27 Feb Shaman Principles for Understanding Dreams
Elven Maiden Shaman
Psychological articles inform us that there are hundreds of different ways of interpreting dreams; and while not as frequently discussed in Western articles, shamanic principles for interpreting dreams are still quite popular in many Eastern philosophies and psychological literature. But, what is shamanism? Shamanism is a range of beliefs about how to get in touch with the spirit world; and in shamanic belief, the “otherly” world is inhabited by both good and evil spirits. There are many variations of shamanism but one of the basic principles is “everything is a dream and all dreams are real”. Shamans will tell you that the true source of reality is the mind. So, everything we see and do is actually all in our minds. And if we want to change the reality of our life, we’re going to have to get in touch with our minds. Our minds not only contain our fantasies but they also contain doorways to real places and real beings. In the West, thanks greatly to the creator of Psychology Sigmund Freud, dreams are labeled as just our imagination and are merely reflective of suppressed fantasies or desires for wish fulfillment. But, it’s interesting to consider the possibility of people having prophetic dreams, people who share the same dream and people who connect with others through dreams. Many cultures and beliefs attach great importance to dreams. Shamans believe that through dreams, we can understand our true nature, and also get in touch with spirit beings. It is held by shamans that every dream means something, and every dream should be respected.
According to psychological articles, the vast majorities of dreams are generally either good or benign and occur mostly when the dreamer is in the REM (rapid eye movement) sleep cycle. Oftentimes mundane dreams are not remembered, but our very vivid dreams and nightmares are hard to forget. Researchers and theorists tell us that there are several ways to increase dream recall. For instance, psychological articles report that people who keep dream journals are more likely to remember their dreams and even begin to understand personal dream significances and patterns. Upon reviewing your dream journal, dream researchers propound that you will find a great deal of insight into your waking life’s conflicts, pleasures, hopes and pain. And curiously, we are told that short afternoon naps greatly increase both dreaming and dream recall.
If you’re dreaming is quite dull and uninspirational, many Western psychological articles propose that it may be due to watching a lot of “heavy” unimaginative TV shows, part of the “day residue” we have cited in other articles on Boomer Yearbook, and you should limit your media exposure time so that your dreams reflect what’s going on in your head and not “stuff” you are vicariously watching. If you’re exposing yourself to a lot of ‘day residue” nonsense, many Western theorists feel that your dreams will reflect that and not give true insight into your personality.
However, shamans would interpret these “serious” dreams quite differently. As Mircea Eliade states in his book, Shamanism, Archaic Shamanism, Archaic Techniques of Ecstacy, Shamans are the archetypal figure representing “the wise old man (or woman)”, are believed to possess superior gifts of insight and knowledge, and to be intermediaries between the human and spirit worlds. Shamans hold that dreams reflect our true nature; thus a “serious” or dull dream would suggest the dreamer possesses negative energy and the shaman’s role as healer would be to call upon the spiritual world to help transform the dreamer’s negativity into something positive. It is believed that seeing a shaman in one’s dream is a call for a supernatural guide to re-balance the dreamer’s energy field of flat negativity.
Shamans lead relatively simple lives and live in close knit communities, and since they believe dreams reflect our true nature; they believe in the need to “heal” that nature. They feel that dreams can be used as a vehicle to help the process of healing by having the shaman call upon the spirits to provide curative wisdom and answers to the illness of negativity.
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