Dream Archeology: Ancient Wisdom for Modern Survival

I’ve signed up for a wonderful course taught by Robert Moss on the Shift Network titled: “Dreaming into the Dreamtime: Tapping the Power of 7 World Traditions for Transformation.”  One of the great advantages of working with Active Dreaming is how it introduces vital but forgotten, ancient and indigenous methods to explore the dream worlds.  In this course, Robert is opening new doors, taking us even deeper into each dreaming tradition.

Learning from our ancestors and understanding their wisdom requires shedding the left-brain, white man knows best attitude we’ve assumed for the last few centuries.  It requires opening our hearts and knowing in a deeper sense what is true and what is vital for ourselves, understanding that though we’ve “evolved” in some ways, we’ve devolved in some important ways, forgetting what our ancestors knew, especially about living in alignment with Nature.  Robert Moss says:

“One of the things going on in your dreams might be that the ancestors are calling. When I say the ancestors, I mean the ancestors of your bloodlines certainly, but I also mean the ancestors of the land where you are living or the land you are visiting and the ancestors of your spiritual kin who may come from many places and many cultures. I think that dreaming is one of the ways that we interact with the ancestors, and it can become a very interesting source of guidance and direction of where to go with our interests and our sense of tradition and our sense of belonging in life.”*

I’ve found my bloodlines in dreaming; one is in the Lucumi peoples of Cuba, where I was born.  In my dreams I’ve danced to Yemaya and Oshun, visited with many Lucumi elders and shared many deeply healing experiences, full of gifts.  Because of these dreams, I’ve studied Afro-Cuban dance, music and culture in my waking life.   

Currently, I’m following teachings from my dreams that are challenging me to grow in my relationship to Nature and better understand the natural world around me. In a series of recent dreams, there are black bears on my path or I’m in bear country.  The beauty of a series of dreams with similar content is that you can compare and contrast vital elements of the dreams: place, characters, feelings and actions.  In at least two of the dreams, my dream self literally asks the question; “How am I not supposed to be afraid of bears?”  I re-entered one of these dreams with a partner/tracker and received a great gift from her journey into my dream.   

In her dream of my dream, she saw the antlered goddess, an element that wasn't in my dream report to her.  The Celtic goddess, Elen of the Ways, is one manifestation of this great Divine Archetype.  Here’s what the well known researcher of her stories, Caroline Wise, has to say about her:

“As the Green Lady, she peeps out between the trees in forests and woods. As a British Venus, Goddess of Gardens, she is the Flower Bride: at her Holy wells, mainly to be found in the North of the country, she is guardian of the underground streams that carry the sacred waters. These underground streams have themselves become a metaphor for the secret continuation of sacred wisdom. She is the Guardian of the ancient track ways, the Leys, the kundalini currents in nature, and as the Horned Goddess, she leads us to the first trackways, the migratory tracks of the reindeer and later, she leads us to the path of the red deer through the forests. From here she leads us to the lost Shamanism of the isles of Britain, and we can follow her across Scandinavia, Russia, Mongolia, Siberia, India and beyond.”

She is Lady of the Beasts. What Black Bear is trying to teach me is to grow in my connection to Nature and to Mother Nature, the Divine Feminine Archetype on whom all survival depends.  As Robert said in our second class, the Australian First Peoples teach us that we live in a “speaking land.”  Everything is alive and may have something to say to us, if we listen.

This summer, I’ve learned to hold birds in my hands, thanks, in part, to the inadvertent efforts of my cat. These were sparrows, small and sweet, that he brought alive into the house; in the past, I would have gotten Jim to pick one up and take it outside; after all, he grew up on a farm.  Through my dreams and dream re-entries I’ve come to realize that opening my heart, really seeing a creature and neutralizing my knee jerk instincts of fear allows me to “communicate” with another living being and see it for how it truly is.  That’s how I’m not supposed to be afraid of bears.  If I do end up face to face with black bear in waking reality, I’ll remember what I’ve learned and act accordingly.  Talking to a friend who actually lives in bear country today, she described to me how all bears are unique, and some have a really sweet disposition.  She also decried how our entitled attitude to study or control them in ways like banding them, distresses them and interferes with a more natural personality. 

I know from participating in this wonderful course that there are many, many people whose dreams are calling them to reconnect with Nature; it’s as if She’s put out an S.O.S.  Here’s a powerful excerpt from the dream inspired post of a sister dream traveller, Kate Temple-West calling us to act to save our waters.  "You can dream into the great river of story, into imaginal realms that are larger than your own subconscious mind.  There are vital medicines for us all in these places, and we need them.  Now, please.  We need them now." 

