World within a world, a drop of dew was shown to me in my shamanic dream journey as a dream seed upon my tree of life. I could choose one of many drops glistening in the light of my dream. I chose the one which lit up and wanted my attention. I was now ready to enter a tiny world of my dream seed. I entered and saw the reflection was upside down, I had to walk the side of the tiny globe to turn this world right side up. Once there, I found what appeared to me to be a castle which was presented to me in my dream of the book of Uriel. I was able to enter the castle in this tiny dream seed, perhaps planting actions that may activate something in my waking life. Dew is a magical substance highly prized by alchemists for their healing qualities. It was known to be an elixer for long life as well. The healing power of Bach flower remedies is rooted in the awareness of what can be imprinted into water from the extraction of it from flowers and plants. Science is now finding that the environment can imprint on water including the configuration of stars and planets. On sacred nights such as Imbolg, tradition says that if you leave a piece of cloth out overnight to be blessed by the goddess Brigit, she will bless you with her presence through the year. I imagine the morning dew is part of her magic.
In a meditation during a kundalini yoga class last month, I was gifted an experience with meeting with my guardian angel. In my vision, I stuck my head into a paradisaical upper realm that was lush with greenery and a sparkling stream flowing through. The sky shown a light that was other worldly in its beauty. I walked into this space and stepped into the stream and when I did the stream became like a mirror reflecting the light in the sky. The light became more intense and I walked on the mirrored stream toward the beautiful light on the horizon, and saw my reflection on the mirrored path before me. A figure emerged from the light and walked toward me on the mirrored path. It was an angel made of light. He was well defined and muscular looking in his form, but made entirely of light. He had beautiful wings pointed in the sky and he stepped onto the ground next to the stream and I followed him there. I asked him his name, and he responded Uriel. I asked 3 times all together, just to be sure, and each time he responded Uriel. He told me he was my guardian angel and that he was there to protect me. He told me that I have not felt secure in my life very often and that he would bring me security. He told me I needed to feel that security in order to be able to let my heart out. I trusted his words and felt the inner recognition of what he told me and accepted him as my guardian angel. I asked him what was my purpose in this life, and he responded, to heal. He then began to infuse me with his light and using the tip of his wings as a tool to go into my body and perform some kind of light surgery on me. He was giving me healing and I felt the light in my body.
Book of Uriel
Several day later, I dreamt of seeing a an old hardbound yellow book which said, “Book of Uriel” on the spine. I opened the book to see what it had inside and what I saw was a picture of a place that was incredibly familiar and stirred an intense longing of my soul upon seeing it. There was a river, with a bridge crossing over to a gateway, which had an outlook tower with a spire on top. A stone walled perimeter protected the castle inside. Upon opening the book in my dream and seeing the picture there, I was immediately transported to the scene in the picture. There I hovered over the bridge leading to the gate. Yet I was confused, what is this place that I seem to know so deeply, yet I do not have the faintest idea where I am? EOD.
This dream was important to me, in that it confirmed my experience in my meditation. It was also powerful and mysterious in finding the book and being transported to a place familiar and yet unknown to me. I feel the hand of Uriel opening up a mystery to me and I will continue to work with this to discover what has been laid before my path.
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 9,100 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 3 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
“At sunrise on December 21, 2012 for the first time in 26,000 years the Sun rises to conjunct the intersection of the Milky Way and the plane of the ecliptic. This cosmic cross is considered to be an embodiment of the Sacred Tree, The Tree of Life, a tree remembered in all the world’s spiritual traditions.” – Steve Becker
In the coming year we will continue to see changes of prophetic proportions which have been foreseen by cultures from around the world in ancient prophecy. What can we, as modern technocrats in this fast paced, materialistic, devouring, industrialized society, make of being in the midst of such changes? Even the prophecies themselves have been the subject of cultural hijacking and spiritual materialism by those who would try to speak for another culture and profit from ancient prophesy.
