearing as did those people of the archaic era of consciousness. When someone gets “stuck” in this stage they live in a fantasy world and place their faith in magical protectors. In moving beyond this stage, the stage of the “terrible twos” we seek to have control over everything, the stage of Imperial Consciousness. When someone gets “stuck” in this stage they seek power in playing up to the powerful and exploit the oppressed. The world is in a sorry state when are leaders are stuck in this stage. The third stage is that of Socialized Consciousness. These people are considered good citizens while living in their small world, playing by the rules of their identity group, family, school, church, sports team. Those stuck in this socialized stage can become hateful, hate that stems from the fear of diversity in the world around them. The fourth stage is that of Cultural Consciousness, of living in a more diverse and inclusive world. In this world the individual finds creativity in the diversity of people and ideas. Finally, the fifth stage is that of Spiritual Consciousness, of living in a complex, evolving integral world in which we engage as evolutionary co-creators. We are part of all life around us and do not think of ourselves as superior but live as one with all of nature. We are no longer the subjugator of the natural world and become the elder in supporting the community of all life around us. I have written of how Ecstatic Trance leads a person to this spiritual level of consciousness, in Trance Journeys of the Hunter-Gatherers.
July 19, 2016
Induction of Ecstatic Trance
There can be many ways to induce Ecstatic Trance but the way I use is the ritual of the Cuyamungue Method. I find this ritual specially powerful in that it is Earth oriented. The benefits of it being Earth oriented is described in my most recent book, Trance Journeys of the Hunter-Gatherer: which will the topic of a future email. I believe that if there is a possibility to save our species from extinction due to climate change one important element is the use of ecstatic trance. As explained by Thomas Berry, to again feel a sense of oneness with the Earth and all life upon the Earth we need to experience it through dreaming, waking visions and regaining our shamanic personality.
Regarding the history of the Cuyamungue Method, Felicitas Goodman’s research into ecstatic trance led her to realize that five basic elements are necessary to induce trance:
• Having an open mind and relaxed body, along with the expectation of a pleasurable but nonordinary experience.
• Being in a sacred space, one separate from the activities of everyday life.
• Quieting one’s mind with a meditative technique such as counting one’s breath.
• Rhythmically stimulating the nervous system through rattling or drumming.
• Standing, sitting or lying in a particular body posture that gives direction to the trance experience.
From these basic elements Goodman developed the following ritual:
• Preparation: The instructor leads a discussion regarding the appropriate attitude and what can be expected in the ecstatic trance experience. For newcomers, the story of Goodman’s research is told. Then the particular posture to be used in the trance experience is described and demonstrated, with each participant practicing the posture. The instructor also attempts to answer any questions that the participants may ask.
• Sacred Space: The space in which the group meets is made sacred with two rituals, first each participant, the ritual space, and the drum or rattle to be used are cleansed with the ritual of smudging with the smoke from burning herbs or as I sometimes use and oil scent of sage. Second, the spirits are called from each direction and a gift of cornmeal is offered these spirits to welcome them to the sacred space.
• Quieting Inner Dialogue: The five minutes of silence is provided while each participant focuses on their breathing to assist them in quieting their mind. During these five minutes the person is allowed to stand, sit or lay in a comfortable position, though I suggest that they place their hands on their abdomen in order to feel it rising and falling with each breath.
• Stimulation of the Nervous System: The instructor or a designated rattler or drummer then commences rattling or drumming at the rate of approximately 210 beats per minute for a period of fifteen minutes to stimulate the nervous system and bring the person into a state of ecstatic trance.
• The Ritual: The intent of the session is established or defined by the posture used during these fifteen minutes of drumming or rattling, a posture that gives direction to the trance experience.
I would also add that during the preparation period while the participant is practicing the posture to be use that a useful question is: “What does the posture express or what are the feelings associated with the posture?” From my sensitivity to body language and non-verbal communication as a psychologist, what the posture expresses non-verbally well defines the direction in which the posture takes the person. From Goodman’s research she finds that some postures are for drawing in energy for healing and strengthening (Healing), some are for seeking answers to questions or predicting the future (Divination), while some are for journeying in the Under World, some the Middle World and some the Upper World. Then there are postures for shape-shifting (Metamorphosis), some that provide a death-rebirth experience (Initiation) and finally two postures are for Celebration or Calling the Spirits.
For those of you who may be interested in experimenting with ecstatic trance I would be happy to send you a file of drumming and pictures of the trance postures. It takes about 25 minutes. You can share your experiences with me and I will offer you feedback, brinknick9@gmail.com
Regarding the history of the Cuyamungue Method, Felicitas Goodman’s research into ecstatic trance led her to realize that five basic elements are necessary to induce trance:
• Having an open mind and relaxed body, along with the expectation of a pleasurable but nonordinary experience.
• Being in a sacred space, one separate from the activities of everyday life.
• Quieting one’s mind with a meditative technique such as counting one’s breath.
• Rhythmically stimulating the nervous system through rattling or drumming.
• Standing, sitting or lying in a particular body posture that gives direction to the trance experience.
