Shamanic Trance, Altered States of Consciousness & The Collective Trance

As I delve into the intricate tapestry of human consciousness through my shamanic teachings and practices, I find myself constantly awed by the vast and varied landscapes it presents.

My journey has led me to explore an ancient practice at the heart of our being yet obscured by layers of modern skepticism and misunderstanding. This journey is about the shamanic trance or the altered state of consciousness (A.S.C.), a profound experience that connects us to our deepest wisdom and the mystic realms beyond our everyday perception.

It is pretty fascinating to me, yet never surprising that when I mention my experiences with shamanic trance, the non-expert ears and minds pretend to know what I am talking about and immediately picture some kind of crazy alternative and fringe practices. I sometimes wonder what they picture, while they never had the experience of it in the context of a deeply rooted, wise, and ancient practice, but judge and see my world through the lenses of their own trance, the violent and power-hungry capitalistic and colonial trance. The modern trance. The trance of separation and soulless life.

What am I talking about here? In our fast-paced, material-driven world, where power and ego often take center stage, it's easy to overlook the subtle yet powerful forces that shape our reality. It is easy to believe that we know because of the flooding of knowledge on screens, the illusions of human progress through the narrow lenses of capital market numbers, G.D.P., and the exhausting and fake diversity of cereal brands in our supermarkets.

Every day, without even realizing it, we plunge into various forms of trance states. I mean, everyone is in a trance state.

Politics, with its fiery speeches and rallying cries, pulls us into a collective trance, captivating our minds and influencing our beliefs. It makes us blindly follow leaders who throw tantrums, speak like angry kids needing approval, and behave like bullies daily.

Sports events, with their heart-pounding excitement and communal euphoria, transport fans into a shared state of heightened emotion and connection. They often blur the true competition that is really on display on the screen, which is made of money, advertising, and ego.

Even our capitalist culture, with its incessant consumerist messages, lulls us into a continuous trance of desire and acquisition. They say that by age 5, we have seen over 10000 commercials on T.V., all designed by masters of trance and hypnotism.

In addition to the trance states induced by politics, sports, and consumerism, our society harbors a profound fascination with celebrity culture that operates as another trance. This trance is fed by a relentless stream of media, social networks, and entertainment platforms that elevate celebrities to almost mythic proportions. We find ourselves mesmerized by the lives of individuals we've often never met, caught up in their stories, triumphs, and tribulations as if they were our own. This trance is not merely about admiration; it's a complex dance of aspiration, identification, and sometimes even jealousy.

What is the issue with that? It cocoons us in a narrative that distracts and distances us from reality, urging us to live vicariously through figures deemed larger than life. This celebrity trance diverts our attention from our inner journey, the exploration of our talents, dreams, and potential, to an external spectacle, where the value of our existence is often weighed against the glamorized lives of others.

Similarly, our society's obsession with billionaires and the ultra-wealthy represents another pervasive trance state. This fascination goes beyond the curiosity about the lifestyles of the rich and famous; it reflects a deeper trance induced by the ideals of success and power that capitalism venerates. It's a trance that equates wealth with worth, success with happiness, and power with respect. This narrative seduces us with the promise that wealth is the ultimate panacea for all our woes, the key to a life of fulfillment and happiness. It entices us to relentlessly pursue more, trapping us in an endless cycle of desire and dissatisfaction. The billionaire trance skews our values and priorities, leading us to overvalue material wealth and undervalue the richness of our inner lives and the simple, essential connections that truly nourish our souls. It ensnares us in a game of constant comparison and competition, blinding us to the beauty and abundance of our present moment and the wealth of being that resides within us all.

Why does all this work on billions of people? Because we are trance-state beings. This means we cannot only access a trance state, but our lives and ways of seeing the world, thinking, and feeling are deeply governed by those altered states of consciousness (A.S.C.). The dictators know it. Politicians know it. Advertisers know it. Celebrities know it. Everyone who guides your life and decisions knows it.

These are all trance, A.S.C.s, but they are external, driven by forces outside ourselves that seek to guide our thoughts and actions for their own ends. They have an agenda of control and power. They are not guided and offered by wisdom or a desire to elevate consciousness; they do not gift awakening or open doors of self-revelation, truth, reliance, and inner power. In fact, they are designed every single one of them for the opposite of all of that.

"Give them bread and circuses, and they will never revolt." Juvenal (circa 55–127 A.D.), a Roman poet, wrote about how the decadent and power-hungry Roman empire was ruling the masses. Circuses, games, and the play of today's world, where even politics and economy have become a game of powerful (wealthy) players, are on full display. Far away is the ancient wisdom that the leaders were not to be the wealthy ones but those who give the most back to their community, those who had humility and wisdom in their hearts and on their lips.

