DREAMWALKING

This is a place I have never been in before – it is night, the sky is a deep royal blue and filled with white diamond stars.  I do not see the Sister Moon.  The ground is a vibrant orange-red, and is a desert marked with huge rock formations that form a surreal landscape.  These rock formations have been honed by the wind to resemble statues, some squat and round, others lean and tall.  Against the starlit dark sky, these become alive, denizens of the desert.  It feels neither too warm nor too cold, and is too constant to feel natural, although it is very natural indeed, while the winds are light, stirring up the red dirt into small dust devils that settle just as quickly.

Now I see that there are two other men there, one very young, barely out of his teens.  His companion is an older man just entering his middle age span of life.  Both are attired in North American Native garb – buckskin, furs, and homespun garments, jewellery of turquoise, shells and agate, head dresses of feathers.  They have drums and rattles and woven blankets which they spread on the red ground, and wave me to come closer. 

I do so without hesitation, because I know I’ve been called here, and I recognize this now as a place in the spiritual realm, what their vision of The Great Spirit would be.  Speaking to me without speaking, they tell me that they need to work in opening a temporal gate, because some people are trapped behind that barrier.  I nod my understanding, and wait for further instructions.  The men strip their clothing off, leaving only their footwear, loincloths and jewellery on.  The younger one takes up a drum and begins to walk the circle drumming.  The older man lies down on the blanket and motions me to lie down with him.  I do not hesitate, and do so immediately.  He instructs me, again without words, that we must now enter into our Dreamwalker state, and travel across the temporal wall to create the doorway from there.

He holds me tightly, and I am very, very aware of his chiseled hard body spooning next to me, but I turn away from such thoughts and set my intent in concert with his, as we both, entwined more intimately than in sexual bond, let our spirits fly.

The world blurs around me, and although it is still the same, it is somewhat different.  I recognize this as “seeing it from the other side”.  I find a native rattle trimmed with buffalo hair in my hand suddenly, and am jolted with a sense of honour that this confers to me.  I feel humbled and elated, silently thanking the Powers for this blessing, and knowing that I know what to do, begin to beat a counterpoint rhythm to the drumming I still hear as a pulse of my blood.  My Dreamwalker partner is now dancing to the beats, his feet barely stirring the dust.  Our work is separate yet as one… the beats of rattle, drum and dance … our hearts beat as one… as one… one…

… and now we’re back, with about a half-dozen other people around us.  The drumming still continues, as the younger man circles the space and we Dreamwalkers get up off the blanket.  I suddenly feel annoyed, because one of the women with curly blond hair, starts talking non-stop.  The other people appear to be too dazed to say anything, while she keeps chattering as though she never stopped even during her entrapment.  All the people rescued are dressed in 19^th century clothing, and I get a sense that what has happened transversed across all time, and somehow threw it out of balance.  These are mysteries I do not understand, knowing only that we succeeded in our mission.

My elders are now getting dressed again, and I approach them to return the rattle, but they tell me it’s now mine, as thanks for the work I did with them.  Again, I feel deeply humbled and honoured, as I bow my thanks.

We are instructed to stand in a tight group.  The spectacular royal blue sky and burning red sands fade around us, and I drift gently towards wakefulness…  

CONFERENCE AND A ZOO

I’m at some sort of conference, and my friend Adrienne is there.  We need to find a man who is to help us move something.  We can’t find him but another man comes forward to help.  He has a young boy with him, and the boy asks the man, who is obviously his father, about God.  Adrienne and I look at each other and for a while don’t say anything.  He asks again, and this time it’s evident that he is trying to show off his knowledge of the Bible, and says something about God being the Lord.  I ask the boy, “What about the Goddess?”, and he looks at me, totally shocked.  Adrienne and I tell him about the Goddess being the Lady, Her many names, and the boy gets very upset.  He says that Mary is the only Mother of God, and that we are bad people for thinking otherwise.  His father, however, is much more open-minded, and tells his son that he should listen to us.

Another woman overhears us.  She’s intrigued by our conversation and joins us.  She is someone I’ve seen often in my dreams, a middle-aged lady with white hair that’s done up in a bun.  I welcome her into our group and she tells us that she’s an itinerate pastor, to which I respond that I too am ordained by All Season’s Church of Canada and do weddings.  I’m surprised at her next comment that perhaps I can send the overflow of weddings to her.  There’s a sly undertone to her voice, as though now the only reason she’s interested in talking to us is to get something from us.  Adrienne and I leave on a pretense that we’re needed elsewhere.