From these basic elements Goodman developed the following ritual:
• Preparation: The instructor leads a discussion regarding the appropriate attitude and what can be expected in the ecstatic trance experience. For newcomers, the story of Goodman’s research is told. Then the particular posture to be used in the trance experience is described and demonstrated, with each participant practicing the posture. The instructor also attempts to answer any questions that the participants may ask.
• Sacred Space: The space in which the group meets is made sacred with two rituals, first each participant, the ritual space, and the drum or rattle to be used are cleansed with the ritual of smudging with the smoke from burning herbs or as I sometimes use and oil scent of sage. Second, the spirits are called from each direction and a gift of cornmeal is offered these spirits to welcome them to the sacred space.
• Quieting Inner Dialogue: The five minutes of silence is provided while each participant focuses on their breathing to assist them in quieting their mind. During these five minutes the person is allowed to stand, sit or lay in a comfortable position, though I suggest that they place their hands on their abdomen in order to feel it rising and falling with each breath.
• Stimulation of the Nervous System: The instructor or a designated rattler or drummer then commences rattling or drumming at the rate of approximately 210 beats per minute for a period of fifteen minutes to stimulate the nervous system and bring the person into a state of ecstatic trance.
• The Ritual: The intent of the session is established or defined by the posture used during these fifteen minutes of drumming or rattling, a posture that gives direction to the trance experience.
I would also add that during the preparation period while the participant is practicing the posture to be use that a useful question is: “What does the posture express or what are the feelings associated with the posture?” From my sensitivity to body language and non-verbal communication as a psychologist, what the posture expresses non-verbally well defines the direction in which the posture takes the person. From Goodman’s research she finds that some postures are for drawing in energy for healing and strengthening (Healing), some are for seeking answers to questions or predicting the future (Divination), while some are for journeying in the Under World, some the Middle World and some the Upper World. Then there are postures for shape-shifting (Metamorphosis), some that provide a death-rebirth experience (Initiation) and finally two postures are for Celebration or Calling the Spirits.
For those of you who may be interested in experimenting with ecstatic trance I would be happy to send you a file of drumming and pictures of the trance postures. It takes about 25 minutes. You can share your experiences with me and I will offer you feedback, brinknick9@gmail.com
July 9, 2016
BENEFITS OF ECSTATIC TRANCE
What are the benefits of ecstatic trance? As you read this please email me at brinknick9@gmail.com with you thoughts and comments.
My first book, The Power of Ecstatic Trance: Practices for Healing, Spiritual Growth, and Accessing the Universal Mind explores how trance can be used for and bring about healing and spiritual growth. It offers many examples from those who have participated in ecstatic trance groups. This healing is often of medical/physical problems, of resolving emotional problems or of overcoming other personal limitations. One of the very first sessions in which I participated, a young woman found ecstatic trance a successful avenue to quit smoking. Another in a later session found relief from depression. I found it very powerful in giving me some control over prostate cancer. Hardly a session goes by without someone finding new strength in facing some problem or finding an avenue to overcome some issue that limits them, such as a lack of self-confidence or excessive anxiety in some situation. The ecstatic experience often reveals an answer to some question, e.g. what is preventing me from accomplishing some goal in life? I consider the resolution of many of these problems as signs of spiritual growth.
With healing and spiritual growth a person can then go beyond to bigger issues, issues beyond themselves that affect others and the Earth. One such issue is to find ways to help overcome that which is leading us towards the destruction of our species and the Earth. This is the topic of my most recent book, Trance Journeys of the Hunter-Gatherers: Ecstatic Practices to Reconnect with the Great Mother and Heal the Earth. Thomas Berry believes that we need to go beyond what we are now doing to save the Earth by again becoming one with the Earth as our hunting and gathering ancestors were when they did not put themselves above all other life but saw themselves as part of the interdependency of all life. Berry suggests that the best way to gain this oneness is through dreaming, waking visions and regaining our shamanic personality. I believe that is exactly what ecstatic trance can accomplish. In trance, spirit animals and the spirit of Earth’s flora come to us with much to teach us, and we can become this life by using a shape-shifting posture with ecstatic trance. We learn much about the way to live from these flora and fauna spirit guides, so how can we continue to think of ourselves superior to or better than these guides.
As we proceed with the trance induction ritual we call upon the spirits of each direction. In this way we become one with Earth’s seasonal cycle and with the cycle of day and night. We experience East is the sun rise, the beginning of spring, and the beginning of life. South is the warmth of the middle of the day, of summer and the time of growth of our children and gardens. West is the sunset, autumn, the harvest and productive years of life. North is nighttime, winter, and time for sleep in preparation for a new birth with spring. The Universe above has placed Earth in a position with respect to the Sun to sustain life. It brings us the seasons, night and day, and our ocean tides. Then we call upon the spirits of the Earth, the Earth that sustains us through the interdependency of all things. As we call upon the spirits of each direction we bring alive within us the meaning of everything around us.
Ecstatic trance can also bring us to oneness with the Earth when we use it with intent to return to those very natural connections a child has to the Earth. Renewing these childhood experiences again brings alive within us this oneness. It is also important to identify in trance a personal daily ritual that we will use to maintain this connection, e.g. the hunter-gatherer would leave a token of thanks such as a pinch of tobacco or cornmeal whenever they took something from the Earth. These are a few of the ways ecstatic trance can be used to connect us to the Earth, and the above mentioned book, Trance Journeys of the Hunter-Gatherers, offers many examples.
