For the past couple of years I’ve had the problem that when I sit down to read, often as not I will fall asleep. Oddly enough, if I’m reading in bed, I can stay awake fine when I’m reading, but sitting in an armchair with my feet up and normally a cat on my lap and one by my head, I will fall asleep usually within a couple pages (maybe it’s the effect of cat wave resonance). And it has happened multiple times in one day. It’s aggravating, because it’s never a relaxing sleep.
The other day I decided that instead of seeing this as a problem, I would take advantage of it to work on trance. I should say I’ve never been successful at meditating or going into a trance state. My mind is always busy busy buy like it’s a train station with hundreds of people milling around, bells clanging, engines roaring, bits of conversations overheard like rags blowing by, loud and distorted announcements, etc. Since the late sixties, when I first became interested in magic and spirituality, I have periodically tried every trick in the book for emptying my mind or thinking about something like a number or using a chant of some kind or listening to a repeated sound, and none of it has ever worked for me. My mind just wanders. Yes, I know people say you just pull it back, but my mind is like one of those toddlers on a harness. It is all pulling back and no emptiness. I just cannot meditate. As for trance, the most I’d accomplished was about forty years ago, when I’d been involved in a drumming group and had “journeyed,” but I had never been satisfied that what I was experiencing during those journeys was anything but my imagination at work.
I want to say I am using the term “trancework” because I don’t know what else to call it. I’m not interested in being possessed by any gods or spirits, as is involved in some kinds of trance. I am interested in learning through images–visions–what the spirit world wants to tell me, i.e., divination, but I would distinguish what I’m trying to do from dreamwork, because that, to me, means being fully asleep. What I’m talking about is in that state between sleeping and waking. I found that at least one group, Cultus Sabbati, has identified what I’m talking about as “True Dreaming“: “the Crossroads of waking, sleeping and mundane dreaming,” which they say is the true location of the Sabbat. I have no association with that organization, but I have always liked their emphasis on the importance of dream. Still, I will call what I’m doing trancework.
So I decided to give daytime trancework a try, given that I fell so readily to sleep. This might sound counter-productive, but some of my most powerful visions have come to me when I lay down on the bed in daytime to have a nap. They came in that period between being awake and being asleep, a kind of not sleeping dream. They were extraordinarily vivid and yet normally I was fully aware of my surroundings and could move in them. This dreaming awake happens to me often when I am just going to sleep, and likewise, I can wake up and still be dreaming. The blurry distinction between dreaming and being awake has for me sometimes resulted in night terrors, where I wake up and open my eyes and even sit up in bed and see something that has no right being there, usually something entirely innocuous which nevertheless terrifies me because I know it cannot in fact be there. Those are rare, but I have also had a number of enormously powerful dreams of astral travel through my house. The problems with the visions I have had during the day (or night) is that they have come when they have felt like it. I have not had any power over their frequency at all. I have been mulling over how I might have more control over these dreams or their arrival, and I thought this use of daytime sleepiness might just work.
The first time I tried this, I sat down in my chair in the early afternoon and just closed my eyes. I had no question in mind. I just wanted to see what I would see. I imagined myself climbing out of my body through the top of my head. I flew around naked in various unfamiliar landscapes. I thought this was my imagination, but what was different was the strong sense impressions I got, like of feeling cold mist on my skin or smelling water or dead leaves or warm dust. In full-bore dreams, I never have the sense of smell and only rarely feel things on my skin. So that was a bit different.
Then I knew I was dreaming, although I was still awake and fully aware of my surroundings (and even felt like I could see them simultaneously from a point above and behind my head). I stood before a man and a woman next to a boulder. The man appeared to be wearing Renaissance clothing. The woman was not clear at all, almost ghost-like. The landscape looked like the kind you see in the background of Italian Renaissance paintings, only rougher. There were ruins all around and groups of trees in brownish fields and rolling hills. The man was speaking to me and gesturing to the boulder, in which was a very vulval cleft. 
It was pitch black in there. The rock had cracks and ridges around the opening that reminded me of the letter Heh in Hebrew, the space inside the letter being the blackness of the interior of the boulder, wherever it led. I decided to go into the cleft, even though I wasn’t sure about the man’s motivation for gesturing me forward. It might be a trap. But I decided to risk it. And I fell asleep, like falling into a black pit. I woke up in about ten minutes, remembering nothing of whatever dreams I’d had while asleep.
