Astral vision is always a mixture of the subjective and the objective. Sensory forms and symbolic interpretations are subjective, the cloak of objective energies and ent.i.ties. Whether those ent.i.ties are internal forces or external beings depends on how one defines the self. It is more romantic and exciting (and probably truer) to see them as at least partly external; it is psychologically healthier and probably wiser to see them as internal. A thing can be internal and still be objective, still be real. A neurosis or conflict, for example, may be verified as real by others even before it is perceived by the self. And nothing external can be admitted into the psyche unless a corresponding internal force admits it. No "ent.i.ty" can possess a soul that denies it entrance.
Astral energies can be molded into forms that will last and be perceived by more than one person. Collective beliefs and images also shape astral energies and create "places" and beings. Heaven, h.e.l.l, and the Land of Youth all exist in the astral. The energy forms we collectively create, in turn, shape us and the world we live in.
Astral forms can be "anch.o.r.ed" into physical objects. When ancient people held that idols were their G.o.ds, they meant that the astral form of the G.o.d was keyed into the statue. In Moon Magic, Dion Fortune describes the anchoring of an energy form into a place of magical working, which "has to have the astral temple built over it, and that is the really important part; and this is how we do it-we sit down and imagine it-nothing more-but-it is the imagination of a trained mind!
So we sat down, my friend and I ... and we pictured the temple of Isis as we had known it near the Valley of the Kings in the great days of the cult. We pictured it in its broad outline, and then we pictured it in all its detail, describing what we saw till we made each other see it more and more clearly. We pictured the approach through the avenue of ram-headed sphinxes; the great pylon gate in the temenos wall; the court with its lotus pool; shadowed colonnades, and the great hall with its pillars. And as we did this, alternately watching and describing-the phantasied scenes began to take on the semblance of objective reality and we found ourselves in them-no longer looking at them with the mind"s eye, but walking about in them. After that there was no more effort of concentration, for the astral vision took charge.
Consciousness can travel in the astral in many different ways. "Astral projection," described by many occultists, involves the separation of the astral body from its physical housing, retaining only a cord of etheric energy as a connection. In other words, it is the creation of a complete, vivid, sensory metaphor state, through which all perceptions can be understood. The astral body may move through the physical universe, although with difficulty. Most often, it remains within the realm of energy and thought forms that is the astral.
It is also possible to project consciousness alone, without the construction of a "body." Physical "sensation" is lessened, and a great deal of practice may be required in order to achieve clarity and learn to interpret perceptions, but this method is less draining of vitality and less dangerous.
The astral body, when projected, "feeds" off of the raith, and the practice can be devitalizing if it is engaged in too often. It is common to return feeling extremely cold and ravenously hungry. When learning to enter trance states, it is important to protect the health of the physical body by eating well, sleeping sufficiently, and exercising regularly.
Trance work of any kind should be conducted only in a safe, private place, where you can remain undisturbed.
As trance temporarily lessens your perceptions of the outer world and its dangers, city parks, public beaches, streets, and busses where you may be mugged, robbed, or molested are not suitable locations. Cast a protective circle around your body before leaving it, with either an elaborate ritual or a simple visualization. This will create an energy barrier, a.s.suring safety on the astral as you have a.s.sured it in the physical realm.
Trance states offer many possibilities besides astral projection. Trance unlocks the tremendous potential inherent in our unused awareness. We can augment our sensitivity, growth, and creativity.
In trance, we are more suggestible-a fact that underlies the most common uses of hypnosis. Suggestibility can seem frightening if we see it as opening people to control and exploitation by others. Actually, the self overrides any suggestions that contradict deeply ingrained moral or ethical principles or personal desires. Suggestion alone will not make an honest person a thief, nor an unwilling person a murderer. The Craft teaches the use of suggestion to help us consciously direct our own minds, not the minds of others. As we increase our awareness of the functioning of suggestion and learn to use it deliberately on ourselves, our suggestibility to others seems to decrease. The unconscious is no longer split off, but is in constant communication with the conscious mind and can no longer be easily programmed without our conscious consent.
We can use our own suggestibility for both physical and emotional healing. Mind and body are linked, and our emotional state contributes to disease, whether it is purely physical or psychosomatic. Suggestion can aid learning, increase concentration, and further creativity. It can also open up new forms of awareness and awaken the psychic senses.
Trance stimulates vision and imagination and opens up new sources of creativity. When the barriers between the unconscious and the conscious are crossed, ideas, images, plans, and solutions to problems arise freely. As the right-hemisphere, holistic vision is awakened, it becomes a rich source of insight, of new and original approaches to situations.