In the title of the book The Power of Ecstatic Trance I mentioned Accessing the Universal Mind. In our group practice of ecstatic trance I consistently find examples of what might be called mental telepathy, when two or more people have experiences that have much in common, experiences that are exceptionally similar. Whereas the ecstatic experiences of healing and spiritual growth may be thought of as a journey into one’s unconscious mind, many of our group experiences seem to take people beyond themselves and into the Universal Mind, the mind of something beyond us individually. Again the book offers many examples.
One example of journeying into the Universal Mind is journeying into one’s past lives. Barbara Hand Clow’s book The Mind Chronicles: A Visionary Guide into Past Lives offers many examples of how hypnotic trance can lead us to journey into our past lives. Though her experiences were from hypnotic trance, those in my groups have had past life experiences one of which I described in The Power of Ecstatic Trance and Baldr’s Magic. Barbara’s past life experiences have taken her beyond some limiting deep seeded beliefs about herself which developed in previous lives, and freed her in her creativity and spiritual growth. Another example of journeying into the Universal Mind is journeying into the lives of our ancestors. My book Baldr’s Magic: The Power of Norse Shamanism and Ecstatic Trance takes me on a journey through my ancient ancestral roots in Denmark and Sweden, showing me how these hunter-gatherer’s lived in oneness with the Earth and what went wrong when we stopped venerating the Earth and turned to control of the Earth for our selfish benefit and greed. Understanding this history can provide us with a template of how to regain oneness with the Earth in venerating our Great Mother.
I find that certain places on Earth hold powerful spiritual energy, energy that I envision forms or is the composition of the Universal Mind. Using ecstatic trance while at these places brings alive the spirits of those places, spirits that offer us teachings of the ancient and current people of those places. My book, Beowulf’s Ecstatic Trance Magic: Accessing the Archaic Powers of the Universal Mind is the story of a new vision of the ancient poem of Beowulf brought alive through ecstatic trance when I visited two ancient spiritual sites, one at ancient Trelle Fortress in Trelleborg at the southern tip of Sweden and the other at Gammel Lejre in Denmark. The Danish site is the location of the great hall of King Hrothgar and the spiritual center of the ancient Skjǫldung people.
The book I am currently working on accesses the spirits of other spiritual sites found on three of the Earth’s seven continents, spirits that have much to teach us if our species is to survive the catastrophic climate change that we are now approaching.
These are the reasons I value and teach ecstatic trance. I hope this review triggers within you the importance and direction of some of your dreams and ecstatic trance experiences, experiences that you will share with me that demonstrate these benefits and others that possibly demonstrate benefits and directions that I have not yet considered or experienced in ecstatic trance. Please let me know what you think. Email me at brinknick9@gmail.com
My first book, The Power of Ecstatic Trance: Practices for Healing, Spiritual Growth, and Accessing the Universal Mind explores how trance can be used for and bring about healing and spiritual growth. It offers many examples from those who have participated in ecstatic trance groups. This healing is often of medical/physical problems, of resolving emotional problems or of overcoming other personal limitations. One of the very first sessions in which I participated, a young woman found ecstatic trance a successful avenue to quit smoking. Another in a later session found relief from depression. I found it very powerful in giving me some control over prostate cancer. Hardly a session goes by without someone finding new strength in facing some problem or finding an avenue to overcome some issue that limits them, such as a lack of self-confidence or excessive anxiety in some situation. The ecstatic experience often reveals an answer to some question, e.g. what is preventing me from accomplishing some goal in life? I consider the resolution of many of these problems as signs of spiritual growth.
With healing and spiritual growth a person can then go beyond to bigger issues, issues beyond themselves that affect others and the Earth. One such issue is to find ways to help overcome that which is leading us towards the destruction of our species and the Earth. This is the topic of my most recent book, Trance Journeys of the Hunter-Gatherers: Ecstatic Practices to Reconnect with the Great Mother and Heal the Earth. Thomas Berry believes that we need to go beyond what we are now doing to save the Earth by again becoming one with the Earth as our hunting and gathering ancestors were when they did not put themselves above all other life but saw themselves as part of the interdependency of all life. Berry suggests that the best way to gain this oneness is through dreaming, waking visions and regaining our shamanic personality. I believe that is exactly what ecstatic trance can accomplish. In trance, spirit animals and the spirit of Earth’s flora come to us with much to teach us, and we can become this life by using a shape-shifting posture with ecstatic trance. We learn much about the way to live from these flora and fauna spirit guides, so how can we continue to think of ourselves superior to or better than these guides.
As we proceed with the trance induction ritual we call upon the spirits of each direction. In this way we become one with Earth’s seasonal cycle and with the cycle of day and night. We experience East is the sun rise, the beginning of spring, and the beginning of life. South is the warmth of the middle of the day, of summer and the time of growth of our children and gardens. West is the sunset, autumn, the harvest and productive years of life. North is nighttime, winter, and time for sleep in preparation for a new birth with spring. The Universe above has placed Earth in a position with respect to the Sun to sustain life. It brings us the seasons, night and day, and our ocean tides. Then we call upon the spirits of the Earth, the Earth that sustains us through the interdependency of all things. As we call upon the spirits of each direction we bring alive within us the meaning of everything around us.