“Anthropologists visit the temple sites and read the inscriptions and make up stories about the Maya, but they do not read the signs correctly. It’s just their imagination. Other people write about prophecy in the name of the Maya. They say that the world will end in December 2012. The Mayan elders are angry with this. The world will not end. It will be transformed.” – Carlos Barrios member of the council of Mayan Elders.
At the heart of ancient prophesy are dreams, and that is something we can all do. Dreams can enable us to tap into our connection with timeless wisdom in order to understand our unique, individual role we each play as part of the larger community. When things fall apart and the old structures are no longer viable, it is a time to look into our dreams to envision a new world and our role in it. The tree of life is a classic shamanic entry point of dream exploration to travel into non ordinary reality. It is here where you can connect with protector animal spirits and spiritual guides or ancestors along with the transformative energies now entering our sphere toward the cosmic alignments of 2012 .
Dream exploration through conscious group dream travel, aided by the sound of the drum, can be an entry point to the past, present and future. The tree of life is rooted in ancestral wisdom and a place where we have access to our deeper selves, beyond the workings of the trivial everyday mind, to guide us in remembering our true soul purpose.
A safe space for dream sharing
In many indigenous cultures, dreams often held a sacred place in the community and were given a place of honor and respect. There were women and men shamans, medicine women or men, ancient priests or priestesses who were able to dream for the community. In our current minimalistic, scientific, industrialized western society dreams have been relegated to tiny bits and pieces and lost the role of importance which enabled our ancestors to survive and flourish as a community. They knew through dreams where to find game to hunt, what plants to heal, when to pack up and leave and where to move. We need these ancient dream practices today in our own lives in a world that is rapidly changing to know where to find work and how to create communities that support life and the respect the earth.
Dreaming in Community
To enable the space for dreams to take root, we need a container to hold them. A protected and sacred space in which to dream and share in community. Setting a specific intention for what the group will dream towards while preparing dreamers in advance to bring dreams to share is an important step. Sharing dreams with respect for the dreamer and the dream is crucial to creating a safe space and this is most often done by making sure that dreams are shared in confidence and not taken outside the circle, and any feed back given to another in relation to their dream must be shared from the perspective of “If this were my dream”. We may live in a culture of experts and specialists, but the dreamer is the only expert on their dream. Group dreaming exploration through shared conscious dream journeys are also ways to cultivate dreams for the community and the earth. Creating a dream community also requires action and determining what action to take to honor our dreams is an important way toward creating a world we can share together.
Become part of a larger dream community
Dreaming together for our community and our world is crucial to our unfoldment as we enter 2012. We can no longer approach our lives as though we are just individuals pursuing our own goals. We are on a shared journey together and dreaming can help us to navigate the way.
The Pachamamma Alliance is taking action toward Awakening the Dreamer. The non-profit organization is creating alliances with indigenous communities in South America which are under siege from globalization and multinational corporations. These communities are struggling to maintain their indigenous ways in a world that is hungry for their natural resources. The message from the shaman’s of the Achuar people in Ecuador is to change the dream of the modern world and awaken a new dream in harmony with the Planet we share together. Ecuador has been one of the first Nation’s on Earth to enshrine into their own constitution in 2008 that the Earth has Rights. Since then in 2010, Bolivia has followed suit and also declared into law the Earth has rights. These efforts continue to gain momentum and expand as part of a broader movement toward the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth.
Find out more about how to become an Active Dreamer in 2012 and view a schedule of dream groups, workshops or retreats, or participate in a Pachamamma Symposium visit www.chrysalishealingarts.org
I wrote a previous blog post, about Persephone and her journey into the underworld. It was inspired both by the Winter Solstice, and a dream I had of a visit from Persephone herself. I wrote the following poem in honor of the dream. Happy Winter Solstice!
When we have a love for something which we strive towards in our everyday life, we may find in dreaming we can connect with a greater experience and presence of those who have passed on, but their legacy remains. I have worked as an activist toward peace and justice in Texas for more than 20 years. It is often difficult and thankless work, but clearly needed in order to create change from a culture of violence toward one of peace with justice.