The psychic abilities also increase under trance. We are all psychic, unconsciously. Younger Self is aware of energy flows, communicates without words, senses the currents of the future, and knows how to channel power.
In trance, we can become aware of that awareness and can perceive and shape the currents that move our lives.
Finally, in trance we find revelation. We invoke and become G.o.ddess and G.o.d, linked to all that is. We experience union, ecstasy, openness. The limits of our perception, the fixation on a single note of the song, dissolve: We not only hear the music, but we dance the whirling, exhilarating, spiral dance of existence.
Trance can be dangerous, however, for the same reason it can be valuable- because it opens the gates to the unconscious mind. To pa.s.s through the gates, we must confront what has been called by occultists the Guardian, or the Shadow on the Threshold: the embodiment of all the impulses and qualities we have thrust into the unconscious because the conscious mind finds them unacceptable. All that we are and feel we should not be-s.e.xual, angry, hostile, vulnerable, m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.tic, self-hating, guilty, and even, perhaps, powerful or creative-squats in the doorway between Younger Self and Talking Self, refusing to let us pa.s.s TRANCE 173.
until we have looked it in the face and acknowledged our own essential humanness. No fear is stronger than our fear of our own Shadow, and nothing is more destructive than the defenses we adopt in order to avoid the confrontation.
The real dangers of magic stem not from the Guardian or Shadow itself, nor from external ent.i.ties or forces.
They stem from our own defense strategies, which can be intensified and rigidified by trance and magic as they can by drugs or fanaticism. Magic can also help us dissolve those strategies, confront the Guardian-a process that is never as frightening in actuality as it is in antic.i.p.ation-and win clear. But unless people are willing to face fear, and confront their own negative qualities, they will be defeated by what Yaqui sorceror Don Juan calls "the first of his natural enemies: Fear! A terrible enemy- treacherous, and difficult to overcome. It remains concealed at every turn of the way, prowling, waiting."5 There are many ways of running from the Shadow. Some people simply deny it and never approach a confrontation. Others attempt to destroy the Shadow by destroying themselves with drugs or alcohol.
A defense strategy favored by many "spiritual" people is an elaborate form of denial, an a.s.sertion that the individual has "gone beyond" the shadow qualities of s.e.xuality, anger, pa.s.sion, desire, and self-interest. Many religions cater exclusively to this strategy. Priests, ministers, gurus, and "enlightened masters" who adopt a posture of transcendent superiority have great appeal to people with similar defense systems, who are able to escape their personal confrontations by identifying as members of an elite, "enlightened" group. Thus are cults born and perpetuated.
But this strategy of avoidance is accompanied by tremendous anxiety. However much we a.s.sert our transcendence and detachment, the Shadow remains. We may attempt to be more than human-even achieve great success, near miracles-but we remain fallible, vulnerable. That vulnerability becomes terrifying and fascinating.
It may lead us to spurious acts of self-sacrifice and masochism, or self-embraced martyrdom, as a desperate attempt to ourselves control that shadow fear.
Victor Anderson, Faery Priest, tells the story that when he was a young man beginning to study the Craft, he met two shining, beautiful guides on the astral, who told him that he must make a choice. If he wanted great magical power, he must give up the hope of a lasting love in his life. His reply was, "Powers of evil, begone! Get you to the Outer Darkness! I will have both power and love."
"How did you know that they were evil?" I asked him.
"No truly helpful being will demand that you give up something that is natural and beautiful," he said.
"Evil spirits" are not necessarily outside ent.i.ties: They may be elements of the unconscious mind. Groups that reinforce feelings of superiority, separation from the mainstream of human life, and removal from ordinary frailties and fallibilities reinforce their members" defenses and stunt their personal growth.
The flip side of the strategy of superiority is that of sickness and weakness. Instead of denying or pretending to transcend the shadow qualities, this type of person admits them, but interprets them as physical or mental illness.
The seduction of sickness is that it absolves the individual from responsibility and allows her or him to luxuriate in pa.s.sivity. Too often, self-definition of illness is fostered by therapists and "helping professionals," who after all have a vested interest in seeing others as sick.
Sickness as a defense is characterized by guilt. Such people often feel responsible for things that are, in reality, not under their control. Their shadow is their own, feared power, which they perceive in inflated, omnipotent terms. This defense often masks, and can undermine, great creativity and intelligence. If the practice of magic is misused to reinforce feelings of omnipotence, it can be devastating to these people.
Projection is another favorite strategy. When the negative qualities of the Guardian are sensed, it is easy to simply propel them outward and a.s.sign them to some other person or group. The special appeal of this strategy is that projection creates conflict, which is dramatic, exciting, and distracting. At its most extreme, however, it degenerates into paranoia. Such people never feel completely safe or accepted. Because their own anger and hostility are projected outward, they sense hostility everywhere around them.
