Tag: Dream Incubation

Curative Dreams

The hypogeum is an underground temple or tomb where one could be immersed in dreaming with the curative powers of the land and the numinous powers of the divine, often as part of a dream healing temple or entrance to the underworld. One of the most ancient is the Hal Saflieni hypogeum in Malta which dates to the Neolithic period, where the “Sleeping Lady” was recovered in 3200-2500 B.C. The reclining nature and sleeping position of the statue invokes a dreaming pose, and also evokes the popular dream temples that would later populate the Roman Greco world. Is the sleeping lady dreaming us, or is she seeking healing from an ancient creator Goddess? Cristina Biaggi writes the Sleeping Lady is a priestess engaged in Dream incubation or an Adept in giving oracles, interpreting dreams, or suggesting cures for illness. C. Biaggi (1986) p131-13. “The significance of the nudity, obesity and sexuality of the Maltese Goddess figures.”

“The Sleeping Lady” from
Hal Saflieni hypogeum in Malta, 3200-2500 B.C.

The dream temples of the ancient Greco Roman world were wide spread and wildly popular. Pilgrimages to dream temples became a place to go and stay overnight as a place for healing, from which the idea for modern hospitals may stem. A symbol for western medicine is the snake wrapped staff of Asclepius. The chthonic powers of the serpent brought transformation, and changing poison into medicine. His daughters Panacea brought healing of the mind, and the powers of the mind to heal. Hygieia brings cleansing powers of healing with spiritual cleansing, mental and energetic cleansing, emotional cleansing, and physical cleansing in order to bring back health and balance. Although both of these principals are part of western medicine today, dreaming seems to be missing.

“Patriarchy associates dreaming with fiction. Dreaming can’t be quantified or measured with an apparatus. But Dream incubation was considered a cutting edge technology even well into the Roman Empire. Invalids looking for a cure, would go to sleep in the temples of Asclepius, god of healing, in order to receive curative dreams. “ – Sophie Strand, author of The Flowering Wand; Rewilding the Sacred Masculine.

The Dream Healing practices of the ancient world included making clay offerings of the body which required healing, such as an eye, a leg, or a heart, and placing them into a wall. This practice of sympathetic magic, engages the healing powers of the mind through Panacea. There was also a cleansing ritual and perhaps fasting, presided over by Hygieia, where pilgrims were disrobed and washed, and clothed in white, in preparation for entering the dream temple, where snakes were guardians of the healing temple. The word hygiene is derived from Hygieia, and her wisdom includes cleanliness, prevention, and health.

Once inside the dream temple, pilgrims would be invited to incubate their healing request into a dream, and stay overnight in the dream temple, invoking direct healing powers from the divine, or a prescription of cure for their ailments. This may include dreaming with plant wisdom, or energetic dreaming with divine intervention from the God of Healing, Asclepius. Council from Dream temple priests or priestesses would be offered upon waking to help clarify and integrate their experience.

Dream healing includes the capacity to incubate a healing dream on behalf of another. Here is a dream report from a pilgrim at the abaton. “Arata, a Spartan, suffering from dropsy. On her behalf her mother slept in the sanctuary while she stayed in Sparta. It seemed to her that the god cut off her daughter’s head and hung her body with the neck downwards. After a considerable amount of water had flowed out, he released the body and put the head back on her neck. After she saw this dream, she returned to Sparta and found that her daughter had recovered and had seen the same dream.”

The most well known dream healing sanctuary was found in Epidaurus, considered the birthplace of Asclepius, who was part mortal and part God. He was raised and taught by Chiron, the great teacher. As word of the healing powers of Asclepius spread far and wide, so did Dream Healing Temples located at places such as Corinth, Sicyon, Tegea, Megalopolis, Argos, Sparta and Messene; on the islands of Paros, Aegina and Crete (Leben); and at Alexandria (Egypt) and Cyrene (Libya).

Asclepius was such a profound healer that he was able to resurrect supplicants from death. Hades became furious because he realized such practices would decrease his powers as God of the Underworld. He demanded his brother Zeus intervene on his behalf. Zeus then struck down the God of Healing with a thunder bolt. Asclepius still resides among the stars as the constellation of the serpent bearer.

