First Trance

Photo credit: GothPhil

Hmong Village, Northern Laos
Rural settlement in the Hmong tribal region of Xieng Khouang province, Northern Laos

I sat down on the shaman's bench with my white veil over me. Instantly I noticed a light and felt waves of energy approaching me and then surrounding me but no urge to shake so I switched to meditating. I meditated for a bit and noticed my body vibrating. I was handed back the finger bell and off I went into the spiritual realm.

The portal slowly opened up as a Hmong village came into view, I thought to myself, "Hey! I've done this before!"

Recovering from the overexcitement, I found myself following a dirt path. My vision focused on the back image of an elderly man in black Hmong clothes walking on a dirt path road going somewhere. I watched him walk past a few bamboo houses and as he approached a home, a girl came running out of the door towards him. When the girl came out she hugged his left arm, (which felt like my own) and said in Hmong, "Mom, where have you been? The house has been cleaned and we've been waiting for your return. Why have you been gone for such a long time?"

Confused, I looked down at myself. No longer watching the man from a distance. I've become the man who is no longer a man but now a woman, dressed in black Hmong clothes.

Still processing the situation, I heard my daughter proceed to say, "We have something to show you. Let's go," as she grabbed my hand leading the way, we stepped into the house.

My vision went blank. I saw a gray gradient filled noise like screen and thought to myself, "uh oh! What happened?" I then heard the shaman say, "Jump. Your guides wants you to jump."

I freaked out in thoughts, "Jump! How do I jump? What if I fall?," trying to understand what was going on, still I proceeded to jump. As I jumped and landed safely on the bench I saw myself in a corn field with two other individuals. Then I heard, "They need you to jump back down." Unable to catch up to what was happening as everything was happening too fast, my vision changed again and I freaked out for the second time, "Jump down! How can I jump down! I can't see. What if I fall?" But, all I could hear was, "Jump. We need you to jump now!" So I did.

I don't know how I got back down safely but the moment I sat down, I was in a uniform riding on a brown horse roaming through an open field. Next to me was a man in an armor uniform also riding on a brown horse.

We roamed around the field for a bit then came to a stop. As he looked around he said to me, "This is our training ground. We've been waiting for your return. We've been waiting to train with you again."

Not knowing what to say I signaled my horse to walk, the man and his horse followed us and we roamed around some more. We made another stop and continued to look around in silence. Then he said, "We better get you back. You've been here for a while now. We better go back before they get worried." Then I heard the shaman calling on my guides and spirit asking for them to safely lead me back to reality.

The portal closed. My vision went dark. I stopped shaking. 45 minutes had passed.

Words of gratitude:

Thank you to myself, my team, my grandma, my aunty, and most importantly to my ex-master for supporting me on this journey and for believing in me since the very beginning. It has been 2 years since I found out I was gifted, accepted my team and had my shake test. I never once regretted choosing this journey and never will.

I am grateful for your existence, for your everlasting friendship and support, and for everything I've learned with and from you guys.