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.
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Years ago I was offered a position as Assistant Director at a non-profit organization where I volunteered. I was not so sure if this was a direction I wanted to focus my career at the time, so I asked my dreams to give me guidance. That night I had a dream of standing before a 3 tier water fountain with red rose petals floating in the water on each level. I woke from the dream feeling loved and blessed. It seemed a very good sign for me to take the position and so I did. Shortly there after, an event was organized to announce the new role I had been given as Assistant Director and when I walked into the atrium of the building, I found a three tier fountain with red rose petals floating in the water from a wedding that had taken place there the night before.
dreams over the years. Many of these dreams have been more related to big changes coming my way and times of upheaval beyond my control. I did have a dream however that was more specific and showed the biggest blackest Tornado I had ever seen and it was traveling down highway 35 North of Austin. I was told in the dream that this was an F5 Tornado, which at the time I had never heard of an F5 tornado because they used to be so rare. I decided not to go on a planned trip to drive to Austin that weekend based on this dream, and that very weekend the horrible F5 Tornado hit the small town of Jarrell, Tx. just North of Austin, Tx. on Hwy 35 and completely wiped out the town.
of a war zone. There were ashes coming down out of the sky and people running frantically through the streets in shock. I was conscious in the dream, aware I was dreaming and that I was there to help. A woman came over to me and told me she was so glad I was there. I looked at her and saw she was missing an arm. I realized she was dead and she did not even know it. I told her, “don’t you know you’re dead?” She looked down at her missing arm and realized it was true. I pointed her in the direction of a huge portal of light, bordered by two beams of bright blue light. I played the shamanic role of psycho-pomp in helping to guide her through the portal to the other side. Then I woke up! I thought it was one of the strangest dreams I had ever had. I got my kids ready and took them to school and on the way home, turned on the radio to hear the first plane had crashed the Twin Towers. I rushed home to turn on the Television and saw a seen that looked eerily like my dream of ashes coming down from the sky and people running frantically for their lives through the streets. The portal with the blue lights showed up 6 months later as the first memorial for those who lost their lives in the attacks.
Awaken the Sacred Dream 