I felt like this was a very positive first attempt. The Heh in Hebrew is the signifier of the Mother and Daughter in the Tetragrammaton, one of the primary names of God in Hebrew: Yod Heh Vav Heh. I thought this rock image was definitely Mother rather than Daughter, given the vulval shape and the intimations of womb. So I felt like I’d had a great bit of beginner’s luck.
The next time I thought I’d gussy it up a bit by lighting incense and maybe using a candle to light the room. It was darkish that day. The candle wouldn’t stay lit, so I jettisoned that idea. Oddly enough, I could not smell the incense. I also decided to start off with a glass of warm water into which I had dissolved a tablespoon of the clary sage tincture I made a couple years ago and which had been so incredibly effective the single time I’d used it prior to sleeping (my Book of Daniel dream). I’ve been almost afraid to use it since then–partly afraid of what I might see and partly afraid of it not working at all. But I thought what the heck, I will try it with this daytime trancework. It had a totally unexpected flowery scent and taste. Obviously it had changed significantly over time. It was wonderfully pleasant. I said to whatever, “Tell me what you will. Tell me what I need to know.”
Weirdly enough, the small amount of alcohol felt stimulating rather than sedating, and my face got hot. I lightly dozed and heard someone saying “thirteen hands,” which I saw as red. I fell asleep and was having a dream when I was ripped awake by my cat Gracie meowing because she wanted something to eat, lol! I immediately forgot the dream and couldn’t get back into it. Lesson for the day: Always feed cats before trancework. 
I think the clary sage tincture and the incense and the candle are not necessary and might even be obstacles, so I will save the tincture for using before sleeping at night, as I had planned when I made it. I also will not ask any questions, as this was my usual approach to tarot for many years–I’d just open myself up before setting out the cards and make myself ready to see whatever the cards wanted to show me. It’s only been in the past few years that I have asked questions befrorehand. So I will try the same with this tranceork. I will keep it up and write about further developments as they occur. I’d appreciate hearing about anyone else’s experiences or advice along these lines. If you are able to nap in daytime, I’d advise giving this method a try. Just remember to feed the cats first.
It’s not about feeding them..:-/….I have done this many many times before and cats somehow seem to know when you ‘wander’. They don’t like it. Once I locked them in the office room and they opened the door by repeatedly jumping on the handle. Another time, I waited till they all fell asleep and (gross, I know..but) locked myself in the bathroom. They were clawing the door after I don’t know how long..I thought it was just my cats, but a couple of others in my shamanic circle reported that their cats act strange too…always cats..never other pets…I think dogs can actually ‘travel’ with you and cats can’t..but they detect when you are not ‘fully’ there.. that’s just my ‘pet’ theory, as it were…I built a meditation/writing shed in the back garden and tried to use it…but wow..birds can be really LOUD when they get chirpy!
My cat Gracie has made a habit of sleeping next to my pillow and then I will see her in dream. She won’t actually be an active participant in the dream, but she will just pass by and look at me. She was the one who was meowing at me. She also jumped on me on another occasion. So maybe you have got something. But I have tried this now a number of other times and so far have mostly just fallen asleep.
My method: Flat on my back(savasana in yoga) and move up from toes to head..willing myself to play dead. I don’t know how to explain it, but I shut down each chakra and let my breathing be easy..instead of the ujjayi breath i implement during yoga or meditation. I found out that if I reiki clothes I have worn before and ask the cats to use that as a hang out, they seem to not bother me. There is no way I can test this, but this generally works..for me.
I’ll give this a try. I have been sitting on my armchair, which I can fall asleep in, although it isn’t all that comfortable for sleeping. The other thing is I just read in “Shamanism and Modern Kabbalah” I think it’s called about how Kabbalists have used an image of themselves descending in order to initiate trance, so I am going to try that as well. That would fit with the first image, too, of the cleft in the rock.
Thanks so much for sharing. Trance and meditation don’t often come easy to me either. I’m getting better at relaxing but it takes a lot to quiet my mind… Like you, my brain is so busy! I suppose it doesn’t help that I have a lot going on in my life right now… I’m intrigued with your method. Great post!
Thanks!
“My mind just wanders. Yes, I know people say you just pull it back, but my mind is like one of those toddlers on a harness. It is all pulling back and no emptiness. I just cannot meditate.”