Of course, all of us use many strategies, but most of us favor a particular mode. No one can be forced into a confrontation with the Shadow, nor can the process by hurried. It must happen in its own good time. As an example, the trance confrontation that opens this chapter is the record of an actual session between myself and one of my coveners. It was, however, the culmination of several months of work and training. In earlier sessions, Valerie managed to call up the Shadow, but could not get its name. She was not yet ready to confront and absorb it. Had we tried to force the confrontation, it might have been extremely destructive or simply useless. But when the timing was right, she found herself capable of taking in the qualities that before had seemed so threatening.
The process marked a deep integration in her personality, and a flowering of her personal and creative power, to such an extent that I was moved to "pa.s.s the wand" of the coven to her, and she is now Priestess of Compost.
One of the functions of a coven is to support and guide each other through the confrontation(s) with the Guardian. This is not always done so directly as in the preceding example; in fact, untrained coveners should not work with each other in this fashion, because it can be as harmful as amateur psychoa.n.a.lysis, Coveners help each other best simply by not being seduced into each other"s defense strategies. "Transcenders" should never be idolized or placed on a pedestal (even if they happen to be Priestesses). What they most need is to be loved for their weaknesses, their mistakes, and their humanness as well as their strengths.
Projectors sometimes have to literally fight out their confrontation with another person. The process can shatter a coven unless it is perceived correctly. Other members of the group should avoid taking sides or focusing on the outward cause of the quarrel. It is equally important to resist the temptation to toss one or both of them out of the group, except as a last resort. In a true Shadow fight, emotions will run far deeper than events seem to warrant. It is characterized by statements such as "I can"t stand the way she makes me feel" or "She brings out the worst in me." The group should not accept the projections of the embroiled parties. If they are committed to the group and to their own growth, they will eventually come to confront the shadow of their own anger. They need to be loved throughout the battle.
It is a great temptation to love, smother, and coddle those people who define themselves as sick. It is also a temptation to lose patience with them, to urge them to "buck up," quit whining, and start off each day with a smile. Neither approach is helpful. Such people need to have their power recognized for what it is, and need to have its limits also recognized. They need support to struggle and function, not to retreat into illness or crippling guilt. They need to be loved for their power.
In learning to trance, we are indeed learning to "change consciousness at will," which implies control. Mind-altering drugs are not used in magic (at least, not by the wise), because they destroy that control. No drug can force a confrontation with the Guardian; it can at best strip away a defense that may be all that stands between the self and stark terror. More often, it simply reinforces existing defenses at a deeper and more destructive level.
Superiority becomes a savior-complex; sickness may become psychosis; projection may become true paranoia.
In traditional societies, where drugs are used to bring on mystical visions and religious ecstasy, the experience is controlled and firmly structured along mythological lines. Shamans and priestesses have a deep understanding of the many states the mind may reach, and they know how to guide people through those states. But we do not live in a traditional society. We live in a society based on commodities, in which even enlightenment can purportedly be encapsulated and bought and sold. But what is bought and ingested is not really enlightenment, not really magic. The work, training, and discipline of magic can lead to a sensual trance similar to that produced by marijuana, and the goal of ritual is the ecstatic vision and high sense of wonder like that found on the highest LSD trips. But magic also opens up infinitely more subtle, sublime states, and teaches us not only how to go forth through the gate but also how to return. Consciousness is not, as Timothy Leary proclaims, a chemical phenomenon. Chemistry is a phenomenon of consciousness.
The best protection, when learning to trance-or learning anything else- is a sense of humor. Nothing you can laugh at, whether it is a demon, spirit, UFO, angel, guide, guru, teacher, vision, discorporate ent.i.ty, or aspect of yourself, can possess you. No one can be whole who is incapable of laughing at him- or herself.
Expanded awareness begins with dreams. "This we call the Door Without a Key, which is also the Door of Dreams; Freud found it, and he used it for the coming forth by day; but we who are initiates use it for going forth by night."6 Volumes have been written about the "coming forth by day": the bringing into waking consciousness of dream material from the unconscious. Here, I will restrict myself to pointing out aspects of interpretation that pertain especially to magic.
Dreams, while our most direct line into the subjective processes of Younger Self, may also contain objective elements. Some dreams reflect in symbolic language a direct cognition of astral currents. They may give insights into other people"s motives, plans, or emotions, or given information about external events. Dream figures are not always an aspect of the individual: sometimes they are the person or thing they seem to be, although generally there is something in the individual that resonates with the external force.
