Trance-portation: Learning to Navigate the Inner World

Description

The ability to move from the ordinary into an altered state of consciousness is one of the most valuable skills in both magic and religion. From the ceremonial magician to the shaman, using trance work to explore inner realms is essential to the magical process of healing, transcendence, and wisdom desired throughout diverse occult and spiritual traditions. Trance-Portation offers a comprehensive and multi-spirited way to enter the inner realm.

Blending the modern world with the ancient arts, Trance-Portation's 1st three chapters, Travel Planning, Crossing the Threshold, and Getting Started, offer preparatory suggestions including meditations and relaxations, breathing, warding, shifting gears, and returning. Drawing on examples from varied traditions, from Western Mystery to Native American, Ancient Celtic to Eastern Mysticism, and peppered with folk lore and tales from popular science fiction stories, Trance-Portation explores spiritual journey work extensively, offering readers the chance to find their own ways into the inner realm, encounter their own guides and fellow travelers, and create divine relationships with the deities and gods and goddesses that they meet.

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Customer Reviews

Great starter book
This is an excellent book for those who wish to begin using trance and journey techniques. The author does a thorough job of explaining the principles behind this type of spiritual work, but what makes this book such a good resource is the practical advice. The book touches on common problems people face, includes cautions and protection ideas, as well as how to connect to Otherwordly spirits and deities and what to expect.I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in beginning this type of work; this book will give the reader a firm foundation to work from.

2010-02-09 (New England usa) | Helpful Votes: 4 | Rating: 5

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A very thorough book.
This book very thoroughly talks you through trancing, problems you might encounter, solutions to those problems, comments that others trying the lessons have made.

2009-09-09 | book addict (Bowling Green, KY USA) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 5

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A fine addition to any New Age library
Across all manner of spiritual tradition, the ability to move from an ordinary into an altered state of consciousness is one of the most valuable skills in magic and religion. Here fantasy writer Diana Paxson offers up a guideline to trance and out of body experiences, covering experimentation, memory, pathways to higher levels, and more. A fine addition to any New Age library.

2008-12-08 (Oregon, WI USA) | Helpful Votes: 7 | Rating: 5

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Great overview of Trance work
Recently I was thinking that I wanted to get back into working with Trance and meditation to deepen my spiritual practice. How very fortuitious that this book was featured on Amazon. I found the book to be well written, thoughtful and very useful, regardless of whether you are an experienced tranceworker or just a beginner. I found the writing style to be easy to read and the information practical. I highly recommend this book and intend to use it for quite awhile.

2008-12-03 | Annyarthra (Colorado) | Helpful Votes: 9 | Rating: 5

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First-Rate Training Material
Diana Paxson seems to be working her way from being a writer of enjoyable historic and mythic fantasy to being a teacher of core skills in Pagan magic and spirituality.
Trance-Portations is a textbook for personal or group training in meditation, trance and vision. The exercises and sequence were developed by Paxson over some years of teaching, and this practical background shows clearly in the book. The methods given are only barely related to any specific spiritual path, but rather could be applied by nearly anyone. The book starts at the beginning, assuming the student does too, and explains concepts right alongside of immediate exercises and basic practices, moving from there toward the highest and strangest of trance experiences. She regularly nods to the various faiths her students might bring, but whenever Paxson gives specific examples, she draws on the Pagan, Heathen and magical community. Her own cosmology and mythic context is plainly the polytheism of modern Heathenry; this makes her book very comfortable for a variety of reconstructionist and Traditional Pagan systems.
Trance-Portations is an introduction, and most of the topics get a fairly quick survey discussion, though all with solid base and depth. Plainly Paxson has chosen to focus on the practical, and the exercises given are well-designed and well-scripted. A student who actually worked their way through its program would be very well-equipped for further trance-magic and spiritual work in almost any Pagan system. Very well done!

2008-11-24 | Ian Corrigan (Madison, Ohio United States) | Helpful Votes: 16 | Rating: 5

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Marion Zimmer Bradley's Sword of Avalon

Description

Marion Zimmer Bradley's legendary saga of Avalon's extraordinary women continues with a tale of fiery visions, a lost king, and a forthcoming destiny...

Epic in its sweep and peopled by the remarkable women who have always inhabited Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley's Sword of Avalon expands the legendary saga that has enchanted millions of readers over the years and is sure to please Bradley's loyal readership and anyone who loves wonderfully told stories of history, myth, and fantasy.

