Trance: A Working Guide
Photo credit: Mark Autumns via Unsplash.
By Murphy Robinson | Last Update: October 2019
“Trance” or “Spirit Journeying” is the practice of sending our consciousness into the Otherworld to communicate with the spirits: animal/plant/fungi allies, deities, ancestors, fey, and other beings that either don’t usually walk in our world in corporeal form or don’t communicate with us in easy-to-comprehend ways when they do. Communication, healing, energetic extractions, and agreements made in the Otherworld create real shifts in the mundane realm. This guide will give a few pointers for doing trance work safely and skillfully. Journey well!
Preparation
Location: When you send your consciousness inward to the Otherworld, you do not want to be disturbed. Practice in an area where you will be comfortable, physically safe, and undistracted. Practice away from pets, kids, and cell phones. Have enough blankets or layers to keep your body warm, and a comfortable place to sit or lie down.
Post-Trance Support: Gather everything you’ll need when you come out of trance. This could include a journal and pen for recording the experience, grounding snacks, drinking water, and other grounding or cleansing aids. Have a way to contact someone you know who is skilled in trance, so you have someone to talk to if you have a disturbing experience. For a big working, you might choose to have a tender sit with you during the journey.
Cast a Circle: Create sacred and protected space by casting a circle to keep unhelpful energies away from your physical body while you journey.
Intention Setting: Get clear on the purpose of your trance. Are you seeking certain information? Trying to achieve healing in a certain area? Seeking a certain being? If you like, build a simple altar to represent your intentions. Many people like to light a candle before they begin a trance journey.
Grounding and Anchoring: Complete a grounding visualization, such as sending your roots down firmly into the soil. You can also send branches up into the sky, and set energetic anchors in each of the four directions of your body (front, right side, behind, left side). This anchors your body safely in place while your spirit wanders.
Induction: Walk yourself through a sequence designed to relax your entire body. This could include tensing and relaxing all your muscle groups in turn, or visualizing cleansing energy in each of the energy centers of your body. Some people use special breathing patterns or the chanting of certain words to cue their spirits that it is time for trance. Once you are relaxed, visualize your spirit traveling to the place you start your journeys from (also known as your basecamp). It is helpful to travel there the same way every time. Traditional routes to the Otherworld include climbing a tree, climbing down into a hole in the ground, or diving under water.
Your Basecamp
One way to help yourself stay oriented in the Otherworld is to start each journey from the same location: a safe space called the basecamp (this term was popularized by Diana Paxson). Visualize a safe and comforting place in nature. This could be a place you’ve visited in person or a place that appears only in your mind’s eye. You can “furnish” this base camp with whatever you need: garb closets, tool sheds, an altar, a resting place, etc. It is a great idea to do a few trance journeys just to explore and outfit your base camp before you venture further. Pause here on each journey to gather the gear you think you’ll need.
Paths and Doorways
From your basecamp, you will notice different pathways or doorways leading to various parts of the Otherworld. You may want to explore the paths that start at each of the four cardinal directions to get a sense for where they lead. You will probably find that more paths and doorways appear as needed, ready to take you to your Otherworld destinations. Just as on any journey through unfamiliar territory, be very observant of the path so that you can find your way back to your basecamp by the same route. Glance to the side and behind you sometimes, and make note of terrain, textures, scenery, scents, landmarks, junctions, and any other features of note along the path.
When you speak the intention of your journey in your basecamp, you may feel drawn to the particular path or doorway that will serve you best for that journey. If you aren’t sure where to go, ask for a guide or ally to help you navigate.
It is usually best practice to journey back on the same path by which you came. Doing otherwise can risk leaving parts of yourself behind and making an incomplete return. If it is unsafe to return on the same path, ask for help from a trusted guide.
Guides and Allies
It is respectful, useful, and enjoyable to establish relationships with several spirits who are willing to help you navigate the terrain, hazards, and relationships that you find on your journey. When you call out for a guide, wait for one to appear and notice the form it takes. Guides commonly appear as animals or ancestors, but they can take many forms. It is helpful to do some trance journeys with no other purpose than building relationship with your guide: spend time with them, get to know them, offer them small gifts. If you find yourself in a bind in the Otherworld, it can be essential to have strong relationships with friendly spirits who can help you out. (Note: the terms “spirit animal” and “totem” are considered culturally appropriative, so we call these beings trance guides, animal allies, well ancestors, or friendly spirits).
