Return of the Grandmothers

The Grandmothers have much been with me, as of late. They whisper in my ear, day and night. They take me into the sacred territory of dreams, for ceremonies of initiation, and healing. They come from many cultures, many times, many places and lifetimes. The Grandmothers have returned, and they have work to be done. They share in their wisdom, with an embrace, that finds the deepest longings from within.

Healing the Stories of the Speaking Land

Sing me sacred melodies,

on which I am fed.

Enter the womb,

where women have bled.

Give me a sip, from the cauldron of fate,

Slip me the password, to enter the gate.

Move me closer, with hips circling round,

Invoke blessings from deep in the ground.

Calling forth blessings to remind me of who I am, and why I have come. The Grandmothers stand behind me, supporting me with their love, and whispering in my ears…You can do it. Everything will be alright. They guide me along forgotten pathways, that are no longer visible, and guide me to help open ancient pathways once again, because most have forgotten the way, or how to see.

The Grandmothers teach me to feel from the nape of the neck, protect the strength of my heart, listen to my gut, and to see with my womb. They teach me to hold beauty in a way, that neither time, person, nor secret power play, can take it away. They ask me to help heal the land, and remind me of how I know these things. I know how to heal the stories held in the land, and the body, because I know how to listen.

CirclesinWaterSky

Stories held in water,

move in circles,

Rain drops, dew drops,

Add to this recipe called “Life”.

A water symphony,

a dripping remedy,

resonates with each breath.

 

Water stories, now given to Earth,

Now soaking it in.

Now where to begin?

Buried deep underground,

Held in the presence of stones, until they are found.

 

Tree rooted stories also, gripping the darkness below,

and growing ever toward the sun, the moon and the stars.

Archival rings of wisdom, take us back,

circling through our past, while playing silent witness.

 

The breeze through trees,

whispers how love is made,

As I lay resting beneath her shade,

a dream appears, taking me inside another world.

 

I dream of a memory, when I was a tree,

and I listen to songs played inside my rings.

Like an ancient record album, I am a record keeper.

I hold inside, languages of light,

which feed me, and keep me, through the night,

where I travel in dreams, to distant stars.

This Tree rooted deep in Earth, is a Star traveler.

MilkyWayTree

Cave walls,

call in the direction

of darkness,

A place of initiation and vision,

where painted stories of earth are hidden,

I come tripping back to my destiny.

from a place of far memory.

 

Drifting clouds,

paint pictures across my mind,

bird wings build ships of time travel,

creating shapes of meaning,

across the sky.

 

Valley Reed © 2018

The Dreaming Tree

Years ago, a dream was given to me where I was told by an unseen voice, “This is your Dream Tree. Spend time here.” I knew the tree in my dream was a tree in my waking reality, I had somehow seen before. I recognized the curvy shape of the trunk resembling a snake. After the dream, I went searching for the dream tree in my memory and found it near a lake where I often walked.

I approached the tree to make an offering of gratitude to honor my dream, and as I came near, I noticed my sight became more clear and the colors around me became vivid. I felt as though I were stepping into a dream. I could feel an energy surging through my body and the presence of fairy on the other side of the veil. There seemed to be an energy field surrounding the tree that was a portal to the other world.

Trees are indeed portals into another world, and in the conscious shamanic group dream journeys I offer, we learn how to journey from the tree of life to visit the lower, middle or upper realms of experience, with the assistance of the animal powers. We enter the world behind the world, through the portal of the Tree of Life. I have seen how the trunk of the tree can be a passageway to healing energetic blocks, and a place we may even find where our dreams have been hiding, when they are not reaching our awareness each morning.

The Tree of Life is the bridge between the realm of dreams and the waking world. In this story from Brazil, we see how the accumulation of spiritual power and wisdom can take one into the dream to discover ancient paths of spiritual initiation onto the path of the healer and Shaman.

The Dreaming Tree

A folktale from the Amazonian people of Karajae and Apinaye, Brazil.