Ecstatic trance can also bring us to oneness with the Earth when we use it with intent to return to those very natural connections a child has to the Earth. Renewing these childhood experiences again brings alive within us this oneness. It is also important to identify in trance a personal daily ritual that we will use to maintain this connection, e.g. the hunter-gatherer would leave a token of thanks such as a pinch of tobacco or cornmeal whenever they took something from the Earth. These are a few of the ways ecstatic trance can be used to connect us to the Earth, and the above mentioned book, Trance Journeys of the Hunter-Gatherers, offers many examples.
In the title of the book The Power of Ecstatic Trance I mentioned Accessing the Universal Mind. In our group practice of ecstatic trance I consistently find examples of what might be called mental telepathy, when two or more people have experiences that have much in common, experiences that are exceptionally similar. Whereas the ecstatic experiences of healing and spiritual growth may be thought of as a journey into one’s unconscious mind, many of our group experiences seem to take people beyond themselves and into the Universal Mind, the mind of something beyond us individually. Again the book offers many examples.
One example of journeying into the Universal Mind is journeying into one’s past lives. Barbara Hand Clow’s book The Mind Chronicles: A Visionary Guide into Past Lives offers many examples of how hypnotic trance can lead us to journey into our past lives. Though her experiences were from hypnotic trance, those in my groups have had past life experiences one of which I described in The Power of Ecstatic Trance and Baldr’s Magic. Barbara’s past life experiences have taken her beyond some limiting deep seeded beliefs about herself which developed in previous lives, and freed her in her creativity and spiritual growth. Another example of journeying into the Universal Mind is journeying into the lives of our ancestors. My book Baldr’s Magic: The Power of Norse Shamanism and Ecstatic Trance takes me on a journey through my ancient ancestral roots in Denmark and Sweden, showing me how these hunter-gatherer’s lived in oneness with the Earth and what went wrong when we stopped venerating the Earth and turned to control of the Earth for our selfish benefit and greed. Understanding this history can provide us with a template of how to regain oneness with the Earth in venerating our Great Mother.
I find that certain places on Earth hold powerful spiritual energy, energy that I envision forms or is the composition of the Universal Mind. Using ecstatic trance while at these places brings alive the spirits of those places, spirits that offer us teachings of the ancient and current people of those places. My book, Beowulf’s Ecstatic Trance Magic: Accessing the Archaic Powers of the Universal Mind is the story of a new vision of the ancient poem of Beowulf brought alive through ecstatic trance when I visited two ancient spiritual sites, one at ancient Trelle Fortress in Trelleborg at the southern tip of Sweden and the other at Gammel Lejre in Denmark. The Danish site is the location of the great hall of King Hrothgar and the spiritual center of the ancient Skjǫldung people.
The book I am currently working on accesses the spirits of other spiritual sites found on three of the Earth’s seven continents, spirits that have much to teach us if our species is to survive the catastrophic climate change that we are now approaching.
These are the reasons I value and teach ecstatic trance. I hope this review triggers within you the importance and direction of some of your dreams and ecstatic trance experiences, experiences that you will share with me that demonstrate these benefits and others that possibly demonstrate benefits and directions that I have not yet considered or experienced in ecstatic trance. Please let me know what you think. Email me at brinknick9@gmail.com
May 18, 2016
THE SPIRIT WORLD
I feel a great urgency to promote the use of ecstatic trance as an important avenue for saving our Earth from global climate change and corporate greed. Thomas Berry has said that what is missing in the ecological movement is “dreaming, waking visions and regaining our shamanic personality.” He believes that this is necessary in order to experience a sense of oneness with the Earth as was felt by our ancient ancestors who did not place themselves superior to all other life on Earth. I totally agree, and our work with the ecstatic postures is a direct avenue to that goal as I describe in my most recent book: “Trance Journeys of the Hunter-Gatherers: Ecstatic Practices to Reconnect with the Great Mother and Heal the Earth.”
Spirits and the Nature of Consciousness
Considering the writing of Jean Gebser, we are currently moving into a fifth era of consciousness, the era of time-free transparency, the New Age. The first era was the era of the hunter and gatherer that began around 160,000 years ago, of a people who lived in a dream-state of consciousness. Sometime early within these 160,000 years the human consciousness mutated into what Gebser calls the magical age of consciousness, an age when people found ways to cope with life and the environment through the magic found in being one with the Earth. This was the “time when our ancestors moved with the animals and sang with the wild symphony of the natural world --- the swoop of a hawk, the roar of a waterfall, the whisper of evening breezes, the kiss of moonlight. We lived in the world, responded to its felt and subtle messages, understood its deeper meanings. We not only communed with nature, we were in open communication with all its great variety of sounds and rhythms. In short, we understood and spoke the language of nature.” (Christian de Quincy)
During these first two eras the spirits were very much alive, first within their dream-state of life and then when they experienced oneness of all life and all that is of the Earth. Humans did not see themselves as superior to other life. They saw other life as being their ancestors and, as such, they were part of and continually learned from this life. They called upon the spirits of their ancestors to show them how to live, often calling upon their earliest ancestors of different life forms, the animals they lived with and knew well.