Over the years, I have been gifted with two significant dreams which have helped to spur me on in my endeavors as a peace activist.
Doorways to Peace
I see Martin Luther King Jr. standing before me, he holds out his hand and offers me what he has inside his palm. It is a golden bee pollen and he tells me to eat it. I take what he has offered and eat some. I am conscious in the dream, and having trouble staying that way due to being very aware and excited that I am actually standing with the great Martin Luther King Jr. I can hardly contain myself. He is trying to speak with me in the dream, but I seem too overwhelmed to be able to hear his words. He then shows me a large golden tree made of gold light and we walk toward it. The tree is so large we are only looking at the huge trunk of it and cannot see the top of the tree nor the bottom. There is a door inside the tree made of golden light which opens. I walk through it and find there are many more doorways unfolding before me, all I must do to get to the next one is walk through each door as it appears. EOD.
This dream was profound for me to meet Martin Luther King Jr. – one of my heroes, whom I consider to exemplify true leadership. It showed me the potential for peace and that it only takes the willingness to step through each doorway as it is presented. This is something I continue to strive to do as an activist.
In the next dream, I went consciously to meet up with a dream partner to an agreed upon destination where we would converge together in our dreams for a shared dream adventure. We decided to meet up at a market in Fez, Morocco
The Magic Pot
I find myself in a busy market place in Morocco with narrow dirt streets and vendors set up all around. It is a busy place and the sights, sounds and smells are almost overwhelming. I am looking for my dream partner. I walk further through the market and find a large clay pot. I circle around the pot as I touch its rim with my hand and as I do I see Gandhi walking toward me from out of the market place. He approaches standing across from me and tells me to look into the pot. I look inside and see it is full of water, he tells me to look again, and once again I look and see it is full of grain.
I look one more time and now the pot has transformed to a small Moroccan clay pot with a lid which looks like a strange hat. I take off the lid to see it contains a delicious meal enough for two people to eat. I realize this pot is a magic pot. I want to share this meal with my dream partner who I have not yet found in my dream. I go and look for him and find myself at the airport where he is just arriving to meet me. We go once again go to the market where I meet up with another friend who is the founder of many West African Drum Circles in Texas. My friend looks at me and says, “What are we waiting for? We are in Africa – Let’s Drum!” We all begin to drum together. EOD
This dream shows the importance of nurturing and having a container that can feed many people. Peace is that container and shows itself in the form of the magic pot which offers unlimited resources as well as the ability to build community both through feeding and nurturing and drumming and celebration while also nurturing my personal relationships along the way.
On May 12th in Greenville, Texas a white buffalo was born named Lightning Medicine Cloud after being born during a Thunderstorm. It is said to be part of the Native American prophecy of the Lakota Sioux Tribe and the 3rd white buffalo recognized as born to fulfill the Native American prophecy of earth changes. Lightning Medicine Cloud was born to a Lakota Sioux couple on their ranch in North Texas and it is only the second white buffalo ever born on Native American lands. Around the same time this auspicious buffalo calf was born, I found myself having contact with the White animals in dreaming. My dream encounters with the White Animals has been profound for me and I continue to carry their presence.
Lightning Medicine Cloud
Royal White Elephant by Sundara Fawn
Shapeshifting with the White Elephant April 24th, 2011
In my dream I see myself as I look now, I then see that I have shapeshifted into a White Elephant. I look closely at my skin and see the white wrinkled elephant skin covering my body. I hear a voice tell me, “This is something you do all the time, shapeshift.”
Several weeks later after that dream, I had an encounter with a council of White Animals during my shavassana meditation during a Kundalini yoga class.
