Magickal Trance: How do YOU enter it, and how do you know youre there?

[FireBorn]

We talk a lot about tools, systems, and book knowledge in the occult in general, robes, candles, runes, grimoires. Thats fine, but lets set that aside.

The heart of actual practice is trance. If you cant enter magical trance, youre just dressing the part. But its almost never talked about directly.

So lets talk about it.

How do you personally enter magical trance?
How do you know you’re in it?
What does it feel like for you in the moment?​

I’m not asking for theory. Not book summaries. Im asking for lived experience. Step by step, for you.

This is the mystery that keeps most practitioners from touching the current at all. Let\s strip away the gear talk and get real: how do you do it?

I will add my experience with it later, I want to hear from you guys. This has potential to help newer practitioners get over the hump and have fuller experiences.

 

[Yazata]

Mostly with my eyes, when my sight gets "locked" on something (because I want to or because they simply do) it's like my entire brain is. Literally feels like it's in a canal or alley.

 

[FireBorn]

Couple things before I blast off into this:

1. I am neurodivergent (ADHD) In magick this is 100% a superpower. Non-linear thinking is absolute rocket fuel for magickal trance (not much else in life though lol).
2. I also have Aphantasia. I cannot visualize like most people (no LBRP for me). I know what a blue Corvette looks like for example, I have seen one before. I know what my front yard looks like, but I cannot visualize a blue corvette in my front yard.

I mention those two aspects because they are critical in my context here. It would be dishonest to me to just dive in from my perspective and leave you all scratching your heads, me walking away thinking I'm amazing. This is absolutely not the case. Spiritual integrity is everything to me here.

I am only aiming to be helpful here as magickal trance is the actual point. Without it, we are just sitting in our rooms looking ridiculous in robes pretending (although I would look rather dashing in a robe thank you very much! lmao)

What the hell is magickal trance anyway? To me, magickal trance is a liminal state, not awake, not asleep. In between. Disassociation is a feature here. The trance state is where the spirits (angels, demons, deities, etc.) can commune with us. We can hear them, see them, travel to where they are and experience lessons.

How I get into magickal trance: Mediation was critical for me. Since I cannot visualize like everyone else, I struggled badly for years. I thought you had to 'see' shit when you meditate, this is simply not the case. I feel. I feel my energy in my heart chakra, then move it up to my throat, then 3rd eye, then crown. I focus on heart again, then down to solar, then sacral, then root. Then heart again, up to 3rd eye, then blast off.

Everyone's chakra system is different. I know what you're thinking, no, its not set in stone. I dont care what books say or what forums say. I am proof. My fire, my forge is my heart chakra. So here is my exact thought process that I use:

Heart - Forge, my fire.
Throat - So I can speak truth and speak to spirits
3rd Eye - So I can see spirits
Crown - So I can commune with spirit
Heart - Focus as it is the main hub of my fire.
Solar Plexus - My will/action
Sacral - My passion/desire
Root - Grounding so I dont fracture. Stay grounded enough to remain sovereign regardless of experience.
Beck to heart
Up to 3rd Eye.

Feel free to do it however works for YOU. Doesn't matter what others do, do what works for YOU.

I know I am in magickal trance because I feel a drop into it, sometimes a slip. Other times its like I see through my eyelids. Shapes, or a screen and I scroll into it. (remember, I cant visualize. So if I see shapes, I know its not from me).

The trick for me is to recognize I'm in, and not reach for control. Its oh so tempting to get excited, reach for control, etc. I resist it at all costs. I let the spirits come as they choose to come (No pre-framed lens). I call Lilith for example, go into trance and sit quietly and wait for her to speak first. Then I can commune with her or just listen. Asteroth likes to give downloads, no talking, just receiving. I wait until it 'feels' like its over, then come out. When I use the word 'feel' I mean intuit.