Then came what Gebser called the mythic era, the era when answers to the questions of life were provided through mythic stories. This era began around 10,000 years ago, the beginning of when history was beginning to be recorded, the beginning of the era of agriculture and domestication of animals. These stories that explained the phenomena of life and the Earth came from the dreams and trance experiences of these people of the time. As these dreams and experiences were shared, dreamed and experienced by others of the time, they developed to a level of coherency of the creation and other mythic stories that we listen to even today. During these eras spirits were very much alive, valued and meaningful to the people of the time, spirits that came from their dreams and other trance states of consciousness.
Then came the fourth era of consciousness, the rational era, an era that considered anything not perceived through the five senses, the senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch, as superstitious and untrue. Experiences of dreams and other altered states of consciousness were given a thumbs-down and rejected. Though we have gain much in understanding the Earth and life on Earth, we lost the magical power provided us through communing with the spirits. With this loss we have found ourselves believing that we are superior to all other life of Earth. We believe that we have dominion over the Earth and can use it to our greedy profit without consideration for the rest of life on Earth. This loss has brought us to the edge of destroying our own species and much of the Earth. We sometimes talk of a sixth sense, a sense of intuition, intuition that is brought to us by the spirits, but that too is generally ignored. Gebser believes that this rational era began approximately 2500 years ago and peaked at about the time of Leonardo da Vinci but is now waning as we begin a journey of mutation into the era of time-free transparency.
Geber wrote his book, The Ever-present Origin, in 1949 and since then it has become increasingly clear that this journey into the new age of time-free transparency is happening. As classical physics crumbles in the face of modern physics, a state of the science that even Einstein called spooky, we recognize that things do not happen in the mechanical and linear ways of classical physics. New discoveries are rapidly developing. One such scientific development is the theory of non-local coherence, that when an atomic particle is split something that happens to one part of the split particle that exists in one particular location and time the same thing instantaneously happens to the other portion of the particle that now exists at some other distant location. Also, another new theory is that when an atomic particle splits, the split particle sometimes goes backwards in time. These new understandings add to and expand the meaning of the relativity of time. Such discoveries of which there have been many are indeed spooky and open the door to a new era of consciousness, the era of time-free transparency, the new age. Other writers including Sheldrake, Laszlo, and Braden, propose an energy field called by such names as the morphic field, the akashic field or the divine matrix, a field that can be considered similar to the gravitational field or the electromagnetic field. Since living cells are composed of atoms and molecules with their individual electromagnetic fields, how can we discount Sheldrake’s belief that the cells and organisms composed of these atoms and molecules have their own field, a field that he has named the morphic field. When I first began exploring ecstatic trance I learn that Felicitas Goodman, in her last years, was taking a real interest in the writings of Sheldrake. Laszlo believes that this field, i.e. the Akashic field, contains all information of everything that has happened since the beginning of time, information that is available to us through a sixth sense, through dreams and other altered states of consciousness. Laszlo proposes that the sensory receptor for this in-formation field is the cytoskeletal structure of our brain that is composed of 1018 microtubules, the structure that gives our brain its shape. Just as seeing something takes paying attention to that something, and hearing something also takes paying attention, playing attention to what is coming to us through this cytoskeletal structure can best be perceived by paying attention while in an altered state of consciousness. The altered state of consciousness suppresses what we consciously perceive through the other five senses, thus clearing our mind to attend to what comes to us through the cytoskeletal structure. It is through these mechanisms that we can perceive and commune with the spirits of our past lives, our ancestors and of the Earth.
Accessing These Spirits
The spirits come from beyond our five senses, from beyond what we experience through our senses of sight, sound, smell, taste and touch, the senses that give our rational consciousness its limits. Most everyone experiences some of these spirits on a daily basis, through what we experience in our dreams while we sleep. There are those who would say that dreams are random and meaningless firing of the neurons in our brains, but from my work with dreams, that belief is the farthest from the truth. As a psychologist I have often said that dreams come from and represent what is in our unconscious mind and they can lead us to experience life in a much fuller way. I am a member and have been on the board of the International Association for the Study of Dreams and at our annual conventions much time is spent on examining ways to find greater meaning in our dreams. What we experience in our dreams is from beyond our five senses and I would consider it of the spirit world. We may dream of someone we know, yet in the dream that person is different from the person we know through our five senses. How we see that person has something important to say to us. We may dream of some animal but that animal may take on human characteristics, or we may dream of a river or walking down a path, the spirit of the river or the path, a spirit that likely is telling us something about our experience of the course of life.
Generally I have thought of the content of a dream as coming from our unconscious mind. The dream content points out to us some life conflict or the solution to some life conflict. But more recently I have begun to recognize that the dream sometimes comes from some place beyond us, beyond even our unconscious mind, from what I call the universal mind but what others have called the akashic field, the morphic field, the divine matrix or the collective unconscious. Robert Waggoner in his book on lucid dreaming tells the story that while within a lucid dream he has asked the question of the dream, “What is behind the dream or where does the dream come from?” What he has received as an answer in the dream experience is seeing a blue light, blue light that I see coming from the divine matrix or universal mind. Jean Campbell, in her book on dreaming together, shows that people are capable of connecting to each other in their dreams.