Council of the White Animals – May10, 2011
In my mind’s eye, I hover above my body laying on the floor in shavassana pose, I look to my right and see a doorway of light open up and a magnificent white elephant approaches me. I then see in front of my feet the White Buffalo has joined me, then near my left shoulder a white tiger snuggles up next to me licking my cheek, while on my right, a white lion with beautiful blue eyes looks deeply into my eyes. I then notice a white giraffe has joined the white elephant and I look up above and see a white eagle circling over my body above me and there are many more white birds flying higher in the air. I then see a white snake slither up toward me and enter into my body where it curls up in my second chakra. I notice a white bear is now standing near my feet next to the White Buffalo and then a white gorilla appears next and begins to jump up and down. I now feel a white owl is sitting on my left shoulder and finally a white horse appears standing over my head. I am overwhelmed by the white animals which are gathering around my body as others continue to join in. I had this experience just two days before the White Buffalo was born less than an hours drive from where I live. I have never had a dream about a white buffalo before nor seen one appear in my meditations either.
Not long after this experience, I facilitated a dream group during the Wesak Full Moon celebrating the birth of the Buddha who was foretold to be born to his mother by a dream of her being pregnant with a white elephant. We journeyed together as a group assisted by shamanic drumming to consciously connect with the presence of the white animals and the spiritual energies present during Wesak which celebrates his physical birth, spiritual rebirth and death of the Buddha.
What I take away from these waking and sleeping dream experiences is that it is time to shift awareness to connect with higher spiritual energies and shape shift my reality to embody the changes. I accept the message of my dream that “this is something I do all the time”.
I shall embrace the energy of transfiguration in my own life and celebrate the birth of that energy actually embodied in the white buffalo calf as part of the earth changes and spiritual energies now shape shifting our reality.
The Gifts of the White Animals
May the White Elephant bring the strength and wisdom of the Buddha and augur in an new age of spiritual enlightenment and compassion.
May the White Buffalo bring the presence of the great spirit and the wisdom of prophecy.
May the White Eagle fly to new heights of perception and clarity.
May the White Tiger bring her nurturing, playful and fierce spirit of love and protection.
May the White Lion bring depth of beauty and strength of heart and courage.
May the White Snake bring its energy of creativity and healing.
May the White Giraffe bring it’s ability to take risks and stick it’s neck out to reach the most delectable heights of success.
May the White Bear stand it’s ground and give support.
May the White Gorilla bring unbounded energy and the ability to speak out.
May the White Owl bring Wise council.
May the White Horse carry me with it’s noble spirit into dreaming.
This is a story from a dream I had recently, while up in the beautiful forests of Washington state. I was there attending a Dream Teacher Training with Robert Moss with dream teachers from across the area. We were able to perform a magical dream theater exploration together and open up the dialogue between the Dream Girl and the Green Man, and this is their story.
The Dream Girl and the Green Man
I am walking through the forest at night in my dreaming to be with the trees. I find that as I walk toward one tree it begins to become larger and grow taller, and taller, until I realize I have wondered into an enchanted forest. I too, grow in awareness with the tree and find myself growing very high into the sky. I look to the tree as we grow together and see that it has become a tree man with a face. I look down below and can see a tiny little me standing on the ground looking up at the magical tree. The Green Man calls out below, “Why are you so angry with me?” in a bellowing voice.
The little me is in a magical pink dress standing so very tiny under the giant tree and frightened by the loud angry voice of the Green Man. She is not aware of being angry toward the tree. She would like to know rather why the tree sounds so angry with her? She looks to her left, and finds a giant, magical, blue dragonfly ready to take her on a journey through the enchanted forest of her dreams, but she is too afraid. She does not feel safe in this place with the angry tree. My larger self tries to encourage her to take the risk and ride with the dragonfly, but she won’t budge. We decide to talk to the Green Man in order to get a bigger perspective on this dilemma. The little girl asks the Green Man, “Why do you sound so angry?” and he explains, “Because you humans are cutting down the forests and destroying my kind!” The little girl explains, “But I love trees, that is why I came to explore the forest in the middle of the night.” (When she should have been in bed.) She was glad she knew how to step out of her physical body asleep in her bed, and explore her world with her dreaming body and not get in any trouble. She did not expect the forest to be such a scary place. The forest has always been a safe and peaceful place where she has felt most at home in her waking life.