 May we grow a dream of awakening and healing together.  May it be so!

Happy Papi's Day!

I take this opportunity to celebrate my dad, mi papi, and also dads everywhere around the globe who love their children fiercely and participate in their lives joyfully.

My dad crossed over more than two decades ago, but thanks to my dreams, he remains close. On this side of the veil, my dad was my best friend. Since I was little, he spent as much time with me as he did with my older brother. He took me with them fishing and taught me, patiently, to bait my own hook. From dreaming, I know he's still got my back. He often reassures me just when I need it most and always reminds me of his love for me. Father’s day coincides with papi’s birthday by a few days, so his energy is extra strong around this time.

I met a lovely scholarly gentleman, a bit older than me, who was sitting near me at a conference the other day. When we were asked to pair up for discussion to share stories about how we experienced nature growing up, many of my stories involved my dad, how he took me fishing, taught me to ride a bike, throw and catch a baseball and solve geometry formulas from scratch so when I took the Regents exams, I wouldn't have to worry about forgetting one while doing a problem.  I got 100% on my geometry Regents, though it's a skill I haven't maintained. My new friend was very surprised that growing up in the 50s and 60s, I enjoyed such liberty as a girl.  Thanks, dad.

Papi loved to joke with people, he was always gentle and kind.  If he got angry, he didn't lash out.  My brother and I respected him and were happy to please him.  As a young adult, he let me make my decisions, even when he knew I might be mistaken.  I loved talking to him and, though we didn't agree in some things, he was very accepting of our differences.  

Of course, Dad sent a dream this anniversary as well; I'm knee-deep in pondering.  It's a wonderful consolation to know that Love bridges the Great Divide.  My dear friend Mally enjoys the same dreaming relationship with her departed father, as do many dreamers. It's not unusual or "woo-woo;" it's available to anyone who explores the dream terrains.  Robert Moss, creator of Active Dreaming, has written extensively about dreaming as a practice for dying and a bridge to our departed.

On this national Father's Day I want to applaud any and every man who loves children unconditionally, who guides them wisely and with compassion.  It's a great gift to have a father like I do; I wish everyone the same blessing. The song,  "Oh, My Papa"  has always evoked what I feel for my dad. In one dream of years ago, I'm walking the beach singing it full-heart throttle; this image brings me utter joy. 

Thank you, Octavio I. Chirino, for being my papi.

The American Dream

Most of us have grown up hearing about and dreaming the American Dream, a phrase that I find worth pondering.   Just this week, Donald Trump’s racist and derisive speech, made as his bid for the POTUS spot on the Republican ticket, brought the American Dream mythos front and center to my mind.

My favorite comedians and news pundits think it’s too funny for words.  Jon Stewart thanked DT for making the last 6 wks of his Daily Show career the best.  So ludicrous do many find his remarks, that they are just making jokes. Though I love laughing at the absurdity of these extremist thoughts, I find Trump's remarks chilling to the bone.

The question I have to ask myself is, how many people think that being rich means you’re successful, smart and worth listening to?  Blaming is a knee-jerk, primitive impulse that we lose when we live valuing Love above all, including more than money.  Losing this perspective about living from the heart can cost us dearly; that's the example of Hitler and the German people who put him in power.  

In his ludicrous speech, Trump devoted as much time to bragging about his many financial assets as he did to spreading hateful lies about an entire ethnic population.  What's worse is that he's appealing to our collective projections of what it is to achieve the American Dream!  Blaming an entire people for our ills, projecting our Shadow and Devils on a group we perceive as a less deserving group, where have we seen that before and what was the outcome? We each have a choice to make about whether we'll own our shadow or cruelly project it on to others.

Trumps sneering, balls-out, slanderous attack on Mexicans is not fact; it's his own bigoted, hateful and extremely not what Jesus would do, manipulative distortion of our neighbors and fellow human beings.  What if he said those things about Canadians?  Mexicans, by the way, enjoyed their culture and didn't have a lawless society until US drug prohibition created a criminal class that in Mexico and across South America, turned into a hideous Vampire economy, the Cartels.  The drug war is draining the blood, literally, from their culture and America bears a great responsibility in this.  I recommend a wonderful book, "Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs."  We need to look for mutual and respectful solutions to our shared modern ills; blaming, hating and that old chestnut, brutal force,  are very dangerous roads to follow.

