by Starhawk
Jaybird’s sister told her to go ahead and take a rest, assuring Jaybird that she would watch the special items. But when Jaybird woke up, everything was gone. “We sold them,” said her sister.
This dream was very disturbing, and Jaybird brought it to a Reclaiming class to work on. The other women in the circle helped her lie down comfortably, with pillows and blankets, and then asked her to relax.
Trance: The Rainbow Induction
Breathe deeply, and imagine that you’re floating in a red sea, buoyed up by the water, which is the perfect temperature. Breathe in red, flood yourself with red, a red woman floating in a red sea, sinking gently, finding you can breathe easily, creature of water.
Breathe deeply and sink into the orange sea that lies beneath the red sea, breathing orange, smelling and tasting orange, an orange woman in an orange sea, sinking, breathing, into…
A yellow sea, breathing yellow, tasting yellow, held by yellow, filled with yellow sensation, a yellow woman floating, sinking, breathing easily into…
A green sea, deeper now, drifting, smelling green, breathing in green, flooding inside and outside, a green woman drifting deeper into…
A blue sea, breathing deeply, resting, held by the blue waters, a blue woman, smelling and tasting blue, full of blue sensation, sinking, breathing, deep into…
An indigo sea, the darkest blue of the sky between the midwinter stars, deep, dark, breathing indigo, smelling, tasting, flooding indigo, the color darkness would be if darkness could shine, an indigo woman, lit up by the dark light of the Otherworld, sinking, breathing, deeper into…
An ultraviolet sea, lit by the inner light no mortal eye can see, drifting, deep, breathing deep, a violet woman breathing violet, smelling, tasting violet, touching bottom now, standing in the center of her place of power, a woman of power, prepared to travel her own Otherworld.
We suggested to Jaybird that she could find her way back into the landscape of her dream—in this case, the house she had grown up in. There we suggested that she could find a wise old woman who would help her. Jaybird’s breathing became very, very slow, and her body stilled completely, as she entered a very deep but alert state. She was closely tended by another woman, who would occasionally ask her a question to make sure she was doing OK.
“Where are you?”
“I’m in the living room. The lights are off.”
“Is anyone there?”
“Yes, it’s the Baba Yaga [a wise but fierce old crone of Russian fairy stories].”
(Long pause) “What’s happening now?”
“She’s given me a powder I can throw on people to see if they’re trustworthy.”
Soon the energy in the room began to change. The women were talking in lighter tones, and there was a little giggling. It was time to come back from the long journey over water.
Trance: Returning the Way You Came
Take a moment to finish anything you may be doing, and prepare to say good-bye. Remember to thank any beings you have met here. Remember, this is your personal place of power; you can return here at will if you wish, if you have more to do. Find your way back to the center of your place of power, where your journey began.
Say good-bye … breathing deeply violet, resting now in violet, flooding yourself inside and outside with violet, rising slowly through a violet sea, smelling and tasting violet, a violet woman rising, breathing into…
An indigo sea, rising, breathing, flooding yourself with indigo, a body of indigo sensation, comfortable, smelling, tasting indigo, an indigo woman rising into…
A blue sea, knowing that you will be able to remember what happened in your Otherworld, breathing blue, smelling blue, tasting, flooding, rising into…
A green sea, the perfect temperature, breathing green, smelling green, flooding inside and outside green, a body of green sensation, rising slowly into…
A yellow sea, breathing yellow, smelling and tasting yellow, rising, breathing, yellow inside and outside, a yellow woman rising into…
An orange sea, orange within and without, floating gently, breathing, smelling and tasting orange, a body of orange sensation, rising gently, feeling rested and alert, into…
A red sea, a red woman floating, drifting in a red sea, breathing normally now, beginning to stretch her red body, smelling and tasting red, coming back now, feeling the floor, opening her eyes, sitting up and stretching … all the way back now.
It’s very important to stretch thoroughly and make sure that you and your friends are completely “back” after an experience like this one. We often stretch, and tap or pat ourselves lightly all over, say our names out loud, and say each other’s names. We turn the lights up a little brighter, giving everyone time to adjust thoroughly. It’s important to share some food and drink and a little relaxed social time before opening the circle and sending each other off into the “real” world. Just as airplane travelers need time to adjust to jet lag, travelers to the Otherworld need time to adjust to “normal” time and space. It’s respectful to ourselves, and to the Otherworld, not to take shortcuts either with the trance induction or with the resurfacing process.
Trance: Changing All the Worlds
Jaybird’s story doesn’t stop with her Otherworld experience. During the months that followed, her relationships with her mother and sister, but also with her close women friends, changed. She was better able to challenge others and protect herself when necessary, and she made changes in several relationships where she had felt subtly victimized.
Here is another important rule of magic: change in the Otherworld of trance can create change in the “real” world.
