Tag: shadow work

Trance, trance baby

Trance. Astral travel. Altered states. These are a few words we associate with mystics, mediums, seers, and shamans. Witches around the world recognize these terms. One can be a mystic and a witch, a medium and a witch, and so on. Trance is defined as: a sleeplike state (as of deep hypnosis) usually characterized by partly suspended animation with diminished or absent sensory and motor activity. (Merriam Webster). When people go into trance states, they are entering a different level of consciousness while still maintaining an anchor to the waking and physical world. In my previous blog, I mentioned trance as part of the shadow work I did. I’ll elucidate here exactly what that entailed for me, and then I’ll discuss the difference between meditative journeying and trance. And we will end on romancing our demons (sounds weird, I know).

The first time I entered a trance state was purely accidental. I literally walked up to a total stranger and delivered a message. I’m not sure why it happened that way. Whatever it was, I knew that the message was specifically intended for that individual. This is where trance can get quite interesting. Being in another realm of consciousness means that sometimes there is interaction with others—I use the term others to refer to spirits, to entities, or anything on an energetic level. A person can channel during trance and acts as an intermediary. This is true for mediums as well. In my case, when I started, trance had been totally accidental. Of course, after that, I tried to get there by meditating. But here’s the thing—I was terrified and shied away whenever I got close to doing it. I was also carrying a lot of guilt, anger, and shame over many things. These emotions kept me from being able to do it safely. In order to induce a trance state, I needed to acknowledge those emotions and proceed without any judgment. I had to still the mind and be willing to face my fears, because it can be a scary process.

The work I’d done on myself over the years was a fight to death. I don’t say that lightly. I explored every single weakness, every emotion, every lie I sold myself on, and my fake persona outside—not one area ignored—that was where the transformation began to take root. I was honest in the process. I saw facets of my soul that frightened me to the core—and some that embarrassed me so much that I longed to erase it from memory not only for myself but also for anyone else involved. It was hard. And doing shadow work this spring involved me visiting these places again to remove some of the wounds I thought had healed. In some of these trances, I saw myself as a child, viewed things through the lens of an objective observer, and in others I visited my nightmares. I tried to run away but every time I did, I’d be right back to the heart of the nightmare. So, I faced them—and still have to face them because my work isn’t done yet. Shadow work in some ways can be constant but you don’t have to use trance all the time. It definitely forced me to be more realistic and honest with myself. If you feel comfortable using trance though, you might be surprised by the answers and messages you receive. It is a useful tool, but one to be used carefully and with sufficient preparation. I’ll be doing a separate blog post on the process of trance alone in the next few weeks! In the meantime, let’s talk about the difference between meditative journeying and trance. Meditation can lead to trance—don’t get me wrong—but the big difference between the two is the threshold, because meditative journeying does not often require the preparation that trance does. Trance needs careful calibration and those who tend to work in liminal spaces are more likely to gravitate towards it. Meditation on the other hand can be practiced by almost anyone. Mindfulness in particular can be very helpful in these difficult times.  

And now we come to the last part: romancing your demons! The shadow work I dealt with led me to places in my life that I had never gone back to since they happened. Revisiting those parts allowed me to make friends with and woo my inner demons—I remembered who I was during rough patches of my life, while knowing who I am now. I thanked each and every challenger with the same amount of gratitude I would show to family and friends. I gave love to the wounded past and to the old me that lived with self-loathing. I saw these inner demons in spiritual terms, and not as negative entities because these were what I had invited in of my own accord. By “romancing” them, I romanced myself! I gave myself the love I wished I’d had then. Without those demons, I would have continued to live in fear of my own shadow. I was afraid of everything from failure, love, friendship, success to liminal and spiritual things. But my inner demons pushed me to the edge of my comfort zone so that I could rebuild from the ground up. On a mystical note and a disclaimer here, if people are struggling against negative energy and unwelcome attention from entities, that’s an entirely different matter. Romancing unwelcome and uninvited energy is not something I recommend doing. And I’ll be talking about that in detail in another blog post as well.

So, once again dear reader, you have made it to the end! Thank you for reading my blog. I’m not sure what my next post will be so let’s call it a surprise instead. With love, the Foxy Witch. Namaste.

