Trance

“Our normal waking consciousness is but one special type of consciousness, whilst all about it by the flimsiest screens, there lie potential forms of consciousness entirely different…”

Being in a state of trance means being on the threshold, it is a place between sleeping and waking, conscious, but not quite as we are when we are fully awake. To better understand this mysterious state of mind we can look at the roots of the word, from the Middle English traunce, which in turn was from the Old French transe, meaning “passage, fear, vision,” and the Latin transire, meaning “to go over or across.”[1]

A trance can also be a physical passageway, a hallway or an alley way. As the word “Entrance” means an opening or a passage way for moving into a room, to en-trance, to enter a trance state of mind can help us move across a threshold into other ways of knowing, allowing us to be a conduit or channel for our deep inner wisdom and the divine. This ability to cross the threshold of ordinary reality through trance was commonly used by the shaman to travel as an intermediary between the worlds, asking for healing, favorable weather or hunting conditions for the community and helping the people stay in balance with the spirit world.

Trance is often the result of intensely focusing of one’s attention to attain an ecstatic state. Drumming, chanting, toning, prayer, ritual, meditation, breathwork, physical exertion, sex, music, dancing, fasting, and sweating (as in a sweat lodge), consuming psychotropic drugs, among others, are all ways of moving into a trance state. Story telling can also move us into trance. Myths, fairy tales and folklore often employ literary devices like repetition, or openings like “Once Upon a Time” to begin moving the listener into trance.

The following will look at working in trance states through toning and for divination purposes.

[1] trance. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/trance (accessed: December 25, 2006).