Mythic Dreaming – Awaken the Sacred Dream

Balance Between the Worlds

“You must retrieve the dagger” the Faery Queen says, “It holds magic from the other world. You must return it where it belongs, and restore the worlds to balance.”

At the Fall Equinox in 2020 I had an other worldly encounter during a journey with an intention to return balance between the worlds.

I determined to remember the connection to the Faery Queen and the Otherworld, and on the Fall Equinox, a time of balance, I did a conscious dream journey guided by the drum, with the intention to set things right between this world, and the world behind the world.

The Portal – September 2020

I see my guide, from the wee folk, he holds out his hand, and I place an Irish coin in it. He then smokes his pipe, and I tell him I will bring him tobacco next time. He takes me before the Faery Queen. She is tall and beautiful with her long silver and white hair. Her dress is a gossamer material glowing in white and blue light. Her staff is silver with a crystal ball a top. She takes me over to a reservoir of water illuminated by a blue and white light. A mythical blue phoenix flies around the perimeter, and across the surface, in a magical display of beauty. I stroll around the magical pool of water, and the Faery Queen tells me, “It is a portal”, and says, “Get in.” As I walk towards it to enter, I am moving deeper into the Earth, like stairs descending, and I enter it from underneath it. Just then the pool surface changes into a vortex swirling with great force in the middle. A White Lion jumps into the vortex joining me in a watery realm of blue and white light. We move through it together, traveling far across time and space until we approach a golden gateway. The White Lion enters the golden gate and turns from white into a Golden Lion in a land of sun and sand. I follow behind him and notice we are in the Middle East. I hear the voice of the Faery Queen instructing me what to do. She speaks of an imbalance that has occurred, “Magic was stolen from the otherworld, and placed in sacred objects, to use the power for selfish aims.” I see before me a man whose face is covered by a black scarf, and he holds a golden jeweled dagger in his hand.

“You must retrieve the dagger” the Faery Queen says, “It holds magic from the other world. You must return it where it belongs and restore the worlds to balance.” I approach a man with a black veil covering his face, realizing he is an Assassin. I then take on an invisible cloak, so that I may move about undetected. I walk right up to the Assassin and take the dagger from his hand and make haste to return it to the Otherworld.

Upon my return I stand before the Faery Queen, and she takes the dagger from my hand. She places it’s blade onto the Silver blade of her Sword. She then places the sword into the water of the Faery Pond, and the magic moves down the blade and into the magical pond. The Balance of magic between the Otherworld and Earthside has been restored

Heart of the White Lion June 2021, Summer Solstice

On this Summer Solstice weekend I offered a workshop on Dreamweaving your Destiny and when I pulled on my own thread of destiny, the story unfolded. As I drummed for the group, my own journey emerged and I was guided by fox to an ancient tree with an immense hollow. I entered inside where this time a Golden Faery Queen greeted me, who had just been in my dreams from the night before. In my dream, she gave me her golden robe and gossamer wings. As she stood before me now inside the journey, she reminded me of what had taken place previously in restoring balance between the worlds. The dagger had been retrieved and magical energies restored to their rightful place in the otherworld. She placed the golden robe upon me once again and the golden energy moved to encompass the entire space surrounding everyone in the circle. The Faery Queen handed me the dagger and told me it was a magical tool I could use to help heal. I was given permission to make use of it’s healing powers to help others, because of the role I had played in restoring balance and returning it back where it belonged. Just then the White Lion, who had showed up as a guide in my first journey, was now beside me once more. Only this time the portal he entered was my own heart. He jumped into my heart and I felt a tremendous surge of energy and strength. I became aware of the pain that I held in my heart from grief and loss and betrayal, and it began to slip away, no longer having a home there, and radiated out of me in the form red lines that echoed into the Earth. The White Lion had given me the strength to reconnect with my own heart and my own truth. A deeply meaningful healing that brought me a feeling of freedom and liberation. Many other group members experienced deep healing, significant break throughs, and visions of their soul destiny.

The Weaver

Since the Spring Equinox of 2021, I’ve been dreaming with the Weaver. She paid me a visit in my dreams on that night, and I’ve been tracking her wisdom in myth, stories and dreams.

