When you realize you’re an intuitive, Big (Shamanic) Dreamer, it’s not uncommon to feel a bit alone in the world.
That’s because Western culture is not set up to help people who have strange experiences and see invisible things.
We’re often labeled as weird or woo-woo or any number of pejorative terms.
But I’ve met countless people who have crazy dreams and unusual waking life experiences who are quite sane and grounded, yet who have no idea how to work with these gifts.
I know what it’s like. I was one of them.
Called to be a Big Dreamer (also known as a Shaman)
My dreams have called me to a magical, mystical path, but for most of my life, I didn’t know what was happening.
My initiation into dreaming was hypnopompic. When I was five, I woke to find an animated farm scene on my bedroom wall. Horses were neighing. Cows were mooing. I was afraid, yet the imagery stayed locked in my mind, drawing me deeper into a life spent living in two worlds.
Walking and Waking Between Worlds
The more I dreamed, the more my dream life took center stage. But when I was 22 something strange started happening to me.
I started doing shamanic journeys without knowing that’s what they were, and received verifiable information during my quests.
I received psychic information in my dreams and in waking life.
I had spontaneous OBEs (out-of-body experiences) while asleep. I’d wake up in a liminal realm, where the world was blue and I was neither awake nor asleep. While in that space, I heard alien voices that asked me who I was. I told them I didn’t know.
I was confused. I felt alone. I had no idea what was going on. And the only people I could think of to ask for help didn’t know either.
Finally, I met a friend who suggested I read Robert Monroe’s books on OBEs. It helped tremendously, but still, I didn’t know why this was happening to me and I definitely didn’t know what to do about it.
Maybe these experiences are common, but I don’t think so. Rather, they may be an indication of a calling to become what we at the DreamTribe call a Big Dreamer – someone who has an innate ability to dream for information and healing purposes. In this context, I am not referring only to sleeping dreams, but waking dreams (visions) and shamanic dream journeys.
Perhaps if I had been born into another culture, to people who lived close to the earth, my abilities would have been recognized by my elders, signifying something meaningful. I will never know.
What I do know is that the shamanic path is the only one that has ever felt authentic to me, but as a white Westerner I didn’t know how to pursue this path with integrity.
In my late twenties, I dabbled in Lakota pipe ceremonies and sweat lodges, but it felt wrong, even though I participated with reverence and initiated Lakota leaders.
I missed my own indigenous heritage. I wanted to know what my Nordic-Germanic ancestors would have done. What my Jewish ancestors would have said. How my Celtic and Anglo-Saxon ancestors would have initiated me.
So I started dreaming about them.
Dreaming of my Ancestors
They came to me and showed me drums and ceremonies. Nordic ritual drums. Jewish mystical dances. Welsh ceremonies to help pass down power from generation to generation.
But I also had sleeping dreams of American Indian medicine people. They taught me, protected me and led me on vision quests. I dreamed of Sun Dances and ceremonies and wondered what it meant.
I even had a series of dreams about Huichol shamans, even though I know nothing about them. The curious thing about these dreams was that the shamans weren’t actually Huichol. One was a red-haired Scot and the other was Japanese. This juxtaposition seemed to be a message: we are people of the earth, and although our cultural heritage can shape and inform us, more important is the willingness to heed the call, regardless of cultural inheritance.
So after many years of fighting it, of denying it, of pretending like I didn’t know, I answered the call. I am a Big Dreamer. A soul healer. Or what some cultures might call a shaman.
What does it mean to be a Soul Healer in modern times?
In my work, I travel between worlds to gather information. In the process I help my clients retrieve lost soul parts, confront their demons and clear energetic blocks that prevent them from living in alignment with their soul’s purpose.
Many of my clients are healers in their own right, who like me were at one point (or still are) confused about how to navigate this tricky calling.
That’s because people called to this path have little context for it. Our culture doesn’t recognize this role. There is no obvious training, so many people end up following other cultures’ traditions, which can lead to feelings of resentment and appropriation, while other people choose a path of denial and end up ignoring their soul’s callings.
But then there are those who attempt to walk an authentic path, even though they have no teachers or guides to help them. It can be a solitary journey, in many ways, and sometimes quite lonely.
