In ordinary dictionaries the term trance is described as “a hypnotic, cataleptic or ecstatic state”, “any mental state in which a person is unaware or detached from the environment, as in contemplation or daydreaming”, “a state of ecstasy or mystic absorption so intense as to cause a temporary loss of consciousness” or “the condition of being so lost in solitary thought as to be unaware of one’s surroundings”. Trance states far from being out of the ordinary experiences are regular features in consensus reality. The unawareness and loss of consciousness involved here is that of our multidimensional nature.
The sign of Gemini and the planet Mercury rule the realm of language and communication, which exemplifies one of the most relevant trance inducing elements in consensus reality. It is mainly through the use of language that our separated reality is continuously installed and preserved in our minds. Human languages shape reality, capriciously selecting or excluding what belongs to such a reality. Major trance states are produced through all types of ordinary communication among people, and also radio, television, phones, magazines, books, e-mails, advertising, etc. This is what generates the most relevant trance states experienced by human beings.
Yet, unlike shamanic trance, consensus trance does not produce ecstasy, bliss, power, expanded awareness or other uplifting experiences. Its purpose is to set up the illusion of separation, perpetuating fragmentation and disconnection from our multidimensional nature. Shamanism is founded upon the acknowledgement and investigation of the web of life. This involves the availability to release trances based on separation. These trances produce fear, anger, misery and all the grievances typical of our human separated reality.
Current human languages are the major vehicles for the preservation of our separated reality. At the same time, such languages, when employed with an intent based on unity and healing, may also produce the opposite effect. Certain people are more skilled in creating trance states through language. They may do it on purpose or totally unconsciously. This is the case particularly for people with non-ordinary traits (see Astroshamanism Book One).
Mercury is the planetary energy related to communication, and today I would like to deal with one of its important features in shamanic healing. This is the function of documenting what occurs during shamanic state of consciousness and multidimensional experiences. Documenting implies reporting or recording a multidimensional or non-ordinary experience, through writing, drawing, sculpting or any other physical representation, which can be visible and accessible in our ordinary visible world.
I regard documenting as a most significant practice for it allows multidimensional awareness to become accessible in our separated reality. When non-ordinary experiences are documented they become real in the ordinary world, and even if some people deny, ridicule or scorn them, well, they have managed to get through the gateway of manifestation and incarnate in our world. This is an exceptional event, which is the result of a major labour and endeavour.
Very few people manage to manifest tools for multidimensional awareness on this planet. Hence when this is the case, it is an exceptional event. It is thanks to such materializations that human beings have been able to expand their awareness and move beyond the boundaries of their separated reality. Yet this is possible only when the multidimensional succeeds in getting a physical form, which is the only form that human beings can unconditionally accept as real.
Our separated reality acknowledges only what possesses a physical form. When something is given form it is real. If it is not given form it is not real. When things happen and are not given physical shape, they are, as I can strategically put it, created only in the fourth dimension (emotional realm), fifth dimension (mental realm) or sixth dimension (spiritual realm). In the best scenario they continue to survive in the memory of those who have experienced them, yet since they are not visible in the third dimension (physical realm) they may be easily forgotten and are bound to vanish when the people who hold their awareness die.
All our consensus reality is the result of people who decided to give it form. This is the way in which lineages are transmitted. When a lineage does not receive a form, it does not exist anymore in the physical world, although it may continue to exist in other dimensions. Most multidimensional and shamanic lineages have been totally lost on our planet, with their documentation being destroyed or never manifested. For few lineages some documentation has been preserved and, although it is mainly cryptic, it continues to hold the bridge between our separated reality and the multidimensional realm.
In these times of apparent planetary transformation, various people on Earth may potentially become the vehicle for manifesting multidimensional awareness and retrieving lost documentation. This is the process astroshamanism and other healing arts aim to encourage.