Once we begin consciously working with magical symbols and mythology, our dreams reflect those images and should be interpreted in that light. To a Witch, for example, a snake is far more than a Freudian phallic symbol: It is a symbol of the G.o.ddess, of renewal and regeneration.
Keeping a dream log, remembering dreams, sharing them in the coven, and reentering them in trance or guided fantasy all are ways of opening the door without a key. Learning to take active charge of our dreams, to suggest subjects, to change dreams as they happen, to confront attackers and defeat enemies, are ways of "going forth by night."
There are many methods of trance induction, but all seem to function on one or more of four related principles: relaxation, sensory restriction, rhythm, and boredom. Physical tension blocks the trance state. Most inductions begin with deliberate relaxation, as in Exercise 9. When trance follows exertion, as after raising the Cone of Power, relaxation may occur naturally.
Sensory restriction has been explored in research described by Robert Ornstein in The Psychology of Consciousness. When subjects stared at a fixed image, after a time it seemed to disappear. At the same time, alpha waves showed on their electroencephalograms. The alpha rhythm has been shown to be characteristic of meditation and deep relaxation. Ornstein concludes that "one consequence of the way our central nervous system is structured seems to be that, if awareness is restricted to one unchanging source of stimulation, a "turning off of consciousness of the external world follows. The common instructions for concentrative meditation all underscore this."
Not enough is known about the neurophysiology of awareness. But the ancient techniques of trance and scrying (crystal gazing) always involved restricting sensory awareness, often to one unchanging source of stimulation: a candle flame, a crystal ball, a black mirror, a dark bowl of water, or a bright sword.
Rhythm, whether experienced in motion, song, drumming, chanting, or poetic meter, also induces a state of heightened awareness.* Afro-American religions depend heavily on rhythmic drumming and dancing to induce a trance state in which worshippers become "mounted" or possessed by the orishas, the G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses. The metrical rhythm of poetry, according to Robert Graves, induces a trance of heightened sensitivity. In Craft tradition, it was believed that certain rhythms could induce particular emotional states. Drummers originally accompanied armies because their rhythms could make men fighting mad. (This secret, as far as I can tell, has been lost to the military and Witch covens alike, only to be rediscovered by the producers of disco music.) Spoken trance inductions are always soft, singsong, and rhythmic.
Boredom can also bring on trance-as generations of daydreaming school-children have discovered. When we are not stimulated, sensorily, emotionally, or mentally, awareness turns elsewhere. Repet.i.tion is important in inducing trance-it creates a state of security and familiarity. The mind "tunes out" the repeated stimulus and "tunes in" on another channel.
The trance state is most easily learned in a group, with help from others. Later, it is easy to lead yourself through the same exercises alone. I will present the following exercises as if a leader were speaking to a group. A circle should be cast before beginning, and cautions should be repeated after everyone is relaxed: EXERCISE 53: CAUTIONS "You are about to enter into a very deep, very comfortable state of mind, where you will be perfectly safe and perfectly protected.
"You will be aware of any danger in the outer world and will awaken immediately, perfectly alert, and able to react and function.
"You will remain lucid and conscious at all times, able to concentrate fully. "You will remember everything you experience.
"At any time you should need to or want to, you can awaken fully and completely. "When you awake, you will feel refreshed, renewed, and filled with energy."
Inductions vary widely. Use any set of imagery that works for you: diving into water, descending in an elevator, going down Alice"s rabbit hole, walking down a spiral staircase, or whatever you invent. Here is my favorite voice induction: EXERCISE 54: THE RAINBOW: TRANCE INDUCTION.
(Begin with the Exercise 9, Relaxation. Everyone should be lying down, comfortably relaxed.) "Breathe deep-you are floating down . . . down ... on a beautiful red cloud, and your whole body is red-as you go drifting and floating . . . rocking gently . . . deeper . . . and deeper . . . down ..."
"(Repeat, once each, with an orange yellow green blue and violet cloud.)"
"Land very gently . . . very softly ... in the center of a round, white pearl. See it glowing, softly, gently..."
"Now turn and face the East...
and then the South...
and then the West...
and now the North."
"Open all of your inner senses".
The first trance exercise is to create an internal Place of Power, a safe s.p.a.ce that serves as "home base" for all trance journeys. After the induction, continue: EXERCISE 55: PLACE OF POWER.
"In a moment, you will enter into a new s.p.a.ce, a place in which you are completely safe and protected, where you are in complete control and in touch with your deepest sources of strength. It may seem to be indoors or outdoors-if may contain anything or anyone you like. It is completely yours. Wherever you may be, whatever state of consciousness you may be in, you can return to your Place of Power, simply by visualizing it.