Dreaming is one altered state of consciousness, but there are other altered states. Hypnotic and ecstatic trance are two other altered states that bring us into communion with the spirits. Whereas a dream generally happens spontaneously at night, though it may be triggered by something that happened during the day or some thought we carry with us as we fall asleep, the altered states of consciousness of hypnosis and ecstatic trance occur in response to some ritual of induction that can give some direction to the trance experience, i.e. by asking questions while in trance or by taking a particular posture that nonverbally provides some direction to the experience. The experiences that come from these two forms of trance are more readily recalled upon coming out of the trance state, but since the language of the experience is metaphoric, finding meaning in these trance experiences, as with dreams, may take some time, and a number of techniques are available to help interpret the meaning in these experiences.
These forms of trance are similar in that they bring us in communion with the spirits, but they are different in their energy and rituals for induction. The energy of the hypnotic trance is slow, quiet and of letting go of thoughts. The energy of ecstatic trance is stronger, more directed and intentional. The hypnotic trance is induced by slow speech to match a person rate of breathing, while ecstatic trance is induced with rapid stimulation to the nervous system, the stimulation of rapid beating of a drum or rapid shaking of a rattle at around 210 beats per minute. While in hypnotic trance the heart rate slows down and the body responds with relaxation, i.e. the response of the parasympathetic nervous system. In ecstatic trance, it is the sympathetic nervous system partially takes over with a rapid heartbeat and the flow of adrenalin. With the rapid heartbeat yet with the rest of the body slowing down, the ecstatic trance is sometimes recognized as a near-death experience. Carlos Castaneda has written about two way of gaining access to the other world, i.e. dreaming and stalking. I believe that dreaming is like hypnotic trance, of letting go, of relaxing and waiting to see what happens, while stalking is directed, directed with intention. Castaneda likens stalking as they way of a warrior.
Another altered state of consciousness that bring us in communion with the spirits is when we go into deep thought, into a state of reverie, an experience like when we are lost in reading a book or watching a movie, or when we are immersed of our own imagination. This is a common everyday trance experience that can be equally valuable in communing with and learning from the spirits.
I need to mention three other altered states of consciousness that I have experienced that do not seem to bring me into communion with the spirits. First is transcendental meditation where the goal of the experience is to go into an alpha state of no thought or a blank mind. The other two are Zen meditation and tai chi where I am in the moment, in focusing on my abdomen rising and falling as I breath or focusing on the flow of motion of my body in tai chi. I believe that in these two states I am primarily sensing what is happening at the moment through my kinesthetic sense, and I am not going beyond into the extrasensory world.
Whether with dreaming, hypnotic trance or ecstatic trance, by paying attention to these altered states of consciousness, valuing these states and appreciating the spirits that these states bring us, the spirits will again begin to come alive and begin to show themselves spontaneously as they did for our ancient ancestors, even when we have not gone intentionally into an altered state of consciousness.
I will in the near future write of the different kinds of spirits including past life spirits, spirits of our ancestors, spirits of the Earth, fairies, and angels and what the spirits have to offer us.
Please go to one of my books and click on "Follower" if you have not already.
Spirits and the Nature of Consciousness
Considering the writing of Jean Gebser, we are currently moving into a fifth era of consciousness, the era of time-free transparency, the New Age. The first era was the era of the hunter and gatherer that began around 160,000 years ago, of a people who lived in a dream-state of consciousness. Sometime early within these 160,000 years the human consciousness mutated into what Gebser calls the magical age of consciousness, an age when people found ways to cope with life and the environment through the magic found in being one with the Earth. This was the “time when our ancestors moved with the animals and sang with the wild symphony of the natural world --- the swoop of a hawk, the roar of a waterfall, the whisper of evening breezes, the kiss of moonlight. We lived in the world, responded to its felt and subtle messages, understood its deeper meanings. We not only communed with nature, we were in open communication with all its great variety of sounds and rhythms. In short, we understood and spoke the language of nature.” (Christian de Quincy)
During these first two eras the spirits were very much alive, first within their dream-state of life and then when they experienced oneness of all life and all that is of the Earth. Humans did not see themselves as superior to other life. They saw other life as being their ancestors and, as such, they were part of and continually learned from this life. They called upon the spirits of their ancestors to show them how to live, often calling upon their earliest ancestors of different life forms, the animals they lived with and knew well.
Then came what Gebser called the mythic era, the era when answers to the questions of life were provided through mythic stories. This era began around 10,000 years ago, the beginning of when history was beginning to be recorded, the beginning of the era of agriculture and domestication of animals. These stories that explained the phenomena of life and the Earth came from the dreams and trance experiences of these people of the time. As these dreams and experiences were shared, dreamed and experienced by others of the time, they developed to a level of coherency of the creation and other mythic stories that we listen to even today. During these eras spirits were very much alive, valued and meaningful to the people of the time, spirits that came from their dreams and other trance states of consciousness.
