Originally published in Trance Portation, 2007.

Introduction by Diana L. Paxson

When we interact with other people, we need to be careful in different ways than when we are working alone, and the more people involved, the more care is needed. A pilot and co-pilot can watch out for each other, but they need cabin attendants to take care of the rest of the airplane. The same is true in trancework. When we work alone we can ward ourselves, and so can partners working together. But if you are leading a trance journey for a roomful of people you cannot stop "flying the plane" to help one person without disrupting the process for all the others. Thus, large group trance work requires a team.

We call the people who keep an eye on the crowd "warders" or "watchers". They are useful in a number of kinds of trancework, some of which will be discussed in the next chapter. Unfortunately, this is the area in which I myself have the least experience, since in this kind of situation I am usually the one piloting the plane. So I am very grateful to Lorrie Wood, who taught the Beta test class using these materials, for most of the following observations on the art of warding.

The practice of warding may be broken down into the broad categories of self, place, and other people. However, as in so much of life, the key is preparation and the more ordinary kinds of foreknowledge.

Self.

Until and unless you feel confident enough in yourself, it is difficult to achieve and maintain control over various non-ordinary states. While achieving this on a large scale is one of the most important goals of this work--as well as one of its desired results--establishing your own personal safeguards is where all warding rightly starts. Remember the watchword chiseled in the forecourt of the temple at Delphi, "Know thyself!"

The same goes for the group when you are working with a team. If those who will be running the ritual take the time to ground and center together and link their energies, their rapport will allow them to sense each others' needs and work together even when they are stationed in different parts of the room.

Place.

You should safeguard the space where the work will be done whenever circumstances warrant and permit. Good manners dictate that you allow the owner or primary tenant of the place to set the rules and take primary responsibility for protecting everyone within, although they may be willing to delegate the job. In the case of a festival or a rented space, this permission may be tacitly assumed to have been given when physical access to the space is granted to your group. When possible, respect a host (and his or her tradition's) rules on how sacred space should be established: casting a Wiccan-style circle when a Vodou mambo has already made prayers and offerings to Papa Legba, or when a Slavic Reconstructionist has already had a word with her domovoi (household spirit), is poor form--and can cause conflict within the ritual. So, when possible ask, and if the host would rather not or cannot ward the space for whatever reason, do as conscience and the situation deem wisest--which can include discreet supplemental warding in your own idiom to support an inadequate existing structure.

If you are working in a festival situation, find out what the presentations in that space in the time slots around yours will be and consider whether their energy, or that of the events scheduled in the spaces to either side at the same time as yours, will incompatible with your own! Your quiet contemplation of the sea goddesses of seven different cultures will likely not benefit from the leftovers of the Kali puja that just cleared out, nor from those of the Discordian Ritual going on next door. Pay attention to the schedule, and determine whether further banishing, cleansing, and/or reinforcements are needed before non-officiants enter the room.

Some of the problems may not be apparent until you move in to set up. If the previous ritual may have featured an incense, or used herbs to which someone on your team is allergic, you will need to sweep or air it out. Check the space for concentrations of energy that may not be negative would at least be distracting, and break up and expel them.

In smaller venues, less preparation is generally necessary: simply alerting your allied personal and/or house spirits to keep an eye on the group should do the trick, just as they would to safeguard your personal work.

Once a ritual has begun, the job of dealing with the space, and how the space interacts with the outside world, should be delegated to a chief warder by the person running the ritual, and if circumstances permit and warrant, an "outfield" of warders on the perimeter of the group space.

If this your job, then once you have determined that the energies of the place are appropriate, your next task is to deal with people (corporeal or otherwise) who might attempt entry from the outside once things have begun. Do not make snap judgements: a latecomer may have good reason to attend, the hotel staff might need to know when the ritual will end so the space can be re-set for tomorrow morning's breakfast, and an interloping spirit might be there to test you!

It may also fall to you to process people who would like to leave early--this can mean giving them a drink of water to ground them, or murmuring a lengthy guided meditation to bring them back to consentual reality, or three hours at a picnic table in the dead of night doing ad hoc counselling. Use your judgement--and if that fails, seek advice from those you trust. Should none of those be available... congratulations, the Universe has obviously awarded you Yet Another Learning Experience.

Other People.

Spirits.
If dealing with uninvited spiritual guests is the job of the warders in the "outfield", those who are stationed in the "infield", among the participants, need to know what may reasonably be expected of any invited guest, and who that guest may, within reason, invite. The experienced warder should familiar enough with the cultural context in which a ritual takes place to know this--and the inexperienced warder should ask as far in advance as is practical.

For instance, at a possessory event, warders are well advised to act as servitors to seated deities--which puts them in an excellent position to observe the goings-on and an equally excellent way to defuse potentially ill-advised situations. Knowing how and when to intervene, however, comes down to experience: what would you do if someone in trance aimed an unsheathed spear at the chest of a non-tranced attendee, resting the point on her chest? Would you:

• Simply watch?
• Grab the non-tranced person out of the way?
• Have words with the possessing entity?
• Do you distract the possessor with a tray of food?

