13 Nov Lessons for an Active Dreamer

“Follow your bliss and the Universe will open doors for you where there were only walls.” – Joseph Campbell.

Four years ago when I began training to become a teacher of Active Dreaming*, I had no idea of the magic that would unfold within the texture of my life. I originally started my spiritual seeking with a decade of sampling numerous well-known authors and teachers.  But I have always been a dreamer. I studied dreaming as a graduate psychology student, participated in dream groups and used imagination to access the realm of creative endeavor.   I believed that dreaming was more than a collection of symbols to be dissected and analyzed, and that I went traveling in my dreams. Plus I knew dreams went beyond what I experienced during sleep. My “ordinary” waking reality was filled with a trail of coincidences, opportunities and encounters that provided me with sources of guidance and healing.  So it is not surprising that I chose the path of Active Dreaming for deeper study.

After attending a dreaming retreat in the Adirondacks of Upper State New York this month, I returned home inspired by the talented men and women who had shared their gifts with open hearts.  I began reflecting upon the lessons I’ve been learning through the practices of Active Dreaming, ones I often share with others in dream circles or express through my writing and photography.  I realize that the study of dreams is a lifelong journey which requires disciplined journal keeping, in depth research, and connections with other dreamers. But for now, here’s a list of 15 lessons I am learning as an Active Dreamer:

1. The dream world is real, a place where you can access practical guidance for creativity, healing and problem solving, and where you connect with “the might of magic.”
2. Ask for help and it will appear. Helping spirits, power animals, guides and the Higher Self are closer than you might imagine.
3. Courage is a quality of the heart and is activated by the desires of the soul.
4. If you need guidance try looking to the world of everyday life for the play of synchronicity.
5. Choose consciously and magic unfolds in just the right way
6. Communication and healing can take place across the boundary of death.
7. The voice of one drum sounds better when played within the voices of the many.
8. If you want the “Universe to Say Yes” to you best dreams, set your best intentions.
9. If you want to change an energetic pattern, try changing the path where you walk first.
10. The wisdom of the ancestors is available through dreaming.
11. Nature is conscious and speaks to us. All of creation on the planet is part of the collective dream.
12. To become the shaman of your soul, you must locate and recover its pieces.
13. Your inner world sets the stage for what you attract and create.
14. We live, dream and journey in many interacting worlds, what happens in one can affect events in the others.
15. With dreaming as with all else in life, Love is the greatest healer.

And one more thought. If the colors of this year’s autumn foliage seem brighter this season, perhaps it’s because we want to see them that way. And perhaps when we perceive the beauty of life, we give energy to its growth.

*Active Dreaming is an original synthesis of modern dream work and shamanism developed by Robert Moss. Summarizing his words, it is a way to walk and talk our dreams, a shamanic method for lucid dreaming, and a way of conscious living. This approach is not only for individuals and friends and families, but for communities. Active dreamers often form groups as a way to encourage intentional communities that help members listen to the voice of the heart, follow the natural path of their energies, claim their voices, and foster support for the causes that heal the planet. (back to top)

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