Yet, there's another form of trance, a profoundly different and infinitely more enriching journey—the shamanic trance. Unlike the trances induced by external societal forces, the shamanic trance is an internal voyage. It's a gentle, natural ability we all possess, allowing us to tap into our inner wisdom, connect with our soul, and communicate with the spirit world. It's a journey that doesn't require us to succumb to external influences but invites us to delve deeply into our essence. It is a power we were born with, and that is either harvested for good (self-inquiry, self-development, bettering of self and humanity) or for the worst (sending our young men to war or to chain production of factories to serve the capitalistic modern enslavement machine).

Shamanic journeying or trancework harnesses simple, ancient techniques such as drumming, dance, and even dreaming to facilitate this profound shift in consciousness. These practices enable us to bypass the noisy chatter of our conscious minds, remove ourselves from the collective trance and narratives, and access the vast, unexplored territories of our subconscious and soul. In this state, we can retrieve essential insights and healing wisdom about ourselves and the spiritual and natural world surrounding us. It is loving. It is caring. It is direct (as in not through others' agendas). It is empowering. It makes someone stronger and more confident, especially in controlling their life, claiming their rights, and remembering their calling.

This journey into an A.S.C. through shamanic practices is, at its core, a reconnection with the ancient knowledge that resides within each of us. It acknowledges that we are more than just our physical bodies and rational minds. We are beings of energy and spirit, interconnected with the fabric of the universe in a deeply meaningful way. Through shamanic trance, we remember how to listen to our soul's whispers, our inner sage's guidance, and the Earth's calls. It affirms our innate capacity to transcend the limitations of the conscious mind and touch the ineffable, the sacred.

And yes, as many would say, it is a fringe practice! Indeed, reclaiming our inner power and having a wise Eagle view of the world is fringe for most. Yet it is our birthright, our birth duty. If we have any hope of bettering ourselves, our community, and the systems we live in, we need to be able to see it all through a different point of view, a different angle, a different depth. And this is exactly what trance states offer us.

Years ago, I was sitting in a ceremony in Peru, and during a trance state vision, I was presented with my perpetrators. The ones who trapped me behind my school building when I was around 11 years old held me tight and forced me into their violent sexual behaviors. I spent a tremendous amount of my adulthood trying to heal, understand, and often "get rid of" that feeling trapped in my body and all the emotional consequences of such a violent act. During that ceremony, a spirit invited me to see this whole event through the lenses of the minds of those aggressors. It was somehow not scary to revisit it from that perspective. I saw their pain, their anger, the abuse they received in their childhood from their emotionally sick and unavailable fathers, and the images of wars on T.V. that their brains swallowed whole, and I felt their desire to hurt others to reduce their own pain.

How weird it is that when we are in pain, we want others to suffer, to pay for this pain, while rationally, this will never reduce our pain but will keep us locked into a cycle of trauma response, victim to perpetrator again and again. Interestingly, when we are in a trance, we can only see the world through that trance screen. But when I saw this rape through their lenses, when I understood what they felt and why they did this, I understood the trance of the pain they were in. In an instant, I forgave them. More than forgiving, I experienced a depth of unconditional love for them, and I started to sing to them the hoponopono song "Please forgive me, I am sorry, I thank you, I love you" on and on for over one hour. By the end, I felt love for them in the depths of my bones. I'm sorry about what you had to do. Thank you for leading me to this path of healing and transformation. I felt a depth of unity consciousness that never left me and forever shifted the feelings I had for over 30 years of that loss of innocence.

What was stolen from me on that day back in middle school was given back to me 30 years later in the sacred valley of Peru with the gifts of compassion, understanding, unity, and unconditional love. I was gifted the embodied healing power of trance states. The trance gifted me a view I would have never accessed through the limited filters of my mind. I was free. The trance had saved my life.

What's truly beautiful about this internal journey is its accessibility to everyone. It transcends cultural, religious, and social boundaries, offering a universal path to self-discovery and spiritual enlightenment. Unlike the trances induced by modern society's distractions, which often leave us feeling more disconnected and disillusioned, the shamanic trance nourishes our being on every level. It heals, empowers, and awakens us to the interconnectedness of all life. It always does. It always will.

As I share this personal experience of shamanic trance and altered states of consciousness with you, my hope is to challenge the prevailing misconceptions and fears that surround these ancient practices. I invite you to recognize the trances you are in most of your days and to seek the ancient trance, the one devoid of ego and agendas of power over.

Far from being an esoteric or fringe activity, journeying into the shamanic trance is a natural, transformative experience that can bring profound insight, healing, and connection to our lives.

It is a testament to the resilience and adaptability of the human spirit, inviting us to reclaim our innate wisdom and freedom and forge a deeper, more harmonious relationship with ourselves and the world around us.

Limitless truths are gifted in trance states that answer the fake endless lies of the world we were forced into belonging to. There is a new possibility for the self and, therefore, the collective, for a different kind of power, a different kind of belonging, a different kind of collective trance.

Extract from Chapter 7 "Shamanic Trance" from my upcoming book "Becoming The Medicine"

Angell Deer