Then came the fourth era of consciousness, the rational era, an era that considered anything not perceived through the five senses, the senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch, as superstitious and untrue. Experiences of dreams and other altered states of consciousness were given a thumbs-down and rejected. Though we have gain much in understanding the Earth and life on Earth, we lost the magical power provided us through communing with the spirits. With this loss we have found ourselves believing that we are superior to all other life of Earth. We believe that we have dominion over the Earth and can use it to our greedy profit without consideration for the rest of life on Earth. This loss has brought us to the edge of destroying our own species and much of the Earth. We sometimes talk of a sixth sense, a sense of intuition, intuition that is brought to us by the spirits, but that too is generally ignored. Gebser believes that this rational era began approximately 2500 years ago and peaked at about the time of Leonardo da Vinci but is now waning as we begin a journey of mutation into the era of time-free transparency.
Geber wrote his book, The Ever-present Origin, in 1949 and since then it has become increasingly clear that this journey into the new age of time-free transparency is happening. As classical physics crumbles in the face of modern physics, a state of the science that even Einstein called spooky, we recognize that things do not happen in the mechanical and linear ways of classical physics. New discoveries are rapidly developing. One such scientific development is the theory of non-local coherence, that when an atomic particle is split something that happens to one part of the split particle that exists in one particular location and time the same thing instantaneously happens to the other portion of the particle that now exists at some other distant location. Also, another new theory is that when an atomic particle splits, the split particle sometimes goes backwards in time. These new understandings add to and expand the meaning of the relativity of time. Such discoveries of which there have been many are indeed spooky and open the door to a new era of consciousness, the era of time-free transparency, the new age. Other writers including Sheldrake, Laszlo, and Braden, propose an energy field called by such names as the morphic field, the akashic field or the divine matrix, a field that can be considered similar to the gravitational field or the electromagnetic field. Since living cells are composed of atoms and molecules with their individual electromagnetic fields, how can we discount Sheldrake’s belief that the cells and organisms composed of these atoms and molecules have their own field, a field that he has named the morphic field. When I first began exploring ecstatic trance I learn that Felicitas Goodman, in her last years, was taking a real interest in the writings of Sheldrake. Laszlo believes that this field, i.e. the Akashic field, contains all information of everything that has happened since the beginning of time, information that is available to us through a sixth sense, through dreams and other altered states of consciousness. Laszlo proposes that the sensory receptor for this in-formation field is the cytoskeletal structure of our brain that is composed of 1018 microtubules, the structure that gives our brain its shape. Just as seeing something takes paying attention to that something, and hearing something also takes paying attention, playing attention to what is coming to us through this cytoskeletal structure can best be perceived by paying attention while in an altered state of consciousness. The altered state of consciousness suppresses what we consciously perceive through the other five senses, thus clearing our mind to attend to what comes to us through the cytoskeletal structure. It is through these mechanisms that we can perceive and commune with the spirits of our past lives, our ancestors and of the Earth.
Accessing These Spirits
The spirits come from beyond our five senses, from beyond what we experience through our senses of sight, sound, smell, taste and touch, the senses that give our rational consciousness its limits. Most everyone experiences some of these spirits on a daily basis, through what we experience in our dreams while we sleep. There are those who would say that dreams are random and meaningless firing of the neurons in our brains, but from my work with dreams, that belief is the farthest from the truth. As a psychologist I have often said that dreams come from and represent what is in our unconscious mind and they can lead us to experience life in a much fuller way. I am a member and have been on the board of the International Association for the Study of Dreams and at our annual conventions much time is spent on examining ways to find greater meaning in our dreams. What we experience in our dreams is from beyond our five senses and I would consider it of the spirit world. We may dream of someone we know, yet in the dream that person is different from the person we know through our five senses. How we see that person has something important to say to us. We may dream of some animal but that animal may take on human characteristics, or we may dream of a river or walking down a path, the spirit of the river or the path, a spirit that likely is telling us something about our experience of the course of life.
Generally I have thought of the content of a dream as coming from our unconscious mind. The dream content points out to us some life conflict or the solution to some life conflict. But more recently I have begun to recognize that the dream sometimes comes from some place beyond us, beyond even our unconscious mind, from what I call the universal mind but what others have called the akashic field, the morphic field, the divine matrix or the collective unconscious. Robert Waggoner in his book on lucid dreaming tells the story that while within a lucid dream he has asked the question of the dream, “What is behind the dream or where does the dream come from?” What he has received as an answer in the dream experience is seeing a blue light, blue light that I see coming from the divine matrix or universal mind. Jean Campbell, in her book on dreaming together, shows that people are capable of connecting to each other in their dreams.
Dreaming is one altered state of consciousness, but there are other altered states. Hypnotic and ecstatic trance are two other altered states that bring us into communion with the spirits. Whereas a dream generally happens spontaneously at night, though it may be triggered by something that happened during the day or some thought we carry with us as we fall asleep, the altered states of consciousness of hypnosis and ecstatic trance occur in response to some ritual of induction that can give some direction to the trance experience, i.e. by asking questions while in trance or by taking a particular posture that nonverbally provides some direction to the experience. The experiences that come from these two forms of trance are more readily recalled upon coming out of the trance state, but since the language of the experience is metaphoric, finding meaning in these trance experiences, as with dreams, may take some time, and a number of techniques are available to help interpret the meaning in these experiences.
