{"id":4080,"date":"2012-01-19T09:39:08","date_gmt":"2012-01-19T14:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/dreamgates\/?p=4080"},"modified":"2012-01-19T13:50:40","modified_gmt":"2012-01-19T18:50:40","slug":"make-it-up-as-you-go-along","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2012\/01\/make-it-up-as-you-go-along.html","title":{"rendered":"Make it up as you go along"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Marc Chagall, "The Poet Reclining"<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

At one of my week-long retreats at the Esalen Institute in California, I invited the group to journey, with the aid of shamanic drumming, to bring back a power song. I explained that in shamanic terms, a power song may be a tool for one or all of many important purposes. It may be a “wing song” to help your spirit fly. It may be a healing song, to be sung over others. It may be a song to call spirit allies, perhaps one in particular.<\/p>\n

Having the right songs is central to shamanic practice. This is revealed in the language of indigenous dreaming peoples. Among the Temiar-Senoi of the Malaysian rainforest, one of the most important gifts of dreaming is a norng. <\/em>The word has a dual meaning. A norng i<\/em>s a song, and it is also a road. The right dream song will help you find you road in this world, and in the world-behind-the-world.<\/p>\n

The Esalen session went well. Some of the journeyers brought back songs of long ago, in the language of their ancestors. Some brought songs that were fresh and new. My favorite was this song, which burst through a woman from Minnesota:<\/p>\n

Make it up as you go along<\/em>
\nMake it up as you go along<\/em>
\nMake it up as you go along<\/em>
\nThe way will show the way<\/em><\/p>\n

The invitation was irresistible. We joined hands and sang and danced together. We did not need to be told that the words of this hymn to imagination aren’t meant to be memorized and are never fixed. Soon we were improvising.<\/p>\n

Shake it up as you go along<\/em>
\nBake it up as you go along<\/em>
\nFake it up as you go along<\/em>
\nLife will show the way<\/em>
\nThe star will light the way<\/em>
\nThe tiger knows the way<\/em>
\nThe dream may be the way<\/em>
\nMake it up!\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

I have people sing this song in many of my playshops, always in those devoted to releasing the artist, writer and creator within. I sing it to myself on days when I need to let my imagination roam free. The song works like a charm because it is<\/em> a charm. Make it up!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  At one of my week-long retreats at the Esalen Institute in California, I invited the group to journey, with the aid of shamanic drumming, to bring back a power song. I explained that in shamanic terms, a power song may be a tool for one or all of many important purposes. It may be…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":224,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,25,34,3,42],"tags":[949,948,946,950,947,951,952],"class_list":["post-4080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-active-dreaming","category-conscious-living","category-creativity","category-imagination","category-shamanism","tag-dream-song","tag-esalen-institute","tag-make-it-up","tag-norng","tag-power-song","tag-senoi","tag-temiar"],"yoast_head":"\nMake it up as you go along - 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\/2012\/01\/make-it-up-as-you-go-along.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Make it up as you go along - Dream Gates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"  At one of my week-long retreats at the Esalen Institute in California, I invited the group to journey, with the aid of shamanic drumming, to bring back a power song. 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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\/4080","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=4080"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4080\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4085,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4080\/revisions\/4085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}