Click here to return to forum Dreaming the Family Spirit: A Story Continues Shannon Bodeau and Carol Bodeau Carol: From the time I was a small child, dreams have played a central role in my emotional, spiritual and relational life. I have always understood myself to be part of a family of dreamers my grandmother, my maternal aunt, my youngest brother, myself, and now my daughter all have precognitive, telepathic, and collective dreams. Of course, I am blessed to have an experienced dream teacher and scholar in the family: Jean Campbell, whom many in the dream community know. From an early age, Jean mentored me in managing the heritage of dream abilities that I grew up with. There are innumerable stories in the family of shared dreaming, including one memorable moment when a casual conversation revealed that I, my youngest brother, and our mother had all been dreaming of, and in, the same unusual house for many years. Because I had been working actively on my dreams for many years, often with Jean s direct support and guidance, it was no huge surprise to me when, in the early 1990s, the collective dream and vision experiences reported in Jean s Psiberdreaming article, Dreaming the Family Spirit began.
In one of our regular phone calls, as Jean prepared to visit her mother (my grandmother) in a nursing home, Jean reported a frightening dream centered around a shape changer named Sheena, who was headed to California (where I lived at the time). Jean was surprised when I revealed that I, too, had met Sheena in my dreams. This co-dreaming alone was surprising. But then in Michigan days later, grandma reported to Jean that a frightening woman named Sheena was living in the nursing home and writing the scripts for grandma s days. This was plenty of evidence that we were all co-dreaming Sheena. Jean and I took it seriously and spent many years talking about her, as she appeared in our dreams. Even more shocking, though, was how my daughter, Shannon, (who was born within weeks of grandmother s death a year after grandma, Jean, and I first met Sheena), became part of the story. As Jean recounts, Shannon began to dream of Sheena at an early age, and has since become an active agent in transforming the family spirit that redhaired, Celtic warrior Sheena in ways we could never have predicted. Jean asks the question, What sort of dream character appears repeatedly in the dreams of multiple members of the same family? Jean and I initially answered that question by seeing Sheena as the archetypal feminine energy of our line, and by working with her as a symbolic representation of our collective experiences. But Shannon has changed all that. Rather than seeing Sheena as a static archetype, Shannon has actively engaged Sheena and, in so doing, has transformed her for all of us. In the process, she has literally healed and transformed the energies of our lineage.
Shannon: When I first met Sheena, I was too young to realize that the blue jean-clad swordswoman had come to me as anything other than a playmate. The first dream I remember sharing with her, she pushed me on a swing set, laughing and joking as I flew higher and higher into the air. I was almost frightened when my mother seemed so amazed by her appearance! She was simply a person to me one of many psychic companions that accompanied me on my childhood adventures both in this world and in the world of my subconscious.
Of course, I quickly learned that Big Kids don t have imaginary friends, and I resolutely attempted to forget these companions during my puberty-fueled efforts to become what I considered normal. Unfortunately for my middle school social standing, not all of my imaginary friends were as keen to let go as I was. Even as I tried to push further away from the strange life of my family, I still found myself drawn night after night into dreams that felt almost more real than waking life. Of these, one that stood out more than most found an adult, pregnant version of me fighting wildly and skillfully against a horde of invaders as I carried a baby strapped to my back. And right alongside me stood Sheena, her own swords whirling. Around that same time, she came to me in the shape of a mountain lion and announced that she would be both guide and protector to me. Carol: As Shannon began to grow from baby to child to teen and young woman, Jean and I noticed decided differences in the Sheena that appeared in our dreams. I distinctly remember her becoming increasingly friendly, and receptive to communicating with me. In one dream, we were in a swimming pool and I remember being shocked that she no longer looked fierce or angry, but seemed rather playful and happy. And she actually looked questioningly at me, as if to ask, So, do you think we re actually going to be friends? Jean and I discussed how Sheena was transforming from what I would describe as a frightening but non-interactive presence, to a companion and collaborator. And Shannon often reported meeting with her in dream space, which I found fascinating. At about this time, things began to shift in our family relationships, as well. Shannon has a knack for seeing, naming, and engaging family energy patterns. She has always questioned me directly about energies or spirits that I ve silently noticed but not named to her, and she is courageous and determined in addressing how they shape her life, through her lineage. Without a doubt, Shannon s direct engagement with Sheena was changing how Jean and I saw her, and also how Sheena actually was, and is.
Shannon: As I have grown and matured, Sheena has remained a consistent presence in my world. She routinely shows up in art that I create and dreams that I have, and will even pop up occasionally in my mind simply to remind me to meditate or to take time for what is true for me. Although I can understand how her ferocity and fire might be intimidating and frightening to those who aren t used to them, they simply seem like powerful aspects of my being. Rather than fear Sheena s warriorship, I have worked and continue to work to understand the best uses for it. And in return, both she and I have found increasing opportunities for softness and kindness.
However, after several months had passed following the spirit s release, he appeared to me again in a waking vision. In this vision, he removed his mask to reveal the face beneath. I had seen his human face once before, in a dream I d had as a 10 year-old, in which he d escorted me to the center of both the earth and my own power. Since the deer spirit removed his mask, he has appeared to both me and my family in several forms, including a man with a skull mask, the young man from my childhood dream, and a man with a buck s head. Much like Sheena, he has become an ally and a guide, rather than an opponent. Carol: Clearly, Shannon has entered into relationship with these family dream figures whom other family members have seen and experienced in a completely different way. She has embraced them, embodied them, and claimed them as aspects of herself that can be transmuted and transformed. In so doing, she has shaped family relationships in wonderful ways. Most recently, she has become close to the uncle who shares the family dream abilities, and the two of them work together with deer spirit. She has created ritual in which he and I respectively embody Sheena and the deer spirit, in order to empower and heal not only those present, but our whole familial line. And she has found ways to create new realities for herself, and for all of us through direct interaction with these figures, which originally appeared in dreams but have since become something much greater, and much more co-creative, in our lives. For me, Shannon s connection with Sheena has heralded a new interest in, and connection with, the family s actual genealogical heritage. Since Shannon started talking to Sheena and the deer spirit, we as a family have come to understand much more deeply the origins of our family lines (from Scotland, Ireland, England and the Alsace region of France), and we have a much deeper sense of connection to one another and to our own family history. Sheena is no longer just a character on a psychological landscape, but rather a powerful ally and collaborator as we create new possibilities for future generations.
Shannon: Even after years of dreaming with Sheena, I am still amazed by the new aspects of her which I discover. Most recently, I dreamed that I was not merely accompanied by Sheena, but actively living out her story through her eyes. Just as Jean described her in the initial article, Sheena/I was a shapeshifter, who actually interacted with characters that I ve been engaging with through written and drawn stories. I could feel the line between stories which I tell, stories which I dream, and stories which I live blurring even more than they had before.
Dreaming combined with storytelling seems to offer a powerful tool through which to shape both waking and subconscious life, but also one with responsibilities that I find humbling. In my dream as Sheena, it became clear to me that in order to bring my deepest sense of self and family into alignment, I must bring the stories which I tell about myself into alignment with the universe s movement towards peace and wholeness. Recalling my great-grandmother s communications with Sheena, I remember her statement that Sheena writes the scripts for the next day. My moments of embodying Sheena have revealed to me the ability that each of us has to write and re-write our own scripts, not just for ourselves, but also for those around us. Dreaming grants us access to a world where we may choose to befriend our powerful internal energies and archetypes, which in turn offer infinite chances for healing and transformation. By transmuting our stories and those of our families, we empower ourselves to move towards lives which bring peace, joy, and beauty into the world.