Dreaming on Lake Atitlan
Finding Comfort And Meaning Half a World Away
It was like a dream, stepping off the boat and entering a world defined by a glistening blue basin of a lake, watched over in the distance by a trio of majestic volcanoes. The fringes of thatched-roof buildings rustled in the wind, and colorful blossoms dotted tangles of lush green vegetation.
It was a dream come true for me, to be spending a week and a half in Guatemala as part of a writing and yoga retreat. I’d long wished to spend time in the land of the Mayan people, who descend from some of our planet’s original dreamers.
The joy of walking through the Guatemalan highlands on the shores of Lake Atitlan was beyond description, and would have been complete, if not for the feeling that a disturbing dream was unfolding back home in the States. News was seeping in, like a series of warning tremors before a dangerous eruption: Immigration bans against people with every legal right to enter the country, nightmarish threats to religious freedom, and unprecedented tests of political power.
I tried to keep that world at bay, as I explored my new surroundings: An eco-friendly retreat center featuring rustic gardens, and breathtaking views. I climbed some 55 stone steps from the dock to reach the cabin that would be my temporary home. Outside was a hammock from which I could glimpse the lake. Inside, I opened closet and cabinets to find a stash of bottles with a Mayan woman on the yellow and blue label and Spanish words I couldn’t translate. Not knowing what it was, I tried to unscrew the top of one, but it was stuck shut. Intrigued and curious, I placed the full bottle beside my bed.
That night, when I closed my eyes to sleep, the beauty of my new surroundings faded, and the dystopian headlines from home filled my head and kept me from settling in to deep sleep. I tried to shift my focus and invite dreams of peace for my country.
Instead, I slid into dreams of soldiers and missing people who’d been “disappeared” by a rogue government. Then there were dreams within dreams in which I was running, trying to tell others about the injustices I’d witnessed. Over the course of this dream, I encountered two of my friends from waking life who study and practice shamanism. One of them was seated with her back to me and a baby in her lap. I tapped her shoulder, and she turned to me and said, “You need caring.”
Just then, a dark-skinned man appeared beside me. Without a word, he reached out and touched his fingertips to the skin at the center of my chest. Instantly my fevered fear and tremulous anxiety disappeared, and a cool, calm clarity filled my being.
At that moment, somewhere in the windy night just beyond my cabin, a door slammed, and I woke in my bed with a start.
I wanted to return to the dream of the man with his healing touch, but could not. Nonetheless, that dream literally woke within me a calm center that I called upon each time the fears and sadness for my country and the people who were being unjustly kept from their family and loved ones due to the ban, crept in again.
All week long I was held in a bubble of love and connection by the 15 other women with whom I was sharing this retreat. Together we wrote, we took yoga classes, and we visited villages around the lake to learn more about the people whose country we were visiting.
As the week drew to a close, we were privileged to take part in a Mayan protection ceremony, which was offered by a local shaman. The 16 of us gathered around a circle of stones along with the shaman, a drummer, and an interpreter.
The shaman, who spoke to us in Spanish and a Mayan dialect, led us though a ceremony during which he called on various elements and attributes such as love, laughter, peace, transformation, strength, etc., each represented symbolically by variously colored candles and flowers, which we were instructed to toss into the fire as we tossed away things we wanted to let go of, or to call in things we wanted to manifest or magnify in our lives.
At a certain point he pulled out a small bottle of liquid to sprinkle on our offerings. I recognized the label on it immediately. It was the same yellow and blue design with the traditionally garbed woman as the one in my room up on the hill. It turned out to be a Central American liquor that happened to also be used by shamans during ceremonies.
The shaman looked around the circle at each of us and told us not to worry about politics back home. He encouraged us to take a bigger view, to see the spiritual landscape and how steady it remains even while our human dramas suck us into a belief in darker dreams. Coming from a man whose people have been subjected to authoritarian and military regimes, civil war, and various forms of brutality, this seemed a realistically reassuring invitation to have faith.
Now he motioned for us to stand one by one. He sprinkled water from his bottle onto the large feathered wing of a hawk or eagle, and one by one, fanned the wing against each of us to bestow a blessing.
When I stood, I felt the cooling wind of the whooshing wing as he blessed the crown of my head, each shoulder, my back, and the spot at the center of my chest where the cool drops of water flicked against my skin, just like the cool fingertips of the dark-skinned man in my dream.
It is my hope, dream, and wish to bring back to my daily life with me the beauty, majesty, joy, healing, and heart-centeredness that I experienced in the land and people of Guatemala and Lake Atitlan. With these words I offer all of that and more, to you.
May you dream and be well.
I dedicate this post to my students in the Institute for Dream Studies Certification Program, who are on their way to becoming dream professionals who who will help us all wake up to the beauty, wisdom, and power of our dreams.
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I am soothed by this post, strengthened in my growing trust that the universe bends toward Justice, though I myself may not get to see that day. As the balance tips toward darkness, as my Ancestors recognize this point on the spiral of history where we find ourselves, I begin to settle into a faith that requires a longer view. Thank you, Tzivia, for dreaming for the Collective, for traveling the realms and bringing back with you, whether from Guatemala or from the Dreams with which you are gifted, a vision upon which I can rest my hope.
Thank you, Riva, for your reflection on my words and process. It’s a conversation that gives me strength! <3
Thanks for sharing your experience, hope and optimism.
