{"id":3436,"date":"2011-10-24T08:16:40","date_gmt":"2011-10-24T12:16:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/dreamgates\/?p=3436"},"modified":"2011-10-13T18:30:00","modified_gmt":"2011-10-13T22:30:00","slug":"dreaming-for-survival-soul-and-good-luck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/10\/dreaming-for-survival-soul-and-good-luck.html","title":{"rendered":"Iroquois dreaming: for survival, soul, and good luck"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Long before the first Europeans arrived, the Six Nations of the Longhouse, or Iroquois, taught their children that dreams are the single most important source of both practical and spiritual guidance.<\/p>\n

The first business of the day in an Iroquois village was dream-sharing, as dreams were messages from the spirits, and the deeper self, and might contain guidance for the community as well as the individual. The early Iroquois believed that in dreams, we routinely travel beyond the body and the limits of time and space, can visit the future or the past, and may enter the realms of the departed and of spiritual teachers on higher levels.<\/p>\n

The ancient teaching of the Iroquois people is that dreams also reveal the wishes of the soul, calling us to move beyond our ego agendas and the web of other people\u2019s projections into a deeper, more spirited life. In dreams we also discover where our vital soul energy may have gone missing–through pain or trauma or heartbreak–and how to get it back.<\/p>\n

The early Jesuit missionaries marveled that the Iroquois would make life-or-death decisions on the basis of dream reports. Father Jacques Bruyas, who worked among the Oneida, complained about the powerful influence of one woman who was revered for her ability to dream future events. On one occasion she dreamed that a tribe to the south had taken the warpath against her nation, and she had seen where they could be ambushed. Since she had dreamed that the enemy war chief would be captured and ceremonially put to death, the Oneida sent out a war party. Bruyas recorded that the people were so confident of the impending victory that they immediately fired up their kettles in preparation for the victory celebration.<\/p>\n

Dreaming was also a survival tool. In the depths of winter, the community looked to powerful dreamers to scout out the location of game, and to negotiate with the animal spirits to provide sustenance for the people. Father Paul LeJeune, wintering among the Montagnais in 1634, observed that these people believed that the success of a hunt depended upon obtaining dreams of the animals. \u201cIf anyone, when asleep, sees the elder or progenitor of some animals, he will have a fortunate chase; if he sees the elder of the Beavers, he will take Beavers; if he sees the elder of the Elks, he will take Elks.\u201d<\/p>\n

The very words used to describe dreaming reflect that dreaming is vital to bringing good fortune. The Iroquoian word-sentence kateraswas<\/em> means \u2018I dream,\u2019 but it also means that \u2018I dream as a habit, as a daily part of my way of being in the world\u2019. The phrase also carries the connotation that \u2018I bring myself luck because I am able to manifest good fortune and prosperity through my dreaming\u2019. The Iroquoian term \u2018watera\u2019swo\u2019, (dream) also means \u2018it brings good luck.\u2019 The early Jesuit observers noted that the Iroquois believed that neglect of dreams brings bad luck.<\/p>\n

Indeed, at many watersheds in my life, my own dreams had helped me to overcome obstacles and find my path. On at least three occasions, my dream previews of possible death in road accidents prompted me to take evasive action that may have kept me alive.<\/p>\n

For the Iroquois dreaming is also good medicine. The Mohawk word \u2018atetshents\u2019, which literally means \u2018one who dreams\u2019, is also the term for a doctor or shaman.<\/p>\n

Many years after I started studying with a Mohawk healer in my dreams, I met a Mohawk woman healer in waking reality who confirmed the importance of dream medicine. She was a grandmother of the Turtle clan, who did me the honour of attending one of my Active Dreaming circles. Invited to share a dream, she.told us that many years ago she had dreamed that two Native men came to the door of her cabin on the reservation and asked if she had a turtle rattle. When she produced one, they asked if they could use it while they taught her a healing song to help her people. She woke with the words of the song echoing in the room, but they quickly faded.<\/p>\n