'Intuit' refers to 3rd eye. Yes, that needs to be open and balanced and you have to be able to put energy into it. (This is so hard to convey in writing!) I did a Substack audio recording on this topic, wasn't sure if it was cool to put a link to it here or not, so I defaulted to not without asking first. Its not a for sale thing, just a space I used to ramble this out for someone I was helping at the time.

Can a Neurotypical (normal person) do this in the way I do it? Yes, but not as easily. There are aspects everyone can use here though. Meditation is still key. Energy movement into at least your 3rd eye is critical. Willingness to absolutely let go is also critical. If you are afraid to let go fully, stick to drawing sigils or something. This takes courage and willingness, and yeah its a big deal.

Dont give up! This is the core of magick and it sucks it isn't talked about more. Without trance, all the books and correspondences are just head-knowledge. The real current doesn’t care about aesthetic, only whether you can enter trance and hold it. Hell, even I can do it and I'm not special at all.

This isn't about me, this is about the new seeker who is struggling, about to give up because no one stepped up to talk about the hard shit.
How do YOU get into trance?

 

[IllusiveOwl]

I guess my own "neuro-divergence" (Chronic Stress Induced Brain Damage) can be counted as a "superpower" when it comes to Trance as well, fate had given me a natural talent for de-person-alizing, and in a sense that's a good way to explain my experience with Trance, the act of unzipping the person and stepping out as a divine spark. I agree wholeheartedly that this ability is a core component of magic, though there is a lot that can be accomplished without it. I would label Trance as being more of "a must" with Shamanism than outright magic, there are some magicians that can get some good work done without ever doing a lick of introspection.

I fiddled around a lot with different methods of attaining Trance, I experimented with dance, sensory-deprivation, extreme exhaustion/pain/drug use, chanting and singing, hemisync, but hands down the most dependable method of achieving it is meditation, I don't even need any bells & whistles now, just a cleared space & mind. It helps that I've been practicing meditation for several years before I entered into magical practice.

Now my process consists of setting up the ritual space, cleansing it, then sitting on my mediation pillow with my eyes closed. I cleanse my mind to 'sober it up' from the casual automatic state of mind that we usually live day-to-day in. Once I'm focused, it's just a matter of ceasing to react to sensations and thoughts as a willful act of disconnection to become a "choiceless awareness" that is primordial, unchanging, and transcendent of the body. It's as this primordial awareness that my Will is done. It's difficult to describe this state, but you know you are in it, it's a lucid and very tangible state with a body and being of it's own.

 

[tranmut3]

I'd recommend you check out Aidan Wachter's 6 ways. there are a couple of very simple methods there that are quite effective.

 

[FireBorn]

I'd recommend you check out Aidan Wachter's 6 ways. there are a couple of very simple methods there that are quite effective.

Real talk, I keep seeing this guy's name (Aidan Wachter) all over the place. Normally I’m not big on using someone else’s lens in occult work. I’m pretty feral in my approach. But... your reply pinged something.

Instead of getting annoyed, I stopped and asked myself why it bothered me to see another person's framework suggested here. I looked in the mirror, got honest, and said: screw it. I downloaded the book (shoutout to WF for having it available) and dove in.

I hit that book my usual way, scanned through the first 7–8 chapters, sniffing for meat and resonance. Then I backed up and started actually reading. And… yeah, you got me. It’s solid. Not totally my style (I’m not as into the performative side as Aidan is), but I can’t ignore this: I was already doing most of what he’s doing, at least structurally.

I didn’t even know what animism really was until today. Still wrestling with it, still questioning, still seeing if there’s more I can use, but it’s been worth it.

So yeah. Thank you! (Let’s not get carried away and expect this kind of graciousness from me all the time though. lol)

 

[tranmut3]

Real talk, I keep seeing this guy's name (Aidan Wachter) all over the place. Normally I’m not big on using someone else’s lens in occult work. I’m pretty feral in my approach. But... your reply pinged something.