Hatching Dreams with Synchronicity

Dream sharing opens a space for dreams to reveal the presence of the other world to come through and for synchronicity to surface. The Secret Garden of Dreams is a monthly Active Dream group which meets in a lovely cafe with a beautiful garden in East Dallas. In a recent gathering, a woman came to the garden to share her dream and we sat amongst the rows of herbs and plants flourishing before us. We found a nice sunny place to sit as she brought through a dream, which involved the image of a painting done by Piet Mondrian. In the midst of her sharing, she looked across the garden to see a chicken coop painted in just such a fashion as the distinctive pattern in a Mondrian abstract painting.  The dreamer had never been to the Garden Cafe previously and it was her first time to attend the dream sharing group. This synchronicity has an interesting presence beyond the direct link to the dream, it has me pondering what presence is arriving in this synchronicity showing up. Perhaps it is the artist. In researching Piet Mondrian, I found some interesting influences in his story, including his Dutch Calvinist upbringing, and life changing switch from a naturalist form to that of an abstract painter. He moved to Paris and became inspired by Picasso’s cubism, to then became an abstract artist himself. He was part of the Avant-Garde movement of his time and also held ties to esoteric practices within Theosophy, founded by Madame Blavatsky, who certainly would know something about connecting with spirits from other times and places.

He wrote: “All things are parts of a whole. Everything is constituted by relation and reciprocity. Color exists only through another color, dimension is defined by “another” dimension. This is why I say that relation is the principal thing.”

Piet Mondrian; 1921 Credit; Dallas Museum of Art, Foundation for the Arts Collection, gift of Mrs. James H. Clark

One thing I have learned in the practice of Active Dreaming is that when we pay attention to our dreams and take Action on them, we may find there are those energies from the other side also paying attention to us. We may draw to us a presence across time and space, that has a similar pattern of understanding or creative inspiration. This may show up in what is known as the presence of a creative muse or genius or daemon. It may show up in form of synchronicity, or dreams with a spiritual guide or creative teacher from “another dimension” who has taken an interest in us.

I love the image of this creative inspired chicken coop in relation to dreams, a kind of creative incubator, where dreams and creative ideas can be hatched in a safe environment. This is a beautiful image for me also, for how dream groups can create a safe container for dreams to be incubated and shared with one another. You are invited to come to the Secret Garden of Dreams at the Garden Cafe on Wed. June 28th at 11:30 a.m. Where dreams are hatched and synchronicity happens!

 

The next meeting for the Secret Garden of Dreams is Wed. June 28th at 11:30 a.m.

The Garden Cafe – 5310 Junius St. Dallas, Texas 75218

Dreams as Gateways of Sacred Activism

We all dream, and dreams have the potential to bring us together.  Active Dreaming was pioneered by Robert Moss as a synthesis of modern dream work and ancient shamanic methods of conscious dreaming. A key process is the Lightning Dream Sharing method, a quick way of sharing dreams and focusing the energy of dreams in an intentional way to reveal helpful information and potential actions. This approach to dream sharing is done in a way that respects the dreamer and the dream, where the only expert on the dream is the dreamer themselves, and helpful feedback is offered from the perspective of “if this were my dream”.

“Sacred Activism” was a term coined by Andrew Harvey as a way to cultivate compassionate action inspired by leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. who engaged non-violent direct action and dialogue in confronting the violence of racism with a vision of building a loving community through “Agape”.  Mahatma Gandhi promulgated the homespun movement as a source of non-violent resistance to break the stronghold of Colonial Britain in India.  Both of these peaceful movements of social change were rooted in reclaiming who we are, with a collective vision of what we could become together. Today many of us are activated and busy fighting against the tide of injustice that is intent to turn back the clocks on social change efforts won through the struggles of many who came before us.  If ever there was a need to bring forth a vision for change it is now and it is up to us to put our attentions there together to help grow this vision and take peaceful actions for the future.

Perhaps part of the trouble we see in modern Western society today, is that we have lost touch with our dreams as a culture. This is where the practice of Active Dreaming can come into play, when we learn how to remember our dreams and share them with others, we are helping to grow a dreaming community. Modern dream work approaches such as Dream Incubation and Dream Re-Entry are key practices of Active Dreaming. These two approaches offer ways to consciously direct your intentions for dreaming and re-entering a dream to gain information directly from the dream itself. There are many things you can learn to do inside your dreams and Active Dreaming is a practice to help you delve more deeply into your dream life and recover your dreaming potentials.

Learning to live and act consciously in our life takes practice, and Active Dreaming is a way to recover authentic connections to who we are, and discover what we truly desire in life. Dreams have the potential to connect us to something more, beyond the everyday waking mind and limited vision of the individual. We may find ourselves awakening to the sacred dream, collective vision, and eternal energy which connects us all. In dreams, we may explore profound realms of experience to discover the beauty and magic that exists inside each of us.

Active Dreaming allows us to not only awaken this sacred collective vision, but can show us how to dream together consciously. Shamanic conscious group dream journeys, guided by the sound of the drum, provide an ancient technology which is highly effective at allowing one to enter into a conscious dream state. This core practice of Active Dreaming, allows dreamers to come together in a mutual dreaming experience to bring back a collective vision in as full detail as possible. We can then take individual Action to grow this collective dream and help bring it into the waking world. This is how dreams become gateways of Sacred Activism, when we can journey consciously into these deeper realms of soul and spirit, and act upon it in some significant way on behalf of the wholeness of self, family, community and planet.