How many times have I thought, “I just can’t seem to stand up to my mother when she’s angry,” or “I know that my husband loves me, but every morning when he reads the paper and doesn’t want to talk, I feel ignored and unloved.” These are the times when more thinking and more analyzing of the situation may not work. It is Younger Self who is having the problem, and solving it with Talking Self sometimes just won’t help. This is the kind of situation where trance and dream work can directly address long-standing difficulties, often with good results. It’s time for a “long journey over water.”
Trance: Visiting the World of Younger Self
Every person holds inside themselves a bottomless, salty sea of old memories, vivid sensory impression, unprocessed emotion from yesterday’s run-in with a rude driver or a run-in thirty years ago with a kindergarten teacher. This is the territory of Younger Self, and when the contents of this sea swim up to the surface from time to time, they appear in the language of Younger Self, as vivid, primitive images and impulses, as they did for Jaybird in her dream. Swimming in this sea are unresolved conflicts that are too painful to deal with, and facts about ourselves that we don’t wish to admit, even to ourselves. This is the shadow land, where our fears and envies, our vivid, primitive feelings, walk. Here we can eat our mother for lunch, and knock our father’s block off. Here, too, the monsters from under our childhood bed can eat us up. In the Otherworld, we are all truly wild things.
Since Freud, it has been popular to refer to this part of the self as “the unconscious.” While Younger Self is certainly not conscious in the same way as Talking Self, in some ways Younger Self is much craftier, wiser, and more adapted for survival. When I hear a loud, unexpected noise, I hunch my shoulders and throw up my hands to protect my head before Talking Self realizes what has happened. My miracle body takes care of itself; my miracle soul follows its true purpose, like a coyote on a scent. Younger Self is even willing to take on and defeat Talking Self if necessary. Younger Self has its own will, makes its own plans, has its own intelligence.
Witches rarely refer to Younger Self as “unconscious.” It is Younger Self who holds the animal health and energy of our being, who can chop wood or weave for hours, who can run marathons. It is Younger Self who holds our intuition and psychic abilities. Since it is Younger Self, and not Talking Self, who has the ability to bring th
e power of Deep Self to bear, it is wise to be respectful in all dealings between the selves.
Experienced Witches also know that beneath and beyond the personal shadow land of Younger Self lie the doorways to the shadow lands of our ancestors, our species, and our planet. By braving and traveling through our own personal shadows, we can find the shadows of our people, and work magic that goes beyond the personal issues of our private lives. Why do we humans cut down trees, anyway? Why are men and women engaged in gender wars in so many kitchens and bedrooms? Why do we keep making art, even in concentration camps? Why do we try to turn wild animals, and humans from other tribes, into our domestic slaves? Why do the wonderful gods and tales of so many peoples echo the same themes? Why do we find ourselves turning away from our friends when they are sick or dying? Why do we react so protectively to children? What is so right, and so wrong, with us, anyway? What do we have to face to make change here—at the ugly, gorgeous depths of our common soul?
Trance: Why We Need Border Patrol
Of course, it would be impossible to make lunches, drop off the kids, run to the grocery store, get to work, pick up the dry cleaning, make dinner, and catch a video if all these glories and monsters were swimming about in our heads all day long. The internal economy of our souls includes healthy boundaries that (usually) prevent our childhood conflict with our kindergarten teacher from causing us to snarl at the very nice lady who looks like her at the grocery checkout counter. Maintaining and policing these boundaries is an effort that ties up some of the energy of our spirits.
And from time to time we may experience border wars, in which urgent and nonnegotiable information from our own depths comes spilling over, disrupting our ordinary lives. If I can no longer stand living with my partner of twenty years, if I absolutely must quit a high-paying job or die of stress, my internal economy may be thrown off. If an endless round of consumerism is leaving my life meaningless, and I must a find a purpose for my life or jump off the bridge, Younger Self may create a crisis.
Younger Self may begin sending guerrilla bands and spies over my boundaries in the form of disturbing dreams, accidents, reveries that keep recurring. I may find myself constantly humming a pop song about leaving my lover or learning how to fly. I may experience some disorientation, moodiness, inability to sleep, while my soul energy is bound up with the ever more difficult task of preventing entry of the unbearable insight.
People often call these times breakdowns, but they are equally breakthroughs. Younger Self may finally break through and insist on a hearing. And if Talking Self is able, perhaps a new balance can be reached. A solution may be found that admits the information Younger Self has been holding, which brings much-needed change and which liberates the soul energy that was formerly used up by the conflict.
Trance: Crossing the Border at the Checkpoint
But there is an easier way to improve communication between our inner worlds, between our selves, without waiting for a crisis. When we have cast our circle, called on the powers of the elements and the divine power of the Goddess and God to aid and protect us in our search, then we can cross those boundaries intentionally when we want to and make adjustments and bring healing between the worlds, returning finally to our everyday mind, with gleaming treasures from the deep in our nets.
This is the old definition of magic again, the art of changing consciousness at will. With years of practice, the wills and intelligences of Younger Self and Talking Self can become aligned, so that the power of Deep Self can be brought to bear on the central meaning and purpose of our lives. This alignment allows us to become women and men of deep compassion, energy, humor, and purpose, fully capable of accomplishing the tasks of our life stories, fully able to fulfill our fates.
