On the Alteration of Consciousness
I've grappled with where to begin with this topic for quite some time now. What can begin as a straightforward discussion, when layers are peeled back a bit, immediately reveals itself to be anything but. There is little consensus on terms and definitions, and much debate about the purity of an ecstatic or Divine experience, as well as confusion in the modern Western experience especially between what is exciting and illuminating as opposed to actually Connected and truly ecstatic.
Yet, it feels so integral to any further discussion of ceremonial magick, ritual, or witchcraft. After all, what we seek in many cases when engaging in rituals or spellwork is a connected experience: a state of attunement and flow that reveals that Self is illusory, that this Body is simply one cell within an enormous organism, and therefore which enables direct influence over the movement of the organism as a whole. While consciousness alteration or ecstatic experience is not named in all spiritual disciplines, I would argue that all or nearly all engage in the act of seeking an altered state of consciousness one way or another: Catholics light incense, candles, and perform elaborate ceremonies involving humming or singing at specific frequencies; neo-Pagans often access natural spaces and engage in mind-altering incantations, dances, or ritual movement; Buddhists use extensive meditation practices and intentional, ritual body control; Indigenous peoples in the US and beyond still use ceremonial dances, drumbeats, smoke, tobacco, and other techniques and substances to access knowledge, Spirit, the dissolution of Self into a communal body, and so on.
However, to begin discussing consciousness alteration we must address the enormous, impossible elephant in the room: if we are to "alter" our consciousness, we should understand what our consciousness is, and what is its baseline? And here we hit our first wall: there is really no consensus on what consciousness even is, let alone a clear definition on what baseline consciousness looks like. I mean, social necessity within global techno-capitalist incentive structures have led us to create things like the DSM-V to pathologize what we imagine to be "divergent" consciousness (using the word as we do in casual conversation), but if you go outside of mainstream clinical psychology and into the realms of philosophy or the research arms of neuroscience and psychology, you find that perhaps we shouldn't take for granted that anyone knows with any certainty what baseline consciousness is or should be, or what we should define "consciousness" as to begin with.
However, beyond any specific definition or academic debate, there is an Experience that defines consciousness for us, in a way. The alteration of this Experience, then, is consciousness alteration. I occasionally use "ecstatic experience" in place of this term, but the two are not exactly interchangeable. Ecstatic experience is specifically that which is connected with the Divine, that which erodes the illusion of separate Self. Consciousness alteration, though, can include that which is induced by, say, exercise or coffee: a much milder form of euphoria or Experience shift. Though, I feel that bringing up the nebulosity and lack of consensus around terms is still important, because this Experience is not self-evident to most of us without effort. Let me explain.
While many theories of mind and consciousness and definitions of the same have been proposed by philosophers, psychologists, and neuroscientists throughout history, all encounter the critical inevitability of blind spots. The next proposal of a definition or systemic theory to describe or hypothesize about the nature of consciousness, of course, points out these blind spots, and our theories and definitions of consciousness are revised, ad nauseum. Though each new proposal glaringly admits entry of its own bias and reflects the metaphors, attitudes, and prejudice of its time period and culture, each attempts to claim that this is not occurring.
But perhaps we are trying too hard, leaning too heavily on this faculty we have decided to call "reason" or "rationality". That we all debate what consciousness is, all the while knowing generally what that thing is that we are trying to define and theorize about, should perhaps be a signpost guiding us to disengage from the discussion altogether and to stop trying to claim that there is some kind of objective definition beyond the Experience of being conscious. Therefore "is a rock conscious? Is the rock having an experience?" becomes an asinine question: of course it is. But it isn't bound by language, it doesn't have "behaviors" like animals, and we will likely never be able to comprehend what it is to be a rock, what it is like to be millions of years old, containing the elements it does, molecules arranged just so and yet performing their own dance unbeknownst to our limited perception.
This is what I mean when I say Experience. There are ways of practice that begin to unravel our lifetimes of socialization and assimilation into beings of pure rationality, ways which enable us to engage in a kind of pure knowing, pure being. Where we are able to suspend analysis, dialogue, cognitive interpretation, and find a kind of settling into the actual perception of being. Here is where we can listen to the Experience of the humming, dancing, living world around us. So this is what I mean when I say "ecstatic experience"[1]: that which is ecstasy, which is outside of cognitive ego boundary and attuned to Divine space. There are, of course, other altered states and tools for achieving them, and some are desirable spiritually in context (the focusing edge of nicotine, for instance, or a caffeinated aid to meditation) but completely benign or even detrimental outside of context.
It is here, in these altered states, that we are able to connect with the Divine. Note that the Experiential or Ecstatic state is not necessarily perfectly focused, trained, careful, or even effective at accomplishing whatever it is we set out to accomplish or find spiritually. It is not a guarantee of outcome, and to master specific practices one may wish to dedicate oneself to honing focus and training in specific techniques to attain specific ends. However, in many cases this is not the point. Such as a Catholic person attending Mass, who may reject the notion that their consciousness is being altered at all during this ceremony, but who may express a feeling of closeness to God when recalling it afterwards, the point is sometimes just that: closeness to or communication with the Divine. While this same person may feel "connected" to God in their day to day life, they would likely describe that feeling differently than the one they find at Mass. And so it is. This is the doorway.
