Dream Healing – Awaken the Sacred Dream

The Equality of Dreams

Body Awareness involves the ability to recognize where your body is in relation to space. Dream Body Awareness involves being conscious of where your dreambody is located inside the space of your dreams. Body Image has to do with how we see our physical body, where as Dream Body Image has to do with how we show up in dreams, and being conscious of what shape we have taken.

Dreaming beyond the Physical

Dreams allow us to have experiences beyond physical reality, and concepts of time and space. We are not limited to the physical body, and can explore physical reality in other times and places. We may embody other forms of being in dreams, including gender, race, animal, plant, star, Earth, ancestor, element, and even Gods or Goddesses.

Dreaming into the Physical World

Scientific studies have shown that dreams, imagination and visualization, bring measurable impact upon our physical body, and can boost healing, learning and performance capacity. Sports psychology taps into this inner resource to boost athletic performance. Studies have shown that students who sleep and recall their dreams before taking a test, perform better than those who crammed all night before an exam. I know I have dreamt of studying for and taking a test before actually dong so, and been able to ace it. When I was a Ballet dancer, I would often imagine difficult moves in my mind perfectly, moments before actually performing it, and never had a single fall or accident.

Out of Body Dreaming Awake

As a dancer, I once had an anxiety attack, before it was my turn to practice a set of moves I had just learned. When it was my turn to perform, my mind went blank. I was so frustrated from being exposed to fear and humiliation as a common tactic in dance training. I decided I had enough, and instead chose to fully trust that my body knew the movements, even though my mind was blocked from fear. What happened next was both surprising and exciting. I found myself outside my physical body hovering above, watching as body wisdom took the helm and performed the movements perfectly. At the end of the sequence of dance moves, I popped right back into my body! I looked around the studio, wondering if anyone had seen that move!

Years ago, when I was a member of a Contact improv dance theater, a telepathic dream came over me in the middle of the day. I found myself in a secret meeting arranged by a rival dancer, who went behind my back to try to vote me out. Upon waking, I was able to act on the dream immediately, and went to the place my dream had shown me, only to discover the exact scenario playing out in real time in physical reality! They were very surprised to see me! Luckily, I was able to dream into resolving this conflict peacefully. I incubated a dream about it, and dreamt about seeing myself and my rival performing a dance of open hearted vulnerability and trust. We performed the dream dance together in waking reality bringing healing to both of us just like in the dream, and expanding also to the group as a whole. This amazing experience inspired me to create a form of embodied conflict transformation called Peace Moves. I now offer trainings for facilitators to share this form of embodied wisdom and conflict transformation within their own communities.

The Equality of Dreams

Our dream body is beyond the limits of race, gender, and sexual orientation. In dreams, we can embody different race, culture, class, gender or sexual orientation, to bring us more empathy and compassion into our everyday lived experience. By doing so we embody a wholistic view of humanity based on equality, that does not see one race, gender or sexual orientation, as more dominant over anyone else. The equality of dreams is a common bridge where we can stand shoulder to shoulder, because we all dream. It is a language we all share, and a potent opportunity to affect change on global and societal levels, as well as individual, ancestral, and cellular levels of healing trauma and transforming racism.

Valley Reed leading a blessing ceremony for the Future of the World’s Children at the 2007 World Children’s Festival on Washington D.C. National Mall for Drum, Dance, Dream for Peace event by the World Dreams Peace Bridge.

Social Dreaming and Natural Paths of Energy

As Dreamers, we are not just individuals concerned with the workings of the psyche and unconscious mind, nor gazing at our navels to bring enlightenment. Dreaming can be a social experience where we are dreaming together with others we may know and love, those who have passed on, those who have yet to be born, or those we have yet to meet. Dreams connect us with alternate personalities in other realms of experience, past lives lived, or glimpses of possible future timelines. They can bring us into contact with realms that are close to the Earth, where we may connect with relatives who are more than human. We can meet up with our wild instinctual nature and our animal allies, and flow with the elements and natural paths of our energy. We can connect with our cosmic counterparts in the upper realms where spiritual guides and star beings reside. Dreams are a place we can go to visit both human and beyond human, and they can also visit us.

Healing Patterns of Trauma

The place where our stories of trauma gets held is on the cellular level in the body. Each phase of our lives, from birth, childhood, teenage years, young adulthood, and into old age, our trauma stories reside within us physically and psychically, often disconnecting us from our Body, Soul and Spirit. The same stories and coping strategies of survival, get passed on to future generations with transgenerational trauma held in our DNA. Studies have shown the echoes of transgenerational trauma in historically oppressed populations, decreases resiliency in future generations. Ecopsychology posits the Earth as a sentient being, and like us, her stories of trauma are also held in her body. Generations of atrocities, creating community cycles of repetitive trauma. The body of the community, the Earth and the individual, can be healed from the stories of trauma held there, through bringing out those stories and honoring the victims, while also releasing them to transcend, and reveal the deeper stories of the Soul of the Earth. The time is now to dream into healing our relationship with our body, our connections with each other, and the Earth.

