Emus
The month of August has been filled to the brim with excitement. On the very first day of August, Olivia, who lives in England, dreamed of emus. This dream set the pace for the month.
"I stood there in the 'desert'", Olivia said of her dream, "when I suddenly saw a few emus, and then more and more, and then I couldn't understand why I hadn't seen them immediately, for they stood everywhere - all, but one or two, standing, sleeping. (But not in head in sand, like ostriches, instead sleeping, or even hibernating, in that position).
"Does anybody have any insight into what emu might stand for? Any habits of the birds? Any news snippets? (Apparently California has some emu farms?)"
Ilkin immediately replied from Turkey:
"I don't know if this can help you but we call emus as 'camel bird' in Turkish and I think it is same or similar around middle-east. You are also mentioning being at a desert in your dream. Both camels and camel birds (emus) are strong animals against hunger and thirst. They can smell sandstorms etc before they come, can use the fat and water they store under bad conditions etc. Camel birds' eggs used to hang to protect from spiders etc in houses and other places. There are hundreds years old camel bird eggs hanging in beautiful handmade carvings in Haia Sophia and many churches, mosques and antique palaces against poisonous spiders etc."
And from Australia, Kathy, who named the emu as the law bringer, the enforcer of the Australian Aboriginal tribes, said to Olivia a day later:
"Your Emu Dreaming has captured my dreaming mind!!! I hardly ever have dreams of aboriginal people BUT after your dream I have had two!
"For the RV (Remote Viewing) experiment - I dreamed in part of people looking for a lawyer (taking the sense of "law man" rather literally, I think - but the one chosen was a young WOMAN); and I also had Sam W. an Aboriginal poet in the dream as a possible contender! and I was on a community which was not really an Aboriginal community although I thought of it as that; and there were aboriginal elders coming in procession to choose the lawyer, having first cast their lot (small round bags containing stones/marbles).
"You would think that would have been enough - but NO.
"Today I had a short sleep in the afternoon - and more aboriginal dreaming! I dreamed that the Chief had died - and all the tribe had gathered - I was amazed that the entire tribe had gathered (and I knew they'd also be gathering at Cherberg - an Aboriginal settlement). Some supper had been made by my friend R. She had fed all of us with very little (I felt sorry that all the tribal people did not share in this). I noticed that although I'd arrived last, there was still a piece of bread and a piece of bacon (something I don't eat!!) left - the food was perfectly the right amount.
"AND I don't think Aboriginal dreaming is about individual dreams but about the essence of things (and that is how the thing lives and is connected to all else) - and hence also connected to how the tribe sees itself (their sense of identity) and of the tribe's possibilities - just my understanding after reading very little. I think the Aboriginal language of dreamtime and dreamings is not easily translated into our individual way of viewing things."
Kathy also suggested that, as the emu dream seemed to reflect an earlier dream Olivia had mentioned in the context of talking about Australian dream Shaman, Robert Moss, that Olivia might see what Moss had to say about emus too.
Within two days, Olivia wrote: "I had a brief, but very prompt, reply from Robert Moss in my inbox this morning. Just a couple of his comments:
"Perhaps the Emu People are dreaming YOU. ... ...the ancient ones of different traditions come looking for us, through dreaming..."
Then Olivia had another dream:
"Oh, wow!!" she said. "I had a dream last night, a rather abstract one, where I received instruction about water holes in the desert, and how keeping the water together, in holes, rather than it permeating the soil, prevented it from evaporising.
"The dream also had the image of a young girl, a child, of East Asian origin, but no other people. I wondered if that part related to my trying to dream with Kotaro, while he visited Hiroshima."
Hiroshima Day
August 6
On Hiroshima Day, Peace Bridge events took place in two major ways. In Melbourne, Australia members of the Peace Bridge Victoria, Nick and Janette, conducted a Peace Train Workshop as part of the Hiroshima Day events; and a display of children's Peace Train art, collected from Peace Bridge members around the world, was on display in the Town Hall.
In Japan, Kotaro traveled from Tokyo to Hiroshima. What began as a personal journey soon turned into an important process for the entire Bridge, as members from around the world sent small items to Kotaro like incense to burn and a folded paper crane.
On the train to Hiroshima, Kotaro said, he read Ilkin's beautiful poem "To All the Children of My Dreams." This poem can be found on the World Dreams web site at
http://www.worlddreamspeacebridge.org/aiddreams.htm
From Germany, Ralf sent a Haiku, from which Kotaro created a surprise. Here is Ralf's poem:
War--so easy to set the trees on fire
Peace--so long to grow the seeds
Now let's plant the forests for our children!
