Garden of the Goddess

gardenofgoddess
Garden of the Goddess in Cerrillos, New Mexico

 

The Lion’s Gateway 7-2013

I see an image of and ancient stone gateway, with statues of guardians on either side of the gateway. The guardians have female heads and breasts and the body of a lion.  I swing through the lion’s gateway of the Goddess and find myself at a dream teacher retreat.   EOD

GreekLionGate
The Lion’s Gate in Greece

I did feel as though my dreams literally brought me to the dream teacher training in July of 2013 to complete the final level of the training.  It was as if I was brought by some greater force than my own. I was not planning to attend, thinking there would not be enough resources for me to take that trip this time. Somehow upon sharing some of my dreams in the weeks leading up to the training, my partner insisted that I go. “You have to go,” he said. It became clear that my dreams were pointing my way there, and so I arrived at the training as though swinging through the gateway of the goddess.

Not long after, returning home from the training, it became clear to me that it was time for me to leave Dallas and move to New Mexico. In the weeks leading up to making my move here to the Garden of the Goddess in Cerrillos, New Mexico, I had a several other goddess dreams that once again had the effect of propelling my life forward.

sphinx
Greek Sphinx

8-1-13

Becoming the Lion’s Gate Guardian of the Goddess

I am a woman with very large breasts like those of a nursing mother. I am standing by the gateway of the Lioness gate. The guardian is a woman sphinx with the head and bust of a woman and the body of a lioness. My teacher stands near the gate and tells me, “You will have to do this for yourself.”

It seemed I was learning how to become the Goddess and also a guardian of the gateway into this Ancient Wisdom of the Goddess. My role there was to be present, and also bring forth the nurturing energy, that was held in my very large breasts, which I could not conceal. EOD.

BeeGoddessNeolithicSpain
Neolithic Spanish Bee Goddess

Spanish Hexagon Bee Goddess 8-5-13

I see a woman with her hair pulled back in a Spanish styled bun. She lives in Santa Fe and she is a bee goddess from Spain. She is me. I see the hexagon energy she carries with her wherever she goes and it is connected to the greater hive of hexagons that other goddesses carry. Her power is considerable and strong, she is self assured, but loving, kind and nurturing. She is connected to the old ways and embodies them. She has a kind of fluid wisdom that exists in her every movement and gestures. The hexagon she carries in her hand, is an etheric key of interdimensional travel, and how she creates her reality. EOD

In taking these three powerful dreams of the goddess and guardians of the goddess together, with how my life has changed so dramatically over the past 2 months, and finding myself living at The Garden of the Goddess, no less, I am drawn to the fact that the power of the land, where I now live, carries an immense healing and nurturing energy. It is something that I am getting to know in my self and in my larger self. The yurt where I now hold dream circles on the full moon of each month houses a dark virgin goddess, who was brought from Indonesia. The mystery of the dark feminine and the Great Mother Goddess, the connection with Cybil and the Lioness Goddesses of Greece and Turkey, and the tradition of the ancient bee Melissae Bee Goddesses are all coming forth in this place for me. It is my hope that I will continue to dream and embody this ancient wisdom and mystery traditions of the Goddess and I feel blessed that she, in her many forms, has chosen me as worthy.

Dancing Bee Goddesses
Dancing Bee Goddesses

Following the Dragon on the Turquoise Trail

turquoisequetzalcoatl
Aztec Turquoise Mosaic of Quetzalcoatl from the British Museum

 

Years ago, a series of dreams had been calling me to come and live in New Mexico. I finally decided to pay heed to these nightly dream callings and went to live at a retreat center called Garden of the Goddess, located on the turquoise trail on a scenic route between Santa Fe and Albuquerque. Cerrillos is the official town where I was living, which was at one time the capital of New Mexico, a thriving center of trade and turquoise mining. Cerrillos was located along a trade and pilgrimage route between Teotihuacan, Mexico and Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, where parrot feathers from Mexico and Turquoise mined from Cerrillos, New Mexico have been found in Chaco Canyon.

Turquoise became a form of monetary trade between these two spiritual power houses. Turquoise itself was believed by indigenous tribes to hold the spiritual power of the blue sky above, so it is understandable that the stone would be popular in these places of spiritual pilgrimage.

In August of 2013, when I discovered the opportunity to move to New Mexico and live on the Turquoise Trail I had this dream.