If you are ready, you can try taking a look around in your own Otherworld. You may want to do this with a trusted friend, and the two of you can take turns trancing. Or you may want to do this with a small group of friends. In either case, the love and trust between you is the willow basket that carries you over the ocean to the Otherworld.
A Beginner’s Trance: To a Place of Personal Power
Use the rainbow induction given earlier, if you like. When you are standing in the center of your own place of power, take a moment to honor the directions. Look to the east, and open all your senses to the east. What do you smell and hear on the east wind? What emotions come up for you? Do the same for the other directions. Honor each in turn, casting a circle about yourself in the Otherworld.
Now take a moment to investigate your own surroundings. What’s under your feet? What’s above your head? What (if anything) are you wearing? Do you have anything with you, any tools or power objects? How are you carrying them? Check out your landscape. What grows here? What’s the weather? The time of day and year? The time of moon? Are there any birds or animals about?
Notice that paths lead out from this place, going in many directions. Each leads to a different adventure, a different opportunity. This is your place of power, and you can return to it at will. You can explore every one of those paths, if you want to.
Thank your place of power, and leave a gift or offering there. You may find that you receive one in return. Return, using the reverse rainbow induction given earlier.
Trance to the Well of Healing
Use the beginner’s trance just described. When you are in the center of your place of power and you have greeted all the directions, notice the path leading to the west. This path leads to the Well of Healing. Begin to walk this path, opening all your senses to the experience. Up ahead, you notice that there is an obstacle blocking your path. Use all your senses and your magical tools to investigate the obstacle, and learn as much as you can about it. Seek allies in the surrounding lands, weather, plants, animals. Pray for assistance, and notice what happens. Next, use your tools and allies to find your way over, around, or through the obstacle. Or get rid of it completely.
Now the path begins to slope downward. You reach the Well of Healing. Take a moment to use all your senses to explore the well and its surroundings. Notice the time of sun and moon, the landscape, the plants and animals. The well may have a caretaker you can meet. If you find the caretaker, greet them, ask their name and offer yours, and ask permission to touch the water. There is a gift for you in the surface of the water. There is a gift for you in the middle of the water. There is a gift for you in the depths. You also have an offering to leave at the well. Make your thank-yous and good-byes, and return the way you came. Notice if there are any changes on your path as you return from the well. When you reach the center of your place of power, thank the directions, bid them farewell, and reverse the induction.
Trance into a Mysterious Dream
A common psychic practice we use when learning these skills is the trance back into a disturbing or mysterious dream. This can be done in stages: first, just find your way back to the dream landscape, and look around from a safe distance; second, reenter the dream landscape and gather allies, seeking guidance and assistance from the weather, plants and animals, magical tools, a wise old guide, or directly from deity; finally, once these stages are complete, it is possible to reenter the dream and take action there on your own behalf.
Trance Tending
Here are some basic techniques for helping a friend trance. First, create sacred space together. Next, agree on what the basic intent of the work will be. The beginner’s trances given earlier in this chapter, or any other trances in this book, can also be used.
After creating sacred space and agreeing on an intent, settle your friend in a comfortable position and make sure she is warm, since when people trance deeply their body temperature often drops. Double-check your candle safety, since you will both be absorbed for a while.
Now make sure your friend’s body is relaxed and that her arms and legs are uncrossed. A useful relaxation trick is to name the body parts one by one and ask your friend to tighten them up as much as possible, and then release the tension on a breath
. Once she is fully relaxed, use a trance induction, such as the rainbow induction described earlier. We also use a staircase, spiraling downward with different-colored steps, or imagine finding a cave in a hillside and entering. We can walk through seven gardens, each planted with a rainbow color. Or we can simply count out breaths together, stating clearly that on each breath the trancer is going deeper. Singing “Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream…” or some other watery, dreamy, underworld chant can also be used to induce trance, if the chant is allowed to slow and then drift away into silence.
When the tracer has “landed” in the center of her own place of power, she can find her path and begin the work you have agreed on. The most important job of the trance tender is to stay grounded. When in doubt, take a deep breath and reground yourself. Only then can you be helpful to your friend. Be aware of her nonverbal cues. Remind her to breathe and relax, if necessary. Remember, she is not alone in her trance world. You can remind her to call on the powers of the elements, plants and animals, her magical tools, the Goddess and the old Gods. But you cannot direct or interpret her trance. You can’t do someone else’s inner work, no matter how much you might want to help. So, for example, please don’t say, “You look down and find a sword,” but rather “You look around… Is there anything you can find that can help you?”
You may notice her gathering tension in some part of her body. Ask her permission, and then, only if it’s OK with her, touch her where it might be helpful. You can ask her to direct her breath or a sound toward a part of her body where tension is gathering. Allow her time to do her work, but stay alert for a shift of energy when she becomes tired or loses focus. It’s not necessary to do everything in one session. Remind her that she can return here anytime she wishes, that this is her place of power.