Greetings my brothers and sisters. I have been a spiritual Satanist for about a two years now but I am getting back into my practice after a few months of hiatus. I have always had trouble with trance meditation and no matter what I do, I cannot enter them. Whenever I am on the brink of entering a trance, it is as if I am "pulled" out before I get the chance. This has brought frustration in my practice. I have tried various methods and none of them have worked. Could you help me with this issue?

By "being pulled out", are you describing hypnagogic jerks?

That would describe it, yes. A jerking or pulling motion. :|

⛧卐ॐ said:

That would describe it, yes. A jerking or pulling motion. :|

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I used to get those all the time, and still do occasionally. I also have trouble getting into trances and I suspect that these jerks are coming from the body falling asleep but being startled back awake by the mind, which has not slowed down in unison with the body.

Maybe we aren't ready to tackle trances yet. I don't know what your situation is like but for me I find it difficult to slow down and be still, focused & in the moment, both in mind and in body. If this is how things are for you then I think this shows that we need to practice void meditation and slow breathing exercises to develop the concentration and relaxation skills necessary to reach the trance state.

Another thing is that it can be hard to tell if you're in a trance if you lack experience with them. Maybe you are reaching a light trance but because it doesn't feel significantly different enough for you to realize it, you believe that you have yet to reach it at all. The frustration of this makes your mind move along more rapidly and it feeds into itself. So, the lesson here is to be more aware of how you're feeling and to be patient and observant. And make sure to minimize distractions.

It's a skill, not an innate ability. It takes time to develop and if you don't have a solid foundation for it(focus, awareness, etc) then it's going to be difficult to build.

curio said:

⛧卐ॐ said:

That would describe it, yes. A jerking or pulling motion. :|

Click to expand...

I used to get those all the time, and still do occasionally. I also have trouble getting into trances and I suspect that these jerks are coming from the body falling asleep but being startled back awake by the mind, which has not slowed down in unison with the body.

Maybe we aren't ready to tackle trances yet. I don't know what your situation is like but for me I find it difficult to slow down and be still, focused & in the moment, both in mind and in body. If this is how things are for you then I think this shows that we need to practice void meditation and slow breathing exercises to develop the concentration and relaxation skills necessary to reach the trance state.

Another thing is that it can be hard to tell if you're in a trance if you lack experience with them. Maybe you are reaching a light trance but because it doesn't feel significantly different enough for you to realize it, you believe that you have yet to reach it at all. The frustration of this makes your mind move along more rapidly and it feeds into itself. So, the lesson here is to be more aware of how you're feeling and to be patient and observant. And make sure to minimize distractions.

It's a skill, not an innate ability. It takes time to develop and if you don't have a solid foundation for it(focus, awareness, etc) then it's going to be difficult to build.

Click to expand...

Thank you for the advice! I will work on my skills and see what I can do to advance them.

curio said:

⛧卐ॐ said:

That would describe it, yes. A jerking or pulling motion. :|

Click to expand...

I used to get those all the time, and still do occasionally. I also have trouble getting into trances and I suspect that these jerks are coming from the body falling asleep but being startled back awake by the mind, which has not slowed down in unison with the body.

Maybe we aren't ready to tackle trances yet. I don't know what your situation is like but for me I find it difficult to slow down and be still, focused & in the moment, both in mind and in body. If this is how things are for you then I think this shows that we need to practice void meditation and slow breathing exercises to develop the concentration and relaxation skills necessary to reach the trance state.

Another thing is that it can be hard to tell if you're in a trance if you lack experience with them. Maybe you are reaching a light trance but because it doesn't feel significantly different enough for you to realize it, you believe that you have yet to reach it at all. The frustration of this makes your mind move along more rapidly and it feeds into itself. So, the lesson here is to be more aware of how you're feeling and to be patient and observant. And make sure to minimize distractions.

It's a skill, not an innate ability. It takes time to develop and if you don't have a solid foundation for it(focus, awareness, etc) then it's going to be difficult to build.

Click to expand...

Very well put. I too have yet to develop this. I'm currently seeking to strengthen my ability with void meditation.

I'd also like to add that expectations regarding the effects can mess up the process. Like you said for example, if you reach a light trance but you expect it to feel more different, or stronger, etc. Then you spend a long time trying and can't get to feel what you expect. It's important to remain open, in the sense of not having any specific expectations regarding the effects of the meditation/exercise, and just being open for whatever effects that may come. Letting go of any thoughts regarding the state you wish to achieve, and just engaging in the very process of the exercise as if it was the best thing to do in life.

After all, if during the process we have any thoughts about the effects we wish to achieve, then we're not really void-meditating. So you have to honestly tell your mind to put this thought aside. You can always retrieve it later

Gently, my mind escapes into the relaxing mode of pleasure. A pleasure that will take my mind off the reality of my life. My past life...life as I know it now. And whatever may come, it slowly disappears to somewhere in the back of my mind. It will remain there until I wish to retrieve it.

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The above is an excerpt from a song by Slipknot called Gently. They're not a spiritual band at all, but this song personally describes to me the anxieties that sometimes we can have about thoughts. Sometimes you may try to meditate and you may have a hard time with it because there is a thought coming up, and it may be about something that you regard as important. Just let the thought disappear for that moment, with no fear of "losing" it. You can always retrieve it later whenever you wish.

Entering a trance isn't terribly hard, but it takes practice for sure to go anywhere beyond a light trance.

I still get the jerking motions too sometimes when I'm getting into a light trance state. The way I avoid this is by almost completely 'disconnecting' from my body;

- 1: Breathe until you can't really feel your body anymore

- 2: Work your way through your body and imagine a cold feeling coming over you as everything in your physical body goes to sleep, or rests

- 2.1: When calming / resting your body, focus on key areas as you go, and affirm to yourself it's relaxing and releasing any and all negative energy.

- 3: Focus on your breathing or another thing until you can't feel your body completely

- 4: Do the mental falling effect exercise (I personally relive a sky diving dream I once had)

After this point I typically enter a light to medium trance state, and visualization is MUCH easier


Hope this helped!