Conclusion

There are common features which become apparent in each of these dream/vision-based rituals:

1) The unconscious erupts in a particularly powerful way in certain people through dreams and visions.

2) This experience is for the benefit not simply of the individual but of the whole community.

3) The context of the origin of each of these rituals is great physical suffering, often illness near death.

4) Traditional native American culture provided a culturally acknowledged social mechanism for the expression of dream/vision experiences for the enrichment of the whole community.

5) Making present materials from the unconscious through enactment was a means of creating patterns of energy. Physical and mental healing took place, spirits were rejuvenated, cultural identity reaffirmed.

 

Dream of the Whirling Gig

Cliff Selover