The Weaver – 3-21-21

I woke this morning from a mysterious dream of an older woman who was tall and slender and learned as a weaver. She was there to teach me her skill at weaving, and told me it was time for me to learn what she had to teach me, I can no longer put it off. I knew it was true, but I did not feel a desire to learn from her, whose energy seemed harsh to me, and I felt weaving is not a skill I am prone to naturally. I could see by learning this skill, it would set my path to a crossroads where I would have to make a choice about the direction of my life, but without this skill, I would not make it to this crossroads. The deeper teachings being transmitted through the practice of weaving include connection, discernment and inclusion. The ability to see the threads of fate and destiny and make choices. I knew internally I need the teachings of the weaver, but I do not want these lessons to be harsh. The weaver teacher has a need to share her wisdom, and if the student does not choose to weave, then she cannot share her life’s work and her gifts go to waste. She carries both a sadness and resentment about this, that weighs on her slight frame. She is a Crone and guide, able to teach me about the strands of my life, that can be woven into a beautiful path and sacred container.

Waking – Aware of the struggles of being at the beginning of something, and learning something new that will affect my life journey, leading me to a crossroads.

Action – Invite the weaver into my dreams open to learning and practicing her gifts.

There are many stories and myths about the Weaver, she is the ancient wise woman who weaves the world. The Mayan Goddess Ix Chel brought weaving to women, was a midwife and psychopomp who oversaw all phases of life and death, fate and destiny as measured by the moon and the stars. The Spider Woman of Teotihuacan, Mexico predates the Aztec culture, and is also called the Great Mother Goddess. Similar stories of Grandmother Spider as Weaver can be found in by indigenous people of the Anasazi (Pueblo), Hopi, and Dine’ (Navajo) Southwestern Native Indian stories. Canyon de Chille, AZ in the four corners area holds a site sacred to Na’ashje’ii Asdzaa (Grandmother Spider). Spider Woman Rock is a red rock spire rising over 800 feet from the canyon floor like a giant needle. Spider Woman was said to have woven a web from this place that covers the vast area of the Navaho lands.

Spider Woman Rock in Canyon de Chille, AZ

Baba Yaga of Slavic origin, Athena and Arachne of the Greek Myths and Ariadne of the Labyrinth in Crete are all weavers. There is the well known western fairytale of Sleeping Beauty, who pricks her finger on a needle from a spinning wheel to fulfill her fate. There are the 3 Fates also called the Norns in Scandinavia, and the Moirai in Greek myth known as Clothos (spinner), Lachesis (allotter) and Atropos (unturnable). The Primordial Greek Serpent Goddess Ananke is said to have created herself, before weaving the world. The Egyptian Goddess Nuit is another Cosmic Weaver and one of the oldest weavers of the Universe. So many stories of weaver, so many webs to unfurl.

Web Walker 4-15-21

I am conscious in this dream, suddenly transported to a dark desert canyon, where a woman stands dressed in a sheer white cotton blouse and skirt. She has black hair with a few white streaks. She has a round sweet Native face. The narrow canyon she enters is in striated grey tones. She walks in her bare feet on a sandy path deeper into the narrows of the shadowy canyon. She steps into a circle of moonlight shining on the path. She makes eye contact with me, and looks down at her feet, showing me the layers, upon layers, of webs loosely wrapped around her ankles. The webs carry stories, and she walks with ease and keeps a slow and careful steady pace. They do not constrict her movement, but her stride is small, and she must walk with intention in every step she makes, to be sure and safely carry the many folds of webbing draped around her ankles. Deeper she goes into this ancient sacred place. She carries the dreams and stories of her people to awaken them in the deep womb of the Great Mother.

“Web Walker Canyon” by Valley Reed
in watercolors all rights reserved.

Valley Reed © 2021

Upside Down World

“To have sensed something sublime in the life/death/life movement of the seasons, to know that contained in you is the knowledge to pull the sword from the stone and to live well in fierce woods in deep winter.” – Martin Shaw

Recently, I was sharing with a friend, a story of when I carried my daughter in my womb. It was close to her due date and she was not ready, not yet. She was not head down in position to be born into this upside down world. My OB told me I needed to do something about this, or else schedule a C-Section birth. I wanted to have her naturally if possible, so I was determined to turn her around. Nothing I tried was working, so I decided to ask my dreams for help. I incubated an intention into my dream for assistance turning my daughter into position. What came was this surprising dream.

Faery Queen

I see beside my bed, a Crone of Asian lineage. She has come to help in response to my dream request. She places her hands on on the top of my womb, and when she does, her hands light up. She moves her hands down, step by step, making a path of light for my daughter to follow. I feel my daughter flip inside my womb, and move her head into the portal of her birth in my pelvis. The Asian wise woman, who has interceded on our behalf, tells me one last bit of information before she departs. She says, “You know, your daughter is a Faery Queen.” I am thinking to myself in the dream, What’s a Faery Queen and does that come with a manual?

