Metu Neter - Vols I - II - III : Possession and Trance: Whats the Difference?

Hetepu,

I been very confused with understanding the difference between being in a state of possession and being in a deep state of trance. I understand that being in a state of trance can or may lead to a state of possession but what takes over the physical body? Is it one's Shepsu (ancestors), a deity, or is it simply the spirit that has taken over the will.

Can some one please explain the mechanics of these experiences?

Tua

Heru Nefer

Hetepu

Thats a good question. From my own experience, and how I have shaped my understanding via Metu Neter, having a partner to help facilitate and having ritual aids (colors, music, scents ect) set the grounds for the agency to be invoked. My understanding of possesion is usually in a mediumistic state and Deep trance is the esctatic modality where internal work is being done (when you don't let the left hand know what the right is doing) and the Will is intentional/active. The drum is a key device in cultivating the trance state for possesion and depending on the aids one could be open for sheps or the Neteru that corresponds to ones clan. The phenomenon is interconnected so the observer usually can differentiate (what modality/spirit has been invoked) or the initiate themselves makes the determination from hindsight. Tua Shepsu

Tua-u MenNefer for the insight.

That has been a question that has been plaguing my mind for some time now because I have experience, i guess, mediumistic trances and i could never explain it. For example, I have been doing some private rituals in my home/dorm and my person would speak against my control. The speaking comes out very sporadic and feels impulsive and what comes out are usually just grunts and the deep guttural yelling of the chants, but other times there are instructions and/or concepts that are said (i.e "start introducing yourself as khent neter"). Other times I dance, but its an african dance, which i have never done before! Is this my spirit talking/taking over or it is my Shepsu?

This experiences always occur when I do a Heru ritual.

I'd like to add, from my understanding, there are various types of trances. I've read about the different types of trance and according the dynamic presented via Medu Neter and my associated experiences. PPl actually go in various types of trances all the time. One of the common ones we use is when we are in learning mode. In class for instance we intuitly set our minds to be open for the new things we need to learn. The other common one is when we're watching TV or a Movie. Our minds are ripe for the picking. In one of the new X-Clan joints(songs) Brotha J talks about how that aspect of our mind is sold to the highest bidder. ( I think the song is called ''Why you doing that'') Think of the super bowl and how much a company spends. For what???? There is a big reason ......... ( let me stop here and pull out of this tangent while I still can)
Trances
I was also told by a Priestess (this was about ten years ago at the old A.A.S building in Brooklyn) that there was a one type of trance that was the total opposite of most by way of ignoring or going against your common habits or something to that effect. I'll see if I can find that info again. Good subject tho, thanx for putting it out there.

peace.

Aaskënö'kêôk. Të'ë niyutyéê, Khent Neter?

Brother, it sounds like your shepsu are communicating with you via your spirit in a more trance state than actual mediumistic possession. Learn your lessons, heed the messages and trust always... trust spirit. Keep a record book, if you haven't already. I bet your dreams are true revelations and communications as well. Keep a dream book, also. I find the burning of acacia and althea with a dash of myrrh to be helpful at times for open channels.

As stated, brother, I doubt it's a "passing a spirit" (possession) occurrence. Most people can not recall their experience when they "pass a spirit" because of the nature of the experience. My wife, at a Vodou ceremony, once "passed a spirit". She had no real intent to do so and actually only attended the ceremony to support me. We were dating back then and she knew next to nothing about Vodou. My wife is Ghananian and at the ceremony, an African spirit, from Ghana possessed her. We concluded that because my wife sit on the ground and actually was tossing sand over herself in a manner similiar to Ghananian priestesses. To this day, my wife doesn't recall the event and only knows about it because I told her and she was gritty when she came back.

I'm a follower and practitioner of African and indigenous American spiritual modalities and have a certain familiarity to both trance and possession. Sometimes, at home after smudging my area with cedar, sweetgrass and sage, I listen to flute music and drift into trance. During my journeying, I've learned new divination techniques, herbal combinations, valuable metaphysical lessons, ancestral history and events, food recipes, and new concepts. My great great great grandfather was a medicine man and through his spiritual communion, I've learned many spiritual things, even how to shapeshift. My trance adventures I can recall and decipher for my own growth and development.

Blackbird (living in two worlds and walking two roads)