Page 149 - Dark Matter:Women Witnessing Issue2

Elders. These and other helpful spirits can bring humans back into the knowledge that we are all family

here, all one being, here to take care of the earth and one another, as the griffin reminds us.

Many have forgotten how to connect to the spirits, how to hear them, see them, believe in them. Yet it

is not a hard thing to do, as the following dream from December 30, 2014, suggests.

I am watching a young girl, perhaps seven years old, standing in a kitchen, keeping an eye on a pot on

the stove. Suddenly she dances, raising her arms up and down like a butterfly, twirling and hopping and

dipping flamboyantly. As she moves, I observe that a translucent tunnel has formed around her, linking

this world to the spirit world. The tube rises high into the sky, I can see it pierce the roof and keep

moving. I marvel at this young child’s capacity to create this connection to the spirit realm and think

that I should tell her mother what a gift she has for magic. I wonder how to tell her in a way that would

make both the child’s ability to do this, and my capacity to see it, acceptable. Shall I say it was in a

dream? I fear she will consider such a vision with suspicion.

The graceful girl has stopped her fluttering dance, and is standing quietly now. The tunnel dissolves. I

realize she is the one I should tell about her unusual gift. I step forward and greet her, and describe

what I witnessed as she danced. “Wow!” she exclaims. “That is amazing! You should do this more

often!”

I realize she thinks that I created this magical path to the spirits. I correct her, explain that she is the

one who created the passageway through her full-­‐hearted dancing. My gift is to see what is often

invisible to others. “You are the amazing one!” I insist, and she offers a wide, delighted smile.

Dancing is one of the most ancient traditions for entering the Spirit World, or bringing the spirits down

to us, sometimes even into our own bodies. But there are so many ways to make this essential

connection. We can send a part of our spirit into the spirit realms with proper training in shamanic

journeying. We can create artwork and masks that invite particular spirits into our lives. Meditating,

dreaming, singing, writing are all time-­‐tested forms for communicating with the spirits, simply opening

our hearts and minds to their teachings as we engage these forms. The spirits will come, will speak, will

teach, if we ask them to, if we receive them humbly and warmly, as our ancestors once did. They have

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