A boy raised in secret after traitors kill his parents will return to Avalon-and when he does, he'll be faced with a formidable task: to prove his worth as a son of the kings and priestesses of his land and lead his followers to victory, wielding the newly-forged sword Excalibur.

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Customer Reviews

Plot vs. Romance
This is not too bad, but it seems plot and storyline were rushed if there was no spark of some kind of romance occurring. This in contrast to Mists of Avalon, where plot and storyline were supported by relationships between characters.

2010-05-04 (Lake Stevens, WA USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 3

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Avalon Books
Marion Zimmer Bradley is a great write. I have not read any of her books that I did not like.

2010-04-27 (Cheyenne, WY, US) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Another great book in the series
I really enjoyed reading this book. It is a worthy book in the Avalon series. I especially liked the characters Mikantor and Tirilan, who are reincarnations of Micail and Tirki from Ancestors of Avalon. I also liked following the story through various geographical areas, including ancient Greece. I hope there will be more books in the series.

2010-03-05 (Lansing, MI USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Packed with strong twists and turns of plot
Sword of Avalon offers another contribution to the ongoing Avalon series begun by Marion Zimmer Bradley, and will find its place alongside any of her Avalon novels. Here the Lady of Avalon flees traitors who threaten herself and her unborn child, a heir of Avalon, only to find the traitors suspect the lost heir is still alive. Anderle loses track of the boy - but her visions tell her he will return, and will be faced with a dangerous dual world challenge in this powerful fantasy, packed with strong twists and turns of plot.

2010-02-21 (Oregon, WI USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Marion Zimmer Bradley's Sword of Avalon
Set at the end of the Bronze Age, //Sword of Avalon// is a prequel to the legend of King Arthur. The priestess of Avalon saves Mikantor, a baby ordained by the gods to become a leader capable of uniting and defending his people during a time of crisis. The story follows the child as he grows up, forged by his experiences into the man capable of fulfilling his destiny. Velantos is a smith from a foreign land who befriends Mikantor and becomes a mentor and trusted advisor. Velantos' fate is intertwined with his friend's as the gods have chosen him to create a sword like none that have come before. Made from meteor iron, it is a sword fallen from the stars and blessed by the gods. An enjoyable read, the story progresses logically, but at times seems to lack intensity or passion. However, Diana L. Paxson has done her research, using archeology to provide a convincing historical context for the tale. For fans of the Arthurian legend, her credible descriptions of Bronze Age metalworking provide a plausible origin for the mythological sword Excalibur.

Reviewed by Laurie Racca

2010-02-04 | Sacramento Book Review (Sacramento, CA) | Helpful Votes: 2 | Rating: 4

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The Shield Between the Worlds: The Second Chronicle of Fionn Mac Cumhal

Description

The continuing adventures of the Celtic poet-warrior take him to the land of Faerie, where he must battle a dragon and a horde of goblins, save the lovely Donait of the Sidhe, and win the glorious Hazel Shield. Reprint. AB.

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Customer Reviews

Simply Superb!
This book along with the rest of the series truly embraces the Celtic spirit. A MUST for any with the heart of a Celtic warrior. Tis a shame to see the series out of print.

1999-06-12 | Helpful Votes: 3 | Rating: 5

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Sword of Fire and Shadow: The Third Chronicle of Fionn Mac Cumhal

Description

The aging Fionn mac Cumhal, the fabled lord of Almu who is sworn to defend his land, faces an ultimate confrontation with his enemies, who seek to overthrow him as the end of his life draws near. Reprint. PW. AB.

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Taking Up The Runes: A Complete Guide To Using Runes In Spells, Rituals, Divination, And Magic

Description

Although many of us first encountered runes in J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, this sacred alphabet is by no means a fabrication for books or movies. Similar to Hebrew letters in the sense that each symbol contains a meaning that transcends its original function as a letter, the runes are practical, flexible, and effective symbols with a variety of uses.

Today, the best known application of rune lore is divination: chips or stones marked with runes are drawn, cast, or laid out in patterns like tarot cards. In Taking Up the Runes, Paxson delves into the ancient historical meaning of each rune and explains their contemporary uses and meanings. We discover that the real power of runes comes from inside ourselves when we find the wisdom and power within each symbol and internalize them.