One of the reasons I founded the DreamTribe was to help usher in a new era of dream healers; to provide sanctuary for those who do not understand their initiation experiences, or their wild and crazy dreams. To create an authentic pathway that is not steeped in other cultures traditions, yet honors the old ways.
All of us on the DreamCouncil have our own version of this story. We — Atava, Katrina, Linda, Ryan and I — are committed to helping people like you explore your own path toward becoming a full-fledged Big Dreamer.
That’s why we’re sharing our dream stories with you. It’s our way of calling together a new tribe: a global group of healers, of dreamers, of conscious people who are ready to step more fully into the role of Big Dreamer.
It’s time. And we’re here to help.
What do you think? What is the role of the Big Dreamer in today’s society?
Share your thoughts below.
And, remember to share your own dream story here.
*Photo collage by Amy E. Brucker using Flickr.com images by Drown (butterfly), Chez Sugi (woman statue).
Thank you for sharing your story Amy. It was awesome and very comforting as I too have experienced many similar adventures and have felt very alone and separate: almost as if I am an alien….Ha!!
I also have been a dreamer since I was very young…as far back as I can remember. What a blessing. I so appreciate all the info on dreaming. Many heartfelt thanks!!
Cheers!
Victoria
Hi Victoria – nice to see you here at the DreamTribe. 🙂 Thanks for sharing and may your dreams continue to blossom.
Loved hearing your dream biography Amy!
What an awesome story. I don’t have psychic dreams. Every time I have a dream that I feel might be, it ends up not being true, (with the possible exception of when I occasionally dream about boyfriends/lovers) so I’ve realized I don’t have that gift. My mom dreams psychicly fairly often, though. It was neat reading your story. It sounds a bit like “Remote Viewing,” about which I just heard a podcast a couple days ago. This ability to cross the conscious/unconscious boundary intentionally to retrieve information. Really neat. I’m glad you found a way to make peace with it and make a living from it. I’m still trying to make peace with my gift…
If your mom has psychic dreams, you may be having them too and not just realize it. Psychic dream premonitions don’t always look exactly like their waking life counterparts. They may be symbolic premonitions. I’ve had dreams I never would have guessed were premonitions when they in fact were premonition dreams of events that happened 5 years after I had the dream. It might be interesting to see if you see how your dream symbols are related to future events.
Amy,
Thank you for sharing your story with such courage — sharing with your whole heart/coeur! 🙂 I remember when you first told me about the dream of the centaurs, walking around the pools… Who knew where that dream would lead you?! (Well, maybe deep down, you knew somehow.)
Also, congratulations on claiming the name and the calling of “Big Dreamer.” I am blessed to have you in my Life!
Thanks E. 🙂
Namaste Amy,
Thank you for such a wonderful article. As I was reading it, I was having those “a-ha” moments. Every single word resonates with me. I too have been a dream healer for many years and didn’t realize it until I was half way through my shamanic apprenticeship. In one of my journeys I was informed that I am a “dream-weaver”. And, that is the exact word that I received as well as images of dream catchers. Everything clicked after I received this message.
This is an exciting time to be here on Earth. For we are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the ones carrying out the ancestoral grand plan to marry shamanism with the dream world and share this to our fellow brothers and sisters. It’s exciting to be part of the dream change.
Also, I wanted to let you know that I feel like I’ve found more of my family members through this group. Thank you Amy, Atava, Katrina, Linda, Ryan!
In light and love,
Muriel
Welcome to the community, Muriel, and thanks for sharing your story. That’s what we hope to be: a dreaming family. 🙂
my name is jonATHAN 33 a curly haird women showd me a tribe in my dream than she called me dreamer i woke up freaked out went back to sleep she was in my face said dreamer didnt go back to sleep for a day
what does it mean wean you have dreamed of pepole and places you have never seen from yeaRS ago and now my dreams are coming to life i dont even no what i mean by that
july3 2015 i hade a mentel brackdown for 3 hours i was dayshavone i need help what is going on with me i thank diferntly now
and every now and than i fell a energy in my palms messing with my cats what is going on with me
i must be crazy