The Green Man tells the dream girl, “Please take your love of the trees out into the world and ask people to stop cutting down the trees!” She agrees to help, she does not want to see the trees go away, or the magic they hold. The Green Man asks, Are you ready to explore the enchanted forest on the giant dragonfly?” and she responds, “Yes! Definitely yes!” She climbs on the dragonfly’s back and takes off into the dark night sky. Her dreams will take her on countless adventures meeting with all manner of creatures inside the enchanted forest. The End.
Many wonderful dream teachers who came for the training are committed to help grow a dreaming community. This dream exhorts us all to seek out the magic of our dreams and become speakers for the Earth. Through dream sharing we can learn to share not only our dreams, but also how to share the Earth together.
At a recent Dream Healing workshop I was teaching in Grand Junction, Colorado, there were themes of heart and soul interwoven with the dreams shared. I incubated a healing dream while catching an afternoon nap, prior to giving a lecture that evening on the Healing Powers of Dreams.
“Bennu Bird” by Michelle Celebrielle
During my dreaming, I was gifted with the presence of a large white bird which flew overhead. I could clearly see the huge white wings until it landed on a tall tree upon bare branches. I looked closely at the face of the bird, noticing the streaks of black coming out from the eyes and long narrow feathers reaching out from the crown. I recognized it as the mysterious Benu bird of Egyptian myth, bringer of renewal and capable of retrieving and bringing forth the energy of soul. A wonderful ally to accompany our dream journeying for the weekend.
There were themes of the heart and relationships which presented themselves over and again from our group of dreamers. One participant shared a dream which was full of opposites and polarities which gave the opportunity to dance with each of the polarities represented in the dream. The dream was brought to life through the movement accompanied with the intent of each of the polarities. The dreamer was able to reach a resolve toward wholeness through the movement and integrate the separation of loss into complete freedom. The wings of the Benu Bird were flying through the dance at the end, to bring about healing liberation. Another young woman brought through a vision of seeing a possible love relationship which culminated in the couple riding off together on black and white horses. The dream also gave counsel and warned her of the need to be willing to wait and not hurry into the relationship.
A doctor who attended was eager to see how dreams could help her better care for her patients. She journeyed with two power animals, that of the cougar and the eagle which became one creature. She was on call during the whole workshop and was indeed living in two realms at once. The bringing together of these two animal protectors will help her to better navigate the challenges of her dual life.
The energy of relationship and the balance of opposites flowed throughout the day, and in the end, the feeling of connection was the gift, like the egg of the Benu bird in the tree of life, which promises renewal for the future.
The Benu Bird according to Egyptian mythology recounts the bird as a carrier of “Ba” or soul energy. The soul energy is able to leave the physical body and travel at will, something we can do nightly in our dreams. The Benu Bird is akin to the Phoenix and bringer of renewal which comes with each era. It is a rare occurrence to witness a Benu bird, as there is only one such bird in existence. The Benu bird has no mate but continues through self regeneration. It has the capacity to integrate both polarities of Masculine and Feminine into one being. It builds its nest in the tree of life, laying a single egg to break open a new era of soul. It was the song of the Benu bird which sang creation into being. The mysterious Benu Bird is a beautiful story of how, we may each give birth to ourselves and participate in this renewal of soul and spirit. Through this transformation of death and renewal, we can bring all parts of ourselves into wholeness as a way to help heal the past and bring about a brighter future for coming generations.
Included in this healing and to honor the Benu Bird, I offer this poem of prayer;
Dream of the Benu Bird
May we walk in beauty as we step upon the earth,
and sing our lives into being.
May our souls learn to soar as the Benu bird,
and dance awake our dreams.
May we bring about more balance in connection to each other,
the Earth we all share, and all the creatures upon it.
May we honor those who came before us,
and the gifts they have given.
May we remember where we came from,
and what we each came here to do.
May we honor and protect the children,
and future generations, through our actions today.