"Now turn and face in the direction that feels most comfortable to you. On the pearl"s wall, draw an invoking pentode. If you like, you may use a symbol of your own, that will be your own secret key into your Place of Power. See the symbol glow with a deep blue flame. Take a deep breath - inhale-exhale. See the wall open, and walk through into your Place of Power.
"You are in your Place of Power. Turn and face the East. Notice what you see and hear and feel and sense.
(Pause.) "Turn and face the South. Notice what you see and hear and feel and sense. (Pause.) o "Turn and face the West.
Notice what you see and hear and feel and sense. (Pause.) "Turn and face the North. Notice what you see and hear and feel and sense. (Pause.) "Now take time to explore your Place of Power. (Allow at least five minutes.) "You are about ready to leave your Place of Power. Finish whatever you need to complete.
"Now turn and face the East, and say goodbye. (Pause.) "Turn and face the South, and say goodbye. (Pause.) "Turn and face the West, and say goodbye. (Pause.) "Turn and face the North, and say goodbye. (Pause.) "Now look for your symbo . See it glow. See it open. Take a deep breath-inhale-exhale-and walk through back into the pearl."
"Now turn and face the East then the South . . . then the West . . . then the North. Take a deep breath . . . inhale . .
. exhale . . ."
"You are floating up ... up ... on a beautifu violet cloud, and your whole body is violet as you drift gently upward . . .
"On a beautiful blue cloud ... up ... up ... and your whole body is blue and you are beginning to awaken gently and you drift gently up ...
"On a beautiful green cloud . . . and your whole body is green ... as you drift gently ... up ... up ...
"On a beautiful yellow cloud . . . getting more and more awake . . . your whole body is yellow ... as you drift gently ... up ... up ...
"On a beautiful orange cloud . . . filled with energy and vitality . . . your body is orange ... as you float up gently .
"On a beautiful red cloud . . . almost fully awake now . . . and your whole body is red as you float gently . . .
remembering fully . . .
"And in a moment you will count to three and awaken fully and come to feeling refreshed, renewed, and filled with energy . . . take a deep breath . . . inhale . . . and exhale . . . one . . . two . . . three . . .
"Open your eyes, and awake."
Occasionally subjects do not come out of trance. This is nothing to be alarmed about-it simply means they have drifted from trance into sleep. Awaken them gently by touching them or by calling their name.
Scrying involves concentrating on an object: a crystal ball, a bowl of ink or a dark bowl filled with water, or a mirror with a black-painted surface in order to see psychically.
Coming out of trance is equally as important as going in. Take time to emerge slowly and gently, reversing every process of the induction. Facing the directions is important because it forces you to orient yourself in inner s.p.a.ce- to be in the scenes, not just watch them like movies. It also reinforces the protective circle, and the repet.i.tion, with each trance, reinforces the depth of the state.
EXERCISE 56: THE RAINBOW: EMERGING.
"In the pearl, prepare to awaken. When you awake, you will feel refreshed, alert, renewed, and filled with energy. You will remember all that you have experienced.
EXERCISE 57: SCRYING.
Cast a circle. Ground and center. Sit in a comfortable position, and gaze at your crystal or focusing object. Some people prefer to have the room completely dark; others light a candle. Lighting should never be bright.
Relax, and wait peacefully. Do not force anything to come. Many people feel fear and insecurity-"It won"t work for me" - "I"m not doing it right." Acknowledge the fears, relax into them, and let them dissolve.
After a time-and it may require regular practice over several sessions-the surface of the crystal may "cloud over"
with raith energy. For some people, the couds clear, and images appear in the crystal. Others find themselves closing their eyes, and seeing the images with the inner eye. Both methods are valid-choose the one that comes most easily.
To end, let the clouds return, then disperse. See the crystal as the solid object it is. Cover it, and open the circ e.
EXERCISE 58: SUGGESTION.
Because suggestion works through Younger Self, it is most effective with language of symbols and imagery.
Suggestion can be incorporated into trance. Instead of verbal a.s.sertions, create a mental scene showing the results that you want. If you want to overcome shyness, see yourself at a large party behaving with poise and charm. If you want to be richer, see yourself earning money. If you want to be healed, see yourself healthy and active.
Cast a circle, go into trance, and go into your Place of Power. Orient yourself to the four directions.
Create your suggestion in your Place of Power. Make it as vivid, as real, as sensual, as you can. Take as much time as you need to do so.
Leave your suggestion in your Place of Power. It will take root and grow, and become your reality.
Bid farewell to the four directions, and come out of trance.
EXERCISE 59: MEMORY.