Rattling the Bones

I received an e-mail from RW today and she asked if I could share the story behind Rattling the Bones -- again!

I had written to story on "multiply" another blog program and she felt it was important that I gathered all of "my stories" all in one box (so to speak). So here I am -- with the old story of Rattling the Bones.

Since I've become a traditional dreamer I just naturally wake up every day around 4:00am. I've been doing that for the last 15 years. I stay up for about 20 minutes and then, go back to bed until sunrise. I was told by an elder once that our hearts give a rhythm to our dreaming and with discipline our hearts begin to follow the beat of the Earth's natural hum. We are jolted into wakingness when there's a transition between cosmological and natural influences. It actually helps to make our bodies (physical, emotional, mental, spiritual and energetic) stronger because at that point in time when the stars and the earth connect/disconnect we touch infinite wholeness. I always take the time to "really wake up" at that time even though I may be tired. I find that if I put my feet to the ground and just hum with the Earth or become aware of the beat my heart I feel so much happier and healthier during the day that follows. Try it out and tell me how it feels!

Eighteen years ago I had a dream. It was just before dawn and I saw these four skeleton men dancing on a hill top. The wind was whispering a tale about how our dead ancestors secretly seduce every morning the sun rays through their ghost dance to give us the gift of light. When I woke up I jotted down in my journal the words: Rattling the Bones. I've been journeying with the images and the sounds that these words convey ever since then. For years they seemed to inspire me with learning and healing. For starters they brought back a comment that my grand-father often repeated to us family dreamers. He often said that dreaming wasn't a mental activity nor a mental ability. He didn't believe that we as individualists were the sole creators of our dreams and certainly didn't dabble in symbology like many of the psychoanalysts of modern times. As a traditionalist he believed that dreaming was a reality and that like our waking realm it provided learning and healing; inter-relationships; influences over our attitudes and gratitude; as well as divulged beauty and abundance through all kinds of experiences. He often repeated that many of his dreams were often more lucid and more meaningful than anything he had lived in his waking life. After over 35 years of incredible dreaming I have to agree with the man... There were many other dreamers who shared similar comments like Black Elk and Sitting Bull for example.

"When we die" my grand-father once explained "everything decays except for our bones. It keeps the memory of our story and the stories of our ancestors."

My grand-father believed that somehow we could dream because of our bones and because of the bones of our ancestors. In a way he seemed to be saying all through my childhood that dreams came from our cells rather than our minds. Like the Mayans, the Hebrews and many other ancient people -- my ancestors also held within their stories knowledge of DNA. They weren't scientists or didn't worry about the burden of proof but still they had access to knowledge that still mystifies us today.

It's getting late and I have to get ready for bed.

The heartbeat of the Mother is already slowing down to the rhythm of dreaming.

My eyes are closing and I'm tired.

Rattling the Bones is full of meaning. See what you can dream up with these words. You may be pleasantly surprised.

Tahau!