Dreaming Back
Sunday 2nd September, 2007
Ancient peoples of the Earth realised that all illness begins in spirit. This is when we stop following our dreams, when we ignore the signs or omens, when we hold ourselves back from being the best that we can be. How do you react when something happens that stops you in your tracks? It could be circumstances that seem like a random event, bad luck, or a trauma or challenge where you can see a karmic thread, or perhaps where you experience a sense of destiny. Do you see this as an opportunity for change and transformation or as something that you have to push through no matter what, even if it feels as though you are getting nowhere? Do you embrace the challenge or become a victim, or do you carry on in the same old way. Do you ever wonder what you are doing here and what this life is all about?
Ancient peoples of the Earth realised that all illness begins in spirit. This is when we stop following our dreams, when we ignore the signs or omens, when we hold ourselves back from being the best that we can be. How do you react when something happens that stops you in your tracks? It could be circumstances that seem like a random event, bad luck, or a trauma or challenge where you can see a karmic thread, or perhaps where you experience a sense of destiny. Do you see this as an opportunity for change and transformation or as something that you have to push through no matter what, even if it feels as though you are getting nowhere? Do you embrace the challenge or become a victim, or do you carry on in the same old way. Do you ever wonder what you are doing here and what this life is all about?
Naturally within different cultures techniques for healing evolved that were culturally specific, influenced by the nature of the place and the demands of developing communities. Bound up with this were the spiritual practices, the way of life and celebration of life and spirit – especially emphasized in rites of passage and the celebration of the cycle of the year – the Irish and Scots celebrated the cross quarter days ( “in between” times ) as well as equinox and solstice days. For example, the celebration of Lughnessa, was a time where the clans came together to celebrate the bounty of Earth. To trade, to feast and to dance. Dancing was a great spiritual expression. It was High Summer, and Lugh is the God of Light. Perhaps, like the indigenous people of the south west coast of Victoria who gather for the eel time, this great gathering of the time of light and abundance was also the law making time. The ancient Irish were no different to any other indigenous peoples in that they had a deep enduring relationship with Earth and Heaven. Their ancient wisdom still survives, handed down through their stories and music. Their practices, as with any other people, evolved and were influenced by the influx of newcomers and invaders alike.
Soul retrieval is one of the key shamanic healing techniques that is common in many areas of the world. A modern term, soul retrieval aptly describes one of the most important aspects of this type of healing. It is concerned with recovery, integration and transformation of lost energy in a way that leads us further toward realising our dream.
Typically with soul healing, the spiritual leader, priest, or healer, the soul friend, the one we know of in the modern world as the “shaman”, enters an altered state of consciousness and travels into the spirit realms, or dreamtime, to track and bring back any lost or stolen energy that belongs to the individual they are helping. Sometimes it is lost personal power that is being retrieved, or energy that has been imprinted – either inherited or taken on via a life experience by the individual - that is cleared. But often there is a more serious issue around the loss of part of the persons soul energy.
In my personal tradition this work is known as Dreaming Back™. For me, this is a most apt description. Using the wonderful spirit journey, known to the Gaels as the ectra, the practice we call the journey allows me to enter another state of consciousness where I can cross over into the realms of spirit and, guided by the light of my intention, I travel into the hidden realms of Earth, with my spirit companions – often ancestors, to seek healing and stories to assist others in my space and time here on physical Earth.
For me, the spirit journey is like conscious dreaming. Of course the journey is different for each individual as we experience such places through our own paradigm, our own window of viewing life, and through the capacity of our imagination. Mostly I am taken back to the past – either the near past or back to early experiences of birth and childhood. Very often I find myself travelling back into past lifetimes. As we have become more and more disconnected from nature and our spiritual practices, people have increasingly experienced soul loss, or energy loss, that has not been assisted toward wholeness again and they have carried this loss through numerous lifetimes, creating patterns that weave throughout the soul’s tapestry. There are many examples of soul retrieval I could describe and the one that comes to mind that is so poignant for me is that of a woman I worked with some years ago who was forced to flee her country and seek refuge here in Australia. She had been a doctor in her earlier life, when she lived in her home country with her beloved family.
Do you ever wonder what you are doing here and what this life is all about?When war came to her land she was imprisoned along with many members of her family. Her sister and Father were shot whilst standing beside her. Her brother was also betrayed and killed in front of her. After several years of atrocious conditions she managed to escape, fleeing her country, living in refugee camps. Eventually she married another man of her faith. Her story went on to more and more suffering and betrayal. When I met her she was dying from cancer of the pericardium.
She shared her story with me – a story she had never told anyone else. It was clear that she carried the energy of betrayal and that she needed to come to forgiveness. When I spoke with her about this she looked at me very clearly and said “there are things that I can never forgive.” This was my task – to assist her back to her faith and sense of acceptance and forgiveness. First I journeyed to track where she had lost soul energy and recover it. Once this energy was restored we were able to talk about it. Then I guided her on a journey to see the place where she would transition as she passed to the Otherworld. It was a beautiful place – almost too incredible to describe. A place of exquisite nature, there was a beautiful lake with an island at the centre. Nestled in a grove of giant trees was a round pearl like dwelling. This was a spiritual hospital where her soul would rest and be harmonized. There on the shore waiting for her were all her loved ones who are in spirit. She saw them with her inner eye, they came unbidden by me, though I had met them in the journey and I could see them there. It was her own experience, her own gift. When we returned from the brief moment in the otherworld, her faith was grown and her trust had returned. She felt a deep peace and there was a sense of wonder in her eyes. It was only a matter of days before she made her transition to the Otherworld. There are many such magical moments in this work that I have done over the years, where the real spiritual healing takes place. And out of this transformational work our individual wisdom grows as we transform our wounds into wisdom.
