8.05.2008

Ecstatic Body Postures

I had this book on my shelf for years, one that looked interesting, but which I had long since forgotten, gathering dust unread. Then one day a few months ago, while cleaning up the bookcase, I uncovered this book once again: entitled "Ecstatic Body Postures" by Belinda Gore (Bear & Co, Publishing.) It purports to be "an alternate reality workbook."

As I leafed through it, I recalled that the premise of the book is that art and artifacts of cultures around the world include figures (figurines) which show a man or woman or totem animal in specific body positions, arms held this way or that, seated, standing, lying down - and so forth. These body postures are gateways to alternate realities, i.e.;  shamanic tools. Anthropologist Felicitas Goodman discovered quite unexpectedly that people who assume these postures while in a light trance (induced by rattle) report strikingly similar experiences. The results of her research show that certain body gestures, positions and movements, with proper intention and context, trigger altered states of consciousness.

Belinda Gore wrote "Ecstatic Body Postures" to cover a diverse set of re-discovered postures as evaluated and tested by Goodman, Gore and others at the Cuyamungue Institute in Sante Fe, N.M. (http://www.cuyamungueinstitute.com.)
 
A second book on the topic covering still further postures recognized and evaluated since the original text is also available: "Ecstatic Trance; New Ritual Body Postures" by Felicitas D. Goodman and Nana Nauwald (Binkey Kok Publications) - available in the U.S. through the Institute.

That same week after uncovering the book in a pile of neglected tomes and feeling a great interest in the topic, I received an email notice that an Ecstatic Body Posture workgroup had been formed in my area, meeting each new moon to partake in a selected posture. The facilitator of this group is Marianne Carroll, who is being certified at the Institute after extensive training and hands-on group jouneying experience.

Maya Empowerment Posture


This is the first posture that I undertook at the monthly workshop, a posture which has been found in artifacts from as diverse places as Mayan, Minoan and Persian cultural areas. It is considered to be a "healing" posture. Afterwards, I decided to transforming the basic posture/pose diagram based upon trance experiences of the assembled participants. The result is this image (above) informed with the energy of Hunab Ku - the one giver of measure and motion - Lord of our Milky Way galaxy and destination of xibalba be (The Royal Road of the Ancestors.)

(In the following postings based upon a New Moon workshop, I have freely quoted background information from the two trance posture books mentioned above.)

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