We are directed through a large group of people into a small car that will take us to another part of the conference.  The car is on automatic pilot and we’re off, weaving through the crowds, until we get to a darkened corridor that is blissfully empty of people, but now two other men are in the car with us.  The car goes through the corridor and suddenly comes out into a large open space that’s set up as a zoo.  There are all sorts of animals there, and they appear as startled as we are.  Out of a pond, a miniature hippo suddenly jumps out at me, splashing us all with water.  I have just enough time to smile and pet it briefly before it bounds off me again, back into its pond.

We are breathless with laughter, as we make our way into the conference space again…

Here’s the back story:  I woke up early this morning – much earlier than I realized, but decided to stay up.  I put on the tea, and only then found out the real time, 5:30 am!  So while the water was boiling up, I laid down on the couch and before I knew it, I was asleep and in the middle of this crazy dream!  When I finally did wake up, it was over 2 hours later, and I’m more fuzzy-headed than I was at the earlier hour!  Nevertheless, I’m grateful for the extra sleep.  Here it is:

I’m moving into a new townhouse.  It feels as though this is the rent controlled place I’ve been recently talking about.  The townhouse is a single story, very nicely laid out, and I immediately get busy arranging the furniture and other unpacking.  With me is Charles, and he’s helping me with the heavy stuff.  I feel very tired all of a sudden, and decide to get to bed.  My new bedroom is all set out with my furniture, and I gratefully fall into a deep sleep…

I wake up with a start to find Charles sitting by my bed, drinking a pop.  I’m a bit startled and disturbed that I could have forgotten his presence the night before.  “Did you stay here the entire night?”  I ask him.  He nods, indicating that he slept on the couch in the living room.  I get up and go into the kitchen, but notice that the space between the kitchen and dining room has been damaged.  The wall has been kicked in and is laying there in a heap of rubble.  On the alert, I carefully go into the dining room and find that the rug there is totally saturated with water, and the contents of the boxes strewn all around.

I’m furious and scared!  “I need to go talk to the superintendent”, I cry out.  Going back into the living room to get Charles, “How could this have happened?  You were right here – did you not hear anything?”  He shakes his head, totally mystified by the turn of events.  I am suddenly aware that there are other people in the house, friendly, all trying to be helpful, but all total strangers to me.

“Ok!”, I say loudly, “You are probably all very friendly and helpful folks, but who the heck are you?”  A buzz of replies drown out each other, but I get a feeling that these are my neighbours whom I haven’t yet met, and who form a very close-knit community here.  Each tries to introduce, respond, explain in a hubbub of voices that make no sense.  “Someone has broken into my home and did damage, and none of you saw anything?” A chorus of voices affirm this, some of them wander off into the dining room to confirm the soggy ruin of the floor.

“I need to see the superintendent about this immediate”, I say again, “And in the meanwhile, all of you go home, get out of here and we’ll all get together later, okay?”  To another chorus of assent, disappointment, and promise, they all leave.  “This is very disturbing that no one saw or heard anything.  That wall was kicked in – it must have been loud.  This bothers me very much.  You, Charles, stay here and guard the place.  I’ll be right back,” I say as everyone finally leaves us alone.

I go outside and head to the townhouse where the superintendent lives and find that the entire landscape somehow changed.  Instead of the neat row of townhouses, I now find an entrance to a large structure, much like a mall.  Inside, I instinctively seem to know where to locate the manager’s office and head off to the left, all the while vaguely aware of the changes morphing from one shape into another. 

The superintendent’s office is not where I think it is.  I ask one of the numerous people around me where to find it, and am told that it’s been relocated to the other side, and point the way there.  The morphing has turned the place into a carnival with all kinds of midway rides around us, so I make my way carefully through all this chaos to the other side of the structure.  Here things are more normal, with rows of mail boxes, and hallways that lead to offices.  I see all this, but before I can get there, I suddenly find myself on an upper level, much like on a Ferris wheel – yes, I’m seated in a small seat and am on a downward plunge; at the bottom of which the seat goes flat and dumps me onto a slide that sprays water over my feet.  I’m burning with new fury, and scream to be let off this crazy ride.  The attendant hears me and hauls me, totally soaked now, off the conveyor belt (now when did *that* happen!). 

Again I ask about the superintendent’s office and am directed toward the mailbox and office area, but when I reach that place finally, things change again, and I find myself walking through what has become a children’s hospital.  It is very crowded and not very clean, with different liquids dripping onto the floor.  The children, some of whom are in wheelchairs, others in beds, still others walking around, all look well-cared for, but I can see the nurses struggling to keep up with everything.  I leave, carefully stepping around the dubious puddles, and finally find myself near the mailboxes…

… only to find that they are now fading out of existence.  My last thought is a wail of frustration that my new place is in ruins and unsafe.  I get an image flash across my sight of Charles still waiting for me in that townhouse, and…

… I slowly swim towards wakefulness…