In my dreaming recently, I saw myself aboard a canoe following down a river. I hear a voice tell me, “The canoe is your life”. In the journey of my dream, I travel through many different levels of ceremony and initiation, one where I am at a higher level of awareness and I see two beautiful long citrine or amber crystals that appear to be power objects, like a kind of wand. I reach for one and then drop it as I hold it, as I couldn’t quite grasp it. I watch as it falls many levels below until it breaks at the bottom. I feel the loss of this, especially when I held in my hands ever so briefly. I then notice I have another wand waiting for me, which is easily accessible to my right, and I am now on much firmer footing. I do not try to pick it up just yet however, perhaps when I am ready. I will be more careful next time when reaching for the other one and the power it wields.
I later find myself in a ceremony where I am placing ceremonial objects in a line where others have already been laid. I notice that this is not the usual way I would place ceremonial objects to create an altar, usually it would be in a circle. I am laying them out this way because I am creating a path and including the properties I will bring with me.
I lay a red clay mask of a woman, along with other objects I have in my possession. I seem ready for the journey. I later find myself in a submarine where I am told, “This is for diving into your subconscious”. Ha! I enjoy the pun of my dream maker, of course a “sub” marine for journeying into the “sub”conscious. I like the help of this vehicle taking me deeper into the depths of my unconscious mind. EOD.
Upon reflecting on this dream, I recalled another dream of a canoe following a river from several months ago that held a deep message of healing and transformation.
Star Grandmother June 2010
I am given a task by a peace and justice community activist leader to go down to Central America and retrieve something. I take a canoe trip following a river all the way down to Nicaragua. I am on this journey alone. When I reach my destination, I find myself at a small village. I walk to a mountainside nearby made of volcanic rock and find an altar has been carved into the side of the mountain next to the ocean. Sitting inside the altar is what appears to be a blue star, that at one time was a starfish, but over time it has turned to stone. I look deeper into the starfish and discover it has a presence. I can see two tiny eyes looking back at me. I begin to talk to the starfish coaxing it back to life, saying sweet and loving things to the starfish. It begins to transform before my eyes into a living star and I call it grandmother. The grandmother wants to go with me wherever I go, and so I place her lovingly on my shoulder. I continue to talk to her saying sweet and loving things to her and my loving words transform her to become human once again. She eventually changes completely into a human and I am able to return her to her family. Her family is so happy and appreciative that she has returned. I feel a beautiful loving connection with the grandmother who I have helped nurture back to life and return her once again to her family and community. EOD
As I continue to follow the flow of these dreams in my life, I am reminded of another dream. It connects with the star grandmother from the dream above.
I am looking at several different classes that I would like to take, and going between the setting of each class already in progress. I am having a difficult time choosing which one I would like to participate in as I would like to take them all, but since they are all happening at the same time, this is not feasible.
Galaxies in my hands 11-7-10
I am looking at a choice between 4 different classes going on. I find myself in a class with a teacher and the class is being lead by her graduate students who are giving presentations. I find myself drawn into another class setting where I am with a man who is a guide that looks like he is perhaps Spanish with shoulder length dark hair, eyes and skin tone. He is showing me what appears to me to be a keystone or some kind of marker for a path to follow as one would see on a pilgrimage. I feel strongly drawn the follow him on this journey and so I choose this as my path of learning. I return to the other class briefly before departing to speak with my teacher. I am told that she is already gone, and her students are there cleaning up the class room after giving their presentations. They tell me my teacher was very disappointed that I did not come to the class. I feel a tinge of disappointment myself, but then look down at my hands and see there are stars and galaxies shining in the palms of my hands. I exclaim, look! I have galaxies in my hands!
I then turn around to see a projector which is shining the image on the back of my head at the nape of my neck. I at first doubt the experience as being just and image reflected on a projector, but then realize there is more than that going on, it is shining outward through my third eye and also reflected onto the palm of my hands. I am in awe! EOD
These dreams all speak to me of a spiritual quest and learning from mistakes made as well as choosing the teachers and paths along the way. They also speak to me of retrieving that which has been lost and also a sense of destiny, not only for self but for the greater good. May we each follow the rivers of our lives, where we may find our most beautiful dreams come true.
Awaken the Sacred Dream 