The following is an account of my continued work with trance as part of ADF’s Trance 1 course, advanced studies towards Initiate status. I’ve decided to share my personal experiences on my blog as a way of personal accountability. If some of my reflections happen to help others on similar journeys, I hope they share!
I’ve continued my trance practices over the last couple weeks and included some magical workings in the process. I’m going to briefly describe each trance session in a bulleted list for this entry.
- Charging Incense – It was daylight but during the waxing moon. There was some noise outside; children were playing in the street. Using the drum recording, I travelled to my inner grove and met with my spirit ally. I discussed my intent – to charge the ingredients for the incense I was about to make. My spirit guide and I did the dance he taught me when we charged the new moon water. It is exhilarating to and so natural seeming to add the dance to my trance. When I think of the very powerful experiences I’ve had in the past, dancing around bonfires during drum circles, it makes sense to add it to some of my workings. The fact that my spirit guide taught it to me… Well, it’s very intimate now. It’s my own personal wisdom. When I felt that the ingredients were sufficiently charged, I let the residual energy flow into the ingredients, took a few breaths, thanked my guide, and returned to my altar to finish the work in the physical realm.
- Failed Practice at Family Altar – I wanted to do some trance work, but my husband came to bed as he had work the next day. I went downstairs to the family altar but the cats were around and I felt off.
- Inner Exploration – Once back in my room, during the night, I did more trance practice. I utilized the drum recording but decided to explore my inner grove and chat with my spirit guide. I had trouble focusing, possibly due to the heat.
- Self-Healing – This is a real outlier for me. While a lack of ritual usually doesn’t amount to much, and while I usually struggle to focus when uncomfortable, I did a spontaneous inner working to help myself deal with some pain. It involved some shielding to ward off negative energy, sort of like a spiritual disinfectant. Then my spirit guide sliced into the area with the pain and pulled it out – all using his antlers. The pain looked like a glowing purple orb. He threw it towards my altar and saw it burn in the candle flame. My body healed, but not before an otter popped out and swam around me. I’ve been feeling more otter energy as of late… I felt the pain subside, but to continue healing, I did something I haven’t done in a long time – I administered some reiki to myself. It was an interesting if uncharacteristic situation for me.
Author M. A. Phillips 