Crows have long been a trusted guide in waking and dreaming life, as well as conscious dream journeys, guided by the drum. I began having a series of dreams connected with Crow before my divorce in 2001 when crow helped me to navigate this challenging time in my life for me and my children.
One day, my son and I were sitting at the kitchen table drawing and my daughter was playing a game she created where she was the librarian for a dream library. She demanded that me and my son create some dream books to place in her library. I took the assignment to heart and began thinking of the Crow dreams I had been having, as well as a beautiful blue phoenix that had been showing up in dreaming. Based on these dreams, I created the story of “The Crow and The Phoenix”. I wrote the story in a miniature book I had made from construction paper, and handed the book to the dream librarian. She was pleased with the addition to her dream library, and placed it on a shelf.
Later I shared the story with an online group of dreamers devoted to dreaming up some Peace in the World Dreams Peace Bridge. I shared my inspiration from my 6 year old daughter and her imaginary dream library, and the story that came through in response to her assignment to create a dream story. The Crow and the Phoenix was the result. It goes like this…
The Crow and the Phoenix
Once upon a time…
there lived a Crow who liked to stay in darkness. Crow lived deep in the earth. When Crow was lonely, it would fly up out of the Earth and find someone to take into the underworld.
One day a girl named Anna Belle was walking in the rain with her most favorite companion, her umbrella. She loved to walk under the gloomy, wet, gray, skies protected by her faithful umbrella. Anna Bella and her umbrella were quite a pair.
Suddenly she heard a great thunder and it felt as if the ground beneath her was shaking from the sound! She wondered if the Earth were going to swallow her up, when a great Crow swooped down upon her and carried her and the umbrella into his underground laird.
She lived deep inside the earth with Crow, until she forgot who she was. Not even her umbrella could protect her from the darkness that surrounded her. She lived in the darkness of Crow.
One day in the depths of her slumbering, Anna Belle was awakened by a mysterious blue light that shone like the stars. She was frightened and could barely look into the brightness piercing through the underworld.
She caught the glimmer of light as it flashed from high above and she held tight to her umbrella. Crow tried to pull her back from the light by grabbing her umbrella just as the bright wind caught Anna Bella up in a swirling torrent, taking her up into a world of light and love. Crow was left holding only the umbrella, alone once again in the darkness underground.
The bright wind that caught up Anna Belle and lifted her away was really the wings of a magical blue Phoenix. The Phoenix took her high into the heavens to a mountain cave. There in the cave was a magical reflecting pool. The small girl looked into the water and was shocked to see a girl covered with dirt looking back at her. She had forgotten who she was in the depths of darkness.
Phoenix gently guided her into the healing waters of the pool, where she was cleansed of all the darkness that had been surrounding her life. She stepped out of the water, and looked again into the reflecting pool. She saw a beautiful girl named Anna Belle and her eyes gleamed from the light of her heart.
Phoenix knew it was time for Anna Belle to return home, and placed her in her warm bed where she slept peacefully. The Phoenix whispered gently, “You may return to the waters of remembering whenever you feel lost.”
Anna Belle awoke with a start! What was that?…a dream? She looked down and saw on her bed a mysterious feather. When she picked it up she felt a familiar light in her heart. She remembered her dream.
The End
By Valley Reed with inspiration from Delaney Clark.
When I shared the story online with a group of international dreamers, several asked for a copy to share with young family members, and one felt so inspired she thought it would make a wonderful dream dance. I shared by background as a professional ballet dancer, choreographer and teacher and was offered a stipend to create a dance based on the story and perform it in Cincinnati Ohio for a Regional conference with the Association for the Study of Dreams in 2001.
The story came to life as a dream dance, and the Crow, Phoenix, and Anna Belle danced it into being. Later at another conference in Montreal in 2008 the dream dance was performed again as an improvised performance to dream and dance the story forward.
While all of this was going on I continued to dream of Crow, and was told I am to be the keeper of “the Book of Crow”. The book of Crow is a book of Sacred Law, and bridge between worlds that enters the mystery. Human Law is not the same as Sacred Law. Crow has a shared meaning across cultures, the Book of Crow gives access to sacred law from cultures across the world and across time. Below are just a few dreams of the mysterious nature of Crow as guide.
Crow Initiation
I dream I have been given a diagnosis of a condition that will end my life. I submit to my own death and am unafraid. I have a sacred fire lit where my body will be tied to a post where I will meet the wings of crow. I see my body burn up as I surrender to the fire and become the wings of crow and fly into the spirit realm.
Crow Unfurls the Darkness
I am leading a group on a journey guided by the drum. I see crow appear within the darkness of my mind’s eye, and he pulls away the curtain of darkness and I find I am in another territory in dreaming where I stand before a great stone gateway. Crow is hopping around the ground and picks up a golden bracelet and drops it in my hand. I find the stone gateway has a circle carved into it and when I place the golden bracelet in the carved circle, it fits perfectly, and the massive stone gateway begins to open. A bright white and blue light shines through as the massive portal opens that is so powerful I can barely hold my own in the face of it. I am concerned what else may be coming through this portal I have opened.
Three Crows
I see three crows on a tree limb and one flew over to me and brought me a citrine crystal cluster. When I looked at the citrine crystal more closely, I found that part of it is a candle. I am walking through a room where a crystal skull sits on a table, and the crystal skull recognizes me and begins giving divination of what will come to pass in my future.
Awaken the Sacred Dream 