Trance Journeys of the Hunter-Gatherers: Ecstatic Practices to Reconnect with the Great Mother and Heal the Earth

Description

Regaining oneness with the Earth through the practice of ecstatic trance * Explains how the shamanic techniques of ecstatic trance allow us to connect with animal spirit guides, shape-shift, and discover ways to help heal the Earth * Shows how to create personal rituals to maintain oneness with the Earth and all life * Illustrates trance postures and rituals from a variety of hunter-gatherer societies, including ancient Celtic, Norse, Native American, and South American traditions Early man ran with the animals, lived with the animals, and was one with the wild symphony of the natural world--a time fondly remembered as the Garden of Eden, or Idunn as it is known in Norse mythology. But as humanity shifted from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to one of farming and cities, embracing the modern worldview of man's superiority over nature, we began ignoring our innate connection with the Earth. Now we are waking up to what we've lost, yearning to heal our relationship with the Earth and rekindle the oneness with nature that we naturally enjoyed as children. Drawing on the work of Felicitas Goodman, Thomas Berry, Ervin Laszlo, and other important voices calling for recognition of our connection with all life, author Nicholas Brink shows how ecstatic trance can return us to profound union with our Great Mother, the Earth. He details the specific healing and spiritual powers of trance postures and rituals from a variety of hunter-gatherer societies, including ancient Celtic, Norse, Native American, and South American traditions. He explains how the shamanic techniques of ecstatic trance allow us to access waking-dreamlike visions where we can connect with animal spirit guides, the six directions, and the seasons and discover ways to help heal the Earth. We can shape-shift to see through the eyes of each species of flora and fauna, interacting with life-forms in the skies, on land, in the seas, and underground, as well as journey to the realm of the dead to meet our ancestors. Sharing personal trance experiences of healing, spiritual connection, and divination, Brink shows how these practices enable us to create personal rituals to maintain oneness with all life. He reveals the spiritual power of being one with your environment and experiencing the spirits of everything around you. And, as we reconnect with the spirit of the Earth, we can once again experience the world not only as alive but also enchanted.

Nicholas E. Brink, Ph.D., is a psychologist and a certified teacher of ecstatic trance with the Cuyamungue Institute. Board certified by the American Board of Professional Psychology, he is the author of several books, including The Power of Ecstatic Trance. He lives in Coburn, Pennsylvania.

"Nicholas Brink's readable and well-documented book offers the perfect antidote for humanity's dis-ease at this juncture in our evolutionary path. With compelling clarity, Brink illustrates how ecstatic trance and the energy of the ritual which supports it can guide modern, urban humans to mature into a spiritually conscious elderhood, as well as nourishing our soul's hunger for ecstasy. Brink has an astonishing ability to weave anecdotal evidence from more than 2000 journal entries to support his thesis: ecstatic trance offers an experience of interconnectedness with all life, indeed, even with the cosmos which sustains us, that changes our personal storyline. This direct experience of oneness reanimates our shamanic consciousness, re-enchants our imaginations and unleashes our inherent creativity so we can contribute to the cultural transformation being called for by the planet." * Deborah J. Milton, Ph.D., certified teacher of Ecstatic Postures * "Nicholas Brink's Trance Journeys of the Hunter-Gatherers suggests ecstatic trance is the most visceral way to be one with Earth. We speak the language of the goddess when we use sacred body postures to embrace our inherent shamanic powers. His hugely important book matures our ecstatic trance work since 1977, the year Felicitas Goodman found the magical key into the hunter-gatherer world. Sacred postures are now spreading all over the world, helping us regain our full spiritual consciousness, the fabled New Dawn. As more and more people use daily ritual to stay directly connected with Earth, the Great Mother nurtures them by offering her knowledge. This book is a must-read for anyone who wants to explore shamanism to help save the Earth." * Barbara Hand Clow, author of The Mind Chronicles and certified teacher for the Cuyamungue Institute * "We are indeed entering a new era in the eventful history of humankind on the planet. This can only be an era where we recognize our common origins and essential connections to each other, to the Earth, and to the cosmos; for it will either be an era of this 're-cognition' or it will not be an era at all but the end of the human adventure. Nicholas Brink helps us access this deeper reality the ancients called the Akasha and that the new physics knows is the deeper reality of the cosmos. His book is a precious resource and a great contribution to our shared future." * Ervin Laszlo, author of The Immortal Mind * "Trance Journeys of the Hunter-Gatherers is a masterful call to action with a passionate vision for how we can effectively participate in the time-critical, eco-spiritual awakening that is occurring now in Earth's evolution. . . . Nick Brink has formulated a brilliant new spiritual lexicon to help us access and unlock the deeper meaning expressed in our multidimensional metaphoric journeys. For anyone who has had an experience with the ritual postures, or is considering learning more about them, reading this book is as close an experience that one could have to intrinsically feel the magnificence of what is truly possible in regaining our cosmic spiritual citizenship as evolutionary co-creators with Mother Earth." * Marianne Carroll, astrologer and certified instructor in the Cuyamungue Method of ecstatic ritual tr *