Valley Reed © 2017

Valley Reed is an Active Dream Teacher, and Peace Activist Leader in Dallas, Texas.

Visit www.chrysalishealingarts.org for more information and calendar of events.

Dream Ritual for Peace and Healing

clootie-treeThe 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!

Dancing Awake My Dreams

Over twenty five years ago,  I was lead by my dreams to join “Nine Fish Jumping” an improvisational dance performance group, made up of actors, dancers, yoga teachers, film makers, and martial arts practitioners.  We decided to make the group leader”full” where we had no one leader, but all took responsibility for creating the performances.  We built trust among each other, exploring our creative edges and stretching our creative impulses through contact improvisational movement.  One afternoon, as I prepared to leave my house to go to a rehearsal, I suddenly became really drowsy and felt the need to lay down for a minute before going to rehearsal. I lay down and closed my eyes, and suddenly found myself dreaming about a meeting taking place, at a nearby cafe, where the members of our group had gathered. One of them was trying to convince the others that they should vote me out of the group.  I woke up suddenly, and “knew” that this meeting was taking place right then.  I hurried over to the location I had seen in my dream, and found the exact scene playing out. My abrupt uninvited appearance at the meeting,  hindered their chance to proceed with the vote!  They all looked shocked that I was there and nobody said anything to me, in fact they couldn’t even look me in the eyes.  Someone suggested we proceed to rehearsal, so we all went together and began our contact improv warmup exercises. I did not participate, but decided to watch instead. I felt my trust had been broken and I was trying to determine if I could even continue to be part of the group after what had happened.  It was interesting to me, that I was not upset by what I had seen, in fact I felt quite empowered and watched as if from the perspective of an observer in a dream.  After rehearsal, the air was not clear by any means and everyone still felt uncomfortable.  I decided to sleep on it and ask my dreams for guidance about what I should do.

The next night had a dream based on my incubated intention to clarity for myself if there was still a place for me in this group. In my dream, I see myself doing a dance with the woman who was conspiring to vote me out of the group.  In the dance, I saw myself doing movements which were open and made me vulnerable, it was through this openness and vulnerability expressed in the dance, that a resolution was created. It was a dream of healing, through the dance.

In our next meeting together, I chose to share my telepathic dream of seeing the meeting taking place, and also my dream incubation question as to whether I should decide to continue to dance with the group. I suggested recreating the dream I had incubated, by dancing with the woman who had created the power play. She agreed to dance with me and together we improvised recreating the movements from my dream. We were able to move from the space of competition and jealousy toward the energy of openness and vulnerability, in the space we created together. We reached a place of healing and reconciliation, not only for our own relationship, but for that of the group as well.  It only served to deepen the connection we had with one another, and we went on to create many dance performance improvisations over a 2 year period.

The group later disbanded, and individuals moved away and went in different directions, but over the years, that experience stayed with me. It was through this experience, I was later inspired to create “Peace Moves” a program of conflict transformation with conscious movement.  It is a powerful way to deal with conflict from the perspective of wholeness, rather than the polarity of “us” and “them” thinking.  I have also found this format very powerful when working with dreams, which can often reflect the polarities we struggle with in our lives both inwardly and in our external worlds.

Exploring conflict through expressive movement, is also a very effective approach with children.  Years ago,  I taught at an Integrative Arts pilot  program at a private school with children ages 4-7. The program was developed to offer creative materials for children to explore, through their own imaginations and impulses, without someone telling them how to create a project.  They had just about anything you could imagine in the way of choices, such as an array of visual art materials, costumes, musical instruments, even a stage to put on a play or perform a dance.  One thing I observed, was that many of the boys in the class had very limited imaginations as to how they chose to express themselves creatively. They often chose to pick up some of the recycled trash materials we had made available to them, and would inevitably make some type of weapon, which lead to the boys pretending to be fighting one another.  The other teachers and myself grimaced at the sight, and complained about how sad that boys can get stuck in such roles at such a young age. I decided to take a chance, and asked the boys to follow me instead, to the dance floor, where I taught them some contact improvisation exercises. They took to it right away, and were able to dance and connect with one another without needing to resort to games of violence in order to connect.  They were no longer stuck in a “role” and found the world of their imaginations open up to other possibilities to explore.

Our dreams can provide us with doorways into the imagination, where we can transcend the limited roles we have been given and may be trying to live out without any sense of real accomplishment.  Dreams can show us new paths to move towards, if we have the willingness to look and the courage to follow them.

by Valley Reed © 2012

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