Instead of getting annoyed, I stopped and asked myself why it bothered me to see another person's framework suggested here. I looked in the mirror, got honest, and said: screw it. I downloaded the book (shoutout to WF for having it available) and dove in.

I hit that book my usual way, scanned through the first 7–8 chapters, sniffing for meat and resonance. Then I backed up and started actually reading. And… yeah, you got me. It’s solid. Not totally my style (I’m not as into the performative side as Aidan is), but I can’t ignore this: I was already doing most of what he’s doing, at least structurally.

I didn’t even know what animism really was until today. Still wrestling with it, still questioning, still seeing if there’s more I can use, but it’s been worth it.

So yeah. Thank you! (Let’s not get carried away and expect this kind of graciousness from me all the time though. lol)

I got AW's 1st book, thinking it was probably pop nonsense.. then i got the 2nd book, and now i've ordered Changeling.
His material is simple but quite effective.

 

[pigtools]

If you cant enter magical trance, youre just dressing the part.

is this true? must you enter a trance state for ur magik to be effective? I thought the power lied in the belief you put into the spell and the faith you have that it will work.

 

[FireBorn]

is this true? must you enter a trance state for ur magik to be effective? I thought the power lied in the belief you put into the spell and the faith you have that it will work.

I should have been more clear with my words. I was speaking more about ritual for spirit contact. I think that makes it clearer and provides a better context in general, or at least the context I was leaning on when I made that point.

Great catch!!

 

[pigtools]

I should have been more clear with my words. I was speaking more about ritual for spirit contact. I think that makes it clearer and provides a better context in general, or at least the context I was leaning on when I made that point.

Great catch!!

thanks for the clarification, I'm new to magik and I'm likewise looking for info on the practice of "spirit contact" as you say. I'm basically at square 0 lol so I appreciate the info on the "hands-on" parts

Post automatically merged: Aug 24, 2025

I have a friend who would put his TV to static and blindfold himself, sensory deprivation could be a promising aid, I may try this method but I'm a little scared if I'm honest lol

 

[Lurker]

I don't really try to put myself in a trance, just in a meditative state. When I do find myself in a trance state, I take it as a sign that something has shown up and is communicating. That could have meant the egregore back when I was practicing in the Ogdoadic current, or a spirit or spirits now that I practice a more individual, grimoiric approach.

I know when I'm in it when my eyes close and everything is suddenly deeper and darker and begins more still than the meditative state. There is either silence or communication in one form or another, depending on context. But like a never-ending cosmic joke I'm playing on myself, at first it feels like I'm falling asleep. I tell myself 'No, don't fall asleep during a ritual!' But then I realize I'm not asleep, I'm in that deep, dark altered state we call 'trance' and contact is happening. But I always seem to fall for the joke.

Also, I can observe the trance state without breaking it. On the other hand, observing a quiet meditative state usually breaks it, at least for me.

If you have spirits who act as day-to-day guides, then you don't need trance. You will just hear them in your head.

If you work in a tradition that begins by banishing with a pentagram ritual of some kind, then a meditative state should be sufficient. Pentagram rituals light you up on the Astral plane for spirit contact, and that was my experience with Ogdoadic magic. I only fell into trance when dealing with the egregore, and the individual spirit contacts I had where much easier to hear and see (UPG-wise) than since I struck out on my own.

@FireBorn Where you been, man?

 

[MorganBlack]

Sweet topic.

William W. Hewitt's self-hypnosis routine was super useful early in my evocation career.

I used a script from one of Hewitt's books. I modified it for spirit evocation based some suggestions gleaned from Black and Hyatt's 'Pact with the Devil'. It was shockingly effective.

FYI: This was after a few years with the standard 1980's to 1990' esoteric curriculum of Chaos magic, Kraig's 'Modern Magick', and studying modern lodge magic.

Baseline confession: I'm also a neurotypical (a category neuroscientists agree does not exist ) but also a professional concept artist and art director. Imagination is my jam.

