Page 27 - The New Age Chronicles Newspaper No 1 Vol 1

Dreamtime and Shamanism 27

The Dreamtime and as we traverse this lifetime and move towards created a new dream.
death. This means the dream content can prepare There have been volumes written on
Shamanism for that which needs to end, be that one’s life, or dreams from psychological, mythological,
some aspect of life that no longer serves our indigenous and/or cultural perspectives. I was
waking state. As one of my Native teachers said, taught that dreams help us hold onto our vital
“As your dreams teach you to become conscious energy, even though they are super sensory and
of what needs to change in your life, you can’t don’t always make sense at first glance. Like
walk stupid on the Earth anymore.” learning a foreign language or understanding a
Understanding the dream’s message thus lover, we need to practice, listen, observe, and
supports our personal evolution. pay attention to their content and disposition in
Dreams offer an opportunity to tap the order to be able to uncover their import and
unconscious Self and reveal to the waking self, wisdom. Whether one’s dreams are short or epic,
vital information through symbolism, universal they are sacred tools that have the capacity to
archetypes, the dream’s mood, and the dream’s move us toward self-discovery.
characters. In my dream training with my Dreams show us that we are not limited
indigenous elders, one of the most important to one way of being, doing, experiencing or
aspects of a dream is “its feeling.” The curiosity choosing. The very fabric of the dream offers the
and clarity provoked by the dream “story” can understanding that we exist everywhere and are
Sandra Corcoran, M.Ed.
untangle feelings we may not have brought to not separated from the Source of all Life. All my
consciousness in the day-to-day activities that shamanic mentors have stressed the importance
The word shamanism relates to the beliefs and
distract us. Discovery of the Self is one of the of understanding that fact, and the responsibility
practices of a shaman.
many things that motivates the dreamer. that comes with it. As Gram Twylah suggested,
What is a shaman? One definition is, “a
Shamans, Medicine People, Buddhist lucid “The dreamtime offers an expanded ‘seeing and
man or woman capable of reaching altered states
dream practitioners all know this; it is why they being,’ making dreams the universe’s gift of
of consciousness in order to interact with the
use the dreamtime to interpret many of life’s Remembrance.”
world of spirit and transcendent energies.” They
seeming vagaries.
do that in order to manifest something, be that a
Where a word elicits a meaning, a About the Author:
healing or a given message, into this waking
symbol contains an entire concept. The brilliant Sandra Corcoran, M.Ed., is an
reality for an individual or their community.
psychotherapist, Carl Jung, incorporated the integrative coach, shamanic teacher, writer,
The term shaman initially derived from
collective archetypes as part of his dream theory. indigenously trained dream decoder, and Thoth
the Tungusic language of the peoples of eastern
He suggested that within the dream, emotions Tarot reader. Author of Shamanic Awakening
Siberia. However, the essence of the word has
translate into images, and those images expose and the meditative CD, Souled Out, she co-
entered the popular lexicon to encompass
what lay hidden deep within the individual. In created the STAR Process™; a spirit retrieval
indigenous tribal peoples of all lands—First
this regard, understanding the symbology of modality in ‘91. Mentored by indigenous
Nations, Aboriginal, East Indian, the Far East,
one’s dream and using that information to help wisdom-keepers for over 35 years, she has
South and Central America—as healers,
raise one’s consciousness, supports that taught throughout North, South and Central
practitioners, those that prophesize and those
consciousness and dreaming go hand-in-hand. America, England, Ireland, Italy and Egypt. A
that dream while working with the world of
Our dreams are an extraordinary gift, in that they contactee, she worked with the late Dr. John
living energy.
offer direct communication between the Mack and Roberta Colasanti of PEER, studied
What is the dreamtime? The dreamtime
individual and the divine planes of being; they through the Academy of Future Sciences, and
was initially a concept used to describe the
do not require any intermediary. In that sense, offers workshops, readings, and yearly sacred
Australian Aboriginal People’s belief that the
we are each our own shaman, culling journeys nationally and internationally. Website:
pattern of creation was laid down by the
information to support knowing ourselves better. www.starwalkervisions.com
ancestors, way back in the beginning of time, the
The dreamtime extends beyond time, space,
Dreamtime. As such, all worldly knowledge is
dimensionality, and breath, informing the “I”
acquired through the ancestors, informing both
that exists within the “I AM.” Shamans teach
the land and the soul. Today, the dreamtime has
that the human spirit is always in contact with
also acquired its own expanded definition as
the higher spiritual realms, even if one has no
“the landscape of an individual’s nocturnal
awareness of this unity in their ordinary state of
dream content.”
consciousness. Although dreaming isn’t the only
No one has to be a shaman, medicine
pathway to open those portals, it is ours, it is
person, or healer to become a dreamer.
constant, it is readily available, and it is
Dreaming is a gift we are all born with. Often in
affordable.
my work, I hear people say, “But I never
My long-time dream mentor, the late
dream.” Everyone dreams. You might not
Grandmother Twylah Hurd Nitsch of the Seneca
remember your dreams, or have yet uncovered a
People (part of the Iroquois Confederacy or Five
method to access your nocturnal wisdom, but
Nations Peace League), taught me how to
you do dream. decode dreams, as part of my personal
Neither do we need crystals or
“medicine” skills and for later use in my
subliminal hemi-sync recordings. We do not
therapeutic practice. Dream decoders usually
need to become a dream nagual or specialize in
come to this training through a personal calling,
Buddhist yoga dream practices. We do not need
and are taught how to traverse the dream world
to do special rituals or go to sacred sites.
to heal and inform. Gram suggested that culture
Although any of those tools, models, or concepts
reflects the measure of our self-discipline, and
may well expand one’s potential to become
as such, our consciousness. She said the
more conscious or lucid within the dream state,
discipline one takes to understand and decode
the ability to dream exists in everyone, from the their dreams, both honors our capacity as
time we were in utero, possibly even before life
sovereign beings and expands our
began, and will continue through life, to our
consciousness. During one of her many lessons
death and what lays beyond.
on the variety, quality and function of dreams,
My Native mentors referred to the
she once told me that, “The Creator has offered
dreamtime as the “little death,” because the
the gift of the dreamtime to every creature; it is
dream provides a container for us to retrieve
a gift of peace.” Gram said when the world
messages as we learn how to consciously cross
understands peace as one people, we will have
from sleeping to waking, and also to inform us