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Customer Reviews

A bit new agey but better than many
In this work, renowned fiction author Diana Paxson tackles practical rune-uses in magic, divination, and ritual. The book is obviously intended to be a sort of popular guide rather than a more serious piece. While there are places where the book misses the mark, there are places where it is fairly good as well. It is a good introduction to more serious works but it is not, by itself, a complete guide.

First the good:

I appreciate the fact that the author provides a fair bit of structure in her approach to runestave meanings. This is an important step which is missing from many books on the subject. This is important because it helps individuals make up their own minds and arrive at personal synthesis in this area. Some of the discussions of how to run a study group are helpful as well.

I also appreciated the fact that the rune poems were given in the original languages with inline translations. This helps to encourage individuals to think about the poems as being in their original languages and hence try to investigate their own translations. When I do a second edition of "The Serpent and the Eagle," I will probably follow that approach.

Now the bad:

As the author points out, the Runes are a cultural expression of a specific set of people at a specific point in time. Unfortunately she then compares spiritual systems to foreign food and suggests that we can mix and match as we find it helpful with very little structure. Much of the approach from that point on ends up much more reminiscent of Hermeticism and related traditions and there is a clear Wiccan influence. (Among other things she refers to menstrual blood as "moon blood" without noting that Germanic languages and traditions see the Moon as a male mythological figure.) This is unfortunate because it provides a shallower approach to the tradition as a whole.

A second problem occurs with the treatment of the Old Icelandic Rune Poem. The original sources include two sets of material not covered in this book. The first is a set of glosses in Latin (Aurum for Fe, Umbre for Ur, Saturnus for Thurs, etc). Often times, the investigation of these glosses provides important material for understanding the Runes. In some cases, this can be very interesting. For example As is glossed as "Jupiter" and Naudh is glossed as "opera" (meaning "work").

The second set of material omitted are the listings of leader titles alliterating with the stave name. Once again, these can be quite important to understanding the staves.

Additionally I think there is some merit to the criticism of the bibliography, which is robust in some areas, lacking in some parts, and way off in left field in others (a substantial number of contemporary fiction works by the author and others appear there).

My other complaints are mild and not really the author's fault. The pages are printed on off-white paper which is designed to make the book thicker than necessary. The font is made larger than necessary. There are white space issues with the first page. Really the book design looks like it was done either to make the book appear more substantial than it is, and the book design seems remarkably amateurish for a publisher like Weiser. The cover mentions the author's fictional works which are really unrelated to the current book. If you are a book design nerd, you won't be able to stand this book.

Overall:

I think this book is alright in its proper context. Certainly if someone wants to get into the Runes from a Wiccan background this book and "A Practical Guide to the Runes" by Lisa Peschal are good choices. However, it is not a serious textbook and is not meant to be. I would recommend it to some people but not others, hence a 3 star rating.

2009-11-02 | Einhverfr (Chelan, WA) | Helpful Votes: 4 | Rating: 3

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Invaluable resource
If you can only afford to buy one rune book I recommend this one. Not only because the author includes a wide variety of valuable information and suggestions, but because she extensively quotes and references many of the other most often recommended rune authors including Aswynn and Gundarsson. Because of this through buying this book you get the advantage of the knowledge contained in the other authors' books as well. I liked the set up of the book, with each chapter featuring two paired runes and including the Icelandic, Norwegian, and Anglo-Saxon rune poems, as well as suggestions for divinatory meanings and magical uses. While the ritual and meditation suggestions might not be to everyone's taste they do serve to illustrate the possibilities, and could easily be tailored to suit the individual. As another reviewer pointed out this is not a historical a study of the ancient runes, but rather a modern exploration of the uses of the runes in the world today and it serves that purpose very well. Also it was designed based on a series of classes taught by the author and lends itself very well to study groups, particularly those structured (as the author suggests) over a longer period of time. Personally I have read it through, used it for a study group, and keep it on hand as a convenient reference.

2009-02-05 (New England usa) | Helpful Votes: 4 | Rating: 5

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Taking Up The Runes
Very complicated, but if it sparks an interest it is well worth the read. I'm into the Celts right now, but I've held a bag of runes that just stoked heat our of it into my hands. Check them out.