A Shadow Spring

Photo by Elly Fairytale on Pexels.com

Happy Saturday evening folks! I thought I’d check in with everyone first before commencing the blogpost. How’s everybody feeling? Are we all finding ways to unwind from the news and the panic that some of us are experiencing? In this global climate with a looming crisis on our hands, it can be challenging to decompress. But it has never been more needed than now. So, let’s talk about this for a minute. What does self-care look like to you? Do you read to relax? Binge watch something on Netflix? Get in fuzzy slippers, sip some cocoa or tea, and curl up with a fur baby? Whatever it may look like, I highly urge everyone to take that one hour or more for “just me” time. In spite of being under mandated quarantine, a lot of us are simply not at rest. We are on high alert and our radars are constantly pinging. A slight sniffle or a sneeze can cause even a reasonably composed individual to concoct the worse case scenario. It does not help when the news items on television, social media, and general chatter revolve around the big bad of our time: the Coronavirus or Covid-19. A lot of us know friends and family who have had exposure or others who have the virus. It is distressing to watch these events unfold around us. However, there are many things we can do to minimize risk and boost immunity. We can sanitize, wash our hands frequently, take vitamin C, drink herbal teas, and stay home. Practicing good hygiene and boosting immunity are things we should already be doing, but now we need to be extra diligent.

Beyond cleanliness and preventative measures though, we need to do this on a spiritual level too. One of the things I’ve been doing is holding space and sending Reiki outwards to anyone who may need it. The second thing is taking a break from news and certain types of social media. The third is listening to soothing melodies and guided meditations, which I’ll talk about more later. I also take time out for a spiritual bath whenever needed. These have really helped me when I’ve had those moments of sheer panic. The anxiety is truly debilitating. Some days I would run on adrenaline alone, and it wouldn’t be until the end of the day that I would be aware of how much energy I had expended. And of course, by then I’d be absolutely exhausted, too tired for soul soothing. Those days added fuel to the angst fire.  I had to reset, burn some herbs in my cauldron and go within, which leads me to my next point: shadow work in the spring.

Long ago, I used to think that shadow work was only for the winter. But I quickly learned some years back that shadow work waits for no season, and honestly? Shadow work can be constant–awareness is key here. It’s heavy and intense no matter what time of the year we do it. While the shadow does refer to working with the “darker” aspect of us, I like to think of it as introspection with a twist. In order to be a holistic person, we look to find a way to balance the shadow with the visible part of ourselves. It seems seasonally appropriate for such an undertaking to take place during winter—that way we can make room for new beginnings and renewal. But that does not mean that we can ignore shadow work if it’s needed during that time. However, the way we go about it can be positive. This time I have taken spring cleaning to mean a spring spiritual cleansing. I realized I had written all these stories about who I thought I was—and reinforced it over and over. I suppressed a lot over the years but in the end, those parts could no longer be confined to the shadows. I faced some of the fears I had long buried as well. These are things I’m mentioning at the surface level. Going deeper, I can say that I have experienced trance work and meditative journeying that really pushed me out of my comfort zone. I’ll elaborate more in the next post. I want to end on a positive note with a recipe for healing!

  • One recipe I like to use is this:
  • Take a hot bath with salt, adding almond and eucalyptus oils. If you don’t have a bathtub, use a salt scrub in the shower. You can use the oils sparingly or just lightly dab eucalyptus oil behind the ears.
  • Using singing bowls or listen to soothing melodies that relax you. Sometimes, I listen to Hindu mantras and chanting.
  • Afterwards, you can continue listening if you want or play ambient music, burn some incense (I recommend sandalwood for healing) and sip some ginger or chamomile tea. If you have allergies to both or don’t like ginger, drink something soothing you do like.
  • Use lavender oil behind your ears or on your temples, and do deep breathing–breathe in for a count of four, hold it for two, and then release for four. Repeat at least five times times. This recipe is useful before bedtime but can also be used during stressful moments.

Thank you for reading this rather verbose post! In the next one, I will talk about trance, meditative journeying, and romancing your demons! Yes, really. Namaste.