Dream-Touched!

Yesterday I met up with some students of mine who are involved in a book project that we’ve been devoted to since last Fall. We started talking about storytelling and the power of Shamanism when LG suggested that I share more stories about the dreamer experience, on my blog. I thought it was a good idea.

Last November I decided to organize an evening where I would empirically show the power of the dream time. About a week before we met I called everyone and told them to go to a cemetery and connect to someone there… I asked them to bring back a stone and left it at that. When I do this kind of thing I always figure that one or two of the participants will arrive with a story they’ve imagined rather than the real thing. This isn’t to say that they come in wanting to “pull the wool over my eyes” but some individuals don’t quite understand that even though we’re dealing with dreaming it’s still somewhat of a mathematical matrix that repeats a particular pattern or process. At the same time I also know that when I do things like this I may get surprised by a reality that is way over my head…

On this particular November evening we crowded into the Lodge somewhat excited to uncover what we had picked up from the dream time. We were quite impressed to uncover that two of the Spirits were soldiers from a not-so-distant past who were looking to be forgiven for some of the choices they were forced to make during times of war. DR shared one of the stories while LG, his wife, shared the second tale. One of these soldiers was a woman who seemed upset about the fact that she had passed on without having a chance to tell her family and her children how much they meant to her. Being part of the army had been a vocation and although she was not ashamed of what she had to do during times of war, she was ashamed of the things she hadn’t had the courage to do as a parent. Since LG was the one who had inherited this story, she was also the one who had the responsibility to guide this soldier to resolution. And so for a bit over half and hour these two talked until LG explained that she had done the best she could do and that after all these years even her children and great-grand-children were gone.

“It is time” she told her, “to continue your walk into the after life and finally face them once and for all.” LG promised her that her family would not judge her harshly.

“Be a warrior all the way through” we told her “and be ready to carry the burden of your truth.” This statement seemed to ring through to her. After crying and sharing all of the details of her story – the Spirit female warrior finally agreed that it was time to move on; but only after she would give us an exchange for what we had done for her. We didn’t argue and we ended the night on that note…

At the end of the evening we talked for a little while before everyone left the Loge to go back home. We wondered why only LG’s Spirits had talked and why every other dreamer who had been invited remained as witnesses. There were many questions but very little answers until midnight after everyone had returned home.

During the actual evening I had explained to everyone that a dreaming experience can not be fit into one linear event. I even said that “I couldn’t promise that anything would actually occur during the night.” Patience and perseverance are definitely important attributes for indigenous dreamers. Nevertheless I knew and I hoped that everyone who would participate during the evening would learn to understand that dreaming is empirical and that it is powerful if you just wait and see.

At midnight that same night, LG’s son had a tragic car accident. When they finally got him to the hospital they weren’t sure he was going to make it. His brain had gotten the worst of it and he was in a coma. LG called me in a panic and in tears. She kept repeating that “she would do anything to have him survive.”

“Please” she begged, “how can we help him.”

I asked LG to keep me posted every single day. One evening she came home with a story about how his brain was damaged and how even if he would survive it didn’t mean he would be the same person. I told LG to stop doubting and “to not get distracted.” We and HE could change whatever we wanted if we just stuck together and did what we were being asked to do. I told her to follow the dreaming. I told her to “leave the doctors to their task” and “stay centered to hers.”

We gathered all of the dreamers who had been together that famous November dreaming-night and we found out that everyone played a role somehow. Each of the dreams that they had even a week before we met somehow talked about why LG’s son needed to have this accident; and how we would get him through it despite the doctor’s pessimism. It was incredible. Every dream was right on cue. We were all left somewhat flabbergasted.

LG felt encouraged and understood that she needed to listen to the doctors and the nurses but “not get influenced or distracted by them.” The information was important but not so much that she had to fall apart over it and even become paralyzed by it. She said that what she learnt from the experience was that she had to harness her emotions and have them work for her in a practical way rather than always be at their mercy. Every morning when she went back to the hospital and learnt to listen to the dreaming. At first she had no idea what that meant but because she was basically thrown into the experience she quickly learnt… She noticed the synchronicities, she refused to be governed by her fears, and she got grounded in the small details that nobody sees but that are there – obvious and real.

She started talking to her son about the dreams we had and sometimes he would squeeze her hand in acknowledgment. The nurses explained that “it was probably instinctual movements” but LG knew better. Eventually, she understood that she was an important character in this dream and that she needed to play her role. She saw that like the warrior woman that had come to her in the cemetery – she too had not been there for her children because she was too busy working and surviving. This was her second chance to make things right.

Weeks went by and every thing the dreaming told us came true. Whether it was LG who was talking to her son; or another dreamer accomplishing a seemingly out of context detail – every action accomplished a desirable affect.

Just when the doctors had given up on her son because he was getting worst with pneumonia etc… the Spirit of the warrior woman told us that she would make sure LG’s son would wake up and reclaim his life – this would be her exchange. A week later he was out of the coma and six weeks later, he was already making decisions to get control back of his life.

LG’s son did have brain damage but it didn’t seem to make much of a difference to him or anyone else in his life because he was aware enough to understand that what occurred to him was a gift from another reality. The warrior woman ended up leaving and continuing her journey to her family. I think she saw and understood that families are built on love, forgiveness and rebuilding relationships. She could do that…

On our side our dreamer’s circle understood that the dreaming is indeed powerful… Many of the participants hesitated before answering my next invitation to a dreaming evening (LOL)! Who would be next to be responsible for a dream? What would the learning involve? And how far are we truly willing to go in the name of the dreaming?

Ironically, it was LG who said: “I want to do this again. I’m ready to give it all in the name of the dreaming.” Like me and others who have gone through these experiences countless times, she understood that the experience tells all: that there’s nothing to fear and nothing to worry about when you have faith and you stand in true knowing. LG explained that this particular experience had allowed her to heal wounds that she believed she would die with… Like the warrior woman she thought there was no forgiveness, no going back to change the mistakes of the past.

LG stood before us corrected with the biggest smile on her face. My reply to that was – “This is why we dream and this is why we are dreamers.”

Tahau!

P.S. There are countless stories like these. If you like them please tell me and I’ll post more of these stories….