Many of us have already experienced the ways in which nighttime dreams can provide information crucial to our healing. Shamanic teacher Isa Gucciardi calls dreams “emails from the higher self.” It’s not surprising that our higher selves would find it easier to reach us at night, since we’re all processing so much stimulation (and many of us are getting so many actual emails!) during our waking lives. When we’re asleep and our rational guard is down, non-ordinary communication can reach us more easily.
Still, some of us have trouble remembering our dreams, or connecting their messages with our waking lives – and few of us have developed the ability to formally consult with our higher selves in our dreams. Can you imagine how helpful it would be if you could request a dream on a particular topic, dream it in just a few minutes’ time without even having to go to sleep, and remember it perfectly? Further, can you imagine being able to use these waking dreams to request specific kinds of healing from your guides, and get more insight on any topic you choose? You can do all this and more with the tool of the shamanic journey.
Although the term shamanic journey refers to a specific practice which I’ll soon describe, many people have intuitively discovered some form of “journeying” on their own. Just as you may already be in contact with your guides even without having thought of it that way, you may also have found yourself able to access healing visions. Human beings seem to come equipped with structures in consciousness that make it easy for us to receive support, insight and healing from the symbolic realm. While such experiences come more easily to most of us during meditation or with the aid of consciousness-altering plant or pharmacologic substances, some of us access them simply by intending to – or sometimes even without intending to. (My own experience being visited by guides at age four is obviously an example of a “journey” I had no conscious intention of making.)
Yet people whose guides appear to them spontaneously often lack both a framework for understanding what is happening, and tools to help them take the contact further. In this case, the shamanic journey can help you better comprehend, trust, organize and make use of the non-physical support you’re already receiving. And if you haven’t previously found yourself able to access non-ordinary guidance, the shamanic journey can provide you with a safe, structured way to do so.