Category: Denise

(Friday, May 24, 2013)  Over a year ago I picked up a book at Garrison Keillor’s bookstore by Gwen Westerman, Bruce White and Glenn Wasicuna called “Mni Sota Makoce, the Land of the Dakota.” I opened it to an image of my ancestor, Wabasha II. Of course I bought the book, but only began reading it last night.

So many things I did not know! The Dakota say that their origins are in the Milky Way (Star People, Wicahpi Oyate) but came to earth at the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers, at Mendota (Bdote):

“When the world was created, Kunjsi Maka, Grandmother Earth, was just a rock, and she was chosen to hold life. The moons, the planets, the stars and the sun agreed to help her with the task she was given. Before the earth was made there was water everywhere; no land was to be seen. The Creator then made the animals that have fur and those that swim in the water. This was the beginning of everything.

“When the world was still covered in water, the Unkthi, a powerful water spirit, sent some of the animals down into the water one by one to reach the bottom to find some clay. Many animals tried but were unsuccessful and died. The muskrat took his turn, dove into the water, and after a long time surfaced with a paw full of clay. From this small amount, land was made and placed on the turtle’s back.”

The legend is that Unkthi lives under the water at Mendota, near the sacred sites of Oheyawahi (Pilot Knob) and Mni Sni (Coldwater Spring).

My ancestor attended the 1851 treaty negotiations in Mendota, held at the Faribault house, which is now part of Fort Snelling State Park. He refused to negotiate.  The house sits in a hollow at the north edge of Mendota, a favorite snowshoeing spot for me and my coworkers this winter.

In the past 25 years, I have been employed at either Mendota or Shakopee (present-day home of the Wabasha clan and the Mdewakanton Dakota). I used to think this was completely by chance. My family also owned a log cabin on Mille Lacs when I was growing up; this is another sacred site (Bde Wakan, Spirit Lake).

I am stunned by the creation story most of all. My Big Dream of the muskrat (several years ago now) has Dakota origins; the only muskrat creation story I had been able to find up until this point was Ojibwe. I need to post that dream!

(Friday, May 10, 2013)  I am staying in an upstairs bedroom at my mother’s house. She has just moved into a modern-day mansion: new, clean and sparsely furnished. I’m observing my young self having an episode of sleep paralysis. I’m also experiencing the nightmarish feeling of the paralysis, so in this dream scene I have a dual consciousness. I can “see” the head of a grey alien at the back of my young body. The alien is wispy and translucent; it doesn’t seem to exist in the physical dimension. My young dreaming self tries to kill the alien with her mind. She is successful. The alien shrinks in size and fades away. My observing self is a bit alarmed at the girl’s viciousness and her sense of complete terror.

When I wake up from the dream within the dream, I see the bedroom has two closets, one with a black door (to my right) and one with a white door (directly in front of me). I open the black door to find lots of wiring. It’s an IT (Information Technology) cabinet. The white door opens to a simple clothes closet, completely empty. I toss my pajamas inside.

I dress and head out to my job. I work as a graphic designer in a large company. Louis Hall is my boss (as he is in waking life). I realize I need to quit this occupation, this phase of my life, so I hand him my resignation.

I feel free, but also regretful. I didn’t get any samples of the work I have been doing, which will make it nearly impossible to get placed with a creative agency. I admit this rather shamefully to the receptionist as I prepare to leave the office one last time. She smiles cheerfully. She has positioned an old wooden pew across the entrance/exit door, and I climb over it into my new life.

At this point in the dream I rest. I allow recovery and renewal to take place. It’s a blank part of the dream with no images, like being in a chrysalis.

Suddenly I am in New Mexico. I think I fly there, superman style. In fact, when I arrive I have the body of a young, dark-haired man. The sky all around me is a heavenly, vibrant blue and I gasp in pleasure. I drink in the sky. I can feel it in every cell of my body.

