The
Time Axis

Timelines

We represent our experience of time through sensory metaphor, just as we do most other experiences. The simplest and most common of these representations is a linear metaphor, a timeline. Linear time is expressed through language such as “the future is ahead of us,” and “the past is left behind.” Research has demonstrated that we respond physiologically to these representations, as we do with other embodied metaphors. In a study that used motion sensors, researchers discovered that experimental subjects tend to sway forward when thinking about the future and tend to lean backward when thinking about the past.¹ Other cultures, it may be noted, have alternatives to the ahead/behind metaphor that we favor. For instance, the Aymara people of South America typically represent the past as ahead and the future behind.² We also express linear time through cause-effect relationships that may have their basis in language more than in the fractal complexity of the world around us.

Deeper yet, we encounter the idea that the structure of language itself, the grammar and syntax of the words, defines our perception of reality. Our language presupposes a variety of things about the linearity of time (“I went to the store before coming home.”), about cause and effect (“The cars hit because Fred ran the red light.”), and about the nature of being (“Socrates is a man.”). In these examples, “before” presupposes linearity (as do most, if not all, time-related words), “because” suggests a chain of actions followed by consequences (when, in fact, Fred’s running of the red light might have been equally complicit in causing the accident with the speed of the other motorist, the exact timing of Fred’s arrival in the intersection, and the many situations that may have influenced his timing), and “is” creates identity (while Socrates might exhibit manly qualities, he “is” also a philosopher, a wearer of togas, a drinker of wine, etc.). If our language structured grammar and syntax differently, our conceptions of time, causality, and being might be extremely different.³

Like the other simple geometric figures we use to express concepts in ritual, the timeline can be used to express, explore, and work with our states. As a therapeutic modality, timeline therapy was originally developed by NLP cofounder Richard Bandler and was further explored by Tad James, Wyatt Woodsmall, Steve and Connierae Andreas, and many others.⁴ The method given here is a simplified one, modified to fit our magical, rather than therapeutic, purpose.

Exercise 9.1 Finding a Timeline

 

Select some activity that you do on a regular basis that happens in a similar state each time. This could be a ritual or meditation practice, for instance, or could be something as simple as washing the dishes, brushing your teeth, or taking a shower.

 

Remember when you most recently performed the behavior. Remember some time a day or two in the past when you did it. Remember when you performed the behavior a week, a month, and a year ago. Think about what it will be like to do this thing tomorrow, the next day, the coming week, in a month, or a year.

 

Notice how you represent these memories to yourself. In particular, pay attention to the submodality of location in each sense that is experienced. Notice where you place these memories. (And, once again, this is about form rather than content. “In front of me, off to the left about three feet.” is a preferable answer to “In my bathroom.”)

 

If you were to draw a line between these locations, which way would point to the future? Which way to the past? If they seem to need help lining up, ask yourself “what if they were on a line?” Imagine that they are.

For many people, this exercise will elicit a fairly linear sequence of experiences. These tend to be slanted, curved, or set at a slight angle. The line drawn between the locations may run from left to right in front of you, or it may tend more toward a forward/backward arrangement. Timelines may be more useful for the following experiments when, through curve, angle, or position, they allow each of the memories to be seen from your position in the “present.” For instance, with a line that is level and runs directly forward and back, memories may block each other from view and only the closest examples may be readily accessed. Or if the closer representations are huge, they may also block the metaphoric view of the other memories. These kinds of experiences may be expressed in language; for example, “I just can’t see past that time when x did y,” “Everything went downhill from that point on,” or “In later years we just lost sight of those things.” More useful and woohooful metaphors might include “Her future lay before her,” “Your future is looking up,” or “Have one foot in the future.” Since this is your own mind and your metaphor for the chronology of your own life, you can arrange it any way you please, so adjustments to your timeline for ease of experiment are encouraged. Be in the present, with full awareness of your history and where the future may take you.

There are all kinds of fun things you can do once you have established the basic timeline metaphor. In the therapeutic context, the time line is used to carry resources into past and future. That’s a useful approach in the magical context, too. The timeline can be used to let your invocations transcend the present and carry woohoo to your past and future selves, as in the following two exercises.

Exercise 9.2 Energetic Slide

 

Elicit a timeline for an ongoing aspect of your life that you would like to improve. If you are concerned about a relationship, a business situation, or a long-term creative project, for example, then find a series of memories and future projections for that situation. Find a useful timeline for them, using the methods mentioned previously.

 

Create an energy flow for a powerful, positive, resourceful state. Enhance the energy flow until it is so full of woohoo that physiological responses of all kinds make you feel wonderfully powerful, positive, and resourceful.

 

With the enhanced energy flow in you, walk along your timeline, taking the state of the energy flow with you into the past and into the future. Make sure that you walk into and through any particular memories or projections that can benefit from this state.

 

Return to the present and think about the immediate future of the situation in question. Notice any changes that have occurred in your thoughts about this aspect of your life.

To add more woohoo to the equation, we can expand this exercise to include a full-tilt god/dess.

Exercise 9.3 Walking God/dess

 

Create a god/dess by any of the means previously explored.

 

Step into the god/dess and walk along your timeline, taking the visualizations and states of the entity with you into the past and future. As the god/dess, walk into and through the memories and projections that can most benefit from this state.

 

Return to the present. Notice any changes that have occurred in your thoughts and behavior concerning this aspect of your life.

Entity Time

The line is a simple metaphor for the complex phenomena of time; other and more complex representations may convey different or more information. Even our natural, unadjusted representations of time, when we explore them enough, turn out to be somewhat non-linear. Most people seem to have multiple timelines. In different states, the memories are accessed in various ways and lines emerge in different spatial locations and configurations. Some people have lines that are decidedly non-linear to begin with; they loop and swirl, spiral, and branch off in unusual ways. These shapes themselves may change as their owners experience different states.

Not only can our states have unique timelines, each entity that forms in our neurons will have its own timeline or timelines. Every god or goddess has its legend, the tale of its origins, life, deeds, death, and, sometimes, life after death or resurrection. The following exercise may require a little more time and imagination than the previous ones. You may also wish to have writing or recording materials on hand, in case the information gets to be too much or too detailed to remember.

Exercise 9.4 Timeline of the Gods

 

Create a god/dess using one of the methods previously described. Make it wonderful and full of woohoo.

 

Ask the entity to elicit its own timeline as if it were a truly autonomous being. That is, we’re not looking for the timeline that starts “You created me five minutes ago…,” but rather the one that describes the metaphoric or mythic origins and life story of the god/dess. The entity may be able to create the timeline itself with minimal suggestion, or you may have to guide it through the steps of eliciting memories and future projections, noting the submodalities of location and size, and drawing a line between them to create the timeline. At this point, only the god/dess needs to know all the details of the timeline—if you can be aware of it in some general form, that is sufficient.

 

Have the god/dess move along the timeline from beginning to end, pausing at regular intervals to describe to you where it is and what it is doing (in its memories and projections). Follow along and elicit the story, the biography of god/dess.

 

Remember or record this story in whatever is best for you.

 

Thank and reabsorb the god/dess and its timeline.

 

Contemplate the story of the god/dess and note whatever lessons, useful metaphors, or epiphanies might come to mind as a result.

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