I was an only child who was very attached to my maternal grandparents, and I frequently stayed for days at a time at their place while my young parents worked many long hours to make a living. My grandparents — Mammy and Pappy, as I referred to them — lived right down a rural road from us in western Kentucky.

I was extremely close to my grandmother; to me, she was like a second mother and more. As I look back at our relationship, I realize we had a “soul contract” and were meant to be together for my important formative years, which acted as the template for the rest of my life.

Messengers from the Other Worlds

Mammy was of Dutch Irish descent, and she taught me about the natural world of trees, plants, rocks, and animals, much like a Native American grandmother would do. She was very much into fairies, leprechauns, and mythical creatures. She taught me to respect nature and to believe that everything was full of spiritual essence — that I could talk with the stones, the trees, and the animals, indeed, with all things found in nature.

My Mammy taught me to watch for “the signs” of things to come. Some of the other members of my family didn’t believe in signs and said they were old-time superstitions, but Mammy was a firm believer in messengers from the other worlds.

Morningtime: Talking About & Discussing Dreams

I don’t know how it began, but as far back as I can remember, my Mammy always taught me to talk about my dreams in the morning; we would discuss them and consider what they might mean. This seemed so natural and normal that I thought that every child did the same thing.

We talked about dreams coming true and being able to see into the future with dreams. While she didn’t call me psychic, she did say that I had “special gifts.” She thought I had an ability to read what she called “signs” — premonitions, omens, those kinds of things.

My abilities were a gift from God, she explained, and they were to be used wisely to help others and sometimes even myself. She said in time I would learn how to use this gift and others that I had and not to worry about it.

Dreamtime: Walking Into Other Worlds

I was taught from a very early age that when I went into the other worlds in the dreamtime, I could walk in that world and gather impressions from an energy field that today’s science might call “a creative matrix.”

When I woke up I could then bring some of the energy back with me to create things. In other words, I could learn from the future, although I didn’t call it that back then.

Creating a Pathway Between the Worlds

If I really wanted to bring the dream’s information back into this world, I would simply focus on my dream as I was starting to wake up, and I would make it very clear in my mind’s eye before I opened my physical eyes. Then I would write it down, draw a picture of what had happened in it, or talk to someone about my dream the next day, before I ate breakfast, before I had a chance to really “ground” myself back in this dimension with the body’s process of eating and digesting a meal.

If I didn’t want to bring back my impressions, I simply refrained from focusing on or discussing my dreams until after I had eaten. This allowed the dream’s energies to dissolve back into the other realms of existence.

In other words, giving special attention to and speaking out loud about the dream experience helped to create a pathway between the worlds, which made it easier for the dreams to manifest in my everyday reality. This reminds me of the scripture verse in the Bible that speaks about “the word made flesh.”

Reprinted with permission of the publisher,
Bear & Company, an imprint of Inner Traditions, Inc.
©2011. All Rights Reserved. www.innertraditions.com

This article was adapted from the book:

Visionary Shamanism: Activating the Imaginal Cells of the Human Energy Field
by Linda Star Wolf & Anne Dillon. 

Incorporating the wisdom teachings of Seneca Wolf Clan Grandmother Twylah Nitsch with shamanic journeys and shamanic breathwork practices, Linda Star Wolf and Anne Dillon explain how to heal the past, learn from the future, and activate the imaginal cells within our human energy field. The book explores how to develop a communication link with the universe, receive guidance from the universal mind, and draw information from the future to be more potent and powerful in the present, live in harmony with one another and the planet, and fully prepare yourself for the new world to come.

Click here for more info and/or to order this book on Amazon.

About the Authors

Linda Star Wolf has been a visionary teacher and shamanic guide for more than 35 years. She is the creator of the Shamanic Breathwork Process as well as the Shamanic Ministers Global Network and the Wise Wolf Councils. A spiritual granddaughter of Seneca Wolf Clan Grandmother Twylah Nitsch, Star Wolf is the author of Shamanic Breathwork and co-author of Visionary Shamanism, Shamanic Egyptian Astrology, Shamanic Mysteries of Egypt, and The Anubis Oracle. Visit her website at www.shamanicbreathwork.org.

Anne Dillon is an editor, Reiki practitioner, and student of the alternative healing arts.