Border-Crossing in Dreams

Image © Texas Public Radio

A couple of days ago, I asked for dream guidance and received two dreams about crossing borders.

I am with a group of people who are trying to cross the border. We approach it in different ways, each with its own risks. We come with most of our belongings in suitcases. This arouses the authorities’ suspicions. We try to hide how many we have. Then we go inside a container, aided by someone outside. I’m not sure I trust this person. What if we suffocate? What if he betrays us?

We come to our destination, to be with an ill or dying grandmother. We enter a room lit by candles. She lies on a bed in the center of the room, which is filled with hushed reverence.

These dreams reflect recent events. The Trump administration’s harsh treatment of immigrants from Central America has been highlighted by the manufactured “national emergency” and government shutdown. Over the past two months, my wife’s 95-year-old mother has had serious health problems, and my brother-in-law died of cancer.

I asked, “Why am I having these dreams right now? What guidance is being offered? How are they connected?” To answer my questions, I journeyed back into the dreams while awake by listening to fast, rhythmic drumming and going into a trance state. My dream ally, Heron, met up with me, and we traveled together into the dreams.

The first dream allows me to witness the frightening experience of people trying to cross the US border and some of the obstacles they face. Witnessing in this way expands my ability to empathize with them. I believe it also has some direct benefit: I may be witnessing actual events unfolding in the physical world, and by doing so I give some support on a spiritual level to those involved. This is no substitute for taking action to change our government’s cruel policies. But it is real. The boundaries we experience while awake are much easier to cross in dreams.

Dying is another kind of “border crossing” – navigating the journey between life and death. This too can be scary and full of risk. It can also be beautiful and peaceful, as in the dream. My brother-in-law died in his own bed in a candle-lit room, surrounded by loved ones.

One of the threads that connect the dreams is that people who lack legal papers to be in the US may be drawn back to their home countries to care for ill or dying relatives. This can compound their legal troubles on their return to the US and put them at high risk for deportation. The case of Jaime Rubio-Sulficio is an example: he returned to Mexico to care for his ailing mother, and his deportation is imminent. (If you want more information or want to support Jaime and his wife Keiko Maruyama in fighting this, please email Keiko at keiko.maruyama@gmail.com.)

Dreams can reflect our day-to-day experience; this is the most common way of interpreting dreams in the Western world. I believe they are much more than that.

We can travel in our dreams into territories and situations far from anything we have experienced, sometimes before events take place. We can receive guidance to help motivate actions when we are awake. We can see connections between events that may elude our notice during the daytime. And we may even receive visions of the just and sustainable world we want to create and practical steps toward achieving those visions.

If you are interested in exploring the potential of dreams in a deeper way, join us in the “Dream Your Life, Dream Our World” workshop, Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 23-24, in Columbia City, Seattle. To register, click here.