Tag: Apollo

Dreams Bidden or Unbidden

Pondering how dreams are sent and by whom? From where or when does my dreamweaver originate? What archetype, what oracle, what memory, what future, what life lived before, what ancestor, what spirit, what soul longing or loss?

When we let the thread of our dreams wrap hold of us we may find the location at the other end spinning a dream as part of the tapestry of the world story, or a galactic birth, or a far memory of the stories held in our bones. The Mothers divining fates past, present, and future, have always been rooted in the Earth Mother, from whose powers the oracle speaks and the threads of fate are spoken, interwoven with the story of the dream of the world. We are always dreaming, and connected to the web of multidimensional reality by the threads of time.

Unbidden

In 2009, I attended a dream conference in Chicago on Listening to the Earth Dreaming. I presented a workshop on Dream Way-finding and while there had this dream unbidden.

Crystal Star Goddess

In my dream, I hear a knock on the door of my hotel room, and get up from my bed and answer the door. I do not realize I am dreaming until I open the door to see in the doorway is a quartz crystal the size of the door, as a portal from another world, through which a beautiful goddess came through and stood before me. She wore a translucent light blue veil loosely over her head, and an eight pointed blue star design shown on her forehead. She held in her hands a crystal spiral which she gave to me, and in the other hand a crystal skull, which she placed in my other hand. This part of the dream repeated three times, so I would know this was real and meant to be. I accepted her gifts and she turned and stepped back through the portal. I received her unbidden mysterious gifts, wondering where they may lead me, or what gifts may unfold.

In Sumerian, Inanna means Queen of Heaven. She was known as daughter of the Moon, and morning or evening star as Venus. Her symbol is the eight pointed star.

Her initiation as high priestess is not complete until she can give up her stations of wealth and power, as she makes the journey into the underworld through seven gateways where she must release more and more of herself at each gateway and surrender to meet her death presided over by Sister Ereshkigal, Queen of the underworld.

From the Great Above, she opened her ear to the Great Below.

From the Great Above, the goddess opened her ear to the Great Below.

From the Great Above, Inanna opened her ear to the Great Below. (Kramer, Wolkstein, pg. 52).

Previous to attending the conference, I had a dream of seeing myself as a huge presence on the Earth.

Earth Guardian

I am a huge Earth Goddess sitting on a labyrinth, and my body is partially submerged. My Womb carries the design of the Labyrinth, and holds this ancient wisdom within the Earth, where my womb is also submerged. The labyrinth can also be seen on the Earth surface.

I heard a voice say, “You are an Earth Guardian”. Now, fully embodied in this huge Earth Goddess form, I can see sitting across from me a beautiful Sun God in the form of Apollo, with a golden face and bronze body that glistens like the Sun. I notice Apollo is attracted to me and moving in my direction. When he does this, he begins to move the wheel of time. I move with the wheel of the Seasons and gently tell him, no not like this. Indicating he must follow the spiral path for himself and go deeper to uncover his own mysteries, he cannot take for himself Wisdom held by the Earth Mother. I was able to guard the path of women’s wisdom held in the womb, as an Earth Guardian.

“Earth confounded the Apollonian cult by sending up dreams which revealed unto the cities of mortals the past, and the future. She brought forth the peoples of the dream, and all the tribes of Vision“. (pg. 292 Dashu)

Temple of Delphi

Bidden

Dreams of intention invite energies of Heaven and Earth, across Time and Space. These are dreams we invoke the numinous energies to visit. These are dreams we invite in to revisit dreams from before. These are dreams where we may stalk the past, or the future, with animal spirits, or connect with departed loved ones. These are dreams where we can have a travel plan for where we will go, who or what we may encounter, and what we may do when we get there.

I had heard a description of the Spirit of the Soul described by Michael Meade on his podcast Mosaic Voices, where he describes the Spirit of the Soul as a unique inner spirit or genius that life’s calling is meant to awaken. This had me curious to incubate a dream to learn about the spirit of my Soul. When I incubated my dreaming intention, the dream I had bidden, came through.

Spirit of my Soul

I see an entire wall covered in red roses, and standing before it was a nun wearing light blue and white habit. I was somewhat put off by this religious image, and told her, “You must be so disappointed in me.” Since my orientation is pagan, and animist, and which the Catholic church had burned women for being. My orientation was more as a wild woman, not devoted to a spiritual Icon or Christian beliefs.

