The Dreamtime: Exploring the Left Side

A Journey into Wonder and the WildOctober 2-5, 2015 -- Putney, VT

In the Toltec worldview of Carlos Castaneda, human beings are fields of energy in interaction with a magical universe. Teachings for the right side -- ordinary awareness -- focus on handling the known in a non-ordinary way. Corresponding practices for the left side, called dreaming, involve stepping outside the self we know into a more fluid and mysterious reality. This workshop involves instruction and immersion in this ancient paradigm through invoking the great powers and spirit in nature, and practices for moving beyond the boundaries of personal reality into a broader and more fluid perception of self and world.

The myth of modern psychology -- its focus and truth -- is that our lives are determined by our past: our personal history, wounds and childhood experience. The myth of the ancient world -- its focus and truth -- is that our lives are, or can be determined from another place: our future or destiny, if we follow the voice of the spirit, the calling of our soul.

We sit in the present, the axis where past and future meet. We have a decision to make:will our lives and identity be determined by where we have come from or where we are going?

In the ancient maps of consciousness non-rational states were cultivated, and a cornucopia of methods were developed to achieve expanded energies and states of ecstatic union. Through simple but profound practice -- working in caves, speaking to the fire, chant, dance, and the doorway to trance -- we will reclaim and remember this natural heritage of being human, experiencing a larger sense of ourselves and the healing it can bring to our lives and people.

This week is for men and women who want to open to deeper levels of their being, to a vision beyond their personal stories. Our program includes rituals of release, but its focus is on our greater selves. Making peace with the past and our personal history is a prerequisite for broader states of awareness, but by itself insufficient… Removing the blocks to climbing the mountain does not tell you how to get there.

We will perform exercises to embrace the unknown and align ourselves with energies both immediate and eternal, finding our true nature in nature. Learning to perceive the ‘Spirit in all things’ as a living presence in our lives, we’ll dance with the ephemeral tracks of dream until we find solid footing on a path with heart.

“Nature is the visible face of the spirit where the soul goes for rest, renewal, and vision. Buddha, Christ, Mohammed, and prophets through the ages sought vision in the wilderness. There lay the Source of their existence, the holy ground where Earth, Spirit, Nature, and God are one.”

Guides: Sparrow Hart has been leading vision quests and rites of passage across the US for the last 25 years, and has undertaken 30 quests of his own. He is the founder of Circles of Air and Stone, www.questforvision.com, creator of the Mythic Warrior training program, and teaches courses and workshops on shamanism, the hero’s journey, and finding the path of heart. He is a father, writer and counselor, lover of the Spirit, and dedicated to the task of bringing the ancient teachings into the modern world.

Sparrow will be assisted by Willie Allison, a lover of the wild and natural in the human and non-human world. Willie has studied massage and

Oriental medicine, worked as a nurse and in Hospice, and has been actively exploring and cataloguing dreams for 15 years.

Registration and costs:

The workshop will take place at a beautiful house in southern Vermont with view of Mt. Monadnock to the east. The cost is $650 and directions to where we will meet and a list of what to bring will be sent to you upon registration.

To register, send a $300 deposit to: Circles of Air and Stone; P.O. Box 48; Putney, VT 05346. For information contact Sparrow at (802-387-6624), sparrow@together.net or visit the website at www.questforvision.com

INVITATION

If you are a dreamer, come in,If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar,

A hope-er, a magic bean buyer...If you're a pretender, come sit by my fire

For we have some flax-golden tales to spin.Come in!

Come in!--Shel Silverstein