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Dreaming


Westerners look at dreaming as a mental ability which occurs during REM sleep. They approach their dreams with the help of symbolism and although they have access to science and the possibility to explore this topic much deeper than any of their predecessors there’s less known on dreaming today than there were over 2000 years ago.

Now – how sad is that?

Indigenous people understand dreaming as a phenomenon which occurs when the body is in a calm state or when the lungs and heart are synchronized. This is why drumming and breathing are important tools (so to speak) in the art of shamanic dreaming. Dreaming has long been a mystery and yet, dreamers from all walks of this earth have explored this realm and arrived to the understanding of some common wisdom. I tend to refer to dreaming communities more so than scientists when it comes to the study of dreaming. Alleged primitive cultures have more experience when it comes to living with dreams than today’s modern society. For individuals like me who are passionate about the topic there’s lots to learn from those who commit themselves to the dream time 24 hours a day.

In the last 4,000 years, history shows that communities of dreamers were often a threat to the state and hence, were exterminated. Since dreams can predict the future; give power to dreamers to travel long distances out of their own territory without the risk of getting killed; and allow dreamers to speak to the dead – the power of dreaming can be the ultimate weapon to a budding empire. At the same time, it can also be its downfall. Fear is often the greatest obstacle in the discovery of mystery.

I have been studying and exploring indigenous dreaming for over 20 years. It wasn’t a personal choice at first since I was born with a strong ability to dream. I remember dreams as far back as infancy (6 months old). During my adolescence dreaming was more difficult than in childhood. I tended to struggle with some of the imagery and the messages. Guilt, shame, regret and jealousy were often twisted into my dreams or what I used to call “nightmares.” I decided to learn more about dreaming in order to survive my dreaming experience and then, later “to strive in my life.” In time, I learnt to become disciplined and to use dreaming as a daily tool. Today, I teach on the topic of indigenous dreaming and show that dreaming isn’t about the mind playing tricks on us hoping that we’ll unravel the riddle. Dreaming is a human ability that once helped our ancestors survive in the wild and evolve into the industrial geniuses of today.

If you have any questions on dreaming – don’t hesitate to ask.

LISA

Comments

Change said…
It's funny you mention dreaming as a child,, I don't have much for childhood memories,, but have vivid memorise of the dreams or the things I used to think I imagined, like there was a picture at my grandmothers house in the room I slept in while visiting, I have vivid memories of looking into that picture and dreaming with it,, It's only now I know what I was doing.
Michelle said…
There is a special on Monday nights called "In the Dream" one older lady in the special said Dreams are our mind's way to give us reality in the waking....Your post gave a synchronicity to me :) I dont feel we do enough in the western world with our dreams yet they are there talking to us all the time. Becoming stronger in my dreaming is somthing I would like to do are their different things one can use to open the dreaming so to speak I have heard certain plants can help do you have a list or know of things that help?
Wheelkeeper said…
I would like to know what it means when you have certain recurring dream themes or images... For example, there is always another person beside me in my night dreams. It almost feels like a double or a twin.

Another dream I have every so often is about sleeping in a large room with many others. They are lying on cots or mats on the floor.

What are these things telling me?

Wheelkeeper
Wheelkeeper said…
Another dream image I have been having lately is a wedding dress. It is just hanging there. There is no one wearing it, no groom and not wedding, just the traditional white wedding gown.

I know that we don't interpret symbols like psychologists, but knowing that I am in a huge transition phase, and knowing my story, I keep thinking of the white dress I was going to have made. It was to be a traditional native outfit with fringes. I never got it because the person who was to make it left the community.

I also think of the Mystery of Marriage, but am not sure what else I am being asked to commit to, when I have already committed to this path, the wheel and the Ancestors.

WK
Wheelkeeper said…
I used to be able to make sense of my dreams with no problem. Lately, there are mostly a mystery to me, unless I get one that manifests in the waking the next day... then it is magical and beautiful. I think all the other dreams are just about things I am working on. Lately, since the Great Gathering, I have been having a connection with Ravens, Crows and Blackbirds and have had amazing vivid dreams of them, both at night and waking.

Wheelkeeper
Lisa F. Tardiff said…
Thank you for your comments. You haven't been forgotten. I plan to write a new entry to answer some of your questions. Please be patient -- I'm working on it.

LISA

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