Something with a form is not necessarily real. Conversations among people, newspapers, television, books, etc are full of details regarding things that happened or are happening, yet this does not automatically mean that these things truly happened or are happening. Some people take the initiative to describe such things, and the general assumption is that they are real. Yet they could also be sheer inventions, fantasies or hallucinations. The point is that, when something is documented, and receives official acceptance in consensus reality, no matter whether it is true or not, it becomes real. I may argue here that there are ways to ascertain whether something has happened or not. Yet I also realise that most people are so busy and do not have time to verify this. Hence they take for granted consensus reality and do not bother to question it.
Giving form to multidimensional elements is vital and this simply implies documenting what happens to you when you experience something out of the ordinary. Whatever happens to us, especially things which appear to be momentous, amazing, ecstatic, stunning, etc. have already happened on many other occasions. They create wonder when they occur because the mind realises that this has happened before. Yet, since there is no documented reference regarding the experience, this causes amazement. These experiences, when they happen, also trigger all the other moments when they occurred in the past. Everything comes out of the blue, and since there is no documented reference, it easily creates a state of confusion, shock and weirdness that can hardly be sustained in consensus reality, unless it is given a definite form. If this is not the case, it will dissipate again and be lost.
Taking note of shamanic experiences first of all makes sure that the memory remains. Our memory, besides being limited, is subject to constant manipulation and disturbance from the consensus reality. In my life, like many of us, I have had so many amazing experiences. Yet I realise that no matter how powerful these experiences are when they happen, after a while I completely forget about them. I may feel extremely ecstatic and transpersonal one day, then the following day I forget everything and I am only aware of my little self. Already 40 years ago I had astounding experiences which clearly proved the existence of other dimensions, of unity, ecstasy, etc. Yet, during these last 40 years I have forgotten about it thousands of times.
Yet things began to change when I started documenting such experiences. Although I continue to forget, there is now something that allows me to remember. There is a documentation that attests to my ecstatic experience, and even if I do not appear to have that experience now, my memory can be reawakened, together with the ecstatic experience. This can help me, and can also help other people, for these experiences are not my personal experiences. They are collective experiences. They are part of a lost planetary lineage, which can only be reborn through each one of us.
On earth, in terms of planetary healing, the work to do, as I see it, is to map the multidimensional world, to leave records regarding our ecstatic experiences, for ourselves, others and the next generations to come. I regard it as part of our responsibility as human beings to leave documentation about what we treasure in life, what we feel is good, powerful, loving, ecstatic, etc.
Mankind may plunge into obscurity, losing all memories of its inheritance and forgetting its true nature. This has happened on many occasions. There were times when mankind reached a high level of consciousness, and then fell into darkness. There are many legendary and mythical accounts of this process, which is also documented in some of our consensus historical records, for example with the Middle Ages.
The preceding ages were abundant with maps and documents of ecstatic and multidimensional experiences. Then such documents were destroyed, lost or only accessed by a limited minority of people. For centuries most human beings were not aware of what had been documented before, which was therefore not real. Then some information was retrieved and part of the memory reawakened. This may happen again and leaving documents is a planetary service for mankind.
Ancient civilisations have left documents so distant from our current understanding and languages that they can only be accessed at a vibratory level. These are artefacts, tools, sites, monuments and mystery glyphs conveying the vibratory awareness of multidimensional realms. The missing pieces of this knowledge abide in the multidimensional realm, and it is through our endeavour in documenting our multidimensional experiences that they can be restored to our planet.
This is again an invitation to map our multidimensional world, to openly document and share, to join forces in a new multidimensional manifestation process. The purpose of all astroshamanic events and workshops is to encourage the above.
The above article contains excerpts from a talk Franco gave during the Foundation Training in Astroshamanism held in Scotland at the Findhorn Foundation in 2007. The recording was transcribed by C. Huebsch
© 2009 Franco Santoro, Cluny Hill College, Forres IV36 2RD, Scotland,