In my opinion, when working in an animistic context, self-hypnosis is less about activating your Jedi mind powers than quieting your overly chatty left hemisphere, and getting more into your right hemisphere. Once contact is made you can dispense with the much of the rituals, tools and trance work.

Continental psychologists were always ahead of us Yanks, and said our primary experience of the world is right-hemispheric in nature.

Some German psychologists I read called this 'The Umvelt'.

If you want to feel thiswitch in your brain, listen to music without thinking about it. Listening to music is right-hemispheric. Unless one the listener is a music composer, who will start ruminating

For highly suggestive reading and viewing I highly recommend British psychiatrist and neuroscientist Iain McGilchrist's work (See: 'The Master and His Emissary', and 'The Matter with Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions, and the Unmaking of the World')

His YouTube channel

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We need more study but self -hynosis mayb help by using bettter words to get past the limiting effects of words.

It is too early to say, but with the recent generational rise of widespread right-hemisphere brain damage in the form of autism and other conditions , this type of skill may be more required than ever to help those with hyper-categorizing brains get past the hypnotizing effects of mateerialist-encoded langauge.

 

[Fr. Maximagus]

Im pretty sure I’ve been going into trance randomly since i was a kid! lol I would always just zone out staring at something and just kind of “blink out” of conscious awareness is the only way i can describe it. Sometimes I think it’s been a few seconds and i realize it’s been 20 minutes. Other times its flipped. Time gets really wonky but I have always come out of these trances with some kind of “download”. Never any spirit contact or communication tho that Im aware. Tho a few times I remember as a kid seeing shadow men at my dads house but its possible those were only dreams.

I’m still really new to magick and conjuring but so far my first attempt went very well. I couldn’t see the spirit but I felt a powerful & peaceful presence and what I asked the spirit for happened within days! So it seems I successfully made contact, now I would like to hone my etheric perception so I can actually see or speak to them.

Any suggestions to developing these skills & abilities I am all ears!

 

[Lucien6493]

Every wizard from Merlin to Mickey Mouse seems to be pre-occupied with either breaking enchantments or with falling into them and I think there might be a reason for that. Consider the trance of consensus reality as maintained by the waking dream cast over us by the senses. So you could as well ask the question backwards. I liken trance to the art of surfing. In other words, I want to find the sweet spot, so I don't reach for the crest of the wave and never start at the bottom because if you are at the crest when the wave breaks you will keep going until your head plows through the wall of someone's living room half a mile in from shore, and you won't be taking your robes with you, never mind your bathing suit. At the bottom...you will know that for sure because it will leave you feeling wired, ungrounded, scattered, a bit nauseous maybe, but that part of you through whose eyes you are looking and who is deeply invested in the conviction that magick is for fools will have you larping like a world-class poser. He or she is desperate to break free of their bondage to 3-D in proportion to how rooted they are in it. On the other hand, that agency that binds the senses can loose them. Let it stand watch over your intent. In other words, by the time you have set the stage; made all of the preparations, drawn the sigils, gathered your tools, or whatever, you are already there. No need to churn the ocean to make waves.

That said, spirit contact, at least for me, is by far the easiest way into the deeper reaches of my inner world, or into yours, if that is what I'm aiming for. I mean, where else would anyone go? The worlds contiguous with the one which we call home are all accessed through a body which has no inherent problem going into trance in the first place. Which brings me to the last point, which is that trance states can be extremely subtle, variable, and highly sensitive to initial conditions, so as you go in and out of different trances you are teaching yourself to taste, touch, see, smell and feel their qualities, their nuances, their gradations and richness, and the ways in which they weave through the various trance of your self-in-the-world. And for all that no two trances are ever the same, and neither are you. Personally, I love working with tutelary/goetic spirits because they are so incredibly magnetic. Making contact feels like falling into a gravity well while moving forward at great speed and all I do is draw the sigil or download it to my desktop, call the spirits name, or chant its enn, and gaze into its energetic geometry. They (the daemons) can take you into ecstasy, bliss, gnosis, or effortlessly send you into the flow of a multi-sensory trip through the twilight zone in surround sound and technicolor. So can yoga, pathworking, the middle-pillar exercise, the angel Metatron, dancing, breath-work, plant allies and so on...unless you want a quick fix, in which case you had a momentary loss of control if it works at all, or, you blew it going in (and out) of a state faster than you can pick up on having gone anywhere at all because, like surfing, like sex. Technique belongs to this world. Focus on that and it will keep you there. Live the theorems non-conceptually instead. Through the heart then. Cheers.

