Dreaming a Vision of the Heart in Romania

On May 10th, the first World Day of Active Dreaming, dream ambassadors in many places all over the map led programs to help people in many walks of life claim the guidance and healing and creative energy of dreams. I will run some of their reports and photographs in this blog, starting with a wonderful narrative from Ana Maria Stefanescu, a dream teacher based in Bucharest who is one of the moving spirits behind our World Day, on how she and a circle of Romanian dreamers spend the weekend of May 10-11.

Dreaming a Vision of the Heart
by Ana Maria Stefanescu

The first World Day of Active Dreaming. Such a wonderful experience, for which I am profoundly grateful. After two days of adventure, together with my colleague Cristina and a group of amazingly courageous dreamers, deep within the worlds of dreams and heart, i am slightly tired but really happy: what an amazing thing, reconnecting through dreaming to the true mission of the heart !
    We started on Saturday with a journey to the space between lives, to remember what was our intention before we were born into this life and to see what our guide of the family of souls we belong to has to say about that.
    We practiced the lightning dreamwork process and found out about the power of giving and receiving useful and intuitive feedback. We ventured into dream spaces, re-entering as explorers and guides and trackers and helpers.
    Then, the dreamers turned their dreams into theater. These were the peak moments, full of magic: witnessing transforming fear into love, lack of trust into hope and faith, The theater of Active Dreaming is real magic.
     In the evening we played synchronicity games - s o much fun, each and every time we play - and embarked on a group shamanic journey to find a pulsating, radiant heart on top of the mountain: a heart that wanted to share the light with other hearts.
     Then homeplay, to incubate a dream over night...
      On Sunday morning the dreams wanted to be expressed through drawing and colors. Then we listened to the body and followed its energy map by drawing the totem pole of the chakras, understanding that if we are to fulfill our mission in this world, then we want to know our resources and our allies but also the places in the body that could use some healing. We met spiritual teachers and animals and beings that we know we can rely on. And that's good to know. The lion was there and the bear was there and the dolphin, and many more.
    Then dream theater again - one that opened our hearts even more and made us see and feel the power and love of Mother Earth - and the power of love.
     As we are on a mission of the Heart, we traveled to a certain Magic Market you can read about in Robert's book Dreaming the Soul Back Home and then farther "back" in time to meet and bring home our child selves. We made promises that we are to honor.
     Feeling whole now we sat in the center of the circle to declare and take responsibility for or mission. We promised "to honor our dreams and the powers that speak to us in dreams".
     Last but not least, we grew a community vision of the future - a future where we live a reality of the heart, where Earth is healed and happy and people remember the language of the trees.
     Again, gratitude ! Gratitude for the wonderful group of dreamers and dream teachers, gratitude for all the gifts received through dreaming...and gratitude and love to you, dear Robert.

with Ana Maria Stefanescu (r) and Cristina Craciun in the Carpathian mountains

Through the blue door, into the house of the ancestors

A guest blog by Romanian dream teacher and life coach Ana Maria Stefanescu.

I am in a old traditional Romanian house. The walls are painted deep, deep blue. I step through the small door, and I am warmed by the smell of childhood, the smell of summers spent with family in the country. This is wonderful. I realize that I am in a village in Ardeal, in Transylvania, perhaps the village where my mother was born. An old woman, wearing white and black traditional clothes of the region, is just waking up from sleep as I enter the room. She seems older than Time itself - or better said, there is a feeling of her being outside Time. She starts speaking ardeleneste - the sweet accent that my heart loves. She uses regional expressions I thought i had long forgotten. She is giving me food recipes, suggestions for delicious regional dishes. As her voice rises and falls, the words stream into a rhyming chant. The sounds are so alive. Their energy stirs me.

I woke from this dream feeling blessed. I felt immense gratitude. Over the years, I had had dreams connected to different traditions. This one connected me directly, and deeply, with the ancestors of my native land. I wanted to put on the ia, the traditional Romanian blouse - the one that inspired Matisse and is well depicted in his painting "The Dream".
     There was an amazingly beautiful follow up to this dream, inspired by fellow dreamers

in our Romanian Dreaming Circle: some weeks later, all of us dressed in ii - the traditional blouses we organized a Sezatoare, a circle of women gathered to share stories, to sing, to dance, to plait hair, to knit. Gatherings of this kind used to be common in the villages. Our circle shared hours of joy and laughter and dreams..     The gifts of the dreamworld are many. For me, reconnecting with the authentic, ancient Romanian tradition is one of the most cherished gifts.. I believe the techniques of Active Dreaming help to establish similar connections for dreamers all over the planet, making the link to what is authentic and true and right to bring through now, into our world.