A boy named Uaica grew up as a small and sickly child, and because of this, he often found himself the target of bullies. His Grandfather would stick up for him and protect him, but he could not always be there for him. When Uaica had no one else to turn to, he would retreat to the rain forest.

In the jungle, life was teeming with the sounds of beautiful birds and creatures of all kinds, surrounded by towering trees providing shelter. Uaica felt safe and protected in the rain forest, he felt at one with everything surrounding him and he did not feel alone or afraid. He felt like it was a place where he belonged.

One day after his time in the jungle and walking back to his village, he came upon a huge tree where he saw a monkey, sound asleep at the roots of the tree. He then noticed a jaguar sprawled asleep at the foot of the tree, then noticed a huge anaconda coiled up around the roots of the tree, sleeping as well. Uaica began to notice many animals laying around the tree, sleeping peacefully.

Uacia thought, something strange is going on here!

He stepped closer to the animals to make sure they were not dead, and as he got closer to the tree, he began to feel incredibly sleepy. He could barely keep his eyes open, and he forgot about the sleeping animals, and instead lay down himself, right next to the Jaguar. He found himself entering a dream, as he entered the sleep of the animals at the base of the tree.

In his dream, he saw many different animals, some he recognized, some he had never seen before. He was visited by many people in his dream, some from his own village, some were departed ancestors no longer living, some were from places he had never been and spoke languages he had never heard, and did not understand. He found himself traveling to many places on the Earth and even among the stars.

He returned to a familiar place inside the dream, where his ancestors sat in a circle around a fire and singing songs together, which he was given to learn. In this space, an elder stepped forward to introduce himself. I am Sina-a, child of the Jaguar. Uacia had heard stories of the Jaguar Man as a great teacher. He was very happy he was there and listened to all the songs, stories and teachings the Jaguar Man brought him inside the dream.

Sina-a told stories of stealing fire from eagle, he spoke of a time when he kept the darkness of night safe, in a time of eternal daylight. He shared a story of healing and transformation, when he took the ashes of snake and changed them into plants for medicine and nurturing.

Uacia came out of the dream, and noticed the daylight barely hung in the sky and night was falling. The animals were now gone and had crept back into the darkness of the jungle, he hurried home before darkness surrounded him.

The next day, Uaica could not wait to return to the Dream Tree to have more adventures with the Jaguar Man. He curled himself around the bottom of the tree and found himself dreaming once again. He sang the songs he was given, which gave him entrance to the circle of the Ancestors. The Jaguar man appeared and gave him more stories to learn.

Uaica continued to come and dream in this way with the Dream Tree, arriving each morning and leaving as evening approached. He would return to his home after dark, always missing meal time. He began to get weary and thin from this travels into the dream world. Sina-a was concerned how the boy was looking so thin, and asked him to not return to the Dream Tree. He saw the danger the boy was in of never being able to return to his world, if he continued to visit the dream world in this way. Uaica understood and agreed to stop visiting the Dream Tree.

Once home again, Uaica was starving after not eating for many days. He sat down to a morning meal with his grandfather. “Where have you been?” he wanted to know. Uaica trusted his grandfather most of all, and he told him of the Dream Tree and all the adventures he had found inside mysterious dreams underneath the tree. He spoke of meeting Sina-a and the songs which brought him to the circle of ancestors, where he was taught stories by the Jaguar Man.

“I can show you the tree if you want” Uaica said. “Yes, this I must see for myself”, his grandfather replied. Together the two went to visit the Dream Tree the very next day. Uaica showed him the tree and told him to go close to it. When he drew near, he found himself in a deep sleep and dreaming. Uaica made sure to keep his distance this time as he had promised the Jaguar Man.

Suddenly his grandfather woke and exclaimed, “You must tell no one about this tree! This is a very powerful place and there are those who would use it’s powers for selfish reasons.”  Uaica agreed to keep the Dream Tree safe and secret.