 

[Fr. Maximagus]

Every wizard from Merlin to Mickey Mouse seems to be pre-occupied with either breaking enchantments or with falling into them and I think there might be a reason for that. Consider the trance of consensus reality as maintained by the waking dream cast over us by the senses. So you could as well ask the question backwards. I liken trance to the art of surfing. In other words, I want to find the sweet spot, so I don't reach for the crest of the wave and never start at the bottom because if you are at the crest when the wave breaks you will keep going until your head plows through the wall of someone's living room half a mile in from shore, and you won't be taking your robes with you, never mind your bathing suit. At the bottom...you will know that for sure because it will leave you feeling wired, ungrounded, scattered, a bit nauseous maybe, but that part of you through whose eyes you are looking and who is deeply invested in the conviction that magick is for fools will have you larping like a world-class poser. He or she is desperate to break free of their bondage to 3-D in proportion to how rooted they are in it. On the other hand, that agency that binds the senses can loose them. Let it stand watch over your intent. In other words, by the time you have set the stage; made all of the preparations, drawn the sigils, gathered your tools, or whatever, you are already there. No need to churn the ocean to make waves.

That said, spirit contact, at least for me, is by far the easiest way into the deeper reaches of my inner world, or into yours, if that is what I'm aiming for. I mean, where else would anyone go? The worlds contiguous with the one which we call home are all accessed through a body which has no inherent problem going into trance in the first place. Which brings me to the last point, which is that trance states can be extremely subtle, variable, and highly sensitive to initial conditions, so as you go in and out of different trances you are teaching yourself to taste, touch, see, smell and feel their qualities, their nuances, their gradations and richness, and the ways in which they weave through the various trance of your self-in-the-world. And for all that no two trances are ever the same, and neither are you. Personally, I love working with tutelary/goetic spirits because they are so incredibly magnetic. Making contact feels like falling into a gravity well while moving forward at great speed and all I do is draw the sigil or download it to my desktop, call the spirits name, or chant its enn, and gaze into its energetic geometry. They (the daemons) can take you into ecstasy, bliss, gnosis, or effortlessly send you into the flow of a multi-sensory trip through the twilight zone in surround sound and technicolor. So can yoga, pathworking, the middle-pillar exercise, the angel Metatron, dancing, breath-work, plant allies and so on...unless you want a quick fix, in which case you had a momentary loss of control if it works at all, or, you blew it going in (and out) of a state faster than you can pick up on having gone anywhere at all because, like surfing, like sex. Technique belongs to this world. Focus on that and it will keep you there. Live the theorems non-conceptually instead. Through the heart then. Cheers.

Man well said. I just started with goetic spirits and I know exactly what you mean. Nothing about them feels evil at all. Sitri’s presence is the most peaceful and tranquil thing I’ve ever felt lol

 

[StarOfSitra]

I think this guide I made might interest you — it fits really well with the question you asked in your post.

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[AlfrunGrima]

Ough, I am getting behind in following and answering your topics. .....The music, occult and Bach wil be for later this day... Now on trance.

How do you personally enter magical trance?
How do you know you’re in it?
What does it feel like for you in the moment?

I have different ways of entering a magical trance, and I can’t really say that I have a favorite one. I’m with Lucien that there are for me levels of trance with different sweet spots, different kinds of experiences, different nuances. First of all, people talk very ‘method-like’ when they are talking about trances. But trance is a state and not a method. I hope that I manage to bring over experience without falling in method-peptalk. I don not so believe in the methods but rather in describing feelings.