Kotaro spoke of the custom at Hiroshima of putting out memorial messages. He wrote:
"Thank you Ralf, I will send your message (only message and your name, no address) to one of my friend who live in Hiroshima. He will write down this message on a small wood block. I think I can send what it look like soon."
August 15: DaFuMu Dream of Water
In the meantime, another world crisis caught the attention of Peace Bridge members, that of children dying in Niger from drought and famine. Niger, the second poorest country in the world, relying mostly on agriculture, has been hard-hit in the past year with both drought and a plague of locusts. On August 10 Kathy revealed a plan for assistance to the people in Niger which we found so compelling that we gave it its own page on the World Dreams web site:
http://www.worlddreamspeacebridge.org/niger.htm
Beyond this, several of our friends in Baghdad were sick with dysentery from drinking polluted water, something that has plagued thousands in Iraq, where the infrastructure has been destroyed by war.
Olivia suggested that we should do a group focus on water, and that we could use the subject of water for the August DaFuMu Dreaming for World Peace coming up on the fifteenth of the month. "Every time we take a drink or use the loo..." she suggested, we could imagine all of the people of the world having safe, clean, drinkable water. And further, we could think of water filling the Reservoir at the Peace Bridge.
The dreams began immediately, amid a conversation of the synergistic power of group dreaming. In a response to one water dream from Ralf, May replied, "I have been reading Sarah Allen's book, The Way of Water. She quoted this paragraph from the book:
"Water, with its multiplicity of forms and extraordinary capacity for generating imagery, provided the primary model foe conceptualizing general cosmic principles. Both water and plants provide metaphoric roots or early Chinese ideas about time. (Earlier, quoting Confucius' contemporary Heraclites saying that you cannot step into the same river twice.) Water, in the form of the stream with a natural spring as its source, provides a model for ideas of both transience and continuity. Plants, with their annual patterns of change. .. in their reproductive continuum, for the concept of lineage..."
Apparently the emus were dreaming through all of us.
When Kotaro returned from Hiroshima, he had this tale to tell:
"Today, as I am get tired I cannot write long mail.
On my cell phone. It worked very hard in Hiroshima too. Today, at noon, I was walking around near by Hiroshima Station. And nature called me. When I was washing my hands, my cell phone seemed to decide to take a cool bath and jumped from my chest pocket into the stream of water. Woops! Too late. My cell phone is resting now to dry itself up. I don't know if it works."
And Dreams Come True
Close on the heels on the Hiroshima Day events, another drama began to unfold on the Peace Bridge, and across the world.
"Greetings from a mom on the front lines of peace in Crawford at the Crawford Peace House with Cindy (Sheehan) and her strong stand for peace," wrote Valley on August 13 from near President George W. Bush's ranch in Texas. Valley, one of three founders of the Crawford Peace House, was in the thick of things.
"My daughter has been here with me" she said, "and she is in love with Cindy, she is a hero to her. It is so wonderful for her to be involved with all of these strong women activists out here. I met the two women who started code pink today Medea and Jody. Ray McGovern is here for the rally Saturday.... We can all be inspired to take a strong stand against this war and keep pressuring our congressional representatives to be held accountable for bringing us into this war. We are also organizing an action in Dallas for the Sept. 24 action. This feels like the tide is changing and people are beginning to talk about the issues related to this war again."
At the same time, Ali, living in the midst of the chaos around the completion of the Iraqi constitution wrote:
Dear friends..
I would like to convey the pain and agony of my people here in Iraq,and in particular Baghdad.
Death Toll is going up and daily bombings are getting more brutal and savage.
No description can draw the bloody scene.....3 successive bombings( today morning ) in the same location, and the wounded people who survive the bombings had another one at the entrance of the nearby hospital. More than 50 were killed and about 80 wounded...
These bloody events are to be recorded and the I find no words to describe the pain and sadness every one here feel!!!!
Peace Bridge members began a nightly dreaming, praying and lighting candles for the people of Iraq.
Jeremy, returning to all this activity after an international peace conference in Poland, wrote from his home in South Korea:
"I am thinking of joining the Southern Peace Train (to Washington D.C. for the September 24 protest) - so many lies behind the war and nobody accountable - The DU poisoning is what scares me the most, and what I would speak out about. Even people at the above conference hadn't heard about it before - even the Attorney General of Delaware - a receptive woman whom I discussed it with."
For Jeremy, the original dreamer of the Peace Train dream which started the Peace Bridge on it's course of creating Peace Train art around the world, riding the Peace Train from New Orleans to Washington will be, quite literally, a dream come true. Read Jeremy's original Peace Train dream at:
http://www.worlddreamspeacebridge.org/peacetrain.htm
Another Peace Bridge dream which could be seen as precognitive was mentioned by Valley in another update from Crawford:
"Thanks for the support and offers of support for the Crawford Peace House. The donations are coming in and people are coming in droves and many of the finest volunteers I have ever seen. These people are committed and they are working very very hard to keep this action coordinated in Crawford.
