Customer Reviews

Trance-portation: Learning to Navigate the Inner World

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Diana Paxson seems to be working her way from being a writer of enjoyable historic and mythic fantasy to being a teacher of core skills in Pagan magic and spirituality.
Trance-Portations is a textbook for personal or group training in meditation, trance and vision. The exercises and sequence were developed by Paxson over some years of teaching, and this practical background shows clearly in the book. The methods given are only barely related to any specific spiritual path, but rather could be applied by nearly anyone. The book starts at the beginning, assuming the student does too, and explains concepts right alongside of immediate exercises and basic practices, moving from there toward the highest and strangest of trance experiences. She regularly nods to the various faiths her students might bring, but whenever Paxson gives specific examples, she draws on the Pagan, Heathen and magical community. Her own cosmology and mythic context is plainly the polytheism of modern Heathenry; this makes her book very comfortable for a variety of reconstructionist and Traditional Pagan systems.
Trance-Portations is an introduction, and most of the topics get a fairly quick survey discussion, though all with solid base and depth. Plainly Paxson has chosen to focus on the practical, and the exercises given are well-designed and well-scripted. A student who actually worked their way through its program would be very well-equipped for further trance-magic and spiritual work in almost any Pagan system. Very well done!

Once again, Ms. Paxson has created a tome filled with information! In her own unique style she sets down a systematic manner of approaching tranceworking.

If one is seeking a purely scholarly study of the subject, this will not be the best choice. But if one is seeking a through and easily read manual on tranceworking in its many forms, you will not be disapointed.

I would recommend this book for any beginner or just the curious, regarding this spiritual practice.

Ms. Paxson is a dedicated and knowledgeable tranceworker.

For a more complex and historical exploration of Seidhr ~
"Voluspa: Seidhr as Wyrd Consciousness" by Yngona Desmond
is still my choice.

Recently I was thinking that I wanted to get back into working with Trance and meditation to deepen my spiritual practice. How very fortuitious that this book was featured on Amazon. I found the book to be well written, thoughtful and very useful, regardless of whether you are an experienced tranceworker or just a beginner. I found the writing style to be easy to read and the information practical. I highly recommend this book and intend to use it for quite awhile.

This is an excellent book for those who wish to begin using trance and journey techniques. The author does a thorough job of explaining the principles behind this type of spiritual work, but what makes this book such a good resource is the practical advice. The book touches on common problems people face, includes cautions and protection ideas, as well as how to connect to Otherwordly spirits and deities and what to expect.I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in beginning this type of work; this book will give the reader a firm foundation to work from.

Across all manner of spiritual tradition, the ability to move from an ordinary into an altered state of consciousness is one of the most valuable skills in magic and religion. Here fantasy writer Diana Paxson offers up a guideline to trance and out of body experiences, covering experimentation, memory, pathways to higher levels, and more. A fine addition to any New Age library.

I found this book to be well-written and thoroughly engaging. It offers wonderful guidance for those just starting out with trance and journey-work and those who are already well-versed in such work. A must have for any interested in such things. I certainly intend to keep my copy around and read it many more times!

I have an interest in trances and found the book easy to understand and the instructions clear. After preparing, clearing the mind and relaxing the body, there are several methods of trance induction via a cue introduced such as sound, smell, chanting, toning, and drumming. I liked some of the following chapters as well on what to do when you achieve the trance state such as managing pain, healing yourself and others, meeting your spirit guides and allys, mapping the inner worlds, setting up a base camp, how to return, warding, meeting your shadow self, and how to handle a spiritual emergency. At the end of the book are 3 sample guided journey scripts with a Celtic, Norse, and Greek slant. I enjoyed this book and it was a great introductory book on achieving a trance state and would recommend it to a novice or beginning shamanic practitioner interested in other techniques for inducing the trance state besides riding on the drum.

This book very thoroughly talks you through trancing, problems you might encounter, solutions to those problems, comments that others trying the lessons have made.

An excellent guidebook for anyone interested in trance work. I especially found it valuable for anyone who is guiding trance work for others. Easy to understand.

An excellent guidebook for anyone interested in trance work. I especially found it valuable for anyone who is guiding trance work for others. Easy to understand.