Saturday, December 2, 2017

Dreaming with the Land & the Ancestors

An Elder once told me that we dream with the land.
I remember when I first journeyed from the prairies to the majestic west coast. The scenery was awe inspiring. On our journey home we drove across the province and made our way to the interior of the Okanagan, I became aware that there was a shift of energy that had taken place. We continued our journey making our way through the Rocky Mountains, again the energy completely shifted, until we made our way to the land of the Prairies. A feeling so familiar that it resonated as home.  In the weeks that followed I reflected on the shifts of the land that I had felt.

It was while I attended a workshop in Montreal that I was brought back to explore the energy of the land and how it speaks to us. This energy was felt instantly as I left the airport and made my way across the country side of Quebec. My gaze was drawn to the trees as I found myself wondering who planted those trees, were they native to the land, who were the settlers who first farmed this land, and the First Nations that tended to this land as their Ancestors before them. I could feel the stories and history just beyond, as though somehow the veil between the worlds was thinner here.

A recent move to the West Coast has me once again journeying with the land. In the first few months here I found myself mourning the familiar grounding feeling of the prairies. Its not only the grounding signature of that land, but also the Ancestors who walked there before us. We touch these stories in our day to day, often unaware. These stories help to create the culture of our society and every so gently impact our attitudes and way of being.

The land has a unique energy signature that is different from place to place. Some say that it is the lay lines that run through the Earth, creating vortexes where these lines come together. Our Ancestors may not have called them lay lines, but they were aware of these energy signatures in the land. It is no coincidence that most sacred sites are located where these lay lines meet.

These energy signatures are not only felt physically but also have an impact on our dreams.
My new venture has me once again exploring the land, how it impacts me, where I feel it in my body, the stories I feel here, the history of the land, and the subtle shift in my night dreams. The energy of the land speaks to us, whispering her story through the stories of the people here. She always has, if you look into the history of the peoples of the land you will find her whispers echoing.

In the same way that the land impacts our stories, our stories impact the land. She absorbs them and they intermingle with her signature ever so subtly flavoring her story as salt to cuisine. If we pay attention to our night dreams we see these same shifts as we dream in different landscapes. The energy in our dreams shift, the places we go to while dreaming, and the ancestors who visit us.

There is much to be learnt from the land, and there are dreams that we have access to that we otherwise may not have. Dreaming with a Cedar tree on the west coast will give you access to different dreams than dreaming with a Pine tree in Alberta.

What is the land whispering to you, what Ancestors may come visiting or be showing you their story through impressions, history and dreams?

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