There are almost inumerable methods for bringing oneself to a different state of conscious experience, and I cannot hope to outline them all here. It is also likely that you are aware of some of these, and so it would be unnecessary to do so. Commonly, humans tend to use some of the following broad techniques for attaining altered states of consciousness: sex, breath, exertion, body control, drugs, pain, sound, and meditation. This is not a comprehensive list. All of these can create benign, fleeting altered states or deep ecstatic experiences (or things in between) depending on how they are used. My assumption is that most of my readers are probably most familiar with meditation and drugs, though perhaps unknowingly you have engaged in other classes of techniques: fasting or restriction (body control), excessive dancing (exertion & sound), receiving piercings or tattoos (pain), BDSM or other kinks (pain, body control, sex) and so on. Though these have likely altered your consciousness, it is also likely that you did not engage in these with the express intention of having an ecstatic experience.
If your aim is to find ways to Experiential or ecstatic states, however, you must look no further than some of the above activities. There is no better aid in Divine connection than that which already is married to your context: there is no need to attempt to train for ritual hook suspension if it nauseates you, there is no need to dance your way to trance if your body is incapable of this. The door that will open for you, particularly if this kind of Practice is new to you, is the one you can see in front of you. The crucial difference between a weekend festival being a fun altered experience or a container for connection with the Divine is simply the cultivation of focus and the construction of the container. It does not have to be more complicated than this.
For example: body modification is something I am quite familiar with. I have been getting tattooed since I was 16, but never did the hormone release of a tattoo bring me to a state where I felt anything other than a slight rush. That is, until I began studying esotericism and magick, and engaging in daily meditation and periodic ritual. My curiosity piqued, and the next time I sat for a tattoo, I used the space to discuss the potential of tattooing as being a mechanism for altered experience with my artist. The following session, I engaged in a kind of meditation through the tattoo wherein I closed my eyes and instead of distracting myself from the sensation of the needle, I began to trace the pain in my mind. From there, I allowed my focus to transform the superficial sensation of the needle in my skin into a visualization of the nerve connections and action of subtle muscle movement and bloodflow activity, which flowed into a kind of quasi-psychedelic oneness experience, wherein at the point where adrenaline and endorphins began to rush through my body, the visualization of internal bodily functions transformed into a dissolution of the concept of Self as being somehow this particular corporeal form, and the internal functions flowed into the external stimuli (footsteps, music playing in the shop, people breathing and speaking) which I had been filtering out until this point. There were some personal revelations that felt like they stemmed from this dissolution, and after the tattoo I felt quite different.
In this example, all that changed was my intentionality, and notifying my artist ahead of time that I wanted to not speak during the experience. Her holding the space for me to do this without interruption or judgement was important, but nothing else physically changed. The ritual was the construction of a container: setting the intention, honing the focus through other daily practices as a prerequisite, creating the time, and following through. There was a definitive ending to the experience, when the artist laid down the machine for the final time and announced that we were finished, which is important. It is vital, even for meditation, but especially for experiences through which you connect, channel, or travel, to close the door when you are finished. It is possible that for the vast majority of you there is little risk, as most people will likely engage with these kinds of experiences honestly but casually, but especially for those who are entering altered states frequently, it is vital to maintain your mental and psychic awareness of the boundaries between day-to-day activities and Experiential states. I can perhaps go more in-depth into this concept and process in another newsletter, someday.
You can apply the basic concepts outlined in this example to nearly any activity with the potential for consciousness alteration, but a prerequisite to ecstatic experience using these methods is usually training. This means Practice: meditation, physical training, journaling, etc[2]. The exception, of course, are experiences created through the consumption of certain substances, though a similar distinction applies: you can have an altered experience with certain entheogens or other drugs, and some drugs will even almost always induce an ecstatic-type of experience. I would caution against assuming this is an easy way to open the door, however. Some drugs lead to egoistic assumptions about the experience they create by turning one inwards to their own psyche and the person misinterpreting the information as grand truths about the universe based on their expectations being calibrated accordingly, some ecstatic-type experiences are impossible to really integrate without Practice, and some are largely lauded as being a foolproof way to connect with the Divine (psychedelics especially) but can "disappoint" if the user lacks the basis for engaging with the experience (this is barely different than the previous point but different enough to be worth mentioning).
Through cognizant use of consciousness altering activities, we can elevate our rituals and Practice and attain different kinds of knowledge or connection. These Experiences can, with practice and consideration, enhance our ability to communicate with Ancestors and other beings, connect us more deeply with our purpose and context, or help us see past illusions or psychic-psychological blockers that keep us trapped in detrimental patterns, among other things. It is vital that we pair these activities and Experiences with the construction of appropriate containers for them, as well as daily Practice that grounds us and enables us to integrate and properly utilize them.
My next newsletter will continue this one tangentially, covering the uses of common legal entheogens, including Kava, Blue Lotus, Cannabis, and more. If you want to chat about how the concepts covered in this newsletter relate to your personal practice, or want advice on creating a specific experience, I'd welcome your comments or emails. As always, sharing this with a friend or supporting me on ko-fi enables me to continue my work at Rancho de la Libertad[3] and offer ritual services affordably. You are appreciated! Until next time ~
Notes:
- Even this description is incomplete, as other people in other cultures have different baselines of consciousness and experience that are shifted differently in order to align with the Experience of being and connection with the living world. Some perhaps exist in this kind of Experience always, though I cannot speak for or exist within the mind of others and this is purely speculation. Either way, generally what is being said is that consciousness alteration is a divergence from the highly analytical cognition of survival and calculated behavior. Ecstatic experience is especially divorced from these states of being, and is specifically the state in which we find ourselves most connected with the Divine.
- You can read more about this in this post
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