Chaco Pilgrimage

I was dreaming about the people of Chaco Canyon, seeing the immense pilgrimage that went on where people traveled to the city to take part in a harvest festival. They wore beautiful colorful clothing complete with parrot feathered headdresses. The pilgrimage came from Mexico as they walked the turquoise trail to Cerrillos and then onto Chaco Canyon where thousands of people were gathering for the festival.

I later discovered what I had dreamed into was in fact was true, my bit of dream archaeology was confirmed during a visit to the local historical museum in Cerrillos, New Mexico, which had an article about the history of the Turquoise trail.

Many of my dreams have featured the energy of the dragon or winged serpent known also as Quetzalcoatl from Mexico, and also the Gila Lizard Monster which is native to New Mexico and Arizona.

LIZARD WOMAN 12/08

I see a map of Arizona, there are rainbow colored arrows pointing from Flagstaff and Sedona southeast at an angle to a particular spot on the map and then the arrows go back up headed northeast. I can hear music playing in connection with the arrows on the map. I can also hear a woman’s voice speaking to me. She tells me it is time for you to accept your own power, it is time for you to wake up! I can see a large tree that has appeared several times in my dreams previously.  I then see under the earth in the area on the Map where I was shown, there is a huge lizard that lives under the earth. It is moving and I can feel the energy of it, I can see the scales of its skin and the design of it with red and black in an intricate woven design. The energy that I am feeling and seeing in the dream suddenly is in my throat and then into my heart. I feel my rib cage expand open and it cracks loudly. I am now feeling the energy of the Lizard Woman and she is calling me to her. She says, you need to come to this land. I feel the deep coursing energy of this place in my own body in my throat and heart. I feel the energy of this lizard that has been woven together through story and song through the centuries of the people who inhabit this place. It is a place of deep healing and a place to embody power. EOD

I was deeply touched by this dream experience and felt it was a call from the land itself to come and claim my power.

She’s Got Her Feet in the Stars and Her Head in the Universe 7-28-13

My teacher is talking about my dream and says, “She’s got her feet in the stars and her head in the Universe.” I am now huge like a galaxy spread out like the Milky Way.  A power begins to flow into my being that is like a dragon. I am feeling it in my whole being, and I begin to breath like a dragon, and make sounds like a dragon. I find that I have become a Giant Gila Monster, I have red and black designs across my being, and I am the beaded monster. I feel the power of this energy and tremendous healing energy within me.  The vastness of my being and the incredible energy of the Gila Monster, carries an intensity and vibration in tuned with a sound and vibration that resonates through me. I become conscious in my dream and notice this as a very real experience. EOD

Upon researching the healing practices of the Gila Lizard associated with the Dine and Arapaho peoples, I found that it does indeed have to do with reading the stars and consulting the star beings, as well as high vibration healing energies that come through the hands of healing practitioners. The spirit of the Gila Lizard comes through the healers, and their hands shake as they confer the healing energies.

It was after having this dream, I knew it was time for me to go back to New Mexico. It was time for me to follow the dragon who is leading me along the Turquoise trail connected to Teotihuacan, Mexico to Cerrillos New Mexico to Chaco Canyon New Mexico. Just before moving out there I had this dream,

8-20-13 Following the Dragon

A long dream where I become conscious at one point when I am there with another woman and we are talking about the dragon underground. I become aware this dragon is under the earth in Santa Fe, and it is this energy that I am connected to that is bringing me there. I am following the dragon. EOD.

Dream Archaeology in the House of Many Lives

etruscanstairs

The House of Many Lives 3-25-13

In my dream, I am moving into a house in Italy. The house is built on top of a pyramid that is buried underground.  Showing me around the house is my dream guide. He is telling me what I will be learning about while living there.  He tells me this is also a house where counterparts in other lifetimes exist. It is here that I will learn about who I truly am.  I am shown a lifetime where my older sister is a Witch, and she is sewing tarot images into colorful cloth panels, making them for divination.  She is my teacher. EOD

In researching this dream, I discovered that in fact there was a discovery of underground pyramids that were uncovered beneath the wine cellar of a house in Italy last year.

A group of Italian and American archaeologists discovered a unique underground pyramid in the town of Orvieto, Italy. The constructions carved in volcanic limestone rock were found underneath a wine cellar of a residential house. All lower constructions were completely buried under the ground.

http://news.discovery.com/history/ancient-egypt/etruscan-pyramids-120918.htm

EtruscanCaniculo

There is a system of what is believed to be 5 pyramids connected by Caniculo, underground tunnels of which at least 2 pyramids have been uncovered. The pyramids are believed to be built by the ancient Etruscan people dating back to the 5th century BC.  The Etruscan people are considered to be the keepers of the Old Religion from which the practice of Stregheria was passed down, or Italian traditional Witchcraft.  According to Wikipedia “Stregheria use the ritual tools of cup, wand, pentacle and blade, which are seen in the suits of occult or divinatory tarot cards. ”

The Stregheria have a fascinating history rooted in the presence of Aradia, a pagan priestess who incited a rebellion against slavery and the power of the Roman Christian Church to oppress the peasant classes and those who followed the “Old Religion”.

