It was difficult to get into any deep trances this past week. We went away to a camp with some family members for a few days, which will always throw me off my routine. However, compared to going away to a hotel, it was easier to maintain my typical devotional practices. I set up a temporary altar and even did a little working on Lughnasadh. In addition, my daughter and I picked some raspberries and we offered them to the local spirits.
Like I said, I didn’t engage with any deep trances, but I did do some meditation. I woke up and left my husband and daughter to rest. After my morning toilette and devotional, I went outside to the dock where I sat towards the water, relaxed, and breathed. In my opinion, the best way to engage with the Two Powers or the Three Realms is to sit on the shore of a lake, river, or ocean. It’s all right there for you to soak up and contemplate!
One day, I noticed a beautiful spiderweb on the dock and just stared at it for awhile. I was struck by how delicate it was, how dainty, and yet it withstood heat, rain, and wind in order to assist the spider’s killing. Life and death… all part of the cycle. I realized it was Lughnasadh, and contemplated the nature of harvest.
After meditating, I did some yoga. I would love to live on a lake or river one day. I would go out as often as possible to do yoga on the shore! How invigorating. I kept it simple. I started in child’s pose on the dock, looking through the wooden planks at the shimmering water below. Behold the waters of life! I then stretched my arms and fingers upwards in a sun salutation. Hail to the sky! I moved into a tree pose, fixating on a pine directly across the lake. I stand like the World Tree rooted deep, crowned high! The whole process was a moving meditation, and I felt deeply at peace and connected with the world around me.
While I’m on the topic of trance, I’ve had to put Harner’s book on Shamanism down for a bit. While I liked the beginning, both for the author’s experiences with Shamanism and indigenous people, and for the “Journey to the Underworld” exercise, I’m starting to find the book worrisome. The following exercise, about meeting your spirit animal, seemed… well… for lack of a better phrase, it felt like “playing Native.” I’m all for respectfully learning from other cultures, finding parallels, etc… but it just felt too much like ripping off Indigenous people. Besides, I’ve done a variety of “meet your spirit guide” exercises before, and have been working with spirit guides for awhile in the context of modern Paganism… Not that I don’t have more to learn (I totally d0), but I just was not feeling that exercise at all. Amazingly, I started to see a lot of criticism of Harner and his Core Shamanism popping up among my ADF and Reconstructionist friends. I’m sure there’s some more to learn from the book, and I’ve already grown in trance from the first exercise, but I’m not as enthusiastic about that title anymore… I’ll pick it up again at some point. Ah well. It’s part of the process.
Author M. A. Phillips 