These forms of trance are similar in that they bring us in communion with the spirits, but they are different in their energy and rituals for induction. The energy of the hypnotic trance is slow, quiet and of letting go of thoughts. The energy of ecstatic trance is stronger, more directed and intentional. The hypnotic trance is induced by slow speech to match a person rate of breathing, while ecstatic trance is induced with rapid stimulation to the nervous system, the stimulation of rapid beating of a drum or rapid shaking of a rattle at around 210 beats per minute. While in hypnotic trance the heart rate slows down and the body responds with relaxation, i.e. the response of the parasympathetic nervous system. In ecstatic trance, it is the sympathetic nervous system partially takes over with a rapid heartbeat and the flow of adrenalin. With the rapid heartbeat yet with the rest of the body slowing down, the ecstatic trance is sometimes recognized as a near-death experience. Carlos Castaneda has written about two way of gaining access to the other world, i.e. dreaming and stalking. I believe that dreaming is like hypnotic trance, of letting go, of relaxing and waiting to see what happens, while stalking is directed, directed with intention. Castaneda likens stalking as they way of a warrior.
Another altered state of consciousness that bring us in communion with the spirits is when we go into deep thought, into a state of reverie, an experience like when we are lost in reading a book or watching a movie, or when we are immersed of our own imagination. This is a common everyday trance experience that can be equally valuable in communing with and learning from the spirits.
I need to mention three other altered states of consciousness that I have experienced that do not seem to bring me into communion with the spirits. First is transcendental meditation where the goal of the experience is to go into an alpha state of no thought or a blank mind. The other two are Zen meditation and tai chi where I am in the moment, in focusing on my abdomen rising and falling as I breath or focusing on the flow of motion of my body in tai chi. I believe that in these two states I am primarily sensing what is happening at the moment through my kinesthetic sense, and I am not going beyond into the extrasensory world.
Whether with dreaming, hypnotic trance or ecstatic trance, by paying attention to these altered states of consciousness, valuing these states and appreciating the spirits that these states bring us, the spirits will again begin to come alive and begin to show themselves spontaneously as they did for our ancient ancestors, even when we have not gone intentionally into an altered state of consciousness.
I will in the near future write of the different kinds of spirits including past life spirits, spirits of our ancestors, spirits of the Earth, fairies, and angels and what the spirits have to offer us.
Please go to one of my books and click on "Follower" if you have not already.
April 18, 2016
Amazon Review
I am very pleased with Barbara Hand Clow's Amazon review of my latest book "Beowulf's Ecstatic Trance Magic"
By Barbara Hand Clow on April 17, 2016
Beowulf's Ecstatic Trance Magic is an awesome contribution to recovering lost knowledge by using Ecstatic Trance postures as discovered by the anthropologist Dr. Felicitas Goodman in 1977. At this point, there are quite a few books that describe Ecstatic Trance work--what it is, how to do it, and what we can gain from it. What Dr. Brink has accomplished in this book that explores the life and times of Beowulf is unique because he takes us deeply into his Scandinavian heritage to explore Beowulf's life and times around 2,000 years ago when the ancient goddess-based culture in Scandinavia was superseded by the patriarchal warrior culture. This occurred much more recently in Scandinavia due to intense cold, than the transition 5,000-10,000 years ago in the Middle East. We have historical records of this more recent transition, for example in Beowulf's saga. Brinks' journeys back to the transition out of the matriarchy into the patriarchy in Scandinavia using Ecstatic Trance is a huge addition to our understanding of this critical shift. Since the matriarchy was in tune with Earth and the patriarchy has tended to harm the Earth, this book is profoundly ecological. Dr. Brink's ability to bring this transition in Scandinavia back to us in the modern world is profoundly valuable for finding ways to return to harmony with the goddess and our planet. This is a must read for anyone interested in Ecstatic Trance, for anyone seeking ways to save our planet, and for students of Beowulf.
By Barbara Hand Clow on April 17, 2016
Beowulf's Ecstatic Trance Magic is an awesome contribution to recovering lost knowledge by using Ecstatic Trance postures as discovered by the anthropologist Dr. Felicitas Goodman in 1977. At this point, there are quite a few books that describe Ecstatic Trance work--what it is, how to do it, and what we can gain from it. What Dr. Brink has accomplished in this book that explores the life and times of Beowulf is unique because he takes us deeply into his Scandinavian heritage to explore Beowulf's life and times around 2,000 years ago when the ancient goddess-based culture in Scandinavia was superseded by the patriarchal warrior culture. This occurred much more recently in Scandinavia due to intense cold, than the transition 5,000-10,000 years ago in the Middle East. We have historical records of this more recent transition, for example in Beowulf's saga. Brinks' journeys back to the transition out of the matriarchy into the patriarchy in Scandinavia using Ecstatic Trance is a huge addition to our understanding of this critical shift. Since the matriarchy was in tune with Earth and the patriarchy has tended to harm the Earth, this book is profoundly ecological. Dr. Brink's ability to bring this transition in Scandinavia back to us in the modern world is profoundly valuable for finding ways to return to harmony with the goddess and our planet. This is a must read for anyone interested in Ecstatic Trance, for anyone seeking ways to save our planet, and for students of Beowulf.