Valley Reed © December 2020

Upside Down World

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

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

Faery Queen

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

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

The Portal

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

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

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

Dream Travel in the Age of Social Distancing

My beloved was in the hospital this week, having surgery in the midst of the Covid Apex. I could not be there at the hospital with him because of concerns of me getting exposed to the virus. It was difficult for me to not be there with him as his advocate, and my concern about his safety due to Covid were hard to take. My worries felt unbearable at times.

Finally, I decided I had enough of worrying, and not able to be there for him and with him at his time of need. I traveled to meet him in a conscious dream.

I gathered my protective energies around me, and cloaked in a golden light I transferred myself there to his hospital room. I came surrounded by a bright golden light and shared this healing energy with him, directing it to any places needed for his healing, protection and speedy recovery. I told him to remember my dream visit and the golden light.

The next day we spoke on the phone, and I asked if he recalled any dreams. He said, “You were in my dream.” Oh really, what else? ” I asked. A golden light” He said. “I thought it was morning, and so I asked the nurse what time it was, 3 a.m. she said.” That just happens to be around the time I made my dream visit.

Later that day, he was released from the hospital a day after his surgery, I picked him up and brought him home and we are now focused on his speedy recovery. I am so grateful.

The Seed of Destiny

TreeWomanMotherEarthDream — “Dream Tree” by Alice Mason

The night before attending a Yoruba Fire Ceremony, I had the following dream.

“A seed was placed in the center of my brain, and from it grew healing and wisdom, which spread throughout my brain. This brain change, enabled me a growing understanding of the indigenous mind and the language of seeds.”

What happens when you plant a seed on indigenous land, but the the seed comes from another place? The Earth begins to speak to the seed in another language, one the seed may not understand, but it is nurtured by it never the less. The seed learns to trust and grow, wondering what it may become, knowing it is of the Earth.

The seed learns of the divine, the larger mind of our being and spiritual wisdom of “Ori” which means “head” in Yoruba. The divine stories are whispered, delivered by this seed and planted into a consciousness designed by destiny.

What happens when the seed of spirit gets planted in a troubled mind? The ancient mind of the “Ori” whispers what is needed in order to heal the limitations, judgement, resentments, selfishness and ignorance of separation. There is no separation. The seed of divine wisdom and destiny, begins to whisper in another language and deeper knowing of the pulse of life. A deep healing presence has descended to bring peace of mind. A pulse of the universal intelligence of life, which speaks an ancient language of the balance of life and death, in connection with the patterns of the stars and the sun and the earth and the moon. The seed holds a vibration that resonates to create a change of heart, a breaking open and breaking through, into a space of remembrance and newness all at the same moment.

The Seed of Destiny

A soulful seed planted by the universal mind into the limited consciousness of the Western Modern identity, can unravel the most tangled soul. A seed which can change fate into destiny and emptiness into a receptacle for a story from another land to take root and unfurl.

I came across the seed of destiny when I attended a Yoruba Fire Ceremony. The seed had been placed on a tray with other ritual implements for a traditional oracle reading known as Ifa. I sat waiting for the ceremony to begin and next to me on a tray, were the elements of the oracle. I was drawn to the seed I saw in wait, yet not knowing it’s purpose. The seed began to whisper deep inside me, repeating over and over, Seed of Destiny. I wondered what this meant, but accepted the message as given to me. I then made my give away and wrote, “I release all that stands between me and my Destiny”. This felt liberating immediately. I set my give away aside and the ceremony began. The Babalawo began the oracle reading by summoning the ancestral spirits and offering prayers. The priest held up a Palm Nut as he spoke of the seed of destiny, and broke it open into four pieces. The reading was divined from how the pieces fell. The Ifa that came through honored the powerful magic of women and all that is born through women. The message that came through for me, was about accepting the magic that women bring. Become this magic.

My magic is tied up with the seed of destiny. In this time, I will bring through my magic and no longer be ashamed or afraid. I have heard the whispers of the seed of destiny and released all that stands in my way, both inwardly and outwardly, there is no separation.

Dream Ritual for Peace and Healing

clootie-tree The edge of Imbolc is near and it is here that we can requicken the seeds of what is ready to grow into being. This magic of light and darkness, breaking through and growing forth, held and nurtured by the unending love of the earth, and watered by prayers of love and peace. Tie your brightest intentions to the magical clootie tree and make wishes at the healing well of the Goddess Brigid. Beckon the Well Keepers and ask what promise is left to keep and protect the sacred waters of the healing wells and springs of the Earth. What role am I to play in restoring balance on the Earth? Brigid teaches us the practice of magical small acts and intentions, which can be nurtured to grow into larger creations of love and healing.

Imbolc Eve Ritual

Air

Tie colorful cloth strips of your prayers to a tree that knows you and let the wind carry them.

Request a visit from the Goddess Brigid to bring into your dreams her gifts of healing, protection, and peace.