Listening to Trump, he seems soul-less; someone who, counting his gold, has forgotten to count his days.  Has he ever heard that quaint old saying; “you can’t take it with you?”  Is this the reason for this outrageous megalomaniacal bid for world power; because he sees nothing beyond the grave he might need to figure in to his accounts?  Does this man have any spiritual awareness?  Even if he goes to a church and is a big contributor, religion and spirituality are not the same.  

A soul-less person is dangerous and should never be entrusted with the power of office, with our national well-being, physical and spiritual. Trump’s saber rattling is not entirely funny to me.  If as a collective, we sink to his level, if we value money more than what we have that can't be bought with money, if we don’t know that we’re spiritual beings, hence non-physical beings, ultimately, having a physical experience, we may throw our lot in with those who weave a false dream, and elect a hateful bigot.  There are others who share the ambition and soap box with Trump who also have unsettling agendas cloaked in virtue and religiosity. They're candidates who unabashedly claim authority in religion, but our first leaders, who created the foundation of our democratic republic, did all they could to draft a governing model that safeguards against the very real dangers of theocratic government.

What is the American dream?  What should it be?  I dream of a culture who knows the value of Spiritual Love and Mutual Respect and allows each of us to live our soul purpose, to receive and contribute our best dreams in our own time and place.  A culture that knows there is something like a web that unites us all, a web of what ultimately Is, regardless of our own misguided efforts to Name it. That web unites every being on this planet, animal (which includes us) vegetable and mineral.

Anyone who wants to lead me into maligning the Other, making me into a negative, bullying, blaming and hating person is anathema to me, to my soul.  It’s easy to recognize a person who only values money and who has very little heart/soul.  What would Jesus do?  Hate?  Not likely.

So, if America makes this man, or anyone projecting our problems and evils on any group, president, what does it say about us?  The Good News is that there’s time to make sure that doesn’t happen.  I dream of a post election 2016 where Americans chose leaders who can help them, the citizenry, the body politic, to create a tolerant, heart-centered, creative, imaginative, laughing and dreaming culture, a culture of joy and possibility.  This will be the American Dream; we will pioneer uniting the worlds of Dreaming.  We will be leaders in this New Spiritual Age, the Consciousness revolution. We’ll abandon hatred and embrace love.  We'll once again walk on the Moon.

The world is as we dream it.

Again, The Shadow

I recently discovered two authors who write about Jung's shadow archetype.  Paul Levy,  "Dispelling Wetiko: Breaking the Curse of Evil" and Debbie Ford, "The Secret of the Shadow."  Both have other published work and are well known, though new to me. I haven't read either book yet, but heard them speak on YouTube and am reading some of their work online - fascinating stuff, the shadow.

I keep coming back to the shadow in my posts here, too.  Jung believed that anyone who wants to find balance and wholeness, to individuate, as he put it, must work consciously to shine a light on the shadow.  But it’s a Catch-22 because we seem to have a built-in denial mechanism when it comes to seeing our own shadow.  "Shadow, what shadow? You’re the one with the shadow." 

That would be what Jung called the ego talking. The shadow is every aspect of me which my ego, (that which I accept as myself) rejects, the "not me".  The quicker we are to say not me, the more that denial bears looking into. Here’s a good example from a recent experience I wrote about in my previous post, “Portrait of a Younger Self.” 

I said I would embrace all the wonderful characteristics I rediscovered about my 11-13 yr. old self in an old autograph book I found, but reading what others wrote about me shines a bit of light on my 13 year old shadow, as well.  I noted  how I skimmed over one particular entry when I first read the book. On reading it again, I had to admit to myself that I tried to ignore it because of the way it made me feel.  It was from a boy on whom I had a huge crush; he happened to sit in front of me in one of my classes.  It reads:

"Adelita.  It's been fun sitting in front of you during Cit. Ed., even if you did get my pants dirty."  

Argh!  How embarrassing.  I acted like a SILLY infatuated girl. If there's anything I'm not, it's SILLY.   I did not do dumb groupie stuff at concerts! (Well, I did hoot and holler for my favorite bands.) I love learning and thinking, not being a simpering teeny-bopper.  Ah, you see?  The Shadow.  I should high-five my 13-year old self for her boldness and claim some of that boldness, still.   I want to laugh and embrace my budding sexuality in the aspect of my 13-year old self and let it translate into embracing the mature sexuality of my Crone years.   In Jung’s view, integrating the shadow, accepting rejected parts of the self, leads to a release of creative energy that adds zing to a person’s life.  I think that's true.

