Dreaming is a spiritual path. As with all genuine spiritual paths, it is all-consuming - which leads us directly to the first Universal Health Warning: Dreaming is not a game, it's not a fad, it's not a replacement for psychotherapy, it's absolutely not a means to escape the pressures and trauma inherent in living, nor is it a means to accumulate power, wealth and an infinite supply of free sex. To live daily in the eyes of the gods is extraordinarily rewarding but requires a steadily increasing amount of self-discipline, self-awareness and a willingness to change. Dreaming, in any of its various forms is life-changing so if what you're looking for is your current life unchanged but with an easier cash flow and an end to all emotional upheaval, this isn't the way to find it.
The principles of dreaming are immensely simple. The practice is probably simple too, once you can get out of your own way. I've never managed that so I'm not in a position to comment but it's worth trying. In essence, a true dreamer can move within and between the various, infinite realities at will, sustaining an existence in all of them equally. In so doing, she can ask for help from the gods in whatever may be her endeavour, bearing in mind that the first and most important question we need to ask is: 'what do you want of me?'
NB: We could go into great length as to the multi-valent nature of deity and, yes, I’m sure there's only one and, yes, I'm sure we're all part of it and, yes, a true dreamer will ultimately become boundless within infinite god-hood, but there are levels of practicality below that within which I find it simpler to define deity in separate parts and to approach them individually.
The means to dreaming are many and varied. Those most easily practised in our society are 'core' shamanic journeying techniques as taught by Michael Harner and his followers and the various lucid dreaming techniques. Lucid dreaming is becoming almost as fashionable as pseudo-shamanism; a dreamer in the shamanic sense strives to use lucid dreaming to form a closer connection with the gods or guiding spirits, in order better to ask for help. Lucid dream surfers seem, as far as I can tell, to aim for spectacular sex - the choice (clearly) is yours. The one avenue that is not safe in our culture is the use of 'medicine plants. We don't have the grounding or the understanding for that. Through use of shamanic journeying, lucid and other dreaming techniques and, ultimately, 'dreaming awake', the boundaries to this reality become flexible and translucent such that other realities can be entered at will – which is to say that altered states of consciousness can be entered at will.
Dreaming ethics are straightforward: only travel for a reason, even if that reason is simply to meet with your teachers/guides/helpers and to sit with them for a while. In general, tourism isn't a good idea – if you're going somewhere, know before hand why you're going and what you're going to ask for. Woolly questions receive woolly answers. Some dreamers are healers, some are counsellors, some simply dream to enhance the world around them at the behest of the gods. We have the large left brains, the problem solving abilities and the three-dimensional grounding in this version of reality. If the gods want something done here and now, it is generally easier for us to do it.
This is a field beset by charlatans, wannabes and overbearing egos, enter it with extreme care and check out every move before, during and after you make it. If you want to learn from those who have walked ahead, there is an increasing number of magazines, books and courses/workshops around the world. I'll be running some workshops in 2004 and onwards - check below for dates and locations. There are others equally good, if not better - see below:
Basic Dreaming Course at Holycombe .
I run a series of courses currently based in the Warwickshire countryside, near the Rollright Stones. The Basic Foundation course is open to incomers.
What?
These are fully residential, self-catering courses, held at Holycombe, where Sally and her family are entirely happy for us to run shamanic workshops as long as we're sane - which we are - and as long as we keep the place tidy - which we do. Shamanic practise is almost impossible to learn from books and magazines, and so these courses are designed to give participants first hand experience of the first steps. We learn protection and grounding as an essential basic. Following this, we learn techniques to enable us to dream and journey so that we can begin to build our own geography of the other realities and to meet some early guides and helpers who can undertake the fuller teaching.
We are learning, at this stage, to ask questions and to ask for help to aid our own growth. The aim, as in all spiritual practise, is to strive ever towards personal healing and wholeness of self. As with all spiritual practise, this is rarely as easy as it sounds, is almost always a lengthy path and almost always involves some mistakes. We balance the knife edge and fall off. The key is to be able to recognise sooner rather than later when we've fallen and to step back on again.
We aim to create an atmosphere within which active dreaming can take place which is why the courses are residential.
Shamanic practise is non-denominational, depending on a direct connection between the practitioner and the spirits/guides/gods. However, because I work within a medicine wheel tradition and find the grounding of that constructive, the courses will be taught within that framework.
Who?
Anyone can come as long as they're 21 or over and not taking any mind-altering pharmaceuticals, either recreational or prescription. Tea, coffee, chocolate, cigarettes and alcohol don't count in the above ban, except for the duration of the course and, ideally, for at least two days either side. Try not to book anything big in the days immediately after. It takes a while to come back to consensus reality.
