Category: Transformative Dreams

Shapeshifting with the White Animals

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

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.

by Valley Reed  © 2011

Dream Healing with the Benu Bird

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.

Following the Rivers and Stars of My Life

The Canoe is your Life 11-13-10

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.

Persephone and Opening the Pomegranate

  In a dream from just the other night, I encountered the Goddess Persephone. She offered me a Pomegranate which she held in her hands and told me.  “If you never open the Pomegranate you can not plant the seed and the tree will never grow.” She then took a single seed from the open Pomegranate and planted it from which a beautiful tree grew tall, full and strong like magic. EOD

This dream is rich with meaning and nourishment as is the Pomegranate. In this time of the year as we edge toward the winter solstice and the turning of the wheel from the harvest of Autumn to the cold dark days of Winter, it is the season when Persephone makes her journey into the darkness of the underworld. She will make her ascent and return during the season of spring when all things come to life and begin to grow once again.

During the season of Winter and the descent into the darkness of the underworld, there are opportunities for growth to come from within.  This call from Persephone to break open the hard shell which surrounds the deep juicy fruits inside is a kind of death of the protective hard shell and an opening of the heart and soul.    The seeds planted will grow to provide more fruits and opportunities for growth, as well as a path to travel in dreams toward the upper realms.

The Return of Persephone by Frederic Leighton

In the Myth of Persephone’s abduction by Hade’s into the underworld her Mother Demeter, Goddess of the  Harvest, is devastated by the loss of her maiden daughter. She searches the earth for her daughter and becomes forlorn by her loss and refuses to bring the sun to grow anything upon the earth. Finally, her father Zeus is persuaded to bring his daughter back from the depths of the underworld where she sits as queen alongside Hades over the souls of the dead.

Zeus sends Hermes to go and bring her back but before he is able to do so Persephone eats the seeds of the pomegranate and is destined by the fates to stay in the underworld.  Hermes manages to negotiate a time settlement where she is able to serve part of her time on earth but must return for a portion of the time to reign as queen of the underworld alongside Hades. It is agreed, and Hermes returns her to her awaiting mother goddess Demeter, bringing the return of spring and the end of winter.

“Eclipsed Moon” photo credit Martin Pugh

The Winter Solstice honors the descent into the longest  night of the year and celebrates the hope of renewal and the return of the Sun as is portrayed in the myth of Persephone.  This year the Winter Solstice will shine under the light of the full moon and also be brought in with a lunar eclipse that will at its apex appear like a giant pomegranate in the sky.  In the spirit of Persephone, I honor this time of year with remembering loved ones who have passed into the realm of  the underworld where Persephone sits as Queen.  I will celebrate the hope of the return of the light, just as Hermes served as guide to Persephone to help her return to bring about the season of planting seeds.  Before the return though, the winter season of breaking open is upon us , an opening to bring about change and transformation and growth.  May your Winter Solstice be juicy and heartfelt!