I was thinking about that powerful experience of my daughter turning, head down to be born, assisted by a mysterious dream midwife, and it got me thinking about my connections with the good folk in dreams over the years, and also the dreams my daughter reported of visiting other realms, where she had two beautiful women teachers from the Faery folk. She would visit there often and learn from them. I once dreamt into a dream with her, when we both had the same exact dream of her graduation from her learning in the otherworld. My dreaming was a waking dream that appeared before my eyes clear as day, while my daughter slept taking a nap, and when she woke, she described the same dream I had just seen. I was told by the beings in my vision, to create a portal to the otherworld in my back yard. I was quite concerned by what they described asking me to build, I felt it was too big of a responsibility to manage a portal like that in my back yard. I did not understand the importance of it at the time, now looking back, I can see it was a portal between her more than human people in the otherworld, and this world. It was so she would remember who she is. I suppose the portal closed after that, she no longer reported dreams with her Faery mentors any longer. She began to forget who she was. I determined to remember the connection to the Faery Queen and the Otherworld, and on the Fall Equinox, a time of balance, I did a conscious dream journey guided by the drum, with the intention to set things right between this world, and the world behind the world.

The Portal

“You must retrieve the dagger” the Faery Queen says, “It holds magic from the other world. You must return it where it belongs, to return the worlds to balance.” I approach a man with a black veil covering his face, realizing he is an Assassin. I then take on an invisible cloak, so that I may move about undetected. I walk right up to the Assassin and take the dagger from his hand and make haste to return it to the Otherworld.

Buddha Purnima

Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth. – Buddha

The May Full Moon celebrates the Birth, enlightenment and death of Siddhartha Guatama Buddha. It is a day celebrated and honored at many countries across the world. A time during which the Buddha is known to return to the Earthly realm.

The conception of Buddha to Queen Maya, was foretold in a dream, that of a white elephant with six tusks entering her right side. Her dream was interpreted that she would give birth to a world leader or a Buddha.

I recall a lucid dream from years ago, where I looked down at my legs and saw they were the wrinkled legs of a white elephant. I was amazed! I heard a voice say, don’t you know you do this all the time…..Shapeshift???

This Scorpio Full Moon is a time of dreaming, what we will give birth to the world. A time for the truth to be revealed, to look into the darkness and see what we are truly aligned with becoming and living as a unique individual, as a compassionate human being, and as part of the Earth community of the natural world. The term Buddha means “awakened one” and when we become conscious dreamers, we are on the path toward understanding the mystic nature of reality. Like the Moon, our dreams can help us reflect light into the darkness. Our conscious dream travels can also guide us into the heavenly realms of experience with spiritual teachers, and divine beings, or the deepest depths of the Ocean, in connection with primordial feminine wisdom.

My celebration of Purnima, was a beautiful full moon ceremony guided by Bhola, a beloved shamanic teacher from Nepal. He guided us on a journey into the bottom of the sea, where we met up with a giant conch shell, and entered into a deep ancient wisdom, spiraling deeper under ground at the bottom of the Ocean. In my journey, I experienced a tremendous wave of rainbow energy enter my being and offering healing in my womb, and then traveling up into my solar plexus and throat and ears, and finally coming out through my third eye as a cobra. My body began to shake from the energy rising through me. I then saw 4 Naga spirits dancing as they rose into the ethers, carrying me with them. I was given several white wind horses to travel upon, like a wave or a cloud. I was told to continue to travel with the wind horses. I felt my spirit rise with the freedom of spiritual adventure, and the beautiful energy surrounding me. Lung-Ta in Tibet is the name given for prayer flags and means wind horse. The Nagi are semi-divine serpent beings, known to give special powers, and guard treasures under the sea.

I returned from this journey with such gratitude, feeling relaxed and nurtured, and a deep sense of healing and belonging in myself.

A few days previous to this full moon shamanic journey, I was taking a nap and recalled a dream from years ago, of discovering a mysterious blue starfish. The starfish was held inside an ancient carved lava rock alcove alongside a beach. I walked into the alcove to get a closer look and when I did, I discovered the fossilized starfish had awoken, and was looking back at me. I took the starfish from out of the stone alcove and set it on my shoulder. I began whispering sweet loving words to the starfish to return her to her human form. Hearing those loving words, while being carried on my shoulder, helped her remember how much she is loved, and she changed back into a Grandmother. I returned her to her village, where she was received with loving, open arms.