Guidelines for Encounters
Many of the best practices for navigating encounters in the Otherworld are enshrined in our fairy tales and myths. Others are common courtesy. Here is a sampling:
Do not eat food offered to you in the Otherworld.
Do not fall asleep in the Otherworld.
Treat everyone you meet with respect, no matter how humble they appear. Many powerful beings tend to appear in disguise.
Never make agreements you can’t keep. Always strive to fulfill the commitments you make, otherwise you risk spirit-generated havoc appearing in your life.
If a deity or other spirit is getting pushy or demanding with you, negotiate for yourself. For example, if a deity wants you to purchase an expensive object for an altar you will create for them, you can respectfully ask that they first provide the money for such an acquisition. If they ask you to do a task you don’t wish to do, suggest something else you can do for them instead. If you later find you can’t fulfill an agreement, return and re-negotiate the commitment.
If you come with a petition for aid, be prepared to promise some sort of labor or offering in return.
Being dismembered and/or devoured by a creature in the Otherworld is a surprisingly common experience. Conventional wisdom says that this can be a healthy initiation and a form of spiritual rebirth, but you do not have to consent to such a process voluntarily if you have a bad feeling about it. However, as in the mundane world, not all creatures respect consent.
Relationships established in the Otherworld can be incredibly enriching, empowering, and ecstatic. Enjoy them, but balance them with your mundane world responsibilities. Fact-check information you receive in the Otherworld if possible. You alone are responsible for your actions: “The spirits told me to do it!” is not an acceptable excuse for inappropriate behavior in the mundane world.
Excuse yourself with courtesy when it is time to leave an encounter. Journey back to your base camp by the same path on which you came.
Coming Out of Trance
Once you are back at your basecamp, collect your thoughts and make a mental note of key aspects of your journey that you want to remember. Next, visualize your spirit traveling back to your physical body by the same route that it left (climbing down the tree, crawling out of the hole, swimming back to the surface, etc). Once your spirit has re-entered your body, wiggle your fingers and toes, stretch, and pat the edges of your body. Say your name aloud three times to reaffirm your identity, and then release the roots and anchors you set to keep your body in place. Take a drink of water, munch on a grounding snack, and record notes about your journey in your journal. Lastly, blow out your candle and uncast the circle.
If you feel ungrounded, giddy, or spacey, eat some salty or chocolatey food, drink some milk, and ask a tree if it will help you ground through its roots. If you feel unsettled, ward your space well and talk to a friend who understands magic. If you feel distraught, seek help from an experienced trance practitioner. In a psychological emergency, get professional help. A trauma experienced in the Otherworld is still a real trauma, which requires real healing. Get the support you need.
Advanced Work
Once you become skilled in basic trance, you may want to try collaborative group trance, oracular trance, aspecting or possession work, or other advanced activities. Please seek out skilled teachers and co-learners so you can have support on these explorations.
A note on terminology: The terms Shaman, Shamanism, and Shamanic Healing derive from the academic anthropological texts on spirit journeying. These terms are culturally appropriative unless you are referring to culturally-specific indigenous practices based in Siberia. The terms Trance Journey, Spirit Journey, and Spirit Worker are culturally neutral, and are much more appropriate for discussing this type of work across cultures.
Further Resources
Paxson, Diana. Trance-Portation: Learning to Navigate the Inner World (2008)
I highly recommend this study guide for individuals and groups wanting to hone their skills at trance journeying. Paxson writes for the modern pagan practitioner, and avoids cultural appropriation entirely. I’ve trained with Diana in person and I’ve worked through the study plan with witchy groups three times over, and found the book very useful every time. Much of what I recommend above comes from this book.
Harner, Michael. The Way of the Shaman (1990)
Harner (a white man) learned trance work from indigenous people in Latin America, and went on to study spirit journey traditions across the world and create “Core Shamanism,” which is meant to be a culturally non-specific system that synthesizes the common practices across cultures. His book popularized spirit-journey work in the West, and he was Diana Paxson’s first spirit journeying teacher. His work is a little dated and culturally controversial, but is still informative when read with a critical eye.
The Way of the Weaver
Way of the Weaver offers a Zoom module on trance journey called Traversing the Realms. We also teach trance journey skills as part of our Spider Threads program.
