Marlise Wabun Wind

“An excellent, fascinating, account of dreamtime that masterfully weaves the teachings of several contemporary teachers with the wisdom of traditional native cultures.”
“It vividly brings together inner and outer realities and not only helps to interpret our dreams but encourages us to live our dreams.”
Dreaming with the Wheel contains an extensive dream dictionary, twenty-one exercises to help readers work with their dreams, and the story of a dream council filled with accomplished teachers and medicine guides.

Excerpts from Dreaming with the Wheel

Chapter One
The Dream Council

Wabun takes the talking stick and begins to speak. “In a time so long ago most people forget it ever existed, we all lived in the dreamtime. It did not matter whether we were awake or asleep. We all remembered where we came from, who we were, and where we were going. With our eyes open, we could see and feel as must beauty as most people only feel today when they shut their eyes in sleep.

“We could fly. We could talk to the animals. We could hear what they said back to us. We could go to the gods; we could part the waters. We could love wholly and completely. We could gather, we could chant, we could dance, we could drum. We could build, we could birth. We could feel the beauty of the Earth Mother. We lived within the sacred web of life.

“There were only two things we could not do. We could not think, and we could not speak. But there was no need for speech. What I felt, you knew. And what you knew, I felt within me. We could communicate so completely that if one of us had a need, others of us would give whatever help was required. If the need was to be alone, we could withdraw. If the need was to be supported, we would draw closer. If the need was for ecstasy, we would share joy. If the need came from one of our animal brothers or sisters, we would give them whatever they needed. If a plant encountered problems, we would try to remedy them. If the balance of the earth was threatened, we would draw together and bring that balance back into place.

“And then time passed. With its passage, change occurred. We began to realize we were singular. We felt the difference between yours and mine. Within a short period of time, we began to think. Our thoughts drove even more distance between us. When that happened we drew apart in a way we never had before. We started to categorize, to measure. Thoughts were different from the communications we had before. They were singular in such a way that our unity was never quite the same. While we could feel together, we could not quite think together. Unity seemed not within the nature of thought.

“More time passed. The sounds we had made in the past to honor the Earth Mother, to honor all of the Creation, began to change. Instead of the tones of unity, we uttered the words of singularity. As we spoke them, we put even more distance between us. While these words sounded alike, they were not. All of them held the feeling meaning of the person speaking them. While we thought we spoke the same language, we never did.

“As we began to speak, we began to understand more clearly the changes that had occurred. We realized the difference between being awake and being asleep. We lost our ability to speak to the animals, or to hear what they had said to us. We could no longer feel the plants, or the animals, or the elementals in quite the same way, except when we closed our eyes. A part of us yearned for the former unity we held between us. Yet only with our eyes closed could we approach that state of unity.

“One day a young one did something with her words that no one had ever done before. She used them to tell others about her dream.

“ ‘What is this?’ all the other people said, at first with disbelief. ‘How could this young one fly like a bird? How could she speak to the stars and know the hearts of the animals?’

“She said to her people ‘Just close your eyes for a moment and remember.’ And they did. They remembered the times when in sleep they had talked to the animals, when they had been one with what they now called the gods. They remembered what it was to feel the ecstatic joy of unity, the wonder of true community, the passion beyond passion of complete love. They remembered, and they spoke. As they spoke, they wove that other reality into what had become their everyday life. And they knew this was good.

“Time went on. Some people remembered to speak of their dreams, others forgot. Some cultures respected the power of dreams, others feared it. That young girl was born many times more - sometimes as a young man, sometimes as a young woman. Always it was her destiny to speak of the wonder of dreams. Always her speech was met with many negative feelings by the people who denied the dreamtime. But those who remembered what their hearts had felt in the reality of the dream heard her with happiness. These people found more joy in life and had less fear of death. Sometimes the rememberers were the prophets. Sometimes they were the truth-speakers. Sometimes they were the persecuted. But always they spoke their truth, and by so doing they helped the people to remember and helped the people to live.

“Perhaps that young woman, wearing either a male or female body, is somebody you know today. Perhaps she is your teacher, your grandmother, your husband, your child. That young woman, and her brother from the dreamtime, is very present today, trying to teach us that for life to continue we have to weave back the broken cords. We have to remember not only our individuality but also our unified core. We have to learn again that we can and must listen to the animals, the plants, and all parts of the sacred web of life. Come now, brothers and sisters, and allow this dream circle to help you remember.“ Wabun concludes and passes the stick back to Sun Bear.

“It’s good, sister, ho!” He says. “Now lets all go to bed and see what dreams come to us.”

© 1994, Sun Bear, Wabun Wind and Shawnodese. This material may not be copied or reproduced without the written permission of the authors.