Tag: Sacred Law

The Crow and the Phoenix

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.

Three Crows in Flight

The Heart Chakra

During the ongoing journey of the Kundalini Yoga series, we move through the each of the chakras rising the energy up through the lower chakras into the higher chakras. The Heart begins the first of the upper chakras. Breathing with the energy to enter the heart chakra , I could see the energy in each of the lower chakras was strong. I moved from the root chakra into the creative chakra and up into the power chakra where it became a bright ball of energy with red and yellow and orange. I could hear a sound like a deep base drum beat pulsating and as the sound moved upward towards the heart I could see a thin plate of clear glass break apart as I moved into the heart chakra. A breakthrough!

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I entered and could see the energy there was neutral, I could then feel the energy in my crown chakra move down to fill my heart with white light. During one of the asanas, I could feel my right hand begin to cramp. I was aware the energy was stuck there in my body, I was trying to hold onto to it and needed to let it go. I concentrated on letting the energy release through my palm and the cramp in my hand began to ease. I became aware of a long held body stance of trying to protect myself by clenching my fist. I remembered waking up at night sometimes to find I had clenched fists. It was time to let go of the fear and anger and the need to protect myself, and trust in energy of the heart once more.

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In the ending class meditation, I entered the temple of the heart chakra, in my vision I could see a flock of white doves take flight as I entered the space. I approached the temple and became aware that it looked like the white house. At first look, I thought the politics of the presidential candidates race had taken over my life! Then upon contemplation I realized the qualities of the heart chakra is a space of sacred law, truth and justice.

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I entered the temple of the White House in my heart, and found a long hall where at the far end sat a man with a safron robe and bald head, and had the appearance of a buddhist monk. As I walked closer, the man turned to greet me, I was surprised to find it was my father.

My father was talking to me telling me things, that as usual, I did not want to hear. I did not trust him and I found it difficult to see him in this role as a Buddhist monk. Many times he and I had argued about religion and our differences in religious belief. He from a perspective of an Evangelist Christian and I from a perspective of Nicherin Diashonin Buddhism. My father at 83, is now at the end of his life struggling with lung cancer and having undergone chemotherapy, now has a bald head and the appearance of a shaven headed monk.

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My father took me over to show me a long white marble table that had many pictures laid out, the pictures were of my ancestors. Among the pictures was a photo of my great grandmother on my grandmothers side. My father was telling me that this great grandmother carried Native American blood. Then lying next to the pictures was a large ancient book that was old and worn, and inside it carried the sacred names of all the medicine peoples of all the tribes who have walked this earth. I looked down and also found lying next to the book on the table was a medicine pipe. The pipe was being given to me and the knowledge contained inside the book was the legacy my father was handing down to me. It was here that my father and I could always meet without disagreement, it was here in the Native way of being that we always understood one another, Aho!

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I know from this meeting of one another in the heart chakra, when his time comes to pass, that we will each be more at peace with one another, and I am grateful to my father for pointing to my ancestors and the legacy they have left me.