Dream Catcher Lore

Native Americans believe that the night air is filled with dreams both good and bad. The dream catcher when hung over or near your bed swinging freely in the air catches the dreams as they flow by. The good dreams know how to pass through the dream catcher, slipping through the outer holes and slide down the soft feathers so gently that many times the sleeper does not know that he/she is dreaming. The bad dreams not knowing the way get tangled in the dream catcher and perish with the first light of the new day. 

When I place my child to bed each night, you will hear me saying “sweet dreams”.  I believe it’s our hope as parents that our child go to sleep and have wonderful dreams and will rise feeling rested.  This last week my son came to me complaining he’s having nightmares and doesn’t want to sleep in his room; naturally I wanted to turn him back and say try again but I couldn’t go to bed knowing he was having bad dreams so I decided I would sleep in there and to my surprise I too had a nightmare.  It was Eric himself who asked me to get him a dream catcher.  Naturally that would be a good addition to his room since his decoration is Native American and I indeed bought him a large dream catcher at a Cherokee Pow Wow this summer and loved meeting the artist who made the design and in the middle she painted a Eagle. 

I should have placed a dream catcher in his room when we moved in to the home.  Dream catchers are in his brother’s rooms and we even have one in the car because we take long trips I wanted to ensure their rest was filled with peaceful dreams.  I loved sleeping in the car when taking long trips and it just seemed natural to have one with us when we take long trips.  I was fortunate to get mine as a gift from a friend who is a Maliseet Indian.

 If your planning on adding a dream catcher to your bedroom you may want to perform the sage ceremony:  Before use, the dream-catcher is often cleansed in a ceremony of purification by passing it through the smoke of smoldering sage–the  sage ceremony.  Sometimes, if the dream-catcher is not in a well-lit room, it becomes overloaded with energies that need to be cleared. 

When I look at our dream catchers I can see the love that went into each weave and feel honored to have these beautiful items in our home.   When you need a special gift for your child or anyone you care about consider purchasing a dream catcher and include the history from the tribe.  Each tribe I found has its own unique legend of the dream catcher.

www.aaanativearts.com has a beautiful legend about the dream catcher that I would like to share:   

ORAL TRADITION: Ojibway legend

“A spider was quietly spinning his web in his own space. It was beside the sleeping space of Nokomis, the grandmother. Each day, Nokomis watched the spider at work, quietly spinning away. One day as she was watching him, her grandson came in. “Nokomis-iya!” he shouted, glancing at the spider. He stomped over to the spider, picked up a shoe and went to hit it.

“No-keegwa,” the old lady whispered, “don’t hurt him.”  “Nokomis, why do you protect the spider?” asked the little boy. 

The old lady smiled, but did not answer. When the boy left, the spider went to the old woman and thanked her for saving his life.

He said to her, “For many days you have watched me spin and weave my web. You have admired my work. In return for saving my life, I will give you a gift.” He smiled his special spider smile and moved away, spinning as he went.

Soon the moon glistened on a magical silvery web moving gently in the window. “See how I spin?” he said. “See and learn, for each web will snare bad dreams. Only good dreams will go through the small hole. This is my gift to you. Use it so that only good dreams will be remembered. The bad dreams will become hopelessly entangled in the web.”

Please share your story about your dream catchers with me.

 

Ted Andrews

This month I learned one of my favorite authors died, Ted Andrews.  He was a wonderful author that helped me learn how animals speak to us and can be our teachers and guides  if we open the doors in our own minds.  It was summarized so well on the back of his Animal Wise book .

“The early shamans, priests, and priestesses were scientist as well as mystics.  They studied the plants and animals, learning their characteristics and qualities.  When we realize that our learning and guidance comes from sources other than human, our world is no longer the same. In the world around us is a myriad of wonders. Through the animal kingdoms-through the multitude of wonders found within Nature-we experience renewal. Every sojourn into Nature, every animal encournter, offers an epiphany for the heart and soul.  And if only for a little while, let us open our heart to it and see what glories unfold.”

In honor of his life I wanted to share a tradition he shared called the~ Inner Totem Pole.  Details can be found in Chapter 5, in Anmal Wise.  In the chapter he discusses the meanings of totem poles and how the actual creation is a sacred act that brought wholeness and balance to the tribe.  In some cultures, the totem pole were an actual doorway that acted as protection to the occupants living inside. 

