Two tools of psychotherapy to access the unconscious mind are clinical hypnosis and dreamwork. Recently added to these tools is ecstatic trance as used by the hunting and gathering shamans, both ancient and contemporary, ways that open the doors to the hidden stories or narratives that need to be faced for healing the emotional struggles of life.

Many of the myths that came from the collective dreams and trance experiences of the ancients are healing stories. One, the Nordic myth of Loki’s Children, provides direction in the healing process for many of life’s problems, the map for the healing journeys of three clients using their narratives from dreams, hypnosis, and ecstatic trance. The three children sired by the trickster god are dangerous monsters that threaten the Nordic pantheon of deities: Jormungand, a poison-spitting serpent, is thrown into the sea where it grows to encircle the earth to hold its tail in its mouth. The second child, Hel, whose body is half rotten with decay is thrown into the underworld where she suffers with remorse for the guilt of those who died dishonorably. The third child, Fenrir, a wolf of tremendous size who continually grows, is our obsessive thoughts and worries. This map of the psychotherapeutic journey to overcome this fear, guilt, and obsessive worry takes us into the unconscious mind and beyond into the universal mind, the world of the spirits for healing and personal growth. Each client finds the way to overcome these monsters to find innocence with the rebirth of Odin’s beloved son Baldr.