Lost energy and unintegrated power must be restored to the light to dream our dream forward for a healthy future – for ourselves and for our Planet. Dreaming Back restores one’s authentic sense of self. It is a wonderful and empowering process that also helps the individual to realise their own potential. One of the most important aspects of this work for me is to help people to become empowered in working with their own process, taking responsibility for their life and finding the joy in becoming a seeker. Learning to follow the calling, or yearning, and to have the courage to step out on their own spiritual/creative pathway.
One thing is for certain – we all have our own intimate and unique relationship with the Divine and all pathways lead to the same place. Dreaming Back honours this essential truth and seeks to assist people to be true to their own journey.
Whilst I love to engage with individuals in one to one processes – either in person or over the internet, I have also come to realise that it is important to go much deeper for real transformation and so my role as a teacher and guide is really the focus in the Dreaming Back process and many of these skills and techniques have been built into the programs I offer.
During retreats and pilgrimages we facilitate deep transformations – working with skills that are designed to enhance the fragrance of your soul. We aim to create a space that is a time out of time, where we can be spontaneous and learn to be in the moment and allow our consciousness to expand, to embrace and accept ourselves and to explore new territory – worlds both within and without that perhaps have been until now a mystery. Our inner and outer wildness. So many are called to explore the mystical pathway but are ill equipped. Our programs aim to enfold you in a mantle of protection where you will gain healing and confidence as you learn these skills, to stretch out and connect with the vastness of the universe and your place in it. Then there are advanced retreats, such as Hollow Bone, for those who wish to deepen this experience and expand into the vastness of their mystical pathway.
In the west we still have some connections to our spiritual past – the original pathways walked by our distant ancestors. These ways are akin to the ways of other indigenous peoples of the Earth and it is these ways we are seeking to embrace again as more and more we realise that we must live in harmony with Earth. Our ancestors harmonised with the earth cycles and the Otherworld. We have the ability to look deep into our psyches, tap into our race memory and let their footprints show the way. All ancient cultures knew that we are part of nature, not separate from it. They understood that everything is alive sacred and connected. We can build on these old instincts, harmonizing them with the modern life. Shamanism has not simply survived but has endured with the capacity to thrive, because there are no rules. There is integrity, faith and trust and so it is still as relevant today as 2,000 years ago because it has the capacity to shift and change and adapt as the times require.
The Celts are the last peoples of the great tribes of Europe. In Ireland they found a stronghold - a place where there were strong spiritual practices in place and they adopted these and it seems, were in turn adopted by the aboriginal peoples there. The history of this integration is clear in the oral stories that have been handed down through the generations until they were recorded in the 1800’s by lovers of the Irish culture such as Lady Gregory ( Of Gods and Fighting Men ), patron of William Butler Yeats, the Irish poet and druid.
Ireland is brimming with sacred sites, places marked out by the ancestors – Mesolithic as well as Neolithic. There are more Neolithic carved stones in the Boyne Valley than in the rest of Europe put together. In the west of Ireland there are temple complexes that pre date the pyramids of ancient Egypt. There is a great sense of the indigenous spiritual practices to be found in the landscape of Ireland. The Irish have a wonderful tradition of the storying of the land – the Dindshenchas, for example, (The Metrical Dindshenchas, or Lore of Places, is probably the major surviving monument of Irish bardic verse) and these stories demonstrate the incredible connection with the land and with nature. Through them we can see how the spirit of the people and the spirit of the land are intimately bound together. For me the connection is profound. I come from a long line of healers and visionaries. My MacEwan family tree has been traced back to the 1300’s and I grew up with stories about my Great Great Aunt and her ways of speaking with spirits and having the knack of knowing what is going on in a person’s soul. Of seeing into the unseen. And this gave me a great comfort as it echoed what was happening for me.
There came times in our history where spiritual workers and healers had to become invisible. This energy persisted into modern times as so much fear and superstition was attached to such work – so much so that even in our current times there is still a lot of ignorance and prejudice connected with spiritual pathways. Even for me – someone who knows their background, always saw and heard things from the unseen world as a child, always dreamed about things before they happened, and who has been involved in spiritual practice and healing all my adult life, there has still been a strong feeling of being careful about announcing what I do.
I recognise such fear as an old old pattern and I don't let it hold me back – but it is there and it took some work for me to move past it and to feel free to speak my truth, to reclaim my instinct and my power. Now my work focuses on the true art of Dreaming Back – to assist individuals to find their own inner connection to Spirit and their Dreamtime. Through experiential programs and journeys into the unknown, and through the pilgrimages I guide to the west of Ireland where a strong sense of Spirit, freedom and beauty prevails, I aim to assist you to find the fragrance of your soul. To feel unfettered by past chains that have bound us to old practices that can not serve us and to be liberated in heart and soul so that we can express who we truly are and dream our dreams forward – this is my dream for you.