Similar to a totem pole, our human body is similar where our head reaches for the Heavens and our feet bridge us to the Earth; and within our body is the energy center called the chakras.  By using the 7 chakras of the human body as  a starting point, you can create your own Inner Totem Pole.  To help empower the chakra center you can find the expression of energy by discovering which animal represents that chakra.  For example, if we have a groundhog at our base center, we can learn to go into altered states, and learn how ground hog uses it’s altered state to control it’s  metabolism.  The ground hog uses this form of hibernation to survive harsh times from the enviornment and we can tap into that energy by understanding how the groundhog lives and eats to survive our own changes.

Above you can see an example of how we would describe in visual form what a Inner Totem may look like if you were drawing your own Inner Totem Pole.  Ted Andrews adds an 8th element, your feet as the base totem.  This gives you the following 8 elements of the body that need an animal that represents each individual element:

1. Feet (base)
2. Root or Base (gonads and ovaries)
3. Spleen (adrenals, spleen & liver)
4. Solar Plexus (adrenals)
5. Heart (thymus)
6. Throat (thyroid)
7. Brow (pituitary)
8. Crown (top of head)

Animal Wise guides your through the process of selecting the right animal for each part of the body, making it fun and simple.  It can take anywhere from a few days to a month or more to find the right animal for your animal totems, but it is well worth the time.  It saddens me to know he’s gone from this earth but this man left us a wealth of information in his books and with them his legacy will live on.

 

The Mandala (Sanskrit for “circle” or “completion”) has a long history and is recognized for its deep spiritual meaning and representation of wholeness.  Buddhist, Tibetans, Native Americans, and Hindus are a few that have included the Mandala’s in their art and their lives.  

The “circle with a center” pattern is the basic structure of creation that is reflected from the micro to the macro in the world as we know it. It is a pattern found in nature and is seen in biology, geology, chemistry, physics and astronomy.

Psychoanalyst Carl Jung has called it the Mandala “a representation of the unconscious self.” The mandala is widely recognized as a meaningful reflection of its creator.  Native Americans used Mandala’s to uncover the deeper meanings of our hearts, and assists in observing our motivations in life in connection with the grander scale of the universe.  In every part of our world you can find Mandala’s as part of man-kinds history.  Is coloring a Mandala a form of unstructured therapy ?  It’s amazing if you look on the web all the pictures there are with Mandala’s.  You can incorporate them almost anywhere if you want.

Many people find meditation difficult to attain even though the benefits are well documented.  When were kids and our parents wants us to engage in a quiet activity often they would pull out the crayons and paper.  In an essence they were introducing us to Color Therapy.  When your coloring,  the focus of meditation is easily attained through the activity of coloring itself.  Coloring is a way you can quiet the mind, listen inwardly and open up to higher knowledge, bring healing into your life and tap into your creativity.  This alternative to formal meditation practices can help people of all ages in recovery,  improve coping and awareness skills through an enjoyable activity.  I wonder was this the intention when Mandala’s were being creative to have a focused activity during their meditations or was it for the artistic work ?

Don’t just stop at coloring try adding some soothing music.  I always find it interesting when coloring to take a look at the finished product and review what colors have I used.  Color itself can give us so much insight into our subconscious. 

 The next time you find you can’t pull yourself out of a bad mood or want to share in an activity with your children/or perhaps with friends pull out the markers, crayons or coloring pencils and have some fun.  This link gives you wonderful Mandala options that can be downloaded: http://www.free-printable-mandala-coloring-pages.com/free-mandalas-to-color.shtml

Tonight I have had the wonderful opportunity to learn that when you journey and you ask for assistance from the animal spirits that you may not get what you expect.  I try to have an awareness for what animals present themselves during the course of my day and today was no exception.  However, I never thought it would lead me to here with a dragon.  You see my day first started by being woken up with the caw of a crow.  Then earlier in the day I went grocery shopping and felt drawn to the puzzles and bought one for my son which was a dragon.  Last weekend I was looking up dragons as well and was drawing one on a sword for my son.  You see, animals that bring messages to you will present themselves to you and it’s important to discover the meaning behind the presentation.  All this week I’m just thinking I’m helping my son and then finding a gift about a creature he adores.  Only to realize now the Dragon wasn’t meant for my son but it was coming to me.  I always knew you will have new animals show up and tonight I asked the Universe with the  intention to present me with an animal that will guide me on this path.

