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Dream Gates

Marija Gimbutas, the great Lithuanian scholar of Old Europe and its Goddess traditions, declared with urgent clarity in The Civilization of the Goddess, her chef d’oeuvre:  “We must refocus our collective memory. The necessity of this has never been greater as we discover that the path of ‘progress’ is extinguishing the very conditions for life…

My recent post about Mark Twain’s precognitive dream of his brother Henry’s tragic death has triggered a stream of questions, including this one: “What’s the use of dreaming the future if you can’t do anything about it?” My response: any future we can foresee, whether in dreams or though intuition or careful analysis, is a…

Great humor often sparkles on the surface of a dark tide of challenge or tragedy. Mark Twain, still America’s most beloved humorist, was stricken by many terrible events in his life and that of his family – the loss of a beloved brother and later his favorite daughter, the loss of all his money late…

At a benefit dinner, the wife of a bank president asked me, “What exactly is it that you do?” I told her, “I’m a paleolithic psychologist.” She nodded respectfully, possibly associating me with the clinical psychiatrist seated above the salt. I had stolen the phrase from Frederic Myers, the great Victorian psychic researcher. Myers coined…

Shamans understand that soul loss is the root of much illness and confusion in our lives. It may be caused by pain or trauma or heartbreak, by wrenching life choices, or by wimping out on our best and bravest dreams. It can reduce us to the condition of the walking dead, passionless and dreary, forever trying…

Among the Inuit, the strongest shamans are also the most gifted poets. One of the reasons their spirit helpers flock around them is that they are charmed and exhilarated by the angakok’s poetic improvisations. The Inuit say that we need “fresh words” to attract help from the spirit world. The spirits get bored with us,…

I am with a lively crowd at a large table in a restaurant. Our mood is festive not only because of the season, but because of the fun of being together and sharing adventures in the workshop I was leading earlier in the day. Though the table is big, we are a little cramped because…

Why not make today the first day of your new life? As you say the words below, you are claiming your connection with the powers of Heaven and Earth, with the elemental forces.  A good thing to do on any day in your life journey. You might want to start by rising up from a…

I’m not enthusiastic about New Year resolutions, unless they are so easy and simple to fulfill that it’s almost impossible not to carry through. We certainly do not want to get into the habit of making promises we don’t keep – and a New Year resolution is a promise to oneself. So instead of pitching…

The turning of the year is a good time to seek dream guidance on what the next year may hold, and indeed on any important life issues. In cultures that value dreams, there are recognized and recommended methods of dream incubation. Often these include an invocation of a higher power – named or nameless –…
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