Sorry to disappoint you, but you HAVE been meditating all along. In Tibetan “meditation” is translated as “cultivation.” Exactly, what it is that you decide to cultivate is up to you. Some cultivate Great Compassion (bodhicitta), while others cultivate a direct realization of the Four Noble Truths or emptiness, etc. These things are not the meditation, but are the result of cultivation (meditation). So when you strive to quiet your “monkey mind” by recognizing your stray thoughts and returning to the task at hand (over and over again)you are meditating just fine.
But…how come it doesn’t feel good?
I hate it. Or perhaps I should say that it frustrates me terribly.
I like that you’ve set out, through trial and error, to refine what works for you. I think that will be very successful for you!
Since you had good luck with drumming and trance in the past, you might try a metronome, and play with the frequency of beats until you find one that helps. Doing some research on entrainment may help identify a good starting point.
When you’re learning anything, the more senses you engage to reinforce your goal, the better. So you could try saying aloud “I will enter a trance now, for the purpose of ___.” You could also layer on a personal mudra (hand position) or tapping over your third eye to signal to your deep mind you’re ready to enter trance. Although you may not carry an awareness of the scents of incense or a specific oil into trance with you, they may still be good signals to add to the mix. It takes some time to fix the associations in your mind, but once they are fixed, they can help make the process quick and effective. As you become more practiced at what works for you, you won’t need the signals, but will have them in your toolkit, to draw upon when you need a little help.
You could also try holding focus on a single visual cue, rather than on emptiness. You can hold the same willing receptiveness while you do it. Something simple like a dot on the wall may steady your mind, and having your eyes open at first may help keep you from drifting off into sleep.
Lastly, you wrote “I … see something that has no right being there, usually something entirely innocuous which nevertheless terrifies me because I know it cannot in fact be there.” An important component of any occult work is schooling your mind to new possibilities. Trying to ‘logic’ out what’s happening while it’s happening interferes with the process. Phil Hine’s exercise What’s in the Box? (found at http://www.philhine.org.uk/writings/rit_sensoryex.html) may help with that.
Good luck!
Thanks! When I have a night terror, the things I see are completely innocuous, and I don’t think they have any meaning. One time when I had one of these, I woke from a nap to see a large stuffed toy giraffe lying next to me. It’s funny, yes? But it isn’t funny when you are fully awake and know full well the only way that giraffe could get there is if someone broke into your house and put it there. Another time I woke up to see that there were dead vines draped all over the curtain rods over the sliding doors to the patio. So when I say meaningless, I mean it. These are not as described in the lit about night terrors, where you “believe” you are awake and can’t move because you are “really” asleep. This is coming fully awake, sitting up, and seeing something that has no business being there. And screaming, at which point the thing disappears. I haven’t had one of these for years, thankfully.
I take that back. I had one a couple weeks ago, I believe because I was concerned about doing my taxes. I can’t remember what it was I saw, but it was not as stupid as a stuff giraffe. They are definitely brought on by stress. Having had such experiences, though, I did conclude that I should be able to go into trance without too many problems.
I will check out that article, thanks!
[...] 101: Trancework“– analysis of forms of meditation, brain patterns, triggering mechanisms, measurable [...]
I mostly travel in my sleep and I learned to distinguish the difference between travelling and dreaming by noting if I can smell, touch, taste as if awake, if I’m floating/flying, and if I have to travel back to wake up.
I call the in between the little death. You are no longer conscious, but you aren’t unconscious either… it’s like taking drugs or having an out of body experience – an altered state – an alternative state of being. Now to see things while conscious, that is truly something. I always think others can see too and so it is easy to think nothing of it and forget.
To see while not sleeping, but trancing I have a trigger – either drumming or a verbal confirmation of intent. Then I close my eyes, leave my body through my head and go to the crossroad. There I let everything go blank like your not asking a question of the tarot but waiting to see. I do this even if I have a question. Then I wait to see – sometimes there are colours, shapes, or sounds that come out of the black and then visions, but it takes time and I have to keep telling myself to let be and let what comes come so I know it is not my imagination. It takes a lot of practice to let go, but I’ve never had nothing come.
Eventually you’ll be able to acknowledge the cat meowing and poking you without opening your eyes and then ignore it and go back to where you left off in the trance.
Okay, both you and trothwy have mentioned using a verbal cue, so I will give that a try as well. These visions definitely have a very different quality from dream, not least of all because I am fully aware of myself in the room in the present while they are going on.