The dream I had called upon reminded me of several past unbidden dreams I had over the years sharing my connection to the Mary Mysteries as part of my Soul Origin story. On the day of Annunciation I dreamed of the Virgin Mary, and she showed me her birthing grotto, and told me she would birth four children there, and would be staying here until she had birthed all four.

As a young woman, I encountered the Virgin in a dream where I was in California and saw it was snowing over the Ocean. I stood on a group of boulders overlooking the Bay, in order to gain a better look. It was then she approached and grabbed my arm and wrote symbols in red. One was a crescent with a dot in the center, and the other symbol was two slanted lines, close together.

I asked her who she was and what she was doing, and the Virgin, said, “I am Mary, and here to protect you” I jerked back my arm from her hold, and proclaimed, “I don’t need protection” and she said, “Yes you do”.

As a young Mother, I had a dream with Jesus as a young man, and he held a book in his hands with a dark blue cover. He spoke French when he talked to me and handed me the ancient book also written in French. I asked him to speak in English, since I don’t speak French, and he said, I don’t speak English. I took from him the book he offered, and then heard a booming voice carried across the ages, as the voice of God said, “You originated in the age of the Christos, you were among the Cult of Magdalena.”

This dream came to me sometime in the 90’s when the internet was new, and before books or films like the DaVinci Code, or the countless groups now devoted to Mary Magdalene. Having read many of these books about Mary Magdalene now, I was always left with a deep sense of remembering, and also grieving the loss of the divine sacred feminine.

In 2017, I lead a group of dreamers to journey through the portal of a painting of Mary Magdalene. Inspired by a bidden dream journey I did in collaboration with her. My intent was to ask her guidance to reveal what she wishes to be done to bring forth her energy. She revealed a group ritual, in creating a space resembling a grotto in the underground space of a cultural arts center over looking a lake. We transformed the underground space to look as revealed in the journey, featuring the painting of the Magdalene. Some who attended the gathering had been to the actual grotto sites for Mary Magdalene in France, and reflected the experience we created together, was much like the pilgrimage site. My vision of the journey I guided by the sound of the drum, showed the Magdalene coming through the portal of the painting and walking among us. A golden light from the sunset covered the painting just as the journey began. When the Magdalene moved through the portal she was surrounded by golden light which she blessed on the head of each participant as she walked through the space and walked out onto the water surface following the path of gold light unto the horizon as the Sun went down and the sky exploded into a blazing red sunset. In closing the ritual, we all gathered before the waters edge with red roses in hand and did a closing ritual with offering rose petals to the water as prayers of grace and gratitude.

This dream incubation of the Spirit of the Soul, stirs my unique spiritual essence to join with the deeper wishes of the soul to create spaces for healing, guidance, and wisdom that allows for the mysteries of the deep feminine to be remembered and revealed.

Sources

Dashu, Max. “Women in Greek Mythology, Pythias, Melissae and Titanides, Secret History of Witches Vol. II Book I. Velda Press, 2023.

Kramer, Samuel Noah; Wolkstein, Di ane. “Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth.” Harper Perennial, 1983.

Dream Healing and the Sacred Imagination

In the Pandemic we are facing collectively, it is so important for each of us to be able to support and strengthen our health responses, and not Panic. One of the means we each have within us to seek healing, is the power of dreams and imagination. The path has been laid before us by Aesculapius, the God of Healing, invoked in the Ancient Dream Healing Temples of  the Greco-Roman World.

I recently lead a retreat on Healing Dreams in Hot Spring, Arkansas in February. Part of our exploration included forest bathing, hiking along trails and rivers, soaking in the Hot Springs Mineral Waters, and creating sacred space to Dream together. One dream that came through for me, was seeing beautiful, clear, large quartz crystal points, growing within my second chakra and into a crystal temple within. I had the feeling at the time, it was a protective restructuring of my energy, in case of a viral outbreak. I did not have a conscious understanding of the coming pandemic at the time, and thought it a strange idea to need protection in that way at the time of the dream. I later read results of a research team lead by Dr. Hyo-Jick Choi, where they are developing salt covered masks, as a preventative and protective measure against Corona Viruses. Tests revealed that Corona viruses are punctured and weakened by the sharp crystalline structure of salt or sugar (Secon, Business Insider Feb. 8, 2020 ).

Incubating healing dreams overnight, as was done in Ancient Dream Healing Temples, was a powerful way to connect each with our inner healer. Sharing dreams together over breakfast opens up our dreams, and the energies held inside. Our insights and actions, create a space for dreams to to take root and healing to happen. Journeying together on conscious shamanic group dream journeys, guided by the drum, with our group healing intention, was a way for each to have a direct experience with divine healing energies. 

