Ecstatic Trance Uniqueness #2
Ecstatic Trance Uniqueness #2
In my last blog I wrote of the uniqueness of the Cuyamungue Method of ecstatic trance, of the use of the ecstatic postures that give direction to the trance experience. As mentioned the problem or concern that is brought to the tribe’s shamans give the trance experience direction. They probably use only one or maybe a couple of different postures and would become specialized in the manner in which they seek answers whether in calling upon a healing energy, divination, shape shifting, traveling into the underworld, the middle world or the upper world, or seeking a death-rebirth experience. For us to use a larger number of ecstatic postures gives us the able to go on any of these journeys, gives us a broader range of directions in seeking answers or resolutions to particular problems even when the problems are undefined as they may be in understanding the source of the problem. Our consumer medical industry generally considers only the symptom of the problem and not what causes the symptom. For example, we may not understand the cause of an anxiety attack, a cause likely based in something that happened many years earlier that began the growing habit of feeling anxious when something even minor occurs in later years. Our world now is much more complex than it was for our hunter-gatherer ancestor, and these ecstatic trance journeys can be very revealing in understanding the nature or cause of problems that occur whether personal, relational, or in the community.
Felicitas Goodman’s wider range of postures for providing direction for resolution to these problems and concerns was likely unavailable to our ancestral shamans. These postures being available to all of us is reminiscent of the earliest times when everyone in the hunter-gatherer tribes had available to them the ability to commune with the spirits to find answers. We now are able to relearn these powers available to us through guiding spirits, whether two legged, four legged, winged, finned, or rooted, powers that were available to our hunter-gathering ancestors, our ever present origin. Our way of life is rapidly changing, and to keep up with these changes to survive into the future relearning these ways of our distant ancestors that are again available to us will be and is important.
In my last blog I wrote of the uniqueness of the Cuyamungue Method of ecstatic trance, of the use of the ecstatic postures that give direction to the trance experience. As mentioned the problem or concern that is brought to the tribe’s shamans give the trance experience direction. They probably use only one or maybe a couple of different postures and would become specialized in the manner in which they seek answers whether in calling upon a healing energy, divination, shape shifting, traveling into the underworld, the middle world or the upper world, or seeking a death-rebirth experience. For us to use a larger number of ecstatic postures gives us the able to go on any of these journeys, gives us a broader range of directions in seeking answers or resolutions to particular problems even when the problems are undefined as they may be in understanding the source of the problem. Our consumer medical industry generally considers only the symptom of the problem and not what causes the symptom. For example, we may not understand the cause of an anxiety attack, a cause likely based in something that happened many years earlier that began the growing habit of feeling anxious when something even minor occurs in later years. Our world now is much more complex than it was for our hunter-gatherer ancestor, and these ecstatic trance journeys can be very revealing in understanding the nature or cause of problems that occur whether personal, relational, or in the community.
Felicitas Goodman’s wider range of postures for providing direction for resolution to these problems and concerns was likely unavailable to our ancestral shamans. These postures being available to all of us is reminiscent of the earliest times when everyone in the hunter-gatherer tribes had available to them the ability to commune with the spirits to find answers. We now are able to relearn these powers available to us through guiding spirits, whether two legged, four legged, winged, finned, or rooted, powers that were available to our hunter-gathering ancestors, our ever present origin. Our way of life is rapidly changing, and to keep up with these changes to survive into the future relearning these ways of our distant ancestors that are again available to us will be and is important.
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