Upon waking, I thought it was important to revisit this dream story, by creating artwork to depict the story. At that moment, a friend contacted me and wanted to schedule a private session with me together with her and her 6 year old daughter. We agreed to a time to journey together in sacred space, and I told her of just awakening from a nap where I was recalling my dream story of the blue starfish, that was meant to be a children’s story. She mentioned her daughter had just the other day, been talking about wanting to search for starfish on the beach. I took the message of synchronicity, that we were meant to journey into the ocean realms on a magical mermaid journey with the moon and the stars. Together we journeyed guided by the sound of the drum, held by the bright moon above, and we delved into visiting a treasure filled sea cave in the magical ocean realms of mermaid. In my journey, I saw the blue starfish at the end, which was actually a falling star from the heavens, and 2 gold coins left by the mermaid. The very next day, I found myself journeying to the bottom of the sea, into an ancient conch shell. On the altar for the journey to the bottom of the sea, part of the offerings I was told to prepare, included 2 coins. Namaste

Faery Gateways

Faery Folk have long been known to appear in my dreams on occasion and when they do, I feel a certain importance and magic has visited me. I feel blessed by their presence which often is accompanied by mystery & shenanigans. One such dream came recently, when contemplating a trip to Ireland in the coming year. I used dream incubation and put the question to my dreams to find out if this was a good idea. Dream incubation is a core practice in Active Dreaming and can give one access to deeper levels of reality and the deeper wisdom of the soul, when dealing with life’s challenges and questions. The dream which came was an immediate response to my question. I share a couple of related dreams here following the steps of the Lightning Dream Sharing Process, which is also a handy way of recording in your dream journal and exploring your own dreams or sharing with others.

Foxglove Faery Gateway

I see two purple flowers growing in a forested glen and my awareness comes closer in the dream to see them. I become aware these two flowers form a small gateway into a faery realm, where I now hear the voices of faeries chattering away in excitement. I cannot see them, but can hear them. I am told the flower on the left is for me and the flower on the right is for my partner.

Feelings upon waking – Excitement! A confirmation of going to visit Ireland, as the land of my Ancestors and Faery Folk.

Reality Check – In response to my dream, I did look up foxgloves to see what connection they may have to Faeries or Ireland. I learned Foxglove Flowers are known to originate in the British Isles and closely associated with Faery folktales. The flowers are also known by the names, Folkgloves (The Good Folk), Faery Fingers, Faery Bells, Faery Caps, Thimbles of the Sidhe or The Plant of the Faery Woman.

What do I want to know? I want to know what is on the other side of the Faery gateway.

Action Plans – Re-Enter my dream to travel through the gateway of the Good Folk, and ask for the assistance of fox as a guide. Make travel plans to visit Ireland in the coming year.

Fox Glove Myth — Foxgloves by Kelly Louise Judd

In folk tales, the Foxglove flower is said to get it’s name from how Fox was given gloves from the flower, which were placed on his feet by faeries, so that he could quietly slip by undetected by hunters and escape.

Whale bones — Baleen Whale Skeleton Photo by Lisa Levin and Nicholas D. Pyenson.

Harp Gateway

I had a fascinating dream years ago, which apparently was hinting at me traveling to Ireland, if not in physical reality at least in dreaming. In my dream I was drawn into what appeared to be a rib cage made of whale bones. The bones were ancient and had turned to crystal, and standing inside I could see strings of sinew between the bones. I passed my fingers across the strings and an otherworldly song was emitted. The whale harp became a dream gate with entrance into a magical otherworldly realm. I placed my Native American flute at the entrance to the gateway and then picked up a tin flute that lay at the entrance before stepping through the gateway.

Feelings – Mystery

Reality Check – In subsequent research after having this dream, I discovered a folktale of how the Harp became a symbol for Ireland. It is said that a Queen was strolling along the windy shores of the Sea one fine day, when she heard a haunting sound that reached to her very soul. She searched to find the source and came across the carcass of a Whale, whose bones had washed ashore. The rib cage bones of the Whale were the source of the magical sound, created when the wind blew through. The Queen was determined to have a musical instrument made which could create this haunting beautiful music she had heard. She could think of nothing else until once again she could hear such beautiful music whenever she pleased. She ordered the court musicians and craftsman to examine the whale bones and come up with a design for an instrument to be made. After many attempts to create an instrument capable of replicating the sounds made through the whale bones, the court craftsman finally were able to come together to complete the task. Together they created an instrument known as the Harp. The Queen was very happy to have magical music played by her court musicians whenever she pleased. This is how the Irish harp came to be and later known as the symbol of Ireland today.

What do I want to know? – The changing of the Flute upon entrance through the dream gate suggests giving up something in order to pick up a new song and follow a new path. I want to know what lies beyond the gateway.

Action – Pick up the tin flute. Play a Harp. Revisit opening the Harp gateway in dreaming.

