Bob Weir, Grateful Dead singer and rhythm guitarist, told the Los Angeles Times that his long-time bandmate, Jerry Garcia, visited him in a dream 27 years after his death.
“He wanted to introduce me to a song,” Weir reported. “He invited the song into the room and it had the look and feel of an English sheepdog. It was about the size of the room. It was enormous, but you could see through it.
The ballad, however, was incomplete, lacking a melody and chords. Weir said, "I’m going to have another installment on that dream, I think.” Time to learn the practice of dream reentry!
The form the song took in the dream is interesting. Many indigenous peoples believe that the best gift of a dream is the right song or story and that these have their own lives, whether or not they come introduced by a dead fiend.
The Aborigines of my native Australia say that the big stories are hunting the right people to tell them, like predators in the bush or a shark in the water. In South America, shamanic dreaming traditions speak of "word souls", special words of power - sung more than spoken - that have their own life and can be transferred by a dream practitioner to someone in need of an energy boost.
It's not only Jerry Garcia who can work this dream magic but he sets a great example.
Source for Bob Weir dream: interview with Joe Hagan in The Los Angeles Times, February 10, 2022.
Photo: American Kennel Club
I love your post! I watched an interview with Bob Weir and he was talking about how Jerry Garcia helps him on stage. Also, Bob Weir's sister is a Medium and has written a book about Jerry and her communications with him. Your post reminds me to order that book on Amazon. I believe it is out of print. There are used copies out there.
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