This dream has sparked a lot of research and further digging on my part to unearth a part of buried history, but also recover more information in what appears to be connected to a life lived before as an Etruscan Witch.

Castingcircle

Soul Mother

by Willow Arlenea
Image by Willow Arlenea

Soul Mother

By Valley Reed © 2013

I am dreaming inside the earth, deep inside her darkened womb. I see colors emerge of a rich dark red, swirling amidst the deep darkness of earth. An  inward spiral flowing back out again. The swirling energy of life, appears now as a red cloak covering a beautiful goddess. Her long hair is draped down around her looking like a Renaissance painting.  I am drawn in by her beauty and she is wrapped inside the sacred color of life and blood.  She gives birth to new souls emerging from her womb.  The souls appear as a dark shadow at first, and then drifting up through the surface of the earth, they transform like alchemy into children of golden light. Her work as Soul Mother, flows on continually bringing forth soul, after soul, into this realm. She is the life giver who brings us life and to her, we will always return.  She is the Alchemist, changing the dark matter of the earth and the soul, into gold ready to merge with the light of  the sun and spirit.

The Great Mother creatrix gives birth to the prima materia, soul matter. This continual birth of soul matter from the heart of the earth, is perhaps the innumerable creative soul works that are always flowing into our realm from the depths of the womb of the Earth Mother. Hers is a constant love to birth forth more soul into our world. Hers is a remembering of the sacred power of the mother, who through her love and body continually brings forth soul creations to nurture life. I honor her on Mother’s Day and the ability to bring forth and nurture soul work through the depths of my being and into the light of day. I honor my creative abilities to birth something new into the world.

Rainbow Serpent Dreamtime

Rainbowserpent

Rainbow Serpent Dreamtime

In the midst of a conscious dream,  I see three Aborigine men playing music and singing a sacred song. The songlines take me into the Dreamtime. I begin to see the mythic Aboriginal Rainbow Serpent emerge and it spreads giant across the stars looming before me. I also become aware that this same energy exists within me, and the rainbow serpent begins to emerge from my heart and solar plexus. This creative energy is undulating in and out of my heart weaving between my heart and the stars. The creative pulse of this ancient cosmic dance, brings tremendous energy into my body and my being.  I am expanding ever outward into the spiraling dance of the dreamtime, and returning again and again to the universe expanding inside of me.  EOD

The Aborigine Rainbow Serpent of the Dreamtime and the songs that evoke her, create the world. The energy of the ley lines tell where to find water and navigate the land. The energy lines are evoked by the songs and carry the stories of universe, stars, people, plant animal, river and stone. The stories carry me into the dreamtime. Many indigenous peoples understand that the dream world is the real world, and where our waking reality is created. The songlines and dreamlines  are also connected with the energy ley lines on earth, as a map to navigate during dream travel. We are connected with the universe and the ground upon which we walk, as integrally as with our own breath. Our body carries the stories of our lives, just as the earth and the universe carry the stories of creation, that is ever being created.  We are ever creating the sacred stories of the universe, the earth and our body, with each breath we take, and every beat of our heart and every dream we enter. This dance is being dreamed by our ancestors and they are inviting us to dance with them, out of which a new world may be born.

Tracking the Dreamtime

My dreams have been teaching me about the indigenous mind over the years.  I have gone dreaming with Indigenous Peoples from Kyrgyzstan, Africa, Mexico, Aboriginal people of Australia, and also U.S. Southwestern and Hawaiian Native Peoples among others. The indigenous mind might say, “I went dreaming”. Many westerners like to describe dreams they share by saying, “I had a dream” it seems almost in passing, and indeed much of the dream, may pass from our memory on waking. The indigenous mind shares dreams as an experience and a real place one can visit or where ancient ancestors may come calling on you for a visit.

