DREAM FLESH
"I bring you with reverent hands The books of my numberless dreams."
— W.B. Yeats
" Our dreams recover what the world forgets..." --James Hillman
— W.B. Yeats
" Our dreams recover what the world forgets..." --James Hillman
"DREAMWALKER"
Dreamwalker comes for me for the changes I shall see
Be my life forever changed I welcome thee
Forever blue, forever green the changes in me
For I will walk the path that has been lit for me
With open arms & open heart I welcome thee
The past far gone...is the future you see it all resides inside of me
Forever changed I shall be forever light I shall see
AMEN
Dreamwalker comes for me for the changes I shall see
Be my life forever changed I welcome thee
Forever blue, forever green the changes in me
For I will walk the path that has been lit for me
With open arms & open heart I welcome thee
The past far gone...is the future you see it all resides inside of me
Forever changed I shall be forever light I shall see
AMEN
Ancestral Philosophy
The archetypes to be discovered and assimilated are precisely those which have inspired the basic images of ritual and mythology. These eternal ones of the dream are not to be confused with the personality modified symbolic figures that appear in nightmares or madness to the tormented individual. Dream is the personalized myth. Myth is the depersonalized dream. --Joseph Campbell
No one who does not know himself can know others. And in each of us there is another whom we do not know. He speaks to us in dream and tells us how differently he sees us from the way we see ourselves. When, therefore, we find ourselves in a different situation to which there is no solution, he can sometimes kindle a light that radically alters our attitude; the very attitude that led us into the difficult situation. --C. G. Jung
“Natural transformation processes [individuation] announce themselves mainly in dreams…” (Carl Jung 9i para 235). He continues the his thoughts, discussing inner transformation in terms of the archetypal process of rebirth:
[This is a] long-drawn-out process of inner transformation and rebirth into another being. This “other being” is the other person in ourselves-that larger and greater personality maturing within us, whom we have already met as the inner friend of the soul.”
In ancient times, rituals and initiations were creative dramatizations of the pattern and structure of the psyche and of life. These dreams usually represent the transition from one psychological stage to a higher one. For example, it may represent moving from childhood to adolescence, from youth to middle age or from middle-age to-old age. It can also represent the shift of interest from worldly ambitions to spiritual aspirations. The Call to adventure can come in dreams. We dream work, not to unravel it as Freud said, to undo the dream-work's undoing, but to respond to its work with the likeness of our work, all the while aiming to speak like the dream, imagine like the dream (Hillman 130)...or dream it forward.
Dreams are an express path to connecting with our direct ancestors. They are waiting to remembered. The old way is shown, hidden in the dreams, folklore, and sayings of our families of origin. Such dreams can help us into a deeper connection with our past. They also help to ground us. The Ancestor Effect includes including boosting intelligence, confidence and self-esteem.
Ancestral dreams come when we open up to that potential, but they also can come when we need them. Sometimes ancestral dreams simply help with reframing a situation with a deeper significance. Other times, they may lead to unconsciously held information that is embedded in your own dream mythology and has been passed down for generations. The trick is recognizing them, and then honoring them in waking life.
“Dream genealogy” uses sleeping dreams and shamanic journeying to gather and reclaim ancestral information from our ancient dreamways. Any part of a dream can be used as a portal to enter deeper states.
DREAMWALKER:
Shaman/Therapist/Dreamhealer. A dreamwalker is one who works with and within dreams to understand, to create, to heal, to meet with elderhearts or ancestors, to journey this realm (out of body), to work with other worlds and realms, to teach, to unite with the ultimate. There are many ways to enter the dreamtime - journeys, drums, sweats, hypnosis, dreamwork, lucid dreaming, meditation.
Some people 'just do it' without any methodology. The dreamworld is any of many alternate realities. In past times, shamans were generally "called" by a compelling force during a dream state or on a vision quest (dreamwalking). In some cultures the position was hereditary or bestowed by an existing shaman on an individual selected to be an apprentice, directly by the gods or by bloodline and requesting initiation. The ability tends to follow bloodlines.