One of my earliest experiences in trance were the moments that are in the middle between being awake and falling asleep in the evening when going to sleep. Somehow I was able to make those moments longer, and the somehow is done by being aware of that it is there. It is tempting to value things immediately when being in the experience and to start thinking in words. However, that is the moment that the waking part of the brain becomes alert. So somehow one have to recognize that in between state, without being in eureka and without valuing. When tired, it it not easy to extend the in between state because of falling asleep but that just takes time and practice. If people practice it 4 or 5 days in week, things will sink in. Over time a person will become skilled in being in this state while using the mind to do some magical acts. Now, this is the way I reached trance from my early childhood days. You can stay in surface level and doing some enchantments and you can sink deeper in it and even reach the level of astral projection. For the latter I need in myself the feeling that I as a person and my body are not important anymore. That I create in myself the feeling of not being emotionally attached to my body. In my mind that is a partly dead-state. If my body dies and my life is over, it is OK by then. Once in that feeling I can flow away from my body and do what I want to do. And I start flying to where I want to be.

How do I be aware of being in a trance state? Sounds differ, colors that I see in my mind, I don’t think in words anymore but only on a sensation level. If I use words in a spell or enn, I see the words projected or being written before my eyes, or I hear it without using my bodily voice. My body feels different too: the energy that is flowing over my spine is very present, every pore in my body opens up, I am connected.

Another way of being in trance is feeling a warm tingling sensation travelling top down over the body and when I go up again with my attention, my body seems to dissolve in the surroundings. From that point I can choose for different levels of experience. I can dissolve completely in my surroundings or in a object, plant or stone (or whatever) and experience their energy and flowing. Or, I can choose to dissolve and see nothing anymore but darkness. After a few minutes of darkness there is a geometrical figure in 3D that gives light and that flows, that geometrical figure is me. I can build an intent by building another figure and then connect both. I can trance like this both when sitting or when lying down. When siiting I need a posture where my spine feels open enough to keep things flowing to the body. I learned this experience with the warm tingling sensation when I was in the hospital when my Crohns Disease got out of control in 2012. I was doing that for a little relaxation and because of the boredom but I quickly discovered more possibilities. Scared one of the nurses because my face had the look of not being alive anymore.

I have another experience also: I string together 10 to 15 deity names and chant that on repeat. There is always a moment where my voice starts to deepen, where my chest opens up and where my voice starts to gain power and command. The air around me becomes less dense, I really feel I can expand my being. I feel bigger than my actual body and can grow as big as I want. If I transfer my being to a sigil or intent my will, I have enough to make changes. After this, I need more grounding than after other experiences. I can have a somewhat the same experience if I string together all the names that my familiar has had over time, but we can grow to a state where we can start to travel together....... the words of the Merseburger enchantments are a way too, I experimented with this the last period. Plant names in Latin where you work more often with, are a good way too. You can do that with poison herbs that are traditionally used for flying @psichevoluzione The feeling of expanding myself is different every time. It can grow very slowy, but it can be explosive too and everything in between. Both are just different experiences, the magic is in both cases similar in how big the effect is.

For peeps who have a rocking chair: start to experience how rocking can take your mind into the twilight zone. Very accessible for both beginners and people with lots of experience. Singing can call trance states too, but you have to know your parts very well and still can watch and react to the conductor. I have reached trance states in all kinds of other ways too: sitting in a train and just silently naming what you see in when looking outside, nodding with my head, stirring a pot of soup, knitting while speaking out enchantments, while twiddling thumbs. If you know how all those different states feel, you can reach them at any time and everywhere, even without ritual.

One thing about the bodily sensations: however I loose the attachment to my body in a trance state or AP, in the beginning my body is very present. I can't flow into a trance state when I am having cold feet (yes, always those women with their cold feet) or when hungry. That is something people need to discover themself.