Any of these might be the right answer, given different situations, and knowledge is the best tool you can have in the box.

Humans.
While it's possible and even desirable to enter quite a few states on one's own, once another person is involved, it is best, when possible, that there be a third to chaperone. The more directly involved practitioner(s) will often find it easier to go further from consensual reality if someone is back home "minding the store"!

In a ritual in which only one person is in trance at a time, the two most vulnerable people at an event are the person in trance who is that ritual's primary focus...and the person with whom the trance subject is in direct communication. The states of both of these are the primary concern of the warders stationed among the participants in the "infield".

Regardless of which trance state is the desired outcome, a given subject will have developed his or her own set of conditioned cues for entering and leaving that state--people may not be able to articulate them, but they will almost certainly have them. A warder whose primary concern in a ritual is those who are in trance should try to find out what each subject's cues are. If you cannot do so, try the ones usually used in that group, or take other logical steps such as providing or removing props, speaking certain names, and so on. If removal from trance is the goal, strong flavors and smells can be useful--but as always, have a care for context. Consider keeping two containers at hand: one of some large-grained salt (e.g. kosher or rock salt), and one of some other strong-flavored powder (citric acid, cinnamon, cocoa, etc). Offering a drink of clear, still water can often help someone to regain ordinary consciousness.

The person who is interacting directly with the person in trance is an infield warder's next concern. They may be in a light trance state themselves without knowing it, and may be thrown without warning into deep emotional waters. At the very least, an infield warder should carry tissues and be able to move to offer emotional support to someone in tears or other obvious distress. A warder would be well-advised to limit their support to simply that, and allow tears to flow so long as the ritual is not disturbed; not all tears are evil. Trance events, involving as they do direct contact with the numinous, do much to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable. Expect anything.

Finally, like the place/outfield warders, a people/infield warder should also be able to process people who were not intended trance subjects out of ritual space.

Others
As a warder, you will often be required to be the bouncer. If it becomes apparent after the ritual has begun that someone is going to be a problem, like the gentleman who brought a bottle of beer to an oracular ritual and kept drinking, or someone who is overcome by the energy and breaks into wild weeping, you may have to gently but firmly ease them out. If necessary, try to alert the ritual leader so that he or she can distract everyone from the disturbance by narration, or a chant, or drumming.

As a rule, it is not a good idea to allow animals or young children into group rites involving trancework, unless you know they are familiar with the protocols--in particular, do not trust the parents' assertions in this regard. That said, this can also vary by ritual: if a god to be honored is known to go about with dogs, wolves, and/or cats, or to find especial joy in children, it may be a dishonor to disinvite these from the event. However, primary responsibility for both animals and children should still be taken by their owners or parents. Children are famous scene-stealers, and a dog who decides to sing along with the trance induction or paw for attention can jerk someone out of trance with painful suddenness.

Without a Net: A Warder Alone.

But what if you don't have all these people to throw at your ritual? In that case, do what you can. Remember, as I said above, that the optimum minimum number of people for a trance event is either one or three, not two.

For a larger number, there should be at least three staff persons: one trance subject, one attendant or guide, and one to handle the audience and the outside world. If your ritual is intended for a medium-sized group (20-60 people), it is desirable to have one head warder (who may or may not also be the chief officiant of the rite), plus one infield warder per twenty attendees, with one or two working the outfield. Larger groups, over 60 people, can be hard to manage in the best of times, and are beyond the scope of this essay.

And if you are the only one on hand when someone you've just met is in the throes of spiritual emergency, congratulations, you've just won yet another learning experience... and, if nothing else, a great war story.

Debriefing and Grounding.

After any ritual involving trancework, it's a good idea to eat a reasonably-sized meal. From a warder's view, this is also a good time to make sure that all your officiants and audience members have wholly come back to themselves. Don't miss any opportunities--and don't forget to eat yourself! Many of the things that a good warder does, even if it's just wandering around with a plate of snacks, take energy...

A meeting over food also provides a good opportunity for the ritual team to share information and impressions. A multiple point of view provides more coverage. Events that took place on one side of the room may not have been noticed by those on the other. One warder's solution to a problem may be useful to another the next time around. Things that worked well can be noted and incorporated into the script, and the reasons for things that didn't work analyzed so that they can be avoided or corrected.

In Closing.

The job of a warder is to be aware of him/herself, the ritual, and its surroundings. Those who think this unnecessary tend to be those who've never needed a warder's help. Although warders are primarily responsible for their stations, should a situation unfold before you, for gods' sakes worry about the overall job before fussing about being outside of your assigned zone.

Even if you usually have other ritual responsibilities, it is still useful to ward from time to time, even, or perhaps especially, if you are usually the one doing trance work for others. Your performance will be improved by knowing what things look like from the other side of the circle. We usually start anyone interested in learning techniques from our group on "the warding track", followed by intense mentoring with one of our more experienced members.

Besides...someone who cares enough about others to ward their well-being in a ritual might just feel called upon to act more responsibly towards their fellows in the rest of their life--and this can hardly be a bad thing.

-- Lorrie Wood, 09 September 2007

This page was last modified on Monday, 10 September, 2007 at 22:51:15.
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