When?
2008
• 18th - 20th April - Basic Foundation Course - Please note, this course is now full. An additional course will be held as follows:
• 17th - 19th October - Basic Foundation Course - This course is now full. The next course is April 2009 - see below under that year.
• 30th May - 1st June - Dreaming/Healing/plant spirit medicine - only for those who have come on one of my foundation courses- FULL
• 29th - 31st August - South/Water Gate. Only for those who have completed a Foundation course and at least one gated course.
• 14th - 16th November - Fire Gate course - BY INVITATION ONLY to those who have completed a Foundation course and seem to be living the dreaming - and to be sufficiently grounded.
2009
17th - 19th April - Basic Foundation Course - This is a course aimed at both total beginners and those who have had some shamanic experience but wish to come on the future courses. Numbers are limited to 14 max. If you're interested, email me and I'll send you more details. COSTS WILL INCREASE IN 2009 - FOR WHICH APOLOGIES
29th - 31st May - Advanced Healing course - BY INVITATION ONLY to those who have completed a basic healing course. - Please note, the Earth Gate will be re-arranged for a future date
28th - 30th August - North Gate Course - BY INVITATION ONLY to the current Advanced group who have stepped through the previous gates.
How much?
Cost for 2008 will remain on a sliding scale from £180 - £250, you decide where you are on the scale. Cost includes two nights accommodation at the Holycombe and all food. Meals will be vegetarian with a dairy-free option. If you have an allergy, please tell me. Please note that rooms are shared. There is a limited supply of single rooms - at a £15 surcharge which you pay directly to Sally at Holycombe.
How to book?
Contact Manda at:info@mandascott.co.uk
RECOMMENDED READING
Magazines:
• Sacred Hoop Magazine is an excellent basic resource:
http://www.sacredhoop.org
Books:
• 'Dreamgates' and 'Conscious Dreaming' by Robert Moss are virtually the only worthwhile books on dreaming with a shamanic intent.
His later book 'Dreaming True' is an excellent, detailed presentation of precognitive dreaming - indeed all dreaming - and is well worth reading.
In addition, his 'Dreamways of the Iroquois' is probably the among the most powerful descriptions of what it is to be a western dreamer using shamanic techniques, and is immensely worthwhile.
His most recent 'The three 'Only' things' is an update on the others, and has the advantage of being readily available. He is still the most honest of all those writing about dreaming, and the most useful.
Even if you have no interest in dreaming as an art and practise, his book, 'The Dreamers' Book of the Dead' is essential reading for anyone who is alive and likely to die some day -which is everyone. Get it, read it, think about it and then act on it.
• 'The Spirits are Always With Me' by Jane Shutt (Jane is from Yorkshire so this is one of the few good, experiential books based in the UK). Read with some caution, but basically good.
• 'Plant Spirit Medicine' by Eliot Cowan is very good indeed - highly recommended. Eliot trained for 12 years with a Huichol medicine healer. This book was written in the early days, but is powerful nonetheless.
• 'Soul Retrieval', 'Welcome Home' and 'Medicine for the Earth by Sandra Ingermann are a tad Californian and I wouldn't take the fluffy bunny rabbits to heart, but still some seminal work. Best read in order.
• 'Dancing the Dream' by Jamie Sams (recommended).
• 'The Reluctant Shaman' by Kay Cordell Whitaker (recommended).
• Books by: Michael Harner, Joan Halifax and Leo Rutherford give an outline of shamanism.
• Books by Carlos Castenada are worth reading for historical background - this is part of modern shamanic history and it's useful to know the vocabulary and concepts, having said which, they're confusing and monumentally misogynistic, so don't take them to heart.
• For basic, heart-based meditation, any books by Pema Chodron (an American Buddhist nun) are highly recommended, particularly, 'When Things Fall Apart' and 'The Places that Scare You'.
Courses:
• Chris Luttichau, is a Danish teacher based in Cornwall. Chris is one of the few genuine dreamers and the only other teacher I've found who teaches effective, practical dreaming safely and sanely in the UK. His website is: "http://www.northerndrum.com". Thoroughly recommended. This man is the real thing.
• Jonathan Horwitz, is another Dane who teaches in London. He runs some basic and advanced courses on 'core' shamanic journeying techniques and applications in the UK and Scandinavia. His website is: http://www.shamanism.dk.
• Leo Rutherford and Eagles' Wing run several year-long courses as well as weekend workshops. http://www.shamanism.co.uk
• The Sacred Trust arrange a number of Harner-based workshops throughout the year in the UK. http://www.sacredtrust.org