blue-lightning

Naming Ceremony

When my daughter was 4 years old,  I had an extraordinary experience of a visit from the powers of dreaming. I was not yet asleep, but sitting up  in bed in my darkened room, about to lay down and rest.  I saw what appeared as blue lightening, streak across my bedroom. I knew it was from someone of power paying me a visit. I was astonished by what I saw, but not afraid at all. I was calm in fact, and  somehow seemed to know what was about to happen.  I looked out my bedroom window and saw a man standing there, somehow familiar to me. He sent me a telepathic message asking permission to come inside. I knew he wanted to take me on a journey and so I gave permission inwardly and settled into to bed.  The second I closed my eyes,  I was transported to a foreign land where a ceremony was going on.  We were outside and there were a number of large boulders in a somewhat barren landscape at night. We were among a  small group of people who had gathered for this ceremony. He let me know it was a naming ceremony for my 4 year old daughter. She would receive her spiritual name during the ceremony and I was invited to participate as her mother and hold witness to the ceremony. I was not allowed to know her secret spiritual name, but there to give my permission and blessings on the ceremony.

There have been other stories I have shared here in my blog, that recount extraordinary dreams. One thing I am beginning to learn is how this plays into my life and how I can understand the dreamtime, where time and space exist simultaneously, without separation.  Indigenous peoples pass on the stories of their culture, which are interwoven and inseparable with the land where they live.  In the dreamtime, one can travel to a possible future, or the storied past, all existing in the present.  The Indigenous Mind does not think of time as linear, but circular where always, there is a return.

grandcanyon

Return of the Ancient

When my son was 3 years old, I had a dream that I was sitting on a Mesa overlooking the Grand Canyon. An ancient elder sat across from me drawing a circle in the dirt with a stick. He began to trace the circle and tell me about my son, who he is and why he is here. He let me know, that my son had not reincarnated on this plane in a very long time. I asked him how long, and he pointed at the canyon and I saw it was no longer there, but now stood as one solid land mass. That is a very long time, I thought to myself.

arizonarainbowtree

Lizard Woman

I hear music playing in my dream and suddenly, I am looking at a map of Arizona.  A journey is laid out for me on the map in rainbow colors that show a route of travel to places I must visit and tracks the path I must follow.  I am then in the landscape of a dessert terrain, with some large trees that are near a spring of water. There is one Tree in particular I am drawn toward, and as I draw nearer,  I can hear a woman speaking to me.  She is calling to me in a haunting lilting cadence, “Come to this place, it is time for you to claim your power.  It is time for you to come to this land for healing and claim your own power.”  I see her working with me, and she buries me partially in the earth, as she does a healing ceremony for me. Now I am in an underground hogan, where herbs hang from the ceiling and I lay covered with a native designed blanket and I am dreaming. In my dream within a dream,  I see a huge Gila Lizard that lives beneath the earth. It stretches giant across Arizona and lives beneath the ground.  I am aware of this ancient place where the land is interwoven with the stories of the peoples who have lived here for centuries.  The powers of the land, guard these sacred places.  Years later, I learned that the Gila Lizard is sacred to the Navajo people as a  great healing ally.  The name Gila even evokes the sound of Heal.  In this dream, my power was hunting me and singing me into being.  I once again feel this place of power calling to me inside myself.  I am ready to follow the rainbow tracks and songlines of the dreamtime, ready to discover my place of power on the path of an ancient people who have called to me.

Gila

2012 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 15,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 3 Film Festivals

Click here to see the complete report.

It’s Only Just a Dream

It’s Only Just a Dream….how many of us have heard this seemingly harmless phrase after sharing a dream with someone at some point in our libloodroseves?  I have heard stories from others who tell of their “Just a Dream” experiences, often in childhood, and what followed was a lack of respect for the dreamer and the dream, leaving a scar and broken trust. But what you will see in my story is a tale of caution, where labeling a dream as “Just a Dream” could spell the difference between life and death.

Back in the mid 80’s I worked for a Commercial Real Estate Developer in Downtown Dallas, Texas during the Savings & Loan Crisis, which caused many companies to go bankrupt. The company I worked for was no exception, and so I also became a casualty of the economic crisis and suddenly found myself out of a job. I was young with limited work experience and found it difficult to find work. The only job I could find was to work as a rose girl trolling through bars in the evenings selling roses to amorous couples, or some guy hoping to get lucky with that pretty girl.

One night before I was scheduled to work as a “rose girl”, I had an unusual dream that changed my life.