I land a job at Los Alamos National Laboratory. I’m a scientist working to contact extra-terrestrials (ETs). My co-worker is a young dark-haired woman. I call her over to my computer because an extra-terrestrial intelligence is sending me instant messages (IM) on Skype.

I am incredibly excited, which makes my dyslexia kick in: my spelling goes haywire. My co-worker’s analytical brain finds my typing errors exasperating; she pushes me aside and provides the secretarial function, the accurate keystrokes for the communication.

Day notes:

I woke up this morning (my day off!) to a beautiful New Mexico-style sky. It made me shiver; I am really feeling some strange vibrating energy today.

Sky, Skype

Letter codes. DNA sequencing has four letters (A, C, T, G). Changing the sequence of the letters creates genetic change. (dream letter codes: I’M IT, I’M ET, TIME, EMIT)

Instant Message / Direct Transmission / Shaktipat

From the web: Shaktipat or Śaktipāta is a Sanskrit word in the Hindu spiritual tradition that refers to the act of the spiritual energy of kundalini being conferred on a disciple or student, by a guru or spiritual teacher in whom it is already active. Shaktipat can be intermediated by the spiritually enlightened master either by transmission of sacred word or mantra, a look, a thought or by touch … Shaktipat can be transmitted in person or at a distance, through an object such as a flower or fruit, or via telephone or letter.

From the web: Anandi Ma has compared the process to lighting one candle with another that is already lit and glowing. When the teacher is fully realized and the energy is completely within his or her control, shaktipat initiation ensures that the student’s energy will remain active and stable. Dhyanyogi explained, “Electricity is present everywhere, but there can be light only when the switch is turned on. Similarly the true guru manifests the consciousness in the disciple through shaktipat.”

(Wednesday, May 2, 2013)  I’m walking up a sidewalk on the edge of a hilly street in Santa Fe. I take a playful skip-step and a group of 20-somethings in the crosswalk behind me do the same, laughing. The man walking in front of me turns his head back and smiles at me. We are all in a very joyful mood. I think to myself, this is why I am happiest in the mountains: the people I meet are open and friendly.

I turn into a restaurant doorway, Café Pasqual, which has the reputation for being one of the best restaurants in Santa Fe. (I met the owner when I took my first class at Santa Fe Clay in 2006. Anne and I ate there last year, and Cullan and I a few years earlier.)

It doesn’t look like Pasqual’s, though. It’s much bigger, with several dining rooms instead of one tiny one (the real café is so small that patrons who have never met are seated at tables together). The hostess greets me and brings me to a small square table at the center of the main room. I feel really lucky to get in the door, much less have my own table at this legendary restaurant. The smiling man from the street is seated across from me, to my left. He looks like Dr. Sparrow of the IASD (a lucid dreamer).

I have a few tarot cards wrapped in silk in my left hand, which I place on the left side of the wooden tabletop. The waitress comes up on my right to greet me. (The entrance is at my back and the register is to my right, near a large bank of windows. I can see another row of windows in front of me.) I look up at her and begin to place my order. When she moves away, I gaze at the cards and notice that the stack has increased in depth; it appears to now be a full deck. The waitress returns, coming up from behind me this time, and silently places a tarot card, face up, on the right side of the table, near my right hand.

The top edge of the card is torn off. It’s a minor arcana card that depicts a woman standing alone, wearing a long, draped dress. When I awake, I don’t remember which card it is, but the only Rider options are the 8 of swords and the 9 of pentacles. I drew the 9 of pentacles this morning in my meditation, so I have to suspect it was that card.

Day notes:

Yesterday Bonnie sent me a photo of the card spread from our birthday party.

The form of this dream is the same as the Puma in the Meadow dream: a square shape (dining room/walking path) with a dream character in the center (me/puma). The character of the man on the street looks back at me, as does the puma. The terrain of both dreams is rolling hills; both dreams have kitchens that feed many people.

Pasqual: Easter child, Passover

9 of pentacles: self-discipline, ability to mother yourself, to give birth to a good life for yourself