City Magick: Urban Rituals, Spells and Shamanism - Christopher Penczak 2001
Dance
The New Urban Temples
Many magical ceremonies use the more exhibitory method of dance to get into a trance. These techniques are more physical and include all types of dance and movement. Dance clubs have replaced these ceremonies in our culture, providing the beat background for these magical mindscapes. If you really get into dancing, have you ever noticed how it seems to take you someplace else? Your entire worldview changes, as when someone unexpectedly throws a ball at you. In that moment, the world stands still. You have time to react and grab the ball. Your interaction with the universe changes for that time. A new point of view opens. You enter a gnosis, or meditative state, in a completely different way. Through dance, you can enter a similar, but extended, trance state in which the world changes.
Modern dance music, like techno-music, has a beat roughly double the human heart rate. Many think that to enter a trance state, the music has to be slow, lowering your brain waves, but modern research into sound, however, has shown something shamans have known for a while. The beat needs to be fast-usually around 120 to 160 beats per minute. When shamans do their travels, their spouses or protégés beat the drum. The shaman rides the sound of the drum into the other worlds. It leads them to a World Tree or mountain, helping them on their journey. DJs and musicians have that role for us now, keeping the steady beat of the universe while we travel. Let the new music lead you to the rapture of these temples. Find your own journey.
At first, the experience can start by simply opening your perceptions, much like your sidewalking adventures. Energy becomes more apparent, either through second sight, or through sensing the shift in vibrations. Auras and spirits can become visible. Sometimes, you are vaguely aware of being somewhere else. You are working on a higher level, and the music facilitates this shift. If you are not consciously aware of the shamanic journey, it usually shows up in dreams, or the memories can be triggered by a word, picture, or name.
Some of the journeys feel like bi-location-being in two places at once. You know you are still in the club, but you are aware of someplace else. You feel as if there are two of you, and you are more conscious of the total experience. You will probably remember this open-eyed trance and all the experiences associated with it. At first, it can be quite disconcerting to feel as if you exist in two places at once. In truth, we are all multidimensional. We all exist in many different places and on many different levels of existence. You are opening to the endless possibilities.
During a dancing trance state, you open up the lines of communication to the spirit worlds. I have had some of my best conversations with spirits while dancing. They entailed no journey or invocation, just a simple message in my head. There’s no telling where ecstatic dance magick can lead you, if you let it. Though it can be done in the privacy of your own home to start, there is something magical about being in a crowd of people, each on their own journey, whether they realize it or not. The sound, lights, smoke, and crowd all play an important factor in such magick.
Whenever you start any kind of journey, it’s good to have an intention in mind. Is there a goal to your journey? Make one. It can be knowledge or insight about a particular situation in your life. It can be for the simple purpose of seeing what happens. Just make an intention. You only get what you put out to the universe. If you ask for nothing, quite often you get nothing. Once you have an intention, continue on to the next exercise.
EXERCISE 24 - DANCE MAGICK
Start by firmly repeating your intention for this magical, eyes-wide-open journey. Reaffirm your protective shield, as in Exercise 4 (see page 27). After experimenting with it once, you can combine this dance magick with the previous glamour or riding exercises, enhancing the overall experience. Before dancing, you may want to take a ritual sacrament to set the tone for your work.
When you decide you are ready to dance, go out onto the floor and basically follow the simple guidelines found in Exercise 6 (see page 34). Let the music carry you away, until you are no longer thinking, no longer acting from the ego, but acting only from instinct.
Allow your perceptions to open up at first, and take notice. You may see aura or patches of energy with your magical sight. You may see spirits and other people’s invisible guardians. Enjoy this voyeurism for a time. People are there to be noticed. You are simply noticing them with a different pair of eyes.
Accept whatever thoughts, sensations, feelings, and images come to you. The journey will not be as all-encompassing as a shamanic journey you take with your eyes closed and focused completely on the second reality. Here, you will be playing with both realities. The journey, or information, can be more disjointed and jumbled. You may travel to the sky cities and hidden worlds, or go to unfamiliar terrain. Do not try to intellectualize it. Simply experience. You can figure it out later.
When the experience comes to an end, slowly bring yourself out. Come off the dance floor and relax for a bit. Look around. Think about what you have experienced. Ground yourself and feel back in the here-and-now. Thank the powers that worked with you for the journey and leave when you are ready, or continue on with the night.
One final thought for rituals in these club temples. You can work with all manner of spirits, those in a body, those without flesh, and those inside yours. You can journey to them and they can come to you. Know the banishing techniques from chapter 3 and feel confident working with them. Use care, common sense, and intuition when dealing with any unfamiliar spirits. Stick with those you know until you are comfortable in your own power and the process itself.