August Dream Helper Circle Report, and Primer for Dreamers

EXCERPT

I started a dream journal in 1976, the year after I moved to California.

I had dreamed as a child, but childhood and my early years as an adult were focused on survival. One of my anchors was learning that my father, as a boy, had a wolf as a pet. My beautiful, silent father. So whenever my father said anything, my ears were at attention. He spoke one sentence, and in what context he was inspired, motivated, and moved to speak it, I no longer remember. He had a wolf, but after a time, the wolf was given to a farmer because the cat population in the neighborhood was being decimated. I heard the sadness in my father’s voice, and, I caught his wry humor. The introduction of a wild animal so close to me was a great gift.

Once I started to record my dreams, the animals came, sometimes in great numbers; at other times, it was as if they had disappeared into a deep and dark forest. Perhaps this accounts for my pilgrimages to zoos, so I can be closer to them in the physical when they are absent in my dream world.

At the end of the year, I re-read all my dreams, and make notations of patterns or themes, prescient dreams, symbols, animals, and anything else that comes through. As I read, I am able to immerse myself in the dreams once more, and usually feel them again.

When the animals started to appear, I wanted to know what they meant. There are animal dictionaries and online sources, but two books that found me were Jamie Sams and David Carson’s “Medicine Cards”, and Ted Andrews’ “Animal Speak”. If an animal appeared that I couldn’t find a meaning for, I intuited it, or not, or we just hung out, and meaning and symbolism fell to the wayside.

ANIMALS IN SHAMANISM

I’m an inveterate student, with a wide curiosity about my world. That became an entre into shamanic studies. One day, a magazine that I hadn’t subscribed to, arrived in the mail. It had my name on it, but I had not ordered it. It was called “Shaman’s Drum” and I fell into its pages. I decided to subscribe; thus began my formal study of shamanism, which brought with it a deeper dive into the animal world; then the animals began to visit in greater numbers.

My interest in dreams took me to The Ojai Foundation and Dream Circle classes, and the Pacifica Graduate Institute, both in California.

I have acted and reacted to messages in dreams. Once, I was given a telephone number, which I called. I calmly explained to the person why I was calling. When I hung up, I understood that this was part of strengthening my dreaming muscles.