Ad Astra Grove ADF
  • By-Laws
  • Druid on the Prairie

Consciousness

2/3/2012

0 Comments

 
Picture

Magic has been defined, and I believe correctly, as a willful change of consciousness. Consciousness is a very interesting word.  It can be somewhat subjective.  I wish I knew how many times I have read someone post on the internet about how society needs to “Wake Up,” to some rather important ranting point they were making.  We had consciousness raising in the 60’s and 70’s for various issues. We also use the term to mean how we feel or experience the world around us.  Is consciousness simply just a state of waking or sleep? Is consciousness tied solely to physical properties such as whether a person is experiencing good health, psychosis, dementia, or some other mental disorder?

What exactly do we mean when we say changing our consciousness at will?  I know what I mean by the statement.  I tend to do a great deal of trance work. Trance work takes me into the inner realms of my mind, sometimes in ways that make drug use look rather tame (or at least what I imagine drug use to be like).  I can not think of a better way to tell you about a change of consciousness as I understand it.  Trance work changes how I see my world and self well beyond the time spent in the trance proper. I use various methods to achieve the desired change.  Meditation is one way in, dance is another.  Drumming often helps.  There seems to be as many different types of trance as there seems to be types of consciousness.  Sometime it is a bit like sleep walking, other times I have full visions.

I recently read a story about a woman who had been in a car crash that had left her as a vegetable.  They hooked her up to an MRI scanner and talked to her.

“So picture the astonishment of British and Belgian scientists as they scanned her brain using a kind of MRI that detects blood flow to active parts of the brain. When they recited sentences, the parts involved in language lit up. When they asked her to imagine visiting the rooms of her house, the parts involved in navigating space and recognizing places ramped up. And when they asked her to imagine playing tennis, the regions that trigger motion joined in. Indeed, her scans were barely different from those of healthy volunteers. The woman, it appears, had glimmerings of consciousness.”1


This points to something I wonder about, is consciousness only fully known from the inside of our minds?  Are dreams then a type of consciousness? I think this is very close to what trance does.  It allows us to experience the world as fully and real as the physical, even when we are not really moving in it.


Many people I know would view trance work as just a small part of magic. How then do we define magic? Is magic solely an internal experience?  What are your thoughts?


0 Comments

    Author

    Amanda Thomas is the Grove Organizer for the Ad Astra Grove.  She also serves on the Topeka Interfaith Council.

    Hera Lakeshore is a practicing druid and contributor to the Ad Astra Grove blog.

    Follow this blog
    Picture

    Archives

    May 2016
    December 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    August 2014
    April 2014
    February 2014
    September 2013
    August 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    October 2012
    September 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011

    Categories

    All
    Afterlife
    Alpha
    Alphabet
    Ancestors
    Ancient Greek
    Aphrodite
    Asphodel
    Athena
    Axis Mundi
    Bear
    Beauty
    Bee
    Beltane
    Book Porn
    Changes
    Chartered
    Clover
    Consciousness
    Cow
    Death
    Dionysus
    Divination
    Dp
    Eta
    Evil
    Experience
    Fire
    Gaia
    Gods
    Grove
    Growth
    Hades
    Hearth Culture
    Hera
    Holidays
    Imbolc
    Initiates Path
    Interfaith
    Leadership
    Liturgy
    Meditation
    Nature Awareness
    Nature Spirits
    Nine Virtues
    Oath
    Omens
    Oracle
    Ostara
    Pagan Blog Project
    Pagan Fire Seminar
    Pi
    Play
    Rite
    Ritual
    Ritual Roles
    Sacred Space
    Sacred Story
    Samhain
    Sigma
    Spirituality
    Strengths
    Tau
    Thana Doula
    The Dark
    The Light
    Three Kindreds
    Topeka Interfaith
    Trance
    Two Powers
    World Tree
    Yule

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.