Abstract Index Conference Index

ABSTRACT

1. Type: Workshop (2-hour)

2. Title: Tracking the Spirit: Contemporary Shamanic Dreamwork

3. Biography-Tom Crockett, M.F.A., is a writer, teacher, and shamanic counselor. He is the editor of Dream Artist Tribe: A Newsletter of Urban Contemporary Shamanism. He is the author of The Artist Inside: A Spiritual Guide to Cultivating Your Creative Self (Broadway Books, 2000), and Turtle Island Dreaming (Warner Books, 2000). He is a student and apprentice in cross-cultural shamanic practice and maintains a private shamanic counseling practice.

4. Summary of Presentation-A shaman or a shamanic counselor is primarily concerned with issues of balance. When energy or spirit is out of balance, illness and disease manifest. This workshop will explore the practical ways (ceremony, dream reading, dream enactment) in which contemporary shamanic dreamwork addresses issues of balance in the life of individuals.

5. Learning Objectives-
o Participants will learn how ceremony can create a safe container for shamanic dreamwork.
o Participants will understand the different ways dreams can be used to track the imbalance of spirit or energy that is affecting a client.
o Participants will practice dream reading and dream enactment as a process to detect imbalance and restore balance.
Questions-
1. How is the shamanic understanding of dreams different from other contemporary models?
2. How does ceremonial dreamwork shift the relationship of healer and client?
3. What is dream enactment and why is it important to restoring balance in a client's life?

7. Workshop Requirements-This is a 2-hour workshop and requires open floor space for participants to sit in circle. Some of the more informal carpeted lounge rooms that we have used at Santa Cruz in the past would be best.

8. Abstract- A shaman is a healer who works at the boundary between the waking and the dreaming worlds. He or she is an experienced navigator in the unseen world. A growing number of contemporary urban healers are looking to this ancient indigenous practice for wisdom and guidance in the healing process. A kind of new dreamwork is emerging from this exploration-one that respects the integrity of the dream without treating it as a problem that must be solved.

Not all shamans around the world use dreams in the same manner. In some cultures only dreams of specific subjects would trigger a visit to a healer. Some shamans disregard a client's dream and instead dream for the client. Other shamans pay close attention to the details of the dream, while still others ignore the details in favor of the story or pattern being revealed. But, when they do address the dreams of clients or their own healing dreams, they do so with some similarities. Dreams are always shared or held within the vessel of ritual or ceremony-in essence they are removed from the time-space continuum of everyday life. The spiritual or energetic state of the client is read through the dream. Particular attention is paid to signs of imbalance and the loss of reciprocal relationship to the community and the world. Finally, a dream will trigger some kind of action or enactment that rebalances or reestablishes right relationship with the seen and unseen worlds.

This approach and the techniques of shamanic dreamwork can be valuable additions to a contemporary healer's practice. In this workshop we will practice several simple ceremonial techniques that temporarily shift the dream outside of the concerns of the waking world. We will then look at how a client's energetic or spiritual state is reflected in his or her dream. This "Tracking the Spirit" through the dream will be done experientially with group and dyad-based dream sharing. Finally we will discuss the idea of dream enactment and listen to what our dreams are calling us to do to rebalance our lives.

9. Biography
Tom Crockett is a writer, an artist, an educator, and a shamanic practitioner. After spending four years as an award-winning photojournalist in the United States Navy, Tom pursued undergraduate and graduate degrees in fine art. He is a summa cum laude graduate of Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. His Master of Fine Arts, with an emphasis in photography, is from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.

Tom is the author of The Artist Inside: A Spiritual Guide to Cultivating Your Creative Self (Broadway Books, 2000). This book is a guide and manifesto for a spiritually awakened approach to artistic expression and creativity. It draws on the work Tom has done both as an art teacher and a shamanic practitioner. Helping people find "The Artist Inside" has become a passion for Tom-a kind of shamanic retrieval for the creative soul.

Working the intersection of dreams and visionary artwork drew Tom to shamanism. He has studied shamanism and energetic healing for 10 years, doing work in Core Shamanism through the Foundation for Shamanic Studies, Celtic Shamanism with Tom Cowan, and shamanic healing with Bradford Keeney. Tom is a Reiki practitioner and has studied bioenergetic healing with Mietek Wirkus. Tom has worked with indigenous healers in Mexico, and, in 1998, began an apprenticeship in Paqowachu (Peruvian Shamanism) under the guidance of Shaman and Ceremonialist, Oscar Miro-Quesada.

Tom currently directs ArtQuest, a multicultural arts-based mentoring program at the Hermitage Foundation in Norfolk, Virginia. This program for area high school students uses art and ceremony as a kind of urban tribal initiation program. With adult groups, Tom teaches a form of urban contemporary shamanic practice synthesized from the traditions he has studied. He conducts Dream Artist Path apprenticeships, and weekend workshops in addition to seeing clients as a shamanic counselor. He has conducted dream sharing groups alone and with David Gordon, Ph.D. for over three years. He is the editor of Dream Artist Tribe: A Newsletter of Urban Contemporary Shamanic Practice.

Tom is a member of the Foundation for Shamanic Studies and the Association for the Study of Dreams. He is 43 years old and lives in Norfolk, Virginia.