Note to Self/Students About Trance Work
Meditation is not trance. Guided meditation is also not trance. Pathworking is a pretty name for guided meditation. Pathworking, therefore, is not also not trance.
In guided meditation you see things, feel things, smell things and experience things. It still does not make it a trance experience. It is probably one or two "brain stages" before trance.
Guided meditation *could* lead to trance, if done appropriately, but so are a bunch of other magical techniques. However, not all guided meditations *do* lead to trance. I'd even venture to say that usually, a guided meditation would lead to trance if you work it with people you know very well personally and magically. Guided meditation probably will not lead to a deep, transforming altered state of consciousness in a public ritual setting.
I am guessing that much of the confusion between meditation and trance stems from the fact that many guided meditation do manage to take people to the approximate borderline of consciousness, the place where "real" trance begins.
How do I define trance? Complex question. Obviously, I have no electrodes to attach to anybody's brain to measure stuff. What I usually do is ask people what they remember from the experience. In my experience, if you've been into *trance* and not just meditated really well, you wouldn't remember so much of what you've seen, felt, and experienced. You may remember bits and pieces, and other people present would fill in the gaps for you, but you couldn't come up with a coherent and happy story about how you went to your place of power and found the key to life.
I am especially peeved with people claiming to have done aspecting in its deepest level, and then telling me all about it in great detail (much resembling a D&D session). (And I should probably write a different post about how some Pagans live in fantasy world. This is the not-so-nice part of coming out of the solitary cave.)
Guided meditation can lead to real, effective, life-altering experiences. Trance work can do the same. But they're two different techniques to master. Two different skills to cultivate.
In guided meditation you see things, feel things, smell things and experience things. It still does not make it a trance experience. It is probably one or two "brain stages" before trance.
Guided meditation *could* lead to trance, if done appropriately, but so are a bunch of other magical techniques. However, not all guided meditations *do* lead to trance. I'd even venture to say that usually, a guided meditation would lead to trance if you work it with people you know very well personally and magically. Guided meditation probably will not lead to a deep, transforming altered state of consciousness in a public ritual setting.
I am guessing that much of the confusion between meditation and trance stems from the fact that many guided meditation do manage to take people to the approximate borderline of consciousness, the place where "real" trance begins.
How do I define trance? Complex question. Obviously, I have no electrodes to attach to anybody's brain to measure stuff. What I usually do is ask people what they remember from the experience. In my experience, if you've been into *trance* and not just meditated really well, you wouldn't remember so much of what you've seen, felt, and experienced. You may remember bits and pieces, and other people present would fill in the gaps for you, but you couldn't come up with a coherent and happy story about how you went to your place of power and found the key to life.
I am especially peeved with people claiming to have done aspecting in its deepest level, and then telling me all about it in great detail (much resembling a D&D session). (And I should probably write a different post about how some Pagans live in fantasy world. This is the not-so-nice part of coming out of the solitary cave.)
Guided meditation can lead to real, effective, life-altering experiences. Trance work can do the same. But they're two different techniques to master. Two different skills to cultivate.