When they returned to the village, they discovered a young boy had fallen ill and was expected to die. The boy was one of those who had bullied him before, which had caused Uaica to seek solace in the rain forest. Uaica was no longer afraid or unhappy now and he was able to offer what he had been taught in dreaming to heal the boy. The boy fully recovered and Uaica was no longer seen as a scrawny, sickly boy to be tormented. Now people came from all over seeking his healing gifts.

One night the Jaguar Man visited in his dream, “You have passed the tests put before you. You stayed away from the tree when asked, showed compassion for your enemy, and have used the lessons you were given to heal your community. Now, I will show you more so that you can help many more people.”

Uaica continued to dream with the Jaguar Man, who showed him many secret ways of healing. His grandfather built him a special dreaming hut, where he could safely go to dream. They planted a garden nearby with special herbs, which he had been taught in dreams, the many healing powers they possess.

The boy he saved, who had once bullied him, was now his best friend. He had not only healed his body, but also the hardness in his heart, and he was a loyal friend.

Uaica began to see wonderful things in his dreams and was able to create beautiful things inspired by them. He gave these gifts to those he loved most, like his grandfather and his best friend. When others noticed all the beautiful things Uaica was capable of creating, some became envious of him and his many gifts.

A few decided that Uaica thought he was better than everyone else and so they plotted a way to get rid of him. They waited to pounce on him as he sat down to dinner with his Grandfather and his best friend. Uaica stood up to them and knew they were there, because he had learned to see behind himself! Uaica and his grandfather, their dreaming hut, and healing garden suddenly vanished! His enemies were astonished and afraid as they stood there alone.

They had been transported to a new land where none could harm them. The village learned of their disappearance and was concerned to have lost the best healer in all the land, due to the envies of a few. They set out a search party to discover them and return them home again. They traveled far and wide until finally they came upon him and begged his return to the village of his people. Uaica agreed to return home once again and give them another chance.

The village prepared a great feast in honor of his return, but some in the village were not so happy and had a different plan in mind for his return. When Uaica stood to give thanks for the welcoming feast, his attacker approached from behind with a club in his hand. Uaica was able to defend himself by saying, “I can see you even though my back is turned! ”

Uaica, his grandfather, and his best friend disappeared again, only this time inside the crack of a rock, laying nearby. A voice from deep in the rock thundered to the crowd, “This time I will never return, you no longer deserve what I have to offer.”

Since that time, many stories have been told among the Jurana people of the great shaman Uraica, who could see from behind his head. It is said even today, he still dreams from inside the shaman stone, and those who have generous, kind and loving hearts, may be visited by the Jaguar Man to receive teachings of the ancients in dreams.

Blog Note; I have dreamed previously and written about the Black Jaguar and the Shaman stone.

Ⓒ 2018 Valley Reed

 

 

 

 

The Language of Trees

AngelOakTree
The Angel Oak Tree in South Carolina is over 1500 years old. Photo Credit: Daniela Duncan

In a recent night of dreaming, I found myself in an ancient grove of  Oak trees and was drawn toward one of the larger trees, which held a deep presence. My guide was standing near me and transported me into the inner world of the tree. I was shown what was held inside, an ancient language streamed before my eyes written in what appeared to be a holographic, hieroglyphic. An archaic language written with a green lazer beam of light.  I was told by my guide, that I am a guardian of this tree and that I have kept it safe. The language I was witnessing is from an advanced ancient knowledge planted by star beings and provides a way to connect to other universes.

I then saw myself back outside the tree and placed my hand on it, as I did the holographic language of the tree was transferred into me and my inner world. I had now become a record keeper just like the tree I had stepped inside. I have now become a part of this sacred grove rooted in this ancient language and wisdom, and am able to store knowledge through the transfer of light, encoded with the holographic language of dreams. The transfer of this light into my being from the record keeper, activated the information. The Record Keeper is connected to other sacred places around the world, which also hold sacred wisdom held in secret. The Record Keeper may be a Tree, a Rock, a Sacred Spring, or even a Whale. When one of the Records becomes activated and transfers to an individual, then other locations around the world, also become active, sending out a signal to the guardian of the site, who must come and activate it. A transfer of ancient wisdom seeded on this planet long ago and now ready to be awakened and activated. A transfer of ancient wisdom into the waking world, through action, to Awaken the Sacred Dream. Are you listening to the call? The time is now, to wake up.