Backing up a bit, I should mention that  I’ve been dwelling in self doubt today. I’m soon going to be teaching a class and feel a little apprehensive about this path of teaching.  Early this evening I tried to get a hold of my friend who is a fellow Shamanic Student and Reiki Master, she wasn’t home.  I thought if she couldn’t give me the answers I was seeking then it would be helpful for me to ask the Universe the questions and to journey to receive the answer.

As I  began my journey I felt drawn to go outside of my home and onto the roof .  Before I knew it,  I was seeing myself in this beautiful flowing white dress and a huge female dragon coming.  She told me her name and instructed me to climb on her back that she was here to take me on a journey of flight.  Before  I knew it we were flying about the clouds near the stars and beyond the planets.  I could feel I was entering the UpperWorld, it was hear that I found my answers to my questions.  But, what has stayed with me is that animals come to us as our messages and earlier in the day I felt drawn to this puzzle and then this evening I’m being presented the gift of a Dragon; a Dragon that has come as a new animal guide  to help me take this journey into teaching.

I will continue to research the meaning about the dragons, one place I found tonight was animal planets movie on the history of dragons http://animal.discovery.com/convergence/dragons/. If you get the time it’s really worth watching and don’t stop there as there is allot of information about dragon totems: www.thedragonshaman.com/dragon-totem-power.html. 

I know I’m on this new flight and won’t be taking it alone now.  I feel blessed to have the Dragon come into my life and will continue to ask for more lessons.  Tonight I will sleep on knowing that I don’t have to fear new journeys in my life.  Flight is a exploration to higher dimensions;  you will have the opportunity to find the calm winds and fly high,  however, periodically you will run in to turbulance and have to turn back but the will we have inside ourselves is stronger than the obstacles of self doubt and fear and if we allow the fear to grow we will stay on the ground but if we take the leap of faith we will find we can fly and we will find the journey is worth all the effort.

A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds.

A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship,

and he who plants kindness gathers love. ”
                                              Saint Basil

Plant Medicine

Have fun learning all about the powers of the plants by performing this exercise. 

Tools needed for this exercise: 

Pencil/Pen

Paper

Small pair of scissors or tool for cutting plants

Bag to hold your plant

Blanket/towel

 

To complete this exercise you need to go to a place where you will find plants growing naturally and be able to spend at least a half hour there.  Begin taking a walk and placing the intention to the plants that you under stand how important they are to you and our universe.  As you continue walking ask the plants to reveal to you something of its spiritual nature.  You may have to repeat this a couple times and if you find that you may not remember this phrase, then write it down and take the message with you to reference. 

 

As you walk continue to repeat this message as many times as needed until you find the answer.  Giving your self time, there is no rush with this exercise.  It’s important that you to try to keep an open mind ~ in a sense like a blank screen.  The answer will come to you telepathically either as an image or as a thought. When you begin to receive the message, take a seat and write down the impressions that come to you.  You may be receiving a scene, feel free to draw the images being shown.  Try not to attempt at this time to analyze or interpret the message; that will come later in a meditation session when your home.  Just write/draw what impressions come.

 

In your thoughts, explain to the plant that you need help and it requires you to take a small cutting.  In your mind it will come as an impression of where you’re to make this cutting.  Take your time and make the cutting and then smear a little spit from your mouth over the wound on the plant.  This acts as an offering of healing to the plant.

 

If it’s possible and you have some additional time, spread your blanket or towel and lie down on the ground.  It doesn’t have to be the exact location but somewhere as close as possible to the area where you made the cutting.  Focus you’re breathing and relax, holding the cutting to your navel.  Close your eyes and ask the plant cutting to reveal its medicine to you.  Once you have received the message, sit up and note any of the impressions or images that come to you. You may also have experienced a vision from the cutting, this is important to write as much detail as you can so you’re not to forget later.  When you are finished take the cutting and place it in your bag and take it home with you.  We will perform another meditation with it another day.

 

When time permits let’s share how the plant communicated with you and describe what was calling to you.