Belle Starr Rose Girl Shot Dead

rosegirl

I see myself dressed in my rose girl uniform in a red jacket, black shorts and fishnet nose, and I am walking around Belle Star, a popular country and western bar, carrying my rose basket. I walk slowly around the bar and it is crowded. I make my rounds through the place and head back towards the front, as I do a man bursts through the door and begins shooting. I see myself hold my neck with one hand as I fall to the ground in slow motion and the roses spilling out everywhere. I have been shot in the neck, and am lying dead on the floor surrounded by a pool of blood with roses spread all around me. EOD.

I awake from this dream terrified, my body is shaking and I know I have just seen my own death. I shared the dream, fearing for my life, with my now ex-husband, who tells me frankly, “Oh it is just a dream,……..you have to go to work we need the money.” I was almost persuaded by his goading and pressure that I needed to go to work, but I was still very afraid, and so I called into work to tell them I was sick and would not be coming in. They were very upset with me, and told me they had given me the very best route of clubs to work that night and I would make alot of money. They told me what clubs they had scheduled me to work and at what time, and Belle Star was one of the clubs on that list. They also told me if I didn’t come to work and called in sick they would have to fire me. I didn’t want to lose my job and so I somehow mustered the courage to get myself dressed for work and drove in that direction. While driving down the highway, I saw a really bad car accident that had just happened. The car was totaled and I could somehow sense that someone had died in that car wreck. My hands began to shake on the steering wheel, and I began to feel the same sensation I experienced in the dream about seeing my own death. I could not physically force myself to drive to work after that, I was too shaken by the whole experience, and my body knew the real danger I was heading toward. I turned around and drove home instead.

My then husband at the time, was very angry with me, and yelled at me for being irresponsible by not going to work. My employer was not pleased with me either and fired me for not showing up for my shift. I was feeling pretty low about the whole situation. The next day however, on the front page of the newspaper, was a story about a man who had gone into a popular country western bar called Belle Starr and began shooting, and two people were shot. http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl/1987_443477/man-dressed-in-black-shoots-2-in-dallas-club.html

I was astounded, that could have been me! I felt I had been touched by grace somehow, and that for some reason I was given information in a dream which saved my life. Clearly there was more to dreaming than I had previously been lead to believe. Never again would I look at any dream as “just a dream”.

My life changed after that day and I made a determination to honor my dreams from that day forward. I began to look more deeply into the messages my dreams had for me, and I started writing my dreams down in journals.  I soon realized by keeping a dream journal, that many dreams I recorded had content which connected to events in waking life. They were not as dramatic as the rose girl dream, but just normal everyday occurrences would also appear in my dreams. I discovered that deja vu experiences I had often had, were a result of having dreamt it before, rather than lived it before.  I determined that dreams are a place where we can create our life and often give us glimpses of what may come.  I also began to have out of body experiences, and once found myself hovering above my body connected to my physical body by a luminous cord of fuchsia colored light which lit up the entire room in that hue. I felt the strong loving energy of the light which enveloped the room, and was confused about why I was looking at my physical body asleep in bed as I was hovering above. I wondered how this could happen, and suddenly found myself slammed back into my body and abruptly woke up. I was having what is known as an “out of body experience”, but at the time I was unfamiliar with this, and so I began to explore lucid dreaming and astral travel.  I learned that I was not confined to my physical body but could travel in my night time excursions beyond the physical.

These experiences were a turning point in my life, which set me on an exploration of consciousness, dreaming and shamanism. I have recorded my dreams now for over 25 years and studied many aspects and approaches to dreaming. The approach that I value most is Active Dreaming, a synthesis of modern day dream work with ancient shamanic dream practices.  Active Dreaming was developed through the pioneering work of  Robert Moss and it is through his dream teacher training and depth workshops over the years that I have joined the ranks of dream teachers around the world who are helping to create a dream sharing community once again. I offer classes and workshops on Active Dreaming where we explore the many ways dreams provide guidance and healing as we travel our life path and beyond.  Dreams have the ability to lead us out of danger and onto a path of heart and soul. All we have to do to start on this path is dream, and share our dreams in a way that offers respect for the dreamer and the dream. The lightning method of dream sharing is an excellent way to share dreams in a way begins with the felt sense of the dreamer upon waking, followed by a reality check,  for clues of a possible future which may play out in our dreams. The process asks “What do you most want to know from the dream” as an important touch stone to work from and then moves to “What action do you want to take?” This process is a quick method of dream sharing that points to the important aspects to work from when discovering your dreams. Dreaming the future does not mean your waking life must play out the same way. My story exemplifies how it is possible to change the outcome of a dream, if appropriate action is taken. Conversely, if a dream is showing us our heart’s desire, we have only to gather our courage and act.

Valley Reed 2012 ©