Trance-Portation
Learning to Navigate the Inner World
by Diana L. Paxson

This 277 page read was nothing short of stupendous, eye-opening and a blessed guide, as it taught me section by section, suggestion by suggestion how to reach places I had never even dreamed of before. The author, a spiritual leader and teacher in her own right brings a unique and commanding style unmistakeably hers. She has brought us impressive bundles before and this big fella is no different.

I learned enlightened stuff like how to ground and center. I also learned about clearing the mind, channeling and a whole bunch more. This was one of those journeys I just couldn't put down. I would recommend this well presented, well intentioned, much needed teacher to anyone wanting help navigating the inner planes. Thanks Diana, you have decidedly done it again.

Love & Light,

Riki Frahmann ( )

I need to mention that I have never taken any of Diana Paxson's workshops, nor read any of the rest of her books. I am not a co-religionist. This is a review as a stand-alone, not fitting the book into her Tradition. Diana Paxson has been studying shamanic and mystical altered states of perception / altered states of consciousness for decades, from Christian, Pagan, and historical perspectives.

The book Trance-Portation is a manual on running a class on going into trance. It is not a book that one reads to learn the techniques. Trance-Portation chapters are a series of classes and they work better when done as a group, in series, and talking with the group about them or at least journaling about them so that you can think about them deeply, over time.

Not having the class, nor the months to go through it correctly, my review must be seen as incomplete and literary as opposed to as the author intends the book to be used. She uses some jargon and special terminology, but this is a specialized topic, so that usage is necessary. Unfortunately, her terminology is related to her spiritual path and I found it confusing as I do not have the context. I do trance-work and I found her explanations confusing. Perhaps if I was coming at the study with no preconceived notions it would have made more sense.

I was somewhat put off by her lighthearted allusions to literature not everybody may have read, and name dropping of names of people of whom not everyone has heard. The examples are confusing [move counterclockwise, unless you are Hellenic. p. 19 (no description of what Hellenic is).] The book is not dense, but I found it difficult. The mood moved from casual to academic to personal within paragraphs. I am sure that someone who shares Ms. Paxson's religion, or one with the advantage of a class or study group to learn the skills would be better off. I needed to read and re-read in order to get the idea she was presenting. Homework and rituals need to be done in order to understand why she considered them important. I was not comfortable with her rituals or mixture of bits and pieces of different faiths without explaining what those faiths were, and how, if at all, they interact.

I read beyond the first lessons, but because the book is based on cumulative learning, I became more frustrated as I read on. ( )

The main text and workbook for Trancegaias. Paxson has created a general workbook for those pursuing the art and craft of trancework. The book guides the reader through the basic steps of grounding, warding and construction of a "basecamp" while addressing common issues of trancework including those who trance to easily and those who struggle to trance at all, as well as who and what you might meet in other worlds and so on. Paxson herself is a Heathen and a Priestess who, with her group Hrafnar (http://www.hrafnar.com), have been bringing the Norse oracular trance tradition of Seidh to the wider Pagan community for over 25 years.

The main text and workbook for our studies. Paxson has created a general workbook for those pursuing the art and craft of trancework. The book guides the reader through the basic steps of grounding, warding and construction of a "basecamp" while addressing common issues of trancework including those who trance to easily and those who struggle to trance at all, as well as who and what you might meet in other worlds and so on. Paxson herself is a Heathen and a Priestess who, with her group Hrafnar (http://www.hrafnar.org), have been bringing the Norse oracular trance tradition of Seidh to the wider Pagan community for over 25 years.

The information contained in this book may be sound, but I found the style of delivery rather dry and uninspiring; I had to push myself to read the book, as it was part of a book club group read. I am not a newcomer to trance, and perhaps this made it more difficult for me to engage with the information provided.

The book is designed to be read over a period of months, as each chapter's exercise is undertaken and understood before moving on to the next.

There appears to be a serious flaw with the book: the author assumes every reader is capable of adapting each exercise to their own tradition, but this is not always the case. For instance, if the reader is also new to particular path, faith or tradition they will have no understanding of the landscape traversed by followers, or the deities, entities, etc. and, as such, will not know how to adapt the exercises therein. Although Paxson does provide some examples, these are not comprehensive and this could leave a newcomer rather at a loss.

For the reasons above, I am not sure I could recommend it to others even though the core of the information is solid. ( )