Lifting the Veil – A Witches’ Guide to Trance-Prophesy, Drawing Down the Moon, and Ecstatic Ritual
By Janet Farrar & Gavin Bone
Marion Street Press Inc. 252 p.
ISBN 9781936863853
available in NL via Bol.com from 1st June 2016
In March 2003, Pagan Federation International was one of the organizers for the first European Inner Mysteries Weekend (and later the Trance-Prophesy Intensives) led by Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone. As an attendee, I later wrote a review of the weekend. I was highly impressed with the many taboos which Janet & Gavin dealt with regarding Trance-Prophesy and Drawing Down the Moon. I am now extremely pleased to see that many of these subjects are described and dealt with in their new book Lifting the Veil.
In the advance notice, we read “Written to fill an existing gap in the currently available knowledge on trance, prophesy, deity-possession, and mediumship within the neo-Pagan and Wiccan communities, Lifting the Veil was developed from Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone’s personal work and public workshops on trance-prophesy and ecstatic ritual over the last 20 years. The book covers the history and modern practice of trance as well as the methods of practice, including ecstatic ritual, drawing down the moon, sex magic, and working with the spirits of the dead. It also explores the Four Keys, which include the importance of understanding mythical cosmology and psychology, understanding the role of energy in trance, the nature of spirits and deity, and understanding what trance is and the techniques involved. Because trance-prophesy is a very subjective process, the book includes descriptions of the personal experiences of others and transcriptions from several independent sessions by modern seers and priestesses”.
The contents include a foreword by M. Macha NightMare followed by
Part I: The History of Trance in Ancient and Contemporary Pagan Spiritual Tradition.
Part II: The Four Keys to Trance-Prophecy: The Methodology of Oracular work, which include;
The First Key: Understanding Spiritual Cosmology
The Second Key: Understanding Spiritual Energy
The Third Key: Understanding Trance and Its Techniques
The Fourth Key: Understanding Divinity and Spirits
Part III The Practice of Trance, Prophecy, and Possession in Modern Paganism and Witchcraft, is perhaps the most interesting section since it includes the “Underworld descent technique” and recollections of the Trance Prophecy workshops.
Anyone who is interested in trance work and oracular work (seership) will definitely benefit from reading this book. Highly recommended!
Janet & Gavin at Castlefest, NL 2003, the same year they started holding ‘The Inner Mysteries’ weekends.