2009-01-26 | Bead Animal (Marshalltown, IA USA) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 3

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excellent rune-lore!
I enormously enjoyed and appreciated this book!
A long-awaited tome from one of the leading lights of the Norse revival. Diana L. Paxon is well known to many as a prolific author of fine historical fantasies, including the Wodan's Children trilogy and her current continuation of the Mists of Avalon series begun by Marion Zimmer Bradley. Yet to some she is also well respected for her work with the Ring of Troth and the Hrafner kindred, which has revived the ancient oracular practice of seid-working.
This is a major work arising from years of study, a series of practicing runic workshops, and the contributions of many others in the Nine Worlds of Norse retro-heathenism. It collects an immense amount of both academic scholarship and traditional and modern lore, and weaves it all together into a complete course of initiation into the runic cosmos of divination and sorcery. One of the elements that distinguished the revival of Asatru is the reliance on genuine history and surviving texts, as opposed to the all too frequent Wiccan tendency to just make up happy fantasies about the Celts. This is a substantial and comprehensive work of Old Norse secrets, revealed in the New World. Very highly recommended indeed!
The other reliable pagan writers in the field include Edred Thorsson, Freya Aswynn, Kveldulf Gundarsson, Nigel Pennick, Jan Fries, and many academic sources. Avoid New Age fluff at all costs! And read the Eddas as soon as possible.

2008-07-21 | cognitive dissident (Seattle, WA) | Helpful Votes: 3 | Rating: 5

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Wonderful Rune Resource
Diana Paxson is one of the experts in this field and her book is a treasure. It's easily read and understood. Great experiential exercises to really get one in touch with the Runes.

2008-02-02 (Portland, OR, USA) | Helpful Votes: 2 | Rating: 5

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Essential Asatru: Walking the Path of Norse Paganism

Product Details

• Notes: BUY WITH Assurance, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and serving to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
• Adapt: New
• ISBN13: 9780806527086

Description

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Customer Reviews

Good Intro to Norse Paganism
I found this book to be an excellent intro to the Norse path. The section on the virtues is especially helpful.

2010-06-28 | Larame (Tahlequah, OK USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Seems A Good Introduction

As the title says, seems a good introduction. It is the first book on Asatru I've read. I can't say anything about how it compares to other intro books that I have not read. So now I'm browsing reviews here on Amazon of other books on the topic and the ones mentioned in this book.

The book has done it's job quite well, I'd say.

2010-03-22 | bookreading mom (Portland, OR USA) | Helpful Votes: 2 | Rating: 5

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Fluffy crap presenting itself as fact.
This book is a nice read, too bad it is NOT based on real lore. It uses too much personal interpretation on the authors part and not enough actual research from the available lore. If you are into modern revisionism it may help you, if you want to actually learn the ways of our ancestors don't waste your money.

2009-09-29 | JDBatman (Alabama) | Helpful Votes: 4 | Rating: 1

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Great introduction
A great introduction into the Norse Pagan path. I especially like the section in the book that discusses the Gods and Goddesses in detail. Very insightful-thanks Diana!

2009-05-26 (Miami, Fl. USA) | Helpful Votes: 2 | Rating: 4

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New to Asatru? Look no further!
When trying to find a book to give me the basic rundown of the Asatru faith, our folkways, our religious practices, our lore, history and magic, I found that there were many options and I had no idea which book or books to choose. I happened to pick this one up (along with a few others) and I have to say that this is my top pick for the new Asatruar seeking information about their native faith.

If you are new to Asatru, solitary and confused about the folkways, holy days and rites, or just wanting to feel more connected and become more knowledgeable, this is the introductory Asatru book for you! What really sets Paxson's book aside is in its warmth, and the very real imagery she creates of a Heathen gathering. Her fictional entries which are used to represent the feel of a real kindred and a real heathen gathering, are truly splendid. They help you to understand what to expect, and they introduce you to the spirit of the faith. She gives all of the necessary information including history and Sumble etiquette, and even an excellent rundown of the many international organizations available to Asatruar.

Paxson's writing style is very warm and easy to read. The book is engaging and enjoyable, even making the general history of our folk into a very interesting read without feeling like a college lecture!

Upon finishing the book, I felt that this one was the most complete introductory guide to Asatru that I have seen to date. I highly recommend it for new Asatruar and those who want to share information about the faith with friends and family.

2009-04-05 | Helpful Votes: 4 | Rating: 5

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