Valley Reed © 2015

NorthIrelandTreeGrove
Northern Ireland Dark Hedges Photo Credit: Stephen Emerson

 

Wolf Woman Gathers the Wild Women

wolfhowl Grey Wolf Woman 7-9-14

The grey wolf stood behind me, making her presence known at my right flank.

Then enters a wise woman, full of love and wisdom, calling forth her power.

She is interchangeable with the grey wolf. She reaches her arm forward drawing her power inward, showing me how it works. Showing me how to draw my power from the natural world, the world of spirits and the world of the shaman. The other world has come to stand beside me.

In between the balance of how the natural world flows.

 

The Portal 7-30-14

I sit before the portal of knowing and unknowing. A beautiful sunset slipping into the ocean before me. The magic of twilight opens the liminal spaces between the worlds. The waves are crashing through the portal and dispersing the energy of the mother. I open myself to this passage and receive the ever flowing waves of ancient love, pouring into my being. I feel the trembling earth beneath me and feel the electric energy surging through my body. I feel the energy being drawn into my womb, where it gathers. I feel the pain I have carried in my womb for so long, no longer has a home there. It is now home to a radiant and powerful love. I hear an ancient voice speaking to me across the waves of time. “You were drawn to me, just as I was drawn to you. Now we are joined together as one. This energy now belongs to you, and you can create whatever you wish in this life.”

bigSur

After these powerful experiences, the space opened up for me to gather women together and offer weekend women’s retreats, which I began last year over the Fall Equinox.  In January of this year, I had this dream;

Wolf Priestess
I see a High Priestess who wore a white wolf headed skin over her right shoulder. Her handmade tunic draped down in front in deep colors of Blue. There were shiny elements on the front that made it appear like stars. She was standing facing me and held a strong presence in the room, but said nothing. Then another priestess came with the Wolf headed skin draped in the colors of purple, and the design held something more earthy on the front. Finally another priestess appeared wearing the Wolf headed skin draped in the colors of deep black with diamond like elements on her tunic which looked like stars in the night sky. I had the awareness of the Pleiadies constellation on this tunic. I quite like this woman, she had a wildness about her that was beautiful and familiar. The High Priestess stood holding the space as the procession of Wolf Priestesses walked past her and entered another room through an open door, where they were to have a private meeting. I was still watching as each appeared, noticing the different expression of their wolf power through the garments and designs they each wore, which were of their own making. I asked the High Priestess, How does one join to become a priestess? She said simply, you create your own sacred garment in your own colors and design and then you attend a meeting with the group, then you can create your own rituals or ceremonies and have your own group.  EOD.

I have continued to offer monthly women’s groups on the New Moon and weekend women’s retreats this year and am now also collaborating with Sacred Woman and The Kolo in helping to organize a women’s gathering in Taos next fall.

The International Women’s Traditions Leading the World on Oct. 2-4 at the Taos/SMU Campus.

What is so striking to me about how all this continues to come through, is how more and more new women are finding me and joining in our circle, and many speak about dreaming with a wolf when they come into the circle. The Wolf Woman is gathering the Wild Women together and you are invited to join us.

New Moon Women’s Wisdom Circle meets next in East Dallas on Tuesday, June 16th 7-9 p.m.

Listen to the call and join us.

 

The Ever Flowing Spring

“You will be like a well watered garden, like an ever flowing spring.”  Isaiah 58:11

I dream I have found the location of a sacred spring, there is a man and a buffalo there who are guardians of the spring. They have a story to tell about the water, and the sacredness of this place and it’s importance. It is not being used currently, for what it’s purpose was designed. It is located on private farm land and the water is being pumped and used to water the fields. This sacred place and the healing waters there, are meant to be used as a place of initiation and healing, not for commercial profit.

