Tag: Martin Luther King Jr.

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.

Dreamways to Peace

When we have a love for something which we strive towards in our everyday life, we may find in dreaming we can connect with a greater experience and presence of those who have passed on, but their legacy remains.  I have worked as an activist toward peace and justice in Texas for more than 10 years. It is often difficult and thankless work, but clearly needed in order to create change from a culture of violence toward one of  peace with justice.

Over the years, I have been gifted with two significant dreams which have helped to spur me on in my endeavors as a peace activist.

Doorways to Peace

I see Martin Luther King Jr. standing before me, he holds out his hand and offers me what he has inside his palm.  It is a golden bee pollen and he tells me to eat it.  I take what he has offered and eat some.  I am conscious in the dream, and having trouble staying that way due to being very aware and excited that I am actually standing with the great Martin Luther King Jr.  I can hardly contain myself.  He is trying to speak with me in the dream, but I seem too overwhelmed to be able to hear his words. He then shows me a large golden tree made of gold light and we walk toward it. The tree is so large we are only looking at the huge trunk of it and cannot see the top of the tree nor the bottom. There is a door inside the tree  made of golden light which opens.  I walk through it and find there are many more doorways unfolding before me, all I must do to get to the next one is walk through each door as it appears. EOD.

This dream was profound for me to meet Martin Luther King Jr. – one of my heroes, whom I consider to exemplify true leadership. It showed me the potential for peace and that it only takes the willingness to step through each doorway as it is presented. This is something I continue to strive to do as an activist.

In the next dream, I went consciously to meet up with a dream partner to an agreed upon destination where we would converge together in our dreams for a shared dream adventure. We decided to meet up at a market in Fez, Morocco

The Magic Pot

I find myself in a busy market place in Morocco with narrow dirt streets and vendors set up all around. It is a busy place and the sights, sounds and smells are almost overwhelming.  I am looking for my dream partner.  I walk further through the market and find a large clay pot.  I circle around the pot as I touch its rim with my hand and as I do I see Gandhi walking toward me from out of the market place. He approaches standing across from me and tells me to look into the pot. I look inside and see it is full of water, he tells me to look again, and once again I look and see it is full of grain.

I look one more time and now the pot has transformed to a small Moroccan clay pot with a lid which looks like a strange hat.  I take off the lid to see it contains a delicious meal enough for two people to eat.   I realize this pot is a magic pot. I want to share this meal with my dream partner who I have not yet found in my dream.  I go and look for him and find myself at the airport where he is just arriving to meet me. We go once again go to the market where I meet up with another friend who is the founder of many West African Drum Circles in Texas.  My friend looks at me and says, “What are we waiting for? We are in Africa – Let’s Drum!” We all begin to drum together. EOD

This dream shows the importance of nurturing and having a container that can feed many people. Peace is that container and shows itself in the form of the magic pot which offers unlimited resources as well as the ability to build community both through feeding and nurturing and drumming and celebration while also nurturing my personal relationships along the way.

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