Direct experience through dreams and conscious shamanic dream journeys, are one way to engage with these healing potentials, another is to dream on behalf of another, and share a healing dream with them to make it their own. This is known as Dream Transfer, one of the core practices of Active Dreaming. It is a powerful mode of transferring healing energies and potentials held inside a dream. Dreams hold collective energy, and can be shared with others for the purpose of healing with great effect. Robert Moss pioneered Active Dreaming, and he likes to say, “Dreams are a place we can go, not something we have.” When we enter inside another person’s dream, it is a place we are experiencing, and the wisdom of the body also translates this as a real experience.

The Goddess Panacea is a daughter of Aesculapius, and as a Dream Temple Priestess, a potent embodiment of the powers of the mind, and the imagination. Scientific research reflects the Panacea effect often is more promising than the actual medicine. Science has also shown that what we imagine or dream, is translated by the body as a real experience, and the body does not differentiate between if it is a waking embodiment or a imaginal embodiment. The ancients knew one of the secrets to healing, is the dream world is the real world, a place where direct experience with Gods and Goddesses are possible, and primordial healing energies are available. 

 

The Goddess Iaso is known as having the wisdom of Remedy, and another daughter of Aesculapius. She holds a mirror in her hands, reflecting the principle often found in medicine of “like reflects like” in finding the remedy or cure. During this time of disruption and social distancing, self reflection can be a potent healing ally. Invoking Iaso can help restore the natural order of balance and health. It also means to put things right. This can refer to the collective health system, financial markets and political policies, which support the recovery and well being of the country and the globe.

The Goddess Hygeia from where we get the word hygiene, is another daughter of Aesculapius. She has been invoked repeatedly in this Corona Virus pandemic, with the mantra “wash your hands. She holds the healing powers of the serpent, known as sacred by the cult of Aesculapius. The temple priestesses cared for the serpents residing in the Abaton. The transformative energies and wisdom of snake, are known in ancient cultures throughout the world. The venom of serpent, brings forth the medical principle of “changing poison into medicine.” The symbol for the World Health Organization, reveals the staff of Aesculapius.

The God Aesculapius was the Greek God of Healing, and Temples of Dream Healing devoted to him were widespread throughout the ancient Greco-Roman World. He was the son of the God Apollo and Coronis. His mother Coronis, was in the Hyades family (the rainy ones), a sisterhood of nymphs that bring rain. The hyades were daughters of atlas and sisters to the Pleiades and the Hesperides. She fled from Poseidon and was changed into a crow by Athena. 

 

The Cult of Aesculapius made pilgrimage to the Asclepieia, for the purpose of seeking healing remedies and direct visitation from the Gods.  The Abaton was a place one could sleep overnight for the purpose of incubating a healing dream, or a visit from the God Aesculapius or Goddesses of Healing, for direct experience to their healing energies. The animal powers were also present in the form of the Snake, Dog or even Rooster, in connection with the God Aesculapius (Moss, p. 90-93).

 

 

It can be said that perhaps the idea for hospitals, a place one can stay overnight for the purpose of healing, is rooted in the Dream Temples of ancient Greece. The Hippocratic oath comes from Hippocrates, who studied at the Asclepieia at Kos. Across the Western World, the snake wrapped staff of Aesculapius, can still be seen as the symbol for western modern medicine. Perhaps we need to bring back the healing potentials of dream incubation into hospitals in collaboration with healing professionals once again. Aesculapius was very popular, because his approach to healing was available to anyone from anywhere. It was not based on how much money you had, or from what level of society you came. Dreams are also like this, available to all. We all dream each and every night.  

I invite you to enter the Temple of Dream Healing and tap into the healing potentials of a conscious shamanic group dream journey,  guided by the sound of the drum, lead by Active Dream Teacher, Valley Reed.  Become a subscriber to hear future podcasts, and shamanic journeys guided by the drum. https://www.patreon.com/chrysalishealingarts

Sources:

Moss, Robert; The Secret History of Dreaming, (New World Library, 2009)

Secon, Holly; “A biomedical engineer created a mask coated in salt that he says could neutralize viruses like the coronavirus in 5 minutes” Business Insider Magazine, Feb. 8, 2020, Web.

https://www.businessinsider.com/mask-coated-in-salt-neutralizes-viruses-like-coronavirus-2020-2

© Valley Reed 2020