Transitory Perception and Invoked Geography
A term that stood out in reading Krippner's interpretation of shamanic journeying as a "hypnotic-like procedure" was "invoked geography." While he gives little explanation of this term, outside of listing it as one of several sacred geographies in which healing rituals may occur, my interpretation is of a non-physical geography, or a specific area of the "invisible landscape." Krippner, by listing the alternative geographies, tells us what invoked geography is not; it is not a place literally traveled to, or a place physically replicated in the ceremony space. So, being it is not a literally (or physically) traveled to, it is to be considered a territory, non-physical, existing in the finer energetic ranges of nature, which the shaman may access by means of invocation, or a subjective shift in his state-of-consciousness whereby a sensitivity to this subtle range of natural life may be induced.*
Shamanic roots of the Finnish sauna implied, but no references for this history given, other than it's comparison to the Native American sweat lodge. I would like to learn more about this.
In his description of Stage One, comparisons are made between what Clottes and Lewis-Williams (1998) call "shamanic consciousness" and what are the "en-trance" stages of hypnosis. Visualizations typical of this stage of altered consciousness are geometric forms, meandering lines, and what Krippner terms "phosphenes" or "form constants" (Krippner, n.d., p. 5). I have encountered this terminology before, in literature describing the hypnagogic state (Mavromatis, 1987). As one descends down through the ranges of consciousness between waking and sleep, many phenomenal thought associations, visual and auditory phenomena may occur. Much like hypnosis and shamanic journeying, the alteration of consciousness begin with some shapes or colors in the visual field, but gradually form more complex patterns, eventually faces or landscapes, figures, and interactions -- all the while, the individual is still conscious of his body in the bed and his place in the room; awake, but not fully. This "inbetween" state is ripe with perceptions not typically available to the fully awake "bright eyed and bushy tailed" individual, in the sunlit theater of Beta consciousness. Yet, those limits of waking consciousness to not invalidate the legitimacy of these non-ordinary perceptions of the hypnagogic state; these transitory perceptions are often spiritual in nature and can involve legitimate interactions or sensory experiences, the content of which can often be verified as true and not otherwise knowable by the perceiver. It is my belief that shamanic trance could be called an induced hypnagogic state, and the information gathered by entering that state is bound to that discrete non-ordinary range of consciousness. OBE occurs during hypnagogia, for instance, and Tart (1998) with his 5 digit random number experiment, was able to show that the perceptions of the out-of-body state are of a legitimate and verifiable sensory experience, despite the participant, Ms. Z, being fully asleep and in a room where she could not physically perceive the number she correctly read. Spiritual interaction during this rare and controllable hypnagogic state may also carry information, traditionally about plant medicines, lost objects, or the location of game, which can, similarly, be verified -- although, admittedly, without the phenomenal improbability of correctly identifying a 5 digit random number correctly on the first attempt! This area of what may more correctly be called sleep research can be more studied using more elegant and replicable designs, if only to find those gifted individuals who can easily transition to the specific state of hypnagogic consciousness and back in a deliberate and controlled way.
Sansonese (1994) suggests there is a "degree of genetic predisposition for falling into trance." This is something I've given considerable thought to, although it is a somewhat politically incorrect notion, that does not make it necessarily incorrect! To return, again, to the Finns, there is some research concerning the greater degree of time spent in the hypnagogic or "in between" range of consciousness during their nightly attempts to fall asleep. While some people descend down to a Delta state of consciousness quickly, falling like a stone to deep sleep, others (apparently the Finns) drift lightly down towards that state over the course of an hour or two. (I can certainly attest to the mix of jealousy and resentment in finding my friends asleep and snoring 8 minutes after laying down, while I knew I had a good hour or two before I could expect to fall asleep, if I slept at all that night.) This is, in many ways, a major inconvenience and led one sleep researcher to remark "No wonder the Finns are so miserable -- they don't sleep!" Yet, it also affords the individual with this slight hypnagogic rate-of-descent a chance to more fully experience each of the discrete ranges of consciousness, and the potential transitory perceptions contained, in that slow descent down through the spectrum of frequencies reflected in those EEG measurements.
*Note: Reference made to the Sami "lavvu" ceremony. I don't know what this is.
References
Clottes, J., Lewis-Williams, J. D., & Lewis-Williams, D. (1998). Shamans of Prehistory. Harry N Abrams.