The White Tiger and the Cave of Innocence

Summer Solstice 2010
The Dream
I am in a dark mountain cave where the light of my soul hovers above dark waters. I see a white tiger emerge from the mountain and sit by the side of the water looking into the darkness. The water surface is covered with a dark, thick, sludge and a being crawls out of the water, its body covered in sludge. The tiger looks at the sludge covered creature and turns her head away, wanting nothing to do with it. The white tiger finally decides to jump into the water, and  the contrast of  her beautiful white fur against the deep darkness in the water is amazing to see. The tiger is a powerful swimmer and moves swiftly through the dark waters until it reaches a place of  murky astral waters, where many spirits are floating. The tiger continues to swim through the murky waters of spirits until the water begins to clear and she is now swimming in the clear open sea.  She finally emerges on another shore with a rope in her mouth from which she is pulling a boat from deep within the ocean waters onto the shore.  Inside the boat is a woman dressed in gold trimmed and maroon colored vestments and wearing a regal shaped head dress. On the shore of the beach is a small girl of about 7  with blond hair and fair features, who runs toward the boat ecstatic to see the new visitors.
The dream shifts, and now I am back inside the mountain cave with the white tiger and the black covered creature still lying beside the sludge pond. The white tiger moves toward the creature and begins to wash it. As the tiger continues washing, it reveals the creature is actually the small girl who was seen running on the beach. The child now lays her head on the huge strong arm of the white tiger as she is lovingly being cleaned, nurtured and restored by her new protector.  EOD
I returned from this experience deeply moved by what I had seen and how deeply I felt it inside my being. I understood it to be a soul retrieval, however it did not feel as though it were connected to me individually. I was later to find part of this story unfold in pictures which were shared with me from a friend and teacher who was in Kyrgyzstan at the time. She was participating in the lighting of the Sacred Fire Ceremony of Uluu Ot where indigenous elders from around the globe had gathered to light the sacred fire on the Summer Solstice under the full moon. I looked through the her pictures of the ceremony and found myself staring back at the woman dressed in traditional dress who was an Altai Medicine Woman. She was dressed just as the woman I had encountered in my dream vision who came riding onto shore in the boat pulled by the White Tiger. I thought about the dream and decided to share it with my friend to see what she thought. She was able to confirm my experience and told me that the mountains of the Uluu Ot are known as Tien Shen, home to the Snow Leopard. During the Uluu Ot ceremony, the Altai Medicine Woman I had seen in dreaming and also a Japanese Medicine Woman, both individually reported seeing the spirit of a young girl dancing around the fire. They realized she had been murdered and her soul wanted to be part of the ceremony.  According to the hosts of the ceremony, a genocidal event occurred on the grounds where the ceremony had taken place. The story goes that while 100’s of men’s bodies were being buried, a young girl came upon the scene. They murdered her too and threw her in the grave along with the other bodies. She was remembered in this ceremony and her soul retrieved.

According to this account, I was connecting in my dream with the Uluu Ot ceremony going on the very same day in Kyrgyzstan, and the soul of this child was restored during the lighting of the sacred fire. She continues to be held and protected by the spirit of the White Tiger.  I give thanks the White Tiger and all of my relations and teachers who share their connection with me in dreaming and the waking world. We are all connected and part of a larger story. I am grateful to participate in this journey of healing the past, while healing the earth.

Dream Wayfinding

I was transfixed by the images in this dream, the energy was so inviting and mysterious. The next day, I set up the space for the workshop to create a sacred ceremonial space within which to work in the basement of an airport hotel. I put out about 30 chairs and I thought I must be expecting a good crowd. I imagined all the chairs being filled for the workshop. I also decided to lure people into the space down in the basement by playing my Native American flute.

By Valley Reed

The Annual Conference for the International Association for the Study of Dreams was held last month in Chicago, Illinois.  I was there to participate in a panel on Listening to the Earth Dreaming chaired by Jean Campbell along with Wendy Panier, Jody Grudy & Teresa MacColl, a powerful group of women leaders and dreamers.  I also co-facilitated a workshop with Teresa MacColl on Dream Way Finding.   I have been a presenter at several of these conferences over the years, including last year in Montreal, Canada where I chaired a panel on Dreaming Across Borders with Indigenous Peoples.  The presentation I gave last year is listed on my blog as “The Call of Quetzalcoatl and Dancing with the Moon” which has also been published in Dreamtime Magazine.  I flew to this years conference in Chicago directly after attending a week long Dream Teacher Training with Robert Moss in Connecticut at a beautiful seaside retreat. The circle of 18 women was a powerful, grounded group that attended the training and we have all become bonded on this journey we are embarking on together.

The Dream way finding workshop seemed to pick up right where I left off from my experience in Teotihuacan, where I did ceremony with De Leon the keeper of the staff of Quetzalcoatl. It was in response to a prayer I had offered for my father two years ago, who was dying of cancer that I had the dream of an Aztec  Gatekeeper who told me he was directing my fathers death. This dream lead me to go the Teotihuacan to do ceremony in Teo at the temple of Quetzalcoatl and the Jaguar Palace.  I have been told by a Mayan friend that the name Teotihuacan means “Valley of the Reeds” and my given birth name is Valley Reed.

temple-of-quetzalcoatl
Teotihuacan The Temple of Quetzalcoatl

My father has since crossed over last fall, and during the past Summer Solstice of this year, which was also Fathers Day,  my oldest brother spread my fathers ashes over the Garden of the Gods in Colorado where my father grew up.  Teotihuacan is also known as “the place where men become Gods”,  so it seems fitting that my Father would finally come to rest in the Garden of the Gods.  I wrote about my experience as being a “Gatekeeper” in my previous blog entry and serving in the role of psycho pomp to help my father to cross over into the next stage of his journey.