\u201cGuess I\u2019m a slow learner,\u201d she said modestly, \u201cbecause it took fifteen years before those two guys turned up at my house in waking life. They asked me if I had a turtle rattle, just like in the dream. They taught me that song again, and this time I remembered.\u201d She offered to sing that song for our circle, and of course we eagerly accepted. As she sang and shook a large rattle made from the shell of a snapping turtle, we felt and saw the spirit animals pressing into our space, to guide and support. I saw a big standing bear walk into the group and open its chest to reveal a big medicine cabinet inside.<\/p>\n

In that moment, the healing wisdom of the ancient Iroquoian dreamways was plainly revealed. We saw not only that it is possible to see the future in dreams, but that the events of our waking lives may be born in the dreamworld. We saw how dreaming can put us in touch with sacred sources of healing. We saw how a dream that wants to take root in the world can open a space between the worlds where extraordinary healing is possible.<\/p>\n

For more on the traditional shamanic dream practices of the Iroquois, please read Dreamways of the Iroquois<\/a>: Honoring the Secret Wishes of the Soul\u00a0<\/em>by Robert Moss. Published by Destiny Books.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Long before the first Europeans arrived, the Six Nations of the Longhouse, or Iroquois, taught their children that dreams are the single most important source of both practical and spiritual guidance. The first business of the day in an Iroquois village was dream-sharing, as dreams were messages from the spirits, and the deeper self, and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":224,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[78,38,35,5,20,22,42],"tags":[696,96,695,226,697],"class_list":["post-3436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ancestral-traditions","category-ancient-religions","category-dreaming-in-religion","category-dreams","category-history-of-dreaming","category-shamanic-dreaming","category-shamanism","tag-father-jacques-bruyas","tag-iroquois","tag-jesuit-relations","tag-mohawk","tag-oneida"],"yoast_head":"\nIroquois dreaming: for survival, soul, and good luck - Dream Gates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/10\/dreaming-for-survival-soul-and-good-luck.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Iroquois dreaming: for survival, soul, and good luck - Dream Gates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Long before the first Europeans arrived, the Six Nations of the Longhouse, or Iroquois, taught their children that dreams are the single most important source of both practical and spiritual guidance. The first business of the day in an Iroquois village was dream-sharing, as dreams were messages from the spirits, and the deeper self, and…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/10\/dreaming-for-survival-soul-and-good-luck.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Dream Gates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-10-24T12:16:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-10-13T22:30:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/dreamgates\/files\/2011\/10\/Dreamways-of-the-Iroquois.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Robert Moss\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Iroquois dreaming: for survival, soul, and good luck - Dream Gates","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/10\/dreaming-for-survival-soul-and-good-luck.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Iroquois dreaming: for survival, soul, and good luck - Dream Gates","og_description":"Long before the first Europeans arrived, the Six Nations of the Longhouse, or Iroquois, taught their children that dreams are the single most important source of both practical and spiritual guidance. 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He is the creator of Active Dreaming, an original synthesis of dreamwork and shamanism. Born in Australia, he survived three near-death experiences in childhood. He leads popular seminars all over the world, including a three-year training for teachers of Active Dreaming. A former lecturer in ancient history at the Australian National University, he is a best-selling novelist, journalist and independent scholar. His nine books on dreaming, shamanism and imagination include Conscious Dreaming, Dreamways of the Iroquois, The Dreamer's Book of the Dead, The Three \"\"Only\"\" Things, The Secret History of Dreaming, Dreamgates, Active Dreaming and Dreaming the Soul Back Home: Shamanic Dreaming for Healing and Becoming Whole. His most recent book is The Boy Who Died and Came Back: Adventures of a Dream Archaeologist in the Multiverse. Over the past 20 years, he has led seminars at the Esalen Institute, Kripalu, the Omega Institute, the New York Open Center, Bastyr University, John F. Kennedy University, Meriter Hospital, and many other centers and institutions. He has taught depth workshops in Active Dreaming in the UK, Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Romania, Brazil and Austria and leads a three-year training for teachers of Active Dreaming. He hosts the \"\"Way of the Dreamer\"\" radio show at www.healthylife.net. He has appeared on many TV and radio shows, ranging from Charlie Rose and the Today show to Coast to Coast and the Diane Rehm show on NPR. His articles on dreaming have been published in media ranging from Parade to Shaman's Drum.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.mossdreams.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/author\/rmoss"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/224"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3436"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3436\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3440,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3436\/revisions\/3440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}