~Learning From Your Plant ~

 

To go into a deeper understanding of the lesson from your plant, go to a place where you can meditate and  take your plant cutting and hold it to your navel and ask the plant to what it wants to teach you. Followed by asking how it can help to transform your weakness into strengths; then ask what other plants can become your allies.

Once finished it’s important to document all the details that come to you.

 

Love to hear about your experience…..I also want to Thank my friend Chris who took this beautiful picture while celebrating her anniversary with her husband.  He has a fabulous eye for photography, www.jimemeryphotography.com

“The Amazing Moon”

Why are we so fascinated with the moon ?

I know I just love being outside during an evening with the full moon.  In fact, I’ve even howled at the moon.  It’s amazing how much light it can provide.  While working in the mental health field many moons ago, practitioners  use to say our clients would show us when the full moon has arrived and the crisis center would be busier than normal.  Could it actually have been true that there is this “affect” that takes place on the human body when there is a full moon ?

 Wikipedia  state s that Full Moons are traditionally associated with temporal insomnia, insanity (hence the terms lunacy and lunatic) and various “magical phenomena” such as lycanthropy.  Depending on where you do your research there are psychologists that found that there is no strong evidence for effects on human behavior around the time of a Full Moon. They find that studies are generally not consistent, with some showing a positive effect and others showing a negative effect.  However, The British Medical Journal in December 23, 2000,  published two studies on dog bite admissions to hospitals in England and Australia. The study of the Bradford Royal Infirmary found that dog bites were twice as common during a Full Moon, whereas the study conducted by the public hospitals in Australia found that they were less likely.  However, Dr. Timo Partonen of the Finnish National Public Health Institute carried out a study of 1,400 suicides and found that people were more likely to make an attempt on their life when there was a New Moon.  Maybe I need to continue studying the affects on people during the New Moon.  If your visiting  www.hippymom.com  the New Moon you will see members wanting to know when to write their Abundance Checks.  There are strong believers on this site that swear it’s this little step during the New Moon that when you align yourself with the Universe during the New Moon that you will bring abundance into your life.  I have to admit I am one of those individuals.

If you want to learn more about abundance checks try this website: http://www.rolandberard.com/Production/EN/abundance_2006.htm

Many neopagans hold a monthly ritual called an Esbat at each Full Moon, while some people practicing traditional Chinese religions prepare their ritual offerings to their ancestors and deities on every full and New Moon. Then there is the Blue Moon.  The term “Blue Moon” traditionally referred to an extra moon in a season~ if a season had four Full Moons (rather than the more common three), then the third of the four moons was known as a Blue Moon. A season in this sense begins not with the months, but with the solstices and equinoxes, as described on Blue Moon. The next “Blue Moon” will be in December, 2009 with full moons on December 2 and December 31.

My favorite moon is the Harvest Moon.  Wikipedia has this for part of it’s explanation:

The harvest moon is the moon at and about the period of fullness that is nearest to the autumnal equinox. The Harvest moon is often mistaken for the modern day Hunter’s moon. In the legend of the Harvest moon, it is said that all full moons have their own special characteristics based primarily on the whereabouts of the ecliptic in the sky at the time of year that these moons are visible. The Full Moons of September, October and November as seen from the northern hemisphere – which correspond to the full Moons of March, April and May as seen from the southern hemisphere – are well known in the folkloreof the sky. All Full Moons rise around the time of sunset.  However, although in general the moon rises about 50 minutes later each day, as it moves in orbit around Earth, the Harvest Moon and Hunter’s Moon are special, because around the time of these Full Moons, the time difference between moonrise on successive evenings is shorter than usual. In other words, the moon rises approximately 30 minutes later, from one night to the next, as seen from about 40 degrees N. or S. latitude, for several evenings around the full Hunter’s or Harvest Moons. In times past this feature of these autumn moons was said to help farmers working to bring in their crops (or, in the case of the Hunter’s Moon, hunters tracking their prey). They could continue being productive by moonlight even after the sun had set. Hence the name Harvest Moon.  I personally love the Harvest Moon because it’s warm and you it’s very bright and I feel totally energized.

The Moon is just amazing in my eyes.  It takes about 1.25 seconds for moonlight to reach the Earth yet we all take it for granted that it’s always going to be there for us. 

What would our nights be like without a moon ?