Trance, I think, isn’t all that challenging when you consider that we trance-out constantly throughout the day. A momentary lapse in thought, elevator hypnosis, daydreaming, all are various states of trance, and we do them constantly. Deep trance, gamma meditation, astral projection… whoah, challenging.
I’m of a firm belief that there is an accord that must be reached with the powers controlling the area in which you reside. They tend to block the entry into really deep states where consciousness gets hinky when compared to traditionally conscious states of location. Really… where do you go, and do they want you visiting?
I recall once going into an exceptionally deep state of trance many, many years ago. I wasn’t quite capable of seeing in such states yet. This was around 20 years ago and at the time, I was incapable of seeing clear visuals when “out.” Things were much like stumbling around in the dark with a very dim light. What I do remember from that particular session was contact with a group of elders. I don’t know why they were there, I don’t know why I was standing in front of them, but there they were. They wore purple robes and hoods hid their faces. They sat in a semi-circle and asked me to stand before them. I did. I was given a ceremonial dagger and a medallion of some kind, which I was told to wear. To this day, I have no idea why or what… or even who… but it was one of the things that lead me to the occult. I wasn’t even aware of such experiences happening at that time. I was in it for the trippy sensation of losing my body and simply relaxing.
When you first posted this, I thought about several responses that could help… and I considered the aspect of unsolicited advice too, but last evening, I thought about the troubles with trance specifically, and then applied some flying ointment I obtained from you a little over a year ago. Some entheogenic use was in play as well, but that’s a topic for another time.
Here’s what I have for you, take or leave, judge or not, I’m simply laying it out on the table. I’ll admit I’m posting this with a false confidence. I’ve never looked for answers this way for another witch, so forgive me if its way off base. I’ll learn from that too however, so either way, I’m diving off this cliff.
Somewhere near you is an Oak. It wants to know you. Please obtain from it an acorn and a leaf. Hold the acorn in your right hand, the leaf in your left. Consider yourself the pathway from right to left, the entire concept of acorn to leaf. The passage into the underworld to obtain your root. The emergence from mother’s womb to light, growing long, deep… tall, as the tree itself. Imagery would work probably with either the Tree of Life or the World Tree, but I’d go with what the actual Oak wants on this one. The time, the years, the knowledge. Your interrupting thoughts a product of this growth in yourself during this time frame as well. You become the cycle. Generation to regeneration. See where it takes you.
Anyway, that’s came home with me from my little outing.
I have quite a lot of materials on trancing out, so please let me know if you need a resource. Chances are the doorway is right under your nose, and those thoughts of yours may be an aid rather than hindering you, if you can find the puzzle piece.
By the way, and I apologize if I missed it, but how goes the path into learning Haitian Creole and where it leads?
Sean
Hi, Sean,
The Creole isn’t going at all. It is in the same place as my deepening understanding of Biblical Hebrew: stalled.
The thing about the oak is interesting. I have been looking around for them since you posted this. There is one down the street, but it has no acorns that I can see. I walk in the neighborhood a lot, though.
You never have to worry about giving witchly advice to me. I am open to listening to others’ experiences and learning from that.
Harold
In my thing, there is a Trance state that you may enter when you’re “working Conjure” where you focus on the specific imagery asociated with what you’re doing and can actualy see some of the “energy” that you’re working with ( I often see it as a bright golden-orange outline or halo surrounding things. Sometimes its blue.I’ve yet to see flames, but some people say they see them.). To go into the Trance, I sometimes use Music and put up candles. Sometimes, I use Essential Oils or things with a fragrance that is related to what I’m working with. Whatever brings me close to where I want to be in those workings.
And, I’ve also done things that involve a Spirit Trance where you have given Spirit touch you and come into you. You prepare the portal for the archetypal Spirit to come through and it comes into you. It may come fast or slow, but, when its there, you feel it and sometimes it hits you like a lightning bolt. Its never something where you have so much control, but, it probably wont be quite as violent as you’d imagine. Many people would likely say that its not their kind of thing, but, I will say that it brings with it a very powerful “Source” and the “energy” you receive from that “Source” is much stronger and more lasting than what you bring forth of your own sans a Spirit Trance.
I’ve not done much experimenting with travelling the astral planes. I know how I would start with that, but, I’ve focused more on other areas. I dont believe that psychoactive drugs are a wise way of entering a Trance state and they are going to confuse you more than orient you in that context.
If you’re seeking some Vision…then maybe those drugs could prove useful, it depends.