"We have 50 bags of ice delivered each day, we provide meals 3 times a day for 500 people, we have two camps and one peace house, and around 10 shuttles running between the camps to transport people around. Five core groups are helping to organize with Cindy Sheehan, Gold Star Families, Military Families Speak Out, Veterans for Peace, Iraq Veterans against the War, along with Code Pink and Crawford Peace House.
"It is strange to see all the satellite tv trucks parked along the side of the road next to a cow pasture. The neighbors are getting tired of all the people driving around the road and the events we are having nightly in the main tent where we feed every one and have interfaith services and speakers and performers. It is about 2 miles from the Bush Ranch and right next to the Secret Service Check Point.
"Crawford is a place of miracles and the people and resources that are needed show up. We have had people from as far away as Alaska come down. It is a kind of spiritual pilgrimage for many people. We have a labyrinth in the peace garden that people take the time to walk and contemplate peace.
"We don't want to take away any of the resources from the good work that is going on here at the bridge. Just keep us in your dreams!
"This is another instance of a dream realized, when we first thought about Crawford as a peace house I had a dream of a long white banner that was from far away and it lead to Crawford that said Peace is the Way. Now so many people are making their way to Crawford to speak out against the war and work for peace. My son and I made a banner together from that dream that has been to many rallies since this war began. I will bring it to DC!"
In the midst of all this activity, a controversy broke out on the Bridge, when one member referred to the U.S. President as "Shrub." Was it respectful to air this kind of slur, some asked? Weren't we just showing our own aggression? It appeared that war might break out on the Peace Bridge, until discussion began to open a new space for everyone involved.
On August 27, May wrote:
Dear Jeremy, Olivia, Valley, Victoria, Ron, Louise, myself, and everybody: When I read the posts from some of you this morning, I felt "What a group!" I was impressed and inspired by all that you have said. The question came up to me after the reading: Is there legitmate place for hatred, anger, disgust, condescension, dispise, distrust...? What and where is the "best in us" and how do we balance -- is that it? -- and make room for all these human qualities. What is the alchemical process do we need. Then I recalled last night's dreams and they are:
BEARING THE BEST I am in a procession with a small group of people, probably all women, walking down hill on a street. I happen to be the first (no leadership implied). It's all very grey, the pavement and the sky. We each hold a box as if in a ceremony, respectfully. In the box (size of a shoe box but shallower) there are maybe six objects (artifacts?) -- in it, carefully partitioned to keep them in place. They are precious objects for some reason. We are careful that they stay in place and are safe. I look at mine and others also notice, that I have the "best" of whatever it is. I feel good, realizing that I am fortunate to have the best. I wonder for a moment of perhaps the reason of why or how come I happened or worked for what turned out to be the best. There is a mild realization that I worked for this end result. EOD
THE BEST AGAIN There is a second dream just before I woke up but I could only remember a little part of it.
I am also walking in front of a small group of people and also about I have the best of whatever it is, maybe clothing, the long, classical Chinese garment I have on. Again, I am surprised by it. EOD
Somehow, I connect these dreams with what has been taking place here on the Bridge. In both dreams, I was surprised when I found out that I had the best. In relation to the recent Bridge posts I felt I am in touch of the best of this group, therefore, it all became part of my Self. I incorporated all the qualities in you. It is also true, that, in recent months, I've had several dreams that I could only understand as some good things in me are beginning to consolidate, to surface, to be realized. So, these two little ones are also part of that process. As you all know, I hope, by now, that I am quite capable of experiencing and expression anger and even cruelty but I do believe in the fundamental "good" in me and in most people I know in my life and you are all part of my inner and outer life.
Ali, touched by the discussion, wrote from Baghdad:
Dear Victoria: and all friends and dreamers.
I believe that there are many things that we can do. exchange of ideas can evoke others to think and brain storm their minds ...
What to do
Who do what, and when.
Each one can dream of peace and tranquility.
Each one can pray and ask His Lord for more stability and peace for the Humanbeings and to behave in Human way.
Every one can light a candle and that might ligh the pathway in our dark hostile paths that are full of criminals and merciless mercineries......
The wish list will never end....
But dear friends I feel so good to have your reflections and that is really impressive. I usually have print out of these electonic encounters and show it to
my colleagues in the hospital and else where to prove to them, that we are not alone.
Ali
If you would like to know more about the work of The World Dreams Peace Bridge, take a look at our web site at
http://www.worlddreamspeacebridge.org, and if you would like to join us in discussion, just send a post to
worlddreams-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
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