I too loved that place a few years back when I was part of a 10 day contact improv workshop on lake Atitlan. At breaks in the workshop, we laughed and played with Mayan school children, teaching them the fun of contact improv. This was, and is for me, an unforgettable experience. The contact improv group came in time to see the Mayan New year rituals and festivities. Because of their inclusiveness, I was, and still am moved not only by having watched, but also by having participated in that experience.
Thank you for sharing this sweet memory! Yes, it’s a magical place 🙂
Dear Tzivia, I am so grateful for what you’ve written here. It seems to come from a deep place that we all need to trust right now. This week, I’ve felt all of the pain and confusion of the political situation you describe, and also had a troubling, empty encounter with the medical system—and then, in the past two days, was given an authentic experience of healing with a wonderful shaman… The latter experience was so clearly true to my heart’s longing for healing, for myself and the world—in sharp contrast to the usual “solutions” that solve nothing. I hope that we can all trust these deeper sources of wholeness, renewal and hope. Thanks to your beautiful words, perhaps more and more of us will be touched and healed, and become the conduits for the healing of the world.
Dear Kirsten,
Yes! May the healing continue, from hand to hand and heart to heart. (And from dream to dream, too!)
I felt such a sense of calm and centeredness as I read and really savored this post. I dream all the time to have waking life experiences like this, and imagined this was my own experience – feeling the connectedness to ancient peoples, the feeling of being in pure awe, and just being in a far away fairy tale. Also, it’s calming and reassuring to draw on the ancient wisdom and on how to put the fear of today’s realities into perspective. My intention is to live my life as full and alive as this experience.
Dear Sharon, what a beautiful intention you have set for yourself! I’m so glad this dream and its telling were of service to you. <3
Oh what a beautiful sharing of your travel experience. After reading it, I feel such a sense of peace and centeredness. It brings a spiritual knowing Into focus that I’ve been craving since the election. I can feel the healing touch in the center of my own chest, and a sense of gratitude and love permeating through my body.
Dear Astarte, I am so glad that this post brought you some peace. We must be able to locate that peace within ourselves in order to dream up lots more of it for one another and our world. <3
Tzivia,
Your writing of this experience and description of the dream portray a deep sense of peace and belief in the collective consciousness and experience. Your sense of community with the other women in your group, love of nature and experience of resonating with place convey your connection to soul. I love that you had a precognitive dream that came true the next day! I am uplifted by being a part of your shamanic experience if only as an observer through your words. Thank you for sharing this so eloquently.
Thank you Ellen! You picked up on many of the essential elements of the experience indeed!
“He encouraged us to take a bigger view, to see the spiritual landscape and how steady it remains even while our human dramas suck us into a belief in darker dreams.” I love this. It made me pause for the moment to remember and feel the spiritual landscape that surrounds us all. I also loved the part of your dream where your friend, who studies shamanism, says “you need caring”, then suddenly the dark-skinned man appears to help relieve your anxiety. If this were my dream I would be intrigued to contact my friend in waking life to speak of this dream and shamanism. I would be curios to see if the man arises in conversation in another context. Thank you for sharing your experiences with us Tzivia, it was a lovely way to start my morning 🙂
Thank you for your response. In fact I did contact the friend who appeared in the dream and there was a bit of clairvoyance at play. ⚡️
Tzivia,
It seems so profound that you manifested a dream of writing and studying in a land/with a people you had longed to. I can almost feel the effect of the elementals, unified and unifying in some mysterious and essential way. Thank you for sharing such a profound experience and dedicating it to those of us studying now with you and Justina. Gratitude, jeff
Dear Jeff,
I am grateful to you and the others in our group for inspiring me to put this experience into words! Thank you for your reflection on the post. May you dream well!
Tzivia,
Thank you so much for sharing this experience with us. I always love your writing style — and the topic of fulfilling waking life dreams as accompanied by night time dreams called me into your words all the more. The whole thing seems so divinely designed — from your invite to attend the retreat, to your meaningful connections between the dream man and the shaman, and to the connection between your need to take care of yourself as expressed by your dream friend and the manifestation of that as supported by this trip. This reminds me of one of the many gems I have learned from your regarding dreams — that when we pay attention to both our waking and dreaming states, we are completing a cycle of consciousness and are able to be more fully realized in our lives. This seems like living proof of that belief. I needed this hope shot today. Thank you for reminding me of the beauty, magic, and power that is always available to us through our dreams.
Sincerely,
Katie
Hi Katie,
I’m so glad that this post was helpful to you! I’m so happy to be able to share the beauty, magic, and power of this experience.
Dream well!
Tzivia it sounds like you experienced great nourishment while you were there. The fact you were told that you need caring and that’s exactly what you were doing for body and soul.
With all the fear that is currently in the world again suggests to me we are infected by it and the shaman’s protection ceremony and wise words is encouraging as it reminds us to fly high above the dross and discord to see the truth, eagle reminds us of that.
Thankful for the beautiful pictures and written account of your experiences, they really touched me I felt as though I was there myself. X
Dear Kat,
Thank you for that thoughtful reflection. I know this is a topic you are well-versed in and deeply connected to. I especially appreciated your words about the Eagle’s-eye view. That’s very important in these times (and all times).
Dream well!
How powerful! Through your sharing, you have touched a chord within me. You have touched my heart chakra , leading me to the place of “a cool, calm clarity filling my being.” Thank you, Tzivia, for holding each of us as unique human beings –and therefor the world with honor and love.
Thank you for your comment. I’m so glad the post “hit home.”