Mavromatis, A. (1987). Hypnagogia: The unique state of consciousness between wakefulness and sleep (p. 97). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Sansonese, J. N. (1994). The body of myth: Mythology, shamanic trance, and the sacred geography of the body. Inner Traditions/Bear & Co.
Tart, C. T. (1998). Six studies of out-of-body experiences. Journal of Near-Death Studies, 17(2), 73-99.
Shamanic roots of the Finnish sauna implied, but no references for this history given, other than it's comparison to the Native American sweat lodge. I would like to learn more about this.
In his description of Stage One, comparisons are made between what Clottes and Lewis-Williams (1998) call "shamanic consciousness" and what are the "en-trance" stages of hypnosis. Visualizations typical of this stage of altered consciousness are geometric forms, meandering lines, and what Krippner terms "phosphenes" or "form constants" (Krippner, n.d., p. 5). I have encountered this terminology before, in literature describing the hypnagogic state (Mavromatis, 1987). As one descends down through the ranges of consciousness between waking and sleep, many phenomenal thought associations, visual and auditory phenomena may occur. Much like hypnosis and shamanic journeying, the alteration of consciousness begin with some shapes or colors in the visual field, but gradually form more complex patterns, eventually faces or landscapes, figures, and interactions -- all the while, the individual is still conscious of his body in the bed and his place in the room; awake, but not fully. This "inbetween" state is ripe with perceptions not typically available to the fully awake "bright eyed and bushy tailed" individual, in the sunlit theater of Beta consciousness. Yet, those limits of waking consciousness to not invalidate the legitimacy of these non-ordinary perceptions of the hypnagogic state; these transitory perceptions are often spiritual in nature and can involve legitimate interactions or sensory experiences, the content of which can often be verified as true and not otherwise knowable by the perceiver. It is my belief that shamanic trance could be called an induced hypnagogic state, and the information gathered by entering that state is bound to that discrete non-ordinary range of consciousness. OBE occurs during hypnagogia, for instance, and Tart (1998) with his 5 digit random number experiment, was able to show that the perceptions of the out-of-body state are of a legitimate and verifiable sensory experience, despite the participant, Ms. Z, being fully asleep and in a room where she could not physically perceive the number she correctly read. Spiritual interaction during this rare and controllable hypnagogic state may also carry information, traditionally about plant medicines, lost objects, or the location of game, which can, similarly, be verified -- although, admittedly, without the phenomenal improbability of correctly identifying a 5 digit random number correctly on the first attempt! This area of what may more correctly be called sleep research can be more studied using more elegant and replicable designs, if only to find those gifted individuals who can easily transition to the specific state of hypnagogic consciousness and back in a deliberate and controlled way.
Sansonese (1994) suggests there is a "degree of genetic predisposition for falling into trance." This is something I've given considerable thought to, although it is a somewhat politically incorrect notion, that does not make it necessarily incorrect! To return, again, to the Finns, there is some research concerning the greater degree of time spent in the hypnagogic or "in between" range of consciousness during their nightly attempts to fall asleep. While some people descend down to a Delta state of consciousness quickly, falling like a stone to deep sleep, others (apparently the Finns) drift lightly down towards that state over the course of an hour or two. (I can certainly attest to the mix of jealousy and resentment in finding my friends asleep and snoring 8 minutes after laying down, while I knew I had a good hour or two before I could expect to fall asleep, if I slept at all that night.) This is, in many ways, a major inconvenience and led one sleep researcher to remark "No wonder the Finns are so miserable -- they don't sleep!" Yet, it also affords the individual with this slight hypnagogic rate-of-descent a chance to more fully experience each of the discrete ranges of consciousness, and the potential transitory perceptions contained, in that slow descent down through the spectrum of frequencies reflected in those EEG measurements.
*Note: Reference made to the Sami "lavvu" ceremony. I don't know what this is.
References
Clottes, J., Lewis-Williams, J. D., & Lewis-Williams, D. (1998). Shamans of Prehistory. Harry N Abrams.
Mavromatis, A. (1987). Hypnagogia: The unique state of consciousness between wakefulness and sleep (p. 97). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Sansonese, J. N. (1994). The body of myth: Mythology, shamanic trance, and the sacred geography of the body. Inner Traditions/Bear & Co.
Tart, C. T. (1998). Six studies of out-of-body experiences. Journal of Near-Death Studies, 17(2), 73-99.