Earth

Plan what seeds you will be planting in the coming year and make a planting calendar for the opportune time for your seeds to grow. Determine what conditions are necessary for their growth.

Fire

Light a candle of inspiration and revelation in honor of the fire Goddess Brigid.

Bake a loaf of bread in her honor, drench in the senses of baked bread, knead the dough with love and intention, practice patience in letting it rise, bake it carefully and share with loved ones.

Water

Set out a shawl overnight for the blessings of the magical dew of Brigid for healing and protection.

Visit a sacred well or wishing well or spring and make magic wishes for the Earth, Community, Family and Self.

Blessed Be!

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 — “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.

Super Power Dreamers to the Rescue

The Dark Moon, Dark Dreams group which met on the New Moon, July 11th, was a lively group which gathered on the shores of White Rock lake in Dallas, Texas. The evening began as I unloaded my car in preparation for the group to meet, when two boys of about 11 or 12 began jumping around the area where I intended to set up. The boys were jumping over the area where I had begun creating the altar, and I gently let them know they would have to take their games elsewhere. They said, “Yes Ma’am” and politely left, only to return moments later with several other friends who gathered around and sat on the edge of a wall watching me continue to build the altar.

I proceeded to introduce myself to each of them shaking their hands and began asking them about their favorite kind of dream. One boy smiled and said “I like dreams where I have super powers!” I agreed, saying “Those are my favorite dreams too!” I then asked, “What is your favorite super power?” to which he responded, “I like flying dreams!” Everyone agreed as we continued around in our game of dream sharing. I invited the boys to stay for the remainder of our group but they were about to leave in a few minutes. I invited to them join us for our next group on the Full Moon if they would like to learn how to do all kinds of amazing things in their dreams. Perhaps I will see them again at our circle, or possibly traversing the dreamscape!

Our scheduled group began to arrive and once the ethics for dreamsharing were discussed we could create a safe space for sharing by prefacing any feedback with “if this were my dream”. This gives both the dreamer and the dream the proper listening and response, rather than any one person becoming the expert on any one else’s dream. The dreams shared by group members brought a deep discussion about the subject of healing dreams and dreaming with the departed. It was the perfect preface to the planned shared group dream excursion to do a conscious dream journey for the purpose of healing the oceans in response to the ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The discussion with the energetic group of young boys about dreaming super powers also seemed a fitting preface to the dream excursion we were about to embark on together!

I explained to the group the intention for our conscious dream journey aided by the sound of the drum, and gave the conditions for returning once the journey was concluded. I told a story of a recent visit to an artist’s studio who was creating a large beautiful painting of a mother Manatee and her baby. As I watched her work on the painting in her studio, I told her that I often dream of Manatees and how worried I am about their welfare being in the midst of the oil spill in the Gulf. My new artist friend told me that was why she was painting the Manatees because she was worried about their safety, and also because her husband was there in the Gulf helping to clean up the oil spill. She pleaded with me to send positive vibrations and mediations of healing for the creatures in the ocean. I told her I had recently incubated a dream intention to find a way to solve the oil leak in the Gulf. I dreamt of being taken deep down into the bottom of the Ocean by a blue whale where I was dropped off to stand on a cluster of huge quartz crystals from whence the sound of beautiful celestial sounding music began to emanate. I believe the Whale was showing me the solution seemed to lie in sending out a powerful vibration of healing for the ocean and its creatures. It was from this dream experience that I asked the circle of moon dreamers to embark on a conscious dream journey for the purpose of healing the ocean and stopping the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico.

The dreamers each brought back powerful experiences of connecting with power animals and ocean creatures who guided them in healing the ocean. One woman worked with the elements in her dream to bring about healing through the forces of nature with a tornado which caused a whirlpool causing the centrifugal force to move the oil downward back into the earth. Another dreamer also worked with the ocean but was aware of healing needed all around the world and worked on sending out energy through the earth energy grid with the assistance of 4 different power animals from each direction to bring healing to the areas most in need. Another dreamer brought through a powerful diamond energy through her crown and heart chakras sending out healing energy to the ocean. She also spoke of hearing a powerful sound during the dream excursion and wanted to send out the sound she heard but was concerned of disturbing the other dreamers. A group member suggested we end the group with the call of our collective voices to honor the call heard by her fellow dreamer. We all turned and sent out loudly our collective inner voice which wanted to be sent. In response, a group of geese nearby who had gathered at the lake shore sent out their loud calls to us. A fitting conclusion to this lively circle of dreamers. The headline news today of the Deep Water Horizon Oil leakage being temporarily stopped and capped on July 14th, brings a wonderful affirmation for the efforts of this circle of conscious dreamers. If you would like to participate in growing a dream community join us by the lake on the full moon Sunday, July 25th for the next gathering of Moon Beams and Moon Dreams at the Stone Circle at White Rock Lake.

Valley Reed is a certified dream teacher and leads dream groups and classes for both young people and adults on Dreaming at Chrysalis Healing Arts in Dallas, Texas. For class descriptions and workshop registration information visit www.chrysalishealingarts.org

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