What is your preferred method for entering a trance state during your practices?
I do something like this… Tutorial: Trancework
But with some additions that incorporate a bit of qigong energy preparation into my rituals. The whole performance sees you go deeper into trance and cross into an altered state with each step.
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I usually play Shamanic Journeying drums with no music to them - I like a CD I bought over 2 decades ago and still use it ripped to my phone and played on a Bluetooth boombox. (Spirit Passages by Evelyn Rysdyk & C. Allie Knowlton)
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I start with lighting the coals and preparing the space and I do that already in a state of deepening calm.
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Next I shake out my limbs and grounding (Qigong exercise for clearing unwanted energy, a cleansing technique) or doing the Tai Chi form once.
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Then I draw an energy circle of protection and declare the circle open - this is prior to and in addition to waverer ritual requirement there is for a circle, but if I’m using the Universal Circle I trace the same circular lines it had with sword fingers. (You will find this technique for circle opening in E.A.'s book Ordo Ascensum Aetyrnalis).
I may or may not call in the directions - it’s a mood - but I always face magnetic North (it’s a me thing). -
Then I do the relaxation part (in the above tutorial) in lotus position. Instead of doing a countdown, I inhale energy from the Cosmos and run the microcosmic orbit 9 times
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Then I breathe in energy and perform the Inner Smile (sending gratitude and happy energy to organs to rejuvenate and heal them),
… and with all that done I’m in a deeply relaxed state, mentally alert but calm and serene, and I can’t really feel my body, but I move to light candles, call entities, read incantations, add incense to the coals etc. Then I bring my awareness back into the task at hand.
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@Mulberry Your process seems very intentional and grounding, which must make the trance states even more profound.
I came across this The New Method Azazel Gave Me for Trance: Preparing for TGS , I wonder if I can use it to enter trance more easily. I struggle to stay grounded that’s the hard part the real difficulty is staying in the experience longer.
I’m also curious about everyone else’s process.
No not really. That one is a catch 22 - it’s basically telling to to get intro trance, in order to get into trance. You don’t need Azazel to babysit you either, all Azazel said was practice trance-work not go leaning on him to do it all the time. But it does give you one solid bit of advice:
Practice practice practice. Do it every day. Put your arm on for a half hour early and do it in bed, go to bed early and do it then. Take a lunch break and do it them. Do it in the shower. Two minutes a few times a day is better than 20 minute twice a week.
You are building a skill, so you have to practice it until it’s 2nd nature.
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@Mulberry I’m not depending on him to do it all for me. I thought I could use his sigil as a way to practice trance work, and once I’m in that state, I can use his sigil or another sigil to open and perform ritual work. I plan to work with Azazel in the future, so I think it’s more about using his sigil as a tool rather than asking him to do the work for me or giving me power. It’s just a method to help me build my own ability. I should have clarified it’s more about staying there than actually getting there.
I am a naturally reserved person so I prefer inhibitory methods of trance generation over the more excitatory methods. Progressive relaxation followed by meditation seems to work best for me.
Excitatory methods are things like ecstatic dance, intense exercise, fear, sex or masturbation, rage, etc, basically anything that blanks out the mind for a moment. Check out Peter Carroll’s Liber Null and Psychonaut for more examples of various methods to generate “gnosis” (that’s what they call any altered state in the chaos magick paradigm).
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@Mulberry Appreciate the suggestions.
@DarkestKnight Thanks for sharing your approach you made me think of something since I’ve gotten into working out, do you think using a sauna and cold plunge could be effective for inducing altered states?
I’ll look into Peter Carroll’s works appreciate the recommendation.
Can you check my earlier reply from a day or so ago to ensure I’m following the correct steps before I continue? Goetia Pathworking: Magickal Results from The 72 Demons by Corwin Hargrove - #14 by dandadan
Yes, that is the perfect kind of altered state for firing off a Spare-style sigil, for example. Anything that blanks out the conscious mind for a brief moment is great for quick acts of magick.
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@DarkestKnight Excellent, I’ll be sure to capitalize on those transient states for maximum effect the next time I hit the sauna and cold plunge and Thank you for your response.
I am far from an expert, but I’m finding the technique for self-hypnosis from How To Master Self-Hypnosis In A Weekend by Rick Smith very useful. It is in no way mystical feeling, but I still find it very effective. There is a ritual I also do fairly regularly, and I’ve built the process of going into the meditative state into the beginning of the ritual, envisioning myself walking toward the temple, preparing the space in my mind for my guests, etc. The one thing I can say for sure is that practice helps a great deal. I find my mind wanders much more and my visualization is worse (something I always struggle with) if I haven’t done it for a while.
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