I found in the workshop on dream way finding we did in Chicago that the journey was continuing.  I had a dream the night before the workshop of a mysterious princess or priestess who had a star on her forehead and wore a beautiful transparent veil in shades of blue, which just barely covered her head.  In the dream, she handed me a Crystal Skull and also a small crystal spiral.  I was transfixed by the images in this dream the energy was so inviting and mysterious. The next day,  I set up the space for the workshop to create a sacred ceremonial space within which to work in the basement of an airport hotel.  I put out about 30 chairs and I thought I must be expecting a good crowd.  I imagined all the chairs being filled for the workshop.  I also decided to lure people into the space down in the basement by playing my bamboo Native American flute I had bought at the Mohawk reservation in Montreal last year. The first person to come into the circle through the East was Dr. Tricia Torres an Anthropologist from Guadalajara. We had the opportunity to visit briefly, as she entered the circle and put her offering on the altar my colleague Teresa had set up in the center.  Dr. Torres told me she was the Dance Elder for a dance circle of women in Mexico, and they did sacred precolumbian dance.  I asked her if she knew De Leon, the keeper of the staff of Quetzalcoatl in Teotihuacan, and told her I had danced with him and his wife as their guest in the annual Moon Dance Ceremony in Mexico City in 2007.  She affirmed to me she did know him, I then felt moved to ask her if she could tell me anything about the Crystal Skull. I shared with her that I had a dream last night of a crystal skull and it seemed to me to be from Mexico, or Central or South America.  She told me the crystal skull had to do with higher transformational energies.  I left it at that and thanked her, allowing her to take her place in the circle and continued to play the flute to help guide other dream wayfinders to our workshop. We managed to fill each of the seats we had set out for the workshop. It was a wonderful mix of bringing the ancient practice of dream way finding through the voices of the elders who Teresa MacColl had interviewed and recorded.  Teresa has her Masters through the Indigenous Mind Studies Program at Naropa University now directed at Wisdom University by Dr. Apela Colorado.  It is important to follow the protocols of honor and respect toward elders and these ancient practices by honoring the ancestors.  Within the protected ceremonial space we had created together, I was able to lead the workshop on a shamanic group dream journey with the help of the drum to dream our way forward.

In the circle, we called out the names of our ancestors and shared dreams and experiences on dream way finding.  I felt called to mention that each person in the circle had found their way there that day, and that it was also an example of way finding.  I made the connection with Dr. Torres and that she knew the gatekeeper from my dream that lead me to Teotihuacan.  She told me on June 21st during the Summer Solstice her womens’ dance circle had performed a sacred dance to help heal relations between fathers and daughters, the same day my fathers ashes were spread over the Garden of the Gods. The name of the sacred dance these women performed is called the skull dance.

Dr. Torres offered to teach the whole circle the skull dance to close the circle. We all did the dance together beautifully, picking up the steps as though we already knew the dance.  The dance was offered as a closing prayer to our dream way finding workshop and offered further closure for me on the journey of my father’s crossing over.  The workshop was so magical, and the weaving of the bigger story into the circle was overwhelming to me in the sense of how incredibly blessed I felt to be a part of this work and to be able to dance together into the realm of the ancestors.

The dance continues and the journey of dream way finding with plans to bring Dr. Torres,  director of  The Mexican Research Institute of Interdisciplinary Anthropological Studies to Dallas to begin a sacred womens’ dance circle.  I will also to travel to Mexico to dance with my sisters there.  To find out more about workshops and classes scheduled on dream way finding visit www.chrysalishealingarts.org