King Arthur and the White Hart

Sacred Tree

In conscious twilight dreaming, I see myself down in the earth around the roots of an enormous tree. I move around from root to root to feel and connect with the wide expanse that roots this magnificent tree in the earth. I then travel up through the core of the trunk of the tree, but find it difficult to move upward, because I encounter energy blocks inside the trunk.

I begin to feel the fear that I have stored there, and I consciously allow my fears to come undone. When the blockage is removed, I am aware my dreams have now also become unleashed. The fears held there were blocking my dreams from coming through. Now my dreams are free to be gathered each night and morning as I enter sleep and later awaken. Now I can move freely up the core of the tree, into the hartwood.

White Hart

I am suddenly called to step out and into the middle realm. I am deep in a wooded forest, where a young king stands alone with his white horse to take water at the stream. He is handsome with shoulder length blonde hair, and blue eyes. He wears fine clothing and a simple gold crown. His back adorned with a silken purple cape and his hands are protected by tailor made leather riding gloves. He stares at the water with a look of peace and serenity, taking in every moment of the rare chance to be alone in the wild. Watching his horse drink from the stream, he looks up when hearing a crack in the wood. He stands face to face with the huge dark eyes of the stag staring back at him. There is something between them, something being transmitted, yet unspoken. It is a destiny, it is a sign. The White Hart then leaps across the wide stream and moves up the bluff until reaching a vantage point where he can look down upon the strange encounter he has just discovered. He will turn up again when the time is right.

Upper Realm Journey

Now I am called back to my sacred tree to move ever upward until finding the very tips of each branch as it reaches skyward. I scan the reach of this tree, it is broad and reaches high into the heavens. It holds home to many birds who lay in her branches tucked safely from harm. The trunk is strong and stable, and the roots reach wide and deep. I am now perched on the tiptop of the branches like a bird, surveying the view from uptop of the world. I am called to move ever higher in my journey and enter the upper realms. I look up and see a rope drop down, and a helping hand emerges to pull me up to the next level.

A rip in the fabric of time

I find myself dreaming in the twilight zone hoping for sleep or dreams to find me. A dream draws near me, tearing a rip in the fabric of darkness, that makes up my inner space. Upper and lower are pulled apart to reveal the brightness of the sun piercing through like the break of day. From this space, now torn wide open, I can see the energy of another dimension spilling through into mine. I begin to see etheric beings stepping into my dreamspace, making their way toward me, moving ever closer. One moves close enough to come into view and I begin to make out the details of his person. He is a King in his prime years, experienced and fearless. He holds his hand extended out toward me. In it he holds, what looks to be the head of a man, or perhaps a skull. When I look closer, I see it is made from beeswax.

Mythic Reflections

There are tales of King Arthur in connection with the white hart deer, one of which is at the wedding feast of King Arthur and Guinevere at Camelot. A White Hart Deer was seen to enter the great hall, followed by the chaos of a white dog followed by 30 hunting dogs, a fair maiden in pursuit of the white dog, and a knight in pursuit of the maiden. At the behest of Merlin, King Arthur orders they should all be brought back and chooses Sir Gawain to bring back the white hart. He is accompanied by two other knights, who gave chase to return the white hound and the fair maiden. The maiden was killed accidentally by Gawain who fought the knight for her. The White Hart and White Hound were returned to Camelot.

There is another tale that takes place at a Christmas feast at Camelot, when Sir Gawain encounters the Green Knight who challenges the knights of the round table to cut off his head and in a year and a day return to have the same fate returned. Sir Gawain is the only knight to accept the challenge and he takes the hatchet and chops of the head of the Green Knight, who then catches his own head in his hand.

Sir Gawain returns to the Green Chapel at the coming of Christmas the next year to honor his part of the bargain with the Green Knight. On New Year’s Day, he meets up at the Green Chapel to receive the returning ax blow to cut off his head, but his life is sparred after three tries by the Green Knight. He is found to have been given a green girdle talisman of a fair maiden to protect his life.

What will the coming year bring with the mythic themes of King Arthur and the White Hart spilling into my dreams? A spiritual quest maybe in the offering for the coming year. Time will tell, in a year and a day, if my head will be cut off or not. I will be sure to make plenty of magic talismans this year. The Green Knight is steeped in the older traditions of the Green Man. The King of the Wood, as protector and consort of the Goddess, is sacrificed in the yearly ritual. When winter comes, the Green Man becomes the old man of winter and he is sacrificed in a ritual fire to be reborn at Beltane. The reborn sacred king and goddess are joined in a sacred marriage to fertilize the land. It is then, that his power is bestowed upon him by the goddess and held in the land that he serves.

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