A Dreamwalker, mentor, or dream tender can enter any person's dreams to initiate or find the meaning within. They are the rare few who are "led by the spirit' who have "shed the yoke of desire and self-want," and have discarded the need for material gain and negative thought. Without any personal goals, they travel the path of knowledge and go where the spirit of truth leads them. According to Native Americans, Dream Walking is the ability to travel anywhere, anytime while you sleep. The experience is dream-like in quality. However unlike a dream other people who are or aren't asleep can see you & interact with the Dream-walking you.
Dreamhealing also incorporates ancient Greek dreamhealing culture and techniques. Tibetans, Druids and Native American (First People) are cultures that nurture the skills of the dreamwalker. A dreamwalker can alter their state of consciousness in such a way that their energy body can experience realms beyond this physical reality. The veil of everyday linear time, the restrictions of distance and limits of the natural world are lifted. In these realms, communication and information exchanges can happen with guides, angels, animals and other beings. Dreamwalking can also aid in healing, creativity, thoughts, ideas, understanding, knowledge and awareness.
Archetypes include symbols of primal source of growth and potential that can heal or destroy. In dreams they can appear as a magician, doctor, priest, father, teacher, guru or any other authority figure. Jung called this archetype 'mana' personalities. They can lead us to higher levels of awareness, or away from them.
The trickster exists to question, to cause us to question & not accept things blindly. He appears when a way of thinking becomes outmoded needs to be torn down built anew. He is the Destroyer of Worlds at the same time the savior of us all. In dreams {and myth} the trickster can be seen as The Fool, The Magician, The Clown, The Jester,The Villain, The Destroyer. The Great Mother is an archetype of feminine mystery and power who appears in forms as diverse as the queen of heaven and the witches prevalent in myth and folktale.
When we are asleep, our bodies are regenerating and what we dream is a direct perception of our unconscious mind. Everything that occurs in the dream is a part of ourselves even though we may associate it with the people or things we recognize in the dream from our conscious world. The unconscious is speaking in this language of symbols and the way it operates is how it is telling its story.
The dream can heal, because the body is always seeking to return to health, the homeostasis of its nature. In Ancient Greece, there was no separation between doctors and priests, temples and hospitals; Hippocrates is the healer we still remember today, because of the oath he took and which doctors in the West still take when they enter the profession of medicine. He was of a long line of initiates dedicated to the god of healing, Asklepios.
People made pilgrimages to the sacred places in nature where temples were built, slept within their precincts and reported to the initiate "priest/doctors" their dreams. As the Asklepiades understood the spiritual transformation process of the human lifespan, they could diagnose and prescribe remedies to help the body return to health, what in the East would be called the Tao, the Way of Nature.
"Our mutual friend, X, keeps sending me stuff about you. I don't have time to look at it. You appeared in my dream last night. Don't remember anything beyond that. You just appeared. Anything I should know?"
"Hey! I dreamt about you last night! I've always had an extremely full and exhausting dream life: they are very vivid and can leave me tired the next day since its often like living two lives!Anyway, I'm not sure if you have ever read Neil Gaimans 'The Sandman' series? (if not, give them a whirl; I think you would enjoy them a lot!). One of the books is called 'Worlds End' and the whole story is based in a strange inn named "Worlds' End, a free house". It is where travelers between realms shelter during reality storms, which may be the consequences of particularly momentous events. So anyway, I find myself knocking on the door to Worlds End. And you let me in out of the storm. Noone else was there, so I just took a seat. Eventually more and more people arrived. But each one was me! Me at different stages of my life; younger and older. And we all recognised each other. Obviously! And as the evening went on, different 'me's' chatted and observed different 'me's'. And I was also 'watching' the dream as an outsider: seeing my tics and strengths and my weaknesses (urghhhh). I saw the secrets I wished to hide and the dreams I had forgotten about. I saw what other people found annoying, and what other people loved. And some of these things really surprised me! It really was quite an experience - and certainly not all of it was comfortable. . I've never had that kind of dream before. So eventually the storm subsided and you started showing all the 'me's' out !"