 

[MorganBlack]

Consider the trance of consensus reality as maintained by the waking dream cast over us by the senses.

Yes! Totally agreed How am I just now seeing this?!

My 2 centavos. Damn this is longer than I meant. Pardon for any rambling. No coffee, yet.

When using the grimoires - though I feel this is true for other forms of magic as well - I’ve long said we are leaving the trance of a materialist worldview. We use the various techniques of theurgy (theosis), evocation, and meditation on symbolic systems (including 'energy') to hammer them into our soul/right hemisphere/subconscious/Nephesh with the goal is to enter a 'new' and hopefully 'bigger' trance through story, imagery, and other right-hemispheric languages.

In modern neuroscience, Anil Seth famously says that "Reality is a controlled hallucination." And I agree. Your senses are bombarded by roughly 11 million bits of data per second, but your conscious mind can only handle about 40–50 bits. You brain "deletes" almost everything that isn't relevant to immediate survival. Ian McGilchrist's work shows survivial is most a concern of your "apprehending" left-hemiphere. The right-hemiphere is the "Big Picture." and where we are "comprehending". German pscyhologists called it The Unvelt (sp?) - and said as far back as the 1970's your primary experince of reality is right-hemisphieric.

The idea of the brain as a 'Reducing Valve' was popularized by Aldous Huxley, but then got sidetracked into late 20th-century MK-Ultra/Epstein-like 'magical' kink normalization. That’s all fine if contained, but it became very limited and over-indexed on each subculture's highly personal 'thang' - which then got elevated in importance to 'save ALL humanity.' They ended up making the universe smaller, not bigger.

No to go too far into this sidetrack: Huxley’s original vision was about the Universal - the 'Pleroma' or the 'Clear Light.' As that was dragged into the realm of 'saving humanity' through hyper-specific social or sexual dramas, so the 'Bigger Picture' became a 'tribal reality' cum (ha!) and an ego-expansion trap. Back to Iain McGilchris - the 'toxic ego' is a left-hemispheric manifestation, and that when it becomes over-indexed moves us again in the opposite direction we want to go.

So the "fix", noting also that each can also become a trap. The Magican is the tricksy teller of lies.

For us grim trads we engage with a very old story - of the Archetypal Magician ("Those whose stand in circles." See Skinner here), The myths such as Solomon, St. Cyrpian, The Demiurge, are stories to transport into a new trance where spirits exist and we can do 'impossible things.' There is a certain point where it sort of clicks.

Ivy Corvus' chapter in Peter Carroll’s 'This Is Chaos' anthology discusses the technique of using the "trance" (we can call it here) of quantum string theory to enter the universe where spirits exist. She goes on to experience them for the first time. It does not matter if string theory is 'true' It works here as a plausible 'scientific myth' - in the form of a model, which is also a story - to move into a 'quantum reality' where spirits exist. FYI, I’m pretty partial to quantum metaphors myself.

Jacobus G. Swart’s introduction in his The Book of Immediate Magic, Part 1 also speaks to these parallel realities, but in a diffrent mythic langage.

As I was saying to someone here: you can use almost anything (well, as long as it's cool) - but each will color the universe you enter into and who you become upon entering it. Whether we use the language of String Theory, Multiverses, or Kabbalistic Spheres, energy, elements, we are essentially building a bridge out of story, and imagery (words and pictures, like comics) to cross over into a right-hemispheric mode of awareness - (according to my current models based on McGilchrist, et al.).

To add another layer, it does seem to get more specific when communicating with other minds, particularly if they were never human. It helps to have a language they know. The GV is my grim and the class of daimons it calls seem very partiular I stick closer to the script. But this is also more flexible than many say, as long as the Underworld beat is right in the Disco of the Damned.

 

[Aldebaran]

My best realization of trance is always coming out of it and realizing.. 'oh shit, i guess i was in trance'.