 

GrizzlyBearAdamsThe man has reddish dark hair, mustache and beard and perhaps English or Scottish ancestry. He was a hunter or trapper in the area, and now his spirit remains as guardian of this sacred spring. He is a big, burly looking mountain man, and it could also be a bear with him, Yes a Grizzly. I see the Grizzly who stands behind the man at a safe distance away. She stands on her hind legs with her shabby, sun drenched, blonde fur. She growls fiercely toward me, protecting her man. I recall looking at a trail map which had grizzly bear indicators for the trails they may frequent. I was looking at the trail map to see which trails I may want to follow. I am aware of the danger, but not afraid of the Bear, in fact in looking at the map, I see several trails grizzlies may frequent that I may be willing to go down. I know the area on the map where I am looking is near the Sierra Nevada Mountains of N. California and Nevada and perhaps further up into Montana. In researching this grizzly guardian, I discover he is in fact, the mountain man & trapper John Grizzly Adams, who lived in this area during the 1849 gold rush.

He lived in the wild and trapped and trained a number of Grizzly Bears over the years. One of his first was a she bear he trapped and trained who would follow him around just as I saw in my dream. Adams was attacked by a Grizzly in 1855,’ but saved by one of his Grizzly Bears who fought in his defense. He died 5 years later after the attack, never fully recovering. It would make sense that he would return to the places in the wild he loved as a guardian. It appears he would like to tell more of his story, or perhaps he is unhappy with how he has been portrayed.

I understand the spring and it’s purpose is connected with the deep well of soul, and it’s connection to ever flowing emotion and creativity. There are stories in this spring that want to be told, but before having access to them, I must listen to and tell the story of the guardian of this sacred place. I am impatient with him and want to bypass this process. I want to go around him and go deeper, I feel I have already heard the story of the gatekeeper and understand him, but I am here for a different purpose, the purpose for which this spring was created. Each time I try to go deeper into the sacred spring, I encounter the guardian, and he begins to tell me the story of this spring. In this telling, I am also paying attention to the buffalo and the story it has to tell me. The tragedy of the loss of the abundance of the buffalo, because of the greed of man. The story of how this affected the native people and how much they relied on the buffalo for not only food, but clothing and shelter. The Buffalo was at one time as numerous on the plains as the waves on the ocean, and as deeply honored in sacred ceremony and myth, as an ever flowing spring. The Indigenous People took care to honor the Buffalo and when hunted, they used every part of this sacred animal. They never imagined that it could become extinct and their way of life with it, because of the greed, guns and colonization by the white man.

Buffalo_skulls

I try once again to connect on a deeper level with the ever flowing spring, and again I meet the guardian of the spring who has his story to tell. He is focused on the physical water and location of the sacred place and the story surrounding it. The need to protect the environment and sacred places upon the earth, which are being used up for temporary financial gain. I want to go deeper into the healing power of the spring and encounter the soul energy that resides there. It is the soul energy of the earth, and holds great healing power. I want to delve in deeper with this ever flowing energy of soul and connect my life with it, and realign with my own inner vast resources of the ever flowing spring. It is restorative, and creative and from it stories spring forth, bubbling up from the depths of soul, swirling through time and into the present.

Spinning-VortexFinally, after the third hearing of the stories of the gatekeeper, I am able to delve deeper into the ever flowing spring. I enter the movement and see the spiraling flow of the water, it takes me ever deeper to the source of the spring. I am aware that this inner reality is the much sought after discovery of the elixir of life, or the fountain of youth, the alchemists spoke of in myth and legend. I have only just stepped into this flow of these sacred waters, and I know they will carry me ever deeper. I am blessed by these waters in dreaming on the cusp of a new year.

My prayer is to honor the earth dream and protect the sacred, within and without. May the ever flowing spring reveal my sacred purpose and bigger story.

For more information on sacred sites at risk, all around the earth please visit – www.sacredland.org

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