" I dreamt about you again the other night. Only emailed now, since I was ummmming and ahhhhing about it. And I have been crazy busy and super tired!But the nut shell version is coming right up:So I am sitting in a large box room with no windows or doors. All 6 walls are painted black. I don't remember feeling anything at this point. You appeared from nowhere and encouraged me to dance. I kept refusing through a mixture of apathy, fear and embarrassment. But you were fairly relentless and offered your hands to me - which i took. And we began dancing in this room - like ballroom waltz style! Not that I know much about dancing. As I got more comfortable and learnt the moves and the fear started slipping away; so did the walls! They kind of 'melted' away and we were dancing in what I can only describe as the universe! Forgive my ignorance and less than eloquent vocabulary .... but it was just time and space as far as you could imagine. A deep colorless void which we 'dance-floated' through together. And then the coolest bit was this: We started to really enjoy the dancing. It became effortless and fun - and we began to intuitively know how each other wanted to move ... it was fluid like. Soon where our feet landed - stars were born. Also the touch of our fingers made more stars appear. The way our hair swept across the space, created galaxies - and, oh my goodness Iona, they were so beautiful! And this whole creation bought us such joy and we giggled and giggled and giggled. I remember we were both equally amazed at this whole process of creation!"
The unconscious is purposeful. Our dreams show us, through images, how to take
the next step in in our own individuation journey. A legend or fairy tale uses similar images to similar purpose.
‘The Work’, according to Jung, involved firstly accessing archetypal forces resident in the collective unconscious such that they entered into a meaningful discourse with consciousness. Active imagination was one of the techniques Jung developed to encourage this consciousness/unconsciousness exchange of energies. Symbols communicated archetypal patterns and conflicts originating in the personal or collective unconscious to consciousness. Long-term commitment to this work, Jung believed, was beneficial to the psyche since it promoted imaginal catharsis, which relieved psychic pressures and realigned human beings with more positively polarized archetypes.
Jung decided that it was necessary to open his patient up to, not merely analysis of the unconscious, but to a true ‘exchange’ between unconscious energies and the patient’s conscious ego. He asked himself: ‘What do these dream figures wish us to do? What do they have to say about their condition and ours?’ Of course, he was under no illusion that their advice would always be useful or of benefit to patients (he’d had a lot of experience with people suffering from schizophrenia), but he did feel it was important to let such ‘personalities’ have their say, also to allow them to enter into discussion with other unconscious figures, and even, on occasion, he thought it worthwhile to do their bidding in the real world.
After four years scrupulously entertaining his own archetypal guests he realized that on occasion the presences had nothing to do with complexes associated with his own childhood. Similarly, the ones that seemed most useful for his own healing purposes (he was, remember, going through a period of intense introversion) were either mythological figures (he early on encountered his ‘anima’, for example) or, on some occasions, ‘spirits of the dead’ or spirits of socio-cultural warning (even prophesy). (Irving)
The archetypes to be discovered and assimilated are precisely those which have inspired the basic images of ritual and mythology. These eternal ones of the dream are not to be confused with the personality modified symbolic figures that appear in nightmares or madness to the tormented individual. Dream is the personalized myth. Myth is the depersonalized dream. --Joseph Campbell
No one who does not know himself can know others. And in each of us there is another whom we do not know. He speaks to us in dream and tells us how differently he sees us from the way we see ourselves. When, therefore, we find ourselves in a different situation to which there is no solution, he can sometimes kindle a light that radically alters our attitude; the very attitude that led us into the difficult situation. --C. G. Jung
“Natural transformation processes [individuation] announce themselves mainly in dreams…” (Carl Jung 9i para 235). He continues the his thoughts, discussing inner transformation in terms of the archetypal process of rebirth:
[This is a] long-drawn-out process of inner transformation and rebirth into another being. This “other being” is the other person in ourselves-that larger and greater personality maturing within us, whom we have already met as the inner friend of the soul.”
In ancient times, rituals and initiations were creative dramatizations of the pattern and structure of the psyche and of life. These dreams usually represent the transition from one psychological stage to a higher one. For example, it may represent moving from childhood to adolescence, from youth to middle age or from middle-age to-old age. It can also represent the shift of interest from worldly ambitions to spiritual aspirations. The Call to adventure can come in dreams. We dream work, not to unravel it as Freud said, to undo the dream-work's undoing, but to respond to its work with the likeness of our work, all the while aiming to speak like the dream, imagine like the dream (Hillman 130)...or dream it forward.
