Wildwood Tarot: The Moon On Water
Shamanic dreamwork is a strong part of the shamanic tradition, that is often overlooked. In many cultures, instead of trance journeying with a drum, highly developed dreaming skills are the way medicine people connect with the Otherworld. Shamanic dreamwork often includes journeying through dreams or specific journeys to understand dream imagery better. This is like a shamanic version of dream re-entry.
But the other part of the tradition often involves manifesting with dreams and dream work skills. There are three broad approaches to this work.
Taking Dreams Literally
Ordinary “day residue” dreams can be filled with great advice and can be precognitive. “Day residue” dreams often involve doing routine tasks. They aren’t always exciting. But they can contain literal advice about practical matters. It’s also important to notice synchronicities between dreams and waking life.
Once, I was involved in another person’s social media campaign. I spent large parts of my work day sharing posts on Facebook. When I asked my dream guides how I could attract more attention to my own website, I kept having dreams about the social media campaign I was doing for work. After the second night of this, I realized that my social media sharing dreams were my answer. I re-purposed an old article about crystal oracle cards to coincide with a national webinar featuring the card deck’s creator.. Because I shared the blog post and tagged the celebrity speaker, she graciously shared my article with her followers on Facebook. My website traffic exploded.
Sometimes dreams confirm that my actions are going to be productive. I have struggled with illness and doctors weren’t always able to help me. I began to fear that I was incurable. After my first appointment with the doctor who finally helped me, I saw him with my “power animal” in a dream. I knew somehow he would help me, although I did not know how. At my next appointment, he told me that I had a challenging health issue but it was curable. I finally had a diagnosis and a clear treatment after years of suffering.
Dream Embodiment
Shamans merge with the energies of their helping spirits. The most well-known example to Westerners is the “honoring dance”, the practice of dancing your power animal. A dream featuring a positive interaction with an animal may be embodied with this type of dance. The animal may become an important dream teacher.
Many cultures also embody dream symbols by playacting them.. Dream teacher Robert Moss uses this approach with his students to unlock the energy of the dream world. Acting out a scene from a positive dream can help it feel more real. It can help a person to create the right actions and mindset to create a positive future. This is fun to do in a group, but it can also be done alone.
Manifestation with Dream Altars
This can be the most complex and “magical” of the three processes. I’ve seen it work in a gradual way without my awareness of the step-by-step process. I just know when the manifestation has arrived in my life. These altars can also function like Tibetan dream mandalas, helping dreamers to integrate symbols that appear frequently.
It’s a simple process, but you need an altar that mirrors your spiritual universe or cosmology. The four directions or the three worlds are a map of the shamanic universe in many cultures. My altar depicts a representation of the three worlds of the shaman: the ancestors’ lower world, the middle world of everyday life, the upper world of the divine spirits. I also represent the left and right sides that honor practical magic and devotion to my relationship with the spirits. This is one cosmology. There are many others.
For example, you may follow a pagan path, practice astrology or tarot. The layout of a pagan ritual often re-creates that cosmology. Astrologers use the twelve houses of the horoscope. Tarot readers use layouts. Any of these traditions can be used to create a dream altar.
It is also important to create or find images or objects that represents your positive dream symbols and the goal you want to manifest. You can charge each one by thinking of your dream and blowing the dream symbol into the object. Then place it in the part of your altar that corresponds to your goal. As you do your daily altar practice, your dream objects receive a spiritual “charge”. You are also reminded of your goal or intent. Over time you will begin to notice changes that gradually bring the manifestation into being.
I hope these shamanic dreamwork practices help you manifest your highest dreams. If you are looking for a community of shamanic dreamers, practitioners, and earth healers- you are welcome to join us at Shamanic Earth Medicine.
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