The Physical Path

When you prepare to go into dreamtime, the first thing you do is alter your awareness. Physically, that involves switching your relationship with gravity (magnetic pull) from the vertical to the horizontal plane. The act of lying down automatically readjusts your body workings, changes your relationship to Earth Mother, prepares you for the soul journey.

The First Physical Task

One aspect of the physical path, then, involves daily attention to the needs of the body at bedtime. The dreamer must learn what kinds of foods to eat and liquids to drink in the evening to allow the body its best rest. This practice is highly personal. There's no "dreamer's diet."

It's important to be particularly attentive to food and exercise on a moon power day. Remember, the moon power day occurs on the day of each month that the moon moves through the exact sign and degree it reflected at your birth. These days usually bring important dreams and it's beneficial to be in a state of consciousness that allows the body to rest -- not requiring it to process physical "stuff."

Some dreamers also set a stage for dreamtime. Using the Jewish prayers as Entering the Temple of Dreams delineates, burning essential oils in a diffuser, creating a dream altar near the head of the bed, using a dream catcher . . . all these things help the dreamer focus on the fact that she is about to move into a parallel dimension and that it is a sacred journey on which she embarks.

The Second Physical Task

The second aspect of the physical path involves movement at waking time. The dreamer comes out of sleep realizing that she's been traveling in her dream body. That body carries itself differently, with fewer limitations and restrictions than the waking body. Transition between the two is extremely important. The first movements a dreamer makes when she awakens determine the process of integrating the dreamtime journey with the waking reality. Most people simply jump out of bed, begin the hustle bustle, and ignore the transition. This is physically jolting and unhealthy for a dreamer. Dreaming demands a level of conscious integration between the two bodies. The dream body must turn the power of movement over to the waking body with grace and dignity. Otherwise the dreamer is walking in disorientation throughout the day.

The movements one makes to create this transition are up to the individual. Some dreamers do stretching, some a tai chi form, some use Reiki, some use the Jewish morning prayers. Whatever the movements, they need not take long, but they need to be a part of the dreamer's morning ritual. This change of bodies (changing of the guard, if you will) is much more important than you can imagine. A part of what keeps us unaware of the power of dreaming is the lack of communication between the bodies.

The Third Physical Task

The third aspect of the physical path involves attention to the thirteen cycles of a dreamer's year. Every woman has thirteen dreaming cycles per year. This may or may not parallel a twelve month year on the sun calendar. I'm referring to the "moon" or menstrual cycles, which roughly follow the thirteen lunar months of a year. A woman in normal menstrual flow experiences thirteen flows per year. We learn from charting that certain times of the cycle bring the body into specific alignments with the moon, therefore with dreaming. A woman who is post menopausal, who has had a hysterectomy, who is for any other reason not flowing, or a male dreamer also has these thirteen cycles. They are measured by the monthly moon power day rather than the menstrual flow. You must learn as an individual exactly what days of your cycle are most important to your dreaming.

You'll also learn that the dreaming is different in the summer than in the winter. Your biorhythms in both dream body and physical body change dramatically with seasons. Equinox and solstice dreams bear remarkable resemblances from year to year. If you have a journal, go back and look at your seasonal dreams and you'll see what I mean.

This kind of body awareness allows the dreamer a wider spectrum of understanding about the life force in general. Dreaming and working with the dreams in this way literally changes the Earth Walk. It puts you deeply in touch with your physical patterns, helps you understand them and love them, assists you in honoring your multi-dimensionality.