Dreams are an express path to connecting with our direct ancestors. They are waiting to remembered. The old way is shown, hidden in the dreams, folklore, and sayings of our families of origin. Such dreams can help us into a deeper connection with our past. They also help to ground us. The Ancestor Effect includes including boosting intelligence, confidence and self-esteem.
Ancestral dreams come when we open up to that potential, but they also can come when we need them. Sometimes ancestral dreams simply help with reframing a situation with a deeper significance. Other times, they may lead to unconsciously held information that is embedded in your own dream mythology and has been passed down for generations. The trick is recognizing them, and then honoring them in waking life.
“Dream genealogy” uses sleeping dreams and shamanic journeying to gather and reclaim ancestral information from our ancient dreamways. Any part of a dream can be used as a portal to enter deeper states.
DREAMWALKER:
Shaman/Therapist/Dreamhealer. A dreamwalker is one who works with and within dreams to understand, to create, to heal, to meet with elderhearts or ancestors, to journey this realm (out of body), to work with other worlds and realms, to teach, to unite with the ultimate. There are many ways to enter the dreamtime - journeys, drums, sweats, hypnosis, dreamwork, lucid dreaming, meditation.
Some people 'just do it' without any methodology. The dreamworld is any of many alternate realities. In past times, shamans were generally "called" by a compelling force during a dream state or on a vision quest (dreamwalking). In some cultures the position was hereditary or bestowed by an existing shaman on an individual selected to be an apprentice, directly by the gods or by bloodline and requesting initiation. The ability tends to follow bloodlines.
A Dreamwalker, mentor, or dream tender can enter any person's dreams to initiate or find the meaning within. They are the rare few who are "led by the spirit' who have "shed the yoke of desire and self-want," and have discarded the need for material gain and negative thought. Without any personal goals, they travel the path of knowledge and go where the spirit of truth leads them. According to Native Americans, Dream Walking is the ability to travel anywhere, anytime while you sleep. The experience is dream-like in quality. However unlike a dream other people who are or aren't asleep can see you & interact with the Dream-walking you.
Dreamhealing also incorporates ancient Greek dreamhealing culture and techniques. Tibetans, Druids and Native American (First People) are cultures that nurture the skills of the dreamwalker. A dreamwalker can alter their state of consciousness in such a way that their energy body can experience realms beyond this physical reality. The veil of everyday linear time, the restrictions of distance and limits of the natural world are lifted. In these realms, communication and information exchanges can happen with guides, angels, animals and other beings. Dreamwalking can also aid in healing, creativity, thoughts, ideas, understanding, knowledge and awareness.
Archetypes include symbols of primal source of growth and potential that can heal or destroy. In dreams they can appear as a magician, doctor, priest, father, teacher, guru or any other authority figure. Jung called this archetype 'mana' personalities. They can lead us to higher levels of awareness, or away from them.
The trickster exists to question, to cause us to question & not accept things blindly. He appears when a way of thinking becomes outmoded needs to be torn down built anew. He is the Destroyer of Worlds at the same time the savior of us all. In dreams {and myth} the trickster can be seen as The Fool, The Magician, The Clown, The Jester,The Villain, The Destroyer. The Great Mother is an archetype of feminine mystery and power who appears in forms as diverse as the queen of heaven and the witches prevalent in myth and folktale.
When we are asleep, our bodies are regenerating and what we dream is a direct perception of our unconscious mind. Everything that occurs in the dream is a part of ourselves even though we may associate it with the people or things we recognize in the dream from our conscious world. The unconscious is speaking in this language of symbols and the way it operates is how it is telling its story.
The dream can heal, because the body is always seeking to return to health, the homeostasis of its nature. In Ancient Greece, there was no separation between doctors and priests, temples and hospitals; Hippocrates is the healer we still remember today, because of the oath he took and which doctors in the West still take when they enter the profession of medicine. He was of a long line of initiates dedicated to the god of healing, Asklepios.
People made pilgrimages to the sacred places in nature where temples were built, slept within their precincts and reported to the initiate "priest/doctors" their dreams. As the Asklepiades understood the spiritual transformation process of the human lifespan, they could diagnose and prescribe remedies to help the body return to health, what in the East would be called the Tao, the Way of Nature.