Online Workshop: Tuning Your Senses

How many times do you hear mothers say to their children “go outside and play”.  In our house it’s daily but you won’t hear me saying “don’t forget your shoes”.  I want them to go outside in bare feet and feel the grass in between their toes.  You may ask why ?

Because it’s a simple process of having my boys Earth Theirselves.  Kenneth Meadows once wrote about ~Earthing Yourself~ where you go outside and just glop yourself to the ground.   You were suppose to have your palms down and feel the ground (if you can’t go outside then go to the floor where your at) and begin to get grounded.  As your body begins to relax your allowing your excess energy drain from your hands and feet and it will be absorbed into the Earth to be returned to the source. 

To continue ~Earthing Yourself your to stand up and visualize drawing up energy from the ground through your feet as if your a tree and your pulling up energy through your roots.  To finish the exercise stamp each foot a couple of times and say mentally or outloud  ” I am now grounded in my everyday life, safe and secure within my own energy, and fully under my own control”.  This simple exercise will change your day and it doesn’t take very long.

The kids unknowingly ground themselves naturally by being outside playing so why not give them that little extra boost by telling them to go outside without their shoes, perhaps  go outside with them and take a blanket and laydown and look at the clowds. 

~Earthing Yourself

 

There was a time in my life when I met lady known to us  as  ”The Herb Lady”;  it was Joan Tinker who taught me in her kitchen how to test my strength in my fingers and arms to  determine what I should be putting into my body and later when I was needing help in dealing with  stress she showed me how to Tap. She told me Tapping would help me increase my immune system and calm the central nervous system. 

 Twenty  years later what I thought was just tapping on my chest to help release T cells in my body;   I’ve come to find out is an actual therapy used by Psychotherapist called “Thought Field Therapy” and the muscle test is called ”Kinesiology”  www.allergyescape.com.   Joan never went to a university she just had a son who was ill and the doctors couldn’t help him so she took it into her own hands to find a solution and with her desire for more knowledge she then shared it with others.  Joan  decided to connect with a company www.naturessunshine.comto become an independent sales agent and became known to us in the community as the “herb lady” who would help you  heal  using alternative healing methods.  In our small area of the world there wasn’t much talk about alternative healing but there were those of us who tried the western  medicine and still were not getting the success we wanted.  Joan  devoted her life to helping others from her home and shared what ever she had available whether it be herbs, iridology equipment, knowledge, goat milk and most importantly her time (you could show up at her home anytime and she would make sure you got the information you were seeking and if she didn’t personally know the answer she would make contacts until she did).    I know her techniques as  muscle testing and tapping but in actuality what she was teaching us was Kinesiology and Thought Field Therapy.  I find both of them extremely useful and hope you will do your own research and consider adding them into your life.  It”s important for us to remember who planted the first seed in our minds to explore alternative living and healing.  For this reason, I am writing this blog this evening.  I am very grateful for all the gifts she shared with me.

~Tapping* for peace and happiness~

While tapping on the center of your chest (your Heart
Chakra), repeat the following statements:

 

Even though I feel overwhelmed and stressed
I am allowing myself to feel more peace.

Even though I don’t have as much money
as I would like, I am having faith in myself
and God that things will change.

Even though I feel like giving up at times, I
know that this too will pass.

Even though it is easier to focus on what I don’t
want, I am choosing right now to remember
all the blessings I have.

If necessary do this several times a day. Come
up with your own statements. Validate your
current experience and then make a choice
to let it change.

 

Here are some resources that may be helpful in deciding if Thought Field Therapy or Kinesiology is something you want to learn:

 http://tapyourselffree.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thought_Field_Therapy

http://www.kinesiology-uk.com/history-of-kinesiology.htm

I would love to hear about your personal experiences with muscle testing and tapping.

 Reiki poem written entitled SHARING by Gouthum Karadi of Truth or Consequences.

 

SHARING

 

~With Reiki I see

In ways nontraditionally

 Each morning I awake

 And speak to the fates 

Through silence so profound 

That one hears without sound 

The ears of my soul 

Behold colors of the whole 

Blues and greens 

Even purple sheens 

Other spectrums show 

Such a privilege to know 

Universal energy quiets our fears 

While giving us the joy of tears 

We are grateful for this opportunity 

To experience our true divinity-Gouthum Karadi