For many people, culture, tradition and religion provide boundaries for what an acceptable relationship with the unseen world looks like. As Samhain, Divali (time of the Bengali Kali Puja and SHARANYA's [url=http://www.sharanya.org/calendar]Kali Puja Festival[/url]) and All Hallows Eve approach, what better time to consider our own connection to the Divine, especially as it may transcend or in any way go beyond the normative. 

Across time and across cultures, a special yearning for the Divine (God/dess), or special search for divine healing has often taken shamans, mystics and saints, both women and men, into ecstatic states of consciousness that lead to alternative behavior. Often in the west, we see the behaviors and just simply call these prophets, witches, and seers 'mad.' Perhaps this resonates with you! Plato offered different types of appropriate divine madness: 1) <i>mantic</i>, which brings divination; 2) <i>telestic</i>, which brings possession trance (through ritual); 3) <i>poetic</i>, which enables poetic furor and enthusiasm; and, 4) <i>erotic</i>, which brings frenzied love. 

What are the ways in which you approach the Divine? How do you resonate with divinely-inspired madness? 