"Our mutual friend, X, keeps sending me stuff about you. I don't have time to look at it. You appeared in my dream last night. Don't remember anything beyond that. You just appeared. Anything I should know?"
"Hey! I dreamt about you last night! I've always had an extremely full and exhausting dream life: they are very vivid and can leave me tired the next day since its often like living two lives!Anyway, I'm not sure if you have ever read Neil Gaimans 'The Sandman' series? (if not, give them a whirl; I think you would enjoy them a lot!). One of the books is called 'Worlds End' and the whole story is based in a strange inn named "Worlds' End, a free house". It is where travelers between realms shelter during reality storms, which may be the consequences of particularly momentous events. So anyway, I find myself knocking on the door to Worlds End. And you let me in out of the storm. Noone else was there, so I just took a seat. Eventually more and more people arrived. But each one was me! Me at different stages of my life; younger and older. And we all recognised each other. Obviously! And as the evening went on, different 'me's' chatted and observed different 'me's'. And I was also 'watching' the dream as an outsider: seeing my tics and strengths and my weaknesses (urghhhh). I saw the secrets I wished to hide and the dreams I had forgotten about. I saw what other people found annoying, and what other people loved. And some of these things really surprised me! It really was quite an experience - and certainly not all of it was comfortable. . I've never had that kind of dream before. So eventually the storm subsided and you started showing all the 'me's' out !"
" I dreamt about you again the other night. Only emailed now, since I was ummmming and ahhhhing about it. And I have been crazy busy and super tired!But the nut shell version is coming right up:So I am sitting in a large box room with no windows or doors. All 6 walls are painted black. I don't remember feeling anything at this point. You appeared from nowhere and encouraged me to dance. I kept refusing through a mixture of apathy, fear and embarrassment. But you were fairly relentless and offered your hands to me - which i took. And we began dancing in this room - like ballroom waltz style! Not that I know much about dancing. As I got more comfortable and learnt the moves and the fear started slipping away; so did the walls! They kind of 'melted' away and we were dancing in what I can only describe as the universe! Forgive my ignorance and less than eloquent vocabulary .... but it was just time and space as far as you could imagine. A deep colorless void which we 'dance-floated' through together. And then the coolest bit was this: We started to really enjoy the dancing. It became effortless and fun - and we began to intuitively know how each other wanted to move ... it was fluid like. Soon where our feet landed - stars were born. Also the touch of our fingers made more stars appear. The way our hair swept across the space, created galaxies - and, oh my goodness Iona, they were so beautiful! And this whole creation bought us such joy and we giggled and giggled and giggled. I remember we were both equally amazed at this whole process of creation!"
The unconscious is purposeful. Our dreams show us, through images, how to take
the next step in in our own individuation journey. A legend or fairy tale uses similar images to similar purpose.
‘The Work’, according to Jung, involved firstly accessing archetypal forces resident in the collective unconscious such that they entered into a meaningful discourse with consciousness. Active imagination was one of the techniques Jung developed to encourage this consciousness/unconsciousness exchange of energies. Symbols communicated archetypal patterns and conflicts originating in the personal or collective unconscious to consciousness. Long-term commitment to this work, Jung believed, was beneficial to the psyche since it promoted imaginal catharsis, which relieved psychic pressures and realigned human beings with more positively polarized archetypes.
Jung decided that it was necessary to open his patient up to, not merely analysis of the unconscious, but to a true ‘exchange’ between unconscious energies and the patient’s conscious ego. He asked himself: ‘What do these dream figures wish us to do? What do they have to say about their condition and ours?’ Of course, he was under no illusion that their advice would always be useful or of benefit to patients (he’d had a lot of experience with people suffering from schizophrenia), but he did feel it was important to let such ‘personalities’ have their say, also to allow them to enter into discussion with other unconscious figures, and even, on occasion, he thought it worthwhile to do their bidding in the real world.
After four years scrupulously entertaining his own archetypal guests he realized that on occasion the presences had nothing to do with complexes associated with his own childhood. Similarly, the ones that seemed most useful for his own healing purposes (he was, remember, going through a period of intense introversion) were either mythological figures (he early on encountered his ‘anima’, for example) or, on some occasions, ‘spirits of the dead’ or spirits of socio-cultural warning (even prophesy). (Irving)