What is Trancework?
Trancework is the majestic art that I like to refer to as Magic Floppy Time. Trance naturally happens when you set your body to a simple repetetive task with some kind of rhythm either built in or in the background. It is not a religious experience by itself. It happens when driving in the rain with the windshield wipers going. It can happen while reading or doing the dishes for an extended period of time. These things happen on accident which means that this is something our bodies and minds were built to do and it does not require training to get the basics. But if you want to do it on purpose and learn to do some really neat things with it, that would take some skill development. And that is what trancework is--trancing on purpose. What does it feel like? Trancing is rather like sleepwalking. If you slip into it without realizing it then you will really only become aware of it once you start to wake. At that point you somewhat suddenly come back to your senses with absolutely no idea how much time has elapsed since you were last fully conscious. You may just feel a little disoriented and possibly a little groggy. However, if you slip into a trance while fully conscious of it, you will likely feel a few effects. There is a spectrum of normal at play in trancework--which is to say that there are a good number of sensations that can be experienced. For some it may feel like a narrowing of the field of vision, for others it may feel like your consciousness is pulled into either your stomach or right above your head. Still others may just feel a bit woozy or they may feel like their bodies are locked into a particular motion and that they cannot make themselves stop doing it.
Hold out your hands and spin in a field for about 20-30 seconds and then either stop or just try to stop. That's what it feels like. And the reason that is what it feels like is because that is actually a method of getting yourself into a trance on purpose. While any simple repetetive motion can get you into an altered state, the heavy hitters are movements that disrupt the body's equillibrium--that sense of balance in your inner ear. This is why dancing is so strongly linked to trancework and it is why I refer to trancework as Magic Floppy Time. It is because the movements of the body become more and more relaxed as you get into an altered state. You largely surrender your spine for a while and get... well... floppy.
(Playing with the big drum, aka Making Magic Boom-Boom)
Why does this happen?
I have my theories. I personally think that our bodies do this to conserve energy. If you are going to be doing the same activity for a while and utilizing just a select group of muscles to do it, your body will eventually just relax the ones it doesn't really need. Same with the mind. If you don't need it to make decisions or take in the sensory environment, it starts to relax everything that it doesn't need. The unused parts of your brain and body start going night-night.
Is trancework religious or not?
It can be if your religion has a purpose for it. Trancework can have a profound impact on the psyche and it is strongly associated with meditation, chanting, and prayer recitation. So, either we started doing this as a means of reaching towards the spiritworld OR we started praying and noticed this happened as a byproduct. It doesn't have to be an either / or really. The end result is that trancework is and has been used by a lot of religions.
It is also something that just naturally happens during repetetive physical labor. Like mining, weaving, spinning thread, rowing a boat, threshing, kneading, etc. Most pre-industrial occupations involve trancework at some point in the process so it has been a useful tool in the workplace. Think of the musical traditions associated with things like fulling/ wauking, seafaring, and chain gangs. These are secular examples of people using trancework on purpose to coordinate their labor together with others.
Trancework can be secular or religious, it just depends on what you are trying to do and how you go about it.
How do I do it on purpose?
Put on some music with a good beat, give your body permission to relax into it deeper every few bars, close your eyes a little or all the way, sway your shoulders in a figure 8 and let that whole body just go with it. Imagine your body moving like water and let it happen. Say bye-bye to your thoughts. They do not matter. Picture a flowing image--a river flowing around the base of a mountain, a gust of wind carrying a little bird on an adventure, a serpent eating its tail... whatever floats your boat. After about 10-20 minutes of this, allow yourself to slump over, give away all excess energy, and just flop somewhere comfy. Let yourself return to consciousness gradually. When you do, have a snack and drink some water. Do something relaxing like taking a shower or a nap. That's pretty much it.
What if I want to use trancework to do something magical or religious?
Trancing is a skill. You can be good at it and you can be bad at it. It is something that you can improve at over time and with experience. Once you can get into an altered state on purpose reliably and get yourself back out again safely every time, you can then start exploring the other things trancework can be used for. Things associated with magic like: Divination Bilocation Shapeshifting
Or things associated with spirit-based religion like: Possession Mediumship
Or things associated with religion like: Deity Bridalwork Presence Ceremonies
Each of these things have unique structures to the rituals that will get you through them successfully. Think of them like recipes. Because there is a physical and neurological component to trancework, this is not a matter of making up whatever you want or doing what you think makes sense. You can absolutely do that but you will not get the same outcome as what someone who uses a traditional method of doing so would get. If you smoke bacon but call it bread, you're only really fooling yourself. The tried and true recipe gets you the predictable result. (I have to mention this because there are A LOT of modern trancework practices out there that are not based in anything traditional--they're just something someone made up because they moved around it made them feel tingly and they assumed it was the same thing as what the traditional folks were doing. It really isn't. No matter where you go on this planet, traditional trancework functions in the same spectrum of ways. It really is an exact recipe and you can't make changes to the load bearing aspects of it and expect to get the same results. Technique matters.)
If you look around on this blog you will find loads of posts on how to get into the more complicated forms of trancework and what exactly those are used to do. So, I recommend starting there or reaching out to someone who has ties to traditional forms of trancework who can walk you through the exact kind of thing you want to do.
What other beginner questions do you have? Did I miss any? Let me know how I can help!