I like Debbie Ford's example that resisting the revelation of the shadow, trying to keep from admitting something to ourselves, let alone others, is like trying to continuously hold a large beach ball under water.  That's why, once we join with the beloved cartoon character, Pogo, in admitting, "We have met the enemy and he is us.",  new vitality, hope and possibility becomes available to us.

Since dreaming is a direct path to attaining self-awareness, tracking our dreams and pondering their message in our waking lives can help us meet and integrate our shadow aspects. As Jung saw it,  the shadow can often be found in same sex characters in dreams, although any character can represent a shadow/rejected aspect in ourselves.  A clue to a possible shadow element is a strong, knee-jerk reaction or negative emotional response we may have to that dream element.

Our personal shadow aspects manifest in waking life, sometimes wreaking havoc in our lives, other times projecting havoc onto others.  Projection of shadow fears in the form of “not me, it’s you” is at the root of so much of the evil of our time.  On a personal level, it leads us to create our own messes; on a collective level, it plunges us into wars and other mass disasters.

That’s why acknowledging and somehow coming to a healthy balance with one’s own shadow is part of a dreaming practice.  The good news is that quite often these humbling lessons are delivered in dreams in the funniest ways.  As I was writing this post, I saw this clip of President Obama’s speech at the Annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner.  It’s typical for the presidential speech to be full of jokes about the relationship between the press and prez, but in this sketch, President Obama illustrates a very good use of the personal shadow. Kudos to him and Keegan-Michael Key

Portrait of A Younger Self

One of my student’s and I have decided to explore visiting our younger selves through dream re-entry.  The intention is to offer assistance to a past aspect of our Self with the hindsight and compassion of a wiser, older sibling.  This lets us revision a former self, perhaps healing a Soul part that might be injured or stuck from that point on in our lives.  Through the practice of dream re-entry, we can find a way to return that Soul vitality to our present time and present selves. 

The imaginal work that Active Dreaming encourages, just as Jung encouraged it under the name of Active Imagination and before all, as indigenous dream practices have done, is my favorite aspect of my dream practice, except for dreaming itself.

Synchronistically, I just found an artifact from my 11-13 year old self among my books; it’s a small white leather autograph book.  They were popular back then, I guess. I found that its pages contained handwritten well wishes from various friends, classmates and teachers, not to mention, from my older by two years brother. 

What a trip!  I read the whole book carefully, several times stopping to marvel at the piece of my past it brings back to me, making it so accessible to me, Now.  With this information, I can more authentically go back and dialogue with my sweet "pre-teen" self and discover more about her.

To honor the waking dream of finding this book and its great assistance to me in my exploration, I called my brother, who lives in the Midwest. I asked him what he remembers about that time in our lives, read him, (okay, teased him about) his entry, shared with him one particularly jaw dropping revelation and reminisced about the teachers and those days.  Funny how, given how much fun it is to talk about our past this way, we don't more often.   This is how  a dream practice activates our waking lives and animates our awareness of life's potentials.

If I empower the little girl I find in the pages of this book, a little book that she carried to school and passed to those whose signature she wanted, will she empower me, too, now?  My answer to that is, yes; definitely.

What do I really want?  Who am I really?  How do I empower myself to do what I desire to do, as best I can and with joy? A dream practice helps us each answer our own heartfelt questions in life, because it helps strip away the many ego illusions we're sold and kindly replaces them with a true mirror into Soul.

In his excellent book, “Dreaming the Soul Back Home” Robert Moss describes how dreams offer us endless opportunities for soul recovery.  In Active Dreaming, Robert uses shamanic soul retrieval practices as the foundation for a new direction in dream play he calls, "soul recovery."  A significant difference between soul retrieval  and soul recovery is that the former requires a trained and skilled shaman, while soul recovery connects each person to  lost soul parts through dreaming and dream practices.  Each person is his or her own shaman.

Although I'm thrilled for the energy my autograph book has generated for me, you don’t need any artifacts from any particular time.  You may find it helpful to pull out pictures or objects, but all you really need is your imagination.  I find re-entering a dream of a 12 year old girl, or of a dream location like the house she lived in, a school or other dream setting familiar to her, any of these is a powerful portal to the past.  If I dreamt it, it has energy for me to reveal and use for my benefit.  

Going back through old dream journals looking for a specific place or type of character is great fun.  I also practice meditating on the well being of that little girl and embracing all her wonderful characteristics as my own. I can release, sadness, shyness, disappointment, whatever, while embracing her good humor and kindness. Meeting her again brings me renewed energy by connection to the passions